Literal Commentary on Joshua

Again, the literal interpretation of Joshua son of Nun, as it emerges, and it was after the death of Moses and the rest, in that he called him the servant of Moses, indicating his humility, and that God equated him with Moses, in that he said, "As I was with Moses, I will be with you." He humbled himself. And he did not call him merely the disciple of Moses, but also his servant. The Old Law was formed through Moses in the five books. For Joshua, however, it was formed through Jesus the Messiah. And Moses died and did not bring the people into the land of Canaan, just as the Law and the prophets were unable to bring the stubborn ones into their former inheritance. For they enter and receive the inheritance through the Messiah. On account of this, Joshua sent spies, when God commanded him to enter and inherit the land, and the Amorites, not because he did not trust, did he send spies, but to instill fear among the weak people, and because he was not yet established in the Lord, and as is the custom in the world, that lands are spied upon through spies. Again, because the heart of the Canaanites was hard, and very many. He was afraid of the peoples, and knowing that good would come, he sent spies, as he encouraged the people. Because the peoples of the land of Canaan sinned more than all the peoples of the entire earth, they were destroyed by Israel. And the Amorites, because they had become more wicked than all the peoples under heaven, were destroyed on account of it. Again, because the peoples heard of the mighty deeds that God performed in Egypt against the people, and in the desert, and they did not repent, they perished. And another reason: the Jordan was divided, and the people crossed over with their baggage, and they heard and saw, and they did not approach to repent. Joshua set up twelve stones from the river.

And he brought down twelve stones from the dry land and placed them in the middle of the river, so that this might be for the generations, for if the Jordan had not been divided, it would not have been possible for the tribes to cross through the water. And Joshua performed the act of circumcision, not that circumcision was not practiced before, for that act of circumcision was already known, but through Joshua the law of circumcision was renewed, as it had begun with Abraham. After the exodus from Egypt, Moses did not command that they be circumcised, because they were dwelling in the desert and were far from the mixture of the nations; in Egypt they were circumcised, so that they might be separated from the nations—circumcision was given. They were circumcised with a flint knife, because its cut is smooth and its healing is easy, and the mystery of its heart is that it was hard like flint. Others say that because the covenant is more firmly established, Joshua circumcised with a flint, so that they might remain whether they were hiding from God or not. The day removed the shame of the Egyptians, that which they had been circumcised in the servitude of their enslavement; from that day onward, in the freedom of servitude like Abraham in the land of the Moabites, the shame of the Egyptians was removed from you, who were rejoicing that you did not keep the covenant of your God in the covenant of circumcision. Loosen your sandals from your feet, for the battle that was about to take place. Again, because from the dead he took skin and it was upon that which is impure. Again, loosen your sandals, loosen from you the filth and the spittle, because you have come that I might help you.

he water was drawn off, because there was no need for it. For the twelve stones were found to be a sufficient sign. If it had remained, again if it had remained, it would have been thought that something natural was there, and by the mediation of the earth it was, and not by the divine power, for the establishment of the people. The great powers that appeared to Joshua said: that one of the angels was sent to his heart. And this one appeared with his sword drawn, dragging him to war and victory. Others said that it was Christ who appeared to him in the form of an angel, and it is known that he who later called him Lord is the angel of the great mystery of the Father. Joshua spared Rahab the harlot and not the shame. So that the nations might know that Joshua opened the door of repentance to them, as a type before them. Jericho was opened without war, because it was not opened by war, on account of the height of its walls and their strength. And another reason, that the people might not think that by human force they had captured the city, and that they might show them wonders beyond nature, walls falling at the sound of trumpets and the circling of the ark. For six days God sent upon them a dark wind, so that the inhabitants of Jericho feared and repented. For he commanded Joshua: Give them first the oath of the cities, and those who obey will not be destroyed. But he made of it a curse, as a distinction for the Lord, because they repented, and because the treasury of the Lord became rich, and this, beyond nature, by the power of the Lord, was opened for the Lord to be offered to him.

Again, on the seventh day, Joshua went around Jericho once, because it had been commanded to make war with them after the river had been divided. And the other seven days he granted them to turn back and not to fight. He commanded that Jericho not be rebuilt, because the Lord had destroyed it, and so that it might remain as a wonder and a marvel, and so that the people might fear and not rebel against the Lord. The king of Amraphel was caught in it and received Joshua's curse. God did not reveal the reason for the curse as he revealed the reason for the ban, because he wanted him to live and come to repentance. He commanded that the stones of the mountains in the middle be cast down and then covered. He gave thanks to God, confessing before all that God knows everything, because he had thought that the Lord neither saw nor knew. He commanded stoning upon him, upon his sons, his house, and his family, though they had not sinned, so that fear might fall upon the people, that they might not transgress the commandment, for if one of them were to act and rebel, he would be killed because of his own will, and he would have pity on his sons, his house, and his family, though they had not sinned, so that fear might fall upon the people, that they might not transgress and be translated like the sons of Akar. His wife, however, is not written as having been translated, either because she was already dead, or because she did not consent in the theft and hid it and did not listen, and was cut off with Akar, and did not inform on him. His entire family and all that he had were burned in fire, so that no memory of that one who transgressed the ban might remain, and all his family and his family's possessions were destroyed, and no one inherited his family's property of iniquity. He made mounds of hewn wood and flowing water, so that by them might be fulfilled what was said, that a servant would be a stumbling block to them, that is, to the sons of Shem.

In the west of the sun they were throwing the corpses with a stick, because it was written in the law. And that they should be eaten by beasts, and that they should not be buried, and that the smell of their corpses should not reach men. He also commanded that they burn the villages, because the memory of the idols was lost, also of the idols and the altars that were and the images that were in the houses of the villages and the forms of the gods. And he commanded that the houses of the worshippers and of the non-worshippers be uprooted, because he had commanded that they should not mix with the nations because they were unclean. Also for their houses he commanded that they be uprooted, because they were unclean like them, and the houses were unclean, how much more so their inhabitants. The sons of Reuben built an altar on the bank of the Jordan, when it was not permitted that there be an altar except in one place. The sons of Israel all said that they should not do it, that they should sacrifice upon it, and that it would be a cause for them, that in every place they would sacrifice to idols, and the priesthood of Levi was that. And he was setting up altars and sacrificing, and not the other tribes. When, however, the people were established, it was not because of sacrifices and offerings and priesthood that altars were built, but for the testimony of the fear of the Lord he left them. Joshua commanded that they should not mix with the nations that remained in their places, even those that submitted to them, lest their daughters lead their sons astray after their gods and their customs, as happened with Samson.

He called them to the end and testified among them, whether they were able to serve the Lord or not, and this he did because of the hardness of their hearts and their contempt for the gods of the foreigners and the customs of the peoples, as they had served God freely, because he also redeemed them; but he did not desire that their blood be shed for his worship, nor did he desire that all of them perish by the sword. The end of Joshua son of Nun.