NOTES

¹ See the overviews of the literature in P. KALLUVEETIL, Declaration and Covenant (AnBib 88; Rome 1982); D.J. MCCARTHY, Old Testament Covenant. A Survey of Current Opinions (Oxford 1972). For a survey of the theology of covenant and the discussion of its appearance in Israel’s history, see R. DAVIDSON, "Covenant Ideology in Ancient Israel", The World of Ancient Israel. Sociological, Anthropological and Political Perspectives (ed. R.E. CLEMENTS) (Cambridge 1989) 323-347. Any review of this discussion should take into account those who see covenant as a later development, e.g, E.W. NICHOLSON, God and His People. Covenant and Theology in the Old Testament (Oxford 1986), as well as the arguments for its early appearance, e.g. K.A. KITCHEN, "The Rise and Fall of Covenant, Law and Treaty", TynB 40 (1989) 118-135.

² Nevertheless, the particular texts of Joshua 23 and especially 24 have been studied in relation to the question of treaty/covenant form: R.S. HESS, "West Semitic Texts and the Book of Joshua", Bulletin for Biblical Research 7 (1997) 63-76, especially 74-75; K.A. KITCHEN, "Egypt, Qatna, and Covenant", UF 11 (1979) 453-464; IDEM, "The Rise and Fall of Covenant, Law and Treaty", TynB 40 (1989) 118-135; IDEM, "The Patriarchal Age. Myth or History?" BArR 21/2 (March/April 1995) 52-56; W.T. KOOPMANS, Joshua 24 as Poetic Narrative (JSOTSS 93; Sheffield 1990).

³ For comparisons between land grants and biblical covenants, see M. WEINFELD, "The Covenant of Grant in the Old Testament and in the Ancient Near East", JAOS 90 (1970) 184-203 (for the objections cited here, see p. 185); IDEM, "Addenda to JAOS 90 (1970), 184ff.", JAOS 92 (1972) 468-469; IDEM, The Promise of the Land. The Inheritance of the Land of Canaan by the Israelites (Berkeley, CA 1993) 222-264. G.N. KNOPPERS, "Ancient Near Eastern Royal Grants and the Davidic Covenant: A Parallel?", JAOS 116 (1996) 670-697, provides the most comprehensive survey and critique of this comparison.

⁴ V. KOROSŠEC, Hethitische Staatsverträge. Ein Beitrag zu ihren juristischen Wertung (Leipziger Rechtswissenschaftliche Studien, 60; Leipzig 1931).

⁵ WEINFELD, "The Covenant of Grant," 185.

⁶ KALLUVEETIL, Declaration and Covenant, 180 n 234.

⁷ KNOPPERS, "Ancient Near Eastern".

⁸ Much has been written since the classic analysis of a Deuteronomistic redactor constructing etiologies, war accounts, boundary lists, and place name lists into the book of Joshua, as set forth by M. NOTH, Das Buch Josua (HAT 7; Tübingen 1953) 9-16. Although commentaries continue to examine multi-layered strata (cf. V. FRITZ, Das Buch Josua [HAT I/7; Tübingen 1994]; R. NELSON, Joshua A Commentary [OTL; Louisville 1997]), a variety of literary and linguistic approaches have appeared recently: L. ALONSO SCHÖKEL, "Arte narrativa en Josué-Jueces-Samuel-Reyes", EstBíb 48 (1990) 145-169; D.M. GUNN, "Joshua and Judges", The Literary Guide to the Bible (eds. R. ALTER and F. KERMODE) (Cambridge, MA. 1987) 102-121; L.D. HAWK, Every Promise Fulfilled. Contesting Plots in Joshua (Literary Currents in Biblical Interpretation; Louisville 1991); R.S. HESS, "Studies in the Book of Joshua", Themelios 20/3 (May 1995) 12-15; H.J. KOOREVAAR, De Opbouw van het Boek Jozua (Heverlee 1990); G. MITCHELL, Together in the Land. A Reading of the Book of Joshua (JSOTSS 134; Sheffield 1993); M. OTTOSSON, Josuaboken. En programskrift for davidisk restauration (Acta Universitatis upsalienses, Studia biblica pusaliensia 1; Stockholm 1991); L. ROWLETT, Joshua and the Rhetoric of Violence. A New Historicist Analysis (JSOTSS 226; Sheffield 1996); N. WINTHER-NIELSEN, A Functional Discourse Grammar of Joshua. A Computer-Assisted Rhetorical Structure Analysis (ConBOT 40; Stockholm 1995). Recent commentaries that attempt to provide a literary analysis of the book include, among others, L.D. HAWK, Joshua (Berit Olam; Collegeville 2000); R.S. HESS, Joshua. An Introduction & Commentary (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries 6; Downers Grove and Leicester 1996); D.M. HOWARD, JR., Joshua (The New American Commentary 5; Nashville 1998). For a competent review of the literature, cf. E. NOORT, Das Buch Joshua. Forschungsgeschichte und Problemfelder (Erträge der Forschung 292; Darmstadt 1998).

⁹ For the original publication of the copy, transliteration, translation, and comments on the text, see D.J. WISEMAN, "Abban and Alalah}", JCS 12 (1958) 124-129. Important readings were proposed by A. DRAFFKORN, "Was King Abba-An of Yamh}ada Vizier for the King of H}attus\a?", JCS 13 (1959) 94-97. See also R.S. HESS, "Land Grant AT 456* (2.137)", The Context of Scripture (eds. W.W. HALLO – K.L. YOUNGER, JR.) (Leiden 2000) II, 369-370. The transliterations of Wiseman and Draffkorn-Kilmer, and the translation of Hess will be followed here. The author is grateful to Professor D.J. Wiseman and to Professors M. Dietrich and O. Loretz for access to their unpublished notes on this text; and to successive directors of the Hatay Museum for permission to collate this text, most recently in March of 1997.

¹⁰ Or S[arbat. For the individual place names, their possible site identifications, and what is known of them from the literature and archaeology, see F. ZEEB, "Die Ortsnamen und geographischen Bezeichungen der Texte aus Alalah} VII", UF 30 (1998) 829-886 (835 for Zarrat). Zeeb’s readings are followed here for these place names.

¹¹ For comparisons with chs. 13-21 and ancient Near Eastern town lists and boundary descriptions, see R.S. HESS, "Asking Historical Questions of Joshua 13-19: Recent Discussion Concerning the Date of the Boundary Lists", Faith, Tradition, History. Old Testament Historiography in Its Near Eastern Context (eds. A.R. MILLARD – J.K. HOFFMEIER – D.W. BAKER) (Winona Lake 1994) 191-205; IDEM, "Late Bronze Age and Biblical Boundary Descriptions of the West Semitic World", Ugarit and the Bible. Proceedings of the International Symposium on Ugarit and the Bible. Manchester, September 1992 (eds. G. BROOKE – A. CURTIS – J. HEALEY) (Ugaritisch-Biblische Literatur Band 11; Münster 1994) 123-138; IDEM, "A Typology of West Semitic Place Name Lists with Special Reference to Joshua 13-21", BA 59/3 (September 1996) 160-170; C.R. KRAHMALKOV, "Exodus Itinerary Confirmed by Egyptian Evidence", BArR 20/5 (September/October 1994) 54-62, 79; M. WEINFELD, "The Pattern of the Israelite Settlement in Canaan", Congress Volume: Jerusalem 1986 (ed. J.A. EMERTON) (VTS 40; Brill 1988) 270-283; IDEM, "Historical Facts behind the Israelite Settlement Pattern", VT 38 (1988) 324-332; IDEM, The Promise of the Land, 22-51. Of special interest is the work of A.M. KITZ, "Undivided Inheritance and Lot Casting in the Book of Joshua", JBL 119 (2000) 601-618. While her study on lot casting provides illuminating parallels with the relevant Joshua texts, the relation of Sumerian inheritance texts raises some questions. These texts demonstrate several similarities between the concepts and forms of the land division, especially chaps. 18–19, and implicitly provide a rationale for the first half of the book as a means to clear the land of unwanted "squatters". However, (1) specifics of the form vary considerably in appearance and sequence, (2) there is no parallel with these texts in the West Semitic world (3) nor with the use of lot casting to dissolve undivided inheritance, (4) there is an absence of key phrases such as "dwell together," and (5) the theological overlay of a strong emphasis upon God’s part in "clearing" the land as well as the conditional nature of the gift of the land to Israel (23,12-13) cast doubt upon inheritance texts as a key to understanding the conquest, allotment, covenant, and oath swearing in the book of Joshua.

¹² DRAFFKORN, "Was King Abba-An", 94 note 3; CAD N1, XI, 250. See also J. BARR, "migra4s\ in the Old Testament", JSS 29 (1984) 15-31; HESS, Joshua, 280-283; and Alalakh Text 56, which also mentions this term in an allotment.

¹³ DRAFFKORN, "Was King Abba-An", 94 note 6, surmises that the indentation of the phrase in lines 9 and 11 means that it refers only to those towns listed above and prior to the phrase, not to the towns of lines 13-18.

¹⁴ See HESS, Joshua, 277: "Chapters 20-21 appear after the tribal allotments because they represent a second phase in the land grants. Firstly, God gave the Promised Land to Israel (chs. 13-19). Secondly, Israel gave back some of this land, setting it aside for specific purposes" .

¹⁵ HESS, Joshua, 44, 46-47.

