Joshua was a plainly admirable man, a very great hero, the truest image and type of Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour — who, both by [his] own name, and by [his] deeds most illustriously, and most fittingly to that very name, not only foreshadowed Him, but also expressed [Him] most clearly, [more] than any other in that ancient age. Him I undertake to expound — relying on his holy prayers, and on the grace of my Christ and God — but in such a way that I do not confine and restrict the exposition to that book alone which took its name from him in the heavenly and divinely-inspired Library [i.e. Holy Scripture]; but I shall begin higher up, from the first origin and stock of Joshua himself, and shall gather together all those various and notable [things] which, concerning him, stand [written] outside that book, in the other divine books — but especially in the Pentateuch and the Paralipomena [Chronicles].
There are, therefore, two chief parts of this whole work: in the former of which is contained that [material] which, as I have said, is fetched from elsewhere; in the latter, the book of Joshua itself entire. And here, indeed, [the work] might seem to be sufficiently distinctly laid out and explained if its individual chapters were set forth and explained in order; yet it seemed to me more convenient to distinguish into several “books” the [matters] which are discussed on the individual chapters. For I see also, from antiquity, the most wise and most learned Fathers — St. Jerome, Ambrose, Gregory, and not a few others — who divided their lucubration [study] on some one book of Scripture into several books; and I think St. Augustine [is] the author and advocate of a partition of this kind, when in his book Against the Adversary of the Law and the Prophets (chapter 24) he says: “I know not how the Reader’s attention is thus refreshed by the ending of a book, just as the labor of a traveler [is refreshed] by an inn.” Of the great Joshua, therefore, five “books” are now given by me.
The first contains Joshua’s genealogy, [his] name, and his deeds up to the beginning of [his] leadership.
The second treats the Prolegomena to the book of Joshua, and [the things] which the Leader did once [his] leadership had already begun, up to the crossing of the Jordan — namely, from the first chapter of Joshua’s book up to the nineteenth verse of the fourth chapter.
The third sets forth [the things] which happened after the crossing of the Jordan, up to the very wars with the Chananaeans themselves — from the nineteenth verse of the fourth chapter of Joshua’s book to the sixth chapter.
The fourth pursues the wars with the Chananaeans — the Jericho[-war], the Ai[-war], the Gabaonite, the Adoni-zedekian, the Jabinite (or Northern) [war] — from the sixth chapter of Joshua’s book up to the thirteenth.
The fifth takes up [the things] which, after those wars, occupied our Joshua: namely, the division of the land; the designation of cities both for the dwellings of the Levites and for the refuge of certain men; the dismissal of the two tribes; and at last the death of so great a Leader — from the thirteenth chapter to the very end of the book.
And the sum and division of each individual book will be indicated afterward in their own places, sometimes more in detail; but of the first, [it] is this:
The first book has ten chapters:
- I. treats of Joshua’s genealogy.
- II. of [his] name.
- III. of the Amalecite war.
- IV. of the ascent with Moses onto Mount Sinai.
- V. of the descent from the same mountain.
- VI. of [his] great assiduity in the tabernacle.
- VII. of [his] zeal for Moses.
- VIII. of the exploration of the land of promise.
- IX. of [his] election and inauguration to the leadership of the Israelite people.
- X. of various things done before the death of Moses.
But the method of treating and explaining these [matters] I have kept in that manner which I judged suited to the things to be set forth, or to be called into disputation. Someone may perhaps require another. No wonder — as many chapters, so many senses; and I myself will perhaps embrace another on other occasions. For since there are several good ways of arriving somewhere, it is possible that — by the same traveler at different times, and by different travelers at the same time — different [ways] be so held, that none of them all is to be blamed. And indeed either never, or certainly very rarely, does it happen that all the seasonings please the palates of all, and that one cook suits the taste of all guests in all dishes.
A thousand kinds of men, and the varied practice of things: each has his own wish; nor is it written by one desire.
But let the first chapter of the first book now begin.