Covenant Men Go to War First Text: Joshua 1:12-15
Introduction: The Obligations of Rest
We live in a soft age. It is an age that despises obligations, detests duties, and defines freedom as the absence of any binding commitments. Modern man wants his inheritance without the work, his privileges without the responsibilities, and his rest without the warfare that secures it. But the kingdom of God does not operate on such flimsy and effeminate principles. In the economy of God, rest is not a retreat from duty, but rather the fruit of covenant faithfulness. Rest is earned, it is fought for, and it is then enjoyed under the benediction of God. And it is a corporate affair.
In this passage, we come to a crucial moment in the life of Israel. They are poised on the brink of the Jordan, ready to undertake the conquest of the Promised Land. The great commission to take Canaan has been given. But before the first soldier sets foot in the water, Joshua turns to address two and a half tribes, the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. These tribes had already received their inheritance on the east side of the Jordan. They had their land, their homes were being established, and they could have plausibly argued that their part in the struggle was over. They were home. They had their rest.
But that is not how covenant works. A covenant is not a contract between independent parties, where each one looks out for his own interests. A covenant creates a people. It binds them together into one body, one army, one family. The welfare of the tribes in the west was the business of the tribes in the east. Their war was their war. Their rest was dependent on their brothers' rest. Joshua, as the new head of Israel, understands this perfectly. And so his first order of business after receiving God's charge is to remind these men of their prior commitment. He is not instituting a new policy; he is calling them to honor a promise made to Moses. He is reminding them that covenant men do not settle down to enjoy their own peace while their brothers are still at war. They are the shock troops. They go first.
This is a principle that cuts directly across the grain of our individualistic and self-centered age. It teaches us about the nature of the church, the duty of Christian men, and the price of true, lasting, corporate peace. We cannot understand our own spiritual warfare until we grasp the principles laid out here on the banks of the Jordan.
The Text
To the Reubenites and to the Gadites and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, Joshua said, "Remember the word which Moses the servant of Yahweh commanded you, saying, 'Yahweh your God gives you rest and will give you this land.' Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle shall remain in the land which Moses gave you beyond the Jordan, but you shall cross before your brothers in battle array, all your valiant warriors, and shall help them until Yahweh gives your brothers rest as He gives you, and they also possess the land which Yahweh your God is giving them. Then you shall return to the land of your possession and possess it, which Moses the servant of Yahweh gave you beyond the Jordan to the east toward the sunrise."
(Joshua 1:12-15 LSB)
Remember the Word (v. 12-13)
Joshua begins by calling these tribes to an act of memory.
"To the Reubenites and to the Gadites and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, Joshua said, 'Remember the word which Moses the servant of Yahweh commanded you, saying, "Yahweh your God gives you rest and will give you this land."'" (Joshua 1:12-13)
The first word is "Remember." The entire Christian life is predicated on remembering. We are commanded to remember the Sabbath, to remember what God has done, to remember His covenant. Forgetting is the first step toward apostasy. Joshua calls them back to the word spoken by Moses, God's servant. This establishes a crucial continuity. Joshua is not a revolutionary, inventing a new program. He is a faithful successor, building on the foundation laid by Moses. All true reformation is a recovery, a return to the authoritative Word.
And what are they to remember? The promise of God. "Yahweh your God gives you rest and will give you this land." Notice the grammar. God is the one who gives. He gives rest, and He gives land. This is the foundation of their confidence. The land is not something they seize for themselves through sheer grit; it is a gift they receive by obedient faith. The rest is not a result of happenstance; it is a divine grant. This is crucial. If they thought the land and rest were products of their own strength, they would be tempted to use that strength for their own ends. But because it is all a gift of grace, they are obligated to administer that gift according to the terms of the Giver.
This is a direct parallel for the Christian. Our salvation, our spiritual rest, is a gift. "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God" (Ephesians 2:8). Because we have been given everything, we owe everything. Our lives are not our own; we were bought with a price. Therefore, we are not free to pursue our own comfort and peace at the expense of the body. The grace we received is the very reason for the obligation we now have.
Patriarchal Provision and Martial Duty (v. 14)
Next, Joshua lays out the specific terms of the arrangement, highlighting the distinction between domestic provision and military obligation.
"Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle shall remain in the land which Moses gave you beyond the Jordan, but you shall cross before your brothers in battle array, all your valiant warriors, and shall help them" (Joshua 1:14 LSB)
Here we see the biblical pattern of masculine headship in sharp relief. The men go to war, and the women, children, and the domestic economy ("your cattle") are provided for and protected. The men form the hard perimeter, the cutting edge of the spear, so that the household can flourish in safety and peace behind them. This is not chauvinism; it is chivalry. It is the glory of a man to lay himself down for the protection of his people. It is his created purpose. An army of "valiant warriors" is sent out, not an army of families.
Our culture finds this offensive because it has rejected the created order. It wants to erase the glorious differences between men and women, and the result is a society where women are less safe and men have abdicated their responsibility. But here, the duty is clear. The men who are fit for battle have a non-negotiable duty to fight. They are to cross over "before your brothers." They are not to be reinforcements called in if things get tough. They are to be the vanguard. The men who have already received their inheritance are to be the first into the fight for their brothers' inheritance. This is the opposite of all worldly thinking, which says, "I've got mine, you get yours." The biblical principle is, "Because I have been blessed, I will be the first to bleed for you."
They are to go "in battle array." This is not a disorganized mob. This is a disciplined army, prepared for war. And their mission is simple: "and shall help them." The Hebrew word here is `azar`, which means to help, to support, to succor. It is the same word used for Eve's relation to Adam. It speaks of a necessary, powerful, and essential contribution. They were not just to offer moral support from the sidelines; they were to bring their swords and their strength into the thick of the fight.
The Goal is Corporate Rest (v. 15)
Finally, Joshua defines the victory condition. He tells them how long they must fight and what the ultimate goal is.
"until Yahweh gives your brothers rest as He gives you, and they also possess the land which Yahweh your God is giving them. Then you shall return to the land of your possession and possess it, which Moses the servant of Yahweh gave you beyond the Jordan to the east toward the sunrise." (Joshua 1:15 LSB)
The mission has a definite end point. They are not signing up for a perpetual war. They are to fight "until" a specific objective is met. And what is that objective? That their brothers receive the same two gifts they had already received: rest and land. "Until Yahweh gives your brothers rest as He gives you." The standard is parity. The goal is corporate shalom. There is no true rest for any part of the body if another part is still in the thick of the fight.
This is a profound lesson for the Church. We are one body in Christ. We are commanded to bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ (Galatians 6:2). We are not to look only to our own interests, but also to the interests of others (Philippians 2:4). The comfortable Christian in the peaceful suburb has a covenant obligation to the persecuted Christian in a hostile nation. The mature believer has an obligation to fight for the faith of the new convert. The man whose household is in order has a duty to help the man whose household is under assault. We are in this together, and the fight is not over until all of God's people are brought safely into their inheritance.
Only after this condition is met are they released to return to their own land. And notice the beautiful promise: "Then you shall return... and possess it." Their possession of their own inheritance is made more secure, more real, by their faithfulness to their covenant obligations. By fighting for their brothers' land, they truly take possession of their own. Blessing comes through obedience. Security comes through sacrifice. This is the logic of the cross, applied to the conquest of Canaan.
Fighting From Rest, For Rest
What we see here is a pattern for all of Christian life and warfare. The two and a half tribes are a picture of the mature believer, the established Christian man. God has already given them a place of rest. They operate from a position of security. But this rest is not a license for retirement. It is the base of operations for further warfare.
We do not fight for our salvation; we fight from our salvation. We have been given rest in Christ. We are seated with Him in the heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6). Our inheritance is secure. But like these valiant warriors, that security does not send us to the couch; it sends us to the front lines. Because our eternal position is secure, we are freed to take risks for our brothers. Because we have peace with God, we can wage war against His enemies.
The Christian man, in particular, must take this to heart. God has given you a household, a wife, children. That is your land, your inheritance. But your duty does not end at your own front door. You are part of a broader covenant community, a church. You are a valiant warrior, and your brothers are still in the fight. You must go before them in battle array. This means leading in prayer, fighting against sin in the camp, providing for the weak, defending the faith against heretics, and pushing back the darkness in the culture. You fight until your brothers have rest. You spend your strength so that others may enter into their inheritance.
And the promise is that when the great war is finally over, when the true Joshua, Jesus Christ, has given all His people their final rest, we will return to possess our own inheritance more fully and more gloriously than we ever could have otherwise. For the man who lays down his life for his brothers will find it again, glorified and eternal, in the new heavens and the new earth, to the east of Eden, toward the sunrise.