Joshua

Joshua is the first book after the Torah.  The Torah is the basic instruction and principles of the Bible.  The plain meaning of the Torah is the intended meaning, which makes sense for a basic text.  So when the Torah says X, it means X.  But the rest of the Hebrew Bible can be considered advanced material for study.  It is designed to make the reader think.  So when this later text says X, it means for the reader to think about X, not to accept it on blind faith.  And to make this perfectly clear, the first book after the Torah, Joshua, has a very different meaning than the plain meaning.  The plain meaning is that Joshua, who is clearly a homicidal maniac, is a hero and prophet of Israel.  But anyone who reads this critically will see numerous clues that something isn't right.  So the real purpose of Joshua is to teach critical thought, to teach the reader not to blindly accept what he is told.  In fact I can't think of any text ever written that is better suited to teaching critical reading than Joshua.  So let's look at it.

To start, Joshua commands various tribes to follow him and they respond:

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They answered Joshua, “Everything you have commanded us we will do, and everywhere you send us we will go. We will obey you, just as we obeyed Moses in everything. And may the Lord your God be with you, as He was with Moses. Anyone who rebels against your order and does not obey your words in all that you command him, will be put to death. Above all, be strong and courageous!”
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Joshua 1:16-18

Joshua leads by fear.  Anyone who doesn't obey, he puts to death.  Who gave him this authority which even Moses didn't have?  Clearly no one, he just took absolute power as is typical of a tyrant.

The first battle is against Jericho.  Here is the story:

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Now Jericho was strongly fortified because of the Israelites—no one leaving or entering. The Lord said to Joshua, “Look, I have handed Jericho, its king, and its fighting men over to you. March around the city with all the men of war, circling the city one time. Do this for six days. Have seven priests carry seven ram’s-horn trumpets in front of the ark. But on the seventh day, march around the city seven times, while the priests blow the trumpets. When there is a prolonged blast of the horn and you hear its sound, have all the people give a mighty shout. Then the city wall will collapse, and the people will advance, each man straight ahead.”

[...]

Early on the seventh day, they started at dawn and marched around the city seven times in the same way. That was the only day they marched around the city seven times. After the seventh time, the priests blew the trumpets, and Joshua said to the people, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the city. But the city and everything in it are set apart to the Lord for destruction. Only Rahab the prostitute and everyone with her in the house will live, because she hid the men we sent. But keep yourselves from the things set apart, or you will be set apart for destruction. If you take any of those things, you will set apart the camp of Israel for destruction and bring disaster on it. For all the silver and gold, and the articles of bronze and iron, are dedicated to the Lord and must go into the Lord’s treasury.”

So the people shouted, and the trumpets sounded. When they heard the blast of the trumpet, the people gave a great shout, and the wall collapsed. The people advanced into the city, each man straight ahead, and they captured the city. They completely destroyed everything in the city with the sword—every man and woman, both young and old, and every ox, sheep, and donkey.

Joshua said to the two men who had scouted the land, “Go to the prostitute’s house and bring the woman out of there, and all who are with her, just as you promised her.” So the young men who had scouted went in and brought out Rahab and her father, mother, brothers, and all who belonged to her. They brought out her whole family and settled them outside the camp of Israel.

They burned up the city and everything in it, but they put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the Lord’s house. However, Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, her father’s household, and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent to spy on Jericho, and she lives in Israel to this day.
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Joshua 6:1-25

What is the writer of this story telling us between the lines?  First, God is supposed to have told them to march around the walls for seven days.  Why seven days?  The writer here is making clear to us that this is a lie.  Marching around the walls for seven days is clearly a sabbath violation.  God would never command such a thing.  And this is the point, that Joshua is liar and doesn't hesitate to violate the Torah.  Did the walls fall down?  Of course not.  The most probable story is that Raheb the prostitute let the Israelites in.  This would fit perfectly with Joshua, to win victory by sleaze instead of by military tactics.

After slaughtering everyone, Joshua "put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the Lord’s house".  The Lord's house?  Of course this means under Joshua's control, everything for Joshua.  This is quite different from how Moses handled conquests.  But this leads to the next story:

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The Israelites, however, were unfaithful regarding the things set apart for destruction. Achan son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of what was set apart, and the Lord’s anger burned against the Israelites.

