Joshua (1-2)
The book of Joshua is the connection when Deuteronomy left off and the beginning of the work of Joshua. Is should be read as God’s work goes uninterrupted.
The Ark of the Covenant had played a unique role in ancient history; so what role might it have in our current affairs? We’ll explore this query further as we dive into the story of ancient Israel.
Joshua 1
1 Now after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spoke unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ minister, saying,
— the Lord spoke; either in a dream or vision, or by Urim, Numbers 27:21; Joshua, Hoshea, or Oshea, that is, “God’s salvation” the son of Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim; Numbers 13:8.
2 “Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou and all this people, unto the land which I give to them, even to the children of Israel.
— only now the promise is granted, unto the land which I promise unto Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, even the children of Israel.
3 Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses.
— the conquest of Canaan was the special duty assigned to Joshua by the word of Moses.
4 From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your border.
— it was God’s purpose that the whole land should belong to the children of Israel.
5 There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee nor forsake thee.
— 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 Jonathan says,
“No man shall withstand before you all the days of your life; as My Word was in support of Moses, so shall I be with you: I will not abandon you, nor will I cast you far away.”
6 Be strong and of a good courage, for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land which I swore unto their fathers to give them.
— Be strong and of good courage; the same exhortation Moses gave earlier, Deuteronomy 31:7
And Moses called unto Joshua and said unto him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and of good courage; for thou must go with this people unto the land which the Lord hath sworn unto their fathers to give them, and thou shalt cause them to inherit it.
7 Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses My servant commanded thee. Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest.
— Remember, that though thou art the commander of my people, yet thou art my subject, and obliged to observe all my commands.
8 This Book of the Law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein. For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
— a “book of the law” in Joshua’s time. Rashi: this book of the Torah; that is, the book of Deuteronomy before him.
9 Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed, for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.”
10 Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying,
— officers of the people; that is, shoterim: Exodus 5:6, taskmasters and their officers; Deuteronomy 16:18, “Judges and officers.”
11 “Pass through the host and command the people, 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.’”
— Prepare you victuals; perhaps to mean to provide provision and other supplies for a journey or for a warlike expedition.
12 And to the Reubenites and to the Gadites and to half the tribe of Manasseh spoke Joshua, saying,
13 “Remember the word which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, saying, ‘The Lord your God hath given you rest and hath given you this land.’
— Joshua’s appeal to the two and a half tribes to remember the condition on which Moses gave them the land on the east of the Jordan for an inheritance.
14 Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle shall remain in the land which Moses gave you on this side of the Jordan. But ye shall pass before your brethren armed, all the mighty men of valor, and help them
— your wives, your little ones, and your cattle, shall remain in the land which Moses gave you on this side Jordan; but ye shall pass before your brethren armed, all the mighty men of valor, and help them;
15 until the Lord shall have given your brethren rest, as He hath given you, and they also have possessed the land which the Lord your God giveth them. Then ye shall return unto the land of your possession and enjoy it, which Moses the Lord’S servant gave you on this side of the Jordan toward the sunrising.”
— all the mighty men of valour, and help them; to obtain a conquest over the Canaanites; all, according to the order of Moses; this was what they themselves proposed, agreed unto and confirmed, Numbers 32:17-22; toward the rising of the sun, that is, the eastern side of the Jordan.
16 And they answered Joshua, saying, “All that thou commandest us we will do, and whithersoever thou sendest us we will go.
— this promise of obedience may be taken as the reply of the whole people to Joshua’s orders.
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.
— only the Lord thy God be with thee, as he was with Moses; the true sense and meaning is, “for the Lord thy God will 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.”
— he shall be put to death; this part of military discipline they agree to, and hereby declare their entire submission to him.
Joshua 2
1 And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, “Go, view the land, even Jericho.” And they went and came into a harlot’s house, named Rahab, and lodged there.
— two men, not twelve, as Moses did, because those were to view the whole land, these but a small parcel of it.
— Rahab appears to have been an innkeeper; and probably she formerly had been a harlot as spoken by two apostles, Hebrews 11:31; James 2:25.
2 And it was told the king of Jericho, saying, “Behold, there came men in hither tonight of the children of Israel to search out the country.”
— it was told the king, by the sentinels who at such a time of threatened invasion would be posted on the eastern frontier and whose duty required them to make a strict report to headquarters of the arrival of all strangers.
3 And the king of Jericho sent unto Rahab, saying, “Bring forth the men who have come to thee, who have entered into thine house, for they have come to search out all the country.”
— was told the king of Jericho, who being alarmed at the approaching Israelites, and knowing their claim to the land of Canaan.
4 And the woman took the two men and hid them, and said thus, “There came men unto me, but I knew not from whence they came.
— Rahab was admitted among the people of God; she intermarried into a chief family of a chief tribe, and found a place among the ancestors of King David and of Christ.
