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First Fruits
Eternal
Heart
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Unity
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Incomparable
Built Up
Died In Christ
The Day
Lawlessness
Apostasy
Ears Tickled
Elders
Salutation
Faith
Exhortation
Living Hope
Godly Living
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New American Standard Bible
Joshua 1:1
Now it came about after the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, that the LORD spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ servant, saying,
Joshua 1:2
“Moses My servant is dead; now therefore arise, cross this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them, to the sons of Israel.
Joshua 1:3
Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given it to you, just as I spoke to Moses.
Joshua 1:4
From the wilderness and this Lebanon, even as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and as far as the Great Sea toward the setting of the sun will be your territory.
Joshua 1:5
No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you.
Joshua 1:6
Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.
Joshua 1:7
Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go.
Joshua 1:8
This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.
Joshua 1:9
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”
Joshua 1:10
Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying,
Joshua 1:11
“Pass through the midst of the camp and command the people, saying, ‘Prepare provisions for yourselves, for within three days you are to cross this Jordan, to go in to possess the land which the LORD your God is giving you, to possess it.’”
Joshua 1:12
To the Reubenites and to the Gadites and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, Joshua said,
Joshua 1:13
“Remember the word which Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, saying, ‘The LORD your God gives you rest and will give you this land.’
Joshua 1:14
Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle shall remain in the land which Moses gave you beyond the Jordan, but you shall cross before your brothers in battle array, all your valiant warriors, and shall help them,
Joshua 1:15
until the LORD gives your brothers rest, as He gives you, and they also possess the land which the LORD your God is giving them. Then you shall return to your own land, and possess that which Moses the servant of the LORD gave you beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise.”
Joshua 1:16
They answered Joshua, saying, “All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go.
Joshua 1:17
Just as we obeyed Moses in all things, so we will obey you; only may the LORD your God be with you as He was with Moses.
Joshua 1:18
Anyone who rebels against your command and does not obey your words in all that you command him, shall be put to death; only be strong and courageous.”
Cross References
Joshua 1:2: Numbers 12:7; Deuteronomy 34:5; Joshua 1:11; Joshua 1:3: Deuteronomy 11:24; Joshua 1:4: Genesis 15:18; Numbers 34:3; Joshua 1:5: Deuteronomy 7:24; Deuteronomy 31:6, 7; Hebrews 13:5; Joshua 1:6: Deuteronomy 31:6, 7, 23; Joshua 1:7: Deuteronomy 5:32; Joshua 1:8: Deuteronomy 31:24; Joshua 8:34; Deuteronomy 29:9; Psalm 1:1-3; Joshua 1:9: Joshua 1:7; Deuteronomy 31:8; Joshua 1:11: Joshua 3:2; Joshua 1:12: Numbers 32:20-22; Joshua 1:13: Deuteronomy 3:18-20; Joshua 1:15: Joshua 22:4; Joshua 1:15: Joshua 1:1; Joshua 1:17: Joshua 1:5, 9
Easton's Bible Dictionary
The City of Adam
It stood beside Zarethan, on the west bank of Jordan. At this city the flow of the water was arrested and rose up upon an heap at the time of the Israelites' passing over.
Admah
Earth, one of the five cities of the vale of Siddim. It was destroyed along with Sodom and Gomorrah. It is supposed by some to be the same as Adam, the name of which still lingers in Damieh, the ford of Jordan.
Arabah
Plain; It denotes the hollow depression through which the Jordan flows from the Lake of Galilee to the Dead Sea. It is now called by the Arabs el-Ghor. But the Ghor is sometimes spoken of as extending 10 miles south of the Dead Sea, and thence to the Gulf of Akabah on the Red Sea is called the Wady el-Arabah.
Ark
Noah's ark, a building of gopher-wood, and covered with pitch, 300 cubits long, 50 cubits broad, and 30 cubits high; an oblong floating house of three stories, with a door in the side and a window in the roof. It was 100 years in building. It was intended to preserve certain persons and animals from the deluge which God was about to bring over the earth.
It contained eight persons, and of all clean animals seven pairs, and of unclean one pair, and of birds seven pairs of each sort. It was in the form of an oblong square, with flat bottom and sloping roof. Traditions of the Deluge, by which the race of man was swept from the earth, and of the ark of Noah have been found existing among all nations.
The ark of bulrushes in which the infant Moses was laid is called in the Hebrew, a word derived from the Egyptian, meaning a chest. It was daubed with slime and with pitch. The bulrushes of which it was made were the papyrus reed. The sacred ark is designated by a different Hebrew word, which is the common name for a chest or coffer used for any purpose.
It is distinguished from all others by such titles as the ark of God, ark of the covenant, ark of the testimony. It was made of acacia wood, a cubit and a half broad and high and two cubits long, and covered all over with the purest gold. Its upper surface or lid, the mercy seat, was surrounded with a rim of gold; and on each of the two sides were two gold rings, in which were placed two gold covered poles by which the ark could be carried.
Over the ark, at the two extremities, were two cherubim, with their faces turned toward each other. Their outspread wings over the top of the ark formed the throne of God, while the ark itself was his footstool. The ark was deposited in the holy of holies, and was so placed that one end of the poles by which it was carried touched the veil which separated the two apartments of the tabernacle. The two tables of stone which constituted the testimony or evidence of God's covenant with the people, the pot of manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, were laid up in the ark.
Canaanites
The descendants of Canaan, the son of Ham. Migrating from their original home, they seem to have reached the Persian Gulf, and to have there sojourned for some time. They thence spread to the west, across the mountain chain of Lebanon to the very edge of the Mediterranean Sea, occupying all the land which later became Palestine, also to the northwest as far as the mountain chain of Taurus.
This group was very numerous, and broken up into a great many peoples, as we can judge from the list of nations, the sons of Canaan. Six different tribes are mentioned. The Perizzites are omitted. The Girgashites are mentioned in addition to the foregoing.
The Canaanites, as distinguished from the Amalekites, the Anakim, and the Rephaim, were dwellers in the lowlands, the great plains and valleys, the richest and most important parts of Palestine. Tyre and Sidon, their famous cities, were the centres of great commercial activity; and hence the name Canaanite came to signify a trader or merchant, Canaanites; The name Canaanite is also sometimes used to designate the non-Israelite inhabitants of the land in general.
