Misplaced Pages

#144855

104-577: The Book of Joshua , chapter seven , relates the story from which the valley's name comes. After the problems the Israelites had as a result of Achan 's immoral theft of items commanded to be destroyed, the Israelite community stoned Achan and his household. The narrative about Achan is etiological , presenting a folk etymology . Due to the nature of this narrative, the phrase valley of trouble became eminently proverbial and occurs elsewhere in

208-510: A lecture at Ben-Gurion's home, archaeologist Yigael Yadin argued for the historicity of the Israelite military campaign pointing to the conquests of Hazor , Bethel , and Lachish . Palestinian writer Nur Masalha claimed that Zionism had presented the 1948 Arab-Israeli War (which saw the creation of the State of Israel ) as a "miraculous" clearing of the land based on Joshua, and the Bible as

312-413: A man approached Moses after he gave a talk and asked him, "Who is the most knowledgeable person on earth?" Moses responded, "That would be me!" So Allah revealed to Moses that he should not have said this and there was in fact someone who was more knowledgeable than him. Moses was commanded to travel to meet this man, named Al-Khaḍir, at the junction of the two seas. Islamic scholars have argued this could be

416-753: A mandate for the expulsion of the Palestinians. The biblical narrative of conquest has been used as an apparatus of critique against Zionism. For example, Michael Prior criticizes the use of the campaign in Joshua to favor "colonial enterprises" (in general, not only Zionism), which have been interpreted as validating ethnic cleansing . He asserts that the Bible was used to make the mistreatment of Palestinians more morally palatable. A related moral condemnation can be seen in "The political sacralization of imperial genocide: contextualizing Timothy Dwight's The Conquest of Canaan " by Bill Templer. This kind of critique

520-515: A peaceful movement of the Israelites into various areas of Canaan, contra the Biblical account. William Foxwell Albright questioned the "tenacity" of etiologies, which were key to Noth's analysis of the campaigns in Joshua. Archaeological evidence in the 1930s showed that the city of Ai , an early target for conquest in the putative Joshua account, had existed and been destroyed, but in

624-593: A portion to Joshua, by the commandment of the Lord. They gave to him the city for which he asked, Thamnath Sarach gave they him in Mount Ephraim, and Joshua built the city, and dwelt in it. And Joshua took the stone knives with which he had circumcised the children of Israel, which were in the way in the wilderness, and he placed them in Tamnath Sarach. By the end of chapter 21, the narrative records that

728-511: A reward. Joshua, in his old age and conscious that he is "going the way of all the earth", gathers the leaders of the Israelites together and reminds them of Yahweh's great works for them, and of the need to love Yahweh. The Israelites are told – just as Joshua himself had been told – that they must comply with "all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses", neither "turn[ing] aside from it to

832-520: A speech about what must be done if Israel is to live in peace in the land. God commissions Joshua to take possession of the land and warns him to keep faith with the Mosaic covenant . God's speech foreshadows the major themes of the book: the crossing of the Jordan River and conquest of the land, its distribution, and the imperative need for obedience to the Law. Joshua's own immediate obedience

936-428: Is also referred to in the journey Musa (Moses) took with him to find Khidr . And remember when Moses said to his young assistant, "I will never give up until I reach the junction of the two seas, even if I travel for ages". But when they finally reached the point where the seas met, they forgot their salted fish, and it made its way into the sea, slipping away wondrously. He replied, "Do you remember when we rested by

1040-452: Is also the first part of the same verse, "Whoso keeps the fig-tree shall eat the fruit thereof". That "honor shall uphold the humble in spirit" is proved by Joshua's victory over Amalek . Not the sons of Moses —as Moses himself had expected—but Joshua was appointed as Moses' successor. Moses was shown how Joshua reproved that Othniel . "God would speak to Moses face to face, like someone would speak to his friend. Then he would return to

1144-820: Is also true in some Slavic languages following the Eastern Orthodox tradition (e.g. " Иисус Навин ", Iisús Navín , in Bulgarian, Serbian and Russian, but not Czech). Joshua was a major figure in the events of the Exodus. He was charged by Moses with selecting and commanding a militia group for their first battle after exiting Egypt, against the Amalekites in Rephidim , in which they were victorious. He later accompanied Moses when he ascended biblical Mount Sinai to commune with God, visualize God's plan for

SECTION 10

#1732786838145

1248-663: Is considered a type of Jesus Christ. The story of Joshua and the Canaanite kings is also alluded to in the 2 Meqabyan , a book considered canonical in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church . Joshua ( Arabic : يُوشَعُ بْنُ نُونٍ , Yūšaʿ ibn Nūn [juːʃaʕ ibn nuːn] , is not mentioned by name in the Quran , but his name appears in other Islamic literature . In the Quranic account of

1352-564: Is defeated at the Battle of the Waters of Merom with Yahweh's help. Hazor itself is then captured and destroyed. Chapter 11:16–23 summarises the extent of the conquest: Joshua has taken the entire land, almost entirely through military victories, with only the Gibeonites agreeing to peaceful terms with Israel. The land then "had rest from war" (Joshua 11:23, repeated at 14:15). Chapter 12 lists

