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Joshua: Conquest

  1. Lesson One
    Overview of Joshua (Joshua 1-5)
    23 Activities
    |
    3 Assessments
  2. Lesson Two
    The Central Campaign (Joshua 6–10:28)
    16 Activities
    |
    1 Assessment
  3. Lesson Three
    Southern and Northern Campaigns (Joshua 10:29–12:24)
    23 Activities
    |
    1 Assessment
  4. Lesson Four
    Allotments (Joshua 13–21)
    19 Activities
    |
    1 Assessment
  5. Lesson Five
    Covenant Renewal (Joshua 22–24)
    14 Activities
  6. Course Wrap-Up
    Course Completion
    1 Activity
    |
    1 Assessment

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As we head Behind the Text, let’s pick up where we left off on the parallel campaign accounts, where we looked at Egyptian daybooks. 

It’s not unusual for biblical texts to reflect ancient literary norms or patterns. Ancient writers often had standard ways of framing narratives. We shouldn’t be surprised that Joshua’s conquest accounts are similar to other ancient Near Eastern narratives. 

We saw nearly identical narrative structures in Joshua 10 and 11, for example, suggesting they use a common ancient pattern or “template” for conquest accounts. The similarity between the two campaigns—southern (Josh 10) and northern (Josh 11)—are comprehensive:

Joshua 10Joshua 11
Enemy leader hears about Israelite success.10:111:1
Enemy leader seeks allies.10:3-411:1-3
Surrounding kings join forces & take up positions.10:511:4-5
YHWH promises his divine intervention.10:811:6
Joshua moves army into position and launches attack.10:7, 911:7
YHWH intervenes so that Israelites defeats enemy forces.10:1011:8
Enemy is pursued until victory was complete.10:10, 2011:8-9
Summary of total destruction according to the command of YHWH.10:40-4111:16-20
Conquest attributed to Joshua but accomplished by YHWH.10:4211:23

Source: https://biblicalhistoricalcontext.com/conquest-of-canaan/joshua-10-and-11-genre-and-the-common-narrative-structure/#more-845; Accessed August 24, 2020.

God inspired the use of common genres to communicate His message to future generations. It should not surprise us. He spoke in a language and style familiar to the people of that time.

We still use literary patterns today. For example, we have standard forms for writing obituaries. They incorporate the same conventions and components. No one would consider obituaries “inauthentic” or mythical. We can look at biblical conquest accounts, like those in Joshua, in the same way. 

It’s important to acknowledge non-biblical parallels wherever we can find them but it’s also important not to misunderstand these parallels as invalidating the Bible story or to suggest it has merely human origin. 

(If you haven’t yet done so, check out our Interpretation Stop on inner-biblical parallels and begin thinking about how you will write your answer to the Guiding Question on “The Nature of Biblical Revelation” at the end of this module.)