they should not be landless in the world. But that claim in contemporary context is fraught with immense problems. As Regina Schwartz has argued, the very notion of “chosenness” carries with it implications of violence that remain definingly problematic.2 For that reason our contemporary interpretation of such texts must be knowing about our own time and place. The text cannot be taken as an absolute outside of time, but is always drawn into particular time and place by the act of interpretation.
We may begin with a summary of some standard critical observations.3 The first half of the book of Joshua (chapters 1–12) concerns the conquest of the land, which is ordered by God. Chapters 13–22 concern the division of the land, ordered by Joshua. The book of Joshua is a theological account in which God acts directly as an agent in the narrative. Within Joshua 1–12, the specific narrative accounts concern
• 2 and 6: the conquest of Jericho
• 3 and 4: the crossing at Gilgal
• 5: the institution of circumcision
• 7 and 8:1–29: the crisis of Achan and Ai
• 8:30–35: the altar on Mt. Ebal near Shechem
• 9: the subservience of the Gibeonites
• 10: the taking of the south.
Albrecht Alt has suggested that these narratives conclude with etiological formulas that evidence that they were originally teaching tales to justify present phenomena. He has observed that these etiological narratives tend to be located in a narrow geographical range with particular reference to the tribal area of Benjamin.4
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