Joshua: Strong and Courageous - Welwyn Commentary Series (Currid)

Clearly the central theme of the book of Joshua is the truth that God is a promise-keeper. Well over five hundred years before these recorded events God pledged to Abraham that ‘to your offspring I will give this land'. The land he is referring to is Canaan. From that time onward to the period of the conquest God repeatedly makes the same promise to his people. This promise occurs so frequently in the Pentateuch that it seems to be the theme sentence of the literature.

The writer of the book of Joshua recognizes the importance of this theme. The fulfillment of God's promises of a land are central to the book. He begins the book with it and brings to closure Joshua's final charge to Israel's leaders with it. And the promises of God as fulfilled are found throughout the book.

The truth that God fulfills his promise of a land for Israel also has great implications for the believer today, and that is one of the great applications of the book of Joshua. Those who are truly of God's people, that is, those who have been redeemed by the blood of Christ, shall inherit a land. However, that land is not the dry and dusty land in the Middle East today. Rather, the Apostle Peter tells us that God ‘has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you'. We as believers have God's promise of an eternal inheritance and the possession of an eternal land that is real, earthy, and substantial. And, like Israel, we will indeed receive our inheritance because God is a promise-keeper!

Table of Contents:

Part 1: The crossing (1:1-5:12)

1. Be strong and courageous (1:1-9)

2. Joshua takes command (1:10-18)

3. Reconnoitring the land (2:1-24)

4. Dividing of the Jordan River (3:1-17)

5. Standing stones (4:1-10)

6. The final act at the Jordan River (4:11-24)

7. Setting one’s house into proper spiritual order (5:1-12)

Part 2: The seizing (5:13-12:24)

8. The fall of Jericho (5:13-6:27)

9. Defeat at Ai (7:1-26)

10. Defeat of Ai (8:1-29)

11. Covenant renewal (8:30-35)

12. Covenant with the Gibeonites (9:1-27)

13. The battle against the five kings (10:1-27)

14. The southern campaign (10:28-43)

15. The northern campaign (11:1-23)

16. Summary of the conquest (12:1-24)

Part 3: The dividing (13:1-21:45)

17. Distribution of the land east of the Jordon (13:1-33)

18. Introduction to the distribution of the land west of the Jordan (14:1-15)

19. Judah’s allotment (15:1-63)

20. Allotment for the tribes of Joseph (16:1-17:18)

21. The remaining allotments (18:1-19:51)

22. Cities of refuge (20:1-9)

23. Levitical cities and pasture lands (21:1-45)

Part 4: The serving (22:1-24:33)

24. The altar (22:1-34)

25. Joshua’s charge (23:1-16)

26. Second renewal of the covenant (24:1-28)

27. Three burials (24:29-33)

Author 

Dr John D. Currid is Carl McMurray Professor of Old Testament at the Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi. He received his Ph. D. degree in archaeology from the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago. He has several books in print, including the Study Commentaries on Genesis and Exodus in the same series.