“Y’hoshua captured all the cities of those kings and the kings as well; he defeated them with the sword and completely destroyed them, as Moshe the servant of Adonai had ordered. But as for the cities built on their tels, Isra’el burned none of them except Hatzor; Y’hoshua did burn that one.”-Joshua 11:12-13
From Joshua verse 12, we encounter one of the problem sections in Scripture.
Verse 12 tells us that Joshua…
…”captured all the cities of those kings and the kings as well; he defeated them with the sword and completely destroyed them”.
But then have a look at verse 13.
But as for the cities built on their tels, Isra’el burned none of them except Hatzor; Y’hoshua did burn that one.”
Verse 13 tells us he didn’t destroy any city that was built on a tel.
What the heck?!
At face value, this would mean that only the new cities that had NOT been built on top of the ruins of the city that came before it were put under the ban (and thus destroyed).
Or to put it another way…
…except for the city of HAZOR (which was destroyed), based on verse 13, it would seem that every city built on a TEL was NOT destroyed.
Okay, so right here, we run headfirst into problem territory.
Let me show you what I mean by taking a look at verses 14 and 15.
“All the spoil of these cities and the livestock the people of Isra’el took as booty for themselves; but every human being they put to death with the sword, until they had destroyed them — they left no one breathing. Moshe had given orders to Y’hoshua, just as Adonai had given orders to Moshe his servant, and Y’hoshua acted accordingly — he did everything Adonai had ordered Moshe.“-Joshua 11:14-15
Verse 14 tells us that per the Law of Herem, the cities and their citizens were set apart and devoted to Hashem (which means they were destroyed because they were now holy property).
However, the soldiers were all allowed to keep all of the other stuff such as the gold, silver, cooking pots and utensils, weapons, food and clothes to take home to use for themselves.
Verse 15 then goes on to say…
…”Y’hoshua acted accordingly — he did everything Adonai had ordered Moshe.”
Can you see how we have a problem here?
Furthermore, once we dive into Joshua Chapters 12 and 13, we’re going to find abundant reference that Joshua absolutely did NOT destroy all of the cities he conquered in neither the northern or southern parts of Canaan.
This clearly goes against what God ordered Moses to do and what Moses in turn ordered Joshua to do.
ALL THE CITIES IN THE LAND OF CANAAN WERE TO BE DESTROYED WITHOUT EXCEPTION AND WITHOUT MERCY.
We find this command reiterated in various ways in Torah, specifically in Numbers and Deuteronomy.
Even the cities outside of Canaan were to be destroyed if the residents in these outlying areas showed hostility to Israel.
So what gives?
Here’s what I think we should take from this and it kind of goes back to my conversation about why we have to be careful about taking every verse in the Bible literally.
When we’re told that Joshua “did everything that God commanded Moses”, we have to take that statement as sort of a generalization rather than literal truth.
Because the truth is, Joshua did NOT do everything specifically commanded.
And in the books of Judges, Chronicles and Samuel, we’ll find passages that attest to this.
However, do you wanna know what the biggest piece of evidence there is in existence today that proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Joshua didn’t accomplish all that he had been instructed to do?
It’s the fact that modern day Israel today is still dealing with the enemy that had Joshua properly eliminated like he was supposed to, wouldn’t be a problem today.
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