The Conquest of Canaan

1. The conquest of Canaan as described in these two sources has a lot in common. First off both of the accounts show that the people of Israel were invading all kinds of foreign people. They had received instructions from God on how to go about obtaining this land. In both of the two accounts the people are commanded to invade, conquer, and then exterminate all the people living in these cities. There are exceptions to this though; Rehab and the man who showed the spies where to enter are two exceptions. Also they are to put both male and female to the sword. Also many times they are also told by God to burn the cities. The accounts do differ though. In the Joshua account the people are obedient to God's will. (That is killing and burning these conquered cities) In the account from Judges however, the people integrate with the foreigners and begin living among them. They also start to intermarry with the foreign Canaanites and other peoples of the region. This is contradictory to God's will and God uses other nations to carry out judgment on Israel. He also rises up judges to put down these attackers when the time is right.

2.I think that by today's standards these acts of killing for land seem extreme, but I think at the time the command was a simple one. In these ages different groups of people were constantly being attacked or attacking others. I think that God knew his people needed a place to live. Also God had already made a promise to the Israelites that he was going to give them entrance into the promise land, a land flowing with milk and honey. God was very direct in his orders. He commanded his people to kill and destroy all foreign cities in the region. I believe one reason he did this was to keep his chosen people away from idol worship and false religion. (Like Baal worship, which was very popular in the region)

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