June 13th: Joshua 10 & Luke 23:26-49

Alastair Roberts

00:00

June 13th: Joshua 10 & Luke 23:26-49

June 12, 2020

Alastair Roberts

Victory over the five kings of the Amorites. The crucifixion.

Reflections upon the readings from the ACNA Book of Common Prayer (http://bcp2019.anglicanchurch.net/).

If you have enjoyed my output, please tell your friends. If you are interested in supporting my videos and podcasts and my research more generally, please consider supporting my work on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/zugzwanged), using my PayPal account (https://bit.ly/2RLaUcB), or by buying books for my research on Amazon (https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/36WVSWCK4X33O?ref_=wl_share).

The audio of all of my videos is available on my Soundcloud account: https://soundcloud.com/alastairadversaria. You can also listen to the audio of these episodes on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/alastairs-adversaria/id1416351035?mt=2.

Transcript

Joshua 10. As soon as Adonai Zedek, king of Jerusalem, heard how Joshua had captured Ai, and had devoted it to destruction, doing to Ai and its king as he had done to Jericho and its king, and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were among them, he feared greatly, because Gibeon was a great city, like one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, and all its men were warriors. So Adonai Zedek, king of Jerusalem, sent to Hoham king of Hebron, to Piram king of Jarmath, to Japhia king of Lachish, and to Deba king of Eglan, saying, Come up to me and help me, and let us strike Gibeon, for it has made peace with Joshua and with the people of Israel.

Then the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmath, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglan, gathered their forces and went up with all their armies and encamped against Gibeon, and made war against it. And the men of Gibeon sent to Joshua to camp in Gilgal, saying, Do not relax your hand from your servants. Come up to us quickly and save us and help us, for all the kings of the Amorites who dwell in the hill country are gathered against us.

So Joshua went up from Gilgal, he and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valor. And the Lord said to Joshua, Do not fear them, for I have given them into your hands. Not a man of them shall stand before you.

So Joshua came upon them suddenly, having marched up all night from Gilgal. And the Lord threw them into a panic before Israel, who struck them with a great blow at Gibeon, and chased them by the way of the ascent to Bethhoron, and struck them as far as Ezekiah and Mekheda. And as they fled before Israel, while they were going down the ascent to Bethhoron, the Lord threw down large stones from heaven on them as far as Ezekiah, and they died.

There were more who died because of the hailstones than the sons of Israel killed with the sword. At that time Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord gave the Amorites over to the sons of Israel. And he said in the sight of Israel, Son, stand still at Gibeon, and moon in the valley of Ejelon.

And the sun stood still and the moon stopped, until the nation took vengeance on their enemies. Is this not written in the book of Jasher? The sun stopped in the midst of heaven and did not hurry to set for about a whole day. There has been no day like it before or since when the Lord heeded the voice of a man, for the Lord fought for Israel.

So Joshua returned and all Israel with him to the camp at Gilgal. These five kings fled and hid themselves in the cave at Mekheda. And it was told to Joshua, the five kings have been found hidden in the cave at Mekheda.

And Joshua said, roll large stones against the mouth of the cave and set men by it to guard them. But do not stay there yourselves. Pursue your enemies, attack their rearguard.

Do not let them enter their cities, for the Lord your God has given them into your hand. When Joshua and the sons of Israel had finished striking them with a great blow, until they were wiped out, and when the remnant that remained of them had entered into the fortified cities, then all the people returned safe to Joshua in the camp at Mekheda. Not a man moved his tongue against any of the people of Israel.

Then Joshua said, open the mouth of the cave and bring those five kings out to me from the cave. And they did so and brought those five kings out to him from the cave, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmath, the king of Lachish and the king of Eglon. And when they brought those kings out to Joshua, Joshua summoned all the men of Israel and said to the chiefs of the men of war who had gone with him, Come near, put your feet on the necks of these kings.

Then they came near and put their feet on their necks. And Joshua said to them, do not be afraid or dismayed, be strong and courageous, for thus the Lord will do to all your enemies against whom you fight. And afterward Joshua struck them and put them to death, and he hanged them on five trees.

