Old Testament Survey
Joshua
Rick Walker
http://Didaskalia.tripod.com
1. Introduction to Joshua
A. Joshua the Man. Joshua is truly one of the outstanding characters of the
Old
Testament.
1. In Hebrew his name if Joshua; in Greek it is Jesus.
2. Joshua was one of the twelve spies sent to explore
Canaan forty years earlier
(Num. 13:8; cf. 16).
a. Gave a good report concerning the land
along with Caleb (Num.14:6-30).
b. People almost stoned both Joshua and
Caleb (Num. 14:10).
3. Joshua was the assistant to Moses.
a. He went up on Mt. Sinai to confirm the
covenant (Ex. 24:13).
b. Joshua heard the noise in the camp
when he and Moses were coming down from
the mountain at the
time Aaron had made the golden calf (Ex. 32:17).
c. Joshua lead the Israelites into battle
against the Amalekites (Exodus 17).
d. In Joshua he becomes Moses' successor
and leads Israel into the Promised
Land.
1. Moses will not be
able to enter because of he had struck the rock instead
of
speaking to it as God commanded.
2. With the death of
Moses before Israel entered the Promised Land, it as
important that Israel have a new leader.
B. Joshua the Book.
1. Joshua is a record of the military exploits of the Jews
as they conquered Canaan.
The Canaanites living in the land would
certainly not give it up without a
fight.
a. It is evident in Joshua that it is
always God who engineers the victories of
the Jews. E.g., Joshua
5:13-15, where the Lord, the Commander of Hosts,
gives instructions on
how to defeat Jericho.
b. It is also the Lord who engineers the
defeat of the Jews when they have not
been faithful to God.
2. The theological importance of Joshua is that God
fulfills his promise to Abraham
that he would give his descendents the
Promised Land (Gen. 17:8). The value of
this particular piece of land in terms of
world geography is that it serves as the
land bridge between the continents of
Asia, Africa and Europe.
a. Israel will be in a strategic place to
be blessed - if they are faithful.
b. Israel is in a strategic place to be
cursed if they are not faithful to God
and he removes his
protective hand. World empires stand ready to fight over
this piece of real
estate and the Jews would be caught in the middle.
3. Structure of Joshua.
a. Conquest of Canaan Chapters 1-12
b. Division of the land Chapters 13-21
c. Life in the land Chapters 22-24
2. Historical Narrative.
A. Preparation to take Canaan (Joshua 1-5).
1. (Josh. 1:1-6) God appears to Joshua and announces the
fulfillment of
the Abrahamic covenant, which was
made more than four hundred years
earlier.
2. (1:7-9) The Lord gave Joshua a reminder of the
importance of keeping the covenant.
The Jews were to obey all that Moses had
commanded and were not to turn from it,
either to the left or the right.
3. (1:12-15) Gad, Reuben and the half tribe of Manasseh
received their inheritance
east of the Jordan River.
a. However, they had to cross the
Jordan River first and lead in the fight to
help conquer
Canaan.
b. Their families and livestock
were allowed to stay east of the Jordan while
the men went to
fight.
4. (Joshua 2) Two spies sent into Jericho.
a. Spies stay in the home of Rahab the
harlot.
1. Probably did not
look conspicuous because men were always coming and going
from
her house.
2. Rahab says that the
people are afraid of the Jewish people because they had
heard
how God dried up the Red Sea - more than forty years earlier - and
how
the Jews had defeated their enemies in the wilderness (2:9-11).
b. Someone reported that Jewish spies
were staying with Rahab (Josh. 2:2)
1. Rahab hid the men
and told the king's servants that they had left the
city
(2:3-5).
2. After dark she sends
the two spies out.
a.
Rahab asks that her family be spared in the attack. She is to hand a
scarlett cord out her window to identify the place where she and her
household is statying.
b.
Rahab is identified as one of the great heroes of faith (Heb. 11:31).
B. Crossing the Jordan River and Further Preparations (Joshua 3-5).
1. Jews could have crossed the Jordan forty years earlier
had they not rebelled
against the Lord.
2. (Josh. 3:6) Ark of the Covenant leads the way, carried
by the priests.
a. When the priest's feet touch the
Jordan, which is at flood stage, the river
dries up
(3:9-14).
b. The priests stayed in the river until
all of Israel had passed.
c. They take twelve stones out of the
river bottom and set them up at Gilgal as
a reminder of what God
had done (4:21-24).
3. After all had crossed, forty thousand men from the
tribes of Reuben, Gad, and
Manasseh led the way into Canaan armed
for war as they had been earlier commanded
(4:12, 13; cf. 1: 12-15).
4. Circumcision and the Passover (Joshua 5).
a. The second generation had not been
circumcised while in the wilderness. They
were circumcised at
Gilgal (Josh. 5:2-8).
b. Celebration of the first Passover in
the Promised Land. As soon as the Passover
was celebrated, the
manna stopped falling (Josh. 5:9-12).
C. The Central Campaign (Josh. 5:13-10:28). The body of Joshua is about three
military
campaigns: Central, Southern and Northern. Begins with the
Central Campaign.
1. Fall of Jericho (Josh. 5:13-6:27)
a. Lord appears to Joshua.
1. Take off your
sandals, for you are standing on holy ground (5:13-15).
2. Has the appearance
of a man (5:13), but identifies himself as the Commander
of
the armies of Israel (5:14).
b. Gives instructions on how to conqueir
Jericho.
1. For six days have
Israel march once around the city.
a.
Priests with ark of the covenant to lead the way.
b.
Have priests blow trumpets.
2. Seventh day march
around the city seven times blowing trumpets.
a.
