Joshua 10:29-11:23; Conquest-- Partial, or Total (a nerd week)

As of this morning, now that we've reached Joshua 10:29ff., we've officially reached the most complicated part of the book of Joshua. And as I sit here at my computer (giving up the whole sermon writing part of this for now), already having spent a lot of time trying to figure this out, having read PhD dissertations on the issue over DQ (the hard life of the UPSER), I'm not sure how to explain this. I think I have the answer, but it's fuzzy. What I'm going to try to do first is explain what the problem is. I'm then going to give you the four main/popular solutions to the problem--only two of which I'd try to explain to people in a sermon. Then, in roughly 3 pages, I'll provide a simple, elegant solution to a riddle that has stumped most OT scholars for decades. LOL. Starting next week, I think, we will start working through Joshua 10-11. But if I don't do this first, I'll be stuck on this indefinitely. So. What is this baffling problem in the book of Joshua? The problem, simply put, is that it's not at all clear in the book of Joshua, how much of the land Israel actually conquered. Some verses make it sound like basically the entire land is conquered, and Israel had peace from all its enemies. Other verses make it sound like there's a ridiculous amount of work left to do. And, to top it all off, these two sets of verses can be found very close to each other. So what I'd to do, to start this off, is read some of the key verses. First, we'll read the verses that make it sound like the promised land has been emptied of everyone except for Israelites-- because everyone else is dead. We'll start with the passage I was planning on preaching on this morning. It runs from 10:29 through chapter 11. As you read this, your first reaction is going to be to think that Joshua conquered every city in Canaan, and killed every single person in the land: (29) And Joshua crossed over, and all Israel with him, from Makkedah, to Livnah, and he fought against Livnah, (30) and Yahweh gave also it into the hand of Israel, and its king, and he struck with the mouth/edge of the sword. He didn't leave behind in it a survivor, and he did to its king just as he had done to the king of Jericho, (31) and Joshua crossed over, and all Israel with him, from Livnah to Lakish, and he laid siege to it, and he fought against it, (32) and Yahweh gave Lakish into the hand of Israel, and he (Israel) took/captured it on the second day, and he struck it with the mouth/edge of the sword, and all the people who [were] in it, as all that he had done to Livnah. (33) At that time Horam king of Gezer went up to Lakish, and Joshua, with his people, struck him until he didn't leave behind a survivor in it, (34) and Joshua crossed over, and all Israel with him, from Lakish to Eglon, and they laid siege to it, and they fought against it, (35) and they took/captured it on that day, and they struck it with the edge/mouth of the sword, while all the people who [were] in it on that day he kheremed, as all that he had done to Lakish, (36) and Joshua went up, and all Israel with him, from Eglon to Hebron, and he fought against it, (37) and they took/captured it, and they struck it with the mouth/edge of the sword, while its king, and all its cities, and every person who was in it he didn't leave behind (as) a survivor, as all/everything that he had done to Eglon, and he kheremed it, and every person who [was] in it, (38) and Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to Devir, and he fought against it, (39) and he took/captured it and its king and all its cities, and he struck them with the mouth/edge of the sword, and they kheremed all the people who were in it. He didn't leave behind a survivor. Just as had done to Hebron, thus he did to Devir and to its king, and just as he had done to Livnah and its king, (40) and Joshua struck all the land: the mountain and the south country (Negev) and the lowland and the slopes, all their kings. He didn't leave behind a survivor, while everything that breathed he kheremed, just as Yahweh the God of Israel commanded, (41) and Joshua struck them from Kadesh-Barnea, and up to Gaza, and all the land of Goshen, and up to Gibeon, (42) while all these kings and their land Joshua took/captured at one time because Yahweh the God of Israel fought for Israel, (43) and Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to the camp at Gilgal, (11:1) And then, as soon as Yabin king of Hazor heard, he sent to Yobab king of Madon and to the king of Shimron and to the king of Acshaph and to the kings who were from the north in the mountain/hill country and in the Arabah/Jordan valley south of Kinnereth and in the Shephelah and in Naphoth Dor from the west, the Canaanites from the east and from the west and the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Jebusites in the mountain/hill country and the Hivites under Hermon in the land of the Mizpah, (4) and they came out-- they, and all their armies with them, a