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The Structure of the Record.
A | 1: 1. THE DEATH OF MOSES.
B | 1: 2 - 7: ENTRY INTO THE LAND.
The land.--To be divided (1: 2-18). | Be strong and very courageous.
Observe law of Moses.
Turn neither to right nor left.
The land.--Espied (2:).
| Rahab. The Scarlet Thread.
The land.--Entered (3:-7:).
| Jordan, Circumcision.
Jericho and Victory.
Achan and Defeat.
C | 8:-12: CONQUEST OF THE LAND. | Ai, Ebal and Gerizim.
The Thirty-one Kings.
"So Joshua took the whole land according to all that the Lord said unto Moses; and
Joshua gave it for an inheritance unto Israel according to their divisions by their tribes.
And the land had rest from war" (11: 23).
B | 13: - 24: 28. | POSSESSION OF THE LAND.
The land.--To be possessed (13:-22:) | Much left to possess.
Caleb the Overcomer.
Seven Tribes still without Inheritance.
Cities of Refuge.
Two and half tribes' inheritance.
The land.--"I have divided" (23:). | Be very courageous.
Keep the law of Moses.
Turn neither to right nor left.
The land.--Of the Amorites (24: 1-28). | Promises to fathers fulfilled.
A | 24: 29-33. THE DEATH OF JOSHUA AND ELEAZAR.
As will be seen in the structure, there are certain features common to the Lord's
command to Joshua in chapter 1: and Joshua's command to the people in chapter 23:
The parallel we set out below so that its significance may be understood:--
"Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according
to all the law, which Moses My servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right
hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest" (Josh. 1: 7).
"Be ye, therefore, very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of
the law of Moses, that ye turn not aside there from, to the right hand or to the left"
(Josh. 23: 6).
The words "courage" and "be courageous" we naturally associate with the leader of an
expedition, and principally in connection with the execution of the attack and the
conquest of the foe. Courage, however, in the book of Joshua has more to do with
resolution of heart to keep God's Word than with fighting and conquest. So we find the
word "courage" used once of actual conflict and victory, and four times of faithful
adherence to the Word of God (Josh. 10: 25, and 1: 6, 7, 9, 18).