"Israel had no king."

Judges 17-18:  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=judges%2017-18&version=NIV

            Judges 17-21 is bracketed by this sentence:  “In those days, Israel had no king and everyone did as he saw fit.”  The notice that there was no king is repeated in 18:1 and 19:1.  This is important for two reasons:  one historical, the other theological.

            Historically, throughout the period of the judges, Israel didn’t really exist as a cohesive nation.  There were no central governing institutions.  Instead they seemed to have existed as a loose confederation of semi-integrated—and often antagonistic—tribes.  Let’s stipulate at the outset that this picture seems at odds with the idea of a unified people coming out of Egypt.  There are two responses to that fact.  First, we can note  that Moses has a different story to tell than the writer of Judges.  Moses wants to emphasize the Lord’s gracious call to Israel; Judges wants to emphasize how bad things were because of Israel's disobedience.  Second, it is possible that the settlement of the land undermined whatever sense of unity had been there following the Exodus; that is, as the Israelites settled their particular allotments, they lost contact and connection with their brothers in the other tribes.  So, Israel had no king: there was no unity in the nations.

            Theologically, Israel did have king.  They just forgot to worship Him and treat Him as a king.  (You will have picked up, I’m sure, that the king in question is Yahweh, the God of Israel.)  That Israel doesn’t own Yahweh as king is a major theme through her history.  In a week or so, we’ll read 1 Samuel, and there the people will ask for a king—“like the other nations,” which will be a major bone of contention.  (I think it's one of the most important verses for understanding the subsequent history of Israel, right into Jesus' day.)  In Judges 17018, this refusal to own the Lord as king is demonstrated in the way that Micah builds an image and an idol, by the injustice that Dan perpetrates on Micah, and by the violence that Dan does to an unsuspecting people.  False religion and self-seeking violence become two ways to demonstrate that Israel has rejected God's rule.

Samson

Judges 13-16:  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=judges%2013-16&version=NIV

            Samson is one of the least likeable judges—to me, at least.  He is headstrong, lustful,  and angry.  He insists on the woman from Timnah, regardless of his parents’ or his countrymen’s concerns.  He justifies his violent actions under the cloak of having been wronged himself.  He even demands that the Lord give him water.  He is the most un-Christ-like figure you can imagine.

            Yet, in one of those only-God moments, Samson becomes a type of Christ.  One hymn writer likened Samson tearing the gates off of Gaza to Jesus ripping off the gates death and hell.  The line goes, “Our Samson storms death’s citadel and carries off the gates of hell.”  And, a little more obviously, Samson dies, and in dying, destroys his enemies.  That event foreshadows the death of Jesus, which destroys sin and death itself.  In high school, I read John Milton's poem Samson Agonistes (1671), in which he described Samson's death like this:

                                                            all this
With God not parted from him, as was fear'd,
But favouring and assisting to the end.
Nothing is here for tears, nothing to wail
Or knock the breast, no weakness, no contempt,
Dispraise, or blame, nothing but well and fair,
And what may quiet us in a death so noble.

With Samson, the Lord was with him at the end and enabled him to perform a feat of strength one more time.  With Jesus, although He cried out in abandonment on the cross, in the end He committed His spirit to the Father.  So God was not parted from Him, either--truly a 'death so noble!'

            I find myself strangely comforted by men like Samson.  I confess, I feel a little superior to Samson.  I generally have my temper under control (with some notable exceptions), and I married a good Lutheran girl.  So, I haven’t got the obvious character flaws that Samson exhibits.  (I have other flaws.)  Then, I figure, if the Lord can accomplish his purposes through an instrument so bent as Samson, He can surely work with me.  Samson slaying 1000 Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey reminds us that it’s not the tool that matters—it’s the One who wields it.

Jephthah

Judges 11-12:  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=judges%2011-12&version=NIV

            We’re often looking for pure examples.  Aside from Jesus, we won’t find one—especially in Judges.  There are aspects of Jephthah’s story that inspire.  Here is an outcast, a man of shameful birth, surrounded by “worthless fellows” (11:3), and he is called to a high and noble task.  That’s inspiring.  It’s is comforting to think that the Lord can redeem us of the ash heap.  “He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap” (NIV; Psalm 113:7).  We gain hope for our own lives in the way that God uses the most ignoble tools for His purposes.

