The Conquest of Canaan (Part 1)

EA Baker
Feb 12
9 min read

Updated: 5 hours ago

Wars of the Bible

Previously, in "Defeating the Five Kings of the Amorite Alliance," we walked through one of the most dramatic turning points in Joshua’s campaign; a moment when covenant loyalty, military necessity, and divine intervention collided on the plains of southern Canaan. We explored how the coalition of five Amorite kings, alarmed by Israel’s victories and Gibeon’s treaty, rose in force against God’s people. What followed was not merely a battle plan executed with precision, but a reminder that victory in this war was never merely tactical— it was spiritual. Israel learned that obedience, covenant faithfulness, and faith in the Lord’s presence were essential to victory.

That encounter with the Amorite alliance marked a watershed: Israel was no longer a rag-tag group testing its strength but a nation on mission, propelled by God’s power and promise. From Ai to the central hill country, the momentum had shifted, and now, with the defeat of the five kings behind him, Joshua turned his eye toward the wider conquest of the land God had sworn to give his people generations earlier.

As we move forward in the Wars of the Bible series, we begin Part 1 of The Conquest of Canaan, a close look at Joshua 10:29–43, where the Israelites look to conquer Southern Canaan. Here, the narrative unfolds not just another battle, but a campaign in which the Lord’s power consolidates Israel’s hold over key cities and kings. The victories that follow the drama at Gibeon underscore a central truth of this series: the Lord fights for His people, and He fulfills His promises through both His sovereignty and His servants’ obedience.

With that in mind, let’s turn to the text that launches this southern campaign and consider the unfolding conquest that shapes Israel’s destiny in the land.

Conquest of Southern Canaan

29 Then Joshua and all Israel with him passed on from Makkedah to Libnah and fought against Libnah. 30 And the Lord gave it also and its king into the hand of Israel. And he struck it with the edge of the sword, and every person in it; he left none remaining in it. And he did to its king as he had done to the king of Jericho.

31 Then Joshua and all Israel with him passed on from Libnah to Lachish and laid siege to it and fought against it. 32 And the Lord gave Lachish into the hand of Israel, and he captured it on the second day and struck it with the edge of the sword, and every person in it, as he had done to Libnah.

33 Then Horam king of Gezer came up to help Lachish. And Joshua struck him and his people, until he left none remaining.

34 Then Joshua and all Israel with him passed on from Lachish to Eglon. And they laid siege to it and fought against it. 35 And they captured it on that day, and struck it with the edge of the sword. And he devoted every person in it to destruction that day, as he had done to Lachish.

36 Then Joshua and all Israel with him went up from Eglon to Hebron. And they fought against it 37 and captured it and struck it with the edge of the sword, and its king and its towns, and every person in it. He left none remaining, as he had done to Eglon, and devoted it to destruction and every person in it.

38 Then Joshua and all Israel with him turned back to Debir and fought against it 39 and he captured it with its king and all its towns. And they struck them with the edge of the sword and devoted to destruction every person in it; he left none remaining. Just as he had done to Hebron and to Libnah and its king, so he did to Debir and to its king.

40 So Joshua struck the whole land, the hill country and the Negeb and the lowland and the slopes, and all their kings. He left none remaining, but devoted to destruction all that breathed, just as the Lord God of Israel commanded. 41 And Joshua struck them from Kadesh-barnea as far as Gaza, and all the country of Goshen, as far as Gibeon. 42 And Joshua captured all these kings and their land at one time, because the Lord God of Israel fought for Israel. 43 Then Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to the camp at Gilgal.

Joshua 10:29-43

Southern Canaan: Geography, Archaeology, and Historicity

Archaeologists and biblical historians have long debated what the material record tells us about these events. At some sites named in the conquest narratives — such as Lachish — excavations have uncovered layers of destruction from the Late Bronze Age, suggesting episodes of violent upheaval consistent with warfare in the second millennium BCE. Evidence of collapsed fortifications and charred remains fits a picture of rapid conflict at key fortified centers.

Map showing routes and battles, with red and blue lines indicating movements. Notable cities and the Dead Sea are marked. Key explains symbols. — This map depicts Joshua’s southern campaign in the Conquest of Canaan, showing the key cities Israel captured following the defeat of the Amorite coalition. From the overnight march to Gibeon through the captures of Makkedah, Libnah, Lachish, Eglon, Hebron, and Debir, the routes and locations illustrate the strategic advance of Joshua’s forces across southern Canaan as narrated in Joshua 10.

Other sites present a more complex picture. Some show that layers do not align with traditional dates or reveal continuous occupation or phased destruction, leading scholars to question whether the biblical chapter should be read as a literal military campaign as a modern history book would report. Excavators and historians highlight that the archaeological record is fragmentary; only a fraction of Bronze Age sites have been fully explored.

Beyond the soil, extra-biblical sources offer tantalizing corroboration for the geopolitical landscape. The Amarna letters, diplomatic correspondence from Canaanite city-states in the mid-14th century BCE, mention rulers in cities like Jerusalem, Lachish, Hebron, and Eglon, exactly the urban centers that Joshua reports battling or confronting in the southern campaign. These letters show a mosaic of small city-kingdoms whose names and political dynamics align with the biblical narrative’s setting, even if they don’t detail the same battles.

Overall, while precise synchronisms between archaeology and the biblical text remain debated, the geography of Southern Canaan and the sites named in Joshua 10 are real places with Bronze Age occupational remains, and scholars continue to refine how the evidence may connect to the traditions preserved in the book of Joshua.

