Notes on the Book of Joshua
Introduction to Joshua
The Book's Place in the Bible
The book of Joshua swings open the door to part two of God's Old Testament library. English Bibles call this section the twelve historic books. They follow the five books of Moses and consist of Joshua through Esther. These historic books cover about a thousand years of history: from Joshua's time at about 1400 B.C. to the time of Nehemiah, approaching 400 B.C.
Hebrew Bibles place Joshua first among the books called "the prophets." That placement says something about the kind of history we read in Joshua. "Prophetic history," scholars often call it. Prophetic history is not just the story of ancient Israel told for the sake of historical facts. Rather, it offers us selected slices of Israel's history chosen by a prophet to inspire faith by his God-breathed message.
The prophetic history in Joshua impacts each of us in a personal way. The book of Joshua is an exciting early portion of the story of our salvation that features God's background work for Jesus' cross and empty tomb. A candle needs a candlestick. The Light of the world needed a setting when he took on our flesh. We see in the book of Joshua how the Lord gave Israel the land he promised and thus provided the setting for the saving acts of Jesus.
The Background from the Bible
The five books of Moses (the Pentateuch) give the background for the book of Joshua. We will prize the message of fulfillment in Joshua when we hold in mind the Lord's promise of the land of Canaan. The Lord first made the promise of the land to Abraham. After Abraham had traveled through Canaan to its approximate center at Shechem, the Lord said: "To your offspring I will give this land" (Genesis 12:7).
God's promise had meaning far beyond giving turf to one nation. The very words that promised the land also guaranteed the world its Savior. The "offspring" who would receive the land were not just Abraham's countless descendants. The particular offspring is one person: Jesus (Galatians 3:16). The land would be his working place for constructing our salvation. The Lord therefore tied the promise of the land to the promise of the Savior and sealed all he said by the covenant of circumcision (Genesis 17). He repeated the same promise to Isaac (Genesis 26:3-4) and to Jacob (Genesis 28:13-14).
Years passed without fulfillment of the promise. Abraham owned "not even a foot of ground" in Canaan (Acts 7:5). He had to purchase land from a Hittite of Hebron to bury his wife Sarah (Genesis 23:19,20). When a Philistine demanded that Isaac move from a place in Canaan where he had planted crops and dug wells, Isaac moved (Genesis 26:16,17). The land of promise was still in others' firm grasp.
Jacob and the Israelites even became physically separated from the promised land. A famine in Canaan forced them to migrate to Egypt where they settled in the region of Goshen (Genesis 46). Four hundred thirty years passed in Egypt. The Israelites became slaves. The stubbornness of Pharaoh and the hostile environment of the Sinai Peninsula cut them off from their God-promised land.
But through the hand of Moses, the Lord led Israel past both obstacles. The Lord shepherded them in their desert trek. At Mount Sinai he made a second covenant with them. That covenant would govern Israel's life in the promised land until the coming of the Savior.
At Kadesh Barnea Moses sent out twelve spies to explore Canaan (Numbers 13). The Israelites rebelled when they heard the spies' report of powerful people and fortified cities. Their faithless conclusion: "We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt (Numbers 14:4). Only Joshua and Caleb urged marching on to enter the land because, they said, "the Lord is with us" (Numbers 14:9). God punished the grumbling Israelites. The whole rebellious generation - everyone over twenty years old - would die in the desert.
For thirty-eight years they wandered until the body of the last grumbler dropped in the sand. Of that generation only Joshua and Caleb would be allowed to enter Canaan. The Lord even barred Moses from the land. His harsh words and rash action at the rock at Meribah cost him
entrance. The Lord told him: "Because you did not trust me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them'" (Numbers 20:12). God let Moses lead Israel only to the doorstep of Canaan in Transjordan. Two and a half tribes of Israel settled there. But Canaan proper lay across the Jordan River.
As the Pentateuch closes, God gives Moses a bird's-eye view of the promised land from the top of Mount Nebo. There he dies without crossing the Jordan (Deuteronomy 34). The new leader Joshua and the new generation of Israelites are poised in the plains of Moab awaiting God's instructions. They are to be his cutting edge to conquer and distribute the land. The Lord makes no empty promises! The scene is set for the book of Joshua.
Author and Time of Writing
Jewish and early Christian traditions say that Joshua is the author of the book that bears his name. But neither the book itself nor any other part of the Bible names the book's author. We can only speculate. The book of Joshua itself contains some hints that may lead us to opinions about authorship and point us to a general time of writing.
