Joshua, young assistant to the dynamic Moses, was of strange lineage S a descendant of Joseph from the tribe of Ephriam, his personality and conduct were more like the tribe of Levi than a Ephriamite (trouble-maker). Two months out from Egypt, Moses and over a million Egyptian slaves were attacked by an army of Amalekites. Joshua must have attracted the attention of Moses, for he was picked to whip up an army from slaves to fight the intruders. With Moses coaching and prayers and Joshuas innate ability to organize and execute strategy, they beat off the Amalekites and Joshua then became the Commander-in-chief and led the children of Israel through all forays forced upon them. However, this was not Joshuas nature. He would rather have been a priest, but circumstances forced him to be a general. With the death of Moses, he was put in full charge and from then on, it was his duty to capture fortified city after city (19 in all) and prepare them for waiting tribes at Gilgal to be moved into their new homes with Canaanites as slaves in a reversal of their past servitude in Egypt. On several occasions Joshua wept over the slaughter of the Canaanite people and tried to make a life easier for them after occupation. The Covenant given Moses by Jehovah contained a phrase that bothered Joshua. You will become a kingdom of priests to make my name known to the world. Instead of being Opriests to the Canaanites, Joshua was forced, due to the sins of Israel and the belligerence of the Canaanites, to slaughter the natives in order to occupy the Promised Land. As if that were not task enough, he had to divide the land and provide the borders for the twelve tribes. You can imagine the bickering thataccompanied these decisions. Finally, he returned to his hill country of Ephriam, and at the age of 110 was moved by the Lord to a better world.