CHAPTER 1

(1451 B.C.)

GOD COMMISSIONS JOSHUA

¹Now after the death of Moses the Servant of the LORD it came to pass, that the LORD spoke unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses minister, saying (as to how the Lord spoke to Joshua, we arent told; however, the greater weight seems to point toward inward Revelation),

²Moses My Servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the Children of Israel (Joshua begins his Ministry at the banks of Jordan, where Christ was baptized, and enters upon the public exercise of his Prophetic Office; Im sure the Reader knows that the name Joshua is the Hebrew derivative of the Greek Jesus, the Name of our Blessed Lord Himself; Israel had dwelt in the wilderness for some forty years; it was now time for them to go into the Promised Land).

³Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses (it was not Gods Will that one foot breadth was to rest in the hands of its former owners; likewise, the Holy Spirit intends presently for everything in our lives to be removed which hinders our progress with the Lord; it is Gods Will that we possess the entirety of the Promise, which pertains to total victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil [James 4:5]).

⁴From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast (this includes modern Syria, Jordan, and part of Arabia; all of this was never actually in the hand of the Israelites, save during the reigns of David and Solomon; however, during the coming Kingdom Age, Israel will possess all of that, and more).

⁵There shall not any man be able to stand before you (before Joshua) all the days of your life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with you: I will not fail you, nor forsake you. (Concerning this, Williams says, Moses, as representing the Law, could not bring Israel into the Promised Land; he must die, for he had made one failure under that Law, and possession of Canaan by Law could only be by a perfect obedience to it. Man, being a sinner, cannot give this perfect obedience. Joshua, Type of the risen Saviour, brought Israel into the goodly Land. Grace, operating in the Power of the Holy Spirit, which it always does, can bring men into the enjoyment of that which the Law, because of mans moral weakness, on which it acts, can never do.)

⁶Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shall you divide for an inheritance the land, which I swore unto their fathers to give them. (Moses was a servant in the Wilderness, Joshua, a son in the Land. The subject of Deuteronomy is the Wilderness; that of Joshua is the Land. Most Christian people are satisfied to be servants in the Wilderness; few ambition to be sons in the Land.

Joshuas success depended upon his obedience to his two companions the Eternal Word, manifested in this Verse, and the Written Word, manifested in Verse 8; that is, Jesus and the Bible. Obedience to such companionship alone gives a victorious Christian experience Williams.)

⁷Only be thou strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the Law, which Moses My Servant commanded you: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper whithersoever you go. (Prosperity depended upon a strict adherence to the Law of God. Whereas Israel, at that time, only had a partial Revelation, the Law, now, we have the entirety of the Revelation of God, given in the entirety of His Word. It, and it alone, portrays the Way. To deviate from the Word of God is to deviate from prosperity. To adhere to the Word of God is to prosper, and to prosper in all things.)

⁸This Book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth (Israel was to talk the Word constantly); but you shall meditate therein day and night (think upon the Word constantly), that you may observe to do according to all that is written therein (as stated, we must not deviate): for then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall have good success. (What a Promise!)

⁹Have not I commanded you? Be strong and of a good courage (go forward, and dont be discouraged); be not afraid (Satan will blow and bluster, but there is nothing he can do, providing we will continue to trust the Lord, and continue forward), neither be thou dismayed (there will be hindrances, but dont let them deter you or even slow you down): for the LORD your God is with you wheresoever you go (and if the Lord be with us, and He most definitely will, if we adhere strictly to the Word, Satan is then defeated, and prosperity of every stripe is guaranteed).

JOSHUA ASSUMES COMMAND

¹⁰Then Joshua commanded the Officers of the people, saying,

¹¹Pass through the host, and command the people, saying, Prepare you victuals; for within three days you shall pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land, which the LORD your God gives you to possess it. (They could have possessed it some 38 years earlier, had they only evidenced Faith. But unbelief caused them to languish in the wilderness for some 38 extra years; likewise, far too many modern Christians languish in a spiritual wilderness because of misplaced faith. To inherit the Promised Land, we must, without fail, evidence Faith in Christ and the Cross, which will give the Holy Spirit latitude to work in our lives, Who Alone can help us to possess all that God has promised [I Cor. 1:17-18, 21, 23;; 2:2].)

¹²And to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to half the Tribe of Manasseh, spoke Joshua, saying,

¹³Remember the word which Moses the Servant of the LORD commanded you, saying, The LORD your God has given you rest, and has given you this land.

¹⁴Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle, shall remain in the land which Moses gave you on this side Jordan; but you shall pass before your brethren armed, all the mighty men of valour, and help them;

¹⁵Until the LORD have given your brethren rest, as He has given you, and they also have possessed the land which the LORD your God gives them: then you shall return unto the land of your possession, and enjoy it, which Moses the LORDs Servant gave you on this side Jordan toward the sunrising. (Had the two Tribes and the half Tribe permitted God to choose for them, how much happier and safer they would have been! But they chose for themselves land on the wrong side of Jordan, and brought upon themselves many sorrows and early captivity [I Ki. 22:3]. Such is the sad experience of Christian people who plan for themselves and do not have fellowship with the thoughts of God. Gods Plan was, first, to conquer Canaan, and then the land stretching from the Jordan to the Euphrates. The two Tribes and the half Tribe thought the reverse would be the better plan. It wasnt! Even as mans plans are never the better plan.)

JOSHUAS LEADERSHIP

¹⁶And they answered Joshua, saying, All that you command us we will do, and wheresoever you send us, we will go (obedience is easy when all goes well with us, and when it makes little demand upon our Faith).

¹⁷According as we hearkened unto Moses in all things (this was not at all absolutely correct), so will we hearken unto you: only the LORD your God be with you, as He was with Moses.

¹⁸Whosoever he be who does rebel against your commandment, and will not hearken unto your words in all that you command him, he shall be put to death; only be strong and of a good courage. (The worthlessness of mans promises of fidelity at the close of this Chapter contrasts with the worthfulness of Gods Promises of faithfulness at the opening of the Chapter.)