Book of Joshua

Introduction, Outline, and Overview

Joshua's call to mobilizationMOBILIZING GOD'S PEOPLE FOR VICTORY

– The Conquest of the Land –

(Graphic View Below)

JOSHUA 1-24

Joshua's call to mobilizationThe Purpose of the Book of Joshua

God’s good purposes can always be gloriously fulfilled
when we faithfully trust and obey Him.

The Book of Joshua is not merely about how one brave and godly man of God led God’s people into the Promised Land but on how God works in and through His people to accomplish His greater purposes. Joshua is not only to be admired but to be imitated. The name ‘Joshua’ means ‘Savior’ in English and Jesus in Greek. Joshua is a type for the real Savior that would come and show us how to commune and live with God in this dangerous world.  God was not just making a home for His people but readying them to accompany Him on His great mission.

As one reads through the Book of Joshua, one is amazed as to what is discussed and what is left out. Many things like all the great details of the battles are left blank while certain acts such as the sins of Achan and the need to be circumcised are included.  Although the Book of Joshua is a history of God’s people as they came out of Egypt, it is a specially written history to help us understand how God works in the lives of His people.  Several particular aspects come to mind.

A Link

Joshua links together God’s people with the Land - the long desired Promised Land. The Law recorded their exit from their old slavery status. Joshua, however, shows how they actually became the people of God in the Promised Land. They were of course the people of God before this, but the Law was only recently learned. They needed to learn how to live out the Law of God in the Land of God. God was their new Master; they needed to learn to trust Him.  It was for this reason that many different incidents were highlighted in Joshua. God was using the events to impress and instruct Israel. What they learned would impact future generations. They needed to learn things right even if people suffered, such as in Achan’s case. What they did not learn right would cause much more harm in the future. God was carefully laying the foundation for His people. 

Faith

Joshua also emphasizes the need to live by faith. God was not one they could see. They could, of course, see the enemies and the tall walls that made conquering them an impossible task, but they could not see God. Even the mysterious ‘presence’ of God that they were used to during their wanderings after Egypt or the manna God wonderfully provided for them disappeared. God was there but these signs of His presence faded away. They were to live by faith. They needed to learn to obey the Law as God’s Word. It was important to trust Him on how they were to live their life even if they did not understand why they had to do things such as being circumcised.  Faith is the key to victory, but God and His promises are based on what God revealed to them. Joshua had to rely on God’s promise to be with Him. His direction came from meditating on the Law. If the people of God obeyed God, they would win. If they disobeyed, they would lose.

The Spirit of God

The Holy Spirit is absent in the Book of Joshua. Perhaps this is analogous to the coming of the Spirit of God after Jesus left. After Joshua left, then the Spirit of God was actively working as seen in the Book of Judges. But before we can understand the invisible Spirit of God, the people of God are first instructed on how to trust God through the ‘Savior.’ The people were to learn from observing and following Joshua. The day for this one-man leadership would soon disappear and then the Spirit of God would work in the people who devoted themselves to the Word of God. The people were now to learn how to live out their lives in a way that pleased God.

Summary

Joshua is an excellent book to study if one wants to learn how to live out our Christian lives in light of God’s divine and glorious mission.  God’s people are on a mission. We need to not only learn how to live our lives properly under the divine guidance of our Lord in this world. He has more to accomplish than just make our lives comfortable. There are battles we need to face in order to expand and establish God’s kingdom. Every battle that is faced in this book provides some wisdom and instruction on how we ourselves are to depend upon God and accomplish His great will. 

JOSHUA’S PREACHING OUTLINES 

Joshua is a book that shows us how to establish and maintain God’s kingdom. God surely could have cleaned out the enemies beforehand. The Lord chose to use the people of God in the procedure. There was never any question about victory but only about obedience. The only real battle was when the people of God chose not to closely depend on God. Victory is guaranteed when she steps together in faith according to God’s Word, but failure is equally certain if they choose to do things in her own way.

