From that time on

Reflecting on Joshua Ch. 5

Haiku for a new land

God tells Joshua

that the disgrace of Egypt

has been put away.

They are in Gilgal,

in the land promised by God;

the new era starts.

There, Israel kept

the Passover, recalling

God's deliverance.

On the day after

they ate produce from the land;

unleavened cakes, grain.

The manna ended;

they ate the crops of Canaan

land from that time on.

© Ken Rookes 2025

It is the passover of the Lord

Haiku of readiness

God instructs Moses,

 

also his brother, Aaron,

 

there, in Egypt land.

You shall mark the year

 

from this month. On the tenth day

 

the action begins.

 

Tell all your people

 

to take a lamb, one per home;

 

or you can share it.

 

On the fourteenth day,

 

at twilight, all Israel

 

must slaughter their lambs.

 

Take some of the blood,

 

paint it on the doorposts and

 

lintels of your homes

 

Eat the roasrted lamb

 

with unleavened bread and herbs.

 

Eat all; burn the rest.

 

Eat it, fully clothed,

 

with sandaled feet, staff at hand;

 

ready to depart.

 

A terrible thing;

 

God is passing through Egypt,

 

killing all firstborn.

 

The blood is a sign;

 

death will pass over your house

 

when God sees the blood.

 

A remembrance day:

 

celebrate it ev’ry year.

 

God’s deliverance

 

A terrible tale

 

unless you’re on the winning

 

side; then you rejoice!

 

© Ken Rookes 2023

The boy Jesus

He was twelve years old

when he went with his fam’ly

to Jerusalem.

Nobody missed him

amidst all the confusion

of the festival.

The fam’ly heads home.

A day into the journey

they note his absence.

At last they find him

sitting among the teachers

in the great temple.

The twelve year old boy

holds his own with his questions

and his perception.

They were astonished,

his parents. They chastised him,

Why have you done this?

Why did you seek me?

You should have known where to look;

in my Father’s house.

In twenty years’ time.

He will return for the feast

and the conclusion.

© Ken Rookes 2018

Myth, par excellence.

Myth, par excellence.

Our intention is to gather

some suitably approved historians;

direct them to collect the stories,

interrogate the documents,

and compile them into a seamless narrative

(We will, of course,

be downplaying the embarrassing bits

and other parts that might discomfort us.)

Thus we shall create for ourselves a History

that we can be proud of.

With some further prodding and kneading,

some teasing-out and coaxing,

and with suitable invocations of the Divine,

we shall recite our story and rehearse it

until it solidifies into a Myth.

A real one, grand and inviolate,

upon which we can build

our tribe / religion / nation.

In ancient Israel,

a remembering meal

is appointed, prepared

and written into law.

This annual repast,

laden with food and symbol,

commemorates a journey

to freedom and nationhood;

one which is tragically interleaved

with dying and grief.

A Passover meal,

to celebrate a divine passing over;

salvation and life for the chosen ones.

For others, sorrow, bitterness

and death.

But that’s okay,

we will cope;

as long as nobody questions

the Myth.

© Ken Rookes 2014