Taking possession of Canaan

*Joshua

*Who is Joshua?

*Joshua, son of Nun, is the aide of Moses who is appointed leader before Moses dies.

*Joshua continues the leadership of Moses; events in Joshua will echo Exodus.

*The History Books

*Deuteronomistic History

*Part of/continuation of Deuteronomy

*Major theme: Fidelity to the Lord brings success; infidelity to the Lord brings failure and rejection.

*Took approximately six centuries to compose these books (Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings)

*Strong influence of the reforms of King Josiah (620-609 BC) is evident

*Books are written long after the historical events occur

*Joshua’s theology

*The Book of Joshua brings the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant: many descendants and a great nation.

*Joshua deals primarily with the occupation of Canaan.

*Covenant fidelity is highly stressed: Canaan was filled with foreign and pagan people and nations. Any sort of assimilation with their culture and gods was seen as a betrayal of the covenant.

*Two sections

*Occupying the land

*Dividing the land among the tribes of Israel

*Chapters 1-12 deal with the Conquest of Canaan

*Chapters 13-21 deal with the division of the land

*Chapters 22-24 deal with Joshua’s Farewell and the return of the “trans-Jordan” tribes.

*The Ban (herem)

*Practiced in ancient near East – this involved total destruction of everyone and everything in a conquered city. The idea is that the pagans and their cultures must be wiped out in order to prevent any apostasy* from the Lord.

*the renunciation of a religious or political belief or allegiance

*Remember…

*This is a religious history, told from the point of view of the conquerors, and told with a fervor and idealism based on the covenant with the Lord.

*There are historical discrepancies, particularly in regard to timing.

*Remember…

*Joshua himself is recorded as larger than life and as the one who presided over all the events of the conquest.

*More likely, most of the activity is related to the tribe of Benjamin (from whom Saul will come.)

Joshua 1: 1- 9: the promise endures.

*After Moses, the servant of the LORD, had died, the LORD said to Moses’ aide Joshua, son of Nun:2* Moses my servant is dead. So now, you and the whole people with you, prepare to cross the Jordan to the land that I will give the Israelites.3a Every place where you set foot I have given you, as I promised Moses.4* All the land of the Hittites, from the wilderness and the Lebanon east to the great river Euphrates and west to the Great Sea, will be your territory.b

5No one can withstand you as long as you live. As I was with Moses, I will be with you:c I will not leave you nor forsake you.6Be strong and steadfast, so that you may give this people possession of the land I swore to their ancestors that I would give them.7d

 Only be strong and steadfast, being careful to observe the entire law which Moses my servant enjoined on you. Do not swerve from it either to the right or to the left, that you may succeed wherever you go.8Do not let this book of the law depart from your lips. Recite it by day and by night,ethat you may carefully observe all that is written in it; then you will attain your goal; then you will succeed.9I command you: be strong and steadfast! Do not fear nor be dismayed, for the LORD, your God, is with you wherever you go.

*Trans-Jordan tribes

*Reuben, Gad and Manasseh remained on the east side of the Jordan, but provided military duty during the conquest and are legitimately part of Israel.

*They reply to Joshua in covenant terms: As completely as we obeyed Moses, we will obey you. Only, may the LORD, your God, be with you as God was with Moses.18Anyone who rebels against your orders and does not obey all your commands shall be put to death. Only be strong and steadfast.”

*Rahab and the spies

So the king of Jericho sent Rahab the order, “Bring out the men who have come to you and entered your house, for they have come to spy out the entire land.”4The womanb had taken the two men and hidden them, so she said, “True, the men you speak of came to me, but I did not know where they came from.5At dark, when it was time to close the gate, they left, and I do not know where they went. You will have to pursue them quickly to overtake them.”6Now, she had led them to the roof, and hidden them among her stalks of flax spread out* there.7

*Legacy of Rahab

*Rahab did several things:

*Recognizes the God of the Hebrews as the true God

*Requests the safety of her family which is granted with the conditions of the red cord and sequestration.

*Because she aided the spies, she and her family were spared under the ban.

*She is recognized for her heroic behavior in Hebrews 11:31 and James 2:25, and is listed in the Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus.

*Hiding the spies among drying flax gives us a clue that it is Passover time.

*Crossing the Jordan

*The preparation of the tribes for crossing and the actual crossing is in many ways a liturgical procession. (Chapter 3 and 4)

*Timed around Passover

*Fasting, abstinence from sexual intercourse

*Preparation of the ark and its place in the procession (God in their midst.)