[...]

So Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and make a confession to Him. I urge you, tell me what you have done. Don’t hide anything from me.”

Achan replied to Joshua, “It is true. I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel. This is what I did: When I saw among the spoils a beautiful cloak from Babylon, 200 silver shekels, and a bar of gold weighing 50 shekels, I coveted them and took them. You can see for yourself. They are concealed in the ground inside my tent, with the money under the cloak.” So Joshua sent messengers who ran to the tent, and there was the cloak, concealed in his tent, with the money underneath. They took the things from inside the tent, brought them to Joshua and all the Israelites, and spread them out in the Lord’s presence.

Then Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the cloak, and the bar of gold, his sons and daughters, his ox, donkey, and sheep, his tent, and all that he had, and brought them up to the Valley of Achor. Joshua said, “Why have you troubled us? Today the Lord will trouble you!” So all Israel stoned them to death. They burned their bodies, threw stones on them, and raised over him a large pile of rocks that remains to this day. Then the Lord turned from His burning anger. Therefore that place is called the Valley of Achor to this day.
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Joshua 7

The story start by saying that Achan stole "things set apart for destruction".  What things?  "a beautiful cloak from Babylon, 200 silver shekels, and a bar of gold weighing 50 shekels"  But none of these things are designated in the Torah for destruction.  So why does the story say this?  Because clearly Joshua was lying about the things stolen to make it look like a Torah violation instead of what it really was, one soldier hoping to get some share of what Joshua was greedily taking all for himself.  So what does Joshua do?  Joshua murders Achan.  And to make clear that Joshua was violating the Torah, not only does Joshua murder Achan but he also murders the rest of Achan's family in direct violation of the Torah.

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Fathers are not to be put to death for their children or children for their fathers; each person will be put to death for his own sin.
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Deuteronomy 24:16

This eliminates any doubt that Joshua is a selfish liar who repeatedly violates the Torah.  He is guilty of violating the Sabbath, of murder, of punishing children for their fathers actions, of theft (of the plunder from the soldiers), of giving false testimony against his neighbor, of coveting the soldiers' plunder, and of misusing God's name.  No one in the entire Bible is guilty of violating more Torah laws than Joshua is.  But let's continue.

Joshua slaughtered lots of enemies.  There were certain tribes listed in the Torah as being so evil that slaughtering them was the only answer.  These were:

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You must completely destroy them—the Hittite, Amorite, Canaanite, Perizzite, Hivite, and Jebusite—as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that they won’t teach you to do all the detestable things they do for their gods, and you sin against the Lord your God.
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Deuteronomy 20:17-18

These were the only people whose slaughter was justified in the Torah.  The other people were to be treated more reasonably.

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When you approach a city to fight against it, you must make an offer of peace. If it accepts your offer of peace and opens its gates to you, all the people found in it will become forced laborers for you and serve you. However, if it does not make peace with you but wages war against you, lay siege to it. When the Lord your God hands it over to you, you must strike down all its males with the sword. But you may take the women, children, animals, and whatever else is in the city—all its spoil—as plunder. You may enjoy the spoil of your enemies that the Lord your God has given you. This is how you are to treat all the cities that are far away from you and are not among the cities of these nations.
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Deuteronomy 20:10-15

Did Joshua follow this?  Of course not.  For example:

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At that time Joshua proceeded to exterminate the Anakim from the hill country—Hebron, Debir, Anab—all the hill country of Judah and of Israel. Joshua completely destroyed them with their cities. No Anakim were left in the land of the Israelites, except for some remaining in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod.
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Joshua 11:21-22

The Anakim were not on the to-be-slaughtered list, but Joshua didn't care.  Joshua just slaughtered everyone.

What happens after Joshua finishes slaughtering everyone?  He threatens to slaughter some tribes of Israel in Joshua 22.

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The Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh left the Israelites at Shiloh in the land of Canaan to return to their own land of Gilead, which they took possession of according to the Lord’s command through Moses. When they came to the region of the Jordan in the land of Canaan, the Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh built a large, impressive altar there by the Jordan.

Then the Israelites heard it said, “Look, the Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh have built an altar on the frontier of the land of Canaan at the region of the Jordan, on the Israelite side.” When the Israelites heard this, the entire Israelite community assembled at Shiloh to go to war against them.