1456-653: Is found in manuscripts such as Washington Manuscript I (5th century CE), and a reduced version of the Septuagint text is found in the illustrated Joshua Roll . The earliest complete copy of the book in Hebrew is in the Aleppo Codex (10th century CE). The overarching theological theme of the Deuteronomistic history is faithfulness and God's mercy, and their opposites, faithlessness and God's wrath. In

1560-495: Is framed as a royal installation. The people's pledge of loyalty to Joshua as the successor of Moses recalls royal practices. The covenant-renewal ceremony led by Joshua was the prerogative of the kings of Judah. God's command to Joshua to meditate on the "book of the law" day and night parallels the description of Josiah in 2 Kings 23:25 as a king uniquely concerned with the study of the law. The two figures had identical territorial goals; Josiah died in 609 BCE while attempting to annex

1664-494: Is grouped with the other "warriors of the faith." Baroque composer Georg Frideric Handel composed the oratorio Joshua in 1747. Composer Franz Waxman composed an oratorio Joshua in 1959. Marc-Antoine Charpentier composed Josue (H.404 and H.404 a), an oratorio for soloists, double chorus, double orchestra and continuo, in 1680. According to legend, Mormon pioneers in the United States first referred to

1768-653: Is lordly". The theophoric name appears to be constructed from a combination of the Tetragrammaton with the Hebrew noun יְשׁוּעָה ( Modern: yəšūʿa , Tiberian: yăšūʿā ), meaning "salvation"; derived from the Hebrew root ישׁע ( y-š-ʿ ), meaning "to save/help/deliver". Other theophoric names sharing a similar meaning can also be found throughout the Hebrew Bible , such as that of the son of David אֱלִישׁוּעַ ( ʾĔlīšūaʿ ), whose name means "My El ( God )

1872-553: Is marked on the 26th of Nisan on the Hebrew calendar . Thousands make the pilgrimage to the Tomb of Joshua at Kifl Haris near Nablus , West Bank , on the preceding night. Yom HaAliyah ( Aliyah Day; Hebrew : יום העלייה ) is an Israeli national holiday celebrated annually on the tenth of the Hebrew month of Nisan , as per the opening clause of the Yom HaAliyah Law, as a Zionist celebration of "Jewish immigration to

1976-569: Is mentioned as Yusha' bin Nun and is the attendant to Moses during his meeting with Khidr . This hadith episode was used by scholars for the exegesis of Quran scripture chapter Al-Kahf about the journey of Moses. In the literary tradition of medieval Europe, Joshua is known as one of the Nine Worthies . In The Divine Comedy Joshua's spirit appears to Dante in the Heaven of Mars, where he

2080-483: Is more likely to translate as "circle of standing stones". The conquest begins with the battle of Jericho , followed by Ai (central Canaan), after which Joshua builds an altar to Yahweh at Mount Ebal in northern Canaan and renews the Covenant in a ceremony with elements of a divine land-grant ceremony, similar to ceremonies known from Mesopotamia . The narrative then switches to the south. The Gibeonites trick

2184-419: Is not new; Jonathan Boyarin notes how Frederick W. Turner blamed Israel's monotheism for the very idea of genocide, which Boyarin found "simplistic" yet with precedents. In her tenure as Minister of Education , Israeli leftist politician Shulamit Aloni often complained about the centrality of the book of Joshua in the curricula, as opposed to the secondaryness of humane and universal principles found in

SECTION 20

#1732786838145

2288-646: Is salvation". " Jesus " is the English derivative of the Greek transliteration of "Yehoshua" via Latin. In the Septuagint , all instances of the word "Yehoshua" are rendered as " Ἰησοῦς " (Iēsûs), the closest Greek pronunciation of the Imperial Aramaic : יֵשׁוּעַ Yēšūaʿ . Thus, in modern Greek, Joshua is called "Jesus son of Naue" ( τοῦ Ναυή , tû Nauḗ ) to differentiate him from Jesus . This

2392-558: Is seen in his speeches to the Israelite commanders and to the Transjordanian tribes, and the Transjordanians' affirmation of Joshua's leadership echoes Yahweh 's assurances of victory. Rahab , a Canaanite woman of the Bible , sets in motion the entrance into Canaan by the Israelites. To avoid repeating failed attempts by Moses to have notable men of Israel predict the success rate of entry into Canaan mentioned in

2496-657: Is the 13th century BCE which was a time of widespread city-destruction, but with a few exceptions ( Hazor , Lachish ) the destroyed cities are not the ones the Bible associates with Joshua, and the ones it does associate with him show little or no sign of even being occupied at the time. Given its lack of historicity, Carolyn Pressler in her commentary for the Westminster Bible Companion series suggests that readers of Joshua should give priority to its theological message ("what passages teach about God") and be aware of what these would have meant to audiences in

2600-657: Is the sixth book in the Hebrew Bible and the Old Testament , and is the first book of the Deuteronomistic history , the story of Israel from the conquest of Canaan to the Babylonian exile . It tells of the campaigns of the Israelites in central, southern and northern Canaan, the destruction of their enemies, and the division of the land among the Twelve Tribes , framed by two set-piece speeches,

