The Israelites, who could not be overcome by the arms or by the

enchantments of Midian, fell a prey to her harlots. Such is the power

that woman, enlisted in the service of Satan, has exerted to entrap and

destroy souls. “She hath cast down many wounded; yea, many strong men

have been slain by her.”[796] It was thus that the children of Seth were

seduced from their integrity, and the holy seed became corrupt. It was

thus that Joseph was tempted. Thus Samson betrayed his strength, the

defense of Israel, into the hands of the Philistines. Here David

stumbled. And Solomon, the wisest of kings, who had thrice been called

the beloved of his God, became a slave of passion, and sacrificed his

integrity to the same bewitching power.

“Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples; and they are

written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come.

Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he

fall.”[797] Satan well knows the material with which he has to deal in

the human heart. He knows—for he has studied with fiendish intensity for

thousands of years—the points most easily assailed in every character;

and through successive generations he has wrought to overthrow the

strongest men, princes in Israel, by the same temptations that were so

successful at Baal-peor. All along through the ages there are strewn

wrecks of character that have been stranded upon the rocks of sensual

indulgence. As we approach the close of time, as the people of God stand

upon the borders of the heavenly Canaan, Satan will, as of old, redouble

his efforts to prevent them from entering the goodly land. He lays his

snares for every soul. It is not the ignorant and uncultured merely that

need to be guarded; he will prepare his temptations for those in the

highest positions, in the most holy office; if he can lead them to

pollute their souls, he can through them destroy many. And he employs

the same agents now as he employed three thousand years ago. By worldly

friendships, by the charms of beauty, by pleasure-seeking, mirth,

feasting, or the wine-cup, he tempts to the violation of the seventh

commandment.

Satan seduced Israel into licentiousness before leading them to

idolatry. Those who will dishonor God’s image and defile his temple in

their own persons will not scruple at any dishonor to God that will

gratify the desire of their depraved hearts. Sensual indulgence weakens

the mind and debases the soul. The moral and intellectual powers are

benumbed and paralyzed by the gratification of the animal propensities;

and it is impossible for the slave of passion to realize the sacred

obligation of the law of God, to appreciate the atonement, or to place a

right value upon the soul. Goodness, purity, and truth, reverence for

God, and love for sacred things,—all those holy affections and noble

desires that link men with the heavenly world,—are consumed in the fires

of lust. The soul becomes a blackened and desolate waste, the habitation

of evil spirits, and “the cage of every unclean and hateful bird.”

Beings formed in the image of God are dragged down to a level with the

brutes.

It was by associating with idolaters and joining in their festivities

that the Hebrews were led to transgress God’s law, and bring his

judgments upon the nation. So now it is by leading the followers of

Christ to associate with the ungodly and unite in their amusements, that

Satan is most successful in alluring them into sin. “Come out from among

them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the

unclean.”[798] God requires of his people now as great a distinction

from the world, in customs, habits, and principles, as he required of

Israel anciently. If they faithfully follow the teachings of his word,

this distinction will exist; it cannot be otherwise. The warnings given

to the Hebrews against assimilating with the heathen were not more

direct or explicit than are those forbidding Christians to conform to

the spirit and customs of the ungodly. Christ speaks to us, “Love not

the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the

world, the love of the Father is not in him.” “The friendship of the

world is enmity with God; whosoever therefore will be a friend of the

world is the enemy of God.”[799] The followers of Christ are to separate

themselves from sinners, choosing their society only when there is

opportunity to do them good. We cannot be too decided in shunning the

company of those who exert an influence to draw us away from God. While

we pray, “Lead us not into temptation,” we are to shun temptation, so

far as possible.

