Session 4 |Conquering or Settling in Peacefully:
Archaeology, Bible, and Modern Scholarship
#11-16
#11. Introduction
This lecture focuses upon the biblical story about the entrance of the Israelite tribes into the land of Israel around 1250 BCE. This narrative is recounted in the sixth book of the Hebrew Bible: Joshua. In chapters 1-12 of this text one may read of the warfare between the Israelites and the local people, which the Bible frequently refers to as the Canaanites, at the time when the Israelites were seeking to conquer the Land. The following readings entail two primary sources – Joshua [#12] and the Merneptah Stele [#13] – and two secondary sources, which are pertinent to the question of whether or not the Israelites came to inhabit Israel/Palestine through peaceful means or through warfare. In a way we are also investigating here the relationship between “literature” and history. Think about these two categories as you ponder the sources below.
#12. Joshua
The book of Joshua concludes the biblical saga of the Israelite journey from Egypt to Canaan (Canaan being a synonym for Israel/Palestine) (cf. the Exodus) that is described in the first five books of the Bible. As you read Joshua chapters 1-2, 6, 10-12, distinguish between human and divine tactics of war.
Question
Do the chapters presented above describe the conquest of Canaan as a total annihilation of the inhabitants of Israel/Palestine and their cities or do they describe a less than complete conquest? List the specific verses that support your conclusion.
#13. Merneptah Stele
Simply put, a stele is a stone monument that has an inscribed message upon it. The Victory Stele of the Egyptian pharaoh Merneptah describes his military exploits in the latter part of the 13th century BCE. Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie in the late 1800’s CE discovered it in southern Egypt at the site of Thebes (ANET, Princeton 1969, 376). Underline the names of places or people groups that are familiar to you in the text.
The princes are prostrate, saying: “Mercy!” 16
Not one raises his head among the Nine Bows. Desolation is for Tehenu; Hatti is pacified; Plundered is the Canaan with every evil; Carried off is Ashkelon; seized upon is Gezer; Yanoam is made as that which does not exist;17
Israel is laid waste, his seed is not;18
Hurru is become a widow for Egypt!19
All lands together, they are pacified;
Everyone who was restless, he has been bound by the King of Upper and Lower Egypt: Ba-en-Re Meri-Amon; the Son of Re: Mer-ne-Ptah Hotep-hir-Maat, given life like Re every day.