John canaan where can i turn for peace

Most often, even if a city or region was to be taken, its inhabitants were not to be destroyed. But just a few chapters later, when other Israelites go to these cities, there are still Canaanite people living there Joshua Perhaps some of you are scratching your heads after reading that last point. What gives? The conquest accounts use extreme battle language to describe what Israel was doing in Canaan.

Often, the key to understanding them lies in understanding the context out of which they came. How can this vivid battle language be understood then? We would like to suggest three things that are happening here: idiom, exaggeration, and rhetoric.

Ancient cultures had literary idioms—or figurative language that says one thing but means another—just like we do. They just mean it is raining hard. With idioms, to take the words literally is to misread them. For an example of an ancient battle idiom, consider this: 2 Kings tells the story of the Assyrian invasion of Israel, which was turned back after a miraculous defeat during the siege of Jerusalem.

Similarly, Joshua uses idioms like these when he is writing his battle narratives. As modern people, we expect a level of journalistic accuracy when it comes to historical accounts, but ancient cultures had a different understanding of things.

In ancient battle narratives the exploits of the protagonists are often inflated for literary effect. However, as we know, Israel was never wiped out by Egypt. The language was hyperbolic trash-talk. The book of Joshua observes the same conventions of exaggeration when it describes the scope and intensity of the conquest. Rhetoric often employs figurative language and conforms to the conventions of a literary tradition.

In this case, the conventions of ancient warfare narratives are observed. Rhetoric is meant to be persuasive; it has an agenda and a story to tell. Though the conquest remains a difficult section of Scripture for many reasons, we hope a clearer picture of the context and the scope of the conquest helps ease some of the tension we all feel when reading these passages. Every part of the story points toward this great narrative arc of redemption, even the conquest of Canaan.

We would expect to see a warlord who comes to set things right by might and blood. Though Jesus did come to set things right by blood, he is as far from a vengeful warlord as it is possible to be. Jesus was born into a poor family and oppressed by the Roman empire, and he knew what it meant to be marginalized and outcast.

In his ministry, he rejected violence as a means to establish his Kingdom Matthew He crossed tribal, ethnic, and cultural boundaries in his offer of love and grace, even to a Canaanite woman Matthew Similar to Joshua, Jesus came to drive evil out of his creation.

What this means is that refugees normally find themselves counting the days till they return home, marking the time meanwhile. John Hill notices that in Jer 29, Babylon is represented as a place in which the exiles can experience the very blessings of land which the Deuteronomic traditions associate with life in the land given by Yahweh to Israel.

Keown, P. Scalise and T. Smothers contrast the situation of the description of settlement in Canaan in Josh with Jer In Joshua, "cultivated land, cities, vineyards, and olive groves, all of which were technical and cultural achievements representing generations of work, were given to the Israelite settlers.

In the Babylonian exile, however, they had to begin with the basics, family homes for shelters and kitchen garden for sustenance. Thirdly, Jeremiah emphasized not only the settling down in the land, but called them to focus on the next generation, those who would be the bearers of a new future that was to come.

Thus Yahweh, through his prophet, asks his people to "take wives and become the fathers of sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters This passage reminds us of the mandate to multiply that Yahweh pronounced on humankind in the book of Genesis.

It also reminds us of the great increase of the children of Israel in Egypt before the exodus Exod Wherever they went and whatever the situation, God wanted his people to multiply. In this specific passage, the command is to guarantee a future generation of children that will survive beyond the exile v.

Read carefully, the passage suggests that the exiles will be in Babylon for at least two generations. Understood this way, Jer 29 seems to say that the generation that went into exile has already lost the future.

There is no hope for them to return home. It was therefore important that they focus on the next generation that will experience restoration in the land. Such a message would have been an extremely bitter realization for the exiles, especially those who were mistaken that there still was hope of immediate return. This is true not only for the exiles, but for many of us who have difficulty investing in something that cannot be immediately gainful.

We tend to claim each promise from God as our own, rather than accepting it as something that will benefit those who will live many generations after us. This is the truth that Yahweh was trying to communicate to the exiles through Jeremiah. In other words, God was saying that the present has been lost, and that the focus must now be on preparing the future generation that will return home from Babylon. This passage speaks loudly to our own situation in Africa. Many countries have experienced years of wars and destruction with lasting consequences.

Rebuilding Uganda after many years of bloody conflicts and wars to has taken years. How many years will it take for the Somali people to rebuild their country after they have destroyed it for many years?

There will surely be at least one whole generation of Somalis who have no hope for a normal life in their land. There is another interesting intertextual reading of these three verses 57 particularly in the light of the books of Deuteronomy and Isaiah.

Deuteronomy 20 refers to the conduct of the holy war in general. In , there is an exemption given to three categories of people: "anyone who has built a new house and has not dedicated it" v.

The explanation of the exemption of the people engaged in these activities is that these activities represent the blessings associated with the nation's life in the Promised Land which was given to them by Yahweh.

Nobody should, therefore, be deprived of their enjoyment. Whoever is deprived of enjoying these blessings is cursed. This is what is said in Deut You shall become engaged to a woman, but another man shall lie with her; you shall build a house, but you shall not live in it; you shall plant a vineyard, but shall not enjoy its fruit.

