Say What Joshua?

[robert j]

I wanted to take some time to post this since I can just cut-and-paste without having to write-it-up myself.

I wasn’t raised in a religious home, and only became interested as an adult. Hence, portions of the OT are still uncharted territory for me. I recently stumbled across Joshua 10:26-27 and was surprised over the similarities with gMark.

I checked three written references in which Mark’s use of OT material is outlined --- none of the three identified Joshua here as a model, inspiration, or source for the burial passage in Mark (though I would expect that some others have).

A very quick-and-dirty internet search came up with site below listed first, and little-else relevant listed except some related apologetics.
The author cited below (writing 2 years ago) identifies himself as a youth minister and “church planter”, and characterizes these parallels as, for him, “an unnoticed nugget” ---

One such example of an unnoticed nugget I finally came across was through our children’s picture bible (seriously, I love this thing). In the book of Joshua …

It’s at this moment on that my “Bible Nerd” goes nuts. Here’s the bullet points of the story:
• The kings are killed (Joshua 10:26).
• They are hung on trees (Joshua 10:26).
• Before evening, they are taken off the trees (Joshua 10:27).
• They are buried in caves (Joshua 10:27).
• Large stones are set over the cave’s entrance (Joshua 10:27).

In case you haven’t jumped ahead of me, notice the eerie parallels:
• Jesus is killed.
• Jesus is hung on a “tree.”
• Jesus is taken off before evening.
• Jesus is buried in a cave.
• Jesus’ cave has a large stone set over its entrance.

By the way, the king in Joshua 10 that initiated the attack on Gibeon was the king of Jerusalem (Joshua 10:1). So, let’s amend that previous list.
• Jesus is the king of Jerusalem.
• Jesus is killed in Jerusalem.
• Jesus is hung on a tree in Jerusalem.
• Jesus is taken off the tree before the evening in Jerusalem.
• Jesus is buried in a cave in Jerusalem.
• Jesus’ cave has a large stone set over its entrance in Jerusalem.

If you’re brain isn’t going crazy yet, allow me to go a step further …

http://validambiguity.com/2017/01/21/je ... tile-king/

[Secret Alias]

How is 'Jesus' hanged people a parallel with Jesus was hanged? That's like saying 'I ate a chicken and a chicken ate' are parallels. I read a book, I wrote a book. I went for a walk, I saw someone walking. I breathed, he stopped breathing. Not really parallels strictly speaking.

[robert j]

How is 'Jesus' hanged people a parallel with Jesus was hanged? That's like saying 'I ate a chicken and a chicken ate' are parallels. I read a book, I wrote a book. I went for a walk, I saw someone walking. I breathed, he stopped breathing. Not really parallels strictly speaking.

It is the minister cited here that characterizes the passages as "eerie parallels".

For me, I noted the "similarities with gMark" and wondered about the relevant passage as ---

... a model, inspiration, or source for the burial passage in Mark ...

But I don’t think an argument over semantics moves the ball here. And I think “parallels” is a reasonable characterization. I get the Joshua/Jesus conundrum, but many uses of the OT in the NT are taken far out-of-context.

ETA: I think one can find fault with the minister’s presentation. I just used it to save time, and thought it was interesting to see this from the perspective of a minister. I would have presented the situation more in terms of my phrase cited directly above.

[andrewcriddle]

The kings are killed and buried near Makkedah. The site of Makkedah is disputed but it seems to be a long way from Jerusalem.
https://bibleatlas.org/full/makkedah.htm

Andrew Criddle

[robert j]

The kings are killed and buried near Makkedah. The site of Makkedah is disputed but it seems to be a long way from Jerusalem.
https://bibleatlas.org/full/makkedah.htm

Andrew Criddle

Yes, thanks Andrew. When I wrote this ---

... I think one can find fault with the minister’s presentation. I just used it to save time, and thought it was interesting to see this from the perspective of a minister ...

--- It was mostly the last third of what I cited above that I had in mind for finding fault. I thought he went too far with his bringing Jerusalem into the picture. I was even going to leave that part out of the citation, but I think I just left it to encompass his silly comment at the end.

But regardless, I think the striking similarities between the Joshua (10:26-27) passage in the LXX and the burial scene in Mark (15:42-46) lead to the possibility that the author of gMark used the passage in Joshua as a model, inspiration, or source for his burial scene.

It wouldn't have been the first time that Mark took OT material out of context to incorporate into his story.

ETA: In the future, I will certainly think-twice before using the presentation of the evidence by someone else in order to "save time".