2704-453: The yucca brevifolia agave plant as the Joshua tree because its branches reminded them of Joshua stretching his arms upward in supplication, guiding the travelers westward. Joshua is commemorated in the scientific name of a species of snake, Joshua's blind snake ( Trilepida joshuai ), the holotype of which was collected at Jericó, Antioquia , Colombia . The annual commemoration of Joshua's yahrtzeit (the anniversary of his death)

2808-629: The Book of Judges , the Books of Samuel , and the Books of Kings , the Israelites become faithless and God ultimately shows his anger by sending his people into exile. But in Joshua Israel is obedient, Joshua is faithful, and God fulfills his promise and gives them the land as a result. Yahweh's war campaign in Canaan validates Israel's entitlement to the land and provides a paradigm of how Israel

2912-488: The Books of the Prophets . Her attempt to change the Bible study program was unsuccessful. Joshua Joshua ( / ˈ dʒ ɒ ʃ u ə / ), also known as Yehoshua ( Hebrew : יְהוֹשֻׁעַ ‎ Yəhōšuaʿ , ‍ Tiberian: Yŏhōšuaʿ, lit. ' Yahweh is salvation'), Jehoshua , or Josue , functioned as Moses ' assistant in the books of Exodus and Numbers , and later succeeded Moses as leader of

3016-575: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem , who replaced Yadin as the supervisor of excavations at Hazor in 1990, believed that recently unearthed evidence of violent destruction by burning verifies the Biblical account of the city's conquest by the Israelites. In 2012, a team led by Ben-Tor and Sharon Zuckerman discovered a scorched palace from the 13th century BC in whose storerooms they found 3,400-year-old ewers holding burned crops. Sharon Zuckerman did not agree with Ben-Tor's theory, and claimed that

3120-593: The Israelite tribes in the Book of Joshua of the Hebrew Bible . His name was Hoshea ( הוֹשֵׁעַ ‎ Hōšēaʿ , ‍ lit. 'Save') the son of Nun , of the tribe of Ephraim , but Moses called him "Yehoshua" (translated as "Joshua" in English), the name by which he is commonly known in English. According to the Bible, he was born in Egypt prior to the Exodus . The Hebrew Bible identifies Joshua as one of

3224-600: The Land of Canaan among the twelve tribes of Israel, planted sea squill ( Hebrew : חצוב ) to mark off the butts and bounds of tribal properties. Moreover, Joshua, on dividing the land of Canaan amongst the tribes of Israel, made the tribes agree to ten conditions, the most important of which being the common use of the forests as pasture for cattle, and the common right of fishing in the Sea of Tiberias . Natural springs were to be used for drinking and laundry by all tribes, although

Achor - Misplaced Pages Continue

3328-700: The Land of Israel as the basis for the existence of the State of Israel ", and secondarily "to mark the date of entry into the Land of Israel", i.e. to commemorate Joshua having led the Israelites across the Jordan River into the Land of Israel while carrying the Ark of the Covenant . According to a Samaritan tradition, noted in 1877, the tombs of Joshua and Caleb were in Kifl Haris. According to Joshua 24:30 ,

3432-516: The Talmud , Joshua in his book enumerated only those towns on the frontier. When he was "old and well advanced in years", Joshua convened the elders and chiefs of the Israelites and exhorted them to have no fellowship with the native population, because it could lead them to be unfaithful to God. At a general assembly of the clans at Shechem , he took leave of the people, admonishing them to be loyal to their God, who had been so mightily manifested in

3536-943: The Upper Galilee with the burial site of Joshua. Joshua is believed by some Muslims to be buried on Joshua's Hill in the Beykoz district of Istanbul . Alternative traditional sites for his tomb are situated in Israel (the Shia shrine at Al-Nabi Yusha' ), Jordan (An-Nabi Yusha' bin Noon, a Sunni shrine near the city of Al-Salt ), Iran (Historical cemetery of Takht e Foolad in Esfahan ) and Iraq (the Nabi Yusha' shrine of Baghdad ). A local tradition combining three versions of three different Yushas, including biblical Joshua, places

3640-492: The book of Numbers , Joshua tasks two regular men with entering Jericho as spies. They arrive at Rahab's house and spend the night. The king of Jericho, having heard of possible Israelite spies, demands that Rahab reveal the men. She tells him that she is unaware of their whereabouts, when in reality, she hid them on her roof under flax. The next morning, Rahab professes her faith in God to the men and acknowledges her belief that Canaan

3744-586: The return of Judean exiles in Ezra-Nehemiah but compared to the former, the Judeans merely refrained from intermarrying the "Canaanites". These "Canaanites" were most likely non-exiled Judeans, who were contaminated with "foreign influence". Obedience versus disobedience is a constant theme of the work. Obedience ties in the Jordan crossing, the defeat of Jericho and Ai , circumcision and Passover, and

3848-467: The tomb of Joshua is in Timnath-heres , and Jewish tradition also places the tombs of Joshua's father, Nun, an his companion, Caleb , at that site, which is identified by Orthodox Jews with Kifl Haris. Thousands make the pilgrimage to the tombs on the annual commemoration of Joshua's death , 26th of Nisan on the Hebrew calendar. It seems that old Jewish traditions once associated Meron in

