Joshua, Judges the Jebusites and More
I'd like to take a moment to share some of your collective reflections and questions with one another...
Sandi Lanzarotta offers this about the Psalms:
"I have to admit that the Psalms are not my favorite part of our daily reading. I was just reading last night the guys take in the Bible for Dummys. They reminded us that even though the music is lost to us forever these words are another form of worship to God, another form of art like pictures or photographs. Another way to have conversations with God. I often pick up our hymnal and just read the words as a form of prayer and sometimes a tune pops in my head (God talking back to me?)"
Elizabeth Parrotte noted the repetition of the story of Acsah, daughter of Caleb, that appears in both Joshua and Judges. Women appear much more readily in Judges (as with Deborah and Jael in today's reading), and we'll get a take on what the Deuteronomistic Historian(s) thought valuable and dangerous about womanhood. The Judges edition of the Feminist Companion to the Bible has an article all about Acsah which you can read here, if you are curious. The last paragraph on p. 26 is an interesting summary of her role.
It's good to remember, when reading Joshua-2 Kings, that what we are reading is the work of the Deuteronomistic Historians, (rather than single authors) who have a particular theological lens through which they are interpreting their stories and histories. It's all about the Covenant-- what happens when the people keep the Covenant, and what happens when they break it.
Much of what we are reading is aetiological, explaining why things are the way they are. For example, the Tower of Babel story from Genesis is an aetiological story explaining why there are so many languages. In Judges we've been hearing aetiological stories of why certain people are doing the forced labor, why certain tribes live where they live. The whole of the Deuteronomistic History can be understood as an aetiological story of why the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem, carried off the Davidic Monarch in chains, and "decaptiated" the leadership of Jerusalem and Judah by exiling the leadership in Babylon-- when God had promised that a Davidic Monarch would be on the throne forever... Why did it happen-- "they were unfaithful." This destruction and Exile is their punishment...
I realize this asks us to leap ahead in the story, by several hundred years and nearly as many pages: we haven't even "read" the Davidic Covenant yet... not to mention the Exile, (though we got a taste of the destruction in Psalm 74...) but it's important to understand that what we are reading is much later material, looking back, in light of the destruction and Exile.
Another question raised by one of your fellow readers... Richard Carr asked if the Jebusites are the current day Arabs/Muslims. Interestingly enough, Yasser Arafat thought so, though there is no historical or archaeological evidence to back this. As we read along we'll see the Jebusites continue to play a role, and get rather subsumed into the Israelite culture.... For example, Bathsheba, mother of King Solomon, is herself, a Jebusite.
The Book of Judges is a bit of a trip. You've probably already picked up the pattern I noted in a sermon a few months ago (when we heard about Deborah in church-- but not Jael nor her handy tent peg...) The people do evil in the sight of the Lord, they become oppressed by foreign kings, they cry out to the Lord, who raises up a Judge to liberate them... and for the lifetime of that Judge they behave...then the Judge dies and they go back to their bad ol' ways.... Repeat many times... Each round is Deuteronomistic Theology and Theodicy (an explanation of God's justice and why bad things happen) in a nutshell.
The story of Gideon is one of my favorites because it is actually quite humorous. In Hebrew it's not clear whether Gideon is hiding the wheat, or hiding himself, from the Midianites.... so the angel's greeting, "Hail, Mighty Warrior!" and "Go in this might of yours!" while Gideon is hiding in the wine press, is a bit tongue-in-cheek.
The Book of Judges can be reassuring, too... It's as if God surveys all these incredibly flawed people and says, "If this is really what I have to work with, I can make do...let's go..." If God can work in and through and with them, then surely God can work in and through and with us, with all our flaws!
Thank you for being on this journey!
