The fate of the indigenous population at the hands of the colonizers is not unique; it is the extreme example of a stable pattern. Centuries ago, the prophet Isaiah announced judgment against those who dispossess and drive out others so that they alone can be the masters of the land (5:8): Ah, you who join house to house, who add field to field, until there is room for no one but you, and you are left alone in the midst of the land!