Joshua continues the history of the nation of Israel
a it begins to enter into the
promise land. In the Hebrew Bible, Joshua is the first book of a division
they call
the Former Prophets, which included Judges, Samuel and Kings. In Hebrew,
Joshua is "yeshoshu'a" in Joshua 1:1, in the Septuagint, Joshua is
"Iesous" or
transliterated into the English "Jesus." Joshua means "Jehovah saves"
or "Jehovah"
is salvation.
The theme of the book seems to be "victory is through
faith." In Genesis 15:8,
God promised Abraham that He would give this land to his descendants
and through,
the book of Joshua we see this promise being fulfilled. We must be
impressed with how
God keeps His promises in His, own time. We might have looked on this
promise
and afterIsaac and Jacob not receiving the land thought God was not
keeping His
promise, but we would have been wrong. Obedient faith is found throughout
the book of
Joshua from marching around the city of Jericho to the taking of the
five kings. We also
see what happens when Israel did not take God at His word with the
defeat at Ad, the
treaty made with the inhabitants of Gibeon, and in the Israelites not
destroying all the
people but leaving pockets of Canaanites in the land which would lead
to their downfall
in the times of the Judges.
© Copyright 2001. Paul D. Fisher. All rights reserved.