When the text of Jer is read in the light of Deut and , it becomes clear that the activities that are associated with the blessings in the Promised Land are being carried out in Babylon. However, although there is a change in location, Yahweh's blessing on his people remains constant.

Another passage, Isa , is also clearly connected to Jer The passage of Isaiah is a vision about the life of Israel in the land after the return from exile. It reads like this:. They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat They shall not labor in vain, or bear children for calamity; for they shall be offspring blessed by the LORD- and their descendants as well.

Isaiah is contained in Deutero-Isaiah Isa including Trito-Isaiah , that speaks about abundant life in Israel after the restoration of Israel. What is surprising in Jer 29 is that Yahweh does not need to wait for this future time to restore his people. The enjoyment of restoration can start even in the foreign land, in exile, considered as a place of banishment and suffering. It is possible to treat the exhortation in v.

The capital city of the conqueror is the last place one would love to live in. Babylon was the last place in the world where the people of Judah would like to live because of the brutality of the invasions. For Judah, the Babylonians were the worst of all the enemies. Nobody would actually think about praying for its peace. Instead, one would pray for its destruction!

May Yahweh's anger be upon those who are against us. Thus, the prophetic recommendation to pray for Babylon sounds like an impossibility in the context of war. According to Volz, this is the only place in the OT where prayer for one's enemies and for unbelievers is commended cf. Matt ; Rom ; Titus ; 1 Pet Because Jeremiah had already been accused on several occasions of being in collaboration with the enemy, this passage could also be seen as another example to prove beyond any doubt that he worked for Babylon against his own nation.

Nevertheless, this was not the case. It should actually be understood as Yahweh's call to his people, to open their eyes. It is an invitation to see beyond political events, to see beyond Nebuchadnezzar's army. The commandment to pray for Babylon was the invitation to understand that it is Yahweh himself dealing with them because of their unfaithfulness.

The central point in this call comes in v. In other words, Yahweh is asking the exiles to stop looking at Nebuchadnezzar with bitterness and to turn to him. This attitude would help them to understand why they have been taken into exile.

Thus, the important issue in v. In other words, the exiles were being invited to come to terms with the exile itself. If God was at work in the exile, then they needed to accept the exile in order to accept God's dealing with them.

First, it would create internal healing. Secondly, the people of Judah would know that they are not in Babylon because of the powerful army of Nebuchadnezzar but because of their unfaithfulness. They would also understand that Babylon is not the enemy but that they have been punished because of their breaking of the covenant. Moreover, they would know that Yahweh is still accessible to them through prayer.

They would, finally, know that Nebuchadnezzar is not as powerful as they think but a simple instrument in Yahweh's hand to help open the eyes of his people. With this positive attitude, prayer for Babylon would become a possibility. If God really was at work with the Babylonians and in some sense Nebuchadnezzar was God's servant, then the welfare of the Babylonians was, indeed, inextricably linked with their own welfare. This is a powerful lesson for some of us in Africa.

In times of war, we tend to condemn the enemy but we forget that the destruction of our country starts with our own internal corruption that weakens us as a country. Instead of looking at the real cause of our problems, we concentrate on condemning others. The question of falsehood in general and of false prophecy in particular is a recurring problem in the book of Jeremiah, 36 and there is no need to repeat it here.

For example, the example turn above shows how Megiddo and the Jezreel Valley are the most fought over areas in the game, just like in the Old Testament. Damascus and Gaza are powerhouses that can easily overwhelm their neighbors unless they stand together.

Hebron and Shechem are less powerful than their neighbors, but if played well can stand their ground and even win the game. Although I think it is important, I recognize that memorizing names on a map can be a dreary task.

My hope is that things like this game can help my students learn in a more natural way the geography of Israel and how it impacts the beloved stories of the Bible. While few classes at Biola have games like this, most classes include a variety of pedagogical elements that encourage student learning. Just one of the reasons why I love being a part of the Biola community! Trimm loves to inspire students to recognize the beauty of the Old Testament and its relevance for the life of the church today.

Having served for several years in pastoral ministry, he strives to encourage the spiritual growth of his students in all his classes. He received his Ph. Please subscribe to Arena to play this content. Why Mobile Number? Receive subscription updates via SMS.

Rest assured we WON'T spam! A verification link has been sent to Kindly check your mail. New User? We have received your winning story. It will be featured on Winners page shortly. We have receieved your request. Our customer support team will contact you on your registered email address and mobile number shortly. By Deactivating the Hungama Play Subscription, you will lose access to unlimited entertainment. This action cannot be undone. Are you sure you want to unsubscribe?

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Night Mode OFF. Hi Guest Login Register. John Canaan. Follow Share. Similar Artists No Similar Artists found. The most popular in gives you all the hit songs and music that you love! Hungama Music also allows you to download top mp3 songs online for free and you can download all Indian John Canaan songs and listen to them offline. You can also find John Canaan special playlists with only John Canaan songs. All hits John Canaan songs are available on Hungama Music that you can listen online and also get free mp3 downloads.