Joshua Character Study – Lessons from the Life of Joshua

Name: Joshua

Meaning of name: Joshua means “the LORD saves” or “Yahweh is salvation.” In Greek, this name becomes “Jesus.”

When and where he lived: Joshua lived during the period of Israel’s transition from wilderness wandering to settlement in Canaan, roughly the late second millennium BC (around the 13th–14th century BC). He was from the tribe of Ephraim. He grew up as a slave in Egypt, witnessed the Exodus, and spent forty years in the wilderness under Moses before leading Israel across the Jordan River into the Promised Land. He led the conquest of Canaan and oversaw the distribution of the land among the twelve tribes.

Training and occupation: Joshua served as Moses’ personal assistant and military commander from his youth. He led the Israelites in their first battle against the Amalekites (Exodus 17) and accompanied Moses up Mount Sinai. He was one of the twelve spies sent into Canaan and, along with Caleb, was the only one who urged the people to trust God and go in. Moses and Joshua were extremely blessed in that God spoke with them directly. It was a privilege for them that they could hear directly from the Lord. As such, they were leader-prophets. He served as an apprentice under Moses for forty years, being trained and prepared to take over the work when Moses was gone.

Place in history: Joshua was one of the most important leaders in Israel’s history. He succeeded Moses as the leader of the Israelite nation and led them into the Promised Land. Joshua would act as the leader of a nation of around two million people. They depended on him. Their futures, families, livelihoods, and even their very lives depended on Joshua doing his job well as a leader who represented God to them and them to God. He oversaw the conquest of Canaan, the division of the land among the twelve tribes, and the renewal of the covenant at Shechem. He served the Lord faithfully until the very end of his life and died at the age of 110.

Weaknesses:

1. Hasty attack without seeking God –

Joshua 7:2-5 – Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth-aven, east of Bethel, and said to them, “Go up and spy out the land.” And the men went up and spied out Ai. And they returned to Joshua and said to him, “Do not have all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and attack Ai. Do not make the whole people toil up there, for they are few.” So about three thousand men went up there from the people. And they fled before the men of Ai, and the men of Ai killed about thirty-six of their men and chased them before the gate as far as Shebarim and struck them at the descent. And the hearts of the people melted and became as water.

Joshua failed to consult the Lord before the first assault on Ai, resulting in a military defeat. He also made the mistake of being overly confident in their own abilities by sending only a small number of troops into the battle. This was a grave mistake, one that was easily avoidable.

2. Hasty treaty without God’s counsel –

Joshua 9:14-15 – So the men took some of their provisions, but did not ask counsel from the Lord. And Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them, to let them live, and the leaders of the congregation swore to them.

Made a hasty treaty with the Gibeonites without seeking the Lord’s guidance. The Israelites saw only what the Gibeonites wanted them to see. Even though they tried to exercise caution, they put their own wit against the wit of the Gibeonites. They did not make proper use of the two offensive weapons they had, which were the Word of God and prayer. The result was a covenant they had to live with, with consequences that would last for generations.

Strengths

1. Quick obedience and initiative – He didn’t wait around. He didn’t wait until more suitable weather. He didn’t form a bunch of committees. He didn’t start strategy meetings. He started right away. Notice how quickly Joshua began to put God’s commands into effect. There is no better time to obey God than today! He was a doer. He took initiative. He doesn’t procrastinate. He is diligent. (See Joshua 1:10-11, 3:1, 4:4.)
2. Bold and courageous leadership –

Joshua 1:9 – Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Courage is an attitude, a decision. It is a decision to keep pressing on even in the face of danger and doubt. God would give him victory, but that didn’t mean that Joshua didn’t have to do anything. He had to boldly lead the people into the land. He had to boldly lead the people into battle. He had to boldly and with faith obey what God had commanded him to do. Sometimes that meant adopting tactics that were impossible to understand. Joshua showed no hesitation whatsoever. He did not doubt God, question Him, argue, or laugh. He wasn’t worried about his face. His response was very simple: he obeyed God’s command and instructed the people under him to do the same. (See Joshua 1:6-9, 6:6-10)

One clear example of Joshua’s boldness was obeying God’s strategy for sieging Jericho. God told him to simply walk around the city. It would have seemed laughable to most military commanders. Joshua obeyed God. His faith in God was closely connected to the courage he displayed.

