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Introduction to Joshua
Named after Joshua, depicted as the apprentice and successor to Moses. Joshua was the military commander in the conquest of Canaan and the administrator of the allotment of that land to the Israelite tribes. In Num 13.16, Moses renames Hoshea (Heb hoshe'a, "salvation") Joshua (Heb yehoshu'a, "the Lord is salvation/help"), adding the divine name Yahweh to his name.
The historiographic materials used in the book of Joshua correspond to those found in the ancient Near East as a whole. These include traditional stories, etiologies, boundary and town lists, summary accounts and lists, accounts patterned after redundant annalistic documents, poetry (from the Book of Jashar, a lost book considered extracanonical due to it being referenced here), and burial reports. These have been oven together with ritual and covenantal materials and other matters of priestly interest to communicate the book's message.
Initially thought to be part of a 'Hexateuch' (six books) with the preceding five books of the bible, later scholars began to view Joshua as part of a larger historical work, the Deuteronomistic History (see prior introduction to the Historical Books on this point). Recent scholarship, however, is drifting away from this interpretation somewhat, viewing Joshua as a possibly independent book written during the postexilic period.
The book of Joshua describes the conquest of Canaan and its allotment to the Israelite tribes. Through well-known traditional stories (e.g., Rahab and the scouts, the crossing of the Jordan River, the capture of Jericho) as well as nonnarrative lists and ritual texts, the book portrays the fulfillment of God's covenantal promise to Israel's ancestors that their descendants would possess the land. Moreover, these stories challenge the book's readers to live in obedience to the Deuteronomic covenant so that they also will receive God's blessing in the land.
Here, the author of the introduction, K. Lawson Younger, Jr. provides an outline of the book's contents, pointing out the text's compositional symmetry. I will not be providing it in these notes.
The book should not be read as straightfoward history—it telescopes and simplifies what was a long and complex process of occupation of hte land by the Israelite tribes. A main theme of the book is a swift and complete conquest of the land, while most archaeological evidence suggests its gradual settlement.
Typology, representing one character or event as an echo or foreshadowing of another, is utilized to portray Joshua as parallel to Moses. For example, Moses leads the Israelites out of Egypt, Joshua leads the Israelites into Canaan; Moses leads Israel in a miraculous crossing of the Red Sea, Joshua leads Israel in a miraculous crossing of the Jordan River; Moses sends out scouts, Joshua sends out scouts; Moses allots land to the tribes east of the Jordan, Joshua allots land to the tribes west of the Jordan. This particular typology depicts Joshua as the legitimate successor to Moses.
Joshua
Josh 1.1-12.24: The conquest.
Josh 1.1-5.12: Preparation for the conquest.
Josh 1.1-18: The commission of Joshua.
Josh 1.2-9: The Lord's speech outlines the means of success for Joshua and the Israelites: obedience to the book of the law, likely referring to an early form of Deuteronomy.
Josh 2.1-24: The story of the scouts and Rahab.
Josh 2.1: The scouts go to Jericho where they enter the house of a prostitute: though no explicit sexual interaction is mentioned, an undercurrent of ambiguous sexual innunedo is provided, as the site of the Israelite camp, 'Shittim,' was also the infamous place where the men of Israel had sexual relations with the women of Moab (Num 25.1).
Josh 2.2-13: Rahab is at the center of the narrative, the Canaanite prostitute that protects the scouts; the scouts have little concern for her, however. In Mt 1.5 Rahab is reckoned among the ancestors of Jesus, and in Heb 11.31 Rahab is counted as one of the heroes of faith.
Josh 2.10: Here, the Red Sea is said to have dried up.
Josh 2.18: Crimson cord to safeguard the house, echoing exodus and the paschal lamb.
Josh 3.1-5.1: The crossing of the Jordan. Composed of multiple units and repititions, the redactor of this work was presumably working together multiple different sources.
Josh 3.1-17: The initial story of the crossing. Anticipates multiple events from the disparate aforementioned sources to be recounted.
Josh 4.1-10: The erecting of the twelve-stone memorial.
Josh 4.8-9: Divergent narratives on the location of the memorial; the latter is likely a later tradition.
Josh 4.23: Explicit mention of the parallel between Exodus and the crossing of the Jordan.
Josh 5.2-12: Final preparatory events at Gilgal.
