Day 6
I loved this book. I really did. It has everything you’d want from an epic myth: war, shifty bargaining, deities throwing rocks, deep longing, and real estate. Joshua was the culmination of so much waiting and wandering from the Torah, I certainly felt a sense of satisfaction in the Israelites finally conquering their promised land. If I found myself remembering that all of this war and savagery was commanded by a deity, it took me out of the story. Here is where the clearest shift happened from Jehovah being a local deity to being Almighty. And that is hard to wrestle with. Is Judaism and Christianity founded in deity-instigated war? Or is this still a story of struggle and i’m just wishing for details that aren’t available to me?
Joshua has some powerful images and, even when there was a giant pause in action to list real estate transactions between God and the Israelites, it truly felt like crossing over into a new realm, a promised land. In the context of justice, I can make peace with the warfare. The executions of of the 31 kings and destruction of 31 nations makes sense when I remember the slow and difficult battles I’ve been a part of, even today. When we organized marches through Wrigleyville in the early 00s for LGBTQ equality, there we were circling Jericho waiting for the walls of the city to fall. Marriage equality was a won battle, but more remains. When the Poor People’s Campaign took over the office of former Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin and he finally met with us, there we were meeting with Gibeon — parleying with a neighboring enemy. And in the midst of that, normal life and mundane details had to unfold, just as they did in Joshua with the divvying up of land.
Reading this book with a relatable lens made it a joy. I struggle with the Israelite God being a deity of war, commanding destruction and executions, but why should I fall into the trap of treating this text literally?
One Word for Joshua: Culmination
Parts of the Story That Stayed With Me
- Josh 3, Splitting the River Jordan. Moses gets all of the fame and glory for dividing the Red Sea, but Joshua had his moment. The way the story plays out, the river was split for days while the Israelites figured out what to do next. A striking image is of the priests carrying the ark and halting in the middle of the river until everyone had crossed over.
- Josh 6, Circle Round. Everyone knows or at least has heard of the Israelites circling Jericho seven times, right? The culmination of which was the collapse of the city’s walls. Maybe Joshua tugs at some sort of Indiana Jones heartstrings for me, but the image of the ark being carried in grand procession and leading to victory is pretty great.
- Josh 10, God Gets His Hands Dirty & The Book of Jasher. Yeah, God was throwing boulders in this chapter. Go look it up. He smashed the soldiers of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon real good. The story ends with the glory being given to God instead of the Israelites, but y’know, jealous deity and all. This chapter also is one of a few mentions of the lost Book of Jasher. Maybe it’s metaphorical, maybe it really is lost. But there it is.
- Josh 13-20, Real Estate Listings & Refuge. If you love house hunters, you’ll probably love these chapters. I skimmed them as they have a familiar formula. This tribe got this tract of land because of this, and so on and so forth. The interesting part is how the Levites were given cities and farms despite us being reminded constantly that their lot was their service as priests. Those cities just happened to be the “refuge cities” designated by the Israelites, for those convicted of crimes to live safely until their day in court.
This post is part of a lager series where I read the entirety of Hebrew & Christian scriptures in 45 days. Take a look a the original post for more info, as well as links to other reflections on this journey.