Be Strong and Courageous — Joshua 1:1–9 Explained (Session 2)

In this verse-by-verse study of Joshua 1:1–9, Reasoning Through the Bible begins the first chapter of Joshua by looking at one of the most important leadership transitions in all of Scripture. Moses is dead, Joshua must now step forward, and the people stand on the edge of the land God promised long ago to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This session explores why God’s work does not end when one leader dies, because the Lord remains faithful to His covenant and continues His purposes. 

This study also examines God’s promise to give the land to Israel, why that land mattered so much in biblical history, and what it means that God says, “I have given it to you.” The discussion highlights how Israel’s inheritance was grounded in God’s promise, not in their perfect obedience, and how Joshua is called to trust the God who does not forget what He has said. 

A major emphasis in this session is the repeated command to be strong and courageous. God tells Joshua three times not to be frightened or dismayed, because He will be with him wherever he goes. The episode also explores what it means to meditate on God’s Word day and night, why believers must not turn to the right or the left, and how God often calls ordinary people into assignments too large for them to handle in their own strength. 

Topics in this episode include:

•  Joshua 1 explained 
•  Moses and Joshua leadership transition 
•  God’s promise of the land 
•  be strong and courageous 
•  God will not leave or forsake you 
•  meditating on God’s Word 
•  not turning right or left 
•  trusting God in difficult assignments 
•  faith when the giants are real 

Reasoning Through the Bible is a verse-by-verse Bible teaching ministry committed to careful exposition, biblical context, and faithful application.

Transcript

Joshua Takes Over After Moses

Speaker 2 0:19

Okay , so here we are in Joshua 1 , and , steve , if you could just read the first nine verses After the death of Moses , the servant of the Lord , the Lord said to Joshua , the son of Nun , moses' assistant , moses , my servant , is dead . Now , therefore , arise , go over this Jordan , you and all this people , into the land that I am giving to them , to the people of Israel . Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon , I have given to you , just as I promised to Moses , from the wilderness in this Lebanon as far as the great river , the river Euphrates , all the land of the Hittites to the great sea , toward the going down of the sun , shall be your territory . No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life . Man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life . Just as I was with Moses , so I will be with you . I will not leave you or forsake you .

Speaker 2 1:11

Be strong and courageous , for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them . Only be strong and very courageous , being careful to do according to all the law that Moses , my servant , commanded . You Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left . That you may have good success wherever you go this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth , but you shall meditate on it day and night , so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it , for then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have good success . Have I not commanded you ? Be strong and courageous , do not be frightened and do not be dismayed , for the Lord , your God , is with you wherever you go .

Speaker 1 2:03

Okay , so in verse one , Moses is dead and Joshua takes over . A great leader has died and somebody else needs to follow

God's Promise of the Land

Speaker 1 2:11

. So that immediately brings a question what happens in modern churches if you have a good leader , good pastor , somebody that's been really faithful to the word , that everybody likes , and they go away ? They either move on or they die . What happens in churches when that happens ?

Speaker 2 2:28

Well , sometimes they fall into chaos because the leader has been very strong and he hasn't prepared anybody else . Sometimes they might fade away because they don't have any leadership that came in to follow .

Speaker 1 2:40

Is God's work going to stop just because one human leader goes away ?

Speaker 2 2:44

No , it'll continue .

Speaker 1 2:46

It'll continue , and that's one of the things we need to always remember in our personal lives . Family members will die . Move on , church leaders pass on , but the work of the Lord continues and God is faithful . And even though here Moses is dead , has God abandoned them ? Absolutely not . Is there any reason for Israel to panic ?

Speaker 2 3:07

No .

Speaker 1 3:07

No , joshua is going to take over and God's still faithful and that we can have trust .

Speaker 2 3:14

And he also encourages Joshua and tells him I'm going to be with you , just as I was with Moses .

Speaker 1 3:21

Yeah . Now in verse 2 , God says he's giving the land to Israel . What's the significance of that particular land ?

