Joshua

Old Testament: historical books

Joshua

About this book

The book of Joshua tells how Israel settled in Canaan, the land God promised to give them. The book gets its name from its main character, Joshua, who had become the leader of Israel following the death of Moses.

The book of Joshua has two parts. In the first part (1—12) the Lord helped Israel capture many of the cities and towns of Canaan. Sometimes this help involved miracles. For example, in the battle at Jericho the Lord made the city walls collapse (6.20). Later, in the battle at Gibeon the Lord made huge hailstones fall from the sky and crush the enemy soldiers. Then he made the sun stand still so the Israelites had a longer period of daylight to catch and kill as many of the enemy soldiers as possible before night came (10.1-15).

But the Lord refused to help Israel if the people broke their agreement to worship only him and to obey his commands. For example, in the battle at Ai, Israel was defeated because one person broke Israel's agreement with the Lord (7.1-12).

The second part of the book (13—24) describes how each tribe received its land. Israel had captured territory east of the River Jordan. This land had already been promised to the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh, but they had to help the other tribes take over the rest of Canaan. The tribes of Judah, Ephraim, and West Manasseh took over their sections of the land fairly quickly. Then the rest of the land was explored and divided into sections, and the Lord showed Joshua which sections to assign to each of the remaining tribes. But since the Levites were the special servants of the Lord, they did not receive a large area of land like the other tribes. Instead, they were given towns scattered throughout the whole country.

At the end of the book, Joshua made two speeches emphasizing how good the Lord had been to the Israelites. Then Joshua gave them a challenge:

Worship the LORD, obey him, and always be faithful.

(24.14a)

A quick look at this book

1. Joshua becomes the leader of Israel (1.1-9)

2. Israel crosses the River Jordan and conquers Jericho (1.10—6.27)

3. Achan disobeys the Lord (7.1-26)

4. The battle at Ai (8.1-35)

5. The people of Gibeon trick the leaders of Israel (9.1-27)

6. Joshua commands the sun to stand still (10.1-15)

7. Israel takes over much of the land of Canaan (10.16—12.24)

8. Land that Israel did not take over (13.1-7)

9. Tribal lands that Moses had assigned east of the Jordan (13.8-33)

10. Tribal lands west of the Jordan (14.1—19.51)

11. Towns for protecting people accused of murder (20.1-9)

12. Towns for the Levi tribe (21.1-45)

13. The eastern tribes return home (22.1-34)

14. Joshua's farewell speeches and death (23.1—24.33)