It was when the Israelites were in a condition of outward ease and

security that they were led into sin. They failed to keep God ever

before them, they neglected prayer, and cherished a spirit of

self-confidence. Ease and self-indulgence left the citadel of the soul

unguarded, and debasing thoughts found entrance. It was the traitors

within the walls that overthrew the strongholds of principle and

betrayed Israel into the power of Satan. It is thus that Satan still

seeks to compass the ruin of the soul. A long preparatory process,

unknown to the world, goes on in the heart before the Christian commits

open sin. The mind does not come down at once from purity and holiness

to depravity, corruption, and crime. It takes time to degrade those

formed in the image of God to the brutal or the satanic. By beholding,

we become changed. By the indulgence of impure thoughts, man can so

educate his mind that sin which he once loathed will become pleasant to

him.

Satan is using every means to make crime and debasing vice popular. We

cannot walk the streets of our cities without encountering flaring

notices of crime presented in some novel, or to be acted at some

theater. The mind is educated to familiarity with sin. The course

pursued by the base and vile is kept before the people in the

periodicals of the day, and everything that can excite passion is

brought before them in exciting stories. They hear and read so much of

debasing crime, that the once tender conscience, which would have

recoiled with horror from such scenes, becomes hardened, and they dwell

upon these things with greedy interest.

Many of the amusements popular in the world to-day, even with those who

claim to be Christians, tend to the same end as did those of the

heathen. There are indeed few among them that Satan does not turn to

account in destroying souls. Through the drama he has worked for ages to

excite passion and glorify vice. The opera, with its fascinating display

and bewildering music, the masquerade, the dance, the card-table, Satan

employs to break down the barriers of principle, and open the door to

sensual indulgence. In every gathering for pleasure where pride is

fostered or appetite indulged, where one is led to forget God and lose

sight of eternal interests, there Satan is binding his chains about the

soul.

“Keep thy heart with all diligence,” is the counsel of the wise man;

“for out of it are the issues of life.” As man “thinketh in his heart,

so is he.”[800] The heart must be renewed by divine grace, or it will be

in vain to seek for purity of life. He who attempts to build up a noble,

virtuous character independent of the grace of Christ, is building his

house upon the shifting sand. In the fierce storms of temptation it will

surely be overthrown. David’s prayer should be the petition of every

soul: “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit

within me.”[801] And having become partakers of the heavenly gift, we

are to go on unto perfection, being “kept by the power of God, through

faith.”[802]

Yet we have a work to do to resist temptation. Those who would not fall

a prey to Satan’s devices must guard well the avenues of the soul; they

must avoid reading, seeing, or hearing that which will suggest impure

thoughts. The mind should not be left to wander at random upon every

subject that the adversary of souls may suggest. “Girding up the loins

of your mind,” says the apostle Peter, “be sober, ... not fashioning

yourselves according to your former lusts in your ignorance; but like as

He which called you is holy, be ye yourselves also holy in all manner of

living.”[803] Says Paul, “Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things

are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure,

whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if

there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these

things.”[804] This will require earnest prayer and unceasing

watchfulness. We must be aided by the abiding influence of the Holy

Spirit, which will attract the mind upward, and habituate it to dwell on

pure and holy things. And we must give diligent study to the word of

God. “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed

thereto according to thy word.” “Thy word,” says the psalmist, “have I

hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.”[805]

Israel’s sin at Beth-peor brought the judgments of God upon the nation,

and though the same sins may not now be punished as speedily, they will

as surely meet retribution. “If any man defile the temple of God, him

shall God destroy.”[806] Nature has affixed terrible penalties to these

crimes,—penalties which, sooner or later, will be inflicted upon every

transgressor. It is these sins more than any other that have caused the

fearful degeneracy of our race, and the weight of disease and misery

with which the world is cursed. Men may succeed in concealing their

transgression from their fellow-men, but they will no less surely reap

the result, in suffering, disease, imbecility, or death. And beyond this

life stands the tribunal of the Judgment, with its award of eternal

penalties. “They which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of

God,” but with Satan and evil angels shall have their part in that “lake

of fire” which “is the second death.”[807]

“The lips of a strange woman drop as a honey-comb, and her mouth is

smoother than oil; but her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a

two-edged sword.” “Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the

door of her house; lest thou give thine honor unto others, and thy years

unto the cruel: lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labors

be in the house of a stranger; and thou mourn at the last, when thy

flesh and thy body are consumed.” “Her house inclineth unto death.”

