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TOM · The Owner's Manual · Old Testament

Joshua 1

Before you read Joshua: who, when, why

BOOK 6 OF 66 · OLD TESTAMENT · HISTORY

They finally make it to the Promised Land!

AUTHOR
The book does not name its author. Jewish tradition in the Talmud says Joshua wrote it, Eleazar added Joshua's death, and Phinehas added Eleazar's. Joshua did write some things down, 24:26. Lines like to this day show someone also put it together later. Many modern scholars think it was finished in the 600s or 500s BC.
EVENTS TOOK PLACE
From the Jordan crossing to Joshua's death. The Bible does not say how long; the historian Josephus said about 25 years. The fighting took about seven years, 14:7 to 10.
DATE
The early date puts the crossing about 1406 BC, based on 1 Kings 6:1. The late date puts it in the 1200s BC. See When Was the Conquest?
WRITTEN TO
Israel, so every generation would remember that God kept His promise of the land.
KEY VERSE
Joshua 21:45. Not one of all Yahweh's good promises to the house of Israel had failed; everything was fulfilled.
THE OLDEST COPY OF JOSHUA

The Oldest Copy of Joshua

This is a piece of 4QJosh a, a scroll of Joshua found in Cave 4 at Qumran and copied in the last two centuries before Jesus. 4QJosh a puts the reading of the Law, 8:34 to 35, right after the Jordan crossing, in a different place than most Bibles. A second scroll from the same cave, 4QJosh b, is from about the same time. After the scrolls, the oldest copies are in Greek, like Codex Vaticanus, and in Coptic, the language of Egypt's early Christians, like a papyrus book of Joshua from the 300s, kept partly in Dublin and partly in Geneva. The Greek Bible's Joshua is a little shorter in places. Photo Shai Halevi, Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library, Israel Antiquities Authority.

The Setting

Moses is dead, and Israel is camped on the east side of the Jordan, across from Jericho. Forty years earlier their parents refused to go in. Now their children get their turn. Canaan is a land of walled city states, each with its own king, worshiping Baal and other gods. Joshua, Moses' assistant and one of the only two faithful spies, takes over.

What Was Going Wrong

  • Hidden Sin. Achan stole from Jericho and hid it in his tent, and Israel lost at Ai (7:1 to 26).
  • Not Praying First. Israel made a treaty with the Gibeonites without asking Yahweh (9:14).
  • Half Finished. Several tribes did not drive out the Canaanites. Judah could not take Jerusalem, and Ephraim and Manasseh let Canaanites stay (15:63, 16:10, 17:12 to 13).
  • Idols in the Tent. Even at the end, Joshua had to tell the people to throw away the foreign gods still among them (24:14, 24:23).
  • A Misunderstanding. The tribes nearly went to war over an altar that turned out to be a memorial (22:10 to 34).

Where to Find Jesus

  • Joshua 1:1. Joshua and Jesus have the same name. Yehoshua means Yahweh saves. Joshua led Israel into the land; Jesus leads His people into a better rest, Hebrews 4:8 to 10.
  • Joshua 2:18. The scarlet cord in Rahab's window saved everyone inside her house. Clement of Rome, about AD 96, said it showed that redemption would come through the blood of the Lord.
  • Joshua 2:1. Rahab, a Canaanite prostitute, became the great great grandmother of King David and is named in Jesus' family tree, Matthew 1:5.
  • Joshua 5:13 to 15. The Commander of Yahweh's army accepts Joshua's worship. Many believe this is Jesus before He was born.
  • Joshua 1:5. I will never leave you nor forsake you. Hebrews 13:5 quotes God's promise to every believer.

Cool Stuff Most People Miss

  • The Walls Came Tumbling Down. Jericho is one of the oldest cities on earth, with a stone tower built thousands of years before Joshua. See the Jericho Field Notes page.
  • The Sun Stood Still. The most argued over day in the Bible. Even Martin Luther used it against Copernicus. See the Big Question pages.
  • Caleb At 85. He asked for the hill country with the giants in it (14:10 to 12).
  • As For Me And My House. Joshua 24:15 hangs on the walls of more homes than almost any other verse.

Did It Last?

For a while. Israel served Yahweh all the days of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him, 24:31. But the next generation did not know Yahweh or what He had done, Judges 2:10, and the book of Judges begins. Still, the land was theirs, and God's promise to Abraham had come true.

Chapter 1 in 30 seconds

Moses is dead, and Joshua is in charge. God gives him a pep talk: Be strong and courageous, keep My word on your lips, and I will be with you. Three times God says it, because Joshua needed to hear it three times.

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God Instructs Joshua// Deuteronomy 11:8–17

1Now after the death of His servant Moses, Yahweh spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, saying, 2“Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore arise, you and all these people, and cross over the Jordan into the land that I am giving to the children of Israel.

  • JOSH 1:1[FULFILLS]Moses would see the land but not cross over. Joshua would lead the people in ← DT 3:27-28
  • JOSH 1:1[NOTE]JOSHUA'S NAME. Moses renamed him Yehoshua, Yahweh saves, Numbers 13:16. In Greek it is Iesous, the same name as Jesus, so the King James says Jesus in Acts 7:45 and Hebrews 4:8 when it means Joshua.

3I have given you every place where the sole of your foot will tread, just as I promised to Moses. 4Your territory shall extend from the wilderness and Lebanon to the great River Euphrates—all the land of the Hittites—and west as far as the Great Sea.

5No one shall stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so will I be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.

  • JOSH 1:5[QUOTED]Quoted in the New Testament → HEB 13:5

6Be strong and courageous, for you shall give these people the inheritance of the land that I swore to their fathers I would give them.

7Above all, be strong and very courageous. Be careful to observe all the law that My servant Moses commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may prosper wherever you go. 8This Book of the Law must not depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. For then you will prosper and succeed in all you do.

  • JOSH 1:8[NOTABLE]God's pep talk to a nervous new leader. Success is tied to knowing and doing God's word, and courage comes from God being with you, not from being fearless.
  • JOSH 1:8[NOTE]Meditate is the Hebrew hagah, to mutter. Ancient people read out loud, so meditating meant saying God's word over and over under your breath.

9Have I not commanded you to be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for Yahweh your God is with you wherever you go.”

Joshua Takes Charge

10Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people: 11“Go through the camp and tell the people, ‘Prepare your provisions, for within three days you will cross the Jordan to go in and take possession of the land that Yahweh your God is giving you to possess.’”

12But to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, Joshua said, 13“Remember what Moses the servant of Yahweh commanded you when he said, ‘Yahweh your God will give you rest, and He will give you this land.’ 14Your wives, your young children, and your livestock may remain in the land that Moses gave you on this side of the Jordan. But all your mighty men of valor must be armed for battle to cross over ahead of your brothers and help them, 15until Yahweh gives them rest as He has done for you, and your brothers also possess the land that Yahweh your God is giving them. Then you may return to the land of your inheritance and take possession of that which Moses the servant of Yahweh gave you on the east side of the Jordan.”

16So they answered Joshua, “Everything you have commanded us we will do, and everywhere you send us we will go. 17Just as we obeyed Moses in all things, so we will obey you. And may Yahweh your God be with you, as He was with Moses. 18Anyone who rebels against your order and does not obey your words, all that you command him, will be put to death. Above all, be strong and courageous!”

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