Introduction to the Book of Joshua

1. Introduction to the Book of Joshua APTS-BIB509-2006

2. 1. Title The book has been named after the main character, Joshua, since the times of the Talmud (Baba Bathra, 14b, 15a).

3. 2. The Text of Joshua 2.1 MT: 1. The MT has "few obscure words or complicated grammatical construction." [Greenspoon, 233] 2. There are a relatively "low number of 'qere-kethiv' readings preserved by the Masoretes." [Greenspoon, 233] 3. However it has been argued by critical scholars that both the MT and OG are expansionistic with "scribal additions, harmonizations and developments not found in the other." [Greenspoon, 233]

4. 2. The Text of Joshua 2.2 LXX: 1. "The Greek shows numerous divergences from the Hebrew text in every chapter, at times in every verse of a chapter. Many of these divergences can be explained as simple mechanical errors which occur when a text must be copied by hand. The majority of the differences cannot, however, be explained in this manner. A few of the changes result from translators who did not understand the precise nuance of Hebrew words, forms, or syntax. A greater number of the differences rest on attempts of the Greek translator to improve the style or continuity of the narrative itself. Here it becomes clear that the earliest translator did not feel himself obliged to reproduce an original text word for word." [Butler]

5. 2. The Text of Joshua 2.3 Qumran: 1. "The Qumran material does share a significant (given the paucity of material extant) number of distinctive features with the MT; what is more, these texts display several unique readings as well, some of which are shorter, others more expansive, than the MT." [Greenspoon, 236] 2. "The most significant difference, in the opinion of many, relates to the placement of the narrative of the covenant renewal ceremony at Mounts Ebal and Gerizim. In the MT, this episode is found at the end of ch. 8; in the LXX it is found a bit later, after the first two verses of ch. 9. At Qumran, this material was placed considerably earlier in the narrative." [Greenspoon, 236]

6. 3. The Structure of Joshua I. Mobilization and Invasion (1.1-5.12) II. The Warfare (5.13-11.23) III. The Inheritance (12.1-19.51) IV. Provisions for Keeping the Peace (20.1-21.45) V. How to Avoid Civil War (22.1-34) VI. Theology of Joshua (23.1-16) VII. The Shechem Covenant and Postscripts (24.1-33)

7. 3. The Structure of Joshua The Conquest of Canaan (chs. 1-12) Allotment of the Land (chs. 13-21) Departure of Transjordanian Tribes (ch. 22) Joshua's Last Days (chs. 23-24) [Y. Aharoni, "Book of Joshua," EJ 10:271-77]

8. 3. The Structure of Joshua 3.2 Problems: 1. "Temporal and geographical discontinuity, particularly during the pivotal episode in which Israel crosses the Jordan into the land promised to its ancestors (3.1-4.24)." [Greenspoon, 233] 2. "The apparently inconsistent insistence that all of Canaan was in Israel's hands (exp. 11.21-23 & 21.41-43) side by side with reports of enemies still unconquered (13.1-7 & 17.14-18)." [Greenspoon, 233]

9. 4. Documentary Sources? 1. "In the nineteenth century, most scholars were convinced that the same sources that had been discovered for the Pentateuch could be traced in Joshua. Chs. 1-12 were composed almost entirely by JE and D, and chs. 13-24 were almost entirely the work of P." [La Sor, Hubbard & Bush] 2. Martin Noth's Deuteronomistic History idea and the 2nd edition of his Joshua commentary ended the speculations about a P source in Joshua. 3. ". . . Woudstra . . . seeks to place the writing in the first generation or so after Joshua. Occasionally, he refers to possibilities of later redactors without really being willing to affirm their existence or work."

10. 4. Documentary Sources? 4. Possible Sources: 4.1 rV'Y"h; rps [The Book of Jashar: Josh 10.13; 2 Sam 1.18] 4.2 Gilgal Source: ". . . the traditions associated with Gilgal (Josh 4.20ff), the permanent camp of the Israelites until the land was surveyed (Josh 18.1) and the site of the Benjamite sanctuary. The traditions concerning the conquest of Jericho, Ai, the submission of Gibeon, and the list of the southern fortresses reduced by Joshua (Josh 10.28-43), were no doubt preserved at this location." [Harrison, IOT, 669]

11. 4. Documentary Sources? 4.3 Ancient Annals (Josh 11.1-15) 4.4 Border- and Town-Lists (Josh 13-19; 20.1-9; cf. Num 35.9ff; Josh 21.1-45; cf. Num 35.1ff).

