Book of Joshua

== Contents ==
[[File:Dore joshua crossing.jpg|thumb|''Joshua and the Israelites crossing the Jordan'' ([[Gustave Doré]])]]

=== Structure ===
I. Transfer of leadership to Joshua (1:1–18)
:A. God's commission to Joshua (1:1–9)
:B. Joshua's instructions to the people (1:10–18)
II. Entrance into and conquest of [[Canaan]] (2:1–12:24)
:A. Entry into Canaan
::1. Reconnaissance of [[Tell es-Sultan|Jericho]] (2:1–24)
::2. Crossing the [[River Jordan]] (3:1–17)
::3. Establishing a foothold at [[Gilgal]] (4:1–5:1)
::4. [[Circumcision]] and [[Passover]] (5:2–15)
:B. Victory over Canaan (6:1–12:24)
::1. Destruction of Jericho (6)
::2. Failure and success at [[Ai (Canaan)|Ai]] (7:1–8:29)
::3. Renewal of the covenant at [[Mount Ebal]] (8:30–35)
::4. Other campaigns in central Canaan. The Gibeonite Deception (9:1–27)
::5. Campaigns in southern Canaan (10:1–43)
::6. Campaigns in northern Canaan (11:1–15)
::7. Summary of lands conquered (11:16–23)
::8. Summary list of defeated kings (12:1–24)
III. Division of the land among the tribes (13:1–22:34)
:A. God's instructions to Joshua (13:1–7)
:B. Tribal allotments (13:8–19:51)
::1. Eastern tribes (13:8–33)
::2. Western tribes (14:1–19:51)
:C. Cities of refuge and levitical cities (20:1–21:42)
:D. Summary of conquest (21:43–45)
:E. De-commissioning of the eastern tribes (22:1–34)
IV. Conclusion (23:1–24:33)
:A. Joshua's farewell address (23:1–16)
:B. Covenant at [[Shechem]] (24:1–28)
:C. Deaths of Joshua and [[Eleazar]]; burial of Joseph's bones (24:29–33)<ref name=achb />

=== Narrative ===

==== God's commission to Joshua (chapter 1) ====
<!--Linked from [[Template:Tanakh OT]]-->
Chapter 1 commences "after the death of [[Moses]]"<ref>Joshua 1:1</ref> 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 a speech about what must be done if [[Israelites|Israel]] is to live in peace in the land.<ref name=DePury>{{Cite book |last1=De Pury|first1= Albert |last2=Romer|first2= Thomas|chapter= Deuteronomistic Historiography (DH): History of Research and Debated Issues|chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=rex7ASbY_bkC&pg=PA5 |editor1-first =Albert | editor1-last = de Pury |editor2-first =Thomas | editor2-last = Romer |editor3-first =Jean-Daniel | editor3-last = Macchi|title= Israel Constructs its History: Deuteronomistic Historiography in Recent Research|publisher= Sheffield Academic Press|year= 2000 |isbn=978-0-567-22415-6|author1-link= Albert de Pury }}</ref>{{rp |49}}

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 is seen in his speeches to the Israelite commanders and to the [[Transjordan in the Bible|Transjordanian]] tribes, and the Transjordanians' affirmation of Joshua's leadership echoes [[Yahweh]]'s assurances of victory.<ref name=Younger>{{Cite book |last=Younger|first= K. Lawson Jr|chapter=Joshua|chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=2Vo-11umIZQC&pg=PA174|editor1-first = James D.G. | editor1-last = Dunn |editor2-first =John William | editor2-last = Rogerson |title= Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible |publisher= Eerdmans |year= 2003 |isbn= 978-0-8028-3711-0}}</ref>{{rp|175}}

==== Entry into the land and conquest (chapters 2–12) ====
[[File:Benjamin West - Joshua passing the River Jordan with the Ark of the Covenant - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|''Joshua passing the River Jordan with the Ark of the Covenant'', painted by [[Benjamin West]], 1800]]
[[File:James Jacques Joseph Tissot - The Ark Passes Over the Jordan - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|right|''The Ark Passes Over the Jordan'' (watercolor c. 1896–1902 by [[James Tissot]])]]

[[Rahab]], a Canaanite [[Women in the Bible|woman of the Bible]], sets in motion the entrance into Canaan by the Israelites.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Reading the women of the Bible|last=Frymer-Kensky, Tikva Simone.|date=2002|publisher=Schocken Books|isbn=978-0-8052-4121-1|edition=1st|location=New York|oclc=49823086|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/readingwomenofbi00frym}}</ref> To avoid repeating failed attempts by [[Moses]] to have notable men of Israel predict the success rate of entry into Canaan mentioned in 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 was divinely reserved for the Israelites from the beginning. Because of Rahab's actions, the Israelites are able to enter Canaan.<ref name=":0" />

