Book of Joshua

=== The enemy ===
[[File:Tissot The Taking of Jericho.jpg|thumb|''The Taking of Jericho'' (watercolor c. 1896–1902 by James Tissot)]]
Joshua "carries out a systematic campaign against the civilians of Canaan&nbsp;– men, women and children&nbsp;– that amounts to [[genocide]]."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Dever|first=William|title=Who Were the Early Israelites and Where Did They Come From?|publisher=Eerdmans|year=2003|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A_ByXkpofAgC&pg=PA38|isbn=978-0-8028-0975-9|page=38}}</ref> This practice was known as ''[[Herem (war or property)|herem]]'', as described in Deuteronomy 20:17, which entailed no [[Treaty|treaties]] with the enemy, no [[mercy]], and no [[Exogamy|intermarriage]].<ref name=Younger />{{rp|175}} "The extermination of the nations glorifies Yahweh as a warrior and promotes Israel's claim to the land," while their continued survival "explores the themes of disobedience and penalty and looks forward to the story told in Judges and Kings."<ref name=Nelson />{{rp|18–19}} The divine call for massacre at [[Battle of Jericho|Jericho]] and elsewhere can be explained in terms of cultural norms (Israel was not the only [[Iron Age]] state to practice ''herem'') and theology (e.g. to ensure Israel's purity, fulfill God's promise, judge the Canaanites for their "sexual misconduct")<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Strawn |first=Brent A. |date=2012 |title=On Vomiting: Leviticus, Jonah, Ea(a)rth |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43727983 |journal=The Catholic Biblical Quarterly |volume=74 |issue=3 |pages=445–464 |jstor=43727983 |via=JSTOR}}</ref><ref name=Younger />{{rp|175}} but [[Patrick D. Miller]] in his commentary on Deuteronomy remarks, "there is no real way to make such reports palatable to the hearts and minds of contemporary readers and believers."<ref name=MillerDeut />{{rp|40–41}}