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1. Divine command to Joshua to cross the Jordan. 3. Borders of the future land of Israel. 5. The promise of divine help to Joshua. 8. Conditions for the fulfillment of this promise. 10. Preparing the people for the crossing of the Jordan. 12. A reminder to the two and a half tribes of their promise. 16. Reply to this reminder. The book of Joshua begins with the direct revelation of the Lord to him as his successor already appointed by Moses (Num. 27:15–23). Just before entering the field of activity, he is awarded a special revelation in order to motivate him to carry out the great task entrusted to him and to strengthen his courage with the promise of divine help. This revelation was especially necessary at the beginning of a difficult task, which usually causes hesitation and indecision. Such a revelation could not replace the revelation through the high priestly Urim, which Moses pointed out to Joshua (Num. 27:21), since through the latter only a short answer to the proposed question was obtained under difficult circumstances (1 Sam. 23:11, 30:8). Joshua did not turn to the Lord with such a question, as he knew His will about his destiny and the upcoming work. The direct revelation of the Lord to him also testified that he, having taken the place of Moses as leader of the people, had a direct proximity to God. Joshua 1:1. After the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of Moses: “After the death of Moses”, i.e. after thirty days of mourning by his people (Deut. 34:8). “The Servant of the Lord” is an honorary title (or nickname) of Moses, indicating his complete devotion and fidelity to the Lord, and at the same time the special closeness of the Lord to him (it is used in Numbers 12:7, Deut. 34:5, 1 Kings 8:56, Ps. 105:26, etc.). “Jesus the son of Nun” - one of the main, or princes, of the tribe of Ephraim (Num. 13: 3–4,9) - is called the servant of Moses to indicate his special closeness to him and devotion. The Hebrew verb “to serve” (“sharat”), from which the word “servant” (“mesaret”) comes, is used to denote not forced, but voluntary service, and in particular, service to the Lord (1 Samuel 2:11, etc.). Joshua 1:2. Moses my servant died; Therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, the children of Israel. Joshua 1:3. Every place upon which the soles of your feet will tread I give to you, as I said to Moses: Joshua 1:4. from the desert and this Lebanon to the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites; and as far as the great sea toward the west of the sun shall be your borders. The boundaries of the country which the Israelites were to occupy are here defined in the same way as they are in Deut. 11:24: The southern border is the Arabian Desert, the northern - the Lebanese Mountains, the eastern - the Euphrates River and the western - the great sea, now called the Mediterranean. The word “this” attached to the name of Lebanon shows that this mountain was visible from the place where the revelation followed. In addition to the borders, the country they define is also indicated, called the land of the Hittites, one of the powerful tribes that lived in Canaan, whose name is often placed in first place (Deut. 7:1; Joshua 9:1, etc.). The expression corresponding to this name in the Slavic Bible: “the whole land of Epheon” owes its origin to the fact that it was borrowed from the Complutensian Paliglotta (where it reads πᾶσαν γῆν Ἐυαίων), and this borrowing from the indicated edition is due to the fact that in most ancient Greek lists, not excluding Alexandria 15, the words of the Hebrew text “all the land of the Hittites” are not found; At present, only the Ambrosian copy, IV-V centuries, is known from the ancient lists, in which these words are read. Caring about the completeness of the Slavic text, our reference workers used the Complutensian edition and took the indicated expression from it; as a result, the name of the Hittites appeared in an unusual style, which does not correspond to how this people are called in other places in the Slavic Bible, for example, Gen. 10:15 and many others. etc. and in particular in the book. Joshua (Joshua 9:1,12:8). Joshua 1:5. No one will stand before you all the days of your life; and as I was with Moses, so I will be with you: I will not depart from you, nor forsake you. Corresponds to what was said in Deut.11:25, 31:8. Joshua 1:6. Be strong and courageous; For you will give to this people a possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them; Joshua 1:7. just be strong and very courageous, and carefully keep and fulfill all the law that Moses My servant bequeathed