Editing Book of Joshua (section)

{{short description|Sixth book of the Bible}}
{{about|the [[Biblical canon|canonical]] book of the [[Hebrew Bible]]|information on the [[Samaritan]] version|Book of Joshua (Samaritan)}}
{{Tanakh OT|Nevi'im|historical}}
[[File:Papyrus with the fragments of the Book of Joshua (CBL Cpt 2019.8a).jpg|thumb|Early 4th-century CE manuscript of Joshua from Egypt, in [[Coptic language|Coptic]] translation.]]
The '''Book of Joshua''' ({{langx|he|סֵפֶר יְהוֹשֻׁעַ}} ''{{Transliteration|he|Sefer Yəhōšūaʿ}}'', [[Tiberian Hebrew|Tiberian]]: ''Sēp̄er Yŏhōšūaʿ''{{px2}};<ref>{{Cite book |last=Khan |first=Geoffrey |title=The Tiberian Pronunciation Tradition of Biblical Hebrew, Volume 1. |publisher=Open Book Publishers |year=2020 |isbn=978-1-78374-676-7}}</ref> {{langx|el|Ἰησοῦς τοῦ Ναυή}}; {{langx|la|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 the conquest of [[Canaan]] to the [[Babylonian captivity|Babylonian exile]].<ref name= McNutt1999>{{Cite book|last= McNutt|first=Paula|title= Reconstructing the Society of Ancient Israel|publisher= Westminster John Knox Press|year=1999|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=hd28MdGNyTYC&pg=PA33|isbn=978-0-664-22265-9}}</ref>{{rp |42}} 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 of Israel|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 the Law (''[[torah]]'') revealed to [[Moses]].<ref name=achb>{{Cite book|last1=Achtemeier|first1= Paul J |last2=Boraas|first2= Roger S|title=The Harper Collins Bible Dictionary|publisher= Harper San Francisco|year= 1996 |isbn= 978-0-06-060037-2}}</ref>

The consensus among scholars is that the Book of Joshua is historically problematic and should be treated with caution in reconstructing the history of early Israel.{{sfn|Killebrew|2020|p=83}} 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&nbsp;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.<ref name= Creach>{{Cite book |last= Creach |first= Jerome F.D. |title= Joshua |publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |year=2003|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=1V6ca8r3DssC&pg=PR11|isbn=978-0-664-23738-7}}</ref>{{rp |10–11}}

