Thursday, October 15, 2026 · Week of Pentecost 20
Joshua 1:1–11
After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’s assistant, saying, 2 “My servant Moses is dead. Now proceed to cross the Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the Israelites. 3 Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, as I promised to Moses. 4 From the wilderness and the Lebanon as far as the great river, the River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, to the Great Sea in the west shall be your territory.
5 “No one shall be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you. 6 Be strong and courageous, for you shall lead this people to possess the land that I swore to their ancestors to give them. 7 Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to act in accordance with all the law that my servant Moses commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, so that you may be successful wherever you go.
8 “This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth; you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to act in accordance with all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall be successful. 9 I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
10 Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, 11 “Pass through the camp and command the people, ‘Prepare your provisions, for in three days you are to cross over this Jordan, to go in to take possession of the land that the Lord your God gives you to possess.’ ”
Notes
God tells Joshua to "be strong and courageous" three times in nine verses (1:6, 7, 9). Add the two times in Deuteronomy 31—once from Moses and once from God (31:7, 23)—and Joshua has heard it five times before he gives his first order. Then the people say it to him too (1:18). I don't think you tell somebody five times to be brave unless they're scared. Verse 9 names the fear outright: "do not be frightened or dismayed." Moses is dead, the Jordan is in front of him, and Joshua has to be the follow-up act to friggin’ Moses, the prophet who knew God face to face.
The middle one is the strongest: "be strong and very courageous." That "very" is me'od, the word translated "might": love the Lord with all your me'od. And verse 7 points that extra courage at, not battles, but keeping the law.
"This book of the law" (sefer hatorah hazeh) has a backstory. In Deuteronomy 31, Moses finishes writing "the words of this law" in a book and has the Levites set it beside the ark (31:24–26). Inside that particular story, that's most likely some form of Deuteronomy. Read in canonical order, though, it sounds like the whole Torah. The five books ended yesterday with Moses's death, and the very next page puts his book in Joshua's mouth. Keep an eye on that scroll. By 2 Kings it's been lost, and the high priest, overseeing temple repairs, announces, "I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord" (2 Kings 22:8). This fall's readings end there, with Josiah, the king who turned to God with all his me'od.
"Meditate" is a mouth word. The verb is hagah, to murmur or mutter; Isaiah uses it for a lion growling over its prey (Isaiah 31:4). So the book "shall not depart out of your mouth," and Joshua is to chew on it under his breath, day and night. Psalm 1 borrows the whole phrase: the happy ones murmur God's law "day and night" (Psalm 1:2).
Questions for reflection
In verse 7, the extra courage goes to keeping the law. Which parts of Moses's teaching take the most courage to keep?
Joshua hears "be strong and courageous" five times before he gives his first order. Where do you need to hear it again this week?