And they hung on the trees until evening. But at the time of the going down of the sun, Joshua commanded, And they took them down from the trees and threw them into the cave where they had hidden themselves. And they set large stones against the mouth of the cave, which remained to this very day.

As for Macheda, Joshua captured it on that day and struck it and its king with the edge of the sword. He devoted to destruction every person in it. He left none remaining.

And he did to the king of Macheda just as he had done to the king of Jericho. Then Joshua and all Israel with him passed on from Macheda to Libna and fought against Libna. And the Lord gave it also and its king into the hand of Israel.

And he struck it with the edge of the sword and every person in it. He left none remaining to it. And he did to its king as he had done to the king of Jericho.

Then Joshua and all Israel with him passed on from Libna to Lachish and laid siege to it and fought against it. And the Lord gave Lachish into the hand of Israel. And he captured it on the second day and struck it with the edge of the sword and every person in it as he had done to Libna.

Then Huram king of Giza came up to help Lachish. And Joshua struck him and his people until he left none remaining. Then Joshua and all Israel with him passed on from Lachish to Eglon.

And they laid siege to it and fought against it. And they captured it on that day and struck it with the edge of the sword. And he devoted every person in it to destruction that day as he had done to Lachish.

Then Joshua and all Israel with him went up from Eglon to Hebron. And they fought against it and captured it and struck it with the edge of the sword and its king and its towns. And every person in it.

He left none remaining as he had done to Eglon and devoted it to destruction and every person in it. Then Joshua and all Israel with him turned back to Deba and fought against it. And he captured it with its king and all its towns.

And they struck them with the edge of the sword and devoted to destruction every person in it. He left none remaining just as he had done to Hebron and to Libna and its king. So he did to Deba and to its king.

So Joshua struck the whole land, the hill country and the Negev and the lowland and the slopes and all their kings. He left none remaining but devoted to destruction all that breathed just as the Lord God of Israel commanded. And Joshua struck them from Kadesh Barnea as far as Gaza and all the country of Goshen as far as Gibeon.

And Joshua captured all these kings and their land at one time because the Lord God of Israel fought for Israel. Then Joshua returned and all Israel with him to the camp at Gilgal. The Israelites had just made an unwise treaty with the Gibeonites in chapter 9 and now in chapter 10 they immediately have to come to the Gibeonites' rescue.

Five kings of the Amorites assembled by Adonai Zedek, the king of Jerusalem. His name might remind us of the name of Melchizedek, the king of Salem in Genesis chapter 14. Adonai Zedek is alarmed because the powerful city of Gibeon has given itself over to the Israelites and he wants to assemble a force to attack the Gibeonites as the weakest point of this new alliance.

It's important to remember the commitment that the Israelites now have to protecting the Gibeonites. They were responsible to protect them. Some of us reading this might think, well this looks rather convenient for the Israelites.

They can just allow the kings of the Amorites to destroy the Gibeonites without breaking the treaty directly themselves. This would solve a problem for them. However, as those devoted to the Lord, the Gibeonites' non-destruction rendered them the slaves of the Lord.

And as their master, the Lord himself would fight for their protection and required his people to do so also. Presumably the Gibeonites, like Rahab, provide an example of how other Canaanites could have been saved. Had the Gibeonites openly declared their identity to Joshua in the preceding chapter and asked to submit to the Lord as their new master, it seems likely that the Lord would have accepted them.

Otherwise we have a situation where a foolish treaty of Israel's can trump the express command of the Lord. We should also notice that this is a fulfillment of the curse of Ham from Genesis chapter 9 verses 24 to 27. When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, he said, Cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.

He also said, Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant. May God enlarge Japheth and let him dwell in the tents of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant. The Gibeonites are descendants of Ham's son Canaan, the son cursed on account of Ham's wicked act against his father, and in willingly becoming the servants of Israel, descendants of Shem, they are accepting their curse.

However, as in the case of the Levites, the accepted curse can in some ways turn into a blessing. Like the Levites, they are claimed by the Lord as his servants. Their land is associated with wells and with woods, and so the Lord makes them servants as woodcutters and water carriers.

