Study 0 From The Book of Joshua Is: The
Introduction
The
book of Joshua tells us nothing about its authorship, but in Jos.15:63 we have
a clear indication that it was written before David’s capture of Jerusalem.
The
book tells the story of the crossing of Jordan, the conquest of the Promised
Land and its division among the tribes, ending with the death of Joshua after
he had obtained from the whole people a solemn promise (soon to be broken) that
they would be faithful to God.
The
apparent discrepancy between the seemingly universal conquest of Palestine (in
9 -11) and the stubborn and often unsuccessful fighting referred to in the latter
part of the book and in the early part
of Judges, is explained by the fact that in 9-11 the united army of Israel was
meeting and crushing organized resistance.
But, after the division of the land, the Israelite army broke up into
its component tribes, each of which attempted to possess its own lot, meeting
with a stubborn resistance from those who had fled from the united army or had
not come in its way. Other factors may have been the spiritual declension of
the people and the ruling geographical factor of Palestine, the division into
the hill country and the coastal plain.
The latter remained unconquered until David’s time.
The
book is an account of the Israelites’ fight to claim their promised inheritance.
The lesson they learnt concerning the conditions of possession can teach us
much about the condition of our obtaining the blessings promised to us in
Christ. (cf. Heb. 4:1, 2, 8-11; 11:30)
