Above:  Jericho, 1925

Image Source = Library of Congress

Reproduction Number = LC-DIG-matpc-14127

Jesus and Genocide

SEPTEMBER 6 and 7, 2021

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The Collect:

Gracious God, throughout the ages you transform

sickness into health and death into life.

Openness to the power of your presence,

and make us a people ready to proclaim your promises to the world,

through Jesus Christ, our healer and Lord.  Amen.

–Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 47

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The Assigned Readings:

Joshua 6:1-21 (Monday)

Joshua 8:1-23 (Tuesday)

Isaiah 38:10-20 (Both Days)

Hebrews 11:29-12:2 (Monday)

Hebrews 12:3-13 (Tuesday)

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I twitter as if I were a swallow,

I moan like a dove.

My eyes are raised to heaven:

“Lord, pay heed; stand surety for me.”

–Isaiah 38:14, The Revised English Bible (1989)

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One principle of allegedly holy war in the Torah is to kill entire populations and to destroy all property–for the glory of God, not for one’s own gain.  This was the principle which Achan, a Hebrew warrior, violated when he claimed some souvenirs from Jericho, hence the trouble in Joshua 7.  That chapter tells us that the Israelites did not conquer Ai until they had executed Achan and his family (what had they done?) and burned the souvenirs.  The effect of these deeds, according to Joshua 7, was to nip the contagion of sin in the bud.

The author of Hebrews 11:29-12:13 seemed to have a mixed attitude toward violence in the name of God, for he glossed over the violence of the conquest of Canaan while condemning the violence of those who oppressed Jews and Christians.  That author invited his audience to follow the example of Christ in enduring trials.  We should, the author wrote, endure suffering for the sake of discipline–a nice tie-in to Isaiah 38, part of the story of King Hezekiah of Judah.  Nevertheless, discipline is not mass murder or the killing of innocent people who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I consider the example of Jesus and apply it to Joshua 6-8.  What would Jesus do?  Would he have impaled the King of Ai on a stake, as in Joshua 8:29?  Against which population would our Lord and Savior authorized genocide?

I am a realist.  Yes, some violence becomes necessary for positive purposes because some people have made it so.  Likewise, some violence becomes inevitable for the same reason.  Nevertheless, I suspect that most violence is both avoidable and needless.  It flows from sinful human nature, not the decrees of God, and many people seek to justify their sinful violence by dressing it up as righteousness.  May we–you, O reader, and I–prove to be innocent of that offense all our days.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JUNE 5, 2015 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT BONIFACE OF MAINZ, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP

THE FEAST OF ANDERS CHRISTENSEN ARREBO, “THE FATHER OF DANISH POETRY”

THE FEAST OF OLE T. (SANDEN) ARNESON, U.S. NORWEGIAN LUTHERAN HYMN TRANSLATOR

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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2015/06/06/jesus-and-genocide/

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Above:  Olive Trees, the Garden of Gethsemane, Jerusalem, Palestine, Ottoman Empire, Between 1900 and 1910

Image Source = Library of Congress

Reproduction Number = LC-DIG-ppmsca-13199

Active Faith

JUNE 5-7, 2023

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The Collect:

O God our rock, you offer us a covenant of mercy,

and you provide the foundation of our lives.

Ground us in your word, and strengthen our resolve to be your disciples,

through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.

—Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 38

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The Assigned Readings:

Joshua 8:30-35 (Monday)

Joshua 24:1-2, 11-28 (Tuesday)

Job 28:12-28 (Wednesday)

Psalm 52 (All Days)

Romans 2:1-11 (Monday)

Romans 3:9-22a (Tuesday)

Matthew 7:13-20 (Wednesday)

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Why do you glory in evil, you tyrant,

while the goodness of God endures continually?

–Psalm 52:1, Common Worship (2000)

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The rules of holy war in the Old Testament precluded any human gain. Thus holy warriors were supposed to kill, pillage, and destroy completely—in the name of God, of course.

