The Book of Joshua – Jos 1:1-18

Instructions for Entering the Promised Land

[Study Aired February 18, 2023]

The book of Joshua begins following the death of Moses (120 years), one of the most incredibly iconic figures in the Bible. Joshua proved his dedication to the Lord’s commands revealed in Exodus, Numbers and Deuteronomy and was chosen to lead Israel into the Promised Land. Because of their perpetual complaining about the Lord’s goodness, out of the entirety of Israel none over the age of 20 at the time of leaving Egypt could enter the Promised Land; Joshua and Caleb were the only exceptions.

Num 32:11 Surely none of the men that came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob; because they have not wholly followed me:
Num 32:12 Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite, and Joshua the son of Nun: for they have wholly followed the LORD (also Deut 1:34-46).

Caleb was 40 years old when he helped spy out the land of Canaan:

Jos 14:7 Forty years old was I when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadeshbarnea to espy out the land; and I brought him word again as it was in mine heart.

Scripture doesn’t precisely state Joshua’s age. However, in all likelihood, the twelve spies in Joshua and Caleb’s company were of similar age, generally, give or take 10 years for maturity and spying experience. That makes Joshua roughly 30-50 years of age when he spied on Canaan. Add 40 years of wandering in the wilderness and it places him roughly a minimum age in his eighties when Israel entered the promised land. Caleb tells us he himself was 85 (Jos 14:10). Of course, Joshua died when he was 110 years of age. (Jos 24:29)

Since everyone over the age of 20 died in the wilderness, the Lord continued his espousal to a young wife in the bloom of her youth with Israel until his divorce, whose legacy of whoredom has lasted to this day.

Toward the end of Israel’s journey in the Promised Land as the Lord’s wife, a representation of purity was discovered by Solomon in a beautiful Shulamite girl. As brightly seen in the Song of Solomon studies, the wisest man to have ever lived saw something painfully unidentifiable in the beautiful Shulamite girl. His spirit seemed dreadfully unfulfilled upon his persistent “looking upon” her to distinguish the last irksome piece of the puzzle for the meaning of her presence. Scripture doesn’t say that he married the Shulamite. Even though he nearly perfectly imagined being married to her, his spirit of understanding was still of the Old Covenant Laws, and the spirit of God through Christ hadn’t yet come to reveal who Shulamite was, will be and is! The whorish nation of Israel, the Lord’s first wife, had many more works of harlotry in this new land before the distant Christ was revealed with his spiritual wife.

Before the foundation of the world and upon Moses’s death, the Lord had planned that the son of Nun, Joshua (Num 11:28), would lead Israel into the Promised Land. Joshua had proved his valour and dedication in following the Lord’s commands. The painful journey of the Lord’s people in the flesh, which unconsciously pointed to eternal life, was still in its infancy. The entirety of the old brigade of Israel over the age of 20 upon leaving Egypt, including Moses, perished in the wilderness.

Although God’s laws were evident primarily since Adam’s experience of sin, they were mostly hidden before the Lord revealed their written code through Moses, everyone since Adam, did what was right in his own eyes (Rom 2:14).

Joh 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. 

Num 14:26 And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, 
Num 14:27 How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me. 
Num 14:28 Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the LORD, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you: 
Num 14:29 Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me,
Num 14:30 Doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.

If we don’t recognise the commandments of Christ, we perish without the fulfillment of the Law in Him. All, including those under the carnal laws of Moses and Joshua’s rule to this day, sinned in the Law and perished under the Law, that of its own and without the spirit to come, could never change hearts for eternal life.

Rom 2:12 For as many as have sinned without Law shall also perish without Law: and as many as have sinned in the Law shall be judged by the Law; 
Rom 2:13 (For not the hearers of the Law [Christ’s spiritual laws] are just before God, but the doers of the [Christ’s] Law shall be justified.
Rom 2:14 For when the Gentiles, which have not the Law, do by nature the things contained in the Law, these, having not the Law, are a law unto themselves:
Rom 2:15 Which shew the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)
Rom 2:16 In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.

