Joshua 6 · a question people ask
"Both man and woman, both young and old" (6:21). How do Christians read the destruction of Jericho?
The chapter tells it in one verse: "They utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, both young and old, and ox, sheep, and donkey, with the edge of the sword" (6:21) (tap utterly destroyed). It is what Moses had commanded for the cities of the land: "you shall save alive nothing that breathes" (Deuteronomy 20:16). Numbers 21's honest question sets out the two main readings of why, and Deuteronomy 7 and 20 point back to it: judgment on these nations (Deuteronomy 9:5), and keeping Israel from other gods (Deuteronomy 20:17-18). Joshua 6 adds two things to weigh. The command has an exception inside it: "Only Rahab the prostitute shall live, she and all who are with her in the house" (6:17), and in Hebrew live is the same verb as "save alive" in Deuteronomy 20:16 (tap live). And the ban bound Israel too: nothing devoted was theirs to keep (6:18-19). Both readings agree that the chapter gives the city to the LORD's doing (6:2, 6:16), and that the command was given to Israel for "the cities of these peoples that the LORD your God gives you for an inheritance" (Deuteronomy 20:16).
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
Judgment on the city
Those who put the weight here read Jericho's end as the LORD's judgment, which Moses had named: "for the wickedness of these nations the LORD your God does drive them out from before you" (Deuteronomy 9:5). They note that Jericho had heard what the LORD had done: "For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea before you" (2:10), and "As soon as we had heard it, our hearts melted" (2:11). Rahab heard the same news and said, "the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and on earth beneath" (2:11), and Hebrews says she "didn’t perish with those who were disobedient" (Hebrews 11:31).
Deuteronomy 9:5 · Joshua 2:10-11 · Hebrews 11:31
Keeping Israel from other gods
Those who put the weight here read the command by the reason Moses gave for it: "that they not teach you to follow all their abominations, which they have done for their gods" (Deuteronomy 20:18). They note that in Joshua 6 nothing of Jericho was to be kept by Israel: the metals went into "the LORD’s treasury" (6:19), and taking any devoted thing would "make the camp of Israel accursed" (6:18), as Moses had warned, "You shall not bring an abomination into your house and become a devoted thing like it" (Deuteronomy 7:26).
Deuteronomy 20:18 · Joshua 6:18-19 · Deuteronomy 7:26
The verses
“They utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, both young and old, and ox, sheep, and donkey, with the edge of the sword.”
“But of the cities of these peoples that the LORD your God gives you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes; but you shall utterly destroy them: the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, as the LORD your God has commanded you; that they not teach you to follow all their abominations, which they have done for their gods; so would you sin against the LORD your God.”
“Not for your righteousness or for the uprightness of your heart do you go in to possess their land; but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD your God does drive them out from before you, and that he may establish the word which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”
“The city shall be devoted, even it and all that is in it, to the LORD. Only Rahab the prostitute shall live, she and all who are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent. But as for you, only keep yourselves from what is devoted to destruction, lest when you have devoted it, you take of the devoted thing; so you would make the camp of Israel accursed and trouble it. But all the silver, gold, and vessels of bronze and iron are holy to the LORD. They shall come into the LORD’s treasury.””