“None that go unto her return again.” “Her guests are in the depths of

hell.”[808]

Footnote 790:

See Numbers 25.

Footnote 791:

Num. 26:64, 65.

Footnote 792:

See Numbers 31.

Footnote 793:

Ps. 9:15.

Footnote 794:

Ps. 94:14, 15, 21, 23.

Footnote 795:

Num. 23:21, 23.

Footnote 796:

Prov. 7:26.

Footnote 797:

1 Cor. 10:11, 12.

Footnote 798:

2 Cor. 6:17.

Footnote 799:

1 John 2:15; James 4:4.

Footnote 800:

Prov. 4:23; 23:7.

Footnote 801:

Ps. 51:10.

Footnote 802:

1 Peter 1:5.

Footnote 803:

1 Peter 1:13-15, Rev. Ver.

Footnote 804:

Phil. 4:8.

Footnote 805:

Ps. 119:9, 11.

Footnote 806:

1 Cor. 3:17.

Footnote 807:

Gal. 5:21; Rev. 20:14.

Footnote 808:

Prov. 5:3, 4, 8-11; 2:18, 19; 9:18.

THE LAW REPEATED—42

The Lord announced to Moses that the appointed time for the possession

of Canaan was at hand; and as the aged prophet stood upon the heights

overlooking the river Jordan and the promised land, he gazed with deep

interest upon the inheritance of his people. Would it be possible that

the sentence pronounced against him for his sin at Kadesh might be

revoked? With deep earnestness he pleaded, “O Lord God, thou hast begun

to show thy servant thy greatness, and thy mighty hand; for what god is

there in heaven or in earth, that can do according to thy works, and

according to thy might? I pray thee, let me go over, and see the good

land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon.”[810]

The answer was, “Let it suffice thee; speak no more unto me of this

matter. Get thee up into the top of Pisgah, and lift up thine eyes

westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and behold it with

thine eyes; for thou shalt not go over this Jordan.”

Without a murmur, Moses submitted to the decree of God. And now his

great anxiety was for Israel. Who would feel the interest for their

welfare that he had felt? From a full heart he poured forth the prayer,

“Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the

congregation, which may go out before them, and which may go in before

them, and which may lead them out, and which may bring them in; that the

congregation of the Lord be not as sheep which have no shepherd.”[811]

The Lord hearkened to the prayer of his servant; and the answer came,

“Take thee Joshua, the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay

thine hand upon him; and set him before Eleazar the priest, and before

all the congregation; and give him a charge in their sight. And thou

shalt put some of thine honor upon him, that all the congregation of the

people of Israel may be obedient.” Joshua had long attended Moses; and

being a man of wisdom, ability, and faith, he was chosen to succeed him.

Through the laying on of hands by Moses, accompanied by a most

impressive charge, Joshua was solemnly set apart as the leader of

Israel. He was also admitted to a present share in the government. The

words of the Lord concerning Joshua came through Moses to the

congregation, “He shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall ask

counsel for him, after the judgment of Urim before the Lord. At his word

shall they go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he, and all

the children of Israel with him, even all the congregation.”

Before relinquishing his position as the visible leader of Israel, Moses

was directed to rehearse to them the history of their deliverance from

Egypt and their journeyings in the wilderness, and also to recapitulate

the law spoken from Sinai. When the law was given, but few of the

present congregation were old enough to comprehend the awful solemnity

of the occasion. As they were soon to pass over Jordan and take

possession of the promised land, God would present before them the

claims of his law, and enjoin upon them obedience as the condition of

prosperity.

