“Totally Destroyed” – Israel’s Conquest in the Book of Joshua

We often say things that we don’t mean to be taken literally. For example, it’s common to hear these kinds of statements after athletic competitions: “They crushed that team,” “We got destroyed,” “We killed them.” When we make those comments in that context we are using hyperbole or exaggerated language.

Some scholars believe that hyperbole is the best way to understand the language of Israel’s conquest in Joshua. Why?

Here’s what Joshua 10:36-40 (NIV) says:

³⁶ Then Joshua and all Israel with him went up from Eglon to Hebron and attacked it. ³⁷ They took the city and put it to the sword, together with its king, its villages and everyone in it. They left no survivors. Just as at Eglon, they totally destroyed it and everyone in it. ³⁸ Then Joshua and all Israel with him turned around and attacked Debir. ³⁹ They took the city, its king and its villages, and put them to the sword. Everyone in it they totally destroyed. They left no survivors. They did to Debir and its king as they had done to Libnah and its king and to Hebron. ⁴⁰ So Joshua subdued the whole region, including the hill country, the Negev, the western foothills and the mountain slopes, together with all their kings. He left no survivors. He totally destroyed all who breathed, just as the Lord, the God of Israel, had commanded. 

What were the places that Israel, under Joshua’s leadership, “totally destroyed,” leaving “no survivors”?

• Eglon
• Hebron
• Debir
• the hill country
• the Negev
• the western foothills

However, the next book of the Bible opens “after the death of Joshua” (Judges 1:1), and here is what it says about five of those six places.

After that, Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites living in the hill country, the Negev and the western foothills. They advanced against the Canaanites living in Hebron (formerly called Kiriath Arba) and defeated Sheshai, Ahiman and Talmai. From there they advanced against the people living in Debir (formerly called Kiriath Sepher). (Judges 1:9-11)

If everyone was “totally destroyed” in Hebron, Debir, the hill country, the Negev, and the western foothills, how were Canaanites still occupying those places?

The apparent discrepancy can be explained by the use of hyperbole or ancient rhetoric in Joshua. They “totally destroyed” their opponents, but not literally. That was the way they talked about military victories.

Supporting this view is the fact that other ancient Near Eastern nations used this type of warfare rhetoric. Hyperbolic language can be found in Egyptian, Hittite, Akkadian, Moabite, and Aramaic descriptions of war.

Additionally, when the biblical data is compiled we find an emphasis on driving out not literal destruction. Copan and Flannagan say “dispossession” words relating to Israel’s conquest outnumber “destruction” words by 3-to-1.

“Dispossession” would include words like drive out, dispossess, take over possession of, thrust out, send away (33 occurrences). “Destruction” words would include annihilate, destroy, perish, and eliminate (11 occurrences). (80)

For example, “The Lord your God will cut off before you the nations you are about to invade and dispossess.” (Deut. 12:29). The primary picture, then, is of Israel pushing the Canaanites out of the land, not literally destroying them. (Of course, this still brings up moral issues, but at least it helps us begin with an accurate picture of what really happened.)

Is there another way to understand the apparent discrepancy between Joshua and Judges? Perhaps the Israelites actually killed everyone in those cities as Joshua states, but then failed to occupy those places, leading Canaanites from other areas to move in. So Israel had to fight other Canaanites in the same areas in Judges 1.

What’s the problem with that idea? It makes Joshua’s victories pointless and it makes Joshua look completely incompetent as a military leader.

[For an overview of interpretive options to the troubling topic of Old Testament warfare, see this post.]