*We have come to the end of the book of Joshua. Joshua sent the people away, each to his own inheritance. Then he dies. He was 110 years old. That would make this somewhere around the year 1267 B.C.E. (I've been counting back from Bishop Ussher's date of 4,004 B.C.E. as the supposed date of the beginning.) Joshua was buried at his inherited land. The Israelites served Yahweh during the lifetime of Joshua. Joseph's bones, which had been brought from Egypt and presumably carried around this whole time, were buried at Shechem on a piece of land that Jacob had supposedly once bought. Though how they could know that after over 400 years in captivity is a mystery. Think of all the ways of record keeping we have today, and it is still very difficult to know much about our ancestors of 100 years ago, let alone over 400. The high priest Eleazor, son of Aaron, died and was replaced by his son Phinehas.
Wrap Up
*In this book, we are not told it is the word of God, or that it was written by Joshua. We find no mention of heaven, hell, satan, Angels, demons, etc., except for the hornet and we are not told what that is. The only obviously supernatural event is the crossing of the Jordan in chapter 3. It clearly mirrors the crossing of the Red Sea. There is no mention of a messiah. There are only earthly blessings and cursings that pertain to the lives and conduct of the Israelites, not their thoughts.
*Joshua has become the new conduit for Yahweh's commands and instructions after Moses's death. . He alone hears the words of Yahweh. The people are expected to believe and obey. Obedience is stressed over and over. Consequences of disobedience are usually death.
* Yahweh is a jealous God, vengeance is his, he will repay. He pelts hailstones at his enemies while they run away. He changed his mind about the no plunder rule. He orders the deaths of multitudes of men, women and children, so that the Israelites can have the land that he supposedly promised one of their ancestors over 400 years ago. He orders the torture of horses. His power to help eliminate the remaing tribes living in the promised land seems limited after the initial slaughter. He is currently living in Shiloh.
*The Israelites have conquered the land and taken posession, just like Yahweh promised. Sort of. The land was allotted to each of the Israelite tribe by casting lots. However, there is still plenty of clean up to do. Some pesky tribes refuse to be conquered so they are made to do menial tasks for the Israelites. Make sense of that.
*Finally, there is little to no historical evidence of any of the events in this book. It is probably historical fiction, used by the Israelites to explain and justify their presence in the land. It also was probably used to retroactively "foresee" the eventual conquering and exile of their people. This is attributed to disobedience, of course.
*This wraps up the story of the origins of "the people" of the land of Israel. It establishes their group identity. It is interesting to note that most ancient tribes had origin stories and a large percentage of them called them selves "the people" of some sort. Just take a look at some names of Native American tribes and their meanings. Look at the Preamble of the constitution of the United States, "we the people." It is natural for people to group themselves with those who are like them in culture and background and think of everyone else as "other." It makes us feel more comfortable, but it artificially separates and divides people from each other. This is one of the causes of war and genocide throughout history.
Edited
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