Episode #11: "The Battle Belongs to the Lord"

HOST: Michael Whitworth

The story of Joshua is the first significant climax of the OT story. As early as Gen. 12, God had promised Canaan to Abraham and his posterity. Joshua tells of the fulfillment of that promise, of how Israel conquered Canaan.

The short and simple answer concerning who wrote Joshua is that we do not know. The writers of the Talmud claimed that “Joshua wrote his own book.” Passages such as 5:1, 6 seemingly employ eye-witness language, but there is both the oft-recurring phrase “to this day” (Josh. 4:9; 5:9; 6:25; 7:26; 8:28-29; 9:27; 10:27; 13:13; 15:63; 16:10) as well as a reference to a previous historical record (10:13), that together make Joshua an unlikely candidate.

Because the author of Joshua is anonymous, dating the book is equally difficult. It's safe to assume that the books of Joshua-2 Kings were written by prophets of God so as to record Israel’s history in order to warn and encourage her. Perhaps these books were as an ongoing “labor of love” for the prophets beginning with Samuel.

Two Major Themes

HOLY WAR. The book of Joshua is one of the more troubling parts of Scripture in that the systematic genocide of Canaan is detailed. What Israel did had been commanded by God (Deut. 7:1-2). How is this to be reconciled with our view of a God who values the sanctity of human life? To complicate matters, how are we to explain the deception of Gibeon? In holy war, God is declaring his glorious superiority to all false gods and idols. His reputation is at stake. More than that, Israel had to be completely faithful to the covenant of Sinai in order to be victorious in this holy war. Even today, in an age when God calls us to love our enemies and do good to those who wish to harm us, we find success in this life through our obedience to God.

PROMISED LAND. God’s promise to Abraham concerning land is an important theme of the Old Testament to this point. The story of Joshua is how Israel came into possession of Canaan. The record of Canaan being apportioned among the Tribes (Josh. 13-21), though tedious to read, is really praise to God for his faithfulness in giving the land to his people. Let me encourage you not to skip over this section of Joshua or to skim through it too quickly. If possible, get a detailed map of the division of the land among the tribes so that you can understand their boundaries.

Joshua & the New Testament

Considering that the Greek Iesous (Jesus) is the same as the Hebrew Yeshua (Joshua), it is not a stretch to note certain themes in Joshua that also appear in the New Testament. Temper Longman says, “From the vantage of the New Testament, Joshua’s successes were only partial at best, and therefore they pointed beyond themselves to a time when Joshua’s greater namesake, Jesus, would bring God’s people into an inheritance that could not be taken away from them (1 Pet. 1:3-5). Jesus would provide the rest Joshua had not attained (Heb. 3:11, 18; 4:1-11).”

There is also significance to be drawn from the mysterious warrior Joshua encountered in 5:13-15. It is not difficult to consider this to be an appearance of the pre-incarnate Christ. In the final pages of the New Testament, Jesus again appears as a formidable warrior, this time as a rider astride a white horse (Rev. 19:11-16). There is a day coming when, through the sword of Christ, God will right every wrong. In Joshua, we are given an early vision of our Savior, the warrior-king.