Week 09 Exegesis
Activity: What It Meant
This week in our
Unit on the Former Prophets, we return to Joshua 2 and 6. This time, we are
asking ourselves, “What kinds of meanings would this text have had in its
own ancient contexts? How can we understand the text better by becoming more
familiar with those ancient contexts?” We are NOT (yet) concerned with our
personal judgments about those ancient contexts or meanings, and we are
NOT (yet) concerned with what the text might mean for communities today
Prepare: 
Rapidly, gain
access to the following resources (find and use EACH OF THESE THREE KINDS):
Any and all
course materials that might relate to an understanding of Joshua 2 and 6
in its ancient contexts and as part of the Book of Joshua; do not forget
lectures, such as on Prophecy.
The
commentary on Joshua is by Robert B. Coote and is in Volume II of the New
Interpreters Bible. This is available in-person on non-circulating
reserve in the Styberg Library, or online via the Styberg Library: https://www-ministrymatters-com.turing.library.northwestern.edu/library/
Click link and select “Biblical Commentaries” > “The New
Interpreter’s Bible” and navigate to the desired Volume; you may need
to log in with NetID.
Any and all
relevant essays or videos you may find by searching Bible Odyssey: https://www.bibleodyssey.org/ . (Bible
Odyssey contains short, peer-reviewed essays on biblical studies.) Search,
browse, and have fun! Just stay on Joshua, focus as much as possible on
its ancient contexts, and don’t wander!
Explore these
resources purposefully, staying on the matter of Joshua 2 and 6 in its ancient
contexts and as a part of the Book of Joshua. (Not, for example, how later
communities have read Joshua.) Take notes. Now:
Post:
Write a total of
about 500 words, addressing the following. Follow these prompts in detail!
Typically,
your resources will have broad agreement about what kinds of things one
must know in order to understand the meaning(s) of Joshua 2 and 6 in
its ancient contexts. Regarding Joshua 2 and 6, in what ways do these
resources agree with each other about what kinds of things one
must know in order to understand the meaning(s) of Joshua 2 and 6 in
its ancient contexts?
Often, your
resources will have some notable disagreements with one another
(about matters of fact, or perhaps major differences of emphasis).
Regarding Joshua 2 and 6, what kinds of disagreements do you find in your
resources?
When you
engage the realities of the ancient world that gave rise to the Book of Joshua,
do you find that any “familiar” aspects of Joshua 2 and 6 become
unfamiliar? Do you find that any “strange” aspects of Joshua 2
and 6 become less strange?
Overall, how
do you see Joshua 2 and 6 differently, now that you have engaged scholarly
conversation partners in an exploration of “what it meant”?