Jos 1:6-18 | KingComments | STEP | God has promised to give His people the land. Nevertheless, every Israelite must make an effort to conquer the land. God wants His people to make an effort for it, while He gives the people the strength to fight. God takes possession of the land by letting His people conquer it. If we want to take possession of our blessings, we will meet resistance. On the territory where our blessings are, there are also enemies who want to prevent us from taking possession of our blessings. Everywhere we want to put our foot on, an enemy will appear. Therefore the encouragement that the Lord Himself is with us sounds ( ). Although Joshua is a courageous man, he is still encouraged. He has to deal with a powerful enemy that should not be underestimated. Encouragement comes to us, not to the Lord Jesus or the Spirit, but to us in whom the Spirit dwells. He is with us with His Spirit on earth and He is our High Priest in heaven. He will not “fail” us. This means that He will not fail and will never disappoint us. He will not “forsake” us. That is, He will never leave us alone. This promise is of general application to the believers in view of the daily walk and what is necessary for it: “For He Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you”” ( ). He still gives another means of victory over the enemy and that is the Word of God, represented in the law. We need to examen the Word to know our blessings, but here it is about obeying the Word. If we don’t do that, there is no strength to fight the enemy. There must be no opening in our armor on which the enemy can point his arrow. We must reflect on the Word, not to serve others in the first place, but to know for ourselves how the Lord wants us to live. Joshua has a responsible task. He is the leader of a great people. He can only govern that people well if he also lets himself be governed well by the authority that is above him. Therefore he must listen to God’s Word. Then the commands and the justice from his mouth will guide the people on the right path. “Shall not depart from your mouth” means that we make God’s Word our words and do not wish to express our own thoughts ( ). This is only possible if we find joy in the Word and meditate on it “day and night” ( ; ). Then “the Word of Christ” will “richly dwell” in us ( ). Meditate on it is not reading a chapter or a verse in our quiet time and carrying it with us all day as a kind of mascot. It is a complete rule of the Word on our entire life, so that all our activities are governed by it. Then we will be prosperous and achieve our goal. When we meditate on God’s Word, we hear that God commands that we shall be strong and courageous. We have no reason to fear if the almighty God is with us. God has made His promise to give us the land. Then it is an insult to Him if we start to doubt that.

‏ Joshua 1:6-18

Encouragement and Exhortation

God has promised to give His people the land. Nevertheless, every Israelite must make an effort to conquer the land. God wants His people to make an effort for it, while He gives the people the strength to fight. God takes possession of the land by letting His people conquer it.

If we want to take possession of our blessings, we will meet resistance. On the territory where our blessings are, there are also enemies who want to prevent us from taking possession of our blessings. Everywhere we want to put our foot on, an enemy will appear. Therefore the encouragement that the Lord Himself is with us sounds (Deu 31:8).

Although Joshua is a courageous man, he is still encouraged. He has to deal with a powerful enemy that should not be underestimated. Encouragement comes to us, not to the Lord Jesus or the Spirit, but to us in whom the Spirit dwells. He is with us with His Spirit on earth and He is our High Priest in heaven.

He will not “fail” us. This means that He will not fail and will never disappoint us. He will not “forsake” us. That is, He will never leave us alone. This promise is of general application to the believers in view of the daily walk and what is necessary for it: “For He Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you”” (Heb 13:5b).

He still gives another means of victory over the enemy and that is the Word of God, represented in the law. We need to examen the Word to know our blessings, but here it is about obeying the Word. If we don’t do that, there is no strength to fight the enemy. There must be no opening in our armor on which the enemy can point his arrow. We must reflect on the Word, not to serve others in the first place, but to know for ourselves how the Lord wants us to live.

Joshua has a responsible task. He is the leader of a great people. He can only govern that people well if he also lets himself be governed well by the authority that is above him. Therefore he must listen to God’s Word. Then the commands and the justice from his mouth will guide the people on the right path.

