The Story of the Conquest

If this theory of a casm is correct, the centre phrase of this casm is none other than the beginning of verse 19. Except for the hivites living gibeon, not one city made a treaty of peace with the israelites who took them all in battle. For it was the lord himself who hardened their hearts to wage war ga israel so that he might destroy them without mercy. The stories that the author spends time with are stories of redemption and rescue.