TEXT: "_And it came to pass, when they brought out those kings unto
Joshua, that Joshua called for all the men of Israel, and said unto the
captains of the men of war which went with him, Come near, put your
feet upon the necks of these kings. And they came near, and put their
feet upon the necks of them. And Joshua said unto them, Fear not, nor
be dismayed, be strong and of good courage: for thus shall the Lord do
to all your enemies against whom ye fight._"--Joshua 10:24-25.
The history of the children of Israel is one of the most fascinating
stories ever written. It abounds in illustrations which are as
practical and helpful as any that may be used to-day, drawn from our
every-day experience. God certainly meant that we should use their
story in this way, for in the New Testament we read that the things
which happened to them were as ensamples for us. The word "ensample"
means type, or figure, or illustration.
To appreciate this text and the story of the five imprisoned kings we
must go back a little bit to the place where the leadership of Moses
had been transferred to Joshua. God is never at a loss for a man; his
plans are never frustrated. If Moses is to be set aside Joshua is in
preparation for his position. Doubtless Joshua may have felt somewhat
restrained, as he was kept in a position of not very great prominence,
but he certainly realized when he stood as the leader of the children
of Israel that all things had been working together for the good of his
leadership, and doubtless he praised Jehovah for his goodness to him.
There are many incidents in connection with the immediate story of the
children of Israel which should be mentioned here.
When they were ready to move towards Canaan Joshua told them that when
the soles of the feet of the priests touched the water of the Jordan
the water would stand on either side before them and they could pass
dry shod into Canaan. Suddenly the marching began. They stood within
three feet of the waters, which ran the same as they had been running
for years; then two feet, then one, and then six inches, but there was
no parting of the waters before them. Let us remember that God had
said, "When the soles of the feet of the priests touch the water they
shall separate." And it was even as he said, and on dry land the
children of Israel passed over to the other side. It is a perfectly
natural thing for one who is unregenerate to say, "Why insist upon
confession, and the acceptance of Christ, and how can the mere
acceptance of the Savior save me from the penalty and the power of
sin?" But a countless multitude will rise to-day to say, "It was when
we stepped out upon what we could not understand and what seemed as
impassable and impossible as the parting of the waters of the Jordan
that God gave us light and peace."
When once they were in Canaan what an interesting story that is in
connection with Rahab of Jericho! The spies had entered her home and a
mob outside was seeking them that they might put them to death. Rahab
promised them deliverance, only she exacted from them a promise in
return that they would save alive her father and her mother and her
loved ones; and when she let them down by means of a cord from the
window of her home they said to her, "Bind this scarlet cord in the
window and gather your loved ones here and they shall be saved." And
when the children of Israel had marched about Jericho and the walls
were about to fall, suddenly they lifted their eyes and they saw the
red cord fluttering from the window, and while all else was destroyed
Rahab and all her loved ones were saved.
What a little thing evidently stood between them and death--just a red
cord! And yet as a matter of fact it is only a red cord that is
between us and death--namely, the blood of the Son of God; for, as in
the Old Testament times when God saw the blood and the destroying angel
passed over the home, so in these New Testament times the blood which
has been received by faith insures us our safety and we are set free
from sin's penalty and sin's power.
The story of Achan is a note of warning. It is rather singular that
when the children of Israel had taken Jericho they failed at Ai, and
yet not singular when we realize that one man had sinned in all the
company. He had taken gold and silver and a Babylonish garment and had
hidden the same in his tent, and this was in direct disobedience to the
commands of Joshua. The sad thing about sin is that we cannot sin and
suffer alone. Our friends suffer, our kindred must bear a part of the
woe with us. When Achan sinned the children of Israel lost a victory.
Sin is progressive. In the seventh chapter of Joshua and the
twenty-first verse, we read, "When I saw among the spoils a goodly
Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of
gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and
behold they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the
silver under it." And you will notice that, first he saw, then he
coveted, then he took. It is always thus; a sinful imagination will
lead to outbreaking iniquity, and a small sin encouraged will
ultimately mean disgrace.
The story of the Gibeonites is also interesting. They had heard of the
power of the children of Israel and were afraid of them; but they made
up their minds to deceive them. So, lest the Israelites should think
that they came from a near by territory and therefore should turn
against them they put on old clothes, wore old shoes upon their feet
and carried musty bread in their baggage. Then they stood before
Israel and said, "We have come from a far country; look at our
clothing, it is worn out; and at our shoes, they are in holes; and at
our bread, it was fresh when we started, it is musty to-day."
And Joshua said, "We will make them hewers of wood and drawers of
water," and they were saved from death but they served in bondage. Let
this be remembered always that deception inevitably means bondage. One
is in bondage to his conscience, for it constantly reproves him. He is
in bondage to the one he has deceived, for he can never stand honestly
before him. He is most of all in bondage to his sin, for he will
surely be found out.
The Amorites were against the children of Israel and they were a great
company. It is in connection with their struggle against this power
that the text is written.
I
The Israelites started in this conflict with a mighty power against
them, as we have seen. But so have we. There are first of all the
tendencies of our old nature against which we must fight, for just as
with the law of gravitation if I take my hand away from a book or a
stone it falls to the floor or the ground because this law pulls it
downward, so there is a law in my members and has been in the life of
every man since Adam's day pulling me away from the true to the false.