Speaker 2 3:31

It's the land that he had promised to Abram way back . When he called him from the land of the Chaldeans , from the earth , he told him and said land . As far as you can see , this is going to be .

Speaker 1 3:41

Was that land just a minor thing , or was it a major thing in the history of Israel ?

Speaker 2 3:47

No , it's everything . It's their inheritance .

Speaker 1 3:50

All the way back in Genesis , chapter 12, . He brings Abraham and he tells him I'm giving you this land . And he repeats it in Genesis 13 . He repeats it in Genesis 15 . He repeats it in Genesis 17, . Four times to Abraham , and he then repeats it again . Who is Abraham's son ? Isaac , isaac . He repeats it to Isaac in Genesis , chapter 26 . And Isaac had a son named Jacob , whose name was changed to Israel . And he repeats the same promise of the land in Genesis , chapter 28 . He promises it to all of them Abraham , isaac and Jacob multiple times I'm giving you this land , and it was not conditioned on anything , it had nothing to do with Israel obeying . God says I will do this because of my name . So this land , it wasn't just any old land , this was the land . And , going all the way back to those original promises , he lays out exactly which land here in Joshua , chapter one , verse two the land that I'm giving you .

Speaker 2 5:01

Now that word giving . How is that significant from the standpoint of what does giving mean ?

Speaker 1 5:06

Well , did they have to earn it ?

Speaker 2 5:08

No , and in order to give something to somebody , you have to have ownership of it . It has to be yours . So it's saying that God has ownership of this land and he is giving it to them .

Speaker 1 5:22

Now , if you remember the story , there are enemies in that land , now the Canaanites and he listed off all these names , all these people who were there before , the Canaanites , the Hittites . Well , even before that , going all the way back to Jacob , it was Jacob and Abraham and Isaac that had that land . They abandoned it , but now it's 400 years down the road . They're coming back to land that they originally had a claim on . It's been 400 years , but they were there originally . This was the land that God gave to Abraham , Isaac and Jacob . They went into Egypt , but it was still their land . They had a claim on it because they had lived there when God originally gave it to them . In the 400-year gap , the Canaanites came in and now have this idea that it's theirs .

Speaker 1 6:09

Let's talk about this promise that he originally gave to Abraham , what we call the Abrahamic covenant . And , if you remember , back in Genesis there was this spooky story it's at night where Abraham splits the animals and the flaming oven goes through . It was the sign of the covenant and God promised it to them unconditionally . Israel will always be associated with that land , that particular land between the Euphrates and the Mediterranean . God promised Israel 2,000 years ago , 3,000 years ago and they still have it today and will continue to have it , Even if they get run out of it . What's going to happen ? It's still going to be there . It's still going to be there because God will bring them back .

Speaker 2 6:58

And it also extends even further south to the Nile In Joshua 1 , verse 2 , south to the Nile .

Speaker 1 7:01

In Joshua , chapter 1 , verse 2 , moses , my servant is dead . Now , therefore , arise , cross this Jordan , you and all his people , to the land I am giving to the sons of Israel . Now you brought up the word give . How much had Israel obeyed up to this point ? What's ?

Speaker 2 7:19

their track record of obedience . They had just come out of wilderness right . They had just come out of 40 years wandering because of disobedience .

Speaker 1 7:26

Yeah , there's a long string of complaining and disobeying and things like that , yet God is still faithful with his promise . When God promises these things , there are some conditional promises . We get to Deuteronomy . There's going to be some . If you obey , then you get these blessings . If you disobey , you get these cursings . But here , with this one , it was unconditional it's yours forever . And even though Israel disobeyed , what is he repeating now in Joshua , chapter 1 , verse 2 ? And he's ?

Speaker 2 7:59

going to give it to them .

Speaker 1 8:00

He's going to give it to them . And it's not because of Israel was such good people . It was because God had promised it to them originally In verse 3 , what does he say ?

