Joshua 6:21

21. They utterly destroyed all that was in the city The Israelites in this indiscriminate massacre were simply obeying a plain command of God, (Deuteronomy 20:16-17,) and hence the charge of cruelty, if any, must be brought not against Israel, but God. And there have not been wanting men to urge the question, On what principles can the righteousness of God in this case be vindicated? A sufficient answer is furnished in the following considerations, condensed from Dr. Paley’s sermon in justification of God’s dealings with the Canaanites: (1.) They were destroyed for their excessive, wilful, habitual, and incurable wickedness. Leviticus 18:24-30. Their “abominable customs ” show that the grossest vices had become inherent, in their national character, and constituted even a part of their religion, for they were “done unto their gods.” Because of these heinous sins, and not to make way for the Israelites, they were cut off. (2.) God’s treatment of these crimes was impartial. The Jews, the chosen and favoured people, are told that for like sins the land shall “vomit you out also.” “As the nations which the Lord destroyed before your face, so shall ye perish.” (3.) God suffered long with the Canaanites. In the days of Abraham, four generations before, it was said, “The iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full;” (Genesis 15:16;) for this reason that patriarch was not put in possession of their country. They had not profited by the pure example of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, nor had they taken warning from the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah. (4.) If the destruction be just, the manner is of little importance, whether by earthquake, pestilence, or famine, which spare neither age nor sex, or by the hand of their enemies. In all national punishments the innocent are of necessity confounded with the guilty. The Israelites were God’s sheriffs, charged with the duty of inflicting capital punishment upon an incorrigible nation. Without the command from God they would have sinned in this act, the same as a man would sin who should kill a fellow man from motives of private resentment, and not by a warrant from the chief magistrate. (5.) There was a peculiar fitness in the destruction of the Canaanites by the agency of Joshua. The people of those ages were affected by no proof of the power of their gods so deeply as by their giving them victory in war. All the neighbouring nations, for whose admonition this dreadful example was intended, were hereby convinced not only of the supreme power of the God of Israel, but also of his utter abhorrence of the abominations for which the Canaanites were destroyed. (6.) Vices of all kinds, especially licentiousness, are astonishingly infectious. If any of these idolatrous tribes were spared they would taint the Hebrews. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. Hence, “Thou shall utterly destroy them, that they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods.” Deuteronomy 20:17-18. Moreover, this growing corruption might have polluted the whole ancient world if it had not received this signal and public demonstration of God’s indignation.