I suspect if the Canaanites wrote Deuteronomy 20:10-18 the story would be quite different. But they didn't, which is why we only get one side of the story.
What that passage represents, and what Dan Foster describes is a continuation of the ancient Hebrew ritual of scapegoating, where those very tribal people ritually cast their sins onto a goat then sent it into the wilderness to be eaten by predators, thus ridding the Hebrews of their sins.
The Israelites, through their God, accused the Canaanites of "being barbaric people, involved in idol worship and child sacrifice." This is is what one group routinely does to another group it considers a threat, much like Christians today blame Muslims, Jews, LGBTQ+ and trans people for what Christians think is wrong in our society, when news account after account tells of Christian priests, ministers and lay person raping children and woman, and people in droves fleeing organized religion.
Does anyone actually think Israelites didn't sin against children, women, and their own God? Could it be it was their sins that the Israelites were casting onto Canaanites?
It's called scapegoating, and Dan Foster's article is a perfect description of the practice.
Today, Christians routinely demonize progressives, LGBTQ+, and trans as sexual predators who groom and rape children; It's the modern day equivalent of idol worship and child sacrifice, and the Israelite God is likely just as wrong in making the accusations against Canaanites as Christians are today.
As far as pre-attack offers of peace, the ancient Persians and Greeks routinely made such offers. And exactly what kind of "revolutionary practice for the day" offers enslavement vs. enslavement and the death of all males? Not really much of a deal, is it?
And despite the offer, the Israelites killed everyone in Jericho anyway, not even offering slavery to the victims. Was their God pissed about that? Dan Foster gets around this problem by saying all the women and children had probably left Jericho. For where? They were surrounded by enemies. Even if they did manage to escape, where would they go?
As an attempt to explain a troubling part of the Bible...Nice try, but no cigar.
