Introduction
In the book of Genesis, the Lord established his covenant with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob to be their God and the God of their descendants. Because of God’s commitment to his people, he rescued Jacob and his sons from a seven-year famine by bringing them to Egypt. And there they multiplied and became as numerous as the stars in the sky.
However, a new king began to reign in Egypt and he was afraid of God’s people because they’d become so numerous. And so, he made them slaves in the land and lives of God’s people became bitter because of the hard labour they were made to do. The people groaned in their slavery and cried out. And their cry for help went up to God who sent Moses to rescue them from their captivity and to bring them to the Promised Land.
However, because of their unbelief, all of the people who were delivered from Egypt died in the wilderness apart from two men, who trusted the Lord. Their names were Caleb and Joshua. And in the book of Joshua, we read that Joshua became the leader of God’s people after the death of Moses. And, with the help of the Lord, Joshua led the people through the River Jordan and into the Promised Land, which was a land flowing with milk and honey, where the people had everything they needed and where God dwelt in their midst. And the book of Joshua tells the story of how God brought his people into the land by the hand of Joshua.
The opening chapter can be divided into four parts. In verses 1 to 9, we have God’s charge to Joshua. In verses 10 and 11, we have Joshua’s charge to the officers of the people. In verses 12 to 15, we have Joshua’s charge to the transjordan tribes. And in verses 16 to 18 we have Israel’s response.
Verses 1 to 9
According to verse 1, Moses is dead. He had been the leader of God’s people for forty or so years and he had been a great leader. He was allowed to speak to God face to face as it were and he led the people through the Red Sea and through the wilderness. He patiently put up with their rebellion and unbelief and he pleaded with God on their behalf. He was a great leader. But now he was dead.
However, his death did not frustrate the purposes of God for his people. Though Moses was dead, God was still very much alive, because while earthly leaders come and go, the Lord God Almighty is the everlasting God who lives and reigns for ever and for ever. And so, after the death of Moses, the Lord appointed Joshua to succeed him. And the Lord spoke to Joshua and said that he and the people should get ready to cross the Jordan and go into the land which the Lord is about to give them.
The land was therefore God’s gift to them. Later he will use the word ‘inherit’. An inheritance is something we are given. And so, the land belonged to God and he was giving it to his people as their inheritance. And he could give it to them, because it belonged to him. And it belonged to him, because the earth is the Lord’s and everything in it. It all belongs to God, because he made it.
And since it all belongs to God, then God is able to give the land to whomever he likes. And God wanted to give the land of Canaan to his people. As he says in verse 3, he will give them every place where they set their foot, as he promised Moses. And in verse 4 he describes the boundary of the land. And in verse 5 the Lord reassures Joshua that no-one will be able to stand up against the people of Israel. So, none of the people occupying the land will be able to stop them from taking it. God will take the land from the Canaanites and he will give it to his people. And lest we think God is being unfair to the Canaanites, we should remember that they were a wicked people and taking the land from them and giving it to the Israelites was part of God’s judgment on them for their wickedness.
And at the end of verse 5, the Lord reassured Joshua that just as he was with Moses, so he will be with Joshua. The Lord said to him: ‘I will never leave you or forsake you.’
So, Joshua and the people should get ready, because the Lord is going to give them the land. And in verse 6 the Lord commands Joshua to be strong and courageous. And he repeats the same command in verse 7: be strong and courageous. But he adds a new command: be careful to obey the law, which God gave to them through Moses. Do not turn from it and do not let the Book of the Law depart from your mouth. In those days, people tended to read aloud and not silently. So, commanding Joshua not to let the law depart from his mouth means that he must give himself to reading and reciting it. And the Lord also commanded him to mediate on it day and night. Mediating on God’s word means reading it over and over and over again. Joshua needed to mediate on God’s word and he needed to be careful to do everything written in it. So, Joshua is not to be a reader of God’s word only. He must also be a doer of God’s word.
