Conquering, Killing, and Covenant-Keeping: The Ways of God or The Ways of the Israelites?

Day 43: Joshua 10-21

Since I was young, I have heard of the "Promised Land," the land God promised to the Israelites when he established his covenant with them. What I did not know, however, was that the Promised Land entailed more than the city of Jericho. Before today, I thought that after Joshua fought--and won--the battle of Jericho, the covenant had been fulfilled.

But I was wrong.

After they defeated Jericho, the Israelites continued to conquer city after city after city after city (thirty additional lands in all!). That's a lot of conquering. That's A LOT of war.

The first point I want to make about this is that the land was not just "given" to the Israelites by God. Instead, the Israelites had to fight wars--violent, horrific ones--to gain control of the land. The Israelites had to do something in order for God to fulfill his promise. They didn't just have the promise handed down to them either before or after their defeat of Jericho; rather, they "earned" it by defeating their "enemies." Yes, God was on their side, but they also had to trust him, obey him, and follow his will in order to live in the Promised Land.

This point is interesting in itself, but it's also interesting in light of salvation. God offers us salvation through Jesus, but we still have to accept his invitation. We have to respond. We have to act.

The second point I want to make here is that the Israelites gained control of all these lands by killing all the people in their way. What bothers me about this is that it appears as if the lands they conquered and the people they murdered (men, women, and children!) had done nothing wrong. The wars could not even be considered"just" (just war advocates claim that war is justified under certain conditions). The people who were conquered and killed had not sinned (at least to my knowledge based on the text). In fact, the only thing that was "wrong" with them seems to be the fact that they weren't Israel; they weren't the people of God. The fact that they weren't Israel is probably enough of a justification to destroy others, but I'm not sure why these innocent people had to die to fulfill God's covenant with Israel.

God's ways are, once again, puzzling to me.

But He did fulfill his promise to Israel, and He fulfills his promise to us as well (all people--not just Jews, not just Christians--all people!).