Four Social Theories

1. According to Dr. Killebrew there are four theories for the origins of ancient Israel. The theories are conquest, peaceful infiltration, social revolution, and pastoral Canaanite theories. The first one discussed is the unified military conquest theory. This theory predicates that the events taken place in Joshua were historically correct. The man who is credit with this theory is William Albright. Albright is a defender of his theory through his archaeological experience at Hazor. However, Albright's theory can present some problems. Many scholars today, do not see the book of Joshua to be historically correct. In addition, this makes William Albright's theory a questionable one. The next theory discussed is the peaceful infiltration theory.

George Mendenhall is the creator of this theory, showing that Israel's origins were based upon the problems of the Canaanites. Mendenhall shows that the Canaanite class had much dominance over the peasant class. From Mendenhall's view, this conflicting battle would create a peasant revolt. Eventually, the low-class peasants would escape from Canaanite society and live in the hill country. The theory of Mendenhall is different from other theories. The social revolution theory is not based on archaeological evidence, but on the sociological and anthropological approaches. The last theory discussed is the pastoral Canaanite theory. This theory was discovered by Israel Finkelstein, who examines the origins of Israel without biblical evidence. In addition, Finkelstein uses archaeological evidence to prove his theory correctly. In his theory, Finkelstein reiterates the villagers of the hill country above the semi nomadic infiltrators. He sees the hill country villagers as heirs of the Canaanites, who believed in a nomadic way of living. Later in time, the nomads returned to an inactive lifestyle, due to the catastrophe of the Middle Bronze

The character of Rahab is important to look at throughout the Bible. One can see how God uses her to specifically fulfill his plans. In the bible, Rahab's occupation is a prostitute and she resides in the land of Jericho. Why she's significant in the Bible is because she took in some Israelite spies. When the King commands Rahab to show the men she took in, she lies and pretends not to know where they are. Rahab was secretely hiding the spies on the roof with stalks of flax. Since Rahab protected the spies form the king of Jericho, she wants a favor in return. The favor is that her mother, father, brothers, and sisters all be protected. The Israelites grant her request and our willing to offer her protection. Rahab must not speak if the Israelites business involving the land of Jericho. When Jericho was taken and destroyed, Joshua honored what Rahab did for the spies and spared her life. Rahab's family was also protected as well. The reputation of Rahab has drastically changed from the beginning of Joshua to after Jericho's taken over. Rahab was willing to sacrifice all she had, in order to protect the Israelite spies. Her courage not only protected her, but all of her family too. Rahab went from being a prostitute to a significant figure in Biblical history. Rahab is a Canaanite woman, showing how different she is to protect some Israelites. Not many Canaanites would offer protection to spies spying on the land of Jericho. I find Rahab very different then her Canaanite