Jan 14
22
I always appreciate the insights gained from Michael Horton and the rest of the contributors on The White Horse Inn, but I found this episode to be particularly insightful.
I would imagine that most Christians have, at some time in their lives, puzzled over the texts in Joshua where God commands the people of Israel to utterly destroy all of the inhabitants of the land of Canaan. How are we to interpret these passages? Should they be in the Bible? If so, how do these texts jive with the emphasis upon love and mercy that we see in Christ? And beyond that, what do these texts say to us today about war in general, or holy war in particular?
Certainly these are challenging questions. In fact, these are the texts that critics of the Bible will often go to first. Critics will claim that the God of the Old Testament is different than the God of the New, or that the God of the Bible is, in fact, morally repulsive. In my opinion, Horton and the crew deal beautifully with this difficulty.
As you listen I would encourage you to take special note of the way that these men go about interpreting scripture. Among other things, they pay special attention to the context of the book of Joshua. Not only do they pay attention the cultural and literary context, but also the redemptive historical context.
I notice that there are also other episodes pertaining to this topic both before and after this one in the White Horse Inn archives. Though I have not listened to them, I’m confident in these men to recommend them to you as well.
Please have a listen!
Pastor Joe
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/holy-war/id356920632?i=234013247&mt=2
Web: http://www.whitehorseinn.org/blog/2014/01/19/whi-1189-holy-war/
