God’s Complicated Promise

Jericho was extensively excavated from 1930-36 by the British archeologist, John Garstang. Garstang confirmed Sellin and Watzinger’s findings and then focused on the eastern side of the city where he uncovered a large palace structure. Garstang noted that Jericho, like many  ancient Mideast tells, Jericho was composed of a number of cities built one on top of the other. City IV, which he dated to the time of the Israelite Conquest of Canaan had been violently destroyed leaving a thick, three foot ash layer.

The onset of World War II prevented Garstang from finishing his work so he commissioned one of his students, Kathleen Kenyon to complete the excavation of Jericho after World War II. Kenyon worked at Jericho from 1952-58 but never published all of her findings until her students put them together after her death in 1978. Kenyon did however, hold a number of major press conferences to give the highlights of her work. Some of her notable findings included:

• The mound at Tell es-Sultan (Jericho) was composed of over 20 ancient cities
• The lowermost city was 10,500 years old making Jericho the oldest known city in the world
• Jericho was also the lowest city in the world at an elevation of 670 feet below sea level
• City IV, the level Garstang had equated with the Israelite Conquest, was indeed violently destroyed but at 1550 B.C., well before Joshua could have been there. Her conclusion was based on the absence of imported Cypriot pottery, a key marker for the time period of 1200-1500 B.C.
• Jericho remained unoccupied until 1100 B.C., well after the time of Joshua
• Thus there was no major occupation at the time of Joshua and as such, Joshua, the Israelite Conquest of Canaan, the Exodus, etc. were all fairy tales with no historical basis

Kenyon was knighted by Queen Elizabeth for her contributions to science and as “Dame Kenyon”, few people wished to challenge her conclusions. After her death, several of her former work foreman have come forth and stated that Kenyon destroyed or threw away any artifact that they brought to her that disagreed with her theory that Jericho was unoccupied during the time of the Israelite Conquest of Canaan. It turns out that Kathleen Kenyon was a rabid anti-Zionist which influenced her conclusions of her work in Palestine.

Recently, a “joint” Italian-Palestinian team led by Lorenzo Nigro has done some re-excavation on the wall system at the southern end of the site and elsewhere. They have procured a number of radiocarbon dates on the ash layer in City IV and found that it dates to a period of ca. 1534-1601 B.C. which confirms Kenyon’s conclusions. However, radiocarbon dates are only as good as the calibration curves that are used to translate radiocarbon years into calendar years. Throughout the ancient Middle East and Egypt, there are major problems with age dating from the latter part of the Middle Bronze Age and the Late Bronze Age. In many locations, dates have been obtained that are about 150 years older than known archeological materials associated with the dates.

Beginning in the mid-1980s and continuing to this day, Dr. Bryant Wood of the Associates for Biblical Research has reviewed both Garstang and Kenyon’s pottery collections and notes from their excavations. Dr. Wood is an expert in Late and Middle Bronze Age Canaanite pottery. He found that both collections were full of imported Cypriot bichrome pottery. He also found distinctive pottery vessels that are known to ONLY occur during the time period of 1250-1500 B.C. His findings concluded the following:

• City IV was strongly fortified (as in Joshua 2:5-15)
• The attack occurred just after harvest (as in Joshua 2:6, 3:15, 5:10)
• The inhabitants had no time to flee (as in Joshua 6:1)
• The siege was short (as in Joshua 6:15)
• Sections of the walls were leveled, possibly by an earthquake (Joshua 6:20)
• City IV was not plundered (as in Joshua 6:17-18)
• City IV was burned and utterly destroyed (as in Joshua 6:20)

Thus Dr. Wood concluded that the archeological evidence in Jericho city IV marches the description in the book of Joshua very well.

In 2018, I got to visit ancient Jericho for the second time. Among the many places I wished to explore and photograph was the palace area on so-called “Spring Hill”. While I was there I noticed a number of freshly dug holes where looters had tried to find artifacts, notably complete pottery vessels. Exposed on the surface of the spoil from one of these pits were two small scarabs. Because Canaan was under the control of Egypt for many years, Egyptian artifacts such as scarabs have been found at many Canaanite sites including Jericho. One scarab had the image of a Canaanite fertility goddess (Astarte/Anath) holding two wheat sheaves. The second scarab contained the cartouche of an Egyptian pharaoh. Based on the hieroglyphs, the cartouche read “Men Kheper Re” which was the throne name of Pharaoh Tuthmosis III. Tuthmosis III was one of the most famous of the Pharaohs and ruled Egypt from ca. 1506-1452 B.C. The significance of the find is this: if Jericho was destroyed in 1550 B.C. as Kathleen Kenyon claimed, why is a scarab of Tuthmosis III, who ruled after this date, present in the ruins of Jericho?

