How can the killing of children be reconciled with God's goodness? Study Joshua 6 with context, apologetic analysis, and cross-references.
Dr. Lucas D. Shallua Commentary · JOSHUA 6 — JERICHO: JUDGMENT AND MERCY
The passage presents judicial action by the Creator, whose authority differs from human authority. That distinction explains the text's claim but does not make the deaths emotionally easy or prove that every individual had identical culpability. Christians should acknowledge the difficulty, read the wider biblical witness to justice and mercy, and refuse to use the event as permission for modern violence.
Claims about Jericho depend on disputed dating and interpretation of remains. This commentary makes no claim of conclusive archaeological confirmation. The text's theological meaning should not depend upon overstated reports that later investigation may revise.
Jericho has shut its gates against Israel. The commander encountered in chapter 5 places the campaign under the LORD's direction. Chapter 6 presents both the power and the moral seriousness of that direction: the same event includes a city's destruction and a believing outsider's preservation. The command to devote the city to destruction must be read within the limited conquest commission and the judgment described in Deuteronomy. It is not a standing mandate for religious violence. The church's mission is to announce reconciliation and love enemies, while final judgment belongs to God. The chapter's human cost must be faced rather than hidden behind the drama of falling walls.
Jericho's judgment follows the biblical theme of delayed judgment, not ethnic superiority (Genesis 15:16; Deuteronomy 9:4–6). Rahab's rescue prevents a racial reading, while Achan's coming judgment shows that Israelites are also accountable. These considerations clarify the narrative without trivializing its severity.
This study preserves the hard questions, explanations, context, apologetic note, and references from Dr. Shallua's Commentary.