Joshua 1:1 Now after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying,

Joshua 1:2 Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel.

Joshua 1:2 Moses my servant is dead.(Moses and his generation with him, who all came out of oppression by the Egyptians, couldn't go over the Jordan river to the promised land of Canaan, because of what Moses did and those with him did:.Numbers 14:22,23). Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan.(the Jordan river), you and all this people, unto the land.(Deuteronomy 34:1-5).which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel.

Joshua 1:3,4 Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates.(map), all the land of the Hittites and unto the great sea.(map, the Mediterranean).toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast.

Joshua 1:3,4 Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon.(and this was the whole land {Deuteronomy 34:1-5} occupied by the seven Canaanitish nations), that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses.(Numbers 20:12). From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast.

Joshua 1:5 There shall not any man be able to stand before you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not fail you, nor forsake you.

Hebrews 13:5.

Joshua 1:7 Only be you strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded you. Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper whithersoever you go.

Joshua 1:7 Only be you strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law.(way back then it was the law Moses got from God to give to the people, today that law is gone and it's the law of love:.Romans 13:10), which Moses my servant commanded you. Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper whithersoever you go.

Joshua 1:8 This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate therein day and night.(that is, always have God's ways uppermost in your mind), that you may observe to do according to all that is written therein. For then you shall make your way prosperous and then you shall have good success.

Today this applies to the law which superseded the Mosaic Law, which is the law of love.

Joshua 1:9 Have not I commanded you? Be strong and of a good courage. Be not afraid, neither be you dismayed, for the Lord your God is with ypu whithersoever you go.

Joshua 2:1 And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, Go view the land, even Jericho. And they went and came into an harlot's house, named Rahab and lodged there.

Joshua 2:2-8 And it was told the king of Jericho, saying, Behold, there came men in hither tonight of the children of Israel to search out the country. And the king of Jericho sent unto Rahab, saying, Bring forth the men that are come to you, which are entered into your house. For they be come to search out all the country. And the woman took the two men and hid them and said thus, There came men unto me, but I do not know where they went. And it came to pass about the time of shutting of the gate, when it was dark, that the men went out. Where the men went I wot not.(don't know). Pursue after them quickly, for you shall overtake them. But she had brought them up to the roof of the house and hid them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order upon the roof. And the king's men pursued after them the way to Jordan unto the fords. And as soon as they which pursued after them were gone out, they shut the gate. And before they were laid down, she came up unto them upon the roof;

Joshua 2:9 And she said unto the men, I know that God has given you the land and that your terror is fallen upon us and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you.

Joshua 2:10 For we have heard how God dried up the water of the Red sea for you when you came out of Egypt and what you did unto the two kings of the Amorites.(Genesis 15:16), that were on the other side of the Jordan river, named Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed.

Joshua 2:11-24.And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you. For your God, he is God in heaven above and in Earth beneath. Now therefore, I pray you, swear unto me by God, since I have showed you kindness, that you will also show kindness unto my father's house and give me a true token. And that you will save alive my father and my mother and my brethren and my sisters and all that they have and deliver our lives from death. And the men answered her, Our life for yours, if you utter not this our business. And it shall be, when God has given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly.(no deceit).with you. Then she let them down by a cord through the window. For her house was upon the town wall and she dwelt upon the wall. And she said unto them, Get you to the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you and hide yourselves there three days until the pursuers be returned. And afterward may you go your way. And the men said unto her, We will be blameless of this your oath which you have made us swear. Behold, when we come into the land, you shall bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which you let us down by. And uou shall bring your father, mother and brothers and all thy father's household, home unto you. And it shall be, that whosoever shall go out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be upon his head and we will be guiltless. And whosoever shall be with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head, if any hand be upon him. And if you utter this our business, then we will be quit of the oath which you have made us to swear. And she said, According unto your words, so be it. And she sent them away and they departed. And she bound the scarlet line in the window. And they went and came unto the mountain and abode there three days, until the pursuers were returned. And the pursuers sought them throughout all the way, but found them not. So the two men returned and descended from the mountain and passed over and came to Joshua the son of Nun and told him all things that befell them. And they said unto Joshua, Truly God has delivered into our hands all the land, for even all the inhabitants of the country do faint because of us.

Joshua 3:5 And Joshua said unto the people, Sanctify yourselves: for tomorrow God will do wonders among you.

Joshua 3:6 And Joshua spake unto the priests, saying, Take up the ark of the covenant and pass over before the people. And they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people.

Joshua 3:7-9 And God said unto Joshua, This day will I begin to magnify you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. And you shall command the priests that bear the ark of the covenant, saying, When you are come to the brink of the water of Jordan, you shall stand still in Jordan. And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, Come hither and hear the words of your God.

Joshua 3:10 And Joshua said, Hereby you shall know that the living God is among you and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Hivites and the Perizzites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Jebusites.

The various '...ites':.Genesis 15:19-21.

Joshua 3:11,12 Behold, the ark of the covenant of God of all the Earth passes over before you into Jordan. Now therefore take you twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, out of every tribe a man.

Joshua 3:13 And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the God of all the Earth shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above and they shall stand upon an heap.(some dry place).