            Jephthah makes a principled and faithful appeal to the king of Ammon:  “The Lord gave us the land of Gilead 300 years ago.  If your god (Chemosh) was going to give it to you, he would have done it.”  That’s inspiring.  I think we’d all like to have the clarity to see God’s hand in our lives and the courage to say so out loud.

            But Jephthah makes a ridiculous vow to the Lord.  I mean, it’s not as if God needed Jephthah’s bargain to do what he had intended to do anyway. Before he makes the vow, Judges has already told us that the Spirit of the Lord was on him.  There’s a tragic lack of necessity here.  Unfortunately, it’s a tragedy that we too often participate in.  It might not be quite so blunt as Jephthah, but most of us have said to the Lord, “If you . . ., then I . . .” Somehow we miss that the logic of our dealings with the Lord is just opposite of that.  (Check out Ps. 50, about the fact that the Lord doesn’t need our sacrifices.)  The Lord says to us, “I have . . ., therefore, you will . . .”  The initiative is always His.

            There’s more to see here:  the tragedy is compounded by the fact that Jephthah has only the one child.  (Note how many of the judges have truckloads of children.)  She laments her virginity, that is, that she has borne no heirs to carry on the family name.  There’s the tragedy that Jephthah followed through on his ill-considered vow and killed his daughter—an affront to the Lord (Lev. 18:21).  There’s the battle with Ephraim, who tries to horn in on the credit for beating Ammon.  There’s the original “litmus test,” that is, the Shibboleth.

            There’s more to see, but let’s focus on Jephthah’s redemption and his faithful claim that the Lord had given Gilead to Israel, and let’s avoid his rash vows.  That will be task enough.

Contrasting Approaches

Judges 9-10:  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Judges%209-10&version=NIV

            What a contrast in stories in Judges 9-10.  In the first story, the sordid tale of Abimelech and Shechem, we have the Lord who allows a curse to be fulfilled.  Interestingly, aside from the note that the Lord sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the Shechemites, the Lord is pretty isolated from the story.  It is portrayed largely from a ‘down-below’ perspective:  oppression and robbery and revolt and violence.  So, we see that the Lord often uses circumstances that are ‘natural’ to call His people to account.  (The whole question, “Why did God do this?” is a bit of a dodge in that it seems to want to absolve us—and humanity—of any responsibility.  Our race seems to do just fine in messing things up all by ourselves.)

            Contrast that with the beginning of the story of Jephthah.  There, human responsibility abounds.  Israel is not just worshipping Baal; it’s a veritable smorgasbord of idols!  And the Lord wants them to take responsibility.  He refuses to help and tells them to ask their other gods.  But, when they repent, we read, “He could bear Israel’s misery no more.”  Here the Lord is at center stage, and He is there to show mercy.  Humans, it turns out, are quite capable of disciplining themselves simply by suffering the consequences of their misdeeds.  But, only the Lord God of Israel is capable of saving.

Questionable Instruments

Judge 4-5:  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Judges%204-5&version=NIV
Judge 6-8:  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Judges%206-8&version=NIV

            One of the things that we notice about the judges is that the Lord chose men of questionable character.  Ehud is a sneak.  He hides his sword on the opposite that most men wear it and meets and kills the king of Moab in private.  (The king’s men are so duped that they think he’s taking a long time on the toilet.)  Barak hides behind a woman’s skirt, refusing to go to war unless Deborah comes with him.  And Gideon, well, he’s alternately a coward and a bully.  When we first meet him, he’s threshing in a pit to avoid detection; he accomplishes his first mission—destroying the Baal altar—at night because he’s afraid; and he asks for several signs—just to make sure.  On the other hand, he threatens the Israelites in Succoth and Penuel, and he retaliates against them before he’s even finished his business with Zebah and Zalmunna of Midian!

            What shall we make of these flawed heroes?  To start with, we can stop calling them heroes.  I know what we mean when we say ‘heroes of the faith,’ but I’m pretty sure the biblical writers don’t want us thinking these men are all noble and good, like Supermen of yore, fighting for truth, justice, and the Israelite way.  These are flawed, sinful men, whom God uses for His purposes.

