Joshua 1–6, 23–24

The selections for this week from the Book of Joshua have some inspiring passages. They also have some passages that are very difficult. They are difficult enough, in fact, that I don’t think I even dare to begin to talk about them in depth, for the simple reason that I know I don’t understand these events well enough.

What are some of the problems I see?

The story of Joshua and the children of Israel entering the Promised Land and taking it by force is the story of a war of aggression. This is not like Moroni, who “planted the standard of liberty among the Nephites” (Alma 46:36) because the Nephites were defending themselves against the Lamanites.

Does it bother anybody but me that the children of Israel march into an entire country, kill (massacre?) the people who live there, give the spoils of war to the church, and settle down to live happily (or not) ever after?

What about Rahab the harlot? If the Israelites had been the people being invaded, would she not have been considered the worst possible kind of traitor?

And what of Achan’s story? In Joshua 7:19, Joshua tells Achan, “My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession unto him; and tell me now what thou hast done; hide it not from me.”

Achan replies in verse 20 and 21. In verse 21, he says, “When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it.”

The conclusion to this story comes in verses 25 and 26, where (the goods having been retrieved) “all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned him with stones. And they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day. So the Lord turned from the fierceness of his anger….” So much for the intimacy of Joshua calling Achan his son.

Imagine for a moment if all this were to happen today. Can you imagine the headlines? The only thing about it that makes me feel cheerful about it all is the comforting realization that this is one very definite example of something happening historically that is hard to understand, let alone defend, and yet there are no Mormons or lapsed Mormons involved. How refreshing! The truth is, every religion has some explaining to do in one area or another.

That leads me to the real question: This lesson teaches us that sometimes God may ask us to go to war and kill people. Is that ever justified?

As we read in D&C 134:11, we “believe that all men are justified in defending themselves, their friends, and property, and the government, from the unlawful assaults and encroachments of all persons in times of exigency, where immediate appeal cannot be made to the laws, and relief afforded.” We also have D&C 98:23–48, which outlines clearly a procedure to follow in order to determine whether you are justified before God in going to war. In verse 33, we are explicitly told that the “ancients” were given this law, and commanded “that they should not go out unto battle against any nation, kindred, tongue, or people, save I, the Lord, commanded them.”

I hope that the question about going to war would be a difficult question for anyone to answer. But I also know that great wickedness does exist in the world, and I can believe that there are some circumstances where God, seeing all, would prefer not to have us accept and experience that evil directly by learning for ourselves that a war is justified. If you knew nothing at all about a very wicked person, someone guilty of horrendous crimes against humanity, someone whose cruelty and injustice would continue unopposed until you acted, and God told you to go to war against that person, can you defend not doing what God asked you to do?

Going along with that, however, is something very important: We have faith in the nature and attributes of our Heavenly Father. We know that acting with kindness, patience, and love is more likely to keep us in safe paths than acting with violence and aggression. If you feel inspired to violence, how can you be certain you are being inspired by a righteous source? I think most people would agree with me that promptings of that kind are generally a bad idea. But the chapters in Joshua say what they say, and so I am going to put these chapters on the little shelf in my mind labeled, “I need more information here.”

Sunday School Notebook -May 2006 - Susan Morgan