Fr Alex Swain

Beloved in Christ,

We now begin the book of Joshua in our daily readings from the Old Testament. Joshua details an era of divine conquest initiated by God to establish Israel as a people in the land. This follows the Israelite exodus from slavery in Egypt and 40 years of wandering in the desert.

The first verse begins with, “After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD…” which queues us that a new era of leadership has begun, specifically, with Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant. 

Joshua is a challenging text. It details the divine command to displace and war against an established peoples in the land. It’s hard not to see Israel as the aggressor towards a peaceful people. 

We exist in a world seething with war. We recognize war as inherently bad. So, what is happening in this book?

It is important that we squarely face the hard parts of our Holy texts. Scholar and theologian Phyllis Trible coins the text as a “Text of Terror,” and adjures us to wrestle with the meanings of faith, power, and responsibility towards our neighbors today.

In Joshua, we read ancient accounts of a late-bronze age people whose culture and ethics, and cosmology are substantially different than our own. And God meets these people where they are—where humanity is.

Numerous theologians over the millennia propose different methods of interpreting the text. Origen, in the early second century, emphasizes an allegorical interpretation which understands Joshua as detailing the internal spiritual conflict we face against our vices, for example.

Notably, God demands Israel that they are to act “in accordance with all that is written” in the Law. 

Joshua is fundamentally a text emphasizing holiness to God, and divine judgement against evil, in a particular place, at a particular time—and Israel is not exempt from the demand for holiness, nor God’s judgement against evil.

This is a complicated text, with a complicated interpretive framework which we must prayerfully wrestle with.

And we rest in knowing that God is Good.

As we begin our foray into the book of Joshua, I encourage us not to lose heart, but to wrestle with the text as we read it, seeking the support of the Holy Spirit along the way.

Yours in Christ,

—Fr Alex