After reading chapter 11:
*The fighting is not done. Other Kings and armies came to fight the Israelites and joined forces. They had a massive number of troops, plus chariots and horses. Yahweh told Joshua not to worry. The Israelites would slay the armies, hamstring the horses, and burn the chariots. (Aside: what purpose is served by torturing horses? Why don't they just kill them outright?) So, the Israelites went to battle and supposedly did what Yahweh said they would do.
*Joshua turned back and also decimated the city of Hazor and its King, which had been the head of the coalition of armies. In fact he totally destroyed the inhabitants of all the royal cities, but the only one burnt was Hazor. They also carried off plunder, because now it seems to be okay to do that, in spite of the previous command to never plunder, which is why Achan was killed in chapter 7.
*Joshua took the entire land and did battle for a long time. Everyone in "Israelite territory" was destroyed except for the people of Gibeon. According to verse 20, Yahweh was responsible for hardening the hearts of the various tribes so they would go to war and the Israelites could "exterminate them without mercy." It had nothing to do with them protecting or defending their personal property from a hostile takeover. And all this happened because Yahweh had promised the land would be an inheritance to Israel. After these things were accomplished, the land had rest from war.
After reading chapter 12:
*This chapter is a list of the Kings that were conquered by Moses, Joshua, and the Israelites. There were 31 in all.
Showing posts with label Gibeonites. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gibeonites. Show all posts
Friday, April 1, 2016
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
Joshua chapter 10, part 1
After reading chapter 10:
*Now that Ai has been destroyed and Gibeon has a peace treaty with the Israelites, other kings in the area were worried. Gibeon was an important acquisition. Five Kings joined forces and decided to attack the Gibeonites. The Gibeonites sent word to Joshua and begged for help. Joshua marched his whole army to the area, with the blessing of Yahweh. He took the armies of the five kings by surprise and they were defeated. As they were running away from the pursuing Israelites, Yahweh threw hailstones at them, so that more were killed by hail than by the sword. The five kingdoms were Jerusalem, Hebron, Lachish, Jarmuth, and Eglon.
*Next is a very interesting passage. On the day of this battle Joshua commanded the sun and the moon to stand still and they did! The sun supposedly stopped in the middle of the sky, which would make it about noon, and delayed going down a full day, presumably 24 hours. This had never happened before and hasn't since. That must mean Yahweh was fighting for Israel, unless it's a fairy tale. Verse 13 says this passage is written in the "Book of Jashar," an apparently lost work of the ancient Israelites.
*We all know that the sun doesn't travel around the earth in the sky. The earth rotates on its axis while it travels around the sun, only giving an appearance of the sun moving. If the earth stopped spinning, to make the sun appear to stand still, we would be in big trouble. Nothing would survive the cataclysmic results. The authors of my study bible seem to realize this story of the sun standing still is impossible, so they have proposed several possible natural explanations for the wording, except the posibility that it never happened.
*After this Joshua and his army returned to camp.
Edited
*Now that Ai has been destroyed and Gibeon has a peace treaty with the Israelites, other kings in the area were worried. Gibeon was an important acquisition. Five Kings joined forces and decided to attack the Gibeonites. The Gibeonites sent word to Joshua and begged for help. Joshua marched his whole army to the area, with the blessing of Yahweh. He took the armies of the five kings by surprise and they were defeated. As they were running away from the pursuing Israelites, Yahweh threw hailstones at them, so that more were killed by hail than by the sword. The five kingdoms were Jerusalem, Hebron, Lachish, Jarmuth, and Eglon.
*Next is a very interesting passage. On the day of this battle Joshua commanded the sun and the moon to stand still and they did! The sun supposedly stopped in the middle of the sky, which would make it about noon, and delayed going down a full day, presumably 24 hours. This had never happened before and hasn't since. That must mean Yahweh was fighting for Israel, unless it's a fairy tale. Verse 13 says this passage is written in the "Book of Jashar," an apparently lost work of the ancient Israelites.
*We all know that the sun doesn't travel around the earth in the sky. The earth rotates on its axis while it travels around the sun, only giving an appearance of the sun moving. If the earth stopped spinning, to make the sun appear to stand still, we would be in big trouble. Nothing would survive the cataclysmic results. The authors of my study bible seem to realize this story of the sun standing still is impossible, so they have proposed several possible natural explanations for the wording, except the posibility that it never happened.
*After this Joshua and his army returned to camp.
Edited
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Joshua chapter 9
After reading chapter 9:
*Since the Israelites had defeated two local cities, the Kings in other cities near the Jordan were worried. They formed a coalition against the Israelites. Who can blame them? An exception was the people of Gibeon. Some Gibeonites went to Joshua pretending to be poor people from a distant country, saying they had heard of the Israelites and Yahweh's deeds, and they wanted to make a peace treaty. The men of Israel believed the Gibeonites and made a treaty with them, ratifying it with an oath. However, they forgot to consult Yahweh first. Three days later, the fact that the Gibeonites were really a nearby tribe was revealed.
*The Israelites were miffed, but they had given their oath in Yahweh's name which made it binding. The leaders decided they had to let them live, but nothing was stopping them from making the Gibeonites do menial labor. Joshua summoned the Gibeonites and told them they were now under a curse because of their deception. The Gibeonites believed it and grovelled. Their lives were spared, and "to this day" they are wood cutters and water carriers for the Israelites.
*Since the Israelites had defeated two local cities, the Kings in other cities near the Jordan were worried. They formed a coalition against the Israelites. Who can blame them? An exception was the people of Gibeon. Some Gibeonites went to Joshua pretending to be poor people from a distant country, saying they had heard of the Israelites and Yahweh's deeds, and they wanted to make a peace treaty. The men of Israel believed the Gibeonites and made a treaty with them, ratifying it with an oath. However, they forgot to consult Yahweh first. Three days later, the fact that the Gibeonites were really a nearby tribe was revealed.
*The Israelites were miffed, but they had given their oath in Yahweh's name which made it binding. The leaders decided they had to let them live, but nothing was stopping them from making the Gibeonites do menial labor. Joshua summoned the Gibeonites and told them they were now under a curse because of their deception. The Gibeonites believed it and grovelled. Their lives were spared, and "to this day" they are wood cutters and water carriers for the Israelites.
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