5 And it came to pass about the time of shutting of the gate, when it was dark, that the men went out. Whither the men went I know not. Pursue after them quickly, for ye shall overtake them.”
— pursue after them quickly, and ye shall overtake them; this she encouraged them to get rid of them to remove all suspicion of her having any respect for them, and of being concerned in concealing them.
6 But she had brought them up to the roof of the house and hid them with the stalks of flax which she had laid in order upon the roof.
— the roofs of those houses were made quite flat, and it is probable it might be customary to lay the stalks of flax upon them that they might be dried by the heat of the sun.
7 And the men pursued after them on the way to the Jordan unto the fords; and as soon as those who pursued after them had gone out, they shut the gate.
— as soon as they which pursued after them were gone out, they shut the gate; this precaution was to ensure the capture of the spies, should they have been lurking in the city.
8 And before they lay down, she came up unto them upon the roof,
9 and she said unto the men, “I know that the Lord hath given you the land, and that your terror has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you.
— and that your terror is fallen upon us; which was another token by which she knew the land would be delivered to them.
10 For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when ye came out of Egypt, and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites who were on the other side of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed.
— Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed; the history of which see in Numbers 21:21-35; who were destroyed by Moses and Joshua their commander.
11 And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man because of you; for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.
— Rahab had heard of the miracles the Lord wrought for Israel, so were all the other inhabitants; and their hearts melted away.
12 Now therefore, I pray you, swear unto me by the Lord, since I have shown you kindness, that ye will also show kindness unto my father’s house, and give me a true token,
— true token, an assurance or “pledge” that they would preserve her and her family from the common ruin.
13 and that ye will save alive my father and my mother, and my brethren and my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death.”
— that she had no husband, for she was an harlot and had no children, and puts her father and mother in the space of an husband, and her brethren and sisters in the space of children.
14 And the men answered her, “Our life for yours, if ye utter not this our business. And it shall be, when the Lord hath given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with thee.”
— Our life for yours; that is, a form of an oath, we will venture our lives for the security of yours.
15 Then she let them down by a cord through the window, for her house was upon the town wall, and she dwelt upon the wall.
— her house was upon the town wal; luckily for the two spies, perhaps, they selected it for this reason, as it enabled them to leave the town without passing the gate.
16 And she said unto them, “Get you to the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you; and hide yourselves there three days until the pursuers have returned, and afterward may ye go your way.”
— Get you to the mountain; the mountains between Jerusalem and Jericho have often been known for worse characters than Joshua’s two spies, Luke 10:30.
17 And the men said unto her, “We will be blameless of this thine oath which thou hast made us swear.
— blameless of thine oath, that is, they would most faithfully keep it, it should be sacred to them, and she should have no occasion to lay any blame upon them in the least.
18 Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou didst let us down by; and thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father’s household home unto thee.
— a robe of a deep scarlet color, the color would catch the eye at once, and supplied an obvious token by which the house of Rahab might be recognised.
19 And it shall be that whosoever shall go out of the doors of thy house into the street, his blood shall be upon his head, and we will be guiltless; and whosoever shall be with thee in the house, his blood shall be on our head if any hand be upon him.
— upon his head, if he was slain outside by an Israelite soldiers, the blame of his death shall rest wholly upon himself, as being occasioned by his own neglect or contempt of his own safety.
20 And if thou utter this our business, then we will be free of thine oath which thou hast made us to swear.”
— if thou utter this our business; that others would either hang out scarlet threads or get into her house for shelter, then we will be quit of thine oath which thou hast made us to swear; be under no obligation to make it good, by saving her and her father’s house.
21 And she said, “According unto your words, so be it.” And she sent them away, and they departed; and she bound the scarlet line in the window.
— it was thus a sign and pledge of safety to Rahab’s house, that rope of a deep and bright scarlet color by the window; just as the bloody mark on the lintels of the houses of the Israelites in Egypt to that people.
22 And they went and came unto the mountain, and abode there three days until the pursuers had returned; and the pursuers sought them throughout all the way, but found them not.
— and abode there three days; being, no doubt, supplied with food by Rahab; unto the mountain to the fords of Jordan, searching every hedge, field, and village until the pursuers returned to the city of Jericho.
23 So the two men returned and descended from the mountain, and passed over and came to Joshua the son of Nun, and told him all things that befell them.
— and told him all things that befell them; what house they went into when come to Jericho, what reception they met with, the report of them to the king of Jericho, how messengers were sent to capture them, and by what means they were preserved and made their escape.
24 And they said unto Joshua, “Truly the Lord hath delivered into our hands all the land, for even all the inhabitants of the country do faint because of us.”
— for even the inhabitants of the country do faint because of us; this was the temper and disposition they appeared in, and seems to be what Joshua was mainly desirous of hearing; since nothing else is told by the spies nor inquired of by him, but immediately upon this report they began his march towards Canaan, as the next chapter indicates.