great army/people like the sand that is on the shore of the sea for a great [number], and horse and chariot a great exceedingly, (5) and all these kings joined, and they came, and they camped together at the waters of Merom to fight with Israel, (6) And Yahweh said to Joshua, "May you not be afraid from before their face/presence, because tomorrow at this time I am giving all of them slain before the face/presence of Israel. Their horses you shall hamstring, and their chariots you shall burn with fire," (7) And Joshua came, and all the people of war with him, upon them at the waters of Merom suddenly/surprisingly, and they fall on them, (8) and Yahweh gave them into the hand of Israel, and they struck them, and they pursued them up to Great Tsidon (?) and up to Misrephoth Maim and up to the valley of Mizpeh to the east, and they struck them until there wasn't left for them a survivor, (9) and Joshua did to them just as Yahweh had commanded him: their horses he hamstrung, while their chariots he burnt with fire, (10) and Joshua returned at that time, and he took/captured Hazor, while its king he struck down with the sword, because Hazor before it [was] head of all these kingdoms, (11) and he struck every person that was in it. With the mouth/edge of the sword he kheremed. Anything of breath wasn't left over, while Hazor he burned with fire, (12) while all the cities of these kings and all their kings Joshua captured/took, and he struck them witht he mouth/edge of the sword. He kheremed them, just as Moses the servant of Yahweh had commanded. (13) Only, all of the cities standing on their mound/tel Israel didn't burn. Except Hazor alone Joshua burnt, (14) while all the war booty of these towns and the domestic animals the sons of Israel took as booty for themselves. Only, every human they struck with the mouth/edge of the sword until destroying them. They didn't leave behind any breathing [thing]. (15) Just as Yahweh commanded his servant Moses, thus Moses commanded Joshua, and thus Joshua did. He didn't turn aside a thing from all that Yahweh commanded Moses, (16) and Joshua took/captured all this land: the hill country and all the Negev and all the land of Goshen and the Shephelah and the Jordan Valley and the mountain/hill country of Israel and its Shephelah, (17) from the mountain of the Halak going up to Seir and up to Baal Gad in the valley of Lebanon under Mount Herman, while all their kings he captured/took, and he struck them down, and he killed them. (18) Many days Joshua made war with all these kings. (19) There wasn't a city that made peace with the sons of Israel except the Hivites, the dwellers of Gibeon. All/everything they took/captured in battle, because from Yahweh it was to harden their heart to encounter the war with Israel, in order to kherem them, not being for them mercy but in order to destroy/exterminate them, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses, (21) and Joshua came at that time and he cut off the Anakim from the hill country, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, and from all the hill country/mountain of Judah and from all the hill/mountain country of Israel. With their cities Joshua kheremed. (22) The Anakites weren't left over in the land of the sons of Israel. Only, in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod they remained, (23) and Joshua took/captured all the land according to all that Yahweh had spoken to Moses, and Joshua gave it as inheritance to Israel according to their divisions according to their tribes, while the land rested from war. With the exception of a few Anakim left in the land (11:22-23), the conquest sounds total here. 10:29-43 describes a campaign against the southern half of Canaan. Chapter 11 describes a campaign against the northern half of Canaan. And the way this little section ends, in 11:23, makes this all sound like an accomplished act: (23) and Joshua took/captured all the land according to all that Yahweh had spoken to Moses, and Joshua gave it as inheritance to Israel according to their divisions according to their tribes, while the land rested from war. Now let's turn to Joshua 21:43-45. (43) And Yahweh gave to Israel all the land that he had sworn to give to their fathers, and they took possession of it, and they dwelled/settled in it, (44) and Yahweh gave rest to them from all around, as all that he had sworn to their fathers/ancestors. A man did not stand in their presence from all their enemies. All their enemies Yahweh gave into their hand. (45) A word didn't fall from every/all good word that Yahweh spoke to the house of Israel. All came [to happen]. So these are the three main passages (Joshua 10:40-43; 11:16-23; 21:43-45) that make it sound like the conquest is total. Yahweh gave to Israel the entire land; Israel has rest from their enemies; they are settled in; it's a done deal; there's no more war. And this is how most people understand the book of Joshua as a whole. It's the natural reading, arguably. The problem with these verses, is