Be strong and courageous: Joshua takes up the work

The book of Joshua is the first of the Former Prophets in the Hebrew Bible (Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings), the story of Israel in the land from the crossing of the Jordan to the exile. It follows the five books of Moses and picks up where Deuteronomy leaves off: Moses has died, Israel is camped on the plains of Moab east of the Jordan, and the promise to Abraham of a land (Genesis 12:7; 15:18) is about to be tested.

The book never names its author. Jewish tradition, recorded in the Talmud (Bava Batra 14b), attributes most of it to Joshua himself, with the account of his death added by another hand. Many modern scholars see a longer process of compiling and editing, while others defend a close connection to eyewitness material. This class does not depend on settling the question. The date of the events is also debated: an 'early' date of about 1406 BC follows the reckoning of 1 Kings 6:1, while a 'late' date in the thirteenth century BC is argued from the archaeology of several sites. Whichever is held, the text presents the events as taking place in the generation after the wilderness wanderings.

Joshua himself was of the tribe of Ephraim, the son of Nun. His birth name was Hoshea ('salvation'), and Moses renamed him Yehoshua, 'the LORD is salvation' (Numbers 13:8, 16). He fought Amalek (Exodus 17), served as Moses' assistant, was one of the twelve spies, and with Caleb brought back a faithful report (Numbers 14:6-9). Forty years later he is, with Caleb, the only man of his generation left to lead the people in. The first readers of the book, whether in the early settlement or later in exile when it was gathered into its final form, would hear this chapter as a statement of what Israel's leadership and its life in the land were supposed to rest on.

Joshua 1 is Hebrew narrative, and most of it is direct speech. In narrative, the point is carried by what is repeated and by who speaks to whom. God speaks first (verses 1-9), then Joshua speaks to the officers (10-11) and the eastern tribes (12-15), and finally the people speak back (16-18). The chapter is a chain of commissions: the LORD to Joshua, Joshua to the people, the people to Joshua. The charge 'be strong and courageous' appears in verses 6, 7 and 9 and again in 18, so it brackets the chapter.

Two principles help here.

• First, read promises in the light of their addressee. The promise in verse 8 that obeying the Book of the Law will make Joshua 'prosper and succeed' was spoken to the national leader at a moment of transition and tied to a specific task, the settlement of the land. It is not a general guarantee that careful Bible readers will always find life easy, and the rest of the Bible (Job, Ecclesiastes, the Gospels) does not let us read it that way.
• Second, read the chapter in the order the canon gives it. The 'Book of the Law' here means the Torah, especially Deuteronomy, and the whole chapter is in conversation with Deuteronomy 31:7-8, where Moses had already charged Joshua in nearly the same terms.

Finally, the book of Joshua includes accounts of warfare against the peoples of Canaan, and that raises moral and historical questions for readers today. Those questions belong to later chapters. Chapter 1 sets the theological frame in which the rest is to be read: the land is God's to give, and success depends on his presence and his word, not on military strength.

Verses 1–2

'Now after the death of His servant Moses' ties this book to the one before it. Moses is called 'servant of the LORD' here and again in verses 7, 13 and 15, the highest title in the Old Testament for a human leader. Joshua is only 'Moses' assistant.' The first command is blunt: 'Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore arise, you and all these people, and cross over the Jordan.' God does not let mourning, or the loss of the greatest prophet, delay the work. The land is described as one 'that I am giving', a present gift that is about to be received.

Verses 3–4

'I have given you every place where the sole of your foot will tread, just as I promised to Moses.' The promise is stated as already given, and walking is how it will be possessed. The boundaries run from the wilderness in the south and Lebanon in the north, to the Euphrates in the east and the Great Sea (the Mediterranean) in the west. These borders echo Genesis 15:18 and Deuteronomy 11:24. In the Old Testament narrative Israel's rule reaches anything like this extent only under David and Solomon (1 Kings 4:21), so the verse leaves the reader with a promise whose largest extent is still waiting.

Verse 5

'No one shall stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so will I be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.' The foundation of everything that follows is not Joshua's ability but God's presence. The comparison with Moses is deliberate: Joshua is not Moses' equal in rank, but he is promised the same God.

