The Expositor's Bible: The Book of Joshua Part 2

Even if Moses had not been G.o.d's servant in a sense and in a degree in which few other men ever were, it would have been a glorious thing to obtain that simple appellation. True indeed, the term "servant of G.o.d"

is such a hackneyed one, and often so little represents what it really means, that we need to pause and think of its full import. There may be much honour in being a servant. Even in our families and factories a model servant is a rare and precious treasure. For a real servant is one that has the interest of his master as thoroughly at heart as his own, and never scruples, at any sacrifice of personal interest or feeling, to do all that he can for his master's welfare. A true servant is one of whom his master may say, "There is absolutely no need for me to remind him what my interest requires; he is always thinking of my interest, always on the alert to attend to it, and there is not a single thing I possess that is not safe in his hands."

Does G.o.d possess many such servants? Who among us can suppose G.o.d saying this of him? Yet this was the character of Moses, and in G.o.d's eyes it invested him with singular honour. It was his distinction that he was "faithful in all his house." His own will was thoroughly subdued to the will of G.o.d. The people of whom G.o.d gave him charge were dear to him as a right hand or a right eye. All personal interests and ambitions were put far from him. To aggrandise himself or to aggrandise his house never entered into his thoughts. Never was self more thoroughly crucified in any man's breast. Beautiful and delightful in G.o.d's eyes must have seemed this quality in Moses,--his absolute disinterestedness, his sensibility to every hint of his Master's will, his consecration of all he was and had to G.o.d, and to his people for G.o.d's sake!

It was thus no unsuggestive word that G.o.d used of Moses, when He told Joshua that "His servant" was dead. It was a significant indication of what G.o.d had valued in Moses and now expected of Joshua. The one thing for Joshua to remember about Moses is, that he was the servant of G.o.d.

Let him take pains to be the same; let him have his ear as open as that of Moses to every intimation of G.o.d's will, his will as prompt to respond, and his hand as quick to obey.

Was not this view of the glory of Moses as G.o.d's servant a foreshadow of what was afterwards taught more fully and on a wider scale by our Lord? "The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many." Jesus sought to reverse the natural notions of men as to what const.i.tutes greatness, when He taught that, instead of being measured by the number of servants who wait on us, it is measured rather by the number of persons to whom we become servants. And if it was a mark of Christ's own humiliation that "He took on Him the form of a servant," did not this redound to His highest glory? Was it not for this that G.o.d highly exalted Him and gave Him a name that is above every name? Happy they who are content to be G.o.d'S SERVANTS in whatsoever sphere of life He may place them; seeking not their own, but always intent upon their Master's business!

And now Joshua must succeed Moses and be G.o.d's servant as he was. He must aim at this as the one distinction of his life; he must seek in every action to know what G.o.d would have him to do. Happy man if he can carry out this ideal of life! No conflicting interests or pa.s.sions will distract his soul. His eye being single, his whole body will be full of light. The power that nerves his arm will not be more remarkable than the peace that dwells in his soul. He will show to all future generations the power of a "lost will,"--not the suppression of all desire, according to the Buddhist's idea of bliss, but all lawful natural desires in happy and harmonious action, because subject to the wise, holy, and loving guidance of the will of G.o.d.

Thus we see among the other paradoxes of His government, how G.o.d uses death to promote life. The death of the eminent, the aged, the men of brilliant gifts makes way for others, and stimulates their activity and growth. When the champion of the forest falls the younger trees around it are brought more into contact with the suns.h.i.+ne and fresh air, and push up into taller and more fully developed forms. If none of the younger growth attains the size of the champion, a great many may be advanced to a higher average of size and beauty. If in the second generation of any great religious movement few or none can match the "mighties" of the previous age, there may be a general elevation, a rise of level, an increase of efficiency among the rank and file.

In many ways death enters into G.o.d's plans. Not only does it make way for the younger men,[2] but it has a solemnizing and quickening effect on all who are not hardened and dulled by the wear and tear of life.

