ethnic diversity

Celebrating racial and ethnic diversity

Wow! And what about the Philistines? And are there others who need to be subdued? Tongue-twisting passages like these are the bane of lay readers and a source of fascination for many who heard these wondrous lists of names read on a Sunday morning. They are, of course, a rendering of the ethnic diversity of the world the Hebrews marched into under Joshua and are a “list of enemies” who stood between the children of Israel and the Promised Land.