Joshua: DH Part One

If you've been reading my blog entries (and I'm not kidding myself that more than one or two or you actually are) you may be waiting for me to say one of the books of the Bible is NOT one of my favorites. Well, here I go: Joshua is not a fave.

One thing I kind of like about Joshua is that it's the first (possibly second) book in what they call the Deuteronomistic History, or DH. That is, it is the first part of the ongoing narrative about the Chosen People and how they increasingly wandered from their original covenant relationship with God. The narrative winds up at the end of 2 Kings with the destruction of Israel, the Exile, and only a promise of the Restoration. So, it's interesting to read Joshua while observing the hints of the future downfall.

There are a couple of great stories: Joshua and the Battle of Jericho (when the walls came tumblin' down); the destruction of Achan, after he sneaked some plunder that should have been destroyed; the sun standing still while the Israelites fought the battle at Gibeon.

But a lot of it is about the division of the land among the tribes. Yawn. Sorry.

I do have to say, however, that this was the first time I paid much attention to those passages that describe the boundaries and cities of the territories. I guess our Sunday school class study of 1 and 2 Samuel has made me more sensitive to some of those locations because of the way David and Saul maneuvered throughout the territory. This just goes to show that the more one studies the Bible, the more interesting it becomes. Right, Gentle Reader? Are you finding that true for yourself?

The best verse in Joshua is the famous 24:14-15. It's part of Joshua's farewell speech and charge to the people: "Now fear the LORD and serve Him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River [that is, back on the other side of the Euphrates in Abraham's day] and in Egypt and serve the LORD. But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."

Gives me chills; wish I could have been there for that speech.

One thing I like about that passage is that it really emphasizes the part that choice and decision have in people's faith. Religion, any flavor, requires some kind of leap of faith. Religious tenets are difficult to believe because they typically defy rationality and empirical evidence. For Jews, it would have been a leap of faith to believe in one invisible God, or that sacrificing a bull would be pleasing to Him. For Christians, it takes a leap of faith to believe that a man could be born of the Holy Spirit, change water into wine, walk on water, etc., etc., and rise from the dead. Those things just don't happen in our normal experience. Believing they did happen in the person of Jesus Christ--God Incarnate, if you please--is ipso facto faith.

I think there's kind of a qualitative difference, too, in what Joshua instructed his people--to choose which god they would serve--versus the teaching of Jesus: "He who believes in me will not perish." In one way, Joshua called his people to serve through a deeds-oriented religion calling for obedience and tangible sacrifice. Christianity, however, is in some ways more of a faith-oriented religion that depends on the law "written on their hearts" (Jeremiah 31:33). But let me not push that distinction too far. I think that what God really wanted from the ancient Jews--as well as from modern-day Jews, Christians, and anyone else--is wholehearted devotion and surrendered faith as demonstrated by moral living and compassion for other people.