March 11

To your seed I am going to give this land.-Gen. 12:7.

As a child growing up in Egypt, Joshua must have come to know of Jehovah’s promise to give the Israelites a land of their own. (Gen. 50:24, 25; Ex. 3:8) Then Joshua watched as Jehovah began to fulfill that promise by bringing the Ten Plagues upon Egypt and forcing obstinate Pharaoh to let the sons of Israel go. Joshua was among those who were delivered through the Red Sea, and then he watched as that sea swallowed up Pharaoh and his army. During a long journey through "the great and fear-inspiring wilderness" of the Sinai Desert, Joshua saw how Jehovah provided everything the Israelites needed. Not a single one died of thirst or hunger. (Deut. 8:3-5, 14-16; Josh. 24:5-7) When the time came for the Israelites to conquer mighty Canaanite nations and take possession of the Promised Land, Joshua saw how the God whom he and the other Israelites worshipped backed them in this work.-Josh. 10:14, 42. w08 5/15 4:5