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Line 1: − + − + + − + − The Biblical account of Joshua's conquest of Canaan can be summarized as follows-+ + − + − ==Death==+ − Before Joshua's death, the land was divided among the [[twelve tribes of Israel]], including much of the land that remained to be conquered. − A famous quote by Joshua is ''As for me and my house I will serve the LORD.'' (Joshua 24:15) This quote can often be seen on [[Christian]] memorabilia and merchandise.+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + − Joshua is the [[Hebrew]] name for [[Jesus]]. − +
Joshua (Biblical leader) (view source)
Revision as of 02:08, December 15, 2008
, 02:08, December 15, 2008Expansion
'''Joshua''' was an early leader of the [[Exodus]]-era [[Hebrew]]s, and a political successor to [[Moses]]. He was the main military figure of the Hebrews during the conquest on [[Canaan]]. He is accounted one of the first [[Judges of Israel]]. The story of Joshua can be found in the [[Bible]] books of [[Exodus]], [[Numbers]] and [[Joshua (Biblical book)|Joshua]], the last of which takes its name from him. While it was Moses who God chose to lead the Hebrews from Egypt, it was Joshua who led them into the promised land.
'''Joshua''' or '''Jehoshua''' ([[Hebrew]] '''יְהֹושֻׁ֔עַ''', God saves), also known as '''Hoshea''' ([[Hebrew]] '''הֹושֵׁ֥עַ''', saves) (ca. 2470-fl. 7 Adar 2553-2580 AM) (ca. 1534-fl. 13 March 1451-1424 BC)<ref name=Jones>Jones, Floyd N., ''The Chronology of the Old Testament'', Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 2004, pp. 88-94, 278</ref> was the second [[Judge (biblical)|Judge]] of [[Israel]], the first commander-in-chief of the army of Israel, and the immediate successor of [[Moses]] as Judge.
Joshua is commonly believed to have lived sometime during the late [[Bronze Age]] (roughly 1400 to 1200 BC).
== Life and ancestry ==
Joshua was an [[Ephraim (tribe)|Ephraimite]], born in [[Egypt]], likely in 2470 AM, three years before [[Moses]] fled to [[Midian]]ite country after killing an Egyptian.<ref name=Blank>Blank, Wayne, "[http://www.keyway.ca/htm2002/joshua2.htm Joshua]," Daily Bible Study, n.d. Accessed December 15, 2008.</ref> His full name is "Joshua, son of Nun," and the Chronicler records eight generations between Joshua and his ancestor [[Ephraim]]. Joshua was probably born 179 years after Ephraim was born, thus requiring slightly more than 22 years per generation. The tribe of [[Judah (tribe)|Judah]] has definite instances of generations occurring 15 years apart, so this is quite reasonable.
==Military exploits==
== Career ==
=== Wilderness ===
Joshua attracted the notice of Moses shortly after the [[Exodus of Israel]]. When [[Amalek]]ite warriors attacked the Israelites from the rear at Rephidim, Moses chose Joshua to recruit an army and launch a counterattack. Moses stood on a high hill and held his rod high to invoke the blessing of [[God]] on the combat. Joshua won handily, because Moses had [[Aaron]] and [[Hur]] to hold his arms up. After that battle, God told Moses to tell Joshua to remember to destroy the Amalekites utterly at any opportunity, and furthermore told Moses to put that order in writing. ({{Bible ref|book=Exodus|chap=8=16}})<ref name=Shyovitz>Shyovitz D, "[http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/joshua.html Joshua]," ''Jewish Virtual Library'', 2008. Accessed December 14, 2008.</ref><ref name=Blank/>
He went against [[Jericho]] and defeated the heavily fortified city through divine intervention in the form of the city's walls collapsing after the [[Israelites]] had marched around the walls 7 times. Going against the more simple city of Ai, they were forced to flee due to sin in the midsts of the Hebrews. When it was removed Joshua again attacked and took the city through outsmarting the inhabitants. The inhabitants of both cities were put to the sword. Joshua went on to defeat the combined forces of [[Jerusalem]], [[Hebron]], Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon. It was during this battle that Joshua was said to "command the sun to stand still in the sky" so that the battle could continue.
