Joshua Valiant Quotes

“The LXX translates the word for “satyrs” that appears in these Isaiah passages as onokentaurois or “donkey-centaurs,” from which we get our word “centaur.” The Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint defines this word as “donkey-centaur, mythic creature (a centaur resembling a donkey rather than a horse).”[6] In Isaiah 34:14 of the ESV we read of “the wild goat crying to his fellow,” and in 13:21, “there wild goats will dance.” But the underlying Hebrew (seirim) is not about wild goats, but satyrs, that were prevalent in Canaanite religion. Scholar Judd Burton points out that Panias or Panias at the base of Mount Hermon in Bashan was a key worship site for the Greek goat-god Pan as early as the third century B.C. and earlier connections to the goat-idol Azazel (see Azazel below).[7]”
― Brian Godawa, Joshua Valiant

“Well, then,” said Lilith, “by all means, show her around. Expose her to the beauty of Mother Earth.” A chill went down Arisha’s back. She could swear she saw a split tongue in Lilith’s mouth. Almost like the garter snakes she had played with in the forest. Maybe it was the mushrooms. She saw three tame looking hyenas sitting off a short distance from Lilith and her children, watching them like loyal dogs—or guardians.”
― Brian Godawa, Joshua Valiant

“Within these pages one will read of fantasy creatures like Leviathan the sea dragon of chaos”
― Brian Godawa, Joshua Valiant

“The duty to keep the Sabbath thus holy was so serious that even the picking up of sticks to make a fire was considered a violation and was punishable by death. Many Israelites considered such punishments as extreme. But Joshua understood it more easily than most. He knew that it was not the measure of the finite crime that justified the seriousness of the punishment, but the measure of the infinite god, against whom the crime was committed, that made it of such magnitude.”
― Brian Godawa, Joshua Valiant

“Joshua had been overcome by his own righteous indignation. He had become so obsessed with Yahweh’s war that he forgot he was a servant and not the sovereign. He became momentarily blinded by the delusion that he could do no wrong. And when his hatred for evil was projected outward, he was overwhelmed by his rage and forgot the evil in himself. His momentary madness was the potential of every living person. This simple yet profound truth was what kept Caleb humble in his own perception of himself.”
― Brian Godawa, Joshua Valiant

“Sending the goat out into the desert to Azazel, was not an offering to the damnable goat demon, but rather it was a banishment of Israel’s sin to the realm of chaos outside Yahweh’s kingdom—the same realm of Azazel.”
― Brian Godawa, Joshua Valiant

“And herein lay a tension of paradox. For a high priest to sufficiently mediate between god and man, he would have to be sinless. But only a god could have such perfection. But a god could not represent man because he was wholly other, separate. Thus the repeated need for the high priest to be forgiven before he could perform his mediation. It was a weakness of the system that Caleb had thought could only be permanently overcome by a being of both deity and humanity, a kind of “god-man” that could become an eternal sacrifice. But he thought his imagination got away from him, for such a thing seemed impossible indeed.”
― Brian Godawa, Joshua Valiant

“earth. If you thought that the earth was not created to be a servant to humanity, but humanity was created to be a servant to the earth, then treating humans as servants and slaves would not be outrageous at all. Killing them might even be a good thing in this view. Perhaps this was also why the satyrs went to great lengths to protect the births of animals in the flocks but regularly caused miscarriages in her fellow nymphs, killing any infants that accidently survived.”
― Brian Godawa, Joshua Valiant

“Scholar Karen Randolph Joines adds more to the Egyptian origin of this motif, by explaining that the usage of serpent images to defend against snakes was also an exclusively Egyptian notion without evidence in Canaan or Mesopotamia.[32] And Moses came out of Egypt. But the important element of these snakes being flying serpents or even dragons with mythical background is reaffirmed in highly respected lexicons such as the Brown, Driver, Briggs Hebrew Lexicon.[33] The final clause in Isaiah 30:7 likening Egypt’s punishment to the sea dragon Rahab lying dead in the desert is a further mythical serpentine connection.[34] But the Bible and Egypt are not the only places where we read of flying serpents in the desert. Hans Wildberger points out Assyrian king Esarhaddon’s description of flying serpents in his tenth campaign to Egypt in the seventh century B.C.   “A distance of 4 double-hours I marched over a territory… (there were) two-headed serpents [whose attack] (spelled) death—but I trampled (upon them) and marched on. A distance of 4 double-hours in a journey of 2 days (there were) green [animals] [Tr.: Borger: “serpents”] whose wings were batting.”[35]   The Greek historian Herodotus wrote of “sacred” winged serpents and their connection to Egypt in his Histories:   There is a place in Arabia not far from the town of Buto where I went to learn about the winged serpents. When I arrived there, I saw innumerable bones and backbones of serpents... This place… adjoins the plain of Egypt. Winged serpents are said to fly from Arabia at the beginning of spring, making for Egypt... The serpents are like water-snakes. Their wings are not feathered but very like the wings of a bat. I have now said enough concerning creatures that are sacred.[36]   The notion of flying serpents as mythical versus real creatures appearing in the Bible is certainly debated among scholars, but this debate gives certain warrant to the imaginative usage of winged flying serpents appearing in Chronicles of the Nephilim.[37]”
― Brian Godawa, Joshua Valiant

“The Dead Sea Scrolls of Qumran  evidence a preoccupation with demonology that includes reference to this very Isaianic passage. In The Songs of the Sage, we read an exorcism incantation,   “And I, the Instructor, proclaim His glorious splendor so as to frighten and to terrify all the spirits of the destroying angels, spirits of the bastards, demons, Lilith, howlers, and [desert dwellers…] and those which fall upon men without warning to lead them astray[18]   Note the reference to “spirits of the bastards,” a euphemism for demons as the spirits of dead Nephilim who were not born of human fathers, but of angels.[19]”
― Brian Godawa, Joshua Valiant

“she shows up in this Biblical context connected with the satyrs and Azazel. The very next verse (Isa. 34:15) talks about the owl that nests and lays and hatches her young in its shadow. But lexicons such as the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament and Brown, Driver, Briggs Hebrew Lexicon contest this Hebrew word for owl (qippoz) with more ancient interpretations of an “arrow snake.”[17] If they are correct, then the poetry of the passage would be more complete as the NASB indicates.   Isaiah 34:14–15 (NASB95) 14 Yes, the night monster (Lilith) will settle there And will find herself a resting place. 15 The tree snake (qippoz) will make its nest and lay eggs there, And it will hatch and gather them under its protection.”
― Brian Godawa, Joshua Valiant

“The Hebrew word is actually Lilith, which the Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible explains is a Mesopotamian demoness residing in a tree that reaches back to the third millennium BC.   Here we find Inanna (Ishtar) who plants a tree later hoping to cut from its wood a throne and a bed for herself. But as the tree grows, a snake makes its nest at its roots, Anzu settled in the top and in the trunk the demon ki-sikil-líl-lá [Lilith] makes her lair.[15]”
― Brian Godawa, Joshua Valiant

“The Dictionary of Biblical Languages (DBL) admits that another interpretation of iyyim other than howling desert animals is “spirit, ghost, goblin, i.e., a night demon or dead spirit (Isa. 13:22; 34:14; Jer. 50:39), note: this would be one from the distant lands, i.e., referring to the nether worlds.”[12] One could say that siyyim and iyyim are similar to our own play on words, “ghosts and goblins.” The proof of this demon interpretation is in the Apostle John’s inspired reuse of the same exact language when pronouncing judgment upon first century Israel as a symbolic “Mystery Babylon.”
― Brian Godawa, Joshua Valiant

“The Hebrew for the words “wild animals” and “hyenas” are not readily identifiable,[10] so the ESV translators simply guessed according to their anti-mythical bias and filled in their translations with naturalistic words like “wild animals” and “hyenas.” But of these words, Bible commentator Hans Wildberger says,   “Whereas (jackals) and (ostriches), mentioned in v. 13, are certainly well-known animals, the creatures that are mentioned in v. 14 cannot be identified zoologically, not because we are not provided with enough information, but because they refer to fairy tale and mythical beings. Siyyim are demons, the kind that do their mischief by the ruins of Babylon, according to [Isaiah] 13:21. They are mentioned along with the iyyim (goblins) in this passage.[11]”
― Brian Godawa, Joshua Valiant

“the English translations make it look like they are just more natural animals. Not so in the Hebrew. Let’s take a closer look at the Hebrew words behind two more of these strange creatures, “wild animals” and “hyenas.”   Isaiah 13:21–22 21 But wild animals (siyyim) will lie down there, and their houses will be full of howling creatures; there ostriches will dwell, and there wild goats will dance. 22 Hyenas (iyyim) will cry in its towers, and jackals in the pleasant palaces; its time is close at hand and its days will not be prolonged.   Isaiah 34:14 14 And wild animals (siyyim) shall meet with hyenas; (iyyim) the wild goat shall cry to his fellow; indeed, there the night bird settles and finds for herself a resting place.”
― Brian Godawa, Joshua Valiant