Josh 5.2: Circumcision was fairly common in the ancient Near East; it became a sign of Israel's covenant with God. Here, the disobedience of the older generation is contrasted to the obedience of the new generation, though both were circumcised.
Josh 5.11-12: The change from manna to the produce of the land signifies Israel's relocation from wilderness to land.
Josh 5.13-12.24: Conquest of the land.
Josh 5.13-6.27: Jericho: first application of "herem". There was, at the time of the narrative, at best a small unfortified village on the site of Jericho, not the city supposed here.
Josh 5.13-15: The appearance of the 'commander of the army of the Lord,' probably a fragment of a fuller tradition; he is not mentioned in the rest of the book. He is an angel that will lead the heavenly forces.
Josh 6.6-27: Jericho is captured by following the Lord's instructions. This is the first implementation of the "herem," a ritual act first mentioned in Deuteronomy that has contentious definitions, meaning something given over to the Lord, destruction, genocide, an irrevocable renunciation, or a sacrifice. It has ritual connotations due to its usage in holy war, specifically here in Jericho due to the manner in which the walls were brought down (as per the Lord's instructions).
Josh 6.25: 'Ever since' indicates that the descendants of Rahab (i.e., Canaanites) survived and lived among the Israelites.
Josh 7.1-8.29: Achan and Ai.
Josh 7.1-5: First battle of Ai and Achan's sin. Although only one person was unfaithful, all Israel was liable becuase the state of being devoted ("herem") is contagious, and the spoil that was improperly obtained would contaminate Israel's camp and put it into a state of devotion ("herem").
Josh 7.2: The name 'Ai' means "the ruin;" the site would have been uninhabited during the Late Bronze Age, suggesting an etiological component to the story.
Josh 7.6-26: Second application of "herem": Achan's execution.
Josh 7.25-26: The outcome for Achan and his family is an ironic reversal of that for Rahab and her family.
Josh 8.1-29: Third application of "herem": second battle of Ai and Ai's destruction via ambush. Ironically, God allows some plunder of Ai despite the "herem".
Josh 8.29: Hanging here anticipates the execution of the five kings in 10.26-27 and follows the Deuteronomic injunction of hanging.
Josh 8.30-35: Covenant renewal as land grant: Shechem. Joshua builds the altar as commanded by Moses in Deuteronomy. The mention of blessings and curses here is a strong indication of the connection this section of Joshua has to a compiled form of Deuteronomy in general.
Josh 9.1-11.15: The southern and northern campaigns. The region that became Judah's tribal allotment receives the greater emphasis ( a pattern also found in chs 13-19 and Judg 1). This suggests a strong Judahite redactional perspective.
Josh 9.3-27: Gibeon. Ironically, Israel has just defeated Ai by means of a ruse; now Israel is the victim of a ruse. Fearing Israel, the Gibeonites (apparently Hivites, a group known only by their mention in the bible) pretend to be from a far country, so as to recieve lenience afforded to such people (Deut 20.15).
Josh 9.14: Israel is blamed as a whole for not consulting the Lord on the matter of the Gibeonites.
Josh 9.16-27: The Gibeonites readily admit to the ruse when caught by the Israelites, as the covenant they have made with eachother must be respected; they are to become slaves in "the place that [the lord] should choose" (Jerusalem), acting as 'hewers of wood' and 'drawers of water'—according to Deut 29.10-13, the covenant was to erase distinctions between such lower-class occupations and others. This designation thus suggests that the Gibeonites are outside the covenantal community.
Josh 10.1-43: The defeat of the Amorite alliance.
Josh 10.1-2: The treaty between Gibeon and Israel incited the kings of five Amorite city-states to attack Gibeon. Ironically, Jerusalem, an important Bronze Age city-state (and later the capital of Judah) is the driving force of the Amorite alliance.
Josh 10.11: Divine intervention with hailstones.
Josh 10.12-15: Joshua's request ot the Lord and the divine intervention. The exact meaning of the divine intervention, described only in poetry, is difficult to ascertain.
Josh 10.13: 'The Book of Jashar,' a lost book as mentioned in the introduction to Joshua.
Josh 10.16-27: The capture and execution of the kings.
Josh 10.28-39: The capture and "herem" of the cities.
Josh 10.36-39: Multiple different accounts of the tribes credited with the capture of various cities; these accounts highlight various different emphases in the book of Joshua to the end of representing multiple perspectives.
