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Joshua Paul R The God Who Gives Rest in the Land: Joshua Paul R. House This article is an adapted and expanded Accurate Old Testament interpretation God’s graciousness to Israel therefore does excerpt from House’s forthcoming Old depends upon a sound understanding of not include an arbitrary expulsion of the Testament Theology (InterVarsity Press). Old Testament theology. This principle is Canaanites. Rather, rest for Israel coincides true regardless of the text under consid- with judgment for the Canaanites, and eration, but is especially crucial for grasp- Joshua warns his people against suffering ing the significance of books with a similar fate. controversial contents. Certainly the book of Joshua fits this description. After all, it Joshua’s Place in the Hebrew Canon includes accounts of holy war, of divid- One of the chief differences between the ing God-given land, and of miracles. It English and Hebrew Bibles is that the claims to fulfill promises offered to former welds together Joshua, Judges, Abraham and Moses years earlier. Given Ruth, 1-2 Samuel, 1-2 Kings, 1-2 its contents, then, interpreters must take Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther great care in stating what the book says to form a section of historical books, while about God, God’s relationship to Israel the latter links Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and the rest of the world, and God’s stan- and Kings together as the Former Proph- dards for receiving divine blessing. ets. The English Bible thereby depicts the This article seeks to state Joshua’s ba- events of Israel’s history from conquest (c. sic theological emphases. To do so, it ad- 1400 or 1250 B.C.) to the return to Jerusa- dresses the book’s authorship and date, lem during the Persian era (c. 425 B.C.), place in the Old Testament, and contents. then proceeds to Job. The Hebrew Bible, Special attention is given to how this book on the other hand, describes events that gathers ideas from previous texts and is span the conquest to a few decades after then in turn used in subsequent scriptures. the Babylonian captivity (c. 550), then pre- Hopefully this approach will make sents the prophetic books. These canoni- Joshua’s theological contribution to Bib- cal distinctions allow a subtle but lical Theology accessible to scholars, stu- important interpretative shift in thinking. dents, and ministers. By distinguishing Joshua-Kings as pro- Though Joshua includes many impor- phetic literature the Hebrew canon em- tant theological emphases, its main idea is phasizes the common ground shared by that God gives rest to Israel in the prom- the prophetic books (Isaiah, Jeremiah, ised land. At long last the chosen people Ezekiel, and the Twelve) and their more reside in the place God promised Abraham heavily-historical predecessors. This would belong to his descendants (Ge 12:7). grouping treats the Former Prophets as It must be remembered that this giving of both proclamation and as history written land only occurred after the original inhab- from a specific perspective. It also allows itants had refused to repent over a four- readers to discover that the prophets were hundred-year period of time (Ge 15:13-16). neglected throughout Israel’s past, and 12 that they influenced books that they did lively debate during the past half century. not write. The Hebrew order helps read- This debate has basically been divided be- ers absorb the events from a prophetic tween scholars who think the books were viewpoint, then encounter the words the written by a single author who carefully prophets themselves used to interpret the crafted a consecutive history using accu- times in which they lived. rate sources, those who believe the texts In the Prophets segment of the canon, it were composed by two, three, or more care- becomes evident that the members of the ful editors writing at different stages of prophetic movement united narrative his- Israel’s history, and those who think each tory and a deep concern for theological book had a separate author. These com- commitment in their written works. They mentators include a variety of data in their did so to make sense of their nation’s his- discussions, but usually begin with evi- tory. Here prophets and those who agree dence from the books themselves. with them preach and write God’s word. Prophets explain and predict the past. Textual Evidence Prophets anoint and denounce kings. The No author is ever identified in the text. existence of the prophetic books indicates Major characters in the accounts could that long after the prophets died the people have played a role in the books’ composi- of God determined that these men and tion, of course, but none is singled out as women indeed spoke for the Lord. an author in any direct way. Given this As they tell Israel’s history the Former situation, it is necessary to examine other Prophets display at least five distinct char- types of information the accounts offer to acteristics.1 First, they assess the past determine when they were written, and based on God’s covenant with Israel. Sec- by whom. Though other factors are also ond, whenever predictions occur they are important,2 two basic details may provide formed by noting how God has blessed insight into these issues. The first element or punished Israel in the past and by not- is the scope of events covered in the books. ing what specific promises the Lord makes At least 700 years unfold. Joshua’s con- to individuals such as David. Third, they quest of Canaan, the history’s initial event, create plot by selecting events and persons occurs no later than 1250 B.C.3 Second for inclusion that fit the prophetic view Kings ends with a description of how of the past, present, and future. Fourth, Jehoiachin, a Judahite king exiled in 597 they assess characters in the history based B.C., is given kind treatment in the thirty- on whether they help gain or lose the seventh year of his imprisonment in promised land. Fifth, they encourage Babylon (2 Ki 25:27-30). This notation readers to turn to the Lord so they can places the author of that material beyond experience blessing instead of punish- 560 B.C. Therefore, it is safe to conclude ment as stated in Deuteronomy 27-28. In- that the books were complete sometime deed, the book of Deuteronomy heavily after that date. Since no further events are influences all the prophetic writers. described, the author of the books could have written the material by 550 B.C. Authorship, Date, and Purpose The second factor is that several writ- Who wrote Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and ten sources are mentioned in the books Kings and in what manner has sparked themselves. Joshua 10:12-13 and 2 Samuel 13 1:17-27 are poetic texts that the author says and chose to strive to identify the nature may be found in the “Book of Jashar.” It of all the stated and unstated sources used is impossible to know the contents of this to write the books.8 Based on the variety source, since only these references from of the books’ material and the difficulty the book have survived. C. R. Kraft sug- of determining what the stated sources, gests, “It seems to have been an ancient much less the unstated sources, contained, national song book, the antiquity of which most experts correctly concluded that the is suggested in part by the relatively poor so-called Pentateuchal sources are not state of preservation of the Hebrew text present in the Former Prophets. of each poem.”4 Regardless of its origins, Did the books’ author use other the author(s) of Joshua and 2 Samuel sources? If so, what was the nature of freely admits using the source, which is these sources and the ones the biblical text an implicit invitation to check the accu- mentions? Interpreters must exercise cau- racy of the citation. tion and humility when answering these Three written sources are mentioned in questions. Though only three sources are 1-2 Kings. The Book of the Acts of explicitly revealed, other data may have Solomon is listed in 1 Kings 11:41, and been used. After all, the stated sources all seems to be cited as the main source for refer to poems or to the activities of kings. most if not all of the Solomon material Yet the books also include genealogies, found in 1 Kings 1-11. The Book of the divisions of land, and accounts of battles. Chronicles of the Kings of Israel is claimed Several narratives about prophets also as a source for every northern king’s reign appear, which makes it possible that the except for Jehoram and Hoshea, while the author gathered written or oral materials Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of from prophetic sources. As for the con- Judah is cited as a source of information tents of the sources named, 1 Kings 11:41 on all of Judah’s rulers except for Ahaziah, indicates that the Book of the Acts of Athaliah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiachin, and Solomon “comprised contemporary an- Zedekiah.5 In each instance where these nals, biographical materials, and extracts three sources appear the author implies from records in the Temple archives.”9 that further details on each king’s era were The Books of the Chronicles of the Kings available in those works. This impression of Israel and Judah probably contained leaves the true nature of the source mate- similar details, since they are said to rial very much in doubt, which has al- chronicle dates, royal achievements, and lowed various scholarly opinions to arise.
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