Joshua: A Faces of Our Faith story

It was the second Sunday in June when I reread our pastors’ request that members of the church submit the names of their favorite bible characters with an explanation as to why they are our favorites. I knew then that I wanted to write about Joshua. It is an amazing choice for me to make because Joshua is known as one of the greatest warriors in the bible and I have always had an aversion to learning history through bloody battles and body counts. 

When I reached the end of the 4th rewrite, I realized that my story was too long and it really wasn’t working because my story is not so much about “Why” Joshua is my favorite OT character but “How” Joshua became my favorite. 

The story of my journey through the scriptures is a long one simply because I’ve lived a really long time – more than 8 decades. As a child growing up in the 1940’s, I started my journey hearing the stories of the heroes and heroines read to us in Sunday school. 

My method of study changed in my early 20’s because we were worshiping in the nondenominational chapel on the Air Force base where my husband, Gary, was stationed. That was where I first learned that not all Christians believe the same things in the same ways. There seemed to be no end to the number of things disagreed on. For example: the only true way to be baptized or to take communion – you mean you weren’t immersed and you eat bread with yeast in it?

In November of 1964, we moved to Lincoln and we joined Eastridge in 1965. I was invited to a circle and started studying the EPW bible studies. My method of study changed again when Reverend Tom Huxtable asked me to teach Sunday school the FIRST time. I tried to decline because I didn’t feel I knew enough about the Bible to teach children. Rev. Huxtable said, “That’s okay. We’ll START you in kindergarten, and by the way, find something in the bible you love and read about it. The rest will take care of itself.”  

Those of you who remember Tom remember that saying “yes” to accepting a job in the church meant you had just made a 3-year commitment. In fact, some 35 years later after both Tom and Gary had gone home to be with Our Lord, a member of Gary’s first Stephen Ministry class came up to me after church one Sunday and said, “Can’t you just see the two of them up in heaven organizing everyone and writing their names on one of Tom’s 3-year charts?”

I’m no bible scholar by any stretch of the imagination, and the way I study the scriptures via different topics is a rather unorthodox way to study. However, it led me to another new way to enhance my biblical knowledge. I had done a lot of reading on various subjects, i.e., the symbolism of flowers, trees of the field versus trees of the forest, and grain which the ancients’ called corn. Nothing proved the constancy of God’s love to me more than reading about the vegetables that grew in the gardens in the Book of Numbers and finding that some of those same vegetables are still found in present day gardens all these thousands of years later. 

All that reading helped me write devotionals not only for the Eastridge page but also for the Presbyterian Church of Canada’s webpage. It was there I learned to work with an editor and to validate what I wrote with scripture references.  Writing for the Canadian page was at first a scary proposition because each time I hit the send key all I could think about was how many thousands of daily subscribers they had worldwide who would be reading what I wrote. What amazed me the most was that that editor could make me sound pretty good in 7 languages besides English. The international feedback was very uplifting, but getting used to spelling words in the King’s English was difficult. American English is not always the same. Words like Savior had to be spelled Saviour and words like “While” became “whilst.” Then being addressed as “Sister Judith” was something else again. Actually, it always made me smile.

Concurrently, I was in a neighborhood nondenominational study group. We were using the Stonecroft series of booklets which were very popular studies at that time. It was in one of those studies that a leader said it was her opinion that the stories of the OT heroes and heroines were word pictures of Our Savior to come. I wasn’t sure I could agree with that so I started reading all those old stories again. 

First, I read about Abraham’s deep faith and obedience to God, but he had one little slip up. He lied when he was afraid of Abimelech saying Sarah was his sister (Gen. 20:1-16). Well maybe it was just a stretch of the truth because Sarah was his half-sister as they shared the same father (Terah) but not the same mother and Sarah was indeed his wife which Abraham omitted to mention. Then I read about Jonah. He was disobedient, running in the opposite direction God told him to go and not long after, he found himself in the belly of a whale (Jonah 1:1-17).  The next story I chose to re-read was about Jacob the father of the 12 tribes. He tricked his twin brother, Esau, into selling his birthright (Gen. 25:29-34). Everybody loved David the little shepherd boy who killed the giant, Goliath, with his slingshot and a rock (1 Sam. 17). He later became King of the Israelites but he committed adultery and made things worse by plotting a murder (2 Sam. 11).  Though all of these heroes were sorry for their human mistakes, and God forgave them, stretching the truth, cheating, disobedience, adultery and murder were a part of so many stories. Not one of which painted a portrait of the Savior I worshipped. 

