Engaging the Conquest Narrative

“My interpretation can only be as inerrant as I am, and that's good to keep in mind.” ~ Rachel Held Evans

“The Bible is a supernatural book and can only be understood by supernatural aid.” ~ A.W. Tozer

“Theologians and other clerks,
You won't understand this book,
-- However bright your wits --
If you do not meet it humbly,
And in this way, Love and Faith
Make you surmount Reason, for
They are the protectors of Reason's house. ” ~ Marguerite Porete

“All worthy work is open to interpretations the author did not intend. Art isn't your pet – it's your kid. It grows up and talks back to you.” ~ Joss Whedon

Scripture as a preservation of humanity's journey with God – a window into ancient perception.
1. Recording the ways in which people have organized their thoughts and perspectives on God.
  1. Evident in the agreements as well as the disagreements preserved in the text.
  2. We can trace the development of a never-quite-cohesive understanding of God throughout the scriptural narrative.
  3. The action of scripture to generate new things and the reactions that transform those things.
2. Serving as meta-myth and cultural cornerstone for a social identity.
  1. Evident in the development of covenant and law.
  2. Evident in the etiological narratives: this is our origin story.
  3. Evident in the polemical aspects of the text when held in context to the surrounding nations.
3. Preserving genuine interactions between individuals and God.
  1. We see a cohesive “Golden Thread” across each interaction with God.
  2. We see genuine differences – some of them quite blatant – between the perceptions of different characters as they interact with the same God.
  3. A multitude of different reactions reflecting personality and context that mirror our own “filters on reality”.
Scripture as a preservation of God's journey with humanity – a window into the simultaneously progressive and patient nature of God.
1. Containing radically progressive ideas even in the midst of ancient – and outright evil – cultural norms.
  1. Women taken as spoils of war are required to be given rights as wives (not raped and killed or enslaved as usual).
  2. Sacrifices are permitted but are severely limited (no pay-to-win with God).
    1. Also, no sacrifices of worship involve animal slaughter or blood in any way.
  3. While the bloodlust in the Canaanite Conquest is par for the course in ANE, the restraint and the pursuit of peace commanded elsewhere are unheard of.
  4. Abraham doesn't kill Isaac, which is really weird!
2. Containing contradictions that consistently point towards Jesus on the cross.
  1. The sacrifices on Yom Kippur absolve all the people of their sins, but we see that God takes no pleasure and has no need of the blood of bulls and goats (specifically the sacrifices of Yom Kippur).
    1. Were the sacrifices for us the whole time?!?
    2. Yeah, that's why God is pleased to receive them in the desert but hates them by Isaiah's day.
    3. It's almost like they were a symbol of something else that was impossible for the people to see yet...
      1. Jesus, they pointed to Jesus.
  2. God looks like He's “team Israel” from Exodus through Kings and then tells Amos that He's also on team Philistine and Aramean!
    
    ""Are you not as the sons of Ethiopia to Me, O sons of Israel?" declares the LORD. "Have I not brought up Israel from the land of Egypt, And the Philistines from Caphtor and the Arameans from Kir?" - Amos 9:7
    1. He reiterates this throughout the other prophets.
    2. We see examples of other people of faith in tiny little vignettes who don't belong to Israel.
    3. Numbers 15 says that anyone following YHVH is to be considered a part of Israel.
    4. It's almost like it was never about national or ethnic divisions but there was a God who was calling out to all people...
      1. Jesus, it's exactly like Jesus.
  3. God's people keep calling Him the ultimate warrior who has vengeance on His enemies, but He keeps showing mercy and even supporting other nations (who even take His people captive)!
    1. God promises to make Abram a mighty nation and then leaves him weak and wandering – but influential – in the desert.
    2. God promises to empower His people to lead the nations and they try to conquer everyone and build a kingdom which ends up leading them to exile (where they are spread to the nations).
    3. It's almost like they keep taking God's ideas and trying to fit them into their own box, but God keeps on doing His thing in spite of them.
      1. Jesus, exactly like the “Messiahship” of Jesus.
Scripture as a “sandbox of redemption”.
1. This contrast, contradiction, tension, and wrestling we see throughout the scriptures points to a reality where God collaborates with people instead of lording over them.
  1. Resulting in catastrophically wrong images and ideas about God.
  2. Resulting in constant meanderings, wanderings, and half-fulfilled promises.
  3. Resulting in constant joys and triumphs as well as setbacks and humiliations.
  4. Which none of us have to deal with ever because... oh, wait...
    1. Yeah, we're still working this whole thing out.
Stepping into the Conquest Narrative.
1. The battle of Jericho
  
