by Stephen Rodgers

JOSHUA IN 10 WORDS OR LESS

“The Israelites capture and settle the promised land of Canaan.”

TITLE

The title of the book takes it’s name from the central character and successor of Moses, who was commissioned as a leader in Israel (Num 27:12-23). The name “Joshua” means “Jehovah saves” or “the LORD is salvation” and corresponds to the NT name “Jesus.”

AUTHOR & AUDIENCE

The author of Joshua is not named, although the likely primary author is Joshua himself (Jos 18:9; 24:26). The Talmud ascribe authorship to Joshua as well (Baba Bathra 15a), with the exception of the account of Joshua’s death (Jos 24:29-33). As mentioned in the introduction to the Historical Books, it is considered likely that the final form of the historical books (including Joshua) were edited/compiled from earlier primary documents.

Regardless, the original audience would primarily have been Israelites born after the conquest of Canaan.  This book would have served as a record for how they came to be in the land.

DATE

For reasons described above, dating the book can be somewhat problematic, although based on the life of Joshua it is probable that much of it was written between 1405 BC and 1385 BC. Other clues include the fact that Rahab was alive at the time that Joshua 6:25 was written, the fact that Sidon (not Tyre) was Phoenicia’s leading city (Jos 11:8; 19:28), the repeated refrain “to this day” indicates the passage of time between the events described and the book’s final form (Jos 4:9; 5:9; 6:25), a reference to what may be an alternate or earlier record of Joshua’s accomplishments (Jos 10:13), and the fact that Jerusalem had not yet been conquered (Jos 15:63).

BACKGROUND & SETTING

The book of Joshua begins with Israel poised to invade Canaan when Joshua himself is 90 years old.  This displacement served two purposes: the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham (Gen 12:7; 15:18-21) and judgment on the inhabitants of Canaan.

The book traces the next 20 years, detailing the various battles and incidents involved, until his death at the age of 110 after his successful military campaign.

HISTORICAL & THEOLOGICAL THEMES

Two themes are prevalent in the book of Joshua: 1) God the great warrior, and 2) God’s faithfulness.

• Throughout the first half of the book of Joshua, it is clearly God who determines the outcome of battles, defeats the Canaanites, and rescues His people from their enemies. Continuing the theme of Deuteronomy, when Israel is obedient, they fare well on the battlefield; when they are disobedient, they are punished until they repent.
• Throughout the second half of the book of Joshua, God is repeatedly shown to be faithful in keeping His promises (Jos 21:45; 23:14). As previously mentioned, these promises were made centuries earlier to Abraham, illustrating God’s role as promise-keeper, and pointing the modern reader to the promises we have in Christ (2 Cor 1:20; 2 Pet 1:4).

INTERPRETIVE CHALLENGES

As a historical book, most historical challenges are more properly categorized as OBJECTIONS (see below) rather than hermeneutical issues.

However, a small number of questions have repeatedly been asked, the most famous of them centering around the issue of how God’s blessing on Rahab relates to her telling a lie (Jos 2). The issue stems from the fact that the 9th Commandment (Ex 20:16), God’s character (Tit 1:2; Heb 6:17-18; Num 23:19; etc.), and Scripture (Ps 31:18; Prov 6:17; Eph 4:25; etc.) all clearly repudiate the act of lying.  However, in this particular context, Rahab’s lie is not addressed, and in fact, God seems to actually commend her for it. This same issue is illustrated elsewhere in Scripture (see Frame’s article, below), as well as throughout history (Athanasius’ encounter with the soldiers of Julian the Apostate, those who concealed Jews from the Nazis, etc.).

Even among theologians, opinions as to how to reconcile this vary (actually, even within a given theological tradition, opinions vary; consider Calvin’s commentary on Joshua versus Hodge’s treatment of the 9th Commandment in Volume III of his Systematic Theology). Suffice to say that a thorough treatment of the subject goes well beyond the scope of this article, but for a very brief introduction to the topic, I would refer the reader to the ESV Study Bible’s Biblical Ethics: An Overview (beginning in the section entitled “Lying and Telling the Truth”) and John Frame’s brief treatment of the subject in “Must We Always Tell the Truth?” for a different view.

A second question that has achieved significant popularity in recent years pertains to the conquest of Canaan, whether or not it could be properly understood as genocide, and whether it can be justified. Suffice to say that this also is an issue that causes considerable debate among theologians. While nearly all theologians agree that inflammatory terms like “genocide” or “ethnic cleansing” are not only unwarranted but false by definition in this case (for example, one cannot condemn the Israelites for “utterly wiping out” the Canaanites based on the account in Joshua while simultaneously ignoring the fact that the same account notes they failed to do so), they make their case in different ways. Some argue primarily from God’s sovereign rights (see the ESVSB’s Introduction to Joshua, “The Destruction of the Canaanites”), others argue primarily for understanding the text within the specific ANE context (see Matt Flannagan’s “God and the Genocide of the Canaanites, Part I, Part II, Part III“), and some argue for both (see Paul Copan’s “How Could God Command Killing the Canaanites?” and “Yahweh Wars and the Canaanites”).

Once again, the reader is advised to pursue further readings on their own if the subject interests them.

LITERARY FEATURES

The ESV Study Bible has a succinct description of Joshua as literature:

In the Hebrew canon, the book of Joshua is included (along with Judges, 1–2 Samuel, and 1–2 Kings) in the “Former Prophets.” In English Bibles, these same books are often called the “Historical Books.” Both designations are apt. The book of Joshua qualifies as historiography (history writing), but it is not like the ostensibly disinterested, largely political histories that modern secular historians write. It is, rather, a didactic history written from a prophetic (that is, theological) point of view.

OBJECTIONS

Generally speaking, the only notable objections to the book of Joshua center around the possibility of the three recorded miracles: 1) the stopping of the Jordan River (Jos 3:15-17), 2) the collapse of Jericho’s walls (Jos 6:20), and 3) the sun standing still (Jos 10:12-14). However, it should be noted that anti-supernaturalism is a philosophical assumption, and while it may render miracles untenable to the reader, it is not a demonstrably scientific or historical fact. As a result of these presuppositions, some historians have posited four alternate view on the conquest of Canaan: 1) a conquest model, 2) a peaceful infiltration model, 3) a peasant revolt model, and 4) an endogenous model.  While the first model comes closest to the Biblical account, all three models contradict what Scripture says, and can account for the Biblical data.  They simply reflect an anti-supernatural bias.

NOTABLE QUOTABLES

• Joshua 1:9
• Joshua 24:15

DID YOU KNOW?

• Joshua wasn’t always named “Joshua.”  His original name was Hoshea (Num 13:8), but Moses renamed him (Num 13:16).
• While Einstein famously commented that “God does not play dice with the universe,” the book of Joshua teaches us that “God does not play dice with dice.” (Jos 14:1-5)
• While there is some dispute over the exact meaning of the text, in all liklihood, Caleb wasn’t ethnically an Israelite (Jos 14:6).

Other Works Referenced

• Apologetics Study Bible, “Joshua Introduction”
• Archaeological Study Bible
• ESV Study Bible, “Introduction to Joshua”
• MacArthur Study Bible, “Joshua”
• NET Bible, Joshua
• NIV Study Bible, “Joshua”
• Reformation Study Bible, “The Book of Joshua”
• Know Your Bible
• Driscoll, A Book You’ll Actually Read On the Old Testament
• Knight, The Layman’s Bible Handbook