israelites came into the promised land. but it s unlikely that this is actually how it happened. people forget that there are two versions of the so-called conquest of canaan in the hebrew bible. the book of joshua suggests a blitzkrieg. it s a form of mass colonialism, massive slaughter. it s horrible. and then we have the story of judges, a gradual infiltration into the sparsely populated hill country, do we want the blitzkrieg model or do we want the gradual settlement model. the question is what do we believe? what do we actually think happened? reporter: the archaeology does lend some support to the less dramatic and gentler account. of all the years when jericho was inhabited, the one period where we want it to be inhabited so joshua can attack it, there s nobody living there. it s empty. there s no wall for joshua to knock down. to put it bluntly, the book of joshua is almost all
probably of a few months conquered the whole land of canaan, expelled or slaughtered the canaanites, divided up the whole land among the 12 tribes, then joshua gives a sermon at the end, and it s all over. reporter: jericho is a highlight now on most holy land tours. the pilgrims are drawn here by the violent version of how the israelites came into the promised land. but it s unlikely that this is actually how it happened. people forget that there are two versions of the so-called conquest of canaan in the hebrew bible. the book of joshua suggests a blitzkrieg. it s a form of mass colonialism, massive slaughter. it s horrible. and then we have the story of judges, a gradual infiltration into the sparsely populated hill country, do we want the blitzkrieg model or do we want the gradual settlement model.
transjordan and in a period probably of a few months conquered the whole land of canaan, expelled or slaughtered the canaanites, divided up the whole land among the 12 tribes, then joshua gives a sermon at the end, and it s all over. reporter: jericho is a highlight now on most holy land tours. the pilgrims are drawn here by the violent version of how the israelites came into the promised land. but it s unlikely that this is actually how it happened. people forget that there are two versions of the so-called conquest of canaan in the hebrew bible. the book of joshua suggests a blitzkrieg. it s a form of mass colonialism, massive slaughter. it s horrible. and then we have the story of judges, a gradual infiltration into the sparsely populated hill country, do we want the blitzkrieg model or do we want the gradual settlement model. the question is what do we
sparsely populated hill country. do we want the blitzkrieg model or the gradual settlement model? the question is what do we believe? what do we think happened? the archaeology lends support to the less dramatic and gentler account. of all the years when jericho was inhabited, the one period where we wanted it to be inhabited so joshua can attack it, there s nobody living there. it s empty. there s no wall for joshua to knock down. to put it bluntly, the book of joshua is almost all fictitious. yes, there s some battles. yes, there s some killing. but overall they re coming in and they re living side by side with some of the kanenites. when i talk to most people, they re relieved. the genocide that is god s will never happened. for some the story told in the book of joshua presents a troubling picture of a violent god.
country, do we want the blitzkrieg model or do we want the gradual settlement model. the question is what do we believe? what do we actually think happened? reporter: the archaeology does lend some support to the less dramatic and gentler account. of all the years when jericho was inhabited, the one period where we want it to be inhabited so joshua can attack it there s nobody living there. it s empty. there s no wall for joshua to knock down. to put it bluntly, the book of joshua is almost all fictitious. yes, there are some battles. yes, there s some killing. but overall, they re coming in and they re living side by side with some of the canaanites. this sounds radical, but when i talk to most people they re relieved. the genocide that is god s will, yahweh s will, never happened. reporter: for some the story told in the book of joshua presents a troubling picture of a violent god.