8:1 VA YOMER YHVH EL YEHOSHU'A AL TIYR'A VE AL TECHAT KACH IMCHA ET KOL AM HA MILCHAMAH VE KUM ALEH HA AI RE'EH NATATI VE YADCHA ET MELECH HA AI VE ET AMO VE ET IYRO VE ET ARTSO
וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה אֶל יְהֹושֻׁעַ אַל תִּירָא וְאַל תֵּחָת קַח עִמְּךָ אֵת כָּל עַם הַמִּלְחָמָה וְקוּם עֲלֵה הָעָי רְאֵה נָתַתִּי בְיָדְךָ אֶת מֶלֶךְ הָעַי וְאֶת עַמֹּו וְאֶת עִירֹו וְאֶת אַרְצֹו
KJ: And the LORD said unto Joshua, Fear not, neither be thou dismayed: take all the people of war with thee, and arise, go up to Ai: see, I have given into thy hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land:
BN: Then And YHVH said to Yehoshu'a: Have no fear; let nothing discourage you. Take all the men of war with you, and set out, go up to Ai. See, the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land are yours for the taking.
AI: Did I note previously that the word AI means "ruin"? To which we then have to ask: did Yehoshu'a name it that after the ruination that we are about to read; or, is all this yet another aetiological myth to explain an incident of Nature?
AL TIRA VE AL TECHAT: Cf Deuteronomy 31:8, where Mosheh said exactly this to Yehoshu'a at the time of handing over.
NATATI VE YADCHA: Yes, I know my translation is naughty, but I wanted to make a point, and this seemed as good a way as any to do it: "yours for the taking" places the credit, and the achievement, in human hands; "I have given you" takes it away, keeping it for the deity, and the human a mere servant, a functional automaton, a robot. Alas, my translation is not only naughty, it is incorrect.
8:2 VE ASIYTA LA AI U LE MALKAH KA ASHER ASIYTA LIYRIYCHO U LE MALKAH RAK SHELALAH U VEHEMTAH TAVOZU LACHEM SIM LECHA OREV LA IR ME ACHAREYHA
וְעָשִׂיתָ לָעַי וּלְמַלְכָּהּ כַּאֲשֶׁר עָשִׂיתָ לִירִיחֹו וּלְמַלְכָּהּ רַק שְׁלָלָהּ וּבְהֶמְתָּהּ תָּבֹזּוּ לָכֶם שִׂים לְךָ אֹרֵב לָעִיר מֵאַחֲרֶיהָ
KJ: And thou shalt do to Ai and her king as thou didst unto Jericho and her king: only the spoil thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ye take for a prey unto yourselves: lay thee an ambush for the city behind it.
BN: And you shall do to Ai, and to her king, as you did to Yericho and to her king: but its spoil, and its cattle, you may take as booty for yourselves. Set up watchmen on the high ground on the far side of the city.
And YHVH even plans the strategy, leads the troops. "As flies to wanton gods are we..."
MALKAH: "Her king", because cities are generally feminine.
OREV: Orev with an Ayin (ע) gives "crow". Here it is spelled with an Aleph (א). Yet the two words overlap - the bird of prey and the taking of booty, as the King James translation recognises. Except that this isn't where OREV is being used; it comes later in the verse. How, then, does a "crow" get to be an "ambush" - verses 4, 7 etc? A crow's nest on a ship is a look-out, and in verse 4 Yehoshu'a sends the ambush-group to watch the city from the far side. So the OREV is more likely the watching-place than the method of capture, though it will also be the place from which the ambush is launched.
Whatever happened to the lessons of humanity learned from the experience of slavery in Mitsrayim, and applied through Torah? Mercy, compassion, justice. All set aside. This is a god of war, Hebrew Mars, wreaking his fury against all who disbelieve in him. This is imperialism divinely sanctioned, with genocide thrown in for good measure. How do we Jews reconcile ourselves with this, especially now, in Gaza, and the West Bank? How is this any different from Muhammad's wars of conquest in the name of al-Lah, or the Crusades and Pogroms and Inquisitions of the Christian world?
MALKAH: "Her king", because cities are generally feminine.
OREV: Orev with an Ayin (ע) gives "crow". Here it is spelled with an Aleph (א). Yet the two words overlap - the bird of prey and the taking of booty, as the King James translation recognises. Except that this isn't where OREV is being used; it comes later in the verse. How, then, does a "crow" get to be an "ambush" - verses 4, 7 etc? A crow's nest on a ship is a look-out, and in verse 4 Yehoshu'a sends the ambush-group to watch the city from the far side. So the OREV is more likely the watching-place than the method of capture, though it will also be the place from which the ambush is launched.
Whatever happened to the lessons of humanity learned from the experience of slavery in Mitsrayim, and applied through Torah? Mercy, compassion, justice. All set aside. This is a god of war, Hebrew Mars, wreaking his fury against all who disbelieve in him. This is imperialism divinely sanctioned, with genocide thrown in for good measure. How do we Jews reconcile ourselves with this, especially now, in Gaza, and the West Bank? How is this any different from Muhammad's wars of conquest in the name of al-Lah, or the Crusades and Pogroms and Inquisitions of the Christian world?
And if it's okay to take the booty here at Ai, why was it not okay for Achan ben Karmi in the last chapter?
8:3 VA YAKAM YEHOSHU'A VE CHOL AM HA MILCHAMAH LA'ALOT HA AI VA YIVCHAR YEHOSHU'A SHELOSHIM ELEPH ISH GIBOREY HA CHAYIL VA YISHLACHEM LAILAH
8:3 VA YAKAM YEHOSHU'A VE CHOL AM HA MILCHAMAH LA'ALOT HA AI VA YIVCHAR YEHOSHU'A SHELOSHIM ELEPH ISH GIBOREY HA CHAYIL VA YISHLACHEM LAILAH
וַיָּקָם יְהֹושֻׁעַ וְכָל עַם הַמִּלְחָמָה לַעֲלֹות הָעָי וַיִּבְחַר יְהֹושֻׁעַ שְׁלֹשִׁים אֶלֶף אִישׁ גִּבֹּורֵי הַחַיִל וַיִּשְׁלָחֵם לָיְלָה
KJ: So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up against Ai: and Joshua chose out thirty thousand mighty men of valour, and sent them away by night.
BN: So Yehoshu'a set out, with the full army, to make war on Ai. And Yehoshu'a appointed a special unit of thirty thousand warriors, and sent them on by night.
