Book of Joshua (Samaritan)

Book Of Joshua (Samaritan)

The Samaritan Book of Joshua 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. The editio princeps published an Arabic manuscript written in the Samaritan alphabet, with a Latin translation and a long preface by T. W. Juynboll (Leyden, 1848). The Samaritan Hebrew version was published in 1908 by Moses Gaster. Though based on the Hebrew canonical Book of Joshua, it differs greatly from the latter in both form and content and the Samaritans ascribe no canonical authority to it. The author, who was of a much later period, amplified the Biblical narratives by weaving into them legends of a later date and developing the narratives themselves, at the same time altering certain statements in accordance with Samaritan views on history. Alterations that emphasize the Samaritan belief in the sanctity of Mount Gerizim, the site of the Samaritan temple, appear throughout the text; for example, an expanded Joshua 9:27 calls Gerizim "the chosen place" and a description of the temple being built there follows the conclusion of the conquest of Canaan. It 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. Then follow histories of Nebuchadnezzar, Alexander the Great, and the revolt against Hadrian; it ends with an incomplete account of Baba Rabba.