I would lie if I were to deny that this does not disturb me.

Anyhow, the reading of the commandments in Joshua 8 follows the destruction of Ai and the hanging of the king of that city. I would lie if I were to pretend that this fact does not disturb me. Whom would Jesus hang?

At sunset they cut down the body on Joshua’s orders and flung it on the ground at the entrance of the city gate.

–Joshua 8:29b, The Revised English Bible

Whose body would Jesus order cut down then fling to the ground?

I do detect a repeated theme in the assigned readings for today, however. I might not detect the goodness of God in Joshua 8, but I read about it—along with judgment—in assigned texts for these days. One should never take a covenant with God lightly, I read. Nor should one be too quick to judge others, for God does not show favoritism, I also read. God, I read, fathoms the depths of wisdom and wants us to reject evil.

Faith, in Pauline theology, is both intellectual and active. (In contrast, faith, in the Letter of James, is merely intellectual, hence the text’s insistence on the necessity of faith and works for justification.) Active faith is that to which Paul, James, Jesus, and Joshua called people. So, to use our Lord and Savior’s metaphor, may we be good trees, bearing good fruit. And, taking Matthew 7:12 (the Golden Rule) into consideration, may we bear the good fruits of treating people properly.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MAY 10, 2014 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF THEODORE PARKER, ABOLITIONIST AND MAVERICK UNITARIAN PASTOR

THE FEAST OF SAINT ANTONY PIEROZZI, A.K.A. ANTONINUS OF FLORENCE, ROMAN CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP OF FLORENCE

THE FEAST OF JOHN GOSS, ANGLICAN CHURCH COMPOSER AND ORGANIST; AND WILLIAM MERCER, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND HYMN TRANSLATOR

THE FEAST OF NICOLAUS LUDWIG VON ZINZENDORF, RENEWER OF THE CHURCH

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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2014/05/28/active-faith/

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Above:  Joshua Burns the Town of Ai, by Gustave Dore

Image in the Public Domain

Joshua and Acts, Part V:  Traditions and Questions

JULY 3, 2023

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Blessed Lord, who caused all holy scriptures to be written for our learning:

Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,

that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life,

which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ;

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

–The Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 236

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The Assigned Readings:

Joshua 8:1-28

Psalm 65 (Morning)

Psalms 125 and 91 (Evening)

Acts 11:1-18

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I have heard professing Christians cite the conquest of Canaan, complete with the deaths of civilian populations, as if God had ordered it.  Have these coreligionists thought deeply about how that portrays God?  Or have they affirmed notions of biblical inerrancy and/or infallibility blindly?  Religious training has proven to be quite powerful, but so has rational thought.

I, as a Christian, identify Jesus as the standard.  How many thousands of men and women would he have ordered killed?  And how many kings would he have impaled?

Speaking of standards, the prohibition against eating with Gentiles was traditional.  So why was Peter violating it?  Inquiring minds wanted to know, and he had a good answer:  God had spoken to him.  The Holy Spirit brought, among other things, equality.

“Ai” means “the ruin.”  This fact leads me to think that “Ai” is a name which later generations applied to that city.  This becomes fodder for a metaphor:  We who claim the name of Jesus ought to leave the tribal warrior deity theology behind, in the past, like a ruin.  And we ought, like those who listened to Peter in Acts 11, be open to possibilities (in God) which we might not have considered otherwise because they reside outside our tradition.  This is easy for me to say, for I like exploring questions academically.  This tendency has gotten me into arguments with those who lacked this inclination.  Certain styles of religion prefer answers to questions or tend to reject most questions in favor of canned answers.  Those are unfortunate realities.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JULY 21, 2012 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF ALBERT JOHN LUTHULI, WITNESS FOR CIVIL RIGHTS IN SOUTH AFRICA

THE FEAST OF J. B. PHILLIPS, BIBLE TRANSLATOR AND ANGLICAN PRIEST

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http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2013/05/03/joshua-and-acts-part-v-traditions-and-questions/

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