Page 32 - Biblical Backgrounds student textbook

In Israel, the worship of Yahweh alone was clearly outlined in the Shema and the first commandment.
Remaining faithful to this command was problematic. The surrounding peoples were entrenched in the
worship of idols. The Jews not only struggled not to worship these deities, they also struggled not to
view Yahweh the same way the neighbors viewed their deities. This is why Jephthah thought Yahweh
wanted him to sacrifice his daughter when she came out the door after he made his vow. Yahweh had
made it clear that he did not approve of child sacrifice, but the surrounding deities were believed to
demand it.

Social and commercial environment in Canaan during the conquest:

Houses were not normally built or lived in by the Israelites during the conquests. Communities would
move around during the fighting and to feed their flocks. As a result, they likely still lived in tents for a
while. Voss helpfully describes the two dominant styles of mud-bricked one was a basic two roomed
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structure. The other was a four roomed house with a courtyard.

Other social factors that were problematic in the time included the importance of hospitality. A
community or household were completely responsible for the safety and comfort of a guest. As a result,
some of the most brutal and grotesque stories in the Bible come from the Old Testament. They make
little sense to us but made perfect sense at the time they were written. One story involves a group of
men who sexually abused the concubine and daughter of a man. That man gave them to the abusers
because of they wanted to homosexually abuse his guest. The concubine was raped all night and killed.
The man who gave her to them cut her body to pieces and sent the pieces throughout the land. This
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aroused anger and led to what Voss called a “civil war.” The tribe of the abusers came from, Benjamin,
would not give them up to justice. To give them up would be to fail as hosts. This was unthinkable. The
tribes who hosted the man and his abused concubine could not let the evil go unpunished. That also was
unthinkable. This resulted in a war between that tribe and the others. The importance of hospitality in
the Jewish community would carry over into the New Testament times. It was the reason Jesus sent the
70 disciples out without extra clothes and provisions. The communities they traveled through would
never allow them to go without hospitality in such a state. Such a failure would be a great shame to the
community. In that culture shame was not something you could overcome easily, if at all.

Pottery and other textiles have been found from this era. In addition to these commercial trades the
tending of livestock, fishing, farming, and trading have all come up as vehicles of commerce. Other
methods of earning a living likely included fabric making, carving idols for religious use, educating
students, and many other less well-known trades.

Important people groups to know about in this time period:

Egyptians:
The Egyptians had begun to lose power with the disaster at the Red Sea. In the midst of their decline
other kingdoms began to rise.

Philistines:
The Philistines are best remembered in Scripture for their wars with Israel in the time of David. The cry
that David killed more of them than Saul led Saul to seek to kill David. The Philistines lived on the coast

75 Ibid., 133.
76 Voss, Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Manners and Customs, 138.

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