the settlement of the israelites in canaan is the theme of the book joshua.
the settlement of the israelites in canaan is the theme of the book joshua.
the settlement of the israelites in canaan is the theme of which book?
joshua
the israelites set out from sinai. the people murmur against god and are punished by fire; moses complains of their stubbornness and is ordered to choose seventy elders to assist him in the government of the people. miriam and aaron insult moses at hazeroth, which angers god; miriam is punished with leprosy and is shut out of camp for seven days, at the end of which the israelites proceed to the desert of paran on the border of canaan. twelve spies are sent out into canaan and come back to report to moses. joshua and caleb, two of the spies, report that the land is abundant and is "flowing with milk and honey", but the other spies say that it is inhabited by giants, and the israelites refuse to enter the land. yahweh decrees that the israelites will be punished for their loss of faith by having to wander in the wilderness for 40 years.
book of numbers
a midrash interpreted the israelites' encounter with sihon in and noting the report of that "israel sent messengers to sihon king of the amorites, saying: ‘let me pass through your land,'" the midrash taught that the israelites sent messengers to sihon just as they had to edom to inform the edomites that the israelites would not cause edom any damage. noting the report of that the israelites offered sihon, "you shall sell me food for money . . . and give me water for money," the midrash noted that water is generally given away for free, but the israelites offered to pay for it. the midrash noted that in the israelites offered, "we will go by the king's highway," but in the israelites admitted that they would go "until [they] shall pass over the jordan," thus admitting that they were going to conquer canaan. the midrash compared the matter to a watchman who received wages to watch a vineyard, and to whom a visitor came and asked the watchman to go away so that the visitor could cut off the grapes from the vineyard. the watchman replied that the sole reason that the watchman stood guard was because of the visitor. the midrash explained that the same was true of sihon, as all the kings of canaan paid sihon money from their taxes, since sihon appointed them as kings. the midrash interpreted which says, "sihon king of the amorites, and og king of bashan, and all the kingdoms of canaan," to teach that sihon and og were the equal of all the other kings of canaan. so the israelites asked sihon to let them pass through sihon's land to conquer the kings of canaan, and sihon replied that the sole reason that he was there was to protect the kings of canaan from the israelites. interpreting the words of "and sihon would not suffer israel to pass through his border; but sihon gathered all his people together," the midrash taught that god brought this about designedly so as to deliver sihon into the israelites' hands without trouble. the midrash interpreted the words of "sihon king of the amorites, who dwelt at heshbon," to say that if heshbon had been full of mosquitoes, no person could have conquered it, and if sihon had been living in a plain, no person could have prevailed over him. the midrash taught that sihon thus would have been invincible, as he was powerful and dwelt in a fortified city. interpreting the words, "who dwelt at heshbon," the midrash taught that had sihon and his armies remained in different towns, the israelites would have worn themselves out conquering them all. but god assembled them in one place to deliver them into the israelites' hands without trouble. in the same vein, in god said, "behold, i have begun to deliver up sihon . . . before you," and says, "sihon gathered all his people together," and reports, "and israel took all these cities."
devarim (parsha)