Numbers 13:16 - Exposition

Moses called Oshea the son of Nun Jehoshua. The change was from הוֹשֵׁעַ (Hoshea, help or salvation) to יְהוֹשֻׁעַ (Jehoshua—the same name with the first syllable of the sacred name prefixed, and one of the vowel points modified). It was afterwards contracted into יֵשׁוּעַ (Jeshua; cf. Nehemiah 8:17 ), and has come to us in its current form through the Vulgate. The Septuagint has here ἐπωνόμασε τὸν αὐσὴ ιησοῦν , and so the name appears in the New Testament. It is an obvious difficulty that Joshua has already been called by his new name at Exodus 17:9 , and in every other place where he has been mentioned. In fact he is only once elsewhere called Hoshea, and that in a place ( Deuteronomy 32:44 ) where we should certainly not have expected it. There are two ways of explaining the difficulty, such as it is. We may suppose that the change of name was really made at this time, as the narrative seems (on the face of it) to assert; and then the previous mentions of Joshua by his subsequent and more familiar name will be cases of that anticipation which is so common in Scripture. Or we may suppose, what is perhaps more in harmony with the course of Joshua's life, that the change bad been already made at the time of the victory over Amalek. In that case the Vav consec. in וַיִּקִרָא (and … called) must be referred to the order of thought, not of time, and a sufficient reason must be shown for the interpolation of the statement in this particular place. Such a reason may fairly be found in the probable fact that the names of the spies were copied out of the tribal registers, and that Joshua still appeared under his original name in those registers. As to the significance of the change, it is not easy to estimate it aright. On the one hand, the sacred syllable entered into so many of the Jewish names that it could not have seemed a very marked change; on the other hand, the fact that our Saviour received the same name because he was our Saviour throws a halo of glory about it which we cannot ignore. In the Divine providence Hoshea became Joshua because he was destined to be the temporal saviour of his people, and to lead them into their promised rest.