The Chapters – Quick Access
Basics
BOOK: Joshua
Description: historical book recounting the taking of the Promised Land
Author: probably Joshua (except end section)
Date written: probably about 1350
Chapters: 24
Brief Synopsis
- Gets its name from Joshua, who took over after Moses’ death
- Reveals the miraculous entry into the land
- Reveals the miraculous taking of Jericho
- Follows the taking of the rest of the land
- Sees the distribution pf the Land among the tribes
- Sees Joshua’s last days.
Why read Joshua
There are good and bad sides of reading Joshua, trying to absorb what is here.
The good side is that, as the Contents below shows, the overall structure is simple – getting ready to enter the land, entering the land, allocating the land to the twelve tribes and then saying farewell to Joshua.
The not-so-good side of Joshua is that once you come to Part 3 there are multitudes of place names, some of which no longer exist, and some of which scholars are uncertain as to their identity or even location. Perhaps, to be strictly honest, we need to see there are quite a lot of such places in Part 2 as well.
So why read it? Well, the simple answer is you probably won’t read all of it, you’ll skim over Part 3 at least, but if you do, try and catch the sense of what is going on anyway.
Part 1 is pure drama, the stuff films are made of. It is all action that is easily followed and lessons are there for the open heart.
Part 2 – the first four chapters tend to follow this drama style but now it is about ups and downs and the lessons are even more obvious. The latter three chapters may slow you down with all the place names and we have sought to add sufficient notes to help you catch where they are going and what they are achieving.
Part 3 is slightly confusing for the new reader with all the place names and you may wonder, why bother? The answer is that even if you only skim over it, you will see how the Land was portioned out to the twelve tribes and how the Land fell into two parts [which we often miss], of that to the east of the Jordan and the main part to the west of the Jordan. i.e. who got what, and why.
Part 4, the final two chapters are really Joshua’s challenge to Israel before he dies, seeking to keep them on track after he has gone.
The Context of Joshua
Joshua is all about the long awaited taking of the Promised Land which has been referred to again and again in the previous four books. It is therefore a book of fulfilment of the plan of God, in that it is getting the nation of Israel into the land of His promise.
But if the previous four books lead into Joshua, the following book, Judges, leads out of it as it goes on to show how the nation, now in the land, continue in the following years, how they cope and how they don’t cope – and WHY. Joshua is, therefore, a very real link between the Pentateuch and the historical books that follow on. Yes, there is a lot of administration, laying out who gets which part of the land and why, but there is also sufficient amount of drama in the first third of the book to make it compelling reading which, as ever, reveals a lot about God and a lot about Israel.
Fulfilment of God’s Purposes
The objective declared by the Lord many times in the earlier books was for Israel to completely drive out the existing pagan inhabitants of the Land. It is clear from the record here, as well as what follows in the book of Judges, that this never completely happened. Josh 13:1-7,13, 16:10, 17:12,13,16-18 all indicate this after Josh 11:18 having noted it was a long and protracted campaign. It should be noted that despite a town or area having been defeated that does not necessarily mean that it was subsequently occupied. Victory there was but often not complete. Although it might be considered that the land had been completely taken out of the overall control of the previous Canaanite occupants, it is clear that there were still pockets of them still remaining.
CONTENTS
- Part 1: Ch.1-5: Preparation & Entry
- Ch.1 – Joshua installed as Leader
- Ch.2 – Rahab and the Spies
- Ch.3 – Crossing the Jordan
- Ch.4 – Establishing a Memorial
- Ch.5 – Circumcision & Passover
- Part 2: Ch.6-12: Taking the Land
- Ch.6 – Taking Jericho
- Ch.7 – The Failed Attack on Ai & Achan’s Sin
- Ch.8 – Taking Ai & the Covenant on Mount Ebal
- Ch.9 – The Sneaky Gibeonites
- Ch.10 – Southern Kings Defeated
- Ch.11 – Northern Kings Defeated
- Ch.12 – Summary List of Defeated Kings
- Part 3: Ch.13-22: Allocating the Land
- Ch.13 – Land still to be taken & Land east of the Jordan
- Ch.14 – Main Land Allocations & Caleb’s land
- Ch.15 – Land Allocations for Judah (& Caleb)
- Ch.16 – Allotment for Ephraim and Manasseh
- Ch.17 – Allotment for Manasseh (Cont.)
- Ch.18 – The Seven tribes & Benjamin
- Ch.19 – Allotments for the other Six Tribes
- Ch.20 – Cities of Refuge
- Ch.21 – Towns for the Levites
- Ch.22 – Eastern Tribes Return Home
- Part 4: Ch.23,24: Finale of Joshua
- Ch.23 – Joshua’s Farewell to the Leaders
- Ch.24 – The Covenant Renewed at Shechem
Concluding Comments
- By the use of the verses above, we have sought to convey some, at least, of the key parts of the story of the taking of the Land.
- Of particular merit for study is chapter 1 with all its encouragements and directions from the Lord to Joshua as he takes over the leadership after Moses has died.
- Also of merit is the miraculous crossing of the River Jordan and the taking of Jericho. Ai brings a warning not to hide things from the Lord!
- Also worthy of our attention (although we have not covered it above) is the ruse of the men of Gibeon (9:3-). Through this we see that, not only should we not take people at the face value sometimes, but in this event the Lord allowed some of the Canaanites to become part of Israel if they fully submitted to them.
- We also see this in the example of Rahab (Josh 2 & 6). She is particularly significant as she appears to become part of the Messianic family tree (Mt 1:5). She is also mentioned in the NT for her faith (Heb 11:31) and for her righteousness (Jas 2:25)
- Joshua’s challenge and statement of commitment (24:15,16) also stands out.
- It is an action book that shows us the gradual taking of the land although, as we saw in a previous book, not all of the Canaanites were expelled and thus became an ongoing thorn in the side of Israel.