There has been a significant amount of killing in the last few chapters. It’s not clear how long it’s been but Joshua is now an old man. The work of driving the people out of the land is still not done, but God is confirming his covenant with his people and allotting the necessary land plots to the tribes. I’m trying to put myself in the place of these people. They have never been that obedient so I can’t really give them a “holier than thou” label, so what must they be like as a result of all this killing. I mean to constantly kill people, women and children. I couldn’t do it…even in their situation…I’d be a blubbering pile of waste. It’s a time, culture and setting I just can’t relate to and as a result of my limitations, I’m sure I miss a lot of what God is trying to teach through all of this. I have an aversion to these chapters and I just try to get through them as I read. Maybe you have some deeper thoughts!
Posts
I can't relate to the killings either (I also have an aversion to killing). I wonder if this is about how hard obedience can be, it feels like we are killing something, like my own willful attitude. I sure would like obedience to be easier. It is confusion to think what did these people learn about God as they were killing, I know that God provided them victory, but we worry about our children becoming violent watching video games, so what was the impact on these "stiff necked people."
ReplyDelete