Joshua 10 – 20

The conquest of Canaan is not pretty. Maybe now is a good time to remind ourselves of why the army of Israel led by Joshua was told to utterly destroy the people of Canaan.

Then the LORD said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.” Genesis 15:13-16

In telling Abraham that the land would be theirs, but only after the time of captivity in Egypt, the LORD was not only giving prophetic prophesy, He was explaining that the delay in executing His divine judgment was due to His divine patience (2 Peter 3:9) toward the sinning Amorites (the Canannite peoples – descendants of Noah’s son, Ham – Genesis 10:15). God had told them what He expected and who He is, but they turned to idols and human sacrifice. Again, notice the names of those listed in Genesis 10:15 and compare to God’s prophetic statement to Abraham:

On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.” Genesis 15:18-21

Now fast forward to our reading today and the conquest of Canaan by Joshua. In Joshua 11:1-3 we read of these very same people. Their sin was now complete. God’s patience with their abominations of child sacrifice and ritual prostitution had run out and now Joshua’s army would be the instrument of righteous judgment. These are not the actions of a callous, arbitrary and cruel deity who decides to wipe out people on a whim. It is not genocide … it is justice.

All during this account we keep hearing a repetitive statement that Joshua did all that was divinely commanded of him. And, he did what he did precisely as the LORD had commanded him.

We see in the battle with the Amorites at Gibeon (Joshua 10:12-14) that faith unleashes God’s power. It was always Yahweh accomplishing these things, and Joshua knew it well. But the battles still were fought. Faith-filled obedience bring about the blessing and fulfillment of promises through the power of God. Just as the LORD commanded, so Joshua did. Amazing. Simple. Oh, so hard to do.

At this point, not all of the land and the people had been conquered. Much of it never would be. And the peoples would be constant enemies of Israel throughout their history. The idols and practices of the people would infect the Israelites until the Babylonian exile. A lesson for us all is that future sin has its root in present disobedience. Half-hearted and half-measured obedience – in spite of faith – lays a snare that will sooner or later catch the children of God.

So the people went to their inheritances and began to enjoy the land promised first to Abraham. As they did they began to establish the cities of refuge as directed in the Law. In the midst of the people, a place of divine refuge when things go wrong. Even in the wake of His righteous judgment, we see the wisdom of God laying the foundation for His grace. Just as the LORD commanded.

Consider His nature. Consider His ways. Strive to love Him more!