Jesus and Joshua

Sometimes revelation catches us by surprise. I have been reading through the Old Testament for a few months and I am now in Joshua. One story struck me. It's the story of Joshua and his brilliant military strategy in conquering the city of Ai (Joshua 8). Joshua is about to attack the city and separates off 5,000 men while the remaining 25,000 make like they are going to attack the city. The King of Ai, obviously a very brave man, and his fighting men (less than 12,000!) empty out of the city to engage these 25,000 men, unaware of the 5,000 laying in ambush. Joshua allows this smaller army from Ai to begin defeating this larger group of Israelites, pushing them further and further from the city, until he gives a signal for the remaining 5,000 to rush into the city, setting it ablaze and killing women and children. The men of Ai are now trapped--devastated by the loss of their city and hopelessly outnumbered. The account ends with the king of Ai, likely already dead, hung on a tree outside the city, and then buried under a pile of rocks, two symbolic reminders of the destruction and shaming of this city.

It's a brutal account. Death all around. Women and children killed under the leadership of Israel. It's all very easy to read this as 21st century people and condemn its horror without thinking of its historal context. Of course it's brutal; of course it's horrific--it's 4000 years ago! But doesn't it leave us with questions about God? God has instructed them to take away plunder, but not to spare people (8:29). Why would God do this?

I don't think there are many answers to these questions. At least, not answers that shape the whole thing up and make it more palatable. But what struck me in this was the contrast of Jesus. While Joshua hangs the shamed king from a tree, Jesus gives himself to be killed. While Joshua buries the King of Ai under rocks, Jesus is entombed behind a stone. Ironic that Jesus' life would not identify with his namesake--Joshua (Jesus = Yeshua in Aramaic, a sister language to Hebrew that Jewish people spoke under the reign of the Greeks)--but with the King of Ai. Sometimes you just have to let the story play out and be surprised by the ending.