CHAPTER 6

FROM CONQUEST TO MONARCHY

DATES AND BIBLICAL MATERIAL

Dates – c. 1400-1100 BC

Biblical material

Joshua

Judges

Ruth

JOSHUA

Continues the story from Deuteronomy (Deuteronomy closes with the death of Moses – Joshua

begins, “After the death of Moses”)

Authorship

Joshua recorded at least parts of the book (Josh. 24:26)

Twelve references to “to this day” suggest contributions from others (Josh. 4:9; 5:9; 6:25; 7:26;

8:28,29; 9:27; 10:27; 13:13; 15:63; 16:10; 23:9)

Period – about 20 years (about 1405-1385 BC)

Date of writing

At least parts of it were written before David’s accession (c. 1000 BC) – since Josh. 15:63 says

that the Jebusites remained in their city (i.e. pre-Jerusalem) “to this day”

Also, Josh. 16:10 says that the Canaanites remained in Gezer “to this day” – a fact that would

have changed in 970 BC when Pharaoh captured the city and made it a gift to Solomon

Organization of Joshua

Conquest – Josh. 1-12

Division of the land – Josh. 13-21

Settling into the land – Josh. 22-24

Themes

Conquest of the land

God’s faithfulness – Josh. 21:43-45

Stone memorials – five times, the phrase “to this day” refers to mounds of stones at the sites of

important events (Josh. 4:9; 7:26; 8:29; 10:27)

Holy War (see discussion on page 4)

Preparation for occupation of the Promised Land

JUDGES

Authorship

Unknown

Tradition attributes it to Samuel (see 1 Chron. 29:29)

Date of writing

Possible use of some early resources – continued use of “to this day” (Judg. 1:21,26; 4:14; 6:24;

10:4,15; 12:3; 14:15; 15:19; 18:12; 19:11,30)

During the monarchy – note the uses of “in those days Israel had no king” (Judg. 17:6; 18:1;

19:1; 20:27,28; 21:25)

Organization of Judges

Incomplete conquest – Judg. 1:1-2:5

Disobedience and judgment – Judg. 2:6-16:31

Religious and social decline – Judg. 17-21

Theme – The struggle the people had in becoming God’s people – they “did that which was right in

their own eyes” (Judg. 17:6; 21:25)

RUTH

Author

Unknown – but attributed to Samuel

Some suggest the literary style is later – perhaps during the monarchy

Setting – “In the days when the judges ruled” (Ruth 1:1)

Genre – an idyll (a simple story from daily life) – written in chiasmus

Organization of Ruth – the narrative is like telling Ruth’s life story

Themes

Establishes part of the heritage of David (Ruth was David’s great grandmother)

Kinsman-redeemer (see the various requirements of a near-relative in Deut. 25:5-10; Lev. 25:25-

28; 47-49; 35:19-21) – NOTE: sometimes called “levirate marriage” – where “levirate” is the

Latin word for “brother-in-law” (levir)– the term “levirate marriage” has nothing to do with the

Levites

PREPARATIONS FOR ENTERING

Census

Exodus 38:26 – 603, 550 males age 20 and above (just after the Exodus)

Numbers 26:51 – 601,730 males age 20 and above (40 years after Exodus)

Land East of the Jordan

Desired by tribes of Reuben and Gad

Moses agrees to divide the land between Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh

These 2 ½ tribes were required to assist in the conquest with the rest of Israel

Moses organizes for administration in Israel

Joshua and Eleazar are to serve with ten elders to divide the land among the 9 ½ tribes (Joshua

13-14)

Levites are assigned 48 cities throughout Canaan (Joshua 13:14; 14:46)

Cities of refuge are established (to prevent blood feuds)

Hebron was given to Caleb, son of Jephunneh, the Kennizite (Joshua 14:6-14)

Joshua received land in the tribal area of Ephraim (Joshua 24:29)

CANAAN PRIOR TO CONQUEST

Unorganized small city states

Amarna Letters show diplomatic and fraternal cooperation between Egypt and Mitanni

Hittites had come in and reduced the influence of Mitanni

Hurrians (called Horites in the Old Testament) were common people left over from the demise of

Mitanni

Invasions and war by Ramses II - defeating Hittites at Kadesh in 1286 BC

Merneptah Stele - reports that Merneptah (1224 - 1216 BC) Fought with Israelites

Rising influence of Assyrians

Period of general decline of Egyptian influence

Cultures mentioned in the Old Testament

Arameans

Edom, Moab, Ammon

Philistines – sea peoples who settled the southern coastal areas

Midianites and Amalekites – semi-nomadic and nomadic tribes in the Negev

Giants in the land

Anakites and the Emites (Num. 13:28, 31-33; Deut. 1:28; 2:10-11,20-23; 9:2)

Association of the Nephilim (Gen. 6:4) with the Rephaim (Josh. 2:10-11; 1 Chron. 20:4)

This is the same area of Israel where Goliath lived

Religion in Canaan

Polytheism – the worship of many gods

El – considered the chief of the deities - represented in the form of a bull

Asherah – the wife of El

Baal

One of seventy gods and goddesses descended from El and Asherah

Baal – means “lord”

King of the gods/goddesses

Responsible for vegetation and fertility

Anath

Both Baal’s sister and wife

Loved war

Ashtoreth (a.k.a. Astarte) – goddess of the evening star

Mot - the god of death – the chief enemy of Baal

Yomm (Yamm) – the god of the sea – was defeated by Baal

Baalism

Sacrificial worship

Cultic drama

Ritual prostitution

God’s commands concerning the Canaanites ( Hebrew word herem means “Holy War”)

Commands to destroy specific cities/nations

"When the LORD your God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and stronger than you, and when the LORD your God delivers them before you and you defeat

them, then you shall utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them and show no favor to them. "Furthermore, you shall not intermarry with them; you shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor shall you take their daughters for your sons. "For they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods; then the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you and He will quickly destroy you. "But thus you shall do to them: you shall tear down their altars, and smash their sacred pillars, and hew down their Asherim, and burn their graven images with fire. "For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. (Deut 7:1-6)

"Only in the cities of these peoples that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, you shall not leave alive anything that breathes. But you shall utterly destroy them, the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite and the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that they may not teach you to do according to all their detestable things which they have done for their gods, so that you would sin against the LORD your God. (Deut 20:17-18)

Terms of peace could be offered to cities located OUTSIDE the region of the Promised Land

"When you approach a city to fight against it, you shall offer it terms of peace. "If it agrees to make peace with you and opens to you, then all the people who are found in it shall become your forced labor and shall serve you. "However, if it does not make peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it. "When the LORD your God gives it into your hand, you shall strike all the men in it with the edge of the sword. "Only the women and the children and the animals and all that is in the city, all its spoil, you shall take as booty for yourself; and you shall use the spoil of your enemies which the LORD your God has given you. "Thus you shall do to all the cities that are very far from you, which are not of the cities of these nations nearby. (Deut. 20:10-15)

God used the conquest to punish the Canaanites for their sin (Lev. 18:24-25)

"Do not say in your heart when the LORD your God has driven them out before you, 'Because of my righteousness the LORD has brought me in to possess this land,' but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is dispossessing them before you. "It is not for your righteousness or for the uprightness of your heart that you are going to possess their land, but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD your God is driving them out before you, in order to confirm the oath which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. (Deut. 9:4-5, see also Lev. 18:24-25)

JOSHUA AND THE CONQUEST

Duration

If Joshua was the same age as Caleb, the period of conquest would be about 25 years. (Caleb

was 40 when Moses sent him with eleven others as a spy (Joshua 14:7-10)

The wilderness wanderings took 40 years

Joshua died at age 110

The accounts of the conquests in Joshua are not complete

No mention of the conquest of Shechem – but this is where Joshua read the law to the people

There are problems in identifying the cities that were destroyed (e.g. Ai)

CONQUEST THEORIES

UNIFIED MILITARY CONQUEST MODEL

William Foxwell Albright, an American archaeologist

Accepts the biblical account and draws upon archaeological evidence in support (mostly affirming

the late date theory of the exodus)

PEACEFUL INFILTRATION MODEL

Albrecht Alt and Martin Noth (1920 - 1930)

Asserts that the Israelites did not come into Palestine looking for conflict. Where conflict did occur,

it was brief and unavoidable. But mostly, the stories of battle and conquest are invented, made up

to explain why things were in the land the way they were (etiological).

See Joshua 13:13; 14:14; 15:63

PEASANTS’ REVOLT MODEL

George Mendenhall (1960)

Rural peasants united with the Israelites coming in with Joshua to lead a revolt against the urban

Canaanite kings in the city-states.

This was a sociopolitical and economic revolt (Marxism)

AGRICULTURAL RESETTLEMENT MODEL

Israel Finkelstein

Accepts that Israelites infiltrated from the south and east and came into conflict with resident

Canaanites. The struggle was not for control of the cities but for the agricultural lands. Insufficient

farmland for all resulted in war.

Israelite victory eventually extended to control of the cities.

THE CROSSING OF THE JORDAN

The point of crossing was probably an area about five miles north of the Dead Sea

A rock cliff at Adam (modern ed Damieh), twenty miles north of the Dead Sea, is thought to have

been the place of a rock slide that dammed up the Jordan River1

Gilgal – the first camp set up by the Israelites in Canaan (Saul was later crowned there)

The battle at Jericho

Joshua sent two spies to assess the situation around Jericho

The spies were harbored by Rahab (a Canaanite, female ancestor of Jesus Christ, Matthew 1:5)

Six daily marches around the walls

Seven times around the walls on the seventh day

Rahab was spared (Hebrews 11:31)

Women in the Genealogy of JesusWoman Remarks:

Tamar Canaanite. Daughter-in-law of Judah. Tricked Judah into fathering a child through her.

Rahab Canaanite from JerichoBathsheba Unknown origin, but was the wife of Uriah the HittiteRuth From Moab (descendants of Lot). The great-grandmother of DavidAthaliah Daughter of Ahab and Jezebel (Phoenician). Follower of Baal.

1 In A.D. 1927, part of a 150-foot cliff fell into the Jordan River blocking the water for 21 ½ hours

Figure 12 – Joshua's Conquests in Central Palestine

BATTLES FOR CONQUEST

Ai (Bethel?)

Initial defeat

Joshua followed the

advice of a scouting

party

3,000 men sent, but

were defeated

Achan’s sin

Achan appropriated for

himself a

Mesopotamian garment plus some silver and gold from the spoils of Ai

His sin was discovered by prayer and by the casting of lots

Achan and his family were stoned

Corporate Personality

Each individual is a part of a group (Achan’s family) and the group is treated as an

individual

Final victory

The Gibeonites

Gibeon is a city located eight miles north of Jerusalem

Tricked Joshua into signing a treaty with them (Joshua 9)

The treaty was honored by Joshua even after their lie was discovered

The Gibeonites were forced to supply food and water to the Israelite army (Joshua 9:23f)

Joshua later finds himself defending the city of the Gibeonites – a city that was originally

included in God’s command to destroy

Battle of Gibeon (Joshua 10)

The king of Jerusalem was angered by the treaty made by the Gibeonites

He called for an alliance of the southern city states against the Israelites

Joshua defeated the alliance

More enemy soldiers were killed by hailstones than by the sword (Joshua 10:11)

The sun stood still to allow time for Joshua to pursue and destroy the enemy (Joshua 10:12-

14)

Other battles in the south

Conquest of northern Canaan

Battle of Hazor (fifteen miles northwest of Sea of Galilee)

Meant the defeat of a northern military alliance which had a significant chariot force

Summary of events in the Conquest

31 kings and city-states were defeated

One non-aggression pact was signed (with the Gibeonites)