The Israelites, when they were led to the Promised Land, were commanded utterly to destroy the descendants of Canaan then possessing it. This was to be done by little and little, lest the beasts of the field should increase. The history of these wars of conquest is given in the Book of Joshua.
The extermination of these tribes, however, was never fully carried out. Jerusalem was not taken till the time of David. In the days of Solomon bond-service was exacted from the fragments of the tribes still remaining in the land. Even after the return from captivity survivors of five of the Canaanitish tribes were still found in the land.
In the Tell-el-Amarna tablets Canaan is found under the forms of Kinakhna and Kinakhkhi. Under the name of Kanana the Canaanites appear on Egyptian monuments, wearing a coat of mail and helmet, and distinguished by the use of spear and javelin and the battle axe. They were called Phoenicians by the Greeks and Poeni by the Romans. By race the Canaanites were Semitic.
They were famous as merchants and seamen, as well as for their artistic skill. The chief object of their worship was the sun god, who was addressed by the general name of Baal, lord. Each locality had its special Baal, and the various local Baals were summed up under the name of Baalim, lords.
Desert
Midbar, pasture ground; an open tract for pasturage; a common. The backside of the desert is the west of the desert, the region behind a man, as the east is the region in front. The same Hebrew word is rendered wilderness, and is used of the country lying between Egypt and Palestine, the wilderness of the wanderings. It was a grazing tract, where the flocks and herds of the Israelites found pasturage during the whole of their journey to the Promised Land.
The same Hebrew word is used also to denote the wilderness of Arabia, which in winter and early spring supplies good pasturage to the flocks of the nomad tribes than roam over it. The wilderness of Judah is the mountainous region along the western shore of the Dead Sea, where David fed his father's flocks. Thus in both of these instances the word denotes a country without settled inhabitants and without streams of water, but having good pasturage for cattle; a country of wandering tribes, as distinguished from that of a settled people. Such, also, is the meaning of the word wilderness.
The translation of the Hebrew, an arid tract. The name Arabah is specially applied to the deep valley of the Jordan, which extends from the lake of Tiberias to the Elanitic gulf. While denotes properly a pastoral region, denotes a wilderness. It is also translated plains; as the plains of Jericho, the plains of Moab, the plains of the wilderness.
The Hebrew word is properly rendered desert, meaning the waste tracts on both shores of the Dead Sea. This word is also rendered desert. It denotes a greater extent of uncultivated country than the other words so rendered. It is especially applied to the desert of the peninsula of Arabia, the most terrible of all the deserts with which the Israelites were acquainted. It is called the desert.
Euphrates
Perath; Assyrian, Purat; Persian cuneiform, Ufratush, whence Greek Euphrates, meaning sweet water. The Assyrian name means the stream, or the great stream. It is generally called in the Bible simply the river, or the great river. The Euphrates is first mentioned as one of the rivers of Paradise. It is next mentioned in connection with the covenant which God entered into with Abraham, when he promised to his descendants the land from the river of Egypt to the river Euphrates, a covenant promise afterwards fulfilled in the extended conquests of David. It was then the boundary of the kingdom to the northeast. In the ancient history of Assyria, and Babylon, and Egypt many events are recorded in which mention is made of the great river. Just as the Nile represented in prophecy the power of Egypt, so the Euphrates represented the Assyrian power.
It is by far the largest and most important of all the rivers of Western Asia. From its source in the Armenian mountains to the Persian Gulf, into which it empties itself, it has a course of about 1,700 miles. It has two sources, the Frat or Kara-su, which rises 25 miles northeast of Erzeroum; and the Muradchai, which rises near Ararat, on the northern slope of Ala-tagh. At Kebban Maden, 400 miles from the source of the former, and 270 from that of the latter, they meet and form the majestic stream, which is at length joined by the Tigris at Koornah, after which it is called Shat-el-Arab, which runs in a deep and broad stream for above 140 miles to the sea. It is estimated that the alluvium brought down by these rivers encroaches on the sea at the rate of about one mile in 30 years.
Flax
This plant was cultivated from earliest times. The flax of Egypt was destroyed by the plague of hail when it was boiled, was forming pods for seed. It was extensively cultivated both in Egypt and Palestine. Reference is made to the custom of drying flax stalks by exposing them to the sun on the flat roofs of houses. It was much used in forming articles of clothing such as girdles, also cords and bands.
Ford
Mention is frequently made of the fords of the Jordan, which must have been very numerous; about fifty perhaps. The most notable was that of Bethabara. Mention is also made of the ford of the Jabbok, and of the fords of Arnon and of the Euphrates.
Harlot
The Hebrew word for a woman consecrated or devoted to prostitution in connection with the abominable worship of Asherah or Astarte, the Syrian Venus. Thus Tamar sat by the wayside as a consecrated kedeshah. It has been attempted to show that Rahab, usually called a harlot, was only an innkeeper. This interpretation, however, cannot be maintained. Jephthah's mother is called a strange woman. This, however, merely denotes that she was of foreign extraction.
In the time of Solomon harlots appeared openly in the streets, and he solemnly warns against association with them, has and the harlots washed, now they washed. To commit fornication is metaphorically used for to practice idolatry; hence Jerusalem is spoken of as a harlot, the strange woman. Those so designated were Canaanites and other Gentiles. To the same class belonged the foolish, the sinful, woman. In the New Testament the Greek pornai, plural, harlots, where they are classed with publicans.
Heshbon
Intelligence, a city ruled over by Sihon, king of the Amorites. It was taken by Moses, and became afterwards a Levitical city in the tribe of Reuben. After the Exile it was taken possession of by the Moabites. The ruins of this town are still seen about 20 miles east of Jordan from the north end of the Dead Sea. There are reservoirs in this district, which are probably the fish pools.
Joshua
Jehovah is his help, or Jehovah the Savior. The son of Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim, the successor of Moses as the leader of Israel. He is called Jehoshua, and Jesus. He was born in Egypt, and was probably of the age of Caleb, with whom he is generally associated. He shared in all the events of the Exodus, and held the place of commander of the host of the Israelites at their great battle against the Amalekites in Rephidim. He became Moses' minister or servant, and accompanied him part of the way when he ascended Mount Sinai to receive the two tables.
