Jehovah thy God, he will go over before thee, he will destroy these nations from before thee, that thou mayest take possession of them Joshua, he shall go over before thee, as Jehovah hath said.
Moses is 120 years old, and God has barred him from crossing the Jordan. He points a nation facing armed enemies not to a plan but to a person: God Himself goes over first, with Joshua leading in his place.
Moses names his own replacement in the same breath as he names God's promise. One writer points to what is missing from his words:
Not a word of murmuring or complaint about himself. Not the faintest trace of envy or jealousy when he speaks of the man who was to take his place. Nothing of the kind at all. One great aim swallows up every selfish thought in him: to encourage the hearts of the people to walk the path of obedience with a firm step. That path was then, is now, and always must be the path of victory, the path of blessing, the path of peace.
Two cross the Jordan in this verse: God Himself, then Joshua. That order tells Israel where their safety rests.
Israel did not depend on Moses, but on God, who would pass over before them. He would destroy the nations from the land, and Israel would dispossess them. But God would work now by means of Joshua, who would take Moses' place (v.3).
One writer traces the command to dispossess the Canaanites back to what they had become, and to what God had settled long before:
The Canaanites sank down into idolatry and demon worship in later years. So God told Israel to dispossess them of that land completely. God's sovereign choice for His people was absolute from the beginning. Whoever held their land in the meantime, this would have no effect on Israel's eventual possession of it. And there was no doubt about the righteousness of God in expelling the Canaanites in due time, because of their idolatry and demon worship.
Many people stumble over the thought that God Himself drove those nations out. One commentator answers them directly:
Only think of God driving out people with His own hand! What an answer to all the arguments and difficulties of an unhealthy sentimentality! How very shallow and mistaken are the thoughts of some about the governmental ways of God! How miserably one-sided their notions of His character and actions! How absurd to try to measure God by the standard of human judgement and feeling!
Moses failed personally, but one writer sees more than that behind his exclusion. The man who mediated the law could not bring the people into the inheritance.
Their inheritance could not come by the law. So Moses, as the mediator of the legal system, could not lead the people over the Jordan, quite apart from his own personal failure. In the picture it was impossible. That is why, when he asked to go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan, that fine mountain and Lebanon, the Lord replied, "Let that be enough for you; speak no more to Me of this matter." Joshua — Israel's saviour in this sense — was the chosen vessel to carry out God's purpose. Joshua is a type of Christ in spirit, the Leader of His people in their conflicts.
One writer reads Joshua as a picture of Christ at work inside His people:
Joshua had been constantly the companion of Moses, just as the Spirit of God had always been with the Lord Jesus. We may rightly regard Joshua as a type of Christ too, but not Christ as someone outside us. Rather, he pictures "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Col. 1:27). Christ is in us by the power of the Spirit of God. This is how He leads us into our heavenly inheritance, and Joshua leading Israel into Canaan is the picture of it.
Israel faced armed nations; our enemies are different. One writer draws the same assurance out for the warfare God's people face now:
In the appointed warfare there was no need to fear the enemies. The divine assurance was threefold: Jehovah goes with you, to fight for you, to save you. This assumes their obedience. If they were obedient, they had nothing to fear. Victory was on their side. And we too need to fear nothing in our warfare with the wicked spirits (Eph. 6). The Lord is on our side, and if we resist the devil he will flee from us.
- God goes first. Israel's confidence rests on the One who crosses ahead of them, not on the leader who follows Him.
- God gives the leader. Joshua is a gift inside that promise, named by Moses without a trace of envy — the servant dies, the work does not.
- God's reach is righteous. God removed those nations for idolatry and demon worship. The land was His choice for His people from the start. Objections fail because they measure Him by human feeling.
- God's man is not Moses. The mediator of the law could not hand over the inheritance. Joshua pictures Christ leading His people by the Spirit into what is theirs.
- God's result is victory. He goes with you, fights for you, saves you — and that same promise holds against spiritual enemies today.
And Jehovah will do to them as he did to Sihon and to Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land; whom he destroyed.
Moses is handing his work to Joshua, and Israel is about to cross the Jordan into Canaan. He does not point the people to an untested promise. He points them to a battle they have already won: if God has already dealt with Sihon and Og, why fear the kings of Canaan?
Sihon and Og were Amorite kings. Israel had already beaten them east of the Jordan, before the crossing. One writer sees a purpose in that timing.
Moses gave these addresses only after the deaths of two special enemies, Sihon and Og. The victory over these two enemies held the prediction of further victory in the land (v.4). Israel had been afraid of entering the land before because of such enemies (Og was a giant — Deut. 3:11); now God had given them an object lesson in experience that should encourage them.
The verse measures the enemies ahead by the enemies behind. One writer explains why that measure holds.
The blessed awareness of the Lord's presence with us must always prove the true secret of strength as we move on. So must the memory of His gracious ways with us in days gone by. The same mighty hand which had subdued Sihon and Og before them could subdue all the kings of Canaan. The Amorites were quite as formidable as the Canaanites; the Lord was more than a match for all.
Memory can steady a person facing new danger, but it has a limit. One writer sets out that limit from the life of David.
David's past experience, recalled by present faith, made him able to face the possibilities of the future without fear.
We cannot live on past experiences. But faith argues that God is ever the same: as He has delivered, He will continue to deliver. It is very blessed, therefore, to learn what God is for us from His past dealings, and from His interventions on our behalf.
