Joshua 1:10-18

Faith from an Unlikely Place

Joshua 1:10-18; Joshua 2:1-21

Joshua's first actions as a leader were designed to fulfill God's command to get ready to cross over Jordan (Joshua 1:2). Keil and Delitzsch see him taking three specific actions to prepare for the crossing. He first issued instructions to men, serving in overseer type roles, to pass on to the people (1:10-11). The word, which is translated "officers," literally means "to write," according to Coffman, and suggests they were like foreman writing down the directions of the boss and seeing that they were carried out. Everyone was to take no more than three days to prepare provisions to sustain them as they entered Canaan. Then, Joshua reaffirmed the promise of the tribes of Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh to help the rest conquer their land before returning to the west bank of Jordan (1:12-18).