The Israelites cross the [[Jordan River]] through a miraculous intervention of [[God]] with the [[Ark of the Covenant]] and are [[Circumcision in the Bible|circumcised]] at [[Gilgal|Gibeath-Haaraloth]] (translated as ''hill of foreskins''), renamed [[Gilgal]] in memory. ''Gilgal'' sounds like ''Gallothi'', "I have removed", but is more likely to translate as "circle of standing stones". The conquest begins with the [[battle of Jericho]], followed by [[Ai (Canaan)|Ai]] (central Canaan), after which Joshua builds an altar to Yahweh at [[Mount Ebal]] in northern Canaan and renews the [[Covenant (biblical)|Covenant]] in a ceremony with elements of a divine land-grant ceremony, similar to ceremonies known from [[Mesopotamia]].<ref name=Younger />{{rp|180}}

The narrative then switches to the south. The [[Gibeon (ancient city)|Gibeonites]] trick 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 [[Slavery|enslaving]] them instead. An alliance of [[Amorites#Biblical Amorites|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 [[hail]]stones (Joshua 10:10–14). The enemy kings were eventually hanged on trees. The [[Deuteronomist]] author may have used the then-recent 701&nbsp;BCE campaign of the [[List of Assyrian kings|Assyrian king]] [[Sennacherib]] in the [[Kingdom of Judah]] as his model; the hanging of the captured kings is in accordance with [[Assyria]]n practice of the 8th century BCE.<ref>{{Cite book|last= Na'aman |first=Nadav|title= Ancient Israel and Its Neighbors: Collected Essays | volume = 2|publisher= Eisenbrauns |year= 2005 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=HmTOoQmf23AC&pg=PA378 |isbn= 978-1-57506-113-9 |page=378}}</ref>

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 [[Tel Hazor|Hazor]], the most important northern city, 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 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:

:''the king of [[Jerusalem]], one; the king of [[Hebron]], one'';
:''the king of [[Jarmuth]], one; the king of [[Tel Lachish|Lachish]], one''; (etc.; Joshua 12:10–11).

==== Division of the land (chapters 13–22) ====
[[File:The map of the Holy Land by Marino Sanudo (drawn in 1320).jpg|thumb|Map of the [[Holy Land]], [[Pietro Vesconte]], 1321, showing the allotments of the tribes of Israel. Described by [[Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld]] as "the first non-Ptolemaic map of a definite country."<ref name="Nordenskiöld1889">{{cite book| first =Adolf Erik | last = Nordenskiöld | via = Google books |title= Facsimile-atlas to the Early History of Cartography: With Reproductions of the Most Important Maps Printed in the XV and XVI Centuries|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=i-IMSQAACAAJ|year=1889 |publisher= Kraus |pages=51, 64}}</ref>]]
[[File:1759 map Holy Land and 12 Tribes.jpg|thumb|right|1759 map of the tribal allotments of Israel]]
Having described how the Israelites and Joshua have carried out the first of their God's commands, 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.<ref>Joshua 13:1</ref>

This land distribution is a "covenantal land grant": [[Yahweh]], as king, is issuing each [[Twelve Tribes of Israel|tribe]] its territory.<ref name= Younger />{{rp |183}} The "[[Cities of Refuge]]" and [[Levitical city|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 the Jordan to the tribes of [[Tribe of Reuben|Reuben]] and [[Tribe of Gad|Gad]] and the half-tribe of [[Tribe of Manasseh|Manasseh]],<ref>Joshua 13:8–32; cf. {{bibleverse ||Numbers|32:1–42|NKJV}}</ref> and then describes how Joshua divided the newly conquered land of [[Canaan]] into parcels, and assigned them to the tribes by [[Land lottery|lot]].<ref>{{cite book |last1= Hirsch |first1=Emil G. |title= Jewish Encyclopedia|date= 1906 |chapter-url= http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/8907-joshua-book-of |chapter= Joshua, Book of}}</ref> Joshua 14:1 also makes reference to the role of [[Eleazar]] the priest (ahead of Joshua) in the distribution process.<ref>{{cite book|last1= Maclear |first1=G. F.|title= Joshua 14 in The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges| year =1897|publisher= Cambridge University Press | via = BibleHub|url= http://biblehub.com/commentaries/cambridge/joshua/14.htm}}</ref> The description serves a theological function to show how the [[Promised Land|promise of the land]] was realized in the biblical narrative; its origins are unclear, but the descriptions may reflect geographical relations among the places named.<ref>{{cite book |  last = Dorsey | first = David A. | title= The Roads and Highways of Ancient Israel | publisher= Johns Hopkins University Press | year= 1991 | isbn= 978-0-8018-3898-9}}</ref>{{rp |5}}

The wording of Joshua 18:1–4 suggests that the tribes of Reuben, Gad, [[Tribe of Judah|Judah]], [[Tribe of Ephraim|Ephraim]] and Manasseh received their land allocation some time before the "remaining seven tribes",<ref>{{bibleverse||Joshua|18:1–4|NKJV}}</ref> and a 21-member expedition set out to survey the remainder of the land with a view to organising the allocation to the tribes of [[Tribe of Simeon|Simeon]], [[Tribe of Benjamin|Benjamin]], [[Tribe of Asher|Asher]], [[Tribe of Naphtali|Naphtali]], [[Tribe of Zebulun|Zebulun]], [[Tribe of Issachar|Issachar]] and [[Tribe of Dan|Dan]]. Subsequently, 48 [[Levitical city|cities]] with their surrounding lands were allocated to the [[Tribe of Levi]].<ref>{{bibleverse ||Joshua|21:1–41|NKJV}}, cf. {{bibleverse ||Numbers|35:7|NKJV}}</ref>

Omitted in the [[Masoretic Text]], but present in the [[Septuagint]], is a statement that:
{{Blockquote | Joshua completed the division of the land in its boundaries, and the children gave a portion to Joshua, by the commandment of the Lord. They gave to him the city for which he asked, [[Timnath-heres|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 [[Circumcision|circumcised]] the children of Israel, which were in the way in the wilderness, and he placed them in Tamnath Sarach.<ref>{{cite book |title= Pulpit Commentary | chapter = Joshua 21 | year =1919|publisher=  Bible Hub |chapter-url= http://biblehub.com/commentaries/pulpit/joshua/21.htm |editor2-last =Exell  |editor2-first= Joseph S. |editor1-last =Spence-Jones |editor1-first= HDM}}</ref>}}

By the end of chapter 21, the narrative records that the fulfilment of God's promise of land, rest and supremacy over the enemies of the Israelites was complete.<ref>Joshua 21:43–45</ref> 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 in the Bible|Transjordan]] district),<ref>{{cite book |last1= Barnes |first1=Albert |title= Notes on the Bible: Joshua 22 | year = 1834 |publisher= Bible Hub |url= http://biblehub.com/commentaries/barnes/joshua/22.htm}}</ref> having faithfully 'kept the charge'<ref>Joshua 22:3, [[Revised Version|English Revised Version]]</ref> 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 a reward.<ref>Joshua 22:1–9</ref>

==== Joshua's farewell speeches (chapters 23–24) ====
Joshua, in his old age and conscious that he is "going the way of all the earth",<ref>Joshua 23:14</ref> gathers the leaders of the Israelites together and reminds them of Yahweh's great works for them, and of the need to love Yahweh.<ref>Joshua 23:11</ref> The Israelites are told – just as Joshua himself had been told<ref>Joshua 1:7</ref> – that they must comply with "all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses",<ref>Joshua 23:6</ref> neither "turn[ing] aside from it to the right hand or to the left" (i.e. by adding to the law, or diminishing from it).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Poole |first1= Matthew |title= Commentary on the Holy Bible | chapter = Joshua 23 | year= 1853 |publisher= Robert Carter & Bros. | via = Bible Hub |chapter-url= http://biblehub.com/commentaries/poole/joshua/23.htm}}</ref>

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, son of Terah|Nahor]], [who] lived beyond the [[Euphrates]] River and worshiped other gods."<ref>{{Bibleref2|Joshua|24:2|NIV| Joshua 24:2}}</ref> He invited the Israelites to choose between serving 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.<ref>Joshua 24:1–27</ref> The oak is associated with the Oak of [[Moreh]] where Abram had set up camp during his travels in this area.<ref>Genesis 12:6</ref>{{citation needed|date=August 2017}} Thus "Joshua made a covenant with the people", literally "cut a covenant", a phrase common to the [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], [[Greek language|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.<ref>{{cite book |title=Pulpit Commentary | chapter = Joshua 24 | year = 1919|publisher= BibleHub|chapter-url= http://biblehub.com/commentaries/pulpit/joshua/24.htm |editor2-last =Exell  |editor2-first= Joseph S. |editor1-last =Spence-Jones|editor1-first= HDM}}</ref>

The people then returned to their inheritance, i.e., their allocated lands.<ref>Joshua 24:28</ref>

==== Closing items ====
The Book of Joshua closes with three concluding items (referred to in the Jerusalem Bible as "Two Additions"):<ref>[[Jerusalem Bible]], heading of Joshua 24:29–33</ref>
:The death of Joshua and his burial at Timnath-serah<ref>Joshua 24:29–31</ref>
:The burial of the bones of [[Joseph (Genesis)|Joseph]] at Shechem<ref>Joshua 24:32</ref>
:The death of Eleazar and his burial in land belonging to [[Phinehas]] in the mountains of Ephraim.<ref>Joshua 24:33</ref>

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 (city)|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 the territory of Benjamin".<ref>{{cite book|last1 = Keil|first1=Carl Friedrich|last2= Delitzsch|first2=Franz|title= Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua 24| year = 1878|publisher= BibleHub |url= http://biblehub.com/commentaries/kad/joshua/24.htm}}</ref>

In some manuscripts and editions of the [[Septuagint]], there is an additional verse relating to the apostasy of the Israelites after Joshua's death.