He was also one of the 12 who were sent on by Moses to explore the land of Canaan, and only he and Caleb gave an encouraging report. Under the direction of God, Moses, before his death, invested Joshua in a public and solemn manner with authority over the people as his successor. The people were encamped at Shittim when he assumed the command; and crossing the Jordan, they encamped at Gilgal, where, having circumcised the people, he kept the Passover, and was visited by the Captain of the Lord's host, who spoke to him encouraging words.
Now began the wars of conquest which Joshua carried on for many years, the record of which is in the book which bears his name. Six nations and 31 kings were conquered by him. Having thus subdued the Canaanites, Joshua divided the land among the tribes, Timnath-serah in Mount Ephraim being assigned to himself as his own inheritance.
Kenizzite
The name of a tribe referred to in the covenant God made with Abraham. They are not mentioned among the original inhabitants of Canaan, and probably they inhabited some part of Arabia, in the confines of Syria. A designation given to Caleb.
Lebanon
A mountain range in the north of Palestine. The name Lebanon signifies white, and was applied either on account of snow which, during a great part of the year, cover its whole summit, or on account of the white color of its limestone cliffs and peaks. It is the white mountain the Mont Blane of Palestine. Lebanon is represented in Scripture as lying upon the northern border of the land of Israel. Two distinct ranges bear this name. They run in parallel lines from southwest to northeast for about 90 geographical miles, enclosing between them a long, fertile valley from five to eight miles wide, anciently called Coele-Syria.
The western range is the Libanus of the old geographers and the Lebanon of Scripture. The eastern range was called Anti-Libanus by geographers, and Lebanon toward the sun rising by the sacred writers. Lebanon the western range commences on the south of the deep ravine of the Litany, the ancient river Leontes, which drains the valley of Cole-Syria, and falls into the Mediterranean five miles north of Tyre. It runs northeast in a straight line parallel to the coast, to the opening from the Mediterranean into the plain of Emesa, called in Scripture the entrance of Hamath.
Here Nehr el-Kebir the ancient river Eleutherus sweeps round its northern end, as the Leontes does round its southern. The average elevation of the range is from 6000 to 8000 feet; but two peaks rise considerably higher. On the summits of both these peaks the snow remains in patches during the whole summer. The line of cultivation runs along at the height of about 6000 feet; and below this the features of the western slopes are entirely different. The rugged limestone banks are scantily clothed with the evergreen oak, and the sandstone with pines; while every available spot is carefully cultivated.
The cultivation is wonderful, and shows what all Syria might be if under a good government. Fig trees cling to the naked rock; vines are trained along narrow ledges; long ranges of mulberries, on terraces like steps of stairs, cover the more gentle declivities; and dense groves of olives fill up the bottoms of the glens. Hundreds of villages are seen here built among labyrinths of rocks, there clinging like among labyrinths of rocks, there clinging like swallows' nests to the sides of cliffs; while convents, no less numerous, are perched on the top of every peak.
The vine is still largely cultivated in every part of the mountain. Lebanon also abounds in olives, figs and mulberries; while some remnants exist of the forests of pine, oak and cedar which formerly covered it. Considerable numbers of wild beasts still inhabit its retired glens and higher peaks; the writer has seen jackals, hyaenas, wolves, bears and panthers. Along the base of Lebanon runs the irregular plain of Phoenicia nowhere more than two miles wide, and often interrupted by bold rocky spurs that dip into the sea. The main ridge of Lebanon is composed of Jura limestone, and abounds in fossils.
Long belts of more recent sandstone run along the western slopes, which are in places largely impregnated with iron. Lebanon was originally inhabited by the Hivites and Giblites. The whole mountain range was assigned to the Israelites, but was never conquered by them. During the Jewish monarchy it appears to have been subject of the Phoenicians.
From the Greek conquest until modern times Lebanon had no separate history. Anti-Libanus. The main chain of Anti-Libanus commences in the plateau of Bashan, near the parallel of Caesarea Philippi, runs north to Hermon, and then northeast in a straight line till it stinks down into the great plain of Emesa, not far from the site of Riblah. Hermon is the loftiest peak; the next highest is a few miles north of the site of Abila, beside the village of Bludan, and has an elevation of about 7000 feet.
The rest of the ridge averages about 5000 feet; it is in general bleak and barren, with shelving gray declivities, gray cliffs and gray rounded summits. Here and there we meet with thin forests of dwarf oak and juniper. The western slopes descend abruptly into the Buka'a ; but the features of the eastern are entirely different. Three side ridges here radiate from Hermon, like the ribs of an open fan, and form the supporting walls of three great terraces. Anti-Libanus is only once distinctly mentioned in Scripture, where it is accurately described as Lebanon toward the sun rising.
Linen
Pishet, pishtah, denotes flax, of which linen is made; wrought flax, linen cloth. Flax was early cultivated in Egypt, and also in Palestine. Various articles were made of it: garments, girdles, ropes and thread, napkins, turbans, and lamp wicks buts, whiteness; rendered fine linen, and white linen. It is not certain whether this word means cotton or linen, bad; rendered linen.
It is uniformly used of the sacred vestments worn by the priests. The word is from a root signifying separation; rendered fine linen it is rendered in Authorized Version silk, and in Revised Version fine linen. The word denotes Egyptian linen of peculiar whiteness and fineness. The finest Indian linen, the finest now made, has in an inch 100 threads of warp and 84 of woof; while the Egyptian had sometimes 140 in the warp and 64 in the woof.
This was the usual dress of the Egyptian priest. Pharaoh arrayed Joseph in a dress of linen, fine linen of Egypt, the yarn of Egypt, fine linen, linen garments. From this Hebrew word is probably derived the Greek word sindon, rendered linen. The word linen is used as an emblem of moral purity, it is mentioned as a mark of luxury.
Minister
This term is used to describe various officials of a religious and civil character. Its meaning, as distinguished from servant, is a voluntary attendant on another. In the Old Testament it is applied to an attendance upon a person of high rank, to the attaches of a royal court, To the priests and Levites.
