L. Daniel Hawk, Ph.D., is professor of Old Testament at Ashland Theological Seminary.

In this provocative and instructive study, Hawk analyzes both the literary composition of the book of Joshua as well as the theological principles that such a composition conveys. In so doing, he carefully presents the book as a unified and intentionally designed whole rather than a random collection of otherwise independent stories. While the typical reader of Joshua might readily conclude that central to the book and to Israel's identity are ethnic purity, correct religious practice and the possession of the land, Hawk persuasively argues that the unifying theme in Joshua is actually that of decision-making. In tracing this theme through to its climax in Joshua 24, Hawk skillfully weds literary expertise with theological sophistication. All who read this work will not only gain a fresh understanding of the book of Joshua, but a new lens through which to view their own lives.Terry L. Brensinger, Messiah College, Grantham, Pennsylvania

• CONTENTSAcknowledgments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ixIntroduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiChapter One: Rights of Passage (1:1-18). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Chapter Two: Who’s Who in the Promised Land? (2:1–12:24). . . . . 19Chapter Three: Strangers in the Night (2:1-24). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35Chapter Four: Changing State (3:1–4:24). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53Chapter Five: First Things First (5:1-15). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75Chapter Six: Going in Circles (6:1-27) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87Chapter Seven: Ai Spy (7:1–8:35) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107Chapter Eight: Foiled Again (9:1–10:27). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135Chapter Nine: Conquering Canaanites (10:28–12:24) . . . . . . . . . . 157Chapter Ten: Organizing Israel (13:1–21:45) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177Chapter Eleven: Altar Egos (22:1-34). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227Chapter Twelve: Unfinished Business (23:1-16) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247Chapter Thirteen: Decisions, Decisions (24:1-33). . . . . . . . . . . . . 261For Further Reading. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283Scripture Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289Subject Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301Charts1: Outsiders Included:The Common Plot of the Rahab and Gibeon Stories  . . . . . . . . 252: Insiders Excluded: The Plot of Achan’s Story. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293: The Common Tale of Two Doomed Cities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . 364: Command and Execution at the Jordan Crossing . . . . . . . . . . . . 605:Command and Execution at Jericho . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 886: The Campaigns Against Sihon and Og. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1617: The Battle at Ai (8:1-29) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1628: The Battle at the Waters of Merom (11:1-15) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1639: The Southern Campaign (10:28-39) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16410: The Structure of 13:1–21:45 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18111: The Common Plot of the Stories of Occupation. . . . . . . . . . . . . 19112: The Structure of the Jordan Conflict. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

L. Daniel Hawk, Ph.D., is professor of Old Testament at Ashland Theological Seminary.

In this provocative and instructive study, Hawk analyzes both the literary composition of the book of Joshua as well as the theological principles that such a composition conveys. In so doing, he carefully presents the book as a unified and intentionally designed whole rather than a random collection of otherwise independent stories. While the typical reader of Joshua might readily conclude that central to the book and to Israel's identity are ethnic purity, correct religious practice and the possession of the land, Hawk persuasively argues that the unifying theme in Joshua is actually that of decision-making. In tracing this theme through to its climax in Joshua 24, Hawk skillfully weds literary expertise with theological sophistication. All who read this work will not only gain a fresh understanding of the book of Joshua, but a new lens through which to view their own lives.Terry L. Brensinger, Messiah College, Grantham, Pennsylvania

• CONTENTSAcknowledgments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ixIntroduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiChapter One: Rights of Passage (1:1-18). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Chapter Two: Who’s Who in the Promised Land? (2:1–12:24). . . . . 19Chapter Three: Strangers in the Night (2:1-24). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35Chapter Four: Changing State (3:1–4:24). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53Chapter Five: First Things First (5:1-15). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75Chapter Six: Going in Circles (6:1-27) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87Chapter Seven: Ai Spy (7:1–8:35) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107Chapter Eight: Foiled Again (9:1–10:27). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135Chapter Nine: Conquering Canaanites (10:28–12:24) . . . . . . . . . . 157Chapter Ten: Organizing Israel (13:1–21:45) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177Chapter Eleven: Altar Egos (22:1-34). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227Chapter Twelve: Unfinished Business (23:1-16) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247Chapter Thirteen: Decisions, Decisions (24:1-33). . . . . . . . . . . . . 261For Further Reading. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283Scripture Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289Subject Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301Charts1: Outsiders Included:The Common Plot of the Rahab and Gibeon Stories  . . . . . . . . 252: Insiders Excluded: The Plot of Achan’s Story. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293: The Common Tale of Two Doomed Cities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . 364: Command and Execution at the Jordan Crossing . . . . . . . . . . . . 605:Command and Execution at Jericho . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 886: The Campaigns Against Sihon and Og. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1617: The Battle at Ai (8:1-29) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1628: The Battle at the Waters of Merom (11:1-15) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1639: The Southern Campaign (10:28-39) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16410: The Structure of 13:1–21:45 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18111: The Common Plot of the Stories of Occupation. . . . . . . . . . . . . 19112: The Structure of the Jordan Conflict. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

L. Daniel Hawk, Ph.D., is professor of Old Testament at Ashland Theological Seminary.

In this provocative and instructive study, Hawk analyzes both the literary composition of the book of Joshua as well as the theological principles that such a composition conveys. In so doing, he carefully presents the book as a unified and intentionally designed whole rather than a random collection of otherwise independent stories. While the typical reader of Joshua might readily conclude that central to the book and to Israel's identity are ethnic purity, correct religious practice and the possession of the land, Hawk persuasively argues that the unifying theme in Joshua is actually that of decision-making. In tracing this theme through to its climax in Joshua 24, Hawk skillfully weds literary expertise with theological sophistication. All who read this work will not only gain a fresh understanding of the book of Joshua, but a new lens through which to view their own lives.Terry L. Brensinger, Messiah College, Grantham, Pennsylvania

• CONTENTSAcknowledgments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ixIntroduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiChapter One: Rights of Passage (1:1-18). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Chapter Two: Who’s Who in the Promised Land? (2:1–12:24). . . . . 19Chapter Three: Strangers in the Night (2:1-24). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35Chapter Four: Changing State (3:1–4:24). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53Chapter Five: First Things First (5:1-15). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75Chapter Six: Going in Circles (6:1-27) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87Chapter Seven: Ai Spy (7:1–8:35) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107Chapter Eight: Foiled Again (9:1–10:27). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135Chapter Nine: Conquering Canaanites (10:28–12:24) . . . . . . . . . . 157Chapter Ten: Organizing Israel (13:1–21:45) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177Chapter Eleven: Altar Egos (22:1-34). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227Chapter Twelve: Unfinished Business (23:1-16) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247Chapter Thirteen: Decisions, Decisions (24:1-33). . . . . . . . . . . . . 261For Further Reading. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283Scripture Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289Subject Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301Charts1: Outsiders Included:The Common Plot of the Rahab and Gibeon Stories  . . . . . . . . 252: Insiders Excluded: The Plot of Achan’s Story. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293: The Common Tale of Two Doomed Cities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . 364: Command and Execution at the Jordan Crossing . . . . . . . . . . . . 605:Command and Execution at Jericho . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 886: The Campaigns Against Sihon and Og. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1617: The Battle at Ai (8:1-29) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1628: The Battle at the Waters of Merom (11:1-15) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1639: The Southern Campaign (10:28-39) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16410: The Structure of 13:1–21:45 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18111: The Common Plot of the Stories of Occupation. . . . . . . . . . . . . 19112: The Structure of the Jordan Conflict. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231