More to The Story - Chapter 7


DID GOD COMMAND GENOCIDE?

Jericho
“They devoted the city to the LORD and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it -- men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys." Joshua 6:20-21(NIV)

Southern Canaan
"Joshua subdued the whole region . . . He left no survivors. He totally destroyed all who breathed, just as the LORD, the God of Israel, had commanded." Joshua 10:40-42(NIV)

HOW TO READ THE BIBLE FOR UNDERSTANDING

The Bible is not easy to understand. Try to remember that the Bible means what the author of a particular section of it intends it to mean. Attempt to put yourself in the shoes of the original readers, understanding what they would have understood. A good study Bible will help with this.

For example conservative scholars, who believe the entire Bible to be God’s Words to us, teach us how to read the above passage as it was intended to be read and heard. The writing reflects conventional Near Eastern hyperbolic (as in the eagles “slaughtered” the Cowboys) warfare rhetoric used also by the Egyptians, Babylonians, Assyrians and Hittites. So, when you read the rest of Deuteronomy, Joshua and Judges you will discover that (even according to Joshua himself) there were many survivors. Terms of peace were typically offered, and the Canaanites were supposed to have been driven out little by little, while women and children were protected. Indeed the word “city” may refer to military outposts and the word for thousand can also refer to a (much smaller) “unit of people”

YET, God did initiate the destruction of people groups as a judgment on them. And the Israelites themselves were not exempt. I am therefore forced to ask myself as a middle class Christian American, “Am I any less deserving of God’s judgment. Am I complicit and therefore culpable in the sins of 21st century American culture." My answer is yes. Could America (and me with it) find itself experiencing God’s harshest judgment? What’s your answer?

For further study read;

God Behaving Badly, David T Lamb, IVP Books 2011 (the simpler of the two)

Is God a Moral Monster? (Making sense of the Old Testament God), Paul Copan, Baker Books 2011 (this is the more thorough of the two)

Prayer

“Lord, thank for the men and women who continually persist until we can all read your Word as it was written with the intent with which it is written. Help me also to be a hungry student of your Word as well. Amen”


You can follow Pastor Jeff on Twitter @jefflampl