One term in the New Testament betokens a subordinate public administrator, one who performs certain gratuitous public services. A second term contains the idea of actual and personal attendance upon a superior, as in The minister's duty was to open and close the building, to produce and replace the books employed in the service, and generally to wait on the officiating priest or teacher. A third term is the one usually employed in relation to the ministry of the gospel: its application is twofold, in a general sense to indicate ministers of any order, whether superior or inferior, and in a special sense to indicate an order of inferiors ministers.
Non
Nun, the father of Joshua.
Rahab
Insolence; pride, a poetical name applied to Egypt, as the proud one. Rahab. When the Hebrews were encamped at Shittim, in the Arabah or Jordan valley opposite Jericho, ready to cross the river, Joshua, as a final preparation, sent out two spies to spy the land. After five days they returned, having swum across the river, which at this season, the month Abib, overflowed its banks from the melting of the snow on Lebanon. The spies reported how it had fared with them.
They had been exposed to danger in Jericho, and had been saved by the fidelity of Rahab the harlot, to whose house they had gone for protection. When the city of Jericho fell, Rahab and her whole family were preserved according to the promise of the spies, and were incorporated among the Jewish people. She afterwards became the wife of Salmon, a prince of the tribe of Judah.
Rahab's being asked to bring out the spies to the soldiers sent for them, is in strict keeping with Eastern manners, which would not permit any man to enter a woman's house without her permission. The fact of her covering the spies with bundles of flax which lay on her house roof is an undesigned coincidence which strictly corroborates the narrative. It was the time of the barley harvest, and flax and barley are ripe at the same time in the Jordan valley, so that the bundles of flax stalks might have been expected to be drying just then.
Red Sea
The sea so called extends along the west coast of Arabia for about 1,400 miles, and separates Asia from Africa. It is connected with the Indian Ocean, of which it is an arm. At a point about 200 miles from its nothern extremity it is divided into two arms, that on the east called the Aelanitic Gulf, about 100 miles long by 15 broad, and that on the west the Gulf of Suez, about 150 miles long by about 20 broad.
This branch is now connected with the Mediterranean by the Suez Canal. Between these two arms lies the Sinaitic Peninsula. The Hebrew name means a woolly kind of sea weed, which the sea casts up in great abundance on its shores. In these passages, the Hebrew name is always translated Red Sea, which was the name given to it by the Greeks.
The origin of this name is uncertain. Some think it is derived from the red color of the mountains on the western shore; others from the red coral found in the sea, or the red appearance sometimes given to the water by certain zoophytes floating in it. In the New Testament this name is given to the Gulf of Suez. This sea was also called the Egyptian, the sea. The great historical event connected with the Red Sea is the passage of the children of Israel, and the overthrow of the Egyptians, to which there is frequent reference in Scripture.
Rephah
A son of Ephraim, and ancestor of Joshua.
Scarlet
This dye was obtained by the Egyptians from the shellfish Carthamus tinctorius; and by the Hebrews from the Coccus ilicis, an insect which infests oak trees, called kermes by the Arabians. This color was early known. It was one of the colors of the ephod, the girdle, and the breastplate of the high priest. It is also mentioned in various other connections. A scarlet robe was in mockery placed on our Lord. Sins as scarlet as scarlet robes glaring and habitual. Scarlet and crimson were the firmest of dyes, and thus not easily washed out.
Telah
A descendant of Ephraim, and ancestor of Joshua.
Shittim
Abel-shittim a plain or valley in the land of Moab where the Israelites were encamped after their two victories over Sihon and Og, at the close of their desert wanderings, and from which Joshua sent forth two spies secretly to view the land and Jericho.
Window
Properly only an opening in a house for the admission of light and air, covered with lattice work, which might be opened or closed. The spies in Jericho and Paul at Damascus were let down from the windows of houses abutting on the town wall. The clouds are metaphorically called the windows of heaven. The word battlements, bulwarks; pinnacles, notched battlements, suns or rays of the sun having a radiated appearance like the sun.
Zaretan
When the Hebrews crossed the Jordan, as soon as the feet of the priests were dipped in the water, the flow of the stream was arrested. The point of arrest was the city of Adam beside Zaretan, probably near Succoth, at the mouth of the Jabbok, some 30 miles up the river from where the people were encamped. There the water stood and rose upon an heap. Thus the whole space of 30 miles of the river-bed was dry, that the tribes might pass over.
Zereda
the fortress, a city on the north of Mount Ephraim; the birthplace of Jeroboam. It is probably the same as Zaretan , Zererath, Zartanah, or the following.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
The Lord appoints Joshua to succeed Moses. Joshua had attended upon Moses. He who was called to honor, had been long used to business. Our Lord Jesus took upon him the form of a servant. Joshua was trained up under command. Those are fittest to rule, who have learned to obey. The removal of useful men should quicken survivors to be the more diligent in doing good.
Arise, go over Jordan. At this place and at this time the banks were overflowed. Joshua had no bridge or boats, and yet he must believe that God, having ordered the people over, would open a way. God promises to assist Joshua. Joshua is to make the law of God his rule. He is charged to meditate therein day and night, that he might understand it. Whatever affairs of this world we have to mind, we must not neglect the one thing needful.
All his orders to the people, and his judgments, must be according to the law of God. Joshua must himself be under command; no man's dignity or dominion sets him above the law of God. He is to encourage himself with the promise and presence of God. Let not the sense of thine own infirmities dishearten thee; God is all sufficient.
I have commanded, called, and commissioned thee to do it, and will be sure to bear thee out in it. When we are in the way of duty, we have reason to be strong and very bold. Our Lord Jesus, as Joshua here, was borne up under his sufferings by a regard to the will of God, and the commandment from his Father. Preparation to pass over Jordan. Joshua says to the people, Ye shall pass over Jordan, and shall possess the land; because God had said so to him.
We honor the truth of God, when we stagger not at the promise of God. The two tribes and a half were to go over Jordan with their brethren. When God, by his providence, has given us rest, we ought to consider what service we may do to our brethren. The people promise to obey Joshua. The people of Israel engage to obey Joshua; All that you command us to do we will readily do, without murmuring or disputing, and you send us we will go.
The best we can ask of God for our magistrates, is, that they may have the presence of God; that will make them blessings to us, so that in seeking this for them, we consult our own interest. May we be enabled to enlist under the banner of the Captain of our salvation, to be obedient to his commands, and to fight the good fight of faith; for whoever refuses to obey him must be destroyed.