Joshua 3:14 And that came to pass when the people removed from their tents to pass over Jordan and the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people;

Joshua 3:15 And as they that bare the ark were come unto the Jordan river and the feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the water, for Jordan overflowed all its banks all the time of harvest,

Joshua 3:16 That the waters which came down from above stood and rose up upon an heap very far from the city Adam, that is beside Zaretan and those that came down toward the sea of the plain, the salt sea, failed and were cut off and the people passed over right against Jericho.(Judges 1:16).

Adam Clarke's Commentary:."Where these places were it is difficult to say. The city Adam is wholly unknown, but from.1Kings 4:12.we learn that Zartanah was below Jezreel near Bethshean or Scythopolis and not far from Succoth:.1Kings 7:46. And it appears from.Genesis 33:17.and.Joshua 13:27.that Succoth lay on the east side of Jordan, not far from the lake of Gennesareth and probably this city of Adam was on the same side to the north of Succoth. It is probable that the Israelites crossed the Jordan near Bethabara, where John later baptized.(John 1:28).and which probably had its name 'the house of passage' from this very circumstance. After all, it is extremely difficult to ascertain the exact situation of these places, as in the lapse of upwards of 3,000 years the face of the country must have been materially changed. Seas, rivers and mountains change not and though we cannot ascertain the spot, it is sufficiently evident that we can come near to the place. It has been considered a lame objection against the truth of the.Iliad.that the situation of Troy cannot now be exactly ascertained. There are even many ancient cities and considerable towns in Europe that, though they still bear their former names, do not occupy the same spot. There are not a few of those even in England, among such Norwich, Salisbury, etc., may be ranked, neither of which is in its primitive situation."

Joshua 3:17 And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of God stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the river Jordan and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan.

This was the second crossing of water, similar to the first Red Sea crossing when the Israelites came out of Egypt with the Egyptians on chariots hot on their tail.

Joshua 4:9-11 And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests which bare the ark of the covenant stood and they are there unto this day.(JFB Commentary:."the day this was written, which was at least twenty years after the event, if we reckon by the date of this history":.Joshua 24:26). For the priests which bare the ark stood in the midst of Jordan, until everything was finished that the Lord commanded Joshua to speak unto the people, according to all that Moses commanded Joshua and the people hasted and passed over. And it came to pass, when all the people were clean passed over, that the ark of God passed over and the priests, in the presence of the people.

Joshua 4:17 Joshua therefore commanded the priests, saying, Come you up out of Jordan.

Joshua 4:18 And it came to pass, when the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of God were come up out of the midst of Jordan and the soles of the priests' feet were lifted up unto the dry land, that the waters of Jordan returned unto their place and flowed over all his banks as they did before.

Joshua 4:19 And the people came up out of Jordan on the tenth day of the first month and encamped in Gilgal, in the east border of Jericho.

Joshua 4:20-22 And those twelve stones, which they took out of Jordan, did Joshua pitch in Gilgal. And he spake unto the children of Israel, saying, When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean these stones? Then you shall let your children know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land.

Joshua 4:23 For God dried up the waters of Jordan from before you, until you were passed over, as God did to the Red sea, which he dried up from before us, until we were gone over.

Joshua 4:24 That all the people of the Earth might know the hand of God, that it is mighty and that you might fear your God always.

Joshua 5:1 And it came to pass, when all the kings of the Amorites, which were on the side of Jordan westward and all the kings of the Canaanites, which were by the sea, heard that the Godd had dried up the waters of Jordan from before the children of Israel, until they were passed over, that their heart melted, neither was there spirit in them any more, because of the children of Israel. At that time God said unto Joshua, Make sharp knives and circumcise again the children of Israel the second time

JFB Commentary: The command did not require him to repeat the operation on those who had undergone it, but to resume the observance of the rite, which had been long discontinued (*).

Joshua 5:2-5 And Joshua made him sharp knives and circumcised the children of Israel at the hill of the foreskins. And this is the cause why Joshua did circumcise. All the people that came out of Egypt, that were males, even all the men of war, died in the wilderness by the way, after they came out of Egypt. Now all the people that came out were circumcised, but all the people that were born in the wilderness by the way as they came forth out of Egypt, them they had not been circumcised.

Joshua 5:6 For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness.(where did they go?), till all the people that were men of war, which came out of Egypt.(Joshua 2:10).were consumed, because they obeyed not the voice of God who swore that he would not show them the land.(Numbers 13:17-27), which he swore unto their fathers that he would give us a land that flows with milk and honey.

How bad were they?

Joshua 5:7-9 And their children, whom he raised up in their stead, them Joshua.circumcised. For they were uncircumcised, because they had not circumcised them by the way. And it came to pass, when they had done circumcising all the people, that they abode in their places in the camp, till they were recovered from the circumcision. And God said unto Joshua, This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you. Wherefore the name of the place is called Gilgal unto this day.

Joshua 5:12 And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land, neither had the children of Israel manna any more, but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.

Joshua 5:13 And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked and behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand.(an angel). And Joshua went unto him and said unto him Are you for us or for our adversaries?

Joshua 5:14 And he said Nay, but as captain of the host of the God am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the Earth and did worship and said unto him What says my lord unto his servant?

Joshua 5:15 And the captain of the God's host said unto Joshua, Loose your shoe from off your foot, for the place whereon you stand is holy. And Joshua did so.

....continues to Chapter 6