Joshua: 1 - 8

The character of Joshua takes over after Moses' death. The covenant between God and Moses passes on to Joshua. This book deals with Joshua leading the people to conquer lands.

The first town they go to is Jericho where a prostitute named Rahab hides the two spies of Joshua and she is therefore protected when they destroy the town. The wording they use I find kind of creepy:

"The men said to her, 'our life for yours! If you do not tell this business of ours, then we will deal kindly and faithfully with you when the Lord gives us the land.'" (Josh. 2:14)

What struck me as so emotional and tragic about this story is the way Rahab is forced to watch her home and friends and community burn while she survives left with the guilt that possibly she could have saved them. It also seemed incredibly cruel to me that God would force Rahab to go through this and the confusion of being "rewarded" with her life. If looked at from a Feminist critique this character like much of the female characters in the Bible are forced to reap the consequences of male actions. She is a hero to her family but ultimately a villain to her whole town. It's not fair.

Jericho was surrounded by walls. Again the number seven comes up here as Joshua's men, seven priests with seven trumpets on the seventh day will march around the city seven times while they blow the trumpets. After doing this the walls of Jericho fall down.

Leviticus 18 - 21

This particular passage deals with the sexual abominations. A lot of these particular laws make up the majority of moral values that are followed by many Christians. There are statements against incest, against fornication outside of marriage, bestiality, and homosexuality. The term "uncover nakedness" is used repeatedly as synonymous with "uncover genitals".

The difficult thing about this is that many of the moral laws here seem absolutely understandable. For example:

"You shall not uncover the nakedness of your sister, your father's daughter or your mother's daughter, whether born at home or born abroad. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your son's daughter or of your daughter's daughter, for their nakedness is your own nakedness." (Lev. 18:9- 11)

However the simple statement of,

"You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination." (Lev. 18:22)

has repeatedly been used to oppress the homosexual community. It's placement right next to,

"You shall not have sexual relations with any animal and defile yourself with it, nor shall any woman give herself to an animal to have sexual relations with it: it is perversion." (Lev. 18:23)

has caused many radicals to compare homosexuality to bestiality; an incredibly offensive comparison. This one small passage has been used repeatedly to alienate the LGBTQIA community from Christianity.

It's this kind of thinking that has led extremists like Fred Phelps to attack homosexuals and anyone who does not "Fear" God.