Many readers are repulsed by the Old Testament, as its pages feel like choppy World War I film footage - with God involved. Israel was born during brutal times, when God's good creation was betrayed by dark urges toward violence, and history was littered with the debris of warfare - times utterly familiar to us: our daily news is rife with violence and tension. How was (is?) God involved in war?
"The Lord is a man of war" (Exodus 15:3), but the Old Testament God is not the bloodthirsty warmonger we imagine. The frequency of warfare reported in the Bible (which covers two dozen centuries!) is lower than in modern times, with a lower intensity (hand to hand combat not being as savage or randomly destructive as bombs). Also, God fought by miracle (How? Thunder? storm? wind?), "not by sword or bow" (Joshua 24:12). Soldiers almost seemed to get in the way: Gideon's army of 32,000 was too big, so 31,700 were sent home; a mere 300 tagged along with God (Judges 7). Almost all divinely sanctioned battles are confined to chapter 15 of Exodus, 7 chapters in Joshua, and a handful in Judges - and in every instance, God rose up to fight on behalf of those treated cruelly, or the 95 pound weakling with no chance: Hebrew slaves in Egypt, serfs hounded by petty lords of Canaan, Israelite tribes harassed by Philistine aggression. God fought rarely, and only in pursuit of justice for the powerless.
After God intervened, Israel's job was to mop up what was left. Everything had to be killed and burned, "devoted to the Lord for destruction" (Joshua 6:17). This practice (herem) was common in ancient times, partly because in war zones, disease, pestilence, and a ruined water supply are lethal killers long after the battle is done. Although people in ancient times didn't understand this, burning everything was a remedy.
For devout Israelites, cutting and burning felt like offering a sacrifice of thanks to God. But I harbor a theological suspicion: the reports we read of total destruction were written 5 or more centuries after the fact - at a time when Israel looked back on its history and was embarrassed by how stupidly they had let themselves be drawn in by the idolatry and decadent behavior of their neighbors, the Canaanites. Did they wish they had driven out every last Canaanite when they had the chance? Had it been God's will to "Spare none of them" (Deuteronomy 7:16)? for then they might have lived a more holy, noble life as a nation?
For Israel, located at the intersection of continents, often caught in the crossfire of the imperialistic Egyptians, Babylonians, and Assyrians, and with a God who chooses to work through, not outside of history, war will inevitably be part of the story - but not the entire story, as we discover in the Old Testament an extraordinary vision of peace (as we will see in our next email).
James
james@mpumc.org
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