Messianic impulse behind the Christian use of the Book of Joshua

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Giuseppe
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Messianic impulse behind the Christian use of the Book of Joshua

Post by Giuseppe »

The first Christians saw in the book of Joshua an essential element: this book tells of the entry into the promised land, but this event is itself important only because it is a sign of another, much more essential event: God fulfills the promises made to the Patriarchs (to give them the land).

This promise of the land is identical, in reality, to the promise of the sending of the messiah, for it is he who, at the end of times, has to make Israel return to its land.

This promise is "fulfilled" midrashically in the Gospels: Joshua-Jesus comes to destroy evil, convert the Gentiles, punish the Jews who have betrayed them and bring the people back to their land.

Again and again, we see that the primal impulse behind the Christian predilection for the Book of Joshua is a messianic anxiety.
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