The numbers, here as at Yericho, are worth a mention; the census in the desert suggested 600,000+ men of fighting age; a ludicrous figure, but the one given nonetheless. And if Yehoshu'a had that many, why use so few? And if he can now see the need for that number, why was he so easily misled by the two men who said three thousand was sufficient? (YHVH, of course, would answer that by saying: this is why I end up having to do everything myself; you can't rely on humans...).
8:4 VA YETSAV OTAM LEMOR RE'U ATEM ORVIM LA IR ME ACHAREY HA IR AL TARCHIYKU MIN HA IR ME'OD VI HEYIYTEM KULCHEM NECHONIM
8:4 VA YETSAV OTAM LEMOR RE'U ATEM ORVIM LA IR ME ACHAREY HA IR AL TARCHIYKU MIN HA IR ME'OD VI HEYIYTEM KULCHEM NECHONIM
וַיְצַו אֹתָם לֵאמֹר רְאוּ אַתֶּם אֹרְבִים לָעִיר מֵאַחֲרֵי הָעִיר אַל תַּרְחִיקוּ מִן הָעִיר מְאֹד וִהְיִיתֶם כֻּלְּכֶם נְכֹנִים
BN: And he gave them their orders, saying: "Set up a position from which you can view the entire city, from the far side. Do not go very far from the city, but be on standby, all of you...
ORVIM: See my note on OREV in verse 2.
NECHONIM: Used to mean "correct", but here to mean "ready", where today's usage might expect MECHONIM; interesting to think through how the word "correct" derives from this root.
8:5 VA ANI VE CHOL HA AM ASHER ITI NIKRAV EL HA IR VE HAYAH KI YETS'U LIKRA'TENU KA ASHER BA RI'SHONAH VE NASNU LIPHNEYHEM
וַאֲנִי וְכָל הָעָם אֲשֶׁר אִתִּי נִקְרַב אֶל הָעִיר וְהָיָה כִּי יֵצְאוּ לִקְרָאתֵנוּ כַּאֲשֶׁר בָּרִאשֹׁנָה וְנַסְנוּ לִפְנֵיהֶם
BN: "And I, and all the people who are with me, will approach the city. And we shall work it like this: when they come out against us, as they did the first time, we shall flee before them...
Hardly the most original strategem in military history, and you would expect the people of Ai to have a crow's nest or two of their own, at the far end of the city, to keep an eye out for precisely such a stratagem. Sha'ul will use the same ploy to take Ke'ilah (1 Samuel 23).
8:6 VE YATS'U ACHAREYNU AD HATIYKENU OTAM MIN HA IR KI YOMRU NASIM LEPHANEYNU KA ASHER BA RI'SHONAH VE NASNU LIPHNEYHEM
וְיָצְאוּ אַחֲרֵינוּ עַד הַתִּיקֵנוּ אֹותָם מִן הָעִיר כִּי יֹאמְרוּ נָסִים לְפָנֵינוּ כַּאֲשֶׁר בָּרִאשֹׁנָה וְנַסְנוּ לִפְנֵיהֶם
BN: "...until we have drawn them out of the city. For they will say: 'They are running away from us, like last time. Now let us run after them...'
NASIM...NASNU: The KJ not only fails to pick up the word-play here, but actually mistranslates it.
8:7 VE ATEM TAKUMU ME HA OREV VE HORASHTEM ET HA IR U NETANAH YHVH ELOHEYCHEM BE YEDCHEM
וְאַתֶּם תָּקֻמוּ מֵהָאֹורֵב וְהֹורַשְׁתֶּם אֶת הָעִיר וּנְתָנָהּ יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם בְּיֶדְכֶם
BN: "At which precise moment you will leave your observation-point, and seize the city, for YHVH your god will deliver it into your hand...
Standard tactic really: you can't defeat a walled city except by siege, or by drawing its army out to a place beyond the walls where you can fight it.
(Should we give Yehoshu'a the credit of having planned it this way: the cowardly retreat the first time, to instil a false sense of superiority in the people of Ai, and now use that...? No, the text simply doesn't allow us that much generosity. He got bowled out for thirty-six in the first innings; this time he's batting properly).
8:8 HE HAYAH KE TAPHSHECHEM ET HA IR TATSIYTU ET HA IR BA ESH KI DEVAR YHVH TA'ASU RE'U TSIVIYTI ET'CHEM
וְהָיָה כְּתָפְשְׂכֶם אֶת הָעִיר תַּצִּיתוּ אֶת הָעִיר בָּאֵשׁ כִּדְבַר יְהוָה תַּעֲשׂוּ רְאוּ צִוִּיתִי אֶתְכֶם
BN: "Then, when you have taken the city, you are to set the whole of it on fire: this is YHVH's instruction; so you shall carry it out. There, these are your orders."
Now doesn't that sound more like a real general, one whose men are likely to respect him, and obey him? Where two days ago he was lying on the ground and sobbing at his own stupidity, in front of his troops.
8:9 VA YISHLACHEM YEHOSHU'A VA YELCHU EL HA MA'RAV VA YESHVU BEYN BEIT-EL U VEYN HA AI MI YAM LA AI VA YALEN YEHOSHU'A BA LAILAH HA HU BETOCH HA AM
וַיִּשְׁלָחֵם יְהֹושֻׁעַ וַיֵּלְכוּ אֶל הַמַּאְרָב וַיֵּשְׁבוּ בֵּין בֵּית אֵל וּבֵין הָעַי מִיָּם לָעָי וַיָּלֶן יְהֹושֻׁעַ בַּלַּיְלָה הַהוּא בְּתֹוךְ הָעָם
BN: Then Yehoshu'a dispatched them, and they went to set up their crow's-nest, and stopped between Beit-El and Ai, on the west side of Ai, while Yehoshu'a lodged that night among the people.
BEIT-EL: See the link.
MA'RAV: From the same root OREV, but now as a causative verb.
8:10 VA YASHKEM YEHOSHU'A BA BOKER VA YIPHKOD ET HA AM VA YA'AL HU VE ZIKNEY YISRA-EL LIPHNEY HA AM HA AI
וַיַּשְׁכֵּם יְהֹושֻׁעַ בַּבֹּקֶר וַיִּפְקֹד אֶת הָעָם וַיַּעַל הוּא וְזִקְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל לִפְנֵי הָעָם הָעָי
BN: And Yehoshu'a rose in the morning, and took a count of the people, and went up, he and the elders of Yisra-El, at the head of the people to Ai.
