Conquest of the Land Chapters 9

Gibeon was a strategically important city about 5 miles northwest of Jerusalem. Its inhabitants, the Hivites, resorted to trickery, pretending to have come "from a distant country" (verse 6).

Their pretense of friendship deceived the leaders of Israel, who then made a treaty with them. For Israel, it was a fundamental mistake because they "did not inquire of the Lord" (verse 14).

Too late, the Israelites discovered that the Gibeonites lived in the Promised Land. But Israel’s vow was not nullified by the Gibeonites’ trickery. For this deceptive act, however, Gibeon was put under a curse (verse 23).

The name Adoni-Zedek occurs in connection with the first mention of Jerusalem in the Bible (verse 1). He was the head of a coalition that decided to attack the Gibeonites because of their treaty with Israel. Due to the obligations of the treaty, Joshua came to Gibeon’s rescue.

In one of the most remarkable battles in Israel’s history, all five Amorite kings were executed and their armies decimated (verses 16-28). Joshua’s army then went on to conquer all the strategic cities of the south (verses 29-43).

God used nature to aid Israel in this victory (verses 12-14). Some scholars believe that Joshua’s "long day" was caused by a miraculous slowing of the earth’s normal rotation. Others conclude that some unusual refraction of the sun’s rays produced additional hours of light. We do not know exactly how God did it, but we do know that he performed a miracle. Miracles do not depend upon scientific explanation.

Jaban, king of Hazor, formed a northern confederacy. Although it was more powerful than the southern alliance, it met with no greater success.

Following God’s instructions, Joshua hamstrung the enemy horses and burned their chariots (verses 6, 9) so that Israel would continue to trust in the Lord and not in captured implements of war. Hazor, the capital of the territory, was destroyed by fire.

Verses 1-6 review the Israelite conquests in Transjordan during the time of Moses, "from the Arnon Gorge to Mount Hermon, including all the eastern side of the Arabah" (verse 1). The roster of 31 conquered kings in verses 7-24 identifies those defeated during the time of Joshua.

Verses 1-7 introduce the next section of the book — possessing the land. Israel had been a homeless people for 40 years. Now God was giving them their inheritance.

God told Joshua, "You are very old, and there are still very large areas of land to be taken over" (verse 1). In several places, the Israelites — for lack of faith — could not drive out local populations. Jerusalem was a case in point: "Judah could not dislodge the Jebusites, who were living in Jerusalem; to this day the Jebusites live there with the people of Judah" (Joshua 15:63).

The rest of Joshua 13 discusses the land east of the Jordan (verses 8-14), the tribe of Reuben (verses 15-23), the tribe of Gad (verses 24-28) and the half-tribe of Manasseh (verses 29-33).

Joshua, Eleazar and the tribal chieftains distributed the land by lot (verses 1-5; Numbers 26:55; 33:54; 34:13). The ever-faithful Caleb requested the territory of Hebron. Although the city of Hebron later became Levitical property (Joshua 21:9-13), Caleb kept the fields and villages around the city.

Judah’s large allotment included the land already granted to Caleb (verse 13), as well as a part of Jerusalem (verses 8, 63; Joshua 18:28). The size of Judah’s territory reflected the tribe’s traditional leadership role. It included much of the southern desert.

The general borders of the land given to the sons of Joseph stretched northwest from Gilgal. Although Joseph was one of Jacob’s sons, he did not have a tribe named after him. Instead, as the oldest son of Jacob’s wife Rachel, Joseph received a double portion of the inheritance.

This double portion was given to Joseph’s two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, whom Jacob considered his own (Genesis 48:5). The largest territory and the greatest influence in the northern half of Israel belonged to their tribes. The Ephraimites received some of the best land (Joshua 16:1-4), but failed to conquer all of it. For example, they could not expel the Canaanites from Gezer (verse 10), a strategically important city 18 miles northwest of Jerusalem.

Earlier, Joshua had defeated the king of Gezer (Joshua 12:12), but the Canaanites recaptured the city. It remained under Canaanite control until the time of Solomon (1 Kings 9:16).

Ephraim failed to drive out all of the Canaanites, just as Judah had failed to drive out the Jebusites (Joshua 15:63). Moses had warned that such failure would eventually turn the Israelites from following God (Deuteronomy 7:1-5).

Manasseh was given more land than any other tribe. In addition to its territory east of the Jordan, it controlled the northern part of the central hill country up to the Valley of Jezreel.

Ephraim and Manasseh’s complaint and plea of weakness (verses 14-18) showed a lack of faith. They looked at the power of the Canaanites’ iron chariots in the Valley of Jezreel instead of the power of God. In contrast, Joshua’s courageous answer (verses 15, 17-18) demonstrated his faith in the promise God had given him earlier (Joshua 1:5-6).

Seven tribes had still not claimed their allotted territory (Joshua 18:2). Joshua responded to their lack of faith by urging them to explore the land and claim their possession.

The remainder of Joshua 18 and 19 describes the territorial boundaries of these seven tribes as follows: Benjamin (Joshua 18:11-28), Simeon (Joshua 19:1-9), Zebulun (verses 10-16), Issachar (verses 17-23), Asher (verses 24-31), Naphtali (verses 32-39) and Dan (verses 40-48).

Six designated cities provided refuge for those who had committed unintentional homicide (see Numbers 35:9-28 and Deuteronomy 19:1-13). Specifically, these cities gave protection from the "avenger of blood" (Joshua 20:3-5), the deceased person’s nearest relative who was permitted to avenge the death.

God was the special inheritance of the Levites. Thus, the Levites were prohibited from owning rural land like the other tribes. (Compare Deuteronomy 10:9, Joshua 13:14, 33 and 14:3-4.) The three Levitical families — the Kohathites (Joshua 21:9-26), the Gershonites (verses 27-33) and the Merarites (verses 34-40) — were given 48 cities throughout the land, ensuring that the religious leaders were dispersed among the tribes. This distribution also fortified the worship of the true God against regional idolatry.

Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh returned home to their own lands east of the Jordan (see Numbers 32:20-22 and Joshua 1:12-18). Joshua thanked them for their faithful role in the conquest (Joshua 22:1-6).

As they left, however, a misunderstanding caused a national controversy. The departing tribes built what appeared to be an altar on the frontier just west of the Jordan River (verses 10-12). The other tribes perceived this as a blatant violation of God’s law, which permitted only one sanctuary (Deuteronomy 12:13-14). As it turned out, the "altar" was not to be used for burnt offerings and sacrifices, but rather as a memorial or witness (Joshua 22:21-29, 34). It testified that the 12 tribes, although separated by the Jordan River, were one people under God.

Joshua’s farewell speeches are comparable with those of Moses (Deuteronomy 31–33). Having reached the end of his long life, Joshua reminded the Israelites of God’s goodness and faithfulness. He encouraged them to continue to obey God, and warned them of the dangers of idolatry and apostasy.

The city of Shechem was about 41 miles north of Jerusalem in the pass between Mt. Ebal and Mt. Gerizim. It dominated an important trade route and controlled a fertile valley to the east where Jacob’s sons had pastured their flocks (Genesis 37:12-14). When the Israelites entered Canaan, Shechem passed peacefully into their hands. It became the earliest religious center of the tribes and was also a Levitical city of refuge (Joshua 20:7). While at Shechem, Joshua renewed the Sinai covenant with Israel’s tribal leaders at "the holy place of the Lord" (Joshua 24:25-26).