Spying in the Bible 13 - 1406 BC to 1379 BC

Invaders

After Joshua died, the Israelites continued their conquest and settlement of the Promised Land. To do so, they also continued to employ methods of espionage that they had learned under the leadership of Moses and Joshua. They cast lots again to determine who would begin the first military campaign. The tribe of Judah was chosen to go first and they made a deal with the tribe of Simeon, who drew to go second. They combined armies to help each other, since their lands were located together (Judges 1:1-3).

After the death of Joshua, the Israelites asked the LORD, “Who of us is to go up first to fight against the Canaanites?”

The LORD answered, “Judah shall go up; I have given the land into their hands.” The men of Judah then said to the Simeonites their fellow Israelites, “Come up with us into the territory allotted to us, to fight against the Canaanites. We in turn will go with you into yours.” So the Simeonites went with them.

The Benjamites went third and took their land including Jericho and Jerusalem, which had mostly been conquered already. Joshua 10 explains how all five kings in the region were defeated and killed during that campaign. The Amarna Tablets are letters found in Amarna Egpyt dating back to this period in history. Some letters have been found from the Canaanites that were asking Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten) for help from the Hebrew invaders. Specifically, one letter came from the Governeor of Jerusalem to Pharoah Akhenaten request aid from Egypt in fighting the Hebrews because all of the kings in the region had been killed, which he did not appear to answer. Interestingly, Amenhotp IV (Akhenaten) was an eighteenth dynasty Pharaoh who was well known for being the first monotheistic Pharaoh.

The fourth and fifth tribes to continue their military conquests were the tribes of Joseph, which were Ephraim and the other half of the tribe of Manasseh. They also combined their armies to team up, but took a page out of Joshua’s book by sending spies first. These spies used the same tactic used earlier during Joshua’s campaign as well by recruiting a local person as an informant and promising to spare him and his family in return for the intelligence that he provided (Judges 1:22-25).

Now the tribes of Joseph attacked Bethel, and the LORD was with them. When they sent men to spy out Bethel (formerly called Luz), the spies saw a man coming out of the city and they said to him, “Show us how to get into the city and we will see that you are treated well.” So he showed them, and they put the city to the sword but spared the man and his whole family.

Next went the tribes of Zebulun, Asher, Naphtalites, and Issachar, who took their lands in the north, but not much is mentioned about those campaigns in the Bible. Lastly, went the tribe of Dan, who had a difficult time with conquering and settling their land. The Danites tried to take their allotted land by themselves, but could not defeat the current occupants. After that failure, they went to conquer Leshem (also known as Laish), which was a different, adjacent, part of the land that was not specifically designated for them (Joshua 19:47).

When the territory of the Danites was lost to them, they went up and attacked Leshem, took it, put it to the sword and occupied it. They settled in Leshem and named it Dan after their ancestor.

The Danites then used Leshem as a base for their continued campaign to take their allotment. To begin, five spies were sent ahead to plan out the attack. The fact that there were five spies probably meant that they were representatives from the five families that would take over that specific land once conquered (Judges 18:1a-2a,7-10).

And in those days the tribe of the Danites was seeking a place of their own where they might settle, because they had not yet come into an inheritance among the tribes of Israel. So the Danites sent five of their leading men from Zorah and Eshtaol to spy out the land and explore it. These men represented all the Danites. They told them, “Go, explore the land.” ...

So the five men left and came to Laish, where they saw that the people were living in safety, like the Sidonians, at peace and secure. And since their land lacked nothing, they were prosperous. Also, they lived a long way from the Sidonians and had no relationship with anyone else.

When they returned to Zorah and Eshtaol, their fellow Danites asked them, “How did you find things?”

They answered, “Come on, let’s attack them! We have seen the land, and it is very good. Aren’t you going to do something? Don’t hesitate to go there and take it over. When you get there, you will find an unsuspecting people and a spacious land that God has put into your hands, a land that lacks nothing whatever.”

The tasking in this campaign, was again very minimalistic, being to simply “explore the land.” The intelligence that they brought back from this trip was also very useful. Not only did they report that the land was good, but they commented on the state of mind of the people, when they said they were “unsuspecting.” These people had surely heard of the Israelites exploits, but being outside of the Promised Land, they probably assumed they would not be attacked. Knowing that the army has the element of surprise is a very useful advantage.

The other piece of intelligence that was brought back was unlike anything seen so far in the Bible, but just as valuable. The spies reported they had no support close by and no relationships with any of the other people in the region, so if they were attacked by surprise, they would be unable to get reinforcements or backup from anywhere. This sort of tactical information is very important and based on it, they had a successful campaign. After all of this happened, and after the tribes of Joseph finished their campaigns and recovered, the Danites got help from them to take their originally designated land (Judges 1:34-35).

The Amorites confined the Danites to the hill country, not allowing them to come down into the plain. And the Amorites were determined also to hold out in Mount Heres, Aijalon and Shaalbim, but when the power of the tribes of Joseph increased, they too were pressed into forced labor.

After almost three decades of war, in c. 1379 BC the Promised Land had been conquered and God appointed Judges to help govern the people, which they did for around three hundred years.