Joshua 1:11

_PASS THROUGH THE HOST, AND COMMAND THE PEOPLE, SAYING, PREPARE YOU VICTUALS; FOR WITHIN THREE DAYS YE SHALL PASS OVER THIS JORDAN, TO GO IN TO POSSESS THE LAND, WHICH THE LORD YOUR GOD GIVETH YOU TO POSSESS IT._ Prepare you victuals. This was the proclamation those officers were charged to make, that the people should lay in a store of what was required for their sustenance х_ TSEEDAAH_ (H6720) or _ TSEEYDAAH_ (H6720), provision], not manna, which is called poetically by this name, Ps. 77:25 , and which, though it still fell, would not keep, but grain, sheep, and articles of food, procurable as natural produce in the conquered countries (Joshua 9:11; Genesis 42:25;...

10-15 Joshua says to the people, Ye shall pass over Jordan, and shall possess the land; because God had said so to him. We honour the truth of God, when we stagger not at the promise of God. The two tribes and a half were to go over Jordan with their brethren. When God, by his providence, has given us rest, we ought to consider what service we may do to our brethren....

Verse Joshua 1:11. _PREPARE YOU VICTUALS_] צדה _tsedah_, such _prey_ or _provisions_ as they had _taken_ from the _conquered countries_, such as corn, oxen, sheep, c. for the word signifies _prey_, or what is taken by _hunting_, c. This was necessary, as they were about to undergo considerable fatigue in marching, and in making preparations for the passage of the Jordan for although the manna had not ceased to fall, yet such other provisions as are mentioned above were necessary on this occasion. _FOR WITHIN THREE DAYS YE SHALL PASS_] Calmet contends, with great appearance of truth, that these three days should be reckoned from the first day of their encamping at Jordan, three days after the return of the spies, i.e., on the eighth day of the first month, on the _tenth_ of which they passed over Jordan. The text therefore

PREPARE YOU VICTUALS - The order was probably given with the knowledge that the manna would cease when the host crossed the Jordan Exodus 16:35, and possibly because amidst their preparations there might not be opportunity to gather it in sufficient quantity. Nor does it appear that manna ever formed the whole and sole sustenance of the people. (Compare Numbers 20:1 note.) It is the view of the majority of commentators - Jewish and Christian, ancient and modern - that the “three days” here named are identical with those of Joshua 3:2; and that the command of Joshua in the text was not in fact given until after the return of the spies. Here, as elsewhere in the Hebrew

EXPOSITION JOSHUA'S COMMAND TO THE PEOPLE,— JOSHUA 1:10 THEN JOSHUA COMMANDED THE OFFICERS OF THE PEOPLE. The _Shoterim, _a term derived from the same root as an Arabic word signifying "to write." Different ideas have been entertained of their duties. Keil, Jahn (_Hebrew Commonwealth_)_, _and others believe that they were genealogists; but it seems more probable that their original duties were to keep processes and minutes, and that, like our Indian "writers" and the "Master of the Rolls" at home, they exercised some kind of judicial functions, with which, moreover, active duties were sometimes combined. The idea that they were genealogists is contrary, as Gesenius shows, to the context in many places. Thus in...

PASS THROUGH THE HOST,.... The whole camp of Israel, consisting of six hundred thousand fighting men: AND COMMAND THE PEOPLE; even all the people of Israel; this includes women as well as men, for the one, as well as the other, were to do what follows, and especially it may seem the business of the former: SAYING, PREPARE YE VICTUALS; this must be understood; as Kimchi observes, of other sorts of food besides bread; for they had manna, the bread of heaven, which fell about their tents every morning, so that they were sufficiently provided with that always, and which did not cease until they had entered the land, even until the sixteenth of Nisan, Joshua 5:12; though indeed, as Abendana observes, that might be said to be prepared, it being ground in mills, and beat in mortars, and made cakes of,...

ANALYSIS AND ANNOTATIONS I. THE ENTRANCE OF THE PEOPLE INTO CANAAN AND THE CONFLICTS 1. The Entrance Commanded and Success Promised CHAPTER 1 _ 1. The Lord speaks to Joshua (Joshua 1:1)_ 2. Joshua speaks to the people (Joshua 1:10) 3. The answer of the people (Joshua 1:16) The little word “now” with which this book begins is in the Hebrew “and.” It links the book with Deuteronomy and the other books of the Pentateuch. It also shows that the previous books were in existence, for the mention of Moses, his death, and Joshua, the minister of Moses, presupposes that the reader knows all about them. But there is a stronger evidence in the eighth verse of the chapter, that the Pentateuch

I. JOSHUA'S COMMISSION; PREPARATION FOR THE PASSAGE OF THE JORDAN. This chapter does not call for much comment. It is, for the most part, an introduction to the whole book from a Deuteronomic writer. There may have been a Deuteronomic account of the conquest of the land which the compiler of our book used, but more probably the old narrative of JE was taken over by the Deuteronomist, who managed to superimpose his own views by means of an introduction and various additions. These additions are very considerable; hardly any Chapter s have escaped. JOSHUA 1:4. The boundaries of the land are strangely indicated, AND the passage should no doubt read, From the wilderness in the south to Lebanon; and from the river Euphrates to the western sea (_i.e._ the Mediterranean) shall be your border or rather, territory. In reality, the kingdom never extended as far as this from E. to W.

WITHIN THREE DAYS. after three days. Spoken 6th or 7th of Abib. Compare Joshua 4:19. Spies probably already sent (Joshua 2:16; Joshua 2:22; Joshua 3:1; Joshua 3:2.)...

The Command of Joshua to the People 10. _the officers_ Or, _Shoterim_. The word denotes (1) literally a "writer," or "scribe;" then (2) an overseer, in whose office were combined various duties, including enrolments, orders &c., also genealogies; (3) a magistrate, prefect, leader of the people, especially, as here, the leaders, officers, of the Israelites in Egypt and in the desert. Comp. Numbers 11:16; Numbers 31:14; Numbers 31:48; Deuteronomy 1:15; Deuteronomy 16:18;...