Misplaced Pages

#309690

131-707: The biblical narrative has it coming into the Land of Israel following the Exodus , while scholarly reconstructions have offered a variety of opinions as to its origins and early history. From the Book of Genesis until the Babylonian captivity , the Bible provides various details about its history, after which point it disappears from the record. A variety of extrabiblical traditional Jewish sources also provide additional material on

262-684: A Midrash , many Simeonite widows were married into other Israelite tribes, after the death of 24,000 Simeonite men following the scandal involving Zimri . A midrash claims that the tribe was deported by the Babylonians to the Kingdom of Aksum (in what is now Ethiopia ), to a place behind the dark mountains . Conversely, Eldad ha-Dani held that the tribe of Simeon had become quite powerful, taking tribute from 25 other kingdoms, some of which were Arabians ; though he names their location, surviving versions of his manuscripts differ as to whether it

393-474: A Zionist , decided that the Hebrew transliteration should be used, followed always by the two initial letters of "Eretz Yisrael", א״י Aleph-Yod : He was aware that there was no other name in the Hebrew language for this land except 'Eretz-Israel'. At the same time he thought that if 'Eretz-Israel' only were used, it might not be regarded by the outside world as a correct rendering of the word 'Palestine', and in

524-578: A census of Israel and Judah, travelling in an anti-clockwise direction from Gad to Gilead to Dan , then west to Sidon and Tyre , south to the cities of the Hivites and the Canaanites , to southern Judah and then returning to Jerusalem. Biblical commentator Alexander Kirkpatrick notes that the cities of Tyre and Sidon were "never occupied by the Israelites, and we must suppose either that

655-709: A Jewish state in Eretz-Israel, to be known as the State of Israel". Book of Joshua The Book of Joshua ( Hebrew : סֵפֶר יְהוֹשֻׁעַ Sefer Yəhōšūaʿ , Tiberian : Sēp̄er Yŏhōšūaʿ ‍ ; Greek : Ιησούς του Ναυή ; Latin : Liber Iosue ) 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

786-455: A continuous yet small Jewish presence in the land, a strong sense of bondedness exists throughout this tradition, expressed in terms of people-hood; from the very beginning, this concept was identified with that ancestral biblical land or, to use the traditional religious and modern Hebrew term, Eretz Yisrael . Religiously and culturally the area was seen broadly as a land of destiny, and always with hope for some form of redemption and return. It

917-587: A geographical location. Nur Masalha argues that the biblical boundaries are "entirely fictitious", and bore simply religious connotations in Diaspora Judaism, with the term only coming into ascendency with the rise of Zionism . The Hebrew Bible provides three specific sets of borders for the " Promised Land ", each with a different purpose. Neither of the terms "Promised Land" (Ha'Aretz HaMuvtahat) or "Land of Israel" are used in these passages: Genesis 15:13–21 , Genesis 17:8 and Ezekiel 47:13–20 use

1048-515: 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

1179-753: 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

1310-461: A pattern which overlapped Judah: while maintaining a distinct tribal identity and organization throughout the First Temple period (until 586 BC), Simeonites and Judahites lived in some of the same areas. According to the Hebrew Bible , the tribe consisted of descendants of Simeon , the second son of Jacob and of Leah , from whom it took its name. However, Arthur Peake (1919) suggested that

1441-573: A plan for development together with a map of the proposed homeland. The statement noted the Jewish historical connection with " Palestine ". It also declared the Zionists' proposed borders and resources "essential for the necessary economic foundation of the country" including "the control of its rivers and their headwaters". These borders included present day Israel and the occupied territories , western Jordan, southwestern Syria and southern Lebanon "in

SECTION 10

#1732772844310

1572-593: 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

1703-617: A precisely defined eastern border which included the Arabah and Jordan. Numbers 34:1–15 describes the land allocated to the Israelite tribes after the Exodus. The tribes of Reuben , Gad and half of Manasseh received land east of the Jordan as explained in Numbers 34:14–15 . Numbers 34:1–13 provides a detailed description of the borders of the land to be conquered west of the Jordan for

1834-511: 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

1965-738: A river or stream, as opposed to a wadi . A slightly more detailed definition is given in Exodus 23:31 , which describes the borders as "from the sea of reeds (Red Sea) to the Sea of the Philistines (Mediterranean sea) and from the desert to the Euphrates River", although the Hebrew text of the Bible uses the name, "the River", to refer to the Euphrates. Only the "Red Sea" (Exodus 23:31) and