Verses 6–9

The command to be strong and courageous appears three times in four verses, and each time it is linked to a different reason. In verse 6, the reason is the task: Joshua will 'give these people the inheritance of the land' that God swore to their fathers. In verse 7, the reason is obedience: 'Be careful to observe all the law that My servant Moses commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right or to the left.' In verse 9, the reason is God's presence: 'Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.' Courage here is not self-confidence. It rests on a promise, a law and a presence.

Verse 8 holds the chapter's most quoted instruction. 'This Book of the Law must not depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night.' In Hebrew, to 'meditate' (hagah) is to murmur or speak softly, as one did when reading aloud in the ancient world, so the picture is of the Torah kept constantly on the lips and in the mind. The purpose clause is 'so that you may be careful to do everything written in it.' Meditation serves obedience. The result, 'then you will prosper and succeed in all you do', pairs two Hebrew verbs, one meaning to make progress or break through and the other to act wisely. It describes success in the assignment, led by wisdom.

Verses 10–11

Joshua immediately obeys. He commands the officers to tell the people to 'prepare your provisions, for within three days you will cross the Jordan.' The first act of the new leader is to act on the command he has just been given.

Verses 12–15

Reuben, Gad and half of Manasseh had asked Moses to settle east of the Jordan (Numbers 32), on the condition that their fighting men would cross to help their brothers until all had 'rest'. Joshua reminds them of that promise. The word 'rest' (nuach) is important: it describes the security the LORD gives, not leisure, and it will be a theme of the book (21:44; 22:4; 23:1).

Verses 16–18

The people answer, 'Everything you have commanded us we will do, and everywhere you send us we will go.' Their words 'just as we obeyed Moses in all things, so we will obey you' recognise Joshua's authority, and their prayer, 'may the LORD your God be with you, as He was with Moses', recognises its source. The warning that rebels will be put to death reflects the military discipline of the time. The chapter ends where the charge began: 'Above all, be strong and courageous!'

Several doctrines are woven through this short chapter.

• The first is the faithfulness of God to a promise. The land was promised to Abraham centuries earlier (Genesis 12:7), confirmed to Isaac and Jacob, and reaffirmed to Moses; Joshua 1 is the point at which the promise starts to be received.
• The second is the presence of God. The words 'I will never leave you nor forsake you' echo Deuteronomy 31:6 and 8 and are taken up in Hebrews 13:5. God's presence with his servant is the ground of courage throughout the Bible.

• The third is the authority of Scripture. Joshua's strength is tied to a written book that must remain in his mouth, in his mind and in his conduct. Psalm 1:2-3 paints the same picture of the blessed person who meditates on the Torah day and night. The Old Testament is saying that leadership is under the Word, not above it.
• The fourth is the relation of grace and obedience. The land is given ('I have given you'), yet it is also possessed by walking, fighting and obeying. Throughout the Bible, God's gifts are received by faith that acts.

The book also begins an argument that runs to the end of Kings. If Israel keeps the Torah, they will dwell in the land in rest; if they do not, they will lose it. The question of whether even a faithful leader can bring the people to lasting rest is left open here and answered in the New Testament.

The Old Testament places Joshua's name at the centre of the Christological connection. 'Joshua' (Yehoshua) and 'Jesus' (Greek Iesous, from the Hebrew Yeshua, a shortened form) are the same name, 'the LORD is salvation'. The Greek Old Testament calls Joshua Iesous throughout, and the first Christians knew this. Hebrews 4:8 makes the point: 'if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day.' The author's argument is that Joshua led Israel into the land but not into the final rest that the land only pictured, and that rest remains available through Christ (Hebrews 4:9-11).

So Joshua is a type of Christ: a man whose name and work foreshadow the greater Saviour. Like Jesus, he follows a greater prophet, is a man 'in whom is the Spirit' (Numbers 27:18), leads God's people through the waters of the Jordan, and brings them into an inheritance. The church fathers saw this clearly. Origen, in the third century, preached a series of homilies on Joshua that read the whole book as a picture of the work of Jesus. The New Testament itself draws only a few of these connections explicitly, so the more detailed allegories of the fathers are offered here as echoes rather than as settled typology.

The promise 'I will never leave you nor forsake you' is quoted in Hebrews 13:5 as a promise to every believer, grounded in the presence of Christ. And at the end of Matthew, the risen Jesus gives a commission and a promise that closely parallel this chapter: all authority is his, his disciples are to go, and he is with them always (Matthew 28:18-20). Joshua stands at the border of the land with a charge and a promise of presence; the disciples stand at the border of the nations with the same.