Joshuachapter 1
18 verses · Joshua, by tradition · 15th or 13th century BC · History
Now after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord it came to pass, that the Lord spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ minister, saying,
Introduction
Joshua, by tradition, History, Joshua Overview.
Joshua opens on the days after a death, with a nation camped on the wrong side of a river and a new man in command. The book names no writer, and it follows straight on from the last chapter of Deuteronomy. This chapter is spoken to a man who had served Moses through the whole wilderness and now has to lead without him. Listen for the words of Moses coming back in the mouth of God, and for how often one charge is repeated. Notice what the new leader is told to keep in his hand. Everything the book goes on to tell rests on the promises given here.
Context
- Who
- The generation born in the wilderness, taking orders from a commander who is not Moses
- What
- The commissioning of Joshua as the leader of Israel and his first orders to the camp before the crossing of the Jordan.
- Where
- The camp at Shittim in the plains of Moab, east of the Jordan and three days from the river.
- When
- Just after the thirty days of mourning for Moses; the year is argued between about 1406 BC and about 1230 to 1200 BC.
- Why
- To show that the promise of God's presence passed with the office Moses had held, and to bind the new leader to the law Moses left.
Historical context
The chapter is God's word to Joshua son of Nun and Joshua's orders to the camp. Exodus 33:11 calls Joshua the minister of Moses, and Numbers 27:21 had set him under Eleazar and the Urim for counsel, so the office he receives here is smaller than the one Moses held. This chapter has God speaking to him with nothing in between.
Show the rest of the historical context, 5 more paragraphs
The place is Shittim, the last camp before the river and the camp of Numbers 25:1, where Israel had gone after the daughters of Moab. The river ahead of them is in flood, since Joshua 3:15 says the Jordan overflows its banks through the harvest.
A first hearer knew the words before Joshua did. Be strong and of a good courage is what Moses had said at Deuteronomy 31:6, 31:7 and 31:23, and I will not fail thee nor forsake thee is Deuteronomy 31:6 and 31:8 handed back. Keil and Delitzsch read the opening conjunction as joining the book to the close of Deuteronomy rather than opening a new one.
The officers of verse 10 are the shoterim, the word used of the Israelite foremen under the Egyptian taskmasters at Exodus 5:14. Adam Clarke takes them here as heralds carrying orders through a camp rather than as judges.
The word rendered meditate at verse 8 describes muttering under the breath. Reading was done aloud in that world, so a commander keeping the law in his mouth was reciting it to himself. Albert Barnes notes that the word behind prosper in verse 7 and the word behind success in verse 8 are two different words in the Hebrew.
The last speech of the chapter is owed to a bargain already struck. Numbers 32:20 to 22 had bound Reuben, Gad and half Manasseh to cross armed in front of their brothers. They go home only when the land is subdued, and their families and cattle stay east of the river.
Significance
The people were being told that the office carried the promise. God says that as he was with Moses, so he will be with Joshua, and the people answer in verse 17 by asking for exactly that.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
For men who had buried a whole generation in the desert, the repeated order to be strong was an admission that the room was afraid. The charge falls three times from God in this chapter and once more from the people at the end of it.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
What is done
This chapter is heard once a year, on Simchat Torah, the day the annual cycle of the Torah closes. What is done in the room that day is recorded in this repository, at scripts/data/book-facts/deuteronomy.json. The last portion is finished, the scroll is rolled back to Genesis 1, and the reading begins again the same day. The commissioning of Joshua is the last thing a congregation hears from the Prophets before Genesis opens again. Two fixed points in the year reach any part of this book, Simchat Torah and the Sabbath on which Sh'lach falls. That count is the writer's reading of src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts, confirmed by grepping the file for the book slug.
