Joshua 1
McGeeCHAPTER 1THEME: Commission and command of JoshuaIn the first twelve chapters of Joshua the Promised Land is entered. Then in chapters 13-21 we see the land divided. The book concludes with the final message of Joshua to his people. The great theme of Joshua is possession. In this first chapter we will see what is meant by that. The chapter opens with the Lord personally giving Joshua his commission and his command.
Joshua 1:1
The first word of this verse, Now, should be translated “And,” which connects it with the final chapter of Deuteronomy. And is a connective. The minute a speaker says and, he has to keep talking because and connects something that has gone before with something that is coming. This supports the theory that Deuteronomy 34 was written by Joshua.
Joshua 1:2
“Moses my servant is dead.” As we have seen, Moses was not essential to lead the children of Israel into the land. In fact, he could not bring them into the Land of Promise. Moses represented the Law and the Law cannot save us. The Law is a revealer and not a redeemer. It shows us that we are sinners. The Law was never a savior. Moses could not lead Israel into the land because of his failure. The problem was not with the Law but with Moses just as the problem is with us. The Law reveals that we have fallen short of the glory of God. “Moses my servant is dead.” Only Jesus our Savior, our Joshua, can lead us into the place of blessing He has for us. This verse tells us that the land was given to Israel. Israel’s ownership was unconditional. God promised it to Abraham and his offspring. God reaffirmed His promise again and again in the Book of Genesis. In the Book of Deuteronomy God made the Palestinian covenant with Israel which gave them the land as an everlasting possession.
Joshua 1:3
God has given them the land. The land is theirs, but their enjoyment of it depends upon their taking possession of it. That part of the land upon which they walked would belong to them. Comparatively speaking, we have been told in Eph_1:3 that we are blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies. Unfortunately, very few Christians lay hold of the spiritual blessings that belong to them. Years ago a certain Englishman moved to the United States. Soon after he arrived he dropped out of sight. One day his uncle in England died and left him about a five-million dollar estate. Scotland Yard went about trying to locate the man whose last address had been in Chicago. They searched for him but never found him. Later I heard that he was found one morning frozen to death in an entryway of a cheap hotel. He could not afford twenty-five cents for a room although he was heir to five million dollars! He did not claim what was his. He did not lay hold of what belonged to him. Although God gave Israel the Promised Land, they never possessed all of it. As a matter of fact, Israel got very little of the land. Many Christians today are like Israel in that they are blessed with all spiritual blessings and yet they die like bums in a doorway without claiming those blessings as their own. What a tragedy that is. The Book of Joshua is going to tell us how to lay hold of our possessions. Because there will be conflict, we are told in Ephesians 6 to put on the whole armor of God. We have a spiritual enemy fighting against us. “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Eph_6:12). Ours is a spiritual enemy. We will have to wear the whole armor of God. The victory has to be won. However, you and I don’t get the victory; the Lord Jesus Christ gets the victory. We will get what Israel gotdeliverance and possessions. Every victory Israel gained was given by God. If you and I ever win a victory, He will win it for us. We will, by faith, enter into these wonderful possessions.
Joshua 1:4
God gave Israel 300,000 square miles of land and the most they ever claimed was 30,000 square miles. They did not do very well, did they? They took possession of about one-tenth of what God had given them. That is about the same amount of spiritual possessions claimed by believers today.
Joshua 1:5
Joshua, average man that he was, needed to be encouraged. God encouraged him here in a most wonderful way. God says, “I won’t desert you. Just as I was with Moses, I’ll be with you.”
Joshua 1:6
Twice God says to him, “Be strong and of a good courage.” He is encouraging him. Now notice something that is all important:
Joshua 1:8
There were no written Scriptures before Moses, and God communicated to Moses by speaking with him face to face. But Moses had faithfully recorded all that God had given to him so that the first five books of the Bible were available to Joshua and the people of Israel. In it God had given them all they needed to know to enter the land. They were not to depart from it. They were to meditate on it and observe to do it.
Joshua 1:9
Joshua is to take the Word of God in one hand and a sword in the other. He is to move out by faith. God encourages him again to be strong and courageous. Friends, like Joshua, we as believers need to be strong and courageous. We need to possess our spiritual possessions by faith. Remember we are in enemy territory.
