By the lead of God in the form of fire and clouds, Israel was heading towards Mount Sinai. At a place called Rephidim, they camped. Here the nearby nation of Amalek approached the nomadic Israel for battle.
In preparation for battle, Moses instructed Joshua to select warriors. Joshua would lead the inexperienced army of Israel in battle, while Moses, Aaron and Hur would call for divine intervention on a mountaintop. Joshua lead the warriors he had chosen in battle against Amalek and astoundingly defeated them. As the battle went on, Moses kept his arms raised in air to serve as a reminder of God's protection and to boost morale. Afterwards, Yahweh instructed Moses to record the battle in a preexisting book.
Specifically the event was to be recounted to Joshua, with a promise that Amalek would be destroyed. This shows the special position that Joshua had in Israel. After Moses had heard the Ten Commandments and accompanying instructions, he preached to the people and wrote them down [9].
Then Moses was summoned to return to the mountaintop and into God's presence in order to receive worship regulations. Only Joshua was allowed to come with Moses on the Mountain, but he could dwell in God's presence. For forty days, Moses and Joshua were alone and isolated from the rest of Israel, handling God's instructions on worship in the future Tabernacle. During this time, Israel took matters into their own hands and created a Golden Calf idol.
When Joshua heard the ruckus from the ground, he mistakenly thought Israel was preparing for war with a battle cry. Upon investigation, Moses found that Aaron had led the people in the building of a golden calf in direct contradiction to the sermon they had heard from Moses. Like us, Joshua was often besieged by other voices, but he chose to follow God, and he did it faithfully.
Joshua took seriously the Ten Commandments and ordered the people of Israel to live by them as well. Even though Joshua was not perfect, he proved that a life of obedience to God bears great rewards.
Sin always has consequences. If we live according to God's Word, like Joshua, we will receive God's blessings. Joshua "Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Joshua That day the Lord exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they revered him all the days of his life, just as they had revered Moses.
Joshua The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day. There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the Lord listened to a man.
Surely the Lord was fighting for Israel! Joshua "Now then," said Joshua, "throw away the foreign gods that are among you and yield your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Use precise geolocation data. Select personalised content. Create a personalised content profile. Measure ad performance. Select basic ads. Create a personalised ads profile. Select personalised ads. Apply market research to generate audience insights.
Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. Share Flipboard Email. Jack Zavada. Christianity Expert. No matter. He confronts the enemy, and he wins the battle. When Moses orders him to join the spies sent to cross the Canaanite frontier and bring back a precise account of the military and economic capacities of the land promised to the people of Israel, he goes.
The questionnaire the scouts receive from Moses reads like an espionage document. The expedition takes 40 days. The text gives us the opinion of the majority and that of the minority: ten against two. Who are the ten? Eminent heads of the tribes of Israel. Their accounts are desperate and hopeless: They say the country runs with milk and honey, but the people who live there are powerful.
They are stronger than we are, the towns are large and fortified, the people are gigantic. In their eyes, and in ours, we are no more than grasshoppers. The ten make up an overwhelming majority, but it is the minority of two who carry the day. Joshua, head of the tribe of Ephraim, and Caleb, head of the tribe of Judah , see things differently.
Their report is optimistic. The more enraged among them attack the two and are ready to stone them. That overwhelming, depressing day will remain marked in the collective memory of Israel by the punishment imposed: It is the moment when God decides that of all those who came out of Egypt, only Joshua and Caleb shall enter the Promised Land. The ten skeptical scouts will die soon after, and the others rescued from slavery in Egypt will perish in the desert.
In the book that bears his name, Joshua impresses us with his harshness: it depicts a violence, even a thirst for violence, that is found nowhere else. The conquest of the land of Canaan occurs with fire and blood. Too much destruction at every turn. The only moment of tenderness in this account is the story of Rahab in Jericho. In exchange, legend gives her Joshua as bridegroom. This story is not in his official biography, which, moreover, is very meager.
His father was a just man, but childless. Nun passed his days praying to God for a son, and his prayer was answered. Moses was still alive, but very old, when Joshua was teaching the Law to the people. One day, Moses came to listen. He remained standing with the crowd. Joshua saw him and, overcome by remorse, cried out in distress. Then a celestial voice was heard: The time has come for the people to receive the teaching of Joshua.
Brokenhearted, Joshua submitted. It is because he respected and venerated his Master; he loved him. Of all his qualities, it is his attachment to Moses that moves us the most. According to the legend, Joshua was then married. He had children : only girls. Having fulfilled the mission that God and Moses had entrusted to him, Joshua retired and lived in the isolation of memory.
He was old, the text tells us, and the country rested from the wars. He died alone and was buried in a place called Har gaash—a kind of angry mountain, a sort of volcano. The Talmud comments that this illustrates the ingratitude of the people toward their leader. Why was the mountain angry? Because God, in his wrath, was ready to punish his people. Why the rage? Everyone was too busy. Some were cultivating their gardens, others their vineyards; still others watched over their fires.
Unbelievable, but how true: In war, Joshua had been their leader. Afterwards, the people no longer needed him, to the point that no one came to pay him their final respects, to which all mortal men are entitled, whoever they might be.
The Book of Joshua presents the destruction of the city of Hazor. The author of more than 30 novels, plays and profiles of Biblical figures, Elie Wiesel received the Nobel Peace Prize in The article was first republished in Bible History Daily on August 9, We are pleased—and honored—to present our readers with the first of a series of insightful essays by Elie Wiesel, the world-renowned author and human rights advocate.
Wiesel is best known for his numerous books on the Holocaust and for his profiles of Biblical figures and Hasidic masters. In , he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. His occasional series for BR will focus on characters in the Bible that do not occupy center stage—those who play supporting roles. Aaron Aaron, number two in the epic that recounts the liberation of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt. He is a man of peace. He succeeds at everything. Anyone who believes God made the sun stand still in the sky is unbelievably ignorant or gullible.
He is the archetypal of Christ the archetype. In Revelation we are told that when Christ returns He will be exactly like Joshua was in the conquest of Canaan. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself.
He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses.
Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. Forty years have passed since millions of Israelites were delivered from Egyptian bondage under the mighty hand of Jehovah. The prophet Moses has taken the lead. Now at the age of , he views the Promised Land from a distance and then dies atop Mount Nebo.
To succeed as their leader, Joshua will need God-given wisdom. He will also have to exercise faith in Jehovah and prove to be courageous and strong.
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