Joshua 16 – 20
Today’s reading is one of those sections that is rater dry and not full of great insight, but one can still find lesions in life. Chapter 16 and 17 starts the division of the land with Joseph’s sons, who get 1 potion between them. This causes conflict later and Joshua steps in during verse 17:17 to resolve the problems:
All right; it’s true that there are many of you and that you are powerful. You should not have just one share.
As for conflict resolution goes this is an awesome technique to quell discontent. First thing Joseph does is acknowledge the problem. Often times we tend to go for resolution which may be the same end result, but if you don’t have all parties agreeing it’s worthless. So first acknowledge the problem and then look for solutions. That is the key in starting to get all parties on board with the solution. This takes the focus off the problem and opens them to a solution.
Verse 18:3 has Joseph getting people to work:
How much more time do you intend to waste before going to claim the land the Eternal God of your ancestors is giving to you?
Often times in good management, one must get the attention of the workers. This is done by being direct with the problem. Notice Joseph does not use adjectives that may belittle the people. He just goes right to the problem and then directs them to a solution. Often times your people need a little direct motivation to get things done. I know often times I find myself just doing things that is not on task and need a swift kick in the pants to get me back on track. Notice this is done in a way that gets them back on task.
Other than conflict resolution and management techniques we see in verse 20:2 that God is setting aside a place of refuge:
Tell the Israelites, “You must set apart cities of refuge, as I directed you through Moses,
This is actually quite critical since the people of the time were quite direct and often violent. The positive was swift solutions to problems, the negative was often innocent people were punished. This is something God knew and planned for in their society so someone who unintentionally killed another would be safe until all the facts were shown.
I always wondered about this since a good psychopath could manipulate the systems into having an intentional murder seem unintentional. But I guess that could happen today without much question. Case in point is Michael Hastings, a Rolling Stone reporter, who was about to break a big corruption story. He died in a high speed single vehicle accident. Nothing odd other than the vehicle he drove could have easily been hacked and piloted remotely. Also, an explosion was heard before the impact. This along with an engine that was dislodged and in a location that would have required an different force acting on it other than momentum, makes this unintentional death seem intentional. So systems can always be manipulated except for the divine judgment of God.