Ch. Joshua 1:1-9. The Command of God to Joshua

1. Now] Rather, And. The usual connective particle. It implies that something has gone before, of which it is the continuation. Compare the opening words of the Books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Judges. Here, as often afterwards, the Book of Joshua presupposes that of Deuteronomy.

after the death of Moses] in the land of Moab on the eastern side of the Jordan, where he was buried over against the idol sanctuary of Beth-Peor (Deuteronomy 34:6). Through thirty days of stillness, the camp had been full of weeping and mourning for the great Lawgiver.

Joshua the son of Nun] For an outline of his life see Introduction.

Moses’ minister] Joshua is not spoken of as Moses’ “servant,” but as his “minister.” Comp. Exodus 24:13; Deuteronomy 1:38. For his formal appointment to the office see Numbers 27:15 ff.

2. Moses my servant] Comp. Deuteronomy 34:5. The highest possible title under the theocracy. Joshua as yet is but the “attendant” of Moses. The higher title is given him in Joshua 24:29.

this Jordan] one of the most singular rivers in the world, which “has never been navigable, and flows into a sea that has never known a port.” Observe

(a)  Its name. It is never called “the river” or “brook,” or by any other name than its own, “the Jordan” = “the Descender.”

(b)  Its sources. Far up in northern Palestine, the fork of the two ranges of Anti-Libanus “is alive with bursting fountains and gushing streams,” every one of which sooner or later finds its way into a swamp between Bâniâs and Lake Hûleh. Two of these streams deserve special attention, (i) one at Bâniâs, (ii) the other at Tel-el-Kâdy. The former is the upper, the latter the lower source of the “River of Palestine.”

(c)  Its course, which is marked by three distinct stages:

(i)  Enclosed within the ranges of Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon, which run parallel to the Mediterranean from north to south, its streams—for as yet it can hardly be called a single river—fall into the lake called of old Merom, then Samaelon (= “the High Lake”), now Hûleh. “Half morass, half tarn, this lake is … surrounded by an almost impenetrable jungle of reeds abounding in wild fowl.”

(ii)  Here it might seem destined to end,—like the Barada “the river of Damascus” in the wide marshy lake, a day’s journey beyond that city,—but “the Descender” is not thus absorbed. Fed, like the lake itself, by innumerable springs in the slopes of Lebanon, and met by a deep depression for its bed, it rushes with increased rapidity three hundred feet downwards into the Lake of Gennesaret, which is about the same length as our own Windermere, but of much greater breadth.

(iii)  At the mouth of the Lake it is about 70 feet wide,—“a lazy turbid stream, flowing between low alluvial banks”—and here again it might seem to have closed its course. But it issues forth once more, now a foaming torrent, and plunges through twenty-seven rapids, with a fall of a thousand feet, on its lowest and final stage, into the Dead Sea.

(d)  Its windings. The distance from the Lake el-Hûleh to the Sea of Tiberias is nearly 9 miles, that from the Lake to the Dead Sea about 60 miles. But within this latter space the river traverses a distance of at least 200 miles. Darting first to the right, then to the left, then to the right again, “as if sensible of his sad fate,” to use the quaint words of Fuller, “and desirous to deferre what he cannot avoid, he fetcheth many turnings and windings, but all will not avail him from falling into the Dead Sea.” See Stanley’s Sinai and Palestine, pp. 282, 283; Thomson’s Land and the Book; Ritter’s Geography of Palestine; Macgregor’s Rob Roy on the Jordan.

3. as I said unto Moses] Comp. Deuteronomy 11:24; Joshua 14:9.

4. From the wilderness] For the boundaries of the Land of Promise compare (a) Genesis 15:18-21; (b) Exodus 23:31; (c) Numbers 34:1-12; (d) Deuteronomy 11:24. They were to be, on the South, the desert of El-Tíh; on the North, Mount Lebanon; on the East, the Euphrates; on the West, the Mediterranean Sea.

this Lebanon] Compare also Joshua 1:2, “this Jordan,” and Deuteronomy 3:25. The river was visible and lay close at hand; the Lebanon range (= “the white Mountain”) could be discerned, though at a great distance.

the great river] “The great flood Eufrates,” Wyclif. This is the term (comp. Genesis 2:14; Genesis 15:18) most frequently used in the Bible for the Euphrates, a word of Aryan origin, denoting “the good and abounding river,” the largest, the longest, and by far the most important of the rivers of Western Asia.

the land of the Hittites] This nation was descended from Cheth (A. V. “Heth”), the second son of Canaan. We first meet with them in Genesis 23:3-5, when Abraham bought from “the children of Heth” the field and the cave of Machpelah. On their relation to the other nations of Canaan see below. They are here put for the Canaanites generally.