            That’s the greater lesson, don’t you think?  On Saturday we’ll read about Samson, who slew 1,000 Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey.  The lesson?  God can use whatever He wants for His purposes.  So, Paul famously talks about having the treasure of the Gospel in clay jars.  We Christians ought to take some comfort in that.  He can use the ordinary for His purposes.  So, dads and moms who faithfully train their children in the faith through devotions, modeling, Sunday school attendance, and regular worship attendance are doing really ordinary things through which the Lord works.  Ordinary congregations, too, are the instruments through which the Lord accomplishes His saving work.  (You don’t need to be a 10,000 member mega-church for the Lord to accomplish what He wants.)

            The Lord’s use of the ordinary is at the heart of the Gospel.  It is difficult in these latter days to remember who ordinary crucifixion was—and how ignoble!  Lamentations 1:12, “Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?”  Yep, on Good Friday, the suffering for a lot of the casual witnesses was nothing.  It was just, “Well, there go the Romans again.”  This weekend, our congregation will gather for the Lord’s Supper, another of those places where the very ordinary (bread and wine) contains the very extraordinary (the Lord’s body and blood).

            What we witness in Judges is the Lord’s typical M.O.:  “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.  He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him” (NIV 1 Corinthians 1:27-29).

Setting the Table for Judges

Judges 3:  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Judges%203&version=NIV

            As we begin to consider the careers of the judges, we should probably start with a pretty basic question:  “What the heck’s a judge?”  The judges are apparently local, charismatic military leaders who lead portions of the Israelites in times of crisis.  Although the judges are described as leading Israel, the historical realities are more likely that they led particular tribes or coalitions of tribes.  (The relative autonomy of the tribes, the lack of unified action among them, and their resulting vulnerability to attack seems to be some of the factors that led them to desire a king in 1 Samuel.)  In addition, the judges are not dynastic, although Gideon’s family has pretensions.  Instead they are raised up for a certain time and place.  Finally, they are not national leaders, nor do they necessarily have ongoing administrative functions.

            The Lord raises these men (and one woman) up in response to Israel’s repentant cries.  They are repentant for their idolatry and their repentance is sparked by the Lord’s sending powers to oppress them.  So, throughout the book, we see the Lord acting both in Law (sending punishment on His idolatrous people) and in Gospel (sending redeemers to deliver them).  One of the ways that we can appropriately apply the book is to see how these local events draw us into the cosmic events, in which all humanity stands under the oppression of death because of our rebellion and in which the Lord sends Jesus as the One who will redeem us from the oppressor.

            There are twelve judges altogether—6 minor judges, who only get a few verses notice, and 6 major judges, who have more extended stories.  (Scholars count Othniel as a major judge, even though his story is only 5 verses long, presumably because he establishes the pattern for the remaining ones.)  Of the 5 major judges after Othniel—Ehud, Deborah, Gideon (and his son by a concubine, Abimelech), Jephthah, and Samson, we observe a ‘nesting’ pattern.  Ehud and Samson, the bookends, are lone warriors; their exploits are largely accomplished alone.  Deborah is a woman and Jephthah is the outcast son of a prostitute, so they are unlikely leaders.  At the center is Gideon, who, despite some ambiguity in his character, refuses to become king (8:22-23), and Abimelech, who tries to establish himself as king.

Raising the Children of Israel

Judges 2:  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Judges%202&version=NIV

            Let me comment on three things here in Judges 2:  first, the Lord’s threat in verse 3; second, the problem of the second generation; finally, the pattern of Israel’s national life throughout Judges.

            The first thing that struck me in this chapter was the Lord’s threat that He would no longer drive out the nations before Israel.  For a God who had been so terribly concerned to drive those nations out for the sake of safeguarding His promise, it seems odd that He would wash His hands of the whole business.  On the other hand, it’s not like the Lord is abandoning His promise or His people.  He is forcing them to grow up.  They have the safety and the beginning that they need to survive.  Now they have to experience for themselves the results of their bad behavior.

