4 min read

God Made the Canaanites Repair the Land Before Israel Arrived

Deuteronomy promises houses Israel did not fill. Rabbi Shimon asks why the Torah says this. The Canaanites built the inheritance for Israel without knowing it.

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. The Inheritance That Was Already Furnished
  2. The Builders Who Did Not Know What They Were Building
  3. The Canaanites Who Burned Everything
  4. What God Had Planted for the Patriarchs

The Inheritance That Was Already Furnished

Deuteronomy 6:11 promises Israel an arrival that reads like a gift catalog. Houses full of every good thing that you did not fill. Cisterns hewn into rock that you did not hew. Vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant. A nation that had lived in tents for forty years would cross the Jordan and find a country already inhabited, already productive, already prepared.

Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai asked the obvious question. If Israel is entering for the first time, of course they did not fill the houses or hew the cisterns or plant the trees. Why does the Torah need to say this? You did not fill, you did not hew, you did not plant are all obvious. The redundancy pointed at something hidden.

The Builders Who Did Not Know What They Were Building

Sifrei Devarim provides the answer. For forty years, while Israel wandered in the wilderness, the Canaanites were preparing the land that was not for them. They built houses thinking they were securing their own dynasties. They dug cisterns thinking they were protecting their own water supply. They planted vineyards and olive trees thinking the fruit would feed their own children. The midrash reads their labor differently: they were getting the land ready for the people who were coming to take it.

The timing was providential. The verse says Israel received what they did not build because the building happened during the forty years Israel was in the wilderness. The Canaanites were not building for themselves during Israel's absence. They were building for Israel, without knowing it, under the direction of a promise they had never heard and would have refused if they had.

The Canaanites Who Burned Everything

Yalkut Shimoni preserves the tradition that God deliberately delayed Israel's entry into the land to allow for restoration. When word reached the Canaanites that a freed people was marching toward their country, they chose scorched earth over surrender. They burned standing crops. They cut down young saplings. They tore down houses. They stopped up wells with stone. If they could not keep the country, they would hand over a wasteland.

But God had already promised Abraham something specific. Not a charred ruin. Not rubble to settle in. Houses full of every good thing. The terms of the oath to Abraham required the land to be furnished when Israel arrived. So God waited. He waited while the Canaanites repaired what they had destroyed, replanted what they had cut, rebuilt what they had torn down. He waited while a people trying to deny Israel an inheritance unknowingly rebuilt the inheritance they were denying. When the land was ready again, Israel crossed the Jordan.

What God Had Planted for the Patriarchs

Vayikra Rabbah offers a different register for the same truth. Rabbi Yehoshua of Sikhnin, in Rabbi Levi's name, opens with Ecclesiastes 2:4: I expanded my projects, I built myself houses, planted myself vineyards. The verse sounds like a king's boast. The midrash reads it as God speaking to Moses: go and tell the patriarchs that I have fulfilled everything I promised. I have built houses. I have planted vineyards. Everything I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, I have done. The land the people are about to enter is not a conquest. It is a delivery.

Midrash Aggadah extends the language of divine watching. Deuteronomy 11:12 says God's eyes are on the land from the beginning of the year to the end. The land is not left to run itself. It is watched, attended, cared for. The houses that Israel would enter already full of good things were full because the One whose eyes rest on the land had arranged for them to be filled. The Canaanites who filled them were instruments of that arrangement, unwilling and unknowing and necessary.

Holy LandIsraelCanaanPromisesMosesMidrash AggadahDivine Providence
← All myths

From the tradition

Sources

4 sources

The texts this telling draws on, in full. Open a card to read inline, or expand it for a wider, quieter read.

Sifrei Devarim 38:10Sifrei Devarim

The Sifrei Devarim, a commentary on the Book of Deuteronomy, paints a fascinating picture – one filled with divine preparation and perhaps, a little bit of ancient real estate maneuvering.

The verse in Deuteronomy (6:11) describes what the Israelites would find upon entering the land: "And (you will find) houses full of all good that you did not fill, and hewn cisterns, which you did not hew…" Sounds pretty sweet. Ready-made homes, water ready to drink! But the Sifrei Devarim digs deeper. It's not just about the stuff they found, but why it was there.

Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, a prominent sage often associated with the mystical tradition, asks a pointed question. If the Torah already says "houses full" and "hewn cisterns," why does it need to add "which you did not fill," "which you did not plant?" His answer? It’s not just about the houses and cisterns themselves, but about the source of the abundance. It wasn't the Israelites' own labor that created this bounty. It was their merit.

Here's where it gets really interesting. The Sifrei Devarim continues with a somewhat startling claim: For the entire forty years that the Israelites wandered in the desert, the people of Eretz Yisrael were busy preparing for their arrival! They built houses, dug cisterns, and planted fruit trees, all so that when our ancestors finally arrived, they would find a land "full of blessing." Imagine that – decades of preparation by the Canaanites to set the stage for the Israelite arrival!

But why would they do that? Was it some act of selfless hospitality? Not exactly. The text explains that the original inhabitants had to abstain from enjoying all their own labor, so as to leave it for the Israelites. In other words, they wouldn't eat all of the produce or drink all of the water.

The text further suggests that, because of the impending arrival of the Israelites, the existing inhabitants of the land were cautious about fully enjoying its bounty, ensuring that everything was "full of blessing" for the newcomers. That's quite a thought, isn't it?

The Sifrei Devarim then references (Deuteronomy 11:10), "from which you went forth," implying that the land was blessed specifically because of the Israelites' presence, and that this blessing was absent without them. That is to say, the Israelites brought the blessing.

