Who occupied the land that God had promised to give to the Israelites?

Answer 1

Answer

The Israelites took over the mountainous hinterland of Palestine, more or less comparable to today's West Bank territory, plus the rich Jezreel Valley further to the north. The Philistines continued to occupy the fertile coastal plains and foothills between Egypt and the present location of Tel Aviv, while the Canaanites occupied the coastal areas further north. It appears that Israel briefly occupied the Canaanite coastal territories in the early part of the first millennium BCE before being, in turn, destroyed by Assyria.

Answer 2

A:The Book of Joshua says that the Israelites crossed the River Jordan into Canaan, under the leadership of Joshua, and then began to destroy each of the Canaanite cities in turn. God ordered them to commit acts of genocide, apparently so that the original inhabitants could never challenge them for the right to live in the Promised Land.

A parallel but incomplete story at the beginning of the Book of Judges says that the Judahites were the real conquerors, defeating the same cities uder the leadership of Caleb. This is one example in which the early traditions of Judah were parochially different to those of the northern kingdom of Israel.

Scholars, on the other hand, say there never was a military conquest of Canaan as described in The Bible. The mountainous Canaanite hinterland was sparsely populated in the second half of the second millennium BCE, when groups of Canaanite villagers and farmers began to leave the rich coastal regions under control of the petty Canaanite kings, and settled peacefully in the hinterland. Long after they had forgotten their real origins, the Hebrews developed these parallel stories about defeating the Canaanites, and the Joshua version was the account that came to dominate.

Answer 3

The Canaanites.

God promised Israel (Canaan) to the Israelites (Genesis ch.28, Exodus ch.3), and commanded them to take the land (Deuteronomy ch.1 and many other passages). One major reason was because of the Canaanites' egregious wickedness, which included bestiality, incest (Leviticus ch.18), sorcery (Deuteronomy ch.18), temple-prostitution, human sacrifice (ibid.) and idolatry. God predicted that if the Israelites were lax in the fulfillment of the command, they would stray after the Canaanite gods (Numbers 33:55), and that is what later came to pass (Judges ch.1-2). The Israelites did not like to fight, and in fact allowed large segments of the Canaanite population to remain as they were (Judges, ibid).

Note:

1) Israel (Canaan) originally belonged to the Semites (after the Flood) and was gradually seized from them by the Canaanites (Rashi commentary, Genesis 12:6). This was one of the reasons why God gave the land to Abraham and his descendants (Genesis ch.13), since he was a Semite (Genesis ch.11).2) The Israelites did not simply slaughter the Canaanites. They fought them in proper battle (Joshua ch.10) with miraculous assistance from God (Exodus ch.23).
3) They warned the Canaanites concerning God's command to take Canaan (Jerusalem Talmud, Shevi'it 6:1), and gave them a chance to leave the land (ibid). The Girgashites took the warning seriously and departed to Africa (ibid.), while the Gibeonites made a treaty with the Israelites (Joshua ch.9). The rest of the Canaanites insisted on fighting, and attacked the Israelites with a massive army (Joshua ch.11).
4) Whenever fighting, the Israelites never completely surrounded any town. They offered conditional peace, and then (if peace was rejected) left one area open for escape so that whoever wanted to flee could do so (Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Laws of kings and war ch.6).

5) The fact that the Israelites killed Canaanites need not bother you. Since secular writers claim that the evidence of Joshua's conquest comes from the Hebrew records exclusively, they must, logically, accept the Hebrew records in full, which clearly state that this was done at God's command, and give the reason too (Numbers 33:55). Even the Canaanites were impressed (Joshua 9:3-10, and 6:27).See also the Related Links.

Link: The reliability of the Hebrew record

Link: About Joshua

Link: What difficulties did Joshua face?

Link: Contents of the Book of Joshua

Answer 4

The Canaanites.

Answer 5

They conquered it in war.

Answer 6

Canaanites.