Only be strong and very courageous, that thou mayest take heed to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded thee. Turn not from it to the right or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest.
Joshua stands at the edge of the promised land, with God's promise of the land, of victory and of His presence already given. Then comes a word beginning with "only," which turns the focus from what God will do to what Joshua must do.
The call to be strong comes twice in a row. Each time it faces a different direction: the first looks out to the nation, the second looks up to God. One writer then applies it to us today.
Verse 6 emphasizes Joshua's strength and courage in his relationship with the people. Now in verse 7 he is urged to be strong and very courageous in taking care to act on the law Moses had given. This involved his relationship with God. That relationship mattered greatly if his relationship with the people was to stay faithful and honest. He was to be consistently well balanced, not wavering in one direction or the other, and in that way he would prosper. We today are not under law. But God's governing hand is still over us, and we are called to value the grace of God so much that we willingly obey the truth revealed in the New Testament.
We usually connect courage with battle, not with keeping a book. Here they go together, because a life shaped by God's word looks foolish to the world around it.
We need courage to obey. It seems like folly. The world is against us. Often there seems to be no sense in what the word of God tells us to do. Our own comfort would rather we were not so careful. The path is different from the whole world's. It assumes a living God, who acts and notices everything, to whom we belong and whose will is everything to us. Of this the world knows nothing. To do God's will and simply obey His word requires courage in the face of the world, courage with our own hearts.
There is also a timing to it. Knowing the path is not the same as walking it, because opposition rises precisely when the way becomes clear.
The path is known through the law and meditation on it, and it might therefore be concluded that it would be easy to go forward in it. Far from it. The moment God opens out His way before any of His people, all the power of the enemy will be brought to bear to hinder their walking in it.
The standard given to Joshua is all of the law. That one word rules out choosing only the parts we like.
We are called to obey God's word as a whole — "All My law" — not our particularly prized portion of it. When the believer follows his favourite lines of truth, he is not strong and very courageous in obeying the whole of God's word. Some believers have picked out the parts of God's word that suit them best and obey only those. In effect they have built themselves a revised Bible!
The verse names two directions of drift, and they are opposites. One writer sees them as the two ways we can tamper with what God has said.
Joshua adds that the people of God should by no means turn aside, neither to the right hand nor to the left. This means we are not allowed to add anything to the Word of God — our own opinion, our traditions, our self-made unwritten rules. Nor are we allowed to take anything away, such as things we do not like much or things we think are out of date.
The pull away from God's word seldom looks like open rebellion. It comes dressed as a sensible shortcut.
Joshua was not to consider for one moment any question of convenience, any change of circumstances, or any tempting promise of a shorter road to the goal. It was the same with the Lord Himself when He met the power of Satan in the wilderness. The word of God, and that alone, must be supreme, both in marking out the path and in governing the heart. "It is written" was enough for Him, was to be enough for Joshua, and is to be our only reliance.
The verse ends with a promise of success. One writer ties that promise to obedience, and to where God's help is given.
But if we are obedient His strength will sustain us and give us victory. We always need the courage of faith. It looks to God, and it shows itself in obedience to His Word. "God's strength is employed in helping us in the paths of God's will, not out of it. Then no matter where we go, what the difficulties are, how long the journey seems, He makes our way prosperous."
One writer names the enemy that decides the outcome.
Strength and courage to carefully do all that God's word says are of vital importance. The giants who defeat God's people are not the enemies they meet, for those enemies are nothing to God. The giants that win are our own unbelief and disobedience.
- Only — God promises the land, victory and His presence. The "only" of verse 7 names Joshua's part: careful obedience.
- Courage — the second call to be strong faces God, not the enemy. It takes nerve to obey a word the world calls foolish.
- All — the standard is the whole law, not a favourite part. Picking and choosing builds a revised Bible.
- Straight — add nothing, take nothing away, take no shortcut. "It is written" was enough for the Lord in the wilderness, and it is enough for us.