Joshua 1:1
Now it came about after the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, that the LORD spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ servant, saying,
Joshua 1:2
“Moses My servant is dead; now therefore arise, cross this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them, to the sons of Israel.
Joshua 1:3
Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given it to you, just as I spoke to Moses.
Joshua 1:4
From the wilderness and this Lebanon, even as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and as far as the Great Sea toward the setting of the sun will be your territory.
Joshua 1:5
No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you.
Joshua 1:6
Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.
Joshua 1:7
Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go.
Joshua 1:8
This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.
Joshua 1:9
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”
Joshua 1:10
Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying,
Joshua 1:11
“Pass through the midst of the camp and command the people, saying, ‘Prepare provisions for yourselves, for within three days you are to cross this Jordan, to go in to possess the land which the LORD your God is giving you, to possess it.’”
Joshua 1:12
To the Reubenites and to the Gadites and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, Joshua said,
Joshua 1:13
“Remember the word which Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, saying, ‘The LORD your God gives you rest and will give you this land.’
Joshua 1:14
Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle shall remain in the land which Moses gave you beyond the Jordan, but you shall cross before your brothers in battle array, all your valiant warriors, and shall help them,
Joshua 1:15
until the LORD gives your brothers rest, as He gives you, and they also possess the land which the LORD your God is giving them. Then you shall return to your own land, and possess that which Moses the servant of the LORD gave you beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise.”
Joshua 1:16
They answered Joshua, saying, “All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go.
Joshua 1:17
Just as we obeyed Moses in all things, so we will obey you; only may the LORD your God be with you as He was with Moses.
Joshua 1:18
Anyone who rebels against your command and does not obey your words in all that you command him, shall be put to death; only be strong and courageous.”
Cross References
Joshua 1:2: Numbers 12:7; Deuteronomy 34:5; Joshua 1:11; Joshua 1:3: Deuteronomy 11:24; Joshua 1:4: Genesis 15:18; Numbers 34:3; Joshua 1:5: Deuteronomy 7:24; Deuteronomy 31:6, 7; Hebrews 13:5; Joshua 1:6: Deuteronomy 31:6, 7, 23; Joshua 1:7: Deuteronomy 5:32; Joshua 1:8: Deuteronomy 31:24; Joshua 8:34; Deuteronomy 29:9; Psalm 1:1-3; Joshua 1:9: Joshua 1:7; Deuteronomy 31:8; Joshua 1:11: Joshua 3:2; Joshua 1:12: Numbers 32:20-22; Joshua 1:13: Deuteronomy 3:18-20; Joshua 1:15: Joshua 22:4; Joshua 1:15: Joshua 1:1; Joshua 1:17: Joshua 1:5, 9
Easton's Bible Dictionary
The City of Adam
It stood beside Zarethan, on the west bank of Jordan. At this city the flow of the water was arrested and rose up upon an heap at the time of the Israelites' passing over.
Admah
Earth, one of the five cities of the vale of Siddim. It was destroyed along with Sodom and Gomorrah. It is supposed by some to be the same as Adam, the name of which still lingers in Damieh, the ford of Jordan.
Arabah
Plain; It denotes the hollow depression through which the Jordan flows from the Lake of Galilee to the Dead Sea. It is now called by the Arabs el-Ghor. But the Ghor is sometimes spoken of as extending 10 miles south of the Dead Sea, and thence to the Gulf of Akabah on the Red Sea is called the Wady el-Arabah.
Ark
Noah's ark, a building of gopher-wood, and covered with pitch, 300 cubits long, 50 cubits broad, and 30 cubits high; an oblong floating house of three stories, with a door in the side and a window in the roof. It was 100 years in building. It was intended to preserve certain persons and animals from the deluge which God was about to bring over the earth.
It contained eight persons, and of all clean animals seven pairs, and of unclean one pair, and of birds seven pairs of each sort. It was in the form of an oblong square, with flat bottom and sloping roof. Traditions of the Deluge, by which the race of man was swept from the earth, and of the ark of Noah have been found existing among all nations.
The ark of bulrushes in which the infant Moses was laid is called in the Hebrew, a word derived from the Egyptian, meaning a chest. It was daubed with slime and with pitch. The bulrushes of which it was made were the papyrus reed. The sacred ark is designated by a different Hebrew word, which is the common name for a chest or coffer used for any purpose.
It is distinguished from all others by such titles as the ark of God, ark of the covenant, ark of the testimony. It was made of acacia wood, a cubit and a half broad and high and two cubits long, and covered all over with the purest gold. Its upper surface or lid, the mercy seat, was surrounded with a rim of gold; and on each of the two sides were two gold rings, in which were placed two gold covered poles by which the ark could be carried.
Over the ark, at the two extremities, were two cherubim, with their faces turned toward each other. Their outspread wings over the top of the ark formed the throne of God, while the ark itself was his footstool. The ark was deposited in the holy of holies, and was so placed that one end of the poles by which it was carried touched the veil which separated the two apartments of the tabernacle. The two tables of stone which constituted the testimony or evidence of God's covenant with the people, the pot of manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, were laid up in the ark.
Canaanites
The descendants of Canaan, the son of Ham. Migrating from their original home, they seem to have reached the Persian Gulf, and to have there sojourned for some time. They thence spread to the west, across the mountain chain of Lebanon to the very edge of the Mediterranean Sea, occupying all the land which later became Palestine, also to the northwest as far as the mountain chain of Taurus.
This group was very numerous, and broken up into a great many peoples, as we can judge from the list of nations, the sons of Canaan. Six different tribes are mentioned. The Perizzites are omitted. The Girgashites are mentioned in addition to the foregoing.
The Canaanites, as distinguished from the Amalekites, the Anakim, and the Rephaim, were dwellers in the lowlands, the great plains and valleys, the richest and most important parts of Palestine. Tyre and Sidon, their famous cities, were the centres of great commercial activity; and hence the name Canaanite came to signify a trader or merchant, Canaanites; The name Canaanite is also sometimes used to designate the non-Israelite inhabitants of the land in general.
