ESSAY: CRITICAL ESSAY: OUR TOWN

Answer

Israel in Canaan is a Fulfillment

            The conquest of Canaan can be described as a fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham. It also depicts God’s faithfulness and holiness (Joshua 18:1-21:45 New International Version). The Israelites engaged in aggression against the Canaanites even when they were not provoked. To many, this foreign power of oppression against the Canaanites is unjustifiable even when it is presumed to be a method of worshiping God. In the current society, any nation engaging in such aggressive acts would be condemned strongly (Noll, 2013). This paper seeks to evaluate how these actions were a way for God to fulfill the promise He made to Israelites forefathers.

            The period between the exodus in Moses’ time and the incarnation of Jesus Christ is a special period for the redemptive history. The duration exposes the will of God to ensure that His people had a formal government and a land they could call home (Noll, 2013). The will of the Lord was for Israel to not only be a religious body, but also acquire political form. Similarly, God states that the whole world is His and people called by His name would be the inhabitants of the land. Thus, when God gave the land of Canaan to His people, it was a symbolic representation of His ultimate goal. Besides, it was a guarantee that the lessons God intended to teach the world through these chosen people would be known. Prior to the time of Moses and after Jesus, God’s people were exiles and sojourners without national and political identity (Hebrew 13:14; 11:13-16; 1 Peter 1:1, 17; 2:11). Therefore, Israel was the chosen nation that God used to execute historical judgments.

            The conquest of Israel was a fulfillment because as God’s chosen people, the exploits of Israel purely depended on God (Noll, 2013). It was not the doing of the Israelites, but God Himself who acted as the commander in chief and Israelites as his tools of war. God used them as weapons to fulfill His historical judgment to various nations. The Lord gave commands and fought the battles by himself (Joshua 6:16; 23:10; 11:20). However, obedience was required on the part of Israelites as every time they defied God’s orders, they lost the battle (Joshua 7:1-5).

Israel in Canaan is also a fulfillment because by destroying the nations of Canaan, God did not just create a dwelling place for His chosen nation, but also established judgment on the Canaanites because of their wickedness (Noll, 2013). Moses warned the Israelites that after the Lord thrust Canaanites from the land for Israelites to inhabit, they were not in a position to boast that it is because of their righteousness the Lord conquered the land for them. Instead, the land was given to them as a punishment for the wickedness of the nations of Canaan and as a fulfillment of the promise He gave to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Deuteronomy 9:4-5)

            In conclusion, the conquest of Canaan can be described as a manifestation of the faithfulness of God in fulfilling His promises and His holiness to subject people to justice for their idolatry and wickedness. Besides, Israel in Canaan gives the nation not only a religious form but establishes it as a political body. Finally, the conquest shows how God fought through the Israelites to ensure the nations acknowledged His divine power.