- Prospering — God's strength works inside His will, not outside it. The giants to fear are our own unbelief and disobedience.
This book of the law shall not depart from thy mouth; and thou shalt meditate upon it day and night, that thou mayest take heed to do according to all that is written therein; for then shalt thou have good success in thy ways, and then shalt thou prosper.
God's charge to Joshua comes as he takes over from Moses and faces a land full of enemies. The strength God offers him is tied to one book. The instruction is not to read now and then, but to keep Scripture in mouth and mind day and night. A promise comes with it, and that promise raises a question: what do "prosperous" and "good success" mean for someone in God's service?
Courage here has a purpose: doing what is written. One writer notes that God promised His power, but it would show itself in one particular way.
They were to show strength and courage, and to show it in obedience. Obedience is where strength shows itself. So by obeying, they would beat their enemies. The Lord's power would be there, but they were to show their strength in obedience. Now the world is all against us. It says, "you are fools for all your trouble." That is what it says if we keep obeying the word simply, instead of following the world's plain good sense. There is no wisdom like faith.
The verse gives meditation a stated goal — being careful to do all that is written. That goal exposes why we usually open the Bible.
There must then be, besides divine energy, diligent care to take in the thoughts of God. He says: meditate on it so that you obey. Is that our aim when we study the word of God? Often we like to read in order to learn, which is a good thing in itself. At other times we read so that we can pass it on to others, which is also excellent in its place. But do we read it in order to obey? If it were so, how it would change the whole current of Christians' lives!
Knowing much and doing nothing is not a neutral position:
Meditation and practice, like two sisters, must go hand in hand. The end of meditation is action. Those who meditate on God's law and do not do it are no better than the devil; he knows much, but is still a devil.
Set "day and night" beside how most of us treat the Bible.
Some Christians read a chapter every morning — sometimes only a verse! — as a charm to protect them through the day. Is that meditating day and night on the word of God? "What about our occupations?" you say. Well, let me ask you in return. In the middle of your work, is it God's word that feeds you? He gave that word for your soul's enjoyment, and to guide you in the path of Christ. That is the way to prosper and have good success.
The man receiving this command was not a man with spare hours:
This was a famous military commander, and he carried great responsibilities. Even so, he had to make time not only to read God's word, but to meditate on it. It was vital to his prosperity in every way. Do we "make time" for reading and meditation?
Beyond telling us God's will, dwelling on the word changes the way we see everything.
This meditation on God's word, of course, makes us know His will. But it does a great deal more. It gives the heart a settled delight in what God reveals, in what He delights in. We acquire His way of thinking of things — the true and divine way, not the way of this world's empty show. Our own hearts are formed by this divine and blessed understanding of things. What a light this is! It shows how empty this world really is.
It also produces a different kind of person than study alone does:
No hour is better spent than the hour a Christian spends alone with God over His word. There he weighs God's thoughts in God's presence. A book-learned Christian and a Spirit-taught Christian are very different. A person may know the truth of the word from reading or teaching, and still hardly ever meditate on it.
The promise is real, but the route to it is what most people abandon.
The success is great indeed, and it is certain for those who follow the rule laid down long ago to Joshua... Yet how much more often people expect success from a flexible, worldly wisdom than from close and steady loyalty to the Word of God!
Joshua had only the law of Moses. Christians have more:
The Book of the Law was to be Joshua's meditation day and night, so that he might do all that was written in it. We today need, not only the Old Testament, but the whole truth of the New Testament if we are to have spiritual prosperity and success.
- Obedience first. God supplies the power, but a believer shows strength by obeying His word, not apart from it.
- Obedience needs feeding. Meditation takes God's thoughts in. Its stated aim is doing what is written, not gathering material to teach others.
- Feeding needs time. A commander with an army to lead was told to make room for the word day and night; a verse read as a morning charm is not that.
