Warlords: Joshua consistently emphasises the defeat of the Egyptian-backed warlord kings, as the summary report in Joshua 12 makes abundantly clear. Psalm 136 remembers the conquest as the time when Yahweh struck down Canaanite mighty kings (Ps 136:17-22).

Walled Cities: Throughout the conquest, battles feature the destruction of ‘arim (walled cities), not unwalled villages or settlements.

Weapons of War: In addition to downplaying the significance of human weapons and foregrounding divine military power in Jericho and at Gibeon, in Joshua 11 Israel decommissioned Canaanite horses and chariots, preeminent weapons of war.

Wealth: Achan “covets” and takes clothing, silver and gold of Babylon (Josh 7:21) ... The emphasis on imperial wealth is notable here.

This is very significant when it comes to understanding the oft-debated violence in the book of Joshua. “The violence in which Israel participated as it gained a foothold in Canaan was aimed at weakening an ages-old colonial power that held the land in a vice grip,” Lynch concludes. “Recognising Israel’s relative weakness before Egyptian-backed military superior forces casts the stories of Joshua in terms of a David versus Goliath contest. But even those battles were defensive responses to Canaanite aggression, just as the ten plagues were divine responses to Egyptian oppression. Ethicists have typically distinguished between defensive wars and wars of aggression. The battles of Joshua 9-12 were all defensive in origin, and if we include Jericho in the mix (given Joshua 24), Ai is the single outlier.”