Life According to the Scriptures
Joshua is the central figure of the biblical Book of Joshua. As one of twelve scouts dispatched by Moses to survey Canaan, he and Caleb alone brought back a report of faith; the other ten counseled despair and were condemned together with those who followed them. Joshua was thus counted among the generation that would enter the land, despite having been born in Egypt before the Exodus.
After Moses's death on Mount Nebo, God appointed Joshua as the people's new leader. Under his command the Israelites crossed the Jordan at flood stage—the waters halting to allow safe passage, mirroring the earlier crossing of the Red Sea. The fall of Jericho followed: the city's walls collapsed after the Israelites circled them for seven days and sounded trumpets. Joshua then led a series of campaigns in the south and north of Canaan. A memorable episode in the book of Joshua records that, in the battle against the Amorites at Gibeon, Joshua called on the sun and moon to stand still so that the battle could be completed in daylight (Joshua 10:12–14).
Following the military campaigns, Joshua oversaw the division of the land among the twelve tribes by lot. He governed Israel for twenty-five years, dying at the age of 110 and being buried at Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim.