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Formation History, Canonical Memory, and the Debate over the Legitimacy of Worshiping Communities in Joshua 22

Eunwoo Lee 1

1장로회신학대학교

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ABSTRACT

This article examines Joshua 22:1-34 with particular attention to the debate over the legitimacy of worshiping communities represented by Jerusalem, Samaria, Elephantine, and Babylonia, employing a formation-historical and canonical approach. Rather than reading the passage as a historical report of a single incident, the study understands Joshua 22 as a canonical mediation text that brings into the present the “dangerous memories” of the wilderness rebellion in Numbers 13-14 and the request for settlement east of the Jordan in Numbers 32, thereby testing whether the community will repeat the same failure or choose a different future. The article reconstructs the formation of Joshua 22 in five stages: (1) an early oral tradition recounting the altar incident at the Jordan boundary (22:9-10); (2) a Josianic Deuteronomistic redaction emphasizing conditional solidarity and the declaration of “rest” (22:1-8); (3) an exilic Deuteronomistic layer that reactivates the memory of wilderness rebellion and articulates a discourse of corporate responsibility (22:11-20); (4) a post-exilic priestly (P) redaction that introduces mediation through the concept of the “altar of testimony” (22:21-29); and (5) a Persian-period to early Hellenistic editorial layer that narrates the resolution of the crisis and presents an ideal model of communal cohesion (22:30-34). Drawing especially on Lissa M. Wray Beal’s theology of memory, the article interprets the function of memory in Joshua 22 as structurally dual, operating simultaneously as threat and hope. The text does not fix the past as an inescapable destiny; rather, through priestly discernment and dialogical resolution, memories of failure are transformed into educative resources that generate responsible obedience and renewed solidarity. In this process, the centralization of cultic practice is maintained while covenantal belonging is preserved beyond geographic boundaries, allowing border and diaspora communities to remain within the covenant community. The study concludes that Joshua 22 articulates its theological message precisely through its formation-historical multilayeredness. By managing the memory of past failure, the chapter opens a future for a dispersed community and canonically declares that the past is not a fate to be repeated, but a teacher that shapes communal discernment and hope.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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