How it is read
Rashi opens the book on its first word, and he is quoted here from the Metsudah Publications Book of Joshua of 1997, which Sefaria reports as CC-BY. Ruth, Esther and Jonah begin with the same Hebrew word and stand free of what comes before them. This book is joined to what comes before it. "But here the beginning is definitely connected with the conclusion of Sefer Devorim where the death of Moshe is related" (Rashi on Joshua 1:1:1). Metzudat David reads the same joining out of the letter vav, which "comes to add, and to connect, to what was completed in the Torah" (Metzudat David on Joshua 1:1:1, the Sefaria Community Translation). Rashi gives a reason for the delay before God speaks. The spirit of prophecy rested on Joshua only when the thirty days of mourning for Moses were over, because it withdraws from a person who is sad.
The second verse is where the classical reading turns hard, and a Christian reader should hear it whole. Rashi reports that three thousand laws were forgotten during the mourning for Moses. Joshua asked for them back. The answer he records is a refusal, because the Torah is called by the name of Moses and Moses is dead. Rashi ends the note with the instruction as he has it, "Go and burden them with battles" (Rashi on Joshua 1:2:1). The conquest is read there as work given to a people who have just lost something they cannot recover. Metzudat David takes the same verse in the plainer sense. Had Moses lived, the crossing could not have happened, since the decree against him barred him from the river (Metzudat David on Joshua 1:2:1).
On the promise of every place the sole of the foot treads, Rashi cites the Sifre. The borders of the land were already fixed in the Torah, so this verse must add something. What it adds is territory outside them. "After you have conquered the land, everything you conquer outside the land will be sacred and will belong to you" (Rashi on Joshua 1:3:1). He fixes the wilderness of the fourth verse as the wilderness of Kadesh and of Zin, south east of the land. He reads the great river in the same verse as marking width rather than length (Rashi on Joshua 1:4:1 and 1:4:2).
The two commands to be strong are read as two different things. The first is bodily and belongs to the war, since the reason given with it is the leading of the people into their inheritance (Rashi on Joshua 1:6:1). The second is study, "said in reference to the Torah" (Rashi on Joshua 1:7:1). Rashi holds that the book of the law of the eighth verse is Deuteronomy, the scroll that lay before Joshua (Rashi on Joshua 1:8:1). The command of the ninth verse he traces back to Moses (Rashi on Joshua 1:9:1). At the tenth he dates the order to march to the day the thirty days of mourning ended (Rashi on Joshua 1:10:1). At the eleventh he argues that the provisions were weapons rather than food, because the manna in their vessels lasted until the month the account itself names (Rashi on Joshua 1:11:1). The corpus carries seven more notes on this chapter without an English text. They stand cited and unquoted at Malbim on Joshua 1:5:1, 1:12:1 and 1:16:1, at Metzudat David on Joshua 1:5:1 and 1:6:1, and at Radak on Joshua 1:13:1 and 1:17:1.
What the rabbis say
The corpus carries forty rabbinic locators on this chapter and the text of none, so each is cited and linked here rather than quoted. On the first verse it holds Bamidbar Rabbah 12:9, Bereshit Rabbah 62:3, Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Chayei Sarah 16 and Devarim Rabbah 11:10. On the second verse, where Rashi set the forgotten laws, it holds Avot DeRabbi Natan 12:5, Sifrei Devarim 27:3 and Midrash Tannaim on Deuteronomy 34:5:14. A passage of Otzar Midrashim from the last composition of Midrash Yelamdenu, at 43, stands with them.
The promise of the land carries its own run. On the third verse the corpus holds Jerusalem Talmud Challah 2:1:7, Shemot Rabbah 15:23 and Yalkut Shimoni on Nach 4:4. On the fourth it holds Sifrei Devarim 51:1 and Midrash Lekach Tov, Exodus 23:31:1. On the fifth it holds Bamidbar Rabbah 22:6, Midrash Tanchuma, Matot 4:1 and Tetzaveh 9:2, and Midrash Tannaim on Deuteronomy 34:5:18.
The two verses about the Torah draw the heaviest Talmudic weight. On the seventh the corpus holds Berakhot 32b:12, with Ein Yaakov, Berakhot 5:12 and the Glick Edition at 5:6 and 5:7. On the eighth it holds Berakhot 35b:6, Avodah Zarah 19b:8, Avot DeRabbi Natan 21:1 and Bereshit Rabbah 49:1. On the ninth it holds a passage of Otzar Midrashim on missing and extra letters, at 2:9.
