Joshua: faithful friend to Caleb, mighty man of valor, commander of the Israelite army, assistant to Moses, leader of the Israelite people, petitioner before the Lord, and ‘a servant of the Lord’. Being called ‘a servant of the Lord’ is one of the highest titles bestowed in all of Scripture, second only to being called ‘a son of God’. To call it a title seems wrong, yet it is a title the Lord gives to Joshua. Being called ‘a servant of the Lord’ honors an individual for being obedient and faithful to the Lord; someone who fully follows the Lord. It sets them apart from the rest of their community. Yet Joshua wasn’t called ‘a servant of the Lord’ until his death at the end of Joshua. So how does Joshua fully follow the Lord so that the Lord honors Joshua by calling him ‘a servant of the Lord’? Joshua’s life can be broken up into two parts: preparing to lead the Israelites and actually leading the Israelites into the Promise Land. This blog is going focus on the Lord commissioning Joshua to succeed Moses as leader of the Israelites.
Here are some themes to keep in mind as I recap Joshua’s story. It is evident that the Lord is preparing Joshua from the first time we meet Joshua. Next it is evident that the stories about Joshua focus on his strength and bravery. The next theme is that Joshua is aware of the Lord’s presence in his life. Finally note the faithfulness and obedience Joshua has in the Lord. These are just some of the major themes present in the commissioning of Joshua.
Joshua is first mentioned in Exodus 17:9 when Moses commands Joshua,
“’Choose for us men, and go out and fight with Amalek.’ … So Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought with Amalek. … Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses’ hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword.”
— Exodus 17:9-13
The opening scene of Joshua’s story is a battle in which Joshua was charged to lead the men of Israel to battle in which them overwhelming won. Yet Scripture points of that Joshua didn’t win the battle on his own strength, the Lord did. Nevertheless the Lord used Joshua’s strength and bravery to win the battle. The Lord is using Joshua’s gifts to further His will for the Israelites. Here we see that Joshua was a strong and fearless warrior of God, a mighty man of valor (see Joshua 10:7). Joshua was probably the first mighty man of valor, a military status which distinguishes exceptional warriors of the Israelites. In Exodus 17:14 we see the Lord starting to prepare and set Joshua apart to lead the Israelites.
“Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.”
— Exodus 17:14
Here we see the Lord commanding Moses to write down the victory that it might be remembered through the ages and here we see the first reference to Joshua being successor to Moses. The wording used here is to pass the story down from one generation to the next. From the very first mentioned of Joshua we see the Lord grooming Joshua into becoming the leader that conquers the Promise Land, but first Joshua has to enter the Promise Land for the first time. Joshua’s strength and courage soon qualify him into spying out the Promise Land with none other than another fearless warrior—Caleb. After spying out the Promise Land, Joshua and Caleb reported back,
“The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land. If the Lord delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey. Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.”
— Numbers 14:8-10
Joshua and Caleb see the full potential and beauty of the Promise Land. Notice how they point out that if the Lord the delights in us, he will give it to us. They go on to comment that the people are easy pickings with the Lord on their side. None of the people had faith that the Lord was going to give the land, except Joshua and Caleb. They realized that the only way they were going to enter the Promise Land was if the Lord was with them. This is such a heart-wrenching thought, to see and know that God is with you and he will protect you and give you a beautiful promise, but none else sees it, their eyes are blinded to the presence of the Lord. Joshua and Caleb mourn in the sight of the people. However Joshua and Caleb’s response only provoked anger from the people and they threatened to stone them,
“But the glory of the LORD appeared at the tent of meeting to all the people of Israel.”
— Numbers 14:10
The glory of the Lord intervened and spared Joshua and Caleb’s life. And the Lord said,
“But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it. … Not one shall come into the land where I swore that I would make you dwell, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.”
— Numbers 14:24, 30
Only Caleb and Joshua shall inhabit the Promise Land, because of their spirit and faith. Here we see the other side of Joshua; not only is he a mighty warrior he is also filled with the Spirit. Joshua knows that his strength comes from the Lord. Next we see the Lord officially calling Joshua to be the next leader of the Israelites.