3. Dedicated to God’s Word –

Joshua 1:8 – This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

God commanded Joshua to meditate on His Word day and night. Reading God’s Word would remind Joshua about the character of the God he served. It would remind him of God’s faithfulness to keep His promises. It would remind him of God’s faithfulness in Israel’s history. It would remind him of all of the miracles God had done on their behalf before. By remembering all the times God had done the impossible before, it would encourage him to believe that God would do the impossible for them as well.

4. Turned to prayer in defeat –

Joshua 7:6-9 – Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord until the evening, he and the elders of Israel. And they put dust on their heads. And Joshua said, “Alas, O Lord God, why have you brought this people over the Jordan at all, to give us into the hands of the Amorites, to destroy us? Would that we had been content to dwell beyond the Jordan! O Lord, what can I say, when Israel has turned their backs before their enemies! For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it and will surround us and cut off our name from the earth. And what will you do for your great name?”

Joshua wisely interceded for the people. He turned to the one who gives victory by interceding for his people. After a defeat, he sought God for the answer. He did not console himself in a bottle or in binge-watching television. He prayed for help. Turning to God for help should always be our first response when we face obstacles or defeat.

Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord until the evening, he and the elders of Israel. And they put dust on their heads. (Joshua 7:6 ESV)

5. Compassion for those under him –

Joshua 7:6 – Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord until the evening, he and the elders of Israel. And they put dust on their heads.

As a military commander, he was over hundreds of thousands of troops. But he cared deeply for them as individuals. Even though thirty-six people were a small number compared to the entire force, Joshua felt that each person was very important. Good leaders are not perfect. They will make mistakes sooner or later. But when they do, they need to humble themselves and come before God for help. Many leaders would have responded callously, but Joshua was not like this. He treated the people under him with compassion.

6. Integrity in keeping his word –

Joshua 9:18-19 – But the people of Israel did not attack them, because the leaders of the congregation had sworn to them by the Lord, the God of Israel. Then all the congregation murmured against the leaders. But all the leaders said to all the congregation, “We have sworn to them by the Lord, the God of Israel, and now we may not touch them.

Joshua had given his word to the Gibeonites and he intended to honor it. It would seem to have been better for the Israelites if the Gibeonites were destroyed. That would solve the dilemma of the hasty covenant. But Joshua had given his word. He also faithfully kept his word to the two and a half tribes by releasing them to return home when the mission was accomplished. He was fair-minded and treated them justly and without bias. (
See also Joshua 10:6-7, 22:1-4.)

7. Gave God all the glory –

After the victory at Ai, Joshua built an altar to the Lord and led the people in worship, reading all the words of the law. It was important to remember that the victory belonged to the Lord and not to their own wisdom or strength. At the end of his life, Joshua gives all the praise, glory, and credit to God for the victories in his life. He does not ask people to remember his military victories or any of his achievements. He is not concerned about his legacy. He is concerned about God’s legacy, wanting God to get all the glory for what has happened. (See Joshua 8:30-35, 23:3-10.)

8. Learned from mistakes and persevered –

Joshua 8:1-2 – And the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not fear and do not be dismayed. Take all the fighting men with you, and arise, go up to Ai. See, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, and his people, his city, and his land. And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king. Only its spoil and its livestock you shall take as plunder for yourselves. Lay an ambush against the city, behind it.”

One mistake was not counseling the Lord. It is bad to make a mistake, especially one that is easily avoidable. But it is worse to make the same mistake twice. Well, Joshua learned from his mistake. The second time he attacked Ai, he counseled the Lord prior to the battle. He did not allow past defeats to paralyze him; instead he turned to the Lord, corrected the problem, and tried again. They went back to the very place of defeat and achieved a great victory.

9. Prepared the next generation –

Joshua wanted to prepare the next generation. Disciple makers desire to train up the next generation so that even when they are absent or have to leave, the work will go on. Moses had trained and prepared Joshua to take over the work when he was gone. Now Joshua wanted to make sure others were ready to take the mantle. He cared about the people. He cared about what would happen to them when he was gone. And he did what he could to help encourage them to follow the Lord themselves. (See Joshua 23:1-11)

10. Unwavering personal stand for God –

Joshua 24:15 – 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.”