And the Lord protects and fights for his servants. He fights against the enemies of the Gibeonites in an astonishingly direct manner. He throws them into a panic, he bombards them with large and deadly hailstones, and even seemingly stops the sun above them.

Heaven is fighting on Israel and the Gibeonites' behalf, and the great blow against the kings is struck by the Lord himself. And indeed, the text is written in a way that suggests that the Lord is the one striking and pursuing them. Israel's part in the battle is minimized.

The stopping of the sun and the moon is a truly remarkable and strange event, and we might rightly puzzle over what exactly is referred to here, and what actually happened. We can make a few remarks on this. First off, the miracles of the Exodus often fell into the category of the hypernatural rather than the supernatural, and even when the supernatural might have been involved, nothing was remotely as extreme as this particular miracle, especially if we consider what would have been involved in a literal stopping of the sun, or slowing down of the sun.

This might raise reasonable questions about how this miracle fits with the Lord's typical ways of working. God's world is not presented as a world within which just about anything can happen. Taking scripture as inspired and true does not mean that we need to read every single passage in the most woodenly, literal fashion.

It is possible to have doubts about the surface interpretation of the text that do not proceed from doubting the Lord's power, but doubts that can arise from more biblically informed questions about how consistent a particular understanding is with the ways of the Lord in general. A second point to notice is that the language is phenomenological. The sun rises and sets.

It's the language of appearance. It's presented from a human vantage point, not from a detached scientific perspective, and recognizing that this is the perspective, it opens the possibility that this is an appearance rather than a literal stopping of the sun or a stopping of the earth in its orbit. Neither of these two points settle anything by themselves, nor should they be used to dismiss out of hand the surface, literal reading of the text.

However, they do open up possible lines of inquiry for the faithful reader of scripture who has questions about the surface reading here. We are given two witnesses to the event, the witness of the book of Jasher and the witness of the book of Joshua, both of which confirm that the event occurred. The book of Jasher is mentioned on one other occasion in scripture, in 2 Samuel 1, verse 18, where we learn that David's lament over Saul and Jonathan was within it.

The event is presented as absolutely unique and unprecedented. However, the unprecedented character of the event focuses upon the Lord's heeding of the voice of a man. Joshua commands the sun and the moon, and the Lord acts.

What kind of man is this that even the sun and the moon obey him? Recognizing this is important as it suggests that the sun standing still was apparently not the most remarkable thing about the day. The most remarkable thing was that the Lord acted in response to the command of Joshua given to the sun and the moon, a command that didn't take the obvious form of a prayer. Various proposals have been advanced for what actually took place.

Some have pointed out that this might be poetic hyperbole. In Habakkuk 3, verse 11, we hear the same sort of language used. The sun and moon stood still in their place at the light of your arrows as they sped at the flash of your glittering spear.

In the Song of Deborah in Judges 5, verse 20, we read, From heaven the stars fought, from their courses they fought against Sisera. Do we believe that the stars literally fought against Sisera? Probably not. Rather, this might be a description of signs in the heavens and the fact that the Lord was acting on behalf of Israel with his heavenly army.

Some have seen it as a matter of the sun stopping working rather than standing still, an eclipse or covering up of the sun. Others that it was a mirage or some miraculous appearance of divine light. Many have held that the earth actually stopped moving or slowed in its rotation.

Others have suggested that maybe it was a long night rather than a long day. Verse 13 seems to present problems for this. Perhaps they're not insurmountable but they are significant.

One thing that does make a difference for these sorts of interpretations is our reading of the battle. Is it Joshua and the people or primarily the Lord who is doing the fighting? Is the request that the Lord continue his assault upon the kings in the conditions of darkness? Indeed, the nation doesn't seem to be fighting so much as the Lord who is casting down hailstones upon them and the hailstones might come from a covering up of the sun and the prevention of its visibly rising in the heavens. The Lord would then fight as the terrible god of the storm destroying his enemies before him.

