Page 42 - Advanced Biblical Backgrounds Student Textbook

and lower city walls. Not the best place to live in time of war! This area was no doubt the overflow from
the upper city and the poor part of town, perhaps even a slum district.

After the city walls fell, how did the Israelites surmount the four to five meter (12–15 foot) high
retaining wall at the base of the tell? Excavations have shown that the bricks from the collapsed walls
formed a ramp against the retaining wall so that the Israelites could merely climb up over the top. The
Bible is very precise in its description of how the Israelites entered the city: “the people went up into the
city, every man straight before him [i.e., straight up and over],” (Joshua 6:20). The Israelites had to
go up, and that is what archaeology has revealed. They had to go from ground level at the base of the
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tell to the top of the rampart in order to enter the city.
According to Joshua 14, it took about six years for the tribes of Israel to conquer the Land of Canaan and
to overcome the military might of the ancient Canaanite. At this time, Joshua divided the land among
the tribes and allotted portions according to the Word of the Lord, the size of the tribe, and by casting
lots. Joshua told each tribe that they were responsible to subjugate their portion of the land and
remove the defeated people. Many of the tribes failed in this responsibility. The map to the left shows
how Israel was divided among the tribes.

Unfortunately, the tribes only took a small portion of
land that God had promised to Abraham, as God’s
promise of land extended all the way to the Euphrates
River.

The map to the left shows the campaigns west of the
Jordan River.

77 Once the major parts of the promised land had been
conquered Joshua divided up the land among the tribes.
The Tribe of Levi, the priests, did not receive land as God
was to be their inheritance. The other tribes were each
given large tracks of land throughout the Promised land.
On the east side of the Jordan River the tribes of Gad,
Reuben and half the tribe of Manasseh (Joshua 13:7-8).
On the west side the other tribes were given land. These
tribes included Asher, Zebulun, Naphtali, Issachar,
Manasseh, Ephraim, Dan, Benjamin, Judah, and
Simeon. Though the land was divided they did not
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actually conquer it al then “We discover from the books
of Joshua and Judges that the Hebrews initially did not

76 https://answersingenesis.org/archaeology/the-walls-of-jericho/
77 Voss, illustrative map: “Land allocated to the Tribes of Israel” in Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Manners and
Customs, 109.
78 Ibid., 10.

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