JOSHUA, BOOK OF.
(1) Profane Mention of Other Books. There occur some vestiges of the deeds of Joshua in other historians besides those of the Bible. Pro copius mentions a Phcenician inscription near the city of Tingis in Mauritania, the sense of which in Greek was:--'llp.eis &imp ol iptry6vres dr6 rpoactnrov 'Incro0 rot; Xvcrro0 viol; e are those who fled before the face of Joshua the robber, the son of Nun' (De Bell. Vandal. ii, to). Suidas (sub verbo &Acv Xawayaiot °Os alcotev 'IvcroOs 6 Xnerhs—'We are the Canaanites whom Joshua the robber drove away.' A letter of Shaubech, king of Armenia Minor, in the Samaritan book of Joshua (ch. xxvi), styles Joshua lupus percussor, 'the murderous wolf ;' or, according to another reading in the book Juchasin (p. 154, f. t), and in the Shalshe leth Rakkabbalah (p. 96), /upus vespertinus, 'the evening wolf.' (2) Name of the Book. The book of Joshua is so.callcd from the personage who occupies the principal place in the narration of events con tained therein, and may be considered as a con tinuation of the Pentateuch. It commences with the words now it came to pass, which may be renderd thereupon it happened. Books beginning with what Dr. Samuel Lee calls the illative vau, are to be regarded as continuations of earlier works. The Pentateuch, and especially Deuter onomy, are repeatedly referred to in the book of Joshua, the narration of which begins with the death of Moses and extends to the death of Joshua, embracing a chronological period of some what less than thirty years. The subject of the book is thus briefly stated in ch. i :5, 6: 'There shall not any man bc able to stand before thee all the days of thy life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee; I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. Be strong and of a good courage ; for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land which I sware unto thcir fathers to give them.' In these two verses is ako indicated the division of the book into two princi pal portions, with reference to the conquest and the distribution of the land of Canaan. The con quest is narrated in the first twelve, and the dis tribution in the following ten chapters. In the last two chapters are subjoined the events sub sequent to the distribution up to the death of Joshua.
(3) Conquest of Canaan. The history of the conquest of Canaan is a series of miracles, than which none more remarkable are recorded in any part of sacred history. The passage into the Promised Land, as well as that out of Egypt, was through water. Jericho was taken not by might, but by the falling of the walls on the blast of the trumpets of seven priests; and in the war against Gibeon the day was prolonged to afford time for the completion of the victory.
(4) First Twelve Chapters. It is generally granted that the first twelve chapters form a con tinuous whole; although the author in ch. x :13, refers to another work, he not merely transcribes but intimately combines the quotation with the tenor of his narration. It is certain that there sometimes occur episodes which seem to interrupt the chronological connection, as for instance the portion intervening between ells. ii, and iii The whole tenor of the first twelve chapters be speaks an eye-witness who bore some part in the transactions, and the expression we passcd over, in ch. v:1, bears this out, as well as the cir cumstantial vividness of the narrative, which clearly indicates that the writer was an eye witness.
(5) Time of Writing. The statement that the monuments which he erected were extant to this day, indicates that he did not promulgate the book immediately after the events narrated (comp. iv :9 ; vii :26 ; viii :28, 29 ; x :27). The book could not have been written very long after the time of Joshua, because we find that Rahab was still alive when it was composed (vi :25). The section from chapters xiii to xxii inclusive, which contains an account of the distribution of the land, seems to be based upon writtcn docu ments, in which the property was accurately de scribed. That this was the case is likely not merely on account of the peculiar nature of the diplomatic contents by which this 'Doomsday Book' is distinguished from the preceding part of Joshua, but also on account of the statement in chapter xviii :4, where Joshua says to the children of Israel, 'Give out from among you three men from each tribe; and I will send thcm, and they shall rise, and go through the land and describe it according to the inheritance of them ; and they shall come again to me.' Compare verse 6, 'Ye therefore shall describe the lam! into seven parts.' Compare also verses 8 and 9, 'And the men arose and went away ; and Joshua charged them that went to describe the land, saying, Go, and walk through the land, and describe it, and come again to me, that I may here cast lots for you before the Lord in Shiloh.' (6) Sources. The list of towns granted to the Levites in Josh. xxi differs from that in Chron. vi :39-66 so much that we must suppose the latter to contain abstracts from a source different from that in the book of Joshua. That a change of circumstances might demand changes in such lists becomes evident, if we consider the fate of indi vidual cities. For instance, Ziklag was given to the tribe of Simeon (Josh. xix:5); nevertheless we read in I Sam. xxvii :6, that Achish gave Ziklag to David.