[2] "Can death itself when seen in the light of this truth [the adjustment of every being in animated nature to every other] be denied to be an evidence of benevolence? I think not. The law of animal generation makes necessary the law of animal death, if the largest amount of animal happiness is to be secured. If there had been less death there must also have been less life, and what life there was must have been poorer and meaner. Death is a condition of the prolificness of nature, the multiplicity of species, the succession of generations, the co-existence of the young and the old; and these things, it cannot reasonably be doubted, add immensely to the sum of animal happiness."--FLINT'S "Theism," p.

251.

What a memorable event in the spiritual history of families is the first sudden affliction, the first breach in the circle of loving hearts! First, the new experience of intense tender longing, baffled by the inexorable conditions of death; then the vivid vision of eternity, the reality of the unseen flas.h.i.+ng on them with living and awful power, and giving an immeasurable importance to the question of salvation; then the drawing closer to one another, the forswearing of all animosities and jealousies, the cordial desire for unbroken peace and constant co-operation; and if it be the father or the mother that has been taken, the ambition to be useful,--to be a help not a burden to the surviving parent, and to do what little they can of what used to be their father's or their mother's work. Death becomes actually a quickener of the vital energies; instead of a withering influence, it drops like the gentle dew, and becomes the minister of life.

And death is not alone among the destructive agencies that are so often directed to life-giving ends. What a remarkable place is that which is occupied by Pain among G.o.d's instruments of good! How many are there who, looking back on their lives, have to confess, with a mixture of sadness and of joy, that it is their times of greatest suffering that have been the most decisive in their lives,--marked by their best resolutions,--followed by their greatest advance! And it sometimes would seem as if the acuter the suffering the greater the blessing. How near G.o.d seems at times to come to the height of cruelty when really He is overflowing with love! He seems to select the very tenderest spots on which to inflict His blows, the very tenderest and purest affections of the heart. It is a wonderful triumph of faith and submission when the sufferer stands firm and tranquil amidst it all.

And still more when he can find consolation in the a.n.a.logy which was supplied by G.o.d's own act,--"He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?"

And this brings us to our last application. Our Lord Himself, by a beautiful a.n.a.logy in nature, showed the connection, in the very highest sense, between death and life--"Except a grain of wheat fall into the earth and die, it abideth alone; but if it die it beareth much fruit." "Without shedding of blood there is no remission of sin."

When Jesus died at Calvary, the headquarters of death became the nursery of life. The place of a skull, like the prophet's valley of dry bones, gave birth to an exceeding great army of living men. Among the wonders that will bring glory to G.o.d in the highest throughout eternity, the greatest will be this evolution of good from evil, of happiness from pain, of life from death. And even when the end comes, and death is swallowed up of victory, and death and h.e.l.l are cast into the lake of fire, there will abide with the glorified a lively sense of the infinite blessing that came to them from G.o.d through the repulsive channel of death, finding its highest expression in that anthem of the redeemed--"THOU WAS SLAIN, AND HAST REDEEMED US TO G.o.d BY THY BLOOD."

CHAPTER IV.

_JOSHUA'S CALL._

JOSHUA i. 2-5.

Joshua has heard the Divine voice summoning him to the att.i.tude of activity--"Arise!" Directions follow immediately as to the course which his activity is to take. His first step is to be a very p.r.o.nounced one--"Go over this Jordan": enter the land, not by yourself, or with a handful of comrades, as you did forty years ago, but "thou and all this people." Take the bold step, cross the river; and when you are across the river, take possession of the country which I now give to your people. The time has come for decided action; it is for you to show the way, and summon your people to follow.

It was a very solemn and striking moment, second only in interest to that when, forty years before, their fathers had stood at the edge of the sea, with the host of Pharaoh hurrying on behind. At length the hour has come to take possession of the inheritance! At length the promise made so many hundred years ago to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is ripe for fulfilment! You, children of Israel, have seen that G.o.d is in no haste to fulfil His promises, and your hearts may have known much of the sickness of hope deferred. But now you are to see that after all G.o.d is faithful. He never forgets. He makes no mistakes. His delays are all designed for good, either to chasten or to try, and thus confirm and bless His people. He will now bring forth your righteousness as the light and your judgment as the noon-day.

