In one sense verses 1-9 are a preamble to the whole book. They contain the basic principles that were to guide Joshua and Israel so they could obtain all that God had promised their forefathers.
1:1 The first word of the book is a conjunction translated "now"or "and."It shows that this book picks up where Deuteronomy stopped.
"Servant of the LORD' is a title of honor shared by Abraham, David, and the Servant of the Lord in Isaiah. (It is used most frequently of Moses: Exod 14:31; Num 12:7-8; Deut 34:5; and thirteen times in Joshua; my servant' occurs twice.) The term servant' was used to designate even the highest officials of a king. . . . Only at the end of his life was he [Joshua] honored with the title servant of the LORD' (24:29)."11
Joshua was an Ephraimite (Num. 13:8; 1 Chron. 7:27).
1:2 The nation had mourned Moses' death for 30 days (Deut. 34:8). Now God instructed Joshua to prepare to enter the land. The death of any of His servants never frustrates or limits God, though this causes Him sorrow (Ps. 116:15).
1:3 God had promised all the land that the Israelites would tread under foot to the patriarchs and Moses (Gen. 13:17; Exod. 23:30-31; Deut. 11:24). The Israelites were now to claim it as their own by taking possession of it.
1:4 The area described here includes all that God promised to Abraham and the other patriarchs (Gen. 15:18; et al.). The writer apparently referred to the Hittites in a representative sense to describe all the Canaanite tribes (as in 1 Kings 10:29; 2 Kings 7:6; Ezek. 16:3).12
1:5 Many students of the book have called this the key verse. Here God promised Joshua His unfailing power and presence so that he might be completely successful in subduing the enemy. Joshua's failure to be entirely successful was not God's fault but the Israelites'.
"This text [vv. 2-5] summarizes the book. Verse 2 describes the crossing of the Jordan as found in 1:1-5:12. Verse 3 outlines the conquest' of 5:13-12:24. Verse 4 implies the distribution of the land in 13:1-22:34. The emphasis on all the days of Joshua's life in verse 5 is found at the end of Joshua's life in the final two chapters of the book. These verses also introduce the character of the LORD God of Israel. He is one of the main actors in the book. Here he reveals himself through his promises on behalf of Joshua and Israel."13
1:6 God exhorted Joshua on the basis of this promise (v. 5) to be "strong"and "courageous"(cf. Deut. 31:6). The first of these words in Hebrew implies strength in the hands for grasping and holding firmly. The second implies strength in the knees for standing solidly. Ownership of the land depended on God's faithfulness, but occupation of the land depended on Israel's faithfulness (cf. Deut. 30:20).
The writer stressed two major theological points in this book: Yahweh's faithfulness in giving Israel the Promised Land, and Yahweh's hatred of sin.14
"The word inherit' ["possession"in the NASB] used to describe the future possession of the land, is of rich theological significance. It has subsequently become a NT term for the enjoyment of the spiritual blessings of salvation (e.g., 1 Pet. 1:4)."15
1:7 Joshua's responsibility included unswerving obedience to the Mosaic Law. This would be the key to his success. Knowing the law was only the first step. Practicing it was what would make Joshua effective (cf. Deut. 5:32-33).
"The important lesson which we hence learn is, that in nothing is there more scope for the display of the highest moral heroism than in daring, in all circumstances, to cleave steadfastly to the word of God as the rule of our conduct. It is in this chiefly that the fortitude of the Christian soldier is to evince itself."16
1:8 Moses had left Israel a written document that the Israelites regarded as authoritative law, namely, the Mosaic Law. The Lord commanded Joshua to keep this Word in mind constantly so he would remember his responsibilities under God and find encouragement to keep them (cf. Ps. 1:2; Isa. 59:21).
"The phrase from your mouth' refers to the custom of muttering while studying or reflecting. The Hebrew word translated meditate' (hagah) literally means mutter.' When one continually mutters God's Word to himself, he is constantly thinking about it."17
". . . [Meditation] does not mean theoretical speculation about the law, such as the Pharisees indulged in, but a practical study of the law, for the purpose of observing it in thought and action, or carrying it out with the heart, the mouth, and the hand. Such a mode of employing it would be sure to be followed by blessings."18
We should never view Bible study and memorization as ends in themselves. They are important methods of obtaining the end of being obedient to God's Word. We cannot obey it unless we understand it and are consciously aware of it as we make decisions day by day.
