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Topic:
The Book Of Joshua -- A Brief Overview, Part 2 Of 3
This book resembles the Acts of the Apostles in the number and
variety of historical incidents it records, and in its many references
to persons and places; and as in the latter case the epistles of Paul
(see Paley's Horae Paul.) confirm its historical accuracy by their
incidental allusions and "undesigned coincidences," so in the
former modern discoveries confirm its historicity. The Amarna tablets
(see ADONIZEDEC T0000099) are among the most remarkable discoveries of
the age. Dating from about B.C. 1480 down to the time of Joshua, and
consisting of official communications from Amorite, Phoenician, and
Philistine chiefs to the king of Egypt, they afford a glimpse into the
actual condition of Palestine prior to the Hebrew invasion, and
illustrate and confirm the history of the conquest. A letter, also still
extant, from a military officer, "master of the captains of
Egypt," dating from near the end of the reign of Rameses II., gives
a curious account of a journey, probably official, which he undertook
through Palestine as far north as to Aleppo, and an insight into the
social condition of the country at that time. Among the things brought
to light by this letter and the Amarna tablets is the state of confusion
and decay that had now fallen on Egypt. The Egyptian garrisons that had
held possession of Palestine from the time of Thothmes III., some two
hundred years before, had now been withdrawn. The way was thus opened
for the Hebrews. In the history of the conquest there is no mention of
Joshua having encountered any Egyptian force. The tablets contain many
appeals to the king of Egypt for help against the inroads of the
Hebrews, but no help seems ever to have been sent. Is not this just such
a state of things as might have been anticipated as the result of the
disaster of the Exodus? In many points, as shown under various articles,
the progress of the conquest is remarkably illustrated by the tablets.
From: Easton's Bible Dictionary. Fair Use. Presented for educational
purposes only.
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