Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Joshua 1:16
And they answered Joshua, saying, All that thou commandest us we will do, and whithersoever thou sendest us, we will go.
16. All that thou commandest us ] A joyful answer instinct with a spirit of true fraternal love and resolute obedience.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 16. All that thou commandest us we will do] Here they acknowledge the Divine mission of Joshua, as they had done that of Moses, and consequently promise to follow his directions in all things.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
They answered, i.e. the Reubenites, &c., mentioned Jos 1:12, to whom Joshuas discourse is confined, Jos 1:13-15. No doubt the other tribes expressed the same thing; but this is only recorded concerning these, because that might seem most doubtful, and the obedience of the rest was unquestionable.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And they answered Joshua,…. The two tribes of Gad and Reuben, and the half tribe of Manasseh, the heads of them, such as were deputed for that purpose, and were their mouths to him:
saying, all that thou commandest we will do; with respect to this affair of going over Jordan with their brethren, to assist them in the conquest of the land of Canaan:
and whithersoever thou sendest us, we will go; in what position he would have them be in the army, and to whatsoever part of the country he should send them to subdue, and to whatsoever city he should order them to besiege.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| The Reubenites’ Answer. | B. C. 1451. |
16 And they answered Joshua, saying, All that thou commandest us we will do, and whithersoever thou sendest us, we will go. 17 According as we hearkened unto Moses in all things, so will we hearken unto thee: only the LORD thy God be with thee, as he was with Moses. 18 Whosoever he be that doth rebel against thy commandment, and will not hearken unto thy words in all that thou commandest him, he shall be put to death: only be strong and of a good courage.
This answer was given not by the two tribes and a half only (though they are spoken of immediately before), but by the officers of all the people (v. 10), as their representatives, concurring with the divine appointment, by which Joshua was set over them, and they did it heartily, and with a great deal of cheerfulness and resolution.
I. They promise him obedience (v. 16), not only as subjects to their prince, but as soldiers to their general, of whose particular orders they are to be observant. He that hath soldiers under him saith to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh, Matt. viii. 9. Thus the people of Joshua; “All that thou commandest us we will readily do, without murmuring or disputing; and whithersoever thou sends us, though upon the most difficult and perilous expedition, we will go.” We must thus swear allegiance to our Lord Jesus, as the captain of our salvation, and bind ourselves to do what he commands us by his word, and to go where he sends us by his providence. And since Joshua, being humbly conscious to himself how far short he came of Moses, feared he should not have such an influence upon the people and such an interest in them as Moses had, they here promise that they will be as obedient to him as ever they had been to Moses, v. 17. To speak truth, they had no reason to boast of their obedience to Moses; he had found them a stiff-necked people, Deut. ix. 24. But they meant that they would be as observant of Joshua as they should have been, and as some of them were (and the generality of them at least sometimes) of Moses. Note, We must not so magnify those that are gone, how eminent soever they were, either in the magistracy or in the ministry, as to be wanting in the honour and duty we owe to those that survive and succeed them, though in gifts they may come short of them. Obedience for conscience’ sake will continue, though Providence change the hands by which it rules and acts.
II. They pray for the presence of God with him (v. 17): “Only the Lord thy God be with thee, to bless and prosper thee, and give thee success, as he was with Moses.” Prayers and supplications are to be made for all in authority, 1Ti 2:1; 1Ti 2:2. And the best thing we can ask of God for our magistrates is that they may have the presence of God with them; this will make them blessings to us, so that in seeking this for them we consult our own interest. A reason is here intimated why they would obey him as they had obeyed Moses, because they believed (and in faith prayed) that God’s presence would be with him as it was with Moses. Those that we have reason to think have favour from God should have honour and respect from us. Some understand it as a limitation of their obedience: “We will obey only as far as we perceive the Lord is with thee, but no further. While thou keepest close to God we will keep close to thee; hitherto shall our obedience come, but no further.” But they were so far from having any suspicion of Joshua’s deviating from the divine rule that there needed not such a proviso.
III. They pass an act to make it death for any Israelite to disobey Joshua’s orders, or rebel against his commandment, v. 18. Perhaps if such a law had been made in Moses’s time it might have prevented many of the rebellions that were formed against him; for most men fear the sword of the magistrate more than the justice of God. Yet there was a special reason for the making of this law now that they were entering upon the wars of Canaan; for in times of war the severity of military discipline is more necessary than at other times. Some think that in this statute they had an eye to that law concerning the prophet God would raise up like unto Moses, which they think, though it refer chiefly to Christ, yet takes in Joshua by the way as a type of him, that whosoever would not hearken to him should be cut off from his people. Deut. xviii. 19, I will require it of him.