The rest follow the march. On the tenth verse the corpus holds Pesikta DeRav Kahana 5:9 and Pesikta Rabbati 15:1. On the eleventh it holds Kiddushin 38a:6, Kohelet Rabbah 10:4:1 and Midrash Lekach Tov, Deuteronomy 34:8:1. On the twelfth it holds Midrash Sekhel Tov, Shemot 16:35:2, and on the thirteenth Midrash Lekach Tov, Numbers 32:17:1. On the fourteenth, where the armed men cross ahead of their families, it holds Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, Tractate Vayehi Beshalach 1:7, Midrash Sekhel Tov, Shemot 13:18:4 and Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 227:5. On the sixteenth it holds Shir HaShirim Rabbah 4:4:3. On the eighteenth, the verse about rebels, it holds Bamidbar Rabbah 14:6 with Ein Yaakov, Sanhedrin 6:19 in both the plain and the Glick editions. What each of them teaches is a saying of the rabbis, and is reported as theirs wherever this site quotes one. The quotations wait on a fetch that carries the text.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on Joshua 1:1:1 to 1:11:1, the Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997, reported CC-BY; Metzudat David, Metzudat David on Joshua 1:1:1, 1:2:1 and 1:3:1, the Sefaria Community Translation, reported CC0; Malbim, Malbim on Joshua 1:5:1, 1:12:1 and 1:16:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; Radak, Radak on Joshua 1:13:1 and 1:17:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/joshua/1.json, the 40 Talmud and Midrash locators of this chapter; The site's own files, src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts, the V'Zot HaBerachah entry, and scripts/data/book-facts/deuteronomy.json on what is done at Simchat Torah.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Moses is dead: now therefore arise
Joshua 1:1-2
The book opens with a conjunction, so it reads as the next line of Deuteronomy 34, and it gives Moses the title that closes the Torah. Joshua carries a smaller one, “Moses’ assistant”, the word of Exodus 33:11, and is called the servant of the LORD only at his death in 24:29. Numbers 27:21 set him under Eleazar and the Urim, yet here God speaks to him directly.
Joshua 1:1
“Having finally finished with the Pentateuch of Moses, as though freed for a great advantage, we set (our) hand to Jesus son of Nave, who the Hebrews call Joshua ben Nun, that is, Joshua son of Nun, and to the book of Judges, which they call Sopthim, to Ruth also and Esther, which they extol by the same names. And I admonish the reader, that he, being careful with Scripture, might preserve the forest of Hebrew names and (their) separations divided into parts, so that our work and his effort might not be wasted.”
Jerome · written before 420 · Prologue to Joshuapatristic
1 more voice on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Joshua 1:1
“Joshua--The original name, Oshea, (Nu 13:8), which had been, according to Eastern usage, changed like those of Abram and Sarai (Ge 17:5-15) into Jehoshua or Joshua (that is, "God's salvation") was significant of the services he was to render, and typified those of a greater Saviour (Heb 4:8).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Moses my servant is dead: Wesley sets the living Master beside the dead servant in the same breath. He reads I am giving as the handing over of possession now, where before the people had held only a right to the land by promise. The Jordan was the one obstacle left.
Joshua 1:2
“Moses the servant is dead; but God the master is not: he lives forever. This Jordan - Which is now near thee, which is the only obstacle in thy way to Canaan. Which I give - That is, am now about to give thee actual possession of it, as I formerly gave a right to it by promise.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Joshua 1:2
“Moses my servant - The word, servant, as applied both to Moses and Joshua, is to be understood in a very peculiar sense. It signifies God’s prime minister, the person by whom he issued his orders, and by whom he accomplished all his purposes and designs. No person ever bore this title in the like sense but the Redeemer of mankind, of whom Moses and Joshua were types.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Joshua 1:3-4
the sole of your foot: The grant repeats Deuteronomy 11:24 nearly word for word, with the Euphrates in both. Israel reaches that eastern line only under David and Solomon, at 2 Samuel 8:3 and 1 Kings 4:21, and never holds it long. Clarke reads the grant as a limit touched later in the monarchy, while Henry reads the land still remaining at 13:1 as pointing past the letter to the kingdom of the Messiah.
