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Joshua 1-3
New book and new leading man. Joshua, son of Nun. Great name for a sci-fi cowboy comic book!
After the death of Moses, the Lord changes his name to Jehovah and commands Joshua to cross the Jordan. But first two spies are send out to recon the first city of Jericho.
They immediately go to the home of a prostitute. At first, this caused me to raise an eyebrow but then I looked at it from perspective of the spies. They would want to go somewhere where a lot of questions wouldn't be asked. If you're going to a prostitute's house, people will just assume you've come into town to get your jollies (nudge, nudge).
Of course, their presence is somehow made known to the king almost immediately and Rehab the harlot makes a deal to save the spies in exchange for the sparing of herself and her family when the Israelites march in and kill everyone.
When the spies return, Joshua gives his/God's marching orders and as the priests (or the 12 representatives of the 12 tribes) step into the Jordan, the waters recede.
They're almost there!
Joshua 2:1 still gave me a chuckle. Joshua sends out some spies to get the low down on the enemy, the lay of the land, etc. What do they do? Apparently head straight for the nearest 'harlot'.
ReplyDelete"OK - first we'll reconnoiter the perimeter and then we can assess their defens ..... Oooo! Look! A prostitute!!!!"
Way to stay on mission guys. Although in their defense - they had been in the wilderness their entire lives.
Since I just read Joshua like 6 months ago, I'm not going to be reading intently until we get to 1st Samuel. I've covered Joshua and Judges at my silly blog project, Better Than Esdras.
ReplyDeletehttp://betterthanesdras.wordpress.com/2010/08/08/joshua-1-4/
Keep in mind I wrote that six months ago and knew a lot less than I do now, which still isn't that much.
A couple things about Joshua- it's pretty horrible you guys. Lots of innocent people die. At the hand of the "good guys"! Take consolation in that none of it is true. This is a bloodthirsty myth invented by the late Israelites to explain how they came to occupy the region.
This book pretends the conquest of Canaan was wrapped up pretty quickly, but this is very soon contradicted by Judges, which gives a different (and more accurate) account, where many groups of natives remained in the land.
As for my beloved Documentary Hypothesis, it no longer applies. The book Joshua is a composite text (chapter 4 has a wonderfully contradictory doublet) but it is no longer the familiar JE and P. There is apparently a lot of J, and some Deuteronomical insertions (Rahab's speech in ch. 2, for instance).
I've read old late 19th century works that consider Joshua part of the Penatateuch, calling it a Hexateuch. Under this theory, Joshua would continue JE P D. I think this theory got dustbinned, but keep your eyes open for plodding priestly OCD and Aaron-obsessed language.
I've already found Priestly language in chapter 4 ("Ark of the Tokens/Testimony" is a strictly P term) but I have yet to fully investigate this.
I immediately thought of Maxwell Smart being chased by Kaos agents with the spies being so inept and hiding on the roof with the Kaos guys below and said harlot saying ?What spies?
ReplyDeleteAnyway I never knew the Jordan river was parted like the reed sea! Learn something new every day on this blog.
Glad to know the violence hasn't abated. Wouldn't want to lose that theme would we. (hints of strident sarcasm)
Oh btw, the list-o-enemies in 3:10 is classic JE material, which will be useful in sorting out the sources in the confusing river story in ch. 3-4.
ReplyDeleteIn Joshua, the water is described as piling up like a "bank" ("heap" in KJV). This may resemble P's description of the parted re(e)d sea forming a "wall":
Ex 14:29 But the children of Israel walked upon dry [land] in the midst of the sea; and the waters [were] a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.
There's no specific terminology shared between the JE/P story and Joshua's account. (That I can find.) Interestingly, the word translated "heap" נֵד appears in the old poem following the JE/P account!
Ex 15:8 And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together, the floods stood upright as an heap (נֵד), [and] the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea.
The Joshua story of the Jordan crossing is possibly referencing not JE or P, but the old poem!
I'll have more to say on chapter 4.
Ahem, "They're almost there!"
ReplyDelete(Apologies for grammar Nazism, I'm an English teacher, I can't help it...)
@Cannonballjones,
ReplyDeleteThank God my wife doesn't read this blog. She is the ultimate grammar nazi!
But thanks for pointing it out.
"A couple things about Joshua- it's pretty horrible you guys. Lots of innocent people die. At the hand of the "good guys"! Take consolation in that none of it is true. This is a bloodthirsty myth invented by the late Israelites to explain how they came to occupy the region."
ReplyDeleteHow did you come to the conclusion that this is a myth?
The earliest the Exodus is usually said to be is 1400BCE and latest 1250BCE (for those who assume the Exodus and invasion of Canaan actually happened).
ReplyDeleteWell a slight problem of Jericho not being in existence from the mid-second millenia BCE (circa 1550BCE) until after 1000 BCE according to most archaeologists. However the site of Jericho is old. The earliest evidence of people living there is about 10,000 BP (before present) and the walls have been destroyed multiple times (conquests and earthquakes).
In addition the name of the city Ai means 'ruin' an odd name for a city but a perfect name for a large tel from a city destroyed so long ago its name is lost. Et-Tell is usually assumed to have been Ai; however, archaeologically it was destroyed about 2400BCE and not re-occupied (and only on a small scale with no evidence of violent destruction)until about 1200BCE. Others have suggested Khirbet el-Maqatir (especially after Et-Tell was shown not to be occupied during the relevant period).
Good choice choosing a harlot. She would know how to hide men. I am guessing she would have a lot of experience with wives coming looking for their spouses. :-D
ReplyDeleteDid anyone notice in 2:4,5 is a lie recorded? The Bible does contain lies. :-D
From reading 2:10,11 the Hebrew "Shock and Awe" campaign on the other side of Jordan worked. People are afraid.
@Abbie,
Do you change all histories that you don't like what happened in them? Or are you selective just to the Jewish Histories, those found in scripture?
How did you come to the conclusion that this is a myth?
ReplyDeleteErv answered this for me. The dating.
The Israelites looked around, and said "Hey, what are those ruins? Maybe they are the remains of a wicked Canaanite city our ancestors destroyed." and then they wrote a story about it.
Do you change all histories that you don't like what happened in them?
I choose not to believe the ones that are proven false by the archaeological evidence. There's no evidence for the Exodus event, and negative evidence for the conquest of Canaan.
I will also note that Egypt controlled much of the southern and central Levant (aka Canaan) until about 1200 BCE so when did the Exodus take place?
ReplyDeleteBTW around 1200-1150BCE the major empires of the area (Egypt and Hatti [aka Hittite] among others) all suffered major reverses and the international economic and diplomatic system that connected them collapsed (the Hatti disappeared as an empire).
@Abbie,
ReplyDeleteI found this site about Jericho. It's a long read, i am only a quarter of the way down the page. I will finish it up tomorrow. However what you have said it does mention, then adds in some more detail. I need to get to bed. :-D