IV. They animate him to go on with cheerfulness in the work to which God had called him; and, in desiring that he would be strong and of a good courage, they did in effect promise him that they would do all they could, by an exact, bold, and cheerful observance of all his orders, to encourage him. It very much heartens those that lead in a good work to see those that follow follow with a good will. Joshua, though of approved valour, did not take it as an affront, but as a great kindness, for the people to bid him be strong and of a good courage.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Promise Renewed, v. 16-18
Joshua could have expected no more than the captains of the two and a half tribes promised him.
First, they agreed to do all that Joshua commanded them and go wherever he sent them; secondly, they promised to be subordinate to his command as they had been to that of Moses, with the contingency (which was proper) that the Lord should be with Joshua as He had been with Moses; thirdly, they agreed to deal with all insubordination among them in the strictest manner, by condemnation of the offender; and finally, they encouraged Joshua by adding their admonition to that he had already received from the Lord and from Moses, to be strong and courageous for the work which lay before them. For the work which the Lord had placed on Joshua, then, they pledged themselves to full and earnest co-operation.
Such loyalty as these men demonstrated to Joshua is of the kind the Lord expects of His children today. Compare this incident to the admonition of Paul (1Co 11:1), “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.”
From Joshua, chapter one, we may learn 1) when one leader passes off the scene, God always has one waiting to succeed him; 2) successful service of the Lord demands strict adherence to His Word; 3) because the Lord leads us we need not fear or vacillate in the work He has for us; 4) when we go forward doing the work of the Lord, there are others ready to follow our lead in fighting His battles.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
16. And they answered, etc They not only acquiesce, but freely admit and explicitly detail the obedience which they owe. Our obligations are duly discharged only when we perform them cheerfully, and not in sadness, as Paul expresses it. (2Co 9:7.) If it is objected that there is little modesty in their boast of having been obedient to Moses whom they had often contradicted, I answer, that though they did not always follow with becoming ardor, yet they were so much disposed to obey, that their moderation was not only tolerable, but worthy of the highest praise, when it is considered how proudly their fathers rebelled, and how perversely they endeavored to shake off a yoke divinely imposed upon them. For the persons who speak here were not those rebellious spirits of whom God complains (Psa 95:8) that he was provoked by them, but persons who, subdued by the examples of punishment, had learned quietly to submit. (28)
Indeed, it is not so much to herald their own virtues as to extol the authority of Joshua, when they declare that they will regard him in the same light in which they regarded Moses. The groundwork of their confidence is at the same time expressed in their wish or prayer, that God may be present to assist his servant Joshua as he assisted his servant Moses. They intimate that they will be ready to war under the auspices of their new leader, because they are persuaded that he is armed with the power and hope that he will be victorious by the assistance of God, as they had learned by experience how wonderfully God assisted them by the hand of Moses. We may infer, moreover, that they actually felt this confidence, both because they call to mind their experiences of God’s favor to animate themselves, and because they regard Joshua as the successor of Moses in regard to prosperous results.
The epithet thy God (29) is not without weight, as it evidently points to a continued course of divine favor. The form of expression also is intermediate between the confidence of faith and prayer. (30) Accordingly, while they intimate that they cherish good hope in their minds, they at the same time have recourse to prayer, under a conviction of the arduousness of the work. Immediately after, when they of their own accord exhort him to constancy, they show that they are ready to follow and to imitate him in his confidence. Here, it is to be observed, that though Joshua was a model of courage, and animated all, both by deed and precept, he was in his turn stimulated onwards, that his own alacrity might be more effectual in arousing that of the people.
(28) The objection taken to the modesty of the answer seems to be founded on a misinterpretation of its true meaning. For the original, literally interpreted, does not contain any assertion that they had obeyed Moses in all things, as implied both in Calvin’s Latin and in our English version, but simply means, that “in everything,” or, “according to everything,” ( ככל, kekol,) in which they had hearkened to Moses they would hearken to him: in other words, that they would hold his authority to be in every respect equal to that of Moses. This meaning is retained by the Septuagint, which renders Κατὰ πάντα ὅσα ἠκούσαμεν Μωνυσὣ ἀκουσόμεθά σου. — Ed.
(29) This emphasis is lost by the Septuagint, which renders not ὁ Θεός σου, “thy God,” but, “ ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν,” “our God.” — Ed.