Moses stood before the people to repeat his last warnings and

admonitions. His face was illumined with a holy light. His hair was

white with age; but his form was erect, his countenance expressed the

unabated vigor of health, and his eye was clear and undimmed. It was an

important occasion, and with deep feeling he portrayed the love and

mercy of their Almighty Protector:—

“Ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the

day that God created man upon the earth, and ask from the one side of

heaven unto the other, whether there hath been any such thing as this

great thing is, or hath been heard like it? Did ever people hear the

voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard,

and live? or hath God assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst

of another nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war,

and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched-out arm, and by great terrors,

according to all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your

eyes? Unto thee it was showed, that thou mightest know that the Lord he

is God; there is none else beside him.”[812]

“The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were

more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people:

but because the Lord loved you, and because he would keep the oath which

he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a

mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand

of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that Jehovah thy God he is God,

the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love

him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations.”[813]

The people of Israel had been ready to ascribe their troubles to Moses;

but now their suspicions that he was controlled by pride, ambition, or

selfishness, were removed, and they listened with confidence to his

words. Moses faithfully set before them their errors, and the

transgressions of their fathers. They had often felt impatient and

rebellious because of their long wandering in the wilderness; but the

Lord had not been chargeable with this delay in possessing Canaan; he

was more grieved than they because he could not bring them into

immediate possession of the promised land, and thus display before all

nations his mighty power in the deliverance of his people. With their

distrust of God, with their pride and unbelief, they had not been

prepared to enter Canaan. They would in no way represent that people

whose God is the Lord; for they did not bear his character of purity,

goodness, and benevolence. Had their fathers yielded in faith to the

direction of God, being governed by his judgments, and walking in his

ordinances, they would long before have been settled in Canaan, a

prosperous, holy, happy people. Their delay to enter the goodly land

dishonored God, and detracted from his glory in the sight of surrounding

nations.

Moses, who understood the character and value of the law of God, assured

the people that no other nation had such wise, righteous, and merciful

rules as had been given to the Hebrews. “Behold,” he said, “I have

taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me,

that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. Keep

therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in

the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say,

Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.”[814]

Moses called their attention to the “day that thou stoodest before the

Lord thy God in Horeb.” And he challenged the Hebrew host: “What nation

is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God

is in all things that we call upon him for? And what nation is there so

great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law

which I set before you this day?” To-day the challenge to Israel might

be repeated. The laws which God gave his ancient people were wiser,

better, and more humane than those of the most civilized nations of the

earth. The laws of the nations bear marks of the infirmities and

passions of the unrenewed heart; but God’s law bears the stamp of the

divine.

“The Lord hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron

furnace,” declared Moses, “to be unto him a people of inheritance.”[815]

The land which they were soon to enter, and which was to be theirs on

condition of obedience to the law of God, was thus described to

them,—and how must these words have moved the hearts of Israel, as they

remembered that he who so glowingly pictured the blessings of the goodly

land, had been, through their sin, shut out from sharing the inheritance

of his people:—

“The Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land,” “not as the land of

Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and

wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs. But the land, whither

ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water

of the rain of heaven;” “a land of brooks of water, of fountains and

depths that spring out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat, and

barley, and vines and fig-trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive

and honey; a land where thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou

shalt not lack anything in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of

whose hills thou mayest dig brass;” “a land which the Lord thy God

careth for; the eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it, from the

beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.”[816]

“And it shall be, when the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the

land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to

Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not,

and houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells

digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive-trees, which thou

plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full; then beware lest

thou forget the Lord.” “Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the

covenant of the Lord your God; ... for the Lord thy God is a consuming

fire, even a jealous God.”[817] If they should do evil in the sight of

the Lord, then, said Moses, “Ye shall soon utterly perish from off the

land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it.”[817]

After the public rehearsal of the law, Moses completed the work of

writing all the laws, the statutes, and the judgments which God had

given him, and all the regulations concerning the sacrificial system.

The book containing these was placed in charge of the proper officers,

and was for safe-keeping deposited in the side of the ark. Still the

great leader was filled with fear that the people would depart from God.

