Journal: Bulletin for Biblical Research
Volume: BBR 23:1 (NA 2013)
Article: Joshua And Kingship
Author: Gregory Goswell

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BBR 23:1 (2013) p. 29

Joshua And Kingship

Gregory Goswell

Presbyterian Theological Centre, Sydney

In contrast to the common idea that Joshua is modeled on and prefigures Josiah, this article shows that the connection of Joshua is fundamentally back in time to Moses, not forward in time to the latter kings. Joshua is depicted as Moses’ successor and a second Moses. None of the key features of Joshua 1 (Joshua meditating on the law, the tribal pledge of total obedience, the military leadership of Joshua, the encouragements given to him, the promises of divine presence) are essentially royal in nature. Unlike subsequent kings, Joshua is a leader without a successor. The usually posited intertextual connections between Joshua and later kings are unconvincing. The book’s emphasis on (Canaanite) kings as enemies makes it unlikely that Joshua himself is pictured as a king figure. In line with his nonroyal status, the closing chapter of the book depicts Joshua as head of an Israelite household exhorting other Israelite households and their heads to serve God as King faithfully.

Key Words: Joshua, kingship, Deuteronomy, Josiah, theocracy

The four Hebrew book titles Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings give the Former Prophets a distinct focus on leadership that is not at all inappropriate.1 Furthermore, the placement of the divisions between the books in the Greek canonical tradition at the point of significant deaths (those of Moses, Joshua, Saul, and Ahab) has the same readerly effect of drawing attention to leadership (and transitions in leadership) as a prominent feature of this literary corpus (Josh 1:1; Judg 1:1; 2 Sam 1:1; 2 Kgs 1:1; using the formula “After the death of x” in each case).2 In line with this, Mark O’Brien sees the books of Joshua onward as composed “principally as a story of Israel’s leaders,” with the leaders portrayed as exercising various aspects of Moses’ authority, “albeit of course in a way that was appropriate to the particular period of Israel’s life in the land.”3 This article evaluates the thesis of

BBR 23:1 (2013) p. 30

Richard D. Nelson and others that Joshua is depicted in the book named after him as a king figure, and indeed, that he is modeled on (and therefore anticipates) Josiah. I will supply a number of reasons for questioning this view, which, I will argue, not only m...

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