JOSHUA 3:1 TO JOSHUA 5:1. THE CROSSING OF JORDAN. Here we begin to meet with more serious difficulties. The old tradition was that after the Israelites had crossed the Jordan, they commemorated the event by the erection of twelve stones. But this simple narrative existed in two recensions, which dif... [ Continue Reading ]
Joshua Circumcises the Israelites. Here we have an interesting but quite unhistorical account of the institution of circumcision. Circumcision (pp. 83, 99f.) is a prehistoric rite practised by many nations in antiquity and by the South Sea Islanders, African, and Australian aborigines in the present... [ Continue Reading ]
JOSHUA 5:13 TO JOSHUA 6:27. THE CAPTURE OF JERICHO. The narrative begins at Joshua 5:13; Joshua 6:1 is an insertion (observe that RV places it in brackets), so that Joshua 6:2 should immediately follow Joshua 5:15. The captain of Yahweh's host is therefore Yahweh Himself. In the rest of the chapter... [ Continue Reading ]