Moses will not lead this fight himself. One writer points out what is missing from his words about the man who will.
Not a word of complaint or grumbling about himself. Not the faintest tinge of envy or jealousy in his reference to the one who was to take his place. Nothing of the kind, even distantly. One great object swallows up every selfish consideration: encouraging the hearts of the people to walk, with firm step, the pathway of obedience. That path was then, is now, and always must be, the path of victory, the path of blessing, the path of peace.
The verse covers their land as well as their kings. Taking a land from one people and giving it to another raises a moral question. One writer answers it from two directions: God's earlier choice, and the Canaanites' own guilt.
The Canaanites sank down into idolatry and demon worship in later years. So Israel was told to completely dispossess them of that land… God's sovereign choice for His people was absolute from the beginning. Whoever held that land in the meantime, it would have no effect on Israel's eventual possession of it. And there was no doubt about the righteousness of God in driving out the Canaanites in due time, because of their idolatry and demon worship.
The chapter also carries a song foretelling the people's failure. The charge to Joshua still stands beside it.
There is much encouragement and comfort here. The exhortation and charge to Joshua comes at the same time as the prophetic song which announces the failure of the people. Our present work and duty, whatever it may be in the Church, hangs on that charge and rests on it. That holds true whatever we may know of the results as regards man's unfaithfulness. Note this well.
- Pledge — God beat Sihon and Og before the crossing. That finished victory predicted the ones still to come.
- Power — the same mighty hand faces both sets of kings. Canaan's kings were no stronger than the Amorite kings already fallen.
- Presence — we cannot live on memory alone. Faith reasons that God is unchanged, so what He has done He will do again.
- Participation — the people still walk the pathway of obedience. That path is the path of victory, blessing and peace.
- Perseverance — the charge stands even when failure is foretold. Our work rests on that charge, not on our record.
And when Jehovah giveth them up before you, ye shall do to them according to all the commandment which I have commanded you.
Moses is at the end of his life, speaking last words to a people who fear the giants across the Jordan. He sets two things side by side: God will hand the nations over, and Israel must then do all He commanded.
The promise does not rest on the man who leads Israel. Moses is stepping down, but Israel loses nothing that matters.
Israel did not depend on Moses, but on God, who would pass over before them. He would destroy the nations from the land, and Israel would dispossess them. But God would work now by means of Joshua, who would take Moses' place (v.3). As God did to Sihon and Og, so would He do with the nations of the land of Canaan (vs.4-5).
The verse before this one points back to two kings Israel had already beaten. Those defeats are the evidence Moses builds his promise on.
Moses gave these addresses only after Israel had killed two special enemies, Sihon and Og. The victory over these two enemies was a prediction of further victory in the land (v.4). Israel had been afraid of entering the land before because of such enemies (Og was a giant — Deut. 3:11), now God had given them an object lesson in experience that should encourage them.
What God has done becomes the measure of what He will do, and that is where courage comes from.
The remembrance of the Lord's dealings with us in the past should strengthen our confidence in going on. He had given His people such a victory over the Amorites. He had destroyed a fearsome enemy like Og king of Bashan, and handed them all the land of the giants. What could He not do for them?… The grand point is to keep God Himself always before our eyes. Then difficulties vanish… He has delivered; and He does deliver; and He will deliver.
"Will give them over to you" does not mean Israel stays home. The gift and the going belong together.
They must go there, overcome the obstacles with the help and by the power of God, and take actual possession. Without that they could not possess it; and, in fact, this is what happened. They never took possession of all the land which God had given.
Modern readers stumble at what God told Israel to do to these nations. Commentators answer from two directions. The first is the long patience God showed before judgment fell.
These nations were sunk in the most awful immorality and practised the vilest, most detestable things… God had put up with these nations for many centuries. In His mercy He waited before He drew the sword of justice. The measure of their wickedness was now full, the time for judgment had come. The Lord called Israel to be the executioner of that awful judgment.
The second is that Israel acted on an authority no later conqueror could claim. One writer compares the conquest with the Spanish invasion of South America and says the two are not alike:
There is one grand and all-important difference. Israel had the direct authority of God for what they did to Sihon and Og. The Spaniards could show no such authority for what they did to the poor ignorant native peoples of South America. That changes the case entirely.
Moses announces his own replacement here. He does it without a trace of resentment, because his whole aim lies elsewhere.
Not a word of murmuring or complaint about himself. Not the faintest trace of envy or jealousy when he speaks of the man who was to take his place… One great aim swallows up every selfish thought: to encourage the hearts of the people to walk with a firm step in the path of obedience. That path was then, is now, and always must be the path of victory, the path of blessing, the path of peace.
Obeying the whole commandment is not a weight tacked onto the promise. It shapes the life of the one who obeys.
How strengthening and inspiring it is to have your life shaped by the declared will of God! What encouragement there is in knowing that you are only obeying, and that the word you obey is both perfect and authoritative!… the path of obedience is the path of real strength and blessing and fruitfulness.
- Proof: Sihon and Og were the object lesson — enemies already beaten, and a prediction of every victory still ahead.
- Giver: God hands the nations over. The conquest is His work through Joshua, not a leader's own strength.
- Taken: Israel still had to walk in and fight for what God gave, or they never held it.
- Righteous: The command falls on nations whose wickedness was full after centuries of God's patience. Israel acted under His direct authority — something no later conqueror could claim.
- Path: Obedience to the whole commandment is the road the promise runs on — the path of victory, blessing and peace.