When Moshe was told definitively that he will not cross the Jordan, he asked God to appoint a successor lest the Nation be a shepherdless flock. Moshe had candidates in mind: He thought his sons were worthy candidates to replace him. But God instead designated Joshua – Moshe’s trusty student who never departed his side – to succeed Moshe. For forty years, Joshua had shaded Moshe, never departing from the tent of study. When Moshe ascended the mountain to receive the details of Torah, Joshua accompanied him as far as allowed, and – unwilling to forfeit a moment with Moshe – remained at the foot of the mountain for forty days until Moshe’s return. Joshua’s ceaseless apprenticeship of Moshe rendered him a mirror image of his master. “Moshe’s face was like the sun; Joshua’s like the moon.” Joshua absorbed all of the Torah taught by Moshe and reflected it faithfully. Moshe’s protege – not his sons – would lead the Nation after his passing.
A cursory review of Joshua’s resume prior to his appointment would not give the impression that he was destined to succeed Moshe. His record up to that point was checkered. Joshua previously appeared in four different contexts in the Torah, and in each instance an argument can be made that Joshua acted in a flawed manner.
Joshua’s first appearance in the Torah is as the commander in the war against Amaleik. Before the Nation even arrived at Sinai, they were attacked by the arch enemy of our people. The Nation’s response was two-fold: Moshe ascended the mountain with Chur and Aaron and lifted his arms in prayer, leading the Nation in the spiritual dimension of the war. Joshua led the physical battle in the valley below. The good guys won, but a careful examination of the battle reveals that Joshua did not go the distance. The verse states that Joshua successfully weakened Amalek and his nation with a sword. We are instructed to completely annihilate Amaleik. King Saul was deposed for his incomplete annihilation of Amaleik. Joshua’s first appearance in Scripture, when he weakened but did not annihilate Amaleik, can hardly be described as a total success.
Joshua next appeared at Mount Sinai. And again his performance is dubious. Moshe ascended the mountain for forty days, and Joshua, his trusty attendant, remained at the foot of the mountain until Moshe returned. Moshe’s return coincided with the Nation’s calamitous decision to make a Golden Calf. When Moshe returned bearing the tablets, Joshua was waiting for him and the Torah records their dialogue regarding the wailing sounds coming from the camp. Joshua attributed the sounds to a battle happening in the camp. Moshe corrected him by saying that, “it’s not the sound of those winning a battle; it’s not the sound of losing of losing a battle; it’s the sound of distress.” The Torah could have easily omitted this conversation and we would never know that Joshua misdiagnosed the sounds emanating from the camp. The Torah deliberately tells us of Joshua’s misattribution of the sounds and Moshe’s correction.
In Joshua’s third appearance, Moshe again corrects his mistake. When Eldad and Meidad, two newly minted prophets, publicly prophesied that Moshe would die and Joshua would lead the Nation into the Land, Joshua was incensed by their dishonor of Moshe. He urged Moshe to punish them. Moshe rejected Joshua’s proposal: “Are you zealous on my behalf? I wish the entire Nation would be prophets [like Eldad and Meidad].” Again, the Torah records Joshua’s assessment of the situation and Moshe’s disagreement. Again, the Torah could have omitted Joshua’s misjudgement of how to respond to Eldad and Meidad rogue prophecy and we would be none the wiser. But it is recorded, and for the third time, Joshua’s actions were imprecise.
Joshua’s fourth appearance in the Torah is his valiant and heroic opposition to the spies seeking to slander the Land. But even in this episode, Joshua’s performance can be nitpicked. Prior to the expedition, Moshe renamed Joshua. Joshua was originally called Hosea (הושע) and Moshe added a yud (י) to his name and changed it to Joshua/Yehoshua (יהושע). Rashi explains that the renaming was a form of prayer that Joshua be spared from the evil plot of the spies. Moshe knew that some of these spies were going with nefarious intentions, and he renamed his student Joshua, meaning “God will save”, as a prayer that Joshua be spared from their scheme.
Seforno adds another point to the renaming of Joshua. Joshua’s new name was not only that he should not fall prey to the plot of the spies. In addition, the renaming indicated that Joshua should save his fellow spies from the terrible mistake that they were liable to make. Moshe didn’t just want to save Joshua. The renaming of Joshua was Moshe nominating him to be Moshe’s man on the inside and to curb the worst impulses of the spies. Moshe recognized that the emissaries could potentially go awry, and appointed Joshua to keep them in check.
