{"id":53846,"date":"2019-04-17T00:37:41","date_gmt":"2019-04-16T21:37:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=53846"},"modified":"2022-11-09T08:02:58","modified_gmt":"2022-11-09T06:02:58","slug":"the-leftover-land","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-leftover-land\/","title":{"rendered":"The \u2018Leftover\u2019 Land"},"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":[806,430,792],"acf":{"old_id":"53846","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34243,"related_cahpter":"200","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Could Joshua distribute land that remained unconquered? Should he?","content":"

Occasionally, people or nations arrive at an unanticipated moment and are forced to confront an unforeseen circumstance. Such a moment was reached in this chapter: \u201cThis is the leftover land, all the regions of the Philistines and the Geshurites\u201d (v. 2). Up to this point, we assumed that the conquest of the entire Land of Israel was inevitable. In the immediately previous chapter, we noted the names of no fewer than thirty-one local chieftains whose locales were conquered by Joshua; now, all of a sudden, we discover that there are sizeable tracts of land that resisted takeover. The entire coastal plain from the Sinai Peninsula (\u201cTeiman\u201d) north to Lebanon (\u201cSidon\u201d), the Anti-Lebanon Mountains (that form the present day border between Syria and Lebanon) up to Mount Hermon, and what appear to be parts of the Galilee, all remained in the hands of the Philistines, Geshurites, and Canaanites.<\/span><\/p>\n

In other words, significant parcels of land held out against the Israelites. The Geshurites \u201ccontinued to live among the Israelites down to this very day\u201d (v. 13)* and the Philistines would remain a thorn in their side throughout the era of the Judges (Samson) and the early monarchy (Saul). Indeed, the reference to a thorn reminds us that the Torah had foretold this, warning: \u201cIf you fail to remove the inhabitants of the land before you, those who remain will become thorns in your eyes and spikes in your sides\u201d (Numbers 33:55). Conceivably, the reason for this setback could be related to the Israelites\u2019 lack of strict obedience to God\u2019s rules of warfare, as exemplified by the incident of the spoils of Jericho (discussed in Chapter 7).<\/span><\/p>\n

The immediate problem, though, concerned apportioning the land amongst the nine and one-half tribes (v. 7) who had received no distribution east of the Jordan (v. 8 ff.). Was Joshua to limit its dispersal to the territory he actually controlled? Could he, realistically, distribute land that remained unconquered? God gave him an unambiguous answer: \u201cI will evict them before Israel; go ahead and make it part of the land-lottery as I instructed you\u201d (v. 6). It appears, once again, that we have arrived at a conjunction of national effort and reliance on divine intercession (see our comments to chapters 6 and 11).<\/span><\/p>\n

*See our comments on \u201cthis very day\u201d<\/a> in chapter 9.<\/span><\/p>\n

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