Stephen
Terry, Director
Moses' History Lesson
Commentary
for the October 9, 2021, Sabbath School Lesson
"We completely destroyed them, as we had done
with Sihon king of Heshbon, destroying every city-men, women and children. But
all the livestock and the plunder from their cities we carried off for
ourselves." Deuteronomy 3:6-7, NIV
Early in Deuteronomy we find
the recounting of the Israelites faithless failure to receive the gift of the
Promised Land they were headed for. A generation familiar with the slave master's
whip and their own inability to play a part in their destiny as a people, they
quailed when they should have advanced. Despite the evidence of the ten plagues
that delivered them from Egypt, and the ongoing presence of God in the camp in
the form of a pillar of cloud during the day and a pillar of fire by night,
their assumption was that they were to invade and occupy the land by their own
strength. Since they had not been able to free themselves from slavery in Egypt
through that strength, it seemed logical that it would be impossible to
overcome the inhabitants of Canaan. When they were ordered not to go up in their
own strength but did it anyway, the outcome was exactly as they had feared.
They suffered defeat.
Unable to do as asked, they
wandered through Sinai until those who had that slave mentality died off. The generation
of those who would enter the Promised Land in their stead had grown up
freeborn. Inured to the harshness of the Sinai, they grew strong for the task
ahead, much like the warriors of the desert planet Arrakis in Frank Herbert's "Dune."
And like those warriors, they had a deep religious conviction of the
righteousness of their actions. God favored their actions, even demanding
genocidal warfare from his army of zealots, according to the Deuteronomy
account. His followers then did exactly that, killing every man, woman, and
child they could throughout the Arabah and into Canaan. The scene must have
been horrific. It seems that only an existential threat could even begin to
justify that kind of response. That threat was the feeling after Baal-Peor,
where those already inhabiting the land mingled with the Israelites to
encourage them to take on the current culture, a culture which was already in theological
conflict with their own. Many lives were lost before that Midianite attempt at subversion
was overthrown. Ironically, Moses had spent forty years tending sheep for his
Midianite priest father-in-law before he returned to Egypt for the Exodus.
The danger of interaction with
foreign cultures is highlighted by the course of Israel once they decided to have
kings reign over them. Those kings demanded obedience to them above all others,
even God. And when they became corrupt through the alliances and marriages they
pursued with foreigners, their influence on the ultimate destruction of Israel
and Samaria first, then later Judah and Jerusalem was
documented in the Old Testament chronologies and the writings of the
prophets. The fear of this contamination produces horrible conflicts as this powerful
and fearful thread is running through the Abrahamic religions even today. On a
less violent level, it exists today in the tension between seeing the church as
a fortress to keep out the evil or as a shepherd's hut where the shepherds
leave the safety of the fold to look for and save the lost. Which model we
choose to follow says a lot about our understanding of the character of God.
Despite millennia of
apologetics offered in defense of God wiping out almost all
of humanity in the Noahic Flood, or commanding genocide in the Israelite
invasion of Canaan, many have walked away from God, unmoved by these attempts
to justify behavior that by modern legal definitions would be horrific criminal
acts like the worst despotism of Hitler, Stalin, Mao, or Pol Pot. It is hard to
rectify a God of love with such acts. It demands an answer to the question, "How
can a God of love not only tolerate such cruelty but even command it?" The
earliest attempt at resolving that conflict was the Book of Job where it reveals
that things going on in heaven affect us here on earth without us necessarily
knowing the cause. Job's response that he would continue to trust God even if
he slays him,[i]
is a sentiment echoed by Habakkuk's call for all the earth to keep silent
before God when facing injustice.[ii]
It can require deep faith based on extensive
experience walking with God to have that perspective.
Is it possible for each of us
to find reconciliation between God as genocidal tyrant in the Old Testament and
the God who is love? Some might want to believe that beating someone down is an
act of love. No doubt, more than one perpetrator of domestic violence has tried
to convince their spouse of that. Those that believe such statements too often
end up disfigured or disabled, or worse, dead. True love is found elsewhere,
and it is most richly displayed in the life of Jesus. Therefore, so many, even among
those who are still in their denominations, find hope in the New Testament
while rejecting or ignoring the Old. It also can occur with those who reject
the Law in favor of Grace. They are not exclusive of one another. In fact, all
the Decalogue in the Old Testament occurs in the New. This argues strongly that
the reverse is also true. The God of love is present in the Old Testament as
well. The prophet Malachi assures us that God is consistent and does not change,[iii]
an essential element for truth.
When we consider the
omniscience, omnipresence and vastness of a being who dwells in every dimension
of time and space throughout eternity past and future, yet present in every
moment, it becomes apparent that we probably lack the
tools to understand the nature of that being's character. But such a being, if
indeed loving, may condescend to supply insights we can understand. For
instance, we find in the Old Testament repeated warnings to change course to avoid
harm. Any adult who has children knows the frustration of this. We love our children
and try to keep them from harm, but some children decide that risky behavior is
desirable and despite our warnings, they do it anyway. Some are fortunate to
escape harm. Others are injured or even wind up in the morgue with heart-broken
parents weeping over the result. Though they might have warned their offspring
at every opportunity, some would still blame the outcome on their bad
parenting. Adam and Eve could have been blamed for such about Cain and Abel. But
both children grew up in the same family with the same parents. One son was
faithful and the other became a murderer. The love of parents does not negate
choice and free will. It would be the same for the love of God.
Noah warned everyone of the
coming deluge. There was a loving way out. Some might challenge this by pointing
out the Ark could not have held all the Earth's population. But the Bible
provides the answer in the book of Jonah. Jonah went throughout Nineveh telling
the people they were on a bad path and headed for destruction. The king and the
citizens decided to appeal to the God of love and compassion. They repented of their
bad choices and determined to change. As a result, God delivered them from
catastrophe. If there was a choice here, it seems reasonable to ask if there
was a more loving choice in Israel's occupation of Canaan. There was a solution
that did not involve genocide at all. God intended to drive the people from
Canaan with hornets.[iv]
Every year, especially in September, aggressive hornets remind me of the role
they were prepared to play in Canaan. They also serve as a "pointed" reminder for
me to check my own choices and consider adjustments.
Some of us take great delight
in picturing God as being more like Mars, the god of war, ready to smack people
around with the slightest provocation. They are easy to spot. They exclude
people from salvation who sin differently than them and let them know it. Rather
than modeling the compassion of Christ, they prefer to strap on a sword and cut
down sinners right and left, not caring if they are man, woman, or child. Like
Jonah, disappointed with God's compassion toward Nineveh, he eagerly looked
forward to watching the city's destruction, some would rather prove someone is
on the wrong path by pushing them to failure instead of loving them toward
healing. The former is more about building ourselves up by proving we were
right about the person. The latter is more about showing Jesus is right about
love, compassion, and service. Which we choose to be is dependent upon how we
see God. All of Creation is waiting to find out.[v]