Joshua and Judges

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Joshua and Judges

• There was no king in Israel at that time.
  Everyone did whatever they pleased (Judges 2125
  GN)

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Gentle Jesus and his violent Bible(Alden
Thompson Good News Tour 2006)

• The punishment of Achan
• Joshua and the sun
• Samson
• All the killing
• Samuel to Saul Go and attack the Amalekites and
  completely destroy everything they have. Dont
  leave a thing kill all the men, women, children,
  and babies the cattle, sheep, camels, and
  donkeys (1 Samuel 153 GN)
• Why would Jesus appear to support his children by
  violent methods?

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Gentle Jesus and his violent Bible

• Was it Gods plan that they fight their way in?
• Dont be afraid of them, for the LORD your God
  will fight for you (Deuteronomy 322 GN)
• I will send an angel ahead of you to protect you
  as you travel and to bring you to the place which
  I have prepared (Exodus 2320 GN)
• For my angel will go before you, and bring you in
  to the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites,
  the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites,
  and I will cut them off. (Exodus 2323 NET
  Bible)
• If you say in your heart, These nations are
  greater than I how can I dispossess them? You
  shall not be afraid of them, but you shall
  remember what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh
  and to all Egypt, the great trials which your
  eyes saw, the signs, the wonders, the mighty
  hand, and the outstretched arm, by which the LORD
  your God brought you out so will the LORD your
  God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid.
  Moreover the LORD your God will send hornets
  among them, until those who are left and hide
  themselves from you are destroyed. You shall not
  be in dread of them for the LORD your God is in
  the midst of you, a great and terrible God. The
  LORD your God will clear away these nations
  before you little by little you may not make an
  end of them at once, lest the wild beasts grow
  too numerous for you. But the LORD your God will
  give them over to you, and throw them into great
  confusion, until they are destroyed (Deuteronomy
  717-23, RSV).

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Gentle Jesus and his violent Bible

• As you advanced, I threw them into panic in
  order to drive out the two Amorite kings. Your
  swords and bows had nothing to do with it
  (Joshua 2412).
• If they would trust him, God could take care of
  them, no matter how desperate the circumstances
• Be determined and confident, and dont be afraid
  of the Assyrian emperor or of the army he is
  leading. We have more power on our side than he
  has on his. He has human power, but we have the
  LORD our God to help us and to fight our battles
  (2 Chronicles 327,8 GN)
• That night an angel of the LORD went to the
  Assyrian camp and killed 185,000 soldiers. At
  dawn the next day there they lay, all dead! (2
  Kings 1935 GN)
• Is this any better?
• God didnt want his people to do the killing

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Gentle Jesus and his violent Bible

• Why must they enter a land full of an evil
  people?
• In the fourth generation they will come back
  here, for until then the iniquity of the Amorites
  will not have reached its full extent (Genesis
  1516 New Jerusalem Bible)
• Do not say to yourselves that he brought you in
  to possess this land because you deserved it. No,
  the LORD is going to drive these people out for
  you because they are wicked. It is not because
  you are good and do what is right that the LORD
  is letting you take their land. He will drive
  them out because they are wicked and because he
  intends to keep the promise that he made to your
  ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You can be
  sure that the LORD is not giving you this fertile
  land because you deserve it. No, you are a
  stubborn people. (Deuteronomy 94-6 GN)

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Gentle Jesus and his violent Bible

• What do we know about the Canaanites?
• Fertility cult worship
• Temple prostitutes
• Human sacrifice
• Baal

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Gentle Jesus and his violent Bible

• Would it have been helpful for God to remove
  every obstacle and only bless them with health
  and wealth?
• This nation has broken the covenant that I
  commanded their ancestors to keep. Because they
  have not obeyed me, I will no longer drive out
  any of the nations that were still in the land
  when Joshua died. I will use them to find out
  whether or not theses Israelites will follow my
  ways, as their ancestors did. So the LORD allowed
  these nations to remain in the land he did not
  give Joshua victory over them, nor did he drive
  them out soon after Joshuas death (Judges
  220-23 GN)

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Gentle Jesus and his violent Bible

• They chose to intermingle with the other nations
  and to worship their gods, resulting in
  disastrous consequences. Their history was a
  cycle of worshiping the foreign gods, being
  dominated by these foreign nations, and then
  having to fight for independence.
• I took you out of Egypt and brought you to the
  land that I promised to your ancestors. I said,
  I will never break my covenant with you. You
  must not make any covenant with the people who
  live in this land. You must tear down their
  altars. But you have not done what I told you.
  You have done just the opposite! So I tell you
  now that I will not drive these people out as you
  advance. They will be your enemies, and you will
  be trapped by the worship of their gods (Judges
  21-3)

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Gentle Jesus and his violent Bible

