Joshua

Biblical Figures

Joshua son of Nun, formerly Hoshea bin Nun, was Moses’s deputy from the time of the Exodus, one of the 12 tribal leaders tasked with scouting out the promised land, Moses’s eventual successor, and possibly the recorder of the last verses of the Torah. Upon Moses’s death, Joshua assumed the mantle of leadership and brought the people into the land, and the book of Joshua recounts much of the land with God's help. Joshua and Caleb ben Yefuneh were the only two people of the generation of the Exodus to gain entry to the promised land.

Notable Sources

All Sources

Leader of the Israelites

TANAKH

Joshua, who led the people of Israel across the Jordan River and into the land of Israel, served as the political and religious leader of the Israelites after the death of Moses. The biblical book of Joshua’s account of the end of Joshua’s life describes his legacy and impact on Jewish history.

Thereupon Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have by your own act chosen to serve the ETERNAL.” “Yes, we are!” they responded. “Then put away the alien gods that you have among you and direct your hearts to the ETERNAL, the God of Israel.” And the people declared to Joshua, “It is the ETERNAL our God whom we will serve—and whom we will obey.” On that day at Shechem, Joshua made a covenant for the people and he made a fixed rule for them. …

Joshua 24:22-31

A Link In the Chain

MISHNAH

According to the rabbinic tradition, Joshua succeeded Moses not only as a political leader but also as the authoritative teacher of Torah in his generation. Mishnah Avot, a work of ancient rabbinic ethics and wisdom from the land of Israel, opens with an account of the chain of the Mosaic tradition from Sinai, naming Joshua among its transmitters.

Moses received the Torah at Sinai and transmitted it to Joshua, Joshua to the elders, and the elders to the prophets, and the prophets to the Men of the Great Assembly. They said three things: Be patient in [the administration of] justice, raise many disciples and make a fence round the Torah.

Pirkei Avot 1:1

A Miraculous Conquest

TANAKH

The biblical account of Joshua’s leadership includes the conquest of most of the land of Israel, some of which was achieved through divine intervention. The book of Joshua recounts the battle of Gibeon, describing the many miracles God performed to ensure an Israelite victory.

GOD said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid of them, for I will deliver them into your hands; not one of them shall withstand you.” Joshua took them by surprise, marching all night from Gilgal. GOD threw them into a panic before Israel: [Joshua] inflicted a crushing defeat on them at Gibeon, pursued them in the direction of the Beth-horon ascent, and harried them all the way to Azekah and Makkedah. While they were fleeing before Israel down the descent from Beth-horon, GOD hurled huge stones on them from the sky, all the way to Azekah…

Joshua 10:8-14

The Faithful Scout

TANAKH

Before Joshua becomes the leader of the Israelites, he participates in a scouting mission of the land of Israel. The book of Numbers, which recounts the Israelites’ 40-year journey through the desert, describes Joshua’s response to his fellow scouts’ doubt about the Israelites’ prospects in the face of their enemies upon entry to the land.

The whole community broke into loud cries, and the people wept that night. All the Israelites railed against Moses and Aaron. “If only we had died in the land of Egypt,” the whole community shouted at them, “or if only we might die in this wilderness!” “Why is יהוה taking us to that land to fall by the sword?” “Our wives and children will be carried off!” “It would be better for us to go back to Egypt!” And they said to one another, “Let us head back for Egypt.” Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembled congregation of Israelites…

Numbers 14:1-10

Moses and Joshua, Sun and Moon

MIDRASH

When Moses transfers his authority to Joshua, God instructs Moses to “place [some] of your glory onto [Joshua].” Sifrei Bamidbar, an ancient midrashic work on the book of Numbers from the land of Israel, argues that this suggests a fundamental difference between Joshua’s and Moses’s leadership.

(Bamidbar 27:20) "And you shall place (some) of your glory (i.e., shining of countenance) upon him": and not all of your glory — whence we derive "The face of Moses was like the face of the sun; the face of Joshua was like the face of the moon."

Sifrei Bamidbar 140:2

Wisdom in a Name

COMMENTARY

The Torah refers to Joshua, whose father’s name is Nun, as “bin Nun” rather than the more typical patronymic “ben Nun,” meaning “son of Nun.” Ramban, in his 13th-century commentary on the Torah, suggests that the patronymic is a play on words used to describe Joshua’s character.

