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of this repetition will be better appreciated when we have surveyed the intervening
chapters. It can, however, be seen to have a distinct bearing upon the typical teaching we
have already noticed. The meaning, too, of Jordan will be better understood when we
arrive at chapter 3:
There are one or two things still to be seen in Josh. 1: 1, 2, and we therefore return to
that passage. We have considered the fact that Moses was dead, and the command to
arise and to go over, indicating separation as well as newness of life. We have also the
added words: "Thou and all this people." In Deut. 31: 3 we read:--
"The Lord thy God, He will go over before thee . . . . . and Joshua, he shall go over
before thee, as the Lord hath said."
Joshua represents the Lord, and the people are associated with him. This brings
before us those great doctrines that are associated with the words "with Christ". Let the
reader prayerfully ponder the significance to himself of these words:--
"Moses is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou and all this people,
unto the land, which I do give to them."
In these words we have foreshadowed the end of the law, and its inability to save or to
lead into an inheritance; the new sphere of life and activity opened up by the resurrection
of Christ; the repetition of the Red Sea crossing, making the division occasioned by
redemption our own experimentally; and the fact that the glory that lies ahead is ours in
gift and promise.
May it be ours to follow our true Joshua closely, fully and utterly, so that we shall not
only know the bliss of salvation, but also the added joy of His "Well done".