3952-423: The tribe of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin , to the south of Jericho, but not as far south as El-Buqei'a. 31°50′13″N 35°23′59″E  /  31.83686°N 35.399773°E  / 31.83686; 35.399773 Book of Joshua The Book of Joshua ( Hebrew : סֵפֶר יְהוֹשֻׁעַ Sefer Yəhōšūaʿ , Tiberian : Sēp̄er Yŏhōšūaʿ ‍ ; Greek : Ιησούς του Ναυή ; Latin : Liber Iosue )

4056-407: The "tenacity" of etiologies, which were key to Noth's analysis of the campaigns in Joshua. Archaeological evidence in the 1930s showed that the city of Ai , an early target for conquest in the putative Joshua account, had existed and been destroyed, but in the 22nd century BCE. Some alternate sites for Ai, such as Khirbet el-Maqatir or Khirbet Nisya, have been proposed which would partially resolve

4160-634: The 22nd century BCE. Some alternate sites for Ai have been proposed which would partially resolve the discrepancy in dates, but these sites have not been widely accepted. In 1951 Kathleen Kenyon showed that City IV at Tell es-Sultan (Jericho) was destroyed at the end of the Middle Bronze Age (c. 2100–1550 BCE), not during the Late Bronze Age (c. 1550–1200 BCE). Kenyon argued that the early Israelite campaign could not be historically corroborated, but rather explained as an etiology of

4264-476: The 6th century BCE. The prevailing scholarly view is that Joshua is not a factual account of historical events. The apparent setting of Joshua in the 13th century BCE corroborates with the Bronze Age Collapse , which was indeed a time of widespread city-destruction. However, with a few exceptions ( Hazor , Lachish ), the destroyed cities are not the ones the Bible associates with Joshua, and

Achor - Misplaced Pages Continue

4368-555: The Hebrew Bible. The Book of Isaiah and Book of Hosea use the term – the valley of trouble, a place for herds to lie down in , the valley of trouble for a door of hope , as a way of describing the redemption promised by God. Eusebius (in Onomasticon ) and Jerome (in Book of Sites and Names of Hebrew Places ) implied that they thought it was a valley north of Jericho. In the nineteenth century some writers identified

4472-579: The Israelite tabernacle , and receive the Ten Commandments . Joshua was with Moses when he descended from the mountain, heard the Israelites' celebrations around the Golden Calf , and broke the tablets bearing the words of the commandments. Similarly, in the narrative which refers to Moses being able to speak with God in his tent of meeting outside the camp, Joshua is seen as custodian of the tent ('tabernacle of meeting') when Moses returned to

4576-542: The Israelite encampment. However, when Moses returned to the mountain to re-create the tablets recording the Ten Commandments, Joshua was not present, as the biblical text states "no man shall come up with you". Later, Joshua was identified as one of the twelve spies sent by Moses to explore and report on the land of Canaan , and only he and Caleb gave an encouraging report, a reward for which would be that only these two of their entire generation would enter

4680-614: The Israelites into entering an alliance with them by saying that they are not Canaanites . Despite this, the Israelites decide to keep the alliance by enslaving them instead. An alliance of Amorite kingdoms headed by the Canaanite king of Jerusalem attacks the Gibeonites but they are defeated with Yahweh 's miraculous help of stopping the Sun and the Moon , and hurling down large hailstones (Joshua 10:10–14). The enemy kings were eventually hanged on trees. The Deuteronomist author may have used

4784-592: The Jerusalem Bible as "Two Additions"): There were no Levitical cities given to the descendants of Aaron in Ephraim, so theologians Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch supposed the land may have been at Geba in the territory of the Tribe of Benjamin : "the situation, 'upon the mountains of Ephraim', is not at variance with this view, as these mountains extended, according to Judges 4:5, etc., far into

4888-739: The Jews to draw a clear distinction between themselves, who knew and accepted the sovereignty of God, and those nations of the world which did not. In the modern era, religious Jews still pray the Aliyah inspired Aleinu three times daily, including on the High Holidays . The Aleinu prayer begins: It is our duty to praise the Master of all, to exalt the Creator of the Universe, who has not made us like

4992-490: The Jordan is unclean and that the tribes who live there have secondary status. Land is the central topic of Joshua. The introduction to Deuteronomy recalled how Yahweh had given the land to the Israelites but then withdrew the gift when Israel showed fear and only Joshua and Caleb had trusted in God. The land is Yahweh's to give or to withhold, and the fact that he has promised it to Israel gives Israel an inalienable right to take it. For exilic and post-exilic readers,

5096-404: The Jordan to the tribes of Reuben and Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh , and then describes how Joshua divided the newly conquered land of Canaan into parcels, and assigned them to the tribes by lot . Joshua 14:1 also makes reference to the role of Eleazar the priest (ahead of Joshua) in the distribution process. The description serves a theological function to show how the promise of

5200-559: The Jordan was the Battle of Jericho . Joshua led the destruction of Jericho , then moved on to Ai , a small neighboring city to the west. However, they were defeated with thirty-six Israelite deaths. The defeat was attributed to Achan taking an "accursed thing" from Jericho; and was followed by Achan and his family and animals being stoned to death to restore God's favor. Joshua then went to defeat Ai. The Israelites faced an alliance of five Amorite kings from Jerusalem , Hebron , Jarmuth , Lachish , and Eglon . At Gibeon , Joshua asked

