Later this week we finish the book of Deuteronomy. The book of Deuteronomy prepares us -- and the nation of Israel -- for the entrance into Canaan and the conquest of the Promised Land. We return then to a history, with a progression of the timeline of the Old Testament.
The book of Joshua makes it clear that the mantle of the prophet Moses, as leader of the nation and spokesperson of YHWH, had been passed on to the prophet Joshua. Repeatedly in the book, Joshua is compared with Moses in sentences that make it clear Joshua was the one to take the nation to the next step. As we read through the book, we will note the parallels with Moses's leadership -- repeating the covenant commitment, crossing over on dry land, initiating circumcision, celebrating passover.
The book has two halves: chapters 1-12 show God's blessing in the conquest of the Promised Land and chapters 13-24 show God's completion of the promised distribution of the tribes.
As always, the Bible Project summary is excellent. The video breaks the first half of the book into two parts, chapters 1-5, Joshua's leadership of Israel and chapters 6-12, some battles in the conquest of the land. The second half of the book is also broken into two more parts: chapters 13-22, the distribution of the land to the twelve tribes and chapters 23-24, final speeches of Joshua.
Resources and References
In the online commentaries provided by EasyEnglishBible is one online commentary on Joshua. The Easy English Bible commentaries are easy to read, with deliberately simple language intended for those for whom English is a second language. The Old Testament text is included in the commentary. The commentaries provided by this charity include some simple maps on the Joshua campaigns and the distribution of the tribes.
The Gospel Coalition has a free twelve-week online class (twelve separate printed lectures) on the book.
There is a free online four lecture class on Joshua offered by Third Millenium. That course takes over five hours to complete. The lectures are here. (Although these lectures are good, I must confess that I have been spoiled by Carmen Ime's course on Exodus -- I have not found anything of similar quality on Joshua.)
I have found several other online courses on Joshua but they come with a fee and so I have not explored them further.
I have found several commentaries helpful. Long ago, I fell in love with the book of Ruth, after reading an excellent commentary by Old Testament scholar Robert L. Hubbard. Hubbard has also written an excellent commentary on Joshua and so I have purchased that for my Kindle. I have also used a commentary by Donald H. Madvig found in the third volume of the Expositor's Bible Commentary. (Madvig, in his commentary, says that NIV uses the Codex Leningradensis, dated about 1008 AD, as the "Hebrew" text for its translation.)
Questions and Problems
Several questions and problems are raised by the book of Joshua. Like the book of Exodus, there is a question of dating of the events described. The dates for the exodus and the conquest of Canaan are separated by forty years so the dating of these events are clearly linked. Some argue for an early date, about 1400 BC. Others argue for a later date, about 1220 BC. I won't elaborate further on those debates; I look (very lightly) at these arguments in my blog post, Introduction to Exodus.
A common question raised by the book is our (modern) reaction to the commandments to annihilate the people of Canaan. These commands are explained as a reaction by YHWH to the gross immorality of the Canaanites (such as child sacrifice) as first suggested in Genesis 15: 12-21 and as a protection against the rampant idolatry of the people. Still, as explained by others, this "total destruction" seemed to allow local inhabitants to convert to worship of YHWH (Rahab in Joshua 2, Ruth much later) or to make treaties (the Gibeonites in Joshua 9.)
(The Babylonia Bee, with its usual humor (?), has an article on "Precious Moments" from Joshua that tends to rub our face in this issue of annihilation and genocide.)
Format
The format I've selected for this blog is always centered on the Old Testament text, from the New International Version (NIV), italicized in blue. At the head of each blue paragraph of text I place a short title; after the text I place my thoughts or comments in black. (Those are my own reactions, with some gleanings from commentaries. Feel free to disagree -- or to react in other ways!) I place hyperlinks in pink, created so that one can click on a link and see the linked site open in another window. (One pleasure of the blog is that I can create numerous hyperlinks, leading off into various rabbit holes!)
The real goal of this blog is to force me to read every verse thoughtfully. My comments are part of that process, creating a certain accountability for me in this study. I hope that you, too, read the passages thoughtfully!
We will begin the book of Joshua towards the end of the coming week!
Quick question: you call Joshua a "prophet". I guess I have never thought of him as that: a spy, military man, and leader, but not a prophet. I might be missing something important about him! Please let me know.
ReplyDeleteA good question. I used the term "prophet" here to indicate a mouthpiece of YHWH. In that sense, both Moses and his sister, Miriam, were called prophets since they communicated to the people the messages of God. Throughout the book of Joshua, the author makes it clear that Joshua takes on the mantle of Moses and sometimes passes on the instructions of God. However, I am not aware of any particular place where the Old Testament gives Joshua the title of prophet.
Delete