Overview of the Book of Joshua

The Conquest of Canaan and Joshua’s Role

The overview of the week for this Sunday is the book of Joshua. So Joshua, the successor of Moses, is the author. The book was written sometime in the 14th century BC and it may have covered a span as much as 30 years.

Joshua is considered the first of 12 historical books found in the Old Testament. Joshua, as most of you know, was a military leader. And the theme of the book is the conquest of the land of Canaan. God commanded the children of Israel to enter into the promised land and take it by force.

Because the people living there, the Lord said, they were so wicked that the land itself would vomit them out. So Joshua and the Hebrews were God's instrument of justice to punish the ungodly and to establish a nation that would be committed to the worship of the one true and living God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Joshua 1:6 and the Meaning of Joshua’s Name

So the book begins in chapter 1 verse 6 with these words, the Lord says to Joshua and by the way, the name Joshua means Jehovah saves. This is basically the Old Testament equivalent to the name Jesus.

So the Lord said to Joshua, be strong and of good courage. For to this people you shall divide as an inheritance, the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. So they entered into the land. However, the problem is they failed to drive out all of its inhabitants, which they were commanded to do.

Courage, Incomplete Obedience, and Spiritual Warfare

And many of those tribes were a thorn in their side later on. One final comment, the Old Testament book of Joshua, it may contain a lot of physical battles and bloodshed. So it may contain physical battles, but today under the new covenant, we are engaged in spiritual battles.

So we are to be of good courage and we are to fight the good fight of faith.