Last night at the ice hockey, Steve Horbaczewski and I were discussing some thoughts that the 90 days exercising was evoking. Steve explained that he found it difficult to get his head round the Israelites wiping out everything as hey conquered the land. He is slightly ahead, so it is in today's passage that we read these stories. There is no Alistair Campbell-esque spinning of this. The Lord commands Israel to show no mercy to the seven tribes living in the Promised Land. No living thing in any of the towns in to be spared.
How does this picture of the character of God square with the usual Christian portrayal of a loving, caring, forgiving God?
There is no easy answer. We know that God is unchanging (Deut 33:27). We also know his character is fogiving (Ex 33:6-7). Paul tells us we were children of wrath (Eph 2:3), yet by his grace, we are saved, and this is not from ourselves, but it is God's gift to us (Eph 2:8-9). We have been saved from this fate by the atoning sacrifice of Christ, and are witnesses to the reality of that rescue.
Deut 29:29 says "the Lord our God has secrets known to noone. We are not accountable for them, but we and our children are accountable forever for all that he has revealed to us, so that we may obey all the terms of these instructions."
I have no answer to Steve's questions. I just know that I was once a child of wrath, lost and subject to God's fearful justice; now I am adopted as a child of God, a beneficiary of His inexpressable grace, and rescued to everlasting glory.
2 comments:
i don't find it that tough to get my head around. Like Amalek these were people who committed some unspeakable acts (child sacrifice, bestiality to name but two) worshipped numerous false gods etc and like Amalek these are people that God, after making his covenant with noah could no longer destroy in flood. There is precedent here though. Think of Abraham challenging Adonay at Sodom and Gomorah: spare them for the good of 10 people. The Lord knew there were not even 10 righteous people in the towns. So it is in Joshua. Adonay had promised that the inabitants would be wiped out and the land given to the israelites. This was never going to be pretty, and after the baalim episode can you blame the Lord for not taking any chances.
also and i dont want to jump ahaed too far but for whatever reason, Joshua, unlike Moses, didnt appoint a successor. As a result of the leadership vacuum after Joshua's death things start going to the dogs. Rather than completing the conquest, they live together with the land's previous inhabitants and allow themselves to be swayed by their neighbors' pagan beliefs. Thus begins a long period in which we are oppressed by neighboring countries, are saved by a judge, rededicate ourselves to God, and eventually sin again. And so begins the downwards spiral to temple destruction and ultimate exile.
The Lord knows our hearts, our weaknesses, he knows us better than we can possibly know ourselves. It might have been bloody, gruesome and appeared to be barbaric, but what followed from not carrying out the command in full was even more tragic.
From M Isaacs (not A!)
"not carrying out the command in full was even more tragic." An interesting comment Mr Abioncest. We are never able to carry out God's commands in full and even if we 'almost' do, we may well fall down heavily when pride hits. We are all therefore under God's judgment ... until Jesus! I do not think you are overly sympathetic to your predicament, but I am glad you are aware of it.
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