The Key to Biblical Violence: The Bible Explained, Part 5

Last updated on: September 8, 2016 at 11:47 am by Adam Ericksen

The Key to Biblical Violence: The Bible Explained, Part 5 2016-09-08T11:47:42-05:00 Adam Ericksen

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So, in case you haven’t heard, there’s a lot of violence in the Bible. In fact, many people reject the Bible because of its depiction of violence. I appreciate the deep concern about biblical violence, but here’s the thing – history shows that humans have had a major problem. The truth is that every culture, including ancient Jewish culture, has suffered from acts violence. If the Bible ignored violence we would rightly criticize the authors for covering up the truth about their own violence.

The key question is not whether or not there’s violence in the Bible. The question is whether or not the Bible critiques its own violence.

When it comes to violence, René Girard claims that the Bible is a “text in travail.” In other words, the Bible has sections of violence, but also sections where it critiques that violence.

Take the book of Joshua, for example. Joshua is one of the most violent books in the Bible. After conquering one city, it claims the Joshua and his men “devoted the city to the Lord and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it – men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep, and donkey.”

Horrific stuff. And it seems as though God is behind it all. But there is an important criticism of this violence right there in the book of Joshua. While on their way to conquer these cities, Joshua saw a man with a drawn sword on the road, blocking the way forward. Joshua asked the man, “Are you for us or for our enemies?”

The man revealed himself to be the commander of the Lord’s army, so of course he would be on Joshua’s side, right? After all, everyone thinks that God was fighting with and for Israel. But the Commander of the Lord’s army gives a surprising answer. He says that his isn’t on Joshua’s side or on his enemy’s side. That’s because when it comes to violence, God doesn’t take sides. Instead of commanding an act of violence, the Commander of the Lord’s army tells Joshua to take off his sandals, because he is on holy ground.

Here we see an internal critique of biblical violence. God doesn’t want violence. In Hebrew, the name Joshua is Yeshua, which is also the name Jesus. The name means God saves. For Christians Jesus saves humanity not by violently taking sides like Joshua wanted, but by loving all sides with nonviolent love and forgiveness.

If you have any questions about the Bible that you would like explained, please leave them in the comment section. Thanks!

For more in this series:
Part 1: Creation is No Myth
Part 2: How the Bible Hijacked the “Image of God”
Part 3: The Bible is Progressive
Part 4: The Apocalypse Revealed
Part 5: The Key to Biblical Violence
Part 6: Adam, Eve, and the Mimetics of Being Human

Image: Wikimedia, Malcolm Lidbury, “Bible and Key Divination,” Creative Commons License, Share Alike 3.0, unported.

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