What is God up to in the conquest?
The big question is not why but where? God is concerned with a specific piece of land for his people... but why?
There was one highway, the vieamaris, that went through the land God promised his people (Canaan)
If you wanted to control trade, Canaan is the land you needed to occupy.
Abraham
Abraham was told he would bless _all_ nations then strategy would suggest that God puts his people at the center of the world.
Canaan is not a lucious garden like we might picture, a "land flowing with milk and honey". It's still desert land
Israel
Levi is not given land, God is their inheritence and they serve as priests
Joseph's two sons were given in place of Joseph so there are still 12 tribes given a portion of the land
Canaan
The Judah mountains are where God's people would want to be
The coastal lands would not be sought after by God's people - remember water metaphors chaos
The land given to Israel is right between the mountains and the coast. It metaphors God's people needing to be placed in the middle of Yahweh himself and the lost (the coastal peoples).
Yahweh does not want us in a "holy huddle", we are to invade the world with God's good news.
The danger of Christian sub-culture is actually disengaging with the mission of God, by retreating from the world and not fulfilling the mission given to God's people since the beginning.
Tell
Multiple cities over history that are destroyed and built on top of.
Why build on top? Land is precious and idealy around the city is farming land. Another big thing would be a water source - can't move the city since the current spot is probably where the water flows
City Gates
First function is about defense, but seige only happens once a century...
Gates beome places where people sit, where welfare happens, where city business happens.
So the city gates becomes a symbol of hope for the lowly who are recepients of the wealthy charity
"Daughters of Jerusalem" reference the villages outside the city gates (called 'daughters'). So when Jesus says "Do not weep Daughters of Jerusalem" he's not talking to momen but giving hopeful message to the poor
Mission
The land divied up to the tribes was also related to the tribe's mission.
Dan
Dan received mission of bringing Shalom to Philistine chaos (shown by their original alotment). But Dan actually receives land way up north because they forsook their mission from God. Dan's land is not protected at all, and over time the tribe of Dan is beaten out of existence
Lesson: by forsaking God's mission, and working in rebellion, we may eventually push ourselves out of God's story of redemption.