Then I read Joshua’s life story. My only frame of reference for Joshua at that time was the Battle of Jericho (Josh. 6:20). I had a lot to learn as Joshua’s life was about so much more than one miracle battle at Jericho.

According to my Bible dictionary, Joshua was born a member of the tribe of Ephraim. His lifespan was 110 years. He was born in the Land of Goshen which is in Egypt. It is the beautiful, fertile land the Pharoah gave to Joseph and where Joseph brought his father and brothers to save them from the famine and where they lived until the Exodus. 

Joshua’s father’s name was Nun and he originally named Joshua Hoshea, but when we first meet Joshua in the book of Numbers (Num. 13:16) Moses had already changed his name to Yehoshua (God is deliverance). It’s a form of the name Yeshua in Greek or Jesus in English. Both names have similar meanings, “The Lord Saves or The Lord delivers.” 

By then, Joshua was already a member of Moses’ inner circle and was a heroic warrior having been chosen by Moses to lead the battle against the Amalekites (Exodus 17:8-16). It was a pretty unforgettable battle as Moses, Aaron and Hur watched from the top of a hill. When Moses raised his hands holding the “rod of God,” (his staff) the Israelites would win. When his arms were tired, he put them down and the Amalekites would win. So, they brought a rock for Moses to sit on and Aaron and Hur supported his arms in the upright position. By sundown, the battle was won. 

When Moses went up Mt. Sinai to receive the tablets of the laws, Joshua went with him. Part way up the mountain, God told them to wait. Then on the 7th day God called to Moses to come the rest of the way up the mountain alone (Ex. 24:13).

When The Promised Land was in sight, Moses sent Joshua and Caleb with the 10 spies to explore Canaan (Num. 13). The 10 spies brought back produce showing it was truly the “land of milk and honey,” but they were afraid to take on the conquest of The Promised Land. Only Joshua and Caleb gave the report that they should take the land because God would help them. Because the Israelites were afraid to enter the Promised Land, their 40 years of wandering in the desert began. They would not see The Promised Land again until all the members of the original generation of the Israelites who began the Exodus were dead. God decreed that only Joshua and Caleb from the original generation would be allowed to enter The Promised Land. 

When Moses was 120 years old, God told him he would soon “lie down with his ancestors.” God asked Moses to bring Joshua to the tent of meeting and God commissioned Joshua to take Moses’ place. He chose Joshua to be the one who would bring the Israelites into The Promised Land (Deut.31:14 & 23). Very little seemed to be made of Joshua’s promotion and I have always wondered what it was like for Joshua to try to fill the shoes of so great a man as Moses.

It was early one spring morning in about the year 1250 and the Israelites were ready to cross the Jordan into The Promised Land. When the spies returned with a good report, Joshua gave orders to break camp. “Sanctify yourselves,” he ordered, “for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.”  The next morning, they formed a long line with the Ark of the Covenant at the front of the line. As they stepped into the Jordan the waters stood and rose up in a heap far off allowing the Israelites to pass over on dry ground (Joshua 3:4). 

The Battle of Jericho was the second of God’s miracles in the conquest of the Land of Canaan. They lost the first battle at Ai because some of the men had kept spoils from the battle at Jericho in direct disobedience to God’s orders not to do so. It was God’s punishment for their having done that. Joshua, himself, led the 2nd battle against Ai which they won. Then the city-states were conquered one by one. Some were won through fierce battles where everyone and everything was destroyed. Joshua himself executed each of the city states’ kings. Some were conquered through covenants as they did at Shechem. 

Another miracle was to come in their battle with the Amorites. The sun stayed in the midst of heaven and did not go down for about a whole day so that Joshua could have extra hours of daylight to pursue the retreating Amorites (Joshua 10:13).

Once the conquest of the whole land of Canaan was complete, God told Joshua to allot the land for each of the 12 tribes. This he did and each of the tribes claimed its own district and began to settle there.

Some years later when the Lord had given rest to Israel from all their enemies Joshua gathered all the tribes together to give his farewell address. That address contains one of my favorite scriptures. Joshua was reminding the people to stay true to their God. Then Joshua said, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15). Joshua chose to be a servant of the Lord until his last breath. 

I had gone in search of a word picture of Our Savior and I found Joshua. It has been written that Joshua was “A type of Christ,” and that the early church fathers considered Jesus to be a “better” Joshua. I had found my “word picture,” a portrait of Our Savior to come.

Judith Welch