Hi James and Ellen,
Joshua is an historical account of God’s specially chosen guys and gals – the Israelite people group guys and gals, from the time that they had two of their guys spy out the city of Jericho in the land that God told them that He was giving them to always have to live in as their very own land if . . . – to their crossing over on a suddenly dried up Jordan River riverbed into the land that God told them that He was giving them to always have to live in as their very own land if . . . – to the victories and failures of the Israelite people group guys as they took back the land from people groups that settled in the land of Canaan – which was what the land was called that God told them that He was giving them to always have to live in as their very own land if . . . – to after Jacob – the Israelite people group’s tribal clans’ patriarch, had – because of a protracted famine, moved his family in 1876 B.C. from the land of Canaan to the region of Goshen in the country of Egypt – to where Jacob’s second youngest son – who was Joshua, had had God position him – through divine interventions, into a leadership role in the country of Egypt – to the allotting by lots to twelve Israelite people group tribal clans the land that God told them that He was giving them to always have to live in as their very own land if . . . along with allotting the other land areas that they had captured – to Joshua’s death in the city of Shechem in 1390 B.C. Joshua became at the time of Moses’ death in 1406 B.C. God’s designated leader over His specially chosen guys and gals. Whoever the Israelite people group’s historian was who compiled and edited these sixteen or so crossroads, seminal years of the existence of the Israelite people group of guys and gals quite probably witnessed the resettling of the land of Canaan by the Israelite people group guys, gals and kids. A traditional belief has the Joshua Book’s 24 chapters completed somewhere around 1375 B.C. Because Joshua was God’s assigned leader of the Israelite people group guys and gals during this timeframe of the history of the Israelite people group guys and gals, this may be why the Israelite people group’s historian – who scribed this account of Israelite’s people group’s existence between 1406 B.C. and 1390 B.C., would title his report Joshua.
Even though Joshua is thought to have been a religious zealot and a very capable Godly servant leader, your grandpaa is not a Joshua proponent. Your grandpaa’s biggest issue with Joshua is that when Joshua died, he had not enabled another guy to succeed him as the Israelite people groups tribal clans’ leader. Because Moses had enabled Joshua to succeed him when he died, your grandpaa thinks that Joshua would have made succession a top priority to have in place for when he died. Moses was 120 years old when he died. Joshua was 110 years old when he died. Moses was 26 years older than Joshua. Joshua was one of two spies who 56 years before his death had – along with ten other spies, gone into the land of Canaan and who had returned saying that the land of Canaan could be captured with God’s help while the other ten spies returned saying that it would be suicidal for the Israelite people group guys and gals to go into the land of Canaan because of giants being in the land. Caleb – the spy who sided with Joshua, is one of your grandpaa’s Bible heroes. When a guy or gal moves rapidly through the ranks to become a leader in an organization, your grandpaa – even though he unreservedly accepts that God is sovereign, will cynically wonder what the guy or gal did to get to where he or she can make arbitrary decisions. Your grandpaa wonders how Joshua managed to so quickly became Moses’ right hand man. Joshua – whose name means ‘Jehovah is salvation’, was from the Ephraim tribal clan. Ephraim was one of Joseph’s two kids who became Israelite tribal clan patriarchs. Two months into the exodus of the Israelite people group guys, gals and kids from the country of Egypt, Moses tapped Joshua to be his commander. Joshua would soon after that successfully lead in repulsing an Amalekite people group army attack. Then while purging the land of Canaan of the different people groups that settled into this land area during the nearly 500 years between Jacob moving his family from the land of Canaan to the country of Egypt to the Israelite people group’s tribal clans returning to the country Canaan, God – on Joshua’s request, stopped the sun for about a day so that Joshua could take out the Amorite people group army. Joshua’s own words – as quoted by the Joshua Book author, communicate a guy who knew that his life was completely in God’s hands and that he unquestionably knew that if his compatriots did not faithfully obey the commands and laws that God gave them through Moses at Mount Sinai that God would not hesitate to . . . but . . . Joshua should have known better than to get fooled into making a treaty agreement with the Gibeon people group leaders that Joshua felt bound to keep.
Your grandpaa learned from his time in Guatemala that succession is a God driven thing versus your grandpaa pursuing making it happen. Your grandpaa – when he arrived in Guatemala, found out that a guy – Hector Pivaral, who was on OC International’s/Equipo SEPAL’s field missionary team, was praying for someone to show up to help him teach Biblical truths to guys and gals who are living in Guatemala’s rural areas. Hector – 18 years later, is continuing with his wife Patty the Bible education prototype that your grandpaa and Hector created. Because of Hector, Patty and PEB, the Guatemala Christ-follower community of guys, gals and kids is growing exponentially.
Joshua