Texts in Conversation
Joshua uses the language of Genesis 3 to describe the opponents of Joshua, depicting them with the same shrewdness or cleverness used to describe the snake in the garden that deceives Eve.
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Genesis 3:1
Hebrew Bible
1 Now the serpent was shrewder than any of the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Is it really true that God said, ‘You must not eat from any tree of the orchard’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit from the trees of the orchard; 3 but concerning the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the orchard God said, ‘You must not eat from it, and you must not touch it, or else you will die.’” 4 The serpent said to the woman, “Surely you will not die,
Joshua 9:4
Hebrew Bible
1 When the news reached all the kings on the west side of the Jordan—in the hill country, the foothills, and all along the Mediterranean coast as far as Lebanon (including the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites)— 2 they formed an alliance to fight against Joshua and Israel. 3 When the residents of Gibeon heard what Joshua did to Jericho and Ai, 4 they did something clever. They collected some provisions and put worn-out sacks on their donkeys, along with worn-out wineskins that were ripped and patched.
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Notes and References
"... in the story in Genesis, we find that though the account of the Garden of Eden admits that the snake was “the most cunning of all the wild beasts” (3:1), to which no other creature could compare in its cleverness, nevertheless the snake’s knowledge is that of one of God’s creatures: it is not divine wisdom. What’s more, “cunning” in this context is hardly a positive attribute of wisdom (as we find in Proverbs 1:4, 8:5, 12) but rather denotes evil scheming, as we find in Exodus 21:14, “when a man schemes against another and kills him cunningly” (see also regarding the people of Gibeon, who “resorted to cunning” [Joshua 9:4]). The serpent in our story uses his cunning deceitfully when he tempts man with his scheming words ..."
Shinan, Avigdor and Yair Zakovitch
From Gods to God: How the Bible Debunked, Suppressed, or Changed Ancient Myths and Legends
(pp. 22-23) The Jewish Publication Society, 2012
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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