BIBLICAL CHRONOLOGY
Generation 21: Hebrew years 2400 to 2520 (1360-1240 BCE)
Introduction
The second part of this chronological generation 21 covers the last years of the Hebrews in the desert until the conquest of Canaan by Joshua. To return to the first part of this generation 21, click here.
Year 2476 – 1284 BCE – Seti I's campaign in Canaan
Interestingly, the departure of the Hebrews from Kadesh-Barnea, eastwards towards Edom and Moab, corresponded to the time when Pharaoh Seti I, son of Ramses I, led his army to a victorious campaign into Canaan and the Levant. Since the collapse of the 18th Dynasty, several city-states thought it was a good time to break away from Egyptian yoke and Seti I aimed to restore order over this region which had been under their rule for over 150 years since Thutmose III.
Seti first consolidated his immediate borders, with Nubia and Libya, and then turned his attention to Canaan. One of his army's victories was against the Canaanite city of Beth-Shean. This victory is recorded in a basalt stele that was found during excavations in this ancient city.
The text reminded the people of Beth-Shean of Seti's victory and warned them against any future rebellion. This campaign restored to Egypt the control of the northern part of Canaan. He then campaigned further north against the Hittites but without conclusive result.
He reestablished Egyptian influence in the region of the Levant. This fact has been confirmed by the finding of the coffin of a Canaanite lord who had himself buried in the Jezreel Valley, in today’s Northern Israel, in an Egyptian fashion at the time of Seti I.
Year 2486 – 1274 BCE – Ramses II
Many historians have assumed that Ramses II was the Pharaoh of the Exodus, but this hypothesis was, and still is, based on erroneous translation of the Biblical text which misled the non-Hebrew speakers, as explained previously in this document. When Ramses II came to power, in the year 1279 BCE, he started a series of campaigns in Canaan and in Syria against the Hittites, thus pursuing the policy of his father, Seti I.
During his campaigns into Canaan, Ramses II had no encounter with the Israelites because, at the time of his splendor, they already passed to the other side of the Jordan River and of the Dead Sea (Judges 11:18).
After securing Canaan, Ramses II ventured further north and fought against the Hittites. His biggest victory took place at the battle of Kadesh, in Southern Syria in 1274 BCE.
Ramses II campaigned again in the region in the years 1271-1270 BCE and then he stopped for the rest of his long reign. His following campaigns were solely focused on the southern part of his kingdom, in Nubia. In fact, he never stepped foot again in the land of Canaan after 1270 BCE.
Why did Ramses II stop his annual campaigns in the Levant after 1270 BCE? Because it was about that time when the Israelites started their conquest of Canaan under the leadership of Joshua. He may have had echoes of this unexpected arrival of the Israelites in Canaan and may not have wanted to confront them, after what he had learned from the time of Horemheb, which must have been still present in the Egyptian memory. It is also at this time that he pursued a policy of systematic destruction of all traces from the Amarna heresy, of Akhenaten, Moses and the Hebrews. Instead, he cultivated the memory of Horemheb as a national hero although, as previously mentioned, the tomb of this Pharaoh remained empty.
The absence from Canaan of a Pharaoh as powerful as Ramses II, who ruled over Egypt for a very long period, until 1213 BCE, is a mystery that has never been fully assessed by Historians. How could it be possible that such Pharaoh would have never again found reasons to campaign in this neighboring region for the rest of his 60 years of reign? There is no clear reason to this other than he wanted to avoid engaging in that region from the moment he had learned that the Israelites were about to enter it.
