Joshua 8 opens with some of the most reassuring words found in the Bible, do not be afraid nor be dismayed. This is the first of four uses of this phrase in the book of Joshua (cf. 10:8,25; 11:6). Literally, these words are commands issued by the Lord to Joshua, the covenant leader of conquest prior to the defeat of Ai. In a grammatical sense, God is imposing His will upon the will of Joshua as the commander of the Promised Land conquest. This...

Joshua 4 anticipates the need to answer the curiosity of a future generation of children who will ask, “What do these stones mean?” (4:6, 21). Joshua 4 memorializes Israel’s crossing of the Jordan River into the Promised Land with the construction of a 12 stone memorial, one stone for each tribe of the Israelite nation. The stones were taken from the dry riverbed of the Jordan where the priests bearing of the ark of the covenant stood and were...

A significant theme used to open the book of Joshua is the Divine Warrior (Josh 1:1-5). The key ideas associated with this theme are victory, fight, and trust. As the Divine Warrior, the Lord promises to terrorize Israel’s enemies and to abide with them as His covenant people. The Lord is presented to us as the Divine Warrior in Exodus 15 in the Song of Moses. In this song Moses sings, the Lord is a man of War, the Lord is His name...