Yehoshua Chapter 1 – Transcript

Sefer Yehoshua Chapter 1: Hashem’s Charge to Yehoshua and the Preparation to Enter the Land

Introduction: The Structure of the First Section of Sefer Yehoshua

So we are reading the Sefer Yehoshua [the book of Joshua], chapter 1. Now, as we’ve discussed, the big bulk of the first part of the book, the first 12 chapters, are about the story of the conquest of the land. But now, in more detail, we could separate it into a few more divisions. And if we want to give a great definition of this first part, we could say that it has two parts.

The first part is the story of them entering the land. There’s a specific story of the entrance of the land that seems to have been important. Of course, it can be said just as the beginning of the conquest, but there’s a specific story of the entering of the land, and most explicitly expressed by the term, the crossing of the Jordan.

The Crossing of the Jordan: Yehoshua Following the Paradigm of Moshe

The crossing of the Jordan River, which, as we’ll see later in chapter 3-4, happened with a miracle, with something analogous to Kriat Yam Suf [the splitting of the Red Sea]. As we’ve seen, in many ways, Yehoshua is following the paradigm, the analogy of Moshe. Moshe took out the people of Mitzrayim [Egypt] by crossing the Yam Suf. Yehoshua brings them into Eretz Canaan [the land of Canaan] by crossing the Jordan.

But before we get to that, we have some preliminaries for that. There’s two important preliminaries for that, which are explicitly framed as preparation for that. So that’s why I’m saying there’s this part of entering the land, which is a part, a point for itself. Before they start having wars, of course, that’s itself some kind of war, like the beginning of a conquest. Maybe the other people living there wouldn’t have been so happy, but just entering the land, they didn’t enter into a city yet, right? So it’s not like they’re going into a place where there’s people. They’re just setting up camp, probably in a strategic location, but not exactly where there is a fight to be had yet. But that’s the first step of entering the land.

Two Preparatory Episodes Before the Crossing

And there’s these two stories, two important parts, framed as preparation for that.

First Preparation: Three Speeches in Chapter 1

The first is this story of statements. It’s all about words. And it includes three different speeches, we could say. Three different narratives. Not narratives, speeches, kinds of speeches, which prepare the people saying they should be ready to enter the land. The officers should be ready, the people should be ready. The officers prepare the people, the commanders, the people in charge of the people to be ready.

Second Preparation: The Story of the Spies in Chapter 2

The second part is the story of the spies that Yehoshua sends to Jericho, which again, are really spies for the first city they will conquer is Jericho, and there will be a story of that. But they’re sent before, when they’re still at the other side of the river, and sending the spies. That’s the second story, that’s before.

The Purpose: Overcoming Fear of Entering the Land

And it seems to be important as a way of preparing the people and soothing their fears, ensuring them that they shouldn’t be scared of entering the land, which is a big problem. Moshe himself has one of the biggest issues, when we read the entire Sefer Devarim [the book of Deuteronomy], all the great speeches of Moshe in Sefer Devarim are in some sense an antidote to the fears of the people that were afraid of entering the land, and the people that they will see there, which this is the story of the Meraglim [the spies], where the people were scared of entering the land. It’s not yet a practical problem, it’s more the psychological problem of their fears.

And of course Yehoshua himself is the one, one of the two spies who are not afraid, so it’s very appropriate that his job is to make the people not scared. And this is the rhetorical point of these speeches in the beginning of the book, and the same way as it’s the practical point of the story of the spies in the second chapter, which is precisely corresponding to the story of the spies in Sefer Bamidbar [the book of Numbers], where there were twelve spies, only two of which supported the morale of the people, the other ten broke them and scared them, and here we have only two spies.

Those two spies might not be literally Yehoshua and Kalev [Caleb], because Yehoshua is now the leader, and Kalev as we’ll see later was also a great leader later, but it perfectly responds by the number to the point of bringing back information from the land, telling people not to be scared to cross over to it.

Chapter 1: Three Speeches of Preparation

So now let’s review or let’s read the first chapter. So the first chapter consists, as I said, of really I think three speeches or three dialogues, three pieces of rhetoric.

First Speech: Hashem’s Speech to Yehoshua

The first speech is Hashem’s speech, Hashem’s speech to Yehoshua himself. And this is, in some sense, some of it can be said to repetition of things that Hashem already told Yehoshua and Moshe in Sefer Bamidbar, in Sefer Devarim, where it’s very explicit where Hashem told Moshe that he will be metzaveh Yehoshua [will command Yehoshua], will appoint him to his position, appoint him to give him the power and the hope, and like I said, both the physical, technical power and the spiritual, moral power to accomplish what he needs to accomplish. And it’s repeated here and even strengthened here in some ways.

