First let's get something clear about erroneous notions of Paul and his founding a new religion, which he didn't. True, the halakhah of his Judaism switched from the Pharisaic oral law to the Ruach Hakodesh, but his religion was still one of the Judaisms of the time, not a new non-Judaism Gentile religion.

YEHOSHUA (JOSHUA)

YEHOSHUA (JOSHUA, "the L-rd saves") was formerly named Hoshea

("salvation") until Moses changed his name (Num. 13:8,16). He

was from the tribe of Ephraim, meaning he was a descendent of

Yosef. The Greek Septuagint translates his name IEsous or

Yehoshua. He was Yehoshua the "son" of Joseph. Isa. 49:8 says

the Moshiach will be a new Joshua, "Thus says the L-rd; in a time

of favor I have answered you, on a day of yeshuah (Yehoshua =

"salvation" = also the name of Yeshua/Joshua--see Neh. 8:17 in

Hebrew Bible) I have helped you; I have kept you and given you as

a covenant to the people, to establish the land, to apportion the

desolate heritages." Zech. 6:12 says that Joshua/Yehoshua's name

(Ezra 3:8) is Tsemach (or "Branch" of David, that is, the

Moshiach). With all this in mind, we shouldn't be surprised if

we see Messianic typology in this book. Isaiah certainly did

when he read it (Isa. 49:8).

The book begins with Moses commissioning Joshua and telling him

over and over again to be courageous and strong in the Word. The

responsibility for a fierce military conquest is on his shoulders

and he must hear and heed the bold military plans of G-d and then

execute them with precision and fearlessness.

The Transjordan tribes (Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of

Manasseh) are told to seek first the kingdom of G-d and go over

to fight for the land of their brother tribes and then, they are

assured, G-d will grant them the enjoyment of their own

inheritance.

After the appearance to Joshua of the commander of the

L-rd's army (5:13-15), Jericho is soon conquered. But sin in the

camp brings defeat when Ai is attacked, and only when the sinner

is dealt with does victory once again come to Joshua's forces.

Fulfilling Moses's command (Deut. 27:4-5), Joshua builds a

mizbe'ach on Mt. Ebal and the people observe a covenant ceremony

there (Josh. 8:30-35). This is in central Canaan at the pass

between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim. At the end of the book,

when hostilities have died down, Joshua assembles all Israel

again and charges them with a farewell address, and then gathers

them at Shechem for a ceremony of covenant renewal (24:1-28).

Loyalty to G-d is a theme of these sections and of the whole

book, and something Achan's sin showed that he lacked. When

Joshua copies the law (8:32) he is doing what the royal head of

Israel will one day be obligated to do (Deut. 17:18), adding to

the Messianic typology the Scriptures invest in him.

The first 11 chapters of the book of Joshua deal with the

invasion of Canaan under Joshua, the salvation of Rahab, and the

prayerless mistake with the deceiving Hivites of Gibeon. We see

that Joshua's base camp is at Gilgal, where G-d "rolled away" the

disgrace of Egypt when the Israelite men were circumcised

(compare GALOTI "I rolled away and GILGAL in 5:9). From this

place of spiritual cleanness and responsiveness to G-d (which is

what the BRIS MILAH symbolizes), G-d gives Joshua the bold plans

he needs to brilliantly take the whole land.

A good general knows that the point of initial attack has

strategic implications for every part of the total battle plan of

the war. Like a brilliant war strategist, G-d has Joshua take

Jericho and Ai first, then swoop south in a second campaign

against the cities there, and finally turn to the northern

campaign to secure the whole area in just three elegant moves.

We need to ask G-d to give us bold plans to take the whole area

where we're called for G-d. We need to become convicted by a

verse like 18:3, "How long will you be slack about going in and

taking possession of the land that the L-rd, the G-d of your

ancestors, has given you?" We need to pray for the strength of

Caleb (14:10-11) to do battle for the L-rd. Then we need to go

through the whole land and make a written description of what is

actually out there as we spy out the challenge of the field of

ministry G-d has given us (18:4). Then we need to ask G-d where

our "Shiloh" is, because that is where the tent of meeting is set

up, and that's where the people meet G-d (18:1) for edification,

prayer, and divine guidance (18:10) as G-d shows us our various

tasks and the ground He has already won for us. (Shiloh was where

the Mishkan was erected following Joshua's conquest of Canaan.)

As we execute the bold campaign plans that G-d gives us we can

rest assured that the victory is His and is on the way. Read the

major summary 11:18-20. Look at 13:6-7. We need to see the

"land" of our sphere of ministry as a target for spiritual

warfare to be claimed for the L-rd and to be apportioned out to

be conquered in revival. What is your apportionment? Where do

you live? Who are you ministering with? Does G-d want to move

you? (See 23:3-16.) Remember that your ministry is a sacred

trust given to you by the L-rd. Do not lightly leave one

fellowship and drift to another. G-d put you where you are and

only G-d should move you.

