Joshua was commissioned to lead the people of Israel over the Jordan into the land that God had promised to give them. His obedience is required. God says, “be strong and courageous… be careful to do according to all the law…do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left…the 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…Have I not commanded you?” But it is also very clear that it is God who works and gives the victory. “Go, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them…No 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.” At the end of Joshua 5, the commander of the army of Yahweh comes to do the work that God had laid out for Israel. What God commands, He accomplishes. He uses means; he used Moses to lead the people out of Egypt, and he used Joshua to lead them into the land. But it is God who accomplishes the work.