2096-520: 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

2227-748: Is a direct translation of the Hebrew phrase ארץ ישראל ‎ ( Eretz Yisrael ), which occasionally occurs in the Bible , and is first mentioned in the Tanakh in 1 Samuel 13:19 , following the Exodus , when the Israelite tribes were already in the Land of Canaan . The words are used sparsely in the Bible: King David is ordered to gather 'strangers to the land of Israel' ( hag-gêrîm 'ăšer, bə'ereṣ yiśrā'êl ) for building purposes ( 1 Chronicles 22:2 ), and

2358-564: 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

2489-561: Is defined in detail in the exilic Book of Ezekiel as a land where both the twelve tribes and the "strangers in (their) midst", can claim inheritance. The name "Israel" first appears in the Hebrew Bible as the name given by God to the patriarch Jacob ( Genesis 32:28 ). Deriving from the name "Israel", other designations that came to be associated with the Jewish people have included the " Children of Israel " or "Israelite". The term 'Land of Israel' (γῆ Ἰσραήλ) occurs in one episode in

2620-601: 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

2751-495: 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

SECTION 20

#1732772844310

2882-480: Is less clear, as he states that the covenant is through Isaac, but also notes that Ishmael 's descendants, generally the Arabs , have held much of that land through time. Rabbinic literature portrays the Land of Israel as the "navel of the world": As the navel is in the middle of a human being, the Land of Israel is the navel of the world, as it is written: "dwellers of the navel of the earth". Just as Eretz Israel

3013-489: Is located in the centre of the world so is Jerusalem in the centre of Eretz Israel, the temple in the centre of Jerusalem, the holy of holies in the centre of the temple, the ark at the centre of the holy of holies, and right in front is the Foundation Stone of the whole of the universe. The Land of Israel concept has been evoked by the founders of the State of Israel . It often surfaces in political debates on

3144-483: 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

3275-419: 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

3406-466: Is not shared by most adherents of replacement theology (or supersessionism ), who hold the view that the Old Testament prophecies were superseded by the coming of Jesus, a view often repudiated by Christian Zionists as a theological error. Evangelical Zionists variously claim that Israel has title to the land by divine right, or by a theological, historical and moral grounding of attachment to

3537-704: Is referred as "from the entrance of Hamath unto the brook of Egypt " ( 1 Kings 8:65 , 1 Chronicles 13:5 and 2 Chronicles 7:8 ). These biblical limits for the land differ from the borders of established historical Israelite and later Jewish kingdoms , including the United Kingdom of Israel , the two kingdoms of Israel (Samaria) and Judah , the Hasmonean kingdom , and the Herodian kingdom . At their heights, these realms ruled lands with similar but not identical boundaries. Jewish religious belief defines

3668-558: 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

3799-478: Is situated in the Land of Israel ... and speaks the Holy Tongue, and recites the shema in the morning and in the evening, is promised life in the world to come ." According to some Jewish religious authorities , every Jew has an obligation to dwell in the Land of Israel and may not leave except for specifically permitted reasons (e.g., to get married). There are also many laws dealing with how to treat

3930-456: Is the wilderness rather than the Jordan . Paul R. Williamson notes that a "close examination of the relevant promissory texts" supports a "wider interpretation of the promised land" in which it is not "restricted absolutely to one geographical locale". He argues that "the map of the promised land was never seen permanently fixed, but was subject to at least some degree of expansion and redefinition". On David 's instructions, Joab undertakes

4061-505: Is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: 'See, I am going to tear the kingdom out of Solomon's hand and give you ten tribes. 32 But for the sake of my servant David and the city of Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, he will have one tribe. 33 I will do this because they have forsaken me and worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of

Tribe of Simeon - Misplaced Pages Continue

4192-462: The Arabah , are considered by some religious authorities to be outside the Land of Israel for purposes of Jewish law. According to these authorities, the religious laws do not apply there. Traditional religious Jewish interpretation, and that of most Christian commentators, define Abraham's descendants only as Abraham's seed through his son Isaac and his grandson Jacob . Johann Friedrich Karl Keil

4323-501: The Book of Jubilees . Jewish tradition thus refers to the region as Canaan during the period between the Flood and the Israelite settlement. Eliezer Schweid sees Canaan as a geographical name, and Israel the spiritual name of the land. He writes: "The uniqueness of the Land of Israel is thus "geo-theological" and not merely climatic. This is the land which faces the entrance of the spiritual world, that sphere of existence that lies beyond

