The conquest of Canaan

 Christ in all the scriptures

Joshua-the conquest of Canaan  (overview chapters 1-24)

The book is a record of the military conquest of Israel, led by Joshua, to take possession of the land of Canaan.  This was commanded by God to fulfil His covenant promise to Abraham (Genesis 12v1/3; 13v14/17; 15v18/21; again in Genesis 17v7/8; 22v2; 28v13; Deuteronomy 34v5; Joshua 1v2/4 etc. etc.).  Repeatedly, throughout their journeys, God re-iterated His promise of a land to a people who had spent over four centuries in exile, and, at that, in servile bondage.  In the book of Deuteronomy, alone, "the land" occurs more than 100 times.  When God makes a covenant, He will fulfil it regardless of the passage of time.  Centuries are as nothing to an eternal God, who transcends time.  For those who need to be persuaded today that this land belongs to Israel by Divine decree, they should consider that this covenant was made almost 4,000 years ago, is established by Divine power, and is recognised by most to be the home of Israel.

Now the time has come, Israel stand on the borders of the land and they are to take possession of it.  

Chapters 1-5       Preparation for conquest

Chapters 6-12     Possession of the land

Chapters 13-22   Process of land distribution

Chapters 23-24   Pastoring of the nation

There are many sceptics and infidels who will point to this book as evidence that religion causes wars.  They point out that the God of Israel commanded genocide on the Canaanites.  This is true, according to Deuteronomy 20v16/18 and other scriptures.  The Lord did command the extermination of the inhabitants of the land.  Horrified as some are, we must not judge the Lord by human standards.  There are two outstanding factors, if we are to fully understand the reality of this: 1) the unfettered  sovereignty of God, and 2) the unique suffering of God. 

The sovereignty of God

In a world devoid of absolutes, the God of heaven rules without question.  The angels of His presence never question or challenge Him, so why would mere mortals criticise His actions?God has a right to do whatever He pleases (Psalm 115v3).  If He chooses to be done with one people, no one can question it, or challenge it.  There are hundreds of thousands of deaths every single day, and it is God who gives life and it is God who takes it away.  He brought a flood on the world of the ungodly (Genesis 6/7; He destroyed the cities of the plain (Genesis 19).  Consider the following: Acts 17v24, "God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that He is Lord of heaven and earth..."-refer also Acts 14v15.  Daniel the prophet declared, "...that the living may know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdoms of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will..."-Daniel 4v17.  Kingdoms rise and fall at His decree, and no one dare oppose it.

The suffering of God

The Canaanites were a depraved people, indulging in rank idolatry, ritual prostitution and child sacrifice, according to the historians.  God knew this would be their character, and pronounced a curse on Canaan, even before he was born (Genesis 9v25).  This was approx. 900 years before Joshua entered Canaan to effect the extermination.  In Genesis 15v13-16, at the covenant with Abraham, God declared that the seed of Abraham (Israel) would suffer affliction in Egypt for 400 years, but after that they would come out.  The reason He left them so long in bondage was given as, "Because the iniquity of the Amorite was not yet full".  The term Amorite refers to the descendants of  Canaan (refer Genesis 10v15-20).  Let us grasp what this is saying!  God knew 900 years before that Canaan would be a bad lot.  For 400 years he kept His people in bondage in Egypt to allow the iniquity of the Amorite to come to a head, to the point where God would no longer tolerate it.  When Joshua stood on the borders of Canaan, their time was up.  Centuries of iniquity, unacceptable to God, had been allowed to pass, and He would now act without mercy.  Truly He is a God who is slow to anger, who gave this nation time to repent, but they never did.  The time has now come to bring their depravity to an end.  He suffered long their ways, now it must end.

Joshua was commissioned by God to possess the land and exterminate the inhabitants (refer Exodus 23v25-33).  The land promised to Abraham and the forefathers would become the dwelling place of Israel, God's chosen people.

The link to Jesus is obvious...Joshua means "the salvation of Jehovah", and points to Jesus.  The name Jesus is from the Hebrew Jehoshua, meaning "Jehovah Saviour".  The story of Joshua is intertwined with the story of Jesus.  In fact Joshua did not fully possess the land, as is documented several times throughout the book.  What Joshua failed to do in one land, Jesus will do in all lands of the earth.  He will exterminate all evil and reign in righteousness, as Psalm 72, prophetically declares, "He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth".

Our heavenly Joshua is coming to remove all evil from this world and usher in a new dawn, when His people can dwell in peace.