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Book of Joshua

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Old Testament and Hebrew Bible
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The Book of Joshua (Hebrew: Sefer Y'hoshua ספר יהושע) is the sixth book in both the Hebrew Tanakh and the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. This book stands as the first in the Former (or First) Prophets covering the history of Israel from the possession of the Promised Land to the Babylonian Captivity.

Contents

Authorship

Jewish tradition ascribes authorship of the book to Joshua. The Talmud states that the book was written by Joshua except for the last verses (24:29-33) which were added by Phinehas the priest.

Certainly, the author writes as an eyewitness to the accounts described, occasionally using first person pronouns (for instance, in Joshua 5:1), although Joshua himself is usually described in the third person. Some sections, however (eg. 5:9, 7:26, 24:29-33) could only have been added after his death (probably by Eleazar the Priest or his son Phinehas).

More recently, the authorship of the book of Joshua has come under dispute. Two possibilities have been suggested for the authorship of the book:

  1. Conservative scholars argue that the majority of the book of Joshua was written at the time of the Israelite invasion (the fifteenth century or twelfth century BC), by a contemporary of Joshua and an eyewitness of the events that occurred.
  2. Modern critical scholars argue that Joshua was probably written in the late monarchic or early post-exilic age, either from the JEDP sources that they believe were responsible for the Pentateuch, or by one of the prophets of the eighth century BC.

Contents and structure

The book of Joshua contains a history of the Israelites from the death of Moses to that of Joshua. After Moses' death, Joshua, by virtue of his previous appointment as Moses' successor, receives from God the command to cross the Jordan. In execution of this order Joshua issues the requisite instructions to the stewards of the people for the crossing of the Jordan; and he reminds the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half of Manasseh of their pledge given to Moses to help their brethren.

The book essentially consists of three parts:

  1. The history of the conquest of the land (1-12).
  2. The allotment of the land to the different tribes, with the appointment of cities of refuge, the provision for the Levites (13-22), and the dismissal of the eastern tribes to their homes. This section has been compared to the Domesday Book of the Norman Conquest.
  3. The farewell addresses of Joshua, with an account of his death (23, 24).
The section concerning the conquest of the land involves
Joshua and the Israelites crossing the Jordan
Enlarge
Joshua and the Israelites crossing the Jordan

Joshua commands the sun to stand still in the sky
Enlarge
Joshua commands the sun to stand still in the sky

The section concerning the division of Canaan contains brief narrative portions and long lists of places, interweaving
The section concerning Joshua's final words involves

The ethical problem of war and genocide

One difficulty in this book arises out of the command given by God to completely exterminate the Canaanites.

Liberal theologians see this as an ethically unjustifiable order to commit genocide, which is inconsistent with the overall view in the Hebrew and Christian scriptures of God as a loving, compassionate Creator. They see it as a theological polemic, with the majority of events invented during or after the Babylonian captivity, to encourage faithfulness to the Jewish creed at a time when it was being threatened. For instance, Morton (pp. 324-325) says that Joshua "should be understood as a rite of ancient peoples (Israel among them) whereby within the context of their times, they attempted to please God (or the gods)".

Conservative theologians, who see the book as a historically accurate account written during or soon after the life of Joshua, give one of the following explanations to this problem:

  1. War was an essential part of the history of the Near East in the fifteenth century BCE. Although it is still sinful, some commentators argue that the book shows God using sinful activities in order to accomplish his just purposes. This does not mean that God supports war, simply that he works with humans as they are. These commentators emphasise what they see as the depraved nature of Canaanite society, pointing to archaelogical evidence of practices such as child sacrifice (burning the infant victims alive). For instance, Hallam, who takes this view, lists a number of pieces of archaeological evidence to support this thesis: "Just a few steps from this temple was a cemetery, where many jars were found, containing remains of infants who had been sacrificed in this temple . . . Prophets of Baal and Ashtoreth were official murderers of little children." "Another horrible practice was [what] they called `foundation sacrifices.' When a house was to be built, a child would be sacrificed, and its body built into the wall. . . . The worship of Baal, Ashtoreth, and other Canaanite gods consisted in the most extravagant orgies; their temples were centers of vice. . . . Canaanites worshiped, by immoral indulgence, . . . and then, by murdering their first-born children, as a sacrifice to these same gods." However, some of this evidence is disputed, with others arguing that it may have been invented at a later date in order to justify the act of extermination.
  2. Christian theologians have tended to emphasise what they see as the progressive nature of revelation in the Bible. As the Bible progresses, God is seen to reveal himself in ways that are fuller, clearer and more accurate, culminating in the ultimate revelation of God in Jesus Christ. God's command through Joshua to take possession of the land by force of arms is viewed in the context of God's command through the second Joshua, Jesus Christ, to bring about his kingdom through the peaceful application of his teaching.

Archaeological evidence

Excavations of several Canaanite cities have provided contradictory evidence for establishing the historicity of the Book of Joshua. The Tells of Lachish and Hazor were both Canaanite cities in the Late Bronze Age. Between the the thirteenth and twelfth centuries BC, both cities were destroyed and the following layers of occupational debris contain Israelite artifacts; it is not known if Israelites were the actual destroyers of these cities or if they simply settled on the ruins of the sites that had been destroyed by others, such as the Sea Peoples. The excavation of Ai yielded evidence that disagreed with Ai's destruction in the Book of Joshua. Ai appears to have been abandoned in the Early Bronze Age and not reoccupied until after the Israelite invasion. It has been suggested that the destruction of Ai was added to the Book of Joshua as an etiological myth, explaining the visible ruins of the Early Bronze Age city.

References

External links

Online translations of the Book of Joshua:

Related articles:

This entry incorporates text from the public domain Easton's Bible Dictionary, originally published in 1897.

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1901–1906 Jewish Encyclopedia.

 

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