- This Book Of the Law Shall not Depart Out of Thy Mouth - Jos 1:8, is a wonderful blueprint for true success as it presents the Bible alone as the solution to man’s every need and the sole basis for man’s ultimate contentment: “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success”. Isn’t it remarkable that God would bestow such a precious gift – His Word – upon the human race? It can only be matched by the incarnation and subsequent death, burial, and resurrection of God’s dear Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, Who is the focus as well as the fulfillment of all Scripture, as Psa 40:7-8 so beautifully proclaims: “Then said I [Jesus Christ], Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart”. In the compelling passage in Deu 32:45-47, God is highlighting at least four essential principles: 1) Our hearts are to be focused upon the Word of God. 2) Parents are to command their children to obey all the Word of God. 3) All – not just some – of the words of the Bible are to be obeyed. 4) The Bible is our very life, as Deu 8:3 teaches. Isa 59:21 points out that His Word, or Law, is to be in our mouths. The “mouth” implies our need for spiritual nourishment in addition to physical nourishment, as Mat 4:4 describes, “… Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God”. We witness this in the life of Job, that Job did not “go back”, as the Hebrew word for “depart” is rendered in Job 23:12: “Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food”. This by no means insinuates that Job never sinned, but rather that the true Christian perseveres to the end by God’s grace. Luke 9:62 further explains this concept, “And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God”.
Deu 32:45-47 “And Moses made an end of speaking all these words to all Israel: And he said unto them, Set your hearts unto all the words which I testify among you this day, which ye shall command your children to observe to do, all the words of this law. For it is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life…”
Deu 8:3 “And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.”
Isa 59:21 “As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the LORD; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever.”
- Thou Shalt Meditate Therein Day and Night - What does it mean to “meditate” in God’s Law, the Bible? I had always been under the impression that meditating had only to do with thinking as Psa 1:2 and other passages seem to indicate: “But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night”. Psa 63:6 similarly states, “When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches”. But because Hebrew is such a pictorially rich and expressive language, the Hebrew word for “meditate” is pregnant with several different meanings, such as “to speak”, “to mourn”, “to utter”, and “to imagine”, along with others, as in the following verses: Psa 35:28 says: “And my tongue shall speak of thy righteousness and of thy praise all the day long”. Isa 38:14 is part of King Hezekiah’s monologue under divine inspiration while he was “sick unto death”: “Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter: I did mourn as a dove: mine eyes fail with looking upward: O LORD, I am oppressed; undertake for me”. Literally, “meditate upon” signifies “give care” or “attend to”, which implies a commitment to action. It is actually a command that, when heeded, would result in spiritual “profit” to Timothy in the historical context and to us as well: “Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all” (1 Tim 4:15) . The phrase “day and night” implies an ongoing communion with the Lord through “hearing” and “doing” the will of God with heartfelt gratitude and adoration. Psa 88:1 testifies: “O LORD God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee: Let my prayer come before thee: incline thine ear unto my cry”. Psa 42:8 and Neh 9:19 speaks of God’s “day and night” – constant and faithful protective care for His Sheep: “Yet the LORD will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life”. As one becomes more and more acquainted with the Bible, one learns about God’s desire to redeem a people for Himself by means of the “Great Commission”, to which Isa 60:11 alludes. Bear in mind, too, that both “day” and “night” point to the fact that only an infinite and all-wise Creator could create and sustain this fantastic universe, as Psa 19:2 describes, “Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge”. The creation shouts to mankind that God exists; however, it does not explain the nature of salvation as do the Scriptures.
Neh 9:19 “Yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness: the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to shew them light, and the way wherein they should go.”
Isa 60:11 “Therefore thy gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought.”
- That Thou Mayest Observe to Do According to All That is Written Therein - We learned above that meditating on the Bible implies something far more than merely hearing the truths of the Bible. The Bible is replete with commandments, statutes, ordinances, and laws that require obedience, as indicated by the phrase “… that thou mayest observe to do …”. The Bible must always be approached with a desire to being altogether obedient to the Word of God. Jam 1:21b-25 makes this assessment: “… be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves …”. Exo 20:4-6 also expresses this in the Ten Commandments, which summarize the Law of God – the Bible: “… And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments …”. God has enlisted each true Christian in this greatest of all endeavors – to fulfill the “royal law” of love by presenting the Gospel of the Bible – as Jam 2:8 affirms: “If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well”. Deu 4:2 asserts that every word of Scripture is holy and is to be implicitly obeyed, and never to be added or deleted: “Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you”. Jos 23:6 exhorts, “Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that ye turn not aside therefrom to the right hand or to the left”. The Scriptures in their totality are to be the divine authority for each true Christian to earnestly follow, and to teach to their children and grandchildren according to Deu 4:9. May we never lose sight of one essential element – “salvation” – “new-birth” – “indwelling Holy Spirit”, with respect to obeying all that the Bible teaches as Eze 36:27 reminds us: “And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them”.
