What would MCC do in Joshua's Palestine? I wonder.

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Palestine after Joshua's conquest and sub-division


Joshua fit the battle of Jericho
And the walls came a’tumblin’ down

I’ve never been sure how I should understand the book of Joshua. It’s written as a history of the conquest of Palestine by Joshua around 1,000 B.C., but it’s not a history like other narratives of conquest in that the field general may well be Joshua, but the Minister of War is the LORD himself. Both that record and most sermons one hears on the book take the approach that Joshua is victorious because he obeys the law and instructions handed down by the God of Israel. And so for a Christian attempting to find an application from the book, the themes generally turn out to be obedience to--and confidence in--God’s leading as prerequisites to victorious living. Doubts about whether or not God said the words he’s alleged to have spoken to Joshua are not surprising.

Without God in the story, Joshua would have to be described as a genocidal monster. The residents of Ai, for instance, were quaking in their beds, fortifying their stockades after the news of the massacre of every living thing in Jericho reached their ears. Five kings agreed at one point to combine their forces and challenge the formidable Israelite army; after their defeat, Joshua killed them by having his soldiers stomp on their heads, then hanging their bodies up on poles. The plea that Joshua was “just following orders” would never have washed at the Nuremberg trials. Obedience outranks compassion by miles in the Joshua narrative.

Bible scholars have explained the difference in the God of Joshua and the God of Jesus Christ to some degree by placing the narratives in their contexts. One can hardly be blamed for concluding that “love your enemies” and “ You shall do to Ai (slaughter every living thing) and its king as you did to Jericho and its king . . .” would be uttered by the same mouth. But this is possibly more a case of applying current modes of narration/story-telling to ancient writings than anything else. Legend and folklore have always surrounded a people’s place in the world as well as justifying their right to be what and where they find themselves. It wouldn’t be the only legend available that employs shameless exaggeration in pursuit of its ends, which most often centre on the aggrandizement of the people about whom the myth is created.

Even if it’s not accurate to say that “man created God in his own image,” we certainly have to concede that the image of God is deflected by times and situations. To the Israelites of Joshua’s time, God appeared to have ultimate power and unflinching intolerance for disobedience as his primary characteristics. To us, God is most often characterized as loving, compassionate and slow to anger. The soldiers who lined up to stomp on the heads of the five kings assumed, likely, that it fell within the parameters of God’s will; we, on the other hand, are appalled at the suggestion.

I’m not much bothered by the violence and injustice in Joshua and some other Old Testament books. I actually don’t read them much anymore, except, for instance, to refresh my memory for this post. Neither do I judge the content of the book of Joshua by standards that would apply today any more than I would condemn Mark Twain for the creating a character called “Injun Joe” or Shakespeare for giving us the grasping Jew, Shylock. What can be learned, however, from study of the book is one chapter in the anthropological story of a people, and the skills needed to read and benefit from such understandings without making the error of applying current sensibility in judgment upon an ancient text.

But, I do think of the crossing of the Jordan by Joshua’s Israelites as they take possession of land on which other people live when I hear Benjamin Netanyahu—supported by Trump—speaking seriously about annexing parts of the West Bank. Jewish settlements on the West Bank since Israeli occupation, and any move to annex any part of it can be judged by current standards: international law and the Sermon on the Mount for starters.

Mennonite Central Committee has tried to be an influence for peace and justice in Israel/Palestine in keeping with its statement of purpose: “MCC is a global, non-profit organization that strives to share God’s love and compassion through relief, development and peace building.”

I wonder how things would have been different if MCC had existed in Joshua’s time.



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