Joshua 1:1 - The Popular Commentary by Paul E. Kretzmann

Now, after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, after the completion of the thirty days' mourning for this great prophet whom the Lord so signally distinguished, Numbers 12:7-8; Deuteronomy 34:5-8, it came to pass that the Lord spake unto Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses' minister, not his servant, but his assistant, who had been pointed out some 'time before as the successor of Moses, Numbers 27:15-23, had been expressly designated as such by Moses, Deuteronomy 31:7, and had appeared before the people in that capacity, saying,