to you; Do not turn away from it, either to the right or to the left, so that you may act wisely in all your undertakings. Joshua 1:8. Let not this book of the law depart from thy mouth; but study in it day and night, so that you do exactly everything that is written in it: then you will be successful in your ways and will act wisely. Joshua 1:9. Here I command you: be strong and courageous, do not be afraid and do not be dismayed; For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. The divine promise of omnipotent help does not exclude, but strongly includes and requires the rise and tension of the own strength of the one to whom this promise is given, as this is clearly indicated by the threefold repetition: “be strong and courageous.” The required firmness and fearlessness when occupying the land given to the Israelites should not, however, be manifested in arbitrary, lawless actions; on the contrary, this courageous activity of the Israeli leader must be strictly consistent with this law, by which he must be unswervingly guided and the commands of which must constantly be on his lips, but also in his soul, must be the subject of his reflection (“learn”, or, in accordance with the meaning of the Hebrew verb “gagita” used here - “meditate”), aimed at the same time to “do exactly everything that is written in the book of the law.” . Only if this condition is met will the firmness and courage of the leader of the Israeli people be crowned with blessed success. As a result of the divine command to cross the Jordan, Joshua makes three orders, the implementation of which should serve as a preparation for the successful fulfillment of the higher will. Joshua 1:10. And Jesus gave commandment to the overseers of the people and said: Joshua 1:11. Go through the camp and give a command to the people and say: prepare yourselves food for the journey, because after three days you will go beyond this Jordan to come and take the land that the Lord God of your fathers is giving you as an inheritance. The first of them was that the overseers of the people, or, according to the Slavic Bible, “book-readers,” i.e. the scribes who performed the duties of the current police 16 announced to the people about the upcoming crossing of the Jordan “in three days” 17 and the preparation of “food” for the journey. By food, or “brush”, we mean ordinary food supplies (Gen. 42:25). If the sending of manna had not yet ceased at this time (Joshua 5:12), then it could not serve as a sufficient nutritious source during the upcoming transition, since its collection could not be done during the journey to the Jordan and crossing the latter, and storing manna for several days in advance was useless (Exodus 16:20). Joshua 1:12. And to the tribe of Reuben and Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh Jesus said: Joshua 1:13. Remember what Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, saying: The Lord your God has given you rest and has given you this land; Joshua 1:14. let your wives, your children and your cattle remain in the land that Moses gave you beyond the Jordan; But all of you who are able to fight, go armed before your brothers and help them, Joshua 1:15. until the Lord [your God] gives rest to your brethren, even to you; until they also receive as an inheritance the land which the Lord your God is giving them; Then return to your inheritance and possess the land that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you beyond the Jordan towards the east of the sun. Joshua 1:16. They answered Jesus and said: Whatever you command us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go; Joshua 1:17. As we listened to Moses, so we will listen to you: only the Lord your God will be with you, as He was with Moses; Joshua 1:18. Anyone who resists your command and does not listen to your words in everything that you command him will be put to death. Just be strong and courageous! The second preparatory measure was a reminder in the words of Moses to the tribes: Reuben, Gad and half of Manasseh, who received the East Jordan region as an inheritance, of the condition under which it was given to them (Deut. 3:18–20; Num. 32:29–30). Having heard this reminder, the representatives of the tribes expressed their complete readiness to obey in everything the successor of Moses, as they obeyed him, and to punish with death anyone who would not show such obedience. “Beyond the Jordan”, in the Slavic Bible: “at the Jordan”, “about the country”, “the country of the Jordan” (Joshua 1:15). In the Hebrew text this corresponds to “beever gairden”, which is translated in the LXX: πέραν τοῦ Ιορδάνου; εἰς τὸ πέραν τοῦ Ιορδάνου (Joshua 1:15), which means “on the other side of the Jordan.” In this sense, the given Jewish expression is understood by many Christian biblical scholars. Consideration of the place of the Pentateuch and other Old Testament books in which this expression is used shows, however, that it was used to designate both the East Jordanian country and the West Jordanian country, i.e. was used in the meaning of both “on the other side” and “on this side”, and one or another of its meanings is determined by those historical and geographical indications that are in the very content of the places of the biblical text in which this expression is used. The correctness of this understanding of the Hebrew expression is visible from Numbers 32:19, as well as from Joshua 12:1, where “beever gaiyarden” with the addition “to the east of the sun” is used about the East Jordan country in the sense of “on the other side of the Jordan”, and in Joshua 12:7 with the addition “to the west” - about the West Jordan country in the meaning “on this side of the Jordan” 18. In Joshua 1:14–15, this expression is used to designate the East Jordan country, in which two and a half of the Israelite tribes received their inheritance, and the most consistent translation here, eliminating confusion, is “beyond the Jordan.” The use of this expression about the East Jordan country in the mouth of Joshua when he was in this country is all the more understandable since his book was written at a time when most of the Israelite people had already lived in the West Jordan country for several decades and the designation of its eastern half as the Trans-Jordan country came into use, although this did not become an exclusive term, as this latter is indicated by the designation made to this in Joshua 1:15 by the addition “to the east of the sun.” . The expression “there are those who can fight,” or “everyone is strong,” according to the Slavic Bible, is used in the general sense that 2 1/2 tribes should send as many of their warriors as possible to their fellow tribesmen for the upcoming conquest, and not in the narrow sense that “all who can fight” should go on a campaign. This limitation of the word “all” is evident from the fact that, according to Joshua 4:13, only about 40,000 armed men from Reuben, Gad and half of the tribe of Manasseh crossed the Jordan, while in these tribes there were about 110 thousand men from 20 years old and above (Num. 26:7,18,34). "[Your God]". Both here and in other places in the Russian translation, the words placed in brackets are borrowed from the Slavic Bible. In the last [i.e. to the Slavic Bible. – Approx. ed. AB ] the given words, which are not in the Hebrew text, were probably borrowed from the Complutensian Polyglot or the Aldinian Bible, where, as in the Ambrosian list, it reads: ὁ Θεὸς ὑμῶν, while in the Vatican and other ancient lists, as well as in the Sistine edition, it reads: ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν - Our God. The Slavic-Russian translation of this expression is more consistent, since in the further words of this verse and in the Hebrew text the same words “your God” are used, literally (through ὑμῶν) transmitted in the Alexandrian list and the Complutensian Polyglot, while in the Vatican list and the Sistine edition “your” is replaced by the word ἡμῶν - "our". The threat of death for failure to comply with the orders of Joshua is expressed in accordance with Deut. 17:12: “whoever does not listen to the priest or the judge must die.” The camp of the Israelites before crossing the Jordan was located on the Moab plain (Deut. 34:1-3). Near this place rises Mount Nebo, from the top of which Moses saw the entire extent of the land of Canaan, which travelers can still see today, reporting that from this mountain one can see the highest peak of Lebanon, Christ. Thurs. 1886, May–June, p. 779). To Moscow. Greek In the Bible of 1821 the words πᾶσαν γῆν Ἐυαίων are read in this place, however they are not in the Alexandrian list. Regarding the name of the Israeli scribes, see, among other things, in the work. F. Eleonsky “History of the Israeli people in Egypt”, p. 112–114. Or according to the literal translation from Hebrew: “for three days,” which is more consistent with the Greek-Slavic translation: ἔτι τρεῖς ἡμέραι – three more days. For a detailed examination of other places in the biblical text in which this expression, controversial regarding its exact meaning, is used, see “Christ. Thu." 1873, part 2, p. 693–730 or in a separate publication: “Analysis of the opinions of modern negative criticism about the time of writing the Pentateuch.” Vol. I, 133–171. You might be interested in: