joshua the book of

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joshua the book of - Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary :

  Joshua, The Book of
  contains a history of the Israelites from the death of Moses to
  that of Joshua. It consists of three parts: (1.) The history of
  the conquest of the land (1-12). (2.) The allotment of the land
  to the different tribes, with the appointment of cities of
  refuge, the provision for the Levites (13-22), and the dismissal
  of the eastern tribes to their homes. This section has been
  compared to the Domesday Book of the Norman conquest. (3.) The
  farewell addresses of Joshua, with an account of his death (23,
  24).
  
    This book stands first in the second of the three sections,
  (1) the Law, (2) the Prophets, (3) the "other writings" =
  Hagiographa, into which the Jewish Church divided the Old
  Testament. There is every reason for concluding that the uniform
  tradition of the Jews is correct when they assign the authorship
  of the book to Joshua, all except the concluding section; the
  last verses (24:29-33) were added by some other hand.
  
    There are two difficulties connected with this book which have
  given rise to much discussion, (1.) The miracle of the standing
  still of the sun and moon on Gibeon. The record of it occurs in
  Joshua's impassioned prayer of faith, as quoted (Josh. 10:12-15)
  from the "Book of Jasher" (q.v.). There are many explanations
  given of these words. They need, however, present no difficulty
  if we believe in the possibility of God's miraculous
  interposition in behalf of his people. Whether it was caused by
  the refraction of the light, or how, we know not.
  
    (2.) Another difficulty arises out of the command given by God
  utterly to exterminate the Canaanites. "Shall not the Judge of
  all the earth do right?" It is enough that Joshua clearly knew
  that this was the will of God, who employs his terrible
  agencies, famine, pestilence, and war, in the righteous
  government of this world. The Canaanites had sunk into a state
  of immorality and corruption so foul and degrading that they had
  to be rooted out of the land with the edge of the sword. "The
  Israelites' sword, in its bloodiest executions, wrought a work
  of mercy for all the countries of the earth to the very end of
  the world."
  
    This book resembles the Acts of the Apostles in the number and
  variety of historical incidents it records, and in its many
  references to persons and places; and as in the latter case the
  epistles of Paul (see Paley's Horae Paul.) confirm its
  historical accuracy by their incidental allusions and
  "undesigned coincidences," so in the former modern discoveries
  confirm its historicity. The Amarna tablets (see ADONIZEDEC
  �T0000099) are among the most remarkable discoveries of the age.
  Dating from about B.C. 1480 down to the time of Joshua, and
  consisting of official communications from Amorite, Phoenician,
  and Philistine chiefs to the king of Egypt, they afford a
  glimpse into the actual condition of Palestine prior to the
  Hebrew invasion, and illustrate and confirm the history of the
  conquest. A letter, also still extant, from a military officer,
  "master of the captains of Egypt," dating from near the end of
  the reign of Rameses II., gives a curious account of a journey,
  probably official, which he undertook through Palestine as far
  north as to Aleppo, and an insight into the social condition of
  the country at that time. Among the things brought to light by
  this letter and the Amarna tablets is the state of confusion and
  decay that had now fallen on Egypt. The Egyptian garrisons that
  had held possession of Palestine from the time of Thothmes III.,
  some two hundred years before, had now been withdrawn. The way
  was thus opened for the Hebrews. In the history of the conquest
  there is no mention of Joshua having encountered any Egyptian
  force. The tablets contain many appeals to the king of Egypt for
  help against the inroads of the Hebrews, but no help seems ever
  to have been sent. Is not this just such a state of things as
  might have been anticipated as the result of the disaster of the
  Exodus? In many points, as shown under various articles, the
  progress of the conquest is remarkably illustrated by the
  tablets. The value of modern discoveries in their relation to
  Old Testament history has been thus well described:
  
    "The difficulty of establishing the charge of lack of
  historical credibility, as against the testimony of the Old
  Testament, has of late years greatly increased. The outcome of
  recent excavations and explorations is altogether against it. As
  long as these books contained, in the main, the only known
  accounts of the events they mention, there was some plausibility
  in the theory that perhaps these accounts were written rather to
  teach moral lessons than to preserve an exact knowledge of
  events. It was easy to say in those times men had not the
  historic sense. But the recent discoveries touch the events
  recorded in the Bible at very many different points in many
  different generations, mentioning the same persons, countries,
  peoples, events that are mentioned in the Bible, and showing
  beyond question that these were strictly historic. The point is
  not that the discoveries confirm the correctness of the Biblical
  statements, though that is commonly the case, but that the
  discoveries show that the peoples of those ages had the historic
  sense, and, specifically, that the Biblical narratives they
  touch are narratives of actual occurrences."