Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 8.djvu/596

 JOSQUINUS

524

JOSUE

character and describes his death on the battle-field of Magedtio when fighting against Nechao. In view of this it is plain that the differences, noticeable in their respective accounts of the reign of Josias by the authors of IV Kings and II Paralip., are only slight variations naturally accounted for by the somewhat different purposes which the two inspired writers had in view in relating the same events. With regard to the exact extent and the Mosaic origin of the "Book of the Law", discovered under Josias, see Pentateuch.

For works on Biblical history, see bibliography to Isaac. Recent Commentaries on Paralipomenon by: Clair* (Paris, 18S0); Oettli (Munich, 18S9); Bennett (New York, 1894); Barnes (Cambridge, 1899); Neteler* (MUnster, 1899); Ben- ziNfiER (Freiburg, 1901); Kittel (Gottingen, 1902). Names of Catholic authors are marked with an asterisk.

Francis E. Gigot.

Josquinus Pratensis. See Depres, Josquin.

Josue, the name of eight persons in the Old Testa- ment, and of one of the Sacred Books.

I. Josue (j;£;'in\ 'fiff»?0, a Bethsamite in whose field the ark stood on its way back from the land of the Philistines to Juda (I Kings, vi, 14, 18).

II. Josue (JJCliT, 'I»)<roCs), governor of Jerusalem, whose idolatrous altars were destroyed by King Josias, during the latter's attempts to undo the evil wrought by his father Amon and grandfather Manasses (IV Kings, xxiii, 8).

III. Josue {]l^r]\ Agg., i, 1, 12, 14; ii, 3, 5; Zach., iii, 1, 3, 6, 8, 9; vi, 11; VIC" in I and II Esd.; Sept., 'It)<toOs), the son of Josedec and the high-priest who returned with Zorolmbel from the Babylonian Captiv- ity to Jerusalem (I Esd., ii, 2; II Esd., vii, 7; xii, 1). In I and II Esd. the Vulgate calls him Josue; in Agg. and Zach., Jesus. He assisted Zorobabel in rebuild- ing the Temple, and was most zealous for the restora- tion of the religion of Israel (I Esd., iii, 2, 8; iv, 3; v, 2). It was he whom Zacharias saw in vision stripped of filthy garments and clothed in clean robes and mitre, while the angel of the Lord proclaimed the high-priest the type of the coming Messias (Zach., iii).

IV. JcsuE (3;iB>>, 'l77 'II"^"', 'Iio'oi'), a head of the priestly family of Idaia, maybe the high-priest Josue men- tioned above (I Esd.. ii, 36; II Esd., vii, .39).

VI. Josue {]l)t^\ 'Iwovs, nij(7oS), the name of a priestly family descended from Oduia, as also of vari- ous heads of that family after the Exile (I Esd., ii, 40; iii, 9; viii, .33; II Esd., "iii, 19; vii, 43; viii, 7; ix, 4, 5; xii, 8, Vulg. Jesua; xii, 24).

VII. JosuR (D'E", 'leo-ia), one of the sons of Herem who were ordered to put away their wives taken from the land of the stranger (I E.sd., x, 31).

VIII. Josue (generally Vt^iT, twice Vlt^lT — Deut., iii, 21, and Judges, ii, 7; first called Osee, JJt'in; Sept. 'It/o-oOs, first AiJa-i}), the son of Nun; the gene- alogy of the family is given in I Par., vii, 20-27; it belonged to the tribe of Ephraim. Josue com- manded the army of Israel, after the Exodus, in its battle with Amalec (Ex., xvii, 9-13), was called the minister of Mo.ses (xxiv, 13), accompanied the great lawgiver to and from Mount Sinai (xxxii, 17) and into the tabernacle of the covenant (xxxiii, 11), and acted as one of twelve spies whom Moses sent to view the land of Chanaan (Num., xiii, 9). On this occasion Moses changed his servant's name from Osee to Josue (Num., xiii, 17). The new name most likely means " Jahweh is .salvation ". Josue and Caleb alone spoke well of the land, even though the people wished to stone them for not murmuring, and these two lived on (Num., xiv, 38). Josue was chosen by God to succeed Moses. The words of the choice show the character of the chosen (Num., xxvii, 17-18). Before Eleazar