Speaker 2 8:09

He says every place on which the sole of your foot treads . I have given it to you Past tense . Just as I spoke to Moses , so this isn't the first time that they're hearing it either .

Speaker 1 8:20

When God says I have given past tense , what can we believe it's theirs ? When God says I have given past tense , what can we believe it's ?

Speaker 2 8:24

theirs .

Speaker 1 8:25

Yeah , and if there's any doubt what he's talking about , verse 4 , he tells us where it is this desert in Lebanon , what's he talking about ? And what's the great sea , the Mediterranean , mediterranean ? It's not talking about Cincinnati or St Louis

Be Strong and Courageous

Speaker 1 8:41

and he's not talking about England . He's talking about the specific piece of sand that's between the Euphrates River and the Mediterranean and down to Egypt . Now , that land somebody added up I didn't do it . It was about 300,000 square miles , big chunk of real estate . Here's a trivia question Did they ever take it all ?

Speaker 1 8:59

Did they ever possess it all ? No , no , they didn't , and we'll find out by the time we get to the end of Joshua . They don't take it all . The most they ever got in the history of Israel was when Solomon was king . He controlled a lot of it , but how did he do it ? Did he do it the right way ? No , he did it by marrying these daughters of these pagan kings , which was not God's way . And so when these pagan queens and pagan princesses came in from these foreign countries , what'd they bring with them ? They brought their idols with them . So the greatest they ever achieved was under Solomon , and that was by compromising with the world , and it brought in idol worship and resulted in a big problem Right here . And resulted in a big problem Right here . God repeats all this land , he tells exactly where it is . They never actually went in and possessed it . Why ?

Speaker 2 9:52

Because they didn't totally trust God .

Speaker 1 9:56

They didn't totally trust God .

Speaker 2 9:58

It kind of went back to in your first story . Introduction related to the ten spies . They didn't trust God .

Speaker 1 10:06

They didn't trust God well enough . Now , you and I , we'd never have that problem . No , would we ? He says with tongue firmly in cheek .

Speaker 2 10:14

No , it's a constant struggle sometimes in regards to , especially in fearful things , of trusting God and laying your trust in it , but it's satisfying knowing that through stories like this , as well as things that happen , that God knows what's going to happen , and , in fact , that's what he's saying here . I have given this to you . It's a done deal . It's a done deal . It's not something that's open for debate . And then he also , in verse five , goes into a little bit more in regards to how In verse five .

Speaker 1 10:45

What three things did God promise there in verse five ?

Speaker 2 10:49

No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life . Just as I was with Moses , I'll be with you . I will not leave you or forsake you .

Speaker 1 10:59

God promises them this . He reminds them of the promise I'm giving you this land . And it's still today . Israel only has a tiny sliver . Are they going to get it someday ? It's been a long time since God made this promise . Did he forget ?

Speaker 2 11:11

No , they will get it .

Speaker 1 11:13

It's a done deal . I have given past tense . And so he says don't worry , nobody's going to be able to stand before you , I'm going to be with you and I'm not going to leave you nor forsake you . People will leave you and forsake you . Don't put your trust in me . I'm going to fail you , but put your trust in God , because he's the one that's going to always be faithful . Even if it's been a while since he made the promises , he doesn't forget . He follows through . Why would they not follow through ? Why would they not ? They saw all these miracles and and God's giving it to them and they do . We're going to see in a little while Jericho . God works with them , but yet they quit before they finished . Why ?

Speaker 2 11:57

Because , again , they don't have complete faith that God has actually given them .

Speaker 1 12:02

It's the human condition and all of us are guilty with this . They got satisfied with part of God's promise . They compromised with the world . We're going to see those things . There's some examples in here where they compromise with the world and the same things that we do . It's easy to point fingers at Israel and say , how come they didn't Well , how come I don't believe God ? Here's another thing . Verse six be strong and courageous . Verse seven be strong and courageous . Verse 7 , be strong and courageous . Verse 9 , be strong and courageous . Why would God tell them this three times ? Because that's a human condition .

