50 Fun Facts About Book of Joshua

Who, holding a drawn sword near Jericho, answered 'Neither' when Joshua asked whose side he was on?

The commander of the Lord's army told Joshua to take off his sandals because the ground was holy, the order Moses had heard at the burning bush. Joshua fell facedown and asked what message he had for his servant.

What event let a fugitive leave one of Joshua's cities of refuge and go home, even after the assembly had tried him?

The death of the high priest opened every city of refuge at once, a rule Numbers 35 spells out as well. Joshua set towns apart on both sides of the Jordan for anyone who killed 'accidentally and unintentionally'.

What job did Joshua give the Gibeonites 'for the house of my God' after their ruse was exposed?

Woodcutters and water carriers was a curse that still honoured the oath: the Gibeonites lived on, serving the altar 'at the place the Lord would choose'. Saul's later attack on them brought a three-year famine in 2 Samuel 21.

What did the Lord hurl on the Amorites fleeing Gibeon, killing more of them than Israel's swords did?

Large hailstones fell on the road down from Beth Horon to Azekah, on the same day Joshua asked the sun to stand still. The text calls it the one day the Lord 'listened to a human being'.

What did Joshua hold out toward Ai, not drawing back his hand until the city had fallen to the ambush?

A javelin held out until the ambush was done recalls Moses' raised hands at Rephidim, where Israel won only while his arms stayed up. The men hidden west of Ai rushed in, took the town and set it on fire.

What did the Gibeonites show Joshua as proof of a long trip, with cracked wineskins and worn sandals?

Dry, moldy bread had been 'warm when we packed it', the Gibeonites claimed, and the Israelites sampled the provisions without asking the Lord. Three days later they learned the 'distant' visitors lived next door.

Which tribe received no territory from Joshua, the Lord's food offerings being its inheritance instead?

Levi got towns to live in but no tribal land, because 'the Lord, the God of Israel, is their inheritance'. The other tribes carved pasturelands out of their own allotments for them.

Which tribes, given land east of the Jordan by Moses, still had to cross over armed ahead of the rest?

Reuben, Gad and half of Manasseh sent their fighting men across while wives and children stayed behind, then went home in Joshua 22 with a blessing and 'great wealth'. Joshua called it keeping Moses' command.

Which two kings east of the Jordan, beaten under Moses, open Joshua's roll call of conquered rulers?

Sihon and Og, the Amorite rulers of Heshbon and Bashan, had fallen to Moses, and their land went to the tribes that settled east of the river. Og is called one of the last of the Rephaites.

What did Joshua set up at Israel's first camp in Canaan, carried out of the Jordan by one man per tribe?

Twelve stones from the riverbed were meant to make children ask 'What do these stones mean?', and Joshua set up twelve more in the middle of the Jordan itself, 'there to this day'.

What did Joshua's priests carry into the Jordan, halting its flow the moment their feet touched the water's edge?

The ark of the covenant went first, and the priests stood firm in the riverbed until the whole nation had crossed, with the river at flood stage. The people were told to keep about two thousand cubits behind it.

What did the Lord tell Joshua to make to circumcise the men born in the wilderness, at Gibeath Haaraloth?

Flint knives did the job for a generation born on the march, since none of the boys born after Egypt had been circumcised. Gibeath Haaraloth means 'hill of the foreskins'.

What did Joshua's oath say it would cost the man who dared to rebuild Jericho's foundations and gates?

His firstborn and youngest sons were exactly what Hiel of Bethel lost when he rebuilt Jericho in Ahab's day, 1 Kings 16 reports. The curse hung over the ruins for centuries.

Where, at a spot whose name means 'trouble', was Achan punished for taking Jericho's devoted things?

The Valley of Achor takes its name from Joshua's words 'Why have you brought this trouble on us?', and Hosea later promises God will turn it into 'a door of hope'. A pile of rocks marked the spot 'to this day'.

What did the Lord permit at Ai that he had forbidden at Jericho, once Achan's theft had been punished?

Keeping plunder and livestock was now allowed 'for yourselves', unlike at Jericho, where everything was devoted to the Lord and Achan's hidden robe, silver and gold cost him his life. Ai itself was burned to a heap of ruins.

On which mountain did Joshua build an altar that no iron tool had touched, and copy out the teaching of Moses?

Mount Ebal was the mountain of the curses, with Mount Gerizim opposite for the blessings, and half the people stood facing each as Joshua read every word of the law. Women, children and foreigners were all there.

The Gibeonites who tricked Joshua into a treaty belonged to which of the peoples Israel was told to drive out?