The Man Joshua
The book of Joshua is named after its central character, Joshua son of Nun. Joshua was from the tribe of Ephraim and thus from Joseph's line. He was born during the bitter bondage years in Egypt. His original name was "Hoshea." which means "salvation." Moses expanded his name to "Joshua," "the Lord is salvation" (Numbers 13:16). A thousand years later in the Book of Nehemiah his name is spelled "Jeshua." In the Greek Old Testament that form of his name became "Jesus." In Greek, His name and our Savior's are identical. To eliminate confusion, most English translation call him "Joshua" rather than "Jesus" in the two New Testament passages that name him, Acts 7:45 and Hebrews 4:8.
Joshua's name first appears in the Bible in Exodus 17. Moses gave him the order to choose some men and fight the Amalekites. Joshua acted precisely "as Moses had ordered" (Exodus 17:10). Without excuses, in obedience and trust in the Lord he tackled the job. The Lord provided an overwhelming victory. We may remember that battle at Rephidim for the scene of Moses holding up his hands while Aaron and Hur supported his tired arms to secure victory. The one orchestrating the battle was the obedient general Joshua.
Later in Exodus we see Joshua as Moses' faithful aide-de-camp who accompanies Moses at Mount Sinai and guards his special tent of meeting (Exodus 24:13; 33:11). Joshua's steady God-trusting character shines at the episode of the spies' mission into Canaan (Numbers 13 and 14). He and Caleb were insistent that the Israelites stop their blasphemous words about returning to Egypt and press on into the land. Even threats of stoning did not intimidate him. The minority of two were not afraid to stand up against the majority of thousands when they stood with the Lord's promise. Joshua "followed the Lord wholeheartedly" (Numbers 32:12) and was "a man in whom is the spirit" (Numbers 27:18). That was God's own appraisal of Joshua. This man with a valuable mix of gifts - deeply spiritual and highly practical - was God's choice for Moses' successor.
At the time of Moses' death Joshua was an old man, perhaps in his eighties. Yet he was just starting his life's greatest work. Spiritual and physical vigor, wholehearted trust in God's promises, willingness to be in a moral minority, obedience, bravery, leadership by personal example. The work ahead called for a man with that kind of qualifications. The Lord blessed Joshua with these qualities, honed his skills, strengthened his faith and made him the man to lead the people of promise at a critical period of salvation history.
Final Thoughts
As we approach this book we could almost say to ourselves, we ought to take off our shoes, for we are standing on holy ground. In this book we are dealing not merely with the events of history, but with a major part of the great plan that God had for the salvation of the world. Jesus spoke of that plan in John 3:16: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life." For God's plan of salvation to come to pass, it was necessary that the Children of Israel be a united nation that prospered in their own land. This Book tells us how this came about, and so plays a major role in the story of the accomplishment of the salvation for all mankind, when God's Son died on the shameful Cross of Calvary with the sins of the world resting upon Him. What happened in the Book was a major step in bringing about this great salvation.
Joshua was very intent on keeping His people close to God, and so in this Book we will find that he initiated a number of traditions which were very helpful in reminding the people of the great things God had done for them. We will be most pleased when we come to the end of the book and we hear the words that this aged leader of God's people has to say to his people and also to us in our day. What characterized this man? What characterizes any true child of God? Listen to this aged saint: "Take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that ye love the Lord your God!" (Joshua 23:11). Love - that was it. He loved the Lord with all his heart, and so he had to reach out to his dear people with that love too. Again, what an inspiration this man will be for us! What a ring of godly nobleness will come through to us!
What gave this ancient man of God this kind of strength, for it was indeed an impossible task that was assigned to him? Joshua was to lead this non- military people, who had been slaves, and conquer a land where the people had been engaged in warfare for generations, and were trained in all the martial arts. What gave him this kind of strength? It was just as it had been in the case of Moses, Abraham, Noah, and those who lived before him. They had fully accepted the great truth of God's plan to send a Savior into the world who would make it possible for their people to find forgiveness for their sins and thus have a good relationship with God. This is the secret of godly nobleness. It rests in Jesus - the love that Jesus has for us - and in response the love which we have for Him by faith.
The Book's Place in the Bible
The book of Joshua swings open the door to part two of God's Old Testament library. English Bibles call this section the twelve historic books. They follow the five books of Moses and consist of Joshua through Esther. These historic books cover about a thousand years of history: from Joshua's time at about 1400 B.C. to the time of Nehemiah, approaching 400 B.C.