4454-637: 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

4585-770: The Brook of Egypt (see debate below) to the Mediterranean Sea. The territory defined by these borders is divided into twelve strips, one for each of the twelve tribes. Hence, Numbers 34 and Ezekiel 47 define different but similar borders which include the whole of contemporary Lebanon , both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and Israel , except for the South Negev and Eilat . Small parts of Syria are also included. The common biblical phrase used to refer to

4716-685: The Euphrates are mentioned to define the southern and eastern borders of the full land promised to the Israelites. The "Red Sea" corresponding to Hebrew Yam Suf was understood in ancient times to be the Erythraean Sea , as reflected in the Septuagint translation. Although the English name "Red Sea" is derived from this name ("Erythraean" derives from the Greek for red), the term denoted all

4847-631: 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

4978-552: The New Testament ( Matthew 2:20–21 ), where, according to Shlomo Sand , it bears the unusual sense of 'the area surrounding Jerusalem'. The section in which it appears was written as a parallel to the earlier Book of Exodus . Genesis 15:18–21 describes what are known as "Borders of the Land" ( Gevulot Ha-aretz ), which in Jewish tradition defines the extent of the land promised to the descendants of Abraham, through his son Isaac and grandson Jacob. The passage describes

5109-557: The Shmita (Sabbatical year); tithing laws such as the Maaser Rishon ( Levite Tithe ), Maaser sheni , and Maaser ani (poor tithe); charitable practices during farming, such as pe'ah ; and laws regarding taxation. One popular source lists 26 of the 613 mitzvot as contingent upon the Land of Israel. According to Menachem Lorberbaum , the consecrated borders of the Land of Israel understood by returning exiles differed from both

5240-690: The Southern Levant . Related biblical, religious and historical English terms include the Land of Canaan , the Promised Land , the Holy Land , and Palestine . The definitions of the limits of this territory vary between passages in the Hebrew Bible , with specific mentions in Genesis 15 , Exodus 23 , Numbers 34 and Ezekiel 47 . Nine times elsewhere in the Bible, the settled land is referred as " from Dan to Beersheba ", and three times it

5371-443: 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

Tribe of Simeon - Misplaced Pages Continue

5502-533: 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

5633-407: 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

5764-476: 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

5895-637: The Aramaic Targums ) understand this as referring to the Nile ; more precisely the Pelusian branch of the Nile Delta according to Halevi—a view supported by Egyptian and Assyrian texts. Saadia Gaon identified it as the "Wadi of El-Arish", referring to the biblical Sukkot near Faiyum . Kaftor Vaferech placed it in the same region, which approximates the location of the former Pelusian branch of

6026-468: The Book of Genesis, the land was first promised by God to Abram 's descendants; the text is explicit that this is a covenant between God and Abram for his descendants ( Gen 15:18–21 (NIV) : "On that day the LORD made a covenant"). Abram's name was later changed to Abraham, with the promise refined to pass through his son Isaac and to the Israelites , descendants of Jacob , Abraham's grandson. This belief

6157-491: The Book of Joshua never occurred. Martin Noth argued that the six tribes that the Bible traces to Leah , including Simeon, were once part of an amphictyony prior to the later coalition of twelve tribes. According to Niels Peter Lemche, "Noth's amphictyonic hypothesis determined a whole generation of Old Testament scholars' way of thinking." However, more recently a large number of scholars have dissented from Noth's theory. In

6288-467: The Hebrew transliteration of the word "Palestine" פלשתינה (Palestina) followed always by the two initial letters of "Eretz Yisrael", א״י Aleph-Yod. The Land of Israel concept has been evoked by the founders of the State of Israel . It often surfaces in political debates on the status of the West Bank , referred to in official Israeli discourse as the Judea and Samaria Area . The term "Land of Israel"

6419-516: 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

6550-421: 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

6681-490: 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,

SECTION 50

#1732772844310

6812-404: 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

6943-436: 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, 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

7074-411: 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

7205-404: The Lord, that I will make for the house of Israel, and for the house of Judah, a new testament: not according to the testament that I settled for their fathers in the day when I laid hold of their hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my testament, and I regarded them not, says the Lord." Augustine concludes that this other promise, revealed in the New Testament,