5304-458: The L ORD to cause the Sun and Moon to stand still, so that he could finish the battle in daylight. According to the text, the Sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day. This event is most notable because "There has been no day like it before or since, when the L ORD heeded the voice of a man, for the Lord fought for Israel." The L ORD also fought for the Israelites in this battle, for he hurled huge hailstones from

SECTION 50

#1732786838145

5408-411: The Lord who had delivered them from Egypt , or the gods which their ancestors had served on the other side of the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land they now lived. The people chose to serve the Lord, a decision which Joshua recorded in the Book of the Law of God. He then erected a memorial stone "under the oak that was by the sanctuary of the Lord" in Shechem. The oak is associated with

5512-400: The Near Eastern Late Bronze Age , although recent excavations at Jericho have questioned this. The story of the conquest perhaps represents the nationalist propaganda of the eighth century BCE kings of Judah and their claims to the territory of the Kingdom of Israel , incorporated into an early form of Joshua written late in the reign of king Josiah (reigned 640–609 BCE). The book

5616-526: The Oak of Moreh where Abram had set up camp during his travels in this area. Thus "Joshua made a covenant with the people", literally "cut a covenant", a phrase common to the Hebrew , Greek , and Latin languages. It derives from the custom of sacrifice , in which the victims were cut in pieces and offered to the deity invoked in ratification of the engagement. The people then returned to their inheritance, i.e., their allocated lands. The Book of Joshua closes with three concluding items (referred to in

5720-469: The Prophets and Kings that Joshua was one of the twelve spies, and Muslim scholars believe that the two believing spies referred to in the Quran are Joshua and Caleb. Joshua was exceptional among the Israelites for being one of the few faithful followers of Allah. Significant events from Joshua's Muslim narratives include the crossing of the Jordan river and the conquest of Bait al-Maqdis . The traditional Muslim scholastic commentaries has narrated

5824-412: The Zionist idea, and with the need to redefine its identity. David Ben-Gurion saw in the war narrative of Joshua an ideal basis for a unifying national myth for the State of Israel, framed against a common enemy, the Arabs . He met with politicians and scholars such as Biblical scholar Shemaryahu Talmon to discuss Joshua's supposed conquests and later published a book of the meeting transcripts; in

5928-441: The [following] hadīth, 'The sun was never detained for any human, except for Joshua during those days in which he marched towards the Holy House [of Jerusalem]'." Muslim literature includes traditions of Joshua not found in the Hebrew Bible . Joshua is credited with being present at Moses's death and literature records that Moses's garments were with Joshua at the time of his departure. In Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim , Joshua

6032-402: The book, takes the initiative in conquering the land, and Yahweh's power wins the battles. For example, the walls of Jericho fall because Yahweh fights for Israel, not because the Israelites show superior fighting ability. The potential disunity of Israel is a constant theme, the greatest threat of disunity coming from the tribes east of the Jordan. Chapter 22:19 even hints that the land across

6136-424: The burning was the result of the city's numerous factions opposing each other with excessive force. In her commentary for the Westminster Bible Companion series, Carolyn Pressler suggested that readers of Joshua should give priority to its theological message ("what passages teach about God") and be aware of what these would have meant to audiences in the 7th and 6th centuries BCE. Richard Nelson explained that

6240-459: The camp. But his attendant, Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, would not leave the tent. Joshua never moved from the tent". Didn't Joshua leave the tent to eat, sleep or attend to his needs? This praise shows that Joshua had complete faith in Moses, the Tzaddik . One who has this faith is cognizant of the tzaddik in everything he does; he remains steadfastly with the tzaddik whatever he does. According to rabbinic tradition , Joshua, when dividing

6344-476: The conquest of Canaan, Joshua and Caleb are referenced, but not named, as two God-fearing men on whom God "had bestowed His grace". They said, "Moses, there is a fearsome people in this land. We will not go there until they leave. If they leave, then we will enter." Yet the two men whom God had blessed among those who were afraid said, "Go in to them through the gate and when you go in you will overcome them. If you are true believers, put your trust in God. Joshua

SECTION 60

#1732786838145

6448-508: The correlation of archaeological data to the early Israelite campaigns, which he divided into three phases per the Book of Joshua. He pointed to two sets of archaeological findings that "seem to suggest that the biblical account is in general correct regarding the nature of the late thirteenth and twelfth-eleventh centuries in the country" (i.e., "a period of tremendous violence"). He gives particular weight to what were then recent digs at Hazor by Yigael Yadin . Archaeologist Amnon Ben-Tor of

6552-411: The country" (i.e., "a period of tremendous violence"). He gives particular weight to what were then recent digs at Hazor by Yigael Yadin . In rabbinic literature Joshua is regarded as a faithful, humble, deserving, wise man. Biblical verses illustrative of these qualities and of their reward are applied to him. "He that waits on his master shall be honored" is construed as a reference to Joshua, as

6656-451: The discrepancy in dates, but these sites have not been widely accepted. In 1951, Kathleen Kenyon showed that Jericho was from the Middle Bronze Age (c. 2100–1550 BCE), not the Late Bronze Age (c. 1550–1200 BCE). Kenyon argued that the early Israelite campaign could not be historically corroborated, but rather explained as an etiology of the location and a representation of the Israelite settlement. In 1955, G. Ernest Wright discussed