Josh 10.40-43: Summary of the southern campaign.
Josh 11.1-15: Northern campaign.
Josh 11.1-11: Defeat of the Canaanite coalition. This enemy is superior to the Israelite army, both numerically and technologically, but the Lord's oracle of assurance precedes the victory.
Josh 11.12-15: Summary of the northern campaign.
Josh 11.16-23: Summary of total conquest.
Josh 11.18-20: The depiction here conflicts with the earlier accounts, suggesting that a protracted war was necessary.
Josh 11.20: 'Harden their hearts,' is used here, suggesting that for the Lord and the author, the inhabitants of the land were enemies comparable to the Egyptians.
Josh 12.1-24: A selective list of defeated cities' kings.
Josh 12.7-24: Joshua's victories west of the Jordan. Previous narratives mention fewer than half of these cities [. . .] This section thus seems to be adapted from a different source than the previous chapters. Moreover, the length of this list shows that previous narratives are selective, highlighting particular stories for ideological and theological purposes.
Josh 13.1-24.33: The allotment of the land.
Josh 13.1-7: Noted here is the understanding that there remains land within Canaan not under Israelite control. This foreshadows other passages in chs 13-21 that contrast with the first half of the book, by documenting Israel's failure to capture all of the land, or by noting that foreigners live among the Israelites.
Josh 13.8-33: Transjordanian tribal allotment. Lots of superfluous detail on exact boundaries listed in the text itself; the footnotes decline to add more, for good reason, I would say. I will not be noting any of it here! I presume the same will be for cisjordan allotments.
Josh 13.22: Balaam, here presented in a negative light, as in Num 31.8. They did you dirty, my guy.
Josh 14.1-19.51: Cisjordanian tribal allotment.
Josh 14.1-5: Introduction to the process of allotment. Eleazar (who we haven't seen much of at all, might I add!), Joshua, and the heads of the tribal families oversaw this allotment, which was performed by the casting of lots, presuming divine providence.
Josh 14.4-5: Another mention here of how, in order to maintain the conventional number of twelve tribes, Joseph is counted as two, 'Manasseh' and 'Ephraim,' so as to make up for Levi's lack of inheritance.
Josh 14.6-17.18: Judah and Joseph's allotments.
Josh 14.6-15.63: Judah. The tribe to which King David belonged is first.
Josh 14.6-15: Caleb's conquest. Caleb was one of the original twelve scouts sent into Canaan in Numbers; the specific tribe of Caleb is uncertain. Named here as the son of Jephunneh, a Kenizzite (the Kenizzites said to reside within the land of Canaan), the Kenizzites were generally associated with Kenaz, the son of Esau, within the narrative of Genesis, apparently making them an Edomite clan. Regardless, in the ancient Near East, tribal groups were socially constructed units, not always being based on actual biological lineage; as such, later mentions of Caleb (as in Chronicles) list him as having been incorporated fully into the tribe of Judah due to his conquest, or as always having been part of the tribe of Judah as a retroactive edit.
Josh 15.1-12: Judah's boundary description.
Josh 15.13-19: Vignettes about Judah's heroes.
Josh 15.20-62: A list of Judah's towns.
Josh 15.63: A narrative postscript noting Judah's failure to conquer Jerusalem. This explains why the Jesubites live with the people of Judah 'in Jerusalem to this day.'
Josh 16.1-17.18: Joseph (Ephraim and Half-Manasseh). As the primary power in the Northern Kingdom, Joseph is mentioned next. The order here of Ephraim then Manasseh follows Jacob's blessings in Gen 48.12-22, not their birth order narrated in Gen 41.51-52.
Josh 16.1-4: General outline of the southern borders of the Joseph tribes. The people of Joseph receive one allotment, as if they constitute one tribe, yet they are recognized as two distinct tribal units (Ephraim and Manasseh). In addition, one of the tribes, Manasseh, is further divided: part of the tribe has already received an allotment in transjordan, while the remainder receives its allotment in Cisjordan.
Josh 16.5-10: Ephraim's boundary description is delineated. The Ephraimites failed to dispossess the Canaanites, though subjecting them to forced labor.
Josh 17.1-6: Ephraim's heroes. Includes Zelophehad's daughters!
Josh 17.7-13: Manasseh's boundary description is given.
Josh 17.14-18: Joseph's portion. The Josephites demand a double portion due to their numbers (as well as the divison of their tribe).