7336-406: The Moabites, and Molek the god of the Ammonites, and have not walked in obedience to me, nor done what is right in my eyes, nor kept my decrees and laws as David, Solomon's father, did. 34 "'But I will not take the whole kingdom out of Solomon's hand; I have made him ruler all the days of his life for the sake of David my servant, whom I chose and who obeyed my commands and decrees. 35 I will take

7467-415: The Nile. 19th century Bible commentaries understood the identification as a reference to the Wadi of the coastal locality called El-Arish . Easton's, however, notes a local tradition that the course of the river had changed and there was once a branch of the Nile where today there is a wadi. Biblical minimalists have suggested that the Besor is intended. Deuteronomy 19:8 indicates a certain fluidity of

7598-526: 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

7729-487: The Priestly Source in the post-exilic period, and some deny its existence altogether. The tribe is included in the Blessing of Moses (DEU 33:6) as found in the Septuagint , whereas the name is omitted from the Masoretic Text . The impression gained from the Books of Chronicles is that the tribe was not entirely fixed in location; at one point it is mentioned that some members of the tribe migrated southwards to Gedor , so as to find suitable pasture for their sheep . In

7860-412: 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

7991-447: The area as the land of the ten named ancient peoples then living there. More precise geographical borders are given in Exodus 23:31 , which describes borders as marked by the Red Sea (see debate below), the "Sea of the Philistines" i.e. , the Mediterranean , and the "River", the Euphrates ), the traditional furthest extent of the Kingdom of David . Genesis gives the border with Egypt as Nahar Mitzrayim – nahar in Hebrew denotes

SECTION 60

#1732772844310

8122-444: The area which the Israelite tribes had their settlements". According to Anita Shapira , the term "Eretz Yisrael" was a holy term, vague as far as the exact boundaries of the territories are concerned but clearly defining ownership. The sanctity of the land ( kedushat ha-aretz ) developed rich associations in rabbinical thought, where it assumes a highly symbolic and mythological status infused with promise, although always connected to

8253-437: The biblical and pre-exilic borders. By mapping the land in accordance with biblical traditions while simultaneously reflecting the extent of Jewish settlement in the region during their time, rabbinic literature not only sanctified the territory but also established a symbolic continuity that linked contemporary Jewish communities to their ancestors in biblical times. The Jerusalem Talmud, in tractate Shabbat, states: "Whoever

8384-412: 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

8515-402: 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

8646-407: The borders of the promised land when it refers to the possibility that God would "enlarge your borders". This expansion of territory means that Israel would receive "all the land he promised to give to your fathers", which implies that the settlement actually fell short of what was promised. According to Jacob Milgrom , Deuteronomy refers to a more utopian map of the promised land, whose eastern border

8777-424: 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

8908-467: The case of passports or certificates of nationality, it might perhaps give rise to difficulties, so it was decided to print 'Palestine' in Hebrew letters and to add after it the letters 'Aleph' 'Yod', which constitute a recognised abbreviation of the Hebrew name. His Excellency still thought that this was a good compromise. Dr. Salem wanted to omit 'Aleph' 'Yod' and Mr. Yellin wanted to omit 'Palestine'. The right solution would be to retain both. —Minutes of

9039-406: 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, 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

9170-508: 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

9301-451: 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

9432-659: The entire land of the Israelites. The English expression " Promised Land " can denote either the land promised to Abraham in Genesis or the land of Canaan, although the latter meaning is more common. The border with Egypt is given as the Nachal Mitzrayim ( Brook of Egypt ) in Numbers, as well as in Deuteronomy and Ezekiel. Jewish tradition (as expressed in the commentaries of Rashi and Yehuda Halevi , as well as

9563-481: The following verse, which may or may not be related, it is mentioned that during the reign of Hezekiah , part of the tribe came to the land of some Meunim , and slaughtered them, taking the land in their place. Further verses state that about 500 men from the tribe migrated to Mount Seir , slaughtering the Amalekites who had previously settled there. As part of the Kingdom of Judah , whatever remained of Simeon

9694-702: 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

9825-506: 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

9956-828: The future government of Palestine, of the Plan of Partition with Economic Union". The Resolution contained a plan to partition Palestine into "Independent Arab and Jewish States and the Special International Regime for the City of Jerusalem". On 14 May 1948, the day the British Mandate over Palestine expired, the Jewish People's Council gathered at the Tel Aviv Museum, and approved a proclamation , in which it declared "the establishment of

