Following the example set by the question-and-answer columns in the early Journals, when Mary Baker Eddy was Editor, this column will respond to general queries from Journal readers with responses from Journal readers.
If God is all good, why did he tell Joshua to carry out a siege against Jericho?
Q: If God is all good, why did He tell Joshua to carry out a siege against Jericho?
—A reader in Alabama, US
A: According to the Bible, God told Joshua, “I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour” (Josh. 6:2). Though Joshua, and many others in history who sought to be spiritually obedient, killed people and destroyed lands in the name of God, we can justly question whether this was or ever could be God’s will.
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