Josh 18.1-19.51: Seven other tribal allotments.
Josh 18.1-10: Assembly of Shiloh. The boundaries of the tribes in the land are asserted to be the result of the Lord's will and of Israel's obedience, not human will or historical contingency. Nice way of removing responsibility, eh?
Josh 18.1: Shiloh was an important Israelite sanctuary in the period before the monarchy.
Josh 18.11-28: Benjamin.
Josh 19.1-9: Simeon.
Josh 19.10-16: Zebulun.
Josh 19.17-23: Issachar.
Josh 19.24-31: Asher. Asher's list includes some Phoenician cities such as Tyre that were never under Israelite control, suggesting that idealized elements are found in these lists.
Josh 19.32-39: Naphtali.
Josh 19.40-48: Dan. Ancient tradition located Dan in the south [ . . . ] According to Judges, sometime before the time of the monarchy, the Danites migrated to the north.
Josh 19.49-50: Final allotment. Joshua requests a city in the Ephraimite hill country that he (re)builds for himself.
Josh 19.51: Summary of the process of allotment.
Josh 20.1-21.42: Allotments to persons of marginal status. Cities of refuge and the Levitical cities are based on instructions given by Moses.
Josh 20.1-9: Cities of refuge. The right of asylum in cases of adjudicated manslaughter is here reaffrimed and established in the land proper.
Josh 21.1-42: Levitical cities.
Josh 21.43-45: Ironic conclusion. Includes overstated claims of unmitigated success despite statements of failure given throughout the text. Nevertheless, the stress on the Lord's faithfulness contrasts with the squabbling over the Transjordanian altar in the next section.
Josh 22.1-24.33: Epilogue to the conquest and allotment. Includes a warning narrative, and a pair of exhorting addresses in which commitments to the covenant are renewed.
Josh 22.1-34: Misunderstanding with the Transjordanian tribes. An arising issue from the loose ties binding the tribes is the question of the place of legitimate worship, a central concern of Deuteronomy.
Josh 22.1-9: The Transjordanian tribes return to their homes on the east bank.
Josh 22.10-34: The debate over the altar built by the Transjordanian tribes. The central role of Phinehas [Eleazar's son; Phinehas was the priest that executed the couple in the book of Numbers for intermarriage (the sin at Peor)] in dealing with this conflict leads some scholars to conclude that priestly circles edited this story.
Josh 22.12: Deuteronomic law forbade the offering of sacrifice anywhere except in the central sanctuary. The other tribes apparently interpret the building of the altar as an act of disloyalty to Israel and to its God, and therefore prepare to make war against them. The exent to which the tribal settlement east of the Jordan is or is not part of Israel also stands behind this narrative.
Josh 22.24-25: The motive of the Transjordanian tribes was honorable; they built the altar as a witness to their loyalty to the Lord, not to worship foregin deities.
Josh 23.1-24.28: Concluding charges.
Josh 23.1-16: Covenantal charge to the leaders. Joshua's address to the leaders consists almost entirely of Deuteronomistic reflections.
Josh 23.6-11: An exhortation to remain faithful to the Lord and his covenant so that the remaining land can be conquered.
Josh 24.1-28: Covenant renewal of the people. Joshua fulfills the commands of Moses in Deut 11; 27; 31. All Israel unites under Joshua's leadership in the service of the Lord. Joshua's final meeting with the people takes place at Shechem.
Josh 24.11: Perhaps a different tradition about the conquest of Jericho.
Josh 24.12: 'The hornet;' see Ex 23.28; Deut 7.20.
Josh 24.29: Appendixes. Joshua dies, is buried. Joseph's bones are reburied in Shechem. Eleazar dies, is buried. This latter instance indicates the strength of the priestly interests in the book.
We'll miss you Joshua. And Eleazar, I suppose. This book was intriguing. In terms of narrative throughlines, this one feels the least intentionally historically based of the lot so far, which is strange to say, given the genuinely mythic claims of previous books. Perhaps it's something to do with the numerous admitted contradictions and mirrored story beats. It just feels like a purposefully mythologized tale, and that is, of course, what it is. I have to imagine ancient readers were quite aware of this fact. Judges next.
we stand
to gain all that was
and all that is
subsumed
in the arid mists
of memory
seizing
from the self all of
that which one needs
subsumed
in the cool fervor
of servitude
Introduction to Joshua
Named after Joshua, depicted as the apprentice and successor to Moses. Joshua was the military commander in the conquest of Canaan and the administrator of the allotment of that land to the Israelite tribes. In Num 13.16, Moses renames Hoshea (Heb hoshe'a, "salvation") Joshua (Heb yehoshu'a, "the Lord is salvation/help"), adding the divine name Yahweh to his name.
The historiographic materials used in the book of Joshua correspond to those found in the ancient Near East as a whole. These include traditional stories, etiologies, boundary and town lists, summary accounts and lists, accounts patterned after redundant annalistic documents, poetry (from the Book of Jashar, a lost book considered extracanonical due to it being referenced here), and burial reports. These have been oven together with ritual and covenantal materials and other matters of priestly interest to communicate the book's message.
Initially thought to be part of a 'Hexateuch' (six books) with the preceding five books of the bible, later scholars began to view Joshua as part of a larger historical work, the Deuteronomistic History (see prior introduction to the Historical Books on this point). Recent scholarship, however, is drifting away from this interpretation somewhat, viewing Joshua as a possibly independent book written during the postexilic period.
The book of Joshua describes the conquest of Canaan and its allotment to the Israelite tribes. Through well-known traditional stories (e.g., Rahab and the scouts, the crossing of the Jordan River, the capture of Jericho) as well as nonnarrative lists and ritual texts, the book portrays the fulfillment of God's covenantal promise to Israel's ancestors that their descendants would possess the land. Moreover, these stories challenge the book's readers to live in obedience to the Deuteronomic covenant so that they also will receive God's blessing in the land.
Here, the author of the introduction, K. Lawson Younger, Jr. provides an outline of the book's contents, pointing out the text's compositional symmetry. I will not be providing it in these notes.
The book should not be read as straightfoward history—it telescopes and simplifies what was a long and complex process of occupation of hte land by the Israelite tribes. A main theme of the book is a swift and complete conquest of the land, while most archaeological evidence suggests its gradual settlement.
Typology, representing one character or event as an echo or foreshadowing of another, is utilized to portray Joshua as parallel to Moses. For example, Moses leads the Israelites out of Egypt, Joshua leads the Israelites into Canaan; Moses leads Israel in a miraculous crossing of the Red Sea, Joshua leads Israel in a miraculous crossing of the Jordan River; Moses sends out scouts, Joshua sends out scouts; Moses allots land to the tribes east of the Jordan, Joshua allots land to the tribes west of the Jordan. This particular typology depicts Joshua as the legitimate successor to Moses.
Joshua
Josh 1.1-12.24: The conquest.
Josh 1.1-5.12: Preparation for the conquest.
Josh 1.1-18: The commission of Joshua.
Josh 1.2-9: The Lord's speech outlines the means of success for Joshua and the Israelites: obedience to the book of the law, likely referring to an early form of Deuteronomy.
Josh 2.1-24: The story of the scouts and Rahab.
Josh 2.1: The scouts go to Jericho where they enter the house of a prostitute: though no explicit sexual interaction is mentioned, an undercurrent of ambiguous sexual innunedo is provided, as the site of the Israelite camp, 'Shittim,' was also the infamous place where the men of Israel had sexual relations with the women of Moab (Num 25.1).
Josh 2.2-13: Rahab is at the center of the narrative, the Canaanite prostitute that protects the scouts; the scouts have little concern for her, however. In Mt 1.5 Rahab is reckoned among the ancestors of Jesus, and in Heb 11.31 Rahab is counted as one of the heroes of faith.
Josh 2.10: Here, the Red Sea is said to have dried up.
Josh 2.18: Crimson cord to safeguard the house, echoing exodus and the paschal lamb.
Josh 3.1-5.1: The crossing of the Jordan. Composed of multiple units and repititions, the redactor of this work was presumably working together multiple different sources.
Josh 3.1-17: The initial story of the crossing. Anticipates multiple events from the disparate aforementioned sources to be recounted.
Josh 4.1-10: The erecting of the twelve-stone memorial.
Josh 4.8-9: Divergent narratives on the location of the memorial; the latter is likely a later tradition.
Josh 4.23: Explicit mention of the parallel between Exodus and the crossing of the Jordan.
Josh 5.2-12: Final preparatory events at Gilgal.
