“Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua” (Jos 24:31).
The fact that Joshua is the Hebrew form of the Greek name Jesus would be merely a curiosity if that were the only connection. But the more we delve into the life of Joshua, the more we see the resemblance in the ministries of these Champions of the two Covenants. A few facts about the man. Born a slave, he was called Oshea (Num 13:16, from the Hebrew yasha‘ meaning “salvation”). The firstborn son in his family (1 Chron 7:27), he therefore was delivered not only from Egypt’s bondage but also from the Destroyer’s wrath by the blood of the lamb. At some point, he became Moses’ “assistant” (Jos 1:1). It may be that Moses saw his leadership potential and changed his name for fear the people would think Oshea was their salvation, rather than the Lord. Adding a contraction of the name Jehovah to it resulted in Jehoshua, shortened to Joshua. Their dependence on God was demonstrated when Joshua led Israel in their first battle against Amalek. They must engage the enemy, but were helpless without hilltop intercession! Joshua was also involved at Sinai with the giving of the Law, the book entrusted to him at his investiture (Num 27:18-23). We find seven special meetings Joshua had with the Lord: when encouraged and commissioned (1:1-9), instructed to cross over (3:7-8), directed to raise up two markers (4:1-7), commanded to circumcise the men (5:2-10), confronted by the Commander (5:13-15), given the strategy for defeating Jericho (6:1-5), and the reason for, and recovery from, failure at Ai (7:10-15; 8:1-2, 18). But then Joshua called on the Lord at Aijalon, “And there has been no day like that…that the Lord heeded the voice of a man” (10:14). Nothing boring about this book, is there!