In an attempt to defend the goodness of God, many interpreters have gone beyond what the biblical text actually says regarding the reason for the Canaanite conquest. The Bible does not say the Canaanites deserved to be driven out of the land because of their sin, wickedness, or uncleanness. Rather, it was a matter of covenant faithfulness and community preservation. Our inaccurate assertions are a result of a misunderstanding of what the Bible is, mistranslating what the Hebrew says, and ignoring the ANE context.
Overall Impression
Walton shows off his Hebrew expertise in this detailed commentary on the Israelite Conquest narrative. As always he is careful to respect the authority of Scripture while at the same time being honest about the plethora of ANE information that helps us understand Scripture better. For many conservative Christians, this can make us nervous. However, gaining better insight into how the biblical authors thought about the world helps us better understand how God communicated to them His inspired message that was preserved for us today.
Favorite Quotes
The Bible exists to tell us what God is doing, and it describes what God is doing in terms of the language, logic, and values of the culture to which it was originally written (23).
They were being treated like chaos creatures, not treated like sinners, so the text depicts them as if they were chaos creatures to make clear what is actually going on (166).
The Bible is a record of God’s actions that we are supposed to understand, not a compilation of rules that we are supposed to obey (20).
Top Takeaways
- Israel saw the Canaanite conquest as a fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham, not a judgment of their idolatrous practices.
- Misunderstandings of the Canaanite conquest are at least in part to mistranslations of the text.
- The narrative is not trying to tell us that the conquest was good or should be repeated in the future if the circumstance is similar.
Disclaimer
Please note: If you liked this review or my linked summary, I encourage you to purchase the book. This review is meant to be a supplement to the book and certainly not a substitute.
