Ver. 6. Be strong and of a good courage— However courageous and valiant Joshua might be, it was, nevertheless, very necessary to animate him to the undertaking of so difficult an enterprize as was here entrusted to him; nothing less than such a divine assurance could indeed have supported his courage in so arduous a talk. 'Tis true, he was now ninety-three years of age, and had been trained up under Moses at least one third part of that time; so that he wanted neither the experience nor the sagacity necessary to foresee all the difficulties he was to encounter. He saw himself too at the head of 600,000 fighting men: but, not to mention the prodigious number of old men, women, and children; not to reckon servants, cattle, and baggage, wherewith the army was incumbered; his first step was the crossing of a large river; in doing of which, he knew himself equally exposed to the arms of those whom he went to attack, and of those whom he left behind. The nations that he was to subdue were naturally warlike, of a gigantic stature and strength; their towns well fortified by nature and art; their forces and interests united by the strongest ties and alliances: besides, they had all long ago taken the alarm, and had made the greatest preparations against him, determined either to obstruct his conquest of their country, or to lose their lives in its defence. See Univ. Hist. vol. 3:
Related Commentaries of Joshua 1:6
Joshua 1:6
6 Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them.