the possibility that the ideal conquest of Canaan is to be achieved as much by simply walking around as by fighting—an odd kind of “stamping expedition”!22 In this, the echo of a more ancient directive is sensed, “Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you” (Gen 13:17). The true challenge for Israel finally emerges when this call to action is placed beside the third element of the present situation, the encouragement of presence (vv. 5, 9). Joshua and Israel