Reading the book of Joshua has left me with more questions than answers. More to ponder, more to chew on. Within, I am questioning God's character. Not to say that I am attributing negativity to God, but more that I am asking myself, "Who is this Supreme Being? What makes up who He is?" After reading, I fell asleep with the sound of battle ringing in my ears, imagining villages with pools of blood and dead bodies lining the streets.
I know it's cliche, but sometimes the Old Testament God DOES seem different from the God that Jesus preached in the New Testament. If you were going to try to "sell" Christianity to someone by having them read one book of the Bible, Joshua would be a very poor choice, in my opinion. Something in the sermon at church this morning stood out to me... It was said that sometimes we focus so much on bringing God to a personal level (Father, friend, etc) that we pull away from remembering that He is still Almighty GOD. I remembered what I had read in Joshua, and thought, "Yeah.....no kidding..."
God orders Joshua to bring the Israelites into the Promised Land, to be strong & courageous, and that no one will be able to stand against them.
I've always had a very flowery image of Israel going across the Jordan and into a huge meadow, full of wildflowers, milk & honey, music wafting in the air. Boy, oh, boy, was I WRONG.......
Joshua sends two spies to Jericho to get a report of things. They come upon a prostitute named Rahab, who hides them from the king's guards (someone tipped off the king, and he sent guards after them.). So the spies give their word that they will spare Rahab & her family when destruction comes to Jericho.
When Israel crosses the Jordan, it stops flowing and becomes dry. We hear alot about Moses' parting the Red Sea, but personally, I hadn't heard of this miracle at the Jordan. Israel takes 12 stones from the riverbed as reminders of this miracle.
God wants all of Israel's men circumcised. (some who were born after the exodus failed to be circumcised). So they make flint knives, and...... yeah...ouch....
God gives commands to Israel as to how they shall defeat Jericho. They walk around the city's outer wall once a day for six days, and on the seventh day they rose early, walked seven times around the wall, and after the seventh time round, blow on their rams horns and let out a shout. Jericho's walls collapsed. Israel killed everything that moved, as God had commanded. Men, women, children, babies, old folks, sheep, donkeys, etc, etc. If the citizens of Jericho had domestic pets, they died too. Suffice to say, there were no survivors. (Except Rahab & her family.)
And that seems to be the theme of the rest of the book of Joshua. They cleared the Promise Land, overthrowing 31 kingdoms in all, with God's help. Some groups of people were enslaved by Israel, but the majority were "put to the sword."
So much for my fantasy of Israeli children skipping through a flowery meadow with their parents. The scene in my mind now is more like Vikings. They came, they killed, they plundered. I'm struggling to put this in any perspective that feels proper: How do you justify this much killing?
After the carnage, many chapters are devoted to a highly detailed account of each village, pasture and town which was assigned to various tribes, sub tribes, etc. For any kind of legitimate understanding of this, I would need to create a ten foot map of ancient Israel, and have a whole bunch of color coded little soldiers, something like, "Risk: The Old Testament Version."
Joshua dies at the ripe age of 110. But first, he warns Israel not to serve other gods, and places a stone by the sanctuary, calling it a witness to all things God has spoken to them.
And for those who appreciate a more pleasant spin on things, I give you the Veggietales version:
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