The meaning of Joshua Chapter 9 is ambiguous. The Gibeonites hear of Israel’s deeds, from parting the Red Sea to destroying Jericho, and they don’t want to be the next victim. So they come up with a plan to deceive Israel. They know God instructed Israel to make peace with any nation outside of Canaan. The Gibeonites disguise themselves as travellers from far away, and ask Israel to make a vow of peace. Joshua and all the elders of Israel are fooled, and they make peace with the travellers. Three days later, they find out the travellers were in fact from Gibeon, a city in Canaan, and they are angry. But, they made a vow in the name of God, so the peace between Israel and Gibeon holds.
The ambiguous thing about this scene is that Israel “did not inquire of the Lord” (Joshua 9:14). What would God have said? At first glance, it seems like God would say, “These travellers are Gibeonites in disguise. Do not make peace with them.” After all, God instructed Israel to destroy everyone in Canaan. And, the Gibeonite’s deception doesn’t make them look good. However, this isn’t the first time a Canaanite made a deal with Israel. Rahab used deception to help Israelite spies in Jericho. Israel spared her because of this, and it seemed like a good thing. God would agree, wouldn’t he?
With Gibeon, it’s more ambiguous, but if God wanted the Gibeonites destroyed, he could make it happen. God can interrupt Israel whenever he wants. He chose not to interrupt the peace vow. Maybe that’s because the Gibeonites were turning towards God. Maybe everything worked out the way God intended.
In the next scene, five Amorite kings attack Gibeon. That they attack first shows that they are not open to peace, unlike the Gibeonites. So, Israel destroys them. It seems like God is not interested in destroying people without reason. The Canaanites are supposed to be morally corrupt people (more on that later), but even for them, salvation is possible. Perhaps the Gibeonite option was open to all the nations of Canaan.
The Rampage Continues
In Chapter 10-12, Joshua and the Israelites continue conquering the land. They destroy 31 kings and their cities. In my last article, I mentioned the archeological evidence that shows this rampage didn’t actually occur. But even within the Bible, we can see they are exaggerating. In Joshua Chapter 15, there are still Canaanites in Hebron and Debir, two cities Israel had supposedly destroyed. You could see this as a contradiction, or a literary technique. It was common for ancient near eastern people to exaggerate their military successes. When the Bible says they left no survivors, we aren’t supposed to take it literally.
Like in my last article, it’s worth thinking about why these stories are in the Bible, even though they are exaggerated. The Bible gives reasons for the violence. The reasons are not sufficient by modern standards, and that’s because we’re influenced by Jesus, who told us to love our enemies. But as you’ll see, you don’t need the New Testament to know this violence is not ideal.
In Deuteronomy 12, Moses warns Israel not to ask about Canaanite gods, because “they even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods” (Deuteronomy 12:31). In Leviticus 18, God gives Moses many laws against adultery and incest, saying “all these things were done by the people who lived in the land before you, and the land became defiled” (Leviticus 18:27). God knows Israel cannot resist the influence of these immoral cultures. Not ideal.
In Numbers, when Moses sent spies into the land, the spies report they “saw the Nephilim there” (Numbers 13:33). What are the Nephilim? They are only mentioned one other time in the Bible. Genesis 6 says “The Nephilim were on the earth in those days - and also afterward - when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them” (Genesis 6:4). Apparently, the sons of God are spiritual beings, angels maybe, who rebelled against God and took human women for wives. It seems the women had little choice in the matter. These women had children who were part human, part rebellious angel, and they were the Nephilim. Giants. Genesis says these beings are part of the reason for the flood. They were making creation so evil that God started over.
Interestingly, Genesis says the Nephilim were on the earth in those days “and also afterward”. After the flood, presumably. And we see them after the flood when Moses sends spies into the land. How did they survive the flood? Apparently, the flood’s destruction is also not meant to be taken literally, just like Joshua’s conquest.
In this light, Joshua’s conquest is not a matter of ethnic cleansing. It’s a matter of the ongoing war between good and evil. This war involves more than just humans. Spiritual forces are also at work. Good spiritual forces, like the “commander of the army of the Lord” we saw in Joshua 5, and evil spiritual forces like the Nephilim.
Crucially, the destruction never works. The flood didn’t eliminate evil. And Joshua’s conquest won’t eliminate evil either. It won’t even eliminate giants descended from the Nephilim (I wonder where Goliath comes from?). The message is: violence doesn’t work as a permanent solution to evil. Perhaps Israel was so susceptible to evil’s influence that they had to destroy evil to stay good. But again, that doesn’t work in the long run.
So it’s not only Jesus who believes in peace. The “Old Testament” shows Israel taking part in a war between good and evil, and their violence doesn’t work. Evil never dies. The Old Testament doesn’t solve the problem of evil, it only defines it. Evil can’t be killed using violence. In the New Testament, the solution Jesus presents is to allow evil to kill you. Turn the other cheek and take up your cross. Through the resurrection, Jesus showed that evil is defeated by allowing it to pass, and somehow rising above it.