Joshua 1:1–18
AFTER THE DEATH of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: 2“Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites. 3I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. 4Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Great Sea on the west. 5No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.
6“Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. 7Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. 8Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. 9Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”
10So Joshua ordered the officers of the people: 11“Go through the camp and tell the people, ‘Get your supplies ready. Three days from now you will cross the Jordan here to go in and take possession of the land the LORD your God is giving you for your own.’”
12But to the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, Joshua said, 13“Remember the command that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you: ‘The LORD your God is giving you rest and has granted you this land.’ 14Your wives, your children and your livestock may stay in the land that Moses gave you east of the Jordan, but all your fighting men, fully armed, must cross over ahead of your brothers. You are to help your brothers 15until the LORD gives them rest, as he has done for you, and until they too have taken possession of the land that the LORD your God is giving them. After that, you may go back and occupy your own land, which Moses the servant of the LORD gave you east of the Jordan toward the sunrise.”
16Then they answered Joshua, “Whatever you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. 17Just as we fully obeyed Moses, so we will obey you. Only may the LORD your God be with you as he was with Moses. 18Whoever rebels against your word and does not obey your words, whatever you may command them, will be put to death. Only be strong and courageous!”
Original Meaning
WITH TWO EPISODES OF preparation, the narrator launches this important story. The present chapter features three short scenes at Israel’s camp on the Plains of Moab, while the next tracks a spy mission across the Jordan. The first episode prepares Israel for the coming invasion, while the second probes the enemy’s internal situation. Both stories anticipate the dramatic river crossing in which Israel finally enters the Promised Land for the first time (3:1–5:1). In the background stand the long centuries since Yahweh first gave the promise of the land (Gen. 12:7). Those centuries saw the sojourning of the patriarchs, Israel’s harsh slavery in Egypt, the miraculous Exodus, the covenant-making at Mount Sinai, and the wilderness wandering.
With Joshua 1, however, a new day dawns for Israel. Structurally, three scenes make up Joshua 1: Yahweh’s dramatic commissioning of Joshua (vv. 1–9), Joshua’s brief instructions to his officers (vv. 10–11), and a dialogue between Joshua and the two-and-a-half Transjordanian tribes (vv. 12–18). Several themes thread their way through these three scenes, in reality the central themes of the entire book. The first concerns the transfer of authority from Moses to Joshua (see v. 18). Long ago, Moses had designated Joshua as his successor (Deut. 31:1–8), and now his commissioning by Yahweh makes it official (vv. 2–9). His command that Joshua prepare Israel to cross the Jordan confirms Joshua as Israel’s new leader (v. 2).
The second theme concerns the fulfillment of Yahweh’s promise of land. Both the commissioning and the command serve a single aim, to deliver on Yahweh’s promise to give Israel the land (vv. 2, 3, 11, 15). The narrator anticipates the two phases through which the fulfillment will become reality. He hints at the military defeat of Canaan’s current occupants (vv. 5a, 9, 14), the story of Joshua 1–12. The threefold call for Joshua to be “strong and courageous” has the coming battles in mind (vv. 6, 7, 9; cf. v. 18). Two remarks foreshadow the distribution of land portions as Israel’s “inheritance” (vv. 6, 11), the story of Joshua 13–24.
The third theme offers Joshua reassurance that Yahweh will support Joshua just as wholeheartedly as he did Moses (vv. 5, 17; cf. 3:7). There is no point in Israel’s moving forward if Yahweh’s support were only lukewarm. To verify this, Yahweh assures Joshua of complete military success (vv. 3–5a) and promises never to abandon him (v. 5b).
A fourth theme stresses that the adventure about to unfold involves Israel as a unified people. The dialogue with the Transjordanian tribes sounds this theme, one that will echo in later references to “all Israel” (3:7, 17; 4:14; 7:24; 8:33; 10:29; 23:2; 24:1). Moses had granted the two-and-a-half tribes land east of the Jordan provided they help the other tribes conquer Canaan (cf. Num. 32). The book makes special efforts to track their faithful promise-keeping and to explain their unique inheritance (cf. 4:12; 13:8–33; 18:7; 22:1–8). A later episode (ch. 22) will show some of the strains threatening that unity.
Finally, the author introduces the absolute centrality of obedience to the Instruction (torah) of Moses.1 Joshua’s success hangs totally on his unswerving obedience to it (1:7–8), as does Israel’s continued blessing by Yahweh in the future (22:5; 23:6; cf. 24:26). The book carefully traces how Joshua and Israel carry out things that Moses had commanded (1:13; 4:10; 8:31, 33, 35; 11:12; 14:2; 22:2).2
Joshua’s Marching Orders (1:1–9)
THIS IS HOW A new day dawns for Israel, camped east of the Jordan but with all eyes aimed west toward Canaan and Israel’s future there.
The introduction (v. 1a). The brief opening report formula, “after the death of Moses,” signals that Joshua 1 picks up where Deuteronomy 34 left off and pushes the story forward.3 Readers are to regard everything to follow as the continuation of events in Moses’ life. Indeed, although we presume a major canonical break between the books of Deuteronomy and Joshua, the narrative does not.4 Further, it reiterates that the chapter’s geographical setting remains that of Deuteronomy, the Israelite camp in the plains of Moab east of the Jordan River.