In a most sublime and thrilling address he set before them the blessings

that would be theirs on condition of obedience, and the curses that

would follow upon transgression:—

“If thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to

observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day,”

“blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the

field,” in “the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the

fruit of thy cattle; ... blessed shall be thy basket and thy store;

blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be

when thou goest out. The Lord shall cause thine enemies that rise up

against thee to be smitten before thy face.... The Lord shall command

the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest

thine hand unto.”[818]

“But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of

the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes

which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon

thee,” “and thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a by-word,

among all nations whither the Lord shall lead thee.” “And the Lord shall

scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto

the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor

thy fathers have known, even wood and stone. And among these nations

shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest;

but the Lord shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of

eyes, and sorrow of mind. And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee;

and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy

life. In the morning thou shalt say, Would God it were even! And at even

thou shalt say, Would God it were morning! For the fear of thine heart

wherewith thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes which thou

shalt see.”

By the Spirit of inspiration, looking far down the ages, Moses pictured

the terrible scenes of Israel’s final overthrow as a nation, and the

destruction of Jerusalem by the armies of Rome: “The Lord shall bring a

nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the

eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand; a nation

of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor

show favor to the young.”

The utter wasting of the land, and the horrible suffering of the people

during the siege of Jerusalem under Titus, centuries later, were vividly

portrayed: “He shall eat the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy

land, until thou be destroyed; ... and he shall besiege thee in all thy

gates, until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou

trustedst, throughout all thy land.... Thou shalt eat the fruit of thine

own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the Lord thy

God hath given thee, in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith

thine enemies shall distress thee.” “The tender and delicate woman among

you, which would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the

ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the

husband of her bosom, ... and toward her children which she shall bear;

for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly in the siege and

straitness, wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates.”

Moses closed with these impressive words: “I call heaven and earth to

record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death,

blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed

may live; that thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest

obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him; for he is thy

life, and the length of thy days; that thou mayest dwell in the land

which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to

Jacob, to give them.”[819]

The more deeply to impress these truths upon all minds, the great leader

embodied them in sacred verse. This song was not only historical, but

prophetic. While it recounted the wonderful dealings of God with his

people in the past, it also foreshadowed the great events of the future,

the final victory of the faithful when Christ shall come the second time

in power and glory. The people were directed to commit to memory this

poetic history, and to teach it to their children and children’s

children. It was to be chanted by the congregation when they assembled

for worship, and to be repeated by the people as they went about their

daily labors. It was the duty of parents to so impress these words upon

the susceptible minds of their children that they might never be

forgotten.

Since the Israelites were to be, in a special sense, the guardians and

keepers of God’s law, the significance of its precepts and the

importance of obedience were especially to be impressed upon them, and

through them, upon their children and children’s children. The Lord

commanded concerning his statutes: “Thou shalt teach them diligently

unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine

house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and

when thou risest up.... And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy

house, and on thy gates.”[820]

When their children should ask in time to come, “What mean the

testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments which the Lord our God

hath commanded you?” then the parents were to repeat the history of

God’s gracious dealings with them—how the Lord had wrought for their

deliverance that they might obey his law,—and to declare to them, “The

Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God,

for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is at this

day. And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these

commandments before the Lord our God, as he hath commanded us.”[820]

Footnote 810:

Deut. 3:24-27.

Footnote 811:

Num. 27:16-23.

Footnote 812:

Deut. 4:32-35.

Footnote 813:

Deut. 7:7-9.

Footnote 814:

Deut. 4:5, 6.

Footnote 815:

Deut. 4:10, 7, 8, 20.

Footnote 816:

Deut. 8:7-9; 11:10-12.

Footnote 817:

Deut. 6:10-12; 4:23-26.

Footnote 818:

See Deuteronomy 28.

Footnote 819:

Deut. 30:19, 20.

Footnote 820:

Deut. 6:7-9, 20-25.

THE DEATH OF MOSES—43

In all the dealings of God with his people, there is, mingled with his

love and mercy, the most striking evidence of his strict and impartial

justice. This is exemplified in the history of the Hebrew people. God

had bestowed great blessings upon Israel. His loving-kindness toward

them is touchingly portrayed: “As an eagle stirreth up her nest,

fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them,

beareth them on her wings; so the Lord alone did lead him.”[830] And yet

what swift and severe retribution was visited upon them for their

transgressions!

