{"id":53503,"date":"2019-04-10T12:18:57","date_gmt":"2019-04-10T09:18:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=53503"},"modified":"2022-11-03T11:28:33","modified_gmt":"2022-11-03T09:28:33","slug":"a-users-guide-to-the-book-of-joshua","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/a-users-guide-to-the-book-of-joshua\/","title":{"rendered":"A User\u2019s Guide To The Book of Joshua"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[395,444,712,372],"acf":{"old_id":"53503","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33992,"related_cahpter":"195","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Joshua\u2019s covenant of inclusion reveals an anti-despotic subtext","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are two broad ways to read the Book of Joshua. One is to treat it as a primarily historical text, assuming that events occurred pretty much as they are reported here. The challenge to the first approach is that big archaeological and historical evidence don\u2019t mesh with the assertions of the book (the fall of Jericho, the capture of the entire land, the elimination of the Canaanites \u2013 all of which are contradicted by the evidence and by other biblical books). But there is an even larger challenge to this mode of reading: the widespread slaughter of innocents evokes moral repugnance among readers who take seriously the biblical demand for one law, for justice, for compassion.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A better mode of reading is to assume that the Book of Joshua is intended to be a didactic text, intended to teach truths using stories that read like history but are aiming at something bigger. To read the Book of Joshua in this mode is to look for wisdom, insights, and lessons, understanding that the stories that carry the book are not literal descriptions but provide the canvas on which wisdom can present itself.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I can only make it through the Book of Joshua using this second, more inclusive approach (one that accords with ancient and medieval commentaries, as well as more recent archaeological findings). Read through that lens, the Book offers us guidance and wisdom we can use to this day.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Chapter 8 ends with a Covenant Ceremony at Shechem. Joshua builds an altar on Mount Ebal, and on that site, facing Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, are gathered \u201cAll Israel \u2013 stranger and citizen alike (Joshua 8:33).\u201d Notice the clear insistence that \u201call Israel\u201d includes not only the citizens, but also the stranger. Ancient Israel is meant, even at this foundational moment, to be maximally inclusive.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That same point is repeated and expanded: The entire Book of the Teaching (the whole Chumash according to Ramban, only the 613 Commandments according to Rav Saadia Gaon) were recited aloud in the \u201cpresence of the entire assembly of Israel, including the women and children and the strangers who accompanied them (Joshua 8:35).\u201d Note again: the assembly of Israel isn\u2019t complete if it doesn\u2019t include men, women, children, and strangers. More maximal inclusion.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There, I would propose, is the divine aspect of this biblical book. Even in the midst of conquest, Israel is meant to include us all: Jews, non-Jews, all genders, all ages. Everyone participates because the entire point of this conquest is to set up a people unlike the surrounding despotisms: a place where everyone counts, where everyone participates, where all are welcome. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Image: <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":53504,"id":53504,"title":"jo8-manual","filename":"jo8-manual.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo8-manual.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/a-users-guide-to-the-book-of-joshua\/jo8-manual\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jo8-manual","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":53503,"date":"2019-04-10 09:18:46","modified":"2019-04-10 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