(30) French, “ Toutefois la maniere de parler qui est ici mise, est moyenne, et peut estre prise ou pour un glorifiement de la foy, ou pour un souhait;” “However, the manner of speaking which is here used is of a middle kind, and may be taken either for a glorying of faith, or for a wish.” — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(16) They answered Joshua, saying, All that thou commandest us we will do.This promise of obedience may be taken as the reply of the whole people to Joshuas orders, not that of the two and a half tribes alone. It is remarkable that they repeat to him the words of Jehovah, as most appropriate in their judgment: Be strong and of a good courage (Jos. 1:18).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
OATH OF ALLEGIANCE TO JOSHUA, Jos 1:16-18.
16. That thou commandest we will do A response not only from the eastern tribes, but also, probably, from the entire nation, encouraging to the spirit of the new commander. He must have regarded it as a formal expression of their loyalty to his authority. Like true patriots, in their nation’s extremity they volunteer under their great captain.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘ And they answered Joshua, saying, “All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us, we will go.”
Their response was excellent. They solemnly swore to put themselves under Joshua’s command to do whatever he demanded of them, until he was ready to release them. These are the words that God expects also to hear from us.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
EXPOSITION
THE PEOPLE‘S ANSWER.
Jos 1:16
And they answered Joshua, saying. We may compare this joyful willingness with the murmurings of the people in the wilderness, and their rebellion after the death of those who led them into the promised land (cf. Jos 24:31 with Jdg 2:10, Jdg 2:11, etc). Obedience is easy when all goes well with us, and when it makes no demand upon our faith. The Israelites murmured when the promise was as yet unfulfilled. They rebelled against God when obedience entailed serf sacrifice. But now all was hope and eagerness. So it is often with the young Christian at the outset of life’s battle, before he has begun to realise the exertion and self denial that can alone ensure him victory.
Jos 1:17
As we hearkened unto Moses. Calvin remarks that the Israelites did not hearken unto Moses, but replies that, compared with the conduct of their fathers whose bodies lay in the wilderness, the conduct of this generation was obedience itself. It certainly appears as though for the last two years of the wandering in the wilderness there was far less rebellion against Moses than before; and after the solemn repetition of the precepts of the law to the new generation which had arisen, given in the Book of Deuteronomy, there seems to have been no rebellion at all (see Num 26:63).
Jos 1:18
Whosoever he be that doth rebel against thy commandment. A striking fulfilment of this promise appears in the case of Achan, who was put to death by the act of the whole congregation (see Jos 7:25; and cf. Deu 17:12). Only be strong and of a good courage. The task of a leader in Israel is easy when he is sustained by the prayers of his people, and when their exhortations are an echo of the words of God (see Jos 1:6, Jos 1:9).
HOMILETICS
Jos 1:16-18
The people’s answer.
This passage can only be interpreted of Jesus, of whom Joshua was the type. Implicit obedience is no longer due to any human leader, nor has been since Joshua’s death. Even a St. Paul can say, “I speak as to wise men, judge ye what I say” (1Co 10:15). And St. Peter urges the clergy to remember that they are not “lords over God’s heritage” (1Pe 5:8). And this because we each “have access by one Spirit to the Father by the faith of Jesus Christ” (Eph 2:18; Eph 3:12). We may remark
I. THAT EVERY CHRISTIAN IS BOUND BY A VOW OF OBEDIENCE. Jesus is the Captain of our salvation. He leads us in the warfare against every kind of evil. To disobey is to mutiny, and mutiny in every army is a capital crime. Yet here we may remark on the forbearance of our Joshua. All his troops are more or less guilty of this crime. Yet
(1) He pardons it, and
(2) with His mutinous troops He has achieved, and will achieve, many a glorious victory.
But there is a limit to His patience (see below). Though we sin often we must take heed to repent as often, and strive to do better for the future. “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ,” at least in such a manner as to make him strive sedulously after obedience, “he is none of his” (Rom 8:9). The best we can do is to ask Him to “renew our will from day to day,” that so, after each of our frequent falls, we may brace ourselves up to a renewed obedience. And thus, by virtue of His merits, not of our own, shall we be recognised as faithful soldiers of the true JoshuaJesus Christ.
