The crossing of the Jordan according to Josephus

Abstract

This study offers a detailed examination of Josephus’ retelling (in Ant. 5.16-21) of the account of Israel’s crossing of the Jordan and its immediate sequels found in Joshua 3-5. The investigation uncovers (limited) indications of Josephus’ use of various textforms of the biblical passage. It also calls attention to the range of rewriting techniques applied by Josephus to the source narrative (abbreviations, amplifications, rearrangements, and other modifications) which result in a version of events that is, e.g., much more compact than the biblical one, even while it nuances the portrayal of the story’s characters in a number of respects.