ToC | Reading the Old Testament. . . Chapter 6. Joshua | ToC

A. Joshua's Farewell

Toward the end of Joshua's life a conflict arose, and the transjordanian tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East-Manasseh fought against the Israelite tribes in Canaan (22). The dispute was religious in nature and almost provoked a full-scale civil war. The transjordanian tribes wanted to have their own worship center, specifically an altar--yes, yet another pile of stones! The Canaan tribes believed that Yahweh could be worshiped only where the ark of the covenant was located; at this time it was Shiloh. The matter was settled only after those remote tribes agreed not to use the altar for sacrifice but only as a memorial to the work of Yahweh. These are their words of dedication: "This is a witness among us that YHWH is God" (22:34).
    Although a somewhat obscure incident, it nonetheless served at least two functions. First, it affirmed the religious centrality of the worship center that housed the ark of the covenant. Here it applied to Shiloh, but the principle later applied to Jerusalem. This principle was always important to the tradition of Deuteronomy. Second, it allowed for the possibility that Yahweh could still be honored elsewhere, even in the "foreign" territory of Transjordan. Those living in exile (when these stories were finally edited) certainly took comfort knowing that just because they were distant from the "Holy City," they were not necessarily distant from God.
    The first five verses of chapter 22 and all of chapter 23 are heavily Deuteronomic in style and content. Chapter 23 contains the farewell speech of Joshua. Such speeches are characteristic of the Deuteronomistic Historian. The farewell speeches of Israel's great leaders clearly articulate the theology of covenant. The whole book of Deuteronomy is Moses' farewell address and it is all about covenant; likewise, Samuel's farewell (1 Samuel 12) and David's (1 Kings 2:1-9). Here in chapter 23 Joshua stresses the fulfillment of promise, and encourages the people to remain faithful to the Torah of Moses. But he also sounds a strong note of warning. The Canaanites who were left in the land would threaten Israel's loyalty to Yahweh. If Israel strayed from complete covenant loyalty and worshiped the gods of the Canaanites, it would be removed from the land of promise.
    These dire words of warning portend what actually happened to Israel resulting in the Assyrian destruction of the eighth century B.C.E., and to Judah in the Babylonian exile of the sixth century. But the words are not just here as an "I told you so." They contain the theology that would enable the Israelites to make sense out of what happened to them when they were dispossessed of the land. Punishments involving removal from the land are their own fault, and restoration would come with renewed obedience.
ToC | Reading the Old Testament. . . Chapter 6. Joshua | ToC