34:1-29 · The Lord has promised to drive out the corrupt inhabitants of Canaan before the Israelites (Exod. 23:28; 33:2; 34:11, 24; Lev. 20:23). It is now crucial that the Israelites cooperate with God in completing the expulsion of the Canaanites and destroying all artifacts of their religious culture. Any remnants will cause trouble and result in God treating the Israelites like Canaanites (33:50–56), implying that the Israelites will apostatize as they have with the Baal of Peor (chap. 25). This theme of totally expelling the Canaanites is further developed in Deuteronomy (Deut. 7:1–5, 17–26; 20:16–18) and dominates the history of later failure in the book of Judges.

At the time of the second census, God introduced a fair plan for apportioning conquered Canaan by lot: tribal groups wo…