Josh 5.2: Circumcision was fairly common in the ancient Near East; it became a sign of Israel's covenant with God. Here, the disobedience of the older generation is contrasted to the obedience of the new generation, though both were circumcised.
Josh 5.11-12: The change from manna to the produce of the land signifies Israel's relocation from wilderness to land.
Josh 5.13-12.24: Conquest of the land.
Josh 5.13-6.27: Jericho: first application of "herem". There was, at the time of the narrative, at best a small unfortified village on the site of Jericho, not the city supposed here.
Josh 5.13-15: The appearance of the 'commander of the army of the Lord,' probably a fragment of a fuller tradition; he is not mentioned in the rest of the book. He is an angel that will lead the heavenly forces.
Josh 6.6-27: Jericho is captured by following the Lord's instructions. This is the first implementation of the "herem," a ritual act first mentioned in Deuteronomy that has contentious definitions, meaning something given over to the Lord, destruction, genocide, an irrevocable renunciation, or a sacrifice. It has ritual connotations due to its usage in holy war, specifically here in Jericho due to the manner in which the walls were brought down (as per the Lord's instructions).
Josh 6.25: 'Ever since' indicates that the descendants of Rahab (i.e., Canaanites) survived and lived among the Israelites.
Josh 7.1-8.29: Achan and Ai.
Josh 7.1-5: First battle of Ai and Achan's sin. Although only one person was unfaithful, all Israel was liable becuase the state of being devoted ("herem") is contagious, and the spoil that was improperly obtained would contaminate Israel's camp and put it into a state of devotion ("herem").
Josh 7.2: The name 'Ai' means "the ruin;" the site would have been uninhabited during the Late Bronze Age, suggesting an etiological component to the story.
Josh 7.6-26: Second application of "herem": Achan's execution.
Josh 7.25-26: The outcome for Achan and his family is an ironic reversal of that for Rahab and her family.
Josh 8.1-29: Third application of "herem": second battle of Ai and Ai's destruction via ambush. Ironically, God allows some plunder of Ai despite the "herem".
Josh 8.29: Hanging here anticipates the execution of the five kings in 10.26-27 and follows the Deuteronomic injunction of hanging.
Josh 8.30-35: Covenant renewal as land grant: Shechem. Joshua builds the altar as commanded by Moses in Deuteronomy. The mention of blessings and curses here is a strong indication of the connection this section of Joshua has to a compiled form of Deuteronomy in general.
Josh 9.1-11.15: The southern and northern campaigns. The region that became Judah's tribal allotment receives the greater emphasis ( a pattern also found in chs 13-19 and Judg 1). This suggests a strong Judahite redactional perspective.
Josh 9.3-27: Gibeon. Ironically, Israel has just defeated Ai by means of a ruse; now Israel is the victim of a ruse. Fearing Israel, the Gibeonites (apparently Hivites, a group known only by their mention in the bible) pretend to be from a far country, so as to recieve lenience afforded to such people (Deut 20.15).
Josh 9.14: Israel is blamed as a whole for not consulting the Lord on the matter of the Gibeonites.
Josh 9.16-27: The Gibeonites readily admit to the ruse when caught by the Israelites, as the covenant they have made with eachother must be respected; they are to become slaves in "the place that [the lord] should choose" (Jerusalem), acting as 'hewers of wood' and 'drawers of water'—according to Deut 29.10-13, the covenant was to erase distinctions between such lower-class occupations and others. This designation thus suggests that the Gibeonites are outside the covenantal community.
Josh 10.1-43: The defeat of the Amorite alliance.
Josh 10.1-2: The treaty between Gibeon and Israel incited the kings of five Amorite city-states to attack Gibeon. Ironically, Jerusalem, an important Bronze Age city-state (and later the capital of Judah) is the driving force of the Amorite alliance.
Josh 10.11: Divine intervention with hailstones.
Josh 10.12-15: Joshua's request ot the Lord and the divine intervention. The exact meaning of the divine intervention, described only in poetry, is difficult to ascertain.
Josh 10.13: 'The Book of Jashar,' a lost book as mentioned in the introduction to Joshua.
Josh 10.16-27: The capture and execution of the kings.
Josh 10.28-39: The capture and "herem" of the cities.
Josh 10.36-39: Multiple different accounts of the tribes credited with the capture of various cities; these accounts highlight various different emphases in the book of Joshua to the end of representing multiple perspectives.