5. as I was with Moses] “The narrative labours to impress upon us the sense that the continuity of the nation and of its high purpose was not broken by the choice of person and situation.”

I will not fail thee] Comp. Deuteronomy 31:6; Deuteronomy 31:8; 1 Chronicles 28:20. The words are cited in Hebrews 13:5, “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”

8. This book of the law] Joshua is admonished that the Law must be strictly and carefully observed, if the great work, to which he had been called, was to be successfully accomplished. He was “to read, mark, and inwardly digest it,” and carry out its provisions to the letter.

9. Have not I commanded thee?] Observe the repetition of the words of exhortation. The Hebrew leader is reminded again and again that it was not his work but God’s work, which he had been raised up to carry out. Comp. Deuteronomy 31:7-8; Deuteronomy 31:23.

10–18. The Command of Joshua to the People

10. the officers] Or, Shoterim. The word denotes (1) literally a “writer,” or “scribe;” then (2) an overseer, in whose office were combined various duties, including enrolments, orders &c., also genealogies; (3) a magistrate, prefect, leader of the people, especially, as here, the leaders, officers, of the Israelites in Egypt and in the desert. Comp. Numbers 11:16; Numbers 31:14; Numbers 31:48; Deuteronomy 1:15; Deuteronomy 16:18; Deuteronomy 20:5; Deuteronomy 20:8-9; Deuteronomy 31:28. Their duties were at once civil and military.

11. Prepare you victuals] The word denotes (a) food got in hunting; (b) food of any kind, especially provisions for a journey. Comp. Exodus 12:39, “neither had they prepared for themselves any victual;” Joshua 9:11; Joshua 9:14; Jdg 7:8, “So the people took victuals in their hands, and their trumpets;” 1 Samuel 22:10, “And he inquired of the Lord for him, and gave him victuals.” The need of the provision on this occasion is explained by the cessation of the Manna. See below, ch. Joshua 5:12.

within three days] Comp. ch. Joshua 3:1-2. The order appears to have been given on the 7th day of the month Nisan, for the people crossed the Jordan on the 10th. The expedition, therefore, of the spies occupied from the 5th to the 8th of the month, and the message to the eastern tribes was sent during the same interval.

12. the Reubenites] Gadites, and the Half-Tribe of Manasseh, on account of their wealth in flocks and herds (Numbers 32:16; Numbers 32:24), had received already their possessions in “the forest-land,” “the pastureland” of the country beyond the Jordan, the territory of the conquered kings Sihon and Og. The remote downs of this portion of Palestine received a special name, “Mishor,” expressive of their contrast with the rough and rocky soil of the west. “The vast herds of wild cattle which then wandered through the woods, as those of Scotland through its ancient forests, were in like manner, at once the terror and pride of the Israelite,—“the fat bulls of Bashan.” The king of Moab was but a “great sheep-master,” and “rendered” for tribute a “hundred thousand lambs, and an hundred thousand rams, with the wool” (2 Kings 3:4). And still the countless herds and flocks may be seen, droves of cattle moving on like troops of soldiers, descending at sunset to drink of the springs—literally, in the language of the Prophet, “rams and lambs, and goats, and bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan” (Ezekiel 39:18). See Dean Stanley’s Lectures on the Jewish Church, i. 217, 218; Sinai and Palestine, App. § vi.

13. Remember the word] Numbers 32:20-24 is quoted, not literally, but freely according to the sense.

hath given you rest] Comp. Deuteronomy 25:19, “It shall be, when the Lord thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round about, in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it.” Into this “rest” the disobedient did not enter (Numbers 14:28-30; Psalm 95:7-11; Hebrews 3:11-18), but the true “Rest,” the complete “Sabbath-keeping,” still remaineth for “the people of God” (Hebrews 4:9).

this land] Compare Joshua 1:2 and Deuteronomy 3:18, the land in which the whole people as yet and the speaker also were, the land east of the Jordan.

14. ye shall pass over] According to the promise solemnly given, Numbers 32:17; Numbers 32:27; Numbers 32:32.

all the mighty men of valour] Not the whole of the adults who were fit for war, and who numbered, according to Numbers 26:7; Numbers 26:18; Numbers 26:34, upwards of 136,930 men, but 40,000 “prepared for” war, Joshua 4:13.

16. All that thou commandest us] A joyful answer instinct with a spirit of true fraternal love and resolute obedience.

17. only the Lord thy God] The promise of the Two Tribes and a Half closes with the same call to trust and confidence in the Most High, which God Himself had already addressed to Joshua.