The Covenant Continues
Study Scripture: Joshua 1: 1 – 11
Background Scripture: Deuteronomy 32-34 & Joshua 1 & Ephesians 1
Lesson 1 September 5, 2026
Key Verse
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not be terrified nor dismayed for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9
INTRODUCTION
The Context of our Lesson Study begins with the call of Abram. God had told Abram to get out of his country, get away from his relatives, get away from his father’s house, and go to a land that God would show him. There God would make him a great nation, bless him, and make his name great. God guaranteed that Abram would be a blessing. God would bless those that bless Abram, and He would curse those that curse Abram. Most importantly, all the families of the earth would be blessed in Abram. Genesis 12:1-3.
That was the beginning of the covenant between Yahweh and what would later be the Israelite people.
In Canaan Yahweh again appeared to Abram and told him that he would give this land to his seed and Abraham built an altar to Yahweh who appeared to him. Genesis 12:6-7
The context continues with the story of the Exodus, the crossing of the Red Sea, the deliverance there from the pursuing Egyptians, and the journey to Sinai and the elaboration of the covenant and the giving of the law.
The context continues as Yahweh delayed the Abrahamic promise because of the sins of the people and their rejection of the command to spy out the land of Canaan and then go on the attack. Only two men, Joshua and Caleb stood with Moses in obedience to God. Numbers 14.
The great leader Moses had led the people through the wilderness and their continued rebellion and testing God and the adults all died with only those under age 20 surviving to enter the land of Canaan. Now following Moses’s death Yahweh commissioned Joshua to lead the people into the Promised Land and again outlined the original promise. Joshua and the people would have to prepare now for the invasion.
Our Study Lesson raised some critically important issues for all those who profess to be followers of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is therefore important, if we want to gain much from this Study in Scripture, for us to remember the Text in Psalm 118:14 which states:
“The Lord is my strength and song
And he has become my salvation”.
That Text tells us what the basis of our life should be if we want to see God.
From this Text and from others we learned that if you are counted among the people of God, you should understand that the Bible tells us something extremely important for us, One writer puts it this way:
“The Bible is one continuous stream of good and uplifting news, comfort, hope, and anticipation. For those not in the Lord, well, not so much.
There are promises for them too, but they are not the kind of promises any sane person would want to receive.
Better to trust in the Lord, put your hope in Him, and await the good and sure blessings that lie ahead.
His word will not fail, and it will come to pass, just as He says”.
But given our human nature which is still in those that profess to follow the Lord there is a need for a command to be strong and courageous.
Some of course will pretend that they are not dismayed or terrified at doing the work of the Lord. But those who have some spiritual maturity know better, for when they look at their past life they certainly know that they have to be dependent on the strength of the Lord God.
Believers nowadays as they read about this part of the history of the nation of Israel, should consider carefully that they have entered the promise of the Lord Jesus Christ through faith.
We should know therefore that we are on the road to the fulfillment of this promise and the realization of it. We are on the road to glory and so we have to trust in what Jesus has done and what God the Father has said concerning your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
As we await the fulfillment of the promise through faith we must remember that great things lie ahead for the redeemed of the Lord. Believers must not be afraid or given to discouragement. They have to hold fast to the Lord.
That is what Joshua is called on by God to do.
The clear teaching therefore is that the Word of God is sure and certain. Any other word really brings an illusion.
The Lord faces Joshua and reminds him of the covenant, entry into the land promised to Abraham,, Isaac and Jacob. God had sworn to give them possession of the land and everything that the Lord had promised would be fulfilled and not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken.
The emphasis therefore is that the Lord is faithful and He will always uphold His word and make sure that any promises He has made will come to pass.
There is a call of unity of the tribes, and then there is an exhortation that the people renew the covenant.
Now as we begin this Study we should ask ourselves why God had to give this command to the leader He had chosen to guide the people into the Promised Land. Consider why God had to give this command to Joshua who had seen the great works of God in the wilderness march.
Clearly, for Joshua to step into Moses’ sandals, he knew that this would be a tough act to follow
Note that a new leader does not need advice and direction from old-timers. But if they want to help they can give encouragement. They can help put courage into the mind of the new leader so that they will have the fearless heart God has commanded.
At this stage in our Study we must remember that God will give or allow challenges to each of us. This will vary, and will depend on the degree of spiritual responsibility or leadership according to the calling that God has given to us. This call affects our behaviour in our families, in the workplace, in our neighbourhood, in our school, or in the outreach ministries we have within the church or outside the church.
