Joshua was Moses’ trusted assistant and then took over to lead the people when Moses died.
In Exodus (17:8), Moses chose him to lead the battle to fight the Amelekites. Later, he traveled with Moses on the journey toward Mt. Sinai where God gave Moses the Ten Commandments.
The Israelites wandered in the wilderness for 40 years because they had refused to obey God and enter Caanan, a land God promised would be theirs. They were too afraid of the Caananites and did not trust that God would lead them to victory.
God told Moses to send a group of men to Caanan to spy on the people and check out the land. 10 of the 12 men came back with negative reports, saying that the Caananites were too strong to be defeated. Two men, however, had absolute faith in God: one was Caleb and the other was Joshua.
Numbers (14:8,9) records Joshua saying, “If the LORD is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us…do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will devour them. Their protection is gone, but the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them." (NIV)
After Moses died, Joshua led the people across the Jordan River. God caused the river to part and become dry land, just like he did to the Red Sea when the Israelites left Egypt. They attacked the frightened city of Jericho by marching around it once a day for six days. On the seventh day, they marched around the city seven times with the priests making noise by blowing into rams’ horns. When the people shouted loudly as God had commanded them to, the walls of the city fell down and the people charged right in.
Before he died, Joshua urged the people to destroy any idols and serve God alone with all of their hearts. He (24:15) said, “…choose for yourselves today whom you will serve…but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." (NASB)
So, who was Joshua? He was Moses’ assistant, a strong and brave military leader, and with God’s direction he led the Israelites into Caanan. He was faithful to God, always trusting in His promises and His word, just as we should.
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