Fluid Boundaries and Conflicted Meaning in the Book of Joshua

Abstract This study contends that Joshua in its present form is a layered text in which literary tensions are created and sustained by blurring boundaries of meaning. Joshua’s investigation of boundaries of different kinds is a hermeneutical key to the work. This rhetorical approach mirrors its subject, the tribes’ relationship to the land and its frontiers. A territory intended for subdivision whose border is being crossed requires a focus on frontiers. The vulnerability of boundaries is also implicit in the theological questions the book confronts in its quest to reconcile the divine promise of the land with the fact of exile, namely: What went wrong, and when and why did it go wrong? But the questions it addresses not only concern the past; they also pertain to the future: Who and what will be included within the limits of YHWH’s providence, and where will the boundaries lie? In flexing various types of margins, Joshua probes and illuminates theological conundrums that these questions press upon the reader.