The Book of Joshua has a strong martial character. Through a carefully structured narrative, it describes the struggles of the Israelite people for the conquest of Palestine. These struggles are presented in the form of three victorious campaigns in central, southern, and northern Palestine.
But is this account of events true, and who is its author? As with most books of the Old Testament, we do not know the author of this one. Jewish tradition attributes the authorship of this book to Joshua himself. However, this cannot hold; the title of the book 'Joshua' indicates the main character in it, not its author!
Joshua could not have been its author because, on one hand, he could not have written about his own death and, on the other hand, the style of the book indicates that it is later. Many phenomena in the land of Israel are explained as if many years had passed since its conquest. For example, the 'Valley of Achor' received its name due to the incident that occurred with Achan during the time of conquest; this name seems to have been retained for many years, even until the time of the author.
This book contains many ancient stories, which were later incorporated into a unified narrative of the conquest of Palestine. We do not know if all the events described are accurate. Archaeology sometimes confirms the biblical account and sometimes does not.
However, what we can say with certainty is that an unknown biblical author wanted, based on ancient Israelite stories, to write the history of his nation and to present it to his people to teach them some great theological truths: The Israelites received their land from the Lord and not by their own strength, due to their obedience to God's will, and they would lose it if they appeared disobedient to Him. Their leader, Joshua, was an ideal leader, a model leader, always obedient to the divine will and therefore always successful in all that he did.
Number of pages
382
Translation
Metropolitan of Gortynia and Megalopolis Ieremias Fountas
Cover
Hardcover
Year of publication
2008
Dimensions
15x24 cm
Publisher
Apostoliki Diakonia tis Ekklisias tis Ellados
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