Many other Canaanites were allowed to stay and were not attacked (e.g. Gezer)

AMARNA LETTERS2

“Let the king, my lord, protect his land from the hand of the ‘Apiru. If not, then let the king, my lord, send chariots to fetch us, lest our servants smite us.”3

“Let the king, my lord, learn that the chief of the 'Apiru has risen in arms against the lands which the god of the king, my lord, gave me . . . Also let the king, my lord, know that all my brethren have abandoned me, and it is I and Abdu-Heba who fight against the chief of the 'Apiru . . . I have been robbed by the 'Apiru . . . and behold, they are fighting against me, so let it be agreeable to the king, my lord, and let him send Yanhamu, and let us make war in earnest, and let the lands of the king, my lord, be restored to their former limits!"4

“O king, my lord, there are no garrison troops here! The lands of the king have all rebelled . . . But the hostility against me is strong . . . So may it please the king to send me garrison troops in order that I may enter and see the two eyes of the king, my lord. . . . Let the king turn his attention to the archers, and let the king, my lord, send out troops of archers, for the king has no lands left! The 'Apiru plunder all the lands of the king! If there are archers here in this year, the lands of the king, my lord, will remain intact; but if there are no archers here the lands of the king, my lord, will be lost!"5

“I have become like a ship in the midst of the sea! The arm of the mighty king conquers the land of Naharaim and the land of Cush, but now the ‘Apiru capture the cities of the king. There is not a single governor remaining . . . all have perished! So let the king take care of his land; and let the king decide, and let the king send archers to his land!”6

THE PERIOD OF THE JUDGES

TRANSITION FROM CONQUEST TO JUDGES

2 From James B. Pritchard, Ancient Near East. Vol. 13 EA, No. 2714 RA, XIX, p. 1065 EA, No. 2866 EA, No. 288

Joshua’s death

Joshua 24:28-33

Joshua was buried in the territory of Ephraim (same tribal area as Joseph)

Judah and Simeon

Judges 1:1-3

The two tribes merge

Joseph’s bones are buried in Shechem (Joshua 24:32)

TROUBLE WITH THE CANAANITES

Conflicts with the Canaanites continued after Joshua’s death because the Canaanites were never

completely expelled from the land

Foreign opposition

Moabites

Midianites

Ammonites

DATING THE PERIOD OF THE JUDGES

Must be between the Exodus (c. 1446 BC) and the monarchy (c. 1100 BC) – a period of 346 years

Paul says the period of the judges was about 450 years (Acts 13:20)

The sum of the years mentioned in the book of Judges is 410 years

Problems in dating this period

1 Kings 6:1 - calls for 480 years from the Exodus to the fourth year of Solomon’s reign

David was fully established as King in Israel by 1000 BC

Calculations

1447 BC ExodusMinus 480 years 1 Kings 6:1

967 BC

Allow 20 years Eli20 years Samuel20 years Saul

40 years David

4 years Solomon (see 1 Kings 6:1)40 years Wilderness Wanderings25 years Joshua

410 years JudgesTotal 579 years 99 years more that 1 Kings 6:1

Judges 11:26 - calls for 300 years from the defeat of the Ammonites under Moses to the days of

Jephthah

Conclusions

The stories in the book of Judges are not intended to be precise, chronological accounts of

judges

It is probable that the activity of some of the judges overlapped with other judges

DESCRIPTIONS OF THIS PERIOD

The prevalent way of life

In those days, there was no king in Israel; all the people did what was right in their own eyes. (Judges 21:25)

Described in the books of Judges and Ruth

In the days when the judges ruled . . . (Ruth 1:1)

Oppression from local enemies was the consequence of:

Intermarriage with Canaanites

Idolatry - participation in the worship of Baal

Oppression was followed by repentance

God raised up champions (Judges) who overthrew the oppression

The cycle of sin and judgment:

Sin

Sorrow

Supplication

Salvation

THE JUDGES

Sin

SorrowSupplication

Salvation

Figure 1 – The Pattern Observed in Judges

These were individuals (men and women) who emerged as leaders as the local and/or national

political or religious situation demanded.

