(2) Its inhabitants and the nations surrounding it.  That the population was very dense is indicated by the mention of about three hundred cities and towns a large number of which have been identified.  While there were many war-like people crowded into Palestine, seven, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, the Jebusites, the Amorites and the Canaanites, were the most important.  The Canaanites, who had been there about six centuries, and the Amorites, who had lived there about ten centuries, were the two peoples that furnished greatest resistance to Israel’s occupancy of the country.  They were virtually one people.

Around Palestine were many kingdoms, some large and strong, some small and weak.  Among the more important were the Philistines, west of Judah, the Phoenician kingdoms on the north, Arameans or Syrians on the northeast, and on the east and southeast, the Ammonites, Moabites and Edomites, the last three being kinsmen of the Hebrews.

(3) Conditions favorable to its conquest.  Several circumstances conspired to make it a suitable time for the Hebrews to enter Canaan:  (a) Egypt had crushed the Hittites and devastated their land; (b) Northern hordes from and through Syria had broken the power of Egypt and the Hittites and had also crushed the Canaanites; (c) Assyria had increased her borders to the coasts of Phoenicia and was feared by all other peoples; (d) Babylonia was not strong enough to displace Assyria as an Asiatic power but strong enough to dispute her supremacy; (e) For two hundred years, therefore, their weakness together with that of Egypt and the Hittites gave the Hebrews ample time to develop and grow strong.

The Crossing of the Jordan and the Fall of Jericho.  To the Hebrews these two incidents have always been of first importance.  As the two great events through which they gained entrance to their permanent home, they have been given a place in Hebrew literature almost equal to that of their deliverance from Egyptian bondage.  The divine share in these great accomplishments was fully recognized.  He it was who caused the waters of Jordan to separate and He it was who threw down the walls of Jericho.  Not only did Jericho occupy a strategic position, being somewhat apart from other Canaanite cities, but the marvelous manner of its fall both encouraged the Hebrews to expect complete victory and also caused the Canaanites to fear them and expect defeat.

The Complete Conquest of Canaan.  The conquest was a sort of whirlwind campaign that crushed the active and dangerous opposition of the Canaanites, the complete occupancy being accomplished by a piecemeal process of subduing one after another of the little cities and independent tribes.  The campaign was well planned.  The Jordan was crossed, Jericho was taken and then by pushing forward for the heart of the land, Ai was overcome and in a short time Joshua was in the center of the land, ready to strike either