Incredibly, it took me just one day (slightly over an hour, to be exact) to read through the book of Joshua. [The word "incredibly" seems to have appeared incredibly a lot of time in my blog entries, and how can I be exact when I say "slightly over an hour"? Incredible....]

Anyway, my crappy jokes aside, the book of Joshua feels like, dare I say, a game of Risk! The first 12 chapters mainly recounts the conquering of Canaan by the Israelites (not forgetting the narrative of Rahab's role in an early war account, and how Achan from the Judah tribe brought the wrath of God upon his people due to his theft of the things which were supposed to be devoted to God), and chapters 13 to 21 describes, in detail, the division of the lands to the 12 tribes*. Chapter 22 recounts the episode of the westerners (i.e. the Reubenites, Gadites and half-tribe of Manasseh) set up an altar which brought about the anger of the easterners (anyway, the altar was meant to serve as evidence for the descendants that the westerners were related in to the easterners, with which the explanation settled the dispute.) The last 2 chapters records the warning and renewing of the covenant with God by Joshua before "he breathed his last".

The main reason why I was able to complete the reading within such short time could be attributed to my skimming through the land distribution accounts. Since I wasn't marking out the borders on any map, I found no reasons to go through meticulously the land distribution narrations. All I need to know is that the Reubenites, Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh resided on the west side of the Jordan river (hence, the "westerners"), while the rest on (where else?) the east of Jordan (aka the "easterners".)

There are 2 issues which I couldn't figure while reading Joshua. First of all, it is episode on the deception of the Gibeonites.

The men of Israel sampled their provisions but did not inquire of the LORD. Then Joshua made a treaty of peace with them to let them live, and the leaders of the assembly ratified it by an oath.

Jos 9:14-15 (emphasis mine.)

Why didn't they "inquire of the LORD"? Is this a foreshadow of the rebellion of the Israelites against God? Why is it that they made an oath when the second commandment states that

You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

Exo 20:7, Deu 5:11

Are they in violation of the commandment given? (Okay, to be fair, they had also made an oath with Rahab earlier on, which is another "why?" to me.)

And the second issue that gripped me is that Caleb, the other person with strong faith who went to spy the land with Joshua, went to Joshua to, kinda, "demand" for his share of the land Moses had swore to him. Why is this episode penned? Purely to serve as an accurate account of how the lands were distributed? Or is it supposed to also serve as a premonition for something? (I can't pinpoint exactly what that something is now.)

Whatever the case is, by the end of Joshua, it seems that the Israelites had once again found favor in God's eyes. I think, if this were to be made into a movie, it wouldn't pale in comparison to the epic Lord of the Rings movie trilogy. But as we all know, all did not end well, and I think I should be able to find out more when I read the book of Judges tomorrow.

* Okay, to be exact, it is the division among the 11 tribes. The Levites were to live among the other 11 tribes, to serve as priests.