Joshua 9-21: The Truth about Your Superiority Complex and the Fear that Fuels It

As we've mentioned, the book of Joshua was probably written by a collection of different authors at a much later time in Israel's history than the events described in the book.  As a part of the "Deuteronomistic history," this book (and the books that follow in the biblical structure) were most likely created to justify a shift toward monotheism and more prominent leadership role of the priesthood under King Josiah late in the 7th century BCE, with the book possibly being completed as much as a century later.  It's evident that the story being told in Joshua is that the Israelites, empowered by their faith, conquered a large swath of the area around the Jordan River, taking livestock, property, and riches from the cities and killing every man, woman, and child of nearly every kingdom they conquered.  In the parlance of our time, we call this genocide, but in the minds of the Israelites, this was simply claiming what God had promised them.  God was in fact instigator and accomplice in their violence, according to the book of Joshua.

Many of the stories that pepper the chapters on the distribution of land, as well as the tales of conquest, end with statements like, "And there they remain to this day."  This suggests that many of the stories were intended to explain a situation, like why a particular group of Israelites were granted access to a particular well, or why a certain group of foreigners/infidels/heathens became slave labor for the Israelites instead of being slaughtered outright.  The stories are not intended to question the status quo, but rather to justify it in a way that put any questions or objections to rest, much like a parental, "because I said so."  Since we are looking back from a different vantage point, we have the opportunity to see some things about the Israelites' self-identity that they may have been unable to see, on account of their immersion in the culture.  Perhaps we can even use such observations to gain a little perspective about our own worldviews.

There's no question that the Israelites thought of themselves as better than everyone else.  On the surface at least.  Their god was better than anyone else's god.  Their entitlement to property and buildings and livestock was more legitimate than anyone else's.  Even their lives were worth more than other people's lives.  Perhaps there was some kind of collective narcissism at work, much like what happens in today's world when extreme nationalism shoves aside any thought of treating other people humanely.  If we accept the narrative of the Bible as how the Israelites saw themselves, perhaps the vehement superiority was actually a defense mechanism for what they feared about themselves, that they were, at their core, slaves.

When we fear something about ourselves, we can go to great lengths to disprove that fear.  If we fear that we are worthless, we might do everything in our power to demonstrate to everyone how valuable we are.  If we fear that we are unlovable, we might do all manner of self-destructive things just to devour illusions of love from other people.  And if we believe that we are no better than slaves, powerless, worth less than "real" people?  We might go to great length just to show everyone just how powerful we can be.  And how worthless they are.  "It doesn't matter if we were slaves in Egypt.  We're so powerful we can take your cities and all of your stuff and kill every last one of you!  We're not weak and powerless.  You're the weak and powerless ones!"

Either way, the lie wins.  If we roll over and accept the lie, we live like we are worthless or unlovable or powerless or selfish or whatever our own personal lies may be, and we never work up the courage to look at the truth about who we are.  And if we defend ourselves against the lie, we go one step further and create a different lie about who we are.  We live like we are more than everyone else.  We miss the truth about who we are and the truth about the other people around us.  All because of fear.  People don't lay waste to a city and slaughter everyone inside unless they are afraid of something.  And in our lives, we don't dehumanize other people or ignore our own value and capability unless we have given in to fear.

Maybe it doesn't manifest as a superiority complex in your life, but for the Israelites, fear told them that they had to prove how powerful and right they were, and they overlooked the atrocities they committed because they marched under the banner of a righteous and perfect god who approved of their actions.  There was no group of people that the Israelites could accept as equals -- at least not in the book of Joshua.  Those they didn't slaughter, they made into slaves.  That's right.  The people whose cultural identity revolved around escaping slavery in Egypt accepted other people only under terms of forced labor.  The irony seems to have been lost on the writers of Joshua, but hopefully our ability to recognize it will alert us to similar ironies in our own lives.

So, the Israelites failed to see their own authentic value as human beings, failed to see other people's authentic value as human beings, committed genocide, stole property, and engaged in slavery, and they thought of all of this as being righteous because of a myopic religion, all the while failing to recognize that their behavior was fueled by fear.  They bolstered their cultural identity with some admirable traits as well.  When they made a promise, even if that promise was made because of a deception, they kept their word.  The Israelites placed great value on the vows they made.  (Just hang on to this little tidbit, since it will become much more important in the book of Judges.)  The writers of Joshua go to great lengths to detail how fairly the land was distributed.  And whether it was because of a fear that God (or someone representing God) would punish them or whether it was out of respect for one another, the Israelites seemed to treat each other like people of equal value, even if they were from different tribes.  We cannot stomach being "all bad" even when we justify a great amount of ugly behavior.  Somewhere inside of us there is a glimmer of our true selves that insists on being expressed.