The death of Moses leaves a leadership vacuum in Israel, so it is no surprise that the book immediately turns to a speech by Yahweh (v. 1b). The compiler of Joshua to 2 Kings (DH) often includes speeches, especially farewell speeches by historic leaders, to sound important themes (e.g., Samuel to Israel [1 Sam. 12]; David to Solomon [1 Kings 2:1–9]). The book of Joshua itself ends with three speeches by Joshua to various Israelite assemblies (22:2–5; ch. 23; 24:1–15). Joshua 1:1–9 marks the first of many occasions on which Yahweh will address Joshua (3:7; 4:1, 15; 5:9; 6:2; 7:10; 8:1, 18; 10:8; 11:6). But on only two occasions does the address amount to a speech—concerning ridding Israel of Achan’s sin (7:10–15) and concerning Yahweh’s past great deeds for Israel (24:2–13).
That Yahweh addresses Joshua son of Nun also is not a surprise. Joshua’s long career of leadership precedes this moment.5 He was the hero of Israel’s first military victory, the defeat of Amalek (Ex. 17:9, 13). A comment in Numbers 13:16 implies that Moses either changed the future leader’s name from Hosea (“salvation”) to Joshua (Heb. yehošuaʿ, “Yahweh is salvation”) or (more likely) preferred the latter. Moses’ intention was perhaps to identify him as an Israelite who consistently obeyed Yahweh.6 The LXX renders “Joshua” as Iesous, the New Testament name for Jesus, an apt name for one who brought “salvation” both to Israel and to the whole world.
In Numbers 14, Joshua and Caleb were the only spies who favored invading Canaan. Hence, only they of the generation that had escaped Egyptian slavery were permitted to enter the land (vv. 6, 30, 38; 26:65). His long career as Moses’ “aide” (Heb. mešaret; Ex. 24:13; 33:11; Num. 11:28) culminated in God’s command that Moses publically commission Joshua as his successor (Num. 27:18–23; 32:28; Deut. 31:3). Yahweh recognized in him two spiritual qualifications for leadership, the indwelling of Yahweh’s spirit (Num. 27:18 [“a man in whom is the spirit”]) and a consistent pattern of obedience (32:12 [“followed the LORD wholeheartedly”]).
When Moses died, Israel readily accepted Joshua’s leadership because Moses’ hands had given him “the spirit of wisdom” (Deut. 34:9). Nevertheless, with Moses gone, Yahweh’s address here establishes his personal relationship with Joshua and confirms the validity of his prior commission. No leadership vacuum will trouble Israel, and Israel will know whom God has now put in charge. The drumbeat of God’s plan for Israel moves on. But as we will see, though Moses is dead, his words and decisions mark the blueprint that shadow and guide most of what follows. Joshua may erect a new nation on the promised soil, but its architect remains Moses.
Joshua’s commissioning (vv. 2–9). Yahweh immediately tells Joshua what to do now that Moses is gone. Literarily, the commissioning speech sounds like a king issuing battle plans to his field general, and its language compares with other biblical passages (Deut. 11:24–25; 31:6, 8; 1 Chron. 28:20).7 The speaker, of course, is Yahweh, Israel’s Savior from slavery and covenant partner. Ordinarily, the words “Moses my servant is dead” (v. 2a) might launch a period of Israelite mourning. Certainly, the phrase “my servant” makes Moses worthy of a spectacular state funeral and of the unique posthumous title “servant of Yahweh” (Deut. 34:5; Josh. 1:13, 15; et al.).8 But Israel has already mourned Moses for thirty days (Deut. 34:8), so “Now then …” announces the moment for new action. The glorious Mosaic era is over, but Israel must move forward with God’s help.
Specifically, Joshua and Israel are to “cross the Jordan” into the land which Yahweh will give them (v. 2b). The command assumes that the river has a separating rather than a uniting function.9 A quick glance backward underscores how momentous this command is. The realization of the ancient promise of land made to Abram six centuries earlier—the very same land into which Israel will cross—is to begin (Gen. 12:7; 15:18). The text betrays no excitement or wonder at the thought of ancient hopes-come-true, but readers know how significant this day is. Rather, “I am about to give” stresses the land as the generous gift of Yahweh, Israel’s mighty Savior from slavery and gracious covenant partner. In sum, the command to cross creates reader expectation of eventual conquest, an expectation toward which subsequent events mark progress and whose completion Joshua 11:23 declares officially.10
The gift includes the whole Promised Land. Yahweh quotes Moses’ own words in a slightly expanded form (Deut. 11:24) to reiterate the promise spoken through him (vv. 3–4).11 The quotation dramatically highlights that the ancient promise of land is about to be fulfilled. It also implies that, though off scene at the moment, Israel also participates in it through Joshua. “Every place where you set your foot” (v. 3) stresses that Isr...
