It is said that the best way to truly
learn something is to teach it – and for today let me add, or to preach
it. Back when we started reading Exodus
at the beginning of summer I felt there was a nice theological storyline taking
place. We start by meeting the
Israelites in Egypt. They’re
enslaved. They’re powerless. They have no organization and no hope for the
future. But God hears their cries of
despair and sends Moses. God sends
plague after plague upon the Egyptians.
Eventually they set the Israelites free.
It is clear that the Israelites did not free themselves, it was God’s
work. Through Moses God provides for
them, leads them across the wilderness and to the Promised Land. Along the way they receive God’s laws, they
learn what God wants and they develop a leadership structure.
By the time we
get to today’s reading an entire generation has passed. They’ve arrived at the Promised Land and are
ready to take possession. However, since
leaving Egypt they’ve matured and now God will not drive out the people for
them. No, they will work along with God
to lay claim to the Promised Land.
It makes for a
nice story. And it makes a nice parallel
to our own lives as Christians. If we
see ourselves starting as helpless and ignorant at baptism. God then comes to us, chooses us, and saves
us. We then learn and grow and as we
mature we are then ready to be in partnership with God working side by side for
God’s kingdom.
It all works out
so perfectly, except that’s not what the book of Joshua is really about. As I prepared to preach on it I realized
something different. Perhaps biblical
scholar Robert B. Coote sums it up well when he writes, “First God commissions
Joshua. Then, in an orgy of terror,
violence, and mayhem, God takes the land of Canaan west of the Jordan away from
its inhabitants and give it to Israel under Joshua’s command. Joshua, with the help of the priest Eleazar,
distributes the conquered land to the tribes of Israel. Having aged, like Moses he bids his people
farewell, dies, and is buried. Thus the
book of Joshua explains how under Joshua’s command Canaan was conquered, the
Canaanites were slaughtered, and their lands were expropriated and
redistributed to the tribes of Israel.
It forms a triumphant finale to the Bible’s foundational epic of
liberation, the savage goal toward which God’s creation of Israel and delivery
from slavery in Egypt appears to point from the start.” (New Interpreter’s Bible, Volume 2, Pg. 555)
And indeed when
you start to really study Joshua you get just such a feeling. I remember one of my biblical studies
professors in seminary say he focused on studying Joshua while on a sabbatical. He said the text often gave him jolts because
in Greek the name Joshua is the same name as Jesus. And so it was as if he was reading about
Jesus doing this, and destroying that, and leading a slaughter here there and
everywhere.
Like all of these
oldest history stories in the Bible the story as we have it today is not in its
original form. It is entirely possible
that a guy named Joshua did lead the nomadic Israelites in a military conquest
of Canaan and settled them there. But
the story we have in our Bibles most likely took shape under the reign of King
Josiah. Josiah became king of the
Israelites in 539 BC at the age of 8 because his father was assassinated. As he matured he began a great reform
campaign reducing government and economic corruption and purifying the
religion. In my opinion he was one of
the best, if not the best and most faith-filled, king Israel ever had. We Christians often overlook him preferring
to focus more on kings like David and Solomon – both of whom were corrupt
leaders by comparison. Josiah was killed
in battle by the Egyptians in the year 509BC at the age of 38.
In the context of
Josiah as king, the book of Joshua calls people to faithfulness in God and God
alone. It reminds them that they are
God’s people and that God has been with them all along.
Though Josiah
made many reforms and strengthened Israel greatly, it was still a very weak
country in the Middle East. Powers like
the Assyrians, the Egyptians, and the Babylonians all loomed large on the
horizons. The book of Joshua in the
hands of a weak and struggling nation seeking to improve itself is one
thing. The book of Joshua in the wrong
hands, however, can lead to horrible things.
Heavily weaponized modern day Israel uses the territorial claims of
Joshua to justify just about anything.
Scripture is
powerful stuff. We need to keep it in
context. And by context I don’t mean
simple context like not cherry picking individual verses to suit your tastes
while ignoring others. I mean the
context in which the entire piece of scripture was written.
The gospel of
Matthew has been used by Christians to justify all sorts of abuses of
Jews. Matthew would be horrified that
his words have been used that way. Its
original readers were Christians who were scared, hurting, and their families
and friends were being torn apart on religious lines. Matthew speaks very differently in that
context than when Christianity became stable and powerful.
The New Testament
contains all sorts of writings about slavery – about how slaves should obey
their masters and not cause trouble.
That meant something very different from when Americans in the south
were using those same texts as a theological justification for one race
permanently enslaving another. The role
of women in the Bible is another such example.
On and on it goes.
Know that when
you read the Bible you are reading something very powerful. I don’t think we give scripture enough credit
or realize the power it has. Therefore,
like with anything powerful, we should use it with respect when called for, and
not abuse with it.
Always ask yourself
what is the context of what you are reading.
Why was it written? It almost
certainly had a purpose on its own before it became part of the Bible. That will help guide you to the intention of
the writing.
What does Joshua
teach us as the end of the Exodus story?
That God is working. God is
moving. God has an overall plan for this
creation and we are a part of it. We are
to use our power along with God’s purposes.
We read the most
famous snippet of Joshua as our second reading, where Joshua says, “…as for me
and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
(Joshua 24:15)
That is a good
and important verse for us to live by.
Who will Joshua and his household serve?
What will be their interests? Is
it to take ever greater vacations, or to build their retirement savings, or to
own every more luxurious cars, or to conquer ever more land?
No. As for me and my household, we will serve the
Lord. It shows an ongoing singularity of
purpose focused where it is supposed to be – on God.
It is hard to believe
but every aspect of earthly power is a lie – money, land, possessions. If you use scripture to justify your desires
for accumulations then you are missing scripture’s point. Scripture will point you to God. It will make you realize your brokenness, and
it will witness to God’s grace. From
there we then engage the world – not fearing or rejecting things like money,
land, and possessions, but for seeing them for what they are – tools…
capabilities… things that can help us, until the time comes when we can lay
them down and enter fully into God’s care.
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