Deuteronomy and Joshua

This article studies the relationship of Deuteronomy and Joshua on the subject of Torah, one of the main topics and themes of Deuteronomy. Four major conclusions are reached. First, the Torah was not part of a (hypothetically independent, pre-exilic) Deuteronomy–Joshua conquest story of the land. Second, exilic/early post-exilic redactors tried to link Joshua with Deuteronomy (still an independent composition) and to support the authority of the Torah (i. e., Deuteronomy) and especially the Deuteronomic law, through the insertion of the Ebal-Gerizim episode and the addition of Josh 22:5, with the related narrative of Josh 22:9–34. Third, a “Pentateuchoriented redaction,” reflected by Josh 1:7–8 and 23:6, emphasizes that the book of Joshua is not part of the Torah, in the sense of a (proto-) Pentateuch, containing at least Exodus–Deuteronomy. Finally, a “Hexateuch-oriented redaction” tried to redefine Torah as Hexateuch by adding a last chapter, Josh 24. Joshua wrote “Joshua,” and “Joshua” became Torah: “The book of the Torah of Moses” (Josh 23:6) metamorphosed at the very end of this process into “the book of the Torah of God” (Josh 24:26). However, this expression became as under-used as the Hexateuch itself: Joshua became part of the Prophets, and Deuteronomy became the “fifth book of Moses.”