Joshua

Author: Joshua

Joshua leads Israel across the Jordan and divides the land Moses had promised them.

Outline

  1. Crossing and first victories (1–12)

    Israel crosses the Jordan, takes Jericho and Ai, and defeats coalitions in the south and north.

  2. The land divided (13–21)

    Tribal borders are assigned, including cities for the Levites and the cities of refuge.

  3. An altar and a farewell (22–24)

    The eastern tribes return home, and Joshua calls Israel to serve the Lord at Shechem.

Key verses

  • Joshua 1:8

    Joshua is told to keep the book of the law on his lips and to do what is written in it.

  • Joshua 21:43–45

    The narrator says the Lord gave Israel the land and that none of his words failed.

  • Joshua 24:15

    Joshua tells the people to choose whom they will serve, and says his house will serve the Lord.

Joshua opens on the east side of the Jordan, after Moses’ death. The Lord speaks to Joshua as he spoke to Moses and tells him to cross with the people. The charge is repeated: be strong and courageous, and do not turn from the law. The book is the story of that crossing and of what Israel does with the land once they are in it. It is also the story of a leader who is not Moses, and of a people who have to act on promises they did not hear firsthand.

Spies are sent to Jericho. Rahab hides them and asks that her household be spared, because she has heard what the Lord did at the sea. The camp then crosses the Jordan while the priests stand with the ark and the water stands in a heap. Stones are taken from the riverbed and set up as a memorial, so that children can be told what happened. The crossing is told as a second exodus, this time into the land rather than out of Egypt. The men who were born in the wilderness are circumcised at Gilgal, and the manna stops when they eat the produce of Canaan. A figure with a drawn sword meets Joshua and identifies himself as commander of the Lord’s army. The conquest is not presented as Joshua’s campaign alone.

Jericho falls after the people march around the city and shout. The spoil is devoted to the Lord. Achan takes what was devoted, and the next attack, on Ai, fails. The book stops the war long enough to deal with that theft. After Achan is judged, Ai is taken. Joshua then builds an altar on Ebal and reads the law, blessing and curse, as Deuteronomy had required. The Gibeonites trick Israel into a treaty by pretending to come from far away. Joshua honors the oath even after the trick is exposed. When five kings attack Gibeon, Israel defends its new allies, and the book records the long day when the sun stands still. A northern coalition under Jabin is defeated in the same way. Chapter 12 lists the kings who fell. The summary is sweeping, and later chapters will admit that much land still remains.

The second half of the book is allotment. Judah, Ephraim, and the half-tribe of Manasseh receive their portions first. The remaining tribes receive theirs at Shiloh, where the tent is set up. Caleb asks for Hebron, the place he had spied decades earlier. Joshua receives Timnath-serah. Cities are given to the Levites, who have no tribal territory of their own, and six cities of refuge are named for the person who kills without intent. The eastern tribes build an altar by the Jordan on the way home. The western tribes fear a rival sanctuary and prepare for war. The explanation is that the altar is a witness, not a place of sacrifice, and the war is called off. The episode shows how quickly the new settlement can split.

Joshua’s farewell is the book’s last word. He retells the story from Abraham to the conquest and says he and his house will serve the Lord. The people answer that they will too. Joshua warns them that the Lord is holy and will not overlook the other gods they still carry. A covenant is made at Shechem. Joshua dies at 110, and Joseph’s bones, carried up from Egypt, are buried. The book ends with Israel in the land and with the service of that generation. Judges will show how short that service was.

Chapters