by Quentin Hess

Violence, zealousness, crusades, conquering; all of these words are heavily or directly associated with conflict in the name of religion. Fighting is indeed an inherent, if barbaric, trait set deep within mankind. We fight for greed, for love, for hatred, for justice, for family, even for fun, and yet there are few forms of conflict that are driven more by passion and emotion than fighting for one’s maker. Throughout history humans have slaughter, pillaged, and dehumanized each other in the name of god or the gods, and we have justified these actions as correct simply because our gods have deemed our foes unworthy heretics. Today people associate many religious conflicts in one particular area of the world, this being the Middle East and Israel. Whether it be the crusades, the Maccabean revolts, or the fighting between Israel and Palestine that rages on even today, the land around Jerusalem has always been soaked in blood. Were these and are these conflicts necessary and how can people continue to justify slaughter in the name of God? I believe texts such as the book of Joshua were made with the intent to raise feelings of zeal and animosity in the hearts of many Jewish people throughout history and continue to this day to justify modern conflicts and genocide.

Describing the taking of Jericho as violent would be somewhat of an understatement.

The book of Joshua begins with God anointing Joshua as the new de facto leader of the Jewish people and promised him any land he set foot on (NIV Study Bible, Joshua 1). Immediately this holds the mindset that Joshua and his people are free to take any land they so please, even land which has already been settled and built upon. This early in the story of the Jewish people and there is already a strong theme of conquering in the name of the divine. Joshua proceeds to gather his people and forces and begins to move and conquer vast area and cities he encounters. One of the first cities he takes is Jericho, a city in current day West Bank, in the Jordan Valley. This city is very close to the location that would become Jerusalem, so it is not shocking that Joshua would set his sights on Jericho as one of his promised conquests. Describing the taking of Jericho as violent would be somewhat of an understatement. God himself instructed Joshua’s priests and followers to march around the city for seven days and on the seventh the whole brigade ‘shouted’, and the walls of the city came crumbling down. The army then proceeded to destroy with the sword “every living thing in it—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys.” (NIV Study Bible, Josh 6). Every single man, woman, child, and even the farm animals were slaughtered indiscriminately.

Jericho was not the only city to fall to the merciless hands of Joshua’s army. Many times Joshua would approach cities and receive instruction from the God of Israel on how to fell the city. Canaan, an entire region of land around today’s West Bank, was visited by Joshua and his war party. In chapter three of Joshua and Judges authors Yonina Dor and Naomi De-Malach describe Joshua and his followers marauding well: “We cannot accept with equanimity the description of the Israelites’ passage like a storm from town to town, slaughtering the residents, men and women, young and old, setting fire to their cities, sometimes hanging their kings…” (Yee and Brenner 39). Committing the genocide of thousands upon thousands of people on the whim of an unknown force seems like it may cause some form of regret and strife, and yet nowhere in these early passages describing their war path does the book of Joshua highlight some kind of regret, doubt, or guilt having killed so many innocents. Though of course to Joshua and his followers, they were lesser than innocent and deserved to be killed. What message could these texts be sending other than that it is ok, even encouraged, to kill and conquer if it means claiming land promised to you.

Israel’s own prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, referenced Joshua in his famous congressional address in 2015.

Of course, this way of thought extends even to this day in Israel, particularly when is comes to the Palestinian conflicts. Palestine and Israel have conflicting viewpoints as to whose land theirs rightly is. Historically the Jews have the claim to the land and yet Palestine also has a legitimate value of the area for their own religious beliefs. Though the conflicts are undoubtedly extremely convoluted is difficult to defend some of Israel’s actions in their goal of maintaining the piece of the pie. A mandatory military conscription for all those over the age of eighteen supplies Israel with a mass of fresh young, perhaps moldable, individuals to fight on its behalf. Combine a mass of young, impressionable people with Israel’s Bible curriculum (Yee and Brenner 40) and there’s no doubt that many of Israel’s young soldiers have read the book of Joshua. While Yee and Brenner claim there has been a decline of Bible teachings and importance in schools, the culture of biblical importance is still quite strong the older generations of Israel, who of course would be making the military decisions. For an example, Israel’s own prime minister; Benjamin Netanyahu, referenced Joshua in his famous congressional address in 2015. When speaking of whether the United States should sign a document to limit Iran’s nuclear progress, Netanyahu spoke of how after 100 generations Israel can finally defend itself. He then went on to speak of Israeli soldiers and how they should “Be strong and resolute” which came directly from Moses to Joshua before he died (Havrelock 4). Havrelock continues on to say how this biblical directive has strengthened the Israelis resolve in their conflicts with Palestine. Could it be that some of Israel’s less glamorous tactics for securing their promised land are still derived the merciless and zealous views of ancients Jews?

The book of Joshua recounts many times how Joshua and his people committed heinous acts of genocide and warmongering all in the name of God. Israel’s sometimes brutal methods of maintaining the current lands and reclaiming their lost lands are very reminiscent of the blind slaughter used to claim lands in the days of Judaism’s youth. With a culture of divine purpose and ruthlessness still in Israel’s elite to this day, there can be no doubt that some still value the violent justifications taught to them by Joshua. 

Works Cited

Havrelock, Rachel. Joshua Generation: Israeli Occupation and the Bible. 

Princeton University Press, 2022. 

Brenner, Athalya and Yee, Gale A. Joshua and Judges.  Fortress, 2013

The Bible. The NIV Study Bible. Zondervan, 2020.

created for HUM124 with Jeremy Phillips