Today's readings: Psalm 25, Joshua 2:1-14, Romans 11:1-12, Matthew 25:1-13
The book of Joshua can truly jar our Christian sensibilities. Full of slaughter committed in the name of holy war, it frequently refers to kherem, a Hebrew word meaning “devote to destruction” or “utterly destroy.” Try as we might, can we imagine Jesus commanding a group of Christians to annihilate not just one town but several down to the last woman, child, goat and shed? However we struggle with and maybe resist such ideas, grappling with them helps us grow in our understanding of human and divine nature. Over the next few days, let’s consider a few examples of this ancient text that clash with our modern sensibility.
When I was a kid, I watched Star Trek reruns every Saturday. I especially loved episodes that introduced new alien races. As I grew older, I noticed a disturbing trend. Each race seemed pretty homogenous, with universal values, opinions and attitudes. When we did meet aliens who were exceptions to their races, what set them apart was almost always an embrace of familiar human values. Despite the intentional diversity given to the Enterprise crew by its creative team, the human tendency to stereotype the unfamiliar and value the familiar emerged.
When Joshua’s spies encounter Rahab in today’s reading, she is the exceptional alien. When she protects them – that is, when she embraces their values – she becomes sympathetic, so she and her family will be spared from the coming destruction. Even though she explicitly tells the spies there are other Canaanites who share her beliefs, those people are not even considered for mercy. If Joshua or his people had come to know other Canaanites as they had Rahab, how eager would they have been to embrace kherem? How does the narrative in Joshua compare with God’s earlier instruction in Exodus 22:21 – “Do not mistreat an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in Egypt?”
Clearly genocide is not an acceptable notion for modern Christians or Jews. When reading Joshua, we must account for cultural context and seek out the theological themes underlying the story itself. Our reaction to its violence is an opportunity to reflect on how God wants us to relate to the alien today.
When I was a kid, I watched Star Trek reruns every Saturday. I especially loved episodes that introduced new alien races. As I grew older, I noticed a disturbing trend. Each race seemed pretty homogenous, with universal values, opinions and attitudes. When we did meet aliens who were exceptions to their races, what set them apart was almost always an embrace of familiar human values. Despite the intentional diversity given to the Enterprise crew by its creative team, the human tendency to stereotype the unfamiliar and value the familiar emerged.
When Joshua’s spies encounter Rahab in today’s reading, she is the exceptional alien. When she protects them – that is, when she embraces their values – she becomes sympathetic, so she and her family will be spared from the coming destruction. Even though she explicitly tells the spies there are other Canaanites who share her beliefs, those people are not even considered for mercy. If Joshua or his people had come to know other Canaanites as they had Rahab, how eager would they have been to embrace kherem? How does the narrative in Joshua compare with God’s earlier instruction in Exodus 22:21 – “Do not mistreat an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in Egypt?”
Clearly genocide is not an acceptable notion for modern Christians or Jews. When reading Joshua, we must account for cultural context and seek out the theological themes underlying the story itself. Our reaction to its violence is an opportunity to reflect on how God wants us to relate to the alien today.
Comfort: No one is an alien to God.
Challenge: Who is your Rahab? On a bookmark-sized piece of paper, make a list of people who have defied your cultural preconceptions. Use it to mark your place as we work through the book of Joshua over the next couple weeks
Prayer: God of the Known and Unkown, temper my judgments and cultivate my mercy.
Evening readings: Psalms 9 and 15
Your Star Trek analogy is terrific! I never thought about the aliens' homogeneity before. I also appreciate the point that it's harder to stereotype once we know a group member personally. The Bible is full of psychological wisdom when we look for it, don't you think?
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