Joshua's Home Front

At the AishDas shabbaton, R' Micha suggested the following idea to me as a way to read one of the pesuqim in last week's parasha:

Devarim/Deutemaronomy 31:7 —

וַיִּקְרָ֨א מֹשֶׁ֜ה לִֽיהוֹשֻׁ֗עַ וַיֹּ֨אמֶר אֵלָ֜יו לְעֵינֵ֣י כָל־יִשְׂרָאֵל֮ חֲזַ֣ק וֶֽאֱמָץ֒ כִּ֣י אַתָּ֗ה תָּבוֹא֙ אֶת־הָעָ֣ם הַזֶּ֔ה אֶל־הָאָ֕רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֨ר נִשְׁבַּ֧ע יְהוָ֛ה לַֽאֲבֹתָ֖ם לָתֵ֣ת לָהֶ֑ם וְאַתָּ֖ה תַּנְחִילֶ֥נָּה אוֹתָֽם׃

This is usually translated something like:
And Moses called unto Joshua, and said unto him in the sight of all Israel: 'Be strong and of good courage; for thou shalt go with this people into the land which the LORD hath sworn unto their fathers to give them; and thou shalt cause them to inherit it.

However, it doesn't quite fit the grammar of the trop (cantillation marks). Most verses in the Tanakh are split in half by the sign etnahh(ta),  ֑  (assuming your computer can handle Unicode). And when they're split into three, etnahh(ta) is the second of the pseudo-semicolons — the first being segol,  ֒ . No, not  ֶ ,  ֒  !

So now let's break up the pasuq according to the trop:

וַיִּקְרָ֨א מֹשֶׁ֜ה לִֽיהוֹשֻׁ֗עַ וַיֹּ֨אמֶר אֵלָ֜יו לְעֵינֵ֣י כָל־יִשְׂרָאֵל֮ חֲזַ֣ק וֶֽאֱמָץ֒
כִּ֣י אַתָּ֗ה תָּבוֹא֙ אֶת־הָעָ֣ם הַזֶּ֔ה אֶל־הָאָ֕רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֨ר נִשְׁבַּ֧ע יְהוָ֛ה לַֽאֲבֹתָ֖ם לָתֵ֣ת לָהֶ֑ם
וְאַתָּ֖ה תַּנְחִילֶ֥נָּה אוֹתָֽם׃

And then Moshe called to Yehoshua‘, and said to him:
"In the sight of all Israel, be strong and courageous!

For you will come with this nation to the Land
that God swore to their ancestors to give to them;

And you will distribute it to them."

So, according to this reading, it's possible that Moshe wasn't telling Yehoshua‘ all this in front of the people — instead, he was telling him specificly to be strong in front of the people, i.e. don't let them see your weakness! Moshe had a lot of trouble with the Israelites disrespecting him, and he was giving Yehoshua‘ advice as to how to be a good leader for the whiny, needy and stiff-necked people: keep up a good front of being strong for them, even if you're not really feeling strong inside. And hey, read Yehoshua‘'s book. It seems to work.