Overview
The Book of Joshua picks up where Deuteronomy left off. Moses has died, and Joshua — his faithful assistant — is commissioned to lead Israel into the Promised Land. It is a book of conquest, covenant, and the fulfillment of God’s promises to Abraham. But it is also a book that forces us to confront hard questions about God’s judgment, the nature of holy war, and what it means for God to dwell among His people in a land filled with other gods.
Key Themes
- God Keeps His Promises — The entire book is proof that God is faithful. What He promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, He delivers through Joshua.
- Courage and Obedience — “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 1:9). Joshua’s success hinges on trusting and obeying God’s Word.
- The Conquest and God’s Judgment — The destruction of the Canaanite nations is one of the most difficult parts of the Bible. It is not ethnic cleansing — it is divine judgment on cultures that had filled up the cup of their iniquity over centuries, including the rampant worship of Baal with its child sacrifice and temple prostitution.
- Choose Whom You Will Serve — Joshua’s final challenge to Israel is a direct confrontation with the Baal worship of the nations around them. He calls them to decide, once and for all, who their God will be.
The Baal Connection: A Land Filled with Idols
The land of Canaan was saturated with Baal worship. Baal was the Canaanite god of storms, rain, and fertility — the god who supposedly made the crops grow and the flocks multiply. Every hilltop had a “high place” with an altar to Baal. Every community had its local Baal (“Baal-peor,” “Baal-berith,” “Baal-zebub”). The worship of Baal often involved ritual prostitution (both male and female), child sacrifice, and drunken orgies — a complete perversion of the life-giving worship that God had designed for His people.
When God commanded Israel to drive out the Canaanite nations, He was not being arbitrary. He was removing a spiritual cancer. In Deuteronomy 9:4-5, God explicitly tells Israel: “It is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you go in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations.” The conquest was judgment — and Israel was God’s instrument of that judgment.
This is why the command was so absolute. God knew that if any Canaanites remained, their Baal worship would ensnare Israel. And that is exactly what happened. The Book of Judges opens with a tragic refrain: “The people of Israel did not drive out the inhabitants… they put them to forced labor” (Judges 1:28-33). And the very next chapter says: “The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals” (Judges 2:11).
Joshua’s generation was faithful — but the next generation “did not know the LORD or the work He had done for Israel” (Judges 2:10). This is the cycle that would plague Israel for centuries: God delivers, Israel forgets, Israel worships Baal, Israel suffers, God sends a deliverer, and the cycle starts again.
Key Chapters to Read
- Joshua 1 — God’s commission to Joshua: “Be strong and courageous”
- Joshua 3-4 — Crossing the Jordan River on dry ground
- Joshua 6 — The fall of Jericho: faith and obedience win the day
- Joshua 10 — The sun stands still: God fights for Israel
- Joshua 22-24 — Joshua’s final speeches and the covenant at Shechem
Joshua’s Final Challenge: A Choice Against Baal
Joshua’s farewell address in chapter 24 is one of the most powerful moments in Scripture. He gathers all the tribes at Shechem — the very place where Abraham first built an altar to God upon entering the land — and he lays out the choice:
“Now therefore fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” (Joshua 24:14-15)
Joshua knows the pull of Baal. He has seen it in Egypt, in the wilderness (the golden calf), and now in the land itself. He does not assume that Israel is immune. He forces them to make a conscious decision — and he leads by example.
The people answer: “Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD to serve other gods.” But Joshua’s reply is sobering: “You are not able to serve the LORD, for He is a holy God” (Joshua 24:19). Joshua knows that good intentions are not enough. A generation that forgets what God has done will inevitably drift toward the gods of the culture around them.
This is the same challenge every believer faces. The “Baals” of our world may not be carved from wood and stone, but they are just as real — money, comfort, status, entertainment. “Choose this day whom you will serve” is not a one-time decision. It is a daily one.
Joshua and the Gospel
Joshua leads Israel into rest — the Promised Land where they would dwell with God. But the rest Joshua provided was incomplete and temporary. The New Testament tells us that “Joshua did not give them rest” (Hebrews 4:8) — pointing instead to a greater Joshua (Yeshua/Jesus) who leads God’s people into eternal rest. The earthly conquest of Canaan foreshadows the spiritual conquest of sin and death through Christ. What Joshua began, Jesus completes.