“worshipping the seirim in Canaan, they were even committing spiritual adultery with them while in the wilderness! It is no wonder Yahweh considered them demons, a declaration reiterated in Moses’ own prophecy that after Israel would be brought into Canaan by the hand of God, she would betray Yahweh by turning aside to other gods, redefined as demons.   Deuteronomy 32:17 17 They sacrificed to demons that were no gods, to gods they had never known, to new gods that had come recently, whom your fathers had never dreaded.[9]”
― Brian Godawa, Joshua Valiant

“Moses was weary from his speech. He was weary with life and with age. He was one hundred and twenty-years old. His eyes had not dimmed and his physical vigor had not abated. But his soul was weighed down with resignation. He had been the instrument of Yahweh’s deliverance out of Egypt. He had shepherded an ungrateful people in the desert for forty years; he saw great and mighty signs and wonders. Yet he too was mortal. He too failed to uphold Yahweh as holy when he rebelled at the waters of Meribah. And for his disobedience, he would never enter the Promised Land. To have come so far and through so much and yet not receive the reward had broken Moses’ heart. He only found consolation in the fact that Yahweh was the great “I Am,” the god of the living, not the dead. So Moses knew that he was one small but important part of Yahweh’s plan to one day bless all the nations through the Seed of Abraham. Moses was but the planting of that seed that would ultimately blossom and grow into a tree that would fill all the earth with its glory.”
― Brian Godawa, Joshua Valiant

“Joshua ben Nun, be strong and courageous, for you shall lead this people into the land that Yahweh has sworn to their fathers to give them. You shall put them in possession of it. And know this: It is Yahweh who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” Joshua looked out upon the people before him. He was amazed that Yahweh would take a broken man and lead a broken people to be his own inheritance in a land of such adversity and hardship. But there was something in the words of Moses that resonated within his soul. He had lost everything; his wife and family, his love, any shred of compassion, and had become a man of war. He felt like a pile of dead man’s bones that was resurrected from the grave and animated with a new spirit. He would be strong. He would be courageous. He had nothing left to lose, and everything to gain by trusting his incomparable god, the god above all gods.”
― Brian Godawa, Joshua Valiant

“Bring forth the Urim and Thummim for the confirmation of the word of Yahweh.” Joshua’s eyes went wide with fear. Eleazer reached into his pouch that held the “Lights and Perfections.” He held them before Joshua who had dropped to one knee in reverence. Eleazer said with a loud voice, “Almighty God, Yahweh Elohim, we beseech you to confirm the appointment of Joshua ben Nun as leader of this people!” And then a miracle occurred. The entire congregation went silent. Their muttering and murmuring just suddenly stopped. It was as if they were all holding their breath. They were all holding their breath. A gust of wind seemed to flow over the three prophets alone, blowing their cloaks with ethereal movement. They began to chant a hymn of praise. But their voices sounded strangely divine and in perfect unison, as if they were Bene ha Elohim from the throne of Yahweh. They had become the representative witness for the heavenly host on earth. Eleazer reached in his chest pouch and withdrew the two gemstones. Those in the congregation could not see them for their size, but they could see the light that they produced. They sparkled with the glory of the Lord, and Eleazer said, “Is Joshua your chosen leader for Israel to enter Canaan?” The Lights and Perfections glittered and sparkled until a beam of their light settled on Joshua’s face and he glowed in holy aura. The crowd cheered. The prophets ceased their heavenly praise as one. Joshua looked over to see Caleb watching him with a proud smile.”
― Brian Godawa, Joshua Valiant

“That man will be a man in whom is the Spirit of Yahweh, Joshua ben Nun!” The crowd broke out into wild applause. Joshua took the opportunity to mutter to Moses under the din, “No, Moses, you do not understand. I cannot do this.” Moses said, “Neither could I.” “No. What I mean is that I will not do this. I was going to resign from my command this very night.” Moses said with a smirk, “I think Yahweh may have a difference of opinion with you.” The prophets nodded their heads in agreement with Moses’ proclamation. Everyone it seemed was hearing from Yahweh except Joshua. He laid his hands upon Joshua. “By the word of Yahweh, I invest in Joshua ben Nun my authority that all the congregation of the people of Israel may obey!” More applause. The people loved ceremonies of such royalty. Joshua made one last attempt, “I am unworthy of this commission.” Moses looked at him with pity. “My dear Joshua. Of course you are unworthy. But Yahweh declares you worthy. Will you finally give in and accept that you are wrong, if Yahweh himself tells you?”
― Brian Godawa, Joshua Valiant