There were two things that might make Joshua and the people hesitate to cross the Jordan. In the first place, the river was in flood; it was the time when the Jordan overflowed its banks (Josh. iii. 15), and, being a rapid river, crossing it in such circ.u.mstances might well seem out of the question. But in the second place, to cross the Jordan was to throw down the gauntlet to the enemy. It was a declaration of war, and a challenge to them to do their worst. It was a signal for them to a.s.semble, fight for their hearths and homes, and strain every nerve to annihilate this invader who made such a bold claim to their possessions. All the children of Anak whom Joshua had seen on his former visit would now range themselves against Israel; all the seven nations would muster their bravest forces, and the contest would not be like Joshua's battle with Amalek, finished in a single day, but a long succession of battles, in which all the resources of power and skill, of craft and cunning would be brought to bear against Israel.

According to appearances, nothing short of this would be the result of compliance with the command, "Go over this Jordan."

On the one hand, therefore, compliance was physically impossible, and on the other, even if possible, it would have been fearfully perilous.

But it is never G.o.d's method to give impossible commands. The very fact of His commanding anything is a proof of His readiness to make it possible, nay, to make it easy and simple to those who have faith to attempt it. "Stretch out thy hand," said Christ to the man with the withered hand. "Stretch out my hand?" the man might have said in astonishment,--"why, it is the very thing I am unable to do." "Rise up and walk," said Peter to the lame man at the Beautiful gate. "How can I do that?" he might have replied; "don't you see that I have no use of my limbs?" But in these cases the helpless men had faith in those who bade them exert themselves; they believed that if they tried they would be helped, and helped accordingly they were. So too in the present case. Joshua knew that he and the host could not have crossed the Jordan as it then was by any contrivance in his power; but he knew that it was G.o.d's command, and he was sure that He would provide the means. He felt as if G.o.d and the people were in partners.h.i.+p, each equally interested in the result, and equally desirous to bring it about. Whatever it was necessary for G.o.d to do he was a.s.sured would be done, provided he and the people entered into the Divine plan, and threw all their energies into the work. Not a word of remonstrance did Joshua offer, not a word of explanation of the Divine plan did he ask; he acted as a servant should;

"His not to make reply, His not to reason why;"

his only to trust and obey.

This faith in Divine power qualifying feeble mortals for the hardest tasks has originated some of the n.o.blest enterprises in the history of the world. It was a Divine voice Columbus seemed to hear bidding him cross the wild Atlantic, for he desired to bring the natives of the distant sh.o.r.es beyond it into the pale of the Church; and it was his faith that sustained him when his crew became mutinous and his life was not safe for an hour. It was a Divine voice Livingstone seemed to hear bidding him cross Africa, strike up into the heart of the continent, examine its structure, and throw it open from sh.o.r.e to sh.o.r.e; and never was there a faith stronger or steadier than that which bore him on through fever and famine, through pain and sickness, through disappointment and anguish, and, even when the cold hand of death was on him, would not let him rest until his work was done.

Often in the spiritual warfare it is useful to apply this principle.

Are we called to believe? Are we called to make ourselves a new heart and a new spirit? Are we summoned to fight, to wrestle, to overcome?

Certainly we are. But is not this to tantalize us by ordering us to do what we cannot do? Is not this like telling a sick man to get well, or a decrepit old creature to skip and frisk like a child? It would be so if the principle of partners.h.i.+p between G.o.d and us did not come into play. Faith says, G.o.d is my partner in this matter. Partners even in an ordinary business put their resources together, each doing what his special abilities fit him for. In the partners.h.i.+p which faith establishes between G.o.d and you, the resources of the infinite Partner become available for the needs of the finite. It is G.o.d's part to give orders, it is your part to execute them, and it is G.o.d's part to strengthen you so to do. It is this that makes the command reasonable, "Work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is G.o.d that worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure." Faith rejoices in the partners.h.i.+p, and goes forward in the confidence that the strength of the Almighty will help its weakness, not by one sudden leap, but by that steady growth in grace that makes the path of the just like the s.h.i.+ning light, that s.h.i.+neth more and more unto the perfect day.

It was a great thing for G.o.d to announce that He was now in the act of turning His old, old promise into reality,--that the land pledged to Abraham centuries ago was now at length to become the possession of his descendants. But the gift could be of no avail unless it was actually appropriated. G.o.d gave the people the right to the land; but their own energy, made effectual through His grace, could alone secure the possession. In a remarkable way they were made to feel that, while the land was G.o.d's gift, the appropriation and enjoyment of the gift must come through their own exertions. Just as in a higher sphere we know that our salvation is wholly the gift of G.o.d; and yet the getting hold of this gift, the getting linked to Christ, the entrance as it were into the marriage covenant with Him involves the active exertion of our own will and energy, and the gift never can be ours if we fail thus to appropriate it.

As soon as G.o.d mentions the land, He expatiates on its amplitude and its boundaries. It was designed to be both a comfortable and an ample possession. In point of extent it was a s.p.a.cious region,--"from the wilderness and this Lebanon, even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hitt.i.tes, and unto the great sea, towards the going down of the sun." And it was not merely bits or corners of this land that were to be theirs, they were not designed to share it with other occupants, but "every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, to you have I given it, as I spake unto Moses."

It was in no meagre or stingy spirit that G.o.d was now to fulfil His ancient promise, but in a way corresponding to the essential bountifulness of His nature. For it is a delightful truth that G.o.d's heart is large and liberal, and that He delights in large and bountiful gifts. Has He not made this plain to all in the arrangements of nature? What more lavish than the gift of light, ever streaming from the sun in silver showers? What more abundant than the fresh air that, like an inexhaustible ocean, encompa.s.ses our globe, or the rivers that carry their fresh and fertilizing treasures unweariedly through every meadow? What more productive than the vegetable soil that under favourable conditions teems with fruits and flowers and the elements of food for the use and enjoyment of man?

And when we turn to G.o.d's provision in grace we find glorious proofs of the same abundance and generosity. We see this symbolized by the activity and generosity of our Lord, as He went about "preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people." We understand the spiritual reality of which this was the symbol, when we call to mind the Divine generosity that receives the vilest sinners; the efficacy of the blood that cleanses from all sin; the power of the Spirit that sanctifies soul, body, and spirit; the wisdom of the providence that makes all things work together for good; the glory of the love that makes us now "sons of G.o.d, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when He shall appear we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." And once more it appears in the glory and amplitude of the inheritance, of which the land of Canaan was but the type, prepared of G.o.d's infinite bounty for all who are His children by faith. Our Father's house is both large and well furnished; it is a house of many mansions; and the inheritance which He has promised is incorruptible and undefiled and fadeth not away.

It is a grand truth, of which we never can make too much, this bountifulness of G.o.d, and the delight which He has in being bountiful.

It is emphatically a truth for faith to apprehend and enjoy, because appearances are so often against it. Appearances were fearfully against it while the Israelites were groaning in their Egyptian bondage, and hardly less so, despite the manna and the water from the rock, during the forty years' wandering in the desert. But that was a period of correction and of training, and in such circ.u.mstances lavish bounty was out of the question.