So in reality God will act as a perceptive coach or teacher or pastor so that we will get excited about what we will become if we use the gifts that God has given us.
Do not forget that God has called all of His children into spiritual leadership. He therefore will at the same time He calls us promised to make us what He wants us to be for He is committed to us.
So let just keep in mind that this Lesson Study in this most fascinating Book of Joshua, is for you a personal story of promise of the great expectation that God has for each one of us.
One writer reminds us that
“God calls each one of us to enter the land, to claim a life of adventure lived by faith, experiencing spiritual victory”.
Do not therefore forget that you are His child, a part of the family of God, and that therefore you should be strong enough, have good courage, be not frightened or dismayed, for the Lord God is with us wherever we go.
The death of Moses (Deut.34) must have come as a serious blow to Israelite aspirations to ‘possess’ the Promised Land especially coming as it did just as they arrived on the doorstep of Canaan; what with the memory of the national disaster at ‘Kadesh-Barnea’ (Num.13-14; Deut.1) and the subsequent forty years wandering in the wilderness still riveted in the psyche on the people.
Moses the unrivalled greatest leader of the nation was gone, the days of mourning passed, the flooded and impassable Jordon River lay immediately ahead and on the other side of the river, the Promised Land with its well defended walled cities. God was indeed the supreme leader of the nation; however, a new leader was needed on the ‘ground’ at this critical juncture.
Joshua would have a hard act to follow.
God was about to appoint a new leader and this underlies the fact that no man however important, hard working, valued and beloved, one who honored God at all times and for whom God’s ways were always paramount, even such a man is not indispensable to the work of God. Leaders come and go and the Supreme One is the only constant and His work must and will continue.
Entrance into the ‘land’ was an extremely important event. It would be a watershed moment in the history of Israel. This would be the fulfillment of the promise of Yahweh to give the land of Canaan to Abraham and his descendants as an inheritance and confirmed with the patriarchs Isaac and Jacob. The entire nation looked for this fulfillment and the term ‘Promised Land’ became a metaphor for the most cherished hope of peoples, tribes and nations down through the centuries.
The nation was at the dawn of a new beginning. What would obviously be of concern at this stage was what message God had for His people.
It would also be interesting to see how He would handle the problem of new leadership. This was especially important for the people who would be looking for God’s provision for the successful life promised Abraham and his descendents.
The ‘Commander in Chief’, the Captain of the Lord’s Host (Jos.5:13-14) was about to appoint a new leader to lead His people into a new land and a new life. God appointed Joshua (the name Joshua=God is salvation) the son of Nun to be the new leader. In His charge to Joshua following the appointment, God established a direct link to Moses and continuity of His purpose. From the record, it appears God spoke directly to Joshua to commission him, a remarkable honor reserved for a very select few and a mark that distinguished Moses.
We may note that Joshua was very well prepared for this very daunting role of leader at this critical moment in the nation’s history. He was clearly blessed with leadership skills for after only two months
of the wilderness trek he was chosen to lead a just formed army to fight Amalek, (Ex.17:8-10). Joshua was obviously a courageous man and this fight and others prepared him for the many battles he would subsequently have to fight in the Promised Land. God was obviously seasoning and preparing him. He is called the ‘servant of Moses”, a significant title and accompanied Moses on Mount Sinai to receive the law from God. He was an eye witness to the process when God gave Moses the truth. So not only was he a great fighter but we see he was willing to serve the word of God. He personally submitted himself to being ruled by the law of God.
Significantly Joshua was one of the very few that distinguished himself at Kadesh-Barnea. As one of the twelve spies sent on a reconnaissance mission to Canaan, Joshua along with Caleb vigorously opposed the report of the other ten spies and the congregation of Israel and insisted God’s people were well able to conquer the strong and well armed inhabitants of the land, (Num.13).
Note carefully also, that when Joshua argued stoutly with the spies and the people, he showed he was a realist, for he readily admitted that there were walled cities, that the people of Canaan possessed chariots of iron, and that there were giants in the land. This consideration did not weaken his faith in the ability of God to fulfill everything He promised. To fill Moses’ shoes would be a tough job but he was ready for that assignment.
But also note that Joshua would not only have to fight dangerous enemies but he would have to deal with the problem of the division of the land among the tribes of Israel and for this he would need particularly great strength. These people were not easy to deal with and Moses learned this the hard way.
