Joshua led the people into the land and he was the first judge in the kingdom. His name is “Yah hoshua” in Hebrew and means “Yah saves”. This is the same name as Jesus, who is the LORD’s appointed saviour, as God instructed Joseph before Jesus’ birth: “Thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins” Matthew 1:21.Waiting for response for Matthew 1:21 Joshua and Jesus look like different names because they have come to us through different languages: the first through the Hebrew of the Old Testament; the second through the Greek of the New. Joshua having the same name as Jesus alerts us to his being typical of Christ so that when we read the events in this book we look out for representation beforehand of the character and work of Jesus.
The book of Joshua records the entry of the people of Israel into the Promised Land and their first years there. They had been organised in the wilderness into a nation, and in the land they formed the kingdom of God. God himself was their king; the territory of the kingdom was God’s land, Canaan; the citizens of the kingdom were God’s people of Israel; the law governing the kingdom was God’s law through Moses; and the rulers were the judges appointed by God.