that other verses seem to paint a much different picture. Let's turn to Joshua 13: (1) And Joshua was old. He was long in the days, and Yahweh said to him, "You are old. You are long in the days, while very much of the land remains to take possession of it. This is the remaining land: all the region of the Philistines and all of the Geshurites. (3) From the Shihor, which is east of Egypt, and up to the boundary of Ekron toward the north, as Canaanite it is considered. The five rulers of the Philistines, the Gazites and the Ashdodites, the Ashkelonites, the Gittites and the Ekronites, and the Avvim. (4) from the south, all the land of the Canaanites and Mearah that is for the Sidonians up to Aphek, up to the boundary of the Amorites, (5) And the land of the Gebalites and all of Lebanon toward the east from Baal Gad under Mount Hermon, up to Lebo-Hamath. (6) All the inhabitants/dwellers/settlers of the hill country from Lebanon up to Misrephoth Maim. All of the Sidonians I shall drive them out from before the sons of Israel. Only, allocate it to Israel as an inheritance just as I commanded you. (7) And, so then, divide this land as an inheritance to the nine tribes and the half tribe of Manasseh. Yahweh very matter of factly tells Joshua that he's really old, and, simultaneously, there's a lot left to do. In fact, 9 1/2 tribes of Israel don't even control their own land at this point. Yahweh commands Joshua to allocate it as an inheritance in faith, trusting in Yahweh's promise to drive out these peoples. But Joshua is himself too old, and the remaining task is too large, for him to do it. In Joshua 10:36-37, we read this about the city of Hebron: (36) and Joshua went up, and all Israel with him, from Eglon to Hebron, and he fought against it, (37) and they took/captured it, and they struck it with the mouth/edge of the sword, while its king, and all its cities, and every person who was in it he didn't leave behind (as) a survivor, as all/everything that he had done to Eglon, and he kheremed it, and every person who [was] in it, But then in Joshua 14:6-15, four chapters later (!), we read this (ESV): 6 Then the people of Judah came to Joshua at Gilgal. And Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, "You know what the LORD said to Moses the man of God in Kadesh-barnea concerning you and me. 7 I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land, and I brought him word again as it was in my heart. 8 But my brothers who went up with me made the heart of the people melt; yet I wholly followed the LORD my God. 9 And Moses swore on that day, saying, 'Surely the land on which your foot has trodden shall be an inheritance for you and your children forever, because you have wholly followed the LORD my God.' 10 And now, behold, the LORD has kept me alive, just as he said, these forty-five years since the time that the LORD spoke this word to Moses, while Israel walked in the wilderness. And now, behold, I am this day eighty-five years old. 11 I am still as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me; my strength now is as my strength was then, for war and for going and coming. 12 So now give me this hill country of which the LORD spoke on that day, for you heard on that day how the Anakim were there, with great fortified cities. It may be that the LORD will be with me, and I shall drive them out just as the LORD said." 13 Then Joshua blessed him, and he gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for an inheritance. 14 Therefore Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day, because he wholly followed the LORD, the God of Israel. 15 Now the name of Hebron formerly was Kiriath-arba.[a] (Arba[b] was the greatest man among the Anakim.) And the land had rest from war. How can Hebron remain to be attacked, after Joshua and all Israel already attacked, and took, and burned it in chapter 10? What does it mean that the land had rest from war (11:23), and then it didn't, and then it did (14:15)? Scholars have tried to answer this problem in four main ways. This is oversimplified, but.... whatever. (1) The first solution, usually taken by evangelicals, is to say that conquest stories tend to use hyperbole and exaggerated language in order to make a theological point. We know that Joshua and Israel didn't actually accomplish very much, but AJ tells his story like he does to stress God's power, and Israel's faithfulness and obedience. The shining star of this approach is K. Lawson Younger, who wrote his PhD defending this view (Ancient Conquest Accounts: a Study in Ancient Near Eastern and Biblical History Writing). Basically, everyone who wrote historical annuls at that time exaggerated, and AJ should be judged according to the standards of his time. We read the book of Joshua, and we praise our powerful God Yahweh for his mighty deeds, while at the same time understanding that... the reports of his works have outpaced what he actually did. This approach may bother you, but if you end up disagreeing with me when I give my own