Josue 10 - A Total Destruction?, Part II

I'll continue the theme here, that Canaan was not wholly obliterated, that the reality of Israel's destruction of the Canaanites was more nuanced than Biblical detractors would let on.  Was Israel's victory decisive?  Yes.  Were God's dealings with the Canaanites severe?  Yes.  Was every man, woman, and child slaughtered?  No.

And herein lies the simple point.  The Israelites entered the Promised Land as a unique group of people.  They entered a world of polytheistic idol worship.  They had a divine decree with them, that the land was to be a Holy Land, set aside for them.  How else might this situation work out?  The Enlightenment had crossed over the Jordan to extinguish the darkness.  The pagan Canaanites lived lives opposed to Almighty God (and to the nature He created).  If His enlightened chosen ones were to dwell in this land, why would such evils be allowed to endure?  And it was the evils that needed to be slaughtered wholesale, not necessarily the people.  Rahab is the best illustration so far in the Book of Josue of how God deals with one who renounces the evil.  Had only their hearts and minds not been so hardened towards God, the Canaanites would have been spared.  Yet, some were.  We are able to infer throughout these chapters that some Canaanites remained, and there are various interpretations as to why that is.  Some say that a remnant of Canaanites continued on as before, living their pagan lives, so that the Israelites "must suffer tribulation, to prevent the growth of vice" (Haydock commentary).  To eradicate all evil would have been to return the people to the Garden of Eden, which was not to be.  Free will still existed in the Promised Land, and God allowed some Canaanites to continue exercising their free will to act against Him.  This would also provide a constant reminder to the Israelites of how they are not to act, and for some it would be a constant temptation to slip into idol worship, as they had always been prone to do.  Leaving a remnant of Canaanites, in short, would keep the Israelites on their toes.

At any rate, for the rest of Josue 10 we see the rapid annihilation of a large segment of Canaan, mainly to the south and even west towards the Mediterranean Sea.  The kings are executed and the cities laid waste or occupied.  Joshua's army, equipped with divine decree, is quickly setting the stage for a massive takeover.  A pagan land is swiftly becoming a Holy Land.