The Israelites, when they were led to the Promised Land, were commanded utterly to destroy the descendants of Canaan then possessing it. This was to be done by little and little, lest the beasts of the field should increase. The history of these wars of conquest is given in the Book of Joshua.
The extermination of these tribes, however, was never fully carried out. Jerusalem was not taken till the time of David. In the days of Solomon bond-service was exacted from the fragments of the tribes still remaining in the land. Even after the return from captivity survivors of five of the Canaanitish tribes were still found in the land.
In the Tell-el-Amarna tablets Canaan is found under the forms of Kinakhna and Kinakhkhi. Under the name of Kanana the Canaanites appear on Egyptian monuments, wearing a coat of mail and helmet, and distinguished by the use of spear and javelin and the battle axe. They were called Phoenicians by the Greeks and Poeni by the Romans. By race the Canaanites were Semitic.
They were famous as merchants and seamen, as well as for their artistic skill. The chief object of their worship was the sun god, who was addressed by the general name of Baal, lord. Each locality had its special Baal, and the various local Baals were summed up under the name of Baalim, lords.
Desert
Midbar, pasture ground; an open tract for pasturage; a common. The backside of the desert is the west of the desert, the region behind a man, as the east is the region in front. The same Hebrew word is rendered wilderness, and is used of the country lying between Egypt and Palestine, the wilderness of the wanderings. It was a grazing tract, where the flocks and herds of the Israelites found pasturage during the whole of their journey to the Promised Land.
The same Hebrew word is used also to denote the wilderness of Arabia, which in winter and early spring supplies good pasturage to the flocks of the nomad tribes than roam over it. The wilderness of Judah is the mountainous region along the western shore of the Dead Sea, where David fed his father's flocks. Thus in both of these instances the word denotes a country without settled inhabitants and without streams of water, but having good pasturage for cattle; a country of wandering tribes, as distinguished from that of a settled people. Such, also, is the meaning of the word wilderness.
The translation of the Hebrew, an arid tract. The name Arabah is specially applied to the deep valley of the Jordan, which extends from the lake of Tiberias to the Elanitic gulf. While denotes properly a pastoral region, denotes a wilderness. It is also translated plains; as the plains of Jericho, the plains of Moab, the plains of the wilderness.
The Hebrew word is properly rendered desert, meaning the waste tracts on both shores of the Dead Sea. This word is also rendered desert. It denotes a greater extent of uncultivated country than the other words so rendered. It is especially applied to the desert of the peninsula of Arabia, the most terrible of all the deserts with which the Israelites were acquainted. It is called the desert.
Euphrates
Perath; Assyrian, Purat; Persian cuneiform, Ufratush, whence Greek Euphrates, meaning sweet water. The Assyrian name means the stream, or the great stream. It is generally called in the Bible simply the river, or the great river. The Euphrates is first mentioned as one of the rivers of Paradise. It is next mentioned in connection with the covenant which God entered into with Abraham, when he promised to his descendants the land from the river of Egypt to the river Euphrates, a covenant promise afterwards fulfilled in the extended conquests of David. It was then the boundary of the kingdom to the northeast. In the ancient history of Assyria, and Babylon, and Egypt many events are recorded in which mention is made of the great river. Just as the Nile represented in prophecy the power of Egypt, so the Euphrates represented the Assyrian power.
It is by far the largest and most important of all the rivers of Western Asia. From its source in the Armenian mountains to the Persian Gulf, into which it empties itself, it has a course of about 1,700 miles. It has two sources, the Frat or Kara-su, which rises 25 miles northeast of Erzeroum; and the Muradchai, which rises near Ararat, on the northern slope of Ala-tagh. At Kebban Maden, 400 miles from the source of the former, and 270 from that of the latter, they meet and form the majestic stream, which is at length joined by the Tigris at Koornah, after which it is called Shat-el-Arab, which runs in a deep and broad stream for above 140 miles to the sea. It is estimated that the alluvium brought down by these rivers encroaches on the sea at the rate of about one mile in 30 years.
Flax
This plant was cultivated from earliest times. The flax of Egypt was destroyed by the plague of hail when it was boiled, was forming pods for seed. It was extensively cultivated both in Egypt and Palestine. Reference is made to the custom of drying flax stalks by exposing them to the sun on the flat roofs of houses. It was much used in forming articles of clothing such as girdles, also cords and bands.
Ford
Mention is frequently made of the fords of the Jordan, which must have been very numerous; about fifty perhaps. The most notable was that of Bethabara. Mention is also made of the ford of the Jabbok, and of the fords of Arnon and of the Euphrates.
Harlot
The Hebrew word for a woman consecrated or devoted to prostitution in connection with the abominable worship of Asherah or Astarte, the Syrian Venus. Thus Tamar sat by the wayside as a consecrated kedeshah. It has been attempted to show that Rahab, usually called a harlot, was only an innkeeper. This interpretation, however, cannot be maintained. Jephthah's mother is called a strange woman. This, however, merely denotes that she was of foreign extraction.
In the time of Solomon harlots appeared openly in the streets, and he solemnly warns against association with them, has and the harlots washed, now they washed. To commit fornication is metaphorically used for to practice idolatry; hence Jerusalem is spoken of as a harlot, the strange woman. Those so designated were Canaanites and other Gentiles. To the same class belonged the foolish, the sinful, woman. In the New Testament the Greek pornai, plural, harlots, where they are classed with publicans.
Heshbon
Intelligence, a city ruled over by Sihon, king of the Amorites. It was taken by Moses, and became afterwards a Levitical city in the tribe of Reuben. After the Exile it was taken possession of by the Moabites. The ruins of this town are still seen about 20 miles east of Jordan from the north end of the Dead Sea. There are reservoirs in this district, which are probably the fish pools.
Joshua
Jehovah is his help, or Jehovah the Savior. The son of Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim, the successor of Moses as the leader of Israel. He is called Jehoshua, and Jesus. He was born in Egypt, and was probably of the age of Caleb, with whom he is generally associated. He shared in all the events of the Exodus, and held the place of commander of the host of the Israelites at their great battle against the Amalekites in Rephidim. He became Moses' minister or servant, and accompanied him part of the way when he ascended Mount Sinai to receive the two tables.
