John Calvin Commentary Joshua 1:12

"And to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, spake Joshua, saying," — Joshua 1:12 (ASV)

And to the Reubenites, etc. An inheritance had been granted to them beyond the Jordan, on the condition that they should continue to perform military service with their brothers in expelling the nations of Canaan. Joshua therefore now exhorts them to fulfill their promise: to leave their wives, their children, and all their possessions behind, to cross the Jordan, and not to stop waging war until they had placed their brothers in peaceful possession.

In urging them to act this way, he employs two arguments: one drawn from authority and the other from equity. He therefore reminds them of the command given to them by Moses, from whose decision it was not permissible to deviate, since it was well known to all that he spoke nothing on his own, but only what God had dictated through him. At the same time, without directly asserting it, Joshua indirectly suggests that they are bound by agreement, since they had committed to act in this manner. He next appeals to them with reasons of equity, so that there might be no inequality in the condition of those for whom the same inheritance had been destined in common. It would be very unfitting, he says, that your brothers should be incurring danger, or at least toiling in waging war, while you are enjoying all the comforts of a peaceful settlement.

When he orders them to "precede" or "pass before," the meaning is not that they were to be the first to enter into conflict with the enemy, nor that in any emergencies they might face, they were to bear more than their share of the burden. He only urges them in this way to move with alacrity, as it would have been a kind of evasion to keep to the rear and follow slowly behind others.

The expression pass before your brothers, therefore, does not mean to stand in the front of the battle, but simply to maintain their ranks and thereby demonstrate their ready zeal. For it is certain that as they were arranged in four divisions, they advanced in the same order. Since he calls them "men of war," we may infer, as will become clearer elsewhere, that the aged and others not physically strong were permitted to remain at home to look after the common welfare, or were completely excused from public duty if they were in any way unable to perform it.