1. Joshua: Fulfillment of A Promise
“Special Cities”
Joshua
Wednesday
09 Nov 11
Joshua – Chapter 15-17

2. Joshua Week Date Topic 1 07 Sep 11 Introduction to the Book of Joshua2
14 Sep 11
Chapter 1:1-2:24 - Into the Promised Land Part I 3
21 Sep 11
Chapter 3:1-5:12 – Into the Promised Land Part II 4
28 Sep 11
Chapter 5:13 – 8:35 - Possession of the Land Part I 5
05 Oct 11
Chapter 9:1-10: Possession of the Land Part II 6
12 Oct 11
Chapter 11:1-12:24 – Possession of the Land Part III 7
19 Oct 11
Chapter 13:1-14:15 – Division of the Land Part I 8
26 Oct 11
Chapter 15:1-17:18 – Division of the Land Part II 9
02 Nov 11
Chapter 18:1-19:51 – Division of the Land Part III 10
09 Nov 11
Chapter 20:1-21:45 – Special Cities 11
16 Nov 11
Chapter 22:1-24:28 – Joshua’s Last Acts 12
23 Nov 11
Thanksgiving 13
30 Nov 11
Review and the road ahead for Israel

3. References Constable Notes on the book of Joshua
Guzik – Commentary on Joshua
Jamieson, Fausett, Brown Bible Commentary
ISBE (Encyclopedia)
Bible Archaeology Review
Class slides are available on Westside’s website at

4. Objectives for Today’s Lesson
Study the Book of Joshua Chapters 20-21
Both chapter are fulfillment of earlier promises in the Law
Review the cities of refuge, places where those who accidently kill another may flee to receive a fair trial (6 cities)
Review the cities allocated to the Levites
With the allocation of land, the first promise of land and descendants is fulfilled

5. Last Week’s Class Studied the Book of Joshua chapters 18-19
Joshua directs a survey of the remaining lands by the seven remaining tribes
This takes place in the city of Shiloh
Once the survey is complete, Joshua begins allocating the land
The territory of each tribe is described

6. Timeline of the Palestine Region
Event
Begin
End
Stone Age ?
4500 BC
Copper Age
1350 BC
Bronze Age
1200 BC
Iron Age
586 BC
Neo-Babylonian Period
538 BC
Persian Period
332 BC
Greek Period
63 BC
Roman Period
324 AD
Byzantine Period
640 AD
Early Arab (Islamic) Period
1099 AD
Crusader (Christian) Period
1291 AD
Mamluk (Egyptian) Period
1517 AD
Ottoman (Turkish) Period
1918 AD
From Constable

7. Timeline Event Year Hebrew Day Month Departure from Egypt 1446 Nisan15
April
Quail and Manna provided
Iyyar
May
Ten Commandments in the Sinai
Sivan ?
Jun
Tabernacle Built
1445 1
Depart from Sinai 20
At Kadesh-Barnea – second time
1406
March
At Mt. Hor – Aaron Dies Ab
Jul
Moses Death
Shebat
Jan
Cross Jordan
1405 10
Apr
Conquest complete
1399 14
From Halley’s Bible Handbook

8. Hebrew Calendar

9. A Look Back at Deuteronomy
The period of history covered in Deuteronomy is very brief, occurring in 1406 BC
All the events recorded took place on the plains of Moab within a few weeks before Israel's entrance into Canaan as recorded in Joshua
It contains a series of speeches by Moses
God’s faithfulness to the people of Israel
The laws of God
Criticality of Israel’s obedience to God
Intended to prepare Israel for the conquest