He was also one of the 12 who were sent on by Moses to explore the land of Canaan, and only he and Caleb gave an encouraging report. Under the direction of God, Moses, before his death, invested Joshua in a public and solemn manner with authority over the people as his successor. The people were encamped at Shittim when he assumed the command; and crossing the Jordan, they encamped at Gilgal, where, having circumcised the people, he kept the Passover, and was visited by the Captain of the Lord's host, who spoke to him encouraging words.
Now began the wars of conquest which Joshua carried on for many years, the record of which is in the book which bears his name. Six nations and 31 kings were conquered by him. Having thus subdued the Canaanites, Joshua divided the land among the tribes, Timnath-serah in Mount Ephraim being assigned to himself as his own inheritance.
Kenizzite
The name of a tribe referred to in the covenant God made with Abraham. They are not mentioned among the original inhabitants of Canaan, and probably they inhabited some part of Arabia, in the confines of Syria. A designation given to Caleb.
Lebanon
A mountain range in the north of Palestine. The name Lebanon signifies white, and was applied either on account of snow which, during a great part of the year, cover its whole summit, or on account of the white color of its limestone cliffs and peaks. It is the white mountain the Mont Blane of Palestine. Lebanon is represented in Scripture as lying upon the northern border of the land of Israel. Two distinct ranges bear this name. They run in parallel lines from southwest to northeast for about 90 geographical miles, enclosing between them a long, fertile valley from five to eight miles wide, anciently called Coele-Syria.
The western range is the Libanus of the old geographers and the Lebanon of Scripture. The eastern range was called Anti-Libanus by geographers, and Lebanon toward the sun rising by the sacred writers. Lebanon the western range commences on the south of the deep ravine of the Litany, the ancient river Leontes, which drains the valley of Cole-Syria, and falls into the Mediterranean five miles north of Tyre. It runs northeast in a straight line parallel to the coast, to the opening from the Mediterranean into the plain of Emesa, called in Scripture the entrance of Hamath.
Here Nehr el-Kebir the ancient river Eleutherus sweeps round its northern end, as the Leontes does round its southern. The average elevation of the range is from 6000 to 8000 feet; but two peaks rise considerably higher. On the summits of both these peaks the snow remains in patches during the whole summer. The line of cultivation runs along at the height of about 6000 feet; and below this the features of the western slopes are entirely different. The rugged limestone banks are scantily clothed with the evergreen oak, and the sandstone with pines; while every available spot is carefully cultivated.
The cultivation is wonderful, and shows what all Syria might be if under a good government. Fig trees cling to the naked rock; vines are trained along narrow ledges; long ranges of mulberries, on terraces like steps of stairs, cover the more gentle declivities; and dense groves of olives fill up the bottoms of the glens. Hundreds of villages are seen here built among labyrinths of rocks, there clinging like among labyrinths of rocks, there clinging like swallows' nests to the sides of cliffs; while convents, no less numerous, are perched on the top of every peak.
The vine is still largely cultivated in every part of the mountain. Lebanon also abounds in olives, figs and mulberries; while some remnants exist of the forests of pine, oak and cedar which formerly covered it. Considerable numbers of wild beasts still inhabit its retired glens and higher peaks; the writer has seen jackals, hyaenas, wolves, bears and panthers. Along the base of Lebanon runs the irregular plain of Phoenicia nowhere more than two miles wide, and often interrupted by bold rocky spurs that dip into the sea. The main ridge of Lebanon is composed of Jura limestone, and abounds in fossils.
Long belts of more recent sandstone run along the western slopes, which are in places largely impregnated with iron. Lebanon was originally inhabited by the Hivites and Giblites. The whole mountain range was assigned to the Israelites, but was never conquered by them. During the Jewish monarchy it appears to have been subject of the Phoenicians.
From the Greek conquest until modern times Lebanon had no separate history. Anti-Libanus. The main chain of Anti-Libanus commences in the plateau of Bashan, near the parallel of Caesarea Philippi, runs north to Hermon, and then northeast in a straight line till it stinks down into the great plain of Emesa, not far from the site of Riblah. Hermon is the loftiest peak; the next highest is a few miles north of the site of Abila, beside the village of Bludan, and has an elevation of about 7000 feet.
The rest of the ridge averages about 5000 feet; it is in general bleak and barren, with shelving gray declivities, gray cliffs and gray rounded summits. Here and there we meet with thin forests of dwarf oak and juniper. The western slopes descend abruptly into the Buka'a ; but the features of the eastern are entirely different. Three side ridges here radiate from Hermon, like the ribs of an open fan, and form the supporting walls of three great terraces. Anti-Libanus is only once distinctly mentioned in Scripture, where it is accurately described as Lebanon toward the sun rising.
Linen
Pishet, pishtah, denotes flax, of which linen is made; wrought flax, linen cloth. Flax was early cultivated in Egypt, and also in Palestine. Various articles were made of it: garments, girdles, ropes and thread, napkins, turbans, and lamp wicks buts, whiteness; rendered fine linen, and white linen. It is not certain whether this word means cotton or linen, bad; rendered linen.
It is uniformly used of the sacred vestments worn by the priests. The word is from a root signifying separation; rendered fine linen it is rendered in Authorized Version silk, and in Revised Version fine linen. The word denotes Egyptian linen of peculiar whiteness and fineness. The finest Indian linen, the finest now made, has in an inch 100 threads of warp and 84 of woof; while the Egyptian had sometimes 140 in the warp and 64 in the woof.
This was the usual dress of the Egyptian priest. Pharaoh arrayed Joseph in a dress of linen, fine linen of Egypt, the yarn of Egypt, fine linen, linen garments. From this Hebrew word is probably derived the Greek word sindon, rendered linen. The word linen is used as an emblem of moral purity, it is mentioned as a mark of luxury.
Minister
This term is used to describe various officials of a religious and civil character. Its meaning, as distinguished from servant, is a voluntary attendant on another. In the Old Testament it is applied to an attendance upon a person of high rank, to the attaches of a royal court, To the priests and Levites.
One term in the New Testament betokens a subordinate public administrator, one who performs certain gratuitous public services. A second term contains the idea of actual and personal attendance upon a superior, as in The minister's duty was to open and close the building, to produce and replace the books employed in the service, and generally to wait on the officiating priest or teacher. A third term is the one usually employed in relation to the ministry of the gospel: its application is twofold, in a general sense to indicate ministers of any order, whether superior or inferior, and in a special sense to indicate an order of inferiors ministers.