  "Now Jericho was tightly shut because of the sons of Israel; no one went out and no one came in. The LORD said to Joshua, "See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and the valiant warriors. "You shall march around the city, all the men of war circling the city once. You shall do so for six days. "Also seven priests shall carry seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark; then on the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. "It shall be that when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people will go up every man straight ahead." So Joshua the son of Nun called the priests and said to them, "Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests carry seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of the LORD." Then he said to the people, "Go forward, and march around the city, and let the armed men go on before the ark of the LORD." And it was so, that when Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets of rams' horns before the LORD went forward and blew the trumpets; and the ark of the covenant of the LORD followed them. The armed men went before the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard came after the ark, while they continued to blow the trumpets. But Joshua commanded the people, saying, "You shall not shout nor let your voice be heard nor let a word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I tell you, 'Shout!' Then you shall shout!" So he had the ark of the LORD taken around the city, circling it once; then they came into the camp and spent the night in the camp. Now Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the LORD. The seven priests carrying the seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of the LORD went on continually, and blew the trumpets; and the armed men went before them and the rear guard came after the ark of the LORD, while they continued to blow the trumpets. Thus the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp; they did so for six days. Then on the seventh day they rose early at the dawning of the day and marched around the city in the same manner seven times; only on that day they marched around the city seven times. At the seventh time, when the priests blew the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, "Shout! For the LORD has given you the city. "The city shall be under the ban, it and all that is in it belongs to the LORD; only Rahab the harlot and all who are with her in the house shall live, because she hid the messengers whom we sent. "But as for you, only keep yourselves from the things under the ban, so that you do not covet them and take some of the things under the ban, and make the camp of Israel accursed and bring trouble on it. "But all the silver and gold and articles of bronze and iron are holy to the LORD; they shall go into the treasury of the LORD." So the people shouted, and priests blew the trumpets; and when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted with a great shout and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight ahead, and they took the city. They utterly destroyed everything in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox and sheep and donkey, with the edge of the sword. Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, "Go into the harlot's house and bring the woman and all she has out of there, as you have sworn to her." So the young men who were spies went in and brought out Rahab and her father and her mother and her brothers and all she had; they also brought out all her relatives and placed them outside the camp of Israel. They burned the city with fire, and all that was in it. Only the silver and gold, and articles of bronze and iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the LORD. However, Rahab the harlot and her father's household and all she had, Joshua spared; and she has lived in the midst of Israel to this day, for she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho. Then Joshua made them take an oath at that time, saying, "Cursed before the LORD is the man who rises up and builds this city Jericho; with the loss of his firstborn he shall lay its foundation, and with the loss of his youngest son he shall set up its gates." So the LORD was with Joshua, and his fame was in all the land." - Joshua 6:1-27

1. The battle of Ai
  
  "But the sons of Israel acted unfaithfully in regard to the things under the ban, for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, from the tribe of Judah, took some of the things under the ban, therefore the anger of the LORD burned against the sons of Israel. Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth-aven, east of Bethel, and said to them, "Go up and spy out the land." So the men went up and spied out Ai. They returned to Joshua and said to him, "Do not let all the people go up; only about two or three thousand men need go up to Ai; do not make all the people toil up there, for they are few." So about three thousand men from the people went up there, but they fled from the men of Ai. The men of Ai struck down about thirty-six of their men, and pursued them from the gate as far as Shebarim and struck them down on the descent, so the hearts of the people melted and became as water. Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the LORD until the evening, both he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads. Joshua said, "Alas, O Lord GOD, why did You ever bring this people over the Jordan, only to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? If only we had been willing to dwell beyond the Jordan! "O Lord, what can I say since Israel has turned their back before their enemies? "For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it, and they will surround us and cut off our name from the earth. And what will You do for Your great name?" So the LORD said to Joshua, "Rise up! Why is it that you have fallen on your face? "Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. And they have even taken some of the things under the ban and have both stolen and deceived. Moreover, they have also put them among their own things. "Therefore the sons of Israel cannot stand before their enemies; they turn their backs before their enemies, for they have become accursed. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy the things under the ban from your midst. "Rise up! Consecrate the people and say, 'Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, for thus the LORD, the God of Israel, has said, "There are things under the ban in your midst, O Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you have removed the things under the ban from your midst." 'In the morning then you shall come near by your tribes. And it shall be that the tribe which the LORD takes by lot shall come near by families, and the family which the LORD takes shall come near by households, and the household which the LORD takes shall come near man by man. 'It shall be that the one who is taken with the things under the ban shall be burned with fire, he and all that belongs to him, because he has transgressed the covenant of the LORD, and because he has committed a disgraceful thing in Israel.'" So Joshua arose early in the morning and brought Israel near by tribes, and the tribe of Judah was taken. He brought the family of Judah near, and he took the family of the Zerahites; and he brought the family of the Zerahites near man by man, and Zabdi was taken. He brought his household near man by man; and Achan, son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, from the tribe of Judah, was taken. Then Joshua said to Achan, "My son, I implore you, give glory to the LORD, the God of Israel, and give praise to Him; and tell me now what you have done. Do not hide it from me." So Achan answered Joshua and said, "Truly, I have sinned against the LORD, the God of Israel, and this is what I did: when I saw among the spoil a beautiful mantle from Shinar and two hundred shekels of silver and a bar of gold fifty shekels in weight, then I coveted them and took them; and behold, they are concealed in the earth inside my tent with the silver underneath it." So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and behold, it was concealed in his tent with the silver underneath it. They took them from inside the tent and brought them to Joshua and to all the sons of Israel, and they poured them out before the LORD. Then Joshua and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, the silver, the mantle, the bar of gold, his sons, his daughters, his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent and all that belonged to him; and they brought them up to the valley of Achor. Joshua said, "Why have you troubled us? The LORD will trouble you this day." And all Israel stoned them with stones; and they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones. They raised over him a great heap of stones that stands to this day, and the LORD turned from the fierceness of His anger. Therefore the name of that place has been called the valley of Achor to this day." - Joshua 7:1-26

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