THE BOOK OF JOSHUA IS OBVIOUSLY CONCERNED WITH HOW THE ISRAELITES came into the land of Canaan and, conquering its territory in battle, settled in it. But the writers had choices open to them, and elected to set the stage rather elaborately. The book begins by bringing leadership to the fore, through YHWH’s charge to Yehoshua, in terms that vividly recall his predecessor, Moshe. The language is intensely Deuteronomistic, preparing the way for the entire four-book account of Israel’s history on its land. Also of immediate concern is the anomaly of two and a half tribes choosing to remain on the east side of the Jordan River, a problem solved, at least in the text, by their agreeing to fight with their brothers until the general conquest is over.
The text then appears to launch into military matters, with the account of the spies in Chap. 2. But this in fact serves as an opportunity to introduce two other important themes of the book: the natives’ terror of the Israelite God, whose reputation stemming from the events in the Exodus story has preceded him, and the survival of some Canaanites after the conquest, here in the person of the prostitute Rahav and her family.
What remains in this section is a series of events designed to bring the Israelites fully into the land as members of a newly created nation. It accomplishes this initially by means of a kind of ritual crossing of the Jordan, which is parted before the Israelites as the Reed Sea was in Exodus, minus the drowning enemy. Significantly, this narrative focuses on the holy Coffer (Ark) borne by the priests. Once the people as a whole have crossed over, a monument of stones is set up as a lasting memorial to the event. The people’s physical presence on the soil of the Promised Land, however, is not enough. The text proceeds to describe two dramatic acts which the people must accomplish in order to be fully Israelite. First, the new generation of males must be circumcised, and second, the people must observe the festival of Passover. With these prerequisites for inclusion in the nation fulfilled, the business of conquest may now proceed, with our attention initially turned back to the commander in chief. So the section ends with a fragmentary recommissioning of Yehoshua by a divine messenger, once again echoing the experience of Moshe in its language and imagery.