• How did God feel about the fighting?
• David could not build the temple he has
  forbidden me to do it, because I am a soldier and
  have shed too much blood (1 Chronicles 283
  GN)
• Come and see what the LORD has done. See what
  amazing things he has done on earth. He stops
  wars all over the world he breaks bows, destroys
  spears, and sets shields on fire. Stop
  fighting, he says, and know that I am God,
  supreme among the nations, supreme over the
  world. (Psalms 468-10 GN)

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Gentle Jesus and his violent Bible

• Why so severe in wiping them out totally?
• When the LORD your God places these people in
  your power and you defeat them, you must put them
  all to death. Do not make an alliance with them
  or show them any mercy. Do not marry any of them,
  and do not let your children marry any of them,
  because then they would lead your children away
  from the LORD to worship other godsDestroy every
  nation that the LORD your God places in your
  power, and do not show them any mercy. Do not
  worship their gods, for that would be fatal
  (Deuteronomy 72-4,16).

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Gentle Jesus and his violent Bible

• King Solomon
• He married them even though the LORD had
  commanded the Israelites not to intermarry with
  these people, because they would cause the
  Israelites to give their loyalty to other godsby
  the time he was old they had led him into the
  worship of foreign godsOn the mountain east of
  Jerusalem he built a place to worship Chemosh,
  the disgusting god of Moab, and a place to
  worship Molech, the disgusting god of Ammon (1
  Kings 112,4,7 GN).
• Rehoboam
• Whos mother was Naamah from Ammon (1 Kings
  1421 GN)
• Things deteriorated
• So he sent some messengers to consult Baalzebub,
  the god of the Philistine city of Ekron, in order
  to find out whether or not he would recover (2
  Kings 12 GN)

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Gentle Jesus and his violent Bible

• King Manasseh
• He built pagan altars in the Templehe built
  altars for the worship of the stars. He
  sacrificed his son as a burnt offering. He
  practiced divination and magic and consulted
  fortunetellers and mediums. He sinned greatly
  against the LORD and stirred up his anger. He
  placed the symbol of the goddess Asherah in the
  TempleManasseh led them to commit even greater
  sins than those committed by the nations whom the
  LORD had driven out of the land as his people
  advancedManasseh killed so many innocent people
  that the streets of Jerusalem were flowing with
  blood he did this in addition to leading the
  people of Judah into idolatry, causing them to
  sin against the LORD (2 Kings 214-7,9,16 GN)
• How does God deal with a violent man like this?
• He allowed the natural consequences to occur, and
  Manasseh was captured by the Assyrians
• In his suffering he became humble, turned to the
  LORD his God, and begged him for help. God
  accepted Manassehs prayer and answered it by
  letting him go back to Jerusalem and rule again.
  This convinced Manasseh that the LORD was God (2
  Chronicles 3312,13).

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Gentle Jesus and his violent Bible

• Are the people at this time in the dark or in the
  light?
• What was their sense of justice at that time?
• Whoever questions your authority or disobeys any
  of your orders will be put to death (Joshua 118
  GN)
• Corporate aspect
• What would it do to you if you killed in war on a
  frequent basis?
• Sensitive, gentle, kind and humble?
• Would these people respond to love your enemy,
  blessed are the meek, forgive 70 times 7
  language?
• Would they respond to a merciful/forgiving
  treatment of Achan?
• God stoops God risked his reputation to meet his
  people where they were
• He helped them fight, he helped them do a great
  many things that were less than the ideal
• Can God at least lead them to trust him?
• Can he lead them from the darkness to the light?
• Eye for an eye.cities of refuge..Jesus

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We are in the light.right?

• And if one of the occupation troops forces you
  to carry his pack one mile, carry it two miles.
  (Matthew 541 GN)
• But I tell you who hear me Love your enemies,
  do good to those who hate you, bless those who
  curse you, and pray for those who mistreat you.
• If anyone hits you on one cheek, let him hit the
  other one too
• if someone takes your coat, let him have your
  shirt as well.
• Give to everyone who asks you for something, and
  when someone takes what is yours, do not ask for
  it back.
• Do for others just what you want them to do for
  you.
• Love your enemies and do good to them

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We are in the lightright?