II. THAT THE LAW IS STILL “OUR SCHOOLMASTER TO BRING US TO CHRIST.” We must still “hearken to Moses” before we can hear the voice of Christ. Still in our childhood must we be subject to law, be under tutors and governors, have duties prescribed for us, obey precepts “contained in ordinances,” before we reach the glorious liberty of the children of God,” before we find the law “written in our hearts,” and a power existing within us prompting us to a spontaneous obedience. We must all know the period of struggle, when, “after the inward man,” we “delight in the law of God” (Rom 7:22, Rom 7:23), but find another law in our members at conflict with it. So must we learn to find the only deliverance from “the body of this death,” in Jesus Christ our Lord, just as to follow Joshua was the only escape from the wilderness. And if we live up to the law that is set before us, we shall find through it a pathway to a better land, the land of promise (Gal 3:18). For “the law is not against the promises of God, God forbid” (Gal 3:21). It is “holy, and the commandment holy, just, and good” (Rom 7:12). But its object was to show us “the exceeding sinfulness of sin,” and the terrible reality of our bondage to it, that we might learn the infinite value of the reconciliation which has been effected for us in the Person and work of Jesus Christ.
III. “THE WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH.” This is recognised as a fact by the followers of Joshua. So the followers of Jesus must acknowledge the fact that to sin against Him, to refuse to obey His words, leads to destruction. And they must separate themselves from all that “walk disorderly” (2Th 3:6; 1Ti 6:5; 2Ti 3:5). For they only who do His commandments “have right to the tree of life.” All they that do otherwise are “without,” shut out from the joys of eternal life, and condemned to the “second death” (Rev 21:8; Rev 22:14, Rev 22:15).
HOMILIES BY S.R. ALDRIDGE
Jos 1:16-18
Loyalty.
A demand had been made that the “men of valour” of these tribes should leave their relatives and property in the fenced cities of their inheritance, and head the advance of the Israelites into Canaan. A call to a dangerous position, to bear, as it seemed, the brunt of the enemy’s attack; a summons to exercise self denial in absence from home and possessions; the precept issuing, too, from unaccustomed lips, those of a new general. These verses record a courageous, generous response, which may well furnish matter for meditation and imitation.
I. A DECLARATION OF OBEDIENCE.
1. A prompt assent. No time forthought and preparation asked for. No reasons invented for delay.
2. A hearty assent. It is expressed in three forms: a promise to do what is commanded, to go where sent, and to hearken when addressed. These phrases cover all possible kinds of precepts.
3. Promise of unreserved obedience. “All,” “whithersoever,” and “in all things,” thus blocking the smallest loophole of escape in each case. No picking and choosing here of the mandates to which they will conform.
Such complete acquiescence as this can be required of us only with respect to Him who is the Captain of our salvation. With regard to other subalterns of His, and to the national sovereign, there are occasions on which refusal and resistance are justifiable. Consider the grounds on which we owe fealty to Jesus Christ. He is our Lord as Creator, “by him were all things made,” and as Redeemer, “that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves,” etc.
II. A PRAYER OFFERED FOR THE LEADER. “Only the Lord thy God be with thee as he was with Moses.”
1. This petition recognised the fount of authority. The warriors readily complied with the demand of Joshua because they believed that he was appointed to occupy the place of Moses. Joshua was henceforth to receive and utter the directions of the Almighty, to be His vicegerent to the Israelites. And on this foundation Jesus Christ often based His claims to be heard by the Jews, viz; that He was sent from God and spoke the words of God. He pointed to His mighty works in evidence of the truth of His pretensions. Nicodemus declared, “No man can do these miracles that thou doest except God be with him.” The Father openly signified His approval of the Son’s mission, “This is my beloved Son, hear ye him.” The Jewish king was the “anointed of the Lord. “The powers that be are ordained of God.” Pastors under the Christian dispensation are “over” men “in the Lord.” “Remember them who have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God.” “Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves, for they watch for your souls as they that must give account.”
2. The prayer invokes the presence of God as the leader’s source of strength. By prayer we can commend to Divine grace “all that are in authority.” How the Apostle Paul reiterated his request that the readers of his epistles would earnestly pray on his behalf! When Peter was miraculously released from prison he found “many gathered together praying.” Thus may the people aid their minister, as Aaron and Hur upheld Moses’ hands. There were seasons when the commands of the great legislator were received with murmuring, and when his right to rule was called in question. These Reubenites had not “in all things” hearkened unto Moses. Yet now they spontaneously avow that he had been supported by God. The death of a celebrated man calms passion, removes prejudice, and purges the vision.
