Joshua - Midterm

Question 1

What phrase in Joshua indicates the book was assembled long after the events it records?

Answer 1

“To this day” (Josh 4:9; 5:9; 6:25; 7:26; etc)

Question 2

What was Jerusalem called in the days of Joshua?

Answer 2

Jebus

Question 3

Which books are known as the Deuteronomistic narrative?

Answer 3

Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings

Question 4

Which four themes run through Joshua?

Answer 4

Covenant, land, devoting (herem), and fear

Question 5

What did God say to Joshua three times that he also told Moses?

Answer 5

“Be strong and courageous” (Josh 1:6, 7, 9; cf. Deut 31:6, 7, 23)

Question 6

What are characteristics of success and prosperity in Joshua 1?

Answer 6

Yahweh’s presence and Torah obedience

Question 7

What elements make up the rationale for the law of devoting the nations of Canaan in Torah?

Answer 7

-Devoting the nations of Canaan was Israel’s idea, not Yahweh’s (Num 21:1-3; cf. Deut 7:1, 2)
-The law of devoting the Canaanites was a temporary law for the initial invasion of the land (Deut 7:1a; 12:29a)
-To protect Israel from sin and Yahweh’s wrath (Deut 7:3, 4)
-The judgement against Canaan was deserved and God treated rebellious Israel in the same way (Deut 9:4-6; 29:22-25)

Question 8

Why did Yahweh part the waters of the Jordan River?

Answer 8

Yahweh did not part the waters so that Israel could escape, but to initiate an attack

Question 9

What type of memorial was intended to prompt questions from children in years to come?

Answer 9

The 12 stone monument in Gilgal after crossing the Jordan (Josh 4:6, 21)

Question 10

What served as a physical sign of Israelite faith and commitment to the covenant and its obligations?

Answer 10

Circumcision

Question 11

What ceased when Israel celebrated their first Passover in the land?

Answer 11

Manna

Question 12

What did the three vignettes of Joshua 5 do?

Answer 12

Established continuities with the generation of the redemption from Egypt

Question 13

Why did the judgment for Achan’s crime bring punishment on his family?

Answer 13

Since Achan’s individual crime brought collective judgment on Israel, the punishment fell collectively on Achan’s family

Question 14

What did the ceremony involving Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal demonstrate?

Answer 14

That the conquest was covenantal, and it draws attention to Yahweh’s faithfulness to fulfill his word as well as Israel’s obligations to the covenant under the threat of curse and the hope of blessing

Question 15

What expression is used three times to show Israel’s failure in making a treaty with Gibeon and its quartet of towns in their midst?

Answer 15

Far away

Question 16

True obedience can only happen in what context?

Answer 16

Within a relationship to Yahweh

Question 17

What happened in the southern campaign?

Answer 17

Yahweh delivered several cosmic acts against the coalition of five southern kings who banded together against Gibeon. Yahweh fought for Israel.

Question 18

What is the sixth memorial monument in Joshua?

Answer 18

Large stones that were placed at the mouth of the cave where the five dead kings of the southern coalition were buried

Question 19

What note does the narrator include to explain God’s role in the entire era of Israel’s conquest of the land of promise (Joshua)?

Answer 19

Yahweh hardened the hearts of the Canaanites. Dt 7:2, Ex 4:21, Jhs 11:20

Question 20

What is the purpose of the inclusio around Joshua 13–21?

Answer 20

To set the distribution of the land as background to the story proper, within a literary framework

Question 21

Which outer contrastive frame is around the distribution of the land?

Answer 21

Israel’s almost obedience and Yahweh’s complete faithfullness (p. 56)

Question 22

What is a surprising element found in Joshua 13–21?

Answer 22

Tribes named after Joseph’s two sons Ephraim and Manasseh treated as “Joseph” (p. 56)

Question 23

Which tribes had a habit of taking actions that brought all of Israel to the brink of disaster?

Answer 23

The tribes of the Transjordan—Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh—had a habit of taking actions that brought all of Israel to the brink of disaster. (p. 56)

Question 24

What traitorous action did the Transjordan tribes take after the tribal distribution of land?

Answer 24

They constructed a giant altar by the Jordan River (p. 56)

Question 25

What signified the covenantal setting of Joshua’s final speech taking place at Shechem?

Answer 25

Joshua gives his final speech at Shechem nestled between two mountains, Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal. (p. 58)

Question 26

Why did Joshua add two elements not in the Torah, the idolatry of Abraham’s father’s family in Mesopotamia and the idolatry of the exodus generation in Egypt?

Answer 26

Joshua filled in this essential backstory to get to the point of his covenantal retrospective (p. 59)

Question 27

What law was a leading concern of the authors of the Torah and Deuteronomistic narrative?

Answer 27

The laws about Canaanites in Deut (p. 60)

Question 28

What allusions dominates the Joshua narrative?

Answer 28

The Joshua narrative is dominated by allusions to the law of devoting the nations of Canaan in Deut 7:1–5 and 20:16. (p. 41)

Question 29

What connection does the narrator of Joshua make between hardness of heart of the nations of Canaan?

Answer 29

Joshua connects the law of devoting and the hardening of the hearts of the nations of Canaan (p. 61)