Israel in Canaan

excerpt from Joshua and the Promised Land
by Roy H. May, Jr.

The Israelites continued many customs of pre-conquest Canaan. Nevertheless, dramatic changes were made in social organization. Regardless of how the Hebrews entered the land, it is certain that major social changes occured in Cannan beginning about 1200 B.C.E. From a city-state society dominated by kings, Israel created a peasant or tradtional farmer society. It was organized around villages, family land, and a loose tribal federation. It had no king, no standing army, no tribute to pay. This period would continue for about 200 years. It ended when military pressures by the Philistines and growing needs for a more centralized administration pushed Israel to name a king of its own.

We have talked a lot about peasants. Early on we defined them mainly as tradtional farmers or small rural cultivators who grow food for their families and local markets. Other aspects of their lives are helpful for understanding them. This will also help us understand the kind of society the Israelites orgainzed following their entry into Canaan.

In peasant societies, the family is the central economic unit. Community life is organized around villages. Decision-making is my consensus determined in community-wide meetings. Village leaders assume particular responsibilities. As we have seen in some of the examples, they do not view land as private property in the modern, Western sense. Land is family property. The broader community can impose obligations on its use. forms of mutual assistance are the basis for providing labor for planting and harvesting, public worsk, and other needs. These includes help during personal crisis. These mutual assistance arrangements also provide a system for redistributing time, labor, money, and other resources, including food, among the community members. Social equality is considered normative. "Getting ahead" as individuals is discouraged. Although peasant societies tend to be very poor, they care for the needy, especially widows and orphans. Finally, throughout history peasants have been dominated by people in more powerful social sectors. These powerful forces -- urbanites, rich landlords, agribusiness -- have taken for themselves what surplus or profits peasants produce.

These aspects of "peasant society" defined Israel in Canaan. Villages and towns greatly increased during this period (12). The family or kin group was the center of Israelite social order. Family land was the basis of the whole economy. Village elders assumed public leadership. Mutual help was important for providing labor and public services. The mishpahah or clan, a basic unit of social organization, was a "protective association of extended families." It provided labor and emergency services, as well as military protection for its members. (13) Speical concern was given to the needs of the poorest, such as the indebted landless, along with widows, orphans, and foreigners. Although enormous power disparities existed between men and women, adults and children, ancient Israel sought relationships among the families that were more or less equal. They wanted to avoid great differences. The Israelites became a peasant society.

Another key change involved political organization. The "state" as a formal institution simply did not exist. Purposefully there was no earthly king nor organized government. Yahweh was "king" and "owner" of the land. While community elders governed locally, tribal judges or charismatic men and women such as Deborah assumed reponsibilties for the whole tribe. Decisions were made by popular assemblies. Several times in the Book of Joshua reference is made to the "assembly of Israel" or the "congregation" (see 8:35; 9:15, 18; 18:1 and 20:6, 9). These were community-wide gatherings of men, but women may have been allowed to participate in the background, as suggested in 8:35. Local issues were decided upon at these group meetings. They also functioned as the jury in murder trials (20:6, 9). These assemblies met before the "tent of meeting" (18:1; 19:51). The tent of meeting represented the ark of the covenant, and "authorized" the assembly. It was the symbol of authority, something like the minister's liturgical stole today. The assembly or congregation was an ancient institution. Apparently it was an innovaton by Israel. Parallels are unknown in the Canaanite city-states. In peasant Israel, popular participation was important to political decision-making. However, much later during the monarchy, they assemblies disappeared from national life.

Furthermore, the tribes had only a loose connection among themselves. They formed a kind of confederacy based on a common belief in Yahweh. There is no evidence of a central political or religious council composed of representatives of the various tribes. Rather, it was a decentralized, bottom-up approach to government.

Footnotes:

12. Robert G. Boling, "Book of Joshua," in David Noel Freedman, ed., The Anchor Bible Dictionary, vol. 3 (New York, London, Toronto, Sydney, Auckland: Doubleday, 1992), pp. 1010. (return to text)

13. Norman K. Gottwald, The Tribes of Yahweh: A Sociology of the Religion of Liberated Israel, 1250-1050 B.C.E. (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1979). pp. 257-284. (return to text)

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