Josh 10.40-43: Summary of the southern campaign.
Josh 11.1-15: Northern campaign.
Josh 11.1-11: Defeat of the Canaanite coalition. This enemy is superior to the Israelite army, both numerically and technologically, but the Lord's oracle of assurance precedes the victory.
Josh 11.12-15: Summary of the northern campaign.
Josh 11.16-23: Summary of total conquest.
Josh 11.18-20: The depiction here conflicts with the earlier accounts, suggesting that a protracted war was necessary.
Josh 11.20: 'Harden their hearts,' is used here, suggesting that for the Lord and the author, the inhabitants of the land were enemies comparable to the Egyptians.
Josh 12.1-24: A selective list of defeated cities' kings.
Josh 12.7-24: Joshua's victories west of the Jordan. Previous narratives mention fewer than half of these cities [. . .] This section thus seems to be adapted from a different source than the previous chapters. Moreover, the length of this list shows that previous narratives are selective, highlighting particular stories for ideological and theological purposes.
Josh 13.1-24.33: The allotment of the land.
Josh 13.1-7: Noted here is the understanding that there remains land within Canaan not under Israelite control. This foreshadows other passages in chs 13-21 that contrast with the first half of the book, by documenting Israel's failure to capture all of the land, or by noting that foreigners live among the Israelites.
Josh 13.8-33: Transjordanian tribal allotment. Lots of superfluous detail on exact boundaries listed in the text itself; the footnotes decline to add more, for good reason, I would say. I will not be noting any of it here! I presume the same will be for cisjordan allotments.
Josh 13.22: Balaam, here presented in a negative light, as in Num 31.8. They did you dirty, my guy.
Josh 14.1-19.51: Cisjordanian tribal allotment.
Josh 14.1-5: Introduction to the process of allotment. Eleazar (who we haven't seen much of at all, might I add!), Joshua, and the heads of the tribal families oversaw this allotment, which was performed by the casting of lots, presuming divine providence.
Josh 14.4-5: Another mention here of how, in order to maintain the conventional number of twelve tribes, Joseph is counted as two, 'Manasseh' and 'Ephraim,' so as to make up for Levi's lack of inheritance.
Josh 14.6-17.18: Judah and Joseph's allotments.
Josh 14.6-15.63: Judah. The tribe to which King David belonged is first.
Josh 14.6-15: Caleb's conquest. Caleb was one of the original twelve scouts sent into Canaan in Numbers; the specific tribe of Caleb is uncertain. Named here as the son of Jephunneh, a Kenizzite (the Kenizzites said to reside within the land of Canaan), the Kenizzites were generally associated with Kenaz, the son of Esau, within the narrative of Genesis, apparently making them an Edomite clan. Regardless, in the ancient Near East, tribal groups were socially constructed units, not always being based on actual biological lineage; as such, later mentions of Caleb (as in Chronicles) list him as having been incorporated fully into the tribe of Judah due to his conquest, or as always having been part of the tribe of Judah as a retroactive edit.
Josh 15.1-12: Judah's boundary description.
Josh 15.13-19: Vignettes about Judah's heroes.
Josh 15.20-62: A list of Judah's towns.
Josh 15.63: A narrative postscript noting Judah's failure to conquer Jerusalem. This explains why the Jesubites live with the people of Judah 'in Jerusalem to this day.'
Josh 16.1-17.18: Joseph (Ephraim and Half-Manasseh). As the primary power in the Northern Kingdom, Joseph is mentioned next. The order here of Ephraim then Manasseh follows Jacob's blessings in Gen 48.12-22, not their birth order narrated in Gen 41.51-52.
Josh 16.1-4: General outline of the southern borders of the Joseph tribes. The people of Joseph receive one allotment, as if they constitute one tribe, yet they are recognized as two distinct tribal units (Ephraim and Manasseh). In addition, one of the tribes, Manasseh, is further divided: part of the tribe has already received an allotment in transjordan, while the remainder receives its allotment in Cisjordan.
Josh 16.5-10: Ephraim's boundary description is delineated. The Ephraimites failed to dispossess the Canaanites, though subjecting them to forced labor.
Josh 17.1-6: Ephraim's heroes. Includes Zelophehad's daughters!
Josh 17.7-13: Manasseh's boundary description is given.
Josh 17.14-18: Joseph's portion. The Josephites demand a double portion due to their numbers (as well as the divison of their tribe).
