Verse 5
5. And the law The Torah. In note on chap. Joshua 1:8, we have shown that the Torah was already called a book. We have in this verse grounds for inferring that there was more than one copy. The Eastern tribes could not have been commanded to take diligent heed to obey the Torah if they were now to be excluded from its constant perusal.
With all your heart and with all your soul The words heart and soul indicate the affectional and emotional nature, and are used to intensify the exhortation to sincere and heartfelt obedience unto Jehovah. As if foreseeing the decay of national feeling which the separation of the deep trench of the Jordan would tend to create, Joshua tenderly and earnestly presses upon the departing tribes the duty of a faithful study of the law and a scrupulous obedience to its requirements. He well knew that the Hebrew could be a patriot only as he was an Israelite indeed; a lover of his nation only as a lover of his nation’s God. With a clear vision did Joshua see that both individual and national prosperity must arise from obedience to the moral law. The redundancy of the language evinces the intense earnestness of the great leader.
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