10087-419: The hebrew name shimeon/simeon in the english version of the bible In the biblical account, following the completion of the conquest of Canaan by the Israelites , Joshua allocated the land among the twelve tribes. Kenneth Kitchen, a well-known conservative biblical scholar, dates this event to slightly after 1200 BCE. However, the consensus view of modern scholars is that the conquest of Joshua as described in

10218-510: The historical entitlement that Jews have to the whole Land of Israel. Ginsburgh's ideas about the need for Jewish control over the land has some popularity within contemporary West Bank settlements. However, there are also strong backlashes from the Jewish community regarding these ideas. The Satmar Hasidic community in particular denounces any geographic or political establishment of Israel, deeming this establishment as directly interfering with God's plan for Jewish redemption. Joel Teitelbaum

10349-429: 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

10480-509: The kingdom from his son's hands and give you ten tribes. 36 I will give one tribe to his son so that David my servant may always have a lamp before me in Jerusalem, the city where I chose to put my Name. According to Jewish religious law ( halakha ), some laws only apply to Jews living in the Land of Israel and some areas in Jordan , Lebanon, and Syria (which are thought to be part of biblical Israel). These include agricultural laws such as

10611-401: 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

10742-436: 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

10873-556: The land as where Jewish religious law prevailed and excludes territory where it was not applied. It holds that the area is a God-given inheritance of the Jewish people based on the Torah , particularly the books of Genesis , Exodus , Numbers and Deuteronomy , as well as Joshua and the later Prophets ( Exodus 6:4 : "I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, where they resided as foreigners"). According to

11004-493: The land unique to Jews ( Parkes, James ). The idea that ancient religious texts can be warrant or divine right for a modern claim has often been challenged, and Israeli courts have rejected land claims based on religious motivations. During the League of Nations mandate period (1920–1948 ) the term "Eretz Yisrael" or the "Land of Israel" was part of the official Hebrew name of Mandatory Palestine . Official Hebrew documents used

11135-437: 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

11266-526: 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

11397-414: The land. The laws apply to all Jews, and the giving of the land itself in the covenant, applies to all Jews, including converts. Many of the religious laws which applied in ancient times are applied in the modern State of Israel; others have not been revived, since the State of Israel does not adhere to traditional Jewish law . However, certain parts of the current territory of the State of Israel, such as

11528-452: The list in Joshua 15 as reflecting the historical situation during the reign of Josiah , and sees the other two as later, and less reliable, attempts by editors to work out the earlier Simeonite territory. The "other school" sees the first two lists as reflecting the actual historical situation in the time of David (compare 1 Chronicles 4:31), and Joshua 15 as reflecting the situation at a later date. According to Na'aman, Simeonites settled in

11659-490: The lists of towns being different documents, from different periods to each other. The tribe seems to have dwindled in size, and the size of the tribe dramatically drops by over half between the two censuses recorded in the Book of Numbers . Although the Bible places these censuses during the Exodus , some source-critical scholars place their authorship in the period of Priestly Source , which Richard Elliot Freedman dates to between 722 and 609 BC. Other scholars usually place

11790-620: The meeting on November 9, 1920. The compromise was later noted as among Arab grievances before the League's Permanent Mandate Commission. During the Mandate, the name Eretz Yisrael (abbreviated א״י Aleph-Yod ), was part of the official name for the territory, when written in Hebrew . These official names for Palestine were minted on the Mandate coins and early stamps (pictured) in English, Hebrew "(פלשתינה (א״י" ( Palestina E"Y ) and Arabic ("فلسطين"). Consequently, in 20th-century political usage,

11921-573: 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

12052-433: The narratives about the twelve sons of Jacob in Genesis might include later tribal history "disguised as personal history," in which the later histories of these tribal groups are recast in the form of narratives about supposed ancestors. Likewise, the consensus position of contemporary scholarship is that "there is little or no historical memory of pre-Israelite events or circumstances in Genesis." The Surname sims derived from

12183-589: 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)

12314-675: The northern border of modern Lebanon , eastwards (the way of Hethlon) to Zedad and Hazar-enan in modern Syria ; south by southwest to the area of Busra on the Syrian border (area of Hauran in Ezekiel); follows the Jordan River between the West Bank and the land of Gilead to Tamar ( Ein Gedi ) on the western shore of the Dead Sea; From Tamar to Meribah Kadesh ( Kadesh Barnea ), then along

