Do you believe that the massacre of Jericho was a just act and was God entitled to give orders to wipe it out?

Question

The people raised the war cry, the trumpets sounded. When the people heard the sound of the trumpet, they raised a mighty war cry and the wall collapsed then and there. At once the people stormed the city, each man going straight forward; and the captured the city. They enforced the curse of destruction on everyone in the city; men and women, young and old, including the oxen, the sheep, and the donkeys, slaughtering them all. -- Joshua 6:20-21

Glorified by time, scripture, and song, the Battle of Jericho has become a fixture of Western legend. Children's videos have been made about it. The phrase "and the walls came tumbling down" has become an expression of victory. Joshua is considered a hero. When the FBI planned out their tank assault on the Branch Davidians, they called their design the "Jericho Plan."

Yet what the Bible describes is an invasion by forces seeking to take over the lands occupied by the native population, and massacring entire cities to do this. As described in the verses quoted above, the Israeli attackers wiped out men, women, children, and even livestock, simply because God had told them they were entitled to the city.

Was this action just? And why?

Answer 1

No, it was not just. The Bible was written in part to "justify" this and other brutal activities as being commanded by God.



God is imaginary.

Answer 2

All the nations in the land of Canaan (Promised Land) have been judged by God to be destroyed because of their wickedness. Did he pass judgment on them without validation? By no means, when he promised to Abraham the land 400 years earlier, It was not given to him outright but to his descendants (Genesis 15:13-16), because at that time the people occupying the land was not yet worthy of judgment (verse 16). Their wickedness has not reached the full measure; it took four generations or 400 hundred years later, so much time for them to repent. What are the sins of the people (Leviticus 18:6-24), well aside from the usual, they worship other gods, they offer their children as sacrifice; they commit incest with their mothers, immediate family and close relatives; they are adulterers and perverts committing sexual acts with animals. God says these are the ways the nations I’m going to drive out became defiled (verse 24-27). They were explicitly and implicitly warned not to follow these practices (verse 28-30).



Unlike Sodom and Gomorrah, whereby it was destroyed by God himself, these nations’ destruction was placed in the hands of Israel. The Lord decided to do this, so that the land may not be laid desolate since Israel does not have the sufficient population to occupy the land fully at once. God employed them to drive the people out little by little, as Israel increased in number (Exodus 23: 29-30).



God commanded Israel to destroy the nations occupying the land of Canaan: Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hevites and Jebusites (Deuteronomy 7:1-6), including Jericho. So that they will not have any influence on them in the future, they were not to leave anything alive. They must not make any treaty nor show mercy.

Answer 3

it's like this. the israelites in the old testament (OLD covenant) had this wrong notion that God loved the so much that He'd allow them to do anything to the extent that He'd allow them to kill thousands of people. they thought that God loved ONLY them. however, this changed in the new testament where we see that Jesus died on the cross. not only for them (israelites) but for everyone else. thus the NEW Covenant..

Answer 4

..."Yes"... God, being The Creator is also the "determinator" as well... Remember what happened in 1 Samuel, chapter 15...? Saul was told to "Kill them all"... unfortunately, Saul did it his way and paid the price for disobedience.

Answer 5

Of course not, it was completely unjust, just because you create something that does not give you dominion over it.

Answer 6

yes .... and because He is God...

duh...?