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Scripture Review - OT - Joshua

This week's lesson is on the Book of Joshua, and according to the Come Follow Me Primary manual, will be based on Joshua 1-8 and 23-24. The first task is to understand what's in these scriptures, and this scripture review post aims to do that.

These videos do a nice job of explaining the narrative:

  • These Saddleback Kids videos are aimed at young children. They treat the story of Joshua in several pieces:
    • Joshua Leads (Joshua 1) - YouTube
    • Rahab and the Spies (Joshua 2) - YouTube
    • The Israelites Cross the Jordan (Joshua 3-4) - YouTube
    • The Walls of Jericho (Joshua 5) - YouTube
  • The Bible Project does a great job of summarising whole books in the Bible through clever comic strip style animations. YouTube
The Book of Joshua seems to break down into the following parts:
  • The first part picks up from Exodus and Deuteronomy, where Moses has brought the Israelites to the cusp of the promised land before passing away. The mantle thus falls upon Joshua, who sends spies into the Promised Land (who are helped by a woman named Rahab), before leading the people across the Jordan River. (There's another "parting of the water" moment here in Joshua 3, much like Moses and the Red Sea in Exodus 14.)
  • There's an odd part in Joshua 5 where Heavenly Father commands Joshua to re-circumcise the men (which sounds painful!), to distinguish them from the local people (the Amorites and Canaanites) who are antagonistic towards them.
  • In Joshua 6, the Israelites take the city of Jericho, by following Heavenly Father's instructions to surround it for 6 days, then have the priests blow trumpets on the 7th day. This knocks down the wall, and the Israelites kill everyone inside the city, except for Rahab and her family.
  • The Israelites target another city, Ai, in Joshua 7, but this time their attack gets rebuffed because one of their number stole something from Joshua. The offending party, Achan, gets exposed and killed.
  • In Joshua 8, the Israelites end up razing Ai to the ground and killing all of its inhabitants.
  • Joshua 23-24 conclude the book, and contain teachings from Joshua to obey the commandments and to not marry amongst the Canaanites or serve other gods. Joshua dies and is buried on Mount Ephraim. Joseph's remains are also buried in the same spot.

My next post will provide my initial impressions on possible scientific links as I read through this book.


Gazing over the Promised Land. Photo by Cynthia Magana on Unsplash




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