Literary Evidence from the Biblical Texts
Joshua 1—12 and Judges 1:1—2:5 give two perspectives on the entry of the people of Israel into the promised land. The two perspectives offer a helpful balance for each other in much the same way that Genesis 1 and 2 balance each other by providing different approaches to the question of God’s interaction with creation.
In the book of Joshua the people move into Canaan in mass under the direction of Joshua and conquer the entire land (Joshua 1—12), though the careful reader will notice that the author acknowledges that some cities are clearly not conquered (13:1). Once the conquest is complete, the land is parceled out among the tribes by lots in agreement with the method of assignment that Moses had stated (Joshua 13—21).
The book of Judges opens with a section that, like Joshua 1—12, discusses the occupation of the land. Some scholars take Judges 1:1—2:6 to refer to the same time period as Joshua 1—12. The text of Judges itself, however, presents this as a discussion of what took place after the death of Joshua (1:1). Then in 2:6 there is an analepsis back to the time when Joshua dismissed the people (from Shechem) to “take possession” of the land.
| Compare Joshua 24:28 which says that Joshua “sent the people away to their inheritances.” Notice also that Joshua 24:31 parallels the sequence of Judges 2:6—15. In fact the wording of 2:7 is very close to Joshua 24:31. |
The people remained faithful to the Lord until after the death of Joshua and “the elders who outlived Joshua” (2:7), but then began to worship the gods of the people whom they had not driven out of the land.
If we accept that Judges 1:1—2:5 is talking about the time after the death of Joshua (Judges 1:1), a significant historical puzzle remains. After the death of Joshua, according to Judges 1, some cities are still occupied by the native peoples which the book of Joshua says that Joshua himself had destroyed with “all Israel,” killing every living inhabitant.
For example, Joshua 10:36—37 reads,
Then Joshua went up with all Israel from Eglon to Hebron; they assaulted it, and took it, and struck it with the sword, and its king and its towns, and every person in it; he left no one remaining, just as he had done to Eglon, and utterly destroyed it with every person in it.
But Judges 1:9—10 says about the time after Joshua’s death,
Afterward the people of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites who lived in the hill country, in the Negeb, and in the lowland. Judah went against the Canaanites who lived in Hebron (the name of Hebron was formerly Kiriath-arba); and they defeated Sheshai and Ahiman and Talmai.
How are these Canaanites still in Hebron after Joshua killed every living person there and “utterly destroyed” the city (Joshua 10:36—37)?
To solve this problem many say that Judges 1:1—2:6 is actually referring to the same time as Joshua 1—12 so that the incidents described in Joshua 10:36—37 and Judges 1:9—10 above are actually the same events (which took place before the death of Joshua). This solution does not really remove the historical problem, though. The book of Joshua says that it was “Joshua with all Israel” who defeated Hebron (Joshua 10:36). The event described in Judges involves “the people of Judah” (Judges 1:9) or just “Judah” (1:10), but not “all Israel.” How can the events be the same if the same people were not involved?
What do we make of this? Perhaps a solution to such problems will one day be found, but for now there is a great deal of room for disagreement over how best to understand the way Israel came to occupy the land of Canaan. It may be possible to do a creative reading of the texts that would reduce the historical difficulty, but it is important to recognize that while Joshua and Judges speak of events from Israel’s past, they are not meant as objective history. Each story has its own focus and teaches something that its author perceived to be true, regardless of the historicity of the details of the story.
Joshua gives the story of the conquest in ideal form. This story portrays the author’s view that God was faithfulness to the promise to give the land of Canaan to the Hebrew people. God has fulfilled the promise. The book is the story of what happens when the people put themselves fully at the disposal of the Lord. They succeed in removing the pagan influences from their midst. Still the book does not present the people as always being faithful. It shows their flaws as well as their successes.
The book of Judges focusses much more explicitly on those flaws. Sometimes the people are faithful. Sometimes they are not. The failures of the Hebrew tribes are highlighted. By emphasizing the weaknesses of the time before the rise of kings in Israel, the book serves to prepare the reader for the story of the rise of the Hebrew monarchy that will follow in the books of Samuel.