Chapter 12 lists the Israelite conquests. The occupation of the

land is described in chapters 13-31 with special emphasis on

Caleb of the tribe of Judah. The Transjordanian question of the

altar is settled in chapter 22. Deuteronomy forbade the disloyal

act of offering sacrifice anywhere except in the one central

sanctuary (Deut. 12:13-14). Those who believe that Jericho's

walls fell (Josh. 6) only in the imagination of this book's

author should read archeologist Dr. Bryant O. Wood's article in

the March-April 1990 issue of Biblical Archeology Review. A

study of ceramic remnants, carbon-14 dating, seismic activity in

the region and even some tumbled walls give impressive evidence

that the city was burned around 1400 B.C.E. Because Jericho is

in a rift valley, it is prone to earthquakes, geophysicists say,

that could cause the blockage of the Jordan River as well as the

destruction of the walls of the city. Earlier archeologists had

been digging in the wrong places and erroneously asserting that

there was no evidence that the city had been destroyed during the

period when the Bible indicates Joshua's conquest took place.

Review the notes in Deuteronomy and Numbers on the Messianic

typology in the book of Joshua. This is not a book on how to

have success in general but in particular, in particular

regarding the work of the great commission, which is to take the

whole world for G-d, Israel first and then the nations. This

whole book is prophecy in type, with Joshua the type of the

Warrior Word Yehoshua, and the book of Joshua a picture of the

whole body of Moshiach breaking out in the great commission march

to take the world for him.

The book is also a great teaching on the indispensable quality

that the L-rd's leader must have--strength! See 1:7-8 and

17:14-18. The strength comes from prayer and the Word. A

believer can go through the worst this world has to offer and be

as strong as a lion, if he meditates on every verse of the book

of Joshua. G-d has given us many promises from His Word to draw

strength from. Do you see from 17:14-18 why a leader has to be

strong? The people are only as strong corporately as their

leader. Leaders must be qualified and called, duly accountable

and under authority, and strong in the Word and in vision

to serve the L-rd "completely (24:14) in purity and holiness with compassion for his

sheep.

Faith is a matter of heart knowledge given as a gift, even to

unworthy prostitutes like Rahab in Jericho (2:9,12). However,

faith is also a matter of the will, a matter of heart loyalty to

G-d which can affect a whole family if that family has one

loyal-to-G-d witness. Notice the recapitulation of the Passover

theme--Rahab's household will be passed over when G-d's holy

wrath rages and burns through Jericho, consuming the wicked. The

destroyer will see the red sign of covenant protection and pass

over all who are under its covering. With the Gentile Rahab's

"passover" she becomes a type of all the world's Nations coming

under the red sign of covenant protection in the Brit Chadasha

Pesach of the Moshiach's Tish. Rahab and Ruth lead the Gentiles

of the world into the Israel of G-d. Josh. 2:12 proves that G-d

blesses those who bless his people (Gen. 13:3), and Rahab, an

ancestor of David and Moshiach Yehoshua (Mt. 1:5), shows by her

life that it was always G-d's intention that "all the peoples on

earth will be blessed through you" (Gen. 12:3).

Note that Moshiach's tevilah (3:5) is to prepare for the battle

of serving G-d. It is also a symbol of covenant purificaiton

(5:2-3) as is circumcision (5:1-9; see Col. 2:11-13).

The ark of the covenant of the L-rd was where G-d's presence in

his Word dwelt. Josh. 4:7 says, "The waters of the Jordan were

cut off in front of the ark of the covenant of the L-rd." In the

Brit Chadasha, the same eternal, saving Word who parted the seas

of chaos at creation and at the Sea of the Exodus and at the

water of the Jordan has triumphed over the sea of death itself,

bringing the order of the Olam HaBah into eschatological victory

over this world's present chaos.

The L-rd gives his mesharet a certain authority as a leader

(4:14) if he has a genuine place of recognized leadership in the

Brit Chadasha Kehillah. It is not necessary to get pushy to

establish this authority--it's there by the Ruach HaKodesh (Prv.

18:16).

The purpose of Biblical miracles and any true miracle that

happens today is to bring people to a point where they have a

saving fear of the L-rd and His inerrant Word (see Rahab's speech

in 2:9-13).

Then as now music and shouts of praise are important in breaking

the yoke of spiritual oppression in worship (See 6:5).

Josh. 6:18 is why we avoid worldly enticements and all the wicked

things the heathen covet. Whoever loves the world is an enemy of

G-d, and whoever covets what has been devoted to destruction may

become himself a thing devoted to destruction (7:12). This is

the crucial lesson that Achan can teach us, and it is the very

reason modern men need to get rid of their yoga and New Age books

and occult lore and extra-terrestial beliefs and any other

spiritual fixation that cannot be sanctified by the word of G-d.

Whoever defies G-d's ban on things like pornography and other

worldly things set apart for destruction and tries to hide such

things under his tent will find that G-d's anger has been aroused

and the blessing of G-d has been removed. Such sin can

contaminate others and destroy a whole ministry (see 7:2-5).

Chapter 6:21-24 is a picture of what actually happens when we

experience Yeshuat Eloheinu: people all around us go to Gehinnom

but we are spared, a fact that should bring fear rather than

conceit or arrogance (Romans 11:19-22).