6760-400: The first by God commanding the conquest of the land, and, at the end, the second by Joshua warning of the need for faithful observance of the Law ( torah ) revealed to Moses . The strong consensus among scholars is that the Book of Joshua holds little historical value for early Israel and most likely reflects a much later period. The earliest parts of the book are possibly chapters 2–11,

6864-464: The former Israel to his own kingdom of Judah. Some of the parallels with Moses can be seen in the following, and not exhaustive, list: The Book of Joshua deals with the conquest of the Land of Israel and its settlement, which are politically charged issues in Israeli society . In her article "The Rise and Fall of the Book of Joshua in Public Education in the Light of Ideological Changes in Israeli Society," Israeli biblical scholar Leah Mazor analyzes

6968-506: The fulfilment of God's promise of land, rest and supremacy over the enemies of the Israelites was complete. The tribes to whom Moses had granted land east of the Jordan are authorized to return home to Gilead (here used in the widest sense for the whole Transjordan district), having faithfully 'kept the charge' of supporting the tribes occupying Canaan. They are granted "riches... with very much livestock, with silver , with gold , with bronze , with iron , and with very much clothing" as

7072-429: The history of the book and reveals a complex system of references to it expressed in a wide range of responses, often extreme, moving from narrow-minded admiration, through embarrassment and thunderous silence to a bitter and poignant critique. The changes in the status of the Book of Joshua, she shows, are the manifestations of the ongoing dialogue that Israeli society has with its cultural heritage, with its history, with

7176-401: The land was realized in the biblical narrative; its origins are unclear, but the descriptions may reflect geographical relations among the places named. The wording of Joshua 18:1–4 suggests that the tribes of Reuben, Gad, Judah , Ephraim and Manasseh received their land allocation some time before the "remaining seven tribes", and a 21-member expedition set out to survey the remainder of

7280-436: The land among the tribes (13:1–22:34) IV. Conclusion (23:1–24:33) Chapter 1 commences "after the death of Moses " and presents the first of three important moments in Joshua marked with major speeches and reflections by the main characters; here first God , and then Joshua , make speeches about the goal of conquest of the Promised Land ; in chapter 12, the narrator looks back on the conquest; and in chapter 23 Joshua gives

7384-437: The land was both the sign of Yahweh's faithfulness and Israel's unfaithfulness, as well as the centre of their ethnic identity. In Deuteronomistic theology, "rest" meant Israel's unthreatened possession of the land, the achievement of which began with the conquests of Joshua. Joshua "carries out a systematic campaign against the civilians of Canaan – men, women and children – that amounts to genocide ." This practice

7488-475: The land with a view to organising the allocation to the tribes of Simeon , Benjamin , Asher , Naphtali , Zebulun , Issachar and Dan . Subsequently, 48 cities with their surrounding lands were allocated to the Tribe of Levi . Omitted in the Masoretic Text , but present in the Septuagint , is a statement that: Joshua completed the division of the land in its boundaries, and the children gave

7592-600: The leader of the faithful following the death of Moses. In Islam, it is also believed that Yusha bin Nun (Joshua) was the "attendant" of Moses mentioned in the Quran before Moses meets Khidr . Joshua plays a role in Islamic literature , with significant narration in the hadith . The English name "Joshua" is a rendering of the Hebrew Yehoshua , and is mostly interpreted as " Yahweh is salvation"; although others have also alternatively interpreted it as " Yahweh

7696-434: The location and a representation of the Israelite settlement. In 1955, G. Ernest Wright discussed the correlation of archaeological data to the early Israelite campaigns, which he divided into three phases per the Book of Joshua. He pointed to two sets of archaeological findings that "seem to suggest that the biblical account is in general correct regarding the nature of the late thirteenth and twelfth-eleventh centuries in

7800-402: The midst of them. As a witness of their promise to serve God, Joshua set up a great stone under an oak by the sanctuary of God. Soon afterward he died, at the age of 110, and was buried at Timnath-heres , in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. The prevailing scholarly view is that the Book of Joshua is not a factual account of historical events. The apparent setting of Joshua

7904-475: The miracle which shown by Joshua as a sign that he is a prophet in Islam . Ibn Kathir gave commentary of Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal Hadith that during the siege of Jerusalem, Yoshua prayed to God to withheld the sun until he won, which resulted in the day did not cease, and the sun only set after the Israelites under Joshua manage to capture the city. al-Jalalayn says, " Ahmad [b. Hanbal] reported in his Musnad,

8008-573: The narrative now turns to the second: to "put the people in possession of the land." Joshua is "old, advanced (or stricken) in years" by this time. This land distribution is a "covenantal land grant": Yahweh , as king, is issuing each tribe its territory. The " Cities of Refuge " and Levitical cities are attached to the end, since it is necessary for the tribes to receive their grants before they allocate parts of it to others. The Transjordanian tribes are dismissed, affirming their loyalty to Yahweh. The book reaffirms Moses' allocation of land east of

