Passover to Pentecost – Joshua’s Passover and His Fifty Days        Week 2 Day 5

The Lord your God did to the Jordan just what he had done to the Red Sea. Joshua 4: 23 (NIV)

Joshua is a man of God, one of the faithful spies, the protégé of Moses, and the leader of Israel who would take them into Promised Land.  We will look at the experiences of Joshua and Moses; there are some interesting comparisons and contrast. Refer to Joshua 3 – 8.  Numbers 14 is the reference for the forty years of wandering.

Leaving

Both of these great leaders were leaving a tough circumstance and going into something unknown.

• Moses was leading a group of slaves who thought they would quickly enter a “Promise Land.” These people thought they would have to fight for their new home; they had two years to prepare.  An enemy was left in the Red Sea never to bother them again; God had fought the battle.  They had tasted the food of Egypt and had memories of it.
• Joshua was leading a group of shepherds who had enjoyed freedom. This group knew they were going to fight for their new home; they had forty years to prepare. They had inherited a new enemy that would help prepare them for the battles they would fight.  Most had never eaten Egyptian food and had only known manna.

Entering

• Moses and his people entered their baptism with the Cloud of the Lord blocking the enemy from attacking. All of the men had been circumcised.  They had new clothes and the riches of Egypt in their possession.  The memories of slavery were being left in the Sea.
• Joshua and his people entered their baptism with the Cloud leading the way, and they were about to attack the enemy. Many of the men had not been circumcised.  Their clothes had not worn out for forty years and the riches of Egypt were now family possessions that had been passed on from their parents.  Stones of memory were picked up from the River for future generations.  Some people were “baptized” twice.

Passover

• Moses’ first Passover was in the land of slavery and celebrated with food from Egypt. When the “old” food ran out they were given manna.  The yeast of Egypt was removed from them, and blood from the lamb was put on the door.
• Joshua’s first Passover was in the Promised Land and celebrated with manna. When they got “new food” from the Land the manna stopped.  There was no yeast and many of the males were “bleeding” from circumcision.  The men forty to fifty-nine years old protected them and got the “new food” from the Land.  (The typology of cutting away the old flesh as you enter the Promise will have to do as to why Moses and the community stopped circumcising.  Especially in the light of Exodus 12: 48.)

Riches

• Moses and the people left rich with gold, silver, clothing, and flocks and herds. They gave offerings to make the Tabernacle.
• Joshua and the people were to devote the riches of Jericho to God; all of it was God’s. Achan disobeyed and was destroyed (See more on him in What Type of Metal Are You – Part 6).  The plunder of Ai belonged to the people.

Going In Circles

• Moses and the people wandered in circles and complained for forty years.
• Joshua and the people went in circles thirteen times around Jericho in silence. (See The Number Thirteen in the Bible.)

Battles

• Moses and Joshua had to fight the Amalekites. The typology of Moses praising won the victory.
• Joshua and the people won the victory with a shout of praise.

End of the First Fifty Days

Since I can’t prove either of these I will let the pattern speak for itself.

• Moses and the People were at Mount Sinai and were given the Law.
• Joshua and the People were at Mount Ebal and Gerizim reading the blessings and curses from the Law. (See The Tribes of Israel and Shechem.)  It is possible that Joshua 8:30 was on the Day of Pentecost. This reading was ordered by Moses in Deuteronomy 27.  (See Family List.)  Joshua also copied the law of Moses on stone tablets.
• This mirrors what Moses did after breaking the tablets God had given him.

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