Topical Bible: Dispossess

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Topical Encyclopedia

The term "dispossess" in the biblical context primarily refers to the act of removing or driving out inhabitants from a land or territory, often to make way for the people of Israel as they entered the Promised Land. This concept is deeply rooted in the covenantal promises made by God to the patriarchs, particularly Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, regarding the land of Canaan.

Biblical Usage and Context

1. Divine Command and Promise: The command to dispossess the inhabitants of Canaan is a recurring theme in the Pentateuch. God instructed the Israelites to drive out the Canaanites and other nations inhabiting the land as part of His divine plan to establish Israel in the land He promised to their forefathers. In Exodus 23:30-31 , God declares, "Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you become fruitful and possess the land. I will set your borders from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the Euphrates. For I will deliver the inhabitants into your hand, and you will drive them out before you."

2. Moral and Spiritual Purity: The dispossession of the Canaanites was not merely a territorial conquest but also a means to maintain the spiritual and moral purity of the Israelites. The Canaanite nations were known for their idolatrous practices and moral corruption, which posed a significant threat to the covenantal relationship between God and Israel. In Deuteronomy 7:1-2 , God warns, "When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess, and He drives out before you many nations... you must devote them to complete destruction. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy."

3. Fulfillment of God's Justice: The act of dispossession also served as a fulfillment of divine justice against the Canaanites, whose iniquity had reached its full measure. In Genesis 15:16 , God tells Abraham, "In the fourth generation your descendants will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete." This indicates that the dispossession was not arbitrary but was a response to the moral degradation of the Canaanite societies.

4. Israel's Responsibility and Warning: The Israelites were reminded that their ability to dispossess the nations was contingent upon their obedience to God's commandments. Failure to fully carry out God's instructions would result in the remaining inhabitants becoming a snare to them. In Numbers 33:55 , God warns, "But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those you allow to remain will become barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will give you trouble in the land where you will live."

5. Historical Accounts: The Book of Joshua provides a historical account of the dispossession of the Canaanites as the Israelites, under Joshua's leadership, conquered and settled in the Promised Land. Joshua 11:23 states, "So Joshua took the entire land, according to all that the LORD had spoken to Moses, and Joshua gave it as an inheritance to Israel according to their tribal allotments. Then the land had rest from war."

Theological Implications

The concept of dispossession in the Bible underscores the sovereignty of God over the nations and His authority to allocate land according to His divine purposes. It also highlights the importance of obedience to God's commands and the consequences of failing to uphold His standards. The dispossession of the Canaanites serves as a historical and theological lesson on the seriousness of sin and the necessity of maintaining holiness in the community of God's people.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

(v. t.) To deprive possession or of the actual occupancy of, particularly of land or real estate; to disseize; to eject; -- usually followed by of before the thing taken away; as, to dispossess a king of his crown.

Strong's Hebrew

3423. yarash -- to take possession of, inherit, dispossess
... yarash or yaresh. 3424 . to take possession of, inherit, dispossess. Transliteration:
yarash or yaresh Phonetic Spelling: (yaw-rash') Short Definition: possess ...
/hebrew/3423.htm - 7k

Library

The Folly and Danger of Parting with Christ for the Pleasures and ...
... as we may read a few verses before; and as he continually went about doing good,
so now he was going to the country of the Gergesenes to dispossess two, who ...
/.../whitefield/selected sermons of george whitefield/the folly and danger of 2.htm

Impressive Phrases
... freedom. deny, dismiss, exclude, and repudiate. deprive, dispossess, divest,
and despoil. describe, delineate, depict, and characterize. ...
/.../kleiser/fifteen thousand useful phrases/section iv impressive phrases.htm

Must I Demonstrate to You So Simple a Truth? Can You not ...
... without circulating it in work, in wages, in assistance, in benevolence, in good
deeds to his brothers;"where the poor wishes to dispossess violently and ...
/.../lamartine/atheism among the people/vii must i demonstrate to.htm

But Even this is Nothing. ...
... But, for this, it was necessary to dispossess the Middle Ages of their temporal
power, of their mort-main possessions, of their civil jurisdictions, of their ...
/.../lamartine/atheism among the people/xi but even this is.htm

