The Historical Books
These Books tell the story of Israel’s entrance into the land promised it by God and of its life there. In other words, it is the story of the great gift which the Lord gave to the children of Abraham and which they lost by their failure to respond to God’s love for them. The dramatic events follow swiftly on one another over the course of a little more than six centuries; the story was handed on by witnesses who played a direct part in it or who were able to assess, in the light of later developments, events whose consequence they were still experiencing. The final editors, who did their work after the Exile (see the
This is a story in which the greatness of the events (the conquest of the territory, the establishment of a monarchical state) and of individuals (Samuel, Saul, David, Solomon, etc.) is almost equaled by their misfortunes. When read with the eyes of faith it becomes a continual dialogue between God and his people, a centuries-long contrasting back-and-forth between fidelity and infidelity that is repeated from each generation to the next.
These pages cannot leave the reader indifferent. They make us reflect on the present-day people of God; they ask insistently an urgent question: “What about you? Are you faithful?”
It is obvious, however, that texts coming down to us from an age and a civilization so different from ours will display aspects that may rub us the wrong way. Even more, some passages may even scandalize us. In some pages of Joshua and Judges, for example, whole populations are mercilessly exterminated, and the destroyers boast of it. But we would be wrong were we to be scandalized; what we are witnessing is the human conscience at a less developed stage, when the value of every human life, of the human person as such, was not yet clearly understood. Moreover, the victims of these savage practices did not react as we do; rather they found them to be normal and were ready to inflict them in turn on others. Progress will be made, a little at a time, and legislation will accept humanitarian concerns; but we must not be too impatient. The Bible is a book describing the education of a people; it displays therefore the progress typically made under a good teacher.
We feel a greater difficulty when we read that God himself commands the radical extirpation of peoples conquered by the Hebrews (the anathema). But we must bear in mind, first of all, that the authors and editors were quite ready to attribute the decisions of the people directly to God; their habitual way of speaking highlights God, the ultimate cause of all things, without stopping at immediate causes, whether natural or moral. Secondly, it emerges from some passages that the exterminations were less systematic than we might think; simplification, however, is an element in the literary genre. Above all, we must note that foreigners were not exterminated simply because they were foreigners (in fact, there is a rather frequent insistence, in God’s name, on respect for other peoples), but because contact with idolatrous peoples and their immoral customs was a great danger to Israel; a radical separation from other religions was a necessity, and at that time peoples were identified with their religions. That this was so is shown by the fact that down to the Exile, Israel was incapable of resisting the powerful attraction of the idolatry around them. Nor, finally, should we pay insufficient heed to the fact that the exterminations are frequently presented as punishments for immorality.
The Book of Joshua
God Delivers the Land to His People
When researchers excavate the remains of ancient cities in Palestine, they discover traces of destruction and fire at a level that corresponds approximately to the 13th century B.C.: a civilization collapsed under pressure from new populations that were trying to establish themselves in the country. This was the period in which the Hebrews made their way to the land of Canaan.
In the eyes of the Hebrews, it was God who gave the victory to the tribes that were advancing into this new land. At ancient sanctuaries, generation handed on to generation stories that praised various salient moments in this conquest. Then, in the time of King Josiah (seventh century B.C.), during the fervent religious reform that had been initiated by the discovery of Deuteronomy, these ancient traditions were combined in order to display the wonderful unfolding of sacred history. Was not the conquest of Palestine a supremely important event in God’s plan for his people? Beginning with the promise made to Abraham, the entire story is directed toward the gift of the land (Gen 12:1-7; 13:14-15; 17:8). It is precisely the conquest of Palestine that the Book of Joshua celebrates in epic style.
The work takes its name from Moses’ successor; he is in fact the agent through whom God presides over the new destinies of his people at this decisive time (Jos 1:1-5; 3:7; 4:14; 11:15; 24:29). It is as God’s deputy that Joshua directs the conquest, organizes the division of the land, and calls for the covenant. His very name means “God saves.”
On every page this epic extols the initiative of God in saving his people; it reflects the unity and fidelity of Israel in the land given to it by the Lord. Its message is relevant even for us: ever faithful to his plan, God is leading all of us together to the true promised land of his kingdom (Heb 4), and it is still a Joshua (Jesus) who is bringing us into it. And by entering into the new covenant with us, he demands our fidelity to him, the only true God.
The exhortations to perseverance and fidelity that are contained in this Book quicken our sense of responsibility as Christians in the midst of the world and involved in the mission of the Church, the new people of God. We are called by the Lord and must be people who today choose him.
The Book of Joshua may be divided as follows:
I: The Conquest of the Promised Land (1:1—12:24)
II: The Division of the Land among the Tribes (13:1—21:45)
III: The Return of the Eastern Tribes and Joshua’s Farewell (22:1—24:33)