JOSHUA
Entry · Courage · Conquest · Inheritance · Covenant Renewal
Expanded Museum Poster · Timeline Theme Table
1 · Core Story & Meaning
Joshua tells how Israel crosses the Jordan, takes possession of key parts of the
promised land, and divides it among the tribes under Joshua’s leadership. It is
about God keeping His promises and about a people learning to be strong and
courageous in obedience.
Core Sentence · Joshua in One Line
God keeps His promise by bringing Israel into the land through Joshua,
calling them to courage, obedience, and covenant loyalty as they receive
their inheritance.
God
├─ commissions Joshua
├─ dries up the Jordan
├─ brings down Jericho's walls
└─ gives rest and inheritance
└─ as Israel walks forward in obedience
Emotionally: Joshua is a book of crossing thresholds—stepping from
wilderness into responsibility, from promise spoken to promise held.
Four Major Movements
How the book actually flows:
1. PREPARATION & CROSSING (1–5)
Commission, spies, Jordan, covenant signs
2. INITIAL CONQUEST (6–12)
Jericho, Ai, Gibeon, major campaigns
3. LAND ALLOTMENT (13–21)
Territories, cities, rest described
4. COVENANT LOYALTY (22–24)
Misunderstood altar, farewell, "Choose whom you will serve"
Joshua sits between Exodus/Numbers and Judges: it showcases a season of
focused obedience and visible promise-fulfillment.
2 · Key Scenes & Emotional Gestures
These scenes capture Joshua’s heart: courage at the edge, God’s unusual ways
of fighting, the danger of compromise, and the solemn weight of covenant renewal.
Scene · "Be Strong and Courageous" (Josh 1)
Leadership mantle and repeated encouragement.
God
└─ speaks to Joshua:
├─ "Be strong and courageous"
├─ meditate on the law
└─ "I am with you wherever you go"
People
└─ pledge to follow Joshua
Emotionally: handing off leadership with both weight and reassurance;
courage defined as trusting presence and word.
Scene · Jordan Crossing & Stones (Josh 3–4)
Another "Red Sea moment" with a memorial.
Priests
└─ step into Jordan with the ark
Waters
└─ stand in a heap; people cross
Stones
└─ taken from riverbed
└─ stacked as a future question:
"What do these stones mean?"
Emotionally: déjà vu of deliverance, and a deliberate act of memory so
later generations don’t lose the story.
Scene · Jericho & Achan (Josh 6–7)
Victory by obedience; setback by hidden sin.
Jericho
├─ walls fall after obedience
└─ first fruits devoted to God
Achan
└─ secretly keeps devoted things
└─ Israel suffers defeat at Ai
Emotionally: wonder at God's strange strategy, then shock as private
disobedience damages the whole community.
Scene · Covenant Renewal at Shechem (Josh 24)
"As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."
Joshua
├─ retells Israel's story
├─ challenges them to choose
└─ sets up a stone as witness
People
└─ pledge to serve the LORD
Emotionally: a summing-up moment—gratitude, solemnity, and the awareness
that loyalty will be contested in the years ahead.
3 · Timeline of Themes by Story Order
Rows trace Joshua’s movement from crossing to covenant renewal; columns track
our core themes across that journey.
| Story Order |
Section Block |
Creation |
Fall |
Covenant |
Promise |
Faithfulness |
Exile |
| 1 · Josh 1–2 |
Commission & Spies in Jericho |
new beginning in land |
|
Moses-era covenant carried on |
assurance of land |
"I will be with you" |
|
| 2 · Josh 3–5 |
Jordan Crossing & Covenant Signs |
creation-like water control |
|
circumcision, Passover renewed |
stepping into promise |
God mirrors Exodus power |
|
| 3 · Josh 6–8 |
Jericho, Achan, Ai |
|
hidden sin harms many |
devotion laws enforced |
renewed after repentance |
God restores victory |
|
| 4 · Josh 9–12 |
Gibeon Treaty & Campaigns |
|
naïveté, deceptive allies |
oaths honored despite trickery |
land progressively secured |
God fights for Israel |
|
| 5 · Josh 13–21 |
Allotment & Rest |
land structured and named |
|
inheritance by tribe |
promises counted as fulfilled |
"Not one word has failed" |
|
| 6 · Josh 22 |
Eastern Altar Misunderstanding |
|
suspicion, near civil war |
unity in worship affirmed |
|
conflict resolved by listening |
|
| 7 · Josh 23–24 |
Farewell & Covenant Renewal |
|
future drift anticipated |
covenant witnessed & recorded |
life linked to loyalty |
God portrayed as faithful giver |
|
Joshua is the story of promise arriving in concrete form: boundary lines,
cities, and memorial stones that say, "This is what God has done."