- Time reshapes the man. Hours alone with God over Scripture shape how we think. They show up the emptiness of the world, and leave us humble, not just informed.
- The reshaped man prospers. God promises success, but to steady loyalty to His word, not to flexible worldly wisdom. For us that word now includes the whole New Testament.
Have I not commanded thee Be strong and courageous? Be not afraid, neither be dismayed; for Jehovah thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
Joshua 1:9 is the climax of the three-fold charge that Jehovah gives to Joshua at the opening of the book. Throughout verses 6–9, "Be strong and of a good courage" is repeated three times — first because the land belongs to God's people by promise (v. 6), second because obedience to the word is the condition of prosperity (vv. 7–8), and third because Jehovah Himself is with them (v. 9). Verse 9 gathers up and seals the whole commission with a question that is itself the answer to every fear.
The verse opens not with a fresh promise but with a pointed question — a divine appeal to the authority already given. C. H. Mackintosh devotes an entire short paper titled Stability and Peace to this verse:
Here lies the true secret of stability and peace at all times and under all circumstances. The authority of God for the ground we occupy, and His presence with us thereon — the Word of the Lord as the warrant for what we are doing, and the light of His countenance in the doing of it. There is no possibility of getting on without these two things. It will not do merely to be able to give chapter and verse for a certain position which we have taken up; we must realize the Lord's own presence with us. And it will not do to say we have the Lord's presence with us, unless we can give a divine warrant, a "Thus says the Lord" for what we are doing and for the path we are treading.
Mackintosh reduces the verse to two imperishable sentences — "Have not I commanded thee?" and "Lo, I am with thee" — and insists that neither suffices without the other:
Joshua could never have faced the difficulties of his day without these two things. And although we may not have to meet the same things that lay in his path, yet we may rest assured of this, we shall never get on in these days without the Word of God as our authority and His presence as our strength.
F. W. Grant picks up the same emphasis in his Numerical Bible:
And what a grand word is this to give strength, — "Have not I commanded thee?" How good to bow ourselves to this yoke, and to remember that where God has spoken we must be either servants or rebels; let the matter of the command be what it may.
Henri Rossier likewise finds in the opening question the antidote to all indecision:
In verse 9 we find a further principle: "Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage." What power the assurance of God's mind gives! All indecision as to the path, all terror, all fear of the enemy disappear. Satan cannot harm us; has not God commanded us?
This is the third repetition of the phrase in the chapter. W. Kelly draws out the vital distinction between presumption and the courage of faith:
"Be strong and of a good courage." The last words one sees are very emphatic, and even in the first chapter repeated over and over again... Presumption is man's courage founded on self — on the first man. The strength and good courage of the Christian is founded only on Christ. The difference therefore is complete. We cannot be too great-hearted if Christ be the one source of our courage: we owe it to Him.
The anonymous writer in The Christian's Friend (1899) connects this courage directly to the knowledge of being in God's will:
The essential requisite for confidence and courage is the assurance that we are in the path of God's will. To be without this, as the Scripture history continually illustrates, is to expose ourselves to the attacks of Satan on every side through our weakness and irresolution. Hence it is that the Lord says to Joshua, "Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage," etc. For together with the consciousness that the Lord is sending us on any service, the conviction is divinely begotten in our hearts that He will sustain us in the face of all obstacles, and conduct us to the end He has in view.
H. Forbes Witherby notes that the strength enjoined is practical — both for taking hold and for standing firm:
God's own command is our authority, His presence is our power. God, who gives the command, is with the soldier who obeys His command. The strength here enjoined is that of the hand for taking and holding, and that of the knee not to be overthrown.
Witherby comments pointedly on the kind of fear that is excluded — not godly reverence, but that paralysing unbelief that shrinks from the enemy:
Fear is a bad symptom in the Christian. Fear indicates the presence of unbelief in God, or of some unjudged evil in ourselves. Not, indeed, that godly loving fear, that reverence, which dreads lest God should not be really obeyed, or His will should not be clearly apprehended, but that fear which quails before the enemy and hinders Christian warfare. Firm faith in God dispels dismay before enemies.