10. Overview
The name of the book comes from the principal character – Joshua
“Joshua” means “Yahweh saves”
Joshua in Hebrew translates to Jesus in Aramaic
What Jesus is to us today, Joshua was to the Israelites in a smaller sense
Joshua brought God’s people into the realization of many of God’s plans and purposes for them
Background on Aramaic
The Aramaic Language
Aramaic is one of the Semitic languages, an important group of languages known almost from the beginning of human history and including also Arabic, Hebrew, Ethiopic, and Akkadian (ancient Babylonian and Assyrian). It is particularly closely related to Hebrew, and was written in a variety of alphabetic scripts. (What is usually called "Hebrew" script is actually an Aramaic script.)
The Earliest Aramaic
0ur first glimpse of Aramaic comes from a small number of ancient royal inscriptions from almost three thousand years ago ( B.C.). Dedications to the gods, international treaties, and memorial stelae reveal to us the history of the first small Aramean kingdoms, in the territories of modern Syria and Southeast Turkey, living under the shadow of the rising Assyrian empire.
Aramaic as an Imperial Language
Aramaic was used by the conquering Assyrians as a language of administration communication, and following them by the Babylonian and Persian empires, which ruled from India to Ethiopia, and employed Aramaic as the official language. For this period, then (about 700–320 B.C.), Aramaic held a position similar to that occupied by English today. The most important documents of this period are numerous papyri from Egypt and Palestine.
Biblical Aramaic
Aramaic displaced Hebrew for many purposes among the Jews, a fact reflected in the Bible, where portions of Ezra and Daniel are in Aramaic. Some of the best known stories in biblical literature, including that of Belshazzar’s feast with the famous "handwriting on the wall" are in Aramaic.
Jewish Aramaic Literature
Aramaic remained a dominant language for Jewish worship, scholarship, and everyday life for centuries in both the land of Israel and in the diaspora, especially in Babylon.
Among the Dead Sea Scrolls, the remains of the library of a Jewish sect from around the turn of the Era, are many compositions in Aramaic. These new texts also provide the best evidence for Palestinian Aramaic of the sort used by Jesus and his disciples.
Since the Jews spoke Aramaic, and knowledge of Hebrew was no longer widespread, the practice arose in the synagogue of providing the reading of the sacred Hebrew scriptures with an Aramaic translation or paraphrase, a "Targum" In the course of time a whole array of targums for the Law and other parts of the Bible were composed. More than translations, they incorporated much of traditional Jewish scriptural interpretation.
In their academies the rabbis and their disciples transmitted, commented, and debated Jewish law; the records of their deliberations constitute the two talmuds: that of the land of Israel and the much larger Babylonian Talmud. Although the talmuds contain much material in Hebrew, the basic language of these vast compilations is Aramaic (in Western and Eastern dialects).
Christian Aramaic Literature
Although Jesus spoke Aramaic, the Gospels are in Greek, and only rarely quote actual Aramaic words. Reconstruction of the Aramaic background of the Gospels remains a fascinating, but inordinately difficult area of modern research.
Christians in Palestine eventually rendered portions of Christian Scripture into their dialect of Aramaic; these translations and related writings constitute "Christian Palestinian Aramaic".
A much larger body of Christian Aramaic is known as Syriac. Indeed, Syriac writings surpass in quantity all other Aramaic combined. Syriac is originally the literary language of the city of Edessa (now Urfa in SE Turkey). The language became the tongue of the entire eastern wing of the church, from about the third century C.E. down until well past the Muslim conquest.
Syriac writings include numerous Bible translations, the most important being the so-called Peshitta (simple) translation, and countless devotional, dogmatic, exegetical, liturgical, and historical works. Almost all of the Greek philosophical and scientific tradition was eventually translated into Syriac, and it was through this channel that most found their way into the Islamic World and thence, into post-Dark Ages Europe.
Other Aramaic
There are many other branches of Aramaic literature, including the substantial literature of the Mandaeans, a Gnostic religious group, and the Bible translation, liturgy, and doctrinal works of the Samaritans.
Aramaic survives as a spoken language in small communities in Syria, Iraq, Turkey, and Iran. The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon will not attempt to be a full dictionary for this Modern Aramaic, which is best undertaken as a separate task, but where an ancient word has a modern continuation, the Modern Aramaic use will be recorded.

