Israelite Invasion

According to ch. 14:7—10, the conquest of Canaan must have required 6 or 7 years. Caleb, who was 40 when Moses sent him as a spy from Kadesh—barnea, about 2 years after they had left Egypt, was now 85 years old. Thus it was between 38 and 39 years from Kadesh to the time when Israel laid siege to Jericho. Subtracting 78 or 79 from 85 leaves 6 or 7 years for the campaign.

It would seem that the writer, by inserting the statement here to the effect that the wars continued a long time, designed to guard the reader against the impression that, since the record of these wars is very brief, the space of time in which they were accomplished was also brief. God had given a definite reason for prolonging the time of conquest: "lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee" (Deut. 7:22). Perhaps, also, the long series of arduous struggles was designed to develop the faith of His people.

Although in the commands of Moses for the extermination of the Canaanites there seems to be no intimation that in case any of them surrendered to Jehovah they were to be spared, yet judging by the case of Rahab and the Gibeonites, and especially by the words of the text, this was apparently possible. If these nations, doomed to destruction, had renounced their idolatry and had come to cooperate sincerely with Israel, there would have been no danger to Israel. Thus the reason prompting the decree to destroy them would have disappeared, and consequently, we may suppose, the obligation to do so (see Jer. 18:7, 8). But apparently these heathen nations were not disposed to recognize the true God.

God might have chosen other means for the accomplishment of His judgments upon these nations. His choice of the arms of Israel as His instrument of destruction was for the benefit of the Israelites. They needed to be brought face to face with various tests that would try their faith and prepare them to fulfill their high spiritual destiny. Their failure at Kadesh and the resultant delay in their entry into Canaan had greatly increased the difficulties of the invasion. The Canaanitish nations were thus given ample time to build up their defenses and to prepare their military forces. God intended the extended conquest to be for the discipline of His people, to help them to overcome where formerly they had failed.