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Old TestamentHistory

Joshua

24Chapters
658Verses
0Notes
0Reflections
Book Introduction

Joshua opens where Deuteronomy closes: Moses is dead, and his aide must lead Israel across the Jordan into the land promised centuries earlier to Abraham. The book moves from miracle to battle to inheritance. Jericho's walls fall, campaigns sweep south and north, and then the pace slows as the land is carefully divided among the tribes, each boundary a receipt of God's faithfulness. Joshua is honest about incomplete obedience and lurking temptation, and it ends with an old man's challenge at Shechem: choose this day whom you will serve. It is a book about promises kept.

Author

Traditionally Joshua; the book is anonymous and includes material after his death.

Date

Events c. 1406–1380 BC; composition later, timing debated.

Audience

Israel settled in the land, needing to remember how it was received.

Purpose

To show God faithfully giving Israel the promised land and to call each generation to covenant loyalty.

Key Themes
God keeps his promisesCourage rooted in God's presenceThe land as inheritanceObedience and its lapsesChoosing whom to serve
Book Outline
1–5Crossing into the land
6–12The conquest of Canaan
13–21Dividing the inheritance
22–24Farewell and covenant renewal
Key Verses
ALL CHAPTERS24 chapters