1:1 Death frames the book of Joshua. Moses’ death marks its beginning, and two deaths (and three funerals) conclude it.

It is right that Moses’ death should be in the foreground. We find signals of newness as Joshua begins: a fresh page, a bold title, a chapter numbered one. So we understand that the book stands apart from what has gone before. We are no longer in the five books of Moses, that is, the Pentateuch, the Torah. In one sense, the books of Exodus through Deuteronomy could be seen as Moses’ biography, beginning with his dramatic birth in Exodus 2 and drawing to an end with his remarkable death in Deuteronomy 34. Nowhere else do we see a character whose span of life covers so much of the biblical text. Not only that, but Moses is depicted as unique and without successor in the verses immediately preceding the book of Joshua (Deut. 34:10–12; but cf. Deut. 18:15). Thus the opening words draw us into an unfolding story in which we experience both a profound disjuncture as well as an insistent continuity “after the death of Moses” (Josh. 1:1).

The sense of the passing of an era, with its succession in leaders, is further reinforced by the brief descriptions accompanying their names. While the phrase “servant [ʿebed] of the Lord” applied to Moses (also in v. 2) seems familiar enough, as a set phrase its use is restricted and the pattern distinctive.12 Its first appearance in the Bible is at Deuteronomy 34:5, the very moment of Moses’ death. It is then applied to him a further fourteen times in the book of Joshua and on three further occasions in the historical books (2 Kings 18:12; 2 Chron. 1:3; 24:6). Only at Joshua’s death is he too called the “servant of the Lord” (Josh. 24:29; repeated at Judg. 2:8). Twice David is apparently also identified by this phrase, in the superscriptions to Psalms 18 and 36. Once it is used of Israel as “servant” in Isaiah 42:19. Clearly Moses is the “servant of the Lord” par excellence, a fitting status for one “whom the Lord knew face to face” (Deut. 34:10).

The contrast with Joshua’s own designation is striking: he is Moses’ “assistant” or “attendant” (Hb. mesharet; cf. Ex. 24:13; 33:11; Num. 11:28). At the seven other instances in which this term is used it refers consistently to an underling of some sort, and this nuance applies here as well. This differs from ʿebed, which can apply to a very wide social range, from slave to high royal official.

In a few brief words, then, our narrator plunges us into the reality of this turning point in Israel’s national history and this moment of trauma, and even crisis, in Joshua’s personal story. The great leader of the people—the “servant of the Lord,” no less—is dead, and now his assistant remains. And it is this one to whom the Lord now speaks.

1:2 In the rest of this section the Lord speaks directly to Joshua. This is the longest and thematically richest divine speech in the book. The fact of God’s speaking to Joshua is significant in the light of Moses’ death, as it emphasizes the continuity of divinely mandated prophetic leadership of the people, much as Eleazar’s succession to Aaron functions in priestly terms (cf. Num. 20:25–28). God’s actions on behalf of his people and his disclosures to them through their representative are not restricted to a single individual, as the Lord himself clarifies in his next word to Joshua (cf. Josh. 3:7). It is important to note, though, that the number of divine speeches, as well as their length, declines as the story unfolds. The last words of the Lord to Joshua (roughly equal in length to the first speech, and next longest) initiate the distribution of land for tribal settlement in 13:1–7 and the designation of cities of refuge in 20:1–6. The Lord is training his people to attend to him and to live faithfully before him by means other than direct speech to their leader. But as Israel grows to maturity in the land, God speaks directly to their leader still.

The first words the Lord speaks to Joshua confirm the current reality (Moses is indeed dead) and spell out the current task (“go over this Jordan”!). The context has been set in Deuteronomy 34, which recounts not only Moses’ death but also the completion of the period of mourning, including the affirmation of Joshua’s spiritual equipping to serve as Israel’s leader in succession to Moses. At the same time, the Lord reminds Joshua that he is not alone, that the task to which he is being called is not carried out in isolation; rather, he is in the company of God’s people, who together with him are recipients of the gift of the Land of Promise.

1:3–4 Place is, naturally, of enormous importance in the book of Joshua. It can be difficult for modern Christian readers to sense this importance. Once we have registered that it is the Promised Land to which Israel is going and into which they are settling, many modern readers tend to lose interest. The place names, itineraries, and boundaries so carefully described especially in the second half of the book can appear to be simply the necessary but still tedious entailment of the giving and taking of the land.

