Footnotes
[1]. See note b, p. 27.
LESSON VI.
THE HISTORICAL BOOKS.
| ANALYSIS. | REFERENCES. |
| I. Pentateuch.[1] | |
| II. Book of Joshua--The Hexateuch.
Historical Events:
1. The Invasion of Canaan. 2. The Conquest of Canaan. 3. Distribution of the Land by Lot. 4. Literary Character of the Book--Select passages that illustrate literature of beauty or power--one of each. 5. Authorship. | Joshua i-xxiv; Seventy's Bible Dictionary; Oxford and other Bible Helps. Bible Treasury. Art. Book of Joshua, p. 52. All the Bible Dictionaries before quoted under Art. "Book of Joshua," and notes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Same authorities above cited on the term "Hexateuch." |
| III. Book of Judges.
1. Period of History Covered by the Reign of the Judges. 2. General Character of the Government Under the Judges. 3. Discuss the Three Most Prominent Judges in Israel, and name Their Specific Achievements. | Judges i-xxi. All the Bible Dictionaries and Helps cited in Previous Lessons in Part II under the Title "Judges" and "Book of Judges." Note 7. |
| IV. Book of Ruth.
1. General Character, and Historical Value. 2. Literary Beauty, Illustrated by Selected Passages. | Ruth I: iv. All Bible Dictionaries and Helps cited in previous lessons in Part II, under titles "Ruth and Book of Ruth." |
SPECIAL TEXT: And Joshua, the Son of Nun, was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands upon him; and the children of Israel harkened unto him, and did as the Lord commanded Moses."—EZRA (supposedly.)
NOTES.
1. The Hexateuch: The Book of Joshua is sometimes associated with the five books of Moses and the collection is then called the Hexateuch, a term meaning "the six books." The union is made on the ground that the Book of Joshua is the proper continuation and consummation of the former five books as recording the Conquest of the Land of Canaan, in fulfillment of the promise contained in the Pentateuch; the subject of the whole six books being "the election of Israel as a people to the service of Jehovah, and their settlement for this purpose in the Land of Promise."
2. Israel Under Joshua: "Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua." The high and commanding character of this eminent leader had given so decided a tone to the sentiments and manners of his contemporaries, and the memory of his fervent piety and many virtues continued so vividly impressed on the memories of the people, that the sacred historian has recorded it to his immortal honor, 'Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that overlived Joshua.'" (Commentary, Explanatory and Critical, p. 158.)
3. Contemporaneous Notices of Joshua: There occurs some references to the deeds of Joshua in other historians besides those of the Bible. Procopius mentions a Phoenecian inscription near the city of Tingis in Mauritania, the sense of which in Greek was: "We are those who fled before the face of Joshua the robber, the son of Nun." Again Suidas says: "We are the Canaanites whom Joshua the robber persecuted." In a letter of Shaubech, king of Armenia Minor, in the Samaritan book of Joshua (chapter 26), styles Joshua "the murderous wolf; or, according to another reading, "the evening wolf." (Condensed from Kitto's Biblical Literature, Vol. II, p. 154.)