Joshua 11
Having seen how Israel has taken the south of the region, the kings of the north join forces to fight Israel.
Joshua and the Israelite army face this force and defeat them.
For some reason, Israel is instructed to hamstring all the horses and burn the chariots - not sure why this is as chariots are a powerful weapon - perhaps it is to stop Israel taking credit for winning rather than relying on God?
The only city that even attempted to achieve a peaceful settlement was Gibeon - everybody else went for death or glory.
I don't quite know what to make of the large amount of slaughter of this invasion - I guess it is probably as bloody and with similar losses of life as other invasions, empire building and general political expansions that humanity has carried out in the last few thousand years.
One argument that is offered that possibly helps a bit is that God allows 400 years for the "evil of the Canaanites the reach their full measure" This was not an act of a wilful and vengeful God - they had ample time to mend their ways.
Likewise, Abraham carried out negotiations with God about wiping out good people before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
It is not a perfect answer - but it is an answer, even if it is not totally satisfactory
Joshua 12
This is a list of the cities that Israel conquered.which I am not going into.
I'm not sure why they decided to add the number of kings of each city they captured, seems a bit superfluous to me.
Having seen how Israel has taken the south of the region, the kings of the north join forces to fight Israel.
Joshua and the Israelite army face this force and defeat them.
For some reason, Israel is instructed to hamstring all the horses and burn the chariots - not sure why this is as chariots are a powerful weapon - perhaps it is to stop Israel taking credit for winning rather than relying on God?
The only city that even attempted to achieve a peaceful settlement was Gibeon - everybody else went for death or glory.
I don't quite know what to make of the large amount of slaughter of this invasion - I guess it is probably as bloody and with similar losses of life as other invasions, empire building and general political expansions that humanity has carried out in the last few thousand years.
One argument that is offered that possibly helps a bit is that God allows 400 years for the "evil of the Canaanites the reach their full measure" This was not an act of a wilful and vengeful God - they had ample time to mend their ways.
Likewise, Abraham carried out negotiations with God about wiping out good people before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
It is not a perfect answer - but it is an answer, even if it is not totally satisfactory
Joshua 12
This is a list of the cities that Israel conquered.which I am not going into.
I'm not sure why they decided to add the number of kings of each city they captured, seems a bit superfluous to me.
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