5873. JOSHUA*
CHAPTER I
1 Now after the death of Moses, the servant of Jehovah, it came to pass, that Jehovah said unto Joshua ...
2 Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the sons of Israel.
4 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 border.
6 Be strong and of good courage: for thou shalt make this people to inherit this land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them.
7 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 him1 to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest act with prudence in all things, whithersoever thou goest.
1 See n. 5880 note.
8 This book of the law shall not depart from thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make prosperous thy ways, and then thou shalt act with prudence.
10, 11 Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, ... Command the people, saying, Prepare you food for the way; for within three days ye shall pass over this Jordan, to go in to inherit the land, which Jehovah your God will give you to inherit it.
12. But to the Reubenite, and to the Gadite, and to the half tribe of Manasseh, Joshua said, saying,
13 Remember the word which Moses the servant of Jehovah commanded yen, saying, Jehovah Sour God hath made you to rest, and hath given you this land.
14 Your wives, your little one, and your cattle, shall settle in the land which Moses gave you across the Jordan; but ye shall pass over before your brethren armed, every one that is strong in warlike valour, that ye may help them;
15 Then ye shall return unto the land of your inheritance and shall possess it for an inheritance,...
16, 17 And they answered Joshua, saying,... according to all wherein we obeyed Moses, so will we obey thee: only Jehovah thy God be with thee, as he was with Moses.
[Now after the death of Moses, the servant of Jehovah, vs. 1.] Moses is called the servant of Jehovah (vs. 1, 2 and 7), being called a servant because he executed the commands of Jehovah God; but he did this in the sense in which man is the agent. Thus there is none who is not a servant of Jehovah God — but a servant according to the function of each. Concerning Moses; confer below, n. 5880.
* NOTE BY THE TRANSLATOR
After finishing his explanation of Genesis and Exodus, and before continuing with the remaining books of the pentateuch in their order, the Author made a preliminary study of the books Joshua to II Chronicles, writing down explanations here and there. Thus, these explanations differ in their scope from those of Genesis and Exodus; for, while the latter cover each chapter verse by verse, the former cover only certain verses, or deal with a chapter only as a whole, and frequently omit one or more chapters. This indicates that they were written as notes preparatory to a more detailed explanation, to be taken up after the completion of the pentateuch. It is this preliminary study that constitutes volume VI of The Word Explained.
In view of the above, it has been somewhat of a problem to decide as to how much of the Scripture text shall be premised to the explanations. To introduce the entire text of each chapter would be a work of superfluity. To introduce merely the text specifically explained, would be to omit the necessary context. Furthermore, the Author sometimes refers to his underscoring of words in the text of Schmidius' Latin translation of the Bible, even when he does not explain these words (see nos. 5904, 5961, 5962, 5972, 6308), and it is manifest that the reader should know where these underscorings are. In passing, it may be noted that they appear to indicate the words and phrases on which Swedenborg intended specially to dwell when writing his detailed commentary.
These considerations have led to the determination to include only such portions of the Scripture text as fall under one or more of the following heads: Verses or parts of verses (1) explained or referred to in the present volume; (2) underscored by the Author in his Schmidius' Bible; (3) necessary to supply the due context. The above, however, does not apply to the books of the Chronicles.
The present volume differs from the other volumes of the work in the use of italics. In the other volumes, italics are used to designate the words or phrases of the text under consideration, as they are taken up for particular explanation; these words or phrases are not underscored in the Author's text. In the present volume, with the exception of clauses enclosed in brackets, italics are used exclusively to designate words or phrases underscored by the Author himself, the italics in the chapter citations preceding the explanations, indicating the Author's underscorings in his copy of Schmidius' Latin translation of the Bible.
