Diachrony and synchrony in the Book of Joshua : research on Joshua 3-4

The purpose of this thesis is to present a test case for diachronic and synchronic approaches in the book of Joshua, especially Josh 3-4 which is one of the most complex texts in the Old Testament. The thesis pays attention to how Polzin’s approach, regarded as one of the best sympathetic readings of Joshua, is applied to the text of Josh 3-4, and the relevance of the theories of Auld. Chapter two introduces the synchronic readings of Polzin, Hawk, Mitchell, and Winther-Nielsen, attempts to uncover the problems in applying their methods to this complicated text, and offers a critique of these sympathetic readings. Through this examination, the writer concludes that Polzin’s methodology does explain a number of problems in this text, but also that his reading has limitations. Chapter three investigates the differences between the MT and the LXX of Joshua 3-4 through text critical analysis, reconstructs the Hebrew Vorlage of LXX-Joshua 3-4 considering divergences between major Greek editions (Margolis, Rahlfs, and Auld) and examines the limitations of Polzin’s synchronic study in reading only from the final text of MT. The large number of text critical issues in this text (Josh 3-4) makes it difficult to work only from the final form of the MT. For the purpose of reading the literary history of Josh 3-4 in a diachronic way, the writer considers what position this text holds in the setting of the wider context of the ark narratives and water-crossing stories in the Old Testament. Thus, chapter four compares the art story in this text with those in the Pentateuch and other Former Prophets. Chapter five compares Joshua 3-4 with the crossing of the Red Sea in Exodus 13:17-14:31 and with Elijah and Elisha crossing the river in 2 Kings 2. In these two chapters, the writer considers recent trends in literary criticism which rejects the existence of a Yahwist (J) and prefers to call material which does not belong to P simply ‘non-Priestly’, and suggests new directions for literary criticism. Chapter six attempts to read the literary history of Joshua 304 based on the Hebrew Vorlage of LXX and on MT of Josh 3-4.