Joshua 14:6–15: Testimony to a Post-Exilic Inclusive Conception of Israel
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12775/BPTh.2024.025Keywords
Old Testament, Book of Joshua, Israel, Caleb, InclusivismAbstract
The text of Josh 14:6–15, which recounts Caleb asking Joshua for the land promised to him by Moses and consequently receiving Hebron, poses an exegetical difficulty because of its place in the context and its content. The study aims to provide an insight into its formative history and to interpret the message conveyed in this text.
The analysis of the form of the current Hebrew version of Josh 14:6–15, its vocabulary, motifs and intertextual relationships, leads to the conclusion that it is the result of a post-priestly (post-P) and post-deuteronomistic (post-dtr) elaboration of the Book of Joshua in the late Persian period. The essential part, which can be linked to the redaction of the Hexateuch, was expanded with later additions and explanations, especially those that resulted from the separation of the Book of Joshua from the Pentateuch. In the text of Josh 14:6–15, one can see a reflection of the presence of an inclusivist tendency in the post-exilic community of Israel, promoted in response to the strong position of the proponents of Israelite exclusivism.
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