There is a phrase that comes up often in the Old Testament: “devoted to destruction.” It sounds heavy, and, well, it is. The Hebrew term behind it is ḥerem (חֵרֶם), a word that carried serious weight in the ancient world. When something or someone was ḥerem, it was not just condemned. It was handed over to God, often through total destruction.

The Meaning of Ḥerem

Exodus 22:20 lays it out bluntly:

“Whoever sacrifices to any god, other than the Lord alone, shall be devoted to destruction” (ESV).

That is a clear consequence. Worshipping another god did not just break the covenant, it triggered ḥerem, which meant being set apart for judgment. This idea shows up again and again in the conquest narratives. In Numbers 21:2–3, Israel vowed to put Canaanite cities under ḥerem, and God granted them victory. Deuteronomy 2:34 describes this in stark terms:

“And we captured all his cities at that time and devoted to destruction every city, men, women, and children. We left no survivors.” 

Joshua 6:17 extends this to Jericho:

“And the city and all that is within it shall be devoted to the Lord for destruction.”

So, what is going on here? Was this just an ancient way of talking about war? Not exactly. The concept of ḥerem was not just about conquest. It was about something being handed over to God, fully, irrevocably. Sometimes, that meant total destruction. Other times, it meant being set apart in a different way. For example, the devoted things from Jericho were meant for the Lord’s treasury (Joshua 6:19).

Devoted to God or Devoted to Judgment?

The word ḥerem was a kind of spiritual dividing line. Either something was holy to God, or it was opposed to Him and had to be removed. 

Leviticus 27:28–29 makes this painfully clear:

 “But no devoted thing that a man devotes [ḥerem] to the Lord, of anything that he has, whether man or beast, or of his inherited field, shall be sold or redeemed; every devoted [ḥerem] thing is most holy to the Lord. No one devoted [ḥerem], who is to be devoted for destruction [ḥerem] from mankind, shall be ransomed; he shall surely be put to death.” 

If something was ḥerem, there was no middle ground. It could not be bought back. It could not be spared. It was set apart for God, whether in blessing or judgment. That is why Achan’s sin in Joshua 7 was so serious. He took ḥerem items from Jericho for himself. As a result, Israel was put under judgment until the devoted things—and Achan himself—were destroyed (Joshua 7:12–26).

This was not just about war or punishment. It was about purity. Israel’s mission in the Promised Land was not simply to take territory. It was to establish a holy people in a land cleansed from idolatry (Deuteronomy 7:1–6). When they failed to carry out ḥerem fully, they found themselves turning to the very gods they were supposed to remove (Judges 2:1–3).

Was Jesus Devoted to Destruction?

This is where things take a turn. Because if ḥerem is about something being fully given over to God, even to destruction, what do we do with Jesus?

Paul says in Galatians 3:13:

“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.”

The Greek word Paul uses here (katara, κατάρα)¹  carries the same idea as ḥerem. Jesus did not just die, He was handed over, devoted, condemned. In the same way, Achan had to be put to death to remove Israel’s guilt, Jesus became the one under judgment to redeem His people. John 11:50 records the high priest’s words:

“It is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.”

That is ḥerem language. One person given over, so the rest could be spared. The difference? Achan was guilty. Jesus was not. And yet, He took on the fate of the condemned. He became the devoted one, the one set apart for destruction, so that, in Him, we might be set apart for life.

~PW 🌮🛶

Selected list of herem, חֵ֫רֶם in the Hebrew Bible: Exodus 22:20; Leviticus 27:28-29; Numbers 21:2-3; Deuteronomy 2:34; Deuteronomy 3:6; Deuteronomy 7:2; Deuteronomy 7:26; Deuteronomy 13:12-18; Deuteronomy 20:16-18; Joshua 6:17-21; Joshua 7:1-26; Joshua 8:26; Joshua 10:1; Joshua 10:28; Joshua 10:35; Joshua 10:37; Joshua 10:39-40; Joshua 11:11-12; Joshua 11:20-21; Judges 1:17; 1 Samuel 15:3; 1 Samuel 15:8-9; 1 Samuel 15:15; 1 Samuel 15:18-23; 1 Kings 20:42; Isaiah 34:2, 5; Jeremiah 25:9; Jeremiah 50:21, 26; Jeremiah 51:3; Ezekiel 26:5; Ezekiel 32:3; Micah 4:13; Zechariah 14:11.

1. The Greek word ἀνάθεμα (anathema) is used in the Septuagint (LXX) to translate ḥerem (חֵרֶם), meaning something irrevocably devoted to God, often for destruction (e.g., Joshua 6:17; Deuteronomy 7:26). While Galatians 3:13 uses κατάρα (katara, “curse”) rather than ἀνάθεμα, the concept is similar: Jesus was “handed over” to bear divine judgment, paralleling the Old Testament idea of ḥerem—something given fully to God, whether for destruction or consecration. ↩︎

Selected readings:

• Alter, R. (1999). The David story: A translation with commentary of 1 and 2 Samuel. W. W. Norton & Company.
• Baldwin, J. G. (1988). 1 and 2 Samuel: An introduction and commentary (Vol. 8). InterVarsity Press.
• Beale, G. K., & Carson, D. A. (Eds.). (2007). Commentary on the New Testament use of the Old Testament. Baker Academic.
• Bergen, R. D. (1996). 1, 2 Samuel (Vol. 7). Broadman & Holman Publishers.
• Brown, F., Driver, S. R., & Briggs, C. A. (1977). Enhanced Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English lexicon. Clarendon Press.
• Chisholm, R. B., Jr. (2013). 1 & 2 Samuel (M. L. Strauss, J. H. Walton, & R. de Rosset, Eds.). Baker Books.
• Evans, M. J. (2004). The message of Samuel: Personalities, potential, politics, and power (A. Motyer & D. Tidball, Eds.). Inter-Varsity Press.
• Heiser, M. S. (2015). The unseen realm: Recovering the supernatural worldview of the Bible (First Edition). Lexham Press.
• Howard, D. M., Jr. (1998). Joshua (Vol. 5). Broadman & Holman Publishers.
• Jackson, J. G., & Brannan, R. (Eds.). (2015). New Testament use of the Old Testament. Faithlife.
• Lilley, J. P. U. (1993). Understanding the Ḥerem. Tyndale Bulletin
• Long, V. P. (2020). 1 and 2 Samuel: An introduction and commentary (D. G. Firth, Ed.; Vol. 8). IVP Academic: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press.
• Longman, T. III, & Reid, D. G. (1995). God is a warrior. Zondervan.
• Shepherd, J. E. (2021). Leviticus (T. Longman III & S. McKnight, Eds.). Zondervan Academic.
• Wright, N. T. (1996). Jesus and the victory of God. SPCK.