Exo 20:4-6 “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.”
Deu 4:9 “Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons.”
Jam 1:21b-25 “… receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass. For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, [the Bible] and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.”
- Thou Shalt Make Thy Way Prosperous - Which “way” is being described here? In actuality, there are only two ways that exist – God’s way (as followed by true believers) and Satan’s way (as followed by unsaved man). 2 Sam 22:31 explains the absolute supremacy of God’s way: “As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all them that trust in him”. In reality, unsaved man (emulating his spiritual father, Satan) perverts or destroys God’s way, as Gen 6:12 illustrates: “And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth”. God’s way relates to the Lord Jesus Christ and will ultimately prevail. He is indeed “… the way, the truth, and the life …” according to John 14:6. The words of Isa 48:17 become applicable to anyone who is spiritually transformed into a child of God: “Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go”. Exo 23:20 accentuates God’s care for His children by sending the “Angel [or Messenger] of the LORD”, Who was the appearance of the Lord Jesus in the Old Testament: “Behold, I send an Angel [Messenger] before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared”. The soul of the true Christian cries out in gratitude and humility with the Psalmist in Psa 86:11: “Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name”. Pro 3:5-6 also underscores this: “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths”. Psa 119:1 reveals that the way we acknowledge Him is by obeying His Word, the Bible: “Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD”. Does this verse in some way guarantee good health, or financial prosperity, or even political freedom? This is not the case at all. Then what does it signify? First and foremost, we need to recognize that it is after we “… observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous …”. Only those whom God saves can, in principle, do the Word of God perfectly and be “righteous” in God’s eyes, only because of the atoning work of Christ at the cross and fulfilling the law for them (Rom 5:19). And the “prosperity” that is being promised in this verse is “eternal inheritance in heaven”. 1 Cor 15:19 stresses the importance of a “living hope” for each believer who anticipates spending eternity – not just a few years on this earth – with the object, or substance, of his hope, the Lord Jesus Christ: “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable”. 2 Cor 4:18 also mentions the difference between “things not seen” and the “things which are seen”. The “things on the earth” are the things which can be seen – or temporal things. This verse, like Heb 11:1, indicates that “the things which are not seen are eternal”. If we are a true Christian, things that are eternal in character should grip our minds and hearts and motivate us to greater obedience, as Col 3:1-2 asserts.
2 Chr 24:20 “And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, which stood above the people, and said unto them, Thus saith God, Why transgress ye the commandments of the LORD, that ye cannot prosper? because ye have forsaken the LORD, he hath also forsaken you.”
Jos 1:8 “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.”
2 Cor 4:18 “While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
Col 3:1-2 “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.”
- Thou Shalt Have Good Success - Apart from salvation there can be no true biblical success regardless of how rich, famous, or powerful one might be as Jer 9:23-24 teaches. And true salvation is inextricably linked to the Bible, as Isa 29:18 affirms, “And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness”. A parallel verse to Jos 1:8, that utilizes the same Hebrew word (sakal H:7919) for “success” is translated as “prosper” in Deu 29:9, “Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and do them, that ye may prosper in all that ye do”. Please keep in mind that prosperity – in the way God intends – has to do with spiritual “blessing”, not material “blessing”, and God will only bless through His Word, the Bible, as Isa 55:10-11 illustrates. Let’s briefly consider some other Old Testament verses that use the same Hebrew word (sakal H:7919) for “success” found in Jos 1:8. 1) It is rendered as understand in Psa 14:2, describing all who are unsaved: “The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand (sakal H:7919), and seek God”. 2) It is translated as wise in Pro 15:24, which describes the result of salvation: “The way of life is above to the wise (sakal H:7919), that he may depart from hell beneath”. 3) It is rendered as instruct in Neh 9:20, referring to the work of God the Holy Spirit to lead the believer into “all truth” (by feeding him with the manna and water of the Word): “Thou gavest also thy good spirit to instruct (sakal H:7919) them, and withheldest not thy manna from their mouth, and gavest them water for their thirst”. 4) It is translated as prudently in Isa 52:13, referring to that eternal quality which God the Son possesses: “Behold, my servant shall deal prudently (sakal H:7919), he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high”. 5) It is rendered as understandeth in Jer 9:23-24, that pinpoints the zenith of Christian experience – that of understanding and knowing God, his Savior: “... that he understandeth (sakal H:7919) and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD”. 6) It is translated as wise in Dan 12:3, speaking of the believer’s mandate to send forth the Gospel: “And they that be wise (sakal H:7919) shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.”
Jer 9:23-24 “Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.”
Isa 55:10-11 “For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.”
Jos 1:8 “Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. 8This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.”