VA YASHKEM: He seems to do all his best work around dawn, but in fact the word "early" is not in the Yehudit text. And why does he need to count the people? And if they are as many as we were told in the Book of Numbers (Numbers 1:1 to 4:49 and again in Chapter 26), then he will need several days, and probably a week, to get enough counters round that many and bring back their tallies.
8:11 VE CHOL HA AM HA MILCHAMAH ASHER ITO ALU VA YIGSHU VA YAVO'U NEGED HA IR VA YACHANU MI TSEPHON LA AI VE HAGAI BEYNAV U VEYN HA AI
וְכָל הָעָם הַמִּלְחָמָה אֲשֶׁר אִתֹּו עָלוּ וַיִּגְּשׁוּ וַיָּבֹאוּ נֶגֶד הָעִיר וַיַּחֲנוּ מִצְּפֹון לָעַי וְהַגַּי [בֵּינֹו כ] (בֵּינָיו ק) וּבֵין הָעָי
BN: And all the soldiers who were with him went up, until they were close to the city, and they stood in front of the city, and pitched camp on the north side of Ai. Now there was a valley between them and Ai.
8:12 VA YIKACH KA CHAMESHET ALAPHIM ISH VA YASEM OTAM OREV BEYN BEIT-EL U VEYN HA AI MI YAM LA IR
וַיִּקַּח כַּחֲמֵשֶׁת אֲלָפִים אִישׁ וַיָּשֶׂם אֹותָם אֹרֵב בֵּין בֵּית אֵל וּבֵין הָעַי מִיָּם לָעִיר
KJ: And he took about five thousand men, and set them to lie in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the city.
BN: And he took some five thousand men, and he had them set up a crow's nest Beit El and Ai, on the sea side of the city.
Having shown himself and his troops very visibly, establishing a second crow's nest in this manner becomes a decoy for the real one.
MI YAM: The geographical location of Ai is very close to the Dead Sea, but a very long way from the Mediterranean, and in truth the Mediterranean does not enter the Yehudi consciousness terribly often, at any point of the Tanach. The Beney Yisra-El have entered Kena'an from the east, across the Yarden river at Gil-Gal, and are moving south-west, with the Dead Sea (Yam ha Melach) due south (my map is a modern map, on which I have marked the Biblical places; Tel-Aviv did not exist at the time!). The next verse confirms this - the camp is on the north side; so the "ambush party" has gone to the western, Beit-El, side, and the second "ambush party" to the south.
8:13 VA YASIYMU HA AM ET KOL HA MACHANEH ASHER MI TSEPHON LA IR VE ET AKEVO MI YAM LA IR VA YELECH YEHOSHU'A BA LAILAH HA HU BETOCH HA EMEK
BN: And he took some five thousand men, and he had them set up a crow's nest Beit El and Ai, on the sea side of the city.
Having shown himself and his troops very visibly, establishing a second crow's nest in this manner becomes a decoy for the real one.MI YAM: The geographical location of Ai is very close to the Dead Sea, but a very long way from the Mediterranean, and in truth the Mediterranean does not enter the Yehudi consciousness terribly often, at any point of the Tanach. The Beney Yisra-El have entered Kena'an from the east, across the Yarden river at Gil-Gal, and are moving south-west, with the Dead Sea (Yam ha Melach) due south (my map is a modern map, on which I have marked the Biblical places; Tel-Aviv did not exist at the time!). The next verse confirms this - the camp is on the north side; so the "ambush party" has gone to the western, Beit-El, side, and the second "ambush party" to the south.
8:13 VA YASIYMU HA AM ET KOL HA MACHANEH ASHER MI TSEPHON LA IR VE ET AKEVO MI YAM LA IR VA YELECH YEHOSHU'A BA LAILAH HA HU BETOCH HA EMEK
וַיָּשִׂימוּ הָעָם אֶת כָּל הַמַּחֲנֶה אֲשֶׁר מִצְּפֹון לָעִיר וְאֶת עֲקֵבֹו מִיָּם לָעִיר וַיֵּלֶךְ יְהֹושֻׁעַ בַּלַּיְלָה הַהוּא בְּתֹוךְ הָעֵמֶק
BN: So they set the people - the full camp which was to the north of the city, and those who were lying in wait to the west of the city - and Yehoshu'a went down by night into the foot of the valley.
8:14 VA YEHI KI RE'OT MELECH HA AI VA YEMAHARU VA YASHKIYMU VA YETS'U ANSHEY HA IR LIKRAT YISRA'EL LA MILCHAMAH HU VE CHOL AMO LA MO'ED LIPHNEY HA ARAVAH VE HU LO YADA KI OREV LO ME ACHAREY HA IR
וַיְהִי כִּרְאֹות מֶלֶךְ הָעַי וַיְמַהֲרוּ וַיַּשְׁכִּימוּ וַיֵּצְאוּ אַנְשֵׁי הָעִיר לִקְרַאת יִשְׂרָאֵל לַמִּלְחָמָה הוּא וְכָל עַמֹּו לַמֹּועֵד לִפְנֵי הָעֲרָבָה וְהוּא לֹא יָדַע כִּי אֹרֵב לֹו מֵאַחֲרֵי הָעִיר
BN: And so it fell out, when the king of Ai saw it, that they hastened and rose up early, and the men of the city went out to make war against Yisra-El, he and all his people, at the appointed time, before the plain; and he did not know that there were men lying in wait to ambush him behind the city.
MO'ED: "Appointed time" as in feast, fast or festival? What possible mo'ed could there be if this is an assault upon a city? In an earlier verse, Yehoshu'a was told to do to Ai what was done to Yericho, and that proved to be a religious pilgrimage and shrine-cleaning wrapped up in the language of war. So is this something of the same order? And if so, as Drummond claims, are each of these "battles" in fact anthropomorphisations of cosmological events, a way of telling the horoscope? And if so, do we read Yehoshu'a going down into the valley in the night mythologically once again his sun, which then "rises early in the morning" for war "at the appointed time"?
Which of course makes three levels to this book, and why not? Pseudo-history, superimposed upon aetiological myths, alongside the cosmological mythologies which were primitive science.
8:15 VA YINAG'U YEHOSHU'A VE CHOL YISRA'EL LIPHNEYHEM VA YANUSU DERECH HA MIDBAR
וַיִּנָּגְעוּ יְהֹושֻׁעַ וְכָל יִשְׂרָאֵל לִפְנֵיהֶם וַיָּנֻסוּ דֶּרֶךְ הַמִּדְבָּר
BN: And Yehoshu'a and all Yisra-El ran as if defeated before them, and fled in the direction of the wilderness.
VA YINAG'U: From where do the translators get the idea that Yehoshu'a had them "fake defeat"? LINGO'A means "to touch" (Genesis 3:3, 26:11 et al), and was used throughout Exodus (eg Exodus 11:1) as one of the words for "plague" (see also Job 19:21). It is used to mean "beaten" in the Niphal (passive) form, for which look at Psalm 73:14 or Ezekiel 17:10; but here they are not "acting as if" beaten (even though we know they are).
The answer to this conundrum probably lies in Deuteronomy 17:8 and 21:5, where the "touch" is rather stronger than the law might permit, becoming a blow or hit or even a punch; thence to the plague, and to the severe blow of military defeat here.
And the lesson for every translator, from any language to any language, at any point of time: words change their meanings, grow, develop, modify, and they also contain the culture of their time and geography: and we have to take these into account as well when we are offering our translations.
DERECH HA MIDBAR: Which would have been south, passing by the second "ambush party", whose sudden appearance will alert the men of Ai, but divert them to dealing with the wrong ambush. Now this is intelligent design!
8:16 VA YIZA'AKU KOL HA AM ASHER VA IR LIRDOPH ACHAREYHEM VA YIRDEPHU ACHAREY YEHOSHU'A VA YINATKU MIN HA IR
DERECH HA MIDBAR: Which would have been south, passing by the second "ambush party", whose sudden appearance will alert the men of Ai, but divert them to dealing with the wrong ambush. Now this is intelligent design!
8:16 VA YIZA'AKU KOL HA AM ASHER VA IR LIRDOPH ACHAREYHEM VA YIRDEPHU ACHAREY YEHOSHU'A VA YINATKU MIN HA IR
וַיִּזָּעֲקוּ כָּל הָעָם אֲשֶׁר בָּעִיר (בָּעַי) לִרְדֹּף אַחֲרֵיהֶם וַיִּרְדְּפוּ אַחֲרֵי יְהֹושֻׁעַ וַיִּנָּתְקוּ מִן הָעִיר
BN: And all the people who were in the city were summoned to pursue them: and they chased after Yehoshu'a, and they were drawn away from the city.
Usually a parenthesis in the Masoretic text questions the spelling, or the grammar, but here the entire word is being questioned - though it could be perceived as a matter of spelling too: a dropped final Reysh and a false pointing to compensate. The truth is, it really doesn't matter which word was used, as we know that the city in question is Ai.
8:17 VE LO NISH'AR ISH BA AI U VEIT-EL ASHER LO YATS'U ACHAREY YISRA-EL VA YA'AZVU ET HA IR PETUCHAH VA YIRDEPHU ACHAREY YISRA-EL
וְלֹא נִשְׁאַר אִישׁ בָּעַי וּבֵית אֵל אֲשֶׁר לֹא יָצְאוּ אַחֲרֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וַיַּעַזְבוּ אֶת הָעִיר פְּתוּחָה וַיִּרְדְּפוּ אַחֲרֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל
BN: And not a man was left, in Ai or in Beit-El, who did not go out after Yisra-El: and they left the city open, and chased after Yisra-El.
Why is Beit-El suddenly included in this? Perhaps because Beit-El is the shrine and Ai the city; though Genesis 35:7 ff tells us that Beit-El is the shrine and Luz the city. Perhaps a Beit-El is simply a baetylos, a stone shrine like the black rock of the Ka'aba or the one on the summit of Mount Mor-Yah in Yeru-Shala'im, and therefore any town could be both the name of the town and the reference to its holy shrine, and it could serve both Luz and Ai. Either way, this now makes the religious link that we have been expecting.
pey break
8:18 VA YOMER YHVH EL YEHOSHU'A NETEH BA KIYDON ASHER BE YADCHA EL HA AI KI VE YADCHA ETNENAH VA YET YEHOSHU'A BA KIYDON ASHER BE YADO EL HA IR
וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה אֶל יְהֹושֻׁעַ נְטֵה בַּכִּידֹון אֲשֶׁר בְּיָדְךָ אֶל הָעַי כִּי בְיָדְךָ אֶתְּנֶנָּה וַיֵּט יְהֹושֻׁעַ בַּכִּידֹון אֲשֶׁר בְּיָדֹו אֶל הָעִיר
BN: And YHVH said to Yehoshu'a: Stretch out the spear that is in your hand toward Ai; for I will give it into your hand. And Yehoshu'a stretched out the spear that he had in his hand toward the city.
NETEH BA KIDON: Strange command, unless it's a piece of symbolism. The trouble is, as a piece of symbolism, it's also Poseidon, Neptune and especially Yam in this part of the ancient world - and also both Mosheh and Aharon with their staff and rod. Was the writer of this tale reading a series of icons, deducing story from picture (as Joseph Campbell suggests); in which case, if this was found at the Beit-El of Ai, it was probably the altarpiece of a shrine to Yam depicting some mythic tale of the gods (which confirms Drummond).
On the other hand, perhaps this was just the agreed signal between Yehoshu'a and the men lying in wait, watching from their crow's nest on the far site of the city: "when you see me raise my spear... attack!".Or both explanations.
The illustration shows Poseidon with his trident; as close, alas, as I could get, because the Beney Yisra-El did not make graven images, so there are no stele from the time depicting Yehoshu'a, nor of Mosheh doing the same with the Beney Amalek previously.
וְהָאֹורֵב קָם מְהֵרָה מִמְּקֹומֹו וַיָּרוּצוּ כִּנְטֹות יָדֹו וַיָּבֹאוּ הָעִיר וַיִּלְכְּדוּהָ וַיְמַהֲרוּ וַיַּצִּיתוּ אֶת הָעִיר בָּאֵשׁ
KJ: And the ambush arose quickly out of their place, and they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand: and they entered into the city, and took it, and hasted and set the city on fire.
BN: And at the very moment when he stretched out his hand, the liers-in-wait left their hide-out, and ran at top speed, and went into the city, and took it, and as fast as they could they set the city on fire.
This is really just a standard rape-pillage-and-burn piece of barbarism, but with the attempt to justify it as a holy act. Thus did the Cortes take Montezuma's kingdom; thus did al-Lah take north Africa; thus did Hitler take Poland and the British Bei-Jing.