But embedded into this first, significant divine speech to Joshua is a brief but expansive statement registering the shape of the landscape into which Israel is moving. The first note of plural interest from verse 2 (“the land that I am giving to them”) carries into this geographical notice in verses 3–4. Each of the second-person references in these verses is plural: “your foot,” “given to you,” “your territory.” In speaking of place, the Lord speaks to Joshua not as an individual, as he does throughout the rest of this address, but as a member of the people of Israel. The grammar contains a further sign of divine providence in verse 3: while the people’s traversing the land and subsequent demarcation of territory lie in the future (“sole of your foot will tread upon”), God’s act of giving has already taken place in the divine decree (“I have given to you”) and is seen as complete.

The boundaries are sketched in verse 4, moving in a counterclockwise sweep roughly through southern, eastern, northern, and western orientations. The language in verses 4–5 echoes Deuteronomy 11:24–25, which forms part of one of Moses’ addresses to the people encouraging obedience and fidelity. There are some small differences between the texts, but the confirmation of the geographical extent of Israel’s occupation with the divine gift is largely a verbatim repetition. Here in Joshua the boundaries are more expansive than those outlined in Deuteronomy. Nor do they correspond precisely to the landscapes of conquest in Joshua 13–19. The OT includes other boundary passages besides these (e.g., Num. 34:1–12; Ezek. 47:13–20), each showing some differences. It is likely, then, that these broad outlines of boundaries are meant to be inclusive and ideal rather than exhibiting the precision needed for drawing a map.

1:5 As Joshua 1:5 begins, the echo from Deuteronomy 11:24–25 persists but is shifted now into a new direction. While in Moses’ address the assurance that “no one shall be able to stand against you” (Deut. 11:25) is offered to the people, here it is applied to Joshua himself, both by means of the singular “you” as well as through the association with his own span of life. In some sense, the provision of Joshua as leader of Israel acts as a visible symbol of God’s presence with them, and so his life serves as a kind of guarantor of the divine promise. Moses has died, but Joshua is alive (cf. Num. 27:22; Deut. 31:23). This is reinforced by the promise that the divine presence enjoyed by Moses—and won by his intercession at Mount Sinai, as narrated in Exodus 33—will also continue with Joshua. The assurance of persistent presence with which the verse concludes has further resonance with the commission of Joshua in Deuteronomy 31, where it is offered by Moses on the Lord’s behalf first to the people (Deut. 31:6) and then to Joshua himself (Deut. 31:8).13 The promise of divine presence, then, has a context: the taking, inhabiting, and settling of the gifted land. Divine presence is a function of Joshua’s participation in the mission to which he has been appointed.

1:6–9 The injunction to “be strong and courageous” naturally follows in verse and is repeated in Joshua 1:7, 9 and again at verse 18 in a slightly surprising context. This too has an explicit link to Moses’ commission of Joshua in Deuteronomy, shared by Israel and Joshua together (Deut. 31:6–7) and applied specifically to Joshua by the Lord (Deut. 31:23; cf. 3:28).14 Given the demands of the strenuous military campaign that immediately awaits, this counsel is expected and is the concern of Joshua 1:6. This is, however, no ordinary call to be battle ready. Rather, as verses 7–8 go on to detail, the “courage” demanded of Joshua has to do more with obedience to the word of God than with fortitude in the face of the enemy. The place of the law in Joshua’s life—whether it is remembered by Joshua from the mouth of Moses (v. 7) or pondered by him in written form (v. 8)—mirrors the situation of the future kings as stipulated in Deuteronomy 17:18–20. The two contexts have different situations in mind, as well as differently shaped outcomes, but in both cases it is the same high calling to be immersed in God’s law and to live in fidelity to it that leads to the result God intends for the welfare of his people and the benefit of their human leader.

With the reiteration of terms in Joshua 1:9 reinforcing the instruction of the preceding verses, this first direct word of the Lord to Joshua draws to a close. It brings with it a repetition of the promise of God’s presence, now put positively as the mirror of the negations at the end of verse 5 and extended from the expanse of time of Joshua’s life in that verse (“all the days of your life”) to his movements in the landscape of the Promised Land in verse 9 (“wherever you go”). Altogether, then, the courage to which Joshua is called is not a self-willed, tenacious, physical bravery in the face of hostility or danger but an outcome of spiritual equipping for, and divine presence in, the God-given task that claims him.