When I was a young Christian decades ago, for years I mostly studied the Bible in verses and chapters that were given to me at Sunday school, in sermons, teaching materials, etc… One day I decided that I would read the Bible all the way through from cover to cover.

As I made my way through the Bible, I began noticing a tremendous amount of killing by the “Children of Israel” following their grand exodus from Egypt. This killing was ordered by Moses and later Joshua and was according to the stories, ultimately ordered by God.

This killing was not limited to the military forces of the Canaanites or even to their leadership and government. It wasn’t even limited to males. The killing included women, the elderly, the young, and even babies. I began to get mental images of Joshua’s army stabbing pregnant women, elderly people, children, and babies which was of course very troubling.

This killing was supposedly justified by the corruption of the Canaanites, but according to the story it led to the Canaanite’s extermination and the occupation of their land by the Israelites which were very convenient since the Israelites needed a land to occupy at the time.

God himself even joins in the killing by throwing boulders down from heaven to crush people as they are fleeing from Joshua’s army.

(All verses from the book of Joshua)

(Jericho)(6:21) Then they devoted to destruction by the edge of the sword all in the city, both men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys.

(City of Ai)(8:22)Israel struck them down until no one was left who survived or escaped.

(8:29) And he hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening; and at sunset Joshua commanded, and they took his body down from the tree, threw it down at the entrance of the gate of the city …

(The Amorites) (10:10) …(the Israelites) inflicted a great slaughter on them at Gibeon …, and struck them down as far as Azekah and Makkedah.

(God throws boulders down from heaven onto fleeing Amorites)

(10:11) As they fled before Israel, while they were going down the slope of Beth-horon, God threw down huge stones from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they died; there were more who died because of the hailstones than the Israelites killed with the sword.

(There wasn’t enough time in the day to complete the slaughter so God makes the Sun stop moving in the sky )

(10:12-13) …Joshua spoke to God; and he said in the sight of Israel, “Sun, stand still at Gibeon, and Moon, in the valley of Aijalon.”

And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, until the nation took vengeance on their enemies. Is this not written in the Book of Jashar? The sun stopped in midheaven, and did not hurry to set for about a whole day.

(Amorites) (10:20) When Joshua and the Israelites had finished inflicting a very great slaughter on them, until they were wiped out, …

(City of Libnah)(10:30) God gave it also and its king into the hand of Israel; and he struck it with the edge of the sword, and every person in it; he left no one remaining in it;

(City of Lachish)(10:32-33) … and struck it with the edge of the sword, and every person in it, as he had done to Libnah. Then King Horam of Gezer came up to help Lachish; and Joshua struck him and his people, leaving him no survivors.

(City of Eglon)(10:35) and they took it that day, and struck it with the edge of the sword; and every person in it he utterly destroyed that day, as he had done to Lachish.

(City of Hebron)(10:37) and struck it with the edge of the sword, and its king and its towns, and every person in it; he left no one remaining, just as he had done to Eglon, and utterly destroyed it with every person in it.

(City of Debir)(10:39-40) and he took it with its king and all its towns; they struck them with the edge of the sword, and utterly destroyed every person in it; he left no one remaining;

(Then the summary is given)

So Joshua defeated the whole land, the hill country and the Negeb and the lowland and the slopes, and all their kings; he left no one remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed, as the God of Israel commanded.

(11:1-4) People of Hazor, Madon, Shimron, Achshaph, northern hill country, Arabah, Naphoth-dor, Canaanites in the east and the west, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites and the Hivites unite against the Israelites.

(11:14) All the spoil of these towns, and the livestock, the Israelites took for their booty; but all the people they struck down with the edge of the sword, until they had destroyed them, and they did not leave any who breathed.

(11:20) For it was God’s doing to harden their hearts (the Canaanites) so that they would come against Israel in battle, in order that they might be utterly destroyed, and might receive no mercy, but be exterminated, just as God had commanded Moses.

As a side note, these battles almost certainly never happened. Archaelogists have proven that Jericho had been abandoned long before Joshua would have arrived there. As a matter of fact, Moses and Joshua likely never existed, but were creations by the Bible’s authors.

The Israelites were never enslaved in Egypt. There was no exodus. There is no archeological evidence that the Children of Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years.

Instead of the Israelites conquering the Canaanites, the culture and race of the people of Israel likely evolved from the Canaanites over centuries.

These battle stories were likely created to give grandeur to Israelite origins and were handed down through oral retelling for generations. Finally they were edited and set down in writing at a time when the Jewish people themselves were actually being exiled from their land by foreign powers.