This was a period in which Israel had neither central government nor capital

There was no official succession from one judge to another (but see Gideon and Abimelech, chap. 9)

The Judges

Judge Enemy Years of

Oppression

Years of

DeliveranceApproximate Dates

Othniel Mesopotamia 8 40 1374-1334 BC

Ehud Moab, Ammon, Midian 18 80 1316-1235 BC

Shamgar Midian c. 1230 BC

Deborah Canaan 20 40 1216-1176 BC

Barak Canaan 20 40 1216-1176 BCGideo

n Midian 7 40 1169-1129 BC

Tola Amalek 23 1120-1097 BCJair Amalek 22 1120-1097 BCJepht

hah Ammon 18 6 1085-1079 BC

Ibzan Ammon 7 1079-1072 BCElon Ammon 10 1072-1062 BCAbdo

n Ammon 8 1062-1054 BC

Samson Philistia 40 20 1095-1075 BC

Table 1

TRANSITION TO MONARCHY

PRECURSORS TO MONARCHY

Biblical material

Deuteronomy 17:14-20 – Provision in the Law for a King

Genesis 17:6, 16; 35:11 – prophecies of kings coming from Israel

1 Samuel 12:12 – criticism of Israel’s desire to have a king since God was supposed to be their

king

Figure 14 – Cities visited by the stolen Ark

Judges 8:22 – Israelites asked Gideon to be their King (he declined)

Judges 9 – Abimelech, son of Gideon, actually became a King in Israel

He was only a regional king, not national

He reigned three years – Judges 9:22

This story is important for several reasons

The Ephraimites were eager to have a King

The disunity during the period of the Judges was evident to the people of Israel

The process of succession by dynasty is clearly understood (Abimelech is Gideon’s son)

Problem with the Philistines

Had been the problem of Samson with Delilah

Settled in Palestine after about 1200 BC (after a failed attempt to invade Egypt)

Their military superiority over Israel was in their advanced iron smelting technology

Now there was no smith to be found throughout all the land of Israel; for the Philistines said, “The Hebrews must not make swords or spears for themselves”; So all the Israelites went down to the Philistines to sharpen their plowshares, mattocks, axes, or sickles. (1 Samuel 13:19-20)7

ELI AND SAMUEL

ELI

Priest at Shiloh (the center for worship in

Israel since Joshua)

Responsible for worship at the Tabernacle

there

Not a good father

Now the sons of Eli were scoundrels; they had no regard for the Lord (1 Samuel 2:12)

The Ark of the Covenant was used to help

defend against the Philistines (1 Samuel 4)

The Philistines captured the Ark and killed the sons of Eli

Shiloh was destroyed and the Israelites never tried to return the ark there

“Go now to my place that was in Shiloh, where I made my name dwell at first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.” (Jeremiah 7:12)

7 During the days of King Saul

SAMUEL

The last of the judges

Recognized as the greatest prophet since Moses

Served as a priest (although not in the lineage of Aaron)

The Tabernacle had been abandoned

He abandoned his dwelling at Shiloh,The tent where he dwelt among mortals,And delivered his power to captivityHis glory to the hand of the foe. (Psalm 78:60)

Israel regained the ark from the Philistines (1 Samuel 5:1 - 7:2) but stored it in the home of Abinidab

until the days of David

Samuel led Israel to reject Canaanite cultic worship (1 Samuel 7:3ff)

SAUL

Israel’s first national king

The people felt that a king would help them organize against the Philistines

A Benjamite (surprising given the problem created in Benjamin over the Levite’s concubine - Judges

19-21)

Centralized Israel’s government in Gibeah (the scene of the crime with the concubine)

Assisted in military campaigns by his son Jonathan

Defeated the Philistines at Michmash (1 Samuel 13-14)

Died in battle on Mt. Gilboa by the Philistines

Troubled by the anointing of David as King