The most bountiful man on earth could not pour out all the liberality of his heart on the inmates of a hospital for the sick; he may give all that sick men need, but he must wait till they are well before he can give full scope to his generosity. While we are in the body we are like patients in a hospital, and the kindest feelings from G.o.d toward us must often take the form of bitter medicines, painful operations, close restraint, stinted diet, and it may be silence and darkness. But wait till we are well, and then we shall see what G.o.d hath prepared for him that waiteth for Him! Wait till we go over Jordan and take possession of the land! Two things will be seen in the clearest light--the supreme bountifulness of G.o.d, and the sinfulness of that impatient and suspicious spirit to which we are so p.r.o.ne. What a humiliation, if humiliation be possible in heaven, to discover that all the time when we were fretting and grumbling, G.o.d was working out His plans of supreme beneficence and love, waiting only till we should come of age to make us heirs of the universe!

It is natural to ask why, if the boundaries of the promised land were so extensive, if they reached so far on the north-east as the Euphrates, and if they extended from Lebanon on the north to the confines of Egypt on the south, there should have been any difficulty about the two and a half tribes occupying the land east of the Jordan, where only by a special permission they obtained their settlement. For it is plain from the narrative that it was contrary to G.o.d's first intention, so to speak, that they should settle there, and that the land west of the Jordan was that to which the promise was held specially to apply. It will hardly do to say, as some have said, that the extension of the land to the Euphrates was a figure of speech, a poetical fringe or ornament as it were, intended to show that places adjacent to the land of Israel would share in some degree the radiance of its light and the influence of the Divine presence among its people. For the promise of G.o.d was really of the nature of a charter, and figures of poetry are not suitable in charters. It is rather to be understood that, in the _final_ purpose of G.o.d, the possession included the whole of the ample domain contained within the specified boundaries, but that at first it would be confined within a narrower s.p.a.ce. If the people should prove faithful to the covenant, the wider dominion would one day be conferred on them; but they were to start and get consolidated in a narrower territory. And the narrower s.p.a.ce was that which had already been consecrated by the residence of the fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The country west of Jordan was the land of _their_ pilgrimage; and even when Lot and Abraham had to separate, it was not proposed that either should cross the river. The little strip lying between the Jordan and the sea was judged most suitable for the preparatory stage of Israel's history; but had the nation served G.o.d with fidelity, their country would have been extended--as in the days of David and Solomon it really was--to the dimensions of an empire. The rule afterwards announced was to be virtually brought into operation--"To him that hath shall be given."

Hence the view taken of the settlement of the two and a half tribes east of the Jordan. It was not illegitimate; it was not inconsistent with the covenant made with the fathers; but it was for the time inexpedient, seeing that it exposed them to risks, both material and spiritual, which it would have been better for them to avoid.

One geographical expression, in the delimitation of the country, demands a brief explanation. While the country is defined as embracing the whole territory from Lebanon to the Euphrates, it is also defined as consisting in that direction of "all the land of the Hitt.i.tes." But were not the Hitt.i.tes one of the seven nations whose land was promised to Abraham and the fathers, and not even the first in the enumeration of these? Why should this great north-eastern section of the promised domain be designated "the land of the Hitt.i.tes"?

The time was when it was a charge against the accuracy of the Scripture record that it ascribed to the Hitt.i.tes this extensive dominion. That time has pa.s.sed away, inasmuch as, within quite recent years, the discovery has been made that in those distant times a great Hitt.i.te empire did exist in the very region specified, between Lebanon and the Euphrates. The discovery is based on twofold data: references in the Egyptian and other monuments to a powerful people, called the Khita (Hitt.i.tes), with whom even the great kings of Egypt had long and b.l.o.o.d.y wars; and inscriptions in the Hitt.i.te language, found in Hamah, Aleppo, and other places in Syria. There is still much obscurity resting on the history of this people. That the Hitt.i.tes proper prevailed so extensively has been doubted by some; a Hitt.i.te confederacy has been supposed, and sometimes a Hitt.i.te aristocracy exercising control over a great empire. The only point which it is necessary to dwell on here is, that in representing the tract between Lebanon and Euphrates as equivalent to "all the land of the Hitt.i.tes,"

the author of the Book of Joshua made a statement which has been abundantly verified by recent research.[3]

[3] See "The Empire of the Hitt.i.tes." By William Wright, D.D., F.R.G.S. London, 1886.