The exhortation to courage is repeated in God’s charge to Joshua and maybe this was an allusion to the debacle at Kadesh-Barnea.
Whatever the case, the exhortations to the new leader at the start of his tenure are instructive for all Christians. It is important to remember as well that the Apostle Paul reminds us that the experiences of Israel were written for our instruction. …that all these things were written for our instruction (1Cor.10:11). One writer reminds us:
“What the people of Israel went through in their actual historical experiences becomes patterns, or metaphors, that we can apply to the spiritual battles in the spiritual pilgrimage in which we are engaged. These experiences have an exact and accurate application to us.”
Chapter 1 shows a smooth leadership transition from Moses to Joshua and there is a clear understanding that leaders must lead and followers must follow.
Joshua receives God’s instructions for success in the coming campaign in Canaan.
Those instructions are still the same for success in the spiritual realm for Christians today.
It is therefore most important that we remember that godly leaders like Moses do not lead forever for they will die or retire at some point. God will require often new beginnings with a new generation and that requires new leadership. In this case we see that after 40 years of wandering in the wilderness God called Joshua and commissioned him to lead this new generation into a new challenge that neither he nor the people had ever faced before which was entering and conquering the Promised Land.
It is therefore most advisable and to be noted that wise leadership does not abandon the past. It is often pointed out that leaders must work to maintain continuity, building on the past while moving into the future.
We see this attitude clearly in Joshua’s deep respect for Moses and his gratitude for what Moses had done for Israel.
One writer points out that Joshua remembered that he worshiped the same God that Moses had worshiped and obeyed the same word of God that Moses had given to the nation
But that did not mean they are in every respect to be conformed personally to the older leader. The fact is that leaders are different in gifts, temperament style, and personality and so God allows them to maintain their individuality as men and women of God.
But if a leader is to be called the Lord’s servant as Moses was the important thing is that the leader must be a servant in the ministry. One writer points out that leaders have a divine Master who controls and guides and directs whoever the servant is.
We are therefore looking at someone who has a title of subservience, of submission to authority.
It certainly appears from the example of Joshua therefore that one has to be a servant first, and then God will make that person a leader. The style of servanthood will have to continue despite the style of leadership.
Joshua therefore will lead as a servant of God.
Some see particular relevance here for someone just coming out of ‘bondage’ and struggling with matters involved with being a new Christian and desiring to live a victorious life in Christ.
Also the importance and acceptance of mutual responsibility within the ‘body’ is in view.
Another important application for Christians introduced here in Chapter 1 and demonstrated throughout the book is that the new birth salvation is a beginning. Once one is saved, then comes a life of personal spiritual growth in service to the Lord that involves challenges and trials as the ‘flesh’, the ‘world’ and the devil mount opposition to the new direction of the convert’s life.
This is amply demonstrated in the fact that although God had given and was giving the land to the Israelites, they still had to possess the land by conquest.Like Israel, Christians have to go forward under the direction of God. They have to be people of faith and they have to believe God’s promises and obey His commands.
The principle of faith has not changed. God’s promises have never and will never fail. God requires trust and belief and moving forward like soldiers in His army.
Here the stage is set for God to demonstrate His faithfulness to His promise to give the land of Canaan to the descendants of Abraham, the children of the ‘promise’.
THE TEXT
Verse 1. ‘Now’ establishes continuity from the Book of Deuteronomy as the baton of leadership passes officially from Moses to Joshua.
The word that we are looking at a continuation of this same story which began even before Exodus for this story is based on the Covenant of God with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
God therefore continues to demonstrate all kinds of wonders and miracles and unfolding them as He deals with His people in a logical sequence.
So directly following the death and burial of Moses and the book of Deuteronomy ends, the drama of God’s salvation continues.
Moses is described as a “servant of the Lord”. Moses had had a divine Master who controlled,, guided and directed whatever he did.
The lesson stated in Scripture clearly is there to remind us that those who are in leadership and those that have any level of spiritual responsibility are ‘servants of the Lord’ and they have a Divine Master.
Joshua is also stated to be the \servant of the Lord’ but here he is called the son of Nun, the servant or minister of Moses. He had served Moses as a servant and was in submission to the authority of Moses for 40 years learning how to obey as a servant and as a man under discipline.
Now that he has learned how to be a servant, God will make him a leader but his servanthood will continue in his style of leadership for the next 25 years as he leads the people in conquest of the land of Canaan.
Verse 2. God nows sets the stage and confirms that Moses His servant is dead. The book of Deuteronomy notes the death of Moses and we are told that nobody knows exactly where the grave was. We read:
“So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord.
And He buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth Peor; but no one knows his grave to this day.
Moses was 120 years old when he died. His eyes were not dim nor his natural vigor diminished.
And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days. So the days of weeping and mourning for Moses ended”. Deuteronomy 34:5-8.
It is very interesting to note that Deuteronomy 34:9 then describes Joshua as follows
“Now Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him, so the children of Israel heeded him, and did as the Lord had commanded Moses”.
Joshua had been prepared. Servants of God should go through a time of preparation.
Joshua therefore will receive his marching orders directly from God. Joshua had taken over the main role of leadership and so God spoke to him giving Moses the highest title that a person can have, namely, being the Lord’s servant.
There are three things that Joshua the new leader is to do. He is to
- Lead the people into the land of Canaan, all the people going over the Jordan into the land which God had promised to give to them,
- He should defeat the enemies in the fortified cities occupied by the Canaanite tribes in the land.
- He should claim the inheritance of the land.
Verses 3-6. Note that God encourages Joshua by giving him three promises so that he will be able to perform the task given to him.
God promises that they will enter the land and will cross the Jordan.
When they cross the Jordan they will confront and defeat their enemies and possess the land. Third, the assurance is that all the ground he stands on in Canaan belongs to the Israelites.
Note that God does not tell Joshua or explain how He will accomplish these things.
Obviously then the lesson for us is that if you are a people of God you have to learn to live on the promises of God and not on explanations from God as to how God intends to fulfill these promises. You have to learn to walk by faith instead of by sight.
You have to learn to trust God’s promises and step out by faith, knowing for sure that the Lord will give the practical physical directions when you need to know them.
We should note at this stage that Joshua himself has always been regarded as a type of Jesus Christ, According to Hebrews 2:10 Jesus is called the Captain of our salvation and that He has already won victory over sin, death, and hell.
He will lead us in triumph as we personally battle to possess the land.
He will share the spiritual resources of His inheritance with us and He will give us His spiritual blessings, which is everything we need to follow in obedience to God’s call, says one writer.
God therefore no affirms the promise to Abraham made in Genesis 12 and repeated in its last words to Moses when He took Moses to the top of Mount Nebo to look unto the land and see all the same territory God had promised to Abraham.
Joshua receives a broad description of the borders of the land and an exhortation to courage, faithfulness and obedience to the words of God and all this anchored in God’s own faithfulness to His promise.
So God now spells out the promise to Joshua
“Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, as I promised to Moses.
From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great River, the River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the great Sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory”.
The Great Sea of course is the Mediterranean Sea and that would be the western border. The territory was for all of the people from the wilderness and the border of Lebanon from the river.
The promise from God is that no man would be able to stand before Joshua and the people.
Just as God had been with Moses God will be with Joshua.
God would not fail him or forsake him.
So therefore comes the strong command and the strong order that Joshua be strong and of good courage and not be afraid. The presence of God with him and the people is guaranteed.
God has now told Joshua that his responsibility was to divide the inheritance of the land which God had previously sworn to give to them in an oath to their fathers.
Verse 7. It is important to note the amazing promises given to Joshua. We should pay attention to this approach by God to Joshua and the problems he faced because we too are in a similar situation.
In our case the emphasis is on spiritual warfare. We too have received great promises. One writer comments:
“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. He was not to use the promise as a couch upon which his indolence might luxuriate, but as a girdle wherewith to gird up his loins for future activity.
As a spur to energy, let us always regard the gracious promise of God. We should sin against him most ungratefully and detestably were we to say within ourselves, “God will not desert his people; therefore let us venture into sin”, and we are almost equally wicked if we whisper in our minds, “God will assuredly fulfilled his own decrees, and gave the soul of his redeemed as a reward to his Son Jesus, therefore let us do nothing, and refrain altogether from zealous Christian service. This is not proper language for true children. This is the talk of the indolently ignorant, or of mere pretenders, who do but mock God while they pretend to reverence his decrees”.
God now encouraged Joshua by pointing him to the Written Word. He was told that he can be strong and courageous when he meditated on the Word of God, believed what it said, and obeyed whatever was written.
Verse 8.Note that God did not leave Joshua to his own “fallible” judgments but he was pointed to the Law. Joshua was not to turn to the right hand or to the left. The way to ensure this was that the book of the Law should not depart from his mouth. He should meditate on this day and night, should ponder on the law, imagine what it meant, meditate on it, speak about it, and study it.
This Book of the Law that Moses had completed was placed beside the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord. It would be a witness against the people of Israel,
Moses said this act of the placing of the Book of the Law was necessary because he knew the rebellion and the stiff neck of the people of Israel. This is stressed in Deuteronomy 31:24-27.
Obviously then the Book of the Law reflected the will of God.
The people of Israel were to observe and to do according to all that was written in the Law for if they did, their way would be prosperous and they would have great success.
So we can now look at the necessity for the physical act of stepping out by faith. God had already given them the land and it was now their responsibility to put one foot in front of the other and to start taking the territory.
Believers are similarly encouraged for though we are under grace there are still rules and commandments of Jesus that we are ordered to follow. His disciples will obey their Lord for they have the spirit of Christ. One writer in commenting on this important lesson for us today states:
“God has given us all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus. (See Ephesians 1)., and we must step out by faith to claim those blessings.the Apostle John was writing to the first century Christians in the city of Philadelphia in Turkey about stepping out, about walking into the land: “ I know your deeds. Behold, I have put before you an open door ( a door of opportunity to walk through), a door which no one can shut. You have little power, but you have kept my word, you have not denied my name”. Revelation 3:8.
The Lord knows that many of us are not so great as we think and we can’t force our ways in the realm of Satan control. We can march around all the cities and communities that we want to but that will not make them better.
We don’t have that ability even though some think that they have it. But when you look at the history of Christianity even up to modern times it is clear that they don’t have that ability for despite their proud talk they have failed to prove that fact that they have the ability.
In fact, you do not have to smash doors open for God will open the doors before you and all you have to do is to choose to walk through those doors which are open.
So follow the lead of God and claim new territory for the Lord. Maybe the tough new territory is in your family situation, or it may be in your workplace, or it may be at school if you are a student, or maybe it is in a ministry that you are starting in your church or community.
Just remember however that in your Christian life you can’t idle in neutral for if you do that you will start sliding backwards and lose ground. So as Hebrews 6 tells us, Let us go on. Let us go on and keep on going on growing from spiritual immaturity to maturity.
Be fed by those who teach the Scriptures so that you can understand and handle and teach the Word of God yourself.
Note also that Joshua is told to observe and be obedient to the Law. This would require courage on his part.
Often the path of obedience is a challenge which many will avoid it; after all the way of the ‘world’ runs counter to the Law of God.
Joshua was to be strong and courageous in view of the mantle of leadership that was passed to him and at a time of tremendous challenges and obstacles that were far beyond his own skill or abilities.
The Christian life is not without challenges and the exhortation to Joshua should find resonance with all Christians. One writer notes:
“People often run from ministry or difficult situations because of fear or because of the obstacles. As the former generation of Israelites had failed to enter into the land and possess their possessions because of unbelief and fear of the giants, so we too can fail to enter into God’s calling on our lives”.
Note the often repeated injunction that obedience is the highest demonstration of practical courage. The highest demonstration of the possession of the Christian life and the possession of the Holy Spirit to is to obey Christ.
Moses wrote a chronicle of God’s activities, everything God did among His people from creation. He assembled the history of the patriarchs and added material about the life in Egypt, the deliverance, God’s dealing with the nation at Sinai and all the years in the wilderness. This was a monumental task, and a great legacy. Moses completed his task and Deuteronomy 31 tells us that after writing the words of the Law in a Book, he gave them to the Levites, the priests and told them to put it in the side of the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord.
Joshua was strongly warned and exhorted to know the Law, so that he could observe it. He had to acquaint himself completely with the will of God as revealed in His word. This was a first step.
The Christian’s courage is founded on knowing the Word and God’s will.
Obedience to the Law was set as a path leading to a particular destination and from which he could not veer to the right or to the left. One writer tells us:
“This middle path, wherein we turn not to the right hand of presumption, nor to the left-hand of unbelief, is the part which God would have us tread.”
