Manna Ministry

Welcome to Lesson One on the Life of Joshua!

His FIRST name, Hoshua, Hebrew…”Salvation”…will be later changed by Moses to Jehoshua or Joshua…Hebrew…”The Lord is Salvation.” He came from the tribe of Ephraim, his father’s name was Nun.

Let’s lay out our foundation, making sure we’re all on the same page before we really get into our study. 

This whole story is going to be about the culmination of promises made and promises kept. 

God made a promise to a people group that sinned, by not believing Him, and they paid for it with their lives in the desert for 40 years. Finally, after the ‘unbelievers’ had passed and the new generation had grown into adulthood, it was time to accept the challenge and go take the land!

-The 1st promise was made to Adam in Genesis 1:26-28 to have dominion over all the earth, and that he was to populate the earth. He lost the promise to sin and the serpent. 

-Then Abraham was promised that his ‘seed’ would be given the land of Canaan. Gen.12:7

-Promise passed over Ishmael to the son of promise, Isaac. 

-Promise passed over Esau to the son of promise, Jacob. Name change to Israel. Let 480 years pass.

Enter: Joshua. 

What’s so special about this man? Why was Joshua of a different spirit? What’s so special about his name? Where is he from and from what tribe was he born? What’s all this fuss over a charge about? What was Joshua’s ‘life verse? How many mentions? Is there a connection of the book of Joshua to the book of Ephesians? Book of Revelation? And the 7’s? 

Did God actually develop the first weapons of frequency? What actually happened to the walls of Jericho? Was Rahab really a harlot? What’s her real story? Is there any scientific explanation for the ‘longest day of Joshua?’ Were there actually giants post-flood? Were these offsprings from the Nephilim? Is there any truth to what Jesus said, ‘as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be at the coming of the Son of Man?’ What did He mean?

We’re gonna answer all these and many more…you’re gonna need to buckle in, it’s gonna be a wild ride!

Could we have selected a more significant and timely man of faith to study? Why do I say that? 

Because before Joshua, the people of the promise were held in bondage in Egypt, a type of the world…slaves to sin. Then comes Moses, a type of Jesus who delivers them out of Egypt, out of sin’s slavery and onward to a promised inheritance. But, they fail at the golden calf. God gives the Law to Moses, he gives it to the people. They call it: The Law of Moses. But they can’t keep the law.

They listen to the wrong voices of fear and unbelief, and walk in the wilderness…having lost the promise of inheritance. 

Here comes Joshua, another type of Jesus. He has a different spirit, he walks in faith. More importantly, God will use Joshua to bring this next generation of His people into the land of promise. Moses can’t enter but can only look into the land before he dies on Mt Nebo. The Law can’t enter into inheritance without grace through faith in Jesus. 

(Speak to the Bible’s continuity) 66 books and 1 Author who inspired 40 men through the Holy Spirit over appx.1500 years…and it all makes sense, will explain itself if you allow it, and will change your life if you let it.

Tonight’s glimpse of Joshua will reveal him fulfilling (3) distinct rolls:

1-Joshua as a General…first appointed by Moses to go fight for Israel

2-Joshua as a Servant to Moses…his right-hand man

3-Joshua as Moses’ Successor…having known God, being filled with the Spirit, now appointed to lead the nation of Israel into the Promised Inheritance

1-Joshua as General

In the beginning of Exodus 17 just before this battle…Israel’s very first battle, Moses has just struck the Rock of Horeb/Sinai to give water to the multitude of angry, and very thirsty Israelites. This was the area that Moses had led the Israelites to after God had provided manna for them to gather and eat. They’d just left an oasis in Elim, with 12 wells of water and 70 palm trees. Then Moses led by God, took them out of the Wilderness of Sin and into the area called Rephidim…and there was plenty of manna every morning to gather, but…no water. And they were thirsty…very thirsty! Enough to want to stone Moses! God told Moses that He would be by the rock as Moses struck it with his staff, and as he did so, out gushed massive amounts of water to quench the thirsts of the millions of people. The Lord had mercy on these people, though they complained all the way! This was quite a miraculous display of God’s continuous provision, first with manna and now water from a rock.