"The higher any man is raised in office, the more need has he of an acquaintance with the sacred oracles, and the better will he be qualified by the study of them for the discharge of his arduous duties."19
1:9 This was not just good advice. Joshua was receiving orders from his Commander. Trembling or fearing would betray lack of confidence in God.
Notice the chiastic structure of God's charge to Joshua.
AI will be with you (v. 5).
BBe strong and courageous (vv. 6, 7).
CThat you may have success (v. 7).
DThis book of the law (v. 8).
C'Then you will have success (v. 8).
B'Be strong and courageous (v. 9).
A'The Lord your God is with you (v. 9).
This structure emphasizes the centrality of the book of the law of God as the key to Israel's success, Joshua's effective leadership, and God's presence with His people.
With this challenge Joshua could advance into Canaan confidently.
This passage contains the principles necessary for spiritual success in every age. We must know what God requires, maintain perpetual awareness of that, and be consistently and completely obedient to it in our daily experience to gain victory over our spiritual adversaries.20
Having received his marching orders from Yahweh, Joshua prepared to mobilize the nation.
1:10-11 Joshua expected to be able to cross the Jordan within three days.
"The Jordan River wanders about two hundred miles to cover the sixty-five mile distance from the Lake of Galilee to the Dead Sea, dropping an additional six hundred feet below sea level as it goes."21
1:12-18 The concept of "rest"(vv. 13, 15) is an important one to grasp to understand what the conquest of the land gave the Israelites. It also clarifies what the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews had in mind when he referred to the rest that we enjoy as Christians (Heb. 3-4).22It was not rest in the sense of freedom from conflict but in contrast to journeying. Even after the seven-year conquest of the land there was still much land that the Israelites still had to take from the Canaanites and possess (13:1; 23:1-13; cf. 24:1-28; Judg. 1:1). Rather this rest was the entrance into and initial participation in the inheritance the Lord had promised His people (cf. Deut. 12:10; 25:19; Josh. 21:44; 23:1; 2 Sam. 7:1, 11; 1 Kings 8:56; Ps. 95).23
"This theologically significant term [rest] . . . is one of the key words for understanding the book of Joshua as well as later revelation."24
In Christian experience the crossing of the Jordan does not just correspond to the believer's death and entrance into heaven, which some popular Christian songs suggest. It also parallels the believer's entrance into the enjoyment of his or her eternal life now through dedication to Jesus Christ (Rom. 6:13; 12:1-2) and walking by means of the Spirit (Gal. 5:16). The wilderness wanderings resemble the experience of the redeemed believer who has not yet fully committed himself or herself to God and is walking in the flesh. When the Israelites crossed the Jordan they encountered enemies and had to contend with their spiritual adversaries just as a believer does when he dedicates himself to God and walks by the Spirit. The Christian's rest is not the absence of hostility. It is the beginning of the enjoyment of some blessings God has promised us (i.e., eternal life, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, victory over our spiritual enemies, etc.).
"Entering the land does not parallel the believer's entrance to heaven; it signifies his willingness to cross the Jordan' and engage the enemy. In other words, it is a decision by a regenerate saint to submit to the lordship of Christ and trust God for victory in the spiritual battle."25
In another sense Canaan corresponds to the additional blessings that believers who follow God faithfully in this life will receive following death.26
Not all the warriors from the two and one-half tribes went with (not "before,"v. 14) their brethren across the Jordan. Only 40,000 of the 110,000 did (cf. 4:13 and Num. 26:7, 18, 34). The rest evidently remained in Transjordan. We should understand "all"(v. 14) in this limited sense.
The attitude of the two and one-half tribes was commendable. They followed through with their commitment (Num. 32:25-27). There were no significant instances of complaining or rebellion among the tribes during Joshua's lifetime according to what the writer recorded. In this respect the nation enjoyed greater unity than it did in its former or later history.
To be successful in our corporate task of overcoming our spiritual enemies God's people must unite behind the leaders God has raised up to lead us. We should not complain or rebel against them (Heb. 13:17). Furthermore God's people must commit ourselves to entering into conflict with our spiritual enemies, rather than avoiding such conflict, to possess the fullness of God's inheritance for us. The Christian's spiritual enemies are the world, the flesh, and the devil (1 John 2:15-17; Rom. 7:18-24; 1 Pet. 5:8).
As preparation for entering Canaan, Joshua sent spies to reconnoiter the area Israel would enter.
"Although Joshua had received a promise from the Lord of His almighty help in the conquest of Canaan, he still thought it necessary to do what was requisite on his part to secure the success of the work committed to him, as the help of God does not preclude human action, but rather presupposes it."27
2:1 The two men sent out as spies were young (cf. 6:23). Joshua sent them out secretly (cf. 7:2). He did not want a recurrence of the Kadesh Barnea incident.
"He had learned by experience that spy reports should be brought to the leaders only, for the people did not have sufficient orientation or experience to properly evaluate such a report."28
Their mission was to explore the area Israel would enter, especially Jericho.29
"Sending out men for reconnaissance was a widespread phenomenon in the east. Moreover, a prostitute's or innkeeper's house was the accustomed place for meeting with spies, conspirators, and the like. Thus, for example, we read in Hammurabi's Code: If scoundrels plot together [in conspiratorial relationships] in an innkeeper's house, and she does not seize them and bring them to the palace, that innkeeper shall be put to death' (law § 109). In a Mari letter we read about two men who sow fear and panic and cause rebellion in an army. Also, the pattern of a three-day stay in an area when pursuing escapees has support in ancient eastern sources; for example the instructions to the Hittite tower commanders specify that if an enemy invades a place he must be pursued for three days. In the same collection of instructions we find that it is forbidden to build an inn (arzana) in which prostitutes live near the fortress wall, apparently because of the kind of danger described in Joshua 2."30
Jericho was not a large city, but it had strong fortifications and a strategic location on the frontier of Canaan. It lay just a few miles west of the Jordan River in the Jordan Valley. If the Israelites were to gain a foothold in Canaan, they would have to defeat Jericho.
The spies probably stayed at Rahab's house because they hoped to be less conspicuous there than they would have been if they had lodged elsewhere.31Josephus called Rahab an innkeeper, which she may have been.32The writer recorded Rahab's name because she became an important person in Israel's history. She was an ancestor of David as well as Israel's helper on this occasion (cf. Matt. 1:5).
2:2-6 Rahab was a woman of faith in Yahweh (cf. Heb. 11:31; James 2:25). Apparently what she had heard about the God of Israel led her to place her trust in Him (vv. 9-12). The protection of one's house-guests was very important in the ancient Orient (cf. Judg. 19:20-24). This cultural pressure fortified her faith and doubtless encouraged her to hide the spies.
Rahab should not have told a lie, however.
"To excuse Rahab for indulging in a common practice is to condone what God condemns."33
Though she had come to faith in Yahweh her moral life had not yet undergone radical change.
"Having been born and brought up among the depraved Canaanites, she had probably never been taught the evil of lying, and least of all where an apparently good end was to be answered by it."34
". . . a lie is always a sin. Therefore even if Rahab was not actuated at all by the desire to save herself and her family from destruction, and the motive from which she acted had its roots in her faith in the living God (Heb. xi. 31), so that what she did for the spies, and thereby for the cause of the Lord, was counted to her for righteousness (justified by works,' James ii. 25), yet the course which she adopted was a sin of weakness, which was forgiven her in mercy because of her faith."35
"It has often happened, that even when good men have endeavored to keep a straight course, they have turned aside into circuitous paths. Rahab acted wrongly when she told a lie and said that the spies had gone; and the action was acceptable to God only because the evil that was mixed with the good was not imputed to her. Yet, although God wished the spies to be delivered, He did not sanction their being protected by a lie."36
Lying is a more serious sin in some circumstances than in others, but it is always a sin (Exod. 20:16; Lev. 19:11; Deut. 5:20).
"For one to lie in this manner is for one to assume that he knows the outcome of a situation which, in fact, he does not. God has control of every situation and therefore it might well be the will of God that the spies should die. It is the job of the believer to represent the truth and allow the Lord to care for that situation."37
2:7-14 Assuming the spies had fled back to the Israelite camp, the men of Jericho searched all along the road from their city to the place where travelers forded the Jordan (v. 7), about five miles.
