Joshua 1:5

1:5-9 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.

There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life,.... What is promised to the people in common, Deuteronomy 11:25 ; is here particularly promised to Joshua their general; and which was fulfilled in him, and still more in Christ his antitype, who made an end of sin, destroyed the devil, spoiled principalities and powers, abolished death, and overcame the world: as I was with Moses, so will I be with thee; to counsel and advise, guide and direct, protect and defend, prosper and succeed; the Targum of Jonathan is, as my Word"was for the help of Moses, so will I be with thee:" I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee; but grant him his presence, communicate strength unto him, make good his promises, and leave him not till he had made an entire conquest of the land of Canaan, and even not till the end of his days; and was true of Christ in his state of humiliation, in his sufferings and death, and even in the grave, where he was not left so long as to see corruption; as this is applied to particular believers; see Gill on Hebrews 13:5.

(5) I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. —Compare Genesis 28:15 . And consider Hebrews 13:5 as a combination of the two Old Testament passages. (6,7) Be strong and of a good courage . . . that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law.—This command to “be strong,” repeated again and again to Joshua, may perhaps be taken as reflecting light upon his natural character, which might not have led him to desire so prominent a position. But it may also be observed that courage was especially needed to carry out the conquest of Canaan in the way that was ordered by the law. For a discussion of this question and its difficulties, see Joshua 13

Joshua 1:5 . I was with Moses — To assist him against all his enemies, and in all the difficulties of governing this stiff-necked people, which Joshua might justly fear no less than the Canaanites. Forsake thee — I will not leave thee destitute, either of inward support, or of outward assistance.

5 . as I was with Moses ] “The narrative labours to impress upon us the sense that the continuity of the nation and of its high purpose was not broken by the choice of person and situation.” I will not fail thee ] Comp. Deuteronomy 31:6 ; Deuteronomy 31:8 ; 1 Chronicles 28:20 . The words are cited in Hebrews 13:5 , “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee .”

As I was with Moses, to assist him against all his enemies, and in all the difficulties of governing this stiff-necked people, which Joshua might justly fear no less than the Canaanites. I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee; I will not leave thee destitute either of inward support, or of outward assistance.

5-9. There shall not any man be able to stand before thee—Canaan was theirs by a divine grant; and the renewed confirmation of that grant to Joshua when about to lead the people into it, intimated not only a certain but an easy conquest. It is remarkable, however, that his courage and hope of victory were made to depend (see on [171]De 17:18) on his firm and inflexible adherence to the law of God, not only that regarding the extirpation of the Canaanites, but the whole divine code.

Lebanon is spoken of as "this Lebanon," because visible from the neighborhood in which Israel was encamped. (Compare Deuteronomy 3:8-9 .) "The wilderness" of the text is the Desert of Arabia, which forms the southern, as Lebanon does the northern, limit of the promised land. The boundaries on the east and west are likewise indicated; and the intervening territory is described generally as "all the land of the Hittites." The Hittites are properly the inhabitants of northern Canaan and Phoenicia (see Exodus 3:8 note), but the name appears to be used here for the Canaanites in general, as in 1 Kings 10:29 . On the boundaries of the promised land compare Deuteronomy 11:24 ; Genesis 15:18 .

Verse 5. - There shall not any man be able to stand before thee. Literally, no one shall set himself up against thee, i.e. , successfully resist thee ( ἀντιστήσεται , LXX.). As I was with Moses. Literally, as I have been with Moses: that is to say, was with him and remained with him unto the end. The continuity of the work of God under the old dispensation is thus as clearly marked as that of the new in Matthew 28:20 , and John 20:21-23 . The promises made to Abraham, the law given to Moses, the gift of a new life in Christ, are so many parts of one great work, and that work the regeneration of mankind. I will not fail thee. Literally, I will not be weak towards thee, relax towards thee. God is ever the same, If His attitude to us be altered, it is not He who has changed, but ourselves. Joshua 1:5

The boundaries of the land are given as in Deuteronomy 11:24 , with the simple difference in form, that the boundary line from the desert (of Arabia) and Lebanon, i.e., from the southern and northern extremity, is drawn first of all towards the east to the great river, the Euphrates, and then towards the west to "the great sea, toward the going down of the sun," i.e., the Mediterranean; and then between these two termini ad quem the more precise definition is inserted, "all the land of the Hittites;" whereas in Deuteronomy the southern, northern, and eastern boundaries are placed in antithesis to the western boundary, and the more precise definition of the country to be taken is given by an enumeration of the different tribes that were to be destroyed by the Israelites ( Deuteronomy 11:23 ). On the oratorical character of these descriptions, see at Genesis 15:18 . The demonstrative pronoun "this," in connection with Lebanon, may be explained from the fact that Lebanon, or at all events Anti-libanus, was visible from the Israelitish camp. The expression "the Hittites" (see at Genesis 10:15 ) is used here in a broader sense for Canaanites in general, as in 1 Kings 10:29 ; 2 Kings 7:6 ; Ezekiel 16:3 . The promise in Joshua 1:5 is adopted from Deuteronomy 11:25 , where it was made to the whole nation, and specially transferred to Joshua; and Joshua 1:5 is repeated from Deuteronomy 31:8 , as compared with Joshua 1:6 .

[Reformed Biblical] ## Joshua ## THE BOOK OF JOSHUA ## THE ARGUMENT IT is not material to know who was the penman of this book, whether Joshua, as seems most probable from #Joshua 24:26 , or some other holy prophet. It is sufficient that this book was a part of the Holy Scriptures, or oracles of God, committed to and carefully kept by the Jews, and by them faithfully delivered to us, as appears by the concurring testimony of Christ and his apostles, who owned and approved of the same Holy Scriptures which the church of the Jews did. But this is certain, that divers passages in this book were put into it after Joshua’s death, as #Joshua 10:13 , compared with #2 Samuel 1:18 Joshua 19:47 , compared with #Jude 18:1 ; and #Joshua 24:29,30 . And such like insertions have been observed in the five books of Moses. ## JOSHUA CHAPTER 1 God commands Joshua to lead the people unto the land of Canaan, #Joshua 1:1-3 . Its borders, #Joshua 1:4 . God promises to assist him, #Joshua 1:5,6 ; commanding him to observe the law, #Joshua 1:7-9 . He prepares the people to pass over Jordan, #Joshua 1:10,11 . Reminds the Reubenites, Gadites, and half tribe of Manasseh of their promise to Moses, #Joshua 1:12-15 ; which they are ready to do, and all promise to obey, #Joshua 1:16-18 . ## Ver. 1. After the death of Moses; either immediately after it, or when the days of mourning for Moses were expired.