Recent reports of mass graves of civilian casualties once again raise the ire of observers. The only continent with no mass graves is Antarctica. The majority may be in Europe. And these observations say more about human beings and civilization than I care to know. While some mass graves have been necessities due to natural disasters, most are the result of genocidal rage, resentment, conspiracy theories, and the desire to destroy. 21st Century Americans will consider mass executions immoral acts. But we will use the same Holy Scripture to condemn what other people use them to justify. What’s more is that we are discussing something larger than matters of opinion.
Mass Graves In The Bible
There are no mass graves mention in the Bible. But there are examples of genocide and mass execution. Someone trying to read the Bible through in a year will have come across some by now. Joshua is particularly difficult reading for this point. The genocidal attacks described in this book are foreshadowed in the Genesis. Abraham is told there will be a four hundred year gap between his time and his descendants possessing the land because “the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.” (Genesis 15: 16b) This statement takes place before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. It provides moral justification for the destruction of Canaanite people.
A fundamentalist teacher answered someone who objected to this genocide with, “do you have any idea what kind of people the ancient Canaanites were?” At least the ancients saw this as morally objectionable since they concentrated on allegorizing these stories. Modern evangelicals are stuck with their insistence on the doctrine “inerrancy and infallibility” of the Bible.
Modern Atrocities
When asked about a potential threat from Iran, former Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu responded, “Think Amalek.” He was invoking the command from Deuteronomy 25: 17-19 “Remember what Amalek did to you on your journey out of Egypt, how he attacked you on the way when you were faint and weary and struck down all who lagged behind you; he did not fear God…you shall blot out the remembrance of Amalek, do not forget.” Here in just a few generations a people once subject to attempted genocide threatening genocide with Biblical justification.
The fact that archaeology has yet to show any of these stories ever happened gives small comfort. The writers of the Bible treat them as good ideas and possibly worthy of emulation. Even interpreters who allegorize the Canaanite standing for personal sins that should be excised from a person, cannot help us.
The mass graves of the indigenous school children near the sites of Christian boarding schools in North America testify to the failure of that idea. The schools meant to “civilize” and “train out the Indian” in native children. The schools were, in a sense, excising the “sin” from the sinner.
A Nation of Mass Graves
Ukraine is a nation of mass graves. From the mass execution by starvation of the Holodomor to the slaughter of Jews early in the Holocaust, the country has suffered immensely. Now the Orthodox Christian Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia gave his approval for the mass slaughter of Ukrainians when he justified Putin’s invasion. Orthodox Christians killing other Orthodox Christians in the name of destroying the sinfulness within the other.
Pope Francis apologized to the American tribes for the role the Catholic Church played in the destruction of native children. It only took a couple of hundred years and too much gruesome evidence for that to happen. Which brings us to the question of Biblical authority.
Religious Authority
Protestants claim religious authority ultimately rests in the Bible. I beg to differ. Religious justification for evil is disguised as “Biblical Authority.” Policies that are entirely in the interest of the powers that be, find justification from religious leaders claiming such authority for Scripture. It is not so much that religion or the Bible has caused the evil. The authority rests in the interpreters.
It took me some time to realize “biblical teaching” was based on the interpretation of people who had authority. This is not necessarily bad in itself. Unfortunately, religious interpreters lean toward the interests of those with economic and political power. What can we do about this problem?
Liberating Interpretation
The interpretive lens many readers will use is something like “freedom through love.” Liberation is the primary goal of interpreting the Bible. That means the Christian community seeks freedom for all. But we limit the tools we may use for this. As interpreters we could ask some questions about the genocide stories.
Did Joshua achieve peace by mass killing? The books following Joshua says he did not. Why do the descendants of Amalek continue to show up in the Bible? Their destructive goals ever never successful. What does the story of Jesus’ resurrection say about religious and secular authority? Ultimately, those authorities will lose their places of power. If the deaths of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11). If they deserved death, why does it have such a chilling effect on the community of believers?
The Bible does not save us. But it helps us understand the meaning of our salvation. Through it, we can learn the work of the community of believers. One part of the work is to question what authorities claim. Another part of the work is to accept the mission of liberation from false authorities. It is not an easy task. But, with this vision, we use the Bible for the purpose for which it was and continues to be preserved.
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