Illustration created for this project.

Joshua — successor of Moses

The successor of Moses who led Israel across the Jordan and in the conquest of Canaan; a spy who trusted God's promise.

Role: Leader of Israel

Lived: c. 1355 BC – c. 1245 BC

Belonged to: Israelites (Hebrews)

Tribe/lineage: Ephraim

What we know — and how we know it

Bible — stated in scripture (with verse) · 1 Archaeology — physical evidence · 1

Life, role & deeds

BibleThe successor of Moses who led Israel across the Jordan and in the conquest of Canaan.

Joshua 1:2; 6:20

↳ Jericho

Imhotep tep — CC0 (via Wikimedia Commons) ArchaeologyA massive burnt destruction layer at Hazor (13th century BC) is often linked to Joshua 11; Jericho's fallen walls are debated between excavators.

Hazor Stratum XIII burnt destruction, Yadin excavations 1955-58 and Ben-Tor's renewed Selz/Hebrew University dig (Y. Yadin, 'Hazor: The Head of All Those Kingdoms', Schweich Lectures, Oxford Univ. Press, 1972; A. Ben-Tor, 'The Fall of Canaanite Hazor', 1998); Jericho (Tell es-Sultan) collapse dated to MB II c. 1550 BC by K. Kenyon ('Digging Up Jericho', Benn, 1957) against Garstang's and B. Wood's later 15th-c. re-dating.

↳ Jericho

Where in scripture

Numbers Joshua

Of the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of Nun.
Numbers 13:8 — One of the twelve spies

“Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go across this Jordan, you, and all these people, to the land which I am giving to them, even to the children of Israel.
Joshua 1:2 — Commissioned to lead

So the people shouted and the priests blew the trumpets. When the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted with a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight in front of him, and they took the city.
Joshua 6:20 — The walls of Jericho fall

Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, a public-domain translation.

Numbers 13:8 Joshua 1:2 Joshua 6:20

Family

In their own words — 50 recorded sayings

“Then Joshua, the son of Nun, who had been Moses' servant from the time when he was a child, said, My lord Moses, let them be stopped.” — Numbers 11:28

“Go through the tents and give orders to the people, saying, Get ready a store of food; for in three days you are to go over this river Jordan and take for your heritage the land which the Lord your God is giving you.” — Joshua 1:11

“Keep in mind what Moses, the servant of the Lord, said to you, The Lord your God is sending you rest and will give you this land. Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle will be kept here in the land which Moses gave you on this side of Jordan; but you, the fighting-men, are to go over before your brothers, armed, to give them help; Till the Lord has given your brothers rest, as he has given it to you, and they have taken their heritage in the land which the Lord your God is giving them: then you will go back to the land of your heritage which Moses, the servant of the Lord, gave you on…” — Joshua 1:13-15

“Then Joshua, the son of Nun, sent two men from Shittim secretly, with the purpose of searching out the land, and Jericho. So they went and came to the house of a loose woman of the town, named Rahab, where they took their rest for the night.” — Joshua 2:1

“And Joshua said to the people, Make yourselves holy, for tomorrow the Lord will do works of wonder among you. Then Joshua said to the priests, Take up the ark of the agreement and go over in front of the people. So they took up the ark of the agreement and went in front of the people.” — Joshua 3:5-6

“And Joshua said to the children of Israel, Come to me here: and give ear to the words of the Lord your God. And Joshua said, By this you will see that the living God is among you, and that he will certainly send out from before you the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Hivite and the Perizzite and the Girgashite and the Amorite and the Jebusite. See, the ark of the agreement of the Lord of all the earth is going over before you into Jordan. So take twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, a man from every tribe. And when the feet of the priests who take up the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all…” — Joshua 3:9-13

“And he said to them, Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of Jordan, and let every one of you take up a stone on his back, one for every tribe of the children of Israel: So that this may be a sign among you; when your children say to you in time to come, What is the reason for these stones? Then you will say to them, Because the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the Lord's agreement; when it went over Jordan the waters of Jordan were cut off: and these stones will be a sign for the children of Israel, keeping it in their memory for ever.” — Joshua 4:5-7