GETTING READY FOR BATTLE

Joshua 1-5

Preparing for Conquest

1.     Joshua 1:1-5       The Mission
2.     Joshua 1:1-9       Developing Godly Leadership
3.     Joshua 1:10-18   Maximum Mobilization   
4.     Joshua 1:12-18   The Battle Before the Conquest     
5.     Joshua 2:1-24     God’s Mysterious Ways
6.     Joshua 3:1-17     Signs & Wonders 
7.     Joshua 4:1-24     Strategic Pauses #1:
Forming Memories        
8.     Joshua 5:1-9       Strategic Pauses #2:
Our Step of Faith
9.     Joshua 5:10-12   Strategic Pauses #3:
Communing With God    
10. Joshua 5:13-15   Strategic Pauses #4
Following the Right Leader     

Preparing

Joshua 1-5

The Calling and Responsibility of Godly Leadership


Developing God's People

Godly leaders find success by remaining sensitive
to the Lord’s authority and methods.

The key to understanding these battles and victories is wholly based upon God’s presence with us.  When they left God and hid their sin, they saw defeat.  But when in faith they stepped forward in faith, God mightily moved.

God is persistently training His people. The process doesn't even once they start winning battles, as we find out in the later chapters, nor does it end when we conclude the major wars. God is always developing His people.

We dare not stand still.  There remains a life of battle ahead of us.  Are you ready to step over the Jordan and be used by God?  What selfish purposes have you not yet committed to Him.  What we don’t realize is that our world is perishing while we enjoy our houses and comfortable jobs.  We cry when we don’t get our raise but forget the 3,600 Indian missionaries or the mainland Chinese evangelists traveling with much less than we could put in the front seat of our cars.  Are we too busy having children, getting married, being transferred, researching, etc. so that we have forgot to focus on His mission?

As God’s people, let us arise to the great task which He has given to us!

STIRRING UP THE ENEMY

Joshua 6-12

Conquering the Land

1. Joshua 6:1-27     God’s First Victory at Jericho
2. Joshua 7:1-26     A Battle We Better Not Lose: vs. Sin       
3. Joshua 8:1-29     Recovering From Defeat        
4. Joshua 8:30-35    Delight in God’s Torah
5.    Joshua 9:1-27     Falling For A Lie    
6.    Joshua 10:1-43   The Battles Against the Kings
7.    Joshua 11:1-23   Responding Strategically  
8.    Joshua 12:1-24    Gaining Momentum

Conquering

Joshua 6-12

The Implementation of God’s Strategy for Victory

Understanding God’s Strategy


Victory arises only when we fully understand the design of temptation and depend upon the Lord's means for deliverance.

God is always more ready to accomplish His plan than we are to participate in it (Joshua 11:20). God has a whole set of plans to quickly and effectively complete His plans. God fights differently than man. Training to win requires that we simply do things God’s ways. We need to trust Him. If we rely on our methods, we will surely fail. They failed at the battle of Ai not only because of Achan’s greed but because Joshua did not pray and seek God’s will.

The first verse of these chapters significantly point to the enemy who attempted to thwart the Israelites from their main mission.  God already has His plans on how to eliminate these enemies. These main campaigns lasted seven long years.  The Lord records three major campaigns.  The enemy would use any trick to get their way. The Gibeonites deceived Israel. Other kingdoms ganged up on them. Although the battles almost always seemed a sure defeat for Israel, God led the Israelites to victory each time through their faithful leader of Joshua.

These battles surprisingly only comprise 8 of the 22 chapters in Joshua.  The victory was always certain. God's people only needed to learn how to do things God's ways, no matter how threatening the enemy seemed to be. Don’t be afraid; just be prepared!  

Don’t be afraid; just be prepared!

FINISHING THE TASK

Joshua 13-24

Divinding the Land

1.     Joshua 13:1-13   Rules for Victorious Living    
2.     Joshua 14:1-15; 15:13-19    Caleb: A Man Willing to Fight  
3.     Joshua 15:20-17:13     Fulfilling Our Obligations
4.     Joshua 17:12-18 Escaping From Fear’s Grip
5.     Joshua 18:1-19:51       Dividing the Inheritance
6.     Joshua 20:1-9     Where Can I Run?       Cities of Refuge
7.     Joshua 21:1-45   Care of God’s Workers
8.     Joshua 22:1-34   For Good or For Bad
9.     Joshua 23:1-16   Passing the Torch
10. Joshua 24:1-13   Truth or Fiction: Does it really matter? 
11. Joshua 24:14-33  Declaration of our Commitment    

Dividing

Joshua 13-24

The Accountability to Complete God’s Mission

Grasping God's Good Purposes

Only by grasping the full scope of what God is doing and making ourselves accountable to the tasks that concern us will His mission be completed.

