BOOK III.

LESSON I.

JOSHUA TAKES THE COMMAND.

B.C. 1451.-Joshua i.

Now after the death of Moses the servant of the LORD it came to pass, that the LORD spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' minister,* saying, Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel.

Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses.

From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast.

There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them. 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.

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.

Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.

Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying,

Pass through the host,† and command the people, saying, Prepare you victuals; for within three days ye shall pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land, which the LORD your God giveth you to possess it.

And they answered Joshua, saying, All that thou commandest us we will do, and whithersoever thou sendest us, we will go.

According as we hearkened unto Moses in all things, so will we hearken unto thee: only the LORD thy God be with thee, as he was with Moses.

Whosoever he be that doth rebel against thy commandment, and will not hearken unto thy words in all that thou commandest him, he shall be put to death: only be strong and of a good courage.

COMMENT. The last chapter of Deuteronomy was probably added by the writer of the book in continuation, either by one of the priests or by Joshua himself. The camp had been left in silence and awe when the great and holy man to whom each had looked since his earliest youth for government and guidance had been lost to sight on the mountain. There was a waiting time, and then the Voice spake and announced that the thing they could scarce believe was true, and that Moses was dead. But it was to the chosen successor of Moses that the Voice spake, and it called him not to mourn, but to conquer. The bounds of the land were traced out from Lebanon just seen in the distance, and the blue Mediterranean, that great sea in the west, even to the great river Euphrates to the east, and to the wilderness to the south. These were the utmost limits. Once the Israelite kingdom reached them, in the time of Solomon. Otherwise the sins and idolatries of the people prevented the perfect fulfilment of the promise. But wherever the faithful Joshua should turn his arms, he would conquer. All that was required of him was to “be strong and of a good courage,” and to keep the law constantly in his mind. So should he have good success and prosper.

And the people, heartened and encouraged by the noble exhortations of Moses, and trained from their youth in obedience and faith, pledged themselves to obedience to Joshua, and replied with that same watchword, "Be strong and of a good courage." So does our Joshua, the Captain of our Salvation, call on us to go forth with him conquering and to conquer-to conquer our sins and to win the kingdom of heaven, and still all that is required is the same, "Be strong and of a good courage."

LESSON II.

THE FAITH OF RAHAB.

B.C. 1451.-JOSHUA ii. 1-22.

And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim* two men to spy secretly, saying, Go view the land, even Jericho. And they went, and came into a woman's house, named Rahab, and lodged there.

And it was told the king of Jericho, saying, Behold, there came men in hither to night of the children of Israel to search out the country.

And the king of Jericho sent unto Rahab, saying, Bring forth the men that are come to thee, which are entered into thine house: for they be come to search out all the country.

And the woman took the two men, and hid them, and said thus, There came men unto me, but I wist not whence they were:

And it came to pass about the time of shutting of the gate, when it was dark, that the men went out: whither the men went I wot not: pursue after them quickly; for ye shall overtake them.

But she had brought them up to the roof of the house, and hid them with stalks of flax, which she had laid in order upon the roof.

And the men pursued after them the way to Jordan unto the fords: and as soon as they which pursued after them were gone out, they shut

the gate.

And before they were laid down, she came up unto them upon the roof; And she said unto the men, I know that the LORD hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you.

For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites, that were on the other side Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed.

And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.

Now therefore, I pray you, swear unto me by the LORD, since I have shewed you kindness, that ye will also shew kindness unto my father's house, and give me a true token:

And that ye will save alive my father, and my mother, and my brethren, and my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death.

And the men answered her, Our life for yours, if ye utter not this our business. And it shall be, when the LORD hath given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with thee.

Then she let them down by a cord through the window: for her house was upon the town wall, and she dwelt upon the wall.

*The Acacias.

And she said unto them, Get you to the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you; and hide yourselves there three days, until the pursuers be returned: and afterward may ye go your way.

And the men said unto her, We will be blameless of this thine oath which thou hast made us swear.

Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou didst let us down by: and thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father's household, home unto thee.

And it shall be, that whosoever shall go out of the doors of thy house into the street, his blood shall be upon his head, and we will be guiltless: and whosoever shall be with thee in the house, his blood shall be on our head, if any hand be upon him.

And if thou utter this our business, then we will be quit of thine oath which thou hast made us to swear.

And she said, According unto your words, so be it. And she sent them away, and they departed: and she bound the scarlet line in the window.

And they went, and came unto the mountain, and abode there three days, until the pursuers were returned: and the pursuers sought them throughout all the way, but found them not.

COMMENT.-Again Joshua sent out men to reconnoitre. During the forty years that the Israelites had spent in the wilderness, a king of Egypt, whose ensign was the hornet, had entered Palestine by the more direct way, overrun the country, and broken the strength of the Amorites, so that the cities might be strong in themselves, but the nations who held them, especially in the south, were much enfeebled. Israel had been led this long way round by the east of the Dead Sea, that they might fall upon the country in the central knot of hills that forms its strongest position, so that, these once conquered, the whole land might be in their grasp. Here then lay the host, with Jordan before them, and Jericho, a strong walled city, enclosed by lovely groves of palm-trees, guarding the passage of the strong deep river, just where it flows into the sluggish sea.

The two men safely passed the river and entered the city at eventide. The great camp had been lying in the neighbourhood for a full year, and though the host did not maraud like Amalekites or Midianites, it was known that there was a more serious purpose of conquest than was ever entertained by those wanderers, and it was jealously watched. On the first report that two men from thence had entered the town and gone to Rahab's house, which seems to have been a place of entertainment for travellers, she was summoned