So, what does all this mean? It's more than just a historical account. It speaks to the idea of divine providence, of a world carefully orchestrated to provide for those who are deserving. It also raises complex questions about the relationship between the Israelites and the land they inherited, and about the blessings that can arise from unexpected sources. It encourages us to consider: What are we preparing for those who will come after us? And what blessings might we be overlooking in the present moment?

Full source
Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 226:10Yalkut Shimoni on Torah

Another interpretation: all the more so, why did He not bring them in by the direct route? Rather, when the Canaanites heard that Israel was entering the land, they arose and burned the crops, cut down the saplings, demolished the buildings, and stopped up the springs. The Holy One, blessed be He, said: I did not promise Abraham their father that I would bring them into a ruined land, but into a land full of all good things, as it is said, "and houses full of all good things" (Deuteronomy 6:11). Rather, behold, I will lead them around in the wilderness forty years, so that the Canaanites will arise and repair what they ruined.

Full source
Vayikra Rabbah 25:4Vayikra Rabbah

The ancient sages grappled with this too, particularly when thinking about the relationship between God, the patriarchs, and the land of Israel.Here, Rabbi Yehoshua of Sikhnin, quoting Rabbi Levi, opens with a verse from Ecclesiastes (2:4): “I expanded my projects: I built myself houses, planted myself vineyards.” It sounds like a king boasting of his accomplishments. But what if there's a deeper meaning?

The text suggests that God is essentially saying to Moses: "Go and tell the patriarchs – Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – that I have been exceedingly generous with their descendants, fulfilling everything I promised them." And how did God show this generosity? By giving them a land overflowing with abundance, a land they didn't even have to build from scratch.

The passage cleverly connects the Ecclesiastes verse to verses in Deuteronomy describing the bounty of the Promised Land. "I built myself houses," becomes "Houses full of everything good" (Deuteronomy 6:11). Imagine inheriting a home already furnished, already brimming with comfort. "Planted myself vineyards" transforms into "Vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant" (Deuteronomy 6:11). Think of the sheer joy of harvesting fruit from trees you never labored over.

It goes on: "I made for myself pools of water" (Ecclesiastes 2:6) is echoed by "hewn cisterns that you did not hew" (Deuteronomy 6:11) and "Springs and aquifers" (Deuteronomy 8:7). Water, the source of life, readily available. And Rabbi Levi adds a beautiful detail: "To irrigate from them a forest of growing trees" (Ecclesiastes 2:6) meant that even basic necessities like reeds for arrows were plentiful in the Land of Israel. Nothing was lacking!

Finally, "I made for myself gardens and orchards" (Ecclesiastes 2:5) corresponds to "a land of wheat and barley" (Deuteronomy 8:8). And "planted in them every fruit tree" (Ecclesiastes 2:5) ties directly to the commandment: "When you will come into the land and plant." It's a land ripe with potential, a place to build upon the existing foundation.

What's the takeaway here? Perhaps it’s about gratitude. Recognizing that so much of what we have is built upon the foundations laid by those who came before us, both literally and figuratively. The patriarchs, through their faith and dedication, paved the way for their descendants to inherit a land flowing with milk and honey. And God, in turn, provided the resources, the "houses full of everything good," the "vineyards you did not plant," to enable their success.

It's also a reminder that even when we feel like we're starting from scratch, we're often standing on the shoulders of giants. The land, the tradition, the very air we breathe – they're all gifts, legacies passed down through generations. And it’s up to us to cultivate those gifts, to build upon that foundation, and to ensure that the abundance continues to flow for generations to come. How can we recognize the gifts we have inherited, and how can we build upon them to create a better future?

Full source
Sifrei, Ekev 37Midrash Aggadah

"For the land into which you are entering to possess it" (Deuteronomy 11:10). This was said as an inducement to Israel at the time they went out of Egypt, for they were saying: Perhaps we will not enter into so fair a land as this one? The Omnipresent said to them: "For the land into which you are entering to possess it is not like the land of Egypt." This teaches that the Land of Israel is more praiseworthy than it.

Does Scripture speak in praise of the Land of Israel, or in praise of the land of Egypt? Therefore the verse states: "And Hebron was built seven years before Zoan of Egypt" (Numbers 13:22). What was Zoan? A place of royalty, and so it says: "For his princes were at Zoan," and so forth (Isaiah 30:4). What was Hebron? The refuse of the Land of Israel, as it is said: "Mamre, the city of Arba, which is Hebron" (Genesis 35:27). And behold, the matter is an inference from minor to major: if Hebron, the refuse of the Land of Israel, is more praiseworthy than the praise of the land of Egypt, which is more praiseworthy than all lands, then how much more so for the praise of the Land of Israel!

And so you find in the ways of the Omnipresent that whatever is more beloved precedes its fellow: the Torah, because it is more beloved than all, was created before all; the Holy Temple, because it is more beloved than all, was created before all; the Land of Israel, which is more beloved than all, was created before all, as it is said: "Before He had made the earth and the open fields" (Proverbs 8:26).

Rabbi Shimon ben Yohai says: "Tevel" (the world) refers to the Land of Israel, as it is said: "Rejoicing in the world (tevel), His earth" (Proverbs 8:31). Why is its name called Tevel? Because it is seasoned (metubelet) with everything, for all the lands have in this one what is not in that one, and have in that one what is not in this one; but the Land of Israel lacks nothing, as it is said: "You will lack nothing in it" (Deuteronomy 8:9).

Full source