JUDGMENT AND SALVATION
Opening Prayer
Father! Open my eyes to see what you see. Lead me in the light of your truth. Grant me a fervent hunger and desire for your perspective!
Read JOSHUA 6:21–27
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
21 They devoted the city to the Lord and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys.
22 Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, “Go into the prostitute’s house and bring her out and all who belong to her, in accordance with your oath to her.” 23 So the young men who had done the spying went in and brought out Rahab, her father and mother, her brothers and sisters and all who belonged to her. They brought out her entire family and put them in a place outside the camp of Israel.
24 Then they burned the whole city and everything in it, but they put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the Lord’s house. 25 But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho—and she lives among the Israelites to this day.
26 At that time Joshua pronounced this solemn oath: “Cursed before the Lord is the one who undertakes to rebuild this city, Jericho:
“At the cost of his firstborn son
he will lay its foundations;
at the cost of his youngest
he will set up its gates.”
27 So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame spread throughout the land.
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
Today’s passage is a difficult one. When we don’t understand God, we still can always trust him.The wholesale destruction of Jericho is hard to accept. Old Testament scholar Chris Wright wrote, ‘There is something about this part of the Bible that I have to include in my basket of things I don’t understand about God and his ways.’* Can we make any sense of such violence?
The Canaanite tribes were guilty, like Sodom and Gomorrah, of extreme human wickedness (Leviticus 18:24, 25). For this reason, God drove them out of the land to cleanse and purge it. Like a surgeon removing cancer, radical surgery was required to prevent further spread of the disease. It was an act of justice their wickedness deserved. The destruction of Jericho would act as a deterrent to other cities, minimizing resistance and reducing further casualties. Justice always carries an element of deterrent.
At the same time the mercy of God is seen in that Rahab (a future ancestor of Jesus) and her circle are spared the destruction (vv.17, 25). The implication is that others who turned to the God of Israel would also be spared. There is no clear-cut solution to the problem, however. We must trust that God’s ways are right, even when they are beyond our understanding.
Apply
If you struggle with passages like this, why not talk to someone well-versed in the Old Testament? Or search the internet for books and articles?
Closing prayer
Almighty God, when I see your actions in Scripture, in history, or even in my own life, I ask for your perspective and the humility to trust you when I don’t understand.
*Chris Wright, The God I Don’t Understand (Zondervan, 2008), 86
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