I have rearranged the order of the sentence in my translation. The Yehudit works by being deliberately unsyntactical, the conjunction providing the tension; but English becomes laboured and clichéic in that form. It is also necessary to work out, within the unsyntactical Yehudit, to which actions MEHERAH and YEMAHERU, both having to do with speed, but differently, actually apply.
8:20 VA YIPHNU ANSHEY HA AI ACHAREYHEM VA YIR'U VE HINEH ALAH ASHAN HA IR HA SHAMAYEMAH VE LO HAYAH VA HEM YADAYIM LANUS HENAH VA HENAH VE HA AM HANAS HA MIDBAR NEHPHACH EL HA RODEPH
וַיִּפְנוּ אַנְשֵׁי הָעַי אַחֲרֵיהֶם וַיִּרְאוּ וְהִנֵּה עָלָה עֲשַׁן הָעִיר הַשָּׁמַיְמָה וְלֹא הָיָה בָהֶם יָדַיִם לָנוּס הֵנָּה וָהֵנָּה וְהָעָם הַנָּס הַמִּדְבָּר נֶהְפַּךְ אֶל הָרֹודֵף
BN: And when the men of Ai looked behind them, they saw, and - O my gosh - smoke from the city was billowing skywards, and they had no power to flee this way or that way: and the people who had pretended to flee into the wilderness turned back upon their pursuers.
The amount of detail given is intended to make us think this was a brilliant military strategy of the Beney Yisra-El (or actually YHVH, who of course generalled this operation), where in fact it really was just routine.
8:21 VIYHOSHU'A VE CHOL YISRA-EL RA'U KI LACHAD HA OREV ET HA IR VE CHI ALAH ASHAN HA IR VA YASHUVU VA YAKU ET ANSHEY HA AI
וִיהֹושֻׁעַ וְכָל יִשְׂרָאֵל רָאוּ כִּי לָכַד הָאֹרֵב אֶת הָעִיר וְכִי עָלָה עֲשַׁן הָעִיר וַיָּשֻׁבוּ וַיַּכּוּ אֶת אַנְשֵׁי הָעָי
BN: And when Yehoshu'a and all Yisra-El saw that the liers-in-wait had taken the city, and that smoke was rising heavenwards from the city, then they turned around, and slew the men of Ai.
Psychologically interesting: the men of Ai still outnumber them, and are carrying their weapons; and they have nothing to lose but their lives now, which ought to make them more valiant, more likely to defeat their enemy. But no, desperation and desolation have sapped their energy. They will go like unblemished yearling cattle to the shochet.
8:22 VE ELEH YATS'U MIN HA IR LIKRA'TAM VA YEHI'U LE YISRA-EL BATAVECH ELEH MI ZEH VE ELEH MI ZEH VA YAKU OTAM AD BILTI HISHIR LO SARID U PALIT
וְאֵלֶּה יָצְאוּ מִן הָעִיר לִקְרָאתָם וַיִּהְיוּ לְיִשְׂרָאֵל בַּתָּוֶךְ אֵלֶּה מִזֶּה וְאֵלֶּה מִזֶּה וַיַּכּוּ אֹותָם עַד בִּלְתִּי הִשְׁאִיר לֹו שָׂרִיד וּפָלִיט
BN: And these came out of the city towards them, so that they were trapped in the middle of Yisra-El, between these from here and those from there. And they smote them, until not one of them was left alive, or even in flight.
ELEH: "These" logically refers to the last-named noun, which was the fleeing residents of Ai, though the rest of the verse clearly intends "these" to be the OREVIM. KJ deals with it by adding "other". But it is unnecessary, because the text itself deals with in the second half.
BATAVECH: But surely that should be BETOCH?
8:23 VE ET MELECH HA AI TAPHSU CHAI VA YAKRIVU OTO EL YEHOSHU'A
וְאֶת מֶלֶךְ הָעַי תָּפְשׂוּ חָי וַיַּקְרִבוּ אֹתֹו אֶל יְהֹושֻׁעַ
BN: And the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him to Yehoshu'a.
Which poses a challenge to Yehoshu'a: does he kill him too, or allow him to live? He is a king, after all. The matter is suspended here, you will have to hang on until verse 29 to find out. Or you can read 1 Samuel 15 for a parallel, especially verses 8 and 34.
8:24 VA YEHI KE CHALOT YISRA-EL LAHAROG ET KOL YOSHVEY HA AI BA SADEH BA MIDBAR ASHER REDAPHUM BO VA YIPLU CHULAM LE PHI CHEREV AD TUMAM VA YASHUVU CHOL YISRA-EL HA AI VA YAKU OTAH LE PHI CHAREV
וַיְהִי כְּכַלֹּות יִשְׂרָאֵל לַהֲרֹג אֶת כָּל יֹשְׁבֵי הָעַי בַּשָּׂדֶה בַּמִּדְבָּר אֲשֶׁר רְדָפוּם בֹּו וַיִּפְּלוּ כֻלָּם לְפִי חֶרֶב עַד תֻּמָּם וַיָּשֻׁבוּ כָל יִשְׂרָאֵל הָעַי וַיַּכּוּ אֹתָהּ לְפִי חָרֶב
BN: And it came to pass, when Yisra-El had finished slaying all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, and in the desert into which they chased them, and when they had all fallen on the edge of the sword until they were dead to the very last, that all the Beney Yisra-El returned to Ai, and smote it with the edge of the sword.
Why is the city constantly named HA AI? (which actually means "the ruin", as I pointed out earlier - so this wasn't it's original name anyway... maybe this is another version of the taking of Yericho!)
But hadn't they already set fire to the place in verse 19? Yes, but there will have been some women and children, some old people, some cowardly men hiding in cellars... as per the next verse.
8:25 VA YEHI CHOL HA NOPHLIM BA YOM HA HU ME ISH VE AD ISHAH SHENEYM ASAR ALEPH KOL ANSHEY HA AI
וַיְהִי כָל הַנֹּפְלִים בַּיֹּום הַהוּא מֵאִישׁ וְעַד אִשָּׁה שְׁנֵים עָשָׂר אָלֶף כֹּל אַנְשֵׁי הָעָי
BN: And so it was that the number who fell that day, both men and women, was twelve thousand, the entire population of Ai.
At least Muhammad, for the most part, had the virtue of thinking of sparing the women and the children! (though actually, if you think about it, I'm not sure why you would, given the reason for slaughtering the men and burning the town; and I'm not sure why it would then count as a virtue anyway, in religious terms.)
I haven't bothered to look this one up, but if you know the answer, please post it in the comment box at te foot of the page: based on United Nations resolutions, and other international protocols, what is the statistical point at which ethnic cleansing becomes genocide? Is twelve thousand above or below that line?
8:26 VIYHOSHU'A LO HESHIV YADO ASHER NATAH BA KIYDON AD ASHER HECHERIM ET KOL YOSHVEY HA IR
8:26 VIYHOSHU'A LO HESHIV YADO ASHER NATAH BA KIYDON AD ASHER HECHERIM ET KOL YOSHVEY HA IR
וִיהֹושֻׁעַ לֹא הֵשִׁיב יָדֹו אֲשֶׁר נָטָה בַּכִּידֹון עַד אֲשֶׁר הֶחֱרִים אֵת כָּל יֹשְׁבֵי הָעָי
KJ: For Joshua drew not his hand back, wherewith he stretched out the spear, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.
BN: For Yehoshu'a did not draw back his hand, the one with which he was stretching out his spear, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.
LO HESHIV YADO: Cf Chur and Aharon holding up Mosheh's arms in Exodus 10:13.
HECHERIM: Why use the verb that denotes a cherem (the link will surprise you at first, but read on), which is a religious act, and not LEHASHMID, which is the normal word for material destruction? Further evidence that this is holy war focused on the shrines; conquest not of land so much as of Valhalla. See my notes to this in several previous chapters.
8:27 RAK HA BEHEMAH U SHELAL HA IR HA HI BAZEZU LAHEM YISRA-EL KI DEVAR YHVH ASHER TSIVAH ET YEHOSHU'A
רַק הַבְּהֵמָה וּשְׁלַל הָעִיר הַהִיא בָּזְזוּ לָהֶם יִשְׂרָאֵל כִּדְבַר יְהוָה אֲשֶׁר צִוָּה אֶת יְהֹושֻׁעַ
BN: Only the cattle, and the spoil of the city, did Yisra-El take as booty for themselves, according to the word of YHVH which he instructed Yehoshu'a.
BEHEMAH: The second time this word has appeared in this book; the normal word for cattle is mikneh, where Behemah has creational connotations (see Genesis 1:21 et al) which link him (or quite possibly her) to RACHAV (Rahab) in the Yericho tale.
"Or quite possibly her": BEHEMAH is feminine. The masculine would be BAHAM or BAHOM. As the masculine of Tiamat/Tahamat would be Tehom. So is there a female red dragon and a female white dragon, just as there is a male of each? Or does the Genesis masculinise because it needs to remove the female wherever it can? Or were there both - the original purpose of these underworld serpents, which was the regeneration of biodegraded matter, surely requires there to be both male and female?
What happened to the "accursed thing", the sin of Achan, in chapter 7? Or was all this booty given to YHVH this time, for his Treasury, and therefore sacred, and therefore acceptable?
8:28 VA YISROPH YEHOSHU'A ET HA AI VA YESIYMEHA TEL OLAM SHEMAMAH AD HA YOM HA ZEH
What happened to the "accursed thing", the sin of Achan, in chapter 7? Or was all this booty given to YHVH this time, for his Treasury, and therefore sacred, and therefore acceptable?
8:28 VA YISROPH YEHOSHU'A ET HA AI VA YESIYMEHA TEL OLAM SHEMAMAH AD HA YOM HA ZEH
וַיִּשְׂרֹף יְהֹושֻׁעַ אֶת הָעָי וַיְשִׂימֶהָ תֵּל עֹולָם שְׁמָמָה עַד הַיֹּום הַזֶּה
BN: And Yehoshua burnt Ai, and made of it a pile of rubble for ever, a place of desolation even to this day.
VA YISROPH: And if he burned it in the name of YHVH, does that constitute a Kurban, a burnt-offering, or simply a crime against humanity?
And this is why it is called Ai, and especially Ha Ai: "the ruin". So it can't have been called Ai, or Ha Ai, before this story. Aetiology again, not history.
TEL: The root of the word for an archaeological dig.
AD HA YOM HA ZEH: And is that true? Was Ai ever rebuilt? Previously it had been a royal city of Kena'an (Canaan); now it is an archaeological dig at et-Tell, though there is an argument for its being at Kirbet el-Maqatir.
8:29 VE ET MELECH HA AI TALAH AL HA ETS AD ET HA AREV U CHE VO HA SHEMESH TSIVAH YEHOSHU'A VA YORIYDU ET NIVLATO MIN HA ETS VA YASHLIYCHU OTAH EL PETACH SHA'AR HA IR VA YAKIYMU ALAV GAL AVANIM GADOL AD HA YOM HA ZEH
8:29 VE ET MELECH HA AI TALAH AL HA ETS AD ET HA AREV U CHE VO HA SHEMESH TSIVAH YEHOSHU'A VA YORIYDU ET NIVLATO MIN HA ETS VA YASHLIYCHU OTAH EL PETACH SHA'AR HA IR VA YAKIYMU ALAV GAL AVANIM GADOL AD HA YOM HA ZEH
וְאֶת מֶלֶךְ הָעַי תָּלָה עַל הָעֵץ עַד עֵת הָעָרֶב וּכְבֹוא הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ צִוָּה יְהֹושֻׁעַ וַיֹּרִידוּ אֶת נִבְלָתֹו מִן הָעֵץ וַיַּשְׁלִיכוּ אֹותָהּ אֶל פֶּתַח שַׁעַר הָעִיר וַיָּקִימוּ עָלָיו גַּל אֲבָנִים גָּדֹול עַד הַיֹּום הַזֶּה
KJ: And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until eventide: and as soon as the sun was down, Joshua commanded that they should take his carcase down from the tree, and cast it at the entering of the gate of the city, and raise thereon a great heap of stones, that remaineth unto this day.
BN: And he hanged the king of Ai on the tree, and left him there until the announcement of the evening: and as soon as the sun had risen the following morning, Yehoshu'a commanded that they should take his carcass down from the tree, and dump it at the portal of the city gate, and pile on it a great heap of stones - it is still there to this day.
HA ETS: The appearance of a definite article here is surprising. Not "any old tree", but "the tree". Only - which tree? It can only be a sacred tree, the yew in the church cemetery, the weeping oak of Alon Bachot, (the Cross on Calvary, the oak where Av-Shalom got his hair all tangled), the World Tree in the Garden of Eden. The one, as Frazer has pointed out, with the Golden Bough!
