Strong and Courageous • Joshua 1:1-11, 16-18
By Roland L. McMillan
The beginning of the book of Joshua continues the story that started at creation. After the first people disobeyed God, sin ran loose in the world. In Genesis 12, God called Abraham as part of his plan to undo the curse of sin. In Genesis 15, God included the land of promise as he laid the future out in front of Abraham. The whole exodus story and the book of Joshua show part of God keeping that promise. (Taken as a general description, control of the land as described in Joshua 1:4 was reached during the reigns of David and Solomon.)
As the larger story of the Bible continues after Joshua, those land promises expand to include all creation under the reign of the Messiah. We may see this reality in passages like Psalm 2:8, Psalm 72:8, Matthew 5:5, and Romans 4:13. Hebrews 11:10,16 reveals that even Abraham was not looking for the promised land as much as he was looking beyond it in faith. At the end of Revelation, the Messiah reigns and the curse of sin is undone in all creation. The book of Joshua is a key part of this overall story.
Joshua’s given name was “Hoshea,” which means “he saves.” Moses changed his name to “Joshua,” meaning “Yahweh saves” (Numbers 13:16). The difference in the names is subtle, but the change emphasizes the one true God. Joshua was one of the twelve spies sent to reconnoiter the promised land. He was one of only two spies who trusted God to deliver the land. Most of the spies and most of the people did not trust God, and a result was years of wilderness wandering. During that time, Joshua served faithfully alongside Moses. Numbers 27 describes how God commissioned him to shepherd the people and to succeed Moses.
The book of Joshua opens at the end of one era and the beginning of another era. Moses is dead. Can Joshua do the job? Verse 1 describes him as “Moses’ aide,” but Moses is described as “the servant of the Lord.” The challenge for Joshua was massive. He had to follow Moses, to lead the nation that Moses had been leading, and lead the conquest of the promised land. Some may tend to spiritualize this story, but the story is real. Real flesh-and-blood people had to conquer the promised land, and real flesh-and-blood people lived there. Everything happened in an actual place on the map. While the story naturally focuses on Joshua, God is the one who drives the plot. The story is about how God keeps his promises and the way that God leads Joshua as Joshua leads the people. The story centers on God’s plan and God’s faithfulness.
God promises to be with Joshua like he was with Moses, and Joshua was told to be strong and courageous. In verse 6, he had to be strong and courageous to lead the people to take possession of the land. In verse 9, being strong and courageous is a commandment from God, based on God’s presence with Joshua. In verse 18, encouragement to be strong and courageous comes from the people. The heart of the “strong and courageous” passages is in verses 7 and 8, where being strong and courageous is tied to Joshua’s faithfulness. This meant being steeped in God’s word, meditating on it as a foundation for obeying it. Obeying God’s word means obeying God himself. Obedience often requires strength and courage. Faithfulness was the key to Joshua’s success in his God-given mission, and faithfulness remains the key to success in any God-given mission. In the end, Joshua was successful. In Joshua 24:29, Joshua finally was called by the same title as Moses: “the servant of the Lord.”
Studying Joshua 1 requires care with the context, especially with a couple of verses. Taken out of context, Joshua 1:3 is a sweeping promise to give God’s people almost anything. Careful attention to the verse itself limits the promise to God giving his people what he had promised to Moses. The immediate context in the verse matters. In the same way, verse 7, taken out of context, is a promise for all kinds of worldly success. The “name it and claim it” people tend to use this verse in this way. In context, faithfulness to God means success in God’s mission for Joshua. That principle rings true today. Instead of defining success in the world’s way, we understand success as faithfulness to God.
McMillan is senior pastor of Roseland Park Baptist Church, Picayune.
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