The Call of Joshua: Historical Background, Textual Commentary

The Call of Joshua
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Historical Background
In the history of the Jewish people, there was the promise land that was promised to them by God. This is a history that begins with Abraham. When God spoke to Abraham, He asked Abraham to leave his homeland and go to the Promised Land. This means that Abraham had to leave his land and take his descendants to a promised land, the land of Canaan. This is generally referred to as the call of Abraham. This was a call of faith, where Abraham was to leave the land that he tilled and lived in and go to a place where he would be shown by the Lord.
In Genesis 12; 1-9 the bible says, Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, 6 Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. 8 From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. 9 And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb.
This was a land that was known as Israel and one that had been named after the grandson to Abraham, one of the descendants who were Jewish. The reason as to why the land is called the promised land, is that, this is a phrase that is repeated quite often in the bible especially in Genesis 12;7, 13;15, 15;18 and 17;8 and was a promise to Abraham and his descendants in all of these instances. The land was described as a good land in the Torah; as a land that was flowing with milk and honey. Although the land that was described in the bible did not fit in well with what is seen in the news, it is important to note that this is a land that has been for quite some time been abused by the various conquers, who were more than determined tomake sure that the land would be uninhabitable for the Jews. One of the evidential elements that can be established in light of the fact that the land was once very productive is it current state. Israel is one of the most productive lands today in the world, despite the fact that it is a desert in its own form. It actually more productive that some of the tropical and temperate lands in the world and providesenough food for the Jews and surplus to even export. For more than 3200 years since the conquest by Joshua, the Jews...