Problem in Joshua: God commanding all the Canaanites be killed

Joshua 6:21 And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword.

A few months ago I had a conversation about the Book of Joshua with a friend of mine, who is also a pastor. He had made some comments on facebook and in our private follow up on the matter, he wrote:

I believe the Bible contains the word of God embedded in ancient cultural material. In so far as it teaches me to love God and my neighbor, and to look to Jesus in faith, I accept its authority.  If I may use an extreme example, passages like those in Joshua that enjoin the ancient Hebrews to conquer a community and kill every human being regardless of age, gender or military/civilian status are cultural artifacts.  God does not command genocide and ethnic cleansing.  If he does, then God is operating at the moral level of a Nazi. That means I pick and choose.  The Great Commandment is my guide.  Whatever accords with that is the word of God.  Whatever does not is cultural Artifact.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Do you really believe God commanded Joshua to kill every man, woman and child in the Canaanite towns he conquered.  That is both genocide and ethnic cleansing.  Do you mean to tell me the United Nations upholds a higher moral standard than God. I would find such a God repulsive and unworthy of worship.

This is indeed a difficult matter for some in our culture. Yet I confess, I don’t have a problem with this. I accept the Bible as the Word of God and the Book of Joshua as an accurate, historical account of the conquest of Canaan. That means I believe Israel destroyed the Canaanites. And that they did this because God told them to. As I was taking a walk last week, I thought about this: How do I explain this? Why don’t I have a problem with this?

I believe:

1. God is sovereign. He can do whatever He wants. He is the Creator, the Lord, God – He has the right to do whatever He wants to do.

2. He is righteous. Whatever he does is right.

3. He knows all things. God knows more than me and it is just possible that there is something about this that He knows and I do not.

4. He is good. Yes, He is good. Here is the rub. He is good whatever He does. I may not understand, I may not see it, but God is good. He is light and in him is no darkness at all.

This is not a story in which God takes people who are seeking Him, desperate to find Him, and refuses them that chance. Nor is this a story in which God arbitrarily selects some people for destruction. They were on notice for 400 years. They knew about God, they knew it was God who brought Israel out of Egypt, they knew God was on Israel’s side. Did they repent? Did they call upon the Lord for mercy? No. They stiffened their necks and fought. You might think that after the fall of Jericho and the defeat of Ai, their resolve would weaken and they would come to Israel, appealing to God for mercy. Not so, instead they began to join together to form larger armies.

When Jonah went to Ninevah and announced judgment in 40 days, the Ninevites repented in sackcloth and ashes, and God spared them. I suppose this would be:

5. God’s norm is mercy. There are those who read Joshua and conclude, “If this is the way God normally acts toward people . . .” But that’s the point, isn’t it? This is not normal. The Bible is not the history of God systematically wiping out one group of people after another. It is the story of God showing mercy to people, first Israel, then the Gentiles.

God is not an ogre, not angry, not always threatening to wipe me out every time I step out of line. I don’t follow Jesus out of fear. No, His love melted my heart.

The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, 
Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: 
therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.

Is there a judgment to come? Is there a coming day of wrath? Yes. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. But, Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord GOD: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?

So, for these reasons, I don’t have a problem with this part of Joshua. Will this convince any skeptics? I don’t know. What I do know is I know the Lord, and knowing Him convinces me.