By the way, Joshua means "victory by the salvation of the Lord". More than a thousand years later, a man with the same name came to this world to save the world-Jesus, actually the Greek pronunciation of the name Joshua.
Who is Joshua? He was the one who defeated the Amalekites the first time he left Egypt. He was the one who waited for Moses to return from the commandments at the foot of Horeb. He was a scout in the hinterland of Canaan and believed in the power of the Lord. Although he is not a junior, he is used to being a deputy and taking up a new job. Joshua will inevitably be a little nervous. At this time, the Lord appeared and cheered him up: as I was with Moses, I will be with you; I will never leave you, nor will I abandon you. "
With the assurance of the Lord, Joshua's confidence suddenly increased greatly. Jews who have been wandering in the wilderness for forty years are no longer Amon under Wu Zhi. They established a strong, loyal and disciplined army, and soon closely United around the new generation of leadership collective with Joshua as the core, showing great loyalty in succession: "We will do whatever you ask us to do; No matter what you send us, we will go. As we obeyed Moses in all things, so we will obey you now. May the Lord God be with you, as he was with Moses. Whoever disobeys your orders and does not obey everything you command him will be put to death. "
Before he died, Moses made a strategic account of how to seize Canaan: first attack the central area of Canaan from the east, divide the whole area in two, and then divide the north and the south and eat them separately.
But the Jews are faced with a new problem: how to cross the wide and wide Jordan River? Ladies and gentlemen, don't forget that the Jews who went out of Egypt with Moses were basically killed and injured at this time because they didn't respect God's covenant. Joshua's people are all landlubbers born in the wilderness. But don't worry, everything is expected by the Lord.
The next day, Jews lined up by the Jordan River. Joshua ordered a group of priests to carry the ark and set out first, so that they stood still in the middle of the river. How big is the power, how big is the responsibility. Despite their reluctance and helplessness, the priests had to bite the bullet and plan to put their feet into the river.
At this time, a miracle that can be compared with Moses' staff to pay dividends to the sea happened: the Jordan River inflation came to an abrupt end. Near Adam City, dozens of miles upstream, the water "erected a barrier", while the downstream water continued to flow to the Dead Sea, and soon formed a thoroughfare. Where the priests stood, Joshua ordered the twelve tribes to take a stone and carry it on their shoulders. When all the Jews left the riverbed, the priests moved on. When they set foot on the riverbank in front, the Jordan River behind them surged again.
After crossing the Jordan River, Joshua led the Jews to rest in Gilgal, which is not far from Jericho and will also be the stronghold before the Jews captured Canaan.
In Gilgal, Joshua first built a monument with those twelve stones and told future generations how they could make the impossible possible with the help of the Lord. Later, all men were ordered to circumcise their foreskins with flint knives. Those who did not complete this ceremony in the wilderness at this time wanted to show that the new Jews would inherit the Covenant between God and their ancestor Abraham and obtain "Canaan flowing with milk and honey" as the promised land forever; Finally, all Jews resumed the tradition of "Passover" on 14 of that month, in order to remind them not to forget God's kindness in saving them from Egypt.
Under the leadership of Joshua, the Jews basically conquered the land of Canaan in seven years. First, they conquered Jericho with a roar of lions. However, when attacking Ai, he made a small mistake (which was Joshua's only defeat in this life), and then he went to Mount Ibaru and Mount Kirisin, 30 miles away from Ai, to set up altars and erect stone carvings. Afraid of the prestige of the Jews, the Gibeonites surrendered voluntarily, which led to the voluntary surrender of the five southern kings headed by the king of Jerusalem, but they were destroyed in the pasture. After returning to Gilgal, the Jews fought a decisive battle with the northern Coalition forces in Mirren Creek and also won.
Since then, a new situation of Jewish settlement in Canaan has taken shape. Their sphere of influence extends from the southernmost Mount Hala to the northernmost Lebanese plain at the foot of Mount Hermon. All the residents and rulers of other city-states were killed and replaced by Jews of all tribes, except the Hivites, whose bases were all over their affiliated cities. They were able to drag out an ignoble existence by cheating and signing a peace treaty with Israel. However, most of the war-torn areas are inland, and most of the city-states along the Mediterranean coast have no direct contact with Joshua's army. The Philistines occupying these sites are the future opponents of the Jews.
Before his death, Moses had decided that the distribution of Canaan land was determined by the will of God by drawing lots. Although some places still have the influence of Canaanites, the overall situation is stable. For example, the city of Jerusalem in the Jewish tribal territory was not included in the Jewish territory for a long time, until King David positioned it as the capital of the State of Israel 400 years later.
From then on, these tribes began to live independently on their respective lands. In addition to the supreme leader Joshua, the high priest, tribal elders, leaders at all levels, and congregation organizations in Israel, Joshua did not increase other centralized measures. Later, as the Israelites moved the tent of meeting to Shiloh and established a "central sanctuary" in the form of the tent of meeting, Shiloh became the highest place of theocracy. At the same time, some local courts have been established to deal with daily chores. If they encounter a case that they can't solve, they will be transferred to the Central Sanctuary, where the high priest and the judge will try and judge after seeking God's will, because the Central Sanctuary is the "Supreme Court" of Israel.
Years of fighting have consumed too much Joshua's energy and physical strength. Even though he regretted not leading the Jews to completely turn Canaan into his own, he still failed to meet the call of the Lord. At the age of 110, Joshua, a famous generation, passed away with great sorrow and buried his body in Tinsela, a fief of his family. In today's Palestinian city of Kifri, the remains of Joshua's cemetery still exist.
Jews have since entered the era of judges, a decadent era of chaotic beliefs.