Josh 18.1-19.51: Seven other tribal allotments.
Josh 18.1-10: Assembly of Shiloh. The boundaries of the tribes in the land are asserted to be the result of the Lord's will and of Israel's obedience, not human will or historical contingency. Nice way of removing responsibility, eh?
Josh 18.1: Shiloh was an important Israelite sanctuary in the period before the monarchy.
Josh 18.11-28: Benjamin.
Josh 19.1-9: Simeon.
Josh 19.10-16: Zebulun.
Josh 19.17-23: Issachar.
Josh 19.24-31: Asher. Asher's list includes some Phoenician cities such as Tyre that were never under Israelite control, suggesting that idealized elements are found in these lists.
Josh 19.32-39: Naphtali.
Josh 19.40-48: Dan. Ancient tradition located Dan in the south [ . . . ] According to Judges, sometime before the time of the monarchy, the Danites migrated to the north.
Josh 19.49-50: Final allotment. Joshua requests a city in the Ephraimite hill country that he (re)builds for himself.
Josh 19.51: Summary of the process of allotment.
Josh 20.1-21.42: Allotments to persons of marginal status. Cities of refuge and the Levitical cities are based on instructions given by Moses.
Josh 20.1-9: Cities of refuge. The right of asylum in cases of adjudicated manslaughter is here reaffrimed and established in the land proper.
Josh 21.1-42: Levitical cities.
Josh 21.43-45: Ironic conclusion. Includes overstated claims of unmitigated success despite statements of failure given throughout the text. Nevertheless, the stress on the Lord's faithfulness contrasts with the squabbling over the Transjordanian altar in the next section.
Josh 22.1-24.33: Epilogue to the conquest and allotment. Includes a warning narrative, and a pair of exhorting addresses in which commitments to the covenant are renewed.
Josh 22.1-34: Misunderstanding with the Transjordanian tribes. An arising issue from the loose ties binding the tribes is the question of the place of legitimate worship, a central concern of Deuteronomy.
Josh 22.1-9: The Transjordanian tribes return to their homes on the east bank.
Josh 22.10-34: The debate over the altar built by the Transjordanian tribes. The central role of Phinehas [Eleazar's son; Phinehas was the priest that executed the couple in the book of Numbers for intermarriage (the sin at Peor)] in dealing with this conflict leads some scholars to conclude that priestly circles edited this story.
Josh 22.12: Deuteronomic law forbade the offering of sacrifice anywhere except in the central sanctuary. The other tribes apparently interpret the building of the altar as an act of disloyalty to Israel and to its God, and therefore prepare to make war against them. The exent to which the tribal settlement east of the Jordan is or is not part of Israel also stands behind this narrative.
Josh 22.24-25: The motive of the Transjordanian tribes was honorable; they built the altar as a witness to their loyalty to the Lord, not to worship foregin deities.
Josh 23.1-24.28: Concluding charges.
Josh 23.1-16: Covenantal charge to the leaders. Joshua's address to the leaders consists almost entirely of Deuteronomistic reflections.
Josh 23.6-11: An exhortation to remain faithful to the Lord and his covenant so that the remaining land can be conquered.
Josh 24.1-28: Covenant renewal of the people. Joshua fulfills the commands of Moses in Deut 11; 27; 31. All Israel unites under Joshua's leadership in the service of the Lord. Joshua's final meeting with the people takes place at Shechem.
Josh 24.11: Perhaps a different tradition about the conquest of Jericho.
Josh 24.12: 'The hornet;' see Ex 23.28; Deut 7.20.
Josh 24.29: Appendixes. Joshua dies, is buried. Joseph's bones are reburied in Shechem. Eleazar dies, is buried. This latter instance indicates the strength of the priestly interests in the book.
We'll miss you Joshua. And Eleazar, I suppose. This book was intriguing. In terms of narrative throughlines, this one feels the least intentionally historically based of the lot so far, which is strange to say, given the genuinely mythic claims of previous books. Perhaps it's something to do with the numerous admitted contradictions and mirrored story beats. It just feels like a purposefully mythologized tale, and that is, of course, what it is. I have to imagine ancient readers were quite aware of this fact. Judges next.
we stand
to gain all that was
and all that is
subsumed
in the arid mists
of memory
seizing
from the self all of
that which one needs
subsumed
in the cool fervor
of servitude