Joshua 1:1, commentary and pictures

After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' minister, marking the change of leadership and commissioning Joshua as Israel's acknowledged new leader to bring the people into the promised land. Joshua had served Moses through much of Israel's wilderness journey, had witnessed God's works, understood the people, and was well prepared, so his faithful service and fitness to succeed Moses were evident even before God called him. He had further proved his fitness as one of the two faithful spies who accurately described Canaan and urged the people to enter in reliance on God's strength. God promised to be with Joshua as He had been with Moses and to make the conquest of Canaan easy and give it to him if he faithfully kept God's commandments, and that assurance of guidance and support relieved Joshua's fear about carrying out his heavy responsibility.

God Himself was Joshua's guide and counselor, which made him a wise leader and wise general. God's Word was his first weapon and source of wisdom, his first sword being the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. The charges at the beginning of the chapter are to be read by men carrying large responsibilities. They were given in mercy because Joshua was in danger from misleading influences, with the strongest influences to be brought against his principles of righteousness, so he was charged to follow strictest integrity and not turn to the right or to the left.

Joshua's role rested on divine appointment, so merely claiming to act as Joshua alongside someone acting as Moses does not establish that appointment, which would require instruction from God. The verse does not appoint one modern person to fill the place of Moses and another to fill the place of Joshua to carry the work forward united together to proclaim the truth with power. To select this passage and arrange it with other forceful Scriptures to prove such a succession twists and misinterprets God's Word by applying it according to human ideas where it does not apply.