Studying and Preaching the Book of Joshua

Last updated on: April 22, 2020 at 5:22 am by Michael F. Bird

Studying and Preaching the Book of Joshua 2019-12-20T23:25:42-04:00 Michael F. Bird

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Lissa M. Wray Beal.

Joshua.
The Story of God Bible Commentary.
Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2019.
Available through Zondervan.

Reviewed by Andrew Judd.

Lissa Wray Beal’s commentary on the book of Joshua is a superb and timely addition to Zondervan’s The Story of God Bible Commentary series. It will equip and embolden, I am sure, more preachers to tackle this important and often neglected part of God’s word in the pulpit.

The Story of God Bible Commentary is a promising new series from Zondervan. The Old Testament side of things looks very exciting, with general editor Tremper Longman III and associated editors George Athas, Mark J. Boda and Myrto Theocharous brought together under the watchful supervision of Zondervan’s Katya Covrett. The series kicked off with Genesis by Tremper Longman III, and has been followed to date by Daniel (Wendy L Widder), 1-2 Samuel (Paul Evans), and Proverbs (Ryan O’Dowd). Ruth & Esther (Marion Taylor), and Ecclesiastes & Song of Songs (George Athas) are on their way soon and I can’t wait. Video Study resources are appearing for many of the books. The full list of 22 Old Testament volumes to be released over the next decade includes 9 by top notch female scholars.

The commentary (like the other books in the series) is not intended to be an academic reference work, but nor is it a pure devotional work. It is a tool for serious Bible study intended for people who want to know where Joshua “stands within the story of God, the Scriptures that stretch from Genesis to Revelation” (Introduction, p 20). It is based on the text of the NIV 2011 and mercifully spares us much text- and source-critical noise by taking a canonical approach to the text. That said, Wray Beal has done a masterful job of judiciously guiding the reader through the key historical, textual and scholarly issues that come up along the way.

The Introduction is a tidy 30 pages of gold. We hear just the right amount about 1) the authorship, audience and date, 2) textual issues, canonicity and title, 3) genre and relationship to history, 4) structure, 5) historical setting, and 6) theological themes. A selective list of more academic treatments follows for those wanting a deep dive.

Wray Beal’s presuppositions are classically Christian and generously evangelical, without straying into defensive or naïve confessionalism. She is not shy to address problems dating the conquest, Ancient Near Eastern war report genres and the different models of Israel’s arrival in the land. Take this elegant executive summary of the latter:

“While none of the models fully accounts for the evidences of text, epigraphy, and archaeology, each model sheds light on some aspect of the historical reality. Israel’s emergence in the land did include warfare and conquest; indigenous peoples did join with Israel; cities and royal power were targeted by Israel; and Israel’s possession of the land was indeed gradually realized over many years.” (p 34)

In those two sentences, Wray Beal has probably saved someone about half a day of reading. (By my calculations, if 60,000 people read even just these two sentences she effectively will have saved a life.) She also deals well with the problem of violence in Joshua, arguing that with a proper understanding of key biblical and extra-biblical contexts the herem texts cannot be interpreted as comparable to modern notions of genocide. She then looks to the New Testament for the final context of these texts, arguing against their applicability to armed conflict today without conceding to an extreme non-violence reading of the New Testament. This is hard terrain expertly navigated (although personally I would have liked to see more development of the issues and themes within the Old Testament before jumping into their New Testament fulfilment.)

The actual commentary on the text of Joshua is broken into three sections. First, Listen to the Story begins with the NIV of the passage, broken into 21 sensibly divided teaching units. The text is followed by some cross references to other biblical texts as well as ANE parallels: the victories of Joshua 10, to pick an example at random, are followed by references to a handful of passages including Exodus 14, and an illuminating selection of other documents like Ten Year Annals of Great King Muršili II of Hatti. After that we get a nice selection of context pieces that might be helpful in reading the text: for Joshua 10 that means an unpacking of the biblical theme of the Divine Warrior, an explanation of who the kings of the Amorites are, and some important ANE parallels for the description of divine battle intervention.

Second, Explain the Story gives a more standard commentary on the text — not verse by verse, but divided (in Joshua 10’s case) into 5 subsections of the narrative. This chapter also includes helpful table comparing the building blocks of the accounts of each city’s taking. Significantly, this section integrates broader biblical theological reflection into the explanation, so the textual details and ANE parallels all build up to showing the theological point: Israel’s successes show that God fights on its behalf. This integration of exegesis with theological reflection is part of the unique strength of this series: textual details are never discussed in a vacuum.

The third section, Live the Story, takes that theological reflection and draws out, in the case of Joshua 10, how the dual themes of kingship and victory over enemies go on to be developed in Psalms 2 and 110, and then finally get applied to the lordship of Christ in the New Testament (especially Acts 4). There is also some discussion of God’s supernatural involvement in spiritual warfare.

What I like about Wray Beal’s commentary, and indeed about the concept for this series as a whole, is its explicit commitment to wrestling with the Old Testament texts in their canonical context as Christian scripture — while at the same time not losing sight of what makes Joshua a unique piece of the broader picture. This commentary will serve preachers as a guide into the text, perhaps in conjunction with one other more technical commentary. Individual readers and small group leaders will also benefit greatly from the context it provides and the encouragement to read, understand and apply challenging texts in a thoughtful, Christian way.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

April 19, 2020

Creation and Providence

Next Post

April 22, 2020 The Gospel of the King

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Bible Lands Blogosphere Book Review Calvinism Colleges & Universities Ecclesiology Emerging Adulthood Evangelicalism Foreign Affairs Gospel of John Greco-Roman World Humor Just War N. T. Wright Old Testament Resurrection Terrorism Theological Education Travel Uncategorized Writing

Select a Month September 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 January 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

"______ is the same yesterday and today and forever."

Select your answer to see how you score.

Jesus Christ God's Plan Our Calling The Universe

Books by This Author Books by Mike Bird

See All Titles »