Why did THE LORD impose such a harsh penalty?
It doesn’t seem to make sense. It’s hard to imagine Jesus Saying these words. We are left wondering how we are supposed to take this. I think a number of questions arise in the mind of anyone who seriously thinks about this encounter. Here are a few of the issues that I see this”חרם” raising:
- Does this command give the Church, as the new Israel, the right to make war on people?
- This one is easy, NO! This was a one time thing
- Could God really have said this?
- Some have argued this was not God. It may have been a construction of latter generations to give hope. I’m not comfortable with this, it seems like too easy an out.
- Was this really necessary?
This has been a struggle for people for thousands of years. In the second Century, Marcion looked at this and determined that the God of the Old Testament could not even be the same God. Augustine, too, had trouble and argued that the best way to read this dedication to destruction was allegorically, believing that the real meaning of these passages lay in Christ and this encounter was a kind of typology for a higher perspective. Others have taken the issue and tried to contextualize it. The invasion has been compared to the flood. God wipes out a people who were wicked in the same way he used the waters of the deluge in Geneses. The main difference is now he is using His people instead of water.
But we are still asking WHY?
The Bible itself doesn’t give a clear answer. Deuteronomy 7 seems to indicate that God commands this so that the idols will not become a stumbling block for His people. However scripture indicates the destruction is a result of wickedness of the Canaanites themselves in Genesis 15:16. It has also been argued that this destruction was a way in which God was clearing the land to make space for his promise to the Patriarchs might be fulfilled.
I personally don’t find any of these responses very comforting.
I am left without a good answer. There are a few things that people do point out that I think no matter how we handle this very difficult section of scripture I think it’s imperative to keep in mind.
- This was set up by God (that means there is more going on then any of us can fully understand)
- This only happened once (and can’t be sanctioned by ANYONE again)
- This happened in a mournful context (Joshua contains no poetry, psalms, or celebrations of victory)
- There are only about 11 towns destroyed (This in itself doesn’t make it right AT ALL, but it is important to note this was not a large genocide)
I don’t have a good reply to the חרם (ḥērem) I wish I did. Do you?
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