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1. About Joshua
According to the Book of Exodus and the Book of Numbers, the Biblical character named Joshua is mentioned in a few passages as Moses’ assistant. Joshua is the central character in the Hebrew Bible’s Book of Joshua who became the leader of the Israelite tribes after the death of Moses. According to Bible Chronology, Joshua lived between 1500-1390 BCE, or sometime in the late Bronze Age. There several identical characteristics between Joshua and Jesus including: having the same name Hebrew name “Yehoshua” which means “Yahweh is salvation,” having the same role as leader of Israel, having the same mission of peace, having the same number of appointed men (twelve), and having the same representations of twelve stones for the appointed twelve.
2. Identical Name: Yehoshua, “Yahweh is Salvation”
The English name “Joshua” is a rendering of the Hebrew language “Yehoshua”, meaning “Yahweh is salvation”. The vocalization of the second name component may be read as Hoshea – the name used in the Torah before Moses added the divine name (Numbers 13:16). “Jesus” is the English of the Greek transliteration of “Yehoshua” via Latin. In the Septuagint, all instances of the word “Yehoshua” are rendered as “Iesous” which is the closest Greek pronunciation of the Aramaic “Yeshua” (Nehemiah 8:17). Thus in Greek Joshua is called “Jesus son of Nun” to differentiate him from Jesus Christ.
Note that “Joshua”, “Jeshua”, and “Jesus” are really the same name. That is, the name “Jesus” is a Latinization of the Aramaic Jeshua or Yeshua, which is in turn taken from the Hebrew Yehoshua, or Joshua. Thus, Jesus was named after the Old Testament hero.
3. Identical Roles: Leader of Israel
JOSHUA: “Because of you the Lord became angry with me also and said, “You shall not enter it, either. But your assistant, Joshua son of Nun, will enter it. Encourage him, because he will lead Israel to inherit it.” (Deuteronomy 1:37-38)
JESUS: “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.‘” (Matthew 2:6)
4. Identical Mission: Peace
JOSHUA: “The men of Israel sampled their provisions but did not inquire of the Lord. Then Joshua made a treaty of peace with them to let them live, and the leaders of the assembly ratified it by oath.” (Joshua 9:14-15)
JESUS: “And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6)
5. Identical Number of Appointed Men: Twelve
a. Joshua appointed twelve men from each tribe:
“So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites.” (Joshua 4:4)
b. Jesus appointed twelve apostles:
“These are the twelve he appointed: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); James son of Zebedee and his brother John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means Sons of Thunder); Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.” (Mark 3:16-19)
c. Jesus twelve apostles will judge the twelve tribes of Israel:
“Jesus said to them [twelve apostles], “I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” (Matthew 19:28)
d. Considering how families and friends tend to reincarnate together, perhaps the twelve apostles were reincarnations of the twelve rulers of the tribes of Israel.
6. Identical Representations: Twelve Stones
a. Joshua choose twelve men from each tribe and represented each one by a gemstone:
“The Lord said to Joshua, “Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe, and tell them to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan from right where the priests stood and to carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight.” (Joshua 4:1-3).
Israel’s Twelve Tribal Leaders: “In the first row there shall be a ruby, a topaz and a beryl; in the second row a turquoise, a sapphire and an emerald; in the third row a jacinth, an agate and an amethyst; in the fourth row a chrysolite, an onyx and a jasper. Mount them in gold filigree settings. There are to be twelve stones, one for each of the names of the sons of Israel, each engraved like a seal with the name of one of the twelve tribes.” (Exodus 28:17-21).
| 1. Ruby | 2. Topaz | 3. Beryl |
| 4. Turquoise | 5. Sapphire | 6. Emerald |
| 7. Jacinth | 8. Agate | 9. Amethyst |
| 10. Chrysolite | 11. Onyx | 12. Jasper |
b. Jesus choose 12 apostles with each apostle represented by a gemstone in the Book of Revelation:
“It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb … “The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst.” (Revelation 21:12-20)
| 1. Jasper | 2. Sapphire | 3. Chalcendony (Agate) |
| 4. Emerald | 5. Sardonyx (Onyx) | 6. Carnelian (Ruby) |
| 7. Chrysolite | 8. Beryl | 9. Topaz |
| 10. Turquoise | 11. Jacinth | 12. Amethyst |
c. The types of gemstones representing the 12 tribal leaders of Israel are the same as the 12 gemstones representing the 12 apostles but in different order:
If the top half of the matrix of the 12 tribal leaders is rotated by 180 degrees, and the bottom half turned upside down, with Onyx additionally swapping places with Topaz, the lists become extremely similar with only four differences. See this Wikipedia article.
7. Edgar Cayce’s View of Joshua as a Previous Incarnation of Jesus
Note that the Greek names for “Joshua”, “Jeshua”, and “Jesus” are really the same name. The name “Jesus” is a Latinization of the Aramaic “Jeshua” or “Yeshua,” which is in turn taken from the Hebrew “Yehoshua,” or Joshua. Jesus was named after the Old Testament hero Joshua. Edgar Cayce assigned the soul-entity of Jesus to the same name for three separate incarnations: Joshua, Jeshua, and Jesus. Cayce elsewhere reports that Jesus was registered by his Essene school under the name of “Jeshua” [Cayce Reading 2067-7].
The ides of Jesus as a reincarnation of Joshua is more difficult to account for given Joshua’s genocidal tendencies in securing a nation for the Israelites. In Glenn Sandurfur’s book entitled, “Lives of the Master: The Rest of the Jesus Story,” (page 110), he makes an interesting observation that the lives of Jesus and Joshua followed remarkably similar paths geographically: including memorable stops at Jericho/the Jordan, Hazor/Capernaum, and Aijalon/Emmaus. But unlike Joshua, Jesus did not fear entering the city of Jerusalem. Sandurfur’s explanation is that Jesus met his previous karma by healing people in those very places where Joshua had killed.
Cayce viewed Joshua as a member of a family who produced many spiritual teachers [Cayce Reading 1737]; and also as the scribe named Jeshua, who psychically dictated much of the material from the books traditionally attributed to Moses [Cayce Reading 5023-2]. This explains how Moses could have managed to include such details as the creation of the universe and his own death. The readings give little information about Asaph, the music director and seer who served under David and Solomon and who authored Psalms 50, and Psalms 73 through 83. Jeshua, the high priest who helped organize the return from exile and the rebuilding of Solomon’s Temple (as recounted in the Book of Ezra and the Book of Nehemiah) is claimed by Cayce to have compiled and translated the books of the Bible [Cayce Reading 5023-2]. If these characters, as Cayce describes them, have anything in common, it is their role as psychic revelators. In line with his speculations about Jesus’ fulfillment of Joshua’s karma. Glenn Sandurfur (Lives of the Master, p. 129) notes that whereas Jeshua made a point of rejecting Samaritan generosity (towards the rebuilding of the temple). Jesus centered a parable around it.
