Event · Exodus and Wilderness
Joshua commissioned
Joshua commissionedNumbers 27:12–2315th or 13th century BCE (debated)
The LORD tells Moses to lay his hands on Joshua as the people's next leader.
- Main passage Numbers 27:12–23
- Place in the order
- Explicit biblical sequence Scripture itself gives the order of these events.
- Historical setting
- 15th or 13th century BCE (debated) Disputed date
1 Kings 6:1 counts 480 years from the exodus to Solomon's fourth year, which points to about 1446 BCE in the conventional chronology. Many scholars argue for the thirteenth century from archaeological evidence.
Proposals: About 1446 BCE (from 1 Kings 6:1); About 1260s BCE (archaeological arguments)
Read it
Numbers 27:12–23 WEB
12The LORD said to Moses, “Go up into this mountain of Abarim, and see the land which I have given to the children of Israel. 13When you have seen it, you also shall be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother was gathered; 14because in the strife of the congregation, you rebelled against my word in the wilderness of Zin, to honor me as holy at the waters before their eyes.” (These are the waters of Meribah of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.) 15Moses spoke to the LORD, saying, 16“Let the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation, 17who may go out before them, and who may come in before them, and who may lead them out, and who may bring them in, that the congregation of the LORD may not be as sheep which have no shepherd.” 18The LORD said to Moses, “Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him. 19Set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation; and commission him in their sight. 20You shall give authority to him, that all the congregation of the children of Israel may obey. 21He shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire for him by the judgment of the Urim before the LORD. At his word they shall go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he and all the children of Israel with him, even all the congregation.” 22Moses did as the LORD commanded him. He took Joshua, and set him before Eleazar the priest and before all the congregation. 23He laid his hands on him and commissioned him, as the LORD spoke by Moses.