• Lend and expect nothing back.
• Do not judge others.
• do not condemn others.
• forgive others (Luke 627-37 GN)

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Joshuas final sermon

• Now then, Joshua continued, honor the LORD and
  serve him sincerely and faithfully. Get rid of
  the gods which your ancestors used to worship in
  Mesopotamia and in Egypt, and serve only the
  LORD. If you are not willing to serve him, decide
  today whom you will serve, the gods your
  ancestors worshiped in Mesopotamia or the gods of
  the Amorites, in whose land you are now living.
  As for my family and me, we will serve the LORD.
  The people replied, We would never leave the
  LORD to serve other gods! (Joshua 2414-16
  GN)
• Does God ever demand forced submission?
• I, the LORD, invite you to come and talk it
  over (Isaiah 118, CEV)

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Judges

• The darkest time recorded
• The LORDs servant Joshua son of Nun died at the
  age of a hundred and ten...That whole generation
  also died, and the next generation forgot the
  LORD and what he had done for Israel. (Judges
  28-10 GN)

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Judges

• Whenever the LORD gave Israel a leader, the LORD
  would help that leader and would save the people
  from their enemies as long as that leader lived.
  The LORD would have mercy on them because they
  groaned under their suffering and oppression. But
  when the leader died, the people would return to
  the old ways and behave worse than the previous
  generation. They would serve and worship other
  gods, and stubbornly continue their own evil
  ways. Then the LORD would become furious with
  Israel and say, This nation has broken the
  covenant that I commanded their ancestors to
  keep. Because they have not obeyed me, I will no
  longer drive out any of the nations that were
  still in the land when Joshua died. I will use
  them to find out whether or not these Israelites
  will follow my ways, as their ancestors did. So
  the LORD allowed these nations to remain in the
  land he did not give Joshua victory over them,
  nor did he drive them out soon after Joshua's
  death. (Judges 218-23 GN)

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Judges

• So then, the LORD left some nations in the land
  to test the Israelites who had not been through
  the wars in Canaan. He did this only in order to
  teach each generation of Israelites about war,
  especially those who had never been in battle
  before...They were to be a test for Israel, to
  find out whether or not the Israelites would obey
  the commands that the LORD had given their
  ancestors through Moses. And so the people of
  Israel settled down among the Canaanites, the
  Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the
  Hivites, and the Jebusites. They intermarried
  with them and worshiped their gods. (Judges
  31-6 GN)

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The judges

• Ehud killed fat king Eglon of Moab
• After Ehud died, the people of Israel sinned
  against the LORD again. So the LORD let them be
  conquered by Jabin, a Canaanite king who ruled in
  the city of Hazor. The commander of his army was
  Sisera (Judges 41,2 GN)
• Deborah Sisera killed by Jael with a tent peg
  and hammer
• Song of Deborah So may all your enemies die
  like that, O LORD, but may your friends shine
  like the rising sun! And there was peace in the
  land for forty years (Judges 531 GN)
• Does God want all his enemies to die like Sisera?
  

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The judges

• Gideon
• Once again the people of Israel sinned against
  the LORD, so he let the people of Midian rule
  them for seven years. The Midianites were
  stronger than Israel, and the people of Israel
  his from them in caves and other safe places in
  the hills (Judges 61,2 GN)
• Then the LORDs angel came to the village of
  Ophrah and sat under the oak tree that belonged
  to JoashHis son Gideon was threshing some wheat
  secretly in a wine press, so that the Midianites
  would not see him. The LORDs angel appeared to
  him there and said, The LORD is with you, brave
  and mighty man! Gideon said to him, If I may
  ask, sir, why has all this happened to us if the
  LORD is with us? What happened to all the
  wonderful things that our fathers told us the
  LORD used to do---how he brought them out of
  Egypt? The LORD has abandoned us and left us to
  the mercy of the Midianites.
• Can you say that to God?
• Abraham, Moses, Job, David, Jeremiah

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Gideon

• Then the LORD ordered him, Go with all your
  great strength and rescue Israel from the
  Midianites. I myself am sending you. Gideon
  replied, But Lord, how can I rescue Israel? My
  clan is the weakest in the tribe of Manasseh, and
  I am the least important member of my family.
• Can you doubt God in his own presence?
• The LORD answered, You can do it because I will
  help you. You will crush the Midianites as easily
  as if they were only one man. Gideon replied,
  If you are pleased with me, give me some proof
  that you are really the LORD. Please do not leave
  until I bring you an offering of food.
• Is God offended if we are weak in faith?
• He said, I will stay until you come back.
  (Judges 611-18 GN)

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Gideon

• So Gideon went into his house and cooked a young
  goat and used a bushel of flour to make bread
  without any yeast. He put the meat in a basket
  and the broth in a pot, brought them to the
  LORDs angel under the oak tree, and gave them to
  him. The angel told him, Put the meat and the
  bread on this rock, and pour the broth over
  them. Gideon did so. Then the LORDs angel
  reached out and touched the meat and the bread
  with the end of the stick he was holding. Fire
  came out of the rock and burned up the meat and
  the bread. Then the angel disappeared. Gideon
  then realized that it was the LORDs angel he had
  seen, and he said in terror, Sovereign LORD! I
  have seen your angel face-to-face! (Judges
  619-22 GN)
• What if we are so weak in faith that even this
  does not convince?

