JOSHUA, Book of. The first 12 chapters of the book of Joshua continue the history of Israel from the point reached at the end of Deuteronomy, the death of Moses, to the con clusion of the conquest of western Palestine; and chapters xiii-xxi tell of the division of the land among the tribes. The remaining chapters, xxii-xxiv, constitute an appendix, giving various details concerning • the closing days of Joshua, including his death and the death of Eleazer the son of Aaron.
It is now generally agreed that the docu ments found in .the Pentateuch are to be dis cerned also in Joshua. This results from evi dence of the same kind as in the Pentateuch. Their distribution, however, is peculiar. The bulk of chapters i-xii is from JE, and of xiii xxi from P. A considerable part, in detached portions, of i-xii is from D, but very little in xiii-xxi. All .three sources are found in con siderable measure in the appendix xxii-xxiv. The JE source shows evidence of being com posite, especially in double accounts of the same event, but most of it cannot be separated definitely into the J and E portions, in this re spect differing from the Pentateuch. The D and P portions are probably not from the same documents as these which are called by these terms in the Pentateuch, but from writings by other authors of these schools. Concerning the details of the compilation of the book there is much difference of opinion. The best opitt ion seems to be that the book was never actu ally joined with the Pentateuch, but always an independent book. It is often joined with the Pentateuch under the term Hexateuch because of the use of the same or similar documents.
There are various indications in the book itself that portions of it, at any rate, were writ ten considerably later than the events described. The idealizing of the history, which will be mentioned later, is such an indication. Such
also is the reference to "until this day" in Joshua xv, 63, and the reference to the book of Jashar, x, 13, which was a book of poetry later than David. The evidence of the documents indicates that the book contains portions writ ten at various times. The final compilation, however, must have been as late at P. i.e., as late as 500 n.c. Some think it was considerably later, but there is no strong evidence of this, although some slight additions may very pos sibly have been made considerably later.
The degree of historicity of the book varies with the documents. The presumption would be that the JE portions are more fully histori cal, a presumption which is confirmed by a detailed examination. In the D and P portions the history is strongly idealized. Especially, the D and P portions present the view that the conquest of the land was completed by Joshua, the inhabitants exterminated, and the land di vided among the tribes. Scattered notices from JE, however, in agreement with Judges i, 1– ii, 5 teach that the conquest was effected only gradually by the individual tribes. The view of JE is the earlier, historical one; the other, of D and P, i3 later and much idealized. The his torical data of the book need careful examina tion in order to ascertain the probable facts. Further, the history of •the book is fragmen tary, the omission of any account of the con quest of central Palestine being especially re makable. The D portions present the saint religious view of the history that is found in the book of Deuteronomy.
Bibliography.— Blaikie, W. G. ('Expositor's Bible,' New York Mac lear, G. F., 'Joshua' Bible,' Cambridge 1897) ; Robinson, H. W., 'Deuter onomy and Joshua) ((Century Bible,' Edin burgh).