Thereafter Joshua served as Moses' chief of staff. He accompanied Moses and the seventy elders to the top of [[Mount Sinai]] and then descended part of the way while Moses received the Tablets of Law containing the [[Ten Commandments]] and the plans for the [[Tabernacle]]. (Thus he was not involved in the [[Golden Calf]] incident.)<ref name=Shyovitz/><ref name=Blank/>
In the spring of the second full year after the Exodus, Moses sent twelve spies to travel about 600 miles (or 1000 km) to [[Canaan (land)|Canaan]]. Joshua was one of the twelve; the other was [[Caleb]], a Kenizzite immigrant attached to the tribe of [[Judah (tribe)|Judah]]. Joshua and Caleb delivered an enthusiastic report that emphasized the rich natural resources of the land, but the other ten spies emphasized and perhaps exaggerated the military strength of the present inhabitants. Joshua and Caleb insisted that the people of Israel could conquer the land, because they would have God's help. But the people would not listen, and so God ordered that the Israelites would not enter Canaan until every adult member of that generation was dead, except for Caleb and Joshua. To emphasize this point, God sent a plague that killed every spy except Caleb and Joshua. But the next day, the Israelites tried to enter Canaan anyway, and were soundly beaten. ({{Bible ref|book=Numbers|chap=13-14}})<ref name=Blank/><ref name=Konig>Konig G, "[http://www.aboutbibleprophecy.com/p36.htm Joshua]," AboutBibleProphecy.com, 2001. Accessed December 15, 2008.</ref>
=== Canaan ===
When Moses was about to die, he nominated Joshua as his successor. ({{Bible ref|book=Deuteronomy|chap=31|verses=23}}) After Moses was dead, God addressed Joshua directly to confirm him as the Israelites' new leader and remind him to maintain his courage. ({{Bible ref|book=Joshua|chap=1|verses=1-9}})<ref name=Sparknotes>"[http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/oldtestament/section6.rhtml Joshua]," SparkNotes, n.d. Accessed December 15, 2008.</ref>
The Israelites observed thirty days of mourning for Moses, and then Joshua ordered the people to prepare to cross the [[Jordan River]] after three days. On 10 Abib 2553 AM (15 April 1451 BC), the Israelites crossed the Jordan. Thus began the [[War of the Conquest of Canaan]], which lasted for seven years.<ref name=Shyovitz/><ref name=Blank/><ref name=Sparknotes/><ref name=Konig/>
(The [[Midrash]] states that Joshua married [[Rahab]], the priestess of [[Asherah]] in [[Jericho]] who harbored Joshua's two spies. But the [[Old Testament]] does not name any wife for Joshua,<ref name=Shyovitz/> and the [[New Testament]] clearly states that [[Salmon]] of [[Judah (tribe)|Judah]], and not Joshua, married Rahab; see {{Bible ref|book=Matthew|chap=1|verses=5}}.)
When the war was over, Joshua apportioned the land among the [[Twelve Tribes of Israel]], including much land that remained to be conquered.<ref name=Shyovitz/><ref name=Blank/><ref name=Konig/> At one point he had to send [[Phinehas]], [[Aaron]]'s grandson, at the head of a delegation to the Reubenites, Gadites and Manassites to investigate reports of an altar that they had erected on their side of the Jordan. ({{Bible ref|book=Joshua|chap=22}})
[[Flavius Josephus]] estimates that Joshua lived twenty years after the end of the war.<ref name=Josephus>Josephus, ''Antiquities'', 5.1.19,23. Cited in Jones, ''op. cit.'', p. 90.</ref> During this time Joshua administered justice to the people, as Moses had before him and as [[Othniel]] and other [[Judge (biblical)|Judges]] would after him. Toward the end of his life (2580 AM/1424 BC), Joshua delivered his farewell address. In this address he famously said, {{Bible quote|If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River [Jordan], or the gods of the [[Amor]]ites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.|book=Joshua|chap=24|verses=15|version=NASB}}
This quote, and especially the last sentence, can often be seen on [[Christian]] memorabilia and merchandise.
The people boasted that they would indeed serve the Lord. Joshua predicted that they would find themselves unable to serve Him faithfully. ({{Bible ref|book=Joshua|chap=24|verses=16-28}}) Thousands of years later, [[Saint Paul]] would remind [[Christian]]s that they, too, cannot possibly serve God without missing the mark, i.e. [[sin]]ning, to one extent or another.<ref name=Konig/>
== Death ==
Joshua died on or about 2580 AM (1424 BC), after living for 110 years.<ref name=Blank/> He was buried in Timnath-serah, in Ephraimite country.
