Leadership Lessons from Joshua in Canaan

In my renewed attempt to "read through" (okay, scan) the entire Bible in 90 days, I just finished reading the book of Joshua.  I observed a few precepts inherent in Joshua's behavior as he went through the process of allocating the recently-conquered Promised Land among the Twelve Tribes of Judah, and I wanted to share a few of them here.
(Props to the La Vista Church of Christ in Nebraska for allowing me to use the adjacent picture in my blog.)


Prior to discussing these precepts, I will list them:

1. Obey God;
2. Be fair in your dealings;
3. Be magnanimous in your dealings;
4. Listen before judging and acting;
5. Continue to follow God.

Firstly, Joshua obeyed God.  Joshua was one of only two spies who believed that God would enable the Israelites to conquer Canaan, aka, the Promised Land. Further, God provided specific instruction for them to execute His judgment on the Godless inhabitants there, specifically slaughtering virtually every man, woman, child, and even animal in the cities of the Canaanite nation. Although ancillary to this blog, I will explain why I think that this can be justified, or at least explained:  The people living in the land before the Israelites conquered it were participating in the following behaviors: sexual licentiousness; incest; child sacrifice; bestiality; robbing, raping and killing any strangers that ventured into their cities; and child and adult prostitution, to name a few.  In any case, God instructed the Israelites to execute his judgment as they conquered the land, and for the most part they were obedient in this matter and God rewarded them with victory.  Some remnants of the Canaanites were not slaughtered, but were instead put into forced labor.  Perhaps the sins of these people were less egregious than others.  Who knows.

Secondly, As Joshua divided the land, he did not take a bureaucratic approach.  Rather he thought carefully about how he apportioned the land to ensure that the allocations were equitable, rather than just equal.  And he distributed the land fairly. Although women were treated more-or-less as chattel at that time, Joshua provided for families that had no sons to still receive allotments for the daughters.

Furthermore, he was equitable, and even magnanimous in his dealings.  When a tribe complained about its allotment, he didn't just tell them "Too bad!"; he gave them options for expanding to get what they needed.

It is also recounted in the book of Joshua that due process and "listening" was accomplished before acting, or reacting.  Specifically, it was reported that some of the tribes had built an imposing altar, not unlike those erected previously by the pagan Canaanites.  So Joshua sent a priest and a 10-man "jury" to hear the accused's side of the story. Rather than to be used a working altar, it was constructed as a reminder and sign of the tribes' reliance and worship of the one true God.  This answer satisfied the priest and jury, and an injustice of falsely-applied punishment (or banishment) was avoided.


The conclusion of Joshua's remarks focused on the need to continue to rely on God, even in good times.  How often do we cry out to God in bad times, recommit ourselves to following Him, but then abandon Him as soon as our ship is righted?  


For me, it happens all to often.