When Israel entered Canaan, the Bible says they were commanded to leave "nothing alive that breathes." Did God really command that — and did it actually happen? The Hebrew word behind the command, herem, tells a far more complicated story than you've heard.

Jasmin Rappleye, Neal Rappleye, and Stephen Smoot dig into David Calabro's chapter on herem from From Wilderness to Monarchy (Religious Studies Center) — exploring what the word really means, what the archaeology of Jericho, Ai, and Hazor actually shows, and how Latter-day Saints can honestly face divine violence in scripture.

===Informed Saints Credits===

Produced by The Ancient America Foundation

Producer: Spencer Clark

Hosts: Stephen Smoot, Neal Rappleye, Jasmin Rappleye

In this episode:

• What herem means — and its surprising connection to "harem" and the Arabic haram
• Herem across scripture: Malachi 4, Numbers 21, Deuteronomy 7, and Deuteronomy 20
• Four inconsistent herem cases in Joshua: Jericho (Joshua 6), Ai (Joshua 7–8), the southern cities (Joshua 10), and Hazor
• What archaeology shows at Jericho, Ai, and Hazor — and why the older conquest model collapsed
• Competing theories of Israel's origins: conquest, gradual infiltration, peasant revolt, settling nomads
• Ancient war rhetoric: K. Lawson Younger's Ancient Conquest Accounts, the Mesha Stele, the Merneptah Stele, and a royal inscription from Sheba
• The moral problem: divine command theory, the wickedness of the Canaanites, Alex O'Connor's critique, and the question of children
• Nephi's explanation in 1 Nephi 17:32–35
• Latter-day Saint tools: Melchizedek as a prophet in Canaan (JST Genesis 14; Alma 13; D&C 84) — and why Latter-day Saints aren't inerrantists
• The divine warrior motif and the violent world ancient Israel actually lived in
• Divine violence in restoration scripture and history: Laban, 3 Nephi, and Zion's Camp

Read David Calabro's chapter free on the Religious Studies Center website:

https://rsc.byu.edu/wilderness-monarchy/thou-shalt-utterly-destroy

https://rsc.byu.edu/book/wilderness-monarchy

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===Discover===

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https://www.discoverbookofmormon.org/

===Content Disclaimer===

The views expressed represent ours alone and do not necessarily reflect the official position of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

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Chapters

• (00:00:00) - Joshua 8:1-2
• (00:01:31) - The Book of Joshua: The Conquest of Canaan
• (00:05:29) - Israel vs the Land of Canaan
• (00:09:29) - The Israelites and the Archeology
• (00:14:09) - Joshua's War of Independence
• (00:19:22) - The Israelites and the harem
• (00:21:13) - The Good News and The Bad News
• (00:21:55) - The Problem With Divine Command Theory
• (00:27:04) - Leviathan on the Canaanites
• (00:32:46) - Mormons on Divine Violence in the Bible