I
heard once that different ethnic groups in the United States during the
nineteenth century typically responded to the story of Moses and Joshua in very
different ways. Black people emphasized Moses the liberator who freed God’s
enslaved people. White people emphasized Moses the lawgiver who established the
(hierarchical) social order. Native Americans emphasized Joshua, the successor
of Moses and the leader of an invading army which wiped out the native
inhabitants of Canaan. I am guessing some Palestinians today would hear
something similar. Sigh . . . .
The
verse that particularly struck me today was 8:24-25: “When Israel finished
slaughtering all the inhabitants of Ai in the open wilderness where they pursued
them, and when all of them to the very last had fallen by the sword, all Israel
returned to Ai, and attacked it with the edge of the sword. The total of those
who fell that day, both men and women, was twelve thousand—all the people of
Ai.” That is after Joshua’s troops killed every man, woman, and child in
Jericho, along with all the oxen, sheep, and donkeys (6:21), and before they
enslaved the Gibeonites, who survived only by deceit (chapter 9).
The
lesson of Joshua is that God rewards the faithful people by honoring the
covenant promises God made to Abraham. And there is a bright spot: Rahab, the
Canaanite prostitute is spared because she recognizes the God of Israel. She
then gets a cameo mention in the New Testament as part of the genealogy of
Jesus (Matthew 1:5)! But this is not much good news in a pretty grim book.
One
grand irony helps me a bit. The names Joshua and Jesus are very similar in
Hebrew. The one I follow is not the fierce warrior but the prince of peace. This
week, of all weeks, is a reminder that God suffers with and for us. God does
not command genocide. Still, I struggle with what we are reading these days . .
. .
Fr. Harvey
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