The early life and background of Joshua, son of Nun
Beginning in the summer of 2022, our church began preaching through the book of Joshua. I had the opportunity to preach about the crossing of the Jordan River and the fall of Jericho. In preparing for those sermons, I came to appreciate the life of Joshua. This is the first of several articles about this important person in the story of redemption.
(5.5 minutes)
Enemy at the Gates
Less than three months after Egypt, Israel was camped in the desert. God had just given them sweet manna in response to their complaints, and now they panicked because they saw no water. This time, God gave them water from a rock. Then Amalek attacked.
This is Israel's first battle, and Moses is watching from the hilltop. Aaron and Hur are beside him. And this is when we meet Joshua, the son of Nun. It’s actually a little unusual. Up to now, we’ve have heard nothing about him, yet when it’s time for battle, Moses tells him to gather men and fight.
Before we think about Joshua as a general, it will be good to see where he’s come from. We probably aren’t told much because when Moses was writing, everyone knew about him.
So who is Joshua?
Ninety days ago, Joshua was an Egyptian slave. Where did he learn to fight with a sword? or lead an army? Did Israel have a secret militia that trained in the swampy ground of Goshen? What made Joshua different from the other Hebrews?
From the Tribe of Ephraim
Scattered through the Old Testament are clues about Joshua’s background. First, he was of the tribe of Ephraim. This means that he descended from Joseph, whose mummy is currently headed for Canaan in Israel’s baggage train! We know the tribes of Levi and Judah are important, but we might not realize how important Ephraim is.
Think how God blessed Joseph – he didn’t become one tribe, he became two! Like Jacob had foreseen, his sons each became a tribe. And as with Jacob and Esau, the younger would be the greater one. Ephraim would always be more prominent than Manasseh – and nearly every other tribe. Centuries later, in the days of the kings, Ephraim was the main northern tribe, like Judah was in the south.
Think of God’s amazing plan in Joseph’s life. Though he was sold into slavery, God used his brothers’ sin to bring blessing. Unlike their cousins, who arrived in Egypt as hungry refugees, Ephraim and Manasseh were born into luxury. Their father was second only to Pharaoh in power, and their mother was the daughter of an Egyptian priest.
The boys almost certainly got the kind of higher education that Moses later had. Joshua came several generations after Ephraim, so it’s hard to know how many of these advantages reached him, but even in his day, the Ephraimites remained prominent among the other tribes.
Son of Nun, but Not a Nobody
These things teach us about Joshua’s tribal heritage, but what about his immediate family? His father was named Nun, but we don’t know anything about him, or about Joshua’s mother. Maybe they didn’t even make it out of Egypt! Were they buried back in Goshen?
On the other hand, we do know Joshua’s grandfather, Elishama. When the Israelites left Egypt, they traveled by tribal groups. Each tribe was led by a main man, and the leader of Ephraim was Elishama. In the first census of fighting men, about a year after this battle, Ephraim is one of the tiniest tribes. Even so, Elishama has an army of over 40,000. Years later, Gideon said he came from the weakest clan within his tribe and that he was the least in his father’s house. This wasn’t true of Joshua.
A Solitary Figure with a Family and a Past
The Bible doesn’t say how old he was, but we can come close. For one, we don’t meet him as a shepherd boy, but as a general. He was at least 20 when he joined Caleb as a spy; since Caleb was 40 at that time, Joshua might have been as well. He couldn’t have been much older, because Moses calls him “a young man.”
This means that Joshua had been a slave in Egypt who had lived under Pharaoh and had heard the good news of Moses’ return from his exile. He had seen the plagues that God sent.
Joshua also had a family. We know this because when he says goodbye to his people at the end of his life, he speaks of himself and of his house. This tells us that through much of his story, he had a wife and children who watched him learn from Moses and cross the Jordan River.
The Bible doesn’t tell us much about the life or background of Joshua, but it tells us more than we may have realized. Somehow he learned to fight. Somehow he learned to lead. God equips His people for service, and then He sends them out.
