Did God Command Genocide, Part 3

Last month, we ended Part Two in this series with the question: Do the commands in Deuteronomy 20:16-18 to “not leave alive anything that breathes”[1] in the Canaanite cities (v. 16) and to “utterly destroy them” (herem) (v. 17), “so that they may not teach you to do according to all their detestable things which they have done for their gods, so that you would sin against the LORD your God” (v. 18) constitute a clear case of genocide?

Before we answer this question, let’s turn to two events in the book of Joshua: the conquest of Jericho and the treaty with Gibeon. Joshua 2 records that Joshua sent two spies to scout the land, especially the city of Jericho. They entered the house of Rahab, a prostitute, to lodge for the night, and Rahab hid them from the authorities. Her reason for helping them is instructive:

I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land have despaired because of you. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. When we heard these reports, our hearts melted, and no courage remained in anyone any longer because of you; for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth below. (Joshua 2:9-11)

Recall that principles two and three, in part two, indicate that God is patient, giving people time to repent, and God offers warnings to those facing judgment. Rahab says what must have been common knowledge in Jericho: “We heard how you crossed the Red Sea (forty years ago!) and how you defeated kings on the other side of the Jordan, and we are terrified, because your God is real!” Consequently, Rahab begs for mercy for herself and her whole family in return for her helping the spies, and God grants her request (principle five). Not only were Rahab and her family spared (Joshua 6:22-25), but this Canaanite woman also became part of the royal lineage of Jesus (Matthew 1:5). According to Hebrews 11:31, she was saved by her faith, while “those who were disobedient” perished. The implication is that if the rest of Jericho had faith like Rahab, they also could have been saved.

Turning to the case of the Gibeonites (Joshua 9), they also heard of Israel’s exploits (v. 24) and concocted a ruse to save themselves. Donning old clothes and bringing old provisions, they came to Joshua, claiming to have come from a city far beyond Canaan. This would make them subject to the provisions in Deuteronomy 20:10-15. They could make a treaty with Israel and serve them, thus avoiding destruction. Israel agreed, only to find that Gibeon and her sister cities were actually in Canaan (vv. 16-17). Nevertheless, the Israelites honored the treaty, and Gibeon survived as servants of Israel.

But wait! The book of Joshua says, at least ten times, that Joshua struck a Canaanite city or land and “left no survivor, but he utterly destroyed all who breathed” (10:40), or words to that effect.[2] The end of Joshua’s campaign is described thus:

Then Joshua came at that time and eliminated the Anakim from the hill country, from Hebron, Debir, Anab, and from all the hill country of Judah and all the hill country of Israel. Joshua utterly destroyed them with their cities. There were no Anakim left in the land of the sons of Israel; only in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod some remained. So Joshua took the whole land, in accordance with everything that the Lord had spoken to Moses; and Joshua gave it as an inheritance to Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. Thus, the land had rest from war. (Joshua 11:21-23)

These passages seem to indicate that Joshua had committed mass genocide by exterminating the various Canaanite tribes. Yet, two chapters later, God says to Joshua, “You are old and advanced in years, and very much of the land remains to be possessed…. All the inhabitants of the hill country from Lebanon as far as Misrephoth-maim, all the Sidonians, I will drive them out from before the sons of Israel.” (13:1, 6, emphasis added). Later, Joshua 16:10 adds, “But they did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer, so the Canaanites live in the midst of Ephraim to this day, and they became forced laborers.” Again, Joshua says, (Joshua 17:18), “You shall drive out the Canaanites, even though they have chariots of iron and though they are strong.”

Here we see the Israelites dispossessing the Canaanites in some instances, and rendering them bondservants, like the Gibeonites, in others, despite the stern admonitions in Deuteronomy 7. How can we reconcile these seemingly contradictory behaviors? I believe that Israel reacted to the various Canaanite tribes in one of three ways: death, dispossession, or servitude, depending on their level of depravity and their willingness, or lack thereof, to surrender. Thus, the worst of the Canaanites were eliminated or driven out, and the remaining few became servants of Israel. In the process, God’s justice and mercy were both preserved.

Returning to Deuteronomy 8:17, in the early nineteenth century, theologian Adam Clarke suggested that “you shall utterly destroy them” [herem] be translated, “thou shalt utterly subdue them—slaying them if they resist, and thus leaving nothing alive that breathed; or totally expel them from the land, or reduce them to a state of slavery in it, that they might no longer exist as a people.” Using the examples of the Gibeonites and Rahab, Clarke suggests “it does not appear that the Israelites believed that they were bound to put every Canaanite to death.” Clarke believed this command was for the destruction of the Canaanites as organized nations occupying the land.[3]

Clarke notes that 2 Chronicles 8:7, 8 makes a similar claim: “All of the people who were left of the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of Israel, that is, from their descendants who were left after them in the land, whom the sons of Israel had not destroyed, Solomon raised them as forced laborers to this day.” In other words, Solomon demolished their cities but did not put the people to death.

Many contemporary commentators hold views similar to Clarke’s. For example, William Lane Craig concludes, “I’ve come to appreciate that the object of God’s command to the Israelites was not the slaughter of the Canaanites, as is often imagined. The command, rather, was primarily to drive them out of the land. The judgment upon these Canaanite kingdoms was to dispossess them of their land and thus destroy them as kingdoms.”[4] I concur with that opinion.

To review, our study revealed that the divine judgment against the Canaanites was because of their wickedness and perverse behavior tied to their pagan religions, not because of their race or nationality. Nevertheless, God exhibited extreme patience with them, waiting hundreds of years before sending Israel to exact His judgment. Even then, God warned the Canaanites of their impending doom and granted mercy and leniency to those who responded to the warning. Consequently, I believe that the charge of divine genocide is unwarranted.