Editing Book of Joshua (section)

=== Land ===

Land is the central topic of Joshua.<ref name=McConville2010 />{{rp|11}} The introduction to Deuteronomy recalled how Yahweh had given the land to the Israelites but then withdrew the gift when Israel showed fear and only Joshua and [[Caleb]] had trusted in God.<ref name=MillerDeut>{{Cite book|last=Miller|first=Patrick D|title=Deuteronomy|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1990|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-yoFvN_QOjYC|isbn=978-0-664-23737-0}}</ref>{{rp|33}} The land is Yahweh's to give or to withhold, and the fact that he has promised it to Israel gives Israel an inalienable right to take it. For [[Babylonian captivity|exilic]] and [[Second Temple period|post-exilic]] readers, the land was both the sign of Yahweh's faithfulness and Israel's unfaithfulness, as well as the centre of their ethnic identity. In Deuteronomistic theology, "rest" meant Israel's unthreatened possession of the land, the achievement of which began with the conquests of Joshua.<ref name=Nelson />{{rp|15–16}}