The Opening: After the Death of Moshe

And the speech goes like this. It gives the time after the death of Moshe Eved Hashem [Moshe the servant of Hashem]. Hashem speaks to Yehoshua, but in which was the Mesharet Moshe [the servant/attendant of Moshe]. And there’s some correspondence here. Moshe was the servant of Hashem and Yehoshua is the servant of Moshe and therefore is by transference also the servant of Hashem and will become a replacement of Moshe.

“Moshe My Servant Has Died”

Hashem tells him like this. First sentence, He tells him, Moshe, Avdi Moshe [Moshe, my servant Moshe], met [has died]. Obviously, he knows this. Obviously, we’ve read this in the story in the end of Sefer HaChumash [the Five Books of Moses]. But there’s a rhetorical point for this in sense of making clear Moshe has died and now it’s you. So don’t like imagine that maybe he’s still alive or don’t like sometimes people don’t realize like the old leader died. Now like it’s very clear he has died and now you will stand up and cross this Yarden [Jordan], you along with the people to the land that I have given you, that I have promised you.

The Promise: Every Place Your Foot Treads

And the promises, any place where you step, your foot will step, will be yours. In other words, you will have an easy time conquering it. You won’t have to fight too much. That’s I think what it means. Any city where you go, any place where you’ll go, will be yours.

The Borders of the Land

And it gives the limits. It gives the borders of the land all the way from this desert or the Lebanon [Lebanon] is there. I’m not sure why Lebanon would be there because the desert where they are is in the east of Israel and apparently all the way up to Lebanon which is north of that and all the way all the way to the Euphrates River which is even further east and which is the land of the Hittites apparently in between these two is called or also the other way to the west and here it gives the west all the way to the great sea which is to the west where the sun sets this will be their border.

So he’s giving you he’s already sort of in the place where he’s promising him because the place that Moshe conquered already where the people are now is also really included and as we usually say the greater borders it’s called greater Israel sometimes the borders all the way from the Euphrates River all the way to the Yam Suf all the way to the sea or at least all the way to the west to the sea and to the west of Israel called the Yam [the sea] the word Yam in Hebrew means the west or the sea because that’s where the sun sets with respect to Mediterranean with respect to the land of Israel so that’s where your border is and here is the middle so that’s what we have like sort of these three extremities noted there and so that’s his promise for the conquest.

The Promise of Internal Leadership: No One Will Stand Against You

Well like I said relative against the nations living there and now he also discusses his power that he’s giving him relative to the internal to the people inside and he says nobody would stand up against you your entire life and this is even like unlike Moshe people stood up against Moshe they stood against Moshe nobody would stand against you your entire lifetime I will be with you like I was with Moshe I will not let you become weak I will not leave you so that’s his premise of his leadership that as long as he’s alive there will be no challenge internally to his leadership and like as noted you see in some sense even stronger with Moshe because Moshe did have some challenge to his leadership Yehoshua at least what’s recorded in this book had no challenge to his leadership whatsoever.

But when he says Moshe it’s interesting because this language that’s told to Moshe was told to Moshe with Pharaoh as the antagonist I will be with you against Pharaoh and here it’s I think the context of this verse is Yehoshua against any like potential rebels within the people so the same kind of power that Moshe had against Pharaoh Yehoshua really has over the people it’s absolute he always wins.

Two “Chazak Ve’ematz” Statements: Be Strong in War and in Torah

And now we have two sort of statements like because I told you this two statements beginning with be strong and be strong two ways of saying be strong and first he says be strong because you will give the people to inherit this land that I promised you so be strong in the war that’s what actually explains it first is be strong so be strong.

And the second is but be strong we could say physically or emotionally morally like morale also be strong to keep the Torah only in other words it’s a sort of condition I think the Torah is giving a condition of course I promised you the land but there is a condition as we have discussed with Moshe multiple times the condition is and you have to be strong for that also because he’s a leader and obviously leaders have reasons later in Tanakh [the Hebrew Bible] so be strong to follow this Torah as Moshe my servant has told you has commanded you don’t stray from it left or right this is the idiom of Sefer Devarim many times the Torah is a straight path and later we have a lot of times the straight path in the eyes of God going left or right is like going off the path of God so be strong to follow this Torah as Moshe my servant

The Instruction for Constant Torah Study (Pasuk 8)

Lo yamush sefer hatorah hazeh mipicha — this book of Torah shall not depart from your mouth. You should always keep it in your mouth. You should repeat it like it says in Sefer Devarim. You should keep on repeating it. Keep on telling it to yourself. Speak in it or think of it day and night.