The reason for the form ‘bin’ Nun [instead of ‘ben’ Nun] is that the vowel chirik comes sometimes in place of the segal [which would have made it “ben Nun”]. Similar cases are: The words of Agur ‘bin’ (the son of) Jakeh; ‘she’bin lailah hayah’ (which came up in a night) ‘u’bin lailah avad’ (and perished in a night); ‘im bin hakoth harasha’ (if the wicked man deserve to be beaten).
Yet despite all this I wonder! Why [of all the times that Joshua the son of Nun is cited in the Scriptures] is the name of this righteous man not once mentioned…

Ramban on Exodus 33:11:2

From Attendant to Leader

MUSAR

While the biblical Israelites wandered in the wilderness, Joshua served as Moses’s attendant. Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchok Ruderman, in his 20th-century Sichot Avodat Levi, a compilation of ethical teachings, argues that service and devotion prepared Joshua to lead the Israelites.

Rabbi Yitzchak of Volozhin (cited in the gloss of the book, Ruach Chaim on Avot 1:1) explained the words of the Gemara in a different way, according to the words of the midrash in Bamidbar Rabbah (Parshat Pinchas 21:14), "The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him (in Prov. 27:18), 'He who tends a fig tree will enjoy its fruit.' Your sons sat [with] their own [concerns] and were not involved with Torah [study]. Joshua served you much and gave you much honor, and he would come early and leave late in your house of council, and he would arrange the benches and spread the mats…

Sichot Avodat Levi 68:10-11

A Mysterious Genealogy

TALMUD

According to the rabbinic tradition, Joshua married Rahab, a Canaanite sex worker turned double agent for the Israelites, and an ancestor to several important figures in biblical history. The Babylonian Talmud in tractate Megillah explains how those characters fit into the biblical picture of Joshua’s lineage.

Furthermore, Rav Naḥman said: Huldah was a descendant of Joshua. An allusion to this is written here: “Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum, the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas [ḥarḥas]” (II Kings 22:14), and it says elsewhere with regard to Joshua: “And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath-heres [ḥeres]” (Judges 2:9), therefore intimating that there is a certain connection between them. Rav Eina the Elder raised an objection from a baraita to Rav Naḥman’s teaching…

Megillah 14b:11-13

An Author of the Torah?

TALMUD

The final verses of the Torah recount the death of Moses, who, according to the Jewish tradition, received and recorded the text of the Torah from God. The Babylonian Talmud in tractate Bava Batra addresses the problems raised by the narrative of Moses’s death and suggests that Joshua may have played a role in the Torah’s transcription.

The Gemara elaborates on the particulars of this baraita: The Master said above that Joshua wrote his own book and eight verses of the Torah. The Gemara comments: This baraita is taught in accordance with the one who says that it was Joshua who wrote the last eight verses in the Torah. This point is subject to a tannaitic dispute, as it is taught in another baraita: “And Moses the servant of the Lord died there” (Deuteronomy 34:5)…

Bava Batra 15a:4-5

The Teacher-Student Bond

CHASIDUT

Joshua’s relationship with his teacher Moses offers a paradigm for the potential depth of a student-teacher relationship. Rabbi Nathan Sternhartz, in his biography of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, recounts an early encounter with his mentor Rebbe Nachman in which he stresses the power of such a bond.

(2) He said the Torah [entitled], "Call Yehoshua," with the sign, vav, on Shabbat Teshuvah after the Rosh Hashanah mentioned above. He then mentioned adjacently to the beginning of [this] Torah, the verse (Ezekiel 1:26), "and on top, upon this semblance of a throne, there was the semblance of a human form." (But in his writing, this verse is not mentioned until near the end, as is clear in the book, see there.) And then he grabbed the two handles of the chair on which he was sitting with his two hands…

Chayei Moharan 2:1

A Changed Name

KABBALAH

The Torah first introduces Joshua as Hoshea, and Moses changes his name to Joshua a little bit later in the narrative. In his 13th-century kabbalistic work, Ohr HaSekhel, Avraham Abulafia explores the mystical power of adding a divine epithet to one’s name, as Moses did for Joshua.

