Book of Joshua Allusions & Cultural References

Technically, the Bible is probably the most alluded to work, ever. Let's take a closer look.

Literary and Philosophical References

In I Kings 16:34, Joshua's curse on Jericho comes to pass.

In 2 Samuel 21:1-9, the Gibeonites come to David demanding justice.

Israelite enemies are often so numerous that they are compared to the sand on the seashore (11:4). See Judges 7:12; I Samuel 13:5; I Kings 14:29 (11:4). Of course, Abraham was told that his descendants would be like the sand on the seashore in Genesis 22:17.

The Judahites could not drive out the Jebusites. Later on, a man named David will come on the scene, defeat the Jebusites, and make Jerusalem his capital. You'll have to wait until 2 Samuel 5:6-9 (see also I Chronicles 11:5-7) for King David to conquer the city, though.

Judges 18:31 records that the house of God was at Shiloh. Eventually it would be in Jerusalem. I Samuel 1-4 talks about religious activities associated with Shiloh.

Judges 2:23 states that God did not deliver all of the Canaanites into the hands of Joshua.

Joshua In The New Testament

Matthew 1:5 places Rahab (Rachab) in Jesus's family tree.

Luke 3:29 places Joshua (FYI in the KJV his name is Jose in this verse) in the Jesus family tree.

Acts 7:45 talks about Joshua's (in the KJV his name is Jesus) conquest of the Promised Land.

Hebrew 4:8 names Joshua (in the KJV his name is Jesus) when talking about rest and the Sabbath.

Hebrews 11:30 references the fall of the walls of Jericho. They came a tumblin' down because of faith.

Hebrews 11:31 says that Rahab survived the destruction of Jericho because of faith.

James 2:25 says that Rahab did great work by hiding the spies. You go, girl.

Literature

Dante's Divine Comedy—which is a horribly frightening story about a journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven— references Joshua as a warrior of faith.

Joshua, in case you were wondering, is the son of Nun. Not the kind in a habit… more like the name of your dad. Nancy Freedman, in a fun play on words, wrote a book called Joshua, Son of None. The Joshua in her book is a clone, making him son of no one. And now we're sad.

Check out the book Jericho Moon by Regina Lynn Preciado if you're interested in what happened to Joshua after the battle of Jericho. Unless you just want to read the Bible. You could definitely just read the Bible.

Pop Culture References

"Seventy Six Trombones"from The Music Man
Listen to Matthew Broderick sing "Seventy Six Trombones" from The Music Man. The beginning of the song is a reprise, so for kicks, here's Seth MacFarlane singing "Ya Got Trouble," the first part of the song.

Joshua
Handel composed an oratorio entitled Joshua in 1748. If you're an up-and-coming opera star like us, you might want to try singing along here.

The Joshua Tree by U2
U2 has an album called The Joshua Tree. It's chock full of scaled city walls, trembling, and searching.

The Greatest Adventure: Stories from the Bible
From 1985 to 1993, Hanna-Barbera produced a series of cartoons that told the story of three time-traveling friends adventuring through stories from the Bible. Fortunately for us, they ended up at the battle of Jericho. Even more fortunately, it's on YouTube.

Jericho
From 2006 to 2008, CBS produced a television show named Jericho, a story in which a small town in Kansas struggles to survive after a mushroom cloud appears over Denver, Colorado. We realize this is a tenuous connection to Joshua, but hey, roll with us.