At the time of Israel’s arrival at its frontier (1473 B.C.E.), Canaan was a land of numerous city-states or petty kingdoms, though still showing some cohesion according to tribal relations. The spies who had searched out the land nearly 40 years earlier found it to be a land rich in fruitage and found its cities to be well fortified.​—Nu 13:21-29; compare De 9:1; Ne 9:25.

In the second year after the Exodus the Israelites had made an initial attempt to penetrate the southern borders of Canaan, but without divine backing, and they were routed by the Canaanites and allied Amalekites. (Nu 14:42-45) Toward the close of the 40-year period of wandering, Israel again moved toward the Canaanites and was attacked by the king of Arad in the Negeb, but this time the Canaanite forces were defeated, and their cities were destroyed. (Nu 21:1-3) Still the Israelites did not follow up this victory with an invasion from the S but circled around to approach from the E. This brought them into conflict with the Amorite kingdoms of Sihon and Og, and the defeat of these kings put all of Bashan and Gilead under Israelite control, including 60 cities “with a high wall, doors and bar” in Bashan alone. (Nu 21:21-35; De 2:26–3:10) The defeat of these powerful kings had a weakening effect on the Canaanite kingdoms W of the Jordan, and the subsequent miraculous crossing of the Jordan dryshod by the Israelite nation caused the Canaanites’ hearts to ‘begin to melt.’