What do you think?
Rate this book
Joshua
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
Read
October 13, 2023This book has two very distinctive halves: the account of the conquest of Canaan and then the allotment of the land conquered to each tribe. The second half is boring, as it's mostly a list of names of places. I bet it's fascinating to someone who wishes to draw maps, to figure out each of those references and plot a chart of how the land was then supposedly divided. But as someone looking from a literary or philosophical point of view, I mostly skimmed over these sections.
The first half is the most disturbing one. I don't like the idea of sitting on a moral high horse from my point in time and judging ancient peoples with my modern morals, but what I'm more worried about is the moral that modern peoples might want to get from this text. Historically, as far as I understand there's no evidence that any of these events took place as described here. They're a legendary account, showing a people out of slavery, out of forty years in the desert, and finally becoming in control of their destiny with God's help to conquer a land and fight their supposed enemies to establish their commonwealth. Nonetheless, the violence from the israelites and God described here lands far from and idea of a brave nation fighting for freedom, and more as barbarous invaders brutally exterminating nations residing in a promised land, who are supposedly desecrating it by not worshipping the right god. I feel that this text has surfaced as a moral guide in modern times, for Israelis desiring to come back to a time of being the strong militaristic nation instead of the meek diasporic people, and that's the worst lesson I would like to take from sacred texts. Whenever it is said that the fundamental religious truths are loving-kindness and respecting your neighbor, and that religion doesn't support senseless violence, this is a book that serves as a counter argument. This is the book that shows that a true religious sentiment of connectedness to God and the world must overcome attachments to ancient texts. They're not to be burned and forgotten, but we don't need to hold on to these "truths" and values as absolute and unquestionable.
The first half is the most disturbing one. I don't like the idea of sitting on a moral high horse from my point in time and judging ancient peoples with my modern morals, but what I'm more worried about is the moral that modern peoples might want to get from this text. Historically, as far as I understand there's no evidence that any of these events took place as described here. They're a legendary account, showing a people out of slavery, out of forty years in the desert, and finally becoming in control of their destiny with God's help to conquer a land and fight their supposed enemies to establish their commonwealth. Nonetheless, the violence from the israelites and God described here lands far from and idea of a brave nation fighting for freedom, and more as barbarous invaders brutally exterminating nations residing in a promised land, who are supposedly desecrating it by not worshipping the right god. I feel that this text has surfaced as a moral guide in modern times, for Israelis desiring to come back to a time of being the strong militaristic nation instead of the meek diasporic people, and that's the worst lesson I would like to take from sacred texts. Whenever it is said that the fundamental religious truths are loving-kindness and respecting your neighbor, and that religion doesn't support senseless violence, this is a book that serves as a counter argument. This is the book that shows that a true religious sentiment of connectedness to God and the world must overcome attachments to ancient texts. They're not to be burned and forgotten, but we don't need to hold on to these "truths" and values as absolute and unquestionable.
Displaying 1 of 1 review