Read for This Week’s Study
Josh. 5:13–15; Isa. 37:16; Rev. 12:7–9; Deut. 32:17; Exod. 14:13, 14; Josh. 6:15–20.
Memory Text:
“There has been no day like it before or since, when the Lord heeded the voice of a man, for the Lord fought for Israel” (Joshua 10:14, ESV).
Reading the pages of Joshua, we are confronted with the aggressive military campaigns carried out at the command of God, in the name of God, and with the help of God. The idea that God was behind the conquest of Canaan pervades the book of Joshua, and it is expressed in the assertions of the narrator (Josh. 10:10, 11), in God’s own words (Josh. 6:2, Josh. 8:1), in Joshua’s addresses (Josh. 4:23, 24; Josh. 8:7), by Rahab (Josh. 2:10), by the spies (Josh. 2:24), and by the people (Josh. 24:18). God claims to be the initiator of these violent conflicts.
This reality raises unavoidable questions. How can we understand that God’s chosen people carried out such practices in Old Testament times? How is it possible to reconcile the image of a “warlike” God with His character of love (for example, Exod. 34:6, Ps. 86:15, Ps. 103:8, Ps. 108:4) without diluting the credibility, authority, and historicity of the Old Testament?
This week and next, we are going to explore the difficult question of divinely commanded wars in the book of Joshua and elsewhere.
*Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, October 25.
Supplemental EGW Notes
Adam taught his descendants the law of God, and it was handed down from father to son through successive generations. But . . . there were few who accepted it and rendered obedience. By transgression the world became so vile that it was necessary to cleanse it by the Flood from its corruption. The law was preserved by Noah and his family, and Noah taught his descendants the Ten Commandments. As men again departed from God, the Lord chose Abraham, of whom He declared, “Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.” Genesis 26:5. . . .
Concerning the law proclaimed from Sinai, Nehemiah says, “Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments.” Nehemiah 9:13. And Paul . . . declares, “The law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.” Romans 7:12.
The whole world will be judged by the moral law according to their opportunity of becoming acquainted with it, whether by reason, or tradition, or the written Word.
We behold in it the goodness of God, who by revealing to men the immutable principles of righteousness seeks to shield them from the evils that result from transgression. . . .
The law is an expression of God’s idea. When we receive it in Christ, it becomes our idea. It lifts us above the power of natural desires and tendencies, above temptations that lead to sin. “Great peace have they which love thy law; and nothing shall offend them”—cause them to stumble. There is no peace in unrighteousness; the wicked are at war with God. But he who receives the righteousness of the law in Christ is in harmony with heaven.
As received in Christ, it [God’s law] works in us the purity of character that will bring joy to us through eternal ages.—The Faith I Live By, p. 83.
Battles are to be fought every day. A great warfare is going on over every soul, between the prince of darkness and the Prince of life. . . . As God’s agents you are to yield yourselves to Him, that He may plan and direct and fight the battle for you, with your cooperation. The Prince of life is at the head of His work. He is to be with you in your daily battle with self, that you may be true to principle; that passion, when warring for the mastery, may be subdued by the grace of Christ; that you come off more than conqueror through Him that hath loved us. Jesus has been over the ground. He knows the power of every temptation. He knows just how to meet every emergency, and how to guide you through every path of danger. Then why not trust Him?—Conflict and Courage, p. 117.
The above quotations are taken from Ellen G. White Notes for the Sabbath School Lessons, published by Pacific Press Publishing Association. Used by permission.