These chapters describe the ritual of war with setting ambushes, hanging kings on a tree, and afterwards, reading all the words of the law, the blessings and the curses. Those who deceive Joshua into making a covenant with them have a healthy respect for the Hebrew God. "It was told to your servants for a certanty that the Lord your God had commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants". An excerpt of poetry indicates that "the sun stood still" until vengeance was done. In spite of their barbaric ways they are a tribe of their word especially when they "had sworn to them by the Lord, the God of Israel"
This is a time to stop and weigh the scriptures. Philip Gulley in the book, If Grace Is True, says "Weighing Scripture is what Jesus taught when he was asked, "What is the greatest commandment in the law?" If Jesus had believed that all Scriptures were of equal worth, he would have answered, "All the commandments are equally important." Instead, he replied, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighobr as yourself." Then Jesus added a pivotal footnote. He said, "All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments." In other word, these two verses exalting love are as heavy as the rest of the Bible. Jesus tipped the scales irrevocably in favor of love....The primacy of love means I can't accept Joshua's claim that God commanded the genocide of his neighbors in Canaan." Neither can I.
These chapters describe the ritual of war with setting ambushes, hanging kings on a tree, and afterwards, reading all the words of the law, the blessings and the curses. Those who deceive Joshua into making a covenant with them have a healthy respect for the Hebrew God. "It was told to your servants for a certanty that the Lord your God had commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants". An excerpt of poetry indicates that "the sun stood still" until vengeance was done. In spite of their barbaric ways they are a tribe of their word especially when they "had sworn to them by the Lord, the God of Israel"
ReplyDeleteThis is a time to stop and weigh the scriptures. Philip Gulley in the book, If Grace Is True, says "Weighing Scripture is what Jesus taught when he was asked, "What is the greatest commandment in the law?" If Jesus had believed that all Scriptures were of equal worth, he would have answered, "All the commandments are equally important." Instead, he replied, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighobr as yourself." Then Jesus added a pivotal footnote. He said, "All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments." In other word, these two verses exalting love are as heavy as the rest of the Bible. Jesus tipped the scales irrevocably in favor of love....The primacy of love means I can't accept Joshua's claim that God commanded the genocide of his neighbors in Canaan." Neither can I.
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