            I’ve often thought that parenthood is one of the best experiences for understanding the heart of the Lord, and here again I think that’s the case.  I find a parent of teens and pre-teens that we have crossed a line somewhere and that it is no longer responsible for me to cater to my children’s every whim and to save them from every mistake.  If I were to do those things, I’d simply be enabling them in an irresponsible lifestyle in which they expect that life has no real consequences.  So, I’m slowly learning to let them suffer the discomfort of cleaning up their own mistakes.  I think that’s what the Lord is doing in Judges 2 to Israel:  I think that’s what the Lord is sometimes up to in our lives.

            That brings us to the second thing I noted in today’s reading:  the problem of the second generation.  Joshua and all his generation died, and the next generation did not remember the Lord’s mighty deeds.  It’s interesting.  The church has always been multi-generational, and one of the deep Biblical concerns of the church is passing on the faith to the next generation.  On the other hand, there is a reality—in the Scriptures and in church history—that each generation must, in some ways, learn to trust the Lord for themselves. 

            I think a classic case of this was in early American history with the Puritans.  The Puritans, you’ll recall, were true believers.  They came to New England, and they were going to establish a “city on a hill,” “the kingdom of God here on earth.”  (Maybe I’ll write some other time about how misguided that venture was.  For the record, Lutherans would have some rather sharp things to say about the Puritan understanding of the kingdom and of the Gospel.)  Anyhow, the Puritans were true believers; they were here because they had consciously chosen to leave home and hearth.  Their children had not.  When you have based your whole life—church and society—on everyone being equally committed to your take on the faith, and you discover that your children aren’t, well, it leads to heartburn.  (The historical phenomenon is called the “Half-Way Covenant;” you can investigate it a little at this link:  http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1166.html.)

            Considering how much most of us want our children to embrace our values and our faith, and considering how much heartburn many of us experience when our children don’t embrace those things, I’d say this is an aspect of Christian experience that calls for prayer and creativity.

            Let me comment on my third thing briefly.  At the end of Judges 2, there’s a pattern that we’ll see repeated throughout the main part of Judges.  It’s introduced here in a fuller form, but it forms a sort of refrain through chapters 3-16.  1) Israel whores after idols.  2) The Lord sends foreign invaders to oppress them.  3) Israel cries to the Lord for relief.  4) The Lord raises up a judge to dispel the threat.  The Lord may be forcing them to grow up, but He never abandons them!

Judges--A Tale of Failure

Judges 1:  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Judges%201&version=NIV

            Judges is a different sort of book than Joshua.  In Joshua, we have indications that the Conquest is not complete, but the thrust of the book is that the Lord keeps His promises and gives Israel the land.  In Judges, the focus is on human failure—and will we witness human failure in this book!  So, Judah is successful in establishing its territory; they even go so far as to burn Jerusalem, which is not even part of their patrimony.  But nobody else finishes the job.  Benjamin won’t even expel the Jerusalemites, although we’ve just read that Judah did the hard work of conquering the city!  The low point seems to be Dan, who don’t just fail to take their land; they actually get repulsed back into the hills.  (The success of Judah might explain their later history:  they resist the temptations to idolatry longer and more successfully than the northern tribes, perhaps because at the beginning they drove out the Canaanites.)

            There are some hints in Judges 1 about why the job isn’t finished.  First, there is the passing comment about Judah maiming Adoni-bezek.  They cut off his thumbs and big toes, rendering him humiliated and unfit for military service.  The thing to notice, though, is that he says he did the same thing to 70 of his enemies.  Israel is starting to behave like the very people she is conquering.  Second, there is the statement in verse 28 that Israel enslaved the Canaanites.  Two problems with that.  1) The Israelites were supposed to destroy them or drive them out, so they’re compromising on God’s command.  2) They were supposed to remember that they had been slaves.  How ironic is it that they began to act like the oppressor?

