HEBREW
NATIONAL
GEOGRAPHIC
Week 12
Conquest of Canaan
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http://www.bib-arch.org/
Wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Biblical_f
igures_identified_in_extra-Biblical_sources
http://www.christiananswers.net/archaeology
http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/43
3
Caveat: I know nothing about archaeology.
Retelling of Balaam’s
story, around 800
BC. Indicates that
people were familiar
with this story for a
long time.
http://prophetess.lstc.edu/~rklein/images/baltxt.jpg
Earliest exra-biblical reference to Israel yet found.
Dates to ~1200BC, right at this time period.
Taken from “Merneptah Stele”, published by AllAboutGOD.com
Ministries, M. Houdmann, P. Matthews-Rose, R. Niles, editors,
2002-06. Used by permission."
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http://home.houston.rr.com/apologia/sec5p3.htm
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From 1400 BC. (Time of
Moses) Written tablets
referring to Canaan and
specific cities.
Scholars used to believe this
time period was BEFORE man
knew how to write.
Whoops.
They refer to all 5 cities of
the plain from Genesis 14
(Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah,
Zeboiim and Zoar) – even in
the same order.
Scholars used to think these
cities were legendary.
Whoops.
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Review: Tribes on
east side of river?
http://www.breadonthewaters.com/0087_map_Exodus_conquest_of_Canaan.html
http://www.bible-history.com/maps/canaanite_nations.html
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God’s battle plans don’t always make sense,
at first.
He doesn’t call us to understand everything;
he calls us to obey anyway!
But what about Rahab?
◦ Is this an implicit endorsement of situational ethics?
◦ What about her mention in faith’s hall of fame?
◦ Why did the spies go straight to a prostitute?
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“Honey, does this dress make my rear look big?”
The ever-famous church gunman or Gestapo
agent.
Her options:
◦ Tell the truth outright: kill God’s servants.
◦ Be silent: probably going to lead to a search of her
house.
◦ Swerve: “I haven’t seen them lately…” “I don’t know
exactly where they are…”
◦ Lie: “They went that way!”
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The Ten Commandments: Do not bear false witness against your
neighbor… (See also Leviticus 19:11; Proverbs 6:16-19;
Ephesians 4:25; Colossians 3:9—and Rev 21:8!)
The Nature of God
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The Nature of a Lie
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Her blessings in NT:
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◦ Hebrews 6:18 “…in which it was impossible for God to lie…”
◦ Titus 1:2 “…God, who cannot lie…”
◦ John 8:44
◦ Hebrews 11:31
◦ James 2:25
Oh yeah…she’s still a PROSTITUTE!
Now…she could just be an inn-keeper, according to the Hebrew
word, but the NT clarifies: she’s a lady of the night.
…and she’s in the lineage of Jesus in Matthew 1
Is this a catch-22?
Which is “more wrong”?
 Lying to the forces of evil or helping them?
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What euphemism is used repeatedly in the OT
about someone’s death?
“Gathered to his people”
Two meanings:
◦ Literally: getting shoved in the family tomb
◦ Figurative: going to meet those who’ve “gone on
before” (not all uses of this phrase are
with communal burial plots…)
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God’s people always have
understood that death isn’t
final.
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No longer extant: a book by that name from
the 1700’s (AD) is not the same.
Joshua 10:13 and 2 Samuel 1:18
“book of the upright” or “righteous one”
Ancient Syriac OT translation: “book of
praises” or “book of hymns”
Many other unknown books
◦ Some are no longer extant
◦ Some are “nicknames” for portions of scripture
◦ Some may be apocryphal
http://www.christiancourier.com/articles/read/what_was_the_book_of_jashar
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http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/42
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The eastern tribes’ altar
The Levites’ inheritance (GOD) p.330 and 333
The LORD hardening hearts in Joshua 11
(p320)