Joshua's "subduing" of the Land
The Development of a Major Biblical Theme
The book of Joshua recounts Israel’s entrance, conquest, and inheritance of the promised land of Canaan. In chapter eighteen verse one, the author recounts: “…The land lay subdued before them” (ESV). The Hebrew word underlying “subdued” is כבשׁ, and prior to this occurrence, occurs only 3 times in the Bible.
The first occurrence is in Genesis 1:28 which reads:
And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (ESV)
In this passage, it occurs in parallel with the more common term “have dominion” (Hebrew רדה). This verse reflects the creational mandate given to humanity. Mankind was to “fill” (through multiplying) and “form” (through subduing) the earth. And this creational blueprint was given to humans due to their being in the image of God who also formed (Day 1–3) and filled (Day 4–6) the earth in the six days of creation when the earth was formless and empty (Gen 1:2).
This creational mandate reflects a “blueprint” or type that is developed throughout Scripture. In creation, Adam, the son of God (Lk 3:38) was to form (“subdue and have dominion”) and fill (“be fruitful and multiply”) the earth. With the sin of Adam and fall of humanity (Gen 3; 6:5, etc.), however, this mandate of forming and filling was transferred to Abraham and his seed, Israel, the new “son of God” (Ex 4:22).
Israel, who had already multiplied and filled the land (“the people of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, so that the land was filled with them.” Ex 1:7), had not yet subdued the land. In the unfolding of God’s plan, the land they were to subdue was the promised land that God gifted to them.
Thus, by the time of Joshua, the choice of the word “subdue” (כבשׁ) in Joshua 18:1 is not accidental. The author is making a clear point that Israel has now entered and subdued the land, after the prototypical type given in Genesis 1:28, as the new “son of God.” This is a massive moment in redemptive history!
The other two uses of “subdue” (כבשׁ) before Joshua 18:1 simply confirm that the creational mandate pointed forward to Israel’s conquest of the promised land. They occur in Numbers 32:22 and 32:29 which both mention the help that the tribes of Gad, Reuben, and the half tribe of Manasseh (who take their inheritance east of the Jordan prior to the conquest of Canaan) are to offer to the remaining tribes of Israel in their subduing the promised land.
Notice that the result of “subduing the land” is twofold: “rest” and “God’s presence;” both of which I believe are connected themes. Joshua 18:1 reads:
Then the whole congregation of the people of Israel assembled at Shiloh and set up the tent of meeting there. The land lay subdued before them.
Because the land was subdued, Israel sent up the tent of meeting there. Or, maybe more explicitly, they “shekined” the tent of meeting there. The tent of meeting was the dwelling place of God’s glory among his people. The redemptive result of fulfilling the twofold creational/redemptive mandate to fill and form the earth is that God’s dwells among his people again.
Another way of stating that the land has been subdued is that God has given his people rest. Joshua 22:4 reads: “And now the LORD your God has given rest to your brothers, as he promised them…” (ESV). This rest is connected to God’s creational rest which he rested on the seventh day (Gen 2:2). The author of Hebrews makes this connection between the rest gained when Israel inherited the land and God’s creation rest and concludes that all of this points forward to the eschatological (fancy word for “coming-at-the-end-of-time”) rest (Hebrews 3–4).
In word words, there is an end-time rest for which God’s people are waiting, which they will experience in a place of rest where God’s presence will be. Remember Jesus told all who are weary to come to him and he will give them rest. And he told the disciples that he has gone to prepare a place for them. I’ve tried to summarize this storyline of the Bible as: the goal of creation and redemption is that God’s (multiplied) people would be in God’s (subdued) place enjoying God’s presence (at rest).
Noticing, then, how the biblical authors intentionally choose their words to harken back to previous types and patterns that they are continuing to develop is a key interpretive priority to rightly develop a theology from the Bible.