The Settlement in Canaan
The accounts of the settlement in Canaan, described in the Old Testament books of Joshua and Judges, were evidently derived from different sources since there are significant differences between them. The conquest of Canaan required a considerable period of time and was attended by some important changes in the daily lives of the Hebrew people, including a change from a nomadic or shepherd type of living to a permanent settlement and an agricultural mode of securing a livelihood. This new way of life called for a different type of organization among the various tribes, which is why a great assembly was called at Shechem. Under the leadership of Joshua, steps were taken to unite the tribes into a kind of confederacy, an organization similar in many respects to what has been known in other cultures as an amphictyony. The newly formed community was predominantly religious rather than political. Membership in the community consisted mainly of Hebrews but was not limited by racial qualifications. Anyone who chose to worship Yahweh and who promised to obey the Law that Yahweh had given was accepted as a full member of the community. It was this body of people that came to be known as the twelve tribes of Israel.
The government of the new community was placed in the hands of judges, who were believed to receive instructions directly from Yahweh through dreams, visions, and other forms of charismatic experience. Deborah, for example, was one of these judges. She was the judge who sent out a call to the scattered tribes to come to the aid of those who were being attacked by the Canaanites. The call was sent out in the name of Yahweh, whose intervention at a crucial moment enabled the Israelites to defeat their enemies in a battle that was fought on the plains of Megiddo. Gideon, whose band of three hundred warriors achieved another important victory, was also a judge of Israel. Because of his success, some of the people wanted to proclaim him king, the chief reason being the need for a stronger type of organization to resist attacks from surrounding nations. Gideon refused to be king. However, after his death, his son Abimelech yielded to the temptation, and an attempt was made to have him reign as king over Israel. The attempt failed, but the demand for a monarchal type of government continued, and finally Samuel, who was the last of the judges, anointed Saul to be the first king of Israel.
