Yehoshua 15: Previewing the Spin Off

When a TV show or movie becomes very popular, the creators like to spin off to a companion series borrowing some secondary character from the main feature. Perhaps Hollywood got the idea from Joshua chapter 15. Chapter 15 begins the rather dry section of the Book of Joshua that demarcates the various boundaries of the different tribes. Imbedded in chapter 15 is a spinoff preview of the first chapter of the next book- Judges. Calev reappeared in chapter 14 requesting Joshua fulfill Moshe’s promise to give him Hebron(יהושע י״ד:ו–י״ב:״וַיִּגְּשׁוּ בְּנֵי־יְהוּדָה אֶל־יְהוֹשֻׁעַ בַּגִּלְגָּל וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו כָּלֵב בֶּן־יְפֻנֶּה הַקְּנִזִּי… וְעַתָּה תְּנָה־לִּי אֶת־הָהָר הַזֶּה אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר ה׳ בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא… כִּי אַתָּה שָׁמַעְתָּ בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא כִּי עֲנָקִים שָׁם… אוּלַי ה׳ אוֹתִי וְהוֹרַשְׁתִּים כַּאֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר ה׳״).At the end of chapter 15 the Navi tells the story of Calev’s conquest of Hebron and his promise to Otniel to give him his daughter as a wife if he can help complete the conquest(יהושע ט״ו:י״ד–י״ט:״וַיֹּרֶשׁ מִשָּׁם כָּלֵב אֶת־שְׁלֹשָׁה בְּנֵי הָעֲנָק… וַיֹּאמֶר כָּלֵב אֲשֶׁר יַכֶּה אֶת־קִרְיַת סֵפֶר וּלְכָדָהּ וְנָתַתִּי לוֹ אֶת־עַכְסָה בִתִּי לְאִשָּׁה. וַיִּלְכְּדָהּ עָתְנִיאֵל בֶּן־קְנַז… וַיִּתֶּן־לוֹ אֶת־עַכְסָה בִתּוֹ לְאִשָּׁה״).This story is repeated at the begging of Shoftim, which leads to the obvious question: Is this story repeated here in Joshua or is it repeated there in Shoftim? Rashi explains that this whole story only happened after Joshua died. The book of Judges notes that Hebron was not captured during Joshua’s lifetime(שופטים א׳:י–ט״ו:״וַיֵּלֶךְ יְהוּדָה אֶל־הַכְּנַעֲנִי הַיּוֹשֵׁב בְּחֶבְרוֹן… וַיֹּאמֶר כָּלֵב אֲשֶׁר יַכֶּה אֶת־קִרְיַת סֵפֶר וּלְכָדָהּ וְנָתַתִּי לוֹ אֶת־עַכְסָה בִתִּי לְאִשָּׁה״).The Navi lists the story of Calev here because it is related to Yehuda’s conquests and perhaps also to the previous chapter discussing Calev’s request. The Malbim has the opposite opinion. He explains that this story did happen during Joshua’s lifetime. The story is repeated in the book of Judges because Calev was the leader of the tribe of Judah, and so it fits with the theme of the post Joshua balkanization of the Israelites. The Talmud in Bava Batra 15a declares that Joshua wrote the book of Joshua(בבא בתרא ט״ו ע״א:״יהושע כתב ספרו ושמונה פסוקים שבתורה״).There is a dispute about the end of the book, as, just like with Moshe end of the Torah, it mentions that Joshua dies. How could Joshua write that. The answer is that Joshua wrote the whole book except for the very end. The Talmud does not say anything about the Calev story being of questionable authorship. The Talmud must believe that Joshua wrote story of Calev. Based on the structure of Judges, it makes sense that this story happened in the book of Joshua. Judges is a hodgepodge of various stories about leaders in various tribes. The fact that one of these stories is taken from another book is not odd. Megillah of Ruth is another example of a story that takes places during the period of the Judges that is also not contained in the book, so there is precedent for Judges time period stories to appear outside the book.