Joshua

Joshua the son of Nun (Hebrew יְהוֹשֻׁ֣עַ בִּן - נ֔וּן, Yehoshua ben Nun) is a biblical figure. Joshua leads the successor of Moses, the Israelites in the conquest of Canaan.

Name

The Hebrew name Joshua means " Yahweh is salvation, help".

Biblical representation

Joshua comes from the Israelite tribe of Ephraim. About the Father Now there is no further information, it is mentioned only in the genealogy in 1 Chr 7,27 EU except as the father of Joshua. For the first time in Ex 17.9 EU is Joshua on behalf of Moses as a military leader in the struggle of the Israelites against the Amalekites. In Ex 24:13 EU he accompanied Moses as a servant, when he rises to the mountain of God. Joshua does not deprive part of the apostasy of the people of YHWH in the idolatry of the golden calf in Ex 32 EU. In Num 13:16 EU Joshua first transmits even the name Hoshea, son of Nun, Moses' but gets the new name Joshua. Here Joshua heard as a leader of the tribe of Ephraim, along with Caleb the son of Jephunneh of the tribe of Judah to the spies of the twelve tribes which are to prepare the conquest of the country. The scouts will find a giant grape and bring them to the camp. Joshua and Caleb want to promote the conquest, while the leaders of the other tribes procrastinating and do not want to participate in the conquest. As punishment for the disunity and vacillation the people of Israel must spend another 40 years on the hike in the desert until the whole generation died, only Joshua and Caleb may collect later in the Promised Land.

In Num 27 EU Joshua is appointed as the successor of Moses. In Deuteronomy 31.7 EU, he was appointed a second time. The book of Joshua tells the story of conquest after the death of Moses on. → Conquest of Canaan

Joshua takes over in the book of Joshua, the role of the military commander and leading the people in Jos 5.13 EU from the east over the Jordan into the promised land and can be set up twelve memorial stones in Gilgal. In a theophany in Jos 5.13 EU Joshua in Gilgal met a man with a sword, a messenger of God, as it turns out. Chapters 6-8 tie with Joshua etiological legends about the destruction of the cities of Jericho and Ai. At the end of Chapter 12 is a list of conquered kings of the East and the West Bank. In Chapter 13-19 Joshua distributed the land to the various tribes. There is a tradition to the grave of Joshua, Jos 24,30 EU in Timnathserah or after Ri 2.9 EU in Timnath - heres, in the hill country of Ephraim.

Past Findings

The Pentateuch and the Book of Joshua can be scientifically evaluate hardly as historical sources for the life of Joshua. The story about the establishment of the twelve memorial stones in Gilgal at the Jordan crossing and the reports of the capture of the cities of Jericho and Ai are etiological legends. These stories give an explanation for the present there memorial stones and piles of rubble, so there are no original traditions about Joshua. Ai, Hebrew עַי as the name of the town goes back to the Hebrew עִי ( ʿ i), which means ruin or ruins. The destruction was so far back that the original name of the city is no longer known. The archaeological evidence also shows that both Bronze Age cities were destroyed centuries before the Conquest in the 12th century BC, have nothing to do with the events of the Conquest in the early Iron Age. Only in Jericho were on the settlement mounds of the ruined Bronze Age city still some dirt building of the early Iron Age. Against the historicity is also suggested that the stories the book of Judges describe the same period, but paint a very different picture of the eventful land acquisition. Narrative, the book of Joshua is the continuation and fulfillment of the formulated in the Pentateuch land promises of YHWH to the patriarchs and the people. The theological conception corresponds to the Pentateuch as strong, so that the term Hexateuch the close affiliation is detected. Against this background, the Josuaerzählungen should not be seen as historical accounts, but are part of the Deuteronomistic historical work, which performs a specific theological interpretation of the old tradition and represents the events in a reconstructed sequence. On the other hand, the names Joshua and Caleb are linked to battles with the Conquest and it was to the Middle Ages an ancient grave tradition to Joshua, so that a historical person Joshua as commander of the Stammens Ephraim probably, with different word later came in contact with Joshua.

Anniversaries

• Roman Catholic, Orthodox and Armenian: September 1. In the Armenian Church and January 17 and 26 December
• Coptic: June 20
• Evangelical: September 1, in the calendar of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod