“When the trumpets sounded, the people shouted…(and)… the wall collapsed” (Joshua 6:20). This is the account of Joshua and the people of Israel when they entered the Promised Land known as Canaan. As the Lord commanded they entered the land and conquered all the cities there, beginning with Jericho. The story of Joshua and the Battle of Jericho is a famous one. Everyone who has ever attended Sunday school has heard this famous Biblical account. What is overlooked in Sunday school is the passage after the walls fall down, “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” (Joshua 6:21). This is one of the more difficult passages in the Bible. It raises many questions, questions that are not easily answered. In fact, scholars today still debate them. Reading this section of the Bible, found in Joshua chapter 6, you ask yourself: how can we worship a God who permits His own people to slaughter innocents? How did the Israelites justify breaking one of the Ten Commandments (or ‘Words’ as is the more accurate translation)? If God is just, then how can he allow the slaughter of innocents? Is God really a just god? Such are the questions that come up whenever the slaughter at Jericho is brought up. Further seemingly brutal violence is found within God’s own people. If you read on an Israelite named Achan steals some of the bounty from Jericho when God commanded them not too. He was stoned along with his whole family! God seems to be a violent, harsh god in these passages. How can this be if He is supposed to be the God of love, compassion and mercy?
Israel, at this point in their history is very young as a nation and a people. Actually, it ...
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...e question him? Yes, because Yahweh has a true desire for us to know Him personally and have a personal relationship with Him. How can we do that without asking questions and studying His word? We can’t. In the end it comes down to the fact that He is in contro1, He is always right and He is a just god!
Works Cited
Davis, John J. Conquest and Crisis: Studies in Joshua, Judges, and Ruth. BMH Books. Vinona Lake, Indiana. 1969.
Hamlin, John E. Joshua - Inheriting the Land. Wm. B Eerdman’s Publishing Co. Grand
Rapids MI, 1983.
Jensen, Irving L. Joshua: Rest-Land Won. Moody Press: Chicago IL, 1966.
Paul Heinisch, Theology of Old Testament. Liturgical Press. St. Paul MN, 1955.
Pink, Arthur W. Gleanings in Joshua. Moody Press: Chicago IL, 1964.
Yahweh. The Holy Bible: New International Version. Broadman &Holman Publishers: Nashville, TN, 1973
The Bible: The Old Testament. The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces. Ed. Sarah Lawall et al. Vol 1. 7th ed. New York: Norton, 1999. 47-97.
To begin with, the dual narratives of the text here present a unique mixture of chronology and perspective. Moreover, noteworthy is also McBride’s usage of the rhetorical strategy of alternate chapters and parallelism. This can be seen when McBride remarkably places related chapters together to juxtapose the life of his mother and that of himself. This allows one to observe the parallelism in the two lives; and perhaps more importantly, understand the significance Ruth’s life has had on McBride. For example, McBride places the chapters “Shul” and “School” next to each other. Here, both Ruth and James are struggling and are trying to fit in but are rejected due to racial and social conflicts. Another example is, “The New Testament” and “The Old Testament.” Both of these chapters revolve around the embarrassment Ruth and James feel for their circumstances. In “The Ne...
...yne A. The HarperCollins Study Bible New Revised Standard Edition . New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1993. 1645-1722. Print.
Ostriker A. (2002). The book of ruth and the love of the land. Biblical Interpretation, 10 (4),
Gentry, Peter J., and Stephen J. Wellum. Kingdom through Covenant: A Biblical Theological Understanding of the Covenants. Crossway, 2012. Google Scholar: Subject relevance
Mobley, Marilyn Sanders. "Call and Response." New Essays on Song of Solomon. Ed. Valerie Smith. Cambridge [England]: Cambridge UP, 1995. 42-43. Print.
Since the inception of an Israeli nation-state in 1948, violence and conflict has played a major role in Israel’s brief history. In the Sixty-One year’s Israel has been a recognized nation-state, they have fought in 6 interstate wars, 2 civil wars, and over 144 dyadic militarized interstate disputes (MIDs) with some display of military force against other states (Maoz 5). Israel has been involved in constant conflict throughout the past half century. Israel’s tension against other states within the Middle East has spurred vast economic, social, and political unity that has fostered a sense of nationalism and unity in Israel not seen in most other states. Over the next several pages I will try and dissect the reasons for why the nation state of Israel has been emerged in constant conflict and how this conflict has helped foster national unity and identity among the people of Israel.
... Print. The. 2003 Hartman, Louis F. & Lella, Alexander A. The Anchor Bible, The Book Of Daniel. New Haven & London: Yale University Press. Print, 1978 Cook, Stephen L. Apocalyptic Literature.
Noth, "God, King and Nation in the Old Testament", The Laws in the Pentateuch and other Essays, Oliver & Boyd 1966.
Throughout the Bible God can be represented in a number of different ways. In some chapters of the Bible God can be found to be a compassionate, loving God, who would do anything for his people. To contradict this, in other chapters of the Bible God can be found trying to instill fear into people so that they believe in him, or do what he wants of them. In both instances it shows how different God can be seen and why believers can have doubts about how God really is.
Douglas Stuart, Exodus, NAC, vol. 2 (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, (2006), 20. Web. 15 Nov. 2013.
Carson, D, & Moo, D. (2005) An introduction to the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
Charlesworth, Matthew. "The Covenants in the Old Testament." Academia.edu. N.p., 28 Nov. 2011. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.
Over two thousand years have passed and yet, Samson still remains a well-known and idealized character. Long, luxurious hair, strength and stature unmatched, blessed by God from birth and handpicked to be the leader of a blessed nation – it’s no wonder that today, Samson is remembered more for these qualities than the actual acts he is infamous for. In Judges 14, Samson shows blatant disregard for tradition, customs, sacrament, his parents, women, and people, as he kills over 30 people without a second thought, and yet we are to believe that he is the man who will lead Israel out of the hands of the Philistines. Was it God who really appointed him, or was the author of the text trying to make a point? It is my hypothesis that in the story of Samson and the lion and the woman of Timnah, the author is trying to convince the audience that simply having a leader, or a Judge, is not adequate to lead Israel; Israel needs a king, and that the women portrayed in the text are an example of how women should behave.
The book of Nehemiah was originally the second section of the book of Ezra. “Closely allied to the Book of Ezra, it was attached to it in the old Jewish reckoning.” In this book of the Bible, the book of Nehemiah illustrates Jerusalem’s final stage of reconstruction during the 5th century B.C. Babylonian exile period. Although, Nehemiah might have not been a man with much power, he was in fact a man of ability, courage, and action. God’s purpose for Nehemiah was to prepare him to accomplish a forceful task within the entire Bible. Nehemiah had a job and responsibility, which was to help rebuild and reestablish the walls of Jerusalem.