Joshua inherited leadership of a nation considerably less whiny, somewhat less superstitious, but still worldly and unspiritual. He still led them according to the Covenant of the Law, and still had to put up with a lot of very human failings. For example, lacking spirit, these people tended to revert to emotionalism, which was deeply enmeshed with what is now a narrower superstition. They could proclaim their loyalty to Jehovah after a stirring victory speech, but if things went sour according to their expectations, they allowed their feelings to sour on loyalty, too. Even for spiritual people, God is not much impressed with feelings one way or the other. He might enjoy strong emotional attachment, but what He must see from us is loyalty which often defies emotions. So He's not much threatened by your anger with Him, either. If you can keep your will in line with your commitments, you haven't sinned. Feelings are neither righteous nor sinful, but reflect our fallen nature in general. This holds true for those without a spiritual faculty.
It becomes necessary to review the political context of all this invasion activity in order to understand what Scripture tells us about the spiritual understanding of things. Canaan was somewhat thinly populated by small villages, towns, and a few big towns, clustered around water sources and arable land. That means the central highland ridge was mostly unpopulated, and somewhat forested by drought tolerant trees. We know precious little of their culture except what is reported by the few literate literate folk who visited there from other lands. They uniformly disparage the Canaanite sexual depravity, noting if often seemed to rule some religious rituals. Temple prostitutes of all flavors could be found. It seems there is little else which bound them together.
Small city-states were the most common political division across the land. Regardless how small, most villages and towns suffered their own peculiar brand of internal political rivalries. The vast majority of the towns paid tribute to Egypt, but the quality of loyalty was uneven, constantly variable, and Egypt herself was given to a very uneven involvement in their affairs for good or bad. It's important to understand Israel was hardly the only nation invading or colonizing the place. Many of the cities suffered constant raids, mostly during harvest seasons, and petty disputes between each other. Alliances were quite fluid. Yet, they all spoke a tongue quite similar to Israeli Hebrew of that time, and there remained a mixture of religious ritual and expression which included things very similar and familiar to general Semite populations of the world at that time.
The list of places Israel attacked is a laundry list of the premier worship centers for the worst pagan rituals. For example, Ai was probably still mostly tents pitched among ruins, but the ancient temple was apparently the first thing they tried to rebuild. It was this Israel meant to destroy. Other cities had their own infamous ritual centers, or protected one nearby. Make no mistake, some of this filthy religious practice could bring a lot of revenue, and would be the primary economic activity. A temple was often the one biggest treasury, and would be guarded fiercely. Canaan was the bawdy pleasure tourist attraction, perched on the intersection of a great many international trade routes. To an unspiritual mind, this was just another raiding nation of robbers picking the choicest wealthy targets, which just happened to house the most diverse collection of degrading hedonistic attractions.
The Bible tells us today every pagan religion serves a demon disguised as a deity. As long as Canaan was awash in demonic filth, astride such a crossroads of traffic from all over the known world, it was the demonic magnet for reasserting the awful filth which justified the Flood. Demonic activity has a lot of consequences, but we must keep our eye on the one factor which matters most from our spiritual viewpoint: Demonic activity makes men lawless, and unchecked lawlessness hinders the revelation of God. Never forget the primary emphasis is not the presence or absence of human laws, but that of God's Laws for fallen mankind. Anarchy -- simply defined as the absence of governing authority -- which still sees humans fairly obedient to the God's Laws is not a problem. It's not about government but the desired effect of it.
Men must be able to receive the witness of God through human obedience to Law. Demons are not a problem because of spiritual conflict, per se, but because they make men lawless, regardless of what government may be present. Their power to change spiritual reality is constrained to activity under Law. Those who die in a fallen state are going to Hell regardless; they cannot steal your spirit once it is brought to life by Christ. They can invade your life, and that is their primary function among believers, but they are constrained by hard spiritual barriers. Their presence in strongest where God's Laws are weakest. The purpose of their presence is weakening observance, and the understanding, of Laws.
So we note Israel, with all her weaknesses and resistance to their own special revelation of Law, were still sufficiently lawful upon crossing into the Land they could defeat every nation opposing their drive to claim God's promises. It should amaze us just how little it takes to please God on this level. For such a poor loyalty, the Jordan dried up, hailstones fell on enemy troops, armies simply could not hold it together in battle, and fear colored everything the pagans saw. As they were so much more given to emotions and superstitions, we can imagine just how dark it was for them. Satan owned them on every level, and God had found it irrevocable. If there was any being capable of discerning when men had gone to far, it would be their Creator. The command to decimate the population living in Canaan was the last sad chapter on a very dark blot on human history, already so tragic from the Fall itself. We should count ourselves blessed not to have seen it.
Return to Bible Literacy Index
[<-- Previous]
[Next -->]
By Ed Hurst
21 April 2009
COPYRIGHT NOTICE: People of honor need no copyright laws; they are only too happy to give credit where credit is due. Others will ignore copyright laws whenever they please. If you are of the latter, please note what Moses said about dishonorable behavior -- "be sure your sin will find you out" (Numbers 32:23)