As mentioned above, by the time of Joshua there was a written document that the Israelites regarded as authoritative law, namely, the Mosaic Law. The Lord commanded Joshua to keep this Word in mind constantly, so he would remember his responsibilities under God and find encouragement to keep them (Psalm1:2; Isa.59:21).
…out of your mouth… refers to the custom of muttering while studying or reflecting, a common practice among the Israelites. To meditate (hagah) literally means ‘mutter.’ In a practical way, one was literally ‘chewing’ on the word of God. Meditation did not mean some trance-like state as popular with eastern mystics or theoretical speculation about the law, such as the practice of the Pharisees. It was intentionally a practical study of the law, for the purpose of observing it in thought and action, or carrying it out with the heart, the mouth, and the hand as one writer notes. The word of God should not only be studied but it should be discussed. Note Joshua is not exhorted to dreams, visions and mystical experiences, rather to the objective, written revelation of God.
One writer elaborates in part: …There is a sense in which we are to engage in dialogue with our Bibles, and that goes way beyond a casual reading through the One Year Bible, or hearing a sermon once a week, or even being passively involved in some group Bible study on a weekly basis.
This is talking to our Bibles. The image is of soaking in the Scriptures- intense, regular, personal engagement with the Scriptures- with the desire not just to gain information for its own sake, but to be guided and directed and controlled by God’s revelation. We want it to keep us from wandering off in the wrong direction, from turning to the right hand or to the left, in the words of the text. We want it to enable us to succeed in the things that God desires for us.”
The fact is there would be those who would not want to obey the directions and the words of God, Some tribes would not want to carry out their function and fight the enemy. They would want to rest and compromise with the pagans in the land. Hard decisions would have to be taken to be in line with God’s will.
God promised ‘prosperity’ and ‘success’ would naturally flow from obedience to the injunctions of the previous verses. While the path ahead involved protracted conflict, obedience to God’s laws and His faithfulness guaranteed success for the leader and his people. ‘Prosper’ carries the sense of achieving one’s goals, while ‘success’ has the additional sense of instruction, insight, understanding. It should be noted that when we focus on the accomplishment of the will of God in our choices and our projects, when we rely on the Spirit of God, then whatever we achieve will be considered by God as “successful”.
Note that the physical and material outcomes we experience are not an indicator of success in the eyes of God. It is very possible to have physical and material success, but to be a complete failure spiritually. The world’s standards are a poor gauge of victory or success in the spiritual realm.
Verse 9. Here God summarizes much of what is said in verses 5-8.
“Have not I…”, first Joshua is reminded of the personage of the One giving the command and the One making the promises. The ‘I’ refers to Yahweh.
…Be strong… In light of who it was giving the command, Joshua should naturally ‘be strong and courageous’. Fear and trembling which the immediate circumstances might have engendered would betray a lack of confidence in God.
…The Lord thy God…Joshua’s success would not depend solely on his ability to keep God’s word but depended even more on God’s presence with him. Not only to Joshua but for all Christians, an awareness of God’s provision and presence, especially His presence as the one who has promised to never leave us should fill us with boldness and courage.
One writer cites a New Testament demonstration as follows:
“Compare John 20:19 and the fear of the disciples before they experienced the presence of the resurrected Christ with the promise of His never-ending presence (Matt. 28:18-20) with the boldness they displayed in Acts 4:13-20. What made the difference in the disciples? These were men who were now confident of Christ’s presence (Matt. 28:18-20), knew God’s will, His word, and who were filled with God’s Spirit,
( Acts 4:8). When the Holy Spirit is in control of a man’s life and is instructing him in God’s Word, He imparts not “a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline”:
“For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline (2 Timothy 1:7).
It is often noted that the word that God speaks inherently has the power of fulfillment. His word can never come back to Him void. So we can trust the word of God and always be obedient. (Philip.2:12-13). Jesus endorsed the authority of the entire Old Testament Scriptures, the entire “law and the prophets”. He told the Jewish leaders that that they should search the Scriptures and they would see that the Scriptures testified of Him, (John 5:35). The Apostle Paul told us in 2 Timothy 3:15-17 that the Scriptures are the only things that would make us wise to salvation through faith which is in Jesus Christ and make us complete in God.
Verses 10-11. Once Joshua heard God’s command, He responded immediately. He called the leaders together not for their advice but to give them God’s orders. Note that Moses had already organized the leaders of the nation (Deut.1:15) so that he could communicate quickly with the nation through the appointed leaders. God had spoken and Joshua was full of confidence and he told the people to prepare food for in three days they would cross the Jordan. The order had come to mobilize!
Note that God has not yet told Joshua how the crossing was going to take place. At that time of year the Jordan was at flood stage and crossing with young people, women and children and animals would be no easy task. The nation would have to depend on another supernatural act of God, another miracle.
Joshua saw the crossing of the Red Sea and he had no doubts that God would take them safely across this raging torrent without the building of boats or rafts. He confined himself to encouraging the people by telling them that God promised them the land and they should now take the final step to enter. They would have to prepare food for the manna from heaven would stop once they crossed the border and entered the land of Canaan. They would have to change their mindset and prepare themselves to live off the land. They would have to be prepared to fight for food and shelter.
Joshua’s response to God’s command is exemplary on a number of fronts. We note that he acted without delay or procrastination. Experience shows that the longer we postpone God’s work, the greater the chances it will never get done. Delay is a danger to our spiritual lives and can lead to hardening against God’s commands. Delay can also be a mask for disobedience and often betrays evidence of a lack of heart for God’s work and a lack of concern for His people. I hastened and did not delay to keep Thy commandments, (Psalm 119:60).
Joshua acted with confidence showing his faith in the Lord and the courage requisite and commanded by the Lord. As the leader he set the right tone for the nation which would boost the courage of those under his authority.
He clearly understood the situation the nation faced and this underscores his confidence in God’s word. One writer notes: “…by his own experience he understood what they faced, for forty years earlier he was one of twelve spies who had had been sent to search out the land. He could have remembered with pessimism the negative report of the ten and anticipated the same kind of response from the new generation. But Joshua’s eyes were solidly on the Lord. Too often we undermine our focus on the Lord and His power by thinking about all the negatives, about what might happen if we move forward…”
Some note that he may have also known the topography ahead and the state of the Jordan River from the report of the two spies he sent into the land in Chapter 2, which probably occurred before the command of Verse 11. Joshua showed the practical side of obedience. Within the wide command of crossing the Jordan there were many details to be worked out, particularly the logistics of moving such a large number of people including women and children. The Israelites by this time was a well organized throng, far removed from the ‘mixed multitude’ that departed Egypt.
Joshua and the people faced a situation not unlike what Moses and the Israelites faced at the Red Sea (Ex.14) and the stark reality was that God would have to work a similar miracle on this occasion. Joshua was confident! One writer reminds us:
“Confident faith comes from meditating on the word of God. We saw in Joshua 1:8 what God said to Joshua about where strength, confidence, and success comes from: “This book of the law should not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you shall make your way prosperous (effective), and then you shall have good success”.
The Apostle Paul states the same truth in Romans 10: 17: “ faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ”… Spiritual leaders never stop providing spiritual encouragement”.
CONCLUSION AND A WARNING
It is interesting to note that the Scriptures in succeeding verses record the actions of the leadership of two and a half of the tribes of Israel. This group had approached Moses and requested that they be allowed to live on the east side of the Jordan and not enter the Promised land of Canaan. Moses granted their request and now Joshua summarized Moses’ instructions and warned these tribes.
He made it clear that the land that they would live on was the land that Moses gave them, not the land that God gave them. Numbers 2 records that Moses acceded to the request of these tribes, but he did not like it, for he regarded the requests as a sinful rebellion. We can read the sorry episode of disobedience in Number 32.
Moses knew that they were being greedy and were captivated by the fertility of the land on the east side of the Jordan. They preferred to live there rather than living with their brothers and sisters in the land that God had given them for an inheritance. Manasseh requested the land east of the Sea of Galilee to the north. Gad asked for everything east of the Jordan in the area called Gilead. Ruebén asked for the land of Moab east of the Dead Sea in the south
The first test of Joshua’s leadership came early. Would he have the courage to confront the leadership of the tribes that elected to settle the east side of the Jordan River and hold them to their pledge to fight with the rest of the nation to conquer Canaan! (Num.32:16-32; Deut.3:12-20). The east side was already under Israelite control and the temptation was they would just remain and not cross the Jordan and be part of the military campaign.
Note Joshua’s commission was to execute the plan according to all the law of Moses and it was on this basis that he confronted the two and a half tribes. Joshua in fact acted “…according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded… Moses ‘word’ received from God was authoritative, it was the ‘word’ for Israel and he reminded the tribes of Moses’ words.