Year 2494 – 1266 BCE – Facing the Land of Canaan
Before engaging in the conquest of Canaan, a second census was recorded of every man of age 20 years and above, as follows (Numbers 26:4), which gives a comparison with the census done at the start of the wandering in the desert, 40 years before:
Tribe of Reuben: total of 43,730 which dropped from 46,500
Tribe of Simeon: total of 22,200 which dropped from 59,300
Tribe of Gad: 40,500 which dropped from 45,650
Tribe of Judah: 76,500 which dropped from 74,600
Tribe of Issachar: 64,300 which increased from 54,400
Tribe of Manasseh: 52,700 which increased from 32,200
Tribe of Zebulun: 60,500 which increased from 57,400
Tribe of Ephraim: 32,500 which decreased from 40,500
Tribe of Benjamin: 45,600 which increased from 35,400
Tribe of Dan: 64,400 which increased from 62,700
Tribe of Asher: 53,400 which increased from 41,500
Tribe of Naphtali: 45,400 which decreased from 53,400
The total number of men from 20 years old had slightly decreased to 601,730 (Numbers 46:51) compared to the previous census with 603,550. As before, the tribe of Levi was not part of this new census.
God also named the princes from each tribe to whom Moses was to give the possession of the territory that will be assigned to them in the land of Canaan:
And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying: "These are the names of the men that shall take possession of the land for you: Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun. And you shall take one prince of every tribe, to take possession of the land. And these are the names of the men.
Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh. And of the tribe of the children of Simeon, Shemuel the son of Ammihud. Of the tribe of Benjamin, Elidad the son of Chislon. And of the tribe of the children of Dan a prince, Bukki the son of Jogli. Of the children of Joseph: of the tribe of the children of Manasseh a prince, Hanniel the son of Ephod. And of the tribe of the children of Ephraim a prince, Kemuel the son of Shiphtan. And of the tribe of the children of Zebulun a prince, Eli-zaphan the son of Parnach. And of the tribe of the children of Issachar a prince, Paltiel the son of Azzan. And of the tribe of the children of Asher a prince, Ahihud the son of Shelomi. And of the tribe of the children of Naphtali a prince, Pedahel the son of Ammihud.
These are they whom the Lord commanded to divide the inheritance unto the children of Israel in the land of Canaan." (Numbers 34:16-29)
Moses took these 40 years of wandering to instruct the Israelites of the terms and conditions of their covenant with God. He also addressed the issue of choosing a king over the people as God probably told him that this is what would eventually happen:
"When you are to come unto the land which the Lord your God gave you, and shall possess it, and shall dwell therein; and shall say: 'I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are round about me'; you shall in any wise set him king over you, whom the Lord your God shall choose; one from among your brethren shall you set king over you; you must not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. Only he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, so that he should multiply horses; forasmuch as the Lord has said unto you: 'You shall henceforth return no more that way.'
Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away; neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.
And it shall be, when he will sit upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book, out of that which is before the priests the Levites.
And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life; that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them; that his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left; to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children, in the midst of Israel." (Deuteronomy 17:14-20)
About the selection of a king, not to be a foreigner from the tribes, this explains why, in the future, King Herod who was named King of the Jews by Rome will be unpopular among the Jewish people.
It can also be noted from this text that God forbad the Israelites to ever go back to Egypt.
Year 2494 – 1266 BCE – Death of Aaron
When the Israelites reached the mountains of Moab, on the eastern side of the Dead Sea, Aaron went up on Mount Hor at the commandment of God and died there, in the 40th year of the wandering in the desert (Numbers 33:38). He was 123 years old, 3 years older than Moses. Mount Hor is today the mountain called Jebel Harun in Arabic (Jebel means mountains and Harun is Aaron), a high peak near Petra in Jordan. The location used to mark the border between Edom in the south and Moab in the north.
The great Medieval commentator, Rashi of Troyes, stated the following about Mount Hor:
[It is] a mountain atop a mountain, [appearing like] a small apple atop of big apple. (Rashi, commentary on Numbers 20:22)
Rashi made this comment, without ever visiting the site, because the Biblical name for Mount Hor is הֹר הָהָר which features twice the word הר as mountain: so, it is a mountain on top of a mountain.
And indeed, the topography of the location shows exactly that, where the tomb is located on top of a sort of protrusion which itself is above a mountain.