The Binding of Satan.
... was given that his head should in due time be bruised, and he is not ignorant of
his doom; for when the legion saw the Saviour about to dispossess them of the ...
/.../bliss/a brief commentary on the apocalypse/the binding of satan.htm

The Scotch Catechisms.
... necessity for encountering it increased also; controversy spread, dialectics rose
into repute, and the dogmatical threatened to stifle or dispossess the vital ...
/.../ 91 the scotch catechisms.htm

Book 4 Footnotes
... but that those countries given them by God were their proper and peculiar portion
among the nations, and that all who endeavored to dispossess them might ever ...
/.../josephus/the antiquities of the jews/book 4 footnotes.htm

The Treasury of Sacred Song
... Th' Universe's fabric fall. No disaster can distress thee,. Nor no Fury dispossess
thee: Let all war and plunder come,. Still may'st thou dwell safe at Home. ...
//christianbookshelf.org/palgrave/the treasury of sacred song/cxliv home.htm

Christian Graces.
... When a tyrant goes to dispossess a neighboring prince of what is lawfully his own,
the men that he employeth at arms to overcome and get the land, fight for ...
//christianbookshelf.org/bunyan/the riches of bunyan/xviii christian graces.htm

Exploring Canaan by Faith
... Canaan. There were several giants making Hebron their home, and I was eager
to dispossess them; for I liked the situation. Joshua ...
/.../berry/adventures in the land of canaan/chapter five exploring canaan by.htm

Thesaurus

Dispossess (44 Occurrences)
... occupancy of, particularly of land or real estate; to disseize; to eject; -- usually
followed by of before the thing taken away; as, to dispossess a king of ...
/d/dispossess.htm - 21k

Invade (15 Occurrences)
... Deuteronomy 12:29 When Yahweh your God shall cut off the nations from before you,
where you go in to dispossess them, and you dispossess them, and dwell in ...
/i/invade.htm - 11k

Deprive (17 Occurrences)
... 2. (vt) To dispossess; to bereave; to divest; to hinder from possessing; to debar;
to shut out from; -- with a remoter object, usually preceded by of. ...
/d/deprive.htm - 11k

Mightier (21 Occurrences)
... Deuteronomy 9:1 Hear, Israel: you are to pass over the Jordan this day, to go in
to dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourself, cities great and ...
/m/mightier.htm - 12k

Capture (53 Occurrences)
... Numbers 21:32 and Moses sendeth to spy out Jaazer, and they capture its villages,
and dispossess the Amorite who 'is' there, (YLT NAS NIV). ...
/c/capture.htm - 23k

Captured (143 Occurrences)
... (See NIV). Numbers 21:32 and Moses sendeth to spy out Jaazer, and they capture its
villages, and dispossess the Amorite who 'is' there, (See NAS NIV). ...
/c/captured.htm - 36k

Numerous (88 Occurrences)
... Deuteronomy 2:21 a people great, and numerous, and tall, as the Anakim, and Jehovah
destroyeth them before them, and they dispossess them, and dwell in their ...
/n/numerous.htm - 33k

Possess (193 Occurrences)
... Deuteronomy 9:1 Hear, Israel: you are to pass over the Jordan this day, to go in
to dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourself, cities great and ...
/p/possess.htm - 42k

Driven (128 Occurrences)
... Deuteronomy 12:29 When Yahweh your God shall cut off the nations from before you,
where you go in to dispossess them, and you dispossess them, and dwell in ...
/d/driven.htm - 37k

Dispossessed (42 Occurrences)
... Noah Webster's Dictionary (imp. & pp) of Dispossess. Multi-Version Concordance
Dispossessed (42 Occurrences). Acts 7:45 which also ...
/d/dispossessed.htm - 19k

Resources

Dispossess: Dictionary and Thesaurus | Clyx.com

Bible Concordance • Bible Dictionary • Bible Encyclopedia • Topical Bible • Bible Thesuarus

Concordance

Dispossess (44 Occurrences)

Exodus 15:9
The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my soul shall be sated upon them; I will unsheath my sword, my hand shall dispossess them.
(DBY)