And if he does what the Lord says by mediating on the law and by obeying it carefully, then he will be prosperous and successful. He will be successful wherever he goes. However, the Lord is not talking here about getting rich. He’s not saying: obey me and you’ll become wealthy. He means that Joshua will be successful in doing what God has called him to do, which is to lead the people into the Promised Land. Or as it says in Isaiah 53 about the Suffering Servant of the Lord, the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. He will succeed in doing the will of God. The way for Joshua to be successful and to flourish in his role as the leader of God’s people was to remain obedient to the Lord his God.
And this part of the chapter ends with the Lord reiterating the command to be strong and courageous. And do not be terrified or discouraged. Forty years before, the spies went up to the land of Canaan and they were terrified and discouraged when they saw the Canaanites and their cities. And they told the Israelites that they wouldn’t be able to take the land from them. But Joshua was not to be like them. He was to be strong and courageous. And he was to trust in the Lord who promised to be with him wherever he goes.
Verses 10 and 11
And so, that was God’s charge to Joshua. And we see his obedience to God’s charge in verses 10 and 11 because he immediately went to the officers and ordered them to go through the camp and tell the people to get ready. These officers were not military officers, but administrative officers. And they were telling the people to pack their bags for the next part of their journey and to have their supplies ready, because they were about to cross the Jordan to take possession of the land which the Lord their God was giving them.
Verses 12 to 15
In verses 12 to 15 Joshua had special instructions for the transjordan tribes. Do you remember them? These are the tribes of Reuben and Gad and Manasseh who had asked if they could settle on land on the east side of the Jordan which once belonged to King Sihon of Heshbon and King Og of Bashan. The Lord agreed to their request so long as the men of those tribes were willing to cross over the Jordan and fight alongside the rest of the Israelites against the Canaanites. As Joshua says here, it was agreed that their families could remain on their land east of the Jordan, but the fighting men must help their brothers until the Lord gives them rest and they’ve taken possession of the land on the west side of the Jordan. And so, in verses 12 to 15 Joshua reminds the men of those three tribes of what had been agreed earlier.
Verses 16 to 18
In verse 16, it says that ‘they’ answered Joshua. We tend to assume that the verse is referring to the transjordan tribes. So, the three transjordan tribes answered and said that whatever Joshua commands, they will do. However, it’s perhaps more likely that the people who are speaking in verses 16 to 18 are in fact representatives from all the tribes. All of the people were promising that they will do all that Joshua commands. In other words, they’re prepared to accept Joshua as their leader in place of Moses who has died. Just as they obeyed Moses, so they will obey Joshua, because just as God was with Moses, so they trust that God will be with Joshua. And they agree that whoever disobeys Joshua will be put to death. And the chapter ends with the people echoing the words of the Lord to Joshua: be strong and courageous.
Conclusion
Joshua in the Old Testament is a type of Christ. A type is a divinely-ordained person or event or object in the Old Testament which anticipates the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Through these Old Testament types, God revealed what he will do for his people one day through Christ. Joshua is a type of Christ, because he foreshadows and anticipates the person and work of Christ.
And so, God appointed Joshua to lead the people into the Promised Land of Canaan. In a similar, but greater way, God appointed the Lord Jesus Christ to lead his people into the Promised Land of Eternal Life, where we will live with God for ever and for ever in perfect peace and rest and happiness.
In order to succeed in his mission, Joshua had to obey the law of the Lord. He was to meditate on God’s law and he was to be careful to obey it. And in order for Christ to succeed in his mission, he had to obey his Heavenly Father in all things. And obeying his Father meant giving up his life on the cross to pay for our sins with his life.
And the people had to accept Joshua as their leader and follow him. And we must accept the Lord Jesus Christ by trusting him as our Saviour and we must follow him all the days of our life, We must follow him, because he’s the only one who is qualified and able to lead us into the presence of God.
And the reason God gave his people a leader to lead them into Canaan was because he loved them with an everlasting and overflowing love and he wanted to pour out his blessings on them in the land of Canaan. And because of his everlasting and overflowing love for us, God the Father appointed his Son to be our Saviour and to do everything necessary to bring us to him, where we will rejoice in God’s love for us for ever and for ever. And so, we ought to give thanks to God for the greatness of his love for us. And we ought to serve the Son, who in obedience to the Father, gave up his life so that we might have everlasting life with God.
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