Archaeological Evidence
Archaeology has provided no credible evidence for the traditional fifteenth century BCE date of the Hebrew conquest of Canaan. Archaeological evidence does offer some limited support for the major emphases of the book of Joshua—decisive military success by a collective army (“all Israel”?)— as well as the picture found in Judges—tribes working independently to take control of local areas and the semi-peaceful infiltration of some regions of Canaan if we assume that the settlement of Canaan by the Israelites took place in the late thirteenth century BCE rather than the earlier traditional date.
Some cities were violently destroyed in the mid- to late thirteenth century BCE (Hazor, for example). Other sites appear to have been empty for some time before the arrival of the Hebrew tribes, and were reoccupied by the incoming forces. Sites in the hill country and the Judean Negev indicate that the migrating Hebrews settled on land that had been unoccupied for a good time.
Still, there are puzzles which the archaeological evidence has not been able to solve. No evidence has been found, for example, that would indicate that Jericho was occupied at all during the 13th century BCE, and the conquest of Jericho is a significant feature of the early part of the book of Joshua.
Reconstructions: Implications of the Evidence
The archaeological evidence does accord well with an understanding of the texts as complementary—that is, if we see Joshua and Judges as providing perspectives that balance each other and do not try to make them say the same thing. Under this view the settlement of the land was a complex event that took a long time. A core group of what would later become the nation of Israel came out of slavery in Egypt and moved into the land. They crossed over the Jordan into the western territories probably in the middle of the thirteenth century BCE. Additional peoples joined them and took upon themselves the conditions of the Sinai Covenant. Some of these people may have been members of the traditional twelve tribes, but had not spent time in Egypt. Others may have been able to claim some other kinship relation to those who came out of Egypt (see, for example, Genesis 25:1—6). Even some unrelated Canaanite peoples may have joined Israel. It is clear from the texts that some at least made peace treaties with Israel (Joshua 9:3—27).
The military exploits of Joshua and other strong early leaders gave the people of Israel a significant hold on the land of Canaan, but they did not decisively dominate the entire region.
The complexity of Israel’s growing control over the region and the continued presence of older native peoples in the land can be seen in the story of Jerusalem itself. According to Judges 1:8 the tribe of Judah marched against Jerusalem and took it.
Then the people of Judah fought against Jerusalem and took it. They put it to the sword and set the city on fire (Judges 1:8).
A few verses later we are told that the Jebusites remained in the city after the conquest of Canaan. The city was formerly called Jebus. A Jebusite was a resident of that city.
But the Benjaminites did not drive out the Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem; so the Jebusites have lived in Jerusalem among the Benjaminites to this day (Judges 1:21).
In Joshua 15:63 we also read that the Jebusites remained in the city after the conquest of the Canaan. In fact, 2 Samuel 5:6—10 indicates that the Jebusites were still there far later when David finally conquered the city.
The king and his men marched to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who said to David, “you will not come in here.” Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion, which is now the city of David (2 Samuel 5:6—7).
Is it possible that an early Judean battle against the city was successful, but that some of the inhabitants remained in Jerusalem to rebuild? Could this have happened in other cities as well? While this possibility exists, the biblical texts themselves do not make that claim.
Some scholars have suggested that the Israelites settled mostly in the hills and mountains and in the Judean Negev at first and co-existed with some of the Canaanite cities that occupied the plains and remained unconquered. This balance could have continued until about 1100 BCE when the growing Philistine forces upset the balance by cutting off supplies from the coastal cities to the highlands, forcing the highlanders to modify their lifestyle, settling down and taking up more farming activities. This change would have allowed the highlands to support a larger population. As the situation changed tensions would be inevitable. Local conflicts would arise, leading to action of individual tribes against cities in their area.
Most scholars today reject a strict “settlement” model of the Hebrew occupation of Canaan, though. Still, many acknowledge that some semi-peaceful settlement must have taken place along with whatever military activity occurred.