Each of the three men named Joshua led Yahweh's people from bondage into a (different) promised land.

The first "Yahweh saves" the son of Nun finished leading the children of Israel from bondage in Egypt to the promised land of Canaan (the Exodus).

The second "Yahweh saves" the son of Josedech led the children of Israel from bondage in Babylon to the promised land of Canaan (the Return).

The third "Yahweh saves" the son of Yahweh and adopted son of Joseph led Yahweh's Children from the bondage of Satan into the promised Kingdom of Yahweh (eternal Salvation).

The first promised land and its inhabitants were largely sensual and physical. They left Egypt completely ignorant and idolaters. This was reflected in their apostasy and reverting back to idol worship. For this reason, they were disciplined with captivity in Babylon.

We could describe the second promised land (even though it was the same geography) as mental (sophistry) which was also error just as was the physical idolatry of the first promised land.

The Babylonian captivity largely cured the people of their ignorance and idolatry. However, the idols of wood and stone were replaced with mental idols of their own making.

Babylon was the center of learning and sophistication. Sophistry is a word closely related to sophistication and the Jews used sophistry (mental gymnastics) to create man made traditions.

Almost no Levite left Babylon in the Return, but the prophets did, after Ezra put together the second group of the Return and Nehemiah formed the 3rd.

"Golah [Israel in exile] was no longer under the living influence of prophecy." ("After the Exile" by P.H. Hunter, 1890)

Remaining in Babylon, they were priests without a temple, without a sacrifice and almost without a congregation, needing to justify their purpose and magnify their authority.

A new class of priest arose, the sopherim (scribe, related to sophistry and sophistication). The scribes, finding nothing better to do, sat around, studied, argued, nitpicked, and created a new body of doctrine and tradition under the title Torah Mosheh, (Teaching of Moses). Initially, these traditions were oral and eventually codified into the Babylonian Talmud.

This Talmud became Israel's new god - a mental idol and remains so today for the undelivered Jews.

Jeremiah denounced the 'lying stylus of the sopherim.' (Jer. 8:8).

The people necessarily had to take the Law (the multitude of oral traditions) as their teachers gave it; the sopherim were the intermediaries in doctrine, as the priests had been in sacrifice.

The scholar became a teacher, the teacher became a master, the master controls his slaves and subjects.

These Babylonian scribes had great influence on the returned priests. They are the scribes and Pharisees referred to as hypocrites and whited sepulchers. (Matthew 23:27).

These were the idols that Jesus (the third "Yahweh saves") was fighting - the traditions of men - the Talmud (and especially the Babylonian Talmud - see Apostasy of the Children of Israel).

Israel was again in need of deliverance. The only cure is the spiritual promised land, the Kingdom of Yahweh. This is a spiritual promised land (now) but will ultimately be physical and mental, too. This is the Kingdom that "Yahweh saves" preached on earth. This is what led to his execution. Enter this promised land today.