ALPHA MAAMA (A.M.)

Falaite Sune 9, 2023

תל Mounds of Memory

KO E NGAAHI TAFUNGOFUNGA FAKAMANATU

JOSHUA 8:26-28

BUT JOSHUA DID NOT DRAW BACK HIS HAND WITH WHICH HE STRETCHED OUT THE JAVELIN UNTIL HE HAD DEVOTED ALL THE INHABITANTS OF AI TO DESTRUCTION. ONLY THE LIVESTOCK AND THE SPOIL OF THAT CITY ISRAEL TOOK AS THEIR PLUNDER, ACCORDING TO THE WORD OF THE LORD THAT HE COMMANDED JOSHUA. SO JOSHUA BURNED AI AND MADE IT FOREVER A HEAP OF RUINS, AS IT IS TO THIS DAY.

SIOSIUA 8:26-28

26 He na‘e ‘ikai ke tuku mai ‘e Siosiua ‘a e nima na‘a ne puke ‘aki ‘a e tao kae‘oua ke faka‘auha ‘a e kau nofo ‘Ai kotoa pē. 27 Ngata pē ‘i he monumanu ‘o e kolo, ko ia mo hono koloa na‘e vete ‘e ‘Isileli ma‘anautolu, ‘o hangē ko e me‘a ‘a Sihova na‘a ne tu‘utu‘uni kia Siosiua. 28 Pea tutu ‘e Siosiua ‘a ‘Ai, ‘o ne ngaohi ia ko e tu‘unga ‘oto‘ota ‘o ta‘engata, ko e koto lusa pē ‘o a‘u ki he ‘aho ni.

(LILIU FAKA-TONGA)

‘I he Hahake Lotoloto, ‘oku lauiafe ‘a e ngaahi tafungofunga ‘oku ui ‘e he kau ‘akeolosia ko e  tels (tela). ‘I he lea faka-Hepeluu, ‘oku ‘uhinga ko e “tu’unga,” ‘o hangee ko ia na’e fakahoko ‘e Siosiua, he’e ne tutu ‘o e kolo ko ‘Ai, “ ‘o ne ngaohi ia ko e tu‘unga ‘oto‘ota.”   Pea mei he kuonga ki he kuonga, na’e fokotu’u ‘a e tu’unga ‘i ha kolo kuo kapa pea hoko ai pe ia ‘o tanu ‘aki ‘a e kolo ko ia. ‘Oku ‘i ai ‘a e kolo ‘i he Fuakava Motu’a ‘oku tanaki ‘a e fo’i lea “tel” ki he hingoa - hangee ko Telapipi (‘Isikeli 3:15) mo Tela-Halesa (Nehemaia 7:61).  

Ko e tela kotoa ko e fakamanatu. ‘Oku nau hoko ko e fakamanatu ‘o e tu’unga feliuliuaki ‘o e ngaahi kolo ‘o mamani, he ‘oku nau tu’u teki pe mo mateuteu ki ha hoko mai ‘o ha tau, pe vela, pe mofuike. Ka ‘oku tau hange ko ‘Epalahame, ‘e tau nofo’aki tali “ki he kolo ‘oku ‘o‘ona ‘a e ngaahi tu‘unga, ‘a ia ko hono fakafuofua mo hono tufunga lahi ko e ‘Otua” (Hepelu 11:10).  Ka ‘oku ‘ikai ko ha tela eni ia na’e tanu hake mei lalo, ka ko e “kolo tapu, ‘a Selusalema Fo‘ou, ‘oku ‘alu hifo mei langi mei he ‘Otua, kuo ‘osi teuteu, ‘o hangē ha ta‘ahine, kuo ‘ai teunga ki hono husepāniti” (Fakaha 21:2). 

Fakaava kiate kimautolu ‘a e ngaahi matapā ‘o e ma’oni’oni, ‘e ‘Otua, ke mau nofo ma’u ‘i he ngaahi loto’aa ‘o Saione. 

Dotting the landscape of the Middle East are thousands of hill-shaped mounds that archaeologists call tels (or "tells"). In Hebrew, tel means "heap," as when Joshua demolished Ai, making it a "tel of ruins." Over the centuries, a tel was formed when a city was destroyed and rebuilt atop the ruins, adding layer to layer. Some cities in the OT have the word added to their name, such as Tel Aviv (Ezek. 3:15) and Tel Harsha (Neh. 7:61).

Each tel is a mound of memory. They bear silent witness to the transitory nature of earthly cities, each one teetering on the brink of war, fire, or earthquake. Along with Abraham, we look "forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God" (Heb. 11:10). This is no tel, built from below, but "the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband" (Rev. 21:2).

Open to us the gates of righteousness, O Lord, that we may reside forever within Zion's walls.