The theme of the elder serving the younger runs powerfully throughout scripture. An old, weary, and no doubt melancholy, Moses, having suffered his brother’s and sister’s endless complaining, was given to see the vast extent of the land to be possessed as the nation of Israel’s inheritance, but he himself would die without possessing it. In a sense, Moses died outside the city, the Promised Land, to figuratively sanctify the nation of Israel. He diligently served the tabernacle of God and bore the disgrace of the old company of Israel, who likewise died outside of their inheritance.

Son 6:13 Return, return, O Shulamite; return, return, that we may look upon thee. What will ye see in the Shulamite? As it were the company of two armies.

Spiritually:

Heb 13:10 We have an altar from which those who serve at the tabernacle have no right to eat.
Heb 13:11 Although the high priest brings the blood of animals into the Holy Place as a sacrifice for sin, the bodies are burned outside the camp.
Heb 13:12 And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate, to sanctify the people by His own blood. 
Heb 13:13 Therefore let us go to Him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace He bore.
Heb 13:14 For here we do not have a permanent city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.

Deu 34:1 And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho. And the LORD shewed him all the land of Gilead, unto Dan,
Deu 34:2 And all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim, and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, unto the utmost sea, 
Deu 34:3 And the south, and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, unto Zoar.
Deu 34:4 And the LORD said unto him, This is the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy seed: I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither.
Deu 34:5 So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD.
Deu 34:6 And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Bethpeor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day.
Deu 34:7 And Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated. 
Deu 34:8 And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days: so the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended.
Deu 34:9 And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom; for Moses had laid his hands upon him: and the children of Israel hearkened unto him, and did as the LORD commanded Moses.
Deu 34:10 And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, 
Deu 34:11 In all the signs and the wonders, which the LORD sent him to do in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land, 
Deu 34:12 And in all that mighty hand, and in all the great terror which Moses shewed in the sight of all Israel.

After forty years of pain, suffering and death in the wilderness of sin, the elder of Israel served the younger Israel and the younger, with a high hand, was about to enter the Promised Land. That principle of the elder serving the younger began in Rebecca’s womb with Esau, the elder twin serving Jacob, his brother. (Rom 9:12-21. Gen 25:19-28).

The Book of Joshua

Jos 1:1 Now after the death of Moses the servant of the LORD it came to pass, that the LORD spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ minister, saying, 
Jos 1:2 Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel.
Jos 1:3 Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses. 
Jos 1:4 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 coast. 
Jos 1:5 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.
Jos 1:6 Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them.
Jos 1:7 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. 
Jos 1:8 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.
Jos 1:9 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.
Jos 1:10 Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, 
Jos 1:11 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.
Jos 1:12 And to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to half the tribe of Manasseh, spake Joshua, saying,
Jos 1:13 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. 
Jos 1:14 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 valour, and help them; 
Jos 1:15 Until the LORD 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 Jordan toward the sunrising. 
Jos 1:16 And they answered Joshua, saying, All that thou commandest us we will do, and whithersoever thou sendest us, we will go. 
Jos 1:17 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. 
Jos 1:18 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.

Beginning in verse two with the referral to the death of Moses, the Jordan River running from the midst of the Promised Land, ran 200 miles to the Dead Sea. The origin for the name Jordan means (H3381) ‘to go down; to lay prostrate’. Unwittingly to the Israelites, their prostration didn’t end with their forefathers dying in the wilderness; they were about to continue with their exhaustion of weak and decaying flesh as part of the process pointing to their brother’s future rest in Christ. The river Jordan symbolically continued to drain the filth of Israel to be allegorically purified in the salt of the Dead Sea, where their forefathers of Sodom, Gomorrah and the other cities of the rich plain were similarly purified.

Jos 1:3 Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses. 
Jos 1:4 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 coast.

Verses 3 and 4 outline the “coast”, or the borders of the Promised Land, with the “great sea toward the going down of the sun” referring to the Mediterranean Sea. (It is easy to look up a map of the Promised Land).

