Joshua 1:12-18

"And to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, spake Joshua saying, Remember the words which Moses the servant of Jehovah commanded you, saying, Jehovah your God giveth you rest, and will give you this land. Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle, shall abide in the land which Moses gave you beyond the Jordan; but ye shall pass over before your brethren armed, all the mighty men of valor, and shall help them; until Jehovah have given your brethren rest, as he hath given you, and they also have possessed the land which Jehovah your God hath given them: then ye shall return unto the land of your possession, and possess it, which Moses the servant of Jehovah gave you beyond the Jordan toward the sunrising. And they answered Joshua, saying, All that thou hast commanded us we will do, and whithersoever thou sendest us we will go. According as we hearkened unto Moses in all things, so will we hearken unto thee: only Jehovah thy God be with thee, as he was with Moses. Whosoever he be that shall rebel against thy commandment, and shall not hearken unto thy words in all that thou commandest him, he shall be put to death: only be strong and of good courage."

Note that Joshua (standing east of Jordan) referred to that side of the river as "this land" (Joshua 1:13), and in the same breath (Joshua 1:14) called it "the land ... beyond the Jordan!" `Beyond the Jordan' is a technical expression referring to the geographical section EAST of the Jordan river."[19] This is true enough as Joshua used it Joshua 1:14, but sometimes it means west of Jordan. It is definitely used both ways. However, it has no reference whatever to the perspective of the writer and cannot be used for the purpose of identifying the writer using the expression, nor for the determination of where the writer lived when the expression was used. Dummelow, for example, has this: "The writer of this passage was one who lived west of the Jordan River.[20] Such a judgment is in error. "The use of the phrase in Joshua 12:1,7 and elsewhere for each side of the river alternately shows that it gives no evidence for the geographical location of the writer."[21]

The big point of this whole paragraph (Joshua 1:12-18) looks back to that urgent request made of Moses by the two and one half tribes that he would allot them their inheritance east of Jordan, and to the consequent promise which they made to Moses that they would aid their brethren in the conquest of the rest of Canaan. That promise came due right here; and when Joshua confronted the trans-Jordanic group with their obligation, they accepted it. Of course, the hardship and the struggle had not at that time begun. "Obedience is easy when all goes well with us, and when it makes no demand upon our faith."[22] It does not appear that those trans-Jordanic tribes fully lived up to their promises. (See a full discussion of this in Vol. 3 of my commentary (Leviticus and Numbers) at Numbers 32.)

"Ye shall pass over before your brethren armed ..." (Joshua 1:14). The word "armed" seems to be a little misleading here. "The idea is probably, `in battle array.'"[23] The word is translated from a word that suggests, "divided into five parts."[24] The reference seems to be from the various guards that were deployed in ancient armies on the march: (1) vanguard; (2) rearguard (Joshua 1:3,4), left and right guards, and (5) an additional guard at the front or the rear depending upon the movement of the army, whether on attack, or in retreat.

The pledge of the two and one-half tribes that any rebel against the commandments of Joshua should be put to death was certainly, for a time at least, literally carried out, as witnessed by the stoning of Achan soon after their entry into Canaan.