God did command that all the people of Jericho be put to death. There was only one who escaped and that was Rahab because of her conversion. Was God guilty of genocide? God did it. Read chapter 10 and see how God assisted His people in the putting to death of their enemies. Joshua 11:20 "For it was the LORD himself who hardened their hearts to wage war against Israel, so that he might destroy them totally, exterminating them without mercy, as the LORD had commanded Moses."
How do we defend this? We cannot.
What we have here is not an example of God's guilt but of God's glory.
First, we have God's patience. This is not God losing His temper and destroying the people of Canaan. He had told Abraham that He was giving his descendants this land. Genesis 15:16 says "In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure."
God had given these people 470 years to repent. The punishment of God upon these people finally came when their iniquity was complete. While God was being patient these people continued to go deeper and deeper into sin.
Did God harden their hearts? Yes He did. The same sun that softens wax will harden clay. The nature of their heart was to rebel against God so when God was patient with them their hearts were not softened but hardened. Romans 1 tells us that God gave them up to their own sinful desires. To see the nature of their sin read Leviticus 18 and 19. God is guilty but He is guilty of unparalleled patience.
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