Verses 7, 8. - Moses, having in view the appointment of Joshua as his successor, also encourages him to go forward on the strength of the Divine promise. Thou must go with this people. This is a correct rendering of the words as they stand in the Hebrew text. The Samaritan, Syriac, and Vulgate have, "Thou shalt bring this people;" but this is probably an arbitrary correction in order to assimilate this to ver. 23. And thou shalt cause them to inherit it; i.e. shalt conduct them to the full possession of the land.

31:1-8 Moses assures Israel of the constant presence of God with them. This is applied by the apostle to all God's spiritual Israel, to encourage their faith and hope; unto us is this gospel preached, as well as unto them; he will never fail thee, nor forsake thee, Heb 13:5. Moses commends Joshua to them for a leader; one whose wisdom, and courage, and affection they had long known; one whom God had appointed to be their leader; and therefore would own and bless. Joshua is well pleased to be admonished by Moses to be strong and of good courage. Those shall speed well, who have God with them; therefore they ought to be of good courage. Through God let us do valiantly, for through him we shall do victoriously; if we resist the devil, he will flee from us.And Moses called unto Joshua,.... Who might be at some distance from him, with the tribe to which he belonged. The Targum of Jonathan adds,"out of the midst of the people:"

and said unto him, in the sight of all Israel; now assembled together, and what follows was said in their hearing, to make him the more respectable to them:

be strong and of a good courage; the same that is said to the people in Deuteronomy 31:6, and which was still more necessary in him, who was to be their general, and to go at the head of them, and lead them on to battle; and though Joshua was a man of courage and valour, as well as had military skill, as appears by his fight with Amalek, Exodus 17:9; yet such an exhortation was not needless, seeing he had so much work to do, and so many enemies to contend with:

for thou must go with this people unto the land which the Lord hath sworn unto their fathers to give them, and thou shalt cause them to inherit it; the Targum of Jonathan is,"which the Word of the Lord hath sworn to give;''the land of Canaan, thither he must go with them; this was the will and determination of God, and he must go alone without him, Moses, which would be a trial of his courage.