To encourage and animate Joshua to undertake the work and position of Moses it is very graciously promised--"There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so will I be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee." The invariable success promised was a greater boon than the greatest conquerors had been able to secure. Uniform success is a thing hardly known to captains of great expeditions, even though in the end they may prevail. But the promise to Joshua is, that all his enemies shall flee before him. None of his battles shall be even neutral, his opponents must always give way.[4] No son of Anak shall be able to oppose his onward march; no giant, like Og King of Bashan, shall terrify either him or his troops. He will "onward still to victory go,"--the Lord of hosts ever with him, the G.o.d of Jacob ever his defence.

[4] The promise is not inconsistent with the fact that Joshua's troops were defeated by the men of Ai. In such promises there is an implied condition of steadfast regard to G.o.d's will on the part of those who receive them, and this condition was violated at Ai, not by Joshua, indeed, but by one of his people.

And this was no vague, indefinite a.s.surance. It was sharply defined by a well-known example in the immediate past--"As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee." In what a remarkable variety of dangers and trials G.o.d was with Moses! Now he had to confront the grandest monarch on earth, supported by the strongest armies, and upheld by what claimed to be the mightiest G.o.ds. Again he had to deal with an apostate people, mad upon idols, and afterwards with an excited mob, ready to stone him. Anon he had to overcome the forces of nature and bend them to his purposes; to call water from the rock, to sweeten the bitter fountain, to heal the fiery bite, to cure his sister's leprous body, to bring down bread from heaven, and people the air with flocks of birds. Moreover, he had to be the messenger of the covenant between G.o.d and Israel, to unfold G.o.d's law in its length and breadth and in all its variety of application, and to obtain from the people a hearty compliance--"All that the Lord hath said unto us, that will we do."

What a marvellous work Moses did! What a testimony his life presented to the reality of the Divine presence and guidance, and what a solid and indefeasible ground of trust G.o.d gave to Joshua when He said, "As I was with Moses, so will I be with thee."

And this is crowned with the further a.s.surance, "I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee,"--an a.s.surance which is extended in the Epistle to the Hebrews to all who believe. We are so apt to view these promises as just beautiful expressions that we need to pause and think what they really mean. A promise of Divine presence, Divine protection and guidance and blessing all the days of our life, is surely a treasure of inexpressible value. It is no slight matter to realize that this is in G.o.d's heart--that He has a constant, unvarying feeling of love toward us, and readiness to help; but we must believe this in order to get the benefit of it; and, moreover, He must be left to determine the time, the manner, and the form in which His help is to come. Alas for the unbelief, the suspicion, the fear that is so p.r.o.ne to eat out the spirit of trust, and in our trials and difficulties make us tremble as if we were alone! What a profound peace, what calm enjoyment and blessed hope fall to the lot of those who can believe in a G.o.d ever near, and in His unfailing faithfulness and love! Was it not the secret alike of David's calmness, of our Lord's serenity, and of the cheerful composure of many a martyr and many a common man and woman who have gone through life undisturbed and happy, that they could say--"I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved"? G.o.d grant us all that, like Abraham, we may "stagger not at the promise of G.o.d through unbelief but that being strong in faith we may give glory to G.o.d, and believe that what He hath promised He is able also to perform."

CHAPTER V.

_JOSHUA'S ENCOURAGEMENT._

JOSHUA i. 6-9.

G.o.d has promised to be with Joshua, but Joshua must strive to act like one in partners.h.i.+p with G.o.d. And that He may do so, G.o.d has just two things to press on him: in the first place, to be strong and of a good courage; and in the second place, to make the book of the law his continual study and guide. In this way he shall be able to achieve the specific purpose to which he is called, to divide the land for an inheritance to the people, as G.o.d hath sworn to their fathers; and likewise, more generally, to fulfil the conditions of a successful life--"then shalt thou make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success."