Or, then again,
"the men of Judah failed to drive outthe Jebusites living in Jerusalem." (Joshua 15:63)
Or, then again, maybe theBenjamites attacked and failed. (Judges 1:21)
"The children of Israel dweltamong the Jebusites." (Judges 3:5)
In David'sday, the Jebusites, were apparently alive and well enough to mock him, saying,
"you'll never get in here! Even the blind and the lame could keepyou out!" (2 Samuel 5:6)
David did take the city, by sneaking under the wallsvia the water conduit to the center of town. The only problem with thisscenario is that it was King Hezekiah who constructed the water conduit,centuries after David's death. (2 Kings 20:20)I just bring all this to yourattention to point out the mind numbing complications, the compoundingcontradictions that begin to develop once you start pulling on some of theseBiblical threads by looking up a word in a concordance. It is not a matter ofpulling out a loose thread here or there, rather the whole garment unravels.
The bizarre 'editorial work' needs explanation. This certainly isn't 'history' but something else altogether, an important fact to keep in mind. In the caseof Jerusalem let us just say that multiple traditions existed and who would notwant to claim that it was their particular hero who took the city, even if itinvolved spinning some fanciful tall tales?
Also of interest are the compounding contradictions that surface if one looks up a word, like, say, "Ammonite," or, "Moabite." In the book of Joshua weread that,
"Moses allotted to the Gadites half of the country of the Ammonitesas far as Aroer, which is east of Rabbah." (Joshua 13:24)"Moses allotted to thetribe of Mannessah as their holding the lowlands of Moab east of the Jordan." (Joshua 13:31)
We find that after all this assignment of territory, that thebattles were finished, and,
"the land was now a peace." (Joshua 14:15)
In thebook of Deuteronomy, we find that Moses said,
"when you reach the territory ofthe Ammonites you must not harass them or provoke them to battle for I will notgive you any Ammonite land as a possession." (Deuteronomy 2:19)"You avoided theterritory of the Ammonites, thus fulfilling all that YAHWEH God hadcommanded." (Deuteronomy 2:37)"Do not harass Moab or contend with them in battle, for I will not give you any of their land for a possession." (Deuteronomy 2:9)
So either Moses parceled out the territory of theAmmonites and Moabites or he did not.
Continue pulling on this thread and other books startto unravel as well. In the 11th Chapter of Judges, Jephthah quarreled overland with the Ammonites. The Ammonites said,
"when the Israelites came up outof Egypt, they seized our land all the way from Arnon to the Jabbok and theJordan. Now return these lands peacefully." (Judges 11:13)
Jephthah replied,
"Israel took neither Moabite or Ammonite land. They sent envoys to the King ofEdom asking him to grant them passage through his country but he would notconsent. The king of Moab would also not agree, so Israel journeyed through thewilderness and skirted the territories of Edom and Moab." (Judges 11:15)
Yankon this thread and another rip appears in another book. Moses is portrayed asspeaking in Deuteronomy, and directly contradicts Jephthah.
"Edom granted uspassage, and so did the Moabites in Ar." (Deuteronomy 2:29)
As well the Book of Joshuatells us that Moses assigned both the land of the Ammonites and the Moabites tothe tribes, and that this land was parceled out by Joshua after the conquestwas complete. Jephthah then concludes,
"for three hundred years we have beenliving in Heshbon, Aroer, and Arnon. Why did you not retake them in all thattime?" (Judges 11:26)
This seems to be a retroactive admission that Israel didin fact take Ammonite land, as described in Joshua. Jephthah then attacked theAmmonites, making
'a great slaughter'. "Thus Ammon was conquered by Israel." (Judges 11:32)
(As YAHWEH had commanded Moses, and Joshua fulfilled, nodoubt, or then again, as Deuteronomy insists, maybe not.)
If we continue with account of what took place after Joshua died, as it is given in Judges, we find that after taking Jerusalem, Judah conquered the Negeb,the Shephelah, Hebron, Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai, and Debir. Of course, itturns out that the Negev, the Shephalah, Hebron, and Debir were all attacked byJoshua during his lifetime. (Joshua 10:36-40)In Hebron,
"he left no survivor,destroying every living thing in it." (Joshua 10:37)
An identical passage is used todescribe the fate of Debir at Joshua's hand. (Joshua 10:39)As for the Negeb and theShephalah, Joshua,
"left no survivor. destroying everything that drew breath, asYAHWEH the God of Israel had commanded." (Joshua 10:40)
That all these places andpeople indeed survive to battle Judah after Joshua's death is surely the firstexample of so many others in the Bible of a mass raising from the dead