Joshua utterly destroyed various towns among the Canaanite peoples, men women and children, with no survivors. “Israel … inflicted a crushing blow on them at Gibeon, chased them by the way of the ascent of Beth-horon, and struck them down as far as Azekah and Makkedah.  As they fled before Israel, while they were going down the slope of Beth-horon, the Lord threw down huge stones from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they died; there were more who died because of the hailstones than the Israelites killed with the sword” (Joshua 10:10-11).

“Joshua took Makkedah on that day and struck it and its king with the edge of the sword; he utterly destroyed every person in it; he left no one remaining (10:28-40). “And all the towns of those kings and all their kings, Joshua took and struck them with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying them, as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded” (11:12-14).

Then the text offers us this commentary on those who were slain: “it was the Lord’s doing to harden their hearts so that they would come against Israel in battle, in order that they might be utterly destroyed and might receive no mercy but be exterminated, just as the Lord had commanded Moses” (11:20). That they died is human, of course, for all humans die; and they died for their sins, as all sinners do; and they died then and there in that land, to fulfill God’s purpose to redeem that land for Israel.

We can grimace at the realpolitik proposal that destroying every last enemy is the way to make sure they will never bother you again. As we will see in upcoming readings, that strategy often does not succeed. And we can’t help being dismayed at the terrible loss of life.

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As the scripture says, O Lord, this destruction was your doing, and although it makes us squirm, we can see that you do not shy away from accepting the responsibility. We bow before your sovereignty, grateful that you established your people in the land; even as we mourn that the people of Canaan became a story of destruction rather than redemption.

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