The Israelites sent Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest to the Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead. They sent 10 leaders with him—one family leader for each tribe of Israel. All of them were heads of their families among the clans of Israel. They went to the Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead, and told them, “This is what the Lord’s entire community says: ‘What is this treachery you have committed today against the God of Israel by turning away from the Lord and building an altar for yourselves, so that you are in rebellion against the Lord today? Wasn’t the sin of Peor, which brought a plague on the Lord’s community, enough for us, so that we have not cleansed ourselves from it even to this day, and now, you would turn away from the Lord? If you rebel against the Lord today, tomorrow He will be angry with the entire community of Israel. But if the land you possess is defiled, cross over to the land the Lord possesses where the Lord’s tabernacle stands, and take possession of it among us. But don’t rebel against the Lord or against us by building for yourselves an altar other than the altar of the Lord our God. Wasn’t Achan son of Zerah unfaithful regarding what was set apart for destruction, bringing wrath on the entire community of Israel? He was not the only one who perished because of his sin.’”
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What sin are these tribes being accused of?  Since when is building an altar to God a sin?  But the author makes clear that there is no sin here, that it is just Joshua's lust for power that is threatened.  The author does this by comparing the sin to Achan and mentioning Joshua's crime of slaughtering Achan's family.  These tribes realize that this is all about Joshua's tyrannical nature and respond.

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The Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh answered the leaders of the Israelite clans, “Yahweh is the God of gods! Yahweh is the God of gods! He knows, and may Israel also know. Do not spare us today, if it was in rebellion or treachery against the Lord that we have built for ourselves an altar to turn away from Him. May the Lord Himself hold us accountable if we intended to offer burnt offerings and grain offerings on it, or to sacrifice fellowship offerings on it. We actually did this from a specific concern that in the future your descendants might say to our descendants, ‘What relationship do you have with the Lord, the God of Israel? For the Lord has made the Jordan a border between us and you descendants of Reuben and Gad. You have no share in the Lord!’ So your descendants may cause our descendants to stop fearing the Lord.

“Therefore we said: Let us take action and build an altar for ourselves, but not for burnt offering or sacrifice. Instead, it is to be a witness between us and you, and between the generations after us, so that we may carry out the worship of the Lord in His presence with our burnt offerings, sacrifices, and fellowship offerings. Then in the future, your descendants will not be able to say to our descendants, ‘You have no share in the Lord!’ We thought that if they said this to us or to our generations in the future, we would reply: Look at the replica of the Lord’s altar that our fathers made, not for burnt offering or sacrifice, but as a witness between us and you. We would never rebel against the Lord or turn away from Him today by building an altar for burnt offering, grain offering, or sacrifice, other than the altar of the Lord our God, which is in front of His tabernacle.”
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Of course there is nothing in the Torah against building an alter for offerings and sacrifice, it is just that Joshua wants all these things for himself.  These tribes know not to threaten Joshua's infinite greed, so they submit.

Finally, at the end of the book of Joshua, Joshua dies, probably to the relief of every living creature.  The next book is Judges and here is a period of anarchy where Israel refuses to accept a central leader.  Who can blame them after suffering under the tyranny of Joshua?

There remains one question; why did Moses select Joshua to lead Israel?  I think the answer is simple, namely that Joshua proved to be the most effective warrior in Israel.  Moses was both idealistic and practical at the same time.  Moses knew that the most important thing was that Israel win the battles and take Israel.  I assume that Moses also knew that Joshua was a psychopath, but Moses believed that the ends justify the means.  Joshua would eventually die, so his tyranny would end and the Israelites would get Israel.  This was the end that Moses wanted.

It is worth looking at how the major religions view Joshua.  "In rabbinic Jewish literature Joshua is regarded as a faithful, humble, deserving, wise man."  "Among the early Church Fathers, Joshua is considered a type of Jesus Christ."  And for Muslims "Joshua was exceptional among the Israelites for being one of the few faithful followers of God."  All of which proves that today's religions have no understanding of the Bible, probably because human IQ has dropped significantly since biblical times.  The interpretation of Joshua that I presented here is my own, from no other source than the Bible.  But I think my interpretation clearly follows from the text.  If anyone disagrees, feel free to post a response.