The infinite love of God has been manifested in the gift of his only

begotten Son to redeem a lost race. Christ came to the earth to reveal

to men the character of his Father, and his life was filled with deeds

of divine tenderness and compassion. And yet Christ himself declares,

“Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass

from the law.”[831] The same voice that with patient, loving entreaty

invites the sinner to come to him and find pardon and peace, will in the

Judgment bid the rejecters of his mercy, “Depart from me, ye

cursed.”[832] In all the Bible, God is represented not only as a tender

father, but as a righteous judge. Though he delights in showing mercy,

and “forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin,” yet he “will by no

means clear the guilty.”[833]

The great Ruler of nations had declared that Moses was not to lead the

congregation of Israel into the goodly land, and the earnest pleading of

God’s servant could not secure a reversing of his sentence. He knew that

he must die. Yet he had not for a moment faltered in his care for

Israel. He had faithfully sought to prepare the congregation to enter

upon the promised inheritance. At the divine command, Moses and Joshua

repaired to the tabernacle, while the pillar of cloud came and stood

over the door. Here the people were solemnly committed to the charge of

Joshua. The work of Moses as leader of Israel was ended. Still he forgot

himself in his interest for his people. In the presence of the assembled

multitude, Moses, in the name of God, addressed to his successor these

words of holy cheer: “Be strong and of a good courage; for thou shalt

bring the children of Israel into the land which I sware unto them; and

I will be with thee.”[834] He then turned to the elders and officers of

the people, giving them a solemn charge to obey faithfully the

instructions he had communicated to them from God.

As the people gazed upon the aged man, so soon to be taken from them,

they recalled, with a new and deeper appreciation, his parental

tenderness, his wise counsels, and his untiring labors. How often, when

their sins had invited the just judgments of God, the prayers of Moses

had prevailed with him to spare them! Their grief was heightened by

remorse. They bitterly remembered that their own perversity had provoked

Moses to the sin for which he must die.

The removal of their beloved leader would be a far stronger rebuke to

Israel than any which they could have received had his life and mission

been continued. God would lead them to feel that they were not to make

the life of their future leader as trying as they had made that of

Moses. God speaks to his people in blessings bestowed; and when these

are not appreciated, he speaks to them in blessings removed, that they

may be led to see their sins, and return to him with all the heart.

That very day there came to Moses the command, “Get thee up ... unto

Mount Nebo, ... and behold the land of Canaan, which I give unto the

children of Israel for a possession: and die in the mount whither thou

goest up, and be gathered unto thy people.”[835] Moses had often left

the camp, in obedience to the divine summons, to commune with God; but

he was now to depart on a new and mysterious errand. He must go forth to

resign his life into the hands of his Creator. Moses knew that he was to

die alone; no earthly friend would be permitted to minister to him in

his last hours. There was a mystery and awfulness about the scene before

him, from which his heart shrank. The severest trial was his separation

from the people of his care and love,—the people with whom his interest

and his life had so long been united. But he had learned to trust in

God, and with unquestioning faith he committed himself and his people to

His love and mercy.

For the last time, Moses stood in the assembly of his people. Again the

Spirit of God rested upon him, and in the most sublime and touching

language he pronounced a blessing upon each of the tribes, closing with

a benediction upon them all:—

“There is none like unto God, O Jeshurun,

Who rideth upon the heaven for thy help,

And in his excellency on the skies.

The eternal God is thy dwelling-place,

And underneath are the everlasting arms:

And he thrust out the enemy from before thee,

And said, Destroy.

And Israel dwelleth in safety,

The fountain of Jacob alone,

In a land of corn and wine;

Yea, his heavens drop down dew.

