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The Joshua Generation: Israeli Occupation and the Bible
How a controversial biblical tale of conquest and genocide became a founding story of modern Israel
No biblical text has been more central to the politics of modern Israel than the book of Joshua. Named after a military leader who became the successor to Moses, it depicts the march of the ancient Israelites into Canaan, describing how they subjugated and massacred the indigenous peoples. The Joshua Generation examines the book's centrality to the Israeli occupation today, revealing why nationalist longing and social reality are tragically out of sync in the Promised Land.
Though the book of Joshua was largely ignored and reviled by diaspora Jews, the leaders of modern Israel have invoked it to promote national cohesion. Critics of occupation, meanwhile, have denounced it as a book that celebrates genocide. Rachel Havrelock looks at the composition of Joshua, showing how it reflected the fractious nature of ancient Israelite society and a desire to unify the populace under a strong monarchy. She describes how David Ben-Gurion, Israel's first prime minister, convened a study group at his home in the late 1950s, where generals, politicians, and professors reformulated the story of Israel's founding in the language of Joshua. Havrelock traces how Ben-Gurion used a brutal tale of conquest to unite an immigrant population of Jews of different ethnicities and backgrounds, casting modern Israelis and Palestinians as latter-day Israelites and Canaanites.
Providing an alternative reading of Joshua, The Joshua Generation finds evidence of a decentralized society composed of tribes, clans, and woman-run households, one with relevance to today when diverse peoples share the dwindling resources of a scarred land.
No biblical text has been more central to the politics of modern Israel than the book of Joshua. Named after a military leader who became the successor to Moses, it depicts the march of the ancient Israelites into Canaan, describing how they subjugated and massacred the indigenous peoples. The Joshua Generation examines the book's centrality to the Israeli occupation today, revealing why nationalist longing and social reality are tragically out of sync in the Promised Land.
Though the book of Joshua was largely ignored and reviled by diaspora Jews, the leaders of modern Israel have invoked it to promote national cohesion. Critics of occupation, meanwhile, have denounced it as a book that celebrates genocide. Rachel Havrelock looks at the composition of Joshua, showing how it reflected the fractious nature of ancient Israelite society and a desire to unify the populace under a strong monarchy. She describes how David Ben-Gurion, Israel's first prime minister, convened a study group at his home in the late 1950s, where generals, politicians, and professors reformulated the story of Israel's founding in the language of Joshua. Havrelock traces how Ben-Gurion used a brutal tale of conquest to unite an immigrant population of Jews of different ethnicities and backgrounds, casting modern Israelis and Palestinians as latter-day Israelites and Canaanites.
Providing an alternative reading of Joshua, The Joshua Generation finds evidence of a decentralized society composed of tribes, clans, and woman-run households, one with relevance to today when diverse peoples share the dwindling resources of a scarred land.
264 pages, Hardcover
Published June 30, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 27, 2022
Good stuff! Links two of my favorite subjects, Biblical studies and the Middle East.
Discusses how since there is no tradition of militarism in diasporic Judaism, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion took the most violent book in all of the Bible and made it central to the state of Israel, as a way to build social cohesion and integrate everyone into the military. Also discusses how later, Israeli settlers in the West Bank used Joshua as rationale to steal Palestinian property.
Discusses how since there is no tradition of militarism in diasporic Judaism, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion took the most violent book in all of the Bible and made it central to the state of Israel, as a way to build social cohesion and integrate everyone into the military. Also discusses how later, Israeli settlers in the West Bank used Joshua as rationale to steal Palestinian property.
March 8, 2022
An interesting and yet odd little book.
Basic structure:
- Ch. 1 & 2: Overview of the Book of Joshua
- Ch. 3 & 4: How David Ben-Gurion led modern Israel to read Joshua in a way that cast Jewish settlers as the re-embodiment of Joshua and the Israelites, driving out the Canaanites.
- Conclusion: Excursus on the struggle between the Israelis and Palestinians for Palestinian access to fresh water, with two sentences at the end dreaming about a future where they give up the strife.
I enjoyed the book, especially chapters 3&4. I am fascinated by the idea that modern Israelis have used novel interpretations of the Bible to support their political cause in ways that seem very familiar to American evangelicals.
The conclusion seemed like a complete non sequitur, a tacked-on ending apparently important to the author but almost completely unrelated to the bulk of the book. I’m very surprised the editor allowed her to keep it.
Still worth a read for the main body of the book.
Basic structure:
- Ch. 1 & 2: Overview of the Book of Joshua
- Ch. 3 & 4: How David Ben-Gurion led modern Israel to read Joshua in a way that cast Jewish settlers as the re-embodiment of Joshua and the Israelites, driving out the Canaanites.
- Conclusion: Excursus on the struggle between the Israelis and Palestinians for Palestinian access to fresh water, with two sentences at the end dreaming about a future where they give up the strife.
I enjoyed the book, especially chapters 3&4. I am fascinated by the idea that modern Israelis have used novel interpretations of the Bible to support their political cause in ways that seem very familiar to American evangelicals.
The conclusion seemed like a complete non sequitur, a tacked-on ending apparently important to the author but almost completely unrelated to the bulk of the book. I’m very surprised the editor allowed her to keep it.
Still worth a read for the main body of the book.
November 2, 2025
Overall, well-written book on an important aspect of the occupation. The only real criticism I have is the last chapter. It's hardly connected to the subject of the book. It reads as the author's primary or secondary interest, with a couple sentences out of 20 pages trying to link the book of Joshua to the subject of the chapter.
February 3, 2025
excellent scholarship
June 11, 2025
An excellent, important and timely book, but the conclusion about water came completely out of nowhere and had little to nothing to do with the rest of the book.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews