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meaning “second,” nomos meaning “law”). The Church Fathers saw Deuteronomy as a secondary law code given after the golden calf and therefore representing a “Plan B,” so to speak, for God’s people. Modern scholars also recognize a distinction and observe that the Ten Commandments are given in direct discourse from God, whereas the rest of the laws are given in indirect discourse, thereby distinguishing the authority of the Ten Commandments from the other laws. Jesus’ critique, however, should not be simplistically reduced to the notion that the New Testament overturns the Old Testament, for Jesus bases his teaching about the indissolubility of marriage on the Old Testament book of Genesis. But, like the prophet Malachi, who quotes God as saying, “I hate divorce” (Mal 2:16), Jesus recognizes that in Deuteronomy God allowed “laws that are not good” (Ez 20:25) because of Israel’s hardness of heart and attachment to pagan custom and worship. Such laws radically depart from God’s will manifest from the beginning of creation. Given this background, we are better equipped to understand Deuteronomy’s p 116 legislation of “the ban” (in Hebrew, herem): the genocidal destruction of the peoples of Canaan. As with divorce, herem is a concession that does not reflect God’s original plan. When the Exodus began, God told Moses he would “drive out” the inhabitants of the land from before Israel (Ex 23:23–33). Indeed, God says he will send a “terror” before Israel and drive out the people with “hornets” (Ex 23:27–28). Exodus makes no mention of herem warfare. Rather, the people occupying the Promised Land will flee before Israel, with no need for battle or slaughter. It is only after Israel’s apostasy and rebellion that Moses gives directions regarding warfare and herem. It would seem, then, that slaughter and warfare were not in God’s original plan for Israel to take the Promised Land. Israel’s failure to trust God and enter the land a generation earlier, along with their proclivity to follow the other nations in practicing pagan idolatry, results in their having to forcibly clear out the inhabitants of the land. While Israel’s sins and lack of trust necessitate a forcible removal of the pagan nations, the sins and wickedness of the pagan nations also enter into God’s allowing warfare and the timing of the return to the land (Dt 9:4–5). Long before the Conquest, God had foretold to Abraham that his descendants would not be freed from Egypt and given the Promised Land until “the iniquity of the Amorites is complete” (Gn 15:16; emphasis added). Because of their wickedness, the Canaanite tribes are made to perish before Israel and driven from the land. Yet God shows no partiality, as he warns Israel that if they sin as the Amorites had, then they, too, will be driven from the Promised Land (Dt 8:19– 20). Crossing the Jordan Just as God parted the Red Sea for the Exodus, so now he parts the Jordan River at the height of the spring floods for Israel’s entry into the Promised Land (Jos 4:19). Psalm 114, recognizing the parallel between these two crossings, says: The sea looked and fled, Jordan turned back. The mountains skipped like rams, The hills like lambs. p 117 What ails you, O sea, that you flee? O Jordan, that you turn back? (Ps 114:3–5) The only reason for the sea fleeing and the mountains quaking is the presence of their Creator, who is present at Sinai in the thunder and lightning and also at the Jordan with the Ark of the Covenant. No barrier, be it sea or mountain, can stand in Israel’s way when she walks with God. The imagery of water giving way to dry ground evokes the imagery of creation. Indeed, in both the crossing of the Red Sea and the Jordan River the term for “dry ground” (Hebrew, yabbashah eretz) repeats the word used in the creation account (Gn 1:9–10). Similarly, after the leading Canaanite kings are defeated, the narrator tells us the Promised Land “lay subdued before them [Israel]” (Jos 18:1). This same language is used to describe the dominion of Adam and Eve over the land in Genesis 1:28. The conquest is described in terms that evoke the creation narrative, for the Promised Land, flowing with milk and honey, is likened to a new Paradise. But such parallels can be perilous, for if Israel follows the story line of Adam and Eve and transgresses God’s law, Israel, too, shall be expelled from Eden. Jesus and the Jordan Both Joshua’s and Jesus’ names are variations on the Hebrew Y’shua, which means “God saves.” When Jesus begins his public ministry he crosses over to the eastern side of the Jordan River where John the Baptist is baptizing. Thus Jesus, the new Joshua and ultimate Savior, enters the Jordan on the east side, is baptized, and then crosses the Jordan into the Promised Land of Israel to begin his public ministry. Jesus’ death and resurrection will open the doors to the new Promised Land of heaven, and he will pour forth his Spirit on his followers so that they may conquer the seven deadly sins, just as Joshua battles the seven nations of Canaan. Israel’s crossing the Jordan marks a major threshold; it is the completion of Israel’s departure from the land of slavery and also her entry into the land of promise. Moving out of a wilderness of chaos and inhospitable terrain, the people of God now find a rich land that is the long-lost home of their ancestors. Generations earlier, God had promised Abraham he would bring his descendants p 118 back to this land and give it to them as an inheritance (Gn 12:1–3; 15:13–21). The Sinai covenant reconfirmed the promises made to the patriarchs, and now as Israel at last enters the land, the time of promise becomes the time of fulfillment of God’s good words. tải về 6.33 Mb. Chia sẻ với bạn bè của bạn:
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