He presented the people with a clear choice: serve God or serve idols. And then he declared his own conviction. He is essentially telling the people that no matter what they choose, his choice was to follow the Lord. Even if all of them rejected the Lord on that day, Joshua would not. He had made his choice. His convictions were his and nobody could change them.

11. Careful obedience to God’s commands –

Joshua 11:15 – Just as the Lord had commanded Moses his servant, so Moses commanded Joshua, and so Joshua did. He left nothing undone of all that the Lord had commanded Moses.

Joshua was very careful to obey all of the commands that Moses passed down to him. He was the leader of an entire nation, but he had a higher leader. Obedience is the essence of being a disciple of the Lord. All of his training, knowledge, and experience would have been useless if he had not obeyed what he had learned.

Application – We should not pick and choose which commands to obey. We should obey all, even the inconvenient ones.

Lessons from his life

1. Trust God alone for victory –

Joshua 1:5-6 – No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them.

The people of Israel could not hope to conquer the land by their own strength. Residents of Canaan were big and strong. Giants lived there. Their hope was based completely on God’s promise: ‘I will be with you. I will not fail you or forsake you.’ The victories at Jericho and throughout the conquest made clear that it wasn’t by strength of arm that they could gain the victory. It was only through His strength. Faith and obedience were essential. The same is true for us today. If you want to be successful, you must not depend on yourself. (See also Joshua 6:1-20.)

2. Sin not dealt with can fester and bring defeat –

While sin remained in the camp, the people were defeated. It didn’t matter how many times they tried. Every time would have been a failure if they hadn’t dealt with the sin first. Victory wouldn’t come by strength of numbers. Victory wouldn’t come by will-power, strategy, boldness, or even perseverance. It only came from the hand of God. When they repented and dealt with the sin, God once again gave them victory. We learn that we should evaluate ourselves when we fail and see if it might be our own sin causing the failure. Apart from God, we can do nothing of real spiritual or eternal value. (See Joshua 7:1-26.)

3. Seek God before every decision –

Joshua 9:14-15 – So the men took some of their provisions, but did not ask counsel from the Lord. And Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them, to let them live, and the leaders of the congregation swore to them.

The disaster of the Gibeonite treaty came directly from the Israelites’ failure to consult the Lord. They did not make proper use of the Word of God and prayer. The Word was clear that they should not make a covenant with people in the land. They actually did know this. But they did not pray to God for wisdom. This mistake had consequences for generations. We need to rely on the Lord and His grace each moment. We must not be hasty to make decisions or give our word. We should pray and think carefully before making a promise, a commitment, a decision, or a deal.

4. God always fulfills His promises –

Joshua 21:43-45 – Thus the Lord gave to Israel all the land that he swore to give to their fathers. And they took possession of it, and they settled there. And the Lord gave them rest on every side just as he had sworn to their fathers. Not one of all their enemies had withstood them, for the Lord had given all their enemies into their hands. Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.

God kept His good promises to Abraham to give the land to his descendants. Many obstacles were in the way and had to be removed, but nothing can stop the Lord from fulfilling what He has promised. The original promise was made to Abraham over four hundred years before it was fulfilled. It may take time, but all of God’s promises will be fulfilled at just the right time.

5. Each person must choose whom to serve –

Joshua 24:15 – 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 presented the Israelites with a clear choice: serve God or serve idols. They could not serve two masters. They could not keep one foot in God’s kingdom and one foot in the world’s. It was time to commit. Nobody could make this decision for them. Joshua could not make it for them. Neither could the group make it for the group. Each person was faced with the decision on their own. Nobody can force you to make decisions. No one can make you turn away from God. We have a personal responsibility to make the decision to obey God no matter what anyone else does, says, or thinks.

6. Past victory guarantees nothing –

1 Corinthians 10:12 – Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.

The Israelites obeyed God and did really well, only to become careless and rely on their own wisdom and fail the next time. Past victories can tend to make us overly confident. Making a good decision in the past doesn’t guarantee making a good decision in the future. The key point is that the people must have their own relationship with the Lord. If they relied on Joshua, then when he left, they would fall. We should never think we are immune to any sin. There is no sin that you are immune to if you try to face the temptation on your own strength.