Preparation of the People

A quick post to talk about a general outline of the book of Yehoshua.   I was reviewing an audio shiur by Rabbi Menachem Leibtag (whose shiurim I find very, very useful).  He points out that the book of Yehoshua can be divided into three parts.

Chapters 1-5-- Introduction--Preparation of the people
Chapters 6-12-- Conquest of the land (battle of Yericho, conquest of the Ai, etc.)
Chapters 13-end of the book-- Division of the land among the tribes of Israel.

Unfortunately, I lost my ipod, and on my computer's lousy speakers, could not hear every word that Rabbi Leibtag said.  Therefore, in addition to my normal error-filled ways, there is additional reason to say that any errors are my ideas, and any insights are his (or follow naturally from his).

Recall that the conquest of the land of Israel was supposed to happen shortly after the giving of the Torah, but the sin of the spies caused the decree that the generation that left Egypt would have to die in the desert, and only their children could enter Israel.    The original, failed generation underwent a series of miraculous preparations--- the Exodus from Egypt, the splitting of the Red Sea, the giving of the Torah.

In light of this, it seems that the new generation that is entering Israel needed to be prepared anew.  Thus, we see a number of parallels to things that happened to their parents' generation.  For example:

1) The sending of spies in Chapter 2 (perhaps to enable them to pass the test that their parents' generation failed)
2) The spies encounter with a Canaanite prostitute, Rahav (parallel to their parents' generation's encounter with the daughters of Moav, with whom they sinned;  here, they did not).
3) The splitting of the Jordan river in Chapters 3-4 (paralleling the splitting of the Red Sea)
4) The setting up of the stones in Gilgal in Chapter 4 (see Deuteronomy Chapter 27, commanding the writing of the words of the Torah on the stones after they cross the Jordan;  perhaps this is parallel to the giving of the Torah)
5) Circumcision, which was not done during the time of the wandering in the desert, in Chapter 5--- this is parallel to the circumcision their fathers had to do in order to leave Egypt.
6) The celebration of Pesach in Chapter 5 (with obvious connection to Yetziat Mitzrayim)
7) The encounter Yehoshua has with the angel at the end of Chapter 5 is reminiscent of the encounter Moshe had at the burning bush:  "remove your shoes from your feet, because the ground you are standing on is holy"