Joshua 1:13

Hath given you rest. — Observe this phrase. as applied to the settlement of Israel in the land of promise, on either side of Jordan. Those who condemn the two and a half tribes (or the persons whom they suppose to be spiritually represented by them) for not going far enough, should notice that on both sides of Jordan equally there was the “rest of God.” But this “rest” is only the first stage of several in Israel’s history. We find it again in the reign of David (2 Samuel 7:1), Solomon (1 Chronicles 22:9), Esther (Joshua 9:16; Joshua 9:22), and we must not forget the comment in Hebrews 4, obtained from Psalms 95 : “For if Joshua had given them rest, then would He not afterward have spoken of another day.” “These all received not the promise.” “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.” The last rest is Sabbatical; the rests that precede it are halting-places on the way.