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JOSHUA, BOOK OF

The sixth book of the Bible, the first of the Former Prophets, the second of the Deuteronomistic history. The MT is pedantic and redundant, and the LXX, equally learned but slightly shorter and sometimes differently arranged, lacks some of its wordiness and editorial expansions.

Literary Characteristics

The book is attached to the preceding and following books in the Deuteronomistic history by repetitive links, starting (1:1-9) with a quotation from the end of Deuteronomy (Deut. 31:6-8; 34:5) and ending with a text (24:29-31) which is quoted at the beginning of Judges (Judg. 2:7-9; LXX 24:33 adds allusions to Judg. 2:6, 12; 3:12, 14). The book is organized into four parts, marked off from each other by repetition, and defined by topic and internal arrangement. The first part (chs. 1-8) portrays Joshua as the successor of Moses in the Promised Land; it begins and ends with him as guardian of the law of Moses (1:7-9; 8:30-35 [MT]). Its chapters are paired: two each on preparations for crossing the Jordan, the crossing, the rituals leading up to the capture of Jericho, and the battle of Ai. In the second part (chs. 9-11) each chapter begins with news of the preceding event, and with the reaction of all the kings (9:1) or of the kings of specific cities (10:1; 11:1). The part ends with a summary of Joshua’s exploits (11:23) which alludes to the beginning of the book (1:1-6) and concludes the conquest of the land. The third part (chs. 12-21) redefines Israel’s occupation of the land as an allotment to the individual tribes. It begins with an overview of the victories recounted in the first two parts and, as in the first part, all its chapters are paired. Ch. 12 limits the occupation to 31 kingdoms; ch. 13 lists the kingdoms to be conquered, and both deal with distribution of land to the Transjordanian tribes. Chs. 14-15 concern Judah, and are related to each other by recounting successive episodes in the life of Caleb (14:6-15; 15:13-19). There are two chapters each on distributions to the house of Joseph (chs. 16-17), allotments of land to the other tribes at Shiloh (chs. 18-19), and cities of refuge and the distribution of these and other cities to the Levites (chs. 20-21). This part, like the second, ends with a summary which alludes to the completion of the task and to the fulfillment of the promises mentioned at the beginning of the book (21:43-45). In the fourth part (chs. 22-24) the chapters begin with loose chronological links to the third part (22:1; 23:1; 24:1) and address the major issues left unresolved in the book. Ch. 22 deals with the Transjordanian tribes who had not received allotments in the Promised Land. Ch. 23 confronts the problem posed by a limited occupation of the land and begins like the earlier text which introduced the topic (cf. 13:1). In ch. 24 the issue is the book of the law, confided to Joshua and read to the people in the first part, which includes, according to the historical summary in Joshua’s speech (24:2-13), the books from Genesis to Deuteronomy, called the law of Moses (1:7; 8:32) or the law of God (24:26).

The book does not use pentateuchal sources, but it regularly builds on texts and develops themes from the Pentateuch. Crossing the Jordan re-enacts the Exodus, ends the wilderness era which it inaugurated, and concludes, as the Exodus began, with the rite of circumcision, the celebration of Passover, and an apparition (chs. 3-5; Exod. 3:5; 4:24-26; 12:6; 16:35). The spies, unlike those of the Exodus generation, return with an encouraging report (ch. 2; Num. 13-14; Deut. 1), the Transjordanians are in the vanguard as they promised Moses (1:12-18; Num. 32:20-27), Joshua proclaims the law as the law required (8:30-35; Deut. 27:1-8), and wars follow the rules established by Moses (chs. 10-11; Deut. 20:10-18; 21:22-23). The description of tribal boundaries and the allotment of tribal territories, levitical cities, and cities of refuge complete the work that was begun by Moses and correspond to instructions he gave in Numbers and Deuteronomy (12:1-6; 13:8-33; 14:1-15; 20:2; 21:2). In the end, the Transjordanian tribes are praised for keeping their word to Moses (22:1-4; Num. 32:20-22), and Joshua, after reviewing the conditions set out on Sinai and at Horeb for the gradual dispossession of the nations (ch. 23; Exod. 23:23, 30; 34:15-16; Deut. 11:17), recalls Israel’s gradual dispossession of the nations on its journey to the Promised Land (24:2-13).

