"And After the Death of Joshua," poetry

First Edition: Published in Academic Exchange Extra (University of Northern Colorado [Greeley, CO]), 2010, August.

Revised Edition: LukivPress (Victoria, BC, BC), 2022.

Introduction

Judges, 21 chapters that cover about 330 years (approximately 1450 to 1120 BCE), details the Israelites' fall into inter-marriage and inter-faith with Canaanites. Jehovah placed Othniel, (Tribe of Manasseh), Ehud (Judah), Shamgar (Judah), Barak (Naphtali), Gideon (Issachar), Tola (Manasseh), Jair (Manasseh), Jephthah (Gad), Ibzan (Asher), Elon (Zebulun), Abdon (Ephraim), and Samson (Judah) as judges (saviours) in Israel, drawing people back to him in monotheistic worship. Like these judges, Deborah, a prophetess, reminded the Israelites of their need for faith and courage, even in the face of armies much larger than theirs. As in many Biblical stories, Judges foreshadows a greater deliverance by a greater judge, the Messiah.

An excerpt

Chapter 3

Ehud, a man impeded of his

Right hand, came to cool King

Eglon, bearing the gift with

No crosspiece between blade

And handle, hidden in folds,

An unnoticed lump on his

Right side. As this forged

Metaphor slid through fat

And crisscrossing intestine,

Did Eglon's eyes lose the lustre

Of his glorious fields and gorges

And orchards and flocks between

Lifeless sea and

Scalding desert?

The author

Dan Lukiv, published in 19 countries, is a poet, novelist, columnist, short story and article writer, and independent education researcher (hermeneutic phenomenology). As a creative writer, he apprenticed with Canada's Professor Robert Harlow (recipient of the George Woodcock Achievement award for an outstanding literary career), the USA's Paul Bagdon (Spur Award finalist for Best Original Paperback), and England's D. M. Thomas (recipient of the Cheltenham Prize for Literature, Orwell Prize [biography], Los Angeles Fiction Prize, and Cholmondeley award for poetry). He attended The University of British Columbia (creative writing department), the acclaimed Humber School for Writers (poetry writing program), and Writer's Digest University (novel writing program).