This is the Bible Book Club. And we're in the book of Joshua. Welcome to the club.

Last episode, we covered chapters eight and nine. Joshua led the people in a victory against I.

It was the very spot where Abraham had been told that his offspring would be given this land

that now they are conquering. Then the Israelites renewed the covenant at Mount Ebal,

following all the instructions that Moses gave them back in Deuteronomy. Hopefully you were

with us in Deuteronomy. If you weren't, go back and listen. And lastly, the Gibionites tried to

avoid certain death. They trick the

Israelites into a treaty by pretending to be allies and seeking peace from a great distance away.

In other words, they are not Canaanites. All right, we are in a war, a herrem war, and we've

talked about that word. That means God kind of is telling them it's a

religious war and that they need to utterly destroy the Canaanites. Now, Canaan was a region

that encompassed various tribes, such as the Amrites, and many city states, each with their

own distinct identities, and usually their own ruling king, like Jericho

and I had. They are like different little countries, but they all know each other and are loosely

relatives from the same family branch that descended from Noah through his son Ham and his grandson Canaan. And we should also

mention too that they're different from the Jews because at this point in the story, the Jews do not

have a king. Oh, correct. Now it's interesting. Remember we talked about last week that Gippian did not

have a king, but all the others seem to him. We're going to get into those kings

today. Heather's going to be really mad at me because she's going to read about the kings, or maybe

it's next episode. I can't remember. Anyway, Joshua and the Israelites have strategically conquered

two geographically well-positioned cities, Jericho and I. And they have a treaty with another geographically significant population,

the Ghibionites. All three of these city-states created a cluster right in the middle of Canaan.

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