A thought in passing when reading Joshua, chapters 10 thru 13 where he led the Israelites in destroying all the kingdoms of the land the LORD had given the Israelites.

Many who read this will only see the barbarity and insensitivity of the conquering Israelites as they commit “genocide” on many established kingdoms destroying everything in their path all in the name of their LORD.  A holy war in some people’s eyes.  They will ask why would a loving God make people do this to others, is He not a God of love and peace?

We must look at this from a different perspective.  GOD chose the Isrealites as his own and required many things of them including a “purity of existence” in following HIM only.  In return HE promised to care for them which HE had been doing since they left Egypt.  HE knew they were weak and easily tempted so HE required them to clear a territory and remove all outside influence which they did with HIS help.  HE did this to show HE was in control and they should not depend on their own abilities.

Jumping forward to today, we have a lesson in these passages as we live our lives in submission to Christ.  We, also, are to have a “purity of existence” and keep ourselves from temptation.  So, in a sense, we are to wage a holy war on any outside influence, totally destroying the influence that could separate us from our LORD.  We must also remember we are not able to do this cleansing ourselves, but, with our LORD’s help we can be victorious.