Joshua 23-24

Greetings!  Joshua was a great leader who took over after Moses died and led Israel as they cleared out the Promised Land.  Following a great leader can set many up for failure, but Joshua followed God and was very successful.

Joshua’s Farewell to the Leaders
23     After a long time had passed and the Lord had given [...]

Joshua 21-22

Greetings!

Towns for the Levites
21     Now the family heads of the Levites approached Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the other tribal families of Israel 2 at Shiloh in Canaan and said to them, “The Lord commanded through Moses that you give us towns to live in, with pasturelands for our [...]

Joshua 19-20

Greetings!

Allotment for Simeon
19     The second lot came out for the tribe of Simeon, clan by clan. Their inheritance lay within the territory of Judah. 2 It included:
Beersheba (or Sheba), Moladah, 3 Hazar Shual, Balah, Ezem, 4 Eltolad, Bethul, Hormah, 5 Ziklag, Beth Marcaboth, Hazar Susah, 6 Beth Lebaoth and Sharuhen—thirteen towns and their villages; [...]

Joshua 17-18

Greetings!  These chapters are also pretty detailed about the division of the Promised Land.  I don’t have much to comment on. 

17     This was the allotment for the tribe of Manasseh as Joseph’s firstborn, that is, for Makir, Manasseh’s firstborn. Makir was the ancestor of the Gileadites, who had received Gilead and Bashan because the Makirites were [...]

Joshua 15-16

Greetings!  I don’t have much to comment on with these chapters.  They are important historically, as they describe specific places, boundaries and people.  Some skeptics doubt that the Israelites really spent 40 years in the desert before taking over the Promised Land, but these records are quite reliable and accurate.  Archeology has proved doubters wrong [...]

Joshua 13-14

Greetings!

Land Still to Be Taken
13     When Joshua was old and well advanced in years, the Lord said to him, “You are very old, and there are still very large areas of land to be taken over. 2 “This is the land that remains: all the regions of the Philistines and Geshurites: 3 from the Shihor [...]

Joshua 11-12

Greetings!

Nothern Kings Defeated
11     When Jabin king of Hazor heard of this, he sent word to Jobab king of Madon, to the kings of Shimron and Acshaph, 2 and to the northern kings who were in the mountains, in the Arabah south of Kinnereth, in the western foothills and in Naphoth Dor on the west; 3 [...]

Joshua 9-10

Greetings!

The Gibeonite Deception
9     Now when all the kings west of the Jordan heard about these things—those in the hill country, in the western foothills, and along the entire coast of the Great Sea as far as Lebanon (the kings of the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites)— 2 they came together to make war [...]

Joshua 7-8

Greetings!  Sin has consequences.  God made it quite clear that He gave them the victory over Jericho, but He also gave them clear guidelines on what not to do, including taking some of the plunder.
The people were panicked.  This was the beginning of a seven year conquest of the Promised Land and the only battle [...]

Joshua 5-6

Greetings!  Before the Israelites were to clear out the Promised Land they had to prepare spiritually.  Circumcision was symbolic of setting the Israelites apart from the rest of the world, as well as circumcising the heart from sin.  It linked them back to Abraham, who started the ritual.  They also celebrated the Passover, which was [...]

Joshua 3-4

Greetings!  Many people are familiar with the Israelites crossing the Red Sea to escape from the Egyptians, but they are less familiar with this second crossing over the Jordan River.  This should have been a great reminder that God was still with them.  God had them set up a monument to help remember it.   They [...]

Joshua 1-2

Greetings!  Notice how many times the Lord speaks to Joshua.  Sadly, I’ve heard Christians claim that God didn’t really speak to these people as the Bible records, but that they just did what they wanted and wrote it down as if God ordered them to do it. 
That is an enormous claim to make, because the [...]

Introduction to Joshua

Greetings!
Joshua is the 6th book of the Bible and was primarily written by Joshua.  Moses, the primary author of the first five books of the Bible (the Pentateuch) was his leader and mentor.
Deuteronomy ends with Moses dying just as the Israelites approached Israel, the Promised Land.  Joshua was one of the two men not afraid to take the [...]