Joshua Series

The Book of Joshua holds little historical value. The archaeological evidence shows that Jericho and Ai were not occupied in the Near Eastern Late Bronze Age.[43] The story of the conquest perhaps represents the nationalist propaganda of the 8th century BCE kings of Judah and their claims to the territory of the Kingdom of Israel, incorporated into an early form of Joshua written late in the reign of King Josiah (reigned 640–609 BCE). The book was probably revised and completed after the fall of Jerusalem to the Neo-Babylonian Empire in 586 BCE and possibly after the return from the Babylonian exile in 538 BCE.

In rabbinical literature

In Rabbinic literature, Joshua is regarded as a faithful, humble, deserving, wise man. Biblical verses illustrative of these qualities and their reward are applied to him. "He that waits on his master shall be honored" is construed as a reference to Joshua, as is also the first part of the same verse, "Whoso keeps the fig-tree shall eat the fruit thereof." That "honor shall uphold the humble in spirit" is proved by Joshua's victory over Amalek. Not the sons of Moses—as Moses himself had expected—but Joshua was appointed as Moses' successor.

God would speak to Moses' face to face as someone would speak to his friend. Then he would return to the camp. However, his attendant, Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, would not leave the tent. Joshua never moved from the tent. Didn't Joshua leave the tent to eat, sleep or attend to his needs? This praise shows that Joshua had complete faith in Moses, the Tzaddik. One who has this faith is cognizant of the Tzaddik in everything he does; he remains steadfastly with the Tzaddik whatever he does.

According to rabbinic tradition, Joshua, when dividing the Land of Canaan among the twelve tribes of Israel, planted Sea squill (Hebrew: ????) to mark off the butts and bounds of tribal properties.

Moreover, on dividing the land of Canaan amongst the tribes of Israel, Joshua made the tribes agree to ten conditions, the most important of which is the common use of the forests as pasture for cattle and the common right to fishing in the Sea of Tiberias. Prickly burnet (Sarcopoterium spinosum) and the camelthorn (Alhagi maurorum) could be freely collected as firewood by any member of any tribe in any tribal territory.

In prayer

According to Jewish religious tradition, upon making Aliyah by crossing the Jordan River to enter the Land of Israel, Joshua composed the Aleinu prayer thanking God. This idea was first cited in the Kol Bo of the late 14th Century. Several medieval commentators noticed that Joshua's shorter birth name, Hosea, appears in the first few verses of Aleinu in reverse acrostic. The Teshuvot HaGeonim, a Geonic responsum, discussed that Joshua composed the Aleinu because although the Israelites had made Aliyah to the Promised Land, they were surrounded by other peoples. He wanted the Jews to draw a clear distinction between themselves, who knew and accepted the sovereignty of God, and those nations of the world which did not. In the modern era, religious Jews still pray the Aliyah-inspired Aleinu three times daily, including on the High Holidays. The Aleinu prayer begins: "We must praise the Master of all, to exalt the Creator of the Universe, who has not made us like the nations of the world and has not placed us like the families of the earth, who have not designed our destiny to be like theirs, nor our lot like that of all their multitude.