(13) Hath given you rest.--Observe this phrase. as applied to the settlement of Israel in the land of promise, on either side of Jordan. Those who condemn the two and a half tribes (or the persons whom they suppose to be spiritually represented by them) for not going far enough, should notice that on both sides of Jordan equally there was the "rest of God." But this "rest" is only the first stage of several in Israel's history. We find it again in the reign of David (2 Samuel 7:1), Solomon (1 Chronicles 22:9), Esther (Joshua 9:16-18; Joshua 9:22), and we must not forget the comment in Hebrews 4, obtained from Psalms 95 : "For if Joshua had given them rest, then would He not afterward have spoken of another day." "These all received not the promise." "There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God." The last rest is Sabbatical; the rests that precede it are halting-places on the way.
Verse 13. - Remember the word. The substance, and not the ipsissima verba, of the directions of Moses in Numbers 32. is here given (see also Deuteronomy 3:16-20). Hath given you rest. Perhaps, rather, hath caused you to rest - hath permitted you to settle; though the LXX. here has κατέπαυσεν, and the Vulgate, dedit vobis requiem (cf. Hebrews 3:11-18; Hebrews 4:1-11; and Psalm 95:11). This land, i.e., that in which they then were, on what we call the further side of Jordan.
1:10-15 Joshua says to the people, Ye shall pass over Jordan, and shall possess the land; because God had said so to him. We honour the truth of God, when we stagger not at the promise of God. The two tribes and a half were to go over Jordan with their brethren. When God, by his providence, has given us rest, we ought to consider what service we may do to our brethren.
Remember the word which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you,.... In Numbers 32:29; and to which they had solemnly agreed; and, now the time was come to put it into execution, Joshua reminds them of it:
saying, the Lord your God hath given you rest: from their travels, and a settlement in a country agreeably to their own desire:
and hath given you this land; where they now were, and which they had taken from Sihon and Og, kings of the Amorites, and joined to Moab, on the borders of which Israel lay encamped; and by this it appears, that the settlement of these tribes, on the other side Jordan, was according to the will of God; he gave it to them.
saying, the Lord your God hath given you rest: from their travels, and a settlement in a country agreeably to their own desire:
and hath given you this land; where they now were, and which they had taken from Sihon and Og, kings of the Amorites, and joined to Moab, on the borders of which Israel lay encamped; and by this it appears, that the settlement of these tribes, on the other side Jordan, was according to the will of God; he gave it to them.