Fun Facts About Books of the Bible – Joshua

The Book of Joshua does not identify its author, as is the example in most of the other books in the Bible. It continues the saga of the Israelites after their exodus from Egypt (with the help of Moses). The book records Joshua’s long term leadership of his people after Moses anointed him at the end of Deuteronomy.

The book is divided into 24 chapters:

Chapters 1 to 12 – Entry into the land and conquest
Chapters 13 to 22 – Division of the land
Chapters 23-24 – Joshua’s farewell

The Israelites are a new generation from their ancestors and have a new leader in Joshua. For Joshua, it seems that Moses is quite a hard act to follow, for he has seen the latter’s exemplary leadership and unwavering faith in God. However, God has put His full trust in Joshua and called him to lead his people into the land. For Joshua, being put into this position is a great honor but also entails great responsibility.

After 40 years of traveling and wandering in the wilderness, the Israelites finally enter the Promised Land, Canaan.

It just proves that with God, all things are possible. We all just have to have faith in Him, just like Joshua did.

The Israelites stayed in a place called Shittim after they crossed the Jordan River

Bible Verse Joshua 1:1-2

Joshua’s name means Jehovah is salvation – Jesus’ name in Hebrew would have been Joshua as well, which could also be written as Yehoshua, Yeshua, and Hoshea

Everyone knows the story of Jericho, but few people know that the next city conquered by the Israelites was a city called Ai – An aptly named city, this sounds like what they would have shouted when they saw a huge army on the horizon

Bible Verse Joshua 8:30-35

Joshua once asked God to make the sun stand still in the sky over the land of Gibeon – Imagine what the Gibeonites were thinking when the sun quit moving

The Israelites defeated a grand total of 31 kings during their conquest of Canaan – Not bad Israel, not bad

Joshua was constantly reminded personally by God to be “strong and of good courage” in the first chapter of Joshua

Fun Facts About Books of the Bible - Joshua

The first miracle to be performed in the book of Joshua was the parting of the Jordan River – Much as God parted water to bring the Israelites out of Egypt, he parted water to bring them into Canaan, the Promised Land