Bible Synapse
Did Joshua or Caleb drive the Anakim out of Hebron?
Hard question · Israel’s history: Joshua to Esther · raised by 1 of the lists sceptics circulate
See the passages joined in the interactive mapThe passages
Joshua and all Israel took Hebron and struck its king.
And Joshua went up from Eglon, and all Israel with him, unto Hebron; and they fought against it: And they took it, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and the king thereof, and all the cities thereof, and all the souls that were therein; he left none remaining, according to all that he had done to Eglon; but destroyed it utterly, and all the souls that were therein.
Joshua “cut off the Anakims from the mountains, from Hebron”; none were left except in Gaza, Gath and Ashdod.
And at that time came Joshua, and cut off the Anakims from the mountains, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, and from all the mountains of Judah, and from all the mountains of Israel: Joshua destroyed them utterly with their cities. There was none of the Anakims left in the land of the children of Israel: only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod, there remained.
When the land was shared out, Caleb asked for the hill country, though “the Anakims were there”.
Now therefore give me this mountain, whereof the Lord spake in that day; for thou heardest in that day how the Anakims were there, and that the cities were great and fenced: if so be the Lord will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the Lord said.
Caleb was given Hebron, and he “drove thence the three sons of Anak, Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai”.
And unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh he gave a part among the children of Judah, according to the commandment of the Lord to Joshua, even the city of Arba the father of Anak, which city is Hebron. And Caleb drove thence the three sons of Anak, Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai, the children of Anak.
Judah went against Hebron and slew Sheshai, Ahiman and Talmai.
And Judah went against the Canaanites that dwelt in Hebron: (now the name of Hebron before was Kirjath–arba:) and they slew Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai.
The objection
Joshua 11:21 says that Joshua “cut off the Anakims from the mountains, from Hebron” and utterly destroyed them with their cities. Yet Joshua 15:14 says it was Caleb who drove the three sons of Anak out of Hebron, and Judges 1:10 gives the credit to the men of Judah. Critics ask who actually drove the Anakim out.
The answer
Joshua 11:16–23 is a summary of the whole war, which, as the passage itself says, took “a long time” (11:18). ‘At that time’ in 11:21 points back to those years of fighting, not to a single day. In a summary like this the commander is named for what his army did under him, and the Anakim were driven from Hebron and the hill country during Joshua’s campaigns. Caleb served under Joshua, and his capture of Hebron, told in Joshua 15, was part of that war. Judges 1:10 tells it from the side of the tribe: Caleb led the men of Judah, so the victory is theirs as well.
The record also shows why Hebron had to be won more than once. Joshua first took the city and killed its king (10:36–37). The Anakim who escaped took refuge in the Philistine towns of Gaza, Gath and Ashdod (11:22). By the time the land was shared out, they were back: Caleb asked for Hebron knowing that “the Anakims were there” in great walled cities (14:12). Haley, following König, sets out the order of events. Joshua took Hebron and killed or scattered the Anakim. While his army was busy elsewhere, the survivors returned. Later, Caleb drove them out for good. Each passage names the leader of one stage, and none denies the others.
Other answers Christians give
One campaign, three ways of telling it
Haley’s first answer is that Joshua 15:14, Judges 1:10 and Judges 1:20 may all describe one attack: what Judges 1:10 credits to the men of Judah, the other two passages credit to Caleb as leader of the expedition. Joshua 11:21 could credit the commander-in-chief, Joshua, in the same way. Haley also notes that the Hebrew verb in Joshua 15:14 and Judges 1:20, yarash (Strong’s H3423), can mean to destroy as well as to drive out, so it does not clash with the killing of the three Anakite chiefs in Judges 1:10.
Still open
Whether Judges 1:10–15 tells again of the campaign in Joshua 15:13–19, out of time order, or of a later one, is debated. Judges 1:1 is set after Joshua’s death, but Judges 1:11–15 repeats Joshua 15:15–19 almost word for word, and Judges 1:20 echoes Joshua 15:14.
From the classic commentators
the Canaanites which escaped at the conquest of the cities would, as soon as the attention of the victors was turned in another direction, return and re-occupy their former haunts. … Hence it would happen that some of the Canaanite cities would be conquered several times over by the Israelites, under Joshua, Caleb, and other leaders.J. W. Haley, Alleged Discrepancies (1874), p. 404
Sources
- J. W. Haley, An Examination of the Alleged Discrepancies of the Bible (1874), pp. 321–322 (Anak’s sons)
- J. W. Haley, Alleged Discrepancies (1874), pp. 404–405 (cities conquered more than once)
- Keil & Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua 11, at Bible Hub
- Keil & Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua 15, at Bible Hub