Scripture and Israeli Secular Culture 307them, you must doom them to destruction: grant them no terms and give
them no quarter. You shall not intermarry with them: do not give your
daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons. For they will
turn your children away from Me to worship other gods, and the Lord’s
anger will blaze forth against you and He will promptly wipe you out. In-
stead, this is what you shall do to them: you shall tear down their altars,
smash their pillars, cut down their sacred posts, and consign their images
to the fi re. (Deuteronomy 7:1 – 5)Th e book of Joshua carries out the commands set out in Deuteronomy,
when it relates how the whole land is conquered and almost all its inhabit-
ants destroyed in order that the people of Israel will not come into con-
tact with idol worshipers and will not, therefore, be tempted.16 Th e reader
who comprehends the fear of idolatry that created this picture of Israel’s
complete and utter capture of the land will not identify with that ideology
today — the danger of idolatry no longer threatens — and will not shy away
from teaching those chapters from Joshua against the backdrop of its time
and the crisis that birthed the notion of complete destruction. As it hap-
pens, not even all the pages of Joshua are captive to the notion of the com-
plete conquest. Chapters 13 – 17 express a diff erent notion, as we see from
the opening of that literary unit: “Joshua was now old, advanced in years.
Th e Lord said to him, ‘You have grown old, you are advanced in years; and
very much of the land still remains to be taken possession of ’ ” (13:1).17
Paradoxically, anyone brave enough to acknowledge the vast distance
that exists between the Bible and ourselves makes him- or herself available
to feel closer to it. We must not ignore the religious dimension: the Bible
without God is like Hamlet without the Prince of Denmark. Th at said, by
removing the coating of sanctity that has been pressed onto the Bible, the
courageous reader is suddenly able to extend his or her arm to touch the
human document.
Th e Torah speaks in human language. It was written by people for the
sake of people, and any reader who sits before this human creation can
marvel at the artistry, at the clarity and conciseness of a short story in Gen-
esis, the emotional depth of a poem in Song of Songs, and the sophisticated
rhetoric and moral profundity of a chapter of prophecy. Indeed, even a
prophet who opens his words with “thus sayeth the Lord” frames his mes-
sage in his own style. Each prophet was a human being, a poet, and a tal-
ented and experienced rhetor who gives voice to ideas he wants to impart
to his listeners or readers. A reader who is overwhelmed with reverence for