Grahame Walker

This morning we are going to look at the conquest in the book of Joshua. At first, reading the violence initiated by God leaves us feeling quite troubled. Now, a bit of a backdrop to this story. God had led the people of Israel out of slavery, and out of Egypt. He was not only forming them into new people, a new nation, but taking them to a new land. What became known as the Promised Land. It wasn’t just given to them. They had to take it. Possess it and, at times, conquer it. That’s what brings us to one of the bloodiest scenes in the Bible. The slaughter of the Canaanites by the Israelites on the directive of God himself. Now, there’s a lot of places where this pops up in the Bible. Let me read you an overview section that will serve it up and then we’ll talk about it.