The fear tells us that if we examine ourselves and really look deep into the core of who we are, that we will see something less than human.  That the lie will turn out to be true.  That we will really turn out to be vacuous, weak, unlovable, selfish, ugly.  But the lie only has power as long as we are afraid of it.  Confront the lie for what it is, and the fear can no longer govern our behavior.  The Israelites didn't have to be conquerors, murderers, looters, destroyers, or slavers, just as they didn't have to be weak, worthless, or enslaved.  But they believed that their only choices were very clear extremes.  That's what fear will do.


What fear are you ignoring?  What lies are you avoiding about your true nature?  Are you afraid that you are weak?  Stupid?  Worthless?  Unlovable?  What are you doing with those lies?  Giving in and living like you're something less than human?  Or fighting against it to prove the lie wrong?  Are you hurting other people just to show how powerful you are?  Are you hurting yourself just to show how lovable you are?  What is it that keeps you from embracing your identity as a beautiful, creative, capable, valuable, worthy human being?  Whatever it is, it's a lie. 

Here's a little secret: When you want to, you can look at any other person, no matter how much or how little you know about them, regardless of how they're behaving, and you can see the divine within them -- you can see a deep and undeniable value, beauty, and creativity that no amount of lies can destroy.  You can also just see the lies about who they think they are.  Or who you think they are.  What you see is your choice.  The same goes for yourself.  If you look for the truth within you, you will find a deep and undeniable worthiness, beauty, and creativity.  Or you can stop short and just see the lies.  What you see is your choice.  And what you do with what you see is your choice too.   

Exodus 34: The Fear of Being Weak Makes Everyone Look Threatening

It's no wonder that some modern-day Christians seem so militantly closed-minded about any ideas that didn't come straight from their home church's pulpit.  The words of Exodus 34 are directed exclusively to the Israelites and refer specifically to groups of people who existed thousands of years ago, so if one is inclined to take the Bible completely literally, it would seem that at least some of the information is obsolete.  Still, the passage reveals something about the nature of the Israelite god, and it grants some insight into how beliefs about our essential nature impacts how we see the world around us.

As a brief tangent, there is one little phrase in this passage that bears pointing out to those who want to take the entirety of Christian scripture as accurate and infallible.  The Israelite god commands, "No one is to appear before me empty-handed."  It's one of those things that Jesus never directly contradicts in the New Testament.  How many Christians take this to heart, I wonder?  And how many of them justify their empty-handedness by claiming that their devotion is worth more than anything else they could bring before God?  How many people believe that they're not appearing before God empty-handed if they've contributed to a radio station or a pregnancy crisis center or an organization that delivers Bibles to China?  The meaning is pretty clear here: God expects your wealth.  If you want to take the Bible as perfectly literal and true, you don't get to decide how he uses it.

Alright, now take a look at the image of God established by the Israelites.  After Moses spends a long time chiseling new stone tablets (since he broke the first ones in a fit of rage), God is described as being compassionate and gracious, "slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness," and although he forgives wickedness, rebellion and sin, "he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation."  This is the perfect description of a scapegoat god, the kind of deity that can be blamed for any misfortune, because he's just punishing some wickedness.  Some wickedness that he has presumably also forgiven.  It's a bit odd, come to think of it. 

Taking this belief to its ultimate corollaries, if something bad happens in life, God may just be punishing you for what you've done.  Or he may be punishing you for what your father or mother did.  Or your grandparent or great-grandparent.  For anyone who buys into this completely, there is no reason to try to help the poor, the sick, the abused, or anyone else who is suffering.  They are just getting their punishment from God for something someone did, and why would a believer get in the way of God's just consequences.  It's also a great belief for those who are wealthy, healthy, and happy in every way.  God is obviously blessing them because their family has managed to go four generations without doing anything wicked or sinful.  Right?

