Genres+of+the+book

The book of Joshua is written in narrative form telling the story of Joshua, as he leads the people of Israel to the land promised by god. It is written with a Deuteronomy perspective, as the book of Deuteronomy is the prior the book of Joshua in the Old Testament. The book of Deuteronomy focuses on Moses’ leadership of the people of Israel. The book of Joshua begins with the death of Moses. God tells Joshua to continue Moses role in leading the people of Israel to the promised land of Canaan “…as I promised to Moses.” (Joshua 1:3).

The book uses much repetition, making the story easy to read and comprehend. The conquests of Jericho, Ai and Gibeon follow a similar structure. The messages within the text are clear telling of Joshua serving god, in leading the people of Israel into the promised land. It also shows the power of god to fulfil his promises to people of Israel which he will reward when the Israelites obey his commands.

The book also uses the language of “myth and metaphor” (Studies in Hebrew Narrative and Poetry: Joshua, pg. 59) shown when the river of Jordan stops flowing as the priest bearing the Arc of Covenant pass through towards Jericho (Joshua 3:16), the sun stands still (Joshua 10:13) and god throwing "stones from heaven" onto the enemies at the battle at Gibeon (Joshua 10:11).

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