Weekly Sermons

I will send my terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter.  I will make all your enemies turn their backs and run.  I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites, and Hittites out of your way.       

 

….the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide:  “Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them…. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you….  Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.  Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”      Joshua 1:1-9

 

All this I have spoken while still with you.  But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.  Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.  I do not give to you as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid…. My command is this:  Love each other as I have loved you.     John 14:25-27; 15:12

 

 
In the days following the horrific terror attacks on the US on September 11, 2001 – even before there was certainty about who carried them out — members of Congress and the public loudly called for swift and decisive retaliation.  In the heat of that moment, the Friends Committee on National Legislation hung a large banner on the side of its Washington office building facing Capitol Hill which read, “War Is Not the Answer.”  As the US military response took shape, FCNL distributed posters and bumper stickers bearing that message around the country.  Then after the “war on terror” spread from Afghanistan to Iraq with no end in sight, FCNL made a batch of bumper stickers which stated that “War Is Still Not the Answer.”  I have one of those in my file of “treasures”— for me, it states an eternal truth.  In response to those signs, I sometimes heard skeptical pushback like “then what is the answer?”  That answer in policy settings was usually greater investment and effort in diplomacy, economic fairness, education, and development assistance.  In spiritual terms, however, we are convinced that Jesus’ command to love like he did is the only answer which makes the holistic, enduring shalom of God possible.

 

I thought a lot about all that as I read the Book of Joshua this week, because it raises a lot of questions similar to “what is the answer to war?”, and why did God instruct or allow so much war in the accomplishment of his intentions for Israel?  Those questions arise under the larger topic referred to by theologians as theodicy (which has been mentioned previously in this Through-the-Bible series).  Theodicy seeks to know why an all-powerful, all-knowing, holy God allows evil to exist and persist in his divine Creation, rather than just destroying it.  Differing theologies and spiritual perspectives propose differing answers to that question.  None of them is final, but it is important to keep seeking to understand.  The thought which has made the most sense to me thus far is that God created humankind in his own image.  That image includes the ability to reason and know, to imagine and plan, and to make choices.  He made us capable of knowing the eternal and earthly benefits of cooperating with our Creator’s wishes, and also the eternal and earthly costs of rejecting those wishes.  If God was to control us like a puppet-master, our free will would be meaningless.  In our fallen state, and under the influence of God’s enemy, we humans often choose selfishness and its temporary rewards rather than submission to God and his eternal love and Truth.  The apostles assure us that God wants no one to perish and all to be saved, and that God will help us resist and escape his enemy’s lure – but we must choose that (II Pet. 3:9, I Cor.10:13). 

 

The Experts     Before the Book of Joshua begins in Zondervan’s New International Version Study Bible, the editors inserted a page-long acknowledgment that many readers of Joshua “are deeply troubled” by the amount of warfare in its record of God’s bringing his people to the Promised Land.  They identify two basic ways people explain the violence.  One group applies a “progressive revelation” lens to the story, holding that the Israelites had not yet progressed far enough in knowing Yahweh to realize he did not take pleasure in violence and death, regardless of who committed it.  Some in this group tend to dismiss Joshua’s place in the redemption story.  The other group sees Joshua’s narrative as a continuation of Moses’ story (in Genesis through Deuteronomy) of God’s redemption of humankind from the Fall.  It is a story of both God’s divine grace and God’s judgment.  That group stresses that the Creator “owns” the entire world.  He at one point in the redemption story reclaimed a part of his earth — through Joshua and the Israelites — from worldly human powers who insisted their false gods and their military might had given them title to it.  In that view, Israel’s victory over the Canaanite armies showed the world that Yahweh “is the one true and living God.”  These theologians and historians stress that Joshua was not given a mission to conquer the world by military power.  He was only to drive out paganism from Canaan as a new starting point for fulfilling God’s covenant with Abraham to bless the whole world with the opportunity to know their Creator.

 

A Non-Expert View      I see elements of truth and value in both of the previous groups’ analysis.  In reality, none of us knows for certain why all that warfare is there.  From God’s word to Moses in Exodus 23:20ff about sending his angel and “the hornet” ahead of them, it seems to me that God intended in some way to frighten the Canaanites out of Canaan without the Hebrews’ having to commit violence against them.  Then when they got to Canaan’s border, the spies brought back their discouraging report of giants in the land, and the people refused to trust God’s protection and continue on into the Promised Land.  They were sent back into the desert for nearly 40 years of wandering until all the reluctant adults had died.  From that point onward, it seems as if nearly all the steps Israel took towards Canaan ended up requiring at least some violent participation by the Hebrews.  The costs of those untrusting people’s sin reverberated through many future generations.  I can’t help wondering how it might have gone differently if they had developed the qualities of peacemakers and obeyed the Lord the first time.

