Spurious Writings Of. Joshua

Spurious Writings Of. Joshua

The Samaritans, who for dogmatical purposes endeavored to depreciate the authority of persons mentioned in the latter books of the Old Testament such as Eli, Samuel, Zerubbabel, and others, had no such interest in attacking the person of Joshua. Eulogius, according to Photii Codex, p. 230, states: "The Samaritan multitude believes that Joshua, the son of Nun, is the person concerning whom Moses said, 'The Lord will raise us up a prophet,'" etc. (Compare Lampe, Comment. in Evangelium Johannis, 1, 748.) The Samaritans even endeavored to exalt the memory of Joshua by making him the nucleus of many strange legends which they embodied into their Arabic book of Joshua, a work which seems to have been compiled in the Middle Ages, and is quoted by the Rabbinical chroniclers of that period, Sepher Juchasin, R. Samuel, Shullam (f. 154), Shalsheleth (Hakabbalah, p. 96), Hottinger (Historia Orientalis, p. 40 sq.), Zunz (Gottesdienstliche Vortr Ä ge der Juden, p. 140). Reland supposed that this book was written at an earlier period, and augmented in the Middle Ages; but it is more likely that the whole is a late compilation. (Compare Hottinger Smegma, p. 468.)

The so called book of Joshua of the Samaritans consists of compilations from the Pentateuch, our book of Joshua, the books of Judges and of Samuel, intermixed with many Jewish legends. Its compiler pretends that it is translated from the Hebrew into Arabic, but it was probably originally written in Arabic, and manifestly after the promulgation of the Koran, which exercised a perceptible influence upon it (comp. Reland, De Samaritanism, Dissertationes Miscellaneoe, 2, 12 and 68; Rodiger, in the Hall. Allg. Lit. Zeit. for 1848, No. 217). The author of this compilation endeavors to prove that the Samaritans are Israelites, and he claims for them the celebrity of the Jews. He attempts to turn the traditions of Jewish history in favor of the Samaritans. By his account Joshua built the temple on Mount Gerizim, and there established public worship; the schism between Jews and Samaritans commenced under Eli, who, as well as Samuel, was an apostate and sorcerer; after the return from the Babylonian exile, the Samaritan form of worship was declared to be the legitimate form; Zerubbabel and his sacred books, which were corrupted, were authoritatively rejected; Alexander the Great expressed his veneration, not for the Jews, but for the Samaritans; these were oppressed under the emperor Adrian, but again obtained permission to worship publicly on Mount Gerizim. The whole book consists of a mixture of Biblical history and legends, the manifest aim being to falsify facts for dogmatical purposes. This book terminates with the history of the Jewish war under Adrian. The only known copy of this book is that of Jos. Scaliger, which is now in the library at Leyden. Although the language is Arabic, it is written in Samaritan characters. Even the Samaritans themselves seem to have lost it. Huntington, in his Epistoloe (Lond. 1704, p. 48), mentions that he could not find it at Nabulus, nor have subsequent inquiries led to its discovery there. An edition, from the only MS. extant, appeared in 1848 at Leyden, with the title "Liber Josuoe: Chronicum Samaritanum; edidit, Latine vertit, etc., T.G.J. Juynboll." It seems never to have been recognized by the Samaritans themselves (De Wette, Einl. sec. 171).

Besides this adulterated version of the history of Joshua, there exists still another in the Samaritan chronicles of Abul Phetach. See Acta Eruditorum. Lips., anno 1691, p. 167; Schnurrer's Samaritanischer Briefwechsel, in Eichhorn's Repertorium, 9, 54; a specimen by Schnurrer, in Paulus's Neues Repertorium, 1, 117 sq.

The mention of the book of Jasher has given rise to some spurious compilations under that name, as well in Hebrew as in English. (See Jasher).

2. A native of Beth-shemesh, an Israelite, the owner bf the field into which the cart came which bore the ark on its return from the land of the Philistines; upon a great stone in the midst of the field the Beth-shemites sacrificed the cows that drew the cart, in honor of its arrival ( 1 Samuel 6:14;  1 Samuel 6:18). B.C. 1124.

3. The governor of Jerusalem at the time of the reformation by Josiah; the entrance to his palace was situated near one of the idolatrous erections at the city gates ( 2 Kings 23:8). B.C. 628.

4. The son of Josedech ( Haggai 1:1;  Haggai 1:12;  Haggai 1:14;  Zechariah 3:1;  Zechariah 3:3;  Zechariah 3:9;  Zechariah 6:11), a high priest in the time of Haggai and Zechariah; better known by the name of JESHUA (See Jeshua) (q.v.).

Joshua ben-Hananja,

one of the most honored masters in Israel, flourished in the second century of the Christian era. He was a mechanic by trade, and earned his livelihood by continuing to work at his trade even when teacher of the Rabbinical school at Bekiin, wither he had removed from Jerusalem after its downfall. He was a disciple of the celebrated Rabbi ben-Zachai, and did honor to his master as a teacher in Israel. His controversies with Gamaliel and Eliezer ben-Hyrcanos, which are celebrated in the Mishna and the Talmud, evince that he was a very formidable antagonist on account of the force of his reasoning powers and the pungency of his wit. In after life Joshua went with Gamaliel and Akiba to Rome, to plead with Trajan on behalf of his oppressed countrymen, and was received by the emperor with unusual courtesy and respect. It is even reported (though not on any certain authority) that Trajan's daughter, the princess Imra, honored the Jewish Rabbi with her friendship; and that on one occasion, looking at the homely garb in which so much wisdom was encased, she said to him, "Thou art the beauty of wisdom in an abject dress." "good wine." Joshua complacently replied, "is not kept in gold or silver vases, but in vessels of earthenware." When we consider that about this time Judaism numbered many proselytes among the patrician ladies of Rome, to whose aching hearts the herd of old and disreputable deities presented no ground of comfort or hope at all comparable with that afforded by the Hebrew's purer worship — the worship of the one true God — we need not hesitate to credit the truth of this story, and the belief of some that Imra even was a Jewish convert. It is also related that Trajan, in a bantering way, begged the old Rabbi to show him his God, whom he had affirmed to be every where present. After some conversation, Trajan still adhering to his demand to see the God of the Hebrews, Joshua said, "Well, let us first look at one of his ambassadors;" and, taking the emperor into the open air, he desired him to gaze at the sun in his full meridian power. "I cannot," replied Trajan; "the light dazzles me." "Canst thou, then," said the Rabbi, "expect to behold the glory of the Creator, when thou art unable to endure the light of one of his creatures?" In such anecdotes attributed to Joshua ben-Hananja the Talmud abounds, and it is evident that in his day Joshua figured as the most able of all the Rabbins. See Etheridge, Introd. to Jewish Lit. p. 61; Gr Ä tz, Gesch. der Juden, 4, 56 sq. (J.H.W.)