Yehoshua bin Nun

Early years

Yehoshua bin Nun was born in Egypt, the son of Nun, and was of the tribe of Ephraim. Chazal teach that he was the head of the kingship of the tribe of Ephraim, as Avrohom was the head of the Avos and Dovid the head of the kingship of the tribe of Yehudah. They also note that three people are described with the words “age” and “days,” and that all three headed distinguished houses: Avrohom, Yehoshua and Dovid.

Chazal say that Yehoshua circumcised Bnei Yisroel in Egypt, and the verse in Sefer Yehoshua records Hashem telling him to return and circumcise them a second time. He was always close to Moshe. When Yehoshua left the camp to wait at the foot of Har Sinai for Moshe’s return, the mon fell for him just as it fell for the whole people, and Chazal relate that it fell on his limbs and he took it and ate it.

From childhood to old age he occupied himself with Torah study, and Chazal teach that he rose to greatness only because he never stopped learning. They say he made himself like a simple person before Moshe, and troubled him to teach him Torah at every moment, until he had learned all of it.

Torah and leadership

Chazal say that Moshe’s face was like the sun and Yehoshua’s face was like the moon. Hashem did not hear Yehoshua call himself a servant of Hashem, but He Himself called him that. When Hashem told Moshe whom to choose as the next leader, He said, “Take yourself Yehoshua son of Nun,” and described him as a hero like Moshe. The Tosefta teaches that Calev son of Yefuneh the Kenizi and Yehoshua were equal to each other.

Moshe received the Torah at Sinai and handed it down to Yehoshua, and Yehoshua to the Zekeinim, as the Mishnah in Avos teaches. When Yehoshua sat and expounded, everyone knew that he was teaching the words of Moshe. Even in matters he had not heard from Moshe, his own reasoning matched what Moshe had been told at Sinai.

Hashem saw how dear the words of Torah were to Yehoshua and said to him, “This sefer haTorah shall not depart from your mouth.” Chazal say that he was fluent in Sefer Devarim, which he studied constantly, and that when Hashem appeared to him He found him sitting with Sefer Devarim in his hand. When the sun stood still for him, Chazal relate that he held up Sefer Devarim to the sun and said that because he had never stopped learning it, the sun should halt at his request. The pesukim record his words: “Sun, stand still at Givon, and moon, in the valley of Ayalon.” The sun stood still and the moon stopped until the nation took revenge on its enemies, and there was no day like it before or after, when Hashem listened to the voice of a man, because Hashem fought for Yisroel.

Yehoshua led Bnei Yisroel for twenty-eight years. He built a mizbeyach on Har Eival, and Chazal tell us that if anyone asks why he built an altar when the Mishkan stood, the answer is that Hashem told him to. Chazal teach that when thirty-six Jews fell in the battle of Ai, he said, “Would that we had been content and stayed across the Jordan,” which they compare to the rich man who answers harshly while Moshe, who did not enter the Land, pleaded.

Chazal relate that as Moshe was about to leave this world, he told Yehoshua, “Ask me every question you have.” Yehoshua answered, “My teacher, did I ever leave you for even a short time and go elsewhere? Did you not write of me, ‘He did not leave the tent’?” At that moment his understanding was weakened, and he forgot three hundred halachos and had seven hundred doubts. All the people rose to kill him. Hashem told him that to tell him what he did not know was impossible, and that he should distract them by going to war to capture Canaan. Chazal add that three thousand halachos were forgotten during the mourning for Moshe, and that when the people said to Yehoshua, “Ask Hashem,” he replied, “It is not in the heavens.” Of the verse “That night Yehoshua went into the valley,” Chazal say that he went into the depths of halacha.

Yehoshua married Rachav, who sheltered the two spies. The Arizal writes in Shaar HaGilgulim that Rachav was a very holy soul, and that it was not for nothing that Yehoshua married her. Chazal also say that his coin bore an ox on one side and a re’em, an animal with majestic horns, on the other, that he was five cubits tall, and that a royal crown inscribed with Hashem’s Name sat on his head.

Teachings and seforim

Chazal teach that Yehoshua wrote the words in the Sefer Torah of Hashem, and that he wrote words in his own book about the cities of refuge, which also appear in the Torah. They say that Moshe wrote the whole Torah up to the words “Moshe the servant of Hashem died there,” and that the rest was written by Yehoshua. According to Chazal, Yehoshua wrote his own sefer, Sefer Yehoshua, and the last eight pesukim of the Torah, and Pinchas the Kohen Gadol completed Sefer Yehoshua.

Later years and passing

Chazal say that Yehoshua did not rebuke Bnei Yisroel until he was near the end of his life. Hashem had promised to be with him as He was with Moshe, so he should have lived to 120 years like Moshe. Chazal explain why ten years were taken from his life. When Moshe was told to take vengeance on Midyan and then be gathered to his people, he acted at once. But when Yehoshua came to fight the thirty-one kings of Canaan, he thought that if he defeated them quickly he would die quickly, as Moshe had. So he began to delay the wars. Hashem told him that because he had done so, He would shorten his life by ten years. The Zohar teaches that he died only because of the counsel of the serpent, the sin of Adam and Chava.

Before the sun of Yehoshua set, the sun of Osniel ben Kenaz had risen. Chazal say that when Yehoshua was born, no one took note, but when he died, all of Yisroel did. Yet Bnei Yisroel were lax in showing him the kindness of mourning him properly. One was busy with his vineyard, another with his field and another with his coal. Hashem therefore wished to make the whole world quake, as the verse says, they buried him north of Har Gaash.

Yehoshua bin Nun passed away on 26 Nissan 2517.

Legacy

Yehoshua was the link in the chain of the Mesorah between Moshe Rabbeinu and the Zekeinim, and the leader who entered Eretz Yisroel after Moshe. Sefer Yehoshua, which Chazal say he wrote, is part of Tanach.