Joshua Son of Nun: From the First Mention to the Stone at Shechem

Who he was, and when

Joshua (Hebrew יְהוֹשׁוּעַ) was a son of Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim, a judge whose life belongs to the era of Egypt and the wilderness and to Israel before the monarchy. According to Ussher, Annals of the World (1650), he was born 1536 BC and died 1426 BC, a span of 110 years. His name appears across some 190 verses in 46 passages, first at Exodus 17:9 and last in Hebrews. The weight of that record sits in one book: 151 of those verses are in Joshua, with 12 in Numbers, 9 in Deuteronomy, 7 in Exodus, 6 in Judges, and single verses in 1 Kings, 1 Chronicles, Nehemiah, Acts and Hebrews. His descent is traced at 1 Chronicles 7:27.

First mentions, then command

The earliest notices of Joshua are brief: Exodus 17:9-10 and Exodus 17:13-14. From there the record thickens. He receives the report of men sent into the land (Joshua 2:23-24), speaks to the people at the crossing (Joshua 3:5-7; 3:9-10), directs the taking up of stones from the riverbed (Joshua 4:4-5; 4:8-10), and is magnified in the sight of Israel (Joshua 4:14-15). At Gilgal the sign of circumcision is renewed (Joshua 5:2-4), and Joshua meets one who stands before him with a drawn sword (Joshua 5:13-15). After Jericho falls, the text records his standing (Joshua 6:25-27).

Achan in the valley of Achor

The first defeat at Ai is a scene the Bible does not soften. Joshua had sent men up (Joshua 7:2-3); after the failure he fell before Yahweh and complained (Joshua 7:6-7); then he pressed Achan to confess (Joshua 7:19-20). What follows is recorded plainly: "So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent. Behold, it was hidden in his tent, with the silver under it. They took them from the middle of the tent, and brought them to Joshua and to all the children of Israel. They laid them down before Yahweh. Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, the silver, the robe, the wedge of gold, his sons, his daughters, his cattle, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and all that he had; and they brought them up to the valley of Achor. Joshua said, 'Why have you troubled us? Yahweh will trouble you today.' All Israel stoned him with stones, and they burned them with fire and stoned them with stones" (Joshua 7:22-25). The sons and the daughters are named in the list. The text does not explain it away, and neither should we.

Ai, and an altar on Mount Ebal

At the second assault Joshua moved by night and by feint (Joshua 8:9-10; 8:15-16). Then: "For Joshua didn't draw back his hand, with which he stretched out the javelin, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai. Israel took for themselves only the livestock and the goods of that city, according to Yahweh's word which he commanded Joshua" (Joshua 8:26-27). He hanged the king of Ai on a tree until the evening, then had the body taken down at sundown and a great heap of stones raised on it (Joshua 8:29). In the same breath the narrator adds, "Then Joshua built an altar to Yahweh, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal" (Joshua 8:30). War and worship stand side by side in one paragraph.

Gibeon, Makkedah, and the southern campaign

The kings of the land gathered (Joshua 9:2-3), and Gibeon sent for help: "Don't abandon your servants! Come up to us quickly and save us!" Joshua marched from Gilgal all night, after hearing, "Don't fear them, for I have delivered them into your hands. Not a man of them will stand before you" (Joshua 10:6-9). Five kings were taken from a cave (Joshua 10:17-18; 10:20-22), and Joshua told the chiefs of the men of war, "Come near. Put your feet on the necks of these kings... Don't be afraid, nor be dismayed. Be strong and courageous, for Yahweh will do this to all your enemies against whom you fight" (Joshua 10:24-25). He then put the kings to death and hanged them on five trees until evening (Joshua 10:26-27), and took Makkedah (Joshua 10:28). The summary is stark: "He left no one remaining, but he utterly destroyed all that breathed, as Yahweh, the God of Israel, commanded... because Yahweh, the God of Israel, fought for Israel" (Joshua 10:40-42). Further campaigns are recorded at Joshua 10:33-34 and Joshua 11:6-16, and the apportioning of land at Joshua 17:14-15; 18:8-10; 22:6-7.

The stone at Shechem

Old and full of years (Joshua 23:1-2), Joshua gathered the tribes (Joshua 24:1-2; 24:21-22). "The people said to Joshua, 'We will serve Yahweh our God, and we will listen to his voice.' So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made for them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem. Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God; and he took a great stone, and set it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of Yahweh. Joshua said to all the people, 'Behold, this stone shall be a witness against us, for it has heard all Yahweh's words which he spoke to us'" (Joshua 24:24-27). He sent the people away, each to his own inheritance (Joshua 24:28), and the account of his death follows in Joshua 24:29 and Judges 2:6-8. A later echo of his word stands at 1 Kings 16:34.

Failures, and what we are not told

The quoted record here does not name a sin of Joshua's own. What it does name is his complaint before Yahweh after the defeat at Ai (Joshua 7:6-7) and his verdicts: a household burned and stoned, kings hanged on trees, cities with no one left remaining. These are his acts, reported without apology, and a reader who skips them is not reading Joshua. The dossier lists no children of his by name. His mother is not named; only Nun, his father, is given. Where the text is silent, we leave it silent.

The line into the New Testament

Two New Testament verses carry his name: Acts 7:45 and Hebrews 4:8. That is the whole of the listed link, and it is enough to say that the man who set up a stone of witness at Shechem is still spoken of after the resurrection, in the apostolic preaching and in the letter to the Hebrews. Read those two verses; they are the thread the dossier gives, and nothing beyond them may be claimed here.