Leaders Must Lead

Joshua 23:  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Joshua+23&version=NIV
            In today's chapter, Joshua addresses himself to the "elders, leaders, judges and officials" of Israel.  In other words, he addresses their leaders.  He says to them the same thing he is going to say to all the tribes in tomorrow's reading:  Get rid of the idols, finish the job of pushing the Canaanites out, and stay faithful to your God.  If the leaders won't do these things, what chance does the rank and file have?
            That's an important lesson in many areas of life.  In the wake of the tragedy in Boston this week, I was pleased to hear reports yesterday of how closely and seamlessly federal, state, and local authorities were working together.  (It's possible that people were exaggerating the cooperation, but let's imagine the best and assume that the reports were true.)  If you want a city to rally, it helps if those in charge are unified and not bickering.  Same thing in politics:  if our leaders did a better job of working together and finding common ground, it would probably have an effect on the rest of our society.  Same thing in the church:  people can smell a fake; pastors do well to practice what they preach.  Imagine a pastor who preaches about forgiveness but has a reputation for holding grudges--there goes his credibility!
            In short, Joshua (and a bunch of other places in the Bible) recognizes that leaders must lead.  In their attitudes, their words, and their actions they must be the first among their countrymen (fellow Christians).  That's an important lesson for those already in leadership--to live up to their position--and it's a lesson for those who aspire to leadership--that they start building credibility beforehand.

An Ambiguous Witness?

Joshua 22:  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=josh%2022&version=NIV

The Transjordan tribes--Reuben, Gad, half of Manasseh--return home with Joshua's commendation still ringing in their ears.  They have done what they promised in helping the other 9 1/2 tribes conquer the land west of the Jordan.  How strange, then, that the people of Israel would immediately suspect the worst of them when they built an altar on the banks of the Jordan.

It seems to me that there are two cautionary tales here.  First, the people of Israel should not have assumed the worst possible thing about their brothers.  When Gad, Reuben, and Manasseh explain, "We were afraid you'd forget that we were Israelites, too," everything is cleared up.  I wonder how often we would be better off if we didn't leap to conclusions about people and their motivations?  At least the people of Israel had the good sense to ask what the 2 1/2 tribes were thinking before they made war on them.  It seems to me that we moderns too often make war with our words and in our hearts before we fully understand other people's motivations and points of view.

The second caution here is in the behavior of the 2 1/2 tribes, who were certainly not sensitive to the way that their actions might be perceived--either by the remaining tribes or by future generations.  Paul is clear, especially in 1 Corinthians and in Romans 14, how others perceive our actions needs to shape and control our actions.  While we don't want to find ourselves held captive by the misunderstanding or the refusal to understand of other people, we also don't want to barge ahead as if their impressions were unimportant.  Christian love compels us to explain why we do what we do and to hold back when we risk creating a rift. 

Additionally, although the generation that built the "witness" altar didn't intend it as a counterpart to the Tabernacle, as I read, I wondered how their children would take that.  Given Israel's historic struggles with idolatry, I'm not sure an altar that's not supposed to be used as an altar will really stand the test of time.  It's important, too, that our witness not be ambiguous.

Avenger of Blood

Joshua 20-21:  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=josh%2020-21&version=NIV

            The notion of the avenger of blood is apparently ancient.  The difficulty is that the term is literally, go’el, which seems to mean at its root “next of kin.”  Apparently, the next of kin had various responsibilities, one of which included avenging the unjust death of a family member.  Admittedly, I didn’t look high and low, but I couldn’t find a place where the Lord commanded that the go’el be an avenger of blood.  It seems to me, then, that the notion of the avenger of blood is one of those things that was in the culture around Israel (like polygamy) and that the Lord was taking steps to limit the effects of the practice by establishing a means by which an unintentional killer could escape the cycle of vendetta that plagued the ancient world.

            Aside:  one of my favorite Doonesbury cartoons is from the time of the Iraq war.  It goes something like this.  An American officer is scouting an insurgent location with an Iraqi chieftain.  The Iraqi says to the American, “I can’t promise to bring him in alive.  He murdered a member of my family, and I am duty-bound to avenge him.”  The American asks, “When did this happen?”  The Iraqi says, “1387.”  Clearly vendetta needs to have some limits placed on it!  (Wait a sec; here’s a link:  http://www.gocomics.com/doonesbury/2008/01/13/).