I'm not sure which interpretation of these I would settle upon or whether there are some other that would be better. However, what we should do with passages like this, even when we don't know the answers, is to get a sense of the array of the possible solutions, to break some of the problems down to size and then to chip away at the problem and see what, if anything, emerges. This is one of many biblical passages where we might find ourselves wrestling with its difficulties in the darkness until we break through to the dawn and it blesses us.

Within the context of the book of Joshua, we can draw immediate parallels with the stopping of the sun and the stopping of the river Jordan. In both of these instances, the Lord's power over natural phenomena is revealed. The kings flee and hide themselves in a cave where Israel traps them by rolling large stones against it, just as the Lord had hurled large stones down upon them from heaven.

Once they had routed the Amorites, they returned to Joshua and the cave. Removing the kings, they placed their feet on their necks. This is a psychologically powerful demonstration of the victory that the Lord has given to them.

The chapter ends with an account of the conquest of a number of cities in the south of the land and it presents these victories in a highly formulaic manner, one after another, moving from one to the next, suggesting the effectiveness and the efficiency of this military campaign and emphasising throughout the fact that the Lord was fighting for Israel. A question to consider, what are some of the implications of the Lord's power over the elements in the theology of the Pentateuch and of Joshua? Luke chapter 23 verses 26 to 49 And as they led him away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross to carry it behind Jesus. And there followed him a great multitude of the people and of women who were mourning and lamenting for him.

But turning to them, Jesus said, Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed. Then they will begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us, and to the hills, cover us.

For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry? Two others who were criminals were led away to be put to death with him. And when they came to the place that is called the skull, there they crucified him and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. And Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

And they cast lots to divide his garments. And the people stood by watching. But the ruler scoffed at him, saying, He saved others.

Let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, his chosen one. The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him some sour wine and saying, If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself. There was also an inscription over him, This is the king of the Jews.

One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us. But the other rebuked him, saying, Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds. But this man has done nothing wrong.

And he said, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And he said to him, Truly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise. It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun's light failed, and the curtain of the temple was torn in two.

Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. And having said this, he breathed his last. Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, Certainly this man was innocent.

And all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts. And all his acquaintances, and the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance watching these things. In Luke chapter 23, as Jesus is led out to his crucifixion, Simon of Cyrene takes up his cross and follows Jesus.

Notably, he's a Gentile. Simon of Bethsaida denies Jesus, but Simon of Cyrene follows him. At this point, when the twelve have largely abandoned Jesus, it is the unlikely disciples, converts and figures, along with the women that come to the foreground, people like Simon of Cyrene, the centurion, Joseph of Arimathea.

What is happening to Jesus is just the harbinger of more terrible things to come in Jerusalem, when its leaders have favoured the way of insurrection over the way of Jesus. Jesus is followed by a multitude, and many women mourning and lamenting for him. We might perhaps hear the voice of Zechariah chapter 12 verses 10 to 14 here.

Jesus addresses the women as daughters of Jerusalem. Jerusalem, or Zion, is often spoken of as a daughter in the prophets, and the city is represented by its women. Jesus presents his death as a foreshadowing of Israel's own fate.

The people following may weep for him, but they should recognise that Jerusalem as a whole will suffer the same fate in its time. He quotes Hosea chapter 10 verse 8. Jesus is led away to be crucified with two criminals. Luke has a much lighter narrative brushstroke than Matthew, for instance, but he wants us to note his prophecy being fulfilled in the background.

Isaiah chapter 53 verse 12, for instance. One criminal is on his right, and another on his left. Jesus is like an enthroned king, flanked by others.

If Simon of Cyrene illustrated discipleship in carrying the cross after Jesus, the criminals illustrate those positions that disciples that wish to be exalted must occupy. Jesus responds to the situation by prayer for the very people who are crucifying him. He intercedes for the transgressors.

He appeals to the fact that their sin is unwitting, and this unwitting character of the people's sin is also asserted by the apostles in Acts chapter 3 verses 13 to 19. But you denied the holy and righteous one, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and you killed the author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses.

And his name, by faith in his name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. And the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all. And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers.

But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. Repent therefore and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out. They will have another chance.

