On Wednesday this past week I had a great evening with Colette Baker Thelen about the family. The outcome of this conversation will hopefully be evidence in near future weeks. For now however we turn to Joshua. Why Joshua you ask? Well, why not! Well, ok, there are some ulterior motives. Nicky has begun a bible study on this book and it has been going for three weeks. I figured Nicky and I could look at Leona and Homer’s notes, compare them, and talk about what things were similar and what things were different. Maybe get a glimpse at their separate and related interests in this book.
The book of Joshua is the sixth book of the Old Testament.
The first five books of the Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and
Deuteronomy) are similar to a chorus or refrain of a song or the overture of a
symphony – without them the rest of the story does not make sense. In Genesis,
God creates the world (his kingdom) and creates caretakers for it (the man and
the women). The first humans rebel against their sovereign (King) and from this
rebellion, chaos, alienation, separation, curses, and death enter the world.
God’s plan to live with his people has shattered. From Genesis 3:16 to the end
of Deuteronomy, God begins to restore his people back to himself, and to set up
his physical rule once again in the world through a people he has chosen simply
out of his own freedom to choose, and he has chosen Israel. Israel herself was
a small, weak, and insignificant nation, who happened to be on prime real-estate
for the significant, strong, and large nations (Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon).
Who would have believed that God would choose the foolish wisdom of this world
to heal and redeem all created things back into right relationship with their
creator? In the most important portion
of the Holy Scriptures (the first five books) we have been given a promise for
this but no fulfillment.
The beginning of this fulfillment is what concerns Joshua.
Where God issues only one command in the garden, God now issues an entire
institution of commands. Where God walks with his people in total immanence in
the garden, God must now be worshiped with transcendence, weight, and holiness
in mind. Where God sets up total egalitarianism (all are equals) in the garden,
he now institutes chains of command/hierarchies. Seen in this way, the long
lists of names, battles, and seemingly tedious information in the book of
Joshua begins to not only make more sense, but to actually be interesting.
Amidst all of the overwhelming historical information, my ancestors
Homer and Leona choose not to reflect on this. Other than one date underlined
in the cross reference notes (by Homer), all of the notes, marginal marks/notes,
underlining, and cross references have focused on something else altogether.
Can you guess? We’ve already mentioned in past reflections that for Homer and
Leona, Jeanette, and Dick, the scriptures were immensely accessible, that is to
say, they gave immediate access to how I should live (morality/ethics), and
what I should do (the Christian life). For them the historical gap of at least
six thousand years on all accounts did not exist. The scriptures, through the
leading of the Holy Spirit spoke through them directly to us. So for them,
Joshua was primarily about:
1.) The
Promises of God for us – Inheriting the Baptized Life.
2.) The
Commands of God for us – Living the Baptized Life.
In
suggesting these two interests, let me add a caveat. We cannot suggest that
Homer and Leona (and for that matter Jeanette and Dick) were unaware of the
historical reality of the biblical texts. I am sure they could wax eloquent
regarding the historical issues of date, authorship, place in the canon,
Israel’s society, and ancient Near Eastern culture, etc. We cannot suggest however that their
intensions were purely objective or followed a proper rule for biblical
interpretation. What I mean by this is that just like now; they also faced a
cultural landscape of deteriorating trust in the scriptures as being without
error and a sure belief in God. What I am “getting at” is that their notes can
be viewed as the remains of a cultural battle ground, more or less extinct. Going
back to the second post about Evangelicalism and Fundamentalism, there was a
battle being waged for the legitimacy of the Holy Scriptures. For Leona and
Homer, the scriptures were the inspired word of God without error, as opposed
to those who believed the scriptures to be from human origin. Homer and Leona
loved Timothy when he said “All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for
teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (I
Tim. 3:16-17).
What
all this means is that God’s speech to Joshua in 1:2-9 (8 verses), and Joshua’s
speech to Israel in 1:11-18 (8 verses) both being about not losing heart and
being courageous when you enter the promised land – this for my grandparents
was primarily about not losing heart and being courageous in fighting the good
fight of protecting the bible from those who would naysay it. Against those who
would deny God’s existence and/or not trust the Word of God, those promises of God were underlined,
scored, marked, and cherished. For them Joshua was a smorgasbord of encouragement.
Here
are the verses in Joshua that both Homer and Leona had underlined. A picture of
them follows:
- “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.” (1:8-9)
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| Homer's Notes |
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| Leona's Notes |
- That all the people of the earth might know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty: that ye might fear the LORD your God for ever. (4:24)
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| Homer's Notes |
- Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD. And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. (24:14-15)
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| Homer's Notes |
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| Leona's Notes |
Where both were concerned with the promises of God and the commands of God, what interested Nicky and I more when going through them together were the things that interested Homer and Leona differently. Here are a small collection of the notes and verses underlined that caught our attention.
From Homer’s Bible:
- Homer has underlined 6:18 “And ye, in any wise keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest ye make yourselves accursed, when ye take of the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it.” One wonders if he believed God was talking about the purity of the church here?
- Next to Joshua 7:3 he has written “again 12,000”
- In 7:5 the text says “And the men of Ai smote of them about thirty and six men.” Homer has this underlined. I hope he underlined this because there was a boy still in him who enjoyed a good war story and fight sequence.
- A funny note, Homer has written next to 24:27 “stone heard.” Here is 24:27, “And Joshua said unto all the people, Behold, this stone shall be a witness unto us; for it hath heard all the words of the LORD which he spake unto us: it shall be therefore a witness unto you, lest ye deny your God.” There is glimpse here into Homer’s imagination as he pondered the fact of a stone hearing the Word of God.
From Leona’s Bible:
- On the page before Joshua begins Leona has some notes on tithing.
- In 1:7 she has underlined “Only” in “Only be thou strong and very courageous…” She seemed to understand that the Christian life stemmed from a few simple commands.
- Next to 1:8 Leona has written “for success in your Christian Life” and “PROMISE”
- Throughout two thousand years of Christian interpretation of scripture, the Ark of the Covenant was seen as a type of Christ, that is to say, the ark gave an initial glimpse of something that was fully seen later with Christ. In Joshua 3 Grandma has written “Ark is a Picture of Christ.” In verses 3, 6 (2x), 8, and 11 she has “ark” circled.
- In chapter 6 Joshua and the hosts of Yahweh have leveled Jericho, only one family was saved from the destruction of the city, the family of Rahab. Leona has only underlined the phrase “Joshua saved Rahab” in verse 6:25. One wonders if she is showing that God deeply cares for women here.
- Leona has made little notes through the text of Joshua indicating when God did a miracle.
- Next to chapter 14 Leona’s marginal note says “Caleb means whole hearted.”
- Next to 24:14-15 Grandma wrote “Who will you serve, Joshua made his choice.”
If their notes in these bibles were an indicator of their knowledge of the scriptures then both of them were thoroughly submerged in its teaching. However one must wonder if Leona has a better, more well rounded understanding of them from the evidence of her notes.
I hope you enjoyed this tour de force through the book of Joshua, guided by my Grandparents, Homer and Leona Baker.
Eric and Nicky,
ReplyDeleteNice 'interweaving' of historicity of Scriptures with authenticity of Scriptures. I was humbled and rejoicing at the picture of your Scriptural description of Death and burial to sin, the significance of baptism and the authenticity and reality of the resurrection and what Christ's resurrection from the grave depicts for the believer.
Thank you for your clarify in communicating the truth of God's word!
Lois