Deuteronomy 9:3

—Were the Canaanites destroyed quickly or slowly?

Problem:

This verse claims the Canaanites were destroyed “quickly” (

maher

), but an earlier passages (

Deut. 7:22

) said it would

not

be quickly, but “little by little.”

Solution:

There are two different ways to understand this. First, it may be an example where the same term is applied to the same thing in different senses. It was quick, relative to the

magnitude

of the work,

but slow with regard to the

rate of their occupation.

Or, it may be referring to two different things in the same basic sense. The

initial victories

were rapid, but

mop-up activity

took much longer. They

conquered

the land in a short time, but they

occupied

it much more slowly. The

major

battles did not take long, but all the subsequent

minor

skirmishes took some time.