While this July 4th, most Americans are, amidst the barbecues and jumps in the pool, unlikely to pop open a Bible and start reading the book of Joshua, they might at least take a moment during the festivities to consider how the book’s eponymous Israelite hero helped shape the United States from the colonial period to the Civil Rights era.
Joshua first appears as Moses’s assistant after the parting of the Red Sea in the book of Exodus. We see him with Moses on Mount Sinai to receive the Law, and leading the battle against Amalek. Eventually Joshua becomes Moses’s successor, leading the people of Israel across the Jordan River and into the Promised Land.
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