Speaker 2 12:37

You need that reassurance that God is giving to you .

Speaker 1 12:42

Well , I submit that he's telling them be strong and courageous . Yes , because of reassurance , Don't forget . But I think it's because they're going to be in situations where they're going to need strength and they're going to need courage . They're going to be in some trying situations . In the Christian life , do we ever get into situations where God puts us in a situation where , golly gee whiz , these really are giants in the land ?

Speaker 2 13:06

Yeah , absolutely , absolutely .

Speaker 1 13:08

And so here , what he's telling them is I'm going to be with you , I'm going to be there . I promise this . It's a done deal . I'm with you , I'm not going to leave you , nor forsake you , but be strong and courageous , because you're going to get into some circumstances that are going to be very trying . What is the application on that for us today ? It's the same message , is it not ? Is God going to forsake us ? No , does that mean we're never going to get into a situation that's difficult ? Israel got into a difficult situation and forgot God . What should we do when we get into a difficult situation ?

Speaker 2 13:43

Trust .

Speaker 1 13:44

God , trust God .

Speaker 2 13:45

Be strong and courageous .

Speaker 1 13:50

What do we do when we're in the midst of a difficult situation and I wake up and I say I haven't been trusting God ? What are the practical things do I do ?

Speaker 2 13:55

First thing I do is go back to God and go to Him , and seek His guidance , seek His assurance .

Speaker 1 14:04

Well , one of the ways he tells us here how can we be strong and courageous . Look in verse 7 and 8 . In the middle of verse 7 , he says my servant commanded you do not turn from my law to the right or to the left , so that you may have success wherever you go . This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth , but you shall meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it . That's the way to be strong and courageous is to first of all meditate on it day and night , with God's word , and don't turn from it to the right or to the left . Stay the course Times .

Speaker 1 14:44

Where I've gotten in trouble , it's because I've forgotten . I didn't meditate on it , it wasn't in my mind and my lips . Here's a question he's saying here in verse seven . He's talking about God's word , in this specific case the law of Moses . God's commands , he says don't turn from it to the right or to the left . What does that mean , and what are examples today of where we might turn to the right or the left on God's Word ?

Speaker 2 15:09

Stay focused , stay looking straight ahead . Don't go and turn to the distractions of life that come up , that take you and make you look away from the direction where you're headed , whether it be to the left or whether it be to the right . Keep the focus on God and keep the focus on His Word , because that's the straight way that you need to go . If you're going left and right , you're not walking in a straight line . You're kind of wandering around . So , yeah , don't be distracted by the world and the other things that might come up .

Speaker 1 15:43

Yeah , it talks about in the New Testament . It talks about a straight path . What I think of when I think of the right or the left is we have in scripture instructions , we have commands , and the two extremes the right and the left are legalism on one hand and license on the other , legalism being I'm adding rules onto God's message . I'm adding rules onto what God wants me to do . If God wants me to do , commands me to do certain things , I'm going to add some rules to that and I'm going to go around and make sure everybody else follows my rules . That's legalism , rule keeping and license is just the opposite . God made those commands a long time ago . He don't really understand modern life . So it's okay if I go off and do these things and that's license . No , no , god said stay on this straight path . So where we get into trouble is either adding rules to God's word or subtracting rules from God's word . To me , that's the right or the left . That's where we get in trouble .

Speaker 2 16:47

Yeah , absolutely I couldn't agree more , and I think the license is an area that gets a lot of people especially in trouble , because they say I have freedom in Christ , I have freedom in Christ , I'm saved , and so therefore , he's not going to forsake me and so therefore , I can do what I want to do , and that's the part that license brings in . Is this the I part that I want to do , and it's not what God wants us to do , Right ?

