Notes on Joshua March 21 2010

Sources are in bold (if any) and described at end.

See separate blog page on Joshua historiography and text.

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cherem (translated here as “proscribe” or “doom”)

Lev 27:21                 land shall be holy to YHVH as land proscribed

Lev 27:28-29            “..every proscribed thing is totally consecrated to YHVH.  No human being who has been proscribed can be ransomed: he shall be put to death.”

Num 21:1-2              Canaanites were proscribed, specifically “king of Arad who engaged Israel in battle and took some of them captive” = per JPS footnote = “utterly destroy – reserving no booty except what is deposited in the Sanctuary”

Deut 2:24                 King Sihon would not let the Israelites pass through safely so they fought and the Israelites “doomed every town – men, women and children, leaving no survivor” JPS footnote – “annihilation of the population

Deut 7:1-2                God will deliver the nations to the Israelites in the land and they must “doom them to destruction: grant them no terms and give them no quarter” (Ex 34:12-16 is similar but is about smashing idols and not making covenant rather than cherem)

Deut 20:12-18          towns belonging to nearby nations must be proscribed – not a soul can live (17) – towns lying very far away they can take women, children, livestock and spoils

Josh 2:10                 Sihon and Og were doomed.  JPS footnote = annihilation of the inhabitants

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Cherem = “dedicated things.  Clearly connoted the idea of consecration to God in many places including Jos 6.17

Cherem not consistent – sometimes voluntary as a vow (Lev 27.28; Num 21.2), in more cases commanded by God (Deut 20:17, Josh 6:17-18).  In Deut and DHist, never appears as vow and often explicitly ordered by God.  Sometimes keep some booty (Josh 8.2), other times everything destroyed.  In Josh 7 cherem is absolutely dedicated and commanded by God, although not everything had to be always destroyed. (see pg 79 for comparison of Deut and Josh 6:17a).   It may be that some texts are of different time periods but equally possible that different levels of cherem applied at different times.  Texts make it clear that cherem implies consecration or dedication in an almost sacrificial manner.

Covenant binds Israelites to laws which are not purely human but divine imperatives.    Israel unites law and religion and retribution comes about when the contagious nature of sin deprives God of God’s required state of holiness.  Therefore there is a punishment for those who violate the bans, because they put the whole nation at risk.  Without a holy state (a proper ritual state), God cannot be present and will abandon the people

CRHB

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BDB = Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon

CRHB = Corporate Responsibility in the Hebrew Bible.   Chapter 4  Joel S. Kaminsky.

JPS = JPS Tanakh

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Joshua Chapter 6- and beginning of 7 in detail

REMEMBER END OF CHAPTER 5

Joshua is standing near Jericho – is the holy ground Jericho?

5:13 -15  “Remove your sandals” Read with Jacob and angel (Gen 32:25-31) burning bush (Ex 3:1-10 – “Remove your sandals”) and Balaam (Num 22:22-23) What makes the ground or the land holy?

CHAPTER 6

6:1 - 6:16------ March around Jericho – 6 days and then on 7th the walls will fall; 
see Legends Vol II, pg 845 and note 22 regarding 7th day =  Sabbath and proscribing of first fruits – “they consecrate the first city conquered”

6:1-------------- Jericho is shut tight before the Israelites.

6:10------------- trumpets of priests but no voices of the people

6:12------------- vayishchem baboker = Joshua rises early on the second day of marching around

6:15------------- vayishchimu cha’aloat hashachar = rose at daybreak – on the seventh and last day – when the walls will fall – the only day they march around 7 times instead of 1.  Gen 32:25: Jacob wrestles with man until aloat hashachar

6:17------------- City to be proscribed (cherem) to YHVH and Rahab to be spared

6:18------------- Cherem 4 times

6:20------------- Wall collapses – not a siege – just march around and shout and wall collapses

6:21------------- They exterminated (vayicherimu) everything

6:22 - 25------- Rahab is spared and all else is burned.  Why such emphasis on Rabab sparing the spies?  Why is this so important?  Exercise in thinking like the sages – how to explain this emphasis in the text?

6:26----------------- Joshua pronounces oath (not a vow): Cursed be he who fortifies the city of Jericho and lays new foundations.  Alternate translation: Joshua proclaimed "Cursed be the man before the Lord who rises up and builds this city Jericho; he shall lay its foundation with his firstborn and with his youngest son he shall set up its gates" (Josh 6:26).”  

CHAPTER 7

7:1-------------- Violation of proscription (2x cherem) – Achan is introduced.  Narrator says YHVH is incensed – before we see YHVH take any action

7:2-------------- More spies to check out Ai

7:3 - 4---------- Spies say 2-3 thousand men is enough – but they are routed – presumably the routing is what makes them “turn their backs on their enemy” – see Jos 7:8 and 7:12 – the enemy forces them to turn.

7:7-------------- Joshua says “Why did you lead this people only to deliver...?  If only we had been content.”  This is different from Ex 16:3  If only we had died in Egypt when we sat by the fleshpots.

7:8-------------- “Turned tail”  hafach (“turn”) Israel oreyph (“back of neck”) – Orpah, Ruth’s sister-in-law – same consonants

------------------ 7:12  oreyph (“back of neck”) yiphnu(“turn”) (BDB = “turn one’s back before a foe”)

7:9-------------- “What about your great name?”