8112-404: The nations of the world and has not placed us like the families of the earth, who has not designed our destiny to be like theirs, nor our lot like that of all their multitude. Most modern Bibles translate Hebrews 4:8–10 to identify Jesus as a better Joshua, as Joshua led Israel into the rest of Canaan , but Jesus leads the people of God into "God's rest". Among the early Church Fathers , Joshua

8216-645: The needs of the centralised monarchy favoured a single story of origins, combining old traditions of an exodus from Egypt , belief in a national god as "divine warrior," and explanations for ruined cities, social stratification and ethnic groups, and contemporary tribes. Fragments of Joshua dating to the Hasmonean period were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls (4QJosh and 4QJosh , found in Qumran Cave 4 ). The Septuagint (Greek translation)

8320-885: The northern part of the Sinai Peninsula between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea , the southern part of Sinai where the Rea Sea splits into the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Aqaba , or the Bosporus in Istanbul which is a strait between the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara . Joshua was regarded by some classical scholars as the prophetic successor to Moses ( موسى ) Al-Tabari relates in his History of

8424-524: The ones it does associate with him show little or no sign of even being occupied at the time. The archaeological evidence shows that Jericho and Ai were not occupied in the Near Eastern Late Bronze Age . Ai was first excavated by Judith Marquet-Krause . According to Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible , the story of the conquest represents the nationalist propaganda of the 8th century BCE kings of Judah and their claims to

8528-402: The promised land. According to Joshua 1:1, God appointed Joshua to succeed Moses as leader of the Israelites along with giving him a blessing of invincibility during his lifetime. The first part of the book of Joshua covers the period when he led the conquest of Canaan . At the Jordan River , the waters parted, as they had for Moses at the Red Sea . The first battle after the crossing of

8632-755: The public display and reading of the Law. Disobedience appears in the story of Achan ( stoned for violating the herem command), the Gibeonites , and the altar built by the Transjordan tribes. Joshua's two final addresses challenge the Israel of the future (the readers of the story) to obey the most important command of all, to worship Yahweh and no other gods. Joshua thus illustrates the central Deuteronomistic message, that obedience leads to success and disobedience to ruin. The Deuteronomistic history draws parallels in proper leadership between Moses , Joshua and Josiah . God's commission to Joshua in chapter 1

8736-501: The right hand or to the left" (i.e. by adding to the law, or diminishing from it). Joshua meets again with all the people at Shechem in chapter 24 and addresses them a second time. He recounts the history of God's formation of the Israelite nation, beginning with " Terah , the father of Abraham and Nahor , [who] lived beyond the Euphrates River and worshiped other gods." He invited the Israelites to choose between serving

8840-418: The rock? That is when I forgot the fish. None made me forget to mention this except Satan. And the fish made its way into the sea miraculously". Moses responded, "That is exactly what we were looking for". So they returned, retracing their footsteps. There they found a servant of Ours, to whom We had granted mercy from Us and enlightened with knowledge of Our Own. The narration collected by Bukhari reports that

8944-506: The seventh and sixth centuries BCE. Richard Nelson explained that the needs of the centralised monarchy favoured a single story of origins, combining old traditions of an exodus from Egypt , belief in a national god as "divine warrior," and explanations for ruined cities, social stratification and ethnic groups, and contemporary tribes. It has been argued that the Book of Joshua holds little historical value. The archaeological evidence shows that Jericho and Ai were not occupied in

9048-538: The sky which killed more Canaanites than those which the Israelites slaughtered. From there on, Joshua was able to lead the Israelites to several victories, securing much of the land of Canaan. He presided over the Israelite gatherings at Gilgal and Shiloh which allocated land to the tribes of Israel (Joshua 14:1–5 and 18:1–10), and the Israelites rewarded him with the Ephraimite city of Timnath-heres or Timnath-serah, where he settled (Joshua 19:50). According to

9152-661: The story of the conquest; these chapters were later incorporated into an early form of Joshua likely written late in the reign of king Josiah (reigned 640–609 BCE), but the book was not completed until after the fall of Jerusalem to the Neo-Babylonian Empire in 586 BCE, and possibly not until after the return from the Babylonian exile in 539 BCE. Many scholars interpret the book of Joshua as referring to what would now be considered genocide. I. Transfer of leadership to Joshua (1:1–18) II. Entrance into and conquest of Canaan (2:1–12:24) III. Division of

9256-400: The territory of Benjamin". In some manuscripts and editions of the Septuagint , there is an additional verse relating to the apostasy of the Israelites after Joshua's death. The Book of Joshua is an anonymous work . The Babylonian Talmud , written in the 3rd to 5th centuries CE, attributed it to Joshua himself, but this idea was rejected as untenable by John Calvin (1509– 64 ), and by

9360-517: The territory of the Kingdom of Israel ; incorporated into an early form of Joshua written late in the reign of king Josiah (reigned 640–609 BCE). The Book of Joshua was probably revised and completed after the fall of Jerusalem to the Neo-Babylonian Empire in 586 BCE, and possibly after the return from the Babylonian exile in 538 BCE. In the 1930s Martin Noth made a sweeping criticism of

9464-479: The then-recent 701 BCE campaign of the Assyrian king Sennacherib in the Kingdom of Judah as his model; the hanging of the captured kings is in accordance with Assyrian practice of the 8th century BCE. With the south conquered the narrative moves to the northern campaign. A powerful multi-national (or more accurately, multi-ethnic) coalition headed by the king of Hazor , the most important northern city,