However, if they reject the message of the church, only certain judgment will await them. Jesus is here fulfilling his own teaching, given near the beginning of his ministry in Luke chapter 6 verses 27 to 29. But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you, to one who strikes you on the cheek, off the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either.

In the dividing of his garments by lot, we again hear the voice of scripture, this time from Psalm 22 verse 18. They divide my garments among them, and from my clothing they cast lots. Jesus is then mocked by the rulers, the soldiers, and even one of the criminals crucified alongside him.

The mockers decrease in their social status, manifesting how humiliating Jesus' position is. The mockery focuses upon Jesus' claim to be the Christ, and his supposed identity as a failed saviour. We might remember the challenge of Satan back in chapter 4, if you are the son of God, and hear that same challenge in the words of the scoffers here.

Jesus is being mocked as a king, he is served sour wine by cup bearers, he is placed with someone at his right hand and his left, he is given a royal superscription above his head. Once again the prophetic words of scripture are lying in the background. In the mockery we might hear the words of Psalm 22 being fulfilled again, this time from verses 7-8.

All who see me mock me, they make mouths at me, they wag their heads. He trusts in the Lord, let him deliver him, let him rescue him, for he delights in him. The soldiers' mockery also fulfills Psalm 69 verse 21.

They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink. The soldiers refer to Jesus as the king of the Jews, as they are Gentiles and would have thought in that category, rather than the category of Messiah. The division between the two criminals, one to be raised up and the other facing an even greater judgement, might invite comparisons between Jesus and Joseph, who is also associated with two criminals with different faiths.

However, whereas Joseph asked the cup bearer to remember him when he was elevated, the criminal here asked Jesus to remember him when he comes into his kingdom. A truly startling claim in the context, when you think about it. Here's a man being crucified, dying on a cross, and the person next to him asking to be remembered when he comes into his kingdom.

All of the appearances are against this condemned, seeming false Messiah entering into any kingdom whatsoever. But Jesus is still saving at this point. The penitent criminal is also an example of the divisions emerging in the responses to the death of Jesus.

There is darkness from the sixth to the ninth hour, it's like the penultimate plague on Egypt, when darkness lay over the whole land. All that remains is the death of the firstborn. And these are also akin to the signs of Christ's coming and judgement.

They're signs of de-creation. The curtain of the temple is torn in two. A division between God and his people is removed and a way into God's presence is made open.

Jesus alludes to the Psalms in a number of his sayings on the cross, recorded in the Gospels. Verse 46 alludes to Psalm 31, verse 5. Into your hand I commit my spirit. You have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.

In the crucifixion accounts, the words of the Psalms are very prominent on Jesus' lips. Reading the words of the wider context of the Psalms that Jesus quotes is also illuminating. These are not the words of someone in the grip of despair.

They're the words of someone confident in the Lord, even in the severest moment of distress. These words anticipate resurrection. Our passage ends with the description of three different witnesses.

The centurion, the assembled crowds, and his acquaintances with the women who had followed him from Galilee. They're watching at a distance. And the reactions of the first two witnesses, the centurion and the assembled crowds, are described in parallel.

Both are responding when they saw what had taken place. The centurion declares the innocence of Christ. Herod, Pilate, and the centurion who carried out the sentence all concur in recognizing Jesus' innocence.

However, the centurion goes further. He praises God. He recognizes the hand of God in Jesus' death, something that was presumably apparent from the signs accompanying the death, and also the manner in which Christ died.

The assembled crowds also react to what they have seen. They react in mourning, and perhaps even contrition for what has happened. They beat their breaths and returned.

Already, perhaps, we have a sign of remorse paving the way for Pentecost. The death of Jesus, then, is immediately followed by signs of new life and promise. Jesus' acquaintances and the women who had followed him from Galilee are at a greater distance.

And perhaps we should hear Psalm 38 verse 11 in the background here. My friends and companions stand aloof from my plague, and my nearest kin stand far off. The role of the women as witnesses will also prove important in the rest of the narrative that follows.

A question to consider. Why is it that it is the words of the Psalms that are most prominent in the context of the crucifixion, especially on Jesus' lips? What might we learn from this about the importance of the Psalms more generally?