JOSHUA
1027
JOSHUA
terpolation by the hand of that anonymous Jew whom he supposes to liave written the book of Deuteronomy, and here to have misunderstood the vivid conception of an old poet; and he cites numerous similar conceptions from the old poetry of Greece, Rome, Arabia, and Peru. But the literal and natural interpretation of the text, as intended to describe a miracle, is sufficiently vindicated by Deyling, Observ. Sacr. i, § 19, p. 100 ; and J. G. Abicht, De statkine Soils ap. Nov. Thes. Theol.-philol. i, 51G ; and is forcibly stated by Bishop Watson in the fourth letter in his Apolo(jij for the Bible. Barzillai {Josua und die Sonne, from the Italian, Trieste, 18G9) understands the word on, "stand still" (lit. be dumb), to signify mere- ly cease to shine, and the expression "hasted not to go down a whole day" as equivalent to ivithheld its J till U[jht! — in other words, there was an eclijjse: how this could be of service to the Hebrews does not appear. See GiBEON ; Jasher.
4. Lemjth of his Administration. — According to Jo- sephus {Ant. v, 1, 29), Joshua commanded the Jews twenty-tive j'ears, but, according to other Jewish chro- nologers, twentj^-seven years. The Tseniach David, on tlie j'ears of the Jewish era 2489 and 2496, remarks : " It is written iu the Seder Olam that Joshua judged Is- rael twenty-five years, commencing from the year 2488,
w immediately from the death of Moses, to the year 2510.
This, however, would not be known to us but for cabal- istic tradition, but in some degree also by reasonmg," etc. Hottinger (Smegma, p. 469) says : " According to the Midrash, Rahab was ten years old when the Israel- ites left Egy|3t ; she played the harlot during the forty years in which the Israelites were in the desert. She became the wife of Joshua, and eight prophets descend- ed from her, viz. Jeremiah, Mahasia, Hanamael, Shal- lum, Baruch, Ezekiel. Some say also that Huldah the prophetess was her descendant." Some chronologers have endeavored to reduce the rule of Joshua to seven- teen, and others to twenty-one years. There is no good reason for departing from the number assigned l)y Jo- sephus (see Meth. Qiiar. Rev. 1856, p. 450), See Chko-
KOLOGY.
5. Other Traditionary Notices. — Lightfoot {Hor. Heb. in Matt, i, 5, and Chorogr. Lucre prcemis. iv, § 3) quotes Je^rish traditions Ukewise to the effect that the sep- ulchre of Joshua was adorned with an image of the sun in memory of the miracle of Ajalon. The Sept. and the Arab. Yer. add to Josh, xxiv, 30 the statement that in his sepulchre were deposited the flint-knives which were used for the circumcision at Gilgal (Josh, v, 2).
There also occur some vestiges of the deeds of Joshua in other historians besides those of his own country. Procopius mentions a Phoenician inscription near the city of Tingis in Jlauritania, the sense of which was : " We are those who fled before the face of Joshua the robber, the son of Nun" {De Bell. Vandal, ii, 10). Suidas (sub voce Xavaav) : " We are the Canaanites whom Joshua the robber persecuterL" Compare Fabricii Co- dex Pseudepigraphus Veteris Testamenti, i,88d sq., and the doubts respecting this statement in Dale, De Origine et Progressu Idolatrice, p. 749 sq. Ewald {Gesch. Isr. ii, 297, 298) gives sound reasons for forbearing to use this story as authentic history. It is, however, accept- ed by Rawlinson {Bampton Lecture for 1859, iii, 91). A letter of Shaubech, ^pIT, king of Armenia Minor, in the Samaritan book of Joshua (ch. xxvi), styles Joshua binSpPX 2"'n3X, lupus percussor, "the murderous wolf;" or, according to another reading in the book Juchasin (p. 154, f. 1), and in the Shalsheleth Raklcabba- lah (p. 96), nm:? 3XT, lupus vespertinus, " the evening wolf" (comp. Hab. i, 8 ; Hottinger, Ilistoria Orientalis, Tigiuri, 1651, p. 40 sq. ; Buddeus, Hist. Eccles. p. 964 sq.). A comparison of Hercules, according to the Phoenician and Greek mythologj-, with Joshua has been attempted by Hercklitz {Quod Hercules idem sit ac Josua, Lipsias, 1706 ; comp. Anton. Compar. libror. sac. V. T, et scrjjit. profan. iv, v, Gorlic. 1817). — Kitto ; Smith.
6. Additional Literature on Joshua personally, and his Exploits. — The principal occurrences in theUfe of Joshua are reviewed by liishop Hall in his Contemplations on the 0. T. bks. 7, 8, and 9. See also T. Smith, Hist, of Joshua (Lond. 1862); Ovarton, Life of Joshua (Lbnd. 1866); Hess, Gesch. Josuas (Zur. 1759) ; Masius, Josuce historic* (Antw. 1754) ; Plumptre, Hist, of Joshua (Lond. 1848).
JOSHUA, Book of, the first in order of the G'^X'^ra D"'3"nrX"i, or Former ProjAets in the Hebrew Canon. See Bible. It is so called from the personage who oc- cupies the principal place in the narration of events con- tained therein, and may be considered as a continuation of the Pentateuch, since it commences with " vav con- tinuative" in the word "^fl^l, which may be rendered thereujJon it happened.
I. Contents.— T\nii book gives an account of the for- tunes of the Israelites from the death of Moses to that of Joshua, the son of Nun. Beginning with the ap- pointment of Joshua to succeed IVIoses as the leader of the people, it proceeds to describe the arrangements made by Joshua in prospect of passing over Jordan (i- ii) ; the crossing of the river, and the setting up of a inemorial on the further side at Gilgal (iii-iv) ; the dis- may which this occasioned to the Canaanites (v, 1) ; the dircumcision of the males among the people, that rite having been neglected in the wilderness ; the observ- ance of the Passover by them in the camp at Gilgal ; the ceasing of the manna on the day after they had entered Canaan (v, 2-12) ; the encouragement given to Joshua to proceed on his enterprise I)y the appearance of an angel to him (v, 13-15) ; the siege and capture of Jericho (vi); the defeat of the Israelites at Ai (vii) ; the taking of Ai (viii, 1-29) ; the writing of the law on ta- bles of stone, and the solemn repetition from Ebal and Gerizim of the blessings and the curses which Moses had written in the book of the law (viii, 30-35) ; the confederation of the kings of North ''rn Canaan against the Israelites ; the cunning device by v.hich the Gibeon- ites secured themselves from being destroyed by the Is- raelites ; the indignation of the other Canaanites against the Gibeonites, and the confederation of the kings around Jerusalem against Joshua, with their signal defeat by him (ix, x) ; the overthrow at the waters of Megiddo of the great northern confederacy, with the destruction of the Anakim (xi) ; the list of kings whose comitry the Israelites had taken under Moses and Joshua (xii) ; the division of the country, both the parts conquered and those yet remaining under the power of the Canaanites, among the different tribes, chiefly by lot ; the setting up of the tabernacle in Shiloh ; the appointment of cities of refuge and of cities for the Levites ; the return of the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh, to their possessions on the east of the Jordan, after the settlement of their brethren in Canaan (xiii-xxii) ; and the farewell addresses of Joshua to the people, his death and burial (xxiii-xxiv). The book naturally divides it- self into two parts ; the former (i-xii) containing an ac- count of the conquest of the land ; the latter (xiii-xxiv) of the division of it among the tribes. Those are fre- quently cited distinctively as the historical and the geo- graphical portions of the book.