Hebrew Bibles place Joshua first among the books called "the prophets." That placement says something about the kind of history we read in Joshua. "Prophetic history," scholars often call it. Prophetic history is not just the story of ancient Israel told for the sake of historical facts. Rather, it offers us selected slices of Israel's history chosen by a prophet to inspire faith by his God-breathed message.
The prophetic history in Joshua impacts each of us in a personal way. The book of Joshua is an exciting early portion of the story of our salvation that features God's background work for Jesus' cross and empty tomb. A candle needs a candlestick. The Light of the world needed a setting when he took on our flesh. We see in the book of Joshua how the Lord gave Israel the land he promised and thus provided the setting for the saving acts of Jesus.
The Background from the Bible
The five books of Moses (the Pentateuch) give the background for the book of Joshua. We will prize the message of fulfillment in Joshua when we hold in mind the Lord's promise of the land of Canaan. The Lord first made the promise of the land to Abraham. After Abraham had traveled through Canaan to its approximate center at Shechem, the Lord said: "To your offspring I will give this land" (Genesis 12:7).
God's promise had meaning far beyond giving turf to one nation. The very words that promised the land also guaranteed the world its Savior. The "offspring" who would receive the land were not just Abraham's countless descendants. The particular offspring is one person: Jesus (Galatians 3:16). The land would be his working place for constructing our salvation. The Lord therefore tied the promise of the land to the promise of the Savior and sealed all he said by the covenant of circumcision (Genesis 17). He repeated the same promise to Isaac (Genesis 26:3-4) and to Jacob (Genesis 28:13-14).
Years passed without fulfillment of the promise. Abraham owned "not even a foot of ground" in Canaan (Acts 7:5). He had to purchase land from a Hittite of Hebron to bury his wife Sarah (Genesis 23:19,20). When a Philistine demanded that Isaac move from a place in Canaan where he had planted crops and dug wells, Isaac moved (Genesis 26:16,17). The land of promise was still in others' firm grasp.
Jacob and the Israelites even became physically separated from the promised land. A famine in Canaan forced them to migrate to Egypt where they settled in the region of Goshen (Genesis 46). Four hundred thirty years passed in Egypt. The Israelites became slaves. The stubbornness of Pharaoh and the hostile environment of the Sinai Peninsula cut them off from their God-promised land.
But through the hand of Moses, the Lord led Israel past both obstacles. The Lord shepherded them in their desert trek. At Mount Sinai he made a second covenant with them. That covenant would govern Israel's life in the promised land until the coming of the Savior.
At Kadesh Barnea Moses sent out twelve spies to explore Canaan (Numbers 13). The Israelites rebelled when they heard the spies' report of powerful people and fortified cities. Their faithless conclusion: "We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt (Numbers 14:4). Only Joshua and Caleb urged marching on to enter the land because, they said, "the Lord is with us" (Numbers 14:9). God punished the grumbling Israelites. The whole rebellious generation - everyone over twenty years old - would die in the desert.
For thirty-eight years they wandered until the body of the last grumbler dropped in the sand. Of that generation only Joshua and Caleb would be allowed to enter Canaan. The Lord even barred Moses from the land. His harsh words and rash action at the rock at Meribah cost him
entrance. The Lord told him: "Because you did not trust me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them'" (Numbers 20:12). God let Moses lead Israel only to the doorstep of Canaan in Transjordan. Two and a half tribes of Israel settled there. But Canaan proper lay across the Jordan River.
As the Pentateuch closes, God gives Moses a bird's-eye view of the promised land from the top of Mount Nebo. There he dies without crossing the Jordan (Deuteronomy 34). The new leader Joshua and the new generation of Israelites are poised in the plains of Moab awaiting God's instructions. They are to be his cutting edge to conquer and distribute the land. The Lord makes no empty promises! The scene is set for the book of Joshua.
Author and Time of Writing
Jewish and early Christian traditions say that Joshua is the author of the book that bears his name. But neither the book itself nor any other part of the Bible names the book's author. We can only speculate. The book of Joshua itself contains some hints that may lead us to opinions about authorship and point us to a general time of writing.
- Joshua's death is recorded in the book (24:29). If there is a single author, he seems to be someone who lived after Joshua's time.
- In 5:1 the author writes in the first person about crossing the Jordan and says, "we had crossed over." This leads some to think that the author was an eyewitness of the book's events. Others explain the "we" as a corporate term that means the same as "our nation Israel." In the same way, an American might write: "We landed on the moon in 1969."