“So the Lord said to Moses, ‘Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him. Make him stand before Eleazar the priest and all the congregation, and you shall commission him in their sight. You shall invest him with some of your authority, that all the congregation of the people of Israel may obey. And he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire for him by the judgment of the Urim before the Lord. At his word they shall go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he and all the people of Israel with him, the whole congregation.’ And Moses did as the Lord commanded him. He took Joshua and made him stand before Eleazar the priest and the whole congregation, and he laid his hands on him and commissioned him as the Lord directed through Moses.”
— Numbers 27:18-23
The Lord officially announces Moses’s successor in front if all Israel. He also commands Moses to lay his hands of Joshua to symbolize the setting apart of Joshua as the next Israelite leader. However the Lord didn’t just throw Joshua into a leadership position, he has been slowly preparing Joshua. In Exodus 24:13, Joshua is called Moses’s assistant, but here in Numbers 27 the Lord commands Moses to invest “some of your authority” into Joshua. This is so the Israelites will start to obey the commands of Joshua. This is again affirmed in Deuteronomy:
“The Lord your God himself will go over before you. He will destroy these nations before you, so that you shall dispossess them, and Joshua will go over at your head, as the Lord has spoken. … And the Lord will give them over to you, and you shall do to them according to the whole commandment that I have commanded you. Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.
Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, ‘Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land that the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall put them in possession of it. It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.’
And the Lord commissioned Joshua the son of Nun and said, ‘Be strong and courageous, for you shall bring the people of Israel into the land that I swore to give them. I will be with you.’”
— Deuteronomy 31:3, 5-7, 23
Here we see both Moses and the Lord charge Joshua to be strong and courageous, not because Joshua was weak and afraid but because he was a strong and courageous warrior. They were affirming Joshua’s gifts and reminding him to be strong and courageous no matter what might happen. At the end Deuteronomy we see how the Lord was with Joshua so that the people obeyed Joshua’s authority.
“And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him. So the people of Israel obeyed him and did as the LORD had commanded Moses. And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, none like him for all the signs and the wonders that the LORD sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, and for all the mighty power and all the great deeds of terror that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.”
— Deuteronomy 34:9-12
Joshua is full of the Spirit, yet he doesn’t have the same relationship as Moses had with the Lord. Joshua’s relationship is different, because his leadership role is different. Joshua is the leader of the Israelite people and a warrior for the Lord; his mission—conquer the Promise Land. That is what the book of Joshua is all about. The book of Joshua is a collection of battle stories and the division of the Promise Land. But before we get to these stories the Lord give Joshua a pep talk.
“After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, ‘Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory. No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.’”
— Joshua 1:1-9
The first nine verses in Joshua are all about encouraging Joshua and reminding him that he is prepared to conquer the Promise Land. So how does the commissioning of Joshua relate to me going on the World Race? First this part of Joshua’s story reminds me that the Lord isn’t sending me into the world unprepared, he has and is continuing to prepare me for his work in the world. Second, it reminds me that the Lord has called and commissioned me to go do his work. The Lord has both commissioned me and prepared me to serve him in the ‘Promise Land’. Promise Land? God, has prepared and called the hearts of the certain people I will come into contact, and has charged me to conquer their hearts and win them back to the Lord. They are people whose souls who are waiting to be conquered just like the Promise Land. This parallel runs even deeper than the commissioning of conquest, it runs into how to conquer their parts which I will discuss in God’s Servant: Joshua — The Conquering. This part also reminds me how the Lord will use my spiritual gifts for his work.
I pray that the Lord will continually to develop and strengthen my spiritual gifts. I pray that I will acknowledge the presence of the Lord when he wins the battle. I pray that I will be strong and courageous in the Lord. I pray for the hearts of the people that the Lord will conquer as I serve him around the world. I prayer that I would fully follow the Lord as Caleb and Joshua did. I praise the Lord that he has commissioned me to serve him and that he is preparing me for ‘The Conquering’.
