You become what you tolerate

Judges 2: do you have Canaanite gods in your life?

Welcome to the Daily Bible Chapter. My name is James Leroy Wilson and I invite you to join me as I attempt to read the Bible with fresh eyes, as if I don’t know anything about it, and without consulting experts on what it “really” means. Let’s see where this takes us!

Judges 2

I’m reading Young’s Literal Translation (YLT) and the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

Judges 2 has Joshua alive after Joshua 1 says he died. But otherwise, it’s based on what happened in Judges 1. Instead of wiping out the Canaanites completely, the Israelites left many of their towns still standing and put them to forced labor.

As a literal story, the Israelites were less genocidal than The LORD had commanded them to be. You could say, they were “less evil” than their god. War is, among other things, exhausting. Imposing slavery is more profitable.

But this meant the Canaanites got to keep their customs and gods. The whole purpose of the conquest of Canaan was for those customs and gods to disappear.

Metaphorically speaking, the Canaanite gods are things in your life that you’ve decided will no longer be tolerated. And then you make an exception, a seemingly reasonable exception…