John Calvin Commentary Joshua 1:16

"And they answered Joshua, saying, All that thou hast commanded us we will do, and whithersoever thou sendest us we will go." — Joshua 1:16 (ASV)

And they answered, etc. They not only acquiesce but also freely admit and explicitly detail the obedience that they owe. Our obligations are duly discharged only when we perform them cheerfully, and not in sadness, as Paul expresses it (2 Corinthians 9:7). If it is objected that there is little modesty in their boast of having been obedient to Moses, whom they had often contradicted, I answer that although they did not always follow with becoming ardor, yet they were so disposed to obey that their moderation was not only tolerable but also worthy of the highest praise, when it is considered how proudly their fathers rebelled and how perversely they endeavored to shake off a yoke divinely imposed on them. For the persons who speak here were not those rebellious spirits of whom God complains (Psalms 95:8–11) that he was provoked by them, but persons who, subdued by the examples of punishment, had learned quietly to submit.

Indeed, it is not so much to herald their own virtues as to extol the authority of Joshua when they declare that they will regard him in the same light as they regarded Moses. The groundwork of their confidence is at the same time expressed in their wish or prayer that God may be present to assist his servant Joshua as he assisted his servant Moses. They intimate that they will be ready to wage war under the leadership of their new leader, because they are persuaded that he is armed with power and the hope that he will be victorious by the assistance of God, as they had learned by experience how wonderfully God assisted them through the hand of Moses. We may infer, moreover, that they actually felt this confidence, both because they recall their experiences of God’s favor to encourage themselves and because they regard Joshua as the successor of Moses regarding prosperous results.

The epithet your God is not without weight, as it evidently points to a continued course of divine favor. The form of expression also is intermediate between the confidence of faith and prayer. Accordingly, while they intimate that they cherish good hope, they at the same time resort to prayer, convinced of the arduousness of the work. Immediately after, when they of their own accord exhort him to constancy, they show that they are ready to follow and to imitate him in his confidence. Here, it is to be observed that although Joshua was a model of courage, and animated all, both by deed and precept, he in turn was stimulated onward, so that his own alacrity might be more effective in arousing that of the people.