Perhaps as you read chapter 7 this week you were overwhelmed by what seemed to be the brutality of God...maybe for the first time in our journey through the story you have stopped and said, "wait a second this doesn't sound like the kind and compassionate, grace filled God we read about it the New Testament, what gives?" Well a preacher friend of mine in Florida was asked this same question, and I loved his in depth response. He wrote:
One of our Ministry Leaders stopped me in the hallway this week and said, "I hope you're going to deal with why God told them to totally destroy everything and everybody." It was clear by the tone in her voice that she had been reading chapter 7 and had some real concerns. Because this issue troubles so many people, I want to take some time to deal with why God commanded Joshua to kill everyone – even the innocent women and children.
I often recommend Lee Strobel's book Case for Faith. Each chapter of the book tackles a common objection to our faith. Chapter 4 is titled, "Objection #4: God isn't worthy of worship if he kills innocent children." Strobel mentions this section of the Bible as troubling to the faith of many people. To find a good answer to this objection, Strobel interviews a well-known Christian scholar named Dr. Norman Geisler. I recommend getting the book – you can get an e-version and start reading it this afternoon – Case for Faith, chapter 4. But here is a summary of the most important points that Geisler makes in that interview:
Eight reasons why this action doesn't conflict with the character of God.
1. God has the right to take human life. The reason he commanded us, "Do not kill," is because we didn't create human life – therefore it's not ours to take. If you create a birthday cake, you have the right to say, "I don't like what I did – I'm going to throw it away." But you don't have the right to go smashing somebody else's cake that you don't like. God is the creator of life. It is God's right to give life and to take life, and in fact He has promised that some day He is going to take EVERY human life. When he takes that life is up to him.
2. God can delegate that right to a human government.
The Bible says in Romans 13 that the government is God's "agent of wrath," and the government has the right to enact capital punishment and to kill in war. The command, "Do not kill," is better translated, "Do not murder." The Bible allows for killing in certain situations: In self-defense, for capital punishment and in times of war. But the taking of innocent human life is strictly forbidden because every human life was created by God and in the image of God.
3. The people of Jericho and the inhabitants of the Promised Land were evil people.
Geisler points out that the inhabitants of Jericho and the Canaanites were "a thoroughly evil culture, so much so that the Bible says it nauseated God. They were into brutality, incest, bestiality, cultic prostitution, even child sacrifice by fire. And they were an aggressive culture that wanted to annihilate the Israelites.
4. God had warned the inhabitants repeatedly that they would be destroyed.
In fact, if you have read the chapter, you'll recall that Rahab told the spies that the people of Jericho had heard of God's judgment and they knew the Israelites were coming to take over. Geisler says that God had given the Canaanites 400 years – the entire time Israel was in Egypt – to repent and fear God. And they just got worse.
5. Many women and children had most likely already fled.
Geisler says that because people knew that war was coming, many of the women and children would have already fled before the Israelites arrived. And among the people who did stay, those who feared God and turned to him were spared – those in Rahab's household. Don't you think she tried to fill her house with people who wanted to be saved? In fact, God had commanded the Israelites that in each town they were to make an offer of peace. But these ruthless people never wanted peace.
6. The justice of God demanded that sin be dealt with.
The biggest reason we struggle to understand the killing of the Canaanites is because we have a one-sided view of God's character. We know about the love of God but we don't understand the justice of God. The Old Testament reveals what God really thinks of sin, and how eager He is to wipe it out. When you understand that God could snuff you out in a moment for your sin, you begin to understand just how gracious God has been to you just to let you keep living and to give you a second chance.
7. God needed to get rid of the evil influence of that culture.
God knew that the pagan influence on the Israelites would bring them down. If you put a white glove on your hand and stick it in the mud, the glove gets muddy. The mud never gets "glovey." God knew that the pagan Canaanites would make it even more difficult for his people to be holy and Godly. In Chapter 8 we see the period of the Judges. In that period of history, the people stopped obeying God and tried to live side-by-side with Canaanites and the results are awful and devastating.
But what about the children: They were innocent – they didn't deserve to die. That's true, But…
8. The destruction of the children show God's mercy.
What? How could killing innocent children be merciful? Where wickedness abounds, child suffering abounds all the more. So these children were suffering greatly in a terribly immoral culture. The Bible indicates that those who die as little children go straight to heaven. Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, for of such is the Kingdom of heaven." Since those children were surrounded by so much evil, it's unlikely they would have grown up as God-fearing people and they wouldn't have gone to heaven. But God in His mercy ushers more children straight into the Kingdom. God commanding the destruction of every living thing may be troubling. But this universe is complicated. God's ways our not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts. If you don't like the way God ordered His universe, you are free to go start your own. But lets admit its complex. Where it appears ruthless on the surface it may really be an illustration of God's judgment and even His mercy.
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