101 Myths of the Bible: how ancient scribes - Conscious Evolution TV

Myths of the Heroes 189
course of their journey, Moses gave them a set of laws and regulations among which
were the Ten Commandments. These teachings were written down and placed in a
box known as the Ark of the Covenant.
Along the way, Israel encountered numerous mishaps and failed several tests of
faith. The most notorious incident involved the building of a golden calf to lead them
to salvation. This act so outraged Moses that he smashed the tablets containing God’s
law. On another occasion, even Moses offended God and for his misdeed God denied
him an opportunity to enter into the Promised Land.
Moses died on the other side of the river from Canaan, but not before he
brought most of the Transjordan under Israelite rule. As a final act, he appointed
Joshua as his successor.
With Joshua at the helm, Israel crossed the Jordan and marched into Canaan,
where they waged numerous campaigns of mass slaughter and physical destruction.
Eventually, Joshua brought all of the Promised Land under Israelite control. At least,
that’s one biblical version. Other biblical passages tell a different story of failed battles
and God’s anger at Israel for its shortcomings.
The story of Israel’s conquest appears primarily in the Book of Joshua, the sixth
book of the Bible. It describes several of the battles fought by Israel and tells of a number
of fantastic events. Perhaps the two most well-known incidents were the battle of
Jericho and Joshua’s commanding of the sun to stand still at Gibeon.
Hebrew tradition holds that Joshua himself wrote the book about his conquests
but the evidence suggests that most of it was written several centuries after the fact.
Nowhere does the text say that Joshua himself wrote the book, and in at least one
place the text cites a source known as the Book of Jasher, which would have to have
been written centuries later, at least after the death of King Saul.
Although no evidence exists from the time of Joshua to support the biblical
account, for a long time the broad outlines of the conquest story were accepted as true.
But as archaeological evidence challenged some of the book’s chief claims, many scholars
no longer believed that Joshua accurately reflected how Israel came to prominence
in Canaan. Current archaeological evidence challenges many of the book’s chief claims
and indicates that Israel never conquered Canaan in the time of Joshua.