The below audio is a brief introduction to Sefer Yehoshua by Dr. Michael Sokolow. The text below is patterned after the audio.
In addition we urge you to listen to Dr. Sokolow’s informative and insightful introduction to Nach in general by clicking here
Sefer Yehoshua takes place just after the death of Moshe Rabeinu. Moshe Rabeinu was, of course, the great leader of the Jewish people. Despite leading the Jewish people out of Egypt he sadly never merited actually going into Eretz Yisroel. Yehoshua bin Nun was Moshe’s closest student and the heir apparent to take over as leader of the Jewish nation. Yehoshua was at Moshe’s side through all the good times and all the trying times.
Sefer Yehoshua can be divided into five sections. (Incidentally, these five sections can be closely correlated to the five books of the Torah. Please listen to Dr Sokolow’s introduction on the top of this page for more details)
1) Chapters 1 – 4 deal with how the Jewish people entered Eretz Yisroel
2) Chapters 5 – 12 deal with the conquests of Yehoshua and the Jewish people, the first Pesach in Eretz Yisroel and other details
3) Chapters 13 – 19 deal with the division of land among the Jewish people
4) Chapters 20 -22: Once Eretz Yisroel has been conquered Yehoshua helps the Jewish people fulfill all the commandments that deal with the actual land
5) Chapters 23 – 24: Yehoshua addresses the nation.
As we will see the time of Yehoshuas leadership represents one of the high points in Jewish history.
Some of the “highlights” include:
- The entry into Eretz Yisroel thus fulfilling the promise that Hashem gave to Avrohom.
- There was tremendous achdus or togetherness within the Jewish nation at this time which as we now know was not always the case throughout our history.
- The Torah that was being listened to and fulfilled by the people, including many commandments that were being fulfilled for the very first time.
We hope to outline all these points in the audio shiurim and we hope you enjoy and follow along!