, “Joshua conquered all the land: the mountain country and the South and the lowland and the wilderness slopes, and all their kings; he left none remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed, as the Lord God of Israel had commanded” (Joshua 10:40).1 Similar statements are made in Joshua 11:8-23.
The Bible reader learns later, however, that “Israel…did not completely drive them out” (the Canaanites, that is—Judges 1:28).2 In fact, in some situations the text says, “they could not drive out the inhabitants” (in part because “they had chariots of iron,” Judges 1:19; Joshua 17:12-13). Instead, “the Canaanites dwelt among them, and were put under tribute” (1:30).
How are we to make sense of these differing statements? Are they contradictory, as skeptics allege, or are there logical explanations? ..
First, sometimes the statements are contextually limited to a particular region of Canaan. For example, Joshua 10:40 (“all the land” was conquered) is limited to the southern part of Canaan, as Joshua 10:28-43 indicates.3
Second, just as writers and speakers today use intended exaggeration “all the time,” Bible writers also used this figure of speech (known as hyperbole). Similar to Luke’s statement in Acts 2:5 that Jews “from every nation under heaven” had journeyed to Jerusalem for Pentecost or similar to Paul’s statement that “every creature under heaven” (Colossians 1:23) had heard the Gospel,...
Third, the conquering of the land of Canaan took approximately 10 years5 (and a lot can happen in a decade!). Just as land has been won and lost through the millennia by various nations in rather short periods of time, could Israel not have conquered various regions one year and yet it be retaken by certain Canaanites (who had temporarily fled their homeland for fear of their lives) in subsequent months or years (cf. Joshua 10:36-39; 15:15-16)? ..
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, many fail to recognize the conditional nature of God’s promise to give Israel all the land of Canaan. God was not going to give Israel the Promised Land if they failed to take it obediently.
More ; https://apologeticspress.org/did-the-israelites-completely-destroy-the-canaanites-or-not-5542/
Ping
The Canaanites invented hummus.
The Bible also makes use of figurative hyperbole, making mountains out of molehills.
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Who’s yer daddy?
So the ancient Canaanites invented belly dancing?
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