God prepared Joshua for leadership by mentoring him for many years under Moses’s leadership. Furthermore, God reassured Joshua by promising him that He (God) would be with him. This reassurance is evident in Deuteronomy 31:7-8 when Moses formally transitioned power to Joshua,
Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the presence of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you must go with this people into the land that the LORD swore to their ancestors to give them, and you must divide it among them as their inheritance. The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” (New International Version).
Later, God Himself commissioned Joshua in front of
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Arnold and Beyer (2015) explain that “The herem, or spoils of war—be it people, animals, or goods—belonged to the Lord, and he had the right to do with it as he pleased” (p. 145). In certain cases, God wanted everything destroyed (e.g., 1 Samuel 15:1-3). Is a herem, however, the same as an Islamic jihad? Mateen Elass, a former Muslim turned Christian pastor, says no. Islamic jihad is a war against all unbelievers, whereas Christianity does not condone the use of force to advance God’s kingdom (Elass, 2002, para. 28, 31). Of course, the Israelites were in a different position than Christians today. God used His people on certain occasions to judge evil practices after the people who were being judged were given time to repent (Arnold, & Beyer, 2015, p. 143). Using power to stop evil is very different from using power to conquer or destroy those of other faiths. The war that the Israelites fought could be roughly analogous to the United States fighting the Nazi’s during WWII. The purpose of fighting Nazi Germany was to stop evil, not to eliminate unbelievers. Furthermore, God ap-plied the same standard to Israel and caused Israel to be conquered when they perpetrated evil (e.g., 2 Kings 17:6-7, 24:20-25:7). Islamic jihad promotes violence to spread the Muslim faith by force; a herem of God stops
The Assyrians were known to have a powerful, ruthless army. The army was the largest Middle East or Mediterranean fighting force that had ever been seen. It is believed that God himself promised the Israelites that if they disobeyed Him he would allow them to be taken up and carried away to foreign lands. His promise is explained in Isaiah 5:26-29. It reads, “He will whistle to them from the end of the earth; Surely they shall come with speed, swiftly. No one weary or stumble among them No one will slumber or sleep Nor will the belt on their loins be loosed, Nor the strap of their sandals be broken; Whose arrows are sharp, And all their bows bent; Their horses’ hooves will seem like flint, And their wheels like whirlwind. Their roaring will be like a lion, They will roar like young lions; Yes, they will roar And lay hold of the prey; They will carry it away safely, And no one will deliver.” Israel’s rebellion angered God and it led to war with the invincible Assyrians. The Northern Kingdom of Israel was wiped out.
After reading Courageous Faith: Life Lessons from Old Testament Heroes, the biblical hero I most relate to is Joshua. Joshua succeeded Moses as the leader to lead the Israelites into the promise land. The promise land was prosperous but filled with many strong cities and armies. Joshua had to place his faith in God and His promise that the Israelites will conquer the land. Joshua and the new generation of Israelites had faith in God and they went into the promise land even without a battle plan. They placed faith in God before their fears and concerns. “God was telling Joshua to put Him first, and then he would be prosperous and successful” (Hindson, 77). Joshua obeyed God’s battle plan instead of being afraid and make his own battle plan. The
to destroy an enemy. A good Christian, however, can never justify this. because no matter how accurate your weapons are you will undoubtedly kill innocent civilians. If you look at the Ten Commandments laid down by God you will see that God was opposed to war, violence and any form. of the mistreatment of the people.
While there is no precise definition of the term, the meaning of Jihad is far more complex. In fact, the term Jihad generally refers to the struggle one must undertake as one “strive[s] in the path of God” (Church 110). That struggle is defined both externally and internally. As so, they are classified in terms of an external struggle with enemies or non believers, or an internal struggle with oneself to reject greed and temptation. While popular opinion has been misconstrued to see Jihad as a malevolent, violent action; a serious investigation of the term’s historical and religious background reveals a multi-defined word.
Christians refuse to fight at war, they can still be part of war in a
Does such a combination of words as "a war in the name of God" make sense? The main principles, which underlie Christianity and Islam, are those of goodness, kindness, lack of aggression and respecting certain moral laws. Christianity and Islam provide human society with a code of ethics, which totally rejects war because it is something violent, inhumane and cruel. Still, over the course of human history many wars have been justified with religion and with imposing the "right faith". Because of misunderstanding of certain parts of religion or deliberate misuse of it European and Islamic states have often used violence to fulfill their goals.
