Book of Joshua (Samaritan)

"Samaritan Chronicle" redirects here. For the medieval collection of genealogies and historical notices, see Tolidah.

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The Book of Joshua, sometimes called the Samaritan Chronicle, is a Samaritan chronicle so called because the greater part of it is devoted to the history of Joshua. It is extant in two divergent recensions, one in Samaritan Hebrew and the other in Arabic.[1]

Though a large part describes traditions parallel to those of the canonical Jewish Book of Joshua, it differs greatly from the latter in both form and content.[2] As well, the Samaritans do not hold it to be of divine inspiration, although "they greatly revere it and hold it in the highest estimation, and believe it to contain a true and authentic history of the period of which it treats."[3] The Arab recension was redacted between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries.[4] The editio princeps is a published Arabic manuscript written in the Samaritan alphabet, with a Latin translation and a long preface by T. W. Juynboll (Leyden, 1848). A Samaritan Hebrew version was published in 1908 by Moses Gaster.

The book is divided into fifty chapters, and contains, after the account of Joshua, a brief description of the period following Joshua, agreeing to that extent with the Book of Judges, and covering early Israelite history until Eli leaves Shechem and the sanctuary in Shiloh is established. The last six chapters discuss the Babylonian exile and Samaritan history up to Baba Rabba,[4] including Alexander the Great, and the revolt against Hadrian.

The text should not be viewed as "an abbreviated, rewritten MT version".[5] The text emphasizes throughout a belief in the sanctity of Mount Gerizim, the site of the Samaritan temple; for example, Joshua 9:27 calls Gerizim "the chosen place" and describes construction of the temple following the conclusion of the conquest of Canaan.[6]

  1. ^ Pummer, Reinhard (2002). Early Christian Authors on Samaritans and Samaritanism: Texts, Translations and Commentary. Mohr Siebeck. p. 26. ISBN 978-3-16-147831-4. "The work is extant in both Hebrew and Arabic, each version having a different content."
  2. ^ Gaster, M. (1908). "A Samaritan Book of Joshua". The Living Age. 258: 166.
  3. ^ O.T.C (1890). "The Samaritan Chronicle Or The Book of Joshua, the son of Nun" (PDF). Retrieved 3 March 2023.
  4. ^ a b Safrai, Ze'ev (2018-05-02), "The Land in Samaritan Literature", Seeking out the Land: Land of Israel Traditions in Ancient Jewish, Christian and Samaritan Literature (200 BCE – 400 CE), BRILL, p. 336, doi:10.1163/9789004334823_002, retrieved 2022-08-23
  5. ^ Hjelm, Ingrid (2000). The Samaritans and Early Judaism: A Literary Analysis. Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 243. ISBN 978-1-84127-072-2.
  6. ^ Hjelm 2000, p. 241.