Just Joshua

I'm reading the book of Joshua right now and thought to post my own thoughts only, as a measure of accountability and pushing myself. 

I love commentary--it opens my mind and heart to new ideas and angles of understanding.  But sometimes, the voices from my past--overly chirpy and loud southern radio preachers, often well-meaning--obstruct instead of help. I can also get lost in hazy lazy thinking, letting commentators do the medium lifting instead of reading closely.

Reading closely, as I encourage my students, has irreplaceable benefits.

So, what did I notice today?

The first chapters of Joshua read like an epic or a fairy tale, which is not to suggest they are not true--but that they are a certain style.  The true part is separate from the style. God does what He wants, how He wants.  We either believe Him in that and allow Him latitude and greatness, or we can pursue the nitty gritty of a naturalistic perspective, holding Him to the laws of nature He created.  It's not that simple.  It's also not that complicated.  But, a person can spend a lot of spiritual energy spinning their wheels over this kind of thing--I know this.

Things I noticed...

Joshua 6----they burned the city with fire--wow.  Rahab and her family were saved, but otherwise, complete destruction besides the ironware.  It seems drastic, draconian--especially to a person who has to steel herself to thin her turnip patch soon.  I know the rational, the reasons--I just wince at the reality and prefer mercy mercy mercy.

This destruction---annihilation--ethnic cleansing--genocide--is the heart of what non Christians object to.

What do I know from my garden?  That the weeds will take over when you turn your back.  That if I don't thin the turnips, all of them will not yield any worthwhile turnips.  I remember the crabgrass in my yard--it's relentless march across my lawn, the way it seeped under the fencing and into my garden, leaping from bed to bed to bed.  Now, I have so very much work to do which could have been prevented. "Nipped in the bud" is a real thing.

What else do I know?  The Canaanites were evil, barbaric, more immoral  than the Israelites.  They sacrificed their children to false gods, practiced religion and life in ways that were abhorrent. They were not God's plan but were allowed to go on to this point. 

Does this "knot" of difficulty melt away the broader issue of inhumanity---of the timeless "chosen" and "not chosen" nature of Jacob and Esau, Cain and Abel, Saul and David--no.  And we can split hairs over all of those passages. 

Or, I can accept the perspective of Job---at the end of Job, not the beginning.  God is God and I am not.