Amazingly, the rich resources and beauty of Lebanon, regarded as a “wilderness”, suggest that it was largely protected from the surrounding nations for Israel’s sole use, featuring cedars in the future temple. 

Verse 5 epitomises and foreshadows the routing of the evil inhabiting the land, and for the Elect of God today, they have the very same Lord who spiritually cleanses their land within.

Jos 1:5 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.
Jos 1:6 Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them.
Jos 1:7 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.
Jos 1:8 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.
Jos 1:9 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.

Our Lord’s faithfulness stands. He is in absolute command of our salvation and continues to not fail or forsake us. Without Christ, we, too, have the same precise experience of not being able to stand before our enemies within. Nonetheless, the comparative history, for our sakes, resulted in the Israelites flip-flopping their faithfulness to God as they did in Moses’ time, regardless of the Lord’s guarantee of physical salvation through minimal faith.

Heb 4:1 Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. 
Heb 4:2 For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.
Heb 4:3 For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
Heb 4:4 For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works. 
Heb 4:5  And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest. 
Heb 4:6 Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief:

Jumping to:

Mat 28:16 Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. 
Mat 28:17 And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted.
Mat 28:18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 
Mat 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Mat 28:20 Teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you: I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Jos 1:10 Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, 
Jos 1:11 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.

Christ, in his three and half year ministry, prepared his disciples “victuals”, meaning (H6720) ‘provision of food; meat’.He has increasingly provided spiritual food that increased their faith, especially in these latter days before His return. As we see the fig tree put forth new shoots, we know that the end is near for our preparation to cross our Jordan with the spiritual Christ within to possess Him, our Promised Land inheritance through faith. (Eph 1:3-14)

Eph 1:12 That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
Eph 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, 
Eph 1:14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

Gal 4:1 Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; 
Gal 4:2 But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.
Gal 4:3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:
Gal 4:4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 
Gal 4:5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. 
Gal 4:6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. 
Gal 4:7 Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

The entire torturous process the Israelites experienced, and are still experiencing unto this very day, is for His body’s sake, for His little flock, the Church. He has given us rest in Him through His spirit of truth and our espousal to Him. Our rest is Christ, the master Potter doing His work within us, just as He gave the Israelites a type of physical rest if they utterly depended upon Him to go before and fight and thoroughly rout the evil inhabitants within their physically prized possession.

1Co 3:22 Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; 
1Co 3:23 And ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s. 

Rom 8:31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? 
Rom 8:32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
Rom 8:33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.
Rom 8:34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. 
Rom 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 
Rom 8:36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 
Rom 8:37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 
Rom 8:38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 
Rom 8:39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Jos 1:12 And to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to half the tribe of Manasseh, spake Joshua, saying, 
Jos 1:13 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. 
Jos 1:14 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 valour, and help them; 
Jos 1:15 Until the LORD 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 Jordan toward the sunrising.

1Pe 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: 
1Pe 2:10 Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy

The Body of Christ is growing into the beautiful young woman espoused to her Lord. She has spent a relatively short time devouring her Lord’s strong meat. She readily sees the spiritual truths received daily that intensely arouse her love for him and delights in finding nuggets of overlooked truth in the frequently reviewed studies. She is ever vigilant to not let her lamp oil run low as she awaits the ultimate “sunrising” shining at full strength.

Jer 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
Jer 29:12 Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. 
Jer 29:13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. 
Jer 29:14 And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.

Jos 1:17 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. 
Jos 1:18 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. 

Just as our Lord God was with Moses and Joshua, He is infinitely more in spirit with His chosen “little flock” today and gives us immense courage to go forth and possess Him, our promised land within.

Yet, Lord willing, we remember to not be puffed up by His revelations and rebel against His word that would assuredly land us in the resurrection to damnation and go through a more torturous process to attain eternal life. 

Luk 21:34 And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. 
Luk 21:35 For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. 
Luk 21:36 Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.