Joshua: How did God relate differently with the people of Israel after Joshua became their leader?

It seems God relates to the people of Israel differently in the book of Joshua than he relates to the people throughout Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. There are three major differences. The first is who God uses as a mediator between himself and the people. The second is whether God is the judge and executor in sins against God. The third is his reaction when the people don’t follow his instructions.

In the first books, God spoke face to face with Moses and Moses would then relate the messages to the people. Moses served as a high priest to both the priests and the people, as well as the leader and judge of the people. When he died, he passed his duties on to not one but several people. His priestly duties went to Eleazar, the high priest and son of Aaron, his leadership duties went to Joshua, and his duties as a judge went to the heads of the tribes. This decentralization means that Joshua was not in as much contact with God as Moses was. God was communicating with three separate parts of the government rather than only one person.

Also, in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy when sins were committed against God, he intervened to execute the guilty. In Joshua this seems to change. When Achan disobeys God by keeping things from Jericho for himself, it is the leaders and the people who execute the guilty. They stone him, burn him, and then stone him again, leaving a pile of stones to remind their children not to repeat Achan’s mistake. An argument against this is the case of the person who broke the Sabbath in Numbers 15:32. In this instance as well the people punish the lawbreaker. So in this case, there does not seem to be much difference between the earlier books and Joshua.

There are also the cases of mass rebellion that are found frequently in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy that God dealt with through mass deaths. There are no examples of this in Joshua, so it is impossible to compare them.

In Joshua the people make a covenant with the Gibeonites without consulting God, and broke his command not to make treaties with the Canaanite people. However, instead of striking them dead like would have been expected, God leaves them to experience the curses he gave regarding that particular sin. In the other books, however, there isn’t a similar example, so it is hard to compare the ways that God interacted with them on that type of sin.

In conclusion, while there is a clear difference between God’s interaction with Moses and Joshua, there is not such a clear difference in the punishments of sins. In the case of sins that are directly against god in the case of only a few people, God tends to require the people to exact justice. In the case of mass sins against God there are no examples found in Joshua so the two cannot be compared. Concerning the people as a whole making a mistake and not following what God said in a way that is not challenging his sovereignty, there are only examples in Joshua, so the two cannot be compared.