Joshua led approximately 2 million Israelites across the Jordan River into the Promised Land. This number is estimated based on the total number of Israelites who left Egypt during the Exodus, which is believed to be around 600,000 men, plus women and children. Joshua's leadership marked the culmination of the Israelites' journey from Egypt to Canaan as described in The Bible.
According to the Bible, Joshua led the Israelites across the River Jordan.
Joshua was the leader of the Israelites after the death of Moses. It was him that led them across the Jordan River into the promised land (Canaan.)
Joshua was commissioned to lead God's people into Canaan after the death of Moses. God instructed Joshua to be strong and courageous, promising to be with him just as He was with Moses. Joshua successfully led the Israelites across the Jordan River and into the Promised Land.
God told Moses to prepare a young Hebrew, Joshua, to assume the leadership of the Israelites upon Moses' death. Forty years later, the Israelites were camped on the eastern side of the Dead Sea when Moses died. God told Joshua it was time to lead the people across the Jordan River into the Promised Land. In the Hebrew Bible, the "Land of Canaan" extends from Lebanon southward across Gaza to the "Brook of Egypt" and eastward to the Jordan River Valley, thus including modern Israel and the Palestinian Territories. The Lord helped Joshua lead the Hebrew people into the Promised Land. When they entered this land, the Israelites had to cross the Jordan River. At God's command, Joshua told the priests to take the Ark of the Covenant into the river. A great battle with the people of the land of Canaan took place by the city of Gabaon. The Israelites defeated their enemies and put them to flight while God rained stones from heaven on those who were fleeing, so that more perished from the stones than from the swords of the Israelites. The day was coming to an end, but the Israelites had not yet routed their enemies. Joshua then prayed to God and cried out aloud before the people, "Sun, stand still, and moon, do not move..." And the sun did stand still, and night did not come until the Israelites had defeated their enemies.
False. According to the Biblical narrative, Moses led the Israelites across the Sea of Reeds, and Joshua later led them across the Jordan River.According to archaeologists, there is no evidence to suggest that Joshua lived at all. (Though absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.)
The biblical account is a little confusing when it comes to the age and status of Joshua. For example, the Book of Numbers identifies Joshua in quick succession as the young man and servant of Moses, then as a ruler of the tribe of Ephraim. In any event, his early appearance in the Exodus means he must have been a relatively old man by the time he led the Israelites across the Jordan. To have achieved all that he is credited with, he must have remained a strong and active leader until his death at the age of 110 years.
Moses picked Joshua to lead the people after his death as commanded by the LORD. Deut 3:28 But commission Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, for he will lead this people across and will cause them to inherit the land that you will see. See also last chapter in Deuteronomy followed by the book of Joshua.
Some of the key biblical events around Moses had quite close parallels in the story of Joshua. In the Exodus story, Joshua accompanied Moses onto the mountain, and was the only person other than Moses who could enter the tabernacle. In the Book of Exodus, Moses held out his rod and parted the Red Sea. The importance of the priests was given greater emphasis in the Book of Joshua, and as soon as their feet touched the waters of the Jordan, the waters stopped flowing and the people could cross. In the first case, parting the water allowed the Israelites to cross over and defeat the Egyptians who were pursuing them; in the second case, parting the water allowed the Israelites to cross over and defeat the Canaanites who were before them.
According to the Book of Joshua, the brilliant military commander, Joshua, led the Israelites to conquer Canaan, with the help of God.The strong consensus of modern historians is that the Israelites never conquered Canaan, that they were themselves rural Canaanites who migrated peacefully from the region of the rich coastal cities into the hitherto sparsely populated hinterland. Lawrence E. Stager says ('Forging an Identity', in The Oxford History of the Biblical World) of the thirty one cities said to be taken by Joshua and the Israelites, twenty have been plausibly identified with excavation sites. Of these, only Bethel and Hazor show evidence of cultural discontinuity consistent with an invasion, and it is even debated whether the destruction of Hazor XIII was as late as that of Late Bronze Age Bethel. There was no conquest of Canaan - the story of Joshua and his military genius evolved centuries later, to provide the Hebrew people with a glorious past.For more information, please visit: http://christianity.answers.com/bible/the-book-of-joshua-explained
The Bible does not explicitly mention the width of the Jordan River at that point. Currently the Jordan River is rather weak, but at that time, several meters wide.
According to Joshua, Jericho was the first city to be conquered in order to allow access to the promised land. Also, it was an important location for the local religions, and so the destruction would have been a psychological attack on the region as well.
The book of Joshua takes up where Deuteronomy leaves off after the death of Moses. It is the first of the twelve books of history in the Old Testament. Joshua was the military leader of the Israelite people when they conquered Canaan. He was one of the twelve spies Moses sent in to spy out the land of Canaan, and he and Caleb were the only two who said yes they could take the land. Because the people feared it they were forced to wander in the desert for 40 years. This book details how the Israelite people began their nation. In this regard it records details of the land areas to be occupied by the various tribes, as well as the fact that they did not all occupy these areas immediately because they were still occupied by the previous inhabitants. Thus Joshua records what might be termed an 'incomplete conquest', and then the potential results which could and then did follow are recorded in later books. The book of Joshua also records the results of people either trusting and obeying God (the taking of Jericho) or not obeying (Achan and the initial defeat at Ai) or the consequences of believing ones eyes rather than the wisdom of God (The Gibeonites).