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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.