Genocide is OK if Jehovah says so
After Joshua and the fighting men of Israel started their track toward Jericho they ran into a little problem. The River Jordan was flooded. This would have been problematic if Jehovah wasn’t so awesome. The army of God was carrying the Ark of the Covenant and as soon as the Ark bearers touched the river water with their feet, the river opened up and the entire army walked across on dry ground. Yay for Jehovah!
The people of Jericho noticed they were being invaded so everyone moved into the city and they closed the gates. At first glance it appeared that Jehovah wasn’t going to get the slaughter he was looking for; I mean, he didn’t even have the Israelites prepare any siege engines or long range weapons. Melee troops aren’t great for attacking fortified positions without some sort of support.
Jehovah had a plan though. He told Joshua to have his people all walk around the city once every day for six days without talking, then on the seventh day they were to walk around the city silently six times and at the end of the seventh circuit they were to shout really loud. The Hebrews did this, and upon the great shout the city’s walls collapsed to the ground. The Hebrew infantry stormed into the city and 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.
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| Making noise is sure to destroy enemy fortifications |
But not quite: Joshua told his spies that checked out the city in my previous bible story to go get the hooker Rahab and her family and make sure they got out of the city safely. In this way the spies were able to keep their word and Israel’s prostitution workforce was strengthened.
Moral: when committing genocide you should always keep at least one of the harlots.
Ref: Joshua 3 & 6
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