“This was no natural prudence or a spirit of expediency which actuated Joshua to seek their co-operation.” And it was not merely a matter of seeking more help because they would be insufficient without more resources. It was not asking this as a favour to himself. No, the appeal and authority came from the facts of the commands of the Word of God. Servants of God must learn to lean on the power of the Word to motivate and minister to others and to accomplish God’s purposes”.
This exchange here reminds Christians of our mutual obligations to those in the ‘body of Christ’ and the oft repeated exhortation to give consideration to others and not just to pursue our own interests.
Interestingly the choice of these tribes not to live in Canaan turned out to be a big problem for Israel throughout the history of the nation. They lived far away from the sanctuary and the Temple and their relationship with the tribes in Canaan was always tenuous. The book of Judges early on showed the problems. They were literally cut off from Israel by the Jordan River and exposed to their enemies, and they were the first tribes that the Assyrians swept away when they invaded Israel. The land east of the Jordan was still a part of the wilderness, a place where believers should never remain.
They promised and followed through but only to a limited extent.
One writer applies what these tribes did to our own life as follows:
“For us today, Reuben, Gad, and the half- tribe Manasseh represent many borderline believers— people who have a relationship with Christ, who get close to the full, joyful inheritance, who experience some spiritual victory in their lives, but who are determined to go back to the perceived comfort across the Jordan. The land to the east of the Jordan is really still the wilderness. It’s a place of indulgence to people for whom the quality of material life is more important than eternal life…
That phrase used twice “searching of heart” speaks of self- focus, self-examination, self- direction. That is what living in the wilderness is all about: functioning on our own, trusting our own resources, wandering around as Christians yet resisting Jesus’ full and complete control of our lives, living in old comfort zones, controlled by old habit patterns, meandering through life without enjoying the fullness of what God has designed for us, being just Christian enough to be miserable, still living with anger and fear and bitterness, with the idolatry of materialism how which self-protectiveness as we rebel in some areas of life. But we don’t have to live that way. In the words of Hebrews 12:1, we can throw off everything that hinders us, the sin that so easily entangles”.
So we exhort you to remember the Covenant. Remember that the Covenant continues.
There are many applications for Christians in this opening Chapter and the entire Book for that matter. One writer invites us to look at “the spiritual map of our Christian lives” to see whether or not we are still wandering in the wilderness or alternatively, conquering in the Promised Land. We should ask ourselves whether or not we are like the people of Israel. Do we complain and murmur constantly looking back at our individual “Egypt” and yearning for what we left behind, despite the pain and suffering that was our experience.
We should examine ourselves to see whether we are experiencing delay and defeat, or whether we are conquerors, marching forward and living a life of power and victory. Are we now experiencing fully the life of Christ, or are we in need of a new beginning? Our study provides clear answers: Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; 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.
Hopefully our Study will remove the mistaken idea that many Christians have: that once saved from the bondage of sin, that’s the end of their worry. But here it is clearly demonstrated that salvation is a beginning; for after that comes the matter of personal spiritual growth in service to the Lord. This involves going forward by faith. Faithlessness and unbelief has to be rejected. The journey from Egypt to Canaan the Promise Land, should have only lasted three days, however, as a result of their faithlessness and unbelief the Israelites endured forty years of discipline in the wilderness.
Like Israel, Christians have to go forward under the direction of God. They have to be people of faith and they have to believe God’s promises and obey His commands. The principle of faith has not changed. God’s promises have never and will never fail. God requires trust and belief and moving forward like soldiers in His army.
Obedience and trust bring glory to God. Christians are called on to be over-comers, for if they are not they will be among the ‘overcome’. If Christians are not victors they will be victimized by the ‘flesh’ and Satan.
Our Study shows that moral strength and courage come from faith in the sovereignty and provision of God and emerges when we are convinced what we are doing is right and best and essential to life. Courage is that quality of mind that enables men to encounter danger and difficulty with firmness and resolve in spite of inner fears (1Cor.2:3; 2Cor.7:5).
As we face the challenges and opportunities and calling of God, let us remember these promises of God to Joshua. With the call of God to service there is always the matching provision of God. The problem lies not with the Lord, but with our responsibility to follow the Lord’s admonitions as given to Joshua.
God has called us to follow our leader, to fix our eyes on Jesus, to come to trust God the Father who has called us and who has spoken to us and revealed Himself in His Son was has told us to Follow Him.