“Shall not depart from your mouth” means that we make God’s Word our words and do not wish to express our own thoughts (Isa 8:20). This is only possible if we find joy in the Word and meditate on it “day and night” (Jos 1:8; Psa 1:2). Then “the Word of Christ” will “richly dwell” in us (Col 3:16a). Meditate on it is not reading a chapter or a verse in our quiet time and carrying it with us all day as a kind of mascot. It is a complete rule of the Word on our entire life, so that all our activities are governed by it. Then we will be prosperous and achieve our goal.

When we meditate on God’s Word, we hear that God commands that we shall be strong and courageous. We have no reason to fear if the almighty God is with us. God has made His promise to give us the land. Then it is an insult to Him if we start to doubt that.

Command to the Officers

Joshua obeys immediately. The people must prepare themselves for the passage through the Jordan. With this message Joshua sends the officers to the people. He does not give any indication about how the people will go through the Jordan. He has seen how the LORD opened the Red Sea forty years ago, and he trusts that the same will happen to the Jordan. Therefore he says in full faith that within three days they will cross the Jordan.

He is, together with Caleb, the oldest of the people. But his faith and enthusiasm for the land have not diminished. After spying out the land, he encouraged the people at the time to trust in the LORD – which they did not do then. Just like then, he now speaks with certainty and passionately to his much younger peers about crossing the Jordan to take possession of the land.

The preparation should take three days. The period of ‘three days’ can often be linked to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. He rose up on the third day, proving that He has conquered death. The crossing takes place on that third day. The two preceding days are days of preparation.

In order to pass through, they have to prepare provisions, that is food for the way. This food is not given by the officials. The people themselves must take care of this. This speaks of the fact that we need to take spiritual food in order to be able to start the crossing. It means here that we are engaged in and reflect upon the meaning of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus and our death and resurrection with Him, through which we make it our own.

The Two and a Half Tribes

After the journey through the wilderness, as the land approached, the people, by God’s command, began to inherit the wilderness side of the Jordan. The Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh were satisfied with this and said that they did not want to go into the land. However, this is not in accordance with God’s purpose. The wilderness side of the Jordan is not the promised land. It is not the land conquered by Joshua. It is not the place of the testimony of the power of God’s Spirit.

The wilderness side of the Jordan is an area that represents blessings on earth which we also receive thankfully from God’s hand, but not just to be satisfied with them. Many Christians are content with the earthly blessings, without having any idea of the true blessings of the Christian.

These tribes have been given permission to live in the wilderness side of the Jordan on the condition that they go along to conquer the land. This they promised (Num 32:31-33). Now they go with them into the land, even in the front ranks. They will help to conquer the land, but when they have done so, they will return to their inheritance.

It speaks of believers who sometimes fight for the blessings, but above all enjoy the peace in their family and work, grateful for everything the Lord has given them. Only the men go over, leaving behind their wives and children. Spiritually speaking, they have never understood anything about the death and resurrection of Christ. These tribes were later the first to be led into the scattering.

The crossing of the Jordan of these two and a half tribes, represents in picture the Christian who believes in the fact of the death and resurrection of Christ, but for whom this fact has no effect on the life of faith. Such Christians will fight against the rising unbelief and power of satan working in the world without realizing, however, that the struggle is actually taking place in the heavenly places.

The Willingness of the People

It seems that what is said here is said by the whole people and not just by the two and a half tribes. They all warmly acknowledge Joshua’s leadership as the successor to Moses and express their unconditional obedience to him. They will do without objection what he asks of them and go where he wants them to go. All the people wish Joshua that the LORD his God be with him, as He was with Moses. With this they show that also for them the strength for the fight lies with the LORD.

Recognizing leadership is also important in the church (1Thes 5:12-13). It is not about recognizing people-appointed leaders. God’s Word doesn’t know such leaders (cf. Gal 1:1). God gives leaders formed by Himself.

There is no attempt by the two and a half tribes to evade their earlier promise, made to Moses. They speak good, honest and worthy words. It shows pride if we look down on them because they are only there to fight for the land and not for its possession. The question is whether we are fighting to take possession of the land. Although they are not an example to us in sharing God’s desires, they are a good example in fight.