Joshua 1:3
“Every place that the sole of your feet shall tread upon,.... That is, in the land of Canaan: that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses: See Gill on Deu 11:24; though the Jews extend this to all without the land subdued by them, and even to all the countries they now tread on, and are exiles in; but the limits of what the Lord gave them are fixed in Jos 1:4.”
1 more voice on this verse
Joshua 1:3
“The sole of your foot shalt tread upon - That is, the whole land occupied by the seven Canaanitish nations, and as far as the Euphrates on the east; for this was certainly the utmost of the grant now made to them; and all that was included in what is termed the promised land, the boundaries of which have already been defined. See Deu 34:1-4, and see Jos 1:4 (note) below.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
all the land of the Hittites: Barnes reads the wilderness as the Arabian desert on the south, with Lebanon the northern limit and the river and the sea marking east and west. He places the Hittites in northern Canaan and takes their name here for the Canaanites in general, as at 1 Kings 10:29. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown place them in the south.
Joshua 1:5-6
The promise “I will never leave you nor forsake you” hands Joshua the words Moses spoke to the people and to him at Deuteronomy 31:6 and 31:8. Hebrews 13:5 gives it to every believer against covetousness, which is where Henry takes it. The charge “Be strong and courageous” comes three times from Moses in Deuteronomy 31 and three times here, at verses 6, 9 and 18.
Joshua 1:5
“We need the presence of God, not only when we are beginning our work to set us in, but in the progress of it to further us with a continual help. If that at any time fail us, we are gone; this we may be sure, that the Lord is with us while we are with him. This promise here made to Joshua is applied to all believers, and improved as an argument against covetousness, Heb. xiii.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
The promise tells Joshua he will live to divide the land himself, the work of chapters 13 to 19, and Henry reads it as the comfort of knowing the task would be finished. Henry also records a second reading. Some make the people's own bad character the reason Joshua needed courage, since he had to bring them into possession.
Joshua 1:6
“Be strong, and of good courage,.... The same exhortation Moses gave him, Deu 31:7; and is afterwards repeated in this chapter, as being of great moment and importance, as it is in the general of an army to show greatness and strength of mind, valour and courage, and not be dismayed at the number and strength of the enemy.”
Joshua 1:7-8
One command about a book sits between two orders to be brave. “Do not turn from it to the right or to the left” comes from Deuteronomy 5:32, and Joshua repeats it at 23:6, so the phrase brackets the book. To “meditate on it day and night” recalls Psalm 1:2, and Barnes notes that the Hebrew behind “prosper” in verse 7 and “succeed” in verse 8 differs.
Joshua 1:7
“Prosper - See the margin. The literal rendering should be retained here since the notion of prosperity is separately introduced by a different word in Jos 1:8.”
1 more voice on this verse
Joshua 1:7
“JOSHUA was very highly favored in the matter of promises. The promises given him by God were broadly comprehensive and exceedingly encouraging. But Joshua was not, therefore, to say within himself, "These covenant engagements will surely be fulfilled and I may therefore sit still and do nothing." On the contrary, because God had decreed that the land should be conquered, Joshua was to be diligent to lead the people onward to battle.”
This book of the law: The book is the law Moses had already written, and Clarke notes that a copy laid up in the sanctuary was not enough, so Joshua was to keep one of his own. Gill reads from your mouth as reading it aloud and speaking of it often. That kept it fresh for Joshua and for those around him.
Joshua 1:8
“This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth - The law which had already been written by Moses, and from which he and the people were to take all those precepts by which their lives were to be governed. Though there was a copy of the law laid up in the sanctuary, yet this was not sufficient. Joshua must have a copy for himself, and he was to consult it incessantly, that his way might be made prosperous, and that he might have good success.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Three times in four verses Joshua is told to be strong, each time on a different ground: the inheritance at verse 6, the law at verse 7, and here the presence of God. “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged” repeats the pair Moses closed with at Deuteronomy 31:8. Joshua says the same words to his captains at 10:25, so the man who needed telling later does the telling.
