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Revisiting Joshua: Uncovering Colonial Interpretations in OT Sermon

Explore the alternative reading of Joshua, addressing implications of colonial interpretations and unjust actions justified by biblical accounts. This engaging discourse challenges conventional views, touching on historical events and theological justifications related to colonization. Reflect on the complexities of interpreting biblical texts in historical contexts, prompting critical analysis and deeper insights into the influence of scripture on societal actions.

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Revisiting Joshua: Uncovering Colonial Interpretations in OT Sermon

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  1. Joshua, Part 2 An alternative reading? XICF Gabe Orea Aug 19, 2018 OT Series. Sermon 16.

  2. 1, Be strong and courageous • The people he was to lead.

  3. 1, Be strong and courageous • The people he was to lead. • The land he was to possess.

  4. 1, Be strong and courageous • The people he was to lead. • The land he was to possess. • The man he was to succeed.

  5. 1, Be strong and courageous • The people he was to lead. • The land he was to possess. • The man he was to succeed. • The God he was to serve.

  6. 2, Study and commitment 8 The scroll of this law will not depart from your mouth; you will meditate on it day and night so that you may observe diligently all that is written in it. For then you will succeed in your ways and prosper. Joshua 1

  7. Interview …

  8. So, what is the problem with the typical reading of Joshua?

  9. “The book of Joshua appears to be a blueprint for the colonization of southern Africa. During the colonial period, the indigenous peoples of southern Africa experienced cruel dispossession of their lands by the British and Boer settlers who migrated to the region to make a better life for themselves. To get ownership of the arable lands, the settlers killed and displaced the indigenous peoples from their ancestral lands. They justified their barbaric acts on the pretext of civilizing the indigenous peoples, and the missionaries who came with them saw this settlement as an occasion to convert the “natives” to Christianity.

  10. Hence the settlers and missionaries worked together in an unholy alliance. While the settlers took the lands from the indigenous peoples, the missionaries gave those peoples the Bible, which, in the missionaries’ view, gave divine sanction for the peoples’ displacement and dispossession.” Theologian Dora Mbuwayesango. Zimbabwe.

  11. Captain John Underhill was commander of the Massachusetts Bay colony forces. Watching the slaughter of natives, some people were asking ‘should not Christians have more mercy and compassion?’ But Underhill justified his military campaigns on the story of King David in the Old Testament and likened the Pequot tribe to those enemies David slew. He said, “God in his anger allowed no compassion towards such people, but harrows them, and saws them, and puts them to the sword, and the terriblest death that may be.” As to the killing of innocent women and children, he said, “sometimes the Scripture declareth women and children must perish with their parents… We had sufficient light from the word of God for our proceedings.”

  12. In the Spanish conquest of Latin America, the Bible was interpreted in such a way as to justify the killings and subjugation of the native inhabitants. Some instances are:

  13. Christopher Columbus

  14. “We carried the flag of the cross and fought for our faith… God gave us so much victory that we killed many people.”

  15. In the Spanish conquest of Latin America, the Bible was interpreted in such a way as to justify the killings and subjugation of the native inhabitants.

  16. Priest Toribio de Benavente (Motolinia) reads the narrative of the plagues in Egypt to interpret and justify the suffering of the indigenous people in Latin America as God’s punishment, making the Spaniards the instrument used by God.

  17. Theologian Juan Gines de Sepulveda defends the genocide against the natives based on the biblical accounts of Sodom and Gomorrah, and on Joshua’s conquest of Canaan.

  18. We, Indians of the Andes and America, decided to take advantage of John Paul II’s visit to return to him his Bible because in five centuries it has given us neither love, nor peace, nor justice. Please, take your Bible and give it back to our oppressors, because they need its moral precepts more than we.

  19. Since the arrival of Christopher Columbus the Bible was imposed upon America with force: European culture, language, religion, and values. The Bible came to us as part of imposed colonial change. It was the ideological arm of the colonial assault. The Spanish sword, which by day attacked and assassinated the body of the Indians, by night changed itself into the cross which attacked the Indian soul.”

  20. “When the invaders came, they asked us Indians to close our eyes to pray. When we opened our eyes, we had the Bible… and they had our land.”

  21. ?

  22. Jesus replied [to the Sadducees], “Your mistake is that you don’t know the Scriptures” Mark 12:24

  23. “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” Matthew 5:17

  24. Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two men from Acacia Grove as spies, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.” So they went, and entered the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab, and spent the night there. Joshua 2:1

  25. Faith of the outsider (so common!)

  26. Faith of the outsider (so common!) ‘I know that the Lord has given this land to you and that a great fear of you has fallen on us’ We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you …, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites … When we heard of it, our hearts sank and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below. Joshua (2:10–11).

  27. 22 Then Joshua said to the two men who spied on the land, “Go to the prostitute’s house and bring out from there the woman and all who belong to her, just as you swore to her.” 23 So the young men who were spies went and brought Rahab… and all who were with her. And they brought all her family out and set them outside the camp of Israel. 24 And they burned the city and all that was in it with fire; they put only the silver and gold, and the items of copper and iron, into the treasury of the house of Yahweh. 25 But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute and her family Joshua 6

  28. Character of Joshua Obedience Courage Study

  29. Character of Joshua Obedience Courage Study • Value of the outsider Heard Believed Acted

  30. Character of Joshua Obedience Courage Study • Value of the outsider Heard Believed Acted • Intentional reading through Jesus teaching and life.

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