{"id":53822,"date":"2019-04-16T21:39:12","date_gmt":"2019-04-16T18:39:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=53822"},"modified":"2022-11-08T19:43:57","modified_gmt":"2022-11-08T17:43:57","slug":"a-stern-warning-not-a-triumphalist-boast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/a-stern-warning-not-a-triumphalist-boast\/","title":{"rendered":"A Stern Warning, Not A Triumphalist Boast"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[429,414,436],"acf":{"old_id":"53822","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":53309,"related_cahpter":"199","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Israel\u2019s deed to the land is no more secure than the Canaanites, and depends on adherence to morality","content":"

One cannot overlook the fact that nearly every encounter with the enemy Canaanite forces resulted not only in their unqualified defeat, but in the annihilation of their civilian populations as well. The recurring expression that runs as a refrain through the chapters of conquest is “He [Joshua] struck it by the edge of the sword, all of the souls that were in its midst, leaving not a remnant.” (See Josh. 8:24-25; 10:28, 30, 32, 35, 37, 39; 11:11, 14.) <\/span><\/p>\n

An investigation of the sources in the Torah that obligated Israel to wipe out all expressions of indigenous idolatrous worship clearly demonstrates that the underlying impetus for the campaign of eradication was moral rather than racial or ethnic. Almost without exception, every source in the Torah that commanded the conquest of Canaan also noted the moral degradation of its inhabitants. <\/span><\/p>\n

A careful reading of one of the sources highlights the moral rather than the racial nature of the conflict: <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cGod spoke to Moses saying: Speak to the people of Israel and say to them… Do not follow the practices of… the land of Canaan to where I bring you, and do not follow their statutes. […] Let no man approach his kin to uncover nakedness, I am God. (Lev. 18:1-6) <\/span><\/p>\n

The text goes on to list more than twenty prohibited sexual liaisons, but it is the conclusion of that source that proves to be decisive for our purposes: <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDo not defile yourselves by all of these practices, for all of the nations that I drive out from before you became defiled through them. The land became defiled and I punished it for its transgression, and the land spewed out its inhabitants.\u201d (Lev. 18:24-30) <\/span><\/p>\n

The Torah indicates that the Canaanite\u2019s loss of possession was due to their moral failure. The point of the text is not to triumphantly enumerate the downfall of the Canaanites and to highlight the superiority of Israel, but rather to solemnly declare that Israel will suffer a similar fate if they adopt the practices of their predecessors. <\/span><\/p>\n

The critical issue, therefore, is not Canaanite versus Israelite, but rather immorality in contradistinction to morality. Israel’s deed to the land is no more secure than that of the Canaanites and, practically speaking, is a function of one thing only: their fidelity to God’s laws and to the moral absolutes that those laws proclaim.<\/span><\/p>\n

from: <\/span>Joshua: The Challenge of the Promised Land<\/em> <\/span>(Jerusalem: Koren, 2015); chap: \u201cWar Against the Canaanites\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

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