Year 2494 – 1266 BCE – Og, king of Bashan
When the explorers surveyed the land of Canaan, they mentioned that they saw "the sons of Anak", meaning the giant people who were the offspring of the Nephilim. At that time, these giant people lived in the Golan Heights, a land in the north-east side of the Lake of Galilee in Northern Israel. After they drove the Amorites out of their land, on the east side of the Jordan River, the Israelites then turned their attention to the land of Bashan:
And they turned and went up by the way of Bashan; and Og the king of Bashan went out against them, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei. And the Lord said unto Moses: 'Fear him not; for I have delivered him into your hand, and all his people, and his land; and you shall do to him as you did unto Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon.' So they smote him, and his sons, and all his people, until there was none left him remaining; and they possessed his land. (Numbers 21:33-35)
Og, the king of Bashan, is referred many times in the Jewish scriptures, and is nearly singled out among the many kingdoms that the Israelites defeated. According to Jewish tradition, Og was a son of the Nephilim who survived the Flood (see document C14). An archaeological site in the Golan Heights, called Rujm el-Hiri, and nicknamed the “Stonehenge of the Holy Land”, seems to bear witness of very special cult, unseen elsewhere in the Levant, with concentric circles of stones. This archaeological site is so unusual that a web site has made up a story that several skeletons of giant people have been unearthed there! It is a fake story of course but, nonetheless, the site features a burial mound at the center which is much larger than an ordinary human size.
The existence of ancient 'giants' is not something that paleoanthropologists are totally rejecting. This is because a certain number of human-type bones have been found on earth (mostly in Asia and Australia) with very large size: these human-type 'giants' are known under the scientific name of Meganthropus and are estimated to be as tall as 8 feet (2.50 meters).
Year 2495 – 1265 BCE – The prophet Balaam
Just before the fateful punishment at Shittim, there was the episode of the pagan prophet Balaam. He was a renown prophet of his times, living up north in Aram land, in the city of Pethor, by the River Euphrates. The Aramaean city of Pethor is assumed to have been named Pitru when taken by the Hittites; the city was destroyed during the Assyrian invasion at the time of Shalmaneser II.
Balaam was called by the Moabites to curse the Israelites who were too mighty to be challenged. What did Balaam do? On the way, he had a vision from God that he should not pronounce any word except what God will put in his mouth. And this is what Balaam said:
הֶן-עָם לְבָדָד יִשְׁכֹּן, וּבַגּוֹיִם לֹא יִתְחַשָּׁב
lo, it is a people that shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations. (Numbers 23:9)
This sentence was seen as a curse by the Moabites but is also a blessing for the Israelites. What did it mean? On the surface, it looks like a curse, because the Israelites are said to be outcast from the other nations. But this is the blessing for the Israelites who shall, and must, dwell alone, meaning that they have to avoid assimilation and adopting foreign rites. If they do not respect God's will in this matter, then Balaam words become indeed their curse. There is also a gematria about the significance of the introducing word הֶן (value 55) which concurs with the lesson of Balaam's crypted message.
According to Tradition, Balaam was considered as one of the heathen prophets, and the son of Job. Unlike his father, who is said to have lived 210 years, Balaam lived a short life and was considered evil. Yet he was a prophet. The Biblical text describes him several times as:
Balaam the son of Beor [Job] and the saying of the man whose eye is opened. (Numbers 24:3)
This description is important because it was confirmed by an archaeological exploration in Deir 'Alla, Jordan, in 1967. The inscription found there starts with:
The sa]ying[s of Bala]am, [son of Be]or, the man who was a seer of the gods. (Deir Alla inscription, translated by McCarter, Wikipedia)
The inscription has been dated around 840-760 BCE, which is much later than the timing of the current events, but it shows that the extraordinary tale of Balaam, a prophet hired by the Moabites, had lasted for centuries. The discovered Balaam inscription is probably a copy of a copy of another inscription that dated at the time of Joshua. The key points here, and before the Biblical text was actually compiled (a few centuries later) is that there is a direct parallel between the Biblical text and this inscription as for the identity of Balaam: he is said to have been the son of Beor, and he is said to have been a seer of the gods, meaning a man whose eye is opened [to God's messages].
