Joshua

Joshua the son of Nun stands at the hinge between wilderness and inheritance. Originally named Hoshea, he is renamed by Moses (Nu 13:16) and serves first as Moses' minister, then as the man whom Yahweh designates to lead Israel across the Jordan, take the land of Canaan, and apportion it to the tribes. He is one of only two adults of the Exodus generation whom Yahweh preserves to enter the land (Nu 14:30, 14:38), and he ends his life having received an inheritance among the people he led, dying at a hundred and ten and buried in the hill-country of Ephraim (Jos 24:29-30; Jg 2:8).

Minister of Moses

Joshua first appears as the captain Moses sends to fight Amalek at Rephidim while Moses watches from the hill: "And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword" (Ex 17:9, 17:13). From that point on the narrative attaches him to Moses as a personal minister. He goes up part of the way with Moses to receive the law (Ex 24:13). When Moses descends and the noise of the calf rises from the camp, Joshua at his side mistakes the sound for war (Ex 32:17). He keeps watch at the Tent of Meeting outside the camp where Yahweh speaks with Moses face to face: "his minister Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart out of the Tent" (Ex 33:11). His zeal for Moses' authority shows when Eldad and Medad prophesy in the camp and Joshua, "the minister of Moses, one of his chosen men," urges Moses to forbid them (Nu 11:28).

The Spy with Caleb

When Moses sends one man from each tribe to spy out the land, the representative from Ephraim is Joshua — the renaming notice itself is recorded here: "Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun Joshua" (Nu 13:16). Of the twelve, only Joshua and Caleb come back urging Israel to go up. They tear their clothes before the murmuring congregation and testify, "The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land. If Yahweh delights in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it to us; a land which flows with milk and honey" (Nu 14:6-8). The congregation threatens to stone them, but Yahweh preserves their lives, and the oath of exclusion that falls on the rest of that generation explicitly exempts the two faithful spies: "surely you⁺ will not come into the land, concerning which I swore that I would make it so that you⁺ stay in it, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun" (Nu 14:30; cf. Nu 14:38; 32:12, where Yahweh notes that they "have wholly followed [the Speech of] Yahweh").

Commissioned as Moses' Successor

The succession is staged in two layers. First Yahweh tells Moses: "Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him; and set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation; and give him a charge in their sight. And you will put of your grandeur on him, that all the congregation of the sons of Israel may obey" (Nu 27:18-20). Moses obeys, laying hands on him before Eleazar and the assembly (Nu 27:22-23). Joshua is also named, alongside Eleazar, as the one who will divide the land for inheritance (Nu 34:17). Then in Deuteronomy Moses repeatedly charges Joshua publicly: "Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, he will go in there: encourage him; for he will cause Israel to inherit it" (De 1:38); "I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, Your eyes have seen all that Yahweh your⁺ God has done to these two kings: so will Yahweh do to all the kingdoms where you go over" (De 3:21); and at Israel's farewell, "Be strong and of good courage: for you will bring this people into the land which [the Speech of] Yahweh has sworn to their fathers to give them" (De 31:7). After Moses' death the transfer is registered in the people's response: "Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom; for Moses had laid his hands on him: and the sons of Israel listened to him, and did as [the Speech of] Yahweh commanded Moses" (De 34:9).

"Be Strong and of Good Courage"

Yahweh's first words to Joshua after Moses' death repeat and intensify the commission. "Moses my slave is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you, and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them" (Jos 1:2). The promise that anchors the conquest is personal: "There will not be any man able to stand before you all the days of your life. As [my Speech] was with Moses, so [my Speech] will be with you; I will not fail you, nor forsake you" (Jos 1:5). Three times Yahweh urges him, "Be strong and of good courage" (Jos 1:6, 1:7, 1:9), tying the courage explicitly to Torah obedience: "This book of the law will not depart out of your mouth, but you will meditate on it day and night" (Jos 1:8).

Crossing the Jordan

On the eve of the crossing Joshua tells the people, "Sanctify yourselves; for tomorrow Yahweh will do wonders among you⁺" (Jos 3:5). When the priests bearing the ark step into the brink of the Jordan at flood stage, "the waters which came down from above stood, and rose up in one heap, a great way off, at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan… and all Israel passed over on dry ground, until all the nation had passed clean over the Jordan" (Jos 3:16-17). The crossing publicly authenticates Joshua in the way the Red Sea had authenticated Moses: "On that day Yahweh magnified Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they feared him, as they feared Moses, all the days of his life" (Jos 4:14).