III. A STERN RESOLUTION. To inflict the punishment of death on any recalcitrant offender. Presumptuous refusal to hearken to the priest or judge was to be visited with this severe penalty (Deu 17:12). This declaration by these tribes evinced their firm determination to abide by the decrees of their new ruler. Rebellion is treated as one of the worst crimes, inasmuch as whilst some illegal acts are only indirectly subversive of government, this strikes a blow at the very seat of authority, and endangers all order. Nor is it a matter of small moment whether men bow or not to the rule of Christ. Peter quoted the prophecy of Moses in reference to Christ and the terrible threat annexed, “Every soul which will not hear that prophet shall be destroyed from among the people.” Our Lord, in the parable of the pounds, represents Himself as saying, “But those mine enemies and slay before me.”
IV. ADMONITORY ADVICE. In olden days servants were much freer in speaking their mind to their masters, and soldiers to their generals. But Joshua’s humility in listening to this exhortation is worthy of being copied. The wisest may learn from the ignorant, and the meanest of the flock may sometimes suitably address their pastor. Nor need any of us be above accepting good counsel, from whatever quarter it proceeds. There is no intimation of weakness, but only that these tribes perceived the weighty enterprise in which Joshua was engaged, and the necessity of his exhibiting a fearless demeanour. They sympathised with him, and wished to inspirit him for his arduous, honourable work. They knew how much Commonly depends on the leader’s courage, and how quickly his fear would affect his subjects. It was advice in full accordance with their actions. They had gone the right way to strengthen Joshua by their instant submission to His will. They did not try to cheer him with words after having previously knocked the breath out of him with their deeds. Speech and conduct were in harmony, and lent each other force. Marvellous is the effect of an encouraging word! Is there not some one whom we can thus send to his post with augmented zeal and hope? Conclusion. Whom are we serving? Under whose banner enlisted, and what wages, what reward do we anticipate? The true Joshua, even Christ, demands, invites, yea, entreats our faithful adherence.A.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Ver. 16, 17. And they answered Joshua, saying, All that thou commandest us, we will do, &c. according as we hearkened unto Moses This is a very express acknowledgment of the divinity of Joshua’s mission, and an absolute submission to his commands: all the tribes evidently gave the like answer.
Only the Lord thy God be with thee, as he was with Moses As if they had said, “May the Lord thy God grant to thee, as he did to Moses, the glory of a triumph over our enemies!” And so it is rendered by Menochius, Grotius, Calmet, &c.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Unanimity
Jos 1:16-18
JOSHUA had commanded the officers of the people to pass through the host, saying, “Prepare you victuals; for within three days ye shall pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land, which the Lord your God giveth you to possess it.” A charge was delivered to the people, interpreting the divine will, and promising great blessedness, possession, and rest. The people having heard the appeal answered Joshua saying, “All that thou commandest us we will do, and whithersoever thou sendest us, we will go.” We see men occasionally at their best, and then the revelation of human nature is not without enchantment and great comfortableness. Men like to speak in crowds, to multiply their voices by a thousand and ten thousand; and then they imagine that they are revealing the strength and enjoying the confidence of what is termed unanimity. It is a beautiful thing to see forty thousand men all intent upon one purpose, and to hear them uttering one cry, and to know that their utterance is expressive of an obedient spirit. This is the answer which ought to have been given, and which ought now to be given to every divine appeal. We should answer love by love; we should answer music by music; when heaven descends to earth with some unusual blessing, earth should become almost heaven in its grateful appreciation and response. We see this sometimes in the sanctuary. A sublime revelation of divine care, providence, grace is made, and hearts are melted into one, and the final hymn becomes a pledge, a solemn vow, a great musical consecration of the heart. It is beautiful now and again to see what ought to be, occasionally to see the ideal, now and again to hear a common sentiment uttered by an inspired heart; surely such are sights and sounds which might do us good evermore! Herein is part of the benefit of the sanctuary: we become our best selves under its holy inspiration. We did not know altogether what was in us whilst we were outside the sanctuary, walking solitarily, brooding upon our own thoughts, and heaping up reproaches against society; when we came into the house of God and heard the universal language, something moved in us which claimed kinship with the speech, and we longed to spring with a thousand men to our feet to sing our convictions and to utter our vow in solemn music. You do not see a man at any one moment; you see some aspect of him, but what he is as to his true spiritual bulk, value, scope, force, you do not see at any one observation: but you see most of him when under the sway of inexpressible emotion, when his prayer is interrupted with praise, when his supplication sobs itself into confession and humiliation, and when his hope rises into song and expresses itself in exclamations of loyalty and thankfulness to God. We never could have known human nature in its wholeness but for religious influences and Christian appeals. The divine appeal is a resurrection-trumpet: it awakes the dead within us, it makes the churchyard of the heart throb with new life. You lose inexpressibly by cutting off religious connections, by interrupting channels through which religious communications flow. It seems to be an easy thing to leave the church and to allow great voices and appeals to waste themselves upon the empty wind, but we cannot tell how much we lose by ceasing to mingle in the common emotion and reciprocate the universal sentiment of the church. To leave the altar is to forego the touch which connects us in a mysterious but wonderfully sensible manner with the eternal throne, the infinite power, the ineffable grace. So do not put away the blessing of an ideal answer. The people meant every word of it. They did not know what they said; still, they were excited to a nobler selfhood than perhaps they had ever realised before; and we do say things in prayer and hymn and religious speech the full scope of which we do not apprehend; do not be literal with us and say that we lied in the hymn, that we committed treason in the prayer, and spoke falsely in the noble excitement; it is not so: another self, larger, better than we have ever known before, rose up within us and sang that grand hymn, uttered that heaven-moving prayer, and ennobled that sublime excitement.