Year 2495 – 1265 BCE – Death of Moses
The Israelites then went further north, following the east side from the Dead Sea, until the Jordan River at the level of the city of Jericho. God showed the promised land to Moses but he was not permitted to enter it nor direct the conquest: it was the time for him to die. Beforehand, he gave ultimate instructions to his people:
And Moses wrote this law and delivered it unto the priests the sons of Levi, that bore the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, and unto all the elders of Israel. And Moses commanded them, saying: "At the end of every seven years, in the set time of the year of release, in the feast of Tabernacles [which is Sukkoth], when all Israel is come to appear before the Lord your God in the place which He shall choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. Assemble the people, the men and the women and the little ones, and your stranger that is within your gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear the Lord your God, and observe to do all the words of this law; and that their children, who have not known, may hear, and learn to fear the Lord your God, as long as you live in the land when you go over the Jordan to possess it." (Deuteronomy 31:9-13)
Then Moses gave his blessing to each Tribe of Israel (Deuteronomy 33) before mounting from the plains of Moab onto Mount Nebo to die there, at the age of 120. God Himself buried him in a location hidden from mankind (Deuteronomy 34:6).
The place of Moses' burial is today revered in a traditional site in Jordan called Jebal Naba (in Arabic, Jebal means mountain and Naba means prophet). This site is under custody of a Franciscan group (Catholics) who even placed a plaque declaring it "Christian Holy Place"...!
Year 2495 – 1265 BCE – Start of the conquest of Canaan
Joshua, son of Nun, led the Israelites into the land of Canaan, and God was with them. He dried the waters of the Jordan River for their passage:
And it came to pass, when all the kings of the Amorites, that were beyond the Jordan westward, and all the kings of the Canaanites, that were by the sea, heard how that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan from before the children of Israel, until they were passed over, that their heart melted, neither was there spirit in them anymore, because of the children of Israel. (Joshua 5:1)
The people that were by the sea were part of the Canaanites. The Phoenicians considered themselves Canaanites while the word “Phoenicians” was how the Greeks called them. The Amorites were Canaanite people living in the hills of Judea.
God forgave the Israelites for their sins in Egypt, and they celebrated their first Pesach in the land of Canaan in that year:
And the Lord said unto Joshua: 'This day have I rolled away (גַּלּוֹתִי) the reproach of Egypt from off you.' Wherefore the name of that place was called Gilgal (גִּלְגָּל) unto this day.
And the children of Israel encamped in Gilgal; and they kept the ‘passover’ (פֶּסַח) on the fourteenth day of the month at evening in the plains of Jericho. (Joshua 5:9-10)
The first city they came against was Jericho. God ordered the priests to carry the Ark of the Covenant seven times around the city walls and to blow the horns. For the first six days, they did that once around the city. Then on the 7th day:
And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they rose early at the dawning of the day and compassed the city after the same manner seven times; only on that day they compassed the city seven times.
And it came to pass at the seventh time, when the priests blew with the horns, that Joshua said unto the people: 'Shout; for the Lord has given you the city.' [...] So the people shouted, and [the priests] blew with the horns. And it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the horn, that the people shouted with a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city. (Joshua 6:15-20)
But one of the Israelites sinned, and it caused a curse on the entire nation:
But the children of Israel committed a violation of the anathema; for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took from the anathema; and the anger of God was against the children of Israel. (Joshua 7:1)
The ancestry mentioned for Achan is a reminder of the 5 generations since Jacob and his 70 souls went down to Egypt:
1st generation: the ones who came down from Canaan to Egypt and were supposed to only sojourn for the time of the famine => Judah
2nd generation: the ones born in Egypt who assimilated there, were numerous and adopted Egyptian gods while remaining a distinct foreign people => Zerah
3rd generation: the ones born in Egypt and who were enslaved => Zabdi
4th generation: the ones born in Egypt who went out at the Exodus, sinned in the desert, and died there => Carmi
5th generation: the ones born in the desert, who entered Canaan => Achan
God had foretold Abraham that the 4th generation of his descendants will return to Canaan (Genesis 15:16). But the 4th generation had sinned with the mission of the explorers, so they were cursed to wander 40 years in the desert and to die there, until their offsprings were spiritually ready to enter Canaan in their stead.