If that strikes you as slightly off, it's because our minds reject the nihilism of the concept that God is punishing everyone and there's nothing that can be done, because he punishes even those he has forgiven.  No one can go through their lives without doing something worth being punished for, and our definition of forgiveness conflicts with the idea of punishing a person for what her father's mother's mother did.  Fortunately, Jesus came along and turned a lot of this business on its head, but then, how can one claim that the entire Bible is true?  What people believe about the character and behavior of God becomes filtered through what makes sense to them, and how we think God should treat us personally is often very different from how we think God should treat other people.  It's fine for God to punish that other person, but we want forgiveness for ourselves to be absolute and pain-free.

The Israelites in the Exodus story wanted the same thing.  Their god promised to wipe out the neighboring cultures (whom the exiled Israelites were technically invading), provided the Israelites had nothing to do with them.  Don't even entertain the thought of learning about their beliefs or culture, and don't even consider the concept of a treaty with them.  Why?  They'll corrupt you.  In fact, the Israelite god is named Jealousy in this passage.  Jealousy is the same thing as "envy," right?  So their god is defined as being one of the seven deadly sins, but they consider themselves to be the righteous people in this situation.

Unfortunately, they also consider themselves to be the weak people in the situation.  They are afraid to make treaties with people, to participate in the culture or religious observance of the Other, because they believe they will be turned from their own faith.  That level of small-mindedness isn't actually faith, though.  It's ignorance.  Why in the world would God suggest that his people remain ignorant about every other belief system around them?  In order for those alternate beliefs to be a threat, the commitment of the Israelites would have to be pretty insubstantial.  I've heard about many different cultures and religious belief systems over the course of my life, and I've only rarely been tempted to adopt any of them into my own perspective.  My beliefs are strong enough to come into contact with other people's beliefs and remain intact.  What was wrong with the Israelites that they would be so threatened by other cultures that their god would warn them not to even make treaties with those other people?

This type of passage from the Old Testament still informs the Conservative Christian worldview in the twenty-first century to some extent.  There is no interest in learning about other cultures or faith systems.  We just need to send our troops and wipe them out.  We need to crack down on how many of Them are allowed into our country.  They are out to kill us, and we need to kill them first.  Even with regard to other belief systems in America, there is hostility based on assumption.  Fear.  Small-mindedness.  Ignorance.  These are not healthy lenses through which one should look at the world.  I know there are Christians who sincerely believe that they are under constant threat from people with different beliefs, but it is simply not true.  The only way it can be true is if the Christian in question is so weak in his or her faith that any other suggestion is going to create some crisis of belief, and I would suggest that that isn't faith at all.

Whatever we believe about ourselves, we are simply not that weak.  People are not so vulnerable to external ideas that they cannot establish a set of criteria for themselves to determine what they are and aren't willing to believe.  Different ideas are not a threat, they are simply other people's ways of viewing the world.  We are capable of deciding what makes sense to us, regardless of our chosen belief system, and we are capable of interacting with other people without being "corrupted" or "led astray."  When we encounter a belief that seems to be a challenge, it's just possible that we are experiencing growth at a certain level.  We don't necessarily figure out all that there is to figure out about the world and human spirituality in grade school Sunday school classes. 

There may be ideas that make a great deal of sense to us that we don't have a chance to explore until after we have traveled a bit down a particular belief path.  If we view those other ideas as threats, we are essentially stagnating our own growth.  We are claiming a desire to remain immature and ignorant in our beliefs.  We would find it somewhat disturbing for a child to determine at age 10 that he isn't going to grow any taller and force his body to remain stunted.  And yet, we are comfortable doing that with our own spiritual selves.  If a belief is worth maintaining and nurturing, it will stand up to scrutiny.  If our beliefs are shattered the moment they come into contact with a different way of seeing the world, what good were those beliefs really doing us?  The only way our beliefs can be altered is for us to encounter a perspective that makes more sense than what we previously held to be true.  This is growth, plain and simple.  And there is nothing really threatening about growth, even though it may seem a little bit scary and unsettling.

Whether it is in the realm of politics, religion, personal relationships, business practices, or whatever, encountering new ideas is beneficial.  When our beliefs are challenged by a new perspective, we either walk away from that with our old beliefs strengthened or we walk away with beliefs that make more sense to us.  It may be a radical change, or it may be a subtle refinement, but either way we grow.  We are strong enough to accept that other people will believe different things from us.  They aren't a threat to us at all.  They are simply different.  Let's stop worshiping Jealousy and Ignorance and Fear as if they had any true power.  The only thing those gods do is lie to us about ourselves and other people.  And we are strong enough to let go of those lies.