 

Joshua’s Call to Peacemaking      When Joshua assumed Moses’ leadership role, he was a soldier, and because of the circumstances described in the previous paragraph, he got called upon to take brutal military action quite regularly as Israel moved into Canaan.  The calling and instructions he received from the Lord in Joshua 1, and his early experiences in leadership, however, contain many qualities needed by a peacemaker.
             1:5  Nurture and trust God’s presence.  The Lord promised to be with Joshua in the same way he had been with Moses, and that he would never leave nor forsake him.  When people feel abandoned or think they must take matters into their own hands, they are much more prone to resort to violence.
             1:6,7  Be strong and very courageous.  The strength and courage Joshua would need could not be found in his own body or mind.  They could come only from his nurture and trust of the Lord’s presence with and within him.  He would daily need strength to stand against unruly majorities and to obey difficult instructions from God.  He would need courage to be different, to resist pressure to adopt the practices of the Canaanites around them.
             1:7,8  Be careful to obey all the Law.  God made it clear that Joshua would need to study and meditate in order to know the substance of the Law given to Moses, and he would need to obey it carefully as an example to all the Israelites.  God’s Law was to be the grounding for all his thoughts, words, and actions. That prevents violence.
             1:9  Do not be terrified or discouraged.  The Lord is with you, so fear is unnecessary.  I John 4 tells us that God is agape, perfect love, and that perfect love drives out fear.  Some form of fear or funk is usually at the root of violence.
             3:3,4  Follow the Ark of the Covenant. When the Israelites crossed the Jordan River, the pillar of cloud and fire left them.  The Ark carrying the tablets of the Covenant became their new symbol of the Lord’s presence and guidance.  At the Jordan’s edge, when they saw the Ark move, they were to move and follow.  Lost people tend to fear and fight.
             3:5  Consecrate yourselves.  Just before the crossing began, Joshua instructed the Hebrews to give themselves entirely into God’s service and care.  What they were about to do was not a trial run – it was for life, and their lives would never be the same.  Trying to trust and serve God only partway does violence to oneself, if not to others around us.  Joshua promised that if the people would consecrate themselves to God, “they would see the Lord do amazing things.”
             4:2-9  Create memorials of God’s care.  The Lord told Joshua to have a person from each tribe bring a stone from the riverbed to make a memorial of the miracle they witnessed when the Jordan at flood stage “stood up” and allowed the Israelites to cross into Canaan on dry ground.  It was to be a worshipful reminder to every person who crossed, a witness to the Canaanites of God’s power, and a witness to future generations of his leading and protection.

 

Reviving Humility    After Israel crossed into Canaan and camped, the Lord told Joshua to circumcise the male Hebrews who had not undergone that ritual during the 40 years of wandering in the desert (Joshua 5:2-8).  It mostly was the renewal of a spiritual symbol of surrendering self-will and replacing it with submission to God’s will.  At about the same time, the Israelites also celebrated the Passover feast for the first time in many years (5:10-12).  That was done in gratitude for the Lord’s enabling them to escape servitude in Egypt, survive the trek to the Promised Land, and have the new opportunity to harvest and eat food from Canaan.  It humbled and reminded them they never could have done that on their own.  From that time on, the manna from heaven no longer appeared.  As Joshua prepared for battle against Jericho, he encountered an angel of the Lord with a drawn sword.  He asked the man whose side he was on, and the angel told him “neither,” for he was the commander of God’s army.  Joshua fell to the ground on his face in reverence.  The angel was the embodiment of Jesus’ seventh Beatitude, a peacemaker who didn’t take human sides in conflicts but called all people to God’s Way. His word to Joshua was the same Moses heard at the burning bush – “remove your sandals, for you are on holy ground” (Joshua 5:13-15.)

 

The next thirteen chapters of Joshua describe Israel’s battles, mistakes, and victories in the next several years as they seized Canaan from the Canaanites.  One cannot help but think of the people in 2025 who still experience similarly shattering injustice and violence.  It is frustrating not to have the training or opportunity to help them find peace.  We all can, however, work on the traits of peacemakers Joshua was called to live out – nurturing and trusting Christ’s presence, seeking his strength and courage, carefully and fearlessly living his Way, attentively and humbly following him with all our hearts. Lord, please let there be peace on earth, and let it begin by your forming  these basic traits – your traits — in us.

 

 

 

 

 

1)  How might Israel’s move into Canaan have been different if the people had trusted and obeyed God the first time?

2)  What is the difference between the peace Jesus gives us, and the peace the world offers?

3)  Why do you think God allowed/used so much war and violence in the Israelites’ reoccupation of Canaan?

4)  What traits of peacemaking do you feel are most needed or most lacking in today’s world?