12445-524: 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

12576-399: The opening words of the Book of Judges , following the death of Joshua , the Israelites "asked the Lord" which tribe should be first to go to occupy its allotted territory, and the tribe of Judah was identified as the first tribe. According to this narrative, the tribe of Judah invited the tribe of Simeon to fight with them in alliance to secure each of their allotted territories. However,

12707-418: The physical world known to us through our senses. This is the key to the land's unique status with regard to prophecy and prayer, and also with regard to the commandments." Thus, the renaming of this landmarks a change in religious status, the origin of the Holy Land concept. Numbers 34:1–13 uses the term Canaan strictly for the land west of the Jordan, but Land of Israel is used in Jewish tradition to denote

12838-808: 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

12969-480: The region traversed by the enumerators is defined as reaching up to though not including [them], or that these cities were actually visited in order to take a census of Israelites resident in them". Ezekiel 47:13–20 provides a definition of borders of land in which the twelve tribes of Israel will live during the final redemption, at the end of days. The borders of the land described by the text in Ezekiel include

13100-487: The remaining tribes. The region is called "the Land of Canaan " ( Eretz Kna'an ) in Numbers 34:2 and the borders are known in Jewish tradition as the "borders for those coming out of Egypt". These borders are again mentioned in Deuteronomy 1:6–8 , 11:24 and Joshua 1:4 . According to the Hebrew Bible, Canaan was the son of Ham who with his descendants had seized the land from the descendants of Shem according to

13231-437: 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

13362-467: The same phrasing is used in reference to King Solomon 's census of all of the 'strangers in the Land of Israel' ( 2 Chronicles 2:17 ). Ezekiel , although generally preferring the phrase 'soil of Israel' ( ' admat yiśrā'êl ), employs eretz Israel twice, respectively at Ezekiel 40:2 and Ezekiel 47:18 . According to Martin Noth , the term is not an "authentic and original name for this land", but instead serves as "a somewhat flexible description of

13493-533: The secular Jewish political movement of Zionism to adopt at the turn of the 20th century; it was used to refer to their proposed national homeland in the area then controlled by the Ottoman Empire . As originally stated, "The aim of Zionism is to create for the Jewish people a home in Palestine secured by law." The Biblical concept of Eretz Israel, and its re-establishment as a state in the modern era,

13624-521: The status of the West Bank , which is referred to in official Israeli discourse as Judea and Samaria , from the names of the two historical Israelite and Judean kingdoms . These debates frequently invoke religious principles, despite the little weight these principles typically carry in Israeli secular politics. Ideas about the need for Jewish control of the land of Israel have been propounded by figures such as Yitzhak Ginsburg , who has written about

13755-686: The term "Land of Israel" usually denotes only those parts of the land which came under the British mandate. On 29 November 1947, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution ( United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181 (II)) recommending "to the United Kingdom, as the mandatory Power for Palestine, and to all other Members of the United Nations the adoption and implementation, with regard to

13886-406: The term "the land" (ha'aretz), as does Deuteronomy 1:8 in which it is promised explicitly to "Abraham, Isaac and Jacob... and to their descendants after them", whilst Numbers 34:1–15 describes the "Land of Canaan" (Eretz Kna'an) which is allocated to nine and half of the twelve Israelite tribes after the Exodus . The expression "Land of Israel" is first used in a later book, 1 Samuel 13:19 . It

14017-506: The territories actually settled by the Israelites (as opposed to military conquests) is "from Dan to Beersheba " (or its variant "from Beersheba to Dan"), which occurs many times in the Bible. The 12 tribes of Israel are divided in 1 Kings 11. In the chapter, King Solomon 's sins lead to Israelites forfeiting 10 of the 12 tribes: 30 and Ahijah took hold of the new cloak he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces. 31 Then he said to Jeroboam , "Take ten pieces for yourself, for this

14148-400: 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

14279-463: The territory of Simeon work with three biblical lists: Book of Joshua 19:2-9, 1 Chronicles 4:28-32, which list towns belonging to Simeon, and Joshua 15:20-30, which lists these same towns as part of the territory of Judah. Nadav Na'aman divides scholarly work on the subject into two "schools of thought," which he calls "the Alt school" (following Albrecht Alt ) and the "other school." The Alt school takes

14410-484: 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

14541-479: 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,

14672-415: 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

14803-469: The tribe of Simeon is not mentioned in the ancient Song of Deborah , generally considered one of the earliest-written parts of the Hebrew Bible, and the Jewish Encyclopedia (1906) claims that Simeon was probably "not always counted as a tribe." According to Israel Finkelstein , the south of Canaan, in which Simeon was situated, was simply an insignificant rural backwater at the time the poem

14934-473: The tribe. At its height, the territory occupied by the Tribe of Simeon was in the southwest of Canaan , bordered on the east and south by the tribe of Judah ; the boundaries with the tribe of Judah are vague, and it seems that Simeon may have been an enclave within the west of the territory of the tribe of Judah. Simeon was one of the less significant tribes in the Kingdom of Judah . Attempts to reconstruct

15065-406: 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

15196-424: 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,

15327-481: The vicinity south of Sidon". In 1920, the Jewish members of the first High Commissioner 's advisory council objected to the Hebrew transliteration of the word "Palestine" פלשתינה ( Palestina ) on the ground that the traditional name was ארץ ישראל ( Eretz Yisrael ), but the Arab members would not agree to this designation, which in their view, had political significance. The High Commissioner, Sir Herbert Samuel , himself

15458-537: The waters surrounding Arabia—including the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf , not merely the sea lying to the west of Arabia bearing this name in modern English. Thus, the entire Arabian peninsula lies within the borders described. Modern maps depicting the region take a reticent view and often leave the southern and eastern borders vaguely defined. The borders of the land to be conquered given in Numbers have

15589-583: Was a basic tenet of the original Zionist program. This program however, saw little success until the British commitment to "the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people" in the Balfour Declaration . Chaim Weizmann , as leader of the Zionist delegation, at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference presented a Zionist Statement on 3 February. Among other things, he presented

15720-403: Was a foremost figure in this denouncement, calling the Land and State of Israel a vehicle for idol worship, as well as a smokescreen for Satan's workings. During the early 5th century, Augustine of Hippo argued in his City of God that the earthly or "carnal" kingdom of Israel achieved its peak during the reigns of David and his son Solomon. He goes on to say however, that this possession

15851-814: Was about to be fulfilled through the incarnation of Christ: "I will give my laws in their mind, and will write them upon their hearts, and I will see to them; and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people." Notwithstanding this doctrine stated by Augustine and also by the Apostle Paul in his Epistle to the Romans (Ch. 11), the phenomenon of Christian Zionism is widely noted today, especially among evangelical Protestants. Other Protestant groups and churches reject Christian Zionism on various grounds . Jewish religious tradition does not distinguish clearly between religious, national, racial, or ethnic identities. Nonetheless, during two millennia of exile and with

15982-411: Was conditional: "...the Hebrew nation should remain in the same land by the succession of posterity in an unshaken state even to the end of this mortal age, if it obeyed the laws of the Lord its God." He goes on to say that the failure of the Hebrew nation to adhere to this condition resulted in its revocation and the making of a second covenant and cites Jeremiah 31:31–32 : "Behold, the days come, says

16113-515: 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

16244-481: 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

16375-548: 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

16506-429: Was later seen as a national home and refuge, intimately related to that traditional sense of people-hood, and meant to show continuity that this land was always seen as central to Jewish life, in theory if not in practice. Having already used another religious term of great importance, Zion (Jerusalem), to coin the name of their movement, being associated with the return to Zion. The term was considered appropriate for

16637-486: 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

16768-537: Was the land of the Khazars or of the Chaldeans ( Chaldeans would be an anachronism , though it could possibly refer to Buyid Dynasty Persia ). Land of Israel Canaan State of Israel (1948–present) The Land of Israel ( Hebrew : אֶרֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵל , Modern :   ʾEreṣ Yīsraʾel , Tiberian :   ʾEreṣ Yīsrāʾēl ) is the traditional Jewish name for an area of

16899-402: 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

17030-473: Was ultimately subjected to the Babylonian captivity ; when the captivity ended, all remaining distinctions between Simeon and the other tribes in the kingdom of Judah had been lost in favour of a common identity as Jews . In Revelation 7 :7, the Tribe of Simeon is once again listed among the Twelve Tribes of Israel with 12,000 of the sons of Israel from the tribe sealed on the forehead. According to

17161-409: Was written. Another possibility is that Simeon, along with Judah, had simply not joined the Israelite confederacy at this point, or that they had seceded. Towns belonging to Simeon are listed in the Book of Joshua ; elsewhere in Joshua these towns are ascribed to Judah. Most modern scholars view the Book of Joshua as being spliced together from several different source texts, in this particular case,

#309690