burning, plumaging and killing....argh

Today I'm behind. I'm covering Joshua 7:1-??? as much as I can to catch up.

Some things are interesting to me. The harsh punishments that are handed out to the Isrealites yet they rarely learn from the mistakes of others. However, everytime I become annoyed with the Isrealites complaining or lack of learning or respecting God's wishes I try to think of people of present day. We lack immensly too. I am quickly annoyed with our society today as well as the Isrealites of the Old Testament. The difference.....God was such a presence for them. He had a big cloud or fire or various other proofs of presence. He doesn't have these obvious signs today.

Joshua 7:25 "Then Joshua said to Achan, “Why have you brought trouble on us? The Lord will now bring trouble on you.” And all the Israelites stoned Achan and his family and burned their bodies. They piled a great heap of stones over Achan, which remains to this day. That is why the place has been called the Valley of Trouble ever since. So the Lord was no longer angry."


While upon first reading I had mixed feelings...Too harsh or appropriate???
While it seemed harsh to stone the entire family I also feel this sets an example for the people regarding the expected behavior. I still find it interesting that these people need examples and reminders to behave.


Joshua 11:9 "Then Joshua crippled the horses and burned all the chariots, as the Lord had instructed."

Being an avid horse-lover I have to say...this verse is kinda harsh to me. Come on....what did the horses do???

Joshua 11:14 And the Israelites took all the plunder and livestock of the ravaged towns for themselves. But they killed all the people, leaving no survivors.

OK....Seriously....Joshua is like a pirate...plundering. It keeps talking about burning, killing, plundering and destroying cities, kings, animals, everything.
So the end tally....31 kings dead....and who knows how many people. I can only imagine the smell of all the burning and rotting flesh of the animals, people, and towns.

Joshua 13 - who gets what....important I guess but not very interesting...
Joshua 14 - more who gets what
Joshua 15 - ditto
Joshua 16 - again...more giving land away
Joshua 17 - ugh...seriously...at least these chapters are short because they are all the same.
Joshua 18 - land allotments
Joshua 19 - guess what......more land allotments

Well I can hardly wait to see what Joshua 20 is....I have a guess.....we will see if it's right or not.