*Water recedes so that the people can cross

*12 stones (one from each tribe) are set to memorialize the Crossing

*Circumcision of the children of those who crossed the Red Sea

*Joshua meets the LORD

*While Joshua was near Jericho, he raised his eyes and saw one who stood facing him, drawn sword in hand.h Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you one of us or one of our enemies?”14He replied, “Neither. I am the commander* of the army of the LORD: now I have come.” Then Joshua fell down to the ground in worship, and said to him, “What has my lord to say to his servant?”15The commander of the army of the LORD replied to Joshua, “Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy.”i And Joshua did so.

*Battle of Jericho

*Again, we have a liturgical procession:*  Have all the soldiers circle the city, marching once

around it. Do this for six days,4with seven priests carrying ram’s horns ahead of the ark. On the seventh day march around the city seven times, and have the priests blow the horns.5When they give a long blast on the ram’s horns and you hear the sound of the horn, all the people shall shout aloud. The wall of the city will collapse, and the people shall attack straight ahead.

*6Summoning the priests, Joshua, son of Nun, said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant with seven of the priests carrying ram’s horns in front of the ark of the LORD.”7And he ordered the people, “Proceed and surround the city, with the picked troops marching ahead of the ark of the LORD.”

*Battle of Jericho

*Most famous biblical battle – but there is no battle- walls come down.

*Archeologists think Jericho was destroyed centuries before Joshua arrived.

*The battle is won because the Hebrews are loyal to the Lord. That is what is important. This land is a GIFT, not something they have earned through their own efforts.

*Only precious metals are preserved.

*Etiologies in this story

*Rahab and her family explains the later custom of allowing non-Israelites to live within the community.

*Jericho is not to be rebuilt, but King Ahab will do so later (1Kings 16) with dire consequences.

*The sin of Achan (taking goods under the ban) shows the inevitable punishment that follows disobedience of the Lord.

*Gibeonite Ruse

*On hearing what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai, the inhabitants of Gibeonb4formed their own scheme. They chose provisions for a journey, making use of old sacks for their donkeys, and old wineskins, torn and mended.5They wore old, patched sandals and shabby garments; and all the bread they took was dry and crumbly.6Thus they journeyed to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal, where they said to him and to the Israelites, “We have come from a far-off land; now, make a covenant with us.”

*Gibeonite Ruse

*22Joshua summoned the Gibeonites and said to them, “Why did you deceive us and say, ‘We live far off from you’?—You live among us!23Now are you accursed: every one of you shall always be a slave, hewers of wood and drawers of water, for the house of my God.”24They answered Joshua, “Your servants were fully informed of how the LORD, your God, commanded Moses his servant that you be given the entire land and that all its inhabitants be destroyed before you. Since, therefore, at your advance, we were in great fear for our lives, we acted as we did.j

25And now that we are in your power, do with us what is good and right in your eyes.”

*Amorite Kings

*Amorite kings rise up against Gibeonites, but because of the covenant, Joshua defends them…successfully, with the help of the Lord.

*The five kings (Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmith, Lachish and Eglon) are slain by Joshua.

*Conquest of the South

*There is basically a listing of the cities Joshua defeats, ultimately destroying all of the southern cultures and peoples.

*Northern Conquest

*Kings of the North form a confederacy.

*Joshua defeats their army, then goes into the cities where the entire population is destroyed.

*The ban is the strongest here, understood as a conquest over evil.

Chapters 13 - 21

*Dividing the Land

*Still work to be done

*There are lingering tribes and clans to deal with as the Israelites settle the land.

*Example of allotments

* Boundaries of Judah. 1The lot for the tribe of Judah by their clans fell toward the boundary of Edom, the wilderness of Zin in the Negeb, in the extreme south.a 2b Their southern boundary ran from the end of the Salt Sea,* from the tongue of land that faces the Negeb, 3and went southward below the pass of Akrabbim, across through Zin, up to a point south of Kadesh-barnea, across to Hezron, and up to Addar; from there, looping around Karka, 4it crossed to Azmon and then joined the Wadi of Egypt* before coming out at the sea. (This is your southern boundary.) 5The eastern boundary was the Salt Sea as far as the mouth of the Jordan.