Speaker 1 17:17

That's when we get in trouble . Verse eight this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth , but you shall meditate on it day and night , so that you'll be careful to do all that's written in it . So what does he say he's talking about

Meditating on God's Word

Speaker 1 17:30

? Not depart from your mouth ? What do you think of when it says that Speaking God's word right and meditate on it is obviously think about it . So if we're thinking about God's word and we're speaking God's word to other people and to ourselves , then what happens ? Then ? Be careful to do so . The obedience . God follows the meditation and having the word of God on our lips . That's one of the ways . Practical ways is just think about God's word , use it in our language , talk to other people about it , have it on my lips , tell myself God's word , and if I'm thinking about it and I'm using it in my daily life , I'm much more likely to obey . What happens when we don't meditate on it and don't have it on our lips , we go to the left or the right .

Speaker 2 18:25

Yeah , we go to the left or the right , Right , and you know one of the things that in doing this and teaching God's word and speaking about it like we're doing now , it helps as far as me , and I'm sure it might with you as well , in preparation for this . It really takes us into it , to where we look at it and look at very different aspects . You've given in the introduction . You gave several different books . You quoted or gave examples leading up to it of all the different books Exodus , genesis , numbers , the different things . So getting history just from that and getting the things in preparation for this , it gets it to the point to help me at least meditate on God's Word in regards to prepping for this . So speaking God's Word can help you meditate on it in the preparation for speaking his word .

Speaker 1 19:21

So verse nine again he repeats be strong and courageous . It says in the last half of verse nine do not be afraid . Or mine says tremble . What reason would they need to be afraid ? There's giants , there's giants , and they really were big people , right , and so they were going to be in these situations . But he's telling them I'm not going to leave you or forsake you , don't be afraid . Why ? He tells them in the very next phrase , because I'm going to be with you . I'm going to be with you . So he repeated it again and it's not just I'm going to be with you .

Speaker 2 19:51

I'm going to be with you wherever you go . Wherever you go , I'm going to be there . It's not going to be just a certain battle , it's not going to be just a certain part of the land , it's going to be wherever that you go .

Speaker 1 20:04

He says there'll be wherever you go . I'm reminded of when I was training my kids when they were small , when they were little , I would tell them can you go somewhere where God's not there ? No , dad . Well , how about down the bottom of the ocean , if you went ? No , how about on top of the mountain ? No , can you go hide somewhere in the closet ? He's not . God's going to be there wherever we go . It's times where I wake up and I feel alone . It's I'm moved and I not have his word and I've not been meditating on his word . That's where we are Any last times before we go to the next one .

Speaker 2 20:36

No , I think that's it . I think you pointed out that you'll have success and that the different things . I think we've covered that .

Speaker 1 20:43

When it says be strong and courageous , he repeats it three times . How much of the Christian life can we live on our own strength ? Could Joshua have gone in and taken the land without following God's word ?

Speaker 2 20:58

Possibly , possibly . He could have .

Speaker 1 21:00

Well , we're going to find out with AI .

Speaker 2 21:02

Well , exactly right , that's exactly right . So I mean , there's always that possibility , but at what cost ? As well , and as we find out with AI , there's a great cost associated with it .

Speaker 1 21:13

Can I live the Christian life in my own strength ?

Speaker 2 21:16

No , absolutely not .

Speaker 1 21:17

Here's a question . Joshua is having

Facing Challenges with Faith

Speaker 1 21:20

to step up and fill some very big sandals , if you will , those of Moses . How do you think Joshua felt at this point ? Do you think he's timid ? Do you think he's anxious ? Let me at it , let me go for it . What kind of personality ? And I don't have any clues in the text with this , but just a speculation . What would Joshua be feeling at this time , taken over in such a big undertaking ?

Speaker 2 21:45

I think there's a couple of things .

Speaker 2 21:54

One is that God has assured him that he's going to be with him , as he was with Moses , and he saw that I think he also Joshua was one of the two who said originally no , we can go into the land . But they ended up having to wander in the wilderness for 40 years . So I think Joshua has been probably one of these guys , that's saying , for 40 years I've been stuck out here wandering around because the nation didn't have enough faith in God and I'm myself and Caleb we said go into it . I think Joshua is also kind of chomping at the bit in order to finally get to go in .