Look at chapter 9. Can you discern when false brethren slip in

secretly among you? See Jude 4. You can't discern them if you

don't watch the people in your life in prayer (9:14-15). Are all

the people in your life really G-d's choice for you?

Chapter 14:6-15 is a case study to prove (through Caleb of Judah)

that the central theme of the Torah is true (l:8)--that loyalty

to the Word of G-d brings blessing. Look at the typological

preaching possibility in 15:16-17. Because He overcame the

world, the Elohim Avinu has given His Word the Bride of Moshiach.

To the extent that you don't dispossess HaSatan in your life, to

that same extent his children will clutter your life and "dwell"

with you "to this day." (See Josh. 15:63).

Chapter 18:1-6a gives us the kind of survey with bold plans that

congregation planters do before they plant a congregation.

Chapter 21:41-43 is a major summary. Read it. Chapter 22:1-6

says to seek first the kingdom of G-d and all these other things

shall be added to you as well.

Isaiah infers in Isaiah 49:8 that the Moshiach will be a new

Joshua. It is important to note that the immediate (not final)

fulfillment of the Deuteronomy 18:15-19 Messianic prophecy is

Joshua. Joshua is indeed both a prophet and like Moses because

it was to Joshua and not to Moses that G-d gave the revelation of

the exact boundaries of the tribal portions of Eretz Yisrael (the

land of Israel). Several times in the book Joshua proves he is a

prophet. "Thus says the L-rd," Joshua begins in 24:2, using the

formula of a prophet. Like Moses, Joshua has a burning bush

experience (compare Ex. 3:5 to Josh. 5:15). The Jordan river

parts like the Red Sea, and when Joshua stretches out his sword,

G-d gives him victory as when Moses stretched out his rod in the

book of Exodus. G-d says to him, "I will be with you as I was

with Moses" (Josh. 3:7). G-d hardens the hearts of the

indigenous Canaanite population just as G-d hardened Pharaoh's

heart (Josh. 11:20) and then G-d shows Joshua the brilliant

strategy he should use to defeat them. G-d says, "I will be with

you as I was with Moses" (3:7; 4:14). Moses died in the

wilderness because he angered G-d, but Joshua led the people

victoriously to the promised life in the Holy Land. Thus, Joshua

is a prophetic sign of the King Moshiach, the ruler from among

his brethren who, like Moses and Joseph the Moshi'a in Egypt,

would lead the true remnant Israel from the rebellious unbelief,

resulting in death, to the faith resulting in eternal salvation

and Messianic deliverance and inheritance foreshadowed in the

book of Joshua.

In the Torah there is the Aitz haChayim (the tree of Eternal

Life--Genesis 3:22) and the Aitz haKilelat Hashem (Tree of the

Curse of G-d--Devarim 21:23). The body of a man, even a King,

hanging executed in the open air was considered accursed by G-d

(that is, put under His judgment--see Joshua 8:29; 10:26).

Isaiah 53:4 says of the Moshiach, "We considered him stricken by

G-d." Isaiah 52:13-53:12 teaches that "My Servant," the Branch

of David, the Moshiach, had to become accursed as sin for us,

taking the punishment we deserve (Isaiah 53:5). All our sins and

rebellion had to be put on His head as the Yom Kippur scapegoat

(Lev. 16:21) and sin offering (Lev. 16:15) sprinkled on the

nations (Lev. 16:l5; Isaiah 52:15).

The book of Hebrews (Heb. 4:3,8,11) speaks of Joshua and the

promise of rest. The land of Israel was to be a place of rest

(Josh 1:13) from Israel's enemies (Josh. 21:43-45; 23:1). But

the reason for the Exile which came to Jerusalem roughly 800

years later is given in Josh. 24:20. However, Joshua says

clearly, "As for me and my household, we will serve the L-rd"

(24:15).

See Acts 7:45 in the Brit Chadasha which has )IEsou for Joshua,

but this is the same Greek word for our Messiah's name, this

means that his Hebrew name is Yehoshua or Joshua. Since the

Hebrew name of Moshiach Yehoshua was Joshua, we are reminded of

Moshiach Yehoshua when we read in Josh. 4:4 "Joshua summoned the

twelve men from the Israelites" (see Mark 3:14). Get out a map

of Israel. Notice that Moshiach Yehoshua had his headquarters

for his spiritual conquest of Israel in Capernaum. Joshua used

Shiloh (18:1-10) as headquarters for a time, but the covenant

renewal meetings of all the tribes were at Shechem (see Josh.

24). Shechem was especially revered because it was Abraham's

first campsite when he entered the Promised Land, and it was the

place where G-d appeared to him and where he built an altar after

the L-rd promised to give him the land (Gen. 12:6-7). For more

on this book, see HOW TO POINT TO MOSHIACH IN YOUR RABBI'S

BIBLE.

JOSHUA 24:29

And it came to pass after these things, that Joshua the son of

Nun, the servant of the L-rd (Eved Hashem), died, being a hundred

and ten years old.