Joshua - Introduction
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The conquest of Canaan took place in about 1400 B.C.2 It is important to understand that this was God’s conquest of the land. The Israelites were not some bloodthirsty, war-mongering people who were simply seizing other people’s property! No, from the beginning it had been God’s plan to give Canaan to the Israelites. And to do so required driving out the Canaanites.
To the modern reader this may seem unfair. But the Canaanites had brought this fate upon themselves: they were a wicked and ungodly people. Indeed, God had told Abraham that four hundred years would have to elapse before his descendants would receive the land; they would take possession of it only after the sin of the Amorites (Canaanites) had reached its full measure (Genesis 15:13–16).
Therefore, the conquest of Canaan was, in fact, God’s holy war.3 God is a warrior fighting against all wickedness and ungodliness (Exodus 15:3). But at the same time, He is a God of love; and providing the Israelites with a land of their own was a sign of that love. We must always hold in balance God’s hatred of SIN and His love for those who obey Him; these are both essential aspects of God’s character (see Exodus 34:4–7 and comment).
God intended to prepare a holy land for a holy people, and He chose Joshua as His instrument to accomplish this. The name Joshua means “The Lord saves.” The Greek4 form of the name is “Jesus”; and Jesus was so named because He would save his people from their sins (Matthew 1:21).
Thus we can understand that Joshua was a forerunner of Jesus. Joshua led his people into the promised land, which symbolizes SALVATION. The land was to the Israelites what the Church is to Christians: an inheritance, a place of rest, a place of salvation. But, as always, there was a condition, a requirement for remaining in the land; and that condition was obedience to God’s commands. The writer of the book of Joshua emphasizes this truth above all: when the Israelites obeyed, they were victorious, they were blessed; when they disobeyed, they lost both victory and blessing.