Non
Nun, the father of Joshua.
Rahab
Insolence; pride, a poetical name applied to Egypt, as the proud one. Rahab. When the Hebrews were encamped at Shittim, in the Arabah or Jordan valley opposite Jericho, ready to cross the river, Joshua, as a final preparation, sent out two spies to spy the land. After five days they returned, having swum across the river, which at this season, the month Abib, overflowed its banks from the melting of the snow on Lebanon. The spies reported how it had fared with them.
They had been exposed to danger in Jericho, and had been saved by the fidelity of Rahab the harlot, to whose house they had gone for protection. When the city of Jericho fell, Rahab and her whole family were preserved according to the promise of the spies, and were incorporated among the Jewish people. She afterwards became the wife of Salmon, a prince of the tribe of Judah.
Rahab's being asked to bring out the spies to the soldiers sent for them, is in strict keeping with Eastern manners, which would not permit any man to enter a woman's house without her permission. The fact of her covering the spies with bundles of flax which lay on her house roof is an undesigned coincidence which strictly corroborates the narrative. It was the time of the barley harvest, and flax and barley are ripe at the same time in the Jordan valley, so that the bundles of flax stalks might have been expected to be drying just then.
Red Sea
The sea so called extends along the west coast of Arabia for about 1,400 miles, and separates Asia from Africa. It is connected with the Indian Ocean, of which it is an arm. At a point about 200 miles from its nothern extremity it is divided into two arms, that on the east called the Aelanitic Gulf, about 100 miles long by 15 broad, and that on the west the Gulf of Suez, about 150 miles long by about 20 broad.
This branch is now connected with the Mediterranean by the Suez Canal. Between these two arms lies the Sinaitic Peninsula. The Hebrew name means a woolly kind of sea weed, which the sea casts up in great abundance on its shores. In these passages, the Hebrew name is always translated Red Sea, which was the name given to it by the Greeks.
The origin of this name is uncertain. Some think it is derived from the red color of the mountains on the western shore; others from the red coral found in the sea, or the red appearance sometimes given to the water by certain zoophytes floating in it. In the New Testament this name is given to the Gulf of Suez. This sea was also called the Egyptian, the sea. The great historical event connected with the Red Sea is the passage of the children of Israel, and the overthrow of the Egyptians, to which there is frequent reference in Scripture.
Rephah
A son of Ephraim, and ancestor of Joshua.
Scarlet
This dye was obtained by the Egyptians from the shellfish Carthamus tinctorius; and by the Hebrews from the Coccus ilicis, an insect which infests oak trees, called kermes by the Arabians. This color was early known. It was one of the colors of the ephod, the girdle, and the breastplate of the high priest. It is also mentioned in various other connections. A scarlet robe was in mockery placed on our Lord. Sins as scarlet as scarlet robes glaring and habitual. Scarlet and crimson were the firmest of dyes, and thus not easily washed out.
Telah
A descendant of Ephraim, and ancestor of Joshua.
Shittim
Abel-shittim a plain or valley in the land of Moab where the Israelites were encamped after their two victories over Sihon and Og, at the close of their desert wanderings, and from which Joshua sent forth two spies secretly to view the land and Jericho.
Window
Properly only an opening in a house for the admission of light and air, covered with lattice work, which might be opened or closed. The spies in Jericho and Paul at Damascus were let down from the windows of houses abutting on the town wall. The clouds are metaphorically called the windows of heaven. The word battlements, bulwarks; pinnacles, notched battlements, suns or rays of the sun having a radiated appearance like the sun.
Zaretan
When the Hebrews crossed the Jordan, as soon as the feet of the priests were dipped in the water, the flow of the stream was arrested. The point of arrest was the city of Adam beside Zaretan, probably near Succoth, at the mouth of the Jabbok, some 30 miles up the river from where the people were encamped. There the water stood and rose upon an heap. Thus the whole space of 30 miles of the river-bed was dry, that the tribes might pass over.
Zereda
the fortress, a city on the north of Mount Ephraim; the birthplace of Jeroboam. It is probably the same as Zaretan , Zererath, Zartanah, or the following.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
The Lord appoints Joshua to succeed Moses. Joshua had attended upon Moses. He who was called to honor, had been long used to business. Our Lord Jesus took upon him the form of a servant. Joshua was trained up under command. Those are fittest to rule, who have learned to obey. The removal of useful men should quicken survivors to be the more diligent in doing good.
Arise, go over Jordan. At this place and at this time the banks were overflowed. Joshua had no bridge or boats, and yet he must believe that God, having ordered the people over, would open a way. God promises to assist Joshua. Joshua is to make the law of God his rule. He is charged to meditate therein day and night, that he might understand it. Whatever affairs of this world we have to mind, we must not neglect the one thing needful.
All his orders to the people, and his judgments, must be according to the law of God. Joshua must himself be under command; no man's dignity or dominion sets him above the law of God. He is to encourage himself with the promise and presence of God. Let not the sense of thine own infirmities dishearten thee; God is all sufficient.
I have commanded, called, and commissioned thee to do it, and will be sure to bear thee out in it. When we are in the way of duty, we have reason to be strong and very bold. Our Lord Jesus, as Joshua here, was borne up under his sufferings by a regard to the will of God, and the commandment from his Father. Preparation to pass over Jordan. Joshua says to the people, Ye shall pass over Jordan, and shall possess the land; because God had said so to him.
We honor the truth of God, when we stagger not at the promise of God. The two tribes and a half were to go over Jordan with their brethren. When God, by his providence, has given us rest, we ought to consider what service we may do to our brethren. The people promise to obey Joshua. The people of Israel engage to obey Joshua; All that you command us to do we will readily do, without murmuring or disputing, and you send us we will go.
The best we can ask of God for our magistrates, is, that they may have the presence of God; that will make them blessings to us, so that in seeking this for them, we consult our own interest. May we be enabled to enlist under the banner of the Captain of our salvation, to be obedient to his commands, and to fight the good fight of faith; for whoever refuses to obey him must be destroyed.
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