Why the Conquest?

For religious scholars, whether theological, historical, or literary, the conquest narratives offer more than raw military history; they communicate meaning about God, covenant, identity, and theology.

1. Covenant and Divine Justice

Many interpreters read the conquest in light of the Deuteronomic covenant framework, that is, God’s promise to give the land to Abraham’s descendants, coupled with commands to eliminate idolatrous influence. In this view, the southern campaign of Joshua 10 illustrates God’s faithfulness in fulfilling His promise and in exercising judicial action against societies depicted as entrenched in practices contrary to the God of Israel.

This theological perspective treats the conquest as an enacted covenant narrative: obedience brings success, disobedience brings hardship, and God’s involvement underscores that Israel’s history is shaped by relational fidelity rather than mere human strategy.

2. Literary and Theological Purpose

Scholars also note that the Joshua conquest account belongs to a specific literary genre of the ancient Near East. Like many victory inscriptions of the second millennium BCE, it employs rhetorical features—repetition, sweeping statements, and summary victory formulas—that may not align perfectly with modern expectations of strict historiography. This doesn’t mean the narrative is mere fiction; it simply situates itself within the worldview and communicative practices of its time, blending memory, theology, and collective identity.

3. Identity Formation and Religious Memory

The conquest narratives function as identity-shaping texts for Israel. They frame the people as beneficiaries of divine provision and participants in God’s cosmic story, not merely a wandering tribe, but a nation called and equipped to inherit the land through God’s power. This theological significance echoed throughout Israel’s later history and liturgical memory, influencing how subsequent generations understood God’s role in Israel’s past and future.

Some scholars even situate the conquest within a broader theological cosmology (e.g., divine council motifs), interpreting these battles as not just territorial but also symbolic clashes with powers deemed spiritually hostile to Israel’s God.

4. Historical Criticism and Narrative Function

Critical historians emphasize a later date of composition for the conquest accounts, placing them in the 7th–6th centuries BCE (the Deuteronomistic History) and linking them to theological reflection during periods of national threat and reform, rather than to eyewitness reportage. From this perspective, the stories serve as theological commentary on Israel’s situation in the later kingdoms, offering hope and calling for covenant renewal rather than preserving literal battlefield chronologies.

In short, the landscape of Southern Canaan, its cities and routes, provides a real setting that anchors the narrative of Joshua 10, even as archaeology and textual criticism invite ongoing study about how and when these traditions took shape. More importantly, religious scholars help us see why this campaign matters, as a theological statement about God’s character, Israel’s identity, and the unfolding story of redemption.

My Spiritual Takeaways

The conquest of Southern Canaan begins the fulfillment of God’s promise to bring the Israelites into this land. The destruction of the Canaanites was required because God had deemed these people so corrupt and evil that he wanted them wiped from the Earth so as not to, in turn, corrupt the Israelites (which will end up happening).

This is a challenging part of the bible for modern readers to understand. Many would mischaracterize this as genocide, an ethnically motivated attack commanded by God. But that would be a mischaracterization, given that there are many who probably don’t remember here to understand what’s going on contextually.

Going all the way back to Genesis, we read something important in the covenant that God makes with Abraham.

“In the fourth generation, your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”

Genesis 15:16

The Amorites are Canaanites. So, as God does with Pharaoh, he shows immense patience with all peoples and societies to turn from their evil ways. But by the time of Joshua, the Canaanites (Amorites) had not done so, and were judged accordingly. So this is not a malevolent act of God; it’s divine justice for an extremely corrupt society.

Another thing to keep in mind when reading these passages is that God had warned the Israelites of the same fate.

“But it shall come about, if you do not obey the Lord your God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes with which I charge you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you.”

Deuteronomy 28:15

Spoiler alert! The Israelites do not do as God commands and will become corrupted or “Canaanized,” which is what the Book of Judges focuses on. So, God is not playing favorites here. The Israelites will suffer a judgment later for their corruption stemming, yet again, from their disobedience to God’s command.

This divine judgement is also apparent in another passage that precedes the one we read in "The Fall of Jericho." It reads:

13 Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?”

14 “Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.”

Joshua 5:13-14

Here, we see that Joshua asked God if he was for Israel or for the Canaanites. The response was neither. The question, as Tim Mackie and Aaeron Sillivan write in their article Judgment or Cruelty? Conquering the Promised Land, “The point is clear. God is going to bring his judgment on human evil. The real question is whether Israel is on God’s side.

And lastly, there are some Canaanites who are spared for putting their faith in the Lord, including Rahab in Jericho, as well as the Gibeonites. God’s multifaceted character is on full display in this episode, which leads me to my three spiritual takeaways from this reading.

God is Merciful

The mercy of the Lord is seen here in this Old Testament event. But as believers, knowing that he sent his only begotten son to save us is the epitome of mercy.

God Keeps His Promises

It had been many years and generations, and the path was not straight, but God kept his promise. It’s a good reminder in our own lives to trust in the Lord, for the path may be treacherous (by our own doing or by design), but in the end, he has our best interests in mind.

The Lord is Just

God is the light, and he will judge evil accordingly. For those who have the clarity to see the world through this lens, it's hard not to recognize the corruption not only in American society and the West but also around the world. It’s our job as believers to share the Gospel and let God do his wondrous work in saving the lost, forgotten, and fallen.

In the next blog, we’ll close out this two-part blog with Joshua’s conquest of Northern Canaan.