Year 7, Day 196: Joshua 11

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Joshua 11 serves as a temporary end to the fighting in Canaan.  Yesterday we had report of the remaining conquest of the south.  Today we hear how Joshua conquered the northern lands.  The Lord was with Joshua, and he was able to subdue the land.

One of the things that I love about this chapter is the return to the concept of obedience.  Obedience is one of the strong themes in the book of Joshua.  We hear again and again – all the way up to the conquest of the north – of how Joshua did what the Lord commanded.  He obeyed in every way, listening to the Lord’s command and being the arm of the Lord.  It is an impressive epitaph to be written over Joshua.

Naturally, I think there is something to be said in this about mentoring as well.  Remember that it was Moses that Joshua stood under.  Moses showed Joshua the ropes.  Moses taught Joshua how to lead.  Moses taught Joshua about relationship with God.  If we look at Moses, we see that Moses was also faithful and obedient.  When we look at the mentoring relationship that Joshua had and the man that Moses was, it is truly no surprise to hear that Joshua was obedient.

There is something else in this passage that is worthy of discussion.  Joshua put all of the people to the sword.  He slaughtered the inhabitants of Canaan.  On the modern ear, this sounds so harsh.  We simply don’t hear of genocide all that often in the modern global community, much less a genocide that is done at the approval of God.

There is the catch.  In our humanity, we wonder how genocide can be righteous.  It is important to remember that God brought the Hebrew people to Canaan for the purposes of conquering the Canaanites and removing them on account of their incredible unethical, immoral, and ungodly behavior.  This is God’s judgment, not Joshua’s genocide.

There are many who would accuse me of hiding behind the veil of God’s righteousness and attributing righteousness to and unrighteous act simply because it is God.  To be fair, I own that.  I don’t see genocide as a righteous act when done by humans.  I struggle to understand how it can be righteous when God does this as well.  But I also own that this is my problem, not a problem with God.

Don’t forget the witness of the Old Testament.  The Old Testament owns the story of God flooding the earth – leading to the death of all but eight human beings – in righteous judgment against sin.  God brings down the Assyrians upon the northern kingdom of Israel is judgment against their sin.  God brings the Babylonians against the Assyrians as judgment upon their sin. God brings the Babylonians upon Judah in judgment against their sin.  God brings the Persians upon the Babylonians as judgment of their sin.  Is it really so hard to conceive that God would bring the Hebrew people against the Canaanites in judgment of their sin?  When placed this way, this is actually demonstrating consistency in God’s action.  Consistency leads me to trust in God’s righteousness.

That’s how I know that the struggle I have in this chapter is really my issue, not God’s issue.

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