Joshua chapters 1-3

It's Thursday, so it's time for a Biblical post of some sort. It took me a few minutes to decide what to write about because I decided to primarily do New Testament readings on Sunday, and I don't know all that much about the Old Testament. I decided to do Joshua, though, because it struck me as exceptionally interesting at the time.

Joshua basically takes up the narrative at the end of Deuteronomy and sets the social and political stage for the events that take place in Judges. Joshua is the beginning of what scholars call the "Deuteronomistic history," or the DH, which includes Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings. They're named such because their theology is so closely based upon Deuteronomy, and it's likely that they were authored by the same person or group.

(I'll discuss the Documentary Hypothesis, which this is all based on, in a later post. I should have done that first, but I wanted to keep my promise of having a Biblical post every Thursday.)

So Deuteronomy is over; Moses is dead, and the Israelites are right across the Jordan from Canaan (their Promised Land). Joshua opens up with God telling Joshua how he's going to
back him up and help the Israelites kick all kinds of ass in Canaan. That is, if they are "careful to act in accordance with all the law that my servant Moses commanded you; do not turn from it" (Josh. 1:7). God is very strict about his commandments, something that is stressed exceptionally hard in the DH.

Joshua tells his people to get ready, giving specific instructions to the Reubenites, Gadites, and the "half-tribe of Manasseh" (1:12). It sounds like their piece of the Promised Land is on the side of the Jordan that they've already occupied, because Joshua specifically tells them that although they have their land, they still have to help the rest of the twelve tribes invade Canaan. They don't mind, and assure Joshua that they'll kill anyone who disobeys his orders.

Moving into chapter 2, Joshua sends two spies from Shittim (the last major Israelite encampment before crossing the Jordan) into Canaan to scope out the situation with Jericho. They sneak into the city and hide out in a prostitute named Rahab's house. She hides them from the Jericho guard and helps them escape in exchange for their promise that she and her family would be spared. They agree, but only if she ties a certain crimson cord in the window of her house, and hides all of her family inside.

The crimson cord seems to allude to the lamb's blood in Exodus: "For The Lord will pass through to strike down the Egyptians; when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, The Lord will pass over that door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you down" (Exod. 12:23). Similarly, the Israelites seem intent to slaughter everyone in Jericho, only passing over the house which has a crimson cord marking it.

Rahab tells the spies about how all the city is trembling in fear because they have heard of The Lord's great power, and that he fights for Israel. She says she has heard about how The Lord parted the yam suf (commonly known as the Red Sea, but better translated as the Sea of Reeds), and how everyone knew they were doomed. The spies relate this to Joshua in 2:24, "moreover all the inhabitants of the land melt in fear before us."

The God of the Hebrew Bible rarely seems to give any thought of mercy to people who are not Hebrew. (It could be argued that he had very little even for the Israelites, but that's another post.) Here we have a city full of people that are apparently quaking in their shoes in fear of the approaching Israelites, and though surely most of these terrified people would surrender, only one woman and her family will be saved. It is interesting, however, the way that the prostitute is portrayed as the head of her family.

As chapter 3 starts, Joshua explains to the Israelites how they will move into Canaan. They will follow the priests who carry "the ark of the covenant of The Lord your God" (3:3) but they will be careful not to come within two thousand cubits. This distance seems to serve to represent the ark's extreme holiness; the common folk must stand back, and only the priests are allowed to come near it. The sharp division between the sacred and the profane is notable as something that most (and some would argue all) religions share.

After a pep-talk from God and Joshua, the Israelites move towards the Jordan. When the priests who are carrying the ark touch the edge of the river, the waters split apart before the Israelites. The priests stand near the center of the riverbed with the ark, apparently keeping the waters at bay with the ark's holy power, while the Israelites cross over.

I find it interesting that the text does not specify that God is holding back the Jordan. In Exodus 14, it's repeatedly stressed that The Lord is the one acting upon the river, but in Joshua it seems as if the ark of the covenant is itself a supernatural artifact with incredible powers. These powers may come from God, but they do not seem to be the direct result of his will.

Continued in Joshua chapters 4-6

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