Accordingly, Joshua’s fourth appearance was also not a complete success. We don’t know what exactly Joshua did over the course of those forty days to try to influence and persuade the spies. Maybe Joshua played a critical role in ensuring that Caleb does not join the dark side. But if Moshe tasked Joshua with making sure that the expedition did not go off the rails, he fell short, because off the rails it went.
Notwithstanding Joshua’s checkered history, God instructed Moshe to appoint Joshua as his successor. Joshua’s storyline does not match the conventional path of a great leader. So, why was Joshua selected?
Joshua’s Counterintuitive Path
How are great people made? We idealize those born with outsized talents, who exhibit pristine perfection from the beginning, who are destined for greatness from day one. That was not Joshua’s path. Joshua was not a flawless wunderkind whose life was an uninterrupted sequence of scintillating success. Joshua was familiar with failure. Joshua was critiqued by Moshe, which the Torah saw fit to chronicle. Joshua’s path to become Moshe successor was not despite those imperfections. The opposite is true. Those miscalculations helped mold him into the one worthy of following in Moshe’s footsteps.
Joshua was a student par excellence. For 40 years, Joshua did not leave the tent of learning. For 40 years, Joshua did not depart Moshe’s side. When everyone else was content going about their business in the camp while awaiting Moshe’s descent from the mountain, Joshua remained at the ready, in order to not miss even a moment with his teacher. The definition of a student is someone who acknowledges his incompleteness, the need for more instruction, for more direction, from more guidance. The Torah’s description of Joshua as a student reveals that his essence was to always be learning, always growing, always improving. For a student, a blunder is an opportunity to improve, to refine, to develop. Each imperfection is fertile grounds for advancement.
Joshua is also described in the Torah as a “youth”. That description is not referring to age – Joshua was 42 at the time, with the war against Amaleik already under his belt. Joshua was youthful in his perspective. He was an unfinished product, a work in progress. A student – a youth, a work in progress – understands that he is not yet ready, and the inevitable missteps serve as productive opportunities to learn and improve and adjust. You learn a lot more from doing something wrong and recalibrating, adjusting, and course-correcting than from nailing it the first time. At the end of the youth’s journey, we can see those mistakes and adjustments were part of the path of ascent. When viewed in isolation, Joshua’s previous Torah appearances are a string of failures. Observing them through the lenses of a youthful student, we see Joshua’s credentials to be appointed Moshe’s successor.
Joshua did not peak early. The 12 spies sent to reconnoiter the Land were relatively low-ranking leaders – leaders of 50, the second lowest of the four classes of leaders – leaders of 10, 50, 100, and 1,000. Even among the 12, Joshua was ranked fifth. Accordingly, at the time of the expedition of the spies, there were at least 6,604 leaders of the nation ranked higher than him (600 leaders of 1,000; 6,000 leaders of 100, and the four leaders of 50 who outranked him). But Joshua was the paragon of a youthful student. He never stopped improving. When it came time to appoint Moshe’s successor, Joshua was peerless.
The Talmud enumerates four people who never sinned – Benjamin son of Jacob; Amram father of Moshe; Jesse father of David; and Kilaav son of David. All were marginal characters relative to their more consequential relatives. Joshua’s path to greatness actually produces the choicest of men. Flawless wunderkinds are no match for the youthful student who takes a choppy, haphazard path of ascent.
King Saul was a wunderkind who towered above all his contemporaries. He was the biggest, the strongest, the tallest, the most handsome, the most righteous, the worthiest of kings, as if produced in a lab. But Saul’s reign lasted two years. Saul was deposed, and David, the “youth” took his place.
Exploiting Youth and Inexperience
Self-development is not the exclusive domain of children. “Educate the youth as per his path; also when he ages, he will not depart from it.” This verse teaches us the importance of tailoring the educational efforts for the particular nature of the youth. Only then will he not veer off that path as he ages. The Alter of Kelm offered a novel interpretation: When education is done properly to the youth on his path, then when he ages he will not depart from further educating himself – from a lifetime of self-refinement and development.
The Torah is not highlighting Joshua’s failures gratuitously; it is charting his path to greatness. Joshua would not be the leader of the Jewish people had he not experienced failures and – as a youthful student – learned from them. The righteous fall seven times – and get back up. Missteps are only a problem if you fail to exploit them to grow. Failure and criticism sting only when the person thinks they are a finished product. To the youth, they are opportunities. We are encouraged to remain youthful our entire life – Botox optional.