“They would worship you when you brought them success or food for their bellies, but they would impale you on a pole if you crossed them or failed to live up to their expectations. The people were a mob. Yahweh did not pick Israel because they were more righteous than the other nations, or for anything in themselves. He chose them as his people from his own mysterious sovereign will, for his own mysterious sovereign purposes.”
― Brian Godawa, Joshua Valiant

“Thousands of sheep, cattle, and donkeys were also cleansed through water as spoils of war and divided among the peoples. So too the thousands of shekels of items of silver, gold, bronze, and iron were purified through fire and also apportioned out to the tribes. On the final day of purification, Joshua and Caleb were getting ready to return to camp. They were in Joshua’s tent eating a small meal of goat and bread. Joshua took a sip of wine from his goatskin flask. Caleb watched him closely. He had been watching Joshua closely these seven days. Joshua looked refreshed. And he looked different. Like he was a changed man from the one whose pursuit of rigid excessive holiness rose to a crescendo of self-righteous vengeance and hate. He had come to the end of himself and was crushed by his own unrighteousness.”
― Brian Godawa, Joshua Valiant

“Joshua and Caleb stayed outside the camp of Israel for seven days of purification, along with Othniel and all the men who had killed anyone in the destruction of Midian. It was required of Yahweh as a consecration of his holiness. Even the spoils that they captured would have to be purified. They killed every male, adult and child, and every woman who had lain with a man, since these were the ones who had seduced the sons of Israel into their idolatry. The young girls who had not lain with men were taken as captives. These captives as well as their clothes, and personal items were all cleansed in the waters of baptism, along with the Israelite soldiers.”
― Brian Godawa, Joshua Valiant

“the problem was that the instruments of Yahweh’s wrath were still men. And the taking of human life, though morally justified, was still the destruction of man created in the image of Yahweh. And once you had taken human life, it changed you. You were no longer an innocent. You had stepped into a polluted river of pain that cried out for redemption, for atonement.”
― Brian Godawa, Joshua Valiant

“Joshua had been overcome by his own righteous indignation. He had become so obsessed with Yahweh’s war that he forgot he was a servant and not the sovereign. He became momentarily blinded by the delusion that he could do no wrong. And when his hatred for evil was projected outward, he was overwhelmed by his rage and forgot the evil in himself. His momentary madness was the potential of every living person.”
― Brian Godawa, Joshua Valiant

“It was another terrible spiritual picture of the monstrous evil of idolatry that day. And it was Phineas’ cleansing act that stopped the plague. From that moment on, the sickness released its stranglehold on the Israelites and faded away. Phineas would receive a promise of perpetual priesthood, because that very day Phineas was jealous for Yahweh and made atonement for the people of Israel.”
― Brian Godawa, Joshua Valiant

“Judges of Israel, each of you kill those of your men who have yoked themselves to Ba’al of Peor.” Women screamed and guilty men took off, trying to escape the swords that came after them. Men were hacked and hewn by the edge of sword and axe for their abominable practices in Israel’s midst. Yahweh’s zeal for holiness did not end with the Canaanite heathen. It applied as much to Israel as to anyone else. Yahweh would not compromise his glory.”
― Brian Godawa, Joshua Valiant

“Commence the judgment of Yahweh.” Joshua called forth a contingent of the army that had been situated by the side of the tabernacle. They came forward and grabbed the clan leaders. They dragged them over to a clearing and took twelve-foot long pikes and impaled the leaders on them. They hung them in the sun for all to see, that Yahweh might turn away his wrath.”
― Brian Godawa, Joshua Valiant

“Leaders of Israel, bring forth your clan heads from all the twelve tribes!” The twelve clan leaders stepped forward with trepidation. They knew this could not be good. “Hear O Israel, Yahweh our God is a holy God! And these leaders of the clans have not exercised their authority in honor of Yahweh’s holiness! They have allowed Ba’al worship to thrive amidst their tribes!” The twelve clan leaders looked at one another in fear.”
― Brian Godawa, Joshua Valiant

“It disgusted Joshua. Not the plague so much as the spiritual and moral corruption that it pointed toward. These Canaanite gods of depravity inspired the debasement of every aspect of Yahweh’s image in man. They bred sexual perversions that violated all sacred separations: Fornication, Incest, adultery, homosexuality, bestiality; they provoked fetishes with excrement like vomit and fecal matter; and they defaced the body with occultic tattoos and mutilations. And they mocked the atonement of redemption with their human sacrifices. Israel had become a festering cesspool of evil. The only thing that made Joshua feel any better was knowing that he was to be the instrument for Yahweh’s cleansing. Sin was a cancerous tumor. It had to be gouged out, not merely from those who hated Yahweh, but also from Yahweh’s own people.”
― Brian Godawa, Joshua Valiant