The writer in The Christian's Friend draws out the parallel with David in Psalm 27:
Joshua, therefore, was put upon this rock of God's will, that when he might see in after-days, the Amorites and Canaanites, the seven nations, swarming around the armies of Israel, he might not be afraid nor be dismayed; that he might say with David in a later day, "The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?"
This closing promise is the crown of the verse. J. N. Darby states the principle with his characteristic brevity:
Again, another principle; the starting-point is that we have the authority of God to walk with Christ. Then there is energy. It is the certitude of God's will.
F. W. Grant unfolds what "God with us" really means:
"I will not fail thee nor forsake thee;" words which the apostle teaches us so to apply to ourselves as boldly to say, "The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me." (Heb. 13:6.) This strength of an arm which is not our own arm is the sweetest kind of strength that creature can know. It is companionship, communion, perfect security, — all holiness in it, all wisdom. God with us means all that God is.
W. Kelly stresses that this promise of God's presence, while infinitely precious, is not a general truth to be presumed upon — it is bound up with the moral state of the soul:
Here is another point of immense importance. We have not only the word but God Himself... The time comes when the fresh bloom of truth is apt to pass. If it be no longer a new thing, what is to sustain a soul then? God Himself in the sense that He is with us — in the sense of His will as alone wise and good and holy. Then it is that, even though there may be trial, difficulty, and a thousand things exceedingly repulsive to our nature, yet the consciousness of His presence supplies what is lacking, and outweighs every seeming drawback. What can be wanting when God is with us, and in perfect love?
The writer in The Christian's Friend adds a searching warning against taking the promise lightly:
We are taught, therefore, that, in all our service and conflicts, it is utterly useless, yea, worse than useless, to proceed unless the Lord is with us. It is not too much to say, indeed, that all the defeats of the people of God may be traced back to the lack of this one essential of success... Too much reliance is often placed upon the general truth that the Lord's presence can be counted upon; the point to be remembered is, that except we are in the path of His will and following after holiness He will not manifest Himself as being with His saints.
Mackintosh gives the verse perhaps its most penetrating personal application:
Our lot is cast in a time of special confusion. A multitude of conflicting voices fall on the ear. Men are taking sides. We see apparently the best and holiest, the most devoted and intelligent men ranged on opposite sides of the same question and pursuing opposite ways, though professing to follow the same Lord. What are we to think? What are we to do? What do we want? We want to hear, deep down in our very inmost soul, these two weighty and imperishable sentences, "Have not I commanded thee?" — "Lo, I am with thee." These are grand realities which the feeblest and most unlettered saint may enjoy, and without which none can possibly make headway against the tide of evil at present rising around us.
Do not, therefore, we entreat you, be satisfied with anything less than God's authority and God's presence. Be not troubled or perplexed about the conflicting opinions of men... Far above all the din and confusion, the strife and controversy, the opposition of sects and parties — far above all these things, in the clear light of the divine presence, in the calmness of the inner sanctuary, faith can hear with distinctness those precious, soul-sustaining words, "Have not I commanded thee?", "Lo, I am with thee."
Joshua 1:9 is the seal on the whole commission. God does not merely encourage Joshua — He holds him to the authority already given. "Have not I commanded thee?" is not a rebuke but an anchor: it ties the call to courage to a known, settled, divine will. On that basis — and only on that basis — Joshua is told not to fear. The promise of God's presence "whithersoever thou goest" is not a blank cheque but the companion-truth to obedience: where God sends, God sustains. As Grant memorably puts it, "God with us means all that God is." The verse thus contains in seed the whole spiritual history of the book — the Word as sole authority, courage as the expression of faith (not of self), and the presence of God as the one resource sufficient for every enemy.