* The northern boundary climbed northward from the tongue of the sea, toward the mouth of the Jordan, 6c up to Beth-hoglah, and ran north of Beth-arabah, up to Eben-Bohan-ben-Reuben. 7Thence the boundary climbed to Debir, north of the Valley of Achor,d in the direction of the Gilgal that faces the pass of Adummim, on the south side of the wadi; from there it crossed to the waters of En-shemesh and emerged at En-rogel. 8Climbing again to the Valley of Ben-hinnom* on the southern flank of the Jebusites (that is, Jerusalem), the boundary rose to the top of the mountain at the northern end of the Valley of Rephaim,e which bounds the Valley of Hinnom on the west. 9From the top of the mountain it ran to the fountain of waters of Nephtoah,f extended to the cities of Mount Ephron, and continued to Baalah, or Kiriath-jearim. 10From Baalah the boundary curved westward to Mount Seir and passed north of the ridge of Mount Jearim (that is, Chesalon); it descended to Beth-shemesh, and ran across to Timnah. 11It then extended along the northern flank of Ekron, continued through Shikkeron, and across to Mount Baalah, from there to include Jabneel, before it came out at the sea. 12The western boundary was the Great Sea* and its coast. This was the complete boundary of the Judahites by their clans.

*Levites

*The Levites did not have an allotment of land because “the Lord is their heritage.”

*In fact, they lived throughout Canaan where they could minister to the people.

*Caleb

* I was forty years old when Moses, the servant of the LORD, sent me from Kadesh-barnea to reconnoiter the land; and I brought back to him a frank report.8g My fellow scouts who went up with me made the people’s confidence melt away, but I was completely loyal to the LORD, my God.9On that occasion Moses swore this oath, ‘The land where you have set foot shall become your heritage and that of your descendants forever, because you have been completely loyal to the LORD, my God.’10Now, as he promised, the LORD has preserved me these forty-five years since the LORD spoke thus to Moses while Israel journeyed in the wilderness; and now I am eighty-five years old,h11but I am still as strong today as I was the day Moses sent me forth, with no less vigor whether it be for war or for any other tasks.* i12Now give me this mountain region which the LORD promised me that day, as you yourself heard. True, the Anakim are there, with large fortified cities, but if the LORDis with me I shall be able to dispossess them, as the LORD promised.”j13Joshua blessed Caleb, son of Jephunneh, and gave him Hebron as his heritage.

*Othneil and Achsah

*Caleb promises his daughter to the man who captures Kiriath-sepher. Othneil does so, wins the daughter in marriage, along with land in the Negeb and pools of water.

*Joshua’s city

*Joshua is assigned the city of Timnah-serah in the mountain region of Ephraim.

*Cities of refuge

*Places for people who committed accidental killing to preserve them from the revenge ordinarily accompanying murder.

*Levite cities

*Places where the Levites and their families and flocks could reside while tending to the people of Israel.

*Family business

*Tribes of Reuben, Gad and Manassah return to their territories now that the work of conquest is complete.

*Question of building an altar is resolved.

*Renewal of Covenant

*Joshua calls the tribes together for a recounting and renewal of the covenant (much like Moses did in Deuteronomy.)

*“set in stone:” And Joshua said to all the people, “This stone shall be our witness,r

 for it has heard all the words which the LORD spoke to us. It shall be a witness against you, should you wish to deny your God.”28Then Joshua dismissed the people, each to their own heritage.

*Joshua’s Death

*After these events, Joshua, son of Nun, servant of the LORD, died at the age of a hundred and ten,30and they buried him within the borders of his heritage at Timnath-serahu in the mountain region of Ephraim north of Mount Gaash.*31

*Joshua in the Lectionary

*Sunday, Year B

*Decide today who you will serve…as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.

*Sunday, Year C

* the first year of no manna – eating of the produce of the land

*Weekdays I:

*Crossing of the Jordan; recalling great events of Moses time; We will serve the Lord

*Special Masses:

*Christian Initiation: Choose who you will serve.

*Dedication of an Altar: Joshua built an altar on Mt. Ebal

*For reflection…

*God’s gift of land was a sign of His presence in the everyday life of the Israelites. How is God’s presence evident in our lives?

*What are the most important rituals in Catholic life?

*Who would you say is a significant religious leader in our time?

*Rahab followed the courage of her convictions. What decisions have you made that required that type of courage?

*What evidence in your life shows that you serve the Lord?

From the death of Joshua until the monarchy of Saul – c. 150-200 years

*Judges

*Main sections of the Book of Judges

1.The Situation in Canaan Following the Israelite Conquest (1:1–3:6)

2.Stories of the Judges (3:7–16:31)

3.Further Stories of the Tribes of Dan and Benjamin (17:1–21:25)