Joshua 3.7-17: Armed

God makes it clear that Joshua is the chosen leader: The LORD said to Joshua, "This day I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, so that they may know that I will be with you as I was with Moses." (Joshua 3:7) In his series of Bible etchings, Marc Chagall created "Joshua Armed by God" to fall between Moses' blessing over Joshua and crossing the Jordan. 

(Left) Assyrian Archers. c. 700-692 BCE. Southwest Palace, Nineveh. 

(Right) Marc Chagall. Joshua Armed by God. 1956. Etching. 

The title of the print highlights Joshua's attire and weaponry. He wears a semi-conical helmet and textured garment that falls just below his knees. He appears to have wrist-length sleeves on the garment's top. He is barefoot. He holds a knife and wears a scabbard. 

These garments are not unlike those in the relief panel showing Assyrian archers. The helmet shapes are the same as are the textures of the garment. The cross-body belt (perhaps for the scabbard) is also similar. 

Of course, Chagall is working in the mid-20th century, the panel is from more than 2500 years earlier, and the text refers to a still-earlier period. An artist works with the information available, so Chagall appears to have found ancient warriors (there are a variety of relief panels from around ancient Mesopotamia in museums to which Chagall would have had access) and armed Joshua as their equal. 

The fact that Joshua was also accompanied by the presence of God in the form of the Ark was an advantage that all the swords and bows in the world couldn't overcome. 

Choose

Joshua stands before the people and says, "Choose." (Joshua 24:15). The jamb sculptures of the south portal of the Strasbourg (France) Cathedral make the same demand of the people they face. Choose: God...or not God. What is interesting at Strasbourg is that the jamb sculptures are not of Joshua and the people of Israel. Nor do the sculptures depict Yahweh or other gods of the region. The two options are, instead, embodied in the wise and foolish bridesmaids of the Gospel lesson of Proper 27A/Ordinary 32A/Pentecost +22 (Matthew 25:1-13).

Standing at either side of the south portal on the cathedral's west facade are representative bridesmaids: three wise and three foolish. The wise maids are at the right. Jesus stands closest to the door ("I am the door"), blessing the wise maids who hold their prepared lamps. He almost ushers them into the church building.

At the left (in Latin, left is sinister) are the foolish bridesmaids. Their lamps hang upside down or are dropped entirely. These three female figures are also accompanied by a male figure, who is certainly no Jesus. Standing regally, with handsome dress and face is the Prince of the World. He holds an apple (surely a reference to Genesis) and has already enticed the maid next to him to turn away from the church. She has dropped her lamp entirely and tilts her head flirtatiously. What she cannot see (but we can in this photo) is that while the Prince presents a beautiful face, his back is decomposing and crawling with snakes, lizards and frogs. Clearly this warning is unheeded by the foolish maids, but the sculpture is placed so those standing outside the church can see the truth of choosing "the world".

The requirement to "choose" is as clear on this church facade as it was for the people facing Joshua. Choose rightly, enter the church door, prepare for heaven and when bridegroom comes and the door is closed against latecomers, you'll be inside enjoying the party.

For Cathedrale Notre Dame de Strasbourg, see: http://www.cathedrale-strasbourg.fr/

A similar arrangement of wise and foolish maids is found at St. Sebald's Kirche in Nuremburg, Germany. In this arrangement, sculptural figures of all ten maids are placed on either side of the door, For the Prince of the World (Furst der Welt) at St. Sebald, see: http://www.sebalduskirche.de/index.php?id=107


For additional art and lectionary resources, see the Art&Faith Matters page on Facebook. Click the link at the bottom of this page. 

There To This Day

The reading from Hebrew scripture in the lectionary texts for Proper 26A(31A)/Pentecost 22A  (Joshua 3:7-17) tells of the crossing into the Promised Land. Similar to the earlier crossing of the Red Sea, barely ahead of Pharaoh's army, this text might not offer new insights. The follow-up to the crossing, however, provides an opening in which a contemporary artist's work may speak to this text.

In Joshua 4, the people are given instruction as to a memorial they will construct as an aid to help them and their children remember the events of the day. Twelve stones are picked up, one stone by a member of each tribe, from the middle of the dry bed of the Jordan. The stones were then set up in the middle of the Jordan where the priests stood with the Ark as the people crossed on dry land. According to the scribe of the book of Joshua, the stones are still there to this day.

Even now, thousands of years later, stones remain an aid to both individual and collective memory. Cairns (a group of stones purposely placed in piles or stacks) are created in Scotland in memory of a person or place or to mark a path or location. A Scottish blessing says, "I'll put a stone on your cairn."

Contemporary artist Andy Goldsworthy has explored aspects of stones in his work. His "Garden of Stones", commissioned by the Museum of Jewish Heritage, implants a dwarf oak sapling in a hole drilled in a boulder. Planted by Goldsworthy, Holocaust survivors and their families, the installation reminds viewers of the improbable survival of the trees planted in rock.

 

For Garden of Stones, see: http://www.mjhnyc.org/garden/

Goldsworthy's Striding Arches "stride" around the Cairnhead region of Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland. The arches are crafted from Dumfriesshire sandstone and stand about 13 feet tall and about 23 feet wide. In addition to the arches in the Scotland landscape, Goldsworthy followed the path of emigrating Scots, constructing arches in Canada, the US and New Zealand.

For Striding Arches, see: http://www.stridingarches.com/

These two installations use stone to speak to themes of place, the movement of people, survival, care and creation. They are the same themes found in the Joshua reading that takes the people of God from nomad to landed. Unlike Joshua's stone installation, though, the contemporary pieces are not necessarily going to be "there to this day". Goldsworthy's works live in their environment and may be changed or reclaimed or in some other way altered by their relationship to the place where they are.

It's telling to note that thousands of years after Joshua and the people crossed the Jordan, we are using the same materials to mark the same human emotions, conditions, hopes and dreams.

For Andy Goldsworthy's book Stone, see: http://www.amazon.com/Stone-Andy-Goldsworthy/dp/0810938472  A partial digital catalogue of Goldsworthy's early work can be found at: http://www.goldsworthy.cc.gla.ac.uk/

For thoughts on the gospel reading (Matthew 23:1-12), click here.

For additional lectionary-related art resources, see the Art&Faith Matters Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/artfaithmatters