A Story of God and All of Us - By Roma Downey Page 0,40

with the Israelite people, soon to worship their God and stay with them for the rest of her life.

Ram lifts Rahab's son into his arms and uses the same urgent tones to convince Rahab's parents to flee with them. They all stumble out of the house and make their way to the city's main square. The scene is a warped vision of dust, smoke, the bodies of Jericho's fallen citizens, and exhausted Israelite soldiers. Joshua stands at the center of it all, holding up his arms to heaven. "God has kept His promise," he mutters joyfully to himself. "God has kept His promise." The former slave is now master of the Promised Land.

His first thought is to give thanks, for he knows that God cherishes a thankful heart. "Thank you," Joshua shouts to Nashon, the spy who first penetrated these city walls. "Thank you," he shouts to Rahab, who made the Israelite victory possible by hiding the Israelite spies. And, finally, "Lord," he screams to his maker. His heart fills with gratitude and love for God. "Thank You."

Then Joshua hears it, a low and rumbling chant that spreads through Jericho. The words remind him of those days so long ago in Egypt, and the distant dream that someday the Israelite slaves would escape that awful world of toil and strife to create a home all their own. The chant is this: "Is-Ra-El! Is-Ra-El!" and it emanates from the lips of every Israelite soldier standing in the ruins of Jericho. Some are cheering. Some are crying tears of joy and exhaustion. From slaves to a nation. The impossible dream has become a reality: the Israelites are home.

"When we obey the Lord," Joshua tells anyone who will listen, "anything is

possible."

Joshua is a man of faith. And for the next fifty years he leads the Israelite army as they conquer the Promised Land. He forges an Israelite nation built upon the ideal of each man and woman putting their hopes and dreams in the capable hands of God.

But when Joshua dies, that faith seems to die with him. Generations 100

of Israelites forget their covenant with the Lord, turning to other gods to meet their needs--gods of rain and fertility, gods of the previous inhabitants of the Promised Land, who they wrongly believe will bless their new way of life.

God is grieved by this betrayal. He reminds the Israelites of the covenant with Abraham, and that the Promised Land is a gift that must be cherished.

God uses hard, powerful armies to attack the Israelites, like a father disciplines his son.

The cycle will be repeated for hundreds of years: Israel breaks their covenant; God sends foreign armies to subdue and subjugate them; they learn the lesson and cry out for help; God then raises a deliverer or "judge"

to save them; and, once again, the land enjoys peace, until a future generation again forgets God.

Of all the foreign enemies that subdued the rebellious Israelites to this point in history, none was more powerful than the Philistines. They soon conquer the Israelites and claim much of the Promised Land for themselves, yet God has not deserted His chosen people. He longs to renew His covenant with the Israelites and return to them the Promised Land.

Once again, God chooses a most unlikely individual to carry out this plan--

an eight-year-old boy named Samson, who has the strength of a lion.

It is 150 years since the death of Joshua. The Philistines, a sophisticated culture, control the coastal regions of the Promised Land, and despite their oppressive attitude, many Israelites find their ways attractive. Some have even stopped worshipping the God of Abraham and instead choose to bow down to Philistine gods.

One day, an angel of the Lord appears to a woman as she draws water from the village well. She is barren, and though she prays daily for a child, her faith has not been rewarded. The angel is in disguise, his face partially concealed by a hood. "Do not be afraid," he tells her. "Though you are barren, God will give you a son."

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She is speechless as the angel suddenly disappears from her sight.

Then he stands behind her, his lips uncomfortably close to her ear, and informs her that there are conditions to this childbirth, a strict code of conduct that she must follow throughout her pregnancy and beyond: "See to it that you drink no alcohol and eat nothing unclean. And when your son is born, no razor may be used on his head. This will be the