would _first_ kill "all the people" and THEN
make them "turn their backs," an army of runaway corpses? In Josh. xxiv.
8, God says, speaking of the Amorites, "I _destroyed_ them from before
you." In the 18th verse of the same chapter, it is said, "The Lord
_drave out_ from before us all the people, even the Amorites which dwelt
in the land." In Num. xxxii. 39, we are told that "the children of
Machir the son of Manasseh, went to Gilead, and took it, and
_dispossessed_ the Amorite which was in it." If these commands required
the destruction of all the _individuals,_ the Mosaic law was at war with
itself, for directions as to the treatment of native residents form a
large part of it. See Lev. xix. 34; xxv. 35, 36; xxiv. 22.; Ex. xxiii.
9; xxii. 21; Deut. i. 16, 17; x. 17, 19; xxvii. 19. We find, also, that
provision was made for them in the cities of refuge, Num. xxxv. 15,--the
gleanings of the harvest and vintage were theirs, Lev. xix. 9, 10;
xxiii. 22;--the blessings of the Sabbath, Ex. xx. 10;--the privilege of
offering sacrifices secured, Lev. xxii. 18; and stated religious
instruction provided for them. Deut. xxxi. 9, 12. Now does this same law
require the _individual extermination_ of those whose lives and
interests it thus protects? These laws were given to the Israelites,
long _before_ they entered Canaan; and they must have inferred from
them, that a multitude of the inhabitants of the land were to _continue
in it_, under their government. Again Joshua was selected as the leader
of Israel to execute God's threatenings upon Canaan. He had no
discretionary power. God's commands were his official instructions.
Going beyond them would have been usurpation; refusing to carry them
out, rebellion and treason. Saul was rejected from being king for
disobeying God's commands in a single instance. Now if God commanded the
individual destruction of all the Canaanites Joshua disobeyed him in
every instance. For at his death, the Israelites still "_dwelt among
them_," and each nation is mentioned by name. Judg. i. 27-36, and yet we
are told that Joshua "left nothing undone of all that the Lord commanded
Moses;" and that he "took all that land." Josh. xi. 15-22. Also, that
"there _stood not a man_ of _all_ their enemies before them." Josh. xxi.
44. How can this be if the command to destroy, destroy utterly, &c.,
enjoined _individual_ extermination, and the command to drive out,
unconditional expulsion from the country, rather tha