33y. Scholars are generally
agreed that this concluding matter, surviving in LXX but not MT, was not
original. We may suspect that it entered as part of the redactional work of Dtr
2. Perhaps this is what brought about the division of Joshua and Judges into
separate books; with the sizable contributions made by the later redactor, the
account of the pre-monarchical period was too long for a single scroll. Certain
repetitions were inevitable as the original transition underwent two
transformations to become a conclusion in one book and introduction in the
other.
to his hometown sanctuary. Literally, ‘to his place and to his
town.” Here the Greek clearly represents a hendiadys, beginning with Hebrew māqôm which often means more precisely
“holy place.” That the same is intended here becomes clear in the next
sentence.
Astarte (the “Lady”) and the gods of the nations. Compare
Judg 2:11–15; 3:7; 10:6 on this formulation of the charge against Israel.
Astarte. First is specified the beautiful fertility goddess, chief
consort of the Lord of storm and warfare Baal-Haddu, and no mean fighter in her
own right.
(the “Lady”). Here LXX represents Hebrew ʿštrwt which seems to be a plural of “Astarte” used apparently to
refer to the plurality of local manifestations of the goddess.
gods of the nations surrounding them. Compare Judg 2:12–13. In that
context they are also called “the Baals” (that is, “the Lords”).
Yahweh. LXX does not distinguish between the title “Lord” and the
personal name Yahweh which surely stood in the Hebrew here.
delivered. Literally, “gave over.” This is an inversion with the
many examples of Israel as beneficiary of the same action by the sovereign. The
effect is that of another incongruity, with the result that the reader of the
“book” of Joshua was encouraged at once to study the following era of the
Judges.
Eglon king of Moab. Judges 3:12–30. This looks like another
corrective inserted by Dtr 2. For the first edition of Judges began the era
with the oppression by the mysterious “Cushan-rishathaim” (Judg 3:8–10). The
latter story in fact looks like a carefully crafted unit made to serve as
“Exhibit A” for the Judges era in the first edition. Boling, Judges, AB 6A, 80–83. (Robert
G. Boling and G. Ernest Wright, Joshua: A New Translation with Notes and
Commentary [AYB 6; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008], 542-43)