The next city to fall was Ai (it was located in the archaeological site called Khirbet al-Maqatir in Samaria). Joshua and 30,000 armed Israelites camped overnight in the hill where Abraham had pitched his tent, between Ai and Beth-El (about Beth-El, click here). Joshua then left 5,000 men in the camp before setting a second one north from the city. When the men of Ai went out for the battle, Joshua retreated, and the men of Ai pursued them in the valleys. In the meantime, the 5000 Israelites entered the city empty from its defenders and burned it.
And when the men of Ai looked behind them, they saw, and behold, the smoke of the city ascended to heaven, and they had no power to flee this way or that way; and the people that fled to the wilderness turned back upon the pursuers. (Joshua 8:20)
Year 2495 – 1265 BCE – The altar of Joshua at Mount Ebal
After Ai, Joshua built an altar on top of Mount Ebal, the northern hill facing Sichem (present-day Nablus), and Mount Gezirim that is sacred to the Samaritans. This was a very important ceremony that Joshua was ordered by Moses to perform, after crossing the Jordan River, because it sets the wandering Israelites as a "people", the people for God as stated in the Torah:
And it shall be when you will pass the Jordan, that you shall set up these stones, which I command you this day, in mount Ebal, and you shall plaster them with plaster. And there shall you build an altar unto the Lord your God, an altar of stones; you shall lift up no iron tool upon them. You shall build the altar of the Lord your God of unhewn stones; and you shall offer burnt offerings thereon unto the Lord your God. And you shall sacrifice peace-offerings and shall eat there; and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God. And you shall write upon the stones all the words of this law very plainly.'
And Moses and the priests the Levites spoke unto all Israel, saying: 'Keep silence, and hear, O Israel; this day [of the future ceremony on Mount Ebal] you are [to] become a people unto the Lord your God. (Deuteronomy 27:4-9)
In 1982, the Israeli archaeologist Adam Zertal (z”l) believed that he found the remains of this historical altar, on a northeast slope of Mount Ebal.
Zertal’s main proof points for the identification of this complex as the great altar of Joshua are as follows:
it covers about 12 dunams, which is a large site well-suited for a nation-wide ceremony
it has the shape of a "sandal" (or shoe print), typical of other altar places found of that period of settlement; for example, another sandal-like altar place helped Zertal identify the ancient site for the Israelite camp of Gilgal
it was surrounded by a low-level stone wall, intended for delimitation of areas, such as between the holy and the secular
the central structure covered about 4.5 dunams and contains a large altar with a central elevated platform (about 4 meters high compared to the ground), typical of sacrificial area; the platform was large too, about 7 over 9 meters
the central structure (the altar itself) was made of unhewn stones, as directed by Moses; the access to the platform (the bamah, meaning the “platform”) was through a ramp rather than stairs; this allowed the High Priest to come down from the platform backwards, thus not turning his back from the sacred place
on both sides of the ramp were square shaped enclosures, with smaller terraces (in blue in the above diagram), to surround them; inside these enclosures, the archaeologists found a lot of ashes and bones from animals that had been burned; two analysis were carried out about these bones: first, with Carbone 14 dating, the timing was confirmed to be about 1200 BCE, precisely the time of Joshua's conquest; second, the animals being used were of three types only (goat, lamb, calf) and all being male and all being young; this is in line with the divine commandment about the sacrificial animal, of a kosher type and being less than one year old male ones
About the sacrificial animals, the biblical text states:
And unto the children of Israel you shall speak, saying: “Take you a he-goat for a sin-offering; and a calf and a lamb, both of the first year, without blemish, for a burnt-offering.” (Leviticus 9:3)
Another proof point has been found later at the site: two Egyptian scarabs with the seal of Ramses II. This pharaoh reigned from 1279 BCE until 1213 BCE, thus after the Exodus that occurred 40 years before the setting of the altar. These two seals may have been collected by Israelites in Canaan, in one of the Canaanite cities they destroyed which was in alliance or relation with Ramses II (thus using his seals). Let's remember that Ramses II campaigned in Canaan and liberated the region from the Hittite yoke before the Israelites entered the land. Thus, seals from Ramses II would indeed be found in that period in Canaan.
Last point is about the location of Mount Gezirim. Joshua divided the Israelites into two groups to attend the ceremony of the altar: one on Mount Ebal and one on Mount Gezirim, and both groups must have been able to watch the ceremony, especially the writing of the Torah on the sacrificial stones. But, as the site of the great altar is facing the east side of Mount Ebal, it would have been impossible for people being on the traditional (Samaritan) Mount Gezirim to see anything. For Zertal, the only conclusion is that present-day Mount Gerizim was NOT the one mentioned in the Bible. Looking at the topography of the location, Zertal concluded that the Biblical Mount Gerizim could only be the hill to the east of Mount Ebal, a hill known today as Mount Kebir, where the Jewish community of Elon Morei has been built. This location suits perfectly the passage of the Israelites after their conquest of Jericho, along the wide valley on the east-west axis (the way of the rising sun) leading to Sichem and the mounts around it. The location of Biblical Gilgal encampment is also identified with another sandal-shape altar found in this area at the Jordan end of the valley. Several sandal-shaped structures have been found in the area, but the Gilgal location is the one nearer the crossing of the Jordan River.
For more information about the theory of Mount Gerizim, listen to Adam Zeltar's conference on YouTube.
Year 2495 – 1265 BCE – Coalition against the Israelites
The majority of the Israelites remained at their Gilgal camp while Joshua and his armed forces endeavored to conquer the land. But the Canaanites formed an alliance to fight together against the Israelites in one big battle at the waters of Meron (Joshua 11:1-5) in the northern part of the land because Jabin the king of Hazor was at the head of this coalition. The waters of Meron refer to the ancient lake formed by the Jordan River north from the Sea of Galilee (this lake doesn't exist anymore but has become the Hula Valley). The city-state of Hazor, the largest in Canaan, was destroyed and burnt as the Bible mentions:
And Joshua turned back at that time, and took Hazor, and smote the king thereof with the sword: for Hazor beforetime was the head of all those kingdoms. And they smote all the souls that were therein with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying them; there was none left that breathed; and he burnt Hazor with fire. (Joshua 10:10-11)
Tel Hazor is an important Biblical archaeological site today and national park. Its excavations have shown plenty of proofs that the city was destroyed by fire in its history.
Of course, the location chosen for the city-state of Hazor was appealing because of its proximity to water springs and streams, and its outstanding location at the crossroads between the North and the South, and its gateway to Mesopotamia. People settled there over time. And a descendant of King Jabin rose again several years later against the Israelites.
