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.
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