Taking the land of Canaan lesson

So the Israelites had wandered around the desert for 40 years, and we learned last week in Sunday School about Joshua and the Battle of Jericho, but what happened with the Israelites after Joshua died and they are taking the land of Canaan?

(Future Ticia 2024 has updated this post and have now inserted at least one affiliate link)

As the Israelites came into Canaan there were already people living there, so they had to fight them to win the land God had promised them.

{insert rant here, ARRRRRRGH I had this post almost written and then decided to wisely go to bed before I fell asleep in my chair, and overnight my computer got an update and restarted, waaaaahhhhhhh all my hard work is lost}

Okay, back to my actual post, which will now be rewritten in probably a more sarcastic and ironic manner

Supplies for taking the land of Canaan lesson

Supplies we used: map from Wondermaps {affiliate link, yes I had a free map, but Iike that this one has all that extra space around for gluing in the people we used}, red and yellow crayon, printout of lesson, Bible

My commentary on NIrV, it’s easy to read, that’s the only reason we have one in our house.  I think it’s a bit “loose” of a translation, and in all honesty, it’s the most explicit.  Most other translations will use euphemisms for sex, but this translation just says “So and so had sex with their wife,” OR in the few rape scenes outright states it.  That’s a bit awkward in a translation that is on an end-of-2nd-grade reading level.

But, most other translations are on a middle school level.  So, my kids use it, and I roll my eyes at how some of the word choices make it less accurate for sake of readability.  End of my second rant.

We also used my giant map of Israel I made.  Partially so I could practice for when I taught our Sunday School class, and partially because I use any excuse to drag out this map.

On to

Taking the Land of Canaan Lesson

{Yes that is said in a nice loud echoey voice}

Judah was the first called to go in, and they asked Simeon to go with them.  But, they were rebuffed by the Canaanites and did not completely win.  They settled for ALMOST.

I find it fascinating how 1 verse can portray so much.  They failed, the Jebusites were still living among them when this was written (according to tradition by Samuel, who would be over 200 years later), and we learn who was in Jerusalem.

Joseph was divided into the two tribes of his sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.  Initially, they went in together and did well.

But then they failed.  So we had to color over our nice cheerful yellow with red.  At this point the kids started asking if anyone was successful.

Then I had my mastermind self thinking, “Yes children, now you see the point of this lesson.”

And the sadness continues.

At this point, I apparently got tired of taking variations of the same picture over and over again.  So for the sake of brevity.

Naphtali, Asher, and Dan all failed miserably.  They went in, got part of the job done, and then didn’t finish the job.

It’s sad.

Then the kids noticed there were 4 tribes we hadn’t talked about: Gad, Reuben, Issachar, and Levi.

I drudged up my memory of Joshua and recalled they took their land under Joshua and presumably were successful.  I COULD BE WRONG.  The kids happily colored in some yellow with bits of red.

Issachar there is not a word spoken about how he did.  Not a word.  So, we just put a red question mark because we are assuming he did not take his land successfully.

Levi was a special case.  God had set them apart for Himself at the time of Moses, so they did not have an inheritance of land.  Instead, they had 12 cities throughout Israel and they were to help the rest of the tribes stay focused on God.  I told the kids we’d have the rest of the Old Testament to see how they did.

They weren’t holding up hope too much about it.

Why do we care about taking the land of Canaan?

I mean really, this is a bit of history about some people over 3000 years ago, why do we care about how they did at taking the land of Canaan?

1. It sets up the rest of the Old Testament.  The problems they have here, are going to be the start of problems for the rest of the Old Testament.
2. We see how not completely obeying causes problems (the next part of the lesson).
3. The people living there at the time were sinful, and Israel was to be God’s judgment on them.  Just as later Assyria was God’s judgment on Israel.
4. We can wonder, did they not take the land because they were militarily inferior, was it because God had planned it this way, was it because they were disobedient?  Or is it a different answer for each tribe?  It led to a couple of discussions for Jeff and I as we talked about it.  Especially as we read Judges chapter 3.

A side note about taking the land of Canaan (an extra little story)

In the middle of all this, there’s a story about Caleb and his daughter.  Caleb says whoever takes a certain piece of land will marry his daughter and get that land for his own.  His daughter, Achsach in turn has her own part in this story.  This makes for some great lessons for your older kids:

1. Caleb cares about who his daughter marries and wants it to be a certain type of man.  He wants his daughter to marry someone who has initiative, is brave, and takes action.
2. Achsach loves her father and knows he will give her what she asks.  She goes to him and asks for a water source for their land.  Not only does he give her that, but he gives her more.  It echoes the passage in Matthew 7 where Jesus talks about how God loves His children.

So, that’s our start in the book of Judges.  Judges is a rather dark and depressing book, and when we cover it with kids we really only cover the more “child-friendly” judges, and even so they’re not really all that great.  Samson?  Adulterer and murderer for revenge.  Gideon?  Tried to make himself king at the end of his life.

If you’ve made it all the way to the end of this post, it’s worked out rather well for our timing of history because we’ve hit the point in time for history that talks about the Judges in Mystery of History 1, and as I printed out our schedule this week for Illuminations I had to smile for that {discontinued product}.

And now I hit publish BEFORE it all goes away.

More resources for taking the land of Canaan

Okay, looking at my pins on my Joshua, Judges, and Ruth Pinterest board I got nothing but this lesson, so do you have anything?

Up next, either the 1st 3 judges (once it gets written– it’s written) or Deborah. For the entire series check out Joshua, Judges, and Ruth.