Captain of the Host

Before Jericho falls, Joshua sees a man with drawn sword and asks whose side he is on. The reply reframes the question: "No; but [as] prince of the host of Yahweh I have now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and worshiped, and said to him, What does my lord say to his slave?" (Jos 5:14). The taking of Jericho follows: "the people shouted with a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city" (Jos 6:20). After the failure and recovery at Ai, Joshua builds the covenant altar on Mount Ebal in obedience to Moses' command (Jos 8:30). The Gibeonites secure a treaty by deception, coming to Joshua at Gilgal in worn-out sandals and claiming to be from a far country (Jos 9:3-6). When the southern coalition retaliates against Gibeon, Joshua marches by night, defeats the kings, and rallies his commanders: "Don't be afraid, nor be dismayed; be strong and of good courage: for thus will Yahweh do to all your⁺ enemies against whom you⁺ fight" (Jos 10:25). On that day "Joshua spoke to Yahweh… Sun, stand still on Gibeon; And, Moon, in the valley of Aijalon. And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, until the nation had avenged themselves of their enemies… And there was no day like that before it or after it, that Yahweh listened to the voice of a man: for Yahweh [by his Speech] fought for Israel" (Jos 10:12-14). The northern campaign culminates against Hazor, and the summary statement notes the obedience that drives the whole conquest: "As Yahweh commanded Moses his slave, so did Moses command Joshua: and so did Joshua; he left nothing undone of all that Yahweh commanded Moses" (Jos 11:15). "So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that Yahweh spoke to Moses; and Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. And the land had rest from war" (Jos 11:23).

Apportioning the Land

The second half of the book turns from conquest to allotment. The whole congregation assembles at Shiloh, where the tent of meeting is set up and "the land was subdued before them" (Jos 18:1). Joshua, working with Eleazar the priest as Yahweh had specified (Nu 34:17), distributes inheritances by lot to the tribes. The narrative records Joshua's own portion last: "the sons of Israel gave an inheritance to Joshua the son of Nun in the midst of them: according to the [Speech] of Yahweh they gave him the city which he asked, even Timnath-serah in the hill-country of Ephraim; and he built the city, and dwelt in it" (Jos 19:49-50). He receives only what the tribes give him; the leader who divided the land takes a single town in the hill country.

Farewell at Shechem

Joshua's last public act gathers the tribes at Shechem. He frames his charge as the testimony of a dying man: "this day I am going the way of all the earth: and you⁺ know in all your⁺ hearts and in all your⁺ souls, that not one thing has failed of all the good things which Yahweh your⁺ God spoke concerning you⁺" (Jos 23:14). He then rehearses the history from Abraham forward, and presses the alternative on the assembly: "Now therefore fear Yahweh, and serve him in sincerity and in truth; and put away the gods which your⁺ fathers served beyond the River, and in Egypt; and serve⁺ Yahweh. And if it seems evil to you⁺ to serve Yahweh, choose you⁺ this day whom you⁺ will serve… but as for me and my house, we will serve Yahweh" (Jos 24:14-15). He cuts a covenant with them on the spot, writes the words in the Book of the Law of God, and sets up a great stone under the oak by the sanctuary as a witness against them if they should later deny their God (Jos 24:25-27). "So Joshua sent the people away, every man to his inheritance" (Jos 24:28).

Death and Legacy

"And it came to pass after these things, that Joshua the son of Nun, the slave of Yahweh, died, being a hundred and ten years old. And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnathserah, which is in the hill-country of Ephraim, on the north of the mountain of Gaash" (Jos 24:29-30; Jg 2:8). The line about Hiel of Bethel rebuilding Jericho centuries later "according to the word of Yahweh, which he spoke by Joshua the son of Nun" (1Ki 16:34) registers that Joshua's word carried prophetic weight long after his death. The Second-Temple memory of him preserved the same arc. Sirach's praise of the fathers opens the next chapter with him: "A mighty man of valor was Joshua, the son of Nun, A minister of Moses in the prophetic office, Who according to his name was made great For the saving of [God's] chosen ones" (Sir 46:1); "How glorious he was when he stretched forth his hand, And brandished his javelin against the cities" (Sir 46:2); "Who was [able] to stand before him When he fought the wars of Yahweh?" (Sir 46:3); "Was it not by his hand that the sun stood still And one day became as two?" (Sir 46:4); "For he called to God Most High, When enemies pressed him on every side, And God Most High gave answer to him" (Sir 46:5); "He cast them down upon the hostile people. And in going down he destroyed those who resisted" (Sir 46:6); and of the two faithful spies, "Therefore also these two were set apart, From among the six hundred thousand foot soldiers" (Sir 46:8). Mattathias' deathbed catalogue of the fathers compresses the same point: "Joshua, while he fulfilled the word, Was made judge in Israel" (1Ma 2:55).