The Authenticity of the Book of Joshua

by Bill Cooper

Is the Book of Joshua nothing more than a book of myths? Was it written nigh a thousand years after the events it pretends to treat of? Had the 15th-century BC Canaanite kings truly never heard of Joshua, and do they not mention him or his people, or even the fall of Jericho in their surviving correspondence? According to the critics, the answer to the first two of these questions is yes. The answer to the third is no. So what is the poor Bible reader to do? And how is the Bible-believing Christian supposed to cope with such scholarly assurances? What value now does the Word of God have seeing that certain scholars have today exposed Joshua as a pack of fairy-tales and nonsense? We shall see.
In this study – as in all the other studies in the Authenticity series – we shall not merely allow the Book of Joshua to speak for itself, but shall listen very carefully to the many witnesses of old who are happy to testify to its authenticity. And we shall not just consider the macro-evidence of archaeology which the critics have too readily – and all too hastily – dismissed. We shall make our special study all those microscopic, unsuspected and sometimes hidden details which are there to be found, details which no forger could ever hope to have got right, and of which he could never have been aware.
It is of immense importance that the authenticity of the Book of Joshua is made plain for all to see. For far too long the critics have held sway over the subject with the most outrageous lies and misrepresentations concerning Joshua. For the past 150 years and more, they have insidiously undermined the Book in the public’s eye, using nothing more than baseless insinuations and distortions which no other academic field would ever tolerate. Using a form of ‘scholarship’ which is at best a sloppy parody of learning, and at worst an outright and shameless deception, they have concealed evidence from the public which would readily have exonerated the Book of Joshua. That is why the presentation of what follows in this study is of such importance.

90 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 16, 2015

About the author

Dr Bill Cooper is a council member and trustee of the Creation Science Movement. He is married with two daughters and has recently been awarded an Honours degree by Kingston University (England) for combined studies in the History of Ideas (Religion, Philosophy and Political Theory) and English Literature. He has lectured on The Table of Nations, under the auspices of the CSM, in Germany, Belgium and at many venues in England including Leeds University.

He has written numerous articles for the Creation Science Movement and for the Creation Ex Nihilo Technical Journal published by the Creation Science Foundation of Australia, on the Table of Nations (The Early History of Man series), the historical Jonah and other subjects.

Reviews

[BJ Richardson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a short book that attempts to demonstrate how the book of Joshua, as we read it today, does indeed match up with historical archaeological evidence and can be considered reliable history. A significant chunk of the short work is demonstrating how the El-Amarna tablets (letters from various Canaanite "kings" to Pharaoh), dated around the same time as the conquests of Joshua, do tell of the invasion of the Hebrews.

The work and the history are mostly good, but I think he was weak in trying to correlate all the various myths around the world of a long day or long night with Joshua's command to have the sun stand still. I also was not a fan of his "us vs them" conspiracy theory that most scholars are all involved in some vast plot to disprove the Bible. Please just give us the facts and leave the conspiracy commentary aside.

Either way, this short work is definitely worth a read no matter what one's personal views are.

[Tintinrulz · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Authenticity of the Book of Joshua" by Bill Cooper is another title in the brilliant "Authenticity" series. Herein, he explores the historical evidence for the book of Joshua being truth.
There's not much more to say. The book is very short, just read it.

8/10