People are to give a shout and the walls will fall.
b.
Kill every living thing, but Rahab spared.
c.
Take none of the plunder - it is to be devoted to the Lord.
2. Ai (Joshua 7, 8).
a. Defeat of Israel.
1. Israel is confident
because of their victory at Jericho. Decide to take "two
or
three thousand men" to defeat Ai (7:3).
2. Israel is defeated
and thirty-six men are killed.
3. Defeat is due to
Aachan's sin.
a.
Joshua and the elders fall face down before the Lord and want to know
why Israel was defeated (7:6, 7).
b.
Revealed that Israel's defeat is due to Aachan's sin.
1. Aachan took some of the plunder from Jericho (7:10-12).
2. Aachan and his family are stoned to death and their possessions
burned. They are buried under a pile of rocks.
b. Defeat of Ai.
1. Israel is able to
attack a second time and this time is given permission
to
take the plunder of Ai.
2. Israel sets up an
ambush.
a. Ai
is very confident and pursues Israel outside its city gates.
b.
After they have pursued Israel a great distance, a second group of
Israelites enter the unprotected city and set it on fire.
c.
King of Ai sees the smoke and returns to the city. He is pursued by
the Jews he has been chasing and becomes caught between the two groups
of Jews.
3. Twelve thousand
people of Ai and their king were put to death (8:25).
3. Covenant Renewal (Joshua 8::30-35).
a. All tribes were present at Mt. Gerizim
and Mt. Ebal (cf. Deut.27:1ff.).
b. Built an altar to sacrifice as Moses
had commanded (Josh. 8:30).
c. Ark of the Covenant stood between the
people.
d. Blessings pronounced from Mt. Gerizim.
e. Curses pronounced from Mt. Ebal.
f. Joshua read all the law Moses had
written.
4. Gibeonite Deception (Joshua 9, 10).
a. Gibeonites hear of Israel's defeat of
Jericho and Ai and have a strategy to
escape defeat by Israel
(9:1-13).
1. dress very poorly,
carry moldy bread in worn out sacks (9:5, 6).
2. "We have come
from a distant place to make a treaty." However, they really
lived
near by.
3. Offer to let Israel
live near them and they will become Israel's servants
(9:7-13).
b. Joshua enters into a treaty without
inquiring of the Lord (9:14f.).
c Three days later he learns of the
deception.
1. Because Joshua had sworn
with an oath, they keep the treaty.
2. Gibeonites become the
woodcutters and water carriers in the tabernacle
(9:23, 27).
d. War upon the Gibeonites (Joshua 10).
1. Five Amorite kings
go to attack Gibeon because it has made a treaty with
Israel.
2. Israel comes to
fight for the Gibeonites. During the battle God made the
sun
stand still in the sky for a full day until Israel defeated her
enemies (10:12-14).
D. The Southern Campaign (Josh. 10:29-43). Very little is said about the
Southern
Campaign. Joshua captured southern cities down to the Negev
and killed all the
inhabitants.
E. The Northern Campaign (Joshua 11).
1. King of Hazor hears of the success of the Israelites in
defeating her enemies
and makes a hasty alliance with other
kings.
a. They raise an army to stand down the
Israelites (11:1-5).
b. Made camp at the Waters of Merom
(11:5).
2. Joshua and Israel were afraid, but God promised them
victory (11:6).
a. Joshua attacks and is victorious over
the armies.
b. Captures the cities of the north, but
does not burn them.
F. Division of the Land (Joshua 13-21).
1. The land is basically conquered, but there still exists
pockets of
resistance (13:1-7).
2. Note a few features of the division of the land among
the tribes.
a. Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh received
portions east of the Jordan (13:8).
b. The division of the land west of the
Jordan was given by the casting of lots
(14:2).
1. The tribe of Judah
was in the south (15:1). In the rest of the O.T.
"Judah" comes to stand for all the southern tribes, the Southern Kingdom.
2. Ephraim in the north
(16:1-10). In the rest of the O.T. "Ephraim" comes
to
stand for all the northern tribes, the Northern Kingdom.
3. Seven tribes were hesitant to take their land (18:1-10).
a. Assigned by lots
b. They went up and took their portions
(21:43).
4. Levites given forty-eight cities (21:42).
5. The Tabernacle was set up at Shiloh (Joshua 18-20) so
that the Jews would
have a centralized place of worship.
Later, it would be moved to Nob
(1 Sam. 21) and Gibeon (1 Chron. 16:39).
G. Civil War Averted (Joshua 22).
1. When the Eastern tribes (Gad, Reuben, Manasseh),
returned home, across the
Jordan River, they set up a replica altar
at the Jordan (22:9-12, 28).
2. Western tribes gather to go to war because they think
the eastern tribes have set
up a rival center for worship. They are
afraid God will take vengeance upon the
entire nation (22:12-18).
3. Before they go to war, an investigation is made.
a. Explained that the replica altar was
not for worship, but as a reminder to
future genrations that
the tribes east of the Jordan were also Israelites
(22:24-26).
b. The war was averted and the western
tribes returned home.
H. Joshua's Farewell Address (Joshua 23).
1. Joshua warns Israel to be careful to keep the covenant
(23:6).
2. There is a covenant renewal at Schechem (23:24).
a. Joshua recounts the history of Israel
(24:2-13).
b. Joshua tells the people to obey God
(24:14f.).
c. The people promise to be obedient
(24:16-18).
d. Joshua says they are not capable of
obedience (24:19, 20).
e. The things were written down in a book
and a large stone was set up as a
reminder to the people.
3. Joshua dies at the age of 110 and is buried.