Joshua 1:2

2 “Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore arise, you and all these people, and cross over the Jordan into the land that I am giving to the children of Israel.

Joshua 1:2 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 1:2

Moses my servant is dead
Which was said not for the information of Joshua, but to lead on to, and show the cause and reason of what he was about to say to him:

now therefore arise, go over this Jordan;
near to which the whole body of the people of Israel were, and very probably were in sight of it:

thou, and all this people:
which were very numerous, six hundred thousand men or more, besides a great number of women and children, and no boats to carry them over, or pontoons to put across the river:

unto the land which I give unto them, [even] to the children of
Israel;
and therefore it could be no case of conscience with Joshua, to go and take it out of the hands of the present inhabitants, since the Lord, who had a right to dispose of it, gave it to them. As this land was a type of heaven, and eternal life, which is the free gift of God through Christ, passing over the river of Jordan to it may be an emblem of the passage through death to the heavenly state; both of the death of Christ, the antitypical Joshua, who passed through it, as a surety to make satisfaction for sin, and as a forerunner to set an example, to sanctify death, to open a way into the holiest of holies, and prepare a place for his people; and of the death of the saints, which is necessary to their enjoyment of perfect rest and happiness.

Joshua 1:2 In-Context

1 Now after the death of His servant Moses, the LORD spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, saying,

2 “Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore arise, you and all these people, and cross over the Jordan into the land that I am giving to the children of Israel.

3 I have given you every place where the sole of your foot will tread, just as I promised to Moses.

4 Your territory shall extend from the wilderness and Lebanon to the great River Euphrates—all the land of the Hittites—and west as far as the Great Sea.

5 No one shall stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so will I be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.