Spiritual Quote of the Day (Elie Wiesel, on the ‘Great Melancholy’ of Moses’ Joshua)

“Joshua, the perfect disciple. Obedient and humble. The man whose devotion to his master can serve as an example to all. God’s chosen, just as Moses had been. The servant become leader, whom God and Moses do not cease to encourage—so much so that we wonder why he had such a need. Is it because, in his humility, Joshua felt so inferior to Moses that he believed himself inadequate, unqualified and even unworthy to complete a task that only his master was capable of completing satisfactorily? Joshua will inherit political and religious authority from Moses but not his prophetic style. God accomplished miracles for Joshua. He went so far as to upset the laws of nature by ordering the sun to stand still, but Joshua’s speech lacks the magic that emanates from the words of the prophets.

“A great melancholy emerges from his life story, a sadness that stays with him to the end of his days. Is it because his life unfolds in the midst of noise and fury?”—Jewish novelist, essayist, Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace laureate Elie Wiesel (1928-2016), “Joshua: Silent at the Tent Door,” Bible Review, December 1998

The image accompanying this post is of Joshua, Israel’s leader after the death of Moses—played onscreen by John Derek in the 1956 blockbuster, The Ten Commandments.

Quote of the Day (Rachel Held Evans, on Ancient Israel’s Sins—and Ours)

“There’s just no denying that the very things for which Israel was condemned by the prophets—gross income inequality, mistreatment of immigrants and refugees, carelessness toward life, the oppression of the poor and vulnerable, and the worship of money, sex, and violence—remain potent, prevalent sins in our culture. These sins are embedded in nearly every system of our society from education to law enforcement to entertainment to religion. We are all culpable, all responsible for working for change.

“Yet rather than confessing our sins, and rather than dismantling the systems that perpetuate them, many Christians shrug it off as part of an irrelevant past or spin out religious-sounding rhetoric about peace and reconciliation without engaging in the hard work of repentance and restitution.”—Christian blogger and author Rachel Held Evans (1981-2019), Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again (2018)

(Photo of Rachel Held Evans taken by Dan Evans, ca. 2009–2010)