- The author writes before King David dislodged the Jebusites from Jerusalem (Joshua 15:63). The book therefore could not have been written during the time of the later kings. (David ruled at about 1,000 B.C.)
- The phrase, "to this day," repeated often in Joshua, suggests that the author wrote at a time somewhat separated from the events he relates.
The Man Joshua
The book of Joshua is named after its central character, Joshua son of Nun. Joshua was from the tribe of Ephraim and thus from Joseph's line. He was born during the bitter bondage years in Egypt. His original name was "Hoshea." which means "salvation." Moses expanded his name to "Joshua," "the Lord is salvation" (Numbers 13:16). A thousand years later in the Book of Nehemiah his name is spelled "Jeshua." In the Greek Old Testament that form of his name became "Jesus." In Greek, His name and our Savior's are identical. To eliminate confusion, most English translation call him "Joshua" rather than "Jesus" in the two New Testament passages that name him, Acts 7:45 and Hebrews 4:8.
Joshua's name first appears in the Bible in Exodus 17. Moses gave him the order to choose some men and fight the Amalekites. Joshua acted precisely "as Moses had ordered" (Exodus 17:10). Without excuses, in obedience and trust in the Lord he tackled the job. The Lord provided an overwhelming victory. We may remember that battle at Rephidim for the scene of Moses holding up his hands while Aaron and Hur supported his tired arms to secure victory. The one orchestrating the battle was the obedient general Joshua.
Later in Exodus we see Joshua as Moses' faithful aide-de-camp who accompanies Moses at Mount Sinai and guards his special tent of meeting (Exodus 24:13; 33:11). Joshua's steady God-trusting character shines at the episode of the spies' mission into Canaan (Numbers 13 and 14). He and Caleb were insistent that the Israelites stop their blasphemous words about returning to Egypt and press on into the land. Even threats of stoning did not intimidate him. The minority of two were not afraid to stand up against the majority of thousands when they stood with the Lord's promise. Joshua "followed the Lord wholeheartedly" (Numbers 32:12) and was "a man in whom is the spirit" (Numbers 27:18). That was God's own appraisal of Joshua. This man with a valuable mix of gifts - deeply spiritual and highly practical - was God's choice for Moses' successor.
At the time of Moses' death Joshua was an old man, perhaps in his eighties. Yet he was just starting his life's greatest work. Spiritual and physical vigor, wholehearted trust in God's promises, willingness to be in a moral minority, obedience, bravery, leadership by personal example. The work ahead called for a man with that kind of qualifications. The Lord blessed Joshua with these qualities, honed his skills, strengthened his faith and made him the man to lead the people of promise at a critical period of salvation history.
Final Thoughts
As we approach this book we could almost say to ourselves, we ought to take off our shoes, for we are standing on holy ground. In this book we are dealing not merely with the events of history, but with a major part of the great plan that God had for the salvation of the world. Jesus spoke of that plan in John 3:16: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life." For God's plan of salvation to come to pass, it was necessary that the Children of Israel be a united nation that prospered in their own land. This Book tells us how this came about, and so plays a major role in the story of the accomplishment of the salvation for all mankind, when God's Son died on the shameful Cross of Calvary with the sins of the world resting upon Him. What happened in the Book was a major step in bringing about this great salvation.
Joshua was very intent on keeping His people close to God, and so in this Book we will find that he initiated a number of traditions which were very helpful in reminding the people of the great things God had done for them. We will be most pleased when we come to the end of the book and we hear the words that this aged leader of God's people has to say to his people and also to us in our day. What characterized this man? What characterizes any true child of God? Listen to this aged saint: "Take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that ye love the Lord your God!" (Joshua 23:11). Love - that was it. He loved the Lord with all his heart, and so he had to reach out to his dear people with that love too. Again, what an inspiration this man will be for us! What a ring of godly nobleness will come through to us!
What gave this ancient man of God this kind of strength, for it was indeed an impossible task that was assigned to him? Joshua was to lead this non- military people, who had been slaves, and conquer a land where the people had been engaged in warfare for generations, and were trained in all the martial arts. What gave him this kind of strength? It was just as it had been in the case of Moses, Abraham, Noah, and those who lived before him. They had fully accepted the great truth of God's plan to send a Savior into the world who would make it possible for their people to find forgiveness for their sins and thus have a good relationship with God. This is the secret of godly nobleness. It rests in Jesus - the love that Jesus has for us - and in response the love which we have for Him by faith.
