Segments of the Book of Joshua are among the most well-known passages of the Bible.
Many households have posted the challenge and proclamation of Joshua 24:15 somewhere in their home. The battle of Jericho has been turned repeatedly into movies, songs and children’s stories.
When in need of encouragement, God’s command to Joshua in Chapter 1 is a passage many turn to for strength to face the future.
But there are segments of the book overlooked for a variety of reasons. Some skip Chapters 13-21, because the listing of locations that are hard to pronounce and the struggle to understand how tribal allotments of land might apply to modern readers is too difficult to discern.
Other passages, such as Joshua 6:17, with the command to wipe out anything that breathes are hard to reconcile with a Christian ethic and have been at the center of debates about the Old Testament’s relationship to the New Testament for centuries.
Still, at the end of the day, the Book of Joshua provides some of the most engaging and exciting reading found in the Old Testament. Throughout its pages, we encounter personal and interpersonal struggles about doing what is right.
The adventure of entering a new, unknown land resonates with believers who are attempting to navigate their way through a world that feels more and more foreign to them. And even those passages that are sometimes hard to relate to have some important lessons to teach about God’s faithfulness to his promises and our need to follow him wherever he may lead us.
NIV Application Commentary: Joshua by Robert L. Hubbard Jr.
The NIV Application Commentary series is one of the most solid and useful sets available on the market today.
Robert Hubbard Jr.’s volume on Joshua follows the set pattern of the series with its treatment of each passage through the lens of “Original Meaning,” “Bridging the Contexts” between us and the original audience, and “Contemporary Significance” with great effectiveness and purpose.
Sign up for our weekly edition and get all our headlines in your inbox on Thursdays
The commentary starts with an in-depth introduction to Joshua and some of the questions that book creates.
Questions such as, “Why all the killing?” are addressed and a thorough treatment of the historical background of the book and major interpretive questions surrounding it—such as its relationship to archaeology—are handled with thoroughness and clarity. Hubbard treats each of these issues with both a scholarly acumen and a humble spirit about things that are debatable.
Perhaps most helpful to modern readers will be Hubbard’s commitment to bring out connections between Joshua and the New Testament. He gives an excellent comparison of Joshua’s commission in Chapter 1 and the Great Commission.
Hubbard is quite gifted at bridging the contexts between a world that sometimes seems foreign to us and one we attempt to emulate with all we are.
Tyndale Old Testament Commentary: Joshua by Richard Hess
The Tyndale Old Testament Commentary series published by InterVarsity Press is another accessible and useful set for nonspecialists. The volumes in the series tend to be a little older—written in the 1980s and 1990s—and are not as thorough or technical as other sets, but these realities make volumes available online at especially affordable prices. Additionally, these elements do not diminish the overall usefulness of each book.
Richard Hess is a gifted communicator who understands not only the content of the Scripture, but also the heart of the church. He consistently includes notes about the relevance of the text to Christians and offers many cross references to the New Testament.
Hess doesn’t spend much time on some of the more controversial content issues of Joshua, but he does give a good overview of the historical background of the book and its relationship to archaeology.
New American Commentary: Joshua by David Howard Jr.
David Howard’s volume in the New American Commentary is a standout volume in the series, both for its thoroughness and clarity.
While some volumes in this series can gloss over issues or completely ignore them, Howard is willing to tackle such issues and even go against the “traditional” reading of a passage if that is where the text leads him.
For instance, in his handling of Joshua 10:12-15, where some insist on the sun literally standing still, Howard argues the passage is best read as a poem filled with figurative expressions.
Whether one agrees with him or not, his willingness to cover the strengths and weaknesses of the various interpretations of the passage—he identifies five—shows the value of this volume for dealing with a variety of interpretative matters.
Howard is a scholar deeply entrenched in the historical books in general and Joshua in particular. But his writing style is very readable and user-friendly.
He is also responsible for Moody Publishers An Introduction to the Old Testament Historical Books—another excellent resource for nonspecialists covering the content and background of all the books covering Israel’s history in the Old Testament.
The fact his target audience often is beginning students, coupled with his translation and ministry experience, makes his reflections on Joshua both meaningful and helpful to a wide swath of readers.
Other Solid Commentaries
New International Commentary on the Old Testament: The Book of Joshua by Marten H. Woudstra
New International Commentary on the Old Testament is the gold standard of Old Testament commentaries and this volume by Woudstra is no exception.
The primary issue with the volumes in this set is they tend to be very technical and also are more expensive than many series. Still, if the reader has the expertise to take advantage of the additional language content and breadth of information, this definitely is a text that needs to be in their library.
Word Biblical Commentary: Joshua by Trent C. Butler
The 2014 update and revision of Butler’s commentary on Joshua features solid biblical scholarship and his own translation of the text.
The content and flow of the Word volumes makes it difficult to navigate, and there is a lot of extra material most readers will find useless. Still, there are some nuggets of insight in the commentary that are helpful.
Focus on the Bible: Joshua: No Falling Words by Dale Ralph Davis
Dale Davis’ commentaries on the Old Testament historical books are excellent and nontechnical works. His volume on Joshua is no exception. What it lacks in background, it makes up for in good literary contextual discussions and pastoral applications.
Tim Pierce is associate professor and dean of Wayland Baptist University’s School of Christian Studies. The views expressed in this resource article are those of the author.
We seek to connect God’s story and God’s people around the world. To learn more about God’s story, click here.
Send comments and feedback to Eric Black, our editor. For comments to be published, please specify “letter to the editor.” Maximum length for publication is 300 words.