¹⁶ There has been much discussion on the forms of Joshua 1–12. For chaps. 1–5, whose forms have been analyzed mainly in terms of biblical and West Semitic mythic parallels, see F.M. CROSS, Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic. Essays in the History of the Religion of Israel (Cambridge, MA 1973) 103-105; J. A. WILCOXEN, "Narrative Structure and Cult Legend: A Study of Joshua 1-6", Transitions in Biblical Scholarship (ed. J.C. RYLAARSDAM) (Essays in Divinity 6; Chicago 1968) 43-70; N. WINTHER-NIELSEN, "The Miraculous Grammar of Joshua 3-4", Biblical Hebrew and Discourse Linguistics (ed. R.D. BERGEN) (Dallas – Winona Lake 1994) 300-319.
For chs. 6–12, whose forms resemble ancient Near Eastern themes, conquest accounts, and ideologies, see D.E. FLEMING, "The Seven-Day Siege of Jericho in Holy War", Ki Baruch Hu: Ancient Near Eastern, Biblical and Judaic Studies in Honor of Baruch A. Levine (eds. R. CHAZAN – W.W. HALLO – L.H. SCHIFFMAN) (Winona Lake 1999) 211-228; R.S. HESS, "Joshua 1-12 as a Centrist Document", "Dort ziehen Schiffe dahin...", Collected Communications to the XIVth Congress of the International Organization for the Study of the Old Testament, Paris 1992 (eds. M. AUGUSTIN – K.-D. SCHUNCK) (BEAT 28; Frankfurt am Main 1996) 53-67; IDEM, "Non-Israelite Personal Names in the Book of Joshua", CBQ 58 (1996) 205-214; IDEM, "Rhetorical Forms in Joshua 10:4", "Und Moses schrieb dieses Lied auf". Studien zum Alten Testament und zum Alten Orient. Festschrift für Oswald Loretz zur Vollendung seines 70. Lebensjahres mit Beiträgen von Freunden, Schülern und Kollegen (eds. M. DIETRICH – I. KOTTSIEPER) (Münster 1998) 363-367; IDEM, "Joshua 10 and the Sun that Stood Still", Buried History 35/1 (1999) 26-33; J.K. HOFFMEIER, "The Structure of Joshua 1-11 and the Annals of Thutmose III", Faith, Tradition, and History, 165-179; D. MERLING, SR., The Book of Joshua. Its Theme and Role in Archaeological Discussions (Andrews University Seminary Doctoral Dissertation Series 23; Berrien Springs 1996); A.R. MILLARD, "Back to the Iron Bed: Og’s or Procrustes?", Congress Volume: Paris: 1992 (ed. J.A. EMERTON) (VTS 61; Leiden 1995) 193-203; J. VAN SETERS, "Joshua’s Campaign of Canaan and Near Eastern Historiography", SJOT 4 (1990) 1-12; K.L. YOUNGER, JR., Ancient Conquest Accounts. A Study in Ancient Near Eastern and Biblical History Writing (JSOTSS 98; Sheffield 1990).

¹⁷ Cf. Josh 1,3; 6,2; 8,1; 10,8, 11, 30, 32; 11,6.

¹⁸ This point should not be overlooked. The presence of boundary lists in texts of the West Semitic world can be found in treaties, but also occur in house and property sale contracts, as at Emar. See HESS, "Late Bronze Age".

¹⁹ HAWK, Every Promise Fulfilled, 102-113; HESS, Joshua, 238-239; MITCHELL, Together in the Land, 108; OTTOSSON, Josuaboken.

²⁰ For this general translation, see HESS, "Land Grant," 370.

²¹ On the question of the legitimacy of comparisons that have been made, see R.S. HESS, "The Slaughter of the Animals in Genesis 15:18-21 and Its Ancient Near Eastern Context", He Swore an Oath. Biblical Themes from Genesis 12-50 (eds. R.S. HESS – P.E. SATTERTHWAITE – G.J. WENHAM) (Cambridge 1993) 55-65.

²² Cf. HESS, "The Slaughter of the Animals"; A. MALAMAT, "A Note on the Ritual of Treaty Making in Mari and the Bible", IEJ 45 (1995) 226-229.

²³ On the conditionality of the Alalakh grant, see KNOPPERS, "Ancient Near Eastern Royal Grants", 686. The Akkadian of 43-50a is: s\um-ma ur-ra-am s\e-ra-am IIa-ri-im-li-[im] a-na ab-ba-AN ú-h~a-at@-t@ú-ú!-ma! [s\um-ma a]-wa-tam ab-ba-AN i-qa-ab-bu-s\um ú-s\e-[is9]-sú-ú s\um-ma qa-ra-an TÚG ab-ba-AN ú-wa-as\-s\a-ru-ma qa-ra-an TÚG LUGAL s\a-ni-im i-s9a-ab-ba-tu i-na URU.KI.H}À ù e-pè-ri it-[ta-as9-s9]i. The Akkadian of 50b-57a is: ù s\um-ma wa-ar-ki-it Iia-ri-im-li-i[m a-n]a ab-ba-AN ù wa-ar-ki-it ab-ba-AN ú-h~a-at@-t@ú-s\[u(?)-ma(?)] [s\]um-ma qa-ra-an TÚG ab-ba-AN ù qa-r[a-an] TÚG wa-ar-ki-it ab-ba-AN ú-wa-[as\-s\a-ru]-ma [q]a-ra-an TÚG LUGAL s\a-ni-im i-s9a-a[b-ba-tu] [i-na] URU.KI.H}À-s\u ù e-pé-ri-s\[u] [it]-ta-as9-s9i. The transliteration follows DRAFFKORN, "Was King Abban-AN," and WISEMAN, "Abban".