Joshua 1:10
Joshua took charge, and he didn’t do it by presumption but in confidence. He did it because God told him to do it. God had told Moses He would be with him. When Moses returned to Egypt, after spending years in Midian, he was fearful, but God said, “Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say” (Exo_4:12). This is God’s method. When God called Jeremiah in a dark and difficult day, He said, “And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the LORD, to deliver thee” (Jer_1:19). We need the kind of conviction and courage spoken about in Heb_13:6, “So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.” When David first said these words, which were quoted in Hebrews from Psa_118:6, he turned his mind and heart away from that which was seen to that which was unseen. It means that he became occupied with the living and true God.
He recognized the spiritual bond that was between him and the Lord. His soul was “bound up in a bundle of life with God.” He could say, “The Lord is my helper.” David knew that the Lord could deliver him. Joshua believed God. God had encouraged him and told him to step out. The Word of God was to be his authority. It was not to depart out of his mouth. He was to meditate on it. He was to do what was written in the Word. That is the formula of faith.
Joshua 1:11
Israel’s ownership of the land is unconditional, but Israel’s possession of it is conditional. Israel had to take the land. The key word of the Book of Joshua is not victoryit is God who gets the victory. The key word is possession. Israel was to possess the land. A little later on, when Israel got into the land, the manna ceased and they ate the old corn of the land. That would be corn they captured from the enemy, old corn, because they hadn’t had a chance to grow it. As you recall, they had to gather manna every day. Manna would not keep. If it was kept for more than one day, it became unfit to eat. The children of Israel had to gather manna every morning.
That is why we are told in Eph_5:18 to be filled with the Spirit. Being filled with the Spirit is not a one-time job. You do not go to the gas station once and tell the attendant to fill up your tank and then seal the tank because you will never need more gas. That would be presumption. In fact, it would be foolish and stupid. There are many Christians, however, who think that they can have one experience and that is it.
My friend, if you are going to walk with Him and live for Him, you will need a daily filling of the Holy Spirit of God. In fact, since you fill up the physical man three times a day, it would not be a bad idea to fill up the spiritual man three times a day. We all need a constant filling of the Holy Spirit, a looking to Him, and a resting upon Him.
Joshua 1:12
These two and one-half tribes did not cross over the river to settle there, and we find their defection very early. Moses was still alive when they came to the east bank of the Jordan, and you will find that they made a request recorded in Num_32:1-2, Num_32:5: “Now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great multitude of cattle: and when they saw the land of Jazer, and the land of Gilead, that, behold, the place was a place for cattle; the children of Gad and the children of Reuben came and spake unto Moses, and to Eleazar the priest …saying …Wherefore, …if we have found grace in thy sight, let this land be given unto thy servants for a possession, and bring us not over Jordan.” This was the specific request of two and one-half tribes. They were asking for land on the wrong side of the Jordan River.
Joshua 1:13
Joshua is reminding them that Moses had given them permission to live on the east side of Jordan on the condition that their army would help the other tribes possess their land on the west of the river. This they agree to do.
Joshua 1:16
Perhaps you are asking the questions, Well, what is wrong with dwelling on the east side of the River Jordan? Is it so essential to cross over the river? Is not the east bank of the Jordan River part of the Promised Land? Such questions are pertinent and require that we look at the passage of Scripture in which lies the account of the crossing of the Jordan River, which we will do shortly. Crossing the Jordan River was symbolic of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Under no condition, however, does it set forth our physical death. We often sing the old song, “On Jordan’s Stormy Banks I Stand.” To begin with, that is not a stormy stream; neither do you and I stand on the stormy banks. Christ alone was nailed to that cross and, hanging there, bore all the storms of the judgment of sin. When the storms of judgment fell on Him, they fell on us. The River Jordan speaks of sanctification, and the death of Christ was for our sanctification. In the Book of Judges we find out that the two and one-half tribes made a big mistake staying on the wrong side of Jordan. Also, when Christ crossed the Sea of Galilee and came to the country of the Gadarenes, He found the Jews in the pig business. They started off wrong on the wrong side of the Jordan River. Many Christians are in the pig business today and are frustrated. They ought to enter into the rest He has provided in His death and resurrection.