Historical Books: Joshua–2 Kings
- Historical BooksJoshua–2 Kings
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Ancient Israelite thinking as expressed in biblical Hebrew terminology makes a distinction between a non-assimilated stranger (nēqār/nokrî, zār) and a semi-assimilated stranger (gēr, tōšāb). The legal traditions of the OT are rather static and categorical regarding the differentiation they make among these types of strangers: while they seek to minimalize Israel’s contacts with nokrîm, they do provide protection for and enact provisions in favor of the gērîm. The OT narrative traditions, by contrast, are especially rich in their depiction of varying strategies of stranger inclusion. It thus emerges that ancient Israelite thought and everyday practice did not exclude the possibility of transition and transformation whereby complete strangers were turned into members of the Israelite community. In fact, the narrative representations of this way of dealing with strangers in the Books of Joshua and Judges encapsulates authentic ancient Israelite mindsets, cultural conventions, and social mechanisms in quite dynamic fashion, as J.’s consideration of the stories of Rahab’s inclusion in Joshua 2 and 6, the status of the Kenites in Judges 4–5, and the incorporation of the Gibeonites in Joshua 9 makes clear. [Adapted from published abstract—C.T.B.]
In this article, Josh 5:13–6:5 is used as a test case for looking at possible models for understanding biblical theophany narratives. First, I argue that Benjamin Sommer’s historical model of divine fluidity, while it does draw attention to the prominence of the theme of divine embodiment in the Hebrew Bible, also raises unresolved questions about the nature of God. Second, I argue that Augustine’s interpretation of the theophany narratives from within the framework of his trinitarian theology resolves some of these questions while avoiding Christianizing the Hebrew Bible. I conclude by briefly returning to the Joshua narrative, looking at the difference that the above models make in reading the text. [Adapted from published abstract—J.M.H.]
N. highlights the distinctiveness of Joshua 9, which calls into question the very idea of the total destruction of other peoples and the radical separation of Israelites and Cannanites in a book whose focus is on Israel’s conquest of Canaan. In its depiction of the possibility of a covenant between non-Israelites and Israelites, Joshua 9 shows how [End Page 138] the Gibeonites come to recognize Yhwh and his action in favor of Israel. Their lie is not a matter of guile intended to save their own lives, but a wise decision on their part that leads to cohabitation between Israel and a Canaanite people. In the context of the Persian era, a text like this distances itself from the ideology of the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah. As such, it offers a theological alternative to the notion of total war between Israel and other nations, showing how some of those nations did attain access to Yhwh and managed to cohabitate with Yhwh’s people in the land of Canaan. [Adapted from published abstract—C.T.B.]
As suggested by the distinctive idioms employed, there may have been an original source behind Joshua 15–19 that sketched the tribal areas of seven tribes (Judah, Ephraim, Benjamin, Zebulun, Issachar, Asher, and Naphtali) in the form of border descriptions. Given the idiomatic similarities between them, these land distribution texts...
