In Joshua chapter six we read the story of the Israelites taking down the walls of Jericho.

“You shall march around the city, all the men of war going around the city once. Thus shall you do for six days. On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. And when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, when you hear the sound of the trumpet than all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat.” (Verses 3-5)

And with Joshua as their leader, the Israelites take down the city of Jericho on the seven-day when they do as God tells them, as the walls come crumbling down. However, I wanted to focus on a theme that a lot of Christians struggle with from this text, which is the idea of God sending his chosen people to pretty much wipe the Canaanites off the face of the earth. Some would even look at this as potential ethnic cleansing.

The Bible insists that the total destruction of Jericho was commanded by the LORD himself in Deuteronomy, therefore, why does a loving God want to use warfare to destroy every living thing in this city?

First off, this order to destroy everything living thing was not a license to simply kill in the name of God in all types of warfare, as the Israelites were to treat other cities outside of the promise land differently (Deuteronomy 20:10-15)

The war on the Canaanites was consider a punishment for their idolatry. As merciful as God is, he is also just. Therefore, the extermination of the Canaanites was a unique case of divine judgment, which was uncommon during a time period characterized by the grace shown to the Israelites.

This is also not a case of judgment on a certain ethnicity, but a case of judgment on who didn’t fear the LORD.

“Go into the prostitute’s house and bring out from there the woman and all who belong to her” (Verse 22)

God shows grace to Rahab the prostitute, not because she is of a different ethnicity compared to the other Canaanites, but because she was faithful to the LORD in hiding the Israelite spies.

Overall, the theme I wanted to share from this text is that God is merciful, but also just and as we see in Joshua, there is an eventual judgment day coming that will fall on all who persist in rebellion against the Lord and his grace.

Therefore, I pray that all who read this soften their hearts and turn their faith to the LORD as the wrath that God has shown here is real and he will judge again.

His Humbled Servant,

W.H. Carston