04.08. Joshua

Joshua

Joshua had led the military operations under Moses. As the time for Moses to die came near, Joshua was appointed as the leader to succeed Moses. In Jos 1:8, it specifically makes mention of the scroll of the law, indicating that the books of Moses had been written down and considered the Word of God. As we read in Jos 1:13-18, the people had learned and recognized that God was working through Moses and that it was God that provided the victory over their enemies.

God begins to exalt Joshua as he had exalted Moses in the sight of the Israelites. (Jos 3:7) God caused the Jordan River to stop flowing so that the Israelites could cross over. This would bring the crossing of the Sea of Reeds under the command of Moses to mind. (Jos 4:23-24) The Israelites crossing the Jordan River on dry ground caused great fear among the people living in the land. (Jos 5:1) The next miraculous event happened at Jericho where the walls fell down flat. Normally, when a city is attacked, the walls fall inward as the battering rams push the wall inward. In the case of Jericho, the walls fell outward, providing a ramp for the Israelites to enter the city and take it¹⁴. Archaeology affirms that the walls fell outward and that a section of wall remained standing. (The house of Rahab who had sheltered the spies was on the wall). After they had taken Jericho and Ai, there are several references to “the Law of Moses” again indicating that they had accepted the Pentateuch as the Word of God. (Jos 8:31-32; Jos 8:34-35). An interesting archaeological find is the discovery of two scarabs of Amenhotep III¹⁵. He was Pharaoh from 1408 BC to 1369 BC¹⁶. Since there were scarabs there of previous Pharaohs, but none after him, he would be the last one that reigned prior to the destruction of Jericho. This confirms the dating of the destruction to the Biblical date of about 1400 BC. Other evidence at Jericho confirms the time of year, that it was a short siege and that the food was not plundered, as there is evidence of much food in the city¹⁷.

There are other instances during the conquest of Canaan by Joshua where God miraculously intervened. For example, God threw hailstones on the army of the 5 kings of the Amorites (Jos 10:11) and the sun and moon stopped for about a whole day to allow the Israelites more time to fight the Amorites (Jos 10:12-14). There are many other mentions of the LORD providing the victory as they battled the Canaanites.

We can see this by this comment in the book of Joshua that the LORD performing the miracles had a profound impact on the people.

Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who survived Joshua, and had known all the deeds of the LORD which He had done for Israel. (Jos 24:31) As we can see, the Israelites had come to the conclusion that their God was the creator and that they needed to follow Him. We can also see that the archaeological evidence supports the Biblical account of the events recorded in the book of Joshua.