This is an answer which experience has uniformly discredited. We have never lived this reply. The words are still ringing in the air, and the air seems to have a kind of pleasure in retaining the tones and reproducing them, until they become not reminders only but reproaches and criticisms and appalling judgments. We remember the altar: we need no mocking spirit to remind us how far we have wandered from it. We remember the wedding-day when Christ and we became one, and what a feast there was on that radiant morning; what vows were exchanged; what love was pledged; how the future was enriched with all the hospitality of inexhaustible bountiful-ness so that we would for ever dwell in the banqueting-house and for ever hear the flapping of the banner bearing the divinest name! We know what we said when we were young. Youth has a speech all its own a flower language, a garden rhetoric, a beautiful efflorescence and poesy. Every word was meant, and by the help of God the soul now says, every word shall yet be redeemed! But what wandering we seem to have had; how wayward we are; how subtle are the influences which bear upon memory, and becloud the imagination, and pervert the heart, and enfeeble the will! Did Adam fall? Certainly. There ought to be no more fully-attested truth in all the range of the theological judgment and imagination than the fall of every living man. Compare the speech of promise and its attempted excuses; compare yesterday and today; contrast the morning prayer with the evening recollection. No other man could fall for us. We seem to think there is a kind of substitutionary action in the Adamic apostasy, as if Adam had mysteriously consented to fall on our account, or to represent us in a great tragedy. The truth is, every man falls himself, in himself, and for himself; and the experience of the world is lost upon every one of us: were it not so, the first two chapters of Ecclesiastes would save the world from all further practical mistake. But nobody believes those two chapters; they read fluently, the style is copious and urgent, the experience is full of colour, and it beats with a very strong pulse, and we would not like to give up the chapters as part of a literary treasure, but who believes them? No living soul! Every man builds his own Jerusalem, gets around him his garden of delights, yields to his own serpent, and is damned on his own account. It is not for us to become the censors of antiquity, saying that Israel failed to carry out in literal exactness the pledge which was made almost in song. Let us keep to our own experience; stand upon the facts which make up our own daily life, and through them we shall see how it was that antiquity sinned and that the first man fell. Were we to close here we should close under a great cold cloud; but this is not the stopping-place: there are points beyond.
This was an answer given without full consciousness of the motive which dictated it. We are not rapid, as we certainly are not exact, in the analysis of motive: we take the first explanation which comes to hand, and are content if other people will receive it. A mysterious action is this, which we have come to know by the name of motive, that is to say, why we do certain things, or say them, fear them, or hope for them. It is not always convenient to descend into the secret place where motive lives and reigns. It is better sometimes not to know the deeper psychological reality. What was the case in this particular history? A great promise had been made; land was to be given; rest was to be assured: Sabbath was to dawn upon the world, and the desert was to be as a fruitful field; under this promise the command was given, and whilst the command and the promise mingled together in a common music, the people said We are ready! Nor did they speak untrustfully or insincerely. We do not surely know by what motives we are moved. Motives are not simple, they are complex, mixed up with one another, now coinciding, now separating, again approaching, and not to be expressed fitly in words. How far did the promise of the land tell upon the obedience of the men who answered Joshua? Who can tell how subtly the word “rest,” which occurs so often in this opening chapter, entered into weary lives, distracted hearts, and made men ready to say anything that lay in the direction of its immediate and complete realisation? Who can take himself out of himself? Who can die unto God? This is a miracle which lies beyond us just now; yet it is well to keep our eyes upon a plan a position that must be attained if we are to grow up into the measure of the stature of men in Christ Jesus; we are to have no self: when asked where our life is, we are to point to the Cross on which it has been nailed and on which it has expired. Do we not find the operation of the same motive now in our spiritual experience? What is it that has been promised? rest, release from the torment of conscience, the destruction of accusing recollection; another promise has been made under a sweet name which no man has ever been able to define: we are to have heaven. We have placed heaven above the blue sky: we would not have it in the east or in the west, but straight up in the zenith of the visible firmament. We have thought of heaven as a place of pureness, rest, joy, song, recognition of one another, riddance of all evil, escape from death in every form; and whilst godly men have been making the soul these promises, what if the soul said We accept the conditions; we will obey; for such a prize we are prepared to serve and suffer until life’s last day? Having uttered the pledge, we have another step to go to get back to old lines, and perhaps the interposition of that one step may happily deter us from returning to our old pursuits. A prayer should be a thick wall through which it is difficult to get back to the old non-praying state; a day in church should separate us by a practical eternity from all evil and irreligious propensity and act. Are not many men Christians because they want to. go to heaven? It is a poor reason, yet it may be better than none at all. It is full of selfishness: it is a little, narrow, unworthy reason. What we should aim to be enabled to say is this: If this life were all, it is better to live in the spirit of Christ than in any other spirit; if so be God will it that we are but contributaries to a greater humanity and an enduring civilisation, it is enough that we have ever prayed and ever loved. Who can attain that spiritual sublimity? We cling to the promised Canaan; we long to escape the threatened perdition. Our reasoning may be in all such respects narrow, superficial, and selfish, still, it is something to begin with: for the literary truth of Christianity cannot be urged upon us all at once: we have to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, so that every day brings not its new Bible but its new interpretation, its larger claim, its ennobled and brightened outlook.
This was an answer given before battle. The idea of the battle was not fully recognised. The Lord said, “I will give you,” and scarcely, as we have seen, had “I will give you” been uttered than the other words were, “Fight for it!” What land were they to possess? the land whereon their feet trod. You must go the land to claim it: your footprint must be your title. We are not called to some land that lies in the unmeasured region of the fancy; the land shall be yours whereon soever you set the sole of your foot. Hence we read in the third verse, ” Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses.” That Is the true idea of possession. Do not live in the imagination “but in the realisation of spiritual truths. What have we fought for. Is there now a man who can stand up and say, “I have fought for my faith, and I hold it with a hand that has bled”? What wonder that we change our faiths easily if we took them into possession easily? We simply heard of them, and we desire to hear no more about them. Who has studied, pondered, prayed, corrected himself, modified his conclusions readjusted them, and gone on from point to point as from conquest to conquest, now and again chargeable with inconsistency, but only with the inconsistency of self-correction, profounder criticism, and using a broader light than was available yesterday? We want sturdy soldiers in the Church men who say, Though all is given to us, yet it has to be fought for, and our answer before battle shall be quiet, modest, religious. “Let not him that girdeth on his harness boast himself as he that putteth it off.” “Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” Do not force us to answer just now. We have heard the sublime appeal; we know it has come down from infinite heights, it has about it the fragrance of other worlds, thank God for it! for its broad words, its grand challenges: they move the soul, they shake the spirit out of prison; but as for the full reply, we ourselves will wait: every day we will add a syllable to the answer, secretly hoping that by the grace and comfort of the Holy Ghost we may be able at the end of the days to present a complete word, steady as a planet, bright as the sun, glorious with the purity of a good conscience; just now our answer must be hesitant, broken, confused, but, believe us, our meaning is right: we will pray ourselves into greater prayers, and transfer ourselves through the medium of action into higher sacrifice and higher expositions of holy mysteries. Do not judge any one by the one day. We are aware that he replied ecstatically “I will!” and he meant it in the very secret places of his soul. We know that the day after he faltered and fell, but his faltering and falling did not destroy the purpose of his soul: the seed of God was in him; and he in whomsoever that seed is found must win Canaan, with all its light and rest, its everlasting morning and its surprising joys. Do not fix your mind upon your failures and slips and apostasies; they are a thousand in number and they are without defence, but you can say, “Lord, thou knowest all things: thou knowest that I love thee.” If you can say so honestly, the battle is won before it has begun; if you can say so sincerely, you need have no fear of the end; only be strong and very courageous, and there shall not a man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life. What are the appeals addressed us? not to take a Jericho measurable, but to advance to positions remote but glorious. “What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.” “Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord,… and I will receive you.” “If any man come to me, and hate not his father and mother… he cannot be my disciple.” Who is on the Lord’s side side of righteousness, side of truth, side of pureness? These are the questions and propositions that are thundered upon our ears. Let us reply saying, God helping us, we will endeavor to be true, constant, loyal.
