The conquest of Canaan is the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It is also God’s judgment for the iniquities of the Canaanites. With the conquest of Canaan God would fulfill His promise to provide Israel the Promised Land and destroy the pagan inhabitants of the land. The divine hand of God is evident through out the entire account of the conquest of Canaan. In Joshua 21:44 we read, “The Lord handed all their enemies over to them”. God worked through His people to fulfill His promise and carry out His judgment on pagan nations. The extent of the violence was utter destruction as God had commanded. A very important point not to overlook is God commanded and His people and they obeyed. God’s purpose was to cleanse the land and rid it of any pagan influences on the Israelite nation. From lessons in obedience, deliverance, and sanctification the conquest of Canaan relates in many ways to our Christian faith today.
The violence of Canaan according to Joshua 10:40 was utter destruction. “Thus Joshua struck all the land, the hill country and the Negev and the lowland and the slopes and all their kings. He left no survivor, but he utterly destroyed all who breathed, just as the Lord, the God of Israel, had commanded.” (Joshua 10:40) The destruction was total annihilation just as described in the Bible. In Joshua 6:21 in the conquest of Jericho we read that, “they utterly destroyed everything in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox and sheep and donkey, with the edge of the sword.” The word used for destroyed in Josh. 6:21 and 10:40 is the Hebrew word charam, meaning to seclude, specifically; in its verb meaning to destroy, to doom, to devote.1 God secluded or set aside Canaan for destruction to fulfill His will. Initially I believe it can be difficult for a person to reconcile the violence of the conquest of Canaan. I believe it is important to remember three things about the Lord, God of Israel, in the conquest of Canaan. First He was patient with the pagan nations of Canaan as He is patient with all sinners today. Second, God has every right to judge and carry out punishment. Third, He is a God of His word, fulfilling the promises He has made to His children.
God’s patience with the Canaanites can not be ignored. In Genesis 15:16 while God is revealing to Abraham future events of his family He says, “Then in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.” We can conclude God had patience on the pagan tribes of Canaan. He could have destroyed them and their pagan gods much earlier. The people of Canaan had over 400 years to turn from their pagan gods and accept the Lord, God of Israel, but they chose not too.2 So God chose the people of Israel as His instrument for final judgment.3 God had every right to judge and destroy the Canaanites just as He has every right to judge the people of today. If God, who holds all matters of judgment, mercy, life and death commanded the judgment on the Canaanites who are we to question? Albert Baylis, in his book From Creation to the Cross, states, “God Has always reserved this right to judgment. Those who object to it here would object, no doubt, to the Flood (Gen.6-7) and to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 19). This judgment on the Canaanites continues the theme of God as Moral Governor of the universe.”4
The most important thing to know from the conquest of Canaan is God keeps His promises and protects His people. Without that we, as believers, really have nothing. In utterly destroying the Canaanites God is cleansing the land for His people. God prepares only His best for His people, second best is never good enough. For His best all pagan practices and their ways had to be wiped out to prepare the land for His chosen people. “…Gods purpose for this land was Bethlehem, Calvary, and Pentecost, and the iniquity of the inhabitants of the land was full. Nothing must be allowed to stand in the way of the complete purpose of God for victory…” Alan Redpath5 Pagan religions are derived from Satan and there is a larger battle in the conquest of Canaan then Canaanites versus Israelites. God is defeating and wiping Satan out of Canaan to prepare the land for His Son, Jesus, the savior to be born into. God is not only fulfilling the promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He is preparing the land for His son. The land in which His son would utterly defeat Satan once and for all. This is the true reconciliation of the conquest of Canaan and will be the place for fulfilling Gods ultimate promise to His people.
The lessons the conquest of Canaan can teach us about our faith today is God works in
the lives of His children today just as He did then. God can be seen at work very plainly in the
conquest of Canaan. From the crossing of the Jordan, to the walls of Jericho falling on the seventh day, to Amorites being defeated by hailstones.6 To claim God’s best for our lives we have to obey and know He is God and His best awaits. It is important to know that there will be strong opposition to your obedience. Just as Israel faced strong opposition coming up from the Jordan Satan stands ready to oppose the Christians today. What a blessing to know the victory is the Lords. In the Christian faith the blessings will follow the battles. We must be obedient before we can claim victories in the battles. Here was Israel after 40 years of wandering the desert ready to follow God and be obedient. They took the twelve stones from the Jordan as God commanded and they were circumcised as God commanded. They were obedient and God delivered. Their obedience was followed by faith. At Jericho they were commanded to circle the city 13 times, once for six days and seven times the seventh day. On the seventh day the walls fell and the victory was the Lords. How much faith it must have taken for such a large army to follow such a strange request. With a victory in such fashion God would leave no doubt that the victory at Jericho was His. In Joshua 7 we read the consequence of disobedience and a lack of consulting God to provide victory. Achan was disobedient and God became angry. The combination of Achan’s sin with Joshua’s failure to consult God before going into battle led to an embarrassing defeat at Ai. The Israelites learned an important lesson that we learn today, when we compromise our obedience to God it will cost us victories. Israel repented and again, under Gods direction, would ring up many victories in conquering the land.
God can bring us out of the desert, He can promise us victory, and He can prepare for us a perfect kingdom. The question would be to us in New Testament faith as it was to Israel in the promised land; Are we willing to die for him? The Israelites wondered the desert for 40 years because of the sins of their elders, they knew how the other side lived and wanted to claim their promise. They were willing to die in battle to claim the land. The father has prepared for us a place in the kingdom of heaven. Are we willing to die for it? Are we willing to search our souls and utterly destroy all sins that keep us from being in full fellowship with the Father. God commanded the pagans of Canaan to be utterly destroyed to cleanse the land, so his people could dwell in the land. He commands us to utterly destroy the sins in our lives, to die, so he can dwell within us in our hearts. As Paul writes, “Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him.” (Romans 6:8) That is the very key to 'coming out of the desert and into the promised land'. Through Calvary God has already handed our enemies to us, will we claim the victory?
1 Francis Brown, S.R Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English lexicon. (Peabody, MA: Hendreckson Publishers, 2008), 355
2 John Calvin, The Book of Joshua. (Grand Rapids, MI: WM. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1949.), 97
3 Albert H.Baylis, From Creation to the Cross. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1996.), 172
4 Albert H.Baylis, From Creation to the Cross. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1996.), 172
5 Alan Redpath, Victorious Christian Living. ( United States: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1955), 156
6 Albert H. Baylis, From Creation to the Cross. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1996.), 166-168
the lives of His children today just as He did then. God can be seen at work very plainly in the
conquest of Canaan. From the crossing of the Jordan, to the walls of Jericho falling on the seventh day, to Amorites being defeated by hailstones.6 To claim God’s best for our lives we have to obey and know He is God and His best awaits. It is important to know that there will be strong opposition to your obedience. Just as Israel faced strong opposition coming up from the Jordan Satan stands ready to oppose the Christians today. What a blessing to know the victory is the Lords. In the Christian faith the blessings will follow the battles. We must be obedient before we can claim victories in the battles. Here was Israel after 40 years of wandering the desert ready to follow God and be obedient. They took the twelve stones from the Jordan as God commanded and they were circumcised as God commanded. They were obedient and God delivered. Their obedience was followed by faith. At Jericho they were commanded to circle the city 13 times, once for six days and seven times the seventh day. On the seventh day the walls fell and the victory was the Lords. How much faith it must have taken for such a large army to follow such a strange request. With a victory in such fashion God would leave no doubt that the victory at Jericho was His. In Joshua 7 we read the consequence of disobedience and a lack of consulting God to provide victory. Achan was disobedient and God became angry. The combination of Achan’s sin with Joshua’s failure to consult God before going into battle led to an embarrassing defeat at Ai. The Israelites learned an important lesson that we learn today, when we compromise our obedience to God it will cost us victories. Israel repented and again, under Gods direction, would ring up many victories in conquering the land.
God can bring us out of the desert, He can promise us victory, and He can prepare for us a perfect kingdom. The question would be to us in New Testament faith as it was to Israel in the promised land; Are we willing to die for him? The Israelites wondered the desert for 40 years because of the sins of their elders, they knew how the other side lived and wanted to claim their promise. They were willing to die in battle to claim the land. The father has prepared for us a place in the kingdom of heaven. Are we willing to die for it? Are we willing to search our souls and utterly destroy all sins that keep us from being in full fellowship with the Father. God commanded the pagans of Canaan to be utterly destroyed to cleanse the land, so his people could dwell in the land. He commands us to utterly destroy the sins in our lives, to die, so he can dwell within us in our hearts. As Paul writes, “Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him.” (Romans 6:8) That is the very key to 'coming out of the desert and into the promised land'. Through Calvary God has already handed our enemies to us, will we claim the victory?
1 Francis Brown, S.R Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English lexicon. (Peabody, MA: Hendreckson Publishers, 2008), 355
2 John Calvin, The Book of Joshua. (Grand Rapids, MI: WM. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1949.), 97
3 Albert H.Baylis, From Creation to the Cross. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1996.), 172
4 Albert H.Baylis, From Creation to the Cross. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1996.), 172
5 Alan Redpath, Victorious Christian Living. ( United States: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1955), 156
6 Albert H. Baylis, From Creation to the Cross. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1996.), 166-168