12. 5. Theology of the Book of Joshua 5.1 The Land as Gift: 1. "Few would contest the assertion that the main purpose of the book of Joshua was to show the fulfilling of the promises of the fathers regarding the gift of the land (Deut 30.20). Not only did Israel defeat its enemies, but its actual possession of the promised inheritance was demonstrated by the division among the twelve tribes. Joshua 23.14 summarizes this theme: 'not one thing has failed of all the good things which Yahweh your God promised concerning you...' (cf. 21.45)." [Childs, IOTS, 244]

13. 5.1 The Land as Gift 2. "The Lord has given you the land": 2.9, 14, 24; 6.2, 16; 8.1, 7; 10.8, 12, 19, 30, 32; 11.6, 8. 3. Joshua is told to divide the land: 1.6; 13.6-7. And the division is recorded in chs. 13-21. 4. "It was a land whose inhabitants proved no military problem, because God had caused them to tremble with fear (2.9, 11; 5.1; 9.9b-10, 24). It was a land, however, whose ancient gods tempted Israel (23.7, 12, 16; 24.15, 20, 23)." [Butler]

14. 5. Theology of the Book of Joshua 5.2 God as Warrior: "He was conceived to be entirely independent in his exercise of power, one who set his own course which customarily did not coincide with Israel's willingness to follow." [Wright, 28] "This is the God of all the earth (2.11; 4.24) - the God of the revered name Yahweh (7.9; 9.9b). It is the God of the Exodus, who led Israel to conquer the kings east of the Jordan (2.10; 4.23; 9.9-10; 24.1-10, 17). It is the God who allowed Israel to conquer the entire land, thus fulfilling all his promises (10.40; 11.23; 21.43-45; 23.3, 9, 14; 24.11-13, 18)." [Butler]

15. 5.2 God as Warrior 1. Textual Background: 1.1 Ps 24.7-10: "The portion of the psalm in verses 7-10 had its origin in the procession of the Ark to the sanctuary at its founding, celebrated annually in the cult of Solomon and perhaps even of David . . . Moreover, we can have no doubt as to the identity of him who comes. It is the Divine Warrior. 'Yahweh mighty and valiant, Yahweh the Warrior, Yahweh sabaoth.' The procession of the Ark marks the going forth of the Divine Warrior to battle and his return to his royal seat." [Cross, CMHE, 93-94]

16. 5.2 God as Warrior 1. Textual Background: 1.2 Exod 15.1-18, 21: "The Israelite worshiper would have been thinking of something . . . concrete: Israel's crossing the Jordan under the leadership of the Divine Warrior, 'the glorious King' who established his rule over the conquered Promised Land forever as a foretaste of his eternal kingdom. Old epithets of this glorious King were gibbor milhama, literally, 'mighty warrior in war,' and Yahweh Sabaoth, literally 'He (who) creates the Armies' (celestial primarily, for those of earth were merely followers). One of the lost sources of Israel's early poetry is the 'Songs of the Wars of Yahweh' (Num 21.14), evidently about 'the wars of Canaan' (Judg 3.1)." [Wright, 32-33]

17. 5.2 God as Warrior 1. Textual Background: 1.3 Ps 132: "Psalm 132.6 implies that the Shrine of the Ark, and even its location, has fallen more or less from memory. David finds it, and the summons comes to enter the tent shrine and do obeisance to the Ark. Then follows the battle cry, �Arise, Yahweh, go to thy resting place� (that is, the old shrine), and finally the petition for (victorious) celebration by priests and people." [Cross, CMHE, 96]

18. 5.2 God as Warrior 1. Textual Background: 1.4 Num 10.35f.; Judges 5.4-5; Ps 68.8-9, 18; Deut 33.2-3; Hab 3.3-6: "The 'ritual conquest' appears as a basic ingredient of certain cultic traditions in Old Israel . . . . the normal locus of holy warfare (sic) is discovered in the Exodus-Conquest, not in the primordial battle of creation. The oldest poetry of Israel, our earliest biblical sources which survive in unrevised form, is marked by a ubiquitous motif: the march of Yahweh from the southern mountains (or from Egypt) with heavenly armies." [Cross, CMHE, 100]

19. 5.2 God as Warrior 1. Textual Background: 1.5 Isa 40.3-6; 51.9-11; 52.7-12: "The ideology of holy war makes possible the transition from the cultus of the league to the cultus of the kingdom, and ultimately to the ideology of the apocalyptic." [Cross, CMHE, 105] ". . . it is necessary to recognize the wedding of two themes: one derived from the ritual conquest, one from the procession of the Ark to Zion and the manifestation of Yahweh�s kingship. Late Prophetic and proto-apocalyptic eschatology was born of this wedding of kingship and Conquest themes in the cultus." [Cross, Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic, 109-111]

20. 5.2 God as Warrior 2. Divine Warrior Theology: 2.1 Prevalence: "From beginning to end this theme in various forms and with various ramifications comes to the fore. It is not possible to dismiss it as �primitive� without in effect dismissing the OT... the language and understanding of God as warrior dominated Israel�s faith throughout its course." [Miller, Divine Warrior in Early Israel, 171] "Throughout the confessional use of the conquest theme, as well as in the Book of Joshua itself, the central background model for conceiving the meaning of the tradition was the sovereign Lord acting in his role as Warrior against forces opposing his will and in behalf of his chosen agent, Israel." [Wright, 27]

21. 5.2 God as Warrior 2. Divine Warrior Theology: 2.2 Salvation: ". . . at the center of the salvation experience and theology of early Israel was the 'man of war,' the divine warrior. If one wished to know concretely what salvation meant in the early period - and indeed in later times also - it was simply: Yahweh fought for us and saved us." [Miller, The Divine Warrior in Early Israel, 173]

22. 5.2 God as Warrior 2. Divine Warrior Theology: 2.3 Judgment: "It is the other side of the coin, the negative dimension of the activity of the divine warrior. As he fought for Israel to deliver her, so he could and did fight against her to punish. The prophets especially drew this obvious conclusion from Israel�s theology. And it was this important assumption that kept the theology of Yahweh�s wars from being purely ideological or a naive and simple �God is on our side� faith. To speak about the judgment of God in the OT is to be confronted again with the imagery of the divine warrior." [Miller, The Divine Warrior in Early Israel, 173-174]

23. 5.2 God as Warrior 2.4 Kingship: "Whether over the gods or more particularly over Israel, it is the establishment of Yahweh�s eternal rule and sovereignty that is the ultimate goal of Yahweh's war." [Miller, The Divine Warrior in Early Israel, 175] "Yahweh�s sovereignty is established by his victories over the enemies of Israel. He who defeats the foe claims dominion. The conception of the kingship of God is therefore from the beginning fully wrapped up in the early representations of the divine warrior. It is not possible to talk of God as king without talking of God as warrior." [Miller, The Divine Warrior in Early Israel, 175]

24. 5.2 God as Warrior 3. Cherem ( ~r,x, ) � Yahweh War: 3.1 Basic meaning is to "devote," "is connected with the idea of holiness, exclusion, separation, taboo." [Pope] 3.2 "To make sense of it in biblical terms, one must recall two central points in biblical theology: (1) God works in this world immediately, through chosen agents whether they know it or not; and (2) the divine use of an agent confers no special righteousness or merit on the agent. God uses people as they are." [Wright, 30]

25. 5. Theology of the Book of Joshua 5.3 The Leadership of Joshua: 1. Continuity of leadership: Moses > Joshua 2. The Law and Joshua: Moses as Lawgiver/Joshua as dependent "The leader must be loyal to the law of Moses and his example (1.1, 5, 13-16; 3.7; 4.10, 14; 8.18, 26, 30-35; 11.11-12, 15 20, 23; 17.3-6; 21.2-3; 22.2, 5-6; 24.25)." [Butler]

26. 6. The Conquest Movement 2.1; 3.1 Shittim 3.1 Jordan river 4.19, 20 Gilgal 5.13; 6.1ff Jericho 7.2 Ai 8.30 Mt Ebal 9.6; 10.6 back to Gilgal 10.10 battle at Gibeon 10.10 Beth-horon; Azekah; Makkedah 10.15 back to Gilgal 10.16ff Makkedah 10.29 Libnah 10.31 Lachish (Gezer troops defeated) 10.34 Eglon 10.36 Hebron 10.38 Debir 11.7 Waters of Merom 11.8 Sidon; Misrephoth-maim; Mizpeh valley 11.10 Hazor