Prayer
How many there are whose life is a battle thou knowest, O Father of all living! They wonder why they should exist; all things are hard to them: the night is dark, every road is difficult of passage, every door is shut, every man is a foe. They wonder and can hardly pray; they are amazed, and struck down with astonishment. Yet sometimes a little shining of light makes them glad; then they foretell the time of peace and rest and joy. Thou hast set in the midst of the week a day on which there shall be proclamation from time to time of thy mercy and sympathy, and on which some hint of life’s great meaning shall be given to the sons of men. Thou dost show us that all thy way is full of goodness, though we cannot now realise the significance of every event. When the grave is dug, thy meaning is pitiful and merciful and most compassionate; when thou dost send sorrow upon our life it is to chasten and refine that life and cleanse it of all defilement Thou dost cause all things to work together for good to them that love thee; and thou dost surprise thy children by newness of revelation. We set to our seal that God is true; we will stand up and say in the hearing of men God is good, and his mercy endureth for ever; he abideth through all the ages, and his love is an unchanging light. We are enabled to say this notwithstanding the battle, the bereavement, the great loss, the mortal disappointment; when we recover ourselves a little we say, Thou hast done all things well; thy will not mine be done; lead kindly Light. So we feel it worth while to fight all the battle and endure all the sorrow, that at the end we may see light as we never saw it before, and feel the very peacefulness of peace, the very restfulness of rest. We come to thee by a way that is living, the eternal way, the only way. We look unto Jesus, and are saved: we behold the Lamb of God, and in beholding him with the eyes of our faith we see our sins carried away. Was ever love like his? Scarcely for a righteous man will one die: for a good man peradventure some would die; but thou dost magnify thy love towards us in that while we were yet sinners neither righteous nor good Christ died for us, amazing love! Oh the depth of the wisdom and grace! We are amazed; we are made glad; we feel we are forgiven. Amen.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
Jos 1:16 And they answered Joshua, saying, All that thou commandest us we will do, and whithersoever thou sendest us, we will go.
Ver. 16. And they answered. ] Not the two tribes and half only, but the whole people promise homage and fidelity to Joshua, and wish well to his government.
All that thou commandest us.
“ Iussa sequi tam velle mihi quam posse necesse est. ”
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED TEXT): Jos 1:16-18
16They answered Joshua, saying, All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. 17Just 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. 18Anyone 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.
Jos 1:16 they This refers to the three tribes that settled on the eastern side of the Jordan, Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh (the half tribe).
all that you have commanded us we will do This paragraph is a confirmation of the tribes’ understanding that YHWH was speaking through Joshua. It is like a covenant renewal.
Jos 1:17 This is an affirmation and prayer (cf. Jos 1:5; Jos 1:9).
Jos 1:18 Obedience was the key to covenant fidelity and military victory. The consequences of disobedience were terminal!
only be strong and courageous God reaffirms His charge to Joshua (cf. Jos 1:5; Jos 1:7; Jos 1:9; Jos 1:18) through these three tribes’ affirmation.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
This is a study guide commentary, which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.
These discussion questions are provided to help you think through the major issues of this section of the book. They are meant to be thought-provoking, not definitive.
1. Why could Moses not enter the Promised Land?
2. What is the significance of the term servant?
3. Why was the Promised Land so important to the Jewish people?
4. Did Israel ever fully possess the limits of the Promised Land?
5. Is the covenant conditional? What does this imply?
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
All = whatsoever, as in Jos 1:18.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Num 32:25, Deu 5:27, Rom 13:1-5, Tit 3:1, 1Pe 2:13-15
Reciprocal: Num 13:8 – Oshea Num 27:20 – may be Deu 34:9 – the children Jos 4:8 – did so as Joshua Jos 4:14 – magnified Jos 8:8 – I have Ezr 10:4 – we also will Jer 2:20 – and thou saidst
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jos 1:16-17. And they answered Not the two tribes and a half only, but the officers of all the people, in their name, concurring with the divine appointment, by which Joshua was set over them. Thus must we swear allegiance to our Lord Jesus, as the captain of our salvation. Will we hearken unto thee The same obedience which we owed to Moses, we promise unto thee. With Moses This is not a limitation of their obedience, as if they would not obey him any longer than he was prosperous, but an additional prayer for him. As we have hereby promised thee our obedience, so our prayer shall be, that God would bless and prosper thee, as he did Moses.