The Hivites of Gibeon were the one people who made peace, the book notes, because the Lord hardened every other city's heart to fight. Gibeon itself was 'an important city, like one of the royal cities', larger than Ai.

Where did the five Amorite kings hide after Gibeon, until Joshua had large rocks rolled over the entrance?

A cave at Makkedah held the kings while Joshua finished the pursuit, and afterwards it became their tomb, sealed with large rocks that remained 'to this day'. Makkedah itself fell the same day.

Where did Jabin's northern alliance, 'as numerous as the sand on the seashore', camp before Joshua struck?

The Waters of Merom, a lake or marsh in Upper Galilee, saw the biggest battle of the conquest, against 'a huge army' with horses and chariots. Joshua chased the survivors all the way to Greater Sidon.

Which city, formerly 'the head of all these kingdoms', was the only one built on a mound that Joshua burned?

Hazor was singled out for burning while the other mound cities were looted and left standing, and Judges 4 has another Jabin of Hazor oppressing Israel a generation later. Its ruins, Tel Hazor, are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

What was Joshua ordered to do to the horses of the northern kings, whose chariots he was to burn?

Hamstring them was the order, crippling the animals rather than keeping them, so Israel would not build a chariot force like its neighbours. David did the same to Hadadezer's horses in 2 Samuel 8.

In which three Philistine cities alone did Anakites survive once Joshua had cleared them from the hill country?

Gaza, Gath and Ashdod kept a remnant of the giants, which is why Goliath 'of Gath' towers into 1 Samuel centuries later. Caleb had driven the three sons of Anak out of his own hill-country city.

Which city, formerly Kiriath Arba and once home of the Anakites, did Joshua give Caleb as his inheritance?

Hebron went to Caleb, who at eighty-five claimed he was as strong as the day Moses sent him to spy out the land. Arba, the city's namesake, 'was the greatest man among the Anakites'.

Who captured Kiriath Sepher and so won Caleb's daughter Aksah, later becoming the first judge of Israel?

Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, took the town also called Debir and reappears in Judges 3 as the deliverer who beat Cushan-Rishathaim. The land then had peace for forty years.

What did Aksah ask her father Caleb to add to her Negev land, getting both the upper and lower ones?

Springs of water were the 'special favor' she asked for after getting off her donkey, and the scene is repeated almost word for word in Judges 1. A field in the dry south was little use without them.

Which people did the tribe of Judah fail to dislodge from Jerusalem, where they still lived 'to this day'?

The Jebusites held Jerusalem until David captured the fortress of Zion in 2 Samuel 5 and made it his capital. The city sat right on the border between Judah's land and the next tribe's.

Whose five daughters, with no brothers to inherit, won land of their own from Joshua and the priest?

Zelophehad's daughters, Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milkah and Tirzah, had first won their case before Moses in Numbers 27, and Joshua honoured the ruling with tracts of land west of the Jordan. Numbers 36 then made them marry within their tribe.

What did Joshua tell the tribes of Joseph to do when they complained that one allotment was not enough for them?

Clear the forested hill country was the answer, and Joshua added that they could drive out the Canaanites of the plain even though those had 'chariots fitted with iron'. Their numbers, he said, were their strength.

At which town did Joshua set up the tent of meeting and parcel out land to the seven tribes still without any?

Shiloh stayed Israel's sanctuary for generations, until the Philistines captured the ark in Samuel's day. Three surveyors from each tribe first walked the land and wrote it up 'town by town, in seven parts'.

Which tribe's lot fell between Judah and the tribes of Joseph, its towns including Jericho, Bethel and Jerusalem?

Benjamin drew the first lot cast at the tent of meeting and got a narrow strip of twenty-six towns, among them Gibeah, Saul's future home, and Mizpah. Paul later boasted of belonging to it.

Which tribe's inheritance lay inside Judah's territory, because Judah's portion was 'more than they needed'?

Simeon drew the second lot and was folded into the south of Judah, with Beersheba among its towns, which is why the tribe later all but vanishes from the record. Jacob had foretold its people would be scattered in Israel.

Which tribe, having lost its territory in Joshua 19, attacked Leshem and renamed the town after its ancestor?

Dan moved north after losing its coastal land, and Judges 18 retells the raid with the town called Laish, giving Israel its proverbial span 'from Dan to Beersheba'. Samson was born in the old Danite territory.

Which Ephraim hill town did Israel give Joshua as his own inheritance, once every tribe had its share?

Timnath Serah was the town Joshua asked for, which he built up and settled, and where he was buried 'north of Mount Gaash'. Judges 2 spells it Timnath Heres, 'portion of the sun'.

How many cities of refuge did Joshua set apart for anyone who killed a person 'accidentally and unintentionally'?