== Commentaries ==
The name ''Joshua'' is similar to ''Yeshua'', the traditional [[Hebrew]] name for [[Jesus Christ]]. Some commentators have thus suggested that Joshua is a [[typology|type]] of Christ, and have pointed to the parallel between Joshua's crossing of the Jordan and Jesus' baptism ''in'' the Jordan.<ref name=Shyovitz/> In addition, they point to the army of Israel marching seven days instead of six around the walls of Jericho, and to John the Baptist citing a memorial that Joshua had erected at the crossing site.<ref name=Missler>Missler C, "[http://www.khouse.org/articles/2001/319/ The Conquering Hero - Joshua]," ''Koinonia House Online'', 1996. Accessed December 15, 2008.</ref> Other commentaries point out that Joshua underwent a lifetime of training before he took his leadership position, and see this as a reminder to all persons eager to serve not to be impatient and attempt a mission for which they are not trained.<ref name=Sullivan>Sullivan D, "[http://www.evangelbaptist.org/highschool/lessons/joshua.htm Biblical Lives to Live By: Joshua]," Evangel Baptist Church, n.d. Accessed December 15, 2008.</ref>
== Criticism ==
Many scholars dispute the historical accuracy of the book of Joshua, which is the most important source for Joshua's career.<ref name=Sparknotes/> Most authorities accept the idea that Joshua lived and fought his battles during the Late [[Bronze Age]]. This period is classicaly thought to last from 1400 BC to 1200 BC. Recent archaeological findings at [[Jericho]] have served to provide better support for the Biblical narrative.
== Joshua in fiction ==
=== In motion pictures ===
Joshua appears in the famous [[Cecil B. DeMille]] [[motion picture]] depicting the Exodus and the life and career of Moses. But this portrait is badly flawed, in that Cecil B. DeMille had Joshua portrayed as an adult before Moses' exile.
Specifically, Joshua intervenes by shoving an Egyptian foreman to one side to force the Egyptians to stop moving a heavy stone that is about to crush an old Hebrew woman ([[Jochebed]], natural mother of [[Moses]]). When the Egyptians arrest him, a young woman rushes to the command pavilion to beg mercy from Moses, who is supervising the massive building project that Joshua is part of. Moses frees Jochebed from the stone and orders Joshua released. He then orders Joshua to lead a contingent of slaves to raid an Egyptian temple granary to provide a grain ration for the slaves.
Later, Joshua tries to rescue this same young woman from violation by the Egyptian "master builder," and is captured. As the master builder proceeds to whip him, Moses, now dressed as a Hebrew brick-pit treader, intervenes again and kills the master builder with his bare hands. He then cuts Joshua free and flees. However, Joshua is arrested once again and sentenced to work in a copper mine. Eventually he escapes and heads into the sinai desert to look for Moses, who, as he has been told, was himself arrested and sentenced to exile for life.
If Josephus' estimate is accurate, then Joshua could have been no older than three years old at the time that Moses had to flee Egypt, and thus none of the above events could have taken place as depicted. This flaw is probably the result of the tremendous compression of the time of Moses' exile in Midianite country, one of the many instances of dramatic license that DeMille and other dramatic producers have frequently taken with Biblical narratives.
=== On television ===
Joshua appeared in a segment in the [[Irwin Allen]] action-adventure series ''[[The Time Tunnel]]'', in which he confronted two strange men claiming to be from the future as he prepared to cross the Jordan and attack Jericho.
=== In novels ===
Ellen Gunderson Traylor wrote an original novel, ''Joshua: God's Warrior'', which actually was a sequel to her earlier novel about Moses. Her portrayal of Joshua is generally faithful to the Biblical narrative.
== References ==
{{reflist}}
== External links ==
* [http://www.otgateway.com/joshua.htm Joshua]." ''Old Testament Gateway'', Tabor College, Victoria, Australia. Contains multiple links to various essays about Joshua and his times and to various English and Hebrew manuscripts of the Book of Joshua.
* Henry, Matthew. "[http://eword.gospelcom.net/comments/joshua/mhc/joshua1.htm Joshua]." ''Concise Commentary on the Bible,'' n.d. Accessed December 15, 2008.</ref>
== See also ==
* [[Israel]]
* [[War of the Conquest of Canaan]]
{{nb Judges}}
{{nb Judges}}
[[Category:Biblical Persons]]
[[Category:Biblical Persons]]
[[Category: Biblical Military Commanders]]
[[Category:Biblical Military Commanders]]
[[Category:Jewish People]]
[[Category:Jewish People]]