Back at the beginning of Genesis, just before the account of the flood, we read that “the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence.” Then God said, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.”
God hates violence. That’s why he sent the flood — to get rid of it. I realize how contradictory this sounds: using violence to obliterate violence. We will encounter many more contradictions in this Essential 100 journey.
But he hates doing it. He hates the whole flood business, and promises never to do it again. The rainbow is a sign of that promise.
But the world quickly fills with violence again. People who are violent are unruly; they make a practice of crossing boundaries; they don’t accept limits on their passions, including their passion for revenge. For people whose M.O. is violence, “an eye for an eye” is too feeble a response to a perceived injustice. A head for an eye, or better two heads — that will teach them a lesson.
In this kind of violent world, it is either rule or be ruled. Alliances are fragile. Two nations sign a treaty either because neither is capable of besting the other, or because both are in danger of being overrun by a more formidable enemy.
That pretty much describes the world in which Israel was born. I’m not saying that’s all there was. Art, family life, music and religion are components of virtually every culture. But these too were tainted by immorality and violence. So we shouldn’t be surprised that the Jericho woman who protected and saved the two spies was a prostitute. She did what she had to do for a living, but she longed for a better life. And maybe she wondered if Israel’s God might offer it. She was willing to risk her own life for the outside possibility of something better, even it meant living among foreigners.
God’s plan to save the world involves setting up his people with their own land. There is only one way to do that — take land from people who themselves had taken land from other people, who had taken land from other people. God would no doubt just as soon avoid this sort of business. This isn’t something the Trinity does for fun. But God had told Abraham that he would see this thing through to the end. That he would create a nation that would eventually bless all the nations. And if this is what it takes, then this is what it takes.
So Yahweh comes down carrying a sword. At first Joshua is told by the stranger in front of him that he’s the commander of the army of the Lord. Joshua asks him what message the Lord has for him. Then the man tells Joshua to take off his sandals because he’s standing on holy ground — which is what the voice in the burning bush had told Moses. Then we read that it is the Lord himself who speaks to Joshua: “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men.”
We may wish that Yahweh would communicate some reluctance and regret regarding what’s about to happen. But the job of a leader — especially if you’re leading an army — is to show resolve, not reluctance. This isn’t the time to share your ambivalence. It’s time to inspire confidence in those who will have to do the fighting. After the passing of the mantle from Moses to Joshua, God had said to Joshua, “Be strong and courageous; do not be fearful or discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
God has chosen the way of story over the way of empire. He will not strongarm the nations into entering his kingdom. The fighting his people must do is on the most limited scale, but it must be done. Choosing the way of story over empire means that Yahweh must involve himself in what John Goldingay calls “the ambiguity of history.” Having chosen this path, God doesn’t do it half-way. Instead of sitting back or holding back, God commands and engages completely. In the end, this battle with violence and evil will cost his own life, the life of God the Son.
God expects and demands that Joshua and the Israelites also not hold back. They are given specific instructions. For six days there will be a liturgical procession around the walls of Jericho. This isn’t meant to pump the army up; it’s to get them into a religious mindset. This first city to be destroyed will be an offering to the Lord, a sort of “firstfruits” of the army’s labors as they begin their conquest of the promised land. They are to receive no personal benefit from their first battle. There will be no plundering, no booty. All is to be destroyed — everything and everyone, which paradoxically, makes the whole enterprise more possible and palatable.
People young and old, animals and possessions are all placed under “the ban.” The Hebrew word is haram. When something is placed under the ban it is to be completely destroyed. But ‘haram’ is a religious term rather than a military one. It’s basic meaning it “to be set aside solely for God.” Human life has value. It’s destruction is not just a means to an end. This is to be a sacrifice, and no Israelite soldier is to benefit from it. All is to be given to the Lord.
What will God do with it? What lies on the other side of death for the victims of this holocaust? A verse in Deuteronomy comes to mind: “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the revealed things belong to us and our children forever” (29:29).
There are other more practical reasons for the application of the ban. It’s critical for the success of the mission that Israel retain its distinctness from the rest of the nations. They must be holy, “separate.” They must be “banned” from worshiping other gods and adopting cultural practices that are invariably linked to the worship of these gods. (That’s why Christians in the first century couldn’t participate in most civic activities and festivals: almost all civic activity was also religious activity.)
It takes a story to get to where we’re going. There are no short-cuts, not even for God. He involves himself in this miserable business and makes it holy, just as he did with the cross.
There is a lesson in all this for me, one I’ve been pondering a lot the last few weeks. If I am a God-follower, I too must be willing to enter wholeheartedly into the “ambiguity” of history; the history of the world, the history of the church, the history of this church, the history of each person in this church. A part of me wants to stay distant enough to hold on to my sanctity and my sanity: I want to feel clean and I want to have things figured out.
What this means is that I’ve misunderstood what true sanctity, true holiness is. True holiness take up its cross. It throws itself into the fray, the mess. True sanity embraces mystery.
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.” Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?… Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
I Corinthians 1:20-24
We’re a quarter of the way through. Good work.
Seeds 
Just before starting the E100 I watched a show called Banned from the Bible, various early writings deemed not divinely inspired. The scholars talked a lot about the “back story”, trying to show relationships between people and events in the Bible and the other writings. Some of the segments were intriguing.
One from this reading strikes me as odd. Certainly the story is about the fall of Jericho but according to my Bible’s notes Rahab married Salmon of the tribe of Judah and thus became the great-great-grandmother of David (from Matthew 1:5). David would not have existed but for the actions and subsequent saving of Rahab (assuming it’s the same person). Is her importance ignored because of her occupation? her sex? A reference to it would have fit in Joshua 6:25. I like how our main stories comprise so many smaller interwoven ones.
E100challenge.com has a wall you can post your name to. I liked looking through it. It would have been nice if they had posted the church affiliations and their locations.
Not to get us ahead of ourselves but I was wondering tonight what I’m going to do after the next 75 days pass. I thought the prayer tent would be hard to top. I’ve found I really like this routine.