9568-415: The time of Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) it was recognised that the book must have been written much later than the period it depicted. There is now general agreement that it was composed as part of a larger work, the Deuteronomistic history , stretching from the Book of Deuteronomy to the Books of Kings , composed first at the court of king Josiah in the late 7th century BCE, and extensively revised in

9672-475: The tribe to which the water course fell had the first rights. Prickly burnet ( Sarcopoterium spinosum ) and the camelthorn ( Alhagi maurorum ) could be freely collected as firewood by any member of any tribe, in any tribal territory. According to Jewish religious tradition, upon making Aliyah by crossing the Jordan River to enter the Land of Israel , Joshua composed the Aleinu prayer thanking God. This idea

9776-483: The twelve spies of Israel sent by Moses to explore the land of Canaan . In Numbers 13:1 and after the death of Moses, he led the Israelite tribes in the conquest of Canaan, and allocated lands to the tribes. According to biblical chronology , Joshua lived some time in the Bronze Age . According to Joshua 24:29 Joshua died at the age of 110. Joshua holds a position of respect among Muslims , who also see him as

9880-406: The usefulness of the Book of Joshua for history. Noth was a student of Albrecht Alt , who emphasized form criticism (whose pioneer had been Hermann Gunkel in the 19th century) and the importance of etiology . Alt and Noth posited a peaceful movement of the Israelites into various areas of Canaan, in contradiction to the Biblical account. American archaeologist William F. Albright questioned

9984-524: The valley with the wadi al-Qelt , a deep ravine located to Jericho's south. In the twentieth century the Hyrcania valley (El-Buqei'a in Arabic) west and south of Qumran , and Wadi en-Nu'eima have also been suggested. One difficulty is that the narrative of Joshua appears to place the valley of Achor to the north of Jericho, between Jericho and Ai ; but Joshua makes the valley part of the boundary between

10088-424: The vanquished kings on both sides of the Jordan River : the two kings who ruled east of the Jordan who were defeated under Moses' leadership (Joshua 12:1–6; cf. Numbers 21), and the 31 kings on the west of the Jordan who were defeated under Joshua's leadership (Joshua 12:7–24). The list of the 31 kings is quasi-tabular: Having described how the Israelites and Joshua have carried out the first of their God's commands,

10192-411: Was divinely reserved for the Israelites from the beginning. Because of Rahab's actions, the Israelites are able to enter Canaan. The Israelites cross the Jordan River through a miraculous intervention of God with the Ark of the Covenant and are circumcised at Gibeath-Haaraloth (translated as hill of foreskins ), renamed Gilgal in memory. Gilgal sounds like Gallothi , "I have removed", but

10296-638: Was first cited in the Kol Bo of the late 14th Century. Several medieval commentators noticed that Joshua's shorter birth name, Hosea, appears in the first few verses of Aleinu in reverse acrostic: ע – עלינו, ש – שלא שם, ו – ואנחנו כורעים, ה – הוא אלוקינו. The Teshuvot HaGeonim, a Geonic responsum, discussed that Joshua composed the Aleinu because although the Israelites had made Aliyah to the Promised Land , they were surrounded by other peoples, and he wanted

10400-481: Was fundamentally a religious conflict," writing further for the need to understand what the reports teach "so that they make some sense to us in the whole." Miller writes further that the "Deuteronomistic history in Joshua through Second Kings is a story of constant or recurring apostasy" and that for the Israelites, maintaining their allegiance with Yahweh "required, in their sight, removal of all temptation." Nissim Amzallag sees similarities between Joshua's conquest and

10504-608: Was known as herem , as described in Deuteronomy 20:17, which entailed no treaties with the enemy, no mercy , and no intermarriage . "The extermination of the nations glorifies Yahweh as a warrior and promotes Israel's claim to the land," while their continued survival "explores the themes of disobedience and penalty and looks forward to the story told in Judges and Kings." The divine call for massacre at Jericho and elsewhere can be explained in terms of cultural norms (Israel

10608-486: Was not the only Iron Age state to practice herem ) and theology (e.g. to ensure Israel's purity, fulfill God's promise, judge the Canaanites for their "sexual misconduct"). Patrick D. Miller in his commentary on Deuteronomy, writes that "there is no real way to make such reports palatable to the hearts and minds of contemporary readers and believers," and that the "tension between the Israelites and its neighbors

10712-414: Was probably revised and completed after the fall of Jerusalem to the Neo-Babylonian Empire in 586 BCE, and possibly after the return from the Babylonian exile in 538 BCE. In the 1930s Martin Noth made a sweeping criticism of the usefulness of the Book of Joshua for history. Noth was a student of Albrecht Alt , who emphasized form criticism and the importance of etiology . Alt and Noth posited

10816-402: Was to live there: twelve tribes, with a designated leader, united by covenant in warfare and in worship of Yahweh alone at a single sanctuary, all in obedience to the commands of Moses as found in the Book of Deuteronomy . The Book of Joshua takes forward Deuteronomy's theme of Israel as a single people worshipping Yahweh in the land God has given them. Yahweh, as the main character in

#144855