Joshua the Wise Military Leader of Israel


Joshua the Wise Military Leader of Israel

Joshua the Wise military leader of Israel, son of Nun, was Moses’ assistant since his youth. The Lord appointed Joshua to succeed Moses. He was also known as Hoshea.

Moses sent twelve men from each tribe including Joshua to view the land of Canaan. Joshua and Caleb were the only ones who came back with positive reports about the land. The Israelites talked about stoning Joshua and Caleb because of their testament but God intervened. The other ten men were struck down with the plague because their report caused grumbling among the Israelites. Only Caleb and Joshua the Wise were spared.

The Israelites won a number of battles under the extraordinary leadership of Joshua. One of those battles was against the Amalekites. Although he struggled, he was victorious. The Israelites were leaving a lot of carnage throughout the country. Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth and Kirjath-jearim decided to make peace with the Israelites, but do so dishonestly. Joshua made peace with them. When the King of Jerusalem heard, he allied himself with the five Amorite kings, as well as the Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachea and Eyton kings to attack the Gibeonites. The Gibeon people beseeched Joshua the Wise to help them. This he did and his very strong faith in God manifested itself in the miraculous event which took place in that fight. Joshua asked God for the sun to stand still in Gibeon and the moon in the valley of Ajalon in order to finish the battle and they obeyed. This phenomenon was never repeated as decreed by God.

Another significant event was against the mighty force of Jericho when Jericho’s mighty fortress fell at the last blast of the trumpets and a loud shout from the Israelites. The entire land of Israel was at peace after his victories for the Lord.

God gave Joshua the gift of leadership to take the Israelites to the Promised Land. It was confirmed by the time they crossed the Jordan River. By the time of his death, Joshua encouraged the people to choose God above everything else. Joshua died at 110 years old.


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