Divine Presence Amid Violence

Scripture: Joshua 11: 1-15

Sermon: Divine Presence Amid Violence

Topics: violence, war, horses, pacifism

Preached: November 15, 2009

Rev. Mike Abma

Joshua 11: 1-15

11When King Jabin of Hazor heard of this, he sent to King Jobab of Madon, to the king of Shimron, to the king of Achshaph, ²and to the kings who were in the northern hill country, and in the Arabah south of Chinneroth, and in the lowland, and in Naphoth-dor on the west, ³to the Canaanites in the east and the west, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, and the Jebusites in the hill country, and the Hivites under Hermon in the land of Mizpah. ⁴They came out, with all their troops, a great army, in number like the sand on the seashore, with very many horses and chariots. ⁵All these kings joined their forces, and came and camped together at the waters of Merom, to fight with Israel.

6 And the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Do not be afraid of them, for tomorrow at this time I will hand over all of them, slain, to Israel; you shall hamstring their horses, and burn their chariots with fire.’ ⁷So Joshua came suddenly upon them with all his fighting force, by the waters of Merom, and fell upon them. ⁸And the Lord handed them over to Israel, who attacked them and chased them as far as Great Sidon and Misrephoth-maim, and eastwards as far as the valley of Mizpeh. They struck them down, until they had left no one remaining. ⁹And Joshua did to them as the Lord commanded him; he hamstrung their horses, and burned their chariots with fire.

10 Joshua turned back at that time, and took Hazor, and struck its king down with the sword. Before that time Hazor was the head of all those kingdoms. ¹¹And they put to the sword all who were in it, utterly destroying them; there was no one left who breathed, and he burned Hazor with fire. ¹²And all the towns of those kings, and all their kings, Joshua took, and struck them with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying them, as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded. ¹³But Israel burned none of the towns that stood on mounds except Hazor, which Joshua did burn. ¹⁴All the spoil of these towns, and the livestock, the Israelites took for their booty; but all the people they struck down with the edge of the sword, until they had destroyed them, and they did not leave any who breathed. ¹⁵As the Lord had commanded his servant Moses, so Moses commanded Joshua, and so Joshua did; he left nothing undone of all that the Lord had commanded Moses

MATTHEW 5: 43-48

43 ‘You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.” ⁴⁴But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. ⁴⁶For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax-collectors do the same? ⁴⁷And if you greet only your brothers and sisters,^* what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? ⁴⁸Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect

INTRODUCTION

It is easier for me to say, This is the Word of the Lord, Thanks be to God, after our New Testament Lesson than our Old Testament Lesson. The reason is because it is difficult to hear the violence of our Old Testament passage.

What do we do with this Old Testament passage?

This is a question I have struggled with for a long time because I know violence often looks for some kind of religious justification.

Way back when I was a graduate school at the University of Toronto, I spent a year writing a thesis on Religious Observances in Medieval Warfare. In medieval conflicts, Christian faith and warfare were often all mixed together. That is because both sides were determined to claim that God was on their side. Churches helped finance wars. Sermons were preached to support wars. And when armies were on the march, they took chaplains and priests with them. It was the common practice to have communion just before battle. If there was time before the battle, a sermon would be preached. Often it would be a sermon based on Deuteronomy 20:

Do not lose heart, or be afraid, or panic, or be in dread of them.

For it is the Lord your God who goes with you to fight for you.

In many ways, these words of Deuteronomy 20 are repeated and are put into effect in the book of Joshua.

The book of Joshua is a triumphal book.

The first half of Joshua is about the conquest of the land.

Most of the second half of Joshua is about how the land was distributed to the 12 tribes.

And Joshua ends with a large covenant renewal ceremony.

It is a very triumphal book.

Now we are going to look at Joshua 11, one of the biggest and most decisive battles for Joshua.^[1] While we do so, we do need to remember

that the God of Joshua 11

is the same as the God of the Psalms,

the God of the Prophets,

and the God who said to us,

“Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.”

I know I chose two passages this evening that seem so totally opposite.

There is a tension here.

It is in that tension that we need to read this Joshua text,

to wrestles with it,

and to try to discern God’s will for our lives and our times.

JOSHUA 11 — the Challenge

The first 5 verses of Joshua 11 detail the challenge facing the Israelites.

There is a growing confederation of Canaanite kings – kings from the north, the south, the east and the west, who are all allying to crush the Israelites.

The leader of them all is King Jabin of the city of Hazor.

We are told that the army they muster together is a “great army.”

The number is as great as the sand on the seashore,

and they have very many horses and chariots.

If you know your Bible stories, this scenario is no surprise.

Whenever Israel faces its foes,

it is almost always facing enormous odds:

whether it is the Egyptian army hot on the heels of a fleeing band of slaves fresh out of Egypt;

whether it is Gideon, facing a countless number of Midianites with just 300 soldiers,

this story is told again and again.

It is basically the story of David and Goliath:

Goliath being huge, overpowering, seemingly invincible,

and David, a shepherd boy, facing him with only a sling.

It is the story of God standing with the underdog,

with the oppressed against the oppressor,

with the landless against those who refused to make room for them.

