There is much misunderstanding about the invasion of Canaan not only outside the church but also within the covenant community. Moreover, there are a number of issues that the invasion of Canaan raises that we must think about deeply if we are to better understand our Bibles and be able to give an answer for the hope that is within us.
When you have three young children, one of the things you find yourself doing is singing a lot of the songs you used to sing in Sunday school and at church when you were a kid. There is one that has been particularly favored by my kids in recent days: “Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho.” Perhaps you remember the song’s chorus:
Joshua fought the battle of Jericho,
Jericho, Jericho.
Joshua fought the battle of Jericho,
And the walls came tumbling down!
The song is a lot of fun for our kids, as it gives them an excuse to march around the living room and simulate the fall of Jericho’s walls with hand motions. It is also a good way to impress on their young minds the basic truths of one of the most famous stories in the Old Testament. In fact, I would venture to say that most children who spend any length of time in a church’s educational programs will hear the story of Joshua and Jericho several times over.
Telling the Whole Story
As I think back on my time as a child in Sunday school, I know that we learned the basics of the fall of Jericho. Who could forget Joshua and the Israelites’ marching around the city once a day for six days, seven times on day seven, and the blowing of the horn and the shout that resulted in the walls’ miraculously falling to the ground? Yet, one thing I do not remember very clearly from my childhood is what happened immediately after the walls fell: “Then [the Israelites] devoted all in the city to destruction, both men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys, with the edge of the sword” (Josh. 6:21).
Honestly, it is possible that my teachers talked about how the Israelites put to death everyone in the city (except Rahab and her family) after the walls fell and that I have forgotten it. I am fairly certain that if they did tell me about the destruction of the people and the animals of Jericho, they did not put any primary focus on that part of the event. I do not blame them for that, as they would have been following a curriculum of some kind, and thus they were probably just teaching what the lesson plans told them to teach.
The Problem
In any case, it is understandable why teachers and curriculum might not put much emphasis on the destruction of Jericho’s citizens or the other instances in the book of Joshua that describe the Israelites’ killing the residents and animals of entire towns. These stories can make us feel uncomfortable, after all. They can be hard enough to explain to adults, let alone children. Why would God order His people to do such a thing? How could it be right for Him to do so when we quickly condemn the mass slaughters that occurred in Soviet Russia, the Holocaust, and other events that are within living memory of many of us? Do this invasion and the destruction of the Canaanites somehow contradict Jesus’ command to love our enemies?