In the New Covenant, we speak to the Rock (Jesus), and He provides us with Living Water ETERNALLY. He was struck ONCE on the cross for our sins, taking our judgement and punishment upon Himself.  What God was asking Moses to do was a prophetic look at what Jesus would do for all of us. More on this to come later!

Exodus 17:9, “And Moses said to Joshua, choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand.” 

This was Joshua’s 1st mention in the Bible. He was apparently well-trained as a warrior. We don’t know anything of his military prowess, but it must have been impressive enough for Moses to have taken notice and have such confidence in choosing him to lead the men of Israel out in battle.

So he’s chosen by Moses to defend Israel against Amalek in the Valley of the Rephidim. They had just been supplied vast amounts of water from the Rock, and Satan used Amalek to rise up against them…but in a cowardly way: he ambushed the rear column of Isael; and attacked the sick and elderly, the women and children. Israel would for centuries after this cowardly attack, continue to fight against this evil people, desperately attempting to vanquish them off the planet.

This should be an example to us as Believers to always be on guard, because our adversary the Devil, seeks to kill, steal and destroy. The enemy is ruthless, and he will hit us at ANY time we show vulnerability to an attack. We are told to be on alert always! Jn.10:10, 1 Pt 5:8

Moses took to the hill overlooking the battle, and held the rod up high…and from a distance, it might resemble to some extent a picture of Jesus on the cross! Moses was lifting up prayerful intersession, and most likely worship to the God of Israel for the troops fighting below. No doubt he was appealing to the Lord of All to defend and fight for His people below. And, he probably also wanted to encourage the men by providing a real-time visual of spiritual strength and support, but as the day progressed, his arms grew weary, and as they lowered the battle would swing in favor of the Amalekites.

Aaron and Hur put a rock under Moses so he could sit and rest, while they bore the weight of his arms themselves, and Moses could lift the rod high for all to see, almost like a banner for the troops to see and be encouraged. In fact, after the battle is over, Moses built an altar to worship God for the victory, and he named it Jehovah-nissi: The Lord is our Banner. Moses recognized the importance of God’s presence, covering, and love for His people.

2-Joshua as a servant to Moses

Exodus 24:13 “And Moses rose up, and his minister Joshua, and Moses went up into the mount of God.” A young man, wholly-devoted to God and the close associate/minister to Moses. When Moses went upon Mt Sinai for 40 days/nights…so did Joshua! He was there waiting for Moses. 

Ex. 32:17-18

“And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, ‘There is a noise of war in the camp.’” Joshua had been waiting for Moses in a place hidden from the people, and slightly lower than where Moses had been with God. Joshua had most likely ALSO fasted for 40 days/nights like Moses!

In Numbers 13:8 was ‘Oshea’ which means salvation. 

Numbers 13:16 Moses changes his name to ‘yehoshua’ or Joshua, which means The Lord is Salvation. This takes the emphasis off a man and puts it on the Lord. Important when you’re going into the enemies’ territory, then it was the land of Canaan. Even for Joshua, this elevated his faith in such a dramatic way…showing him that it was the God of Israel that was his strength and deliverer. And though he was strong, Joshua was to place his trust the strength of the MOST HIGH GOD. It is interesting to me that in the New Testament, one of the Greek words for ‘salvation’ has 3 meanings. The word is “sozo” and it means: saved, delivered and healed. My mind immediately goes to Isaiah 53. Homework for further reading.

(Joshua in Greek is: Yeshua/Jesus. And His name is appropriate: The Lord is Salvation.)

-Moses tells the 12 spies to go and reconnoiter the territory (took them 40 days), bring back some of the fruit of the land. ( Took TWO warriors to carry ONE cluster of grapes!) 

They go up into the land, make it to Hebron where sons of Anak the giant live. (We know the bed of King Og was 13 feet long…these were big!) So they returned, and The 10 spoke first to Moses, proclaiming their perceived problems through their hearts of fear and unbelief.

*But Joshua and Caleb give the good report, based on faith in their God…not on what they observed in the land of pagans. Caleb spoke first. We are able to possess it! (God+you=Majority)

(Class stopped here for the night.)

Numbers 14 shows the sin of unbelief, and the harsh punishment for disobedience towards God. Ultimately, only Joshua and Caleb, from the original 12 spies, will be allowed to live through the wilderness experience and then enter the promised land.