Joshua’s Prayer for Israel before His Death

At the end of the book of Joshua, Joshua delivers a final charge to the people, and they renew the covenant. The author of Biblical Antiquities adds a pious prayer by Joshua asking God to bestow wisdom and prudence on the people, to sustain them with mercy, and to raise up a royal house for them in the future. Joshua also appeals to God’s self-interest, pointing out that the divine reputation would suffer were God to destroy Israel and recalling a similar prayer that he offered after an Israelite soldier named Achan stole from proscribed war spoils, provoking God’s wrath (Joshua 7:1–9).