and the two Joseph tribes have acquired their territory; the remaining
seven are blamed for their indifference (xviii. 2-10, see above), and
receive their lot conjointly at the camp at Shiloh. But if the
location is an attempt to harmonize with xviii. 1, _Gilgal_ should
probably be restored. The section xviii. 2-10 is followed by xxi. 43
seq. (above), and may have been preceded originally by xiii. 1, 7
(where read: inheritance for the _seven_ tribes); in its present form
it appears to be due to D. Another account of the exploits of Judah
and Joseph can be traced here and there; e.g. in xiv. 6-15 (where
Caleb receives Hebron as his inheritance and the "land had rest from
war"), and xvii. 14-18 (where Joseph receives an additional lot); but
where these traditions have not been worked into later narratives,
they exist only in fragmentary form and are chiefly recognizable by
their standpoint. They are characterized by the view that the conquest
was only a partial one, and one which was neither the work of a single
man nor at his instigation, but due entirely to individual or tribal
achievements. This view can be traced in xiii. 13, xv. 63 (cf. the
parallel Judges i. 21 in contrast to v. 8), xvi. 10 (Judges i. 29),
xvii. 11-13 (Judges i. 27 seq.), and in the references to separate
tribal or family exploits: xv. 13-19, xix. 47 (cf. Judges i. 34 seq.,
xviii.).
Two closing addresses are ascribed to Joshua, one an exhortation similar
to the homilies in secondary portions of Deuteronomy (xxiii.; cf. Moses
in Deut. xxviii. seq., and Samuel's last address in 1 Sam. xii.), which
virtually excludes the other (xxiv.), where Joshua assembles the tribes
at Shechem (Shiloh, in the Septuagint) and passes under review the
history of Israel from the days of heathenism (before Abraham was
brought into Canaan) down through the oppression in Egypt, the exodus,
the conquest in East Jordan and the occupation of Canaan. A few
otherwise unknown details are to be found (xxiv. 2, 11 seq. 14). The
address (which is extremely important for its representation of the
religious conditions) is made the occasion for a solemn covenant whereby
the people agree to cleave to Yahweh alone. This is commemorated by the
erection of a stone under the oak by the sanctuary of Yahweh (for the
tree with its sacred pillar, see Gen. xxxv. 4; Judges ix. 6). The people
are then dismissed, and the book closes in ordinary narrative style with
the death of Joshua and his burial in his inheritance at Timnath-serah
in Mt Ephraim (cf. xix. 49 seq.); the burial of Joseph in Shechem; and
the death and burial of Eleazar the son of Aaron in the "hill of
Phinehas."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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