solution, this should probably be the answer you find yourselves running back to. K. Lawson Younger teaches at a very conservative EFCA seminary (TEDS), I'm going to call this #evangelicalapproved. (2) The second solution, usually taken by more critical scholars, is to say that the book of Joshua wasn't written at one time, by one person, but grew over hundreds of years as different authors ("redactors") added to the original story to make it relevant for their own time period. So when we find disagreements in the book of Joshua, that's evidence that we have sloppy, later, additions to the original text. OT scholarship calls this "redaction criticism." The two commentaries in the OTL series, by Soggin and Nelson, are both "outstanding" examples of this. Basically, later redactors added the three statements stressing the total conquest of the land, to say something like this: The book of Joshua shows what happens when God's people obey God (great success), while the rest of Israel's history (Judges-2 Kings) shows what happens when God's people disobey (they get sent into exile). (3) The third solution, and it's not fair to lump them together like this, and I'm not being entirely fair to them, to Hawk in particular probably, I'm going to call a postmodern approach. We are supposed to read these contradictions in the book of Joshua, and be unhappy with the wide sweeping claims of conquest. We should recognize them as irony, or as the book deconstructing. The two main proponents of this are Robert Polzin and L. Daniel Hawk. These books are super interesting, and you'll find yourselves shaking your heads "no," but unable to put them down. Lots of good insights, but I don't find them persuasive. (4) And then there's the right solution, that is flawless and without holes. Because I'm pretty sure that's how lists are supposed to work. The right solution, I think, is found by smooshing together two different OT authors: mostly Michael Heiser, with a side of Gordon Mitchell, who is one of many people to write his PhD on this. From God's perspective, I think the conquest of Canaan was designed to do two main things. First, God wanted to keep the promises he had made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to give them a land. Second, God wanted to wipe out the descendants of the Nephilim that lived in Canaan, scattered across the land. As a reminder, let's turn to Numbers 13:17-33 (ESV). 17 Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said to them, "Go up there into the Negeb, and go up into the hill country, 18 and see what the land is like, and whether the people who live in it are strong or weak, whether they are few or many, 19 and whether the land they live in is good or bad, and whether the towns that they live in are unwalled or fortified, 20 and whether the land is rich or poor, and whether there are trees in it or not. Be bold, and bring some of the fruit of the land." Now it was the season of the first ripe grapes. 21 So they went up and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, near Lebo-hamath. 22 They went up into the Negeb, and came to Hebron; and Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the Anakites, were there. (Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) 23 And they came to the Wadi Eshcol, and cut down from there a branch with a single cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a pole between two of them. They also brought some pomegranates and figs. 24 That place was called the Wadi Eshcol,[a] because of the cluster that the Israelites cut down from there. 25 At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land. 26 And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the Israelites in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; they brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 And they told him, "We came to the land to which you sent us; it flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. 28 Yet the people who live in the land are strong, and the towns are fortified and very large; and besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites live in the land of the Negeb; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live by the sea, and along the Jordan." 30 But Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, "Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it." 31 Then the men who had gone up with him said, "We are not able to go up against this people, for they are stronger than we." 32 So they brought to the Israelites an unfavorable report of the land that they had spied out, saying, "The land that we have gone through as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people that we saw in it are of great size. 33 There we saw the Nephilim (the Anakites come from the Nephilim); and to ourselves we seemed like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them." 14:25 25 Now, since the Amalekites and the Canaanites live in the valleys, turn tomorrow and set out for the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea."[a] The idea here isn't that every single person living in Canaan is a descendant of the Nephilim. Not everyone is an Amalekite or Anakim/Anakite. But these descendants can be found all over in the land. There apparently weren't that many of them, but they could be found all over. So when we read Joshua 10:29-11:23, we are supposed to understand that Joshua is systematically going around Canaan, targeting cities where the Anakim are known to live. That's why there's such a heavy focus on killing the kings-- the Anakim, apparently, have set themselves up as kings over normal people. Sihon and Og are the two most obvious examples of this. So let's reread AJ's summary of the point of all the attacks in Joshua 11:18-23: (18) Many days Joshua made war with all these kings. (19) There wasn't a city that made peace with the sons of Israel except the Hivites, the dwellers of Gibeon. All/everything they took/captured in battle, because from Yahweh it was to harden their heart to encounter the war with Israel, in order to kherem them, not being for them mercy but in order to destroy/exterminate them, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses, (21) and Joshua came at that time and he cut off the Anakim from the hill country, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, and from all the hill country/mountain of Judah and from all the hill/mountain country of Israel. With their cities Joshua kheremed. (22) The Anakites weren't left over in the land of the sons of Israel. Only, in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod they remained, (23) and Joshua took/captured all the land according to all that Yahweh had spoken to Moses, and Joshua gave it as inheritance to Israel according to their divisions according to their tribes, while the land rested from war. Verse 21 is the money verse. Joshua is specifically targeting the Anakim who dwell throughout the land. The goal is their total extermination. The only place they remained was in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod-- Philistine cities that David would take/capture later. It was once these Anakim were killed, that the land had rest from war. But that still leaves a question. Joshua 10-11 make it sound like Israel now controls the entire land. But Joshua 13, in particular, seems to contradict this. The answer to this, I think, is found in the Hebrew-- with better understanding the key verbs used to describe Israelite attacks. 1) Israel struck 2) Israel took/captured 3) Israel drove out (qal form) (Joshua 15:14) a) when used of land, it means more like, to take possession in 13:1; 24:7 b) when used of people, it means to drive out in 15:14 4) Israel took possession of/dispossessed (hiphil form--I'm a little fuzzy on the difference, but I think it tends to put more emphasis on dispossessing/taking control) a) 17:18 you shall dispossess the Canaanites. 5) Israel dwelled/settled. (21:43). -21:43 is awkward. But I think the idea is that they settled, in the midst of the remaining peoples (as in 15:63; 16:10). When we read in Joshua 10-11 that Israel "took/captured" all these cities, we tend to read this as gaining permanent control over all these cities. Like, if I took a $20 from your wallet, and stuck it in mine. It's mine forever. But what Joshua 10-11 is describing, really, is a series of raids against different Canaanite cities. Joshua and all of Israel move from one city to another, defeating them, killing them, and killing the king. Then, Joshua and all of Israel moves on to the next city. They aren't trying to hold these cities. 10:43, the end of the southern campaign, ends with a note that Joshua and all Israel returned to Gilgal. If the goal of these attacks isn't to control the land, then what is the point? Joshua 11:21-22 tells us: Joshua is systematically working his way through the land, killing off the Anakim wherever they had settled. And with this accomplished, the land has rest from war. Joshua's goal isn't to kill every single Canaanite-- although if you stayed to fight, you were going to die. The goal is to kill off the Anakim. And Yahweh hardened their hearts, so they'd fight (the three Anakim that fled from Caleb, and weren't killed until Judges 1, notwithstanding). Along these lines, Deut. 25:17-19 is helpful: Remember what Amalek did to you on the road, while you were going out from Egypt, (18) that/how he met you on the road, and he attacked at your rear all of the feeble/lagging behind you, while you [were] weary and worn out, and he didn't fear God. (19) And then, while Yahweh is giving rest to you from all your enemies from all around in the land that Yahweh your God is giving to you as an inheritance to possess it, you shall blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under the heavens. You shall not forget. Joshua is obeying Yahweh, and Moses. He's blotting out all the remembrance of Amalek, so that we sit here today, and we think, this is crazy. The world never looked like a Star Wars movie, with giant Anakim. 14