In the entire book we find no mention that Joshua is the author of it. And yet the Jews have since long considered Joshua as the author. The Talmud says that Joshua has written the whole book except for the last few verses (Joshua 24:29-33), that Phinehas shall have added.

In Joshua 24:26 we read: “And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God”, that is he wrote a document that he added to the book of the law that Moses had given the people. This hint as well as the fact that many events are marked by the description of an eyewitness emphasizes the authorship of Joshua (compare chapter 6:25 and 15:63).

Joshua (his name means “Jehovah is salvation”) was well qualified for becoming Moses’ successor in the land of Canaan. When still a young man Joshua stood by the side of Moses, fought with Amalek (Exodus 17:9), went up to Mount Horeb with Moses (Exodus 24:13), went to Canaan as one of the twelve spies (Numbers 13) and was finally called to be Moses’ successor by Divine appointment (Numbers 27:18 ff; Deuteronomy 31:1-8).

The book of Joshua describes the time from the entrance into Canaan (around 1406 BC) until Joshua’s death about ten years later.

The book of Joshua describes the passing through Jordan, the conquest of the Canaanites and the distribution of the country among the twelve tribes.

Israel received the promised land according to God’s promise given to Abraham (Genesis 13:14-17; Genesis 15:7; Genesis 15:16). But the people needed obedience and energy of faith for it.

In this story we see figuratively how the believers appropriate God’s blessings by the power of the Holy Spirit. In the river Jordan we not only see a picture of Christ’s death and resurrection for the saint (as in the Red Sea), but also the believer’s raising up together with Christ (Ephesians 2:6; Colossians 3:1).

Canaan is a picture of the spiritual blessings in the heavenlies (Ephesians 1:3). Therefore the battles between Israel and the heathen Canaanites are a picture of the Christian’s battle against the spiritual powers of wickedness in the heavenlies (Ephesians 6:12).

We may clearly see out of this that the book of Joshua corresponds to the Epistle to the Ephesians in the New Testament.