AD ET HA AREV: Notice again how important the times of day are in these tales of Yehoshu'a: sunrise and sunset especially - the sun and moon in rivalrous competition, but also married. And notice that AREV and OREV are an aural play on words, the one with an Ayin (ע), the other with an Aleph (א). The ET here is not an indication of an accusative noun, but very specifically the OT, the sign that evening has fallen - most important for the start of the Shabat and the festivals - more information on this here.
CHE VO HA SHEMESH: VO means "to come", not "to go", so this must mean the sunrise, not its setting. But that leaves us wondering what happened to the body between the sunset and the sunrise - and then we remember that we are in sacred territory, where YHVH the sun-god rules by day, and it was evening, when the moon-goddess takes over, and then morning, as per the Creation, so actually he left him hanging as a sacrifice to the moon-goddess, which completes the connection back to Yericho and Rachav; but the Ezraic text can't say that explicitly, because it removes authority from what by that time was an exclsuively male deity.
A cairn! Like Av-Shalom's (2 Samuel 18:17/18). A pagan cairn! Only criminals, traitors, and other bad-guys get cairns; decent people get burial-sites, a properly made tumulus rather than a pile of stones. So this is definitely Golden Bough territory. What is the significance of leaving him in the very gateway of the city? Yet another aetiological explanation?
GAL AVANIM: Note the word GAL here, the rock part of the Gil-Gal; there the Gil made it circular; here it is simply a pile: but necessarily, to complete the aetiology of AI: "a heap of ruins" would be our modern idiom.
pey break
8:30 AZ YIVNEH YEHOSHU'A MIZBE'ACH LA YHVH ELOHEY YISRA-EL BE HAR EYVAL
אָז יִבְנֶה יְהֹושֻׁעַ מִזְבֵּחַ לַיהוָה אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּהַר עֵיבָל
KJ: Then Joshua built an altar unto the LORD God of Israel in mount Ebal,
BN: Then Yehoshu'a built an altar to YHVH the god of Yisra-El on Mount Eyval.
EYVAL: See the link. The significance here is that he built it on Mount Eyval, not Mount Gerizim, because Eyval was the curses, but Gerizim the blessings, of Deuteronomy 11:29, and what has been "sacrificed" here is another part of the Cherem. But see verse 33.
The removal of the pagan god, by removing his king, and destroying his shrine with a cairn; the sanctification of the "true" god, the endorsement of his king, the creation of a new shrine in his honour, with an altar. The first part is incomplete without the second part, and the second part is incomplete without verse 31.
But what happened to Beit-El in the meanwhile - that strange sudden appearance in the tale, then vanished, and no punishment for them colluding with the men of Ai. And yet here is Yehoshu'a establishing a shrine in its vicinity? Presumably - see my note above - Beit-El was this shrine, re-consecrated.
8:31 KA ASHER TSIVAH MOSHEH EVED YHVH ET BENEY YISRA-EL KA KATUV BE SEPHER TORAH MOSHEH MIZBACH AVANIM SHELEMOT ASHER LO HENIPH ALEYHEN BARZEL VA YA'ALU ALAV OLOT LA YHVH VA YIZBECHU SHELAMIM
But what happened to Beit-El in the meanwhile - that strange sudden appearance in the tale, then vanished, and no punishment for them colluding with the men of Ai. And yet here is Yehoshu'a establishing a shrine in its vicinity? Presumably - see my note above - Beit-El was this shrine, re-consecrated.
8:31 KA ASHER TSIVAH MOSHEH EVED YHVH ET BENEY YISRA-EL KA KATUV BE SEPHER TORAH MOSHEH MIZBACH AVANIM SHELEMOT ASHER LO HENIPH ALEYHEN BARZEL VA YA'ALU ALAV OLOT LA YHVH VA YIZBECHU SHELAMIM
כַּאֲשֶׁר צִוָּה מֹשֶׁה עֶבֶד יְהוָה אֶת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל כַּכָּתוּב בְּסֵפֶר תֹּורַת מֹשֶׁה מִזְבַּח אֲבָנִים שְׁלֵמֹות אֲשֶׁר לֹא הֵנִיף עֲלֵיהֶן בַּרְזֶל וַיַּעֲלוּ עָלָיו עֹלֹות לַיהוָה וַיִּזְבְּחוּ שְׁלָמִים
BN: As Mosheh the servant of YHVH commanded the Beney Yisra-El, as it is written in the Book of the Law of Mosheh, an altar of uncut stones, over which no man has lifted up any instrument of iron. And they offered burnt offerings to YHVH on it, and sacrificed peace offerings.
An altar of stones is similar to a cairn of stones and to the Gil-Gal previously, akin to the megalithic allignments that can be found in Brittany and Colombia, Egypt and Guatemala, at Stonehenge and at Silbury Hill; the concept of a baetylos in the Greek, and earlier Phoenician, from which the Yehudit word Beit-El derived, or possibly the other way around. The original baetyloi, such as the black rocks of Mecca and Yeru-Shala'im, were fragments of meteorites that had crashed into the Earth at some much earlier point of planetary evolution; the megaliths were always Man-made, but frequently using meteoric rock.
The iron is an anachronism. Iron first came into Kena'an with the Pelishtim of Minoa, around the middle of King Sha'ul's reign - as evidenced at least by the detail in 1 Samuel 13, as well as from archaeological evidence (historically, around 1000 BCE). The point is nonetheless significant, that altars in the cult of the Beney Yisra-El were required to be of natural elements, and could not be modified by the use of metals or minerals.
MIZBACH: The previous verse gave MIZBE'ACH. What is the difference?
Where is it written in "The Book of the Law of Mosheh"?
8:32 VA YICHTAV SHAM AL HA AVANIM ET MISHNEH TORAH MOSHE ASHER KATAV LIPHNEY BENEY YISRA-EL
וַיִּכְתָּב שָׁם עַל הָאֲבָנִים אֵת מִשְׁנֵה תֹּורַת מֹשֶׁה אֲשֶׁר כָּתַב לִפְנֵי בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל
KJ: And he wrote there upon the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he wrote in the presence of the children of Israel.
BN: And he engraved on the stones a copy of the Law of Mosheh, which he chiselled in the presence of the Beney Yisra-El.
How large must the stones have been, if he wrote the whole law, as orthodox Jews believe it to have been given, the full five books? How long would it have taken him - even typing on a fast computer keyboard you would need several weeks without a rest; by hand, months; chiselling into stone even longer. So either this is hyperbole, or the law he had must have been very much shorter. In which case, was it one per stone, on an altar of Seven or Ten stones? Much more likely anyway that the Law would have consisted of Twelve commandments, and twelve stones; or based on Gil-Gal just seven.