and all the assembly of the people Moses laid hands on Josue. Later this soldier was proposed by Moses to the people to lead them into the land beyond the Jor- dan (Deut., xxxi, 3), and was ordered by the Lord to do so (xxxi, 23). After the death of Moses, Josue was filled with the spirit of wisdom and was obeyed by the children of Israel (Deut., xxxiv, 9). The rest of the story of Josue is told in the Book of Josue.

IX. Josue, the sixth book of the Old Testament; in the plan of the critics, the last book of the Hexateuch (see Pentateuch). In the Fathers, the book is often called "Jesus Nave ". The name dates from the time of Origen, who translated the Hebrew "son of Nun" by viii J^avrj and insisted upon the Nave as a type of a ship; hence in the name Jesus Nave many of the Fathers see the type of Jesus, the Ship wherein the world is saved.

(1) Contents. — The Book of Josue contains two parts: the conquest of the promised land and the division thereof. — (a) The Conquest (i-xii). — Josue enters the land of promise, after being assured by spies that the way is safe. It is the tenth day of the first month, forty-one years since the Exodus. The chan- nel of the Jordan is dry during the passage of Israel (i-iii). A monument is erected in the midst of the Jordan, and one at Galgal, to commemorate the mira- cle. Josue camps at Galgal (iv). The Israelites born during the wandering are circumcised; the pasch is eaten the first time in the land of promise; the manna ceases to fall; Josue is strengthened by the vision of an angel (v). The walls of Jericho fall without a blow; the city is sacked; its inhabitants are put to death; only the family of Rahab is spared (vi). Israel goes up against Hai. The crime of Achan causes defeat. Josue punishes that crime and takes Hai (vii-viii, 29); sets up an altar on Mount Hebal; subjugates the Gabaonites (viii, 30-ix), defeats the kings of Jerusa- lem, Hebron, Jeriraoth, Lachis, and Eglon; captures and destroys Maceda, Lebna, Lachis, Eglon, Hebron, Dabir, and the South even to Gaza; marches North and defeats the combined forces of the kings at the waters of Merom (x-xii). (b) The Division of the Land among the Tribes of Israel (xiii-xxii). Epilogue: last message and death of Josue (xxiii and xxiv).

(2) Cano7iicity. — (a) In the Jewish canon Josue is among the Early Prophets — Josue, Judges, and the four Books of Kings. It was not grouped with the Pentateuch, chiefly because, unlike Exodus and Levit- icus, it contained no Torah, or law; also because the five books of the Torah were assigned to Moses (see Pentateuch), (b) In the Christian canon Josue has ever held the same place as in the Jewish canon.

(3) Unity. — Non-Catholics have almost all followed the critics in the question of the " Hexateuch"; even the conservative Hastings, "Diet, of the Bible", ed. 1909, takes it for granted that Josue (Joshua) is a post- Exilic patchwork. The first part (i-xii) is made up of two documents, probably J and E (Jehovistic and Elohistio cleincnts), put together by J E and later revised Ijy the Dcutcrononiic editor (D); to this latter is assigned all of the first chapter. Very little of this portion is the work of P (the compiler of the Priestly Code). In the second part (xiii-xxii) the critics are uncertain as to whether the last editing was the work of the Deuteronomic or the Priestly editor; they agree in this that the same hands — those of J, E, D, and P — are at work in both parts, and that the portions which must be assigned to P have characteristics which are not at all found in his work in the Pentateuch. The final redaction is post-Exilic — a work done about 440- 400 B. c. Such in brief is the theory of the critics, who differ here as elsewhere in the matter of the details assigned to the various writers and the order of the editing, which all assume was certainly done. (See G. A. Smith and Welch in Hastings, "Diet, of the Bible", large and small editions respectively, s. v. "Joshua"; Moore in Cheync, "Encyc. Bibl."; Wellhausen, "Die