Ulangan 9:3

9:3 Understand today that the Lord your God who goes before you is a devouring fire; he will defeat and subdue them before you. You will dispossess and destroy them quickly just as he ¹  has told you.

Ulangan 9:1

Theological Justification of the Conquest

9:1 Listen, Israel: Today you are about to cross the Jordan so you can dispossess the nations there, people greater and stronger than you who live in large cities with extremely high fortifications. ² 

1 Samuel 8:20

8:20 We will be like all the other nations. Our king will judge us and lead us ³  and fight our battles.”

1 Samuel 8:2

8:2 The name of his firstborn son was Joel, and the name of his second son was Abijah. They were judges in Beer Sheba.

1 Samuel 5:1

The Ark Causes Trouble for the Philistines

5:1 Now the Philistines had captured the ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod.

Mazmur 68:8

68:8 the earth shakes,

yes, the heavens pour down rain

before God, the God of Sinai, ⁴ 

before God, the God of Israel. ⁵ 

[9:3]  ¹ tn Heb “the Lord.” The pronoun has been used in the translation in keeping with contemporary English style to avoid redundancy.

[9:1]  ² tn Heb “fortified to the heavens” (so NRSV); NLT “cities with walls that reach to the sky.” This is hyperbole.

[8:20]  ³ tn Heb “and go out before us.”

[68:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “this one of Sinai.” The phrase is a divine title, perhaps indicating that the Lord rules from Sinai.

[68:8]  ⁵ sn The language of vv. 7-8 is reminiscent of Judg 5:4-5, which tells how the God of Sinai came in the storm and annihilated the Canaanite forces led by Sisera. The presence of allusion does not mean, however, that this is a purely historical reference. The psalmist is describing God’s typical appearance as a warrior in terms of his prior self-revelation as ancient events are reactualized in the psalmist’s experience. (For a similar literary technique, see Hab 3.)