I think this very much corresponds to what it says over there. You should keep on talking about the Torah. You should repeat it. You should review it all the time. So you shall keep everything it says and then you will be successful in all of your ways. So this is the condition of Yehoshua’s promise that if he keeps the Torah and also adding like a way to do it, like a solution, advice: How do you never forget the Torah? By always keeping on repeating it to yourself, reading it day and night.

What This Doesn’t Mean

So this doesn’t literally mean that he should be a *lamdan* [Torah scholar] instead of a warrior, instead of a leader. What it means is something like the reading of Shema. You keep on talking about it. Keep on repeating it. You know, we read the Torah every year. That’s the point.

It’s very similar to what was told also for the king in Sefer Devarim. The king should always vekara bo kol yemei chayav [read in it all the days of his life] in order lema’an yilmad [so that he should learn], so he should follow the Torah.

The Conclusion of God’s Speech (Pasuk 9)

This little speech concludes with the repetition of the main theme of it, as the style of the Tanach. Halo tzivitikha — I have commanded you — chazak ve’ematz [be strong and courageous], so the third time it says chazak ve’ematz. Don’t be afraid because Hashem your God is with you wherever you go.

And here God — it’s the name of God speaking here, but he speaks by himself in a third person. This is very much the style of Moshe’s speeches in Sefer Devarim. Of course, Moshe speaking in the name of God, where God himself is sort of taking this place of Moshe and saying Hashem Elokecha [Hashem your God].

Okay, so that’s the first speech of Hashem to Yehoshua.

Yehoshua’s Command to the Shotrim (Pesukim 10–11)

Now we have a little message or a little speech of Yehoshua to the shotrei ha’am [officers of the people]. Shotrei ha’am is people who we have met already before — the leaders of the people, the enforcers. I’m not sure what exactly the word *shotrei* is, something like enforcers. Nowadays it means *shotrei* is a police, but I don’t think that’s the precise meaning of the word in Tanach. But *shotrei* is something like the enforcers, the commanders of the people.

The Order to Prepare Provisions

And he tells them like this: He tells them to command the people that they should prepare — to say that they should prepare provisions for the way, because in three days they will cross the Jordan River.

So as I said, this is all very clearly preparing them to cross. And again, this is unlike Moshe. Moshe told the people to go out of Mitzrayim. He told them to actually — told them to be prepared motneichem chagurim [with your loins girded] and to be prepared with their sticks and everything. But vegam tzedah lo asu lahem [but also provisions they did not make for themselves] — they did not actually make provisions. That’s why they had — Moshe had to provide to them manna and matzah and all the stories.

Over here Yehoshua is telling them very clearly: prepare provisions because in three days we’re going to inherit a land that God told you. And he tells this to the middle management, so to speak.

Yehoshua Asserting His Authority

Yehoshua doesn’t speak directly to the people. Maybe later we’ll see him speaking directly to the people sometimes. But it’s very clearly here that Yehoshua and the beginning of a leadership — like the main, everyone knows the main challenge of a leader in the beginning is not so much the people. The people follow wherever the leaders follow. The main challenge of the people, just like we saw in the beginning of leadership of Moshe, is to get the sort of middle class, the middle management, the elders, the elders of the tribes, the *shotrim* here, to accept his leadership. And we’ll see the next — in the next chapter, in the next part of this chapter — also an important story about this.

So he commands them. This is him asserting his authority. He’s asserting his authority over the *shotrim* which were previously Moshe’s enforcers and now are listening to him. And they tell the people to prepare provisions for the day because in three days — always they tell you to prepare yourself always three days before something. So in three days, like *shloshet yemei hagbalah* [the three days of boundaries] and so on, in three days we’ll be crossing the river.

Yehoshua’s Address to the Two-and-a-Half Tribes (Pesukim 12–15)

And now we have a specific statement, a specific speech or command from Yehoshua to these two and a half tribes: Reuven, Gad, and a half a tribe of Menashe. And Yehoshua commands them.

