Historical Books: Joshua–2 Kings

Historical BooksJoshua–2 Kings Christopher T. Begg, Brian J. Meldrum, Thomas Hieke, Brent A. Strawn, and Fred W. Guyette ________ 1189. The Landnahme Conceptions of the Books of Joshua and Judges in Light of the Pentateuchal Tradition Raik Heckl, "Die Landnahmekonzeptionen des Josua- und Richterbuches im Licht der Pentateuchüberlieferung. Eine überlieferungskritische Skizze, " Kritische Schriftgelehrsamkeit, 353–62 see #1494. The Books of Deuteronomy, Joshua, and Judges evidence noteworthy differences among themselves (and within themselves) concerning the extent of the Israelite Landnahme and the occupation process itself. In the "core" of Deuteronomy (chaps. 5–26) the "ideal" is laid out in chap. 7 that Israel will exterminate the prior inhabitants and take possession of their territory in its whole extent. In the law of Deut 20: 15–20, this "ideal" receives a qualification: inhabitants of "distant" cities are to be spared on the condition that they agree to the terms of peace presented them by the Israelites. As for Deuteronomy 1–3 (which H. views as an introduction, not to the following Historical Books as argued by M. Noth, but rather to the Deuteronomic Code), Israel occupies, via a process of extermination, only the northern part of the Transjordan, while the southern part, in accordance with Yhwh's directives (and historical reality), remains in the hands of those already settled there. In the Book of Joshua, at the approximate center of the book in Josh 11: 16 one reads that "Joshua took all this Cisjordan land, " doing this by way of a campaign of extermination of the inhabitants as envisaged in Deuteronomy 7. And yet, as recorded in Joshua 9, the Gibeonites, resident in what became the territory of Benjamin, manage to escape destruction by falsely claiming to be a people who have come from afar, and as such eligible for the "exemption provision" of Deut 20: 10–15. The Landnahme perspective of the Book of Judges, its opening segment 1: 1–2: 5 in particular, for its part, stands in marked contrast to what one reads in Deuteronomy and Joshua on the topic: here, a quite limited portion of the land comes into Israel's possession and that by the initiative of individual tribes rather than via the pan-Israelite undertaking portrayed in the Book of Joshua, with the result that numerous Canaanite "enclaves" continue to exist in many parts of the Cisjordan (conversely, one finds scattered notices in the Book of Joshua, see, e. g. , 16: 10; 17: 17, itself about individual tribes occupying their territories "on their own" that seem inspired by the picture of the Landnahme given in Judg 1: 1–2: 5). This complicated state of affairs poses ongoing questions for the "Deuteronomistic History" thesis in any of its variants. —C. T. B. 1190. Joshua 6; Joshua as a Military Ritualist Rebekah J. Haigh, "Silencing the Land: Joshua as a Military Ritualist, " BibInt 31 (2, 023) 158–78. In Joshua's opening military initiative at Jericho (Josh 6: 8–21), he enjoins a strange, oft-overlooked act of communal speechlessness. This absence of speech on the Israelites' part can be understood as itself a kind of ritual speech. As I argue in this paper, Joshua can kill things with and without words. Seen against a backdrop of ANE magic and divine warfare, Joshua emerges as a powerful ritualist, someone who weaponizes speech and speechlessness in service of military victory. As with Joshua's adjuration of the heavenly bodies in the Aijalon battle (10: 12–14) and curse over Jericho (Josh 6: 26), his and the people's wordless march around the city can be understood as a ritual act with the performative force of cessation. Joshua's silencing of the land is both his ritual objective and the ultimate goal of the conquest (see Josh 11: 23). Adapted from published abstract—C. T. B. 1191. A Narratological Study of Joshua 9 André Wénin, "Josué et les Gabaonites. Étude narrative de Jos 9, " RB 130 (2, 2023) 161–81. This essay provides a narratological study of the covenant between Joshua and the Gibeonites in Joshua 9 with special attention to the cunning strategy of the latter people and the reaction. . .