Joshua 6--- So what's the deal with God saying that He has given someone into Joshua's hand, and why do they have to kill them? Why can't they all just get along?
It is actually the next part that I think is really amazing. It is one thing to be told BY God that you are supposed to walk around a city, but it is quite another for Joshua to come out and convince them that they are supposed to do that. I can see Joshua now coming up to the priests and saying, "So I know I just got this job and all, but here's what i was told we should do... walk around the city once for seven days, then 7 times on the seventh day and the walls will just fall down, what do you think?" I'm not buying it.
General knowledge question:
Which way did the walls crumble, out/ in/ or straight down in both directions?
Did they kill women and children?
Did God tell them to do that?
Are you OK with that thought?
I'm fully impressed with Joshua. He's another one of those guys that you can't find anything that he did wrong, only a whole book of him following God, even to the last chapter when he says, "choose you this day whom ye will serve... but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."
Hm, yeah, following God is not for pansies...in this story, following God is more for warriors. I guess the things I've heard about the total destruction of Jericho and other towns in Canaan was that God had been trying to work with them, but they were getting more and more depraved. Even women and children can be evil...or children can grow up in the ways they were raised. It's still not a very comfortable thought for us living in peaceful America, where the wars are always far from our doorstep. I think we'll all (God most of all) be really glad when all sin has been dealt with and we can live without war and death for eternity. Til then, I guess we have to trust how God has to manage it at times...
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think Joshua is one of the best leaders in a really difficult time. I mean, Moses was too, but Joshua had to fight a bunch of battles and help people settle squabbles over the land. Moses had the first 80 years of his life to settle down. Joshua never got that. He wandered around in the desert for the first part of his life, then wandered around Canaan conquering it for the rest of his life. I'm sure God probably gave him the right personality for it, and obviously equipped him well.