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The book of Joshua picks up where Moses left off. Moses is dead. Joshua takes command. The mission is the same one God promised in Exodus — take the land.
The entire book is a military campaign. City by city, nation by nation, the land that was already occupied by other people is seized under God's direct command.
The commandments say don't kill, don't steal, don't covet your neighbor's goods.
The book of Joshua is the story of doing all three as divine instruction.
The commandments: Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods.
Chapter 6 — Jericho. The walls come down. The most famous battle in the Bible.
"And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword."
They killed every living thing in the city — men, women, children, elderly, and all the animals — with swords.
"And they burnt the city with fire, and all that was therein: only the silver, and the gold, and the vessels of brass and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the LORD."
They burned the entire city to the ground. But they kept the silver, gold, brass, and iron and put it in God's treasury.
They burned the city. They killed every living thing inside it.
Then they kept the silver and gold.
The people were destroyed. The wealth was collected. Under God's direct command.
The commandment: Thou shalt not kill.
Chapter 8 — Ai. The second city. God tells Joshua not to be afraid and gives him the battle plan personally.
"And it came to pass, when Israel had made an end of slaying all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness wherein they chased them, and when they were all fallen on the edge of the sword, until they were consumed, that all the Israelites returned unto Ai, and smote it with the edge of the sword. And so it was, that all that fell that day, both of men and women, were twelve thousand, even all the men of Ai."
After the Israelites finished chasing down and killing every person who fled into the fields and wilderness, they went back into the city and killed everyone still there. Twelve thousand people died that day — every man and woman in Ai.
"For Joshua drew not his hand back, wherewith he stretched out the spear, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai."
Joshua held his spear in the air and did not lower his arm until every last person in the city was dead.
He held his arm out until every last person was dead.
"Only the cattle and the spoil of that city Israel took for a prey unto themselves, according unto the word of the LORD which he commanded Joshua."
This time God let the soldiers keep the livestock and the valuables for themselves.
At Jericho, only God got the treasure. At Ai, the soldiers got to keep it.
The people still died. The only question was who got the inventory.
The commandments: Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods.
Chapter 10 — The southern campaign. Five kings form an alliance against Israel. God intervenes directly.
"And the LORD discomfited them before Israel, and slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, and chased them along the way that goeth up to Bethhoron, and smote them to Azekah, and unto Makkedah."
God threw the enemy into a panic. The Israelites slaughtered them at Gibeon, then chased the survivors for miles, cutting them down along the road.
"And it came to pass, as they fled from before Israel ... that the LORD cast down great stones from heaven upon them ... and they died: they were more which died with hailstones than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword."
As the survivors ran, God dropped massive hailstones from the sky onto them. More people died from the hailstones than from the Israelite swords.
"Then spake Joshua to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon. And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies."
Joshua asked God to stop the sun. God froze the sun and moon in the sky so that daylight would last long enough to finish killing everyone.
God altered the cosmos to ensure the slaughter was complete.
Then the cities fall, one by one:
Verse 28 — Makkedah:
"And that day Joshua took Makkedah, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and the king thereof he utterly destroyed, them, and all the souls that were therein; he let none remain."
Joshua took Makkedah, killed the king, and killed every person in the city. No one was left alive.
Verse 30 — Libnah:
"And the LORD delivered it also, and the king thereof, into the hand of Israel; and he smote it with the edge of the sword, and all the souls that were therein; he let none remain in it."
God handed Libnah over. Joshua killed the king and every person inside. No survivors.
Verse 32 — Lachish:
"And the LORD delivered Lachish into the hand of Israel, which took it on the second day, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and all the souls that were therein."
Lachish fell on the second day. Every person in it was killed.
Verse 35 — Eglon:
"And they took it on that day, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and all the souls that were therein he utterly destroyed that day."
They took Eglon in a single day and killed every person in it.
Verse 37 — Hebron:
"And they took it, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and the king thereof, and all the cities thereof, and all the souls that were therein; he left none remaining."
They took Hebron and every town around it. Killed the king and every person. No one was left alive.
Verse 39 — Debir:
"And he took it, and the king thereof, and all the cities thereof; and they smote them with the edge of the sword, and utterly destroyed all the souls that were therein; he left none remaining: as he had done to Hebron, so he did to Debir."
They did to Debir exactly what they did to Hebron. Every person killed. No one remaining.
"So Joshua smote all the country of the hills, and of the south, and of the vale, and of the springs, and all their kings: he left none remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed, as the LORD God of Israel commanded."
Joshua destroyed the entire region — the hills, the valleys, the lowlands, every spring and settlement. He killed every king and every person who breathed. Because God told him to.
"All that breathed."
"As the LORD God of Israel commanded."
The commandments: Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods.
Chapter 11 — The northern campaign. The remaining kings of the north gather their armies. God tells Joshua not to be afraid.
Verse 11 — Hazor:
"And they smote all the souls that were therein with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying them: there was not any left to breathe: and he burnt Hazor with fire."
They killed every person in Hazor until no one was left breathing. Then they burned the city.
"And all the cities of those kings, and all the kings of them, did Joshua take, and smote them with the edge of the sword, and he utterly destroyed them, as Moses the servant of the LORD commanded."
Joshua captured every city and killed every king in the north. He wiped them all out, just as Moses had instructed.
"And all the spoil of these cities, and the cattle, the children of Israel took for a prey unto themselves; but every man they smote with the edge of the sword, until they had destroyed them, neither left they any to breathe."
The Israelites kept all the livestock and valuables for themselves. But every person was killed. They did not leave a single person alive.
"For it was of the LORD to harden their hearts, that they should come against Israel in battle, that he might destroy them utterly, and that they might have no favour, but that he might destroy them, as the LORD commanded Moses."
God deliberately hardened their hearts so they would fight Israel — so that he could destroy them completely, show them no mercy, and wipe them out.
God hardened their hearts. Then destroyed them for having hardened hearts.
The same mechanism as Pharaoh. Engineer the resistance. Then punish the resistance. Then call the destruction righteous.
"So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the LORD said unto Moses; and Joshua gave it for an inheritance unto Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. And the land rested from war."
Joshua took the entire land, just as God had promised Moses. He divided it among the tribes of Israel. And the land was at peace.
"The land rested from war."
Because everyone who lived on it was dead.
Jericho — everything that breathed, destroyed.
Ai — twelve thousand killed, not one survivor.
Makkedah, Libnah, Lachish, Eglon,
Hebron, Debir — city after city,
"he left none remaining."
Hazor and the north — utterly destroyed.
God hardened their hearts
so he could destroy them for resisting.
Then the land "rested from war."
Because no one was left alive on it.
The book of Joshua is not a story about faith. It is a military ledger. A catalogue of conquest. City names, body counts, and inventories of seized property — carried out under the direct command of the God who said "thou shalt not kill," "thou shalt not steal," and "thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods."
The entire book is a violation of the commandments delivered two books earlier.
And it is presented as obedience.
The next book is Leviticus.
One verse turned people into inherited property
and became the foundation of American chattel slavery.
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