The discussion and interpretation of warfare in theology is not a new controversy. A purely Old Testament inspired interpretation would suggest that violence can be, and often is a widely accepted practice in the eyes of God. “The Book of Joshua”, is a particularly good example of the war theology found throughout the Old Testament as it is an account of the Israelites conquests at the behest of God. The God described in ”The Book of Joshua” is ruthless, absolute in his perception of peoples being ether righteous or wicked, and champions the total destruction of the Cainites. However, the New Testament paints God in a much different light. Jesus Christ, the son of God, acts in a manner that starkly contrasts the absolutes and violence of
Many scriptures found in Deuteronomy along with several scriptures in the Old and New Testament point to Moses as being the author of Deuteronomy. One main verse that points to Moses as being the author of Deuteronomy is 31:9 which states, “9 Then Moses wrote this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and to all the elders of Israel. The book of Deuteronomy never clearly states who the author is, but by all viewing all other scripture and the scripture found in the book of Deuteronomy Moses seems to be the only person that could have possibly written the book of Deuteronomy. Moses audiences in this book are the tribes of Israel. Many Jewish scholars who interpret the book of Deuteronomy believe that Moses audience were the elders of each tribe who delivered what Moses had spoke. The starting date of Deuteronomy is 1451 BC. Moses gives three speeches throughout this book, but there are five parts that make up the covenant renewal. The five parts of the covenant renewal that take place in Deuteronomy are the Preamble, Historical Prologue, Terms, Sanctions, and Ratifications. The Ten Commandments are given to people of Israel in the book of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy is all about renewing the covenant between God and His people. God spoke to Moses and used Moses to speak to the people of Israel. The covenant renewal took place in the desert which was east of the Jordan River. Everything that took place in the book of Deuteronomy was in the Plains of Moab and in the crossing of the Jordan River to the Promise Land. The generation of Exodus was no more and Moses now led the new generation. In order for the people of Israel to enter into the Promis...
For everyone has a baseline, trespassing the final line can easily infuriate the country who has endured for long. Albeit aggressive wars are unbearable as “wholesale robberies and murders”, Christian stance toward defensive war is obvious. “Peace Society” is a daydream since we live in a real world, but “war should only be defensive”. “As soon as the invader is disarmed, his life should be spared,” for the invading sovereign is diabolic rather than the “private soldiers”. Confucian Analects explicate the condition prior to wars is education. What’s more, Hebrew Bible “teaches” the “valour of the defensive soldiers is one of the noble fruits of religious faith” since that’s the principle of “God”. Moreover, the guidelines in Islams also give us instruction of war that is conditional. “Fights is the cause of God against those who fight you, but do not transgress limits, for “killing a person” in the first place resemble the situation “killing the whole people” and “God does not love transgressors”. Defensive war was the only last resort, but countries cannot be belligerently and vehemently wave national flags from their vehicles. The Hinduism admits the valor to attack, stating that “May your weapons be firm to attack, strong also to withstand.” However, this belligerence is inordinate because attack may inflict hatred and vengeance. Similarly, the principle of ISIS, which can be found via the
Most religions specify that violence is not allowed and yet extremists will cause major destruction in the name of their God. However, some people are too quick to blame religion on terrorism (Winchester, 2). In actuality, it is the nature of human beings to prove that their way is right, there way of doing that is using fear and destruction (Winchester, 3). It is not religion that causes the terr...
Many terrorists believe that their religion is the only true religion, and they use it to justify violence (“Islamic Terrorism”). Most Muslim terrorists follow Jihad. Jihad is an Islamic perception that the way to integrate their religion is by massive force (“Of True Muslims and Terrorists”). Jihad is considered the “sixth pillar” of faith in Islam because it is the constant fight towards good. It is the idea of focusing on God and turning away from those that oppose God (David E. Long, 91). The terrorists believe that their religion is what everyone should follow, so they would naturally require personnel in power in Muslim states to either convert to their religion or resign from their terms. They will first threaten a leader that if they do not change, the terrorists will use violence. Sometimes, violent acts come about without any warning or previous threats (“Of True Muslims and Terrorists”). Islam is a proselytizing religion, which means it uses violence to convert people to its faith. This is because, in the ...
Wars are started due to different beliefs, whether it is religion, ethics, etc. The Crusades were a series of “Holy Wars”. Prior to the Crusades, in 1009 the Arabs ruled Jerusalem, a sacred site to both Christians and Muslims. At the same time, El Hakim ordered the burning of the Holy Sepulcher. This brought mistrust among the Muslims.
It is evident in the text that Moses erects himself as a magnificent leader over the Israelites. In the beginning of the text, the author is able to show Moses human faults when he backs down from God’s challenge of being a leader yet finds the strength to eventually lead his people and convey God’s message through his own actions. He comes a long way in proving his effectiveness as a leader. He begins to accept the blame of others and overcomes all of his own personal flaws because he is motivated by the responsibilities that have been given to him.
Cindy Pereyra The Pentateuch Dr. Luther 5 May 2014 Deuteronomy Study Assignment 1. Read Deuteronomy 16:18-20. a. Describe the requirements of judges in Israel based on this passage. In this passage, the requirements of judges in Israel are shown. The people are told to appoint judges and officers for themselves in all the towns that the Lord is giving to them according to their tribes.
It is also about the division of the land among the tribes, and leads them in swearing allegiance to the covenant. Motifs in the book of Joshua are, Joshua becoming the new Moses and leading the Israelites, the Israelites possessing the Promise Land of Canaan, Military glorification of Yahweh, and the execution of the ban on the Canaanites. “Researchers believe that even though the completed book may date to the middle of the first millennium BCE, some of its elements may be much older. It mentions town lists, battle stories, and etiologies that are similar to ancient historiographic and folkloristic traditions known from other ancient Near Eastern cultures of the second and first millennia BCE. Also, it mentions twelve personal names of non-Israelites such as Rahab and Jabin, that are attested in Near Eastern documents dating form or before the period of early