We often focus on the initial victories, but the story doesn't end there. According to tradition, the battles raged on, and Joshua's leadership was tested in ways you might not expect. : the feeling of liberation, of finally reaching a haven after generations of wandering... it's powerful. That's what these verses seem to capture: "Therefore our hearts rejoice in Thee, our souls exult in Thy salvation. Our tongues shall relate Thy might, we will sing and praise Thy wondrous works. For Thou didst save us from our enemies, Thou didst deliver us from those who rose up against us, Thou didst destroy them from before us, and depress them beneath our feet." It's a powerful outpouring of gratitude, a promise to remember the miracles that brought them to this point.
And then there's the hope for the future, the desire for lasting peace: "Thus shall all Thine enemies perish, O Lord, and the wicked shall be like chaff driven by the wind, and Thy beloved shall be like trees planted by the waters." It's a beautiful image, isn't it? The wicked, ephemeral and easily scattered, versus the righteous, deeply rooted and flourishing.
But as we find in Ginzberg's Legends of the Jews, the battles didn't simply stop after the initial conquest. Joshua’s most challenging fight, the one that truly tested his mettle, came after the land was subdued. It was a war against... the Armenians!
Apparently, among the thirty-one kings slain by Joshua, one had a son named Shobach, who became king of Armenia. Consumed by vengeance, Shobach united forty-five kings of Persia and Media, and even secured the aid of the renowned hero Japheth.
Can you imagine the sheer scale of this threat? This coalition sent Joshua a rather… colorful letter, letting him know exactly what they thought of him and their intentions. It went something like this: "The noble, distinguished council of the kings of Persia and Media to Joshua, peace! Thou wolf of the desert, we well know what thou didst to our kinsmen. Thou didst destroy our palaces; without pity thou didst slay young and old; our fathers thou didst mow down with the sword; and their cities thou didst turn into desert. Know, then, that in the space of thirty days, we shall come to thee, we, the forty-five kings, each having sixty thousand warriors under him, all them armed with bows and arrows, girt about with swords, all of us skilled in the ways of war, and with us the hero Japheth. Prepare now for the combat, and say not afterward that we took thee at unawares."
A "wolf of the desert," no less! It's quite the insult, but also a clear declaration of war. Forty-five kings, each commanding sixty thousand warriors. That's a massive force, and they're giving Joshua fair warning. What would you do in that situation?
It makes you wonder: What kind of courage does it take to face such overwhelming odds? And what does it say about the nature of leadership, that even after achieving so much, Joshua had to confront an even greater challenge? It's a reminder that the journey toward peace is rarely easy, and that even after the initial victory, there are always new battles to be fought.