The Conquests of Joshua and Jesus
Reflecting on Joshua 10–11 and the Four Gospels
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The first half of the book of Joshua is about the conquest of the promised land. When the Israelites begin overtaking cities, the momentum is initially small. First there is Jericho (Josh. 6). Then there is Ai (Josh. 7–8). But things quickly escalate when coalitions of kings unite against the Israelites. The sentiment seems to be, “We can do more together than we can apart, so let’s join and destroy those Israelites!”
But battle after battle, the Lord gives the Canaanite armies into the hands of the Israelites. In chapter 10, the focus is on the southern part of the land. And in chapter 11, the focus is on the northern part of the land.
In Joshua 10:40 we read, “So Joshua struck the whole land, the hill country and the Negeb and the lowland and the slopes, and all their kings. He left none remaining, but devoted to destruction all that breathed, just as the LORD God of Israel commanded.” This language encapsulated the victories in the south.
In Joshua 11:10–12 we read, “And Joshua turned back at that time and captured Hazor and struck its king with the sword, for Hazor formerly was the head of all those kingdoms. And they struck with the sword all who were in it, devoting them to destruction; there was none left that breathed. And he burned Hazor with fire. And all the cities of those kings, and all their kings, Joshua captured, and struck them with the edge of the sword, devoting them to destruction, just as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded.” This language encapsulated the victories in the north.
At the end of Joshua 11, the biblical author says, “So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the LORD had spoken to Moses. And Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their tribal allotments. And the land had rest from war” (Josh. 11:23). The Israelites had subdued the south and had subdued the north. The conquest had taken control of the land, and the stubborn and resistant will of the Canaanites seemed to have finally been broken. Cities had been conquered, kings had been put to death, and the Israelites were victorious.
The subduing of resistance in the southern and northern parts of the land is a helpful template for the ministry of Jesus in the four Gospels. Jesus is a true and greater Joshua, and he is a true and greater Israel, who subdues hostile forces in the land of Israel.
But consider how different Jesus’s conquest is. When Jesus travels in the south and in the north, he subdues fever and paralysis and a withered hand. He cleanses leprosy and an unending issue of blood. He opens the mouths of the mute and the ears of the deaf and the eyes of the blind. He multiplies bread and fish, walks on water, calms the wind and waves, and he even raises the dead. He delivers possessed people from demonic control, and he pronounces forgiveness of sins to the guilty.
Jesus’s conquest is not one of judgment. He travels and brings transformation. He ministers and restores. He brings light to the darkness because he is the Light shining in the darkness. Indeed, his name is the equivalent to the Hebrew name “Joshua,” which means “Yahweh is salvation.”
The conquest of Christ ultimately brought salvation as he lived up to his name. He conquered sin and death. He paid sin’s wages, bore the curse of the law, and became sin in our place. As great as the conquest of the first Joshua was, the conquest of the greater Joshua exceeded it in every way.