Joshua – Book 6 (24 chapters) This is perhaps the most violent book in the Bible - it is in this book that the Israelites enter the Promised Land after crossing the river Jordan. So where was this land? Was it some pristine, virgin, uninhabited land they were entering for settlement? Far from it, the God of Israel was commanding them to invade and take forcible possession of several inhabited areas - the indigenous population had to be mercilessly slaughtered,their resources plundered and the cities totally destroyed. The Israelites, the chosen people, would then occupy and settle on this blood-stained land - this was the Promised Land, the land that belonged to others. Surely in no other sacred Scriptures does God openly instigate mass murder and land grab for a chosen group of people to the exclusion of others. This divine sanction for dispossession of indigenous peoples provided a justification for the English and other colonisers to dehumanise and exterminate the native Indians of North America and settle on their land. Let us now proceed with the narrative. (Josh 1.1-5) The Lord said to Joshua: “My servant Moses is dead. Get ready to cross the Jordan into the land that I am about to give the Israelites… Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon; and from the great river Euphrates - all the Hittite country – to the Great Sea [Mediterranean] on the West. No one will be able to oppose you all the days of your life.” (Josh 2.1-5) Joshua sent two spies to “look over the land, especially Jericho”. So they went and put up at the house of a prostitute named Rahab. But the King of Jericho got to hear about them and ordered Rahab to hand them over. Rahab hid them and lied that they had gone. (Josh 2.22-24) The pursuers failed to find the spies who then returned to Joshua and told him: “All the people are frightened of us.” (Josh 3.11-17) Joshua instructed the Israelites about crossing the river Jordan: “The ark of the covenant will go ahead … And a soon as the priests carrying the ark set foot in the Jordan, its waters will stop to flow and collect in a heap…” When their feet touched the water’s edge, the water had receded and the priests found themselves on dry land in the middle of the Jordan. All the people crossed over on dry ground to the opposite side. (Josh 4.18-19) No sooner had the people set their feet on dry land than the waters of the Jordan flowed again as before. They set up camp at Gilgal. [This is the second God-enabled crossing over a waterway: the first was across the Red Sea (Exodus 14.21-30)] (Josh 5.1) When the Amorite and Canaan kings heard about the miraculous crossing, their hearts sank and they feared to confront the Israelites. (Josh 6.8-20) As instructed by the Lord, Joshua ordered an armed guard to march ahead followed by seven priests blowing trumpets (made from rams’ horns). They were followed by other priests carrying the ark of the covenant and lastly the rear guard. By evening the people returned to the camp to rest for the night. They repeated this for six days. On the seventh day, they marched around the city seven times and at the seventh time, the priests gave a long blast on the trumpets. At this point, Joshua called on the people to shout loud. They did and the walls collapsed and every man charged inside. (Josh 6.21-26) Once inside the city, the Israelites “destroyed every living thing – men, women and children, cattle, sheep and donkeys.” Only Rahab the prostitute and her family were spared because she had saved the spies sent by Joshua. They burned he whole city and everything in it, but the silver and gold as well as bronze and iron articles were saved for the treasury of the Lord’s house. Furthermore, Joshua pronounced a solemn oath: “Cursed before the Lord is the man who attempts to rebuild this city of Jericho.” (Josh 7.2-25) Next Joshua sent 3000 men to attack the town of Ai to the east of Bethel but they were routed and 36 men killed. Joshua was taken aback by the defeat. The Lord explained the reason for the setback: Achan, son of Carmi of the tribe of Judah had stolen some of the booty from Jericho for himself. He had to be punished and the booty burnt. Achan and his children were stoned to death and the stolen loot burnt. (Josh 8.1-29) The Lord was now ready to help Joshua again. At the Lord’s command, his men moved on to Ai and set an ambush. As with Jericho, all 12,000 of Ai’s inhabitants were killed. The Israelites carried off all the livestock and plunder for themselves, as the Lord had instructed, leaving Ai as a permanent heap of ruins. Joshua hung the king of Ai on a tree until evening, when it was brought down and thrown at the city gate. Chapter 9 describes the Israelite encounter with the people of Gibeon. They tricked Joshua into believing they came from ‘a very distant country’, whereas they were neighbours. So Joshua spared them but later discovered they had lied. He summoned them and said: “Why did you deceive us? You are now cursed. You will become ‘hewers of wood and drawers of water’ for the community.”  Chapter 10 describes the campaign in the South. When the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish and Eglon made war against Gibeon, the Gibeonites appealed to Joshua who destroyed the kings’ forces. Those who escaped were killed by huge hailstones from the sky. Joshua also commanded the sun to stand still. So “the sun stopped in the middle of the sky for the rest of the day”; so that Joshua could complete his onslaught that day. Later, Joshua found the five Amorite kings hiding in the cave at Makkedah. He ordered large rocks to be rolled in to block the entrance. The army then pursued the enemy, “destroying them completely – almost to a man…” When the army returned to Makkedah, Joshua decided to humiliate the kings. They were brought out of the cave and the army commanders were ordered to place their feet on the necks of the kings. Joshua then struck and murdered the kings and hung them on five trees Joshua next captured Makkedah and “totally destroyed everyone in it. He left no survivors. The king suffered the same fate as the king of Jericho.” Joshua and his army moved on from city to city - Libnah, Lachish, Eglon, Hebron and Debir – wreaking the same havoc to each in turn. Chap 11 describes the northern campaign and it was the same story. (Josh 11.11-14) Joshua took all the royal cities… the Israelites carried off  all the plunder and livestock for themselves but all the people were put to the sword and destroyed completely; not sparing anyone that breathed. Chap 12 enumerates the full list of the kings that were defeated and the lands conquered, first on the east side of the Jordan and then on the west. In Chapter 13, The Lord said the Joshua: “You are very old and there are still large areas of land to be possessed….” And from Chapter 13 to 19, he goes on to name the many areas in some detail and allot them to the different tribes. (Josh 21.43-45) We are told that the Lord gave Israel all the land he had promised… They took possession of it and settled there. In Chapter 23, Joshua makes a farewell speech to the tribal leaders. In Chapter 24 (the last), Joshua dies at the age of 110 and was buried in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.