THE PRIMACY OF THE DIASPORA

would be able to endure the difficult forty-year sojourn in the desert.

We must note, however, that whereas the Exodus from Egypt continued to be celebrated through the festival of Pesah and became a focus of Jewish thought, nothing akin to that occurred with the entry into the Promised Land(Josh. 1:2-3, 24:13). Joshua simply entered and conquered, but this was never noted on our religious calendar. Furthermore, the book of conquest and settle­ment, the Book of Joshua , remains among the most neglected books of the Bible. Except for a single Haftorah reading, it has never been brought to the attention of the average Jew; it has remained a historical record.

The Land was the center of life in 1, 2 Samuel and in 1, 2 Kings ; the prophets saw it as part of the divine covenant. Israel had often failed to keep its portion of the agreement. The historical and prophetic writing emphasized the need for religious conduct for Israel ’s leaders whether judges or kings. Rulers would be removed from power for social injustices and idolatry. Their subjects would suffer similar punishment(1, 2 Sam.; 1 Kings ). The people would be exiled if they did not worship God or carry out the ethical and moral ideals the prophets expressed. Exile from the Land of Israel was seen as a divine punishment for disobedience(Elijah , Elisha , Amos, Hosea , Isaiah , Jeremiah , Ezekiel , etc).

The prophetic books also took us on the road to an idealized state in which the normal problems of statecraft were shunted aside. The later chapters of Isaiah carried this to its natural conclusion with an idealized future life without the compromises of daily life (Isa. 40: 1ff).