Hi, Stephen —

Thanks for the question.

First of all, Job is written much like an ancient Hebrew play. In other words, it is not to be taken as a record of history . . . although it could be.

Secondly, Job did not summon God. God cannot be summoned. He is sovereign. We can pray and speak with Him, because He is Our Loving Father. In fact, the whole idea that He needs to be summoned implies that He is distant. That's not the case. He walks with us and wants nothing more than to converse with us.

In fact, He's probably speaking to a lot more than we think. We are the ones not listening, but again, God is not a Genie or some Demon that he can be summoned.

In the book of Job, Job cries out to God in prayer.

John

Stephen —

Again, you're not reading the text for the literary form that it is. There are a couple of lessons taught in this text.

The traditional reason for warfare (at that time) was included:

• the taking of slaves
• the taking of possessions such as live stock,
• and so forth.

God's instructions were such that they contradicted the societal pattern of going to war for the sake of plundering. What God was saying is if you want to go to war, then you've got to destroy everything or you don't go to war.

Again, you've got to look at what the entire Bible is saying. Previously, God had told Israel
(while they were wandering in the desert) that when they took the promised land, they could not intermarry with the people that lived there. This prohibition was so that the Israelites would not pick up the idolatry and sinful customs of the Canaanites. However, as Israel traveled for
40 years, they repeatedly fell into the same sins, as the Egyptians they left behind, and the Canaanites they were going to be living next to. Hence, God told them to wipe everybody out.

When you study carefully the meaning of the names of the peoples that lived in Canaan,
you understand the point of the text. In Joshua, they are listed as Jebusites, Hittites, Perizzites, Girgashites, etc. Each of the names comes from a Hebrew root word that means one of the sins Israel was struggling with in the desert. The whole notion of the promised land isn't just the land; the size of a postage stamp in the Middle East. The promised land is a state or condition in which we have put to death the sin in our life. Obviously we do this by grace — see Romans
Chapter 8, but the Old Testament is meant to show us the weakness of man and his desperate need for salvation.

When reading these texts, we don't focus on the historicity. We treat it as historical for the sake of the narrative but the whole narrative is there for a theological purpose; not to give a historical accounting or a news report.

John

My friend,

It seems to me your questions are rooted in some pretty deep seated anger. You're angry with God. That's a start, at least you believe He's there. I don't know why you're angry.

You may well have the right to your anger — although if you hold on to it — you will only hurt yourself.

There is nothing stopping you from talking to God. He became man and died for your sins and mine.

• You don't think He wants to talk to you?

He wants nothing more then to talk to you and yes, if you need to express your anger — then by all means do so. Trust me He will answer you.

You just need to be listening. He may not open up the clouds and drop out of the sky, but you'll know His Voice, if you want to hear it.

Just be ready to hear what He has to say.

John

John,

Excellent insight into the theological meaning of the text.

• I learned something but do you also mean to say this was not historical?
• Only symbolic of destroying sins?

If it was historical, this leaves us with the unanswered question of why God would order the murder of every innocent man, woman, and child in light of the fifth commandment given at Sinai. No?

Paul

Paul,

To be honest we don't know if this is historical. I don't think it's for us to say either way. If it is historical, the reason is, that the sin of those people in Jericho (and other cities which faced similar ends) was such that God said they needed to be exterminated. Let's not forget Sodom and Gomorrah.

The fifth commandment deals with murder, not the execution of a judgment.

There is an obscure text in Genesis where God says to Abraham that his descendents would spend 400 some odd years in captivity and that they could not yet posses Canaan because the sin of the Amalekites was not complete. In other words — God was waiting to strip the land from these people because He was giving them time (several centuries) to repent or seal their fate so by the time of Joshua, their time was up and they hadn't repented.

Israel, would not have been committing murder, rather they were playing the role of executing God's judgment. Later we see God used Assyria and Babylon in a similar fashion against Israel.

John