Joshua 1:7

Only be thou strong. The exhortation of verse 7 reads, literally, “Only be strong and very courageous in observing all the instructions [torah],” etc. This was the condition of success: complete surrender to God and cooperation with His expressed will. The task was such that he could not accomplish it by himself; divine power must be united with human effort. God’s plan ensured success. Joshua could not follow his own devices and still expect God’s favor. So it is with salvation, with victory over sin. We too must “be strong and very courageous in observing all the instructions” of the Lord.

Turn not from it. If God in His wisdom has given a command, every detail of it is as sacred as the whole. It would be a challenge to God’s integrity to ignore “one of these least commandments” (Matthew 5:19). We may, perhaps, think we agree with the general principle, yet fail to see the importance of certain details. In so doing we are obeying not God but ourselves. Thus the seeming minutiae become the real test of full allegiance to God.

Joshua needed God with him in such an undertaking as the conquest of Canaan; hence, he was warned not to go his own way in the least degree. “Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left.” The path of obedience is the middle path. There is always a bypath to the right, and one to the left; both are undoubtedly wrong. A person may go to extremes on either side of the pathway of duty. The evil one is as content for a Christian to take the right-hand path of fanaticism as the left-hand path of liberalism. Both lead to destruction. Compare Deuteronomy 5:32 for similar instruction referring to the Ten Commandments.

Prosper. Or, “be prudent.” “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10). Prosperity comes as a result of wise action. A man can act wisely only when and to the extent that he cooperates with the Source of all wisdom.