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Joshua

About this book
Chapter 16

1 The land allotted to Joseph’s descendants extended from the Jordan at Jericho to the waters of Jericho to the east, through the desert and on up from Jericho into the hill country of Bethel. 2 The southern border extended from Bethel to Luz, and crossed to Arkite territory at Ataroth. 3 It then descended westward to Japhletite territory, as far as the territory of lower Beth Horon and Gezer, and ended at the sea. 4 Joseph’s descendants, Manasseh and Ephraim, were assigned their land. 5 The territory of the tribe of Ephraim by its clans included the following: The border of their assigned land to the east was Ataroth Addar as far as upper Beth Horon. 6 It then extended on to the sea, with Micmethath on the north. It turned eastward to Taanath Shiloh and crossed it on the east to Janoah. 7 It then descended from Janoah to Ataroth and Naarah, touched Jericho, and extended to the Jordan River. 8 From Tappuah it went westward to the Valley of Kanah and ended at the sea. This is the land assigned to the tribe of Ephraim by its clans. 9 Also included were the cities set apart for the tribe of Ephraim within Manasseh’s territory, along with their towns. 10 The Ephraimites did not conquer the Canaanites living in Gezer.⁠ The Canaanites live among the Ephraimites to this very day and do hard labor as their servants.

Texts in conversation

Compare Joshua 10:40 and Joshua 13:13 and Joshua 16:10

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Joshua describes total destruction of the land’s inhabitants yet later describes the survival of Gibeonite and Canaanite cities. Distinct traditions were likely edited together, or early claims of total conquest were not meant to be literal.

Passages

Joshua 10:40

Hebrew Bible
40 Joshua defeated the whole land, including the hill country, the Negev, the foothills, the slopes, and all their kings. He left no survivors. He annihilated everything that breathed, just as the Lord God of Israel had commanded. 41 Joshua conquered the area between Kadesh Barnea and Gaza and the whole region of Goshen, all the way to Gibeon. 42 Joshua captured in one campaign all these kings and their lands, for the Lord God of Israel fought for Israel. 43 Then Joshua and all Israel returned to the camp at Gilgal.
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Joshua

Joshua 13:13

Hebrew Bible
12 the whole kingdom of Og in Bashan, who ruled in Ashtaroth and Edrei. (He was one of the few remaining Rephaites.) Moses defeated them and took their lands. 13 But the Israelites did not conquer the Geshurites and Maacathites; Geshur and Maacah live among Israel to this very day. 14 However, Moses did not assign land as an inheritance to the Levites; their inheritance is the sacrificial offerings made to the Lord God of Israel, as he instructed them.
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Joshua

Joshua 16:10

Hebrew Bible
8 From Tappuah it went westward to the Valley of Kanah and ended at the sea. This is the land assigned to the tribe of Ephraim by its clans. 9 Also included were the cities set apart for the tribe of Ephraim within Manasseh’s territory, along with their towns. 10 The Ephraimites did not conquer the Canaanites living in Gezer. The Canaanites live among the Ephraimites to this very day and do hard labor as their servants.
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Joshua

References

"... The text of Joshua presents the reader with a puzzling contradiction. On the one hand, there are commands to slaughter all of the enemy, descriptions of complete destruction and statements recording the success of the conquest, and on the other hand, Rahab's family, the Gibeonites and others continue to live in the land. To this puzzling contradiction, several explanations have been offered ... Smend also realizes that the ideas of the annihilation of the nations and their continued existence in the land are incompatible, and therefore belong to different redactional strata. He designates 13.1b-6 and 23.1b-16, together with 1.7-9, as part of a later deuteronomistic redaction which he calls DtrN ... Unfortunately, neither Smend nor Auld explains the prominence given to Rahab and the Gibeonites in the Joshua narrative. It is these stories that constitute one of the major contradictions to the idea of the complete destruction of the occupants of the land ..."
Gordon Mitchell, Together in the Land: A Reading of the Book of Joshua, JSOTSup 134 (Sheffield: JSOT, 1993), 13–15.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Joshua 10:40 and Joshua 13:13 and Joshua 16:10

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