| |
––––––––
THE TRIBAL GENERALS had been sitting in the command post tent facing Y'hoshua for some time that morning. Most of them were recovered enough from the Traditional Cutting that they could move around fine, and generally felt healthy. However, after listening to Y'hoshua's battle plan, most were dumbstruck and the rest looked panicked.
Pedahel, general over the Naftalim spear men, cleared his throat. "Um, no disrespect Sir, of course...but I'm curious why you've settled on this...plan."
Not just his cheeks, but Y'hoshua's whole face darkened with color. "Because our god so commands it."
Pedahel thought about this, nodded, then leaned back in his seat, resigned to say no more about it. Other chiefs exchanged glances with each other, fidgeted, or simply raised brows over wide eyes.
"Any other questions?" Y'hoshua asked, in a tone that forbid further questions. "Good. I need to meet with the priests. Meanwhile, go brief your troops, so that everybody understands what's expected of them. We're going to celebrate the feast of Pesach just like every year. The morning after Pesach everyone should be healthy enough to march. After breakfast on that day, all tribes fall in parade formation, and we'll proceed under my direct command from there."
Pesach was a holiday to commemorate what happened just before their parents escaped Mizraim.
The generals replied with a chorus of "yes sirs" and prepared to rise and exit. But Y'hoshua gave them one more reminder.
"Again, emphasize to your men that nobody can take any plunder for themselves. No loot of any kind. You are dismissed."
The tribal chiefs filed out of the tent, remaining silent until some 40 paces away. Then some began to talk among themselves.
Bukki strode in between, and abreast of Pedahel and Ahihud. He tugged on Pedahel's sleeve.
"Plunder? Plunder?!? Why is he even worrying about loot?"
"We need to worry about those walls," Ahihud said. "And the Gibborim on top and behind them. I thought we had some elite troops training to infiltrate at night and open the gates."
Pedahel shrugged. "You heard him. El Elyon told him to follow a different plan."
"Plan?" Bukki echoed, incredulous. "You mean what he just told us? That doesn't sound like a plan. It sounds like..." His voice drifted off before finishing the thought.
"It sounds like some kind of ritual," Ahihud finished for him. "Don't we have enough of those already?"
"And priests are marching with us?" Bukki demanded. "They don't go to war. That right there should tell you Y'hoshua is not truly hearing from El Elyon."
Pedahel nodded, but with a pained expression, said, "Look, this whole thing has me befuddled, too. But when Moshe died, all of us pledged that we would faithfully follow Y'hoshua. Whatever he orders us to do, no matter how crazy it sounds...we have to do it."
Grumbling, the other two men conceded the point.
Walking in a different direction, Kalev had a similar conversation with Paltiel and Elizaphan. "Hashem named Y'hoshua as Moshe's successor," he said. "And Hashem has never failed us, even once."
"I know," Elizaphan replied, "but..."
"Consider it a test of our faith. A test our fathers failed, by the way."
That silenced them. Nobody wanted to repeat the tragic mistake of the previous generation.
Similar discussions took place within the other tribal groupings, as well. Nobody liked the part of the plan Y'hoshua shared with them. Nobody understood it. But they all grudgingly agreed to carry it out as best they could.
