Joshua Takes the Land
excerpt from Joshua and the Promised Land
by Roy H. May, Jr.
Let's begin with two examples of conflict over land. They can help us understand the taking of the Promised Land by providing models for interpreting what happened in ancient Canaan.
Across Latin America on New Year's Day 1994, newspaper headlines were big. An army of Mayan traditional farmers had taken over the main towns of the State of Chiapas in southern Mexico. (See the map in Appendix F, page 109, for the location of Chiapas.) Unfair land distribution was the source of the conflict. In Chiapas, 45 percent of the farmers have plots of only one-and-a-half acres or less of land. After several days of fighting that left many Mayan farmers dead, the Zapatista Army for National Liberation (EZLN) faded into the hills to continue its struggle for social reforms. Like a chain reaction, other land-related conflicts were provoked. More Mayan traditional farmers invaded area ranches and coffee estates demanding land.(1)
Now let's look at a different kind of land conflict. The former Yugoslavia is a tragic example. Bosnian Serbs, Croats, and Muslim have waged war to expand their territories. In order to gain more territory, Bosnian Serbs (who are Christian) have used military might to expel Bosnian Muslims (followers of Islam) from areas in which they have lived for centuries. Massacres of entire villages, systematic rape of women, and the setting up of concentration camps have been used to expel the Muslims. Serbs called this "ethnic cleansing." Land occupied by Muslims had to be "cleansed"--its occupants removed--in order for the Bosnian Serbs to have the land. Negotiations to end the warfare revolve around who gets what land and how much. (2)
Similarly, the first twelve chapters of the Book of Joshua are about violent conflict over land. The Israelites and most of the Canaanites were agricultural people. They needed land for farming. Both groups required territory for their own cultural autonomy. These two concerns were the basis of the conflict over the land of Canaan.
Footnotes:
1. See EPICA, Chiapas: The Rebellion of the Excluded (Washington, DC: Ecumenical Program on Central America and the Caribbean, 1994). (return to text)
2. Human Rights Watch, Playing the "Communal Card": Communal Violence and Human Rights (New York: Human Rights Watch, 1995), pp. 113-125. (return to text)
Return to Joshua: Crossed Over
 Order the Study Guides |
 Visit our other Joshua pages |
|
The Joshua
Website is a resource from:
Created by the Joshua Project Team who would appreciate your feedback. |