Joshua 1:9
“Have not I commanded thee?.... The above things, to go over Jordan with the people into the land of Canaan, and to observe the law of Moses in all things, and to be of good courage, which is again repeated; consider who it is that has given these orders and instructions, the great Jehovah, the everlasting I AM, who is faithful to his promises, and able to perform.”
Marching orders for the two and a half tribes
Joshua 1:10-11
Then Joshua commanded the officers: The officers are the shoterim, the word for the Israelite foremen at Exodus 5:14, and Clarke takes them here as heralds. Barnes reads “Prepare your provisions” against Exodus 16:35, since the manna ran until an inhabited land and stops at 5:12. The older commentators dispute whether these three days are those of 3:2, some reading one span told twice and others folding the spies’ days into it.
Joshua 1:10
“Commanded the officers - שטרים shoterim. These were different from the שפטים shophetim, who were judges among the people, and whose business it was to determine in all civil cases. The shoterim have been supposed to be subordinate officers, whose business it was to see the decisions of the shophetim carried into effect. Calmet conjectures that the shoterim here may have been the heralds of the army like those so often met with in Homer, who were called the messengers both of the gods and men; who bore sceptres, and whose persons were ever held sacred.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Clarke says the Hebrew word for provisions properly means prey, what is taken in hunting, and reads it as the grain, oxen and sheep taken from the conquered lands. The manna was still falling. Barnes adds that it never seems to have been the people's only food.
Joshua 1:11
“Prepare you victuals - The order was probably given with the knowledge that the manna would cease when the host crossed the Jordan Exo 16:35, and possibly because amidst their preparations there might not be opportunity to gather it in sufficient quantity. Nor does it appear that manna ever formed the whole and sole sustenance of the people. (Compare Num 20:1 note.)”
1 more voice on this verse
Joshua 1:11
“And hence it comes, that these three days mentioned here below, after the history of the spies, are again repeated chap. iii, 2. Commanded you - His charge to you, and your promise to him. Rest - That is, a place of rest, as that word signifies.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Joshua 1:12-15
Joshua holds the two and a half tribes to the terms of Numbers 32:20-22: they cross armed ahead of their brothers and go home only when the land is subdued. Their families stay east of the river, so these men fight for ground they will never live on. Hebrews 4:8 takes up this “rest”, arguing that if Joshua had given rest, God would not have spoken of another day.
Joshua 1:12
“And to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to half the tribe of Manasseh,.... Who were settled on that side Jordan where Israel now were: spake Joshua, saying; as follows.”
1 more voice on this verse
Joshua 1:12
“Let us look closely at what sign those two and a half tribes hold who receive the land of inheritance through Moses, and what sign the remainder of the nine and a half tribes hold who receive the promise of the holy land through Jesus [Joshua].First of all, I think it is impossible for it to have happened accidentally that those who receive a portion through Moses were all firstborn.”
Origen of Alexandria · written before 253 · HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 3.1patristic
Wesley takes rest to mean a place of rest. Henry draws a duty from it: those whom God has settled owe help to brothers who are still unsettled. He sets beside it David in 2 Samuel 7, who asked what he could do for God once God had given him rest.
Joshua 1:13
“Remember the word - He puts the Reubenites, etc., in remembrance of the engagements they had made with Moses (See Num 32:20) when he granted them their portion on the east side of Jordan.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Clarke explains the word behind armed as by fives, the ranks of a marching host, arrayed and ready for battle. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown take all your mighty men as the pick of the army, and Clarke counts 40,000 across at 4:13 against 70,580 left to guard the families. Most of them stayed behind.
Joshua 1:14
“Your wives, your little ones - And with these it appears, from Num 32:17, were left behind 70,580 effective men to guard them and their property; only 40,000 having passed over Jordan to assist the nine tribes and half to conquer the land. See Jos 4:13. Armed - חמשים chamushim, by fives; in several lines, five in front, probably the usual method of marching; but it seems to signify arrayed, equipped, accoutred, well-armed, and ready for battle. See the note on Exo 13:18.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Henry reads the condition as their one way clear of the sin of settling east of the Jordan, which Moses warned at Numbers 32:23 would find them out. They had agreed to it themselves at Numbers 32:25. Joshua keeps his side at 22:4, sending them home once the land has rest.
Joshua 1:15
“Until the Lord hath given your brethren rest, as he hath given you,.... Rest from their travels, as they had: and they also have possessed the land which the Lord your God giveth them: are settled in the land of Canaan, as they were on that side Jordan: then ye shall return unto the land of your possession, and enjoy it; the countries of Sihon and Og, they were put into the possession of: which Moses the Lord's servant gave you on this side Jordan, toward the sunrising; the land, given to them lay to the east of Jordan.”
1 more voice on this verse
Joshua 1:15
“Toward the sun-rising - This is the East, as toward the going down of the sun signifies the West.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The people answer: only be strong
Joshua 1:16-18
The answer carries a condition inside it. Their prayer, “may the LORD your God be with you, as He was with Moses”, rests their obedience on the promise of verse 5, and the death penalty for rebellion is their own proposal. The chapter closes with the people saying to Joshua what God had said to him, “be strong and courageous”.
Joshua 1:16
“And they answered - Not the two tribes and an half only, but the officers of all the people, in their name, concurring with the divine appointment, by which Joshua was set over them. Thus must we swear allegiance to our Lord Jesus, as the captain of our salvation.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Clarke allows two readings of the closing wish: a proviso that they will obey if God is with Joshua, or a plain prayer for his success. Wesley takes the second. He reads the verse as a promise of the same obedience they had given Moses, joined to a prayer that God bless Joshua as He blessed Moses.
Joshua 1:17
“Only the Lord thy God be with thee - Provided God be with thee, as he was with Moses, we will implicitly obey thee. The words however may mean no more than an earnest prayer for Joshua’s prosperity: May God be with thee, as he was with Moses!”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Clarke calls this martial law and sets it against Numbers 14:4, where the fathers wanted a captain to lead them back to Egypt. Joshua was nearly stoned that day. Henry records a reading that links the penalty to the prophet like Moses at Deuteronomy 18:18-19, with Joshua as a type of Christ.
Joshua 1:18
“He shall be put to death - This was martial law; he who disobeyed the command of his general should be put to death. To this the people agreed, and it was essentially necessary in order that proper discipline should be kept up in this great army. By insubordination their fathers had suffered much in the wilderness; they rejected the authority of Moses, mutinied and made themselves a leader to conduct them back to Egypt. (See Num 14:4). And Joshua himself, for attempting to encourage them against their fears, was near being stoned to death.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Joshua 1:18
“Some think that in this statute they had an eye to that law concerning the prophet God would raise up like unto Moses, which they think, though it refer chiefly to Christ, yet takes in Joshua by the way as a type of him, that whosoever would not hearken to him should be cut off from his people.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
How this psalm is built
The form: The opening of the history as a commission speech joined to the close of Deuteronomy, standing in the movement the site's own guide calls Entering the Land, as Albert Barnes and Keil and Delitzsch classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| Be strong and of a good courage | The charge stands three times in this chapter, at verses 6, 9 and 18, and the ground given is different each time. Verse 6 grounds it in the inheritance, verse 7 in the law, and verse 9 in the presence of God. The last of the three comes up from the men Joshua is sent to lead rather than down from God. The site's published exposition of verses 5 and 6 counts six occurrences of the charge in the King James Bible. All six fall inside this handover, three of them from Moses at Deuteronomy 31:6, 31:7 and 31:23.Matthew Henry and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710, and Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, 1871, cited in the site's published exposition of Joshua 1:5-6. | Joshua 1:6, Joshua 1:7, Joshua 1:9, Joshua 1:18 |