The book contains narratives and lists, sometimes mixes them, and typically interrupts one or the other with some related or subordinate interest. The crossing of the Jordan is announced (1:1-6) and eventually takes place (chs. 3-4), but it is delayed by subplots that interrupt each other and gradually are resolved: the crossing takes place under the aegis of the law (1:7-9), which is carried in the ark and later becomes the focus of ceremonies at Ebal and Gerizim (8:30-35) and at Shechem (ch. 24); marshals are introduced (1:10-11) and reappear after a three-day delay (3:2); in the interval there are negotiations with the Transjordanians (1:12-18) and with Rahab (ch. 2), and while the Transjordanians are mentioned in the crossing (4:12-13), Rahab’s story is left unfinished until later (ch. 6). The crossing is recounted, but it is constantly interrupted by references to priests and tribal representatives. The general reaction to the crossing is noted (5:1), but the reaction in Jericho (6:1) waits on the ceremonies at Gilgal. The kings hear the news about Jericho and Ai (9:1-2) but they do nothing until matters are settled at Gibeon. The story of the battle of Gibeon is separated from the story of the victory over Hazor by a list of cities and kings conquered at the same time (10:16-43). The distribution of land to the tribes in Canaan is announced (13:7) but delayed by allotments in Transjordan (13:8-33), reintroduced (14:1-2) but interrupted by the levitical allotments which are mentioned (14:3) in anticipation of their actual occurrence (ch. 21), delayed again by reference to Ephraim and Manasseh (14:4) before it is their turn (chs. 16-17), and again by the story of Caleb (14:6-15). Lists of boundary points are separated from lists of towns by narrative episodes (15:13-19; 17:3-6, 14-18), and the occasion of Joshua’s farewell address is introduced (13:1), but he does not speak until the land has been distributed (23:1). This jagged style reflects the substance of the book, which tells interlocking versions of the same story and reflects on their significance.

Historical Features

The book manifests characteristics of the Deuteronomistic historical work. There are previews (1:1-6, 10-11, 12-18; 7:1-2; 9:1-2; 14:1-5) and summaries (5:1; 11:23; 12:1-24; 13:32-33; 19:51; 21:43-45) of the course of narrated events, and speeches explaining their significance (2:8-11; 3:9-10; 4:7, 21-24; 13:1-6; 22:1-6; chs. 23, 24). There is an incipient chronology calculated from the Exodus (5:6, 12; cf. Exod. 16:35) and, more precisely, from the first unsuccessful attempt to take the land (14:7, 10; cf. Deut. 2:14). History is based on law, events correspond to precepts (e.g., the timing of the crossing [4:19; 5:10] follows the rules of Passover [Exod. 12:3, 6]), sin frustrates Israel’s relations with Yahweh, and the basic commandment is to love and worship God (22:5; 24:16-24). The book of Joshua is the work of the Deuteronomistic historian, who took material of diverse kinds and origins and arranged it in a carefully planned, skillfully written history of Israel.

The main resources available to the Deuteronomist were a narrative of the Conquest and a geography of the 12 tribes. The geography was not a literary source, but a map of the country, listing towns, delineating routes, and describing the topography, with more detail on some areas (notably Judah and Benjamin) than on others. The map was overlaid with a tribal grid (cf. 18:1-10), the kingdoms were identified by their tribal names Judah and Joseph, and the center of government was located at the tribal sanctuaries in Shiloh and Gilgal. The geography acquired a sort of historicity through the inclusion of stories and dialogue and through an implicit chronology, marked by retrospectives to the time of Moses and allusions to the present (16:10) and the future (13:6), and by dividing the allotment of tribal lands into two distinct phases (18:1-3). The narrative of the Conquest, by contrast, was a complete literary source which the Deuteronomist copied and adapted to the purposes of the history. It related how Israel, under the leadership of Joshua, invaded and conquered the land. The Conquest was exemplary, marked by the conspicuous ruins at Jericho and Ai, and illustrated the miraculous fulfillment of the Sinai covenant (3:5, 10; cf. Exod. 34:10-11), which the treaty with the Gibeonites unwittingly violated (Exod. 34:12). The battle for Jerusalem and the southern cities and the war with Hazor and the kings of Canaan gave Israel instant and complete possession of the land, as Yahweh swore to Moses and their fathers at Sinai (1:6; 11:23). This simple narrative was adapted by the history to suit its interpretation, in which the land was not conquered by Joshua but allotted by him to the tribes, by changing all the people into types, and all the narrated events into illustrations of obedience to the law of Moses.

