The book of Joshua in the Old Testament is the next Bible after the Torah of Moses (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy).
What is the Torah of Moses?
If you are wondering so, please click here first.
What is Torah of Moses in the Bible all about?
Easy-to-understand summary of the contents of "Torah of Moses" of the Old Testament including Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy!
In this article, I would like to introduce a brief synopsis of the Book of Joshua.
What is Book of Joshua?
In a nutshell, the Book of Joshua is that
It is a record of the battles fought by Joshua.
Who is Joshua?
You who think so!
You may not have heard of Joshua, but what about Moses?
Don't you think you have heard of him?
Moses was a prophet who led the Israelites out of Egypt and headed for the Promised Land.
The scene of the sea splitting in half is very famous.
Joshua is the successor of Moses.
Moses was able to escape from Egypt, but he died before reaching the Promised Land.
To learn more about Moses' Exodus,
What is the Book of Exodus all about?
What was the life of the prophet Moses as described in "Book of Exodus"? Here's the story of Moses who performed the miracle of splitting the sea!
Please take a look here.
Exodus is the story of the Israelites brought out by Moses, and Joshua is the story of the conquest of the Promised Land by Joshua.
Synopsis of the Book of Joshua
So what is the actual story of Joshua?
Here's a super rough synopsis!
Conquering Jericho
After Moses died, God said to Joshua,
Now is the time to cross the Jordan River!
So Joshua sent two spies to a country called Jericho.
Who are you people!
The spies were discovered by the king and about to be captured, but the spies were saved by a prostitute.
The prostitute's name is Rahab.
Then, Rahab said,
Please protect me and my kin.
The spies taught Rahab how to defend herself and then returned to Joshua to report on the situation in Jericho.
The next day, Joshua decided to cross the Jordan River.
Upon crossing the river, the Israelites again acknowledged that Joshua was Moses' successor.
God then gave Joshua detailed instructions, and as the Israelites followed them, the walls of Jericho fell down.
Oh, God! Too amazing!
At this time, all of Jericho's inhabitants and livestock were destroyed except for Rahab.
Conquering Ai
While everyone was rejoicing over Jericho's victory, a man named Achan hid one of Jericho's victory goods.
Joshua then sent 3,000 men, this time to the land of Ai, but they were defeated.
At that point, God said to Joshua,
Someone has hidden the victorious goods from Jericho.
Thus began the search for the culprit, and Achan was found.
When he admitted his guilty, Achan, his family and even his livestock were stoned.
Then, God said to Joshua,
Now, attack Ai again! And when you do, put an ambush force behind the town.
When Joshua did what God said, Ai's soldiers left the city and were pursued or killed in battle.
The king was taken prisoner, but he was killed and all the inhabitants were killed too.
Joshua and his men did as God had commanded them and took the livestock and other property in the city of Ai for themselves.
Conquering Other Cities
Joshua conquered many cities using the following methods:
He pursued his fleeing enemies, burned the cities he had destroyed, and did quite a few other things that would be considered cruel in our day and age.
After his conquest, Joshua gathered all the Israelites in Shechem and told them the word of God.
We will continue to serve God (Yahweh)! And we will set up a great stone to prove it!
Thus, the Israelites' loyalty to God became even stronger.
Later, Joshua died.
About God
The book of Joshua is a record of battles in various cities.
It is quite a surprising episode that God instructed them to attack a city.
What kind of person is God (Yahweh)?
If you are wondering so, please refer to this article.
What does Yahweh mean in religion?
God used to be called "Yahweh". What is Yahweh that is common to all religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam? It's a surprisingly deep story!