Unlike the first five books of the Old Testament, this book appropriately takes its name from the chief human personality of the book, Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses’ servant. Joshua’s original name was Ho-shea (Num. 13:8; Deut. 32:44) which means “salvation.” But during the wilderness wanderings Moses changed his name to Yehoshua, meaning “Yahweh is salvation” or “Save, Yahweh” (Num. 13:16). Joshua is a contracted form of Yehoshua. This amounted to a prophetic anticipation and reminder to Joshua, to the spies, and the people that victory over the enemies and possession of the land would be by the power of the Lord rather than by human skill or wisdom or power. This book is given the name Joshua because, though Joshua was one of the world’s greatest military strategist of history, his wisdom and military achievements came from the Lord who alone is our Salvation. It was the Lord Himself who brought about victory for Israel and vanquished Israel’s enemies giving them possession of the land.
Possessing, conquering, and dividing of the promised land is the theme and purpose of Joshua. The book of Joshua is designed to show God’s faithfulness to His promises, doing for Israel exactly as He had promised (cf. Gen. 15:18 with Josh. 1:2-6 and 21:43-45). The events recorded in Joshua are selective to set forth God’s special intervention on behalf of His people against all kinds of tremendous odds. The ful-fillment of God’s promises, as so evident in the birth of Isaac to Abraham and Sarah and in possessing the land with its fortified cities, is the work of God and that which man could never do no matter how hard he might try (see Rom. 4).
❝ Possession, conquest, victory, dividing the land.
Key Verses:
❝ 1:3 Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given it to you, just as I spoke to Moses. [In this regard, Joshua compares to Ephesians 1:3 in the New Testa-ment, “… blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies.”]
❝ 1:8- 9 This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.
❝ 11:23 So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the LORD had spoken to Mos-es, and Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their divisions by their tri-bes. Thus the land had rest from war.
❝ 24:14-15 Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. 15 And 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, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.
Changes in leadership are always critical times for any nation. For that reason, the following chapters are key chapters in Joshua.
Chapters 1-4 record the change of leadership from Moses to Joshua and God’s personal promises and words of encouragement to Joshua in his new commission from the Lord, the crossing of the Jordan by the power of God, the commemoration of the crossing followed by the statement, “On that day the Lord exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel; so that they revered him, just as they had revered Moses all the days of his life.”
Chapter 24: In keeping with the crucial nature of changes in leadership, chapter 24 is likewise an im-portant chapter. Here Joshua reminds the people of God’s faithfulness from the time of Abraham through their deliverance out of Egypt, the crossing of the Jordan and victory over the Canaanites. Then he calls on them to remember the necessity of their faithfulness or they would be consumed by the Lord.
Joshua, Rahab, Caleb.
Though there are no direct Messianic prophecies of Christ, there are a number of types which point to the Savior. Joshua is a type of Christ in two very important ways. First, his name, Yeshua, a contracted form of Yehoshua , meaning, “Yahweh is salvation,” is the Greek equivalent of the name Jesus. Joshua is actually called by the name Jesus in Acts 7:45. Second, Joshua is seen as a type of Christ in his work of leading Israel triumphantly into the rest of their promised possession, the land of Canaan (cf. Heb. 4:8). This is but a foretaste of the rest we enter by faith in Christ. He surely foreshadows the Savior who leads “many sons to glory” (Heb. 2:9-10). Further, Joshua was met by the Commander of the Lord’s army in 5:13-15. This is undoubtedly a Christophany, a preincarnate appearance of Christ who was there to teach Joshua that He had come not to take sides, but to take over as commander. Finally, Rahab’s scarlet cord (2:21) portrays salvation through the blood and death of Christ (cf. Heb. 9:19-22). This Gentile prostitute heard of the mighty works of God, believed, hid the spies, was delivered when Jericho was destroyed, and is found in the genealogy of Christ (Matt. 1:5).