Happy art thou, O Israel:

Who is like unto thee, a people saved by Jehovah,

The shield of thy help.”[836]

Moses turned from the congregation, and in silence and alone made his

way up the mountain-side. He went to “the mountain of Nebo, to the top

of Pisgah.”[837] Upon that lonely height he stood, and gazed with

undimmed eye upon the scene spread out before him. Far away to the west

lay the blue waters of the Great Sea; in the north, Mount Hermon stood

out against the sky; to the east was the table-land of Moab, and beyond

lay Bashan, the scene of Israel’s triumph; and away to the south

stretched the desert of their long wanderings.

In solitude, Moses reviewed his life of vicissitudes and hardships since

he turned from courtly honors and from a prospective kingdom in Egypt,

to cast in his lot with God’s chosen people. He called to mind those

long years in the desert with the flocks of Jethro, the appearance of

the Angel in the burning bush, and his own call to deliver Israel. Again

he beheld the mighty miracles of God’s power displayed in behalf of the

chosen people, and his long-suffering mercy during the years of their

wandering and rebellion. Notwithstanding all that God had wrought for

them, notwithstanding his own prayers and labors, only two of all the

adults in the vast army that left Egypt, had been found so faithful that

they could enter the promised land. As Moses reviewed the result of his

labors, his life of trial and sacrifice seemed to have been almost in

vain.

Yet he did not regret the burdens he had borne. He knew that his mission

and work were of God’s own appointing. When first called to become the

leader of Israel from bondage, he shrank from the responsibility; but

since he had taken up the work, he had not cast aside the burden. Even

when the Lord had proposed to release him, and destroy rebellious

Israel, Moses could not consent. Though his trials had been great, he

had enjoyed special tokens of God’s favor; he had obtained a rich

experience during the sojourn in the wilderness, in witnessing the

manifestations of God’s power and glory, and in the communion of his

love; he felt that he had made a wise decision in choosing to suffer

affliction with the people of God, rather than to enjoy the pleasures of

sin for a season.

As he looked back upon his experience as a leader of God’s people, one

wrong act marred the record. If that transgression could be blotted out,

he felt that he would not shrink from death. He was assured that

repentance, and faith in the promised sacrifice, were all that God

required, and again Moses confessed his sin, and implored pardon in the

name of Jesus.

[Illustration: MOSES VIEWING THE LAND OF PROMISE. “A panoramic view of

the land of promise was presented to him.... He seemed to be looking

upon a second Eden.”]

And now a panoramic view of the land of promise was presented to him.

Every part of the country was spread out before him, not faint and

uncertain in the dim distance, but standing out clear, distinct, and

beautiful to his delighted vision. In this scene it was presented, not

as it then appeared, but as it would become, with God’s blessing upon

it, in the possession of Israel. He seemed to be looking upon a second

Eden. There were mountains clothed with cedars of Lebanon, hills gray

with olives and fragrant with the odor of the vine, wide green plains

bright with flowers and rich in fruitfulness, here the palm-trees of the

tropics, there waving fields of wheat and barley, sunny valleys musical

with the ripple of brooks and the song of birds, goodly cities and fair

gardens, lakes rich in “the abundance of the seas,” grazing flocks upon

the hillsides, and even amid the rocks the wild bee’s hoarded treasures.

It was indeed such a land as Moses, inspired by the Spirit of God, had

described to Israel: “Blessed of the Lord, ... for the precious things

of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath, and for

the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, ... and for the chief

things of the ancient mountains, ... and for the precious things of the

earth and fullness thereof.”[838]

Moses saw the chosen people established in Canaan, each of the tribes in

its own possession. He had a view of their history after the settlement

of the promised land; the long, sad story of their apostasy and its

punishment was spread out before him. He saw them, because of their

sins, dispersed among the heathen, the glory departed from Israel, her

beautiful city in ruins, and her people captives in strange lands. He

saw them restored to the land of their fathers, and at last brought

under the dominion of Rome.

He was permitted to look down the stream of time, and behold the first

advent of our Saviour. He saw Jesus as a babe in Bethlehem. He heard the

voices of the angelic host break forth in the glad song of praise to God

and peace on earth. He beheld in the heavens the star guiding the wise

men of the East to Jesus, and a