by John H. Walton | Wheaton College
A hot topic of discussion these days is the conquest of the land recorded in Joshua. Skeptics find this a soft spot for attack as they rant about a genocidal God, criticize a violent Scripture, and challenge Christians about how they can serve a God who would do such a thing as command the annihilation of whole people groups. And Christians are getting the message loud and clear—they are confused and disillusioned when they find themselves unable to launch a defense. The answers are not found in insisting that God must have had a good reason for wiping out the Canaanites, who presumably deserved it. Good answers always start with careful analysis of culture, genre, and text, and so to those topics we turn our attention. Five points can be made to shift the focus concerning what the Bible is doing.
First, the meaning of the Hebrew word ḥerem, usually translated “utterly destroy” or “place under the ban,” needs…