In the narrative Joshua is the successor of Moses (1:2), but in the adaptation he is recast in the image of Moses and relives episodes from his life. In the narrative Joshua leads the people Israel, but in the history he leads the “sons of Israel” (1:2: bĕnê yiśrāʾēl, the 12 tribes). In the source, the people cross the Jordan at Jericho (3:16), but in the history the crossing becomes a ritual memorializing the Exodus and the wilderness wanderings. In the narrative God speaks reassuringly to Joshua, Joshua acts boldly, and astonishing things are described in realistic detail. In the history they receive a surreal touch: the amazing fall of Jericho becomes a liturgical event; God’s intervention in the battle of Gibeon is matched by meteorological and cosmological wonders; everything happens predictably in the pattern of command and execution. The complete Conquest took a few days and exhausts the story of Joshua, but in the history it took many days (11:18) and was partial and occupied a small part of Joshua’s career. The narrative was original, but in the history everything is modeled on past events (2:10; 9:9-10), or conforms to the law, or happens in fulfillment of prescriptions in Numbers and Deuteronomy.

These adaptations were made in the interest of historical exactitude. Even in the original the battle of Jericho was meant to illustrate the belief, expressed by Rahab, that it was Yahweh who gave the land to Israel, and the Deuteronomist emphasized this rhetorical purpose and its historical inaccuracy by turning it into a liturgy and a lesson in the law. The battle of Ai was narrated with realistic detail, but the history cast doubt on its reliability by prefacing another version which made it a lesson in obedience, by inserting a contradictory account of the ambush (8:11b-13) and by appending another lesson on observance of the law (vv. 24-29). The treaty with Gibeon is acknowledged, but there are additional negotiations (9:16-27) which relate the story to provision in Deuteronomy (Deut. 29:11 [MT 10]) and, by insisting that the Gibeonites were spared (9:18-21, 26), prepare for its sequel in the time of Saul (2 Sam. 21). The battle against Jerusalem and its allies is overwhelmed with wonders and corrected by an account of victories over a different group of cities and kings, because it was wrong (Debir was the name of a king in the source, but is the name of a place in the history [10:3, 38-39]), and because the historian had a different version of the capture of Jerusalem (Judg. 1:8, 21; 2 Sam. 5:6-9). The war with the kings of Canaan is cross-referenced, by including their horses and chariots (11:4, 6, 9) and a variant account of the battle of Hazor (11:10-15), to subsequent and quite different accounts of the wars in the north (Judg. 4-5). The summary of the wars includes battles from the time of Moses (12:14; Num. 21:1-3) and does not correspond to the original narrative. In the land that remains are included places which the narrative source supposed were under Israelite control (13:6; cf. 11:8). Joshua is the hero of the narrative source, but in the Deuteronomistic history, in agreement with the Priestly source (Num. 27:15-23), he is associated with Eleazar the priest (14:1; 17:4; 19:51; 21:1; 24:33). As the tribal borders, lists of cities, and Ephraimite affiliation of Joshua show, the purported conquest of the land by a united Israel in league with God was an amalgamation and simplification of traditions from various times and regions narrated from a Judean perspective. The narrative was designed to persuade its readers that God’s promises to their fathers had been fulfilled, and made the point in charming and memorable stories appropriated from common traditions of Israel’s past. The historian recognized the traditions, but thought that they had been misremembered and wrongly attributed to Joshua. Joshua’s role was redefined, the Judean bias was dropped, and as the history progressed from book to book, the gradual conquest of the land was attributed to a series of heroes and kings, and came to an end only when the people were united under David.

Bibliography. S. L. McKenzie and M. P. Graham, eds., The History of Israel’s Traditions. JSOTSup 182 (Sheffield, 1994); M. Noth, The Deuteronomistic History. JSOTSup 15 (Sheffield, 1981); E. Tov, “The Growth of the Book of Joshua in the Light of the Evidence of the LXX Translation,” in Studies in Bible, 1986, ed. S. Japhet. ScrHier 31 (Jerusalem, 1986): 321-39; N. Winther-Nielsen, A Functional Discourse Grammar of Joshua. ConBOT 40 (Stockholm, 1995).

Brian Peckham

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

JOSHUA, BOOK OF

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)