Moses:An Unpopular Guy

What if it had been in these days that Moses and Joshua were given the task of leading the Israelites into the promised land to destroy and kill the Canaanite people. What if it were today that God told them to  Cross the Jordan and claim their land ? Can you imagine the outrage that would be voiced among a vast number of America’s citizens. There would be marches and demonstrations everywhere. Washington would be deluged with protests. Speeches by politicians, and by the  top dogs of every human rights group would be broadcast all over the world. The media would have a feast vilifying Moses and Joshua. The poor Canaanites would be videoed and interviewed none stop on every news broadcasts. The late night TV jokesters would have a hay day making Moses and Joshua look like bumbling, incompetent idiots.

Moses, in his defense would tell the world why this act should take place, “God said, ‘See, I have given you this land. Go in and take possession of the land the Lord swore he would give to your father--to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—and their descendants after them.”
Then Moses would explain exactly what God ordered them to do, “When the Lord your God brings you into the Land you are entering  to possess and drives out many nations—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you—and when the Lord your God has delivered them over to you you must destroy them totally. ”Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy.”

I’m sure this explanation would not be accepted today. It would be considered barbaric, brutal, and totally unacceptable. We see similar protests today because few people in our society like the God of the Old Testament. In fact, a great number of people completely ignore the Old Testament, including most of the commandments and laws given by God. For that matter most don’t even read the Bible, period. They don’t know what it says. They follow no God, except the god they have created within and for themselves. They determine their own morality. By chance, if  they do read the Bible, they exclude any part of it that goes against the code of morality they have chosen. Nothing they enjoy doing, the lifestyle they have chosen for themselves, is sinful. Today people have already identified themselves as the ones who would take up the banner against good old Moses.

So, Moses, Joshua, Caleb and the other Israelite leaders would not be very popular in today’s society. But I guess that is all right. They are in good company with God, and anyone who is committed to obeying the Lord. God and his followers will never be popular in the eyes of society.