| Moses named at the start and at the close | The chapter opens on the death of Moses the servant of the LORD and closes with the people promising to obey Joshua as they obeyed Moses. His name falls through the chapter at verses 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 13, 14, 15 and 17, so the handover is measured against him at every step. The site's published exposition of verses 1 and 2 notes that Joshua carries the smaller title here, minister to Moses. He is called the servant of the LORD only once, at his own death in 24:29.Albert Barnes and Keil and Delitzsch, Notes on the Old Testament and Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1863, cited in the site's published exposition of Joshua 1:1-2. | Joshua 1:1, Joshua 1:5, Joshua 1:17 |
| Three commands to Joshua, then three to the camp | God speaks to one man in verses 1 to 9, Joshua speaks to the officers in verses 10 and 11, and Joshua speaks to the eastern tribes in verses 12 to 15. Each speech shortens as it goes down the chain, and the words of the first reappear in the third. The answer at verses 16 to 18 closes the chain by handing the opening charge back up it.Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, 1832, cited in the site's published exposition of Joshua 1:10-11. | Joshua 1:1, Joshua 1:10, Joshua 1:12, Joshua 1:16 |
The debated concept: who wrote the book and when
9 more paragraphs on the patterns
The book carries no superscription naming its writer, and the site's published dossier sets out two positions with their holders.
The first holds that Joshua wrote the book with a short later supplement. It is held by the Babylonian Talmud at Bava Batra 14b to 15a, compiled about AD 500, which assigns the book to Joshua and gives the closing verses about his death to Eleazar and Phinehas. It rests on the book's own notice at 24:26, that Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God. It rests also on details a later writer would have had no reason to invent. Among them are the note at 15:63 that the Jebusites still hold Jerusalem, and the note at 6:25 that Rahab was living in Israel when the account was written. The strongest objection is that the same book records Joshua's own death and burial at 24:29 to 31 and repeats the phrase unto this day in a way that looks back from a later vantage.
The second holds that Joshua is the second volume of a single work running from Deuteronomy through Kings. It is held by Martin Noth in Uberlieferungsgeschichtliche Studien, 1943, and by the critical tradition after him. It reads the covenant language, the charge to keep the book of the law and the summarizing formulas as the work of an editor writing after the fall of Jerusalem. The strongest objection is the one the first position rests on, that several notices in the book fix its material earlier than any exilic editor and are preserved rather than smoothed.
The question bears on this chapter because verse 8 is the charge the second position treats as its clearest editorial mark and the first position treats as the book's own thesis.
The New Testament's use
Two lines of this chapter are taken up by name. Hebrews 13:5 carries the promise of verse 5, that God will never leave nor forsake, and sets it against covetousness. That is where Matthew Henry takes it in the site's published exposition of verses 5 and 6. The promise is given in this chapter to one man holding an office, and the epistle applies it to any believer.
Hebrews 4:8 uses the Greek form of Joshua's name to argue that the rest he gave was not the last word, since another day is spoken of afterward. Rest is the word this chapter uses at verse 13 for what the eastern tribes already have, and 21:44 and 22:4 use it of the whole nation. The site's published dossier carries the same reading under its entry titled Rest.
The pattern of the charge
The orders in this chapter run in a fixed order three times: a command, a ground, and a promise attached. Verse 6 commands, grounds the command in the inheritance sworn to the fathers, and promises the land. Verse 7 commands, grounds it in the law of Moses, and promises prosperity. Verse 9 commands, grounds it in the presence of God, and promises that presence everywhere he goes. The site's published exposition of verse 9 marks the three grounds and notes that Joshua says the same words to his captains at 10:25, so the man who needed telling becomes the one who tells.
Keep studying
Studies6
Words12
Trails1
Subjects1
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The form and classifications
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, 1832, cited in the site's published exposition of Joshua 1:10-11; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament, cited in the site's published exposition of Joshua 1:7-8; Albert Barnes and Keil and Delitzsch, Notes on the Old Testament and Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1863, the two works cited together in the site's published exposition of Joshua 1:1-2 and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710, cited in the site's published exposition of Joshua 1:5-6.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.