The Book of Joshua

Word Study

"possessed," Hebrew the verb yarash (יָרַשׁ). The verb yarash means to take possession, to inherit, to dispossess an enemy and take his place. It is the word for what Israel did on the east of Jordan: they "possessed their land," going in and taking hold of what God had already promised them. And notice that the inheritance had to be possessed, entered into and taken hold of; God gave it, but Israel had to go in and take possession. So yarash teaches both the grace and the responsibility of the inheritance. God freely gives us, in Christ, an inheritance beyond price; yet we are called to lay hold of it, to enter in and possess by faith what He has given.

"possession," the noun yerushah (יְרֻשָּׁה). The noun yerushah is a possession or inheritance. "Moses the servant of the LORD gave it for a possession unto the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh." The land was not merely conquered; it was given as an inheritance, a possession to be held from God. This is a key theme of Joshua and of the whole Bible: God gives His people an inheritance. Canaan was Israel's inheritance, promised to Abraham and now possessed by his descendants. And this earthly inheritance is a picture of a greater one. Believers are "heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ" (Romans 8:17); we have "an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven" (1 Peter 1:4); and we are "sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance" (Ephesians 1:13-14). What the land was to Israel, the eternal inheritance in Christ is to us. The land was Israel's possession by God's gift; and the riches of Christ are ours to possess, given by grace, entered by faith.

Explanation

The book pauses to keep a record, and it begins east of the Jordan with the victories won under Moses — Sihon king of the Amorites and Og of Bashan, "of the remnant of the giants." By opening the ledger with Moses' conquests, the account honors that the inheritance was one continuous work of God, begun before Joshua ever crossed the river. This is a title-deed in the making: land taken, kings named, boundaries fixed "from the river Arnon unto mount Hermon," so that what God gave might be documented and never forgotten.

Gospel Focus

The chapter begins its victory roll not with Joshua's conquests but with the earlier victories under Moses east of the Jordan: Sihon king of the Amorites and Og king of Bashan, "of the remnant of the giants." These two mighty kings had barred Israel's way as they approached the land, and God had given them a resounding defeat (Numbers 21). By opening the record here, the chapter honors the continuity of God's faithfulness: the God who gave victory under Moses is the same God who gave victory under Joshua; the work begun in one generation was carried on and completed in the next. And it remembers that the land was "given... for a possession," an inheritance from the LORD, not merely a prize of war. Twice Moses is called "the servant of the LORD," a title of honor for the faithful leader now dead, whose victories are still recorded and whose gift to the eastern tribes still stands. For the Apostolic reader this opening teaches that God's faithfulness spans the generations. He does not begin a work and abandon it; what He gave under Moses He confirmed under Joshua, and the whole inheritance was secured. The giants Sihon and Og, like the Anakim, remind us that no enemy, however great, can keep God's people from the inheritance He has promised. And the land as "possession" points us to our own inheritance in Christ, given freely by grace, yet to be entered and possessed by faith. The record of past victories is the ground of present confidence: the God who kept His word to the fathers keeps it still.

Word Study

"one," Hebrew echad (אֶחָד). The word means one, a single one. It tolls through this list like a slow, steady drumbeat: "the king of Jericho, one; the king of Ai... one; the king of Jerusalem, one," on and on, thirty-one times, "all the kings thirty and one." Each defeated king is counted, one by one, and set down in the record. There is something deliberate and beautiful in this. God does not lump the victories together in a vague summary; He numbers them individually, each king, each city, each triumph, recorded and remembered. Nothing is lost, nothing is forgotten. This reflects the character of God, who "telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names" (Psalm 147:4), who numbers the very hairs of our head (Matthew 10:30), and who keeps our tears in His bottle and writes them in His book (Psalm 56:8). The God who counts each king "one" is the God who keeps precise account of every deliverance He grants His people. And the roll of thirty-one names is a memorial: whenever Israel read it, they would remember that every one of these kings, mighty and terrible in his day, fell before the LORD, and every promise was kept. For the believer this is deep encouragement. God remembers every victory He has given you, every mountain He has moved, every enemy He has subdued, counted, named, and recorded. So echad preaches the faithful memory of God. He numbers His mercies one by one; He forgets none of His benefits toward us; and the record of past deliverances stands as a monument that the God who gave them is faithful still.

Explanation

West of the Jordan the ledger lists thirty-one kings, and the tally falls with a steady beat — "one... one... one." Each name is a fortress once bristling with soldiers, a ruler who stood in Israel's path; now each is reduced to a single mark in a conqueror's list. The catalogue is not idle bookkeeping but the necessary bridge to what comes next: the land is fully surveyed and its former rulers accounted for, so that in the following chapters it can be divided, tribe by tribe, as the promised inheritance. The mighty are leveled, and the gift is ready to be shared out.

Gospel Focus

At first glance a list of thirty-one names seems like dry record-keeping. But this roster is a monument to the faithfulness of God. Every king who once ruled a fortified city, who mustered armies, who stood in Israel's way, is now simply, "one", counted, defeated, past. The kings of Jericho and Ai, whose cities marked Israel's first battles and first failure and recovery; the king of Jerusalem, who led the coalition; the kings of Hazor and Megiddo and all the rest, all reduced to a single word in a victory roll. What terrified Israel from a distance is now a line in a list of the conquered. And the reason is unstated but everywhere present: the LORD gave them all. The whole land, "from Baalgad in the valley of Lebanon even unto the mount Halak," across every kind of terrain, "the mountains... the valleys... the plains... the springs... the wilderness... the south country," was given "unto the tribes of Israel for a possession." Not one promise failed. For the Apostolic reader this chapter is a call to remember and to hope. It is good to keep a record of God's victories, to number His mercies one by one, so that the memory of past deliverance strengthens present faith. The enemies that loom large before the battle become small in the record of the conquered, and the God who subdued thirty-one kings is the God who will subdue every foe of His people still. When we face our own array of enemies, we do well to write our own victory roll, recalling each deliverance the LORD has given, each king He has laid low, for the same faithful God who kept every promise to Israel keeps every promise to us. Behind every name in this list stands the one truth the whole book proclaims: God is faithful, and He gives His people the inheritance He has sworn.