Jun 13, 2018
There are many who struggle with the God who is portrayed in the Old Testament. Some even suggest that it is a different God altogether, because He appears to be vengeful and violent, prone to fits of anger and quick to mete out harsh judgment in the form of what appears to be indiscriminate acts of genocide. And in Joshua 6, 15-27, we have recorded the story of the Israel’s defeat of the city of Jericho where God ordered His people to dedicate to destruction everyone and everything in the city. The text tells us that Israel obeyed the command of God, devoting all in the city to destruction, both men and women, young and old. No one was left alive except Rahab and those in her family who sought refuge in her home. This story is tough to read and even more difficult to understand. One can’t help but wonder why God was so harsh in His treatment of the people of Jericho. Why did the women and children have to be slaughtered along with the soldiers? What was their crime? How were they a threat to the people of Israel? But God’s seemingly harsh order of extermination had a purpose behind it: The protection of Israel’s moral and spiritual well-being.