Wars of Extermination in the Bible

The Bible recounts that, on entering the Promised Land, Israel received the order to destroy certain peoples entirely: the nations of Canaan, then Amalek. The proper term is the one the Bible itself uses, the anathema. These texts speak of a judgment of God upon a precise evil, at a unique moment of salvation history, which Christ brings to its term by disarming the hand of man.

The anathema

The Hebrew word rendered by “ban” or “anathema”, ḥerem (חֵרֶם), means the act of devoting a thing to God by withdrawing it absolutely from the use of men; applied to an enemy city, it means that the city is handed over to him entirely, with no spoil kept and no alliance made. The Greek version renders it anathema (ἀνάθεμα), that which is set apart. The anathema bears upon the worship of a people.

What the texts command

The Law commands that the nations of Canaan be devoted to the anathema. “You shall devote them to the anathema; you shall make no alliance with them and show them no mercy.” Deuteronomy 7:2 For their cities, the order leaves nothing alive. “You shall let nothing that breathes remain alive.” Deuteronomy 20:16 Joshua carries it out at Jericho. “They devoted to the anathema all that was in the city.” Joshua 6:21 Later, the same order falls upon Amalek. “Go, strike Amalek, and devote to the anathema all that he has.” 1 Samuel 15:3

The target: worship

The text itself gives the reason for the order: worship. “so that they may not teach you to imitate the abominations they perform for their gods.” Deuteronomy 20:18 These abominations went as far as the sacrifice of children. “They even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire for their gods.” Deuteronomy 12:31 These cults are so grave that those who practise them lose the right to dwell in the land: God dispossesses them, and the conquest carries out this expulsion. “The land became impure, and it vomited out its inhabitants.” Leviticus 18:25 Any Canaanite who turned from the idols had his life spared and entered Israel: Rahab was saved with her family. “Joshua spared the life of Rahab, and she has dwelt in the midst of Israel to this day.” Joshua 6:25 Ruth the Moabite becomes the ancestress of David, and the Gibeonites, a people of Canaan, are spared for having sought refuge with the God of Israel. One's lot depended on worship, and the door stayed open to whoever turned from it.

The part of rhetoric

The language of these accounts is that of the wars of the ancient Near East, where total victory was told in terms of total extermination. The Bible speaks this language, and shows it by its own sequels: right after the order to destroy everything, the Law forbids marrying these peoples, which supposes that some remain. “You shall not contract marriage with them.” Deuteronomy 7:3 The book of Judges, moreover, opens with the Canaanites still present in the land. “Let nothing that breathes remain” thus partly belongs to the formula of a complete victory. Lives were taken, at Jericho and elsewhere; yet the text proclaims a victory more than it draws up a count of the dead.

The judgment of a ripened evil

Where life is taken, Scripture sees in it a judgment of God upon a long-ripened evil. From Abraham onward, God announces that his descendants will take possession of this land only after four generations: he defers the judgment and lets the centuries pass. “In the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.” Genesis 15:16 This long delay affords a time for repentance, and this is how God judges. “But, judging little by little, you left room for repentance.” Wisdom 12:10 Master of the life he gives, he can take it back, and here he carries out his sentence by the hand of Israel. The same measure falls upon Israel itself: when it imitates these cults and burns its sons in the fire, “They made their sons and their daughters pass through the fire” 2 Kings 17:17, it is in turn torn from its land and deported. “The Lord deported Israel far from its land, into Assyria.” 2 Kings 17:23 The judgment follows sin, and it reaches the chosen people as it reaches the nations of Canaan.

A unique command

The anathema was not a general rule of war. The Law distinguishes the distant cities from the cities of Canaan: to the former, Israel must first offer peace. “When you draw near a city to fight against it, you shall offer it peace.” Deuteronomy 20:10 Only the cities of Canaan are devoted to the ban. It was bound to the gift of the land and to the guarding of Israel against idolatry, commanded once, by God alone, at a precise moment, and never handed to man as a right. No one could decree it on his own, and no one may invoke it to justify a violence: it is an act of the judge of all the earth.

Divine pedagogy, and its term in Christ

As with divorce and slavery, God takes men where they are, in a hard world, and leads them by degrees toward the full light. His heart, already under the old Covenant, takes no pleasure in death. “I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that he should turn from his way and live.” Ezekiel 33:11 This movement comes to its term in Christ, who takes the sword from the hand of his own. “Put your sword back in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.” Matthew 26:52 He now commands love even of the enemy. “Love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you.” Matthew 5:44 The anathema finds its term in Christ. Where a guilty people was handed over to destruction, the Innocent hands himself over: hung on the wood, he takes the curse upon himself to redeem all peoples. “Christ redeemed us from the curse by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.” Galatians 3:13