Jos. 1: Joshua Takes Over

Joshua 1:9 "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."

Moses is down. The LORD turns to Joshua, the son of Nun, an Ephraimite. We've met Joshua before, and his leadership capabilities were clear. He led the Israelites to victory over the Amalekites in Exodus 17. He accompanied Moses up on the mountain to receive the law in Exodus 24. He and Caleb were the only ones of 12 scouts who brought back confident reports about the land of Canaan back in Numbers 14. He was picked to succeed Moses.

I think Joshua was a very different personality than Moses. Moses seemed kind of laid back, while Joshua seems to be more aggressive. There seemed to be none of the fear of leadership that Moses struggled with early on. Could it be that the LORD tells Joshua to "be strong" and "have courage" in some variant four times in the first chapter?

God makes a couple promises here that are very important and are contingent on following God's commands. One is that God "will give you every place where you set your foot." That would encourage me not to be lazy. I would be wandering constantly unless I had to govern something. The second is that God will be with Joshua all the days of his life. "No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life." That would be heartening. The best way to keep the commands of God? To meditate on them day and night. To study them on a daily basis. That leads to prosperity and success. Would God just grant prosperity and success because Joshua studied the word? I doubt it. I think studying of the word leads to practical decisions that lead to wisdom, and in turn bring prosperity and success. Let's not discount, however, the idea that God would bless someone supernaturally because of their devotion.

Joshua's first task is to prepare the Israelites for war in three days. One thing he had to do was to remind the three West Bank tribes of the promise they made to God that they would enter the land with their brothers and fight, as compensation for the land they deemed worthy enough to settle and to farm outside of the promised land.

What a good start for those three tribes, who promised Joshua that they would follow him as they followed Moses...wait. Is that all that good? They did promise to go where ever Joshua sent them, and do whatever he asked of them. But Israel as a whole doesn't have the shiningest record when it comes to following a leader. The good thing is, Joshua didn't appear to face much static as the incoming leader after Moses. After all, he was replacing...Moses. He clearly was chosen by God, but had earned the respect of the people as a leader with his character as Moses' right hand man. Had to have.