Be Strong and Courageous

Be Strong and Courageous
by Jim Roberts, Deacon

Our home life group is starting a study this semester on Joshua.  We are just getting started but right there in the first chapter a major theme of the book is stated.  Be strong and courageous!  Seems like it needs an exclamation point. The same words are directed four times at Joshua, the last time from the people of Israel as they committed to following Joshua.  Why repeat this phrase so much?  What was happening or was going to happen that might make Joshua timid and weak?

Remember Joshua was a seasoned warrior (Ex 17) and had shown bravery above that of his peers (Num 14).  He was endorsed and commissioned as the successor to Moses (Num 27). He was the only one mentioned as standing with Moses when Israel rebelled with the golden calf (Ex 32).  He had already proven to be strong and courageous in ways well beyond any other.  Did Joshua need the message again and again?  As the book of Joshua unfolds we can see why strength and courage were needed.
 
First, Joshua needed strength and courage of faith to obey God and follow what seems to modern eyes to be absurd and excessive direction:  March around a city and blow trumpets.  Punish sin within the Israelite camp by destroying a whole family for a seemingly minor infraction.  Attack and annihilate whole cities.  Conquer and subjugate everyone who is not of Israel.

These expectations and experiences are hard to align with what we know, or think we know, of God’s character.  Most Bible scholars acknowledge that God’s extreme commands were for an extreme time, not simply to give Israel the land he had promised but, in alignment with his character, to bring judgment on the people of Canaan who had for centuries demonstrated practices that were the worst humans anywhere could congure – human sacrifices, particularly sacrificing their own children to their idols and gods.  God’s judgment at the hands of God’s people.  My modern western sensibilities struggles with how this unfolds.  I cannot imagine participating – no way, not me.  But how might this apply to life in the 21st century?
 
First, God punishes evil – even today.  Whole countries suffer because of the evil of their leaders.  Also, God strengthens and grows his people in the midst of suffering.  Joshua records that some Canaanites changed and follow the God of Israel.  Finally, we have faith that God’s eternal perspective sees and understands things we cannot.  So when my faith calls me to do things against the cultural norms of the majority of my countrymen, I am expected to obey.  God does not call us today to violence.  Jesus makes that clear.  But just like God said to Joshua,  “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law."