Jacob Chanikuzhy

Genocide, the epitome of human evil, is considered to have eliminated at least 50 million people between 1956 and 2016. UN calculates that another 50 million people had been displaced by the 43 genocides occurred during this period. About genocide, Michael Ignatieff, the former Rector and President of the Central European University, made the following pertinent remark: “Genocide is not just a murderous madness; it is, more deeply, a politics that promises a utopia beyond politics – one people, one land, one truth, the end of difference. Since genocide is a form of political utopia, it remains an enduring temptation in any multi-ethnic and multicultural society in crisis.” This craving to eliminate all differences and to create the political utopia of a homogenous body, is found in a certain extent not only in the macro level of nations and religions but also in the micro level of families. What many find appalling is that even the ethical God of the Bible sanctions a most brutal kind of genocide! The incident is found in the Book of Joshua, chapter 6.
Joshua 6, 21 describes the Israelite conquest of Jericho as follows: “(The people of Israel) destroyed with the sword every living thing in it—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys.” To the modern mind, a God who demands the extermination of a race, and a people who comply with the divine command are deeply immoral. However, everyone would agree that one should not assess the morality of an event that happened centuries ago in the light of the present-day morality. In the history of humankind, one can find a development in the human moral behaviour. Just as there is a growth in the understanding about God, so also there is a growth in the understanding of what is good and evil. In the Old Testament God generally appears as one who generates fear in his people by promptly punishing the wicked. A God who is a merciful and forgiving Father is more of a New Testament revelation although not exclusively.
Israel’s conquest of Jericho teaches that God always finds a way forward even in the face of what appear to be unsurmountable hurdles. God instructed Joshua to ask the people to walk around the city. People promptly obeyed it. At the close of each procession, they had to go home realizing that nothing happened by their moving around the well-fortified city. Still they had to appear the next day to repeat this ritual. The ritual was also not very logical. What is the use of going around a fortified city? It does not look like a military strategy at all. No nation has ever conquered another by making such a march. On the seventh day people had to do it seven times, but this time by making huge shouts. Then, miraculously the walls of the city fell and Israel conquered the city of Jericho.
Joshua 6, is very meaningful and inspiring when looked from the perspective of a spiritual warfare. The conquering of Jericho can be compared to conquering of our spiritual enemies or the evil. Sometimes the evils that threaten the society or our personal life appears invincible and impenetrable like a well-protected city. What Israel did to conquer Jericho was just to obey the command of God. So too, what one needs to do to conquer the mightiest evil is to obey the word of God. Israel could not conquer Jericho with just one day’s obedience and efforts. The conquest happened after a week of patient waiting. So too, the spiritual victory comes at the end of patient and tiresome waiting. Another pertinent point taught by the Jericho genocide regarding human fight against evil is that ultimately the conquest of evil is the work of God himself. Collapse of the walls of Jericho was not the outcome of any Israelite action but the result of divine intervention.
While applying to our spiritual warfare the genocide in Jericho makes some sense, its interpretation and application in its literal sense presents an outdated, unbiblical and dangerous theology. Still, the God of genocide lures many in their fight against people of political, cultural and religious differences. They forget that their admiration of a violent God equals to a betrayal of the crucified Lord of peace.