Joshua 1 explained

"Meditate" in 1:8 is a Hebrew verb used both for murmuring and for musing, and it comes right after "shall not depart from your mouth". In the WEB, only Psalm 1:2 also has someone meditate "day and night". And the chapter ends with the LORD's words given back to Joshua by those he leads: "Only be strong and courageous" (1:18).

The book opens with two men and two titles: "Now after the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ servant" (1:1). In English it is "servant" both times. In Hebrew they are two different words. Moses is the LORD's eved, the word Deuteronomy used at his death: "So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab" (Deuteronomy 34:5), and the LORD's own "Moses my servant is dead" (1:2). Joshua is Moses' mesharet, one who attends and ministers (tap Moses’ servant), the word used of him from the start: "Moses rose up with Joshua, his servant" (Exodus 24:13); "his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, didn’t depart from the Tent" (Exodus 33:11). Joshua still has that title here, as he is told to lead. At the end of the book it has changed: "Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being one hundred ten years old" (24:29), and there the word is eved.

"The LORD spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ servant" (1:1). The book calls him "the servant of the LORD" only at his death (24:29).

Joshua 1:1 · Joshua 24:29

Joshua 1:8→leads toJohn 15:7

The LORD tells Joshua, "This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it" (1:8). Jesus told his disciples, "If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, you will ask whatever you desire, and it will be done for you" (John 15:7), and "If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love" (John 15:10). Jesus doesn't cite Joshua 1, so setting the two side by side is a reading. Some hear the same call in both: words that are to stay with the one who hears them, and be done. Others read John 15:7 within Jesus' picture of the vine, where the first call is "Remain in me, and I in you" (John 15:4), about remaining in Jesus himself, and don't look back to Joshua 1.

הָגָהhagahsay ha-GAH

Brown-Driver-Briggs: "moan, growl, utter, speak, muse", and among its uses, "meditate, muse". Strong's: "to murmur (in pleasure or anger); by implication, to ponder". It is used of sounds, a lion "growling over his prey" (Isaiah 31:4), "I moaned like a dove" (Isaiah 38:14), and of thinking, "Your heart will meditate on the terror" (Isaiah 33:18). Here it follows "This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth" (1:8). This is its only use in Joshua. In the WEB, only one other verse has someone meditate "day and night": "On his law he meditates day and night" (Psalm 1:2), where the Hebrew has the same verb and the same words for day and night.

"This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night" (1:8). What would keeping God's words close, day and night, actually look like in your week?