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Gideon

• Then Gideon said to God, You say that you have
  decided to use me to rescue Israel. Well, I am
  putting some wool on the ground where we thresh
  the wheat. If in the morning there is dew only on
  the wool but not on the ground, then I will know
  that you are going to use me to rescue Israel.
• How many chances does God give us if we are weak
  in faith?
• That is exactly what happened. When Gideon got up
  early the next morning, he squeezed the wool and
  wrung enough dew out of it to fill a bowl with
  water. Then Gideon said to God, Don't be angry
  with me let me speak just once more. Please let
  me make one more test with the wool. This time
  let the wool be dry, and the ground be wet.
• If you were God would you grant this request?
• That night God did that very thing. The next
  morning the wool was dry, but the ground was wet
  with dew. (Judges 636-40 GN)
• Hebrews 11
• While Gideons men were blowing their trumpets,
  the LORD made the enemy troops attack each other
  with their swords (Judges 722 GN)

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The judges

• After Gideons death the people of Israel were
  unfaithful to God again and worshiped the Baals.
  They made Baal-of-the-Covenant their god, and no
  longer served the LORD their God, who had saved
  them from all their enemies around them (Judges
  833 GN)
• Gideons son Abimelech The men of Shechem gave
  him seventy pieces of silver from the temple of
  Baal-of-the-Covenant, and with this money he
  hired a bunch of worthless scoundrels to join
  him. He went to his father's house at Ophrah, and
  there on top of a single stone he killed his
  seventy brothers, Gideons sons. (Judges 94,5
  GN)

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The judges

• Again the Israelites did evil in the Lords
  sight. They worshiped images of Baal and
  Ashtoreth, and the gods of Aram, Sidon, Moab,
  Ammon, and Philistia. Not only this, but they
  abandoned the Lord and no longer served him at
  all. So the Lord burned with anger against
  Israel, and he handed them over to the
  Philistines and the Ammonites, who began to
  oppress them that year. For eighteen years they
  oppressed all the Israelites east of the Jordan
  River in the land of the Amorites (that is, in
  Gilead). The Ammonites also crossed to the west
  side of the Jordan and attacked Judah, Benjamin,
  and Ephraim. The Israelites were in great
  distress. Finally, they cried out to the Lord,
  saying, We have sinned against you because we
  have abandoned you as our God and have served the
  images of Baal.

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The judges

• The Lord replied, Did I not rescue you from the
  Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites, the
  Philistines, the Sidonians, the Amalekites, and
  the Maonites? When they oppressed you, you cried
  out to me, and I rescued you. Yet you have
  abandoned me and served other gods. So I will not
  rescue you anymore. Go and cry out to the gods
  you have chosen! Let them rescue you in your hour
  of distress!
• But the Israelites pleaded with the Lord and
  said, We have sinned. Punish us as you see fit,
  only rescue us today from our enemies. Then the
  Israelites put aside their foreign gods and
  served the Lord. And he was grieved by their
  misery (Judges 106-16 NLT)

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Jephthah

• Jephthah, a brave soldier from Gilead, was the
  son of a prostitute (Judges 111 GN)
• And Jephthah made a vow to Yahweh, If you
  deliver the Ammonites into my grasp, the first
  thing to come out of the doors of my house to
  meet me when I return in triumph from fighting
  the Ammonites shall belong to Yahweh, and I shall
  sacrifice it as a burnt offering. Jephthah
  crossed into Ammonite territory to attack them,
  and Yahweh delivered them into his graspIt was a
  very severe defeat, and the Ammonites were
  humbled by the Israelites. As Jephthah returned
  to his house at Mizpah, his daughter came out to
  meet him, dancing to the sound of tambourines.
  She was his only child apart from her, he had
  neither son nor daughter. When he saw her, he
  tore his clothes and exclaimed, Oh my daughter,
  what misery you have brought upon me! You have
  joined those who bring misery into my life! I
  have made a promise before Yahweh which I cannot
  retract.

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Jephthah

• She replied, Father, you have made a promise to
  Yahweh treat me as the promise that you have
  made requires, since Yahweh has granted you
  vengeance on your enemies the Ammonites. She
  then said to her father, Grant me this! Let me
  be free for two months. I shall go and wander in
  the mountains, and with my companions bewail my
  virginity. He replied, Go, and let her go away
  for two months. So she went away with her
  companions and bewailed her virginity in the
  mountains. When the two months were over she went
  back to her father, and he treated her as the vow
  that he had uttered bound him. She had remained a
  virgin. And hence, the custom in Israel for the
  daughters of Israel to leave home year by year
  and lament over the daughter of Jephthah the
  Gileadite for four days every year (Judges
  1130-40 New Jerusalem Bible)
• Did he do the right thing?
• No comment from heaven
• Hebrews 11
• God recognized a glimmer of integrity, even in
  the face of a foolish oath