Speaker 1 22:27

I think Joshua had faith from beginning to end . I think he was confident to go in . I think he's probably a little bit hesitant simply to fill this role , but I don't think he has any doubt at all of whether God's going to be there and God's going to take the land . He saw great challenges before and God came through . I think he's like a Daniel he's backbone and gristle and he's going to be ready to go .

Speaker 2 22:50

Yeah , and just a little bit of a reminder , and we'll get into it , I'm sure , when we get into the story of Jericho . But they've also taken this land to the east of the Jordan River and there's three tribes that have actually already kind of settled in that area there . So they've had some battles on the east side of it and those tribes said , hey , the land over here is just great , we'll just go ahead and stay here . That kind of comes back to bite them a little bit , but yet they have had some success .

Speaker 1 23:26

Do you think Israel is ? They've had some battles up to this point . Do you think they're ready of their own ? Is this a big army that's really experienced and they're a lot of war-hardened soldiers , or is it sheep herders ?

Speaker 2 23:45

Yeah , it's still the sheep herders . And again , there are millions of people that have been out nomads , living a nomadic life , so to speak . No , they don't have that battle hardened as well , but one of the conditions that Moses gave to them to say , okay , we'll stay here , that's fine , you can stay here , but when we do go across , you're going to have to go across with us to take the land .

Speaker 1 24:10

Right we have here Israel and Joshua that the only way this is going to work is if God's with them . The only way they're going to take Jericho in the next chapter is if God's there with them . He brings them into a situation that they're not really qualified for , but they succeed if they follow him . That's his message here in these passages we've just read has this ever happened to us ? Did we ever get God put us into situations where , okay , I've got this ministry right in front of you . Okay , wait a minute , lord , I'm not ready , you need to get some—remember Moses . God appeared to Moses in the burning bush and was he ready .

Speaker 2 24:45

I'm not an eloquent speaker , you know right .

Speaker 1 24:49

Yeah , periodically God takes common people , gideon , david , and says , hey , I'm putting you into this ministry and what are you talking about me ? Are you talking to me ? You got the wrong guy here . You made a mistake , lord . Well , no , I'm choosing you . What do we do when God puts us into a situation where I think , Lord , I am not qualified for this ministry . What do we do ? I think sometimes we withdraw whenever we should .

Speaker 2 25:16

I think we should have faith that if God's selected us and opened the path and opened the door , that we should proceed , and most of the time that's going to be on faith that God's opened the door . And so I don't know exactly how it's going to work out .

Speaker 1 25:32

but Did God ever abandon us in the past ? No , no . So he's not going to in the future . And that happens with us . We get in similar circumstances . Would God ever call us to a task that he would not be there for us and strengthen us , as we need the strength ?

Speaker 2 25:50

Yeah , no , absolutely not , especially if he's given it to us .

Speaker 1 25:54

End of verse 7 , so that you may have success wherever you go . That's the theme of the book of Joshua . Is possession taking possession ? He takes a people that would not normally succeed and he goes before them and does that , and that's the lesson for us . That's how we need to learn as we go through life . God gives us opportunities . He'll be there with us . He's been there with us up to now . We're not going to win it of our own strength , but we can through his strength . I think we have a little bit of a session break here .

Speaker 2 26:26

Can you give us just a little bit of a teaser of what we're going to be looking at next time ?

Speaker 1 26:30

Well , yeah , we'll stop here for this study , but we'll pick up with the last half of chapter one next time . He's getting the people ready and we'll talk about these two and a half tribes and that's going to be a real interesting story , because there's some consequences to not going into God's best . There's a price to pay for getting right up to what God has for us and then not taking full advantage of it .

Speaker 2 26:53

Yeah , and then also a little bit later as well , we'll also see you getting a little bit too much confidence and thinking that it's on our own and not God's .

Speaker 1 27:04

So that's the end of this one , and we'll see you next time .