Commanded thee Remember, that though thou art the commander of my people, yet thou art my subject, and obliged to observe all my commands. To the right hand or to the left That is, in any kind, or upon any pretence; which plainly shows, that God's assistance, promised to him and the Israelites, was conditional, and might justly be withdrawn upon their breach of the conditions. Whithersoever thou goest That is, whatsoever thou doest. Men's actions are often compared to ways, or steps, by which they come to the end they aim at. This charge, given by God himself to Joshua, highly deserves our notice. Though Joshua was to be, in his place, as great a man as Moses; though the Lord was to do signs and wonders by him, as he did by the hand of Moses; and though he was to settle the people in the promised land, which Moses was not allowed to do, yet he was to do according to all the law which Moses had commanded. And we find that, amid all his successes, and all the wonders that the Lord did by him, Joshua made the book of the law the guide of his conduct, strictly adhering to it in every point, and always recommending the strict observation of it to the people. In this he is an example worthy of the imitation, as of all professors of Christianity in general, so of all Christian magistrates and generals, in particular, who are under equal obligations to make God's laws or revealed will the rule of their conduct, in all affairs, public and private. For no man's dignity or dominion, how great soever, sets him above the law of God.
Related Commentaries of Joshua 1:7
Joshua 1:7
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 it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prospera whithersoever thou goest.