The conquest was pursued by Joshua and resulted in the destruction of 31 Canaanite city-states, many of them have been identified today as archaeological sites:
And these are the kings of the land whom Joshua and the children of Israel smote beyond the Jordan westward, from Baal-gad in the valley of Lebanon even unto the bare mountain, that go up to Seir; and Joshua gave it unto the tribes of Israel for a possession according to their divisions; in the hill-country, and in the lowland, and in the Arabah, and in the slopes, and in the wilderness, and in the South; the Hittite, the Amorite, and the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite: the king of Jericho, one; the king of Ai, which is beside Beth-El, one; the king of Jerusalem, one; the king of Hebron, one; the king of Jarmuth, one; the king of Lachish, one; the king of Eglon, one; the king of Gezer, one; the king of Debir, one; the king of Geder, one; the king of Hormah, one; the king of Arad, one; the king of Libnah, one; the king of Adullam, one; the king of Makkedah, one; the king of Beth-El, one; the king of Tappuah, one; the king of Hepher, one; the king of Aphek, one; the king of the Sharon, one; the king of Madon, one; the king of Hazor, one; the king of Shimron-meron, one; the king of Achshaph, one; the king of Taanach, one; the king of Megiddo, one; the king of Kedesh, one; the king of Jokneam in Carmel, one; the king of Dor in the region of Dor, one; the king of Goiim in the Gilgal, one; the king of Tirzah, one. All the kings thirty and one. (Joshua 12:7-24)
The mention of "31 kingdoms" proves that the Land of Canaan, before its conquest by the Israelites, had indeed remained in the antique model of "city-states" which facilitated Joshua’s campaign. Canaan was not a "unified" dominion. It is worth noting that Philistia, which was not conquered by the Israelites, remained with the city-states model as the land was divided between rulers of five cities: the "Five Lords of Philistia", namely Ashdod, Ashqelon, Gaza, Gath and Ekron.
Year 2496 – 1264 BCE – God orders the allotment of the land
After these battles, a large portion of the land was still left to conquer. But God told Joshua that he was old and stricken in years (Joshua 13:1). This expression is only used with one other person in the Bible: it will be King David before his death, when he was 70 years old. So similarly, we can conclude that Joshua was 70 years old when God told him he was old and stricken in years. As we know that Joshua was 28 years old at the time of the Exodus in Hebrew year 2454, we can conclude that God talked to him in Hebrew year 2454-28+70= 2496. This was to order Joshua to do the allotment of the land to each tribe. This happened in the second year of the conquest of Canaan.
Year 2500 – 1260 BCE – The First Jubilee
At Mount Sinai, God had ordered to Moses that the Israelites will need to count the Sabbatical years (cycles of 7 years) and the Jubilee years (the 50th year after seven Sabbatical cycles of 7 years each):
And the Lord spoke unto Moses in mount Sinai, saying: “Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them: When you come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath unto the Lord. Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather in the produce thereof. But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath unto the Lord; you shall neither sow your field, nor prune your vineyard. That which grows of itself of your harvest you shall not reap, and the grapes of your undressed vine you shall not gather; it shall be a year of solemn rest for the land. And the sabbath-produce of the land shall be for food for you: for you, and for your servant and for your maid, and for your hired servant and for the settler by your side that sojourn with you; and for your cattle, and for the beasts that are in your land, shall all the increase thereof be for food.
And you shall number seven sabbaths of years unto you, seven times seven years; and there shall be unto you the days of seven sabbaths of years, even forty and nine years. Then shall you make proclamation with the blast of the horn on the tenth day of the seventh month; in the day of atonement shall you make proclamation with the horn throughout all your land. And you shall hallow the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof; it shall be a Jubilee unto you; and you shall return every man unto his possession, and you shall return every man unto his family. A Jubilee shall that fiftieth year be unto you; you shall not sow, neither reap that which grows of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of the undressed vines. For it is a Jubilee; it shall be holy unto you; you shall eat the increase thereof out of the field. In this year of Jubilee, you shall return every man unto his possession. (Leviticus 25:1-13)
It is on the same model of time cycles that this study is based: 7 cycles of 7 generations (of 120 years each), and a "jubilee" in the 50th generation.
When did these Sabbatical and Jubilee counts start? The Biblical text states: When you come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath unto the Lord. This means that the first cycle was counted when they conquered and allotted the land and that specific year was to be considered as the start of the first Sabbatical cycle. After 7 such successive cycles, hence 49 years, will be a year of Jubilee. The year of the allotment was Biblical year 2501 (see next paragraph). Because that year was to be counted as the first Sabbatical cycle, it means that the year just before was to be considered as a Jubilee year, before starting a new 7x7 years cycle. Therefore, the year before the allotment was to be considered as the first Jubilee: it was Biblical year 2500.