It is for this reason that it is easier to do wrong than to do right,
to be untrue than to be true. Then there is against us the very world
in which we live. Its atmosphere, its business, even its social life
is tainted with that which is sinful or to say the least questionable,
and he who lives in the world and is in any sense of it has a hard
battle to fight. But there are two special things which are against us.
First: The sins which we have encouraged. It may be in the beginning
very small, but Satan is perfectly satisfied if he can have the least
hold upon the life of the one whom he wishes to wrong. I read in a
Chicago paper the story of a woman who was making a heroic struggle
against an awful curse. She had become addicted to the use of
morphine. For fourteen years she was a consumer of the drug.
Apparently she could not shake off the habit. Building up a resistance
to the action of the drug, her system became accustomed to enormous
quantities of it. She could not eat, nor sleep, nor work without it.
Most of her scanty earnings went to purchase it. She was a seamstress,
and by toiling many hours a day managed to get enough money to buy it.
Some years back she had been a happy wife and mother. Her husband
loved her; she was devoted to him and to their two children. She lost
him; she lost the care of her children; rapidly she drifted away from
them. The powerful narcotic helped to deaden her pain. When her
anguish became unbearable a double dose of it would enable her to
drowse away the hours.
"I will never again touch or taste morphine, so help me God!" she said.
Immediately she discontinued the use of the drug wholly. She could get
no sleep; she could not swallow food half the time or retain it. She
was beset by horrible visions. She was racked by an inexpressible
longing. But she held on. Those who knew her and watched her
agonizing battle with astonishment and sympathy told her that she was
killing herself. "It may be," she would answer, "but I shall die true
to my oath." "But," they would urge, "a habit like yours, which has
obtained for years, should be broken gradually." "I will master it. I
have blotted it from my life," she would answer. "I shall quit it this
way even if I go into the grave. It has mastered me; it has cost me my
home, husband and children; now I will master it." She started at
shadows, her nights were nights of horror; she would bury her nails in
the palms of her hands and compress her lips to keep from screaming.
There was no rest for her. Still she tried to work and grew weaker.
"You cannot give me that," she said, "I remember my oath. Give me any
medicine you choose save opium. God would forsake me now if I forsook
my promise to him." The physician remonstrated with her, but in vain,
so he gave her a substitute which failed of its effect, as he knew it
would, and she died. Even when the hand of death had clutched her
grimly, though her terrific sufferings would have been allayed by the
poison, she refused to take it. Any person in the room would have
bought it for her and administered it gladly, so that she might pass
away in peace, but she would not prove traitor to herself. She was a
friendless woman except for acquaintances recently made. Her life had
been sad and hard. Held in the grip of an enemy that set its mark upon
her, she was shunned and went her downward way alone. Those who were
with her say that just before the end came she smiled, knowing that she
had won her fight; and yet years ago she began to trifle with sin, and
it had mastered her.
Again, we have against us sins which not only have been encouraged but
have been committed again and again until they have become a habit of
our lives, and he who has such a sin as this finds himself in the grip
of one who is a tyrant.
In a city paper the other day I came across the story of a man who once
had some prominence in the world but began to go wrong, naturally
drifted towards the evil and finally found himself surrounded by the
lowest of companions. Because of his natural ability he easily assumed
leadership.
The particular form of crime they practiced was administering chloral
to those who sat at the bar in the saloon to drink. They did this by
attracting the attention of the man who was to drink to something else
in the room and then the deadly knock-out drops would be administered
and they would rob the man. One night the dose was too strong and the
victim died. The one who caused his death came before the city
authorities recently to give himself up and pitifully ask that he might
be quickly sent to death to pay the penalty of his crime for, said he,
"From that moment my mind has never been at rest. I wandered about
town for two or three days trying to get rid of the sight of that
fellow's face; but at night was when I suffered. The moment I dozed
off I could see him in my dreams beckoning and laughing as he dragged
me over some cliff, and I waked up cold with fear. No one knows what I
suffered. I left the city. I went to Denver. I went to Butte. I
traveled everywhere, but wherever I went night and day that dead man
was hovering around me. I couldn't sleep and my mind began to weaken.
One night I went into a gambling den. I thought the excitement might
drive that vision out of my head. I played roulette. I bet on the
black; the red won. And right before me I saw that printer's face just
like I see you now, grinning as the dealer dragged in my money. I ran
out of that club like a crazy man and wandered about town till I saw a
freight train pulling out of the yards. I climbed into an empty box
car and lay down in the corner to rest. For a few moments the face was
gone. Suddenly a flash of lightning lit up that car as bright as this
cell, and there, just a couple of feet from me, I saw that man I'd
killed plainer than I see you. He reached out and caught me by the
arm. I screamed and jumped out of the car. They found me next day
lying beside the track; and when they got me to a hospital, as I hope
for pardon, that thing's black and blue finger marks showed on my
shoulder. I've been in a lot of places since that but I never got over
it. Finally it got so bad I couldn't stand it and I came back to
Chicago to confess." And just as we have all these things against us
so the children of Israel had the Amorites against them and the five
kings were unitedly arrayed to fight them.