Wednesday Bible Study: The walk of Joshua I

 

Our next study is going to be in the Book of Joshua. I am currently going through Joshua in my own afternoon reading, and as my son has us doing a Bible Study on Jeremiah, I thought it wise to not be in too many directions at once.  What I don't want to do is look at the overall story, but at the man himself, which means we have to go a long ways back- about 50 years.

The first thing we learn about him isn't even the first thing we hear/read about him.  In Numbers 13:8, he is commissioned one of the spies Moses sends into the Holy Land.  But then he is mentioned by the name Hoshea- his birth name, to which (according to the Jews) Moses changed to Joshua- a name the same at the root, but given greater significance by adding God to it- "God delivers". 

 Num 13:16  These were the names of the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun Joshua.

 

 The Jews claim, though, that this happened when Joshua came into Moses's service, which was some time before. Joshua became the war-leader of the people long before that, in the battle against Amalek.  If you study the Old Testament, this is the battle that Israel was winning- as long as Aaron and Hur held Moses' arms aloft.  Afterwards, God made it clear to Moses, that Joshua was to be his successor:

Exo 17:14  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."

Curiously, the Jews claim that Moses thought the rule would pass to his own sons, until Miriam and Aaron's rebellion (which we covered not long ago) showed them that being blood relation doesn't put you on the same plane with God.  I think here we see that wasn't quite the case.

Soon afterwards, Joshua is named Moses' assistant (Exo. 24), and goes partway up the mountain with him when he received the Law.  It becomes apparent that Joshua is more than a general, more than an aide-de-camp, when he is admitted to an intimacy even Aaron doesn't share...

Exo 33:9  When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the LORD would speak with Moses.
Exo 33:10  And when all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would rise up and worship, each at his tent door.
Exo 33:11  Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses turned again into the camp, his assistant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent. 

In fact, Joshua's relation to Moses is like Jesus and John, the beloved disciple, were.  Remember Luke 9...

Luk 9:49  John answered, "Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not follow with us."
Luk 9:50  But Jesus said to him, "Do not stop him, for the one who is not against you is for you." 

Well, that's not the FIRST time something like that happened...

Num 11:26  Now two men remained in the camp, one named Eldad, and the other named Medad, and the Spirit rested on them. They were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent, and so they prophesied in the camp.
Num 11:27  And a young man ran and told Moses, "Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp."
Num 11:28  And Joshua the son of Nun, the assistant of Moses from his youth, said, "My lord Moses, stop them."
Num 11:29  But Moses said to him, "Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the LORD's people were prophets, that the LORD would put his Spirit on them!" 

Note the phrase, "the assistant of Moses from his youth"- that gives us the closest clue yet into why Joshua was at all these forefronts, and where he would go.  Not long afterwards, God would make it official:

Num 27:18  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.
Num 27:19  Make him stand before Eleazar the priest and all the congregation, and you shall commission him in their sight.
Num 27:20  You shall invest him with some of your authority, that all the congregation of the people of Israel may obey.

Again, note, "a man in whom is the Spirit"- unlike today's Christians, this was not often the case in Israel.  Having the indwelling Holy Spirit was not a given once you had faith in Christ as now; it was a gift, and could be taken away (as it would be with Saul).

All of the above is information I had never truly strung together to get a picture of this man before.  Any job Moses needed- assistant, guard over his connection with God, spy, general- Joshua was the man.  And next time when we start in earnest, Joshua will be the man- a much older man, too.  My paper Bible suggests that the whole storyline of the book of Joshua is a 15-year period- which means he was 95 years old when he took the reins of Israel.  Which also surprised me, because I know about when Caleb insisted he go to conquer first, as "he was 85 years old, and his strength was not diminished", I had always thought that he was the older of the two.  But this timeline puts Joshua at 10 years OLDER than Caleb.  I think the difference here- consider Moses:

Deu 34:7  Moses was 120 years old when he died. His eye was undimmed, and his vigor unabated. 

- is that God, in establishing His people, was giving some of them (as Caleb himself mentions) a supernatural youth to get their jobs done.  A 95-year old man leading the armies of God was nothing new- Moses was commissioned to lead the people out of Egypt at 80 ( and dare I say, Noah went into the boat-building business at 480!).  Thus, perhaps our first lesson of the series is, the state of the flesh doesn't matter to God- only the state of the Spirit.