            Anyhow, what we have in the assignment of cities of refuge is one more attempt to make Israel less like the nations around her and more like the Lord who has chosen her.
            Notice, too, that 5 of the 6 cities of refuge are also Levitical cities.  It’s just possible that the Levites, as the caretakers of the tabernacle and the teachers of Israel, were also supposed to more fully reflect the mercy of the Lord in their civic arrangements.  That is, the Levites, set apart for God's holy purposes within God's holy people, were to show God's desired life even more fully than the rest of the nation.
            So, lesson #1--God's people stand apart from the culture of the world.  The world holds grudges; God's people are characterized by forgiveness.  The world can't make a convincing case against promiscuity; God's people cling to purity and faithfulness.  The world chases 'stuff;' God's people pursue generosity and contentment.  We do well to be thoughtfully aware of the ways in which the culture we live in projects values counter to our faith and we do well to try to live by God's values.
            Lesson #2--as we will often observe in the Scriptures, those who are called to leadership are called to a higher standard.  Those who would lead God's people must recognize the example that they set and learn deeply what it means to forgive, to remain faithful, to give without thought of reward (Luke 6:35).

Ephraim and Manasseh--Wanting More

Joshua 16-17:  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=josh%2016-17&version=NIV

            Two things struck me today.  First, I noticed the complaint of the Ephraimites and the Manassehites that they hadn’t gotten enough land.  “We’re big,” they complained.  “Take the forest land,” Joshua replied.  “It’s not enough,” they complained.  Then, the second thing I noticed was that neither Ephraim nor Manasseh fully conquered the land assigned to them.

            There’s probably a lesson there for us American Christians.  We live in a land of plenty and culture of desire.  We are often dissatisfied and want more.  (One of my favorite bands is the Dave Matthews Band, and one of their earliest, biggest hits was “Too Much.”  Check out the lyrics here, if you’re interested.  I think it catches something of our cultural spirit: http://www.lyricsfreak.com/d/dave+matthews+band/too+much_20036550.html.  Here’s the song on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSPECzpKn4U)  But it is an open question to what extent we bring what we already have into submission to the will of God.  It’s a commonly thrown around statistic that the average American church-goer gives between 2-3% of their income to the Lord, and my experience of congregations suggest that that’s about right.  Kind of a far cry from the tithe!  (I know that New Testament Christians are not bound to the tithe.  Still it’s not a bad gauge of where our generosity is at.)

            So, when we’re feeling all discontent, perhaps we should first ask to what extent we are using what we already have for God-pleasing purposes.  After all, why would Joshua give Ephraim and Manasseh even more land, if they weren’t using what they had for the Lord’s glory

Allotting the Land

Joshua 13-15:  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=josh%2013-15&version=NIV

            Here are a couple of links to maps that illustrate today’s reading.  These two illustrate the allotments given to the various tribes.

http://mappery.com/map-of/Promised-Land-Hebrew-Settlement-Map

http://www.bible-history.com/geography/maps/map_canaan_tribal_portions.html

            While much of today’s reading is pretty dry—most of us have enough trouble with modern geography, much less ancient, local Israelite geography!—a few things do stand out.  First, notice the repeated emphasis that Levi did not receive an allotment (13:14, 33; 14:4).  I’m not sure what to make of that:  we knew it already.  On the other hand, it’s clearly pretty important to the Lord that Levi is dedicated to His service.  (Here’s a random thought:  I wonder if the old practice of parsonages is related?  I wonder if the idea is that those dedicated to the Lord’s service ought not be pre-occupied with homesteads and land?  I have heard from several sources that when the housing market crashed a few years ago the number of pastors taking Calls declined significantly . . .  Like I said—random.)

            Another thing to notice is Caleb’s statement in 14:10, that the Lord had kept him alive ‘these 45 years.’  45?  The story would suggest that it’s only been 40:  spies reject God’s plan, 40 years in the wilderness, and the rapid conquest of the land.  However The Lutheran Study Bible has this footnote:  “It had been 38 years since the spying episode and 7 years since entering the land” (363).  Seven years!  You wouldn’t get that from a casual reading of Joshua!  Just goes to show that the biblical writers want to emphasis certain things.  In Joshua’s case, the book wants to emphasize how the Lord gave the land to the people in fulfillment of His promises.  Yet, there are these subtle comments that remind us it wasn’t all at once and it wasn’t all complete.  (That latter part will set the stage for the book of Judges next week.)
--reposted from April, 2011

Once Again, the Canaanites

Joshua 11-12:  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=josh%2011-12&version=NIV

            Again, we are faced with divinely-sanctioned violence of an almost unimaginable scope.  The verse that struck me was Joshua 11:20, “For it was the Lord himself who hardened their hearts to wage war against Israel, so that he might destroy them totally, exterminating them without mercy, as the Lord had commanded Moses.”  I’ll admit, ‘without mercy’ was hard for me.