Taking Over Moshe’s Deal

And this is very explicitly Yehoshua taking over something, a deal that Moshe already made with them, which we discussed — we learned this in Parshat Matot in Sefer Bamidbar. And Yehoshua is here saying that he will enforce the conditions that Moshe said. So this is very clearly an instance of Yehoshua clarifying his authority and specifically his inheritance of Moshe’s authority.

So he’s saying: the deal that Moshe made with you, you’re gonna follow it now. And this seems to have been a challenge here again — him making sure that the people, the elders of the people, the leaders, the military leaders, the social leaders, political leaders, will actually follow him. And here we have them sort of swearing allegiance to him very clearly.

The Terms of the Agreement

So Yehoshua tells them: remember what Moshe eved Hashem [the servant of Hashem] commanded them. And what did Moshe tell you? Moshe told you that Hashem your God will give you this land, right? Hashem Elokeichem meini’ach lachem [Hashem your God will give you rest] — give them peace, because Moshe already conquered the Trans-Jordan, these areas of — the lands of Sichon and Og. Sorry, the lands of Sichon and Og. This is where they were living.

But they requested from Moshe to stay there and Moshe said no, you cannot stay here. You can have this land on the condition that, as Yehoshua says now, you will leave your women, your children, your possessions, your animals here. They will stay here at the place that Moshe gave you in this side of the river.

But you will have to pass through, cross over the river, va’avartem chamushim [and you shall cross over armed] — armed with your arms — in the front of your brothers, lifnei acheichem [before your brothers], kol gibborei hachayil [all the mighty warriors]. All your warriors, your strong people, your strong men, you will be the vanguard for the people.

The Condition of Military Assistance

You will help them. And again, va’azartem [and you shall help them] — *ezra* almost always in Tanach means military help. You will help them until Hashem will make peace for your brothers, your brothers on the other side. In other words, you’re gonna help them with their entire conquest.

And when they finish, you will return to your land and you will sit there. You will inherit it, the land that Moshe gave you on this side. And we’ll see later in the book at the end of the conquest that this actually happens, and there’s a note of this of their return and Yehoshua sending them back to their inheritance.

So this obviously was Yehoshua very clearly asserting his authority and continuing what Moshe said.

The Tribes’ Pledge of Allegiance (Pesukim 16–18)

And they answer Yehoshua and they say: Yes, we will do everything you’ve commanded us. We’ll go wherever you send us. In other words, we’re gonna go to war. We’ll be the vanguard in front of people.

The Condition: God Must Be With You

And they say very clearly: as we’ve obeyed Moshe, we’ll obey you. And then here there’s again the little condition, the *rak* — just like Hashem gave Yehoshua a very nice chizuk [encouragement], but with a *rak*. They also have a condition. Rak [only] — this is the condition that Hashem really said — that only Hashem should be with you as it’s been with Moshe.

And this can be read as something like a blessing, like “and may God give that he should be with you as it was with Moshe.” But Rashi, and I think also the literal meaning, is something like there’s some hidden — at least maybe in subtle ways — a condition here. It’s like: yes, you ask us to pledge allegiance to you. We’re happy to do it, but you have to also do your side of it, right? You have to be strong, you have to succeed. You have to be successful as Moshe was successful.

Enforcing Yehoshua’s Authority

And then they even clarify the allegiance even more. Since these are the — obviously he’s not talking to everyone, right? He’s talking to the leaders, to whoever is in charge. He says: anyone that disobeys you or doesn’t listen to you — yamreh et pikha [rebels against your command], some kind of disobedience or rebels against you — anyone who disobeys you will be put to death.

So this is them very clearly saying: we will enforce your authority. So of course Hashem should be with you, but we will help. We’ll help make sure that you’re successful and there’s no challenge to you by killing anyone that opposes you. So obviously they’re anticipating that there might be some rebellion, there might be some people that don’t agree with Yehoshua’s leadership, and they’re saying we’re on your side.

The Fourth “Chazak Ve’ematz” — The Chapter’s Motif

And then they conclude — and this little speech, this little sort of pledge of allegiance, concludes with the same slogan of this whole chapter: rak chazak ve’ematz [only be strong and courageous]. Just be strong and be strong. I don’t know how to — be strong and of good courage, I see this someone translates here. In any case, be strong.

And this is the fourth time we have this chazak ve’ematz in this chapter. And that’s the motif of the chapter — like chazak ve’ematz.