Richard S. Hess, «The Book of Joshua as a Land Grant», Vol. 83 (2002) 493-506
Despite a variety of attempted identifications of the book of Joshua, or portions of it, with other ancient Near Eastern legal documents, the form of the royal land grant remains the closest of those studied in terms of structure and content. In particular, the form of this type of document, as illustrated in the archive of the Middle Bronze Age site of Alalakh, provides an important and useful set of parallels with those found in the sixth book of the Bible. The essay considers the strengths and weaknesses of identifying the book of Joshua in this manner, as well as its implications for the interpretation of the book. In addition, the origin of these documents in the West Semitic world invites consideration of a specific genre or literary type that flourished in those cultures and perhaps provided a link for related documents in the Mesopotamian and Mediterranean worlds.
qa-du-um na-we-s\u "The town of Emar together with its outlying districts"12. Thus the town lists in both texts use a similar expression to describe the extent of the gift of land. Second, there is the sense described by the twofold occurrence of a-na pu-h~a-at "in exchange for; as a substitute for," in lines 9 and 11. The idea seems to be that these towns form part of an exchange of some sort between two individuals13. A similar situation occurs in Joshua 21 where the Israelites return some of the towns divinely given to them. The Levites receive these towns that form part of the exchange that Joshua describes. The other tribes receive their land in exchange for a return of part of that land in the form of the towns for the Levites14.
19. Izi-it-ra-a-du h~a-za-an-nu s\a [ir-ri-di([K]I) |
Zitraddu, the governor of [Irridi], |
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20. [a-]na ia-ri-im-li-im il-li-ik[-ma] |
revolted against Yarimlim and |
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21. pa-ni mu-us$-na-a-du
h~a-ab-ba-t[im] is9-b[a-a]t(?) |
[then he sei]zed(?) robber bands(?) |
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22. [a]-na URU ir-ri-diKI URU.KI-s\u
ú- [s\e]-ri-ib-s\u-ma |
and brought them to Irridi, his city. |
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23. [ma-]a(?)-tam ka-la-s\a
it-ti ab-ba- [A]N LU[GAL ù] |
(23-24) He incited the whole |
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24. ú-s\a-ak-ki-ir-ma i-na ta-a[r(?)...] |
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25. ù ka-ak-ki-im da-an-ni-im [. . .] |
The mighty weapon... |
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26. i-na kaspim h~ura4s9im
uqnêm dus\im ù [ka-ak-]ki-im |
with silver, gold, lapis lazuli,- |
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27. ra-bi-im s\a dIM
URU ir-ri-diK[I i]s9- ba-at-ma |
of the weather god. (As for |
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28. ih~-te-pí ù mu-us\-na-a-du a-ia-bi-s\u |
destroyed the enemy bands(?). |
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29. is9-s9a-ba-at a-na URU h~a-la-abKI |
To Aleppo |
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30. i-na s\u-ul-mi-im i-tu-ra-am-ma |
he returned in peace. |
Lines 19-30 record the historical circumstances that establish the destruction of Yarimlim’s city and the manner in which Abbael gained back the lands that had revolted against his rule. This historical