And you should know that one who knows a name needs to know the essential name, with which he was called on the day of his circumcision. Then he should connect it with the explicit name [of God], which is also [His] essential name. And there are parts to this and there are rules to it. There are some at the head [of the name], some in the middle and some at the end. At the head, like the matter of, "and Moshe called Hosheah the son of Nun, Yehoshua" (Numbers 12:16), such that he tied the Crown of [God's] name to his head…

Ohr HaSekhel 10:2

Joshua’s Blessing of the Land

TALMUD

Part of Birkat HaMazon, the blessings of thanks recited after meals, is attributed to Joshua. The Babylonian Talmud in tractate Berakhot describes the origins of each blessing in the sequence, arguing that they were established in chronological order in relation to different events in Jewish history.

With regard to the origins of the four blessings of Grace after Meals, Rav Naḥman said:
Moses instituted for Israel the first blessing of: Who feeds all, when the manna descended for them and they needed to thank God.
Joshua instituted the blessing of the land when they entered Eretz Yisrael.
David and Solomon instituted the third blessing: Who builds Jerusalem, in the following manner:
David instituted “…on Israel Your people and on Jerusalem Your city…” as he conquered the city…

Berakhot 48b:2

Legislator for the Israelites

HALAKHAH

According to rabbinic tradition, when Joshua led the Israelite people into the land of Israel, he instituted several pieces of civil legislation. Rambam, in his comprehensive 12th-century legal code, Mishneh Torah, describes each of these decrees.

Joshua and his court established ten conditions at the time they divided the land [into ancestral plots]: a) One may pasture a small animal in forests that are thick with trees; one may not, however, pasture a large animal there. In a forest that is not thick with trees, one may not pasture either a large animal or a small animal without the permission of the owners. b) Any person is permitted to collect wood from a field belonging to a colleague. This refers to wood that is not valuable - comparable to thorns, brambles and prickly shrubs…

Mishneh Torah, Damages to Property 5:3

A Prayer that Felled Walls

HALAKHAH

Joshua is credited with composing the prayer Aleinu, recited three times daily toward the end of traditional Jewish prayer services. In Seder HaYom, a 16th-century guidebook to daily liturgical and other traditions, Rabbi Moshe ben Machir connects this prayer to one particularly significant biblical battle.

And one should say [Aleinu LeShabeach]; and he needs to say it standing up (the numerical count of aleinu is the same as, and standing (oumeumad); and he needs to say it with great intention. Moreover, it has several secrets and hints, and it has great power. And some are careful to say it seven times every day, both day and night, seven times in order and seven times backwards, alternating once in order and one backwards. Such that they begin [else, none, below, the earth, upon, etc.] And Yehoshua arranged this great praise when he conquered Yericho…

Seder HaYom, Kavanah of Aleinu 1

Fasting for Joshua

HALAKHAH

The anniversary of Joshua’s death has traditionally been marked with a fast in his memory. The Kol Bo, a medieval compendium of Jewish law and custom, names Joshua among the Jewish leaders whose passing is commemorated in this way.

These are days on which we fast, not to eat and not to drink until the evening; anyone who fasts on them is assured that he [will have a share in] the world to come: On the first of Nissan, the two sons of Aharon died. On the tenth of it, Miriam the prophetess died, and her well went away. On the 28th of it, Yehoshua bin Nun died.

Kol Bo 63:2-3

Unearthing Joshua’s Conquest

COMMENTARY

Modern scholars have sought archeological evidence for and against the biblical account of Joshua’s conquest of the land of Israel. In her contemporary book Tribal Lands: The Twelve Tribes of Israel in their Ancestral Territories, Tamar Weissman describes archeological findings that point to events resembling those described in the book of Joshua.

Originally a Canaanite city, Lachish was conquered by Joshua (Joshua 10:31–32). If we place the period of the conquest of the Land of Israel by Joshua and the Israelites in the Iron I period (1250–1000 Bce), as most scholars do, then we have evidence of Joshua’s conquest of Lachish on site. The remains of a burnt Iron I Canaanite temple complex, on the acropolis of the tel, were uncovered. The popular theory is that Joshua destroyed this pagan temple in his mission to conquer the cities of Eretz Yisrael and rid the land of idolatry.

Tribal Lands, Chapter 5; Yehudah 68