Richard Dawkins - Finkelstein and Silberman - Bible’s Buried Secrets TV - Mysteries of the Bible TV - Exodus 17:9&10 - Deuteronomy 3:21-24 - Deuteronomy 31:3 - Joshua 1:1-5 - Joshua 2:24 - Joshua 1:9 - Joshua 1:10&11 - Joshua 3:7&8 - Joshua 3:10 - Joshua 4:14 - Joshua 4:24 - Joshua 5:13&14 - Joshua 6:1-5 - Joshua 6:20&21 - Joshua 6:27 - Joshua 7:3 - Joshua 7:6&7 - Joshua 7:24-26 - Joshua 8:1 - Joshua 8:8 - Joshua 9:22&23 - Joshua 10:8&10&11&14 - Joshua 10:12&13 - Joshua 10:32&33 - Joshua 10:42 - Joshua 11:6-8 - Joshua 10:24-26 - Joshua 11:16-19 - Joshua 23:14 - Joshua 24:2 - Joshua 24:14&15 - Joshua 24:19&20 - Joshua 24:23 - Joshua 24:29 - Zechariah 3:1&2 - Secrets of the Bible TV -
The ethnic cleansing begun in the time of Moses is brought to bloody fruition in the Book of Joshua, a text remarkable for the bloodthirsty massacres it records and the xenophobic relish with which it does so. Professor Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion
There was no mass Exodus from Egypt. There was no violent conquest of Canaan. Most of the people who formed early Israel were local people – the same people whom we see in the highlands throughout the Bronze and Iron Ages. The early Israelites were – irony of ironies – themselves originally Canaanites!
The conquest of Canaan by Joshua could not have happened in the way described in the Bible. Most of the towns he is supposed to have conquered either weren’t inhabited, didn’t exist or were conquered at wildly different times.
Jerusalem, which was supposed to have become the capital of the great unified empire of King David (he of David and Goliath fame), appears to have been tiny and only sparsely inhabited in the relevant period. Many of the great monuments of ancient Israel attributed on the authority of the Old Testament to King Solomon were of a later date. Finkelstein and Silberman, The Bible Unearthed, History 2007
When archaeologists date the destruction of these buildings [Ai] they discover it occurred about 2,200 B.C. They date the destruction of Jericho to 1,500 B.C. And Hazor’s to about 1,250 B.C. Clearly these city-states were not destroyed at the same time. In fact of the 31 sites the Bible says that Joshua conquered, few showed any signs of war. Bible’s Buried Secrets 1/2
Jericho and Ai ... hundreds of years before Joshua would have gotten there. Mysteries of the Bible s1e3: Joshua at the Walls of Jericho, A&E 1994
And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: to morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand.
So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek: and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. Exodus 17:9&10
And I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, Thine eyes have seen all that the Lord your God hath done unto these two kings: so shall the Lord do unto all the kingdoms whither thou passest.
Ye shall not fear them: for the Lord your God he shall fight for you.
And I besought the Lord at that time, saying,
O Lord God, thou hast begun to shew thy servant thy greatness, and thy mighty hand: for what God is there in heaven or in earth, that can do according to thy works, and according to thy might? Deuteronomy 3:21-24
The Lord thy God, he will go over before thee, and he will destroy these nations from before thee, and thou shalt possess them: and Joshua, he shall go over before thee, as the Lord hath said. Deuteronomy 31:3
Now after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord it came to pass, that the Lord spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ minister, saying,
Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel.
Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses.
From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast.
There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. Joshua 1:1-5
Be strong and of good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for thy God is with thee, withers ever thou goest. Joshua 1:9
Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying,
Pass through the host, and command the people, saying, Prepare you victuals; for within three days ye shall pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land, which the Lord your God giveth you to possess it. Joshua 1:10&11
And they said unto Joshua, Truly the Lord hath delivered into our hands all the land; for even all the inhabitants of the country do faint because of us. Joshua 2:24
And the Lord said unto Joshua, This day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee.
And thou shalt command the priests that bear the ark of the covenant, saying, When ye are come to the brink of the water of Jordan, ye shall stand still in Jordan. Joshua 3:7&8
And Joshua said, Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Hivites, and the Perizzites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Jebusites. Joshua 3:10
On that day the Lord magnified Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they feared him, as they feared Moses, all the days of his life. Joshua 4:14
That all the people of the earth might know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty: that ye might fear the Lord your God for ever. Joshua 4:24
And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?
And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the Lord am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my Lord unto his servant? Joshua 5:13&14
Now Jericho was straitly shut up because of the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in.
And the Lord said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour.
And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days.
And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams’ horns: and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets.
And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him. Joshua 6:1-5
So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets: and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.
And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword. Joshua 6:20&21
So the Lord was with Joshua; and his fame was noised throughout all the country. Joshua 6:27.
And they returned to Joshua, and said unto him, Let not all the people go up; but let about two or three thousand men go up and smite Ai; and make not all the people to labour thither; for they are but few. Joshua 7:3
And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the Lord until the eventide, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust upon their heads.
And Joshua said, Alas, O Lord God, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? Would to God we had been content, and dwelt on the other side Jordan! Joshua 7:6&7
And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had: and they brought them unto the valley of Achor.
And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? The Lord shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones.
And they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day. So the Lord turned from the fierceness of his anger. Wherefore the name of that place was called, The valley of Achor, unto this day. Joshua 7:24-26