Joshua

Dozeman’s two-volume Anchor Yale commentary is arguably the most original technical treatment of Joshua in this group. He gives exceptional attention to the relationship between conquest and land distribution, the geographical construction of Israel, pan-Israelite identity, literary structure and the compositional development of the book, and he regularly proposes readings that differ meaningfully from standard accounts rather than merely summarizing scholarship. His treatment of Joshua 13–24 in particular helps demonstrate that the allotment of the land is not an appendix to the conquest narrative but an essential part of the book’s theological and political vision. The principal limitation is also connected to his originality: some of his compositional reconstructions are highly elaborate and inevitably more conjectural than the final-form exegesis of Nelson or Firth. Consequently, I would not use Dozeman alone, but as a major critical commentary that consistently makes the reader reconsider the text, it is outstanding.