Joshua

Did Caleb receive the Negev or Hebron? Is he a Judahite, a Calebite or a Kenizzite? The redacted account of Caleb in the Bible reflects the developing realities of southern Judah in the First and Second Temple periods.

A New Insight into an Old Question

Before Moses dies, he requests a leader who will “come and go” before the people. God’s response is clear: appoint Joshua. However, as the narrative continues, God says that Joshua himself will “come and go” at the word of Elazar the priest. And this is only one of three accounts in the Torah in which Joshua is appointed leader. 

The Bible records more than one conqueror, from Joshua to David to the tribe of Judah generally, spanning a period of more than three centuries.

Before circumcision was a mitzvah, it was a cultural marker: Thus Joshua introduces circumcision to Israel at Gilgal (Joshua 5:2-9), Jacob’s sons insist that the Shechemites circumcise before Shechem marries their sister (Genesis 34), and the Israelites scorn the Philistines for being uncircumcised (Judges 14:3).

Caleb and Joshua or only Caleb?

Making sense from a redactional and historical perspective of the Torah’s two contradictory methods for how to divide the land among the tribes.