When the trumpets sounded, the people shouted(and) the wall collapsed (Joshua 6:20). This is the account of Joshua and the people of Israel when they entered the Promised Land known as Canaan. As the Lord commanded they entered the land and conquered all the cities there, beginning with Jericho. The story of Joshua and the Battle of Jericho is a famous one. Everyone who has ever attended Sunday school has heard this famous Biblical account. What is overlooked in Sunday school is the passage after the walls fall down, They devoted the city to the LORD and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys (Joshua 6:21). This is one of the more difficult passages in the Bible. It raises many questions, questions that are not easily answered. In fact, scholars today still debate them. Reading this section of the Bible, found in Joshua chapter 6, you ask yourself: how can we worship a God who permits His own people to slaughter innocents? How did the Israelites justify breaking one of the Ten Commandments (or Words as is the more accurate translation)? If God is just, then how can he allow the slaughter of innocents? Is God really a just god? Such are the questions that come up whenever the slaughter at Jericho is brought up. Further seemingly brutal violence is found within Gods own people. If you read on an Israelite named Achan steals some of the bounty from Jericho when God commanded them not too. He was stoned along with his whole family! God seems to be a violent, harsh god in these passages. How can this be if He is supposed to be the God of love, compassion and mercy? Israel, at this point in their history is very young as a nation and a people. Actually, it can be argued that they didnt emerge as an actual people until the Exodus. The people of Israel were the children of those who marched out of Egypt and crossed the Reed Sea. God was willing to give their parents the land ...