It is remarkable that the Hebrew year 2500 corresponds to 50 cycles of 50 years since Creation. In other words, the institution of the Jubilee cycle was done on the 50th jubilee cycle from Creation. It was like a "Jubilee of these jubilee cycles" because of its 50th count from Creation.
Equally important, the physical world (Creation) is supposed to last 6000 years, equivalent to 120 jubilee cycles from Creation (120 x 50 = 6000). Counting the end of the physical world from the First Jubilee in Hebrew year 2500 makes 70 Jubilee cycles (120-50= 70 cycles). This number 70, total count of Jubilees to be celebrated, correspond to the 70 years of captivity to which the Israelites will be submitted in Babylon (see document C27). In other words, the end of the Babylon captivity corresponds to the redemption of the Israelites while the end of the Jubilee cycles will correspond to the final redemption of the entire Creation.
Year 2501 – 1259 BCE – Canaan is divided between the 12 Tribes
At the end of six years since their entrance to Canaan in Biblical year 2495, the Ark of Covenant was brought up from the camp at Gilgal, with all the congregation of Israelites, into the city of Shiloh (Joshua 18:1) which was given to the Levites (priests). It is there that Joshua divided the land between the tribes and assigned to each of them the task to complete the conquest, within their allotted territory. While it just took a few months to conquer the vast portion of the land with 31 kingdoms, the conquest was not completed after an additional 4 years of wars. The reason for this situation was that the Israelites started to sin after the death of Joshua and the Elders.
Archaeologist Adam Zertal (z”l) has walked the land of Manasseh for 35 years, in search for clues about the settlement of the Israelites in the land of Canaan. He has surveyed that, in Manasseh only, there were less than ten Canaanite settlements (the largest one being Megiddo with about 2500 inhabitants) before the arrival of the Israelites. And then, in a matter of 50 years from their arrival, he surveyed about 300 archaeological sites all dating from the Israelite period. How to distinguish between a Canaanite or an Israelite site? By the cultic remains or by the diet (bones of kosher animals or of pigs for example). This shows that the size of the population in that part of the land alone had increased by a ratio of 1000%. This fact disproves the previous theory that the Israelites were local Canaanites who suddenly adopted a new religion. This growth of population can only be explained by a massive flow of new settlers who came from outside Canaan, just as the Biblical text explains.
At the time Caleb from the tribe of Judah was 85 years old, in Hebrew year 2501, when he spoke to Joshua about the territory around Hebron. and it was 45 years since the mission of the explorers to which both had participated (Joshua 14:7-10). Caleb made a plea to Joshua to receive the hilly country south of Jerusalem, where false reports had mentioned that giant people (the Anakim) lived there at the time of the explorers. The main city-state there was Hebron, which was previously called Kiriat-Arba, meaning “City of Arba”, named after the Anak giant called Arba (Joshua 14:15).The land of Canaan was ultimately conquered, or under control except for some notable city states such as the city of the Jebusites on one of the hills south from present-day Jerusalem, which could not be conquered by the tribe of Judah (Joshua 15:63), nor by the tribe of Benjamin (Judges 1:21). It will take a long period before it will be conquered, only by King David. On many occasions, the Israelites compromised with the local Canaanites who remained in their respective territory and allowed them to remain in their cities in exchange for a levy. More importantly, at God’s displeasure, the Israelites didn’t destroy the pagan places of worship, which is why the conquest was never allowed by God to be complete.
After his plea to Joshua, Caleb passed the leadership of his tribe to his nephew, Othniel, son of Kenaz who was Caleb’s younger brother. Othniel also married Caleb’s daughter, called Achsah, his cousin (Judges 1:12-15). Caleb must have died in that same year, or some years soon after, as the rest of the conquest in that territory of Judah are no longer counted under Caleb’s direct name but counted as Judah. Othniel was Judah’s heir, and he would be judge for his tribe until his death.
To return to the first part of this generation 21, click here.
To return to the list of chronological generations from Seder Olam Revisited, click here.
Albert Benhamou
Private Tour Guide in Israel
Adar 5785 - March 2025