Joshua Becomes Israel’s Leader
31 When Moses had finished giving these instructions[a] to all the people of Israel, 2 he said, “I am now 120 years old, and I am no longer able to lead you. The Lord has told me, ‘You will not cross the Jordan River.’ 3 But the Lord your God himself will cross over ahead of you. He will destroy the nations living there, and you will take possession of their land. Joshua will lead you across the river, just as the Lord promised.
4 “The Lord will destroy the nations living in the land, just as he destroyed Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites. 5 The Lord will hand over to you the people who live there, and you must deal with them as I have commanded you. 6 So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you.”
7 Then Moses called for Joshua, and as all Israel watched, he said to him, “Be strong and courageous! For you will lead these people into the land that the Lord swore to their ancestors he would give them. You are the one who will divide it among them as their grants of land. 8 Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you.”
Footnotes:
31:1 As in Dead Sea Scrolls and Greek version; Masoretic Text reads Moses went and spoke.
Ahhhh... the passing of the baton. Always such a difficult task to accomplish. If you have ever watched two runners in the midst of a relay, you will see the precision in which the handoff occurs. First, the timing has to be right. The lead runner can't slow down or change his pace before reaching the second, or the handoff becomes choppy. And if the second runner is looking back instead of to what is ahead, they will be starting from nearly a dead stop. So instead, you see two runners, melding into one... for a moment... and then the first slows down after the handoff and the second is soon out of sight.
I cannot imagine what this was like for the Israelites. Yes, they grumbled a lot about Moses. But he was still their fearless leader who had stood before God. He loved them through one mistake after another and prayed to God on their behalf time and again. Yet now, it was time to hand off the baton. Moses gave assurance to God's people and then gave assurance to the new leader... and then he handed off the leadership to the next in line.
Joshua will surely be given just as much guff as Moses had. He will get upset at the people, while other times he will plead on their behalf. But it will be a new way, a new path, a new leader at the helm. "Oh, for the days of Moses...." will surely be heard somewhere along the way.
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