Six cities were named, three on each side of the Jordan, with Kedesh, Ramoth and Bezer among them, and a foreigner living in Israel could flee to them too. The avenger of blood could not touch the killer before trial.

Which city of refuge east of the Jordan, in Bashan, gave its name to a plateau still disputed today?

Golan in Bashan lends its name to the Golan Heights, the plateau Israel captured from Syria in 1967 and still holds. It was the northernmost of the three refuge cities east of the river.

How many towns, each with pasturelands, does Joshua 21 count as given to the landless tribe by the others?

Forty-eight towns went to the tribe, thirteen of them to Aaron's priestly line, and Numbers 35 had fixed that number in advance. Even Caleb's city was shared: the town to the priests, the fields to Caleb.

Which priest headed the delegation sent to confront the eastern tribes over the altar they built by the Jordan?

Phinehas, the priest who had speared a couple at Peor in Numbers 25, came ready for war and went home satisfied, and the whole assembly that had gathered to fight stood down. He later received a town of his own in Ephraim.

Why did the eastern tribes say they had built their imposing altar by the Jordan, averting a civil war?

As a witness, not for sacrifice: the builders feared their children would one day be told 'you have no share in the Lord', and named the altar 'A Witness Between Us'. KJV readers know it simply as Ed.

Which ancestor does Joshua say worshipped other gods 'beyond the Euphrates' before God led Abraham away?

Terah, father of Abraham and Nahor, is the idol-worshipper in Joshua's speech, a detail Genesis never states outright. Joshua then tells the people to throw away the gods their ancestors served beyond the river.

What did God say he sent ahead of Israel to oust the two Amorite kings, not 'your own sword and bow'?

The hornet is the agent Joshua credits, echoing Exodus 23 and Deuteronomy 7, where God promises to send hornets ahead of Israel. Some readers take it as panic rather than an insect.

Which words open Joshua's best-known line, said after he told Israel to choose 'this day whom you will serve'?

As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord, Joshua said, and when the people swore to do the same he warned them 'You are not able to serve the Lord', a holy and jealous God. They insisted anyway.

At which town, where Jacob once bought land from Hamor's sons, did Joshua gather the tribes for his final address?

Shechem was where Joseph's bones, carried up from Egypt, were finally buried, and where Joshua set up a large stone under an oak to 'hear' the people's pledge. Jacob had buried his household's foreign gods under that same oak.

Whose burial at Gibeah, on land given to his son, makes up the very last verse of the Book of Joshua?

Eleazar, Aaron's son and the priest who had shared out the land with Joshua, closes the book, the third burial in four verses after Joshua's own and Joseph's bones. His son's town lay in the hill country of Ephraim.

From which camp east of the Jordan did Joshua secretly send two spies to look over Jericho?

Shittim, 'the acacias', was the camp where Israel had fallen for the Moabite women in Numbers 25, and the spies slipped out from there as quietly as possible. The whole nation later moved from it to the Jordan's bank.

What was Joshua told to keep 'always on your lips' and to meditate on 'day and night' before the crossing?

The Book of the Law was the condition for success, 'so that you may be careful to do everything written in it', and Joshua later read all of it aloud to the whole assembly. Psalm 1 borrows the same 'day and night' image.

Which command does the Lord press on Joshua again and again in the book's first chapter, and the people echo back?

Be strong and courageous comes three times from God in Joshua 1 and once more from the tribes, who add a death sentence for anyone who disobeys their new leader. Moses had used the same words to him in Deuteronomy 31.

On what date did Israel come up from the Jordan to camp by Jericho, the day a Passover lamb is picked out?

The tenth of the first month is when Exodus 12 has each household choose its lamb, so the crossing set up the first Passover in Canaan four days later. The river had been at flood stage the whole time.

At which town 'in the vicinity of Zarethan' did the Jordan's water pile up in a heap while Israel crossed?

Adam, far upstream, is where the flow stopped, which is why the riverbed ran dry all the way down to the Dead Sea. A landslide at the same bend blocked the Jordan for most of a day after the 1927 earthquake.

Which Canaanite city did the tribe of Ephraim fail to clear, its people instead 'required to do forced labor'?

Gezer stayed Canaanite until a Pharaoh burned it and handed it to his daughter, Solomon's wife, as a wedding gift, 1 Kings 9 says. It guarded the road from the coast up to Jerusalem.

In his farewell, Joshua says one Israelite routs how many enemies, 'because the Lord your God fights for you'?

A thousand per man is the boast, lifted from Moses' song in Deuteronomy 32, where one chases a thousand and two put ten thousand to flight. Joshua was 'a very old man' by then.