The Ancient Context of Divine Violence
An excerpt from Faithful Grace for an Unfaithful People
The following is an excerpt from Faithful Grace for an Unfaithful People: A Thirteen-Week Bible Study in Judges-Ruth, published in August 2026. I’ve always been fascinated by the concept of divine violence and its implications for scriptural interpretation. It addresses the questions plaguing many believers about the conquest of Canaan and the seeming genocide that God commanded his people to engage in. If you’re interested in learning more, consider picking up Faithful Grace and diving headlong into a study in Judges and Ruth!
In ancient mythology and literature, the gods were powerful warriors who waged war against each other and the elements of nature. When the Old Testament was written, its divinely inspired authors used language and imagery that were familiar to readers, but with a twist that revealed how YHWH was altogether different from the gods of other nations. Whereas the gods of the nations were violent and vindictive according to their whims, the God of Israel was violent against one thing only—the chaos of sin and death, which we call evil. In Judges, God is a Divine Warrior who fights against sin, not against specific ethnicities, races, or cultures. In fact, we see that God’s covenant with Israel warns them that they, too, will face the wrath of their Divine Warrior if they pursue violence and death.[1]
This total opposition of evil is known in Hebrew as haram. Haram means the complete consecration of someone or something as a permanent offering to YHWH.[2] It is usually translated in English as “complete destruction” (CSB) or “devoted to destruction” (ESV), because in Judges this consecration happens through the total destruction of evil in the land. The conquest of Canaan has been misused to justify crusades and genocides in the name of Christianity, and it’s a part of the biblical story that troubles most readers. Yet there is more to the biblical story and to Scripture’s depiction of YHWH. Some towns that are apparently completely destroyed reappear later in Scripture , a puzzling fact all on its own.[3] This suggests that they were not, in fact, entirely wiped out of existence.
This, in combination with YHWH’s declaration of himself as “a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth,”[4] causes us to re-examine what appears on the surface to be a blanket statement that approves of racial superiority and genocide. If God is truly loving and kind, how can he command genocide? Based on the picture of YHWH that is given to us in the entire biblical story, I would argue that genocide doesn’t fit God’s character. If God’s character is truly loving and kind, then we must re-examine the passages that seem to be approving genocide.
However, we must be careful not to deny the violence that is present in the Bible (and there is a lot of it!) nor to hyper-spiritualize it and detach it from the real world. There were many real deaths that occurred because of the Canaanite conquest. Remember that the world of the Early Iron Age was filled with instability and violence. Israel was not the only culture that engaged in this kind of conquest. The backbone of ancient Near Eastern civilization was war, and these ancient cultures saw their gods as highly involved in what was happening in their actions. Wars were a way for the gods to fight battles amongst themselves; a war between nations was a war between the nations’ respective gods. Famines, storms, and plagues were perceived as acts of the gods, who could be appeased by sacrifices—whether fruits of the harvest, an animal from the flock, a favourite child, war, or ritual sexual acts.
Therefore, when Israel goes up to fight the Canaanites in Judges, original readers understood this was really a battle between YHWH and the Canaanite deities. YHWH’s command of haram means that Israel should do battle with the Canaanite gods and defeat them entirely. The Canaanite gods ruled by blood and violence—and so through conquest, YHWH intends to destroy every hint of their child sacrifice, slavery, rape, abduction, prostitution, and the prevalent violence of a bloodthirsty nation greedy for excess money, land, and power. The purpose of Israel’s warfare on Canaan was to bring peace and rest to the land (including those living in it), in obedience to YHWH’s command. The purpose was not to conquer the land for selfish gain, as other nations did.
Haram—total destruction—is the dramatic action of God as Divine Warrior, opposing the evil of fallen humanity so that there might be peace again in the land. YHWH invites the Israelites to join him in this mission by eradicating evil from Canaan. The violence of Israel’s conquest of Canaan is a wildly uncomfortable topic for us modern readers, but the Bible is not meant to make us feel cozy. Instead, the book of Judges is meant to illustrate the ways in which God’s people were called to be different from the nations around them, even during a violent, war-filled era.
YHWH chose Israel to show all nations that life could be to show all nations that he is the highest God, and living in covenant relationship with him is the most redemptive way of life.[5] This invitation to covenant relationship was not exclusive to the Israelites only. Characters like Rahab of Jericho,[6] Caleb the Kenizzite,[7] and the Gibeonites[8] tell us that the Canaanites were not excluded from the people of God when they wanted to join. Like Israel, they were to love one another,[9] care for the poor and foreigners,[10] protect women and the vulnerable,[11] and not sacrifice their children.[12] Their worship and way of life were ultimately meant to bring life, not death, to the land.
Faithful Grace for an Unfaithful People is available on Amazon, Wipf and Stock, and Bookshop.org. These can be accessed here.
Footnotes
[1] Read or listen to Deut 28–29 for more details on this covenant.
[2] Mounce, Expository Dictionary, 175. Also herem in some transliterations; see Josh 6:21.
[3] Compare Josh 11:11–13 and Judg 4:2.
[4] Exod 34:6
[5] Isa 49:6
[6] Josh 4, 6:25
[7] Josh 14:6
[8] Josh 9:1–27
[9] Lev 19:18
[10] Deut 24:14–18
[11] Lev 18:6–20
[12] Lev 18:21
Photo by Robert Bye on Unsplash