Many scholars interpret the book of Joshua as describing what would now be considered [[genocide]].<ref name="geno">Sources for 'genocide':{{Bulleted list|{{harvnb|Lemos|2016|pp=27–28, 30|ps=: "Thus reads Deuteronomy 20:16–172—startling verses from a passage whose regulations on war are in many ways exemplified by the conquest narrative found in Joshua 1–12. Robert Coote has referred to these events as “an orgy of terror, violence, and mayhem.”{{sup|3}} Certainly, most contemporary readers recoil upon reading the account of the annihilation of Canaanite cities,{{sup|4}} and many scholars who have written on them have referred to the events described with the term “genocide.”{{sup|5}}"}}|{{cite book |last1=Lemos |first1=Tracy Maria |editor-last=Olyan | editor-first=Saul M.| title=Ritual Violence in the Hebrew Bible |date=2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-024958-8 |pages=27–66 |chapter=Dispossessing Nations: Population Growth, Scarcity, and Genocide in Ancient Israel and Twentieth-Century Rwanda | doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190249588.003.0003}}|{{cite book | last=Lemos | first=T. M. | editor-last1=Kiernan | editor-first1=Ben | editor-last2=Lemos | editor-first2=T.M. | editor-last3=Taylor | editor-first3=Tristan S. | title=The Cambridge World History of Genocide: Volume 1, Genocide in the Ancient, Medieval and Premodern Worlds | publisher=Cambridge University Press | year=2023 | isbn=978-1-108-64034-3 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LrbHEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT240 | access-date=23 December 2024 | page=199 | quote=... genocidal violence while the Israelites were vassals of Mesopotamian empires. In fact, many scholars argue that Deuteronomy and Joshua were written during this time period. Although set in an idealised Mosaic past, what these most genocidal of biblical books were in actuality ... | doi=10.1017/9781108655989}}|{{cite book | last=Fox | first=Everett | title=The Early Prophets: Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings: The Schocken Bible, Volume II | publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group | year=2014 | isbn=978-0-8052-4323-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vjeOAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA9 | access-date=23 December 2024 | page=9}}|{{cite book | last=Dever | first=William G. | title=Who Were the Early Israelites and Where Did They Come From? | publisher=Eerdmans Publishing Company | year=2006 | isbn=978-0-8028-4416-3 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A_ByXkpofAgC&pg=PA39 | access-date=23 December 2024 | page=39}}|{{cite book | last=Avalos | first=Hector | title=Fighting Words: The Origins of Religious Violence | publisher=Prometheus Books | series=G - Reference, Information and Interdisciplinary Subjects Series | year=2005 | isbn=978-1-59102-284-8 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=57onAAAAYAAJ | access-date=23 December 2024 | pages=143, 162}}|{{cite book | last=Joseph | first=Simon J. | title=The Nonviolent Messiah: Jesus, Q, and the Enochic Tradition | publisher=Fortress Press | year=2014 | isbn=978-1-4514-8443-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2gfGAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT62 | access-date=23 December 2024 | page=unpaginated | quote=... many scholars now doubt the historicity of the conquest narratives of Joshua 6– 11,[67] the ethics of divinely mandated genocide are inescapably problematic.[68] There is simply no denying that the Torah's narratives of genocide ...}}|{{cite book | last=Kaminsky | first=Joel S. | title=Yet I Loved Jacob: Reclaiming the Biblical Concept of Election | publisher=Wipf & Stock Publishers | year=2016 | isbn=978-1-4982-8024-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fUcJDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA114 | access-date=23 December 2024 | page=114}}|{{cite book | last=Rae | first=Scott | title=Moral Choices: An Introduction to Ethics | publisher=Zondervan Academic | year=2018 | isbn=978-0-310-53643-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-ChQDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA98 | access-date=23 December 2024 | page=98}}|{{cite book | last1=Leuchter | first1=Mark A. | last2=Lamb | first2=David T. | title=The Historical Writings: Introducing Israel's Historical Literature | publisher=Fortress Press | series=Introducing Israel's scriptures | year=2016 | isbn=978-1-5064-0785-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ok5yDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA33 | access-date=23 December 2024 | page=33}}|{{cite book | last1=Carvalho | first1=Corrine | last2=McLaughlin | first2=John | title=God and Gods in the Deuteronomistic History | publisher=Wipf & Stock Publishers | series=Catholic Biblical Quarterly Imprints | year=2024 | isbn=978-1-6667-8760-3 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vv0uEQAAQBAJ&pg=PA30 | access-date=23 December 2024 | page=30 | doi=10.2307/j.ctv23khnsw.7}}|{{cite book | last=Earl | first=Douglas S. | title=The Joshua Delusion: Rethinking Genocide in the Bible | publisher=James Clarke & Company Limited | year=2011 | isbn=978-0-227-90214-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m-bkDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA4 | access-date=23 December 2024 | page=4}}|{{cite book | last1=Ruiten | first1=Jacques van | last2=Bekkum | first2=Koert van | title=Violence in the Hebrew Bible: Between Text and Reception | publisher=Brill | series=Oudtestamentische Studiën, Old Testament Studies | year=2020 | isbn=978-90-04-43468-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vgT1DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA145 | access-date=23 December 2024 | page=145}}|{{cite book | editor-last=Taylor | editor-first=Tristan S. | last=Trimm | first=Charlie | title=A Cultural History of Genocide in the Ancient World | publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing Plc | date=2021 | isbn=978-1-350-03468-6 | doi=10.5040/9781350034686.ch-1 | page=38 | quote=Genocide scholars frequently refer to the biblical accounts in Joshua as genocidal without discussion, assuming that simply quoting the relevant texts will convince anyone of their identity as genocide (Chalk and Jonassohn 1990: 61–3; Moshman 2008: 82–3). Some biblical scholars who accept the historicity of the events agree with this assessment. For example, looking at the events from the perspective of the New Testament, C. S. Cowles argues that “a radical shift in the understanding of God’s character and the sanctity of all human life occurred in between the days of the first Joshua and the second Joshua (i.e., Jesus) is beyond dispute” (2003: 41).}}|Cohen, Shaye J. D. [https://ruml.com/thehebrewbible/ The Hebrew Bible] [https://vimeo.com/78092481 Lecture 15]. 0:42:00-0:45:00.|{{harvnb|Ehrlich|1999|p=117}}}}</ref> Other scholars counter that calling what the book of Joshua relates a "genocide" is anachronistic.<ref name="p237">Sources for 'anachronic':{{Bulleted list|{{cite journal | last=Kiernan | first=Ben | title=Is 'Genocide' an Anachronistic Concept for the Study of Early Modern Mass Killing? | journal=History | volume=99 | issue=336 | date=2014 | issn=0018-2648 | doi=10.1111/1468-229X.12062 | pages=530–548}}|{{cite book | editor-last=Kiernan | editor-first=Ben | last1=Lemos | first1=T. M. | last2=Taylor | first2=Tristan S. | last3=Kiernan | first3=Ben | title=The Cambridge world history of genocide | publisher=Cambridge University Press | publication-place=Cambridge, United Kingdom | date=2023 | isbn=978-1-108-49353-6 | page=31 | volume=I}}|{{cite book | last=Taylor | first=Tristan S. | title=A cultural history of genocide | publisher=Bloomsbury Academic | publication-place=New York, NY | date=2021 | isbn=978-1-350-03460-0 | pages=2–4}}|{{harvnb|Trimm|2021|p=49}}|{{cite book | last1=Hinlicky | first1=Paul R. | last2=Reno | first2=R. | last3=Jenson | first3=Robert | last4=Wilken | first4=Robert | last5=Radner | first5=Ephraim | last6=Root | first6=Michael | last7=Sumner | first7=George | title=Joshua (Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible) | publisher=Baker Publishing Group | year=2021 | isbn=978-1-4934-3113-7 | chapter=Rahab, confessing YHWH, tricks her king, saving Joshua's spies and her own family 2:1–24 | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CZ8HEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT78 | access-date=28 December 2024 | page=unpaginated | quote=anachronistic imposition of the contemporary notion of genocide on Joshua by pointing to the cultural-religious matrix of herem rather than to the modern racial-biological-genetic matrix of genocide}}}}</ref>