Righteous Joshua, Son of Nun

Today, in both the Latin Church and the Byzantine Churches, is the Feast of Joshua, son of Nun.

From the West:

From The Golden Legend of Blessed Jacobus Voragine (ca. 1260) translated by William Caxton in 1483

After Moses, Joshua was duke and leader of the children of Israel, and brought them into the land of behest, and did many great battles. For whom God showed many great marvels and in especial one; that was that the sun stood still at his request, till he had overcome his enemies, by the space of a day. And our Lord, when he fought, sent down such hail-stones that slew more of his enemies with the stones than with man's hand.

Joshua was a noble man and governed well Israel, and divided the land unto the twelve tribes by lot. And when he was an hundred and ten years old he died. And divers dukes after him judged and deemed Israel, of whom be noble histories, as of Jephthah, Gideon, and Sampson, which I pass over unto the histories of the kings, which is read in holy church from the first Sunday after Trinity Sunday, unto the first Sunday of August. And in the month of August is read the Book of Sapience, and in the month of September be read the histories of Job, of Tobit, and of Judith, and in October the history of the Maccabees, and in November the book of Ezechiel and his visions. And in December the history of Advent. and the book of Isaiah unto Christmas and after the feast of Epiphany unto Septuagesima be read the Epistles of Paul. And this is the rule of the temporal through the year, etc.

From the East:

Saint Joshua (Jesus), the son of Navi, was leader of the Israelites after the death of the Prophet Moses. He was born in Egypt around 1654 B.C. and succeeded Moses when he was eighty-five. He ruled the Israelites for twenty-five years.

Joshua conquered the Promised Land, and led the Hebrew nation into it. The Lord worked a great miracle through Joshua. He stopped the Jordan from flowing, allowing the Israelites to cross over on foot as if on dry land (Joshua 3). Saint Michael, the Leader of the Heavenly Hosts, appeared to Joshua (Joshua 5:13-15).

The walls of Jericho fell down by themselves after the Ark of the Covenant was carried around the city for seven days (Joshua 6:20). Finally, during a battle with the enemy, Joshua, by God’s will, halted the motion of the sun (Joshua 10:13) and prolonged the day until victory was won.

After the end of the war, Joshua divided the Promised Land among the Twelve Tribes of Israel. He died at 110 years of age (1544 B.C.), commanding the nation to preserve the Law of Moses. All these events are recounted in the Book of Joshua, the sixth book of the Old Testament.