Where did he learn that very complex craft of stone-writing? And in which language, given that Hebrew/Yehudit as an alphabetic language had not been invented yet? In Egyptian hieroglyphs presumably.
This habit of writing events down on stone is very Egyptian. The best-known is the Rosetta Stone, discovered by chance by Napoleon's army in 1799, and then deciphered by Jean-Francois Champollion; it contains an edict issued by Ptolemy V in 196 BCE - yes, that late! It is written three times: once in ancient hieroglyphic script, once in Egyptian demotic, the regular language of everyday Egypt, and once in Greek - the equivalent of a mediaeval English document using Latin, for the priests, French, for the rulers, and Anglo-Saxon, for any who happened to be literate among the ordinary folk.
One interesting last thought: if the altar had to be unhewn stone, and no iron instrument could be used on it, how come it was kosher to engrave the law on stones specially cut for the purpose, using an iron chisel?
8:33 VE CHOL YISRA-EL U ZEKENAV VE SHOTRIM VE SHOPHTAV OMDIM MI ZEH U MIZEH LA ARON NEGED HA KOHANIM HA LEVIYIM NOS'EY ARON BERIT YHVH KA GER KA EZRACH CHETS'YO EL MUL HAR GERIZIM VE HA CHETS'YO EL MUL HA EYVAL KA ASHER TSIVAH MOSHE EVED YHVH LEVARECH ET HA AM YISRA-EL BA RI'SHONAH
וְכָל יִשְׂרָאֵל וּזְקֵנָיו וְשֹׁטְרִים וְשֹׁפְטָיו עֹמְדִים מִזֶּה וּמִזֶּה לָאָרֹון נֶגֶד הַכֹּהֲנִים הַלְוִיִּם נֹשְׂאֵי אֲרֹון בְּרִית יְהוָה כַּגֵּר כָּאֶזְרָח חֶצְיֹו אֶל מוּל הַר גְּרִזִים וְהַחֶצְיֹו אֶל מוּל הַר עֵיבָל כַּאֲשֶׁר צִוָּה מֹשֶׁה עֶבֶד יְהוָה לְבָרֵךְ אֶת הָעָם יִשְׂרָאֵל בָּרִאשֹׁנָה
BN: And all Yisra-El, and their elders, their officers, their judges, as well as the stranger who was born among them, stood some on this side some on that side of the Ark, in front of the Kohanim and the Leviyim, who carried the Ark of the Covenant of YHVH; half of them on the Mount Gerizim side, and half of them on the Mount Eyval side, as Mosheh the servant of YHVH had instructed previously, so that they should bless the people of Yisra-El.
SHOPHTIM: Judges needs some consideration. Judges as in Devorah (Deborah) and Gid'on (Gideon) et al, from the book of that name - prophetic or oracular priests and priestesses with a "medicine-man" or "shaman" role in the hieracrchy? Or the judicial system that Mosheh supposedly set up, at Yitro's behest (Exodus 18:13 ff)? No, these are Shophtim, not Dayanim: it is the former.
KA GER KA EZRACH: See the link.
For the positioning between the two mountains, see my notes at verse 30.
The order of the words in the Yehudit is complicated. I have reorganised it slightly in my translation.
8:34 VE ACHAREY CHEN KARA ET KOL DIVREY HA TORAH HA BERACHAH VE HA KELALAH KE CHOL HA KATUV BE SEPHER HA TORAH
The order of the words in the Yehudit is complicated. I have reorganised it slightly in my translation.
8:34 VE ACHAREY CHEN KARA ET KOL DIVREY HA TORAH HA BERACHAH VE HA KELALAH KE CHOL HA KATUV BE SEPHER HA TORAH
וְאַחֲרֵי כֵן קָרָא אֶת כָּל דִּבְרֵי הַתֹּורָה הַבְּרָכָה וְהַקְּלָלָה כְּכָל הַכָּתוּב בְּסֵפֶר הַתֹּורָה
BN: And afterwards he read all the words of the law, the blessings and the curses, according to all that is written in the book of the law.
Which infers that the Book of Deuteronomy was amongst the written texts, because that is the only place in the Torah where these blessings and curses are to be found: Deuteronomy 11. But, as with the carving, so with the reading: even to read the whole of that section of Deuteronomy - translating hieroglyphs, which are picture-words, into narrative, as you go along, will have taken many, many hours. I think the point here is that Ezra did precisely this, inaugurating the custom of reading the Torah in annual cycle, in his days in the market-place, which took place on Mondays and Thursdays, which is why those are still the appointed days today; as well, of course, as on Shabat in the Temple, or now the synagogue. To endorse the Ezraic ruling, attributing it to Yehoshu'a, and giving it Mosheh's approval there, made perfect sense (and I know that this is correct, because both Rashi and Maimonides draw the same conclusion!).
SEPHER: To us it means a book; to the Redactor it would have meant a papyrus or parchment scroll; but to Yehoshu'a? The point here is to give retroactive validation to a set of laws which, in fact, are being developed concurrently with the writing down of these tales, to create a national epic and a national identity. The laws are to be attributed to YHVH, though Mosheh, but, as Pirkei Avot will repeat centuries later, there needs to be a chain of tradition which brings them to the present, so Yehoshu'a writing them down established the next link, and then the Elders, the Prophets, the Men of the Great Assembly, and finally your local Rabbi at Temple Galut or Congregation Tephutsot.
8:35 LO HAYAH DAVAR MI KOL ASHER TSIVAH MOSHE ASHER LO KARA YEHOSHU'A NEGED KOL KEHAL YISRA'EL VE HA NASHIM VE HA TAPH VE HA GER HA HOLECH BE KIRBAM
לֹא הָיָה דָבָר מִכֹּל אֲשֶׁר צִוָּה מֹשֶׁה אֲשֶׁר לֹא קָרָא יְהֹושֻׁעַ נֶגֶד כָּל קְהַל יִשְׂרָאֵל וְהַנָּשִׁים וְהַטַּף וְהַגֵּר הַהֹלֵךְ בְּקִרְבָּם
BN: There was not a single word of everything that Mosheh had instructed which Yehoshu'a did not read before all the congregation of Yisra-El, with the women, and the little ones, and the strangers who were living among them.
Again, a necessary theological statement rather than a historical likelihood.
pey break
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