Decent maps are hard to find online. These two links may give you some sense of how the Conquest of Canaan proceeded.
The northern campaign centered on a battle with the allied kings of Canaan, after which Joshua was to destroy the chariots and hamstring the horses. Now, that seems wasteful in the first case and downright cruel in the second. We should understand a couple of things. First, horses, in Bronze Age, were not particularly regarded as work animals. They were primarily military animals, used in the pulling of chariots. To hamstring them meant rendering them unfit for military service. But why destroy the more advanced military technology that had fallen into their hands? Simply because the Lord was to be their champion. The important thing for Israel’s military fortunes was not the power of her armies, the wisdom of her commanders, or the technology she could deploy. She was to rely on the Lord for deliverance, as she had at Jericho.
I promised myself recently that when I’m done with doctoral work (by 2013, God-willing), I’m going to re-immerse myself in the work of Eugene Peterson. Peterson is a Presbyterian pastor, and he has written extensively in critique of the ways that the church has substituted the world’s technologies for the Gospel, oftentimes without even knowing it. So, pastors embrace marketing and business techniques, counseling and therapy strategies, and other ‘technologies.’ In the trade-off they lose the works of prayer, community-building, and proclamation. I’m not saying that the strategies that pastors often use are necessarily bad; I am saying that the church should be careful they’re not adopting the ways of Canaan instead of relying on the Lord.
I was just thinking about re-reading Under the Unpredictable Plant. Remind me when we're done!
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