THE COMFORT

So, in the face of overwhelming odds in this chapter,

God speaks words of reassurance:

Do not be afraid of them, for tomorrow, at this time

I will hand over all of them, slain, to Israel,

You shall hamstring their horses and burn their chariots.

These are reassuring words.

But it is rather curious that God has very specific instructions about the horses and chariots.

Hamstringing a horse meant cutting a sinew in its rear legs so that it could no longer run.

Of course, burning a chariot meant destroying a chariot.

Why such specific instructions?

If this was the only time in Scripture that these kinds of commands were given, it would be a little odd. But this isn’t the only time.

It is pretty clear that God really does not like horses and chariots used for military purposes.

Later, in 1 Kings 20, Syria would go up against Israel with a massive army of horses and chariots. And the army of Israel is described as looking like two little flocks of goats.

In 2 Kings 6, a Syrian battalion of horses and chariots surrounded the home of the

prophet Elisha, ready to arrest him.

In 2 Kings 18, the Assyrians mock Judah, even offering to give them 2000 horses, knowing that Judah didn’t have that many soldiers who even knew how to ride or handle a horse.

In each of these cases, the huge army with the horses and chariots

ends up losing against an Israelite army of farmers with pitchforks.

No wonder Psalm 20:7 sings:

Some boast in chariots, some in horses

but we boast in the name of the Lord God.

No wonder Isaiah 31:1 says

Woe to those who rely on horses because they are strong;

and who trust in chariots because they are many:

but do not look to the Holy One of Israel.

What did God have against horses and chariots?

Well, they basically represented the technology of war in that day.

That was their only real purpose – to wage war.

And God hated that.

He hated it so much, that in Deuteronomy 17: 16-17,

he specifically tells the Israelites that

should there ever be a ruler or king over them,

that king must never acquire many horses,

and they must never go to Egypt to acquire many horses.

That was forbidden.

Why?

Because horses and chariots were the weapons of war.

They represented an oppressive military state.

And God did not want Israel to become like the other nations:

large, powerful, and oppressive.

CONCLUSION

I know I may not have answered all the questions that this chapter raises.

It is pretty clear that Joshua did more than hamstring the horses and burn the chariots. By the sounds of it, everyone in the city of Hazor was killed and the city itself was burnt to the ground. How can that be justified?

I am not sure.

But what I will say is that what we read in Joshua is hard to square with what we read in Judges.

The book of Joshua makes it sound like Joshua took and cleared all the land.

But clearly, in the book of Judges, there were lots of Canaanites still in the land.

The fact that in Judges 4-5 Deborah has to fight a Canaanite king

with the same name, King Jabin,

from the same city, the city of Hazor

who again has a massive army with 900 iron chariots

does make one wonder how thoroughly Joshua destroyed Hazor in the first place.

But these, I think, are secondary questions.

The primary questions for us are:

Who is God, and What does God ask of us today?

God is the one who

upholds the cause of the oppressed,

gives food to the hungry.

sets the prisoner free

gives sight to the blind.

lifts up those bowed down,

watches over the stranger.

And what does God ask of us?

I believe God asks us to love our neighbor.

And sometimes that love will be shown in “hamstringing the horses and burning the chariots.”

In other words, I believe God continues to ask us to break and disable the weapons of war. Weapons that in the wrong hands are used to oppress and terrorize innocent civilians.

I also think we need to be cautious how we do this.

Using the language of “war” often makes things worse, not better.

Recently the Mennonites, who are known for their pacifism, collaborated with the Roman Catholics, who are known for their knowledge of just war theories. Together they hammered out a possible new paradigm for being a divine presence amid violence in our world. The Mennonites admitted that perhaps pacifism was not always very effective in stopping oppression. The Roman Catholics admitted that moving soldier in as a just war response didn’t seem to work very well either. It was too easy to see soldiers as foreigners trying to take over.

So what was the solution in trying to responsibly address the many conflicts today that are not one nation against another nation,

but which are civil wars, or countries dealing with insurgents.

This group of Mennonites and Roman Catholics concluded that an appropriate response is police action rather than war.

That the emphasis should be on protecting citizens,

rather than providing security to a state or government.

They believed that a police force would be more effective than an army

in limiting violence,

enforcing laws,

and bringing criminals to justice.^[2]

I believe there is much wisdom in this.

Part of the problem is that everyone today takes on the role of victim:

Some claim to be the victims of western imperialistic oppressors;

Others claim to be the victims of radical fundamentalist terrorists.

In that climate,

it is too easy to wage war and seek revenge.

It is harder to take the slower more patient route of

limiting violence and protecting everyone from the weapons of war in policing efforts.

It is harder to take the slower more patient route of

earnestly trying to love and pray for one’s enemy even when that enemy is trying to persecute us.

But this is the slow and patient route we are called to follow

Because we follow the one who goes before us;

we follow the one who prayed for those who persecuted him,

and even forgave those who put him to death;

we follow in the steps of Christ, our Lord,

who shows us the way to being a forgiving victim.

We follow in his footsteps because we know it is only in his steps that true shalom shall come.

1. Thanks to Walter Brueggemann, Divine Presence Amid Violence, for many insights in this sermon. ↑

2. See Just Policing, Not War: An Alternative Response to World Violence. ↑