Did God Command Genocide?

There is a perception that these books point to an understanding of God that is highly ethnocentric. This understanding can be seen in both contemporary critics of the Christian faith and Christians who believe that these books have a highly negative view of foreigners. From the perspective of critics of Christian faith, Richard Dawkins speaks for many, even if they might regard his language as somewhat intemperate. But it should be noted that it is his reading of the Old Testament, and especially the Former Prophets, that leads to his (in)famous observation that

[t]he God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.

Dawkins, along with his fellow ‘new atheists’, is usually a fairly flat-footed reader of the Bible who does not recognize the nuances of the text. Nevertheless, when it comes to the book of Joshua in particular, his comments come close to those of many Christians who struggle with the violence they see in it when he observes that it is

a text remarkable for the bloodthirsty massacres it records and the xenophobic relish with which it does so. As the charming old song exultantly has it, ‘Joshua fit the battle of Jericho, and the walls came a-tumbling down . . . there’s none like good old Joshuay at the battle of Jericho.’ Good old Joshua didn’t rest until ‘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’ (Josh. 6:21).

Dawkins is never knowingly understated in his attacks on God and the Bible, but there is no doubt that he here addresses an issue that continues to trouble many readers of the Bible today. Operating from an expressly Christian perspective, Robert Coote expresses a similar perspective on Joshua:

Much about the book of Joshua is repulsive, starting with the ethnic cleansing, the savage dispossession and genocide of native peoples, and the massacre of women and children – all not simply condoned but ordered by God. These features are worse than abhorrent; they are far beyond the pale.

Although discussion of most of these issues can be deferred until chapter 2, the popularity of such readings means they cannot be ignored. Staying only with the example of the book of Joshua, it is evident that the way in which many Christians have dealt with the challenge is by ignoring these texts. This may or may not be intentional, but if we take the occurrences of Joshua in the lectionary as a guide, then congregations using a lectionary will almost never hear readings from Joshua on a Sunday. Not all congregations follow the lectionary, but this is a guide to how unlikely it is that some Christians will encounter Joshua in any significant way – and of course it is quite possible to omit the Old Testament reading. In my experience as a teacher of the Old Testament, attitudes such as these are now commonplace among Christians, and most of my students arrive with a profound sense of discomfort, if not outright embarrassment, about features of these texts. There are some parts of the Former Prophets that they cherish – usually Sunday school favourites like the story of David and Goliath; but for most these are texts to be avoided where possible and that then receive comparatively little attention in church, effectively reinforcing the dominant views through non-use. It is my hope that a close reading of the Former Prophets will show that they have a much more positive contribution to make to understanding foreigners than such popular treatments might suggest.

As well as Including the Stranger, which you can order here, we've also published some other books that help engage with this question from a variety of angles.