            I’ve made the case repeatedly, and I think it stands up well, that the Lord had a unique concern for ‘sanitizing’ the promised land of all vestiges of idolatry that would entice and ensnare Israel.  That’s certainly part of the story of how the Lord had Israel deal with the Canaanites.

            Beyond that, it might help if we put passages like this into an ‘eschatological’ framework, that is, from the perspective of the final judgment.  The Scriptures are clear: on the last day, there will be a great judgment and those humans who have rejected the Lord and His ways will be condemned.  What we see in the Canaanites is, in a sense, the firstfruits of that judgment.  I suppose the value of that insight is simply this:  if we are offended by the destruction of the Canaanites, we will also be offended by the final punishment of unbelieving humanity, and the solution to that is to get busy in mission so that they are fewer numbered among the goats (Matthew 25:32-33).

The Sun Stood Still . . . in Defense of the Gibeonites

Joshua 10:  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Joshua+10&version=NIV

            Someone is sure to ask, “What does it mean, ‘The sun stood still’?”  Did the earth stop rotating?  Is it just some kind of metaphor?  What’s going on?  I’ll give you my answer.  “I don’t know.”  There.  Here’s a link you can go to.  I have no idea who the author is; I’m not saying that I agree with any of his conclusions.  But at least he lists out some of the possibilities:  http://www.blueletterbible.org/faq/don_stewart/stewart.cfm?ID=625.

            I understand our concern to understand.  I understand these are questions that bother us and undermine our confidence in the Bible.  I get that, but I would say that those are not questions the Bible is interested in answering.  So, at the risk of dismissing hard questions with a wave of the hand, let me just say, “Let’s not miss the main point.”

            The main point, of course, is that the Lord gave the victory.  And notice that the Lord gave the victory in defense of the Gibeonites.  The Gibeonites had tricked Joshua into a treaty and were cursed to be ‘woodcutters and water carriers.’  Still, the Gibeonites were under the umbrella of Israel and therefore under the protection of the Lord.  It is a small indication that the Lord had never intended that Israel to be completely impermeable.  Israel’s life and existence was for the sake of the world.  The embrace of the Gibeonites—even in a small capacity—is a small indication of that greater purpose for Israel.

"Don't Be Discouraged"

Joshua 8-9:  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Joshua%208-9&version=NIV

            “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”  Again.  Was Joshua just some sort of coward?  Why the constant encouragement?  I don’t think that Joshua was a coward at all; I don’t think he was afraid of warfare.  Bear in mind the context.  The thing that was getting Joshua down was Israel’s obstinacy; the defeat at Ai was the result of Achan’s refusal to obey and his desire to feather his own nest.  Consider that it was just a few weeks (apparently) since they had circumcised themselves and celebrated the Passover.  So soon after recommitting themselves to the Lord, and look how they had stumbled!

            If we were honest with ourselves, we’d probably have to admit that the thing that gets us down is our own interior weakness, too.  We make a stink about ‘the world’ and its opposition, but it’s much more discouraging to think how often we ourselves don’t live up to our high calling.  I’m writing this while I’m at a pastors’ conference.  We had our opening devotion at 8:45, and we prayed that ‘all our doings and life might please’ the Lord.  Having been awake since 6:30 this morning, I couldn’t help but think that it was too late for me to pray that my doings and life might please the Lord; two hours into my day it would have been more appropriate to pray for forgiveness for those places that my doings had not pleased the Lord.

            So, the Lord’s constant encouragement to Joshua can be a strong encouragement to us, too.  We can hear in it a word of forgiveness, that our failures are in the past and that the Lord remembers them no more.  We can hear in it and encouragement to pray every moment of our day that our doings and life would please the Lord.  It won’t do any good to get stuck on who we were and we have done; it will be much more productive to take courage and to say, “Today is a new day; this is a new hour.”