We often get confused between winning the battle and winning the fight (war).  Our shortsightedness causes us not to look beyond our self-interests. The real war is how one lives afterwards.  The most dangerous times are after certain victories. And it is precisely here that the Israelites failed. 

The Lord was sure to have them divide up the land. The point of this was to prepare each tribe to live under the Lord’s leadership. Up to this point, they relied on Joshua’s faith to win. Now they had to rely on their own faith. If they trusted Him and obeyed His Word, they would do well. If not, they would bring trouble into their future.  Once they received their inheritance, they were responsible to clear off the many enemies still hanging around (see Judges 1). God set things up so that they all could carry on and clear out all the enemies. But foolishly they were not equally responsible. Again, the chief battle is not on the battlefield but in our hearts.  It is how we live after the victories. Miracles are not enough to change us. We need God’s grace unto repentance.

Chart Summary Outline of Joshua in pdf file

Click for a larger free pdf file of the outline of Joshua.

THE CHALLENGE

The younger generation so often criticizes the older one for lack of faith and boldness.
May Caleb silence the critics!

But what about the younger generation?
Will you be more faithful and true to what the Lord has set before you?

This is your turn,
And mine!


Index on Joshua
Reaching Beyond Mediocrity (Joshua 10:1-43)
– The Day the Sun Stood in the Sky –
Skepticism and Higher Bible Criticism
Joshua 10:12-14 Interpretations of 'Sun stood in the sky.'
Joshua 10:12-14 Purpose of Recording the Miracle
Joshua 10:1-11: A. Joshua's Sincere Obedience
Joshua 10:12-43: B. Joshua's Quest for God's Best
Joshua 10:1-43: Bible Study Questions

Joshua 1:1-5 The Mission: God's Purpose for Us

Mobilizing God's People (Joshua 1:10-18)

Joshua 1:10-18: Introduction to Moblizing God's People
Joshua 1:10-11: A. Communicates God’s Will
Joshua 1:12-15: B. Demands Total Participation
Joshua 1:16-18: C. Responds With A Clear Commitment
Joshua 1:10-18: Bible Study Questions
Finishing the Task (Joshua 13:1-33)

Joshua 13: Introduction: 3 Unexplainables
Joshua 13:1 Passes on the Vision
Joshua 13:2-5 Knows the Need
Joshua 13:6 Lives by Faith
Joshua 13:7-33 Distributes the Responsibility
Joshua 13:1-33 Bible Study Questions
Victory over Strongholds (Joshua 6:1-27)
Joshua 6:1-27 The Lesson from Jericho
Joshua 6:1 Our Need for God's Power
Joshua 6:2-5 Our Discovery of God's Solutions
Joshua 6:6-27 Our Participation in God's Victory
Joshua 6:1-27 Summary: You can win too!
Joshua 6:1-27_Bible_Study_Questions
Obtaining a Greater Portion (Joshua 21)
Joshua 21 Introduction: A Greater Deal
Joshua 21:1-7 A Special Calling
Joshua 21:8-42 A Special Service
Joshua 21:43-45 A Special Promise
Joshua 21 Bible Study Questions
Effectively Dealing with Defeat & Despair (Joshua 7:1-15)
Joshua 7:1-15: Learning about Defeat and Failures
Joshua 7:1-5: Falling into Failure
Joshua 7:6-10: Staying in Disgrace
Joshua 7:11-15: Road to Recovery
Joshua 7:1-15: Bible Study Questions

Other Articles on Biblical Leadership

Other Articles on Biblical Leadership

Bible Studies on Godly Living
Dangers of Counseling
Setting Priorities
7 Principles to Spirit Dependent Teaching

BFF Homepage | Top | Bible Topics | Back

Biblical Foundations for Freedom


Paul J. Bucknell