As part of the FIRST UNITED Advent and Christmas Calendar, Rev. Lauren Sanders, Spiritual Care Manager, has prepared a five-part Bible study series. The short Bible studies are to meant offer ways to engage in group or individually.
Joshua’s Curious Narrative
How do we make sense of the contradictions of total conquest by the Israelites when Joshua himself mentions remnants and nations unfought? What conversations do we have with this sacred text that seemingly encourages unjust conquest and colonizing theology?
Joshua 1:2-5a (NRSV)
“My servant Moses is dead. Now proceed to cross the Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the Israelites. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, as I promised to Moses. From the wilderness and the Lebanon as far as the great river, the River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, to the Great Sea in the west shall be your territory. No one shall be able to stand against you all the days of your life.”
Joshua 1:10-15 (NRSV)
Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, “Pass through the camp and command the people, ‘Prepare your provisions, for in three days you are to cross over this Jordan, to go in to take possession of the land that the Lord your God gives you to possess.’ ” But to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh Joshua said, “Remember the word that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, saying, ‘The Lord your God is providing you a place of rest and will give you this land.’ Your wives, your little ones, and your livestock shall remain in the land that Moses gave you beyond the Jordan. But all the warriors among you shall cross over armed before your kindred and shall help them, until the Lord gives rest to your kindred as well as to you, and they also take possession of the land that the Lord your God is giving them. Then you shall return to your own land and take possession of it, the land that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you beyond the Jordan to the east.”
Joshua 10:40 (NRSV)
So Joshua defeated the whole land, the hill country and the Negeb and the lowland and the slopes and all their kings; he left no one remaining but utterly destroyed all that breathed, as the Lord God of Israel had commanded.
Joshua 11:12–15, 21–22 (NRSV)
And all the towns of those kings and all their kings, Joshua took and struck them with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying them, as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded. But Israel burned none of the towns that stood on mounds except Hazor, which Joshua did burn. All the spoil of these towns and the livestock the Israelites plundered for themselves, but all the people they struck down with the edge of the sword, until they had destroyed them, and they did not leave any who breathed. As the Lord had commanded his servant Moses, so Moses commanded Joshua, and so Joshua did; he left nothing undone of all that the Lord had commanded Moses…
At that time Joshua came and wiped out the Anakim from the hill country, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, and from all the hill country of Judah, and from all the hill country of Israel; Joshua utterly destroyed them with their towns. None of the Anakim was left in the land of the Israelites; some remained only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod.
Joshua 23:2b-13 (NRSV)
“I am now old and well advanced in years, and you have seen all that the Lord your God has done to all these nations for your sake, for it is the Lord your God who has fought for you. I have allotted to you as an inheritance for your tribes those nations that remain, along with all the nations that I have already cut off, from the Jordan to the Great Sea in the west. The Lord your God will push them back before you and drive them out of your sight, and you shall possess their land, as the Lord your God promised you. Therefore be very steadfast to observe and do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, turning aside from it neither to the right nor to the left, so that you may not be mixed with these nations left here among you, or make mention of the names of their gods, or swear by them, or serve them, or bow yourselves down to them, but hold fast to the Lord your God, as you have done to this day. For the Lord has driven out before you great and strong nations, and as for you, no one has been able to withstand you to this day. One of you puts to flight a thousand, since it is the Lord your God who fights for you, as he promised you. Be very careful, therefore, to love the Lord your God. For if you turn back and join the survivors of these nations left here among you and intermarry with them, so that you marry their women and they yours, know assuredly that the Lord your God will not continue to drive out these nations before you, but they shall be a snare and a trap for you, a scourge on your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land that the Lord your God has given you.
A Conversation with the Text
The Book of Joshua opens with a bold declaration: “Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you” (Joshua 1:3). This promise, echoed throughout the text, frames the conquest of Canaan as divinely sanctioned. Yet, as we read deeper, contradictions emerge. Joshua speaks of total conquest, yet later acknowledges the presence of surviving nations and peoples. What are we to make of this sacred text that seems to both glorify and complicate conquest?
Joshua’s story is not a straightforward tale of victory. While chapters 10 and 11 describe the utter destruction of cities and peoples—“he left no one remaining but utterly destroyed all that breathed” (Joshua 10:40)—chapter 23 reveals a different reality: “those nations that remain” are still among the Israelites.
This tension invites us to question the reliability of the conquest narrative. Is it historical fact, theological myth, or political propaganda? Scholars suggest that Joshua’s account may serve as national myth-making, a way to legitimize land possession through divine mandate. For communities today, especially Indigenous peoples, this raises urgent questions about how scripture has been used to justify colonial violence.
Joshua’s conquest narrative has often been invoked to support this ideology. The image of a chosen people entering a promised land—backed by divine authority—mirrors colonial narratives that framed Indigenous peoples as obstacles to be removed. The theological harm is profound: it casts genocide as obedience, and dispossession as divine will.
Indigenous theologians call us to reframe Joshua not as a model for faithfulness, but as a warning against religious nationalism and violence. Indigenous spiritual traditions often teach that land is sacred, relational, and alive. This vision aligns with our creation stories of Genesis while it also stands in stark contrast to Joshua’s militarized theology. We are left to deeply consider: Is the Promised Land a prize of conquest? Can the Promised Land be something else: a place of covenant and kinship?
Deeper Reflection Questions
- Joshua claims total conquest (e.g., Joshua 10:40), yet later acknowledges surviving nations (Joshua 23:2b–13). How do we make sense of the contradictions of total conquest by the Israelites when Joshua himself mentions remnants and nations unfought? What conversations do we have with this sacred text that seemingly encourages unjust conquest and colonizing theology?
- In what ways has the Book of Joshua been used to justify colonial expansion and the Doctrine of Discovery? How does recognizing this misuse of scripture change our approach to biblical interpretation and mission?
- How have we, knowingly or unknowingly, participated in theological frameworks that support conquest or exclusion?
- Indigenous Theologian Robert Warrior has urged Christians to “read with Canaanite eyes,” identifying not with the conquerors but with the conquered. What does it mean to “read with Canaanite eyes” today?
- What would it mean to read the Promised Land not as a prize of conquest, but as a place of covenant and kinship?
Closing Prayer: A Prayer for Covenant and Kinship
Creator of Life and Land,
We come before You with hearts open to truth and transformation.
We have heard the stories of conquest, of swords and silence,
Of lands taken and peoples erased in Your name.
And we confess: these stories have shaped us—sometimes in ways that wound.
Yet You are the Giver of breath, the Weaver of kinship,
The One who calls us to covenant, not conquest,
The Holy One who requires that we care for the widow, the orphan, the stranger, and the poor.
Teach us to read with Canaanite eyes,
To see the sacred in those who have been cast aside,
To hear Your voice not in thunderous genocide,
But in the strong resistance of those who remember.
Help us to walk gently on this land,
Not as owners, but as relatives.
Not as conquerors, but as covenant keepers.
We pray for courage to dismantle theologies of colonizing,
And to build communities of healing,
Where land is honored, stories are restored,
And Your Spirit moves freely among all peoples.
In the name of the One who liberates,
Amen.