Joshua: The Link Book

Now after the death of Moses the servant of the LORD it came to pass, that the LORD spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying, Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses.

Joshua 1:1ff (Spoke 6, Cycle 1)

One of the greatest joys of the Bible Wheel is the continuous, surprising, and delightful discovery that God had already led many of His great expositors to comment on its patterns decades or centuries before its revelation in 1995. Though Baxter came closer than anyone to recognizing the structure of the Wheel, there is no evidence whatsoever in any of his writings that he ever saw its complete form, much less its integration with the Hebrew Alphabet. Yet he writes as if he were holding the Bible Wheel in his hands! Here is his introduction to Joshua in his magnificent six-volume overview of the whole Bible, Explore the Book :

Joshua is complementary to the five books of Moses, and introductory to the new historical group of twelve (Joshua to Esther). The five books of Moses lead Israel up to Canaan; and Joshua complements these by leading Israel into Canaan. The further twelve books cover Israel's history inside Canaan; and Joshua introduces these by describing the Israelite settlement in Canaan. It is thus the link book between the two historical groups in the Old Testament.

The Sixth Book exemplifies the meaning of Vav as a connector (see Vav: The Link between Heaven and Earth). I was about to write an identical introduction when I stopped and checked to see what Baxter had written. This is typical of every Spoke, I really do not have to compose much of anything at all. The insights are already stated for me. It is also particularly pleasing that Baxter used this occasion to reiterate the structure of the Seventeen Historical Books as divided into 5 and 12, since it is part of the foundation of the sevenfold symmetric perfection of the Canon Wheel (BW book pg 32, see The Sevenfold Canon).

Joshua records the passage of Israel from the wilderness where they wandered forty years (BW book pg 172) to the Promised Land. There is powerful typology here. Moses the Lawgiver died, and Joshua, whose name is the equivalent of Jesus, led them through the "baptism" in the Jordan into the Promised Land. This is the Gospel.

Joshua is divided into three sections covering their passage into the land, their conquest of the local inhabitants, and the distribution of the land by lots to the twelve tribes. It was in this third section that the six Levitical cities of refuge were established.

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