Rahab's reference to the fear of the Israelites that God had put in the Canaanites' hearts (vv. 9-11) shows that the Lord had fulfilled His promise to make the Israelites' enemies fear them (Exod. 23:27; Deut. 2:25; 11:25).38
"Yahweh had proved himself more powerful than any other claimants to deity. The irony of the situation existed in the fact that Israel's enemies recognized this when Israel did not."39
"Utterly destroyed"translates the Hebrew herem, a technical term for the practice of completely destroying the spoils of war as a way of consecrating them to a deity (cf. 6:17).40
"The people who in Rahab's time most frequently used such houses of prostitution were the traveling merchants. From them she had repeatedly heard of the marvelous nation which was approaching from Egypt, and of the God of Israel who had perfected such striking miracles."41
The melting of the heart (v. 11) pictures utter despair. We must be careful not to overestimate Rahab's confession of faith in this verse. She had come to place her faith in Yahweh (cf. Heb. 11:31; James 2:25), but she did not become a mature believer immediately. No one does.
2:15-21 The spies gave their solemn promise to spare Rahab and her household but specified three conditions that Rahab had to meet.
1. She had to make her home known to the Israelites when they attacked (v. 18).
2. She had to assemble her family into her home before the battle (v. 18).
3. She had to keep the mission of the spies a secret (vv. 20, 14).
The cord Rahab was to hang out of her window and over the town wall--her house stood on the wall (v. 15)--was scarlet in color (vv. 15, 18).42Its unusual color would have marked Rahab's house for the Israelites. The color had symbolic significance, too, since red recalls blood and vigorous life.
"In the preaching of the Christian church, all the way back to Clement of Rome . . ., this has been taken as a sign of the blood of Christ, the Lamb."43
"It answered, therefore, the same purpose with the blood sprinkled upon the door-posts in Egypt, which secured the first-born from the destroying angel."44
God spared the lives of Rahab and her household because of her faith. Any of Rahab's relatives that would have gathered with her before the Israelite siege would have done so because of their faith in God's promise through the spies. If they had no faith they would have stayed in their own homes. Thus the deliverance of Rahab and her family depended on believing a promise from God. Salvation always depends on believing a promise from God (cf. Gen. 15:6; John 3:16; et al.).
2:22-24 The "hill country"referred to (vv. 22-23) was probably the mountainous area west of Jericho. This area contains many caves in the "deeply eroded and lonely chalk hills"and many "isolated canyons cut through the [1,500 feet high] limestone cliffs."45The spies evidently were absent from the Israelite camp a total of three days (v. 22; cf. 1:11; 3:2).
One of the major emphases in this chapter is God's faithfulness. When the spies returned to Shittim with news that some of the Canaanites believed Yahweh would give the Israelites the land, God's people would have felt greatly encouraged (vv. 9-11, 24; cf. 1:2-3, 6, 11, 15).
This chapter also shows that God will deliver those who seek salvation from coming judgment regardless of their past or present sins if they have faith in Him. Rahab believed Yahweh was the true God (v. 11; cf. Ruth 1:16; 1 John 5:1). Her protection of the spies demonstrated the sincerity of her faith (v. 6; cf. James 2:25). Her confidence about her preservation from the coming judgment rested on the promise given to her by God's spokesmen (v. 21; cf. John 6:47).
"If Joshua represents the Israelite male who finds guidance and success through faith in the LORD God, does Rahab represent his counterpart, the Canaanite female who also finds guidance and success through faith in the LORD God? In one of the most nationalistic books in the Hebrew Bible, does it not serve the purposes of the promise to Abraham that all peoples on earth will be blessed through you' (Gn. 12:3) to place side by side with the choice of a military leader and his initial preparations for battle, the story of a foreign woman who believed and was saved without arms or bloodshed?"46
"The spies violated God's explicit command that none of the people living in the land were to be spared (Deut 7:1-6; 20:16-18). Rahab, however, turned to God and sought deliverance. Her experience is proof of the gracious saving purpose of God. His overarching decree is that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved' (Joel 2:32). This is one of the most dramatic examples of grace in the OT and is set in bold relief by the questionable aspects of Rahab's profession and conversion.
"The salvation of Rahab is an example of what God would have done for others also. The king and the other citizens of Jericho knew all that she knew, but they did not turn to Israel's God for mercy. The fear that drove her to beg for mercy drove them in their stubborn rebellion. Accordingly, the others are called the disobedient' in Hebrews 11:31 . . ."47