Lesson: Joshua 6:1-27

OK, time to get your Bibles out and turn first to Joshua chapter 6. Key highlights from these verses are as follows:

1. Joshua 6 – V1-5: the city of Jericho knows the Israelite army is coming and has shut itself up in defense. God then speaks to Joshua and gives him the battle plan for taking the city. Why does God do this? God is teaching the Israelites to rely on Him and not their own cleverness. Any victory gained will be by God’s will and Him alone (“Not by power or by might but by my Spirit” Zechariah 4:6).
2. V6- 19: this is the story of the battle of Jericho. The Israelites march around the city each day in a procession led by armed men who are silent, followed by the Ark and trumpets blaring, followed by armed men who are silent. On the seventh day they do this seven times and on the seventh trip around the city, all the Israelites shout and the walls of the city are broken. Jericho lies in a very active earthquake zone which may have been the cause of the walls falling (see also my photograph in the handout of the fallen walls). Rahab the harlot is to be saved but the rest of the city is to be destroyed by a policy known as “cherem” or Holy War. Everything and every person is to be put to the sword with no booty taken. Everything is to be sacrificed to the Lord.
3. V20-27: the city is destroyed per God’s instructions but Rahab and her family are saved. Rahab later marries the Israelite Captain, Salmon, which starts the lineage down to David and eventually to Jesus.

Conclusion

The battle of Jericho is the Israelites' first victory on the western side of the Jordan River, the first in Canaan proper. The story clearly shows that the Israelites' victory is due to God's intervention, and not to their strategy or tactics. When the Israelites take the city, with the exception of Rahab and her family, they kill every man, woman and child. As a result, the victory fills followers of Christ today with concern and what one author has described as "embarrassed horror" or “the Israelite holocaust” or “the Canaanite Genocide”.

That there is violence in the Old Testament is indisputable; but is the God of the Old Testament a moral monster who commands genocide against women and children? Some people, especially critics of Christianity and the Bible, use this type of violence to say that "the Bible has more evil than all the other books written in history". So we need to seriously look at the actions of Joshua 6. I am the FIRST to say that I do NOT know the answer, but here is what I believe . . .

First, the outcome of the battle and of the greater Conquest WAS important. There was NEVER a time that God was interested only in the Jews; God's purpose has always been to save every person from every race and nation for His glory. But equally, God's adversary, Satan, is constantly seeking to destroy God's plan (Pharaoh killing all baby boys in Egypt; Haman kill all Jews in Persia; Herod killing all boys under 2 in Bethlehem). This was a crucial moment in God's plan; there was a real danger that contamination of the Israelites' religion (NOT race) by the Canaanites would spoil God's plan.

The Canaanites were NOT innocent. This was a thoroughly evil culture that practiced brutality, incest, bestiality, cultic prostitution and child sacrifice. We are told that their religion was so evil that it nauseated God. Deviant acts had become the norm for the culture. What happened was God's deliberate judgment on the evil of the Canaanites - which was morally just and right.

God was NOT impatient. In Genesis 15, God renews his promise to Abraham to give his descendants the land of the Canaanites. But in Verse 16, God says, "your descendants will return here (from Egypt), when the sins of the Amorites is complete". God gave the Canaanites over 400 years to repent and instead they went from bad to worse. The Book of Hebrews says the Canaanites were "disobedient", a phrase that implies moral culpability on their part (Hebrews 11:31). They had heard of God's actions and power and could have sought repentance.

Escape was NOT impossible. As evidenced by the actions of Rahab and her family and their inclusion as part of God's plan. And God may have provided salvation for those infants who would not have otherwise attained salvation if they had lived to adulthood.

Despite our own sense of morality and judgment, we must remember that GOD IS SOVEREIGN. God and God alone gives life and can take it whenever He so chooses. We must remember that God sees things from an eternal perspective, and His ways are not always our ways.

The battle of Jericho opened the door for the Israelites to conquest the rest of Canaan and to become a nation. Ultimately, through many twists and turns, God would accomplish His plan first in Israel and then to the rest of the world.

Next week, we continued in our study of the book of Joshua with a lesson titled “God’s Compassion for Rahab” and comes from Joshua 2 plus some new testament readings As our historical background, I will talk about Rahab and her part in Biblical history.

Have a great week in the Lord and I will see you here on Zoom next week.