The Lost World of the Israelite Conquest: Covenant, Retribution, and the Fate of the Canaanites
Overview
Holy warfare is the festering wound on the conscience of Bible-believing Christians. Of all the problems the Old Testament poses for our modern age, this is the one we want to avoid in mixed company. But do the so-called holy war texts of the Old Testament portray a divinely inspired genocide? Did Israel slaughter Canaanites at God’s command? Were they enforcing divine retribution on an unholy people? These texts shock us. And we turn the page. But have we rightly understood them? In The Lost World of the Israelite Conquest, John Walton and J. Harvey Walton take us on an archaeological dig, excavating the layers of translation and interpretation that over time have encrusted these texts and our perceptions. What happens when we take new approaches, frame new questions? When we weigh again their language and rhetoric? Were the Canaanites punished for sinning against the covenanting God? Does the Hebrew word herem mean “devote to destruction”? How are the Canaanites portrayed and why? And what happens when we backlight these texts with their ancient context? The Lost World of the Israelite Conquest keenly recalibrates our perception and reframes our questions. While not attempting to provide all the answers, it offers surprising new insights and clears the ground for further understanding.
Top Highlights
“We propose that the Bible is given to us not to provide a list of rules for behavior but to reveal God’s plans and purposes to us, which in turn will allow us to participate with him in those plans and purposes.” (Pages 15–16)
“God’s wisdom, not God’s justice, forms the basis of God’s activity in the world. Faith trusts that God is wise and that therefore his purposes are good, even if they don’t seem that way to any system we can understand. God does not need to be defended; he wants to be trusted.” (Page 35)
“displayed.’ God can strike without cause, but God does not strike without purpose.” (Page 37)
“The Bible is a record of God’s actions that we are supposed to understand, not a compilation of rules that we are supposed to obey.” (Page 20)
“God does not tell us how to produce our own salvation; instead, he tells us how we can participate in the salvation that he has produced. Goodness works the same way. God’s actions are performed toward a good purpose; our expected actions are not intended to produce goodness but to allow us to participate in the goodness that God is producing.” (Page 21)
- Title: The Lost World of the Israelite Conquest: Covenant, Retribution, and the Fate of the Canaanites
- Authors: John H. Walton, J. Harvey Walton
- Publisher: IVP Academic
- Print Publication Date: 2017
- Logos Release Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subjects: Bible. O.T. › Criticism, interpretation, etc; Violence in the Bible; Genocide › Biblical teaching; Jews › History--To 1200 B.C; Canaanites › History
- ISBNs: 9780830890071, 9780830851843, 0830890076, 0830851844
- Resource ID: LLS:LSTWRLDSRLCNQST
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T01:22:21Z
John H. Walton (PhD, Hebrew Union College) is professor of Old Testament at Wheaton College and Graduate School. Previously he was professor of Old Testament at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago for twenty years. Some of Walton's books include The Lost World of Adam and Eve, The Lost World of Scripture, The Lost World of Genesis One, Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament, The Essential Bible Companion, The NIV Application Commentary: Genesis, and The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament (with Victor Matthews and Mark Chavalas). Walton's ministry experience includes church classes for all age groups, high school Bible studies, and adult Sunday school classes, as well as serving as a teacher for “The Bible in 90 Days.” John and his wife, Kim, live in Wheaton, Illinois, and have three adult children.