Exodus 23:31
And I will set thy bounds from the Red Sea even unto the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness unto the river; for I will give the inhabitants of the land into your hand, that thou mayest dispossess them from before thee.
(DBY)

Exodus 33:2
(and I will send an angel before thee, and dispossess the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite,)
(DBY)

Exodus 34:24
For I will dispossess the nations before thee, and enlarge thy border, and no man shall desire thy land, when thou goest up to appear before the face of Jehovah thy God thrice in the year.
(DBY YLT)

Numbers 14:12
I smite it with pestilence, and dispossess it, and make thee become a nation greater and mightier than it.'
(YLT NAS)

Numbers 21:32
And Moses sent to spy out Jaazer, and they took its dependent villages, and he dispossessed the Amorites that were there.
(Root in DBY YLT NAS RSV)

Numbers 32:39
The children of Machir the son of Manasseh went to Gilead, and took it, and dispossessed the Amorites who were therein.
(Root in WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV)

Numbers 33:52
then ye shall dispossess all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and ye shall destroy all their figured images, and all their molten images shall ye destroy, and all their high places shall ye lay waste;
(DBY YLT)

Numbers 33:53
And ye shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land, and dwell therein: for I have given you the land to possess it.
(KJV WBS)

Numbers 33:55
But if ye will not dispossess the inhabitants of the land from before you, those that ye let remain of them shall be thorns in your eyes, and pricks in your sides, and they shall harass you in the land wherein ye dwell.
(DBY YLT)

Deuteronomy 2:12
And in Seir dwelt the Horites in times past; and the children of Esau dispossessed them, and destroyed them from before them, and dwelt in their stead; as Israel did to the land of their possession, which Jehovah gave to them.)
(Root in DBY YLT NAS RSV)

Deuteronomy 2:21
a people great, and many, and tall as the Anakim; and Jehovah destroyed them before them, and they dispossessed them, and dwelt in their stead;
(Root in DBY YLT NAS RSV)

Deuteronomy 2:22
as he did to the children of Esau, who dwelt in Seir, from before whom he destroyed the Horites; and they dispossessed them, and dwelt in their stead, even to this day.
(Root in DBY YLT NAS RSV)

Deuteronomy 4:38
to dispossess nations from before thee greater and mightier than thou art, to bring thee in, to give thee their land for an inheritance, as it is this day.
(DBY YLT)

Deuteronomy 7:17
If you shall say in your heart, "These nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them?"
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV)

Deuteronomy 9:1
Hear, Israel: you are to pass over the Jordan this day, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourself, cities great and fortified up to the sky,
(WEB JPS ASV NAS RSV NIV)

Deuteronomy 9:3
Know then this day, that Jehovah thy God is he that goeth over before thee, a consuming fire; he will destroy them, and he will cast them down before thee, and thou shalt dispossess them and cause them to perish quickly, as Jehovah hath said unto thee.
(DBY YLT)

Deuteronomy 9:4
Thou shalt not say in thy heart, when Jehovah thy God thrusteth them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness Jehovah hath brought me in to possess this land; but for the wickedness of these nations doth Jehovah dispossess them from before thee.
(DBY YLT NAS)

Deuteronomy 9:5
Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thy heart, dost thou enter in to possess their land, but for the wickedness of these nations doth Jehovah thy God dispossess them from before thee, and that he may perform the word which Jehovah swore unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
(DBY YLT)

Deuteronomy 11:23
then will Yahweh drive out all these nations from before you, and you shall dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourselves.
(WEB JPS ASV DBY YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Deuteronomy 12:2
You shall surely destroy all the places in which the nations that you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains, and on the hills, and under every green tree:
(WEB JPS ASV DBY YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Deuteronomy 12:29
When Yahweh your God shall cut off the nations from before you, where you go in to dispossess them, and you dispossess them, and dwell in their land;
(WEB JPS ASV DBY NAS RSV NIV)

Deuteronomy 18:12
For every one that doeth these things is an abomination to Jehovah, and because of these abominations Jehovah thy God doth dispossess them from before thee.
(DBY YLT)

Deuteronomy 18:14
For these nations, that you shall dispossess, listen to those who practice sorcery, and to diviners; but as for you, Yahweh your God has not allowed you so to do.
(WEB JPS ASV DBY NAS RSV NIV)

Deuteronomy 19:1
When Jehovah thy God hath cut off the nations whose land Jehovah thy God giveth thee, and thou hast dispossessed them, and dwellest in their cities and in their houses,
(Root in DBY NAS RSV)

Deuteronomy 31:3
Yahweh your God, he will go over before you; he will destroy these nations from before you, and you shall dispossess them: and Joshua, he shall go over before you, as Yahweh has spoken.
(WEB JPS ASV NAS RSV)

Joshua 3:10
And Joshua said, Hereby shall ye know that the living ?God is in your midst, and that he will without fail dispossess from before you the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Hivites, and the Perizzites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Jebusites.
(DBY YLT NAS)

Joshua 13:6
all the inhabitants of the hill-country from Lebanon to Misrephoth-maim, all the Sidonians; I will dispossess them from before the children of Israel. Only, partition it by lot to Israel for an inheritance, as I have commanded thee.
(DBY YLT)

Joshua 13:12
all the kingdom of Og in Bashan, who reigned at Ashtaroth and at Edrei, who remained of the residue of the giants; and Moses smote them and dispossessed them.
(Root in DBY YLT NAS)

Joshua 13:13
But the children of Israel did not dispossess the Geshurites nor the Maachathites; but the Geshurites and the Maachathites dwell among the Israelites to this day.
(DBY YLT NAS)

Joshua 14:12
And now give me this mountain, of which Jehovah spoke in that day; for thou heardest in that day that Anakim are there, and great fortified cities. If so be Jehovah shall be with me, then I shall dispossess them, as Jehovah said.
(DBY YLT)

Joshua 15:63
But as for the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the children of Judah could not dispossess them; and the Jebusites dwell with the children of Judah at Jerusalem to this day.
(DBY YLT)

Joshua 16:10
But they did not dispossess the Canaanites that dwelt at Gezer; and the Canaanites dwell in the midst of Ephraim to this day, and serve under tribute.
(DBY YLT)

Joshua 17:12
But the children of Manasseh could not dispossess the inhabitants of those cities; and the Canaanites would dwell in that land.
(DBY)

Joshua 17:13
And it came to pass when the children of Israel were become strong, that they made the Canaanites tributary; but they did not utterly dispossess them.
(DBY YLT)

Joshua 17:18
but the hill-country shall be thine, as it is a wood, thou shalt cut it down, and its outgoings shall be thine; for thou shalt dispossess the Canaanites, though they have iron chariots; for they are powerful.
(DBY YLT)

Joshua 23:5
And Jehovah your God, he will expel them from before you, and dispossess them from out of your sight; and ye shall take possession of their land, as Jehovah your God hath said unto you.
(DBY YLT)

Joshua 23:13
know for a certainty that Jehovah your God will no more dispossess these nations from before you, and they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which Jehovah your God hath given you.
(DBY YLT)

Judges 1:19
and Jehovah is with Judah, and he occupieth the hill-country, but not to dispossess the inhabitants of the valley, for they have chariots of iron.
(YLT)

Judges 2:21
I also continue not to dispossess any from before them of the nations which Joshua hath left when he dieth,
(YLT)

Judges 2:23
And Jehovah leaveth these nations, so as not to dispossess them hastily, and did not give them into the hand of Joshua.
(YLT)

Psalms 44:2
Thou, by thy hand, didst dispossess the nations, but them thou didst plant; thou didst afflict the peoples, but them didst thou cause to spread out.
(DBY YLT)

Isaiah 54:3
For I will make wide your limits on the right hand and on the left; and your seed will take the nations for a heritage, and make the waste towns full of people.
(See NIV)

Zechariah 9:4
Behold, the Lord will dispossess her, and he will strike her power in the sea; and she will be devoured with fire.
(WEB ASV YLT NAS)

Subtopics

Dispossess

Related Terms

Dispossess (44 Occurrences)

Dwelleth (142 Occurrences)

Machir (20 Occurrences)

Possessed (100 Occurrences)

Semites

Semitic

Drove (89 Occurrences)

Destroyed (377 Occurrences)