11. Joshua in Context
It is considered an historical book (from Genesis to Esther)
In the second of three main divisions of the OT
Law is the first division
Prophets are the second division
Writings are the third division
Part of what is called the “Former Prophets”
Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings
Hebrews regarded this book as much of a spiritual lesson to reveal God’s will as they did an historical lesson

12. Historical Background
Events begin around 1406 BC and the book is written after the conquest
Read Josh 4:9, 5:9, 6:25 for example
Writer was alive when Israel entered the promised land (Josh 5:1 and 5:6)
Therefore, an eye-witness account
Must have written the book not long after the conquest was complete
Most conservative scholars argue that Joshua wrote the book

13. Historical Background Continued
Start date of the Book of Joshua
1 Ki 6:1 dates the Exodus out of Egypt, 1446 BC
Ex 16:35, Israel spent 40 years in the wilderness
Israel crossed the Jordan River around 1406 BC
Period of the conquest
Josephus states it took five years (AOTJ 5:1:19)
Other writers suggest closer to seven years
Book of Joshua spans about 35 years
Joshua was 35 when he fought the Amelekites
Assuming Joshua was 75 when they crossed the Jordan and he died at age 110 (Jos 24:29)
1 Ki 6:1
In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites had come out of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, the second month, he began to build the temple of the LORD.
Guzik - The dating provided in 1 Kings 6:1 also gives a dating for the Exodus. As many suppose, the reign of Solomon began in 971 b.c. and ended at 931 b.c. (the temple was begun in 967 b.c.). This means that the Exodus took place in 1447 b.c.
The chronology can be checked against datable Babylonian and Assyrian records at a few points, and these correspondences have allowed scholars to advance various schemes placing the events of the Bible in a modern framework. According to one of the most widely-used of these, that of Edwin Thiele, the death of Solomon and the division of the kingdom occurred in the year beginning in the spring of 931 BC. Thiele does not explicitly date the beginning of Solomon's reign, but according to the Book of Kings he ruled for 40 years.
Joshua 14:10
"Now then, just as the LORD promised, he has kept me alive for forty-five years since the time he said this to Moses, while Israel moved about in the desert. So here I am today, eighty-five years old!
Joshua would have led the Israelites in their battle with the Amelekites just after the Exodus (Exod. 17:8-13) when he was 35 years old

14. Geographical Background
Israelites traveled from Mt. Sinai to the plains of Moab
East of Jericho and the Jordan River
However, not a direct route
Proceeded from Sinai to Kadesh Barnea
On Canaan’s southern border
Failed to proceed to the Promised Land from Kadesh Barnea because of unbelief
Wondered 38 more years in the wilderness
God finally brings them back to Kadesh, then led them to the Plains of Moab on Canaan’s eastern border
Book of Joshua picks up after Moses dies and as Israel prepares and executes a conquest of Jordan river

17. Cities of Refuge (20:1-6)
God commands the appointment of six cities of refuge
A place of refuge from the avenger of blood (vs. 1-3)
Entrance into the city of refuge (vs. 4)
Protection against the avenger of blood (vs. 5)
Freedom for the slayer After being declared innocent of murder by the proper authorities (vs. 6)

18. Six Cities (20:7-9) Appointment of the six cities (vs. 7-8)
Spaced throughout the country
Proper roads were to be built (Deut 19:2)
Purpose for the cities of refuge is again stated (vs. 9)
Biblical application of Jesus as the city of refuge (Ps 46:1, Heb 6:18)

19. Cities for Levites (21:1-3)
The people of the tribe of Levi receive their cities with their common lands
The leaders of the tribe of Levi ask for what was promised to them (vs. 1-3)
The Levites received no allocation of land like other tribes
God had declared that He would be their inheritance (Joshua 13:14, and 13:33)

20. Cities of the Levites (21:4-42)
Cities are appointed to the Levites, according to their three main family divisions
God wanted the Levites dispersed all throughout the land of Israel
Similar to us as Christians (1 Pe 2:5 and 2:9)
Israel takes full possession of the land
The land is Israel’s given by God (vs. 44)
God’s word does not fail (vs. 45)

21. Review Studied Joshua Chapter 20-21
Both chapters were fulfillment of earlier promises found in the Old Testament Law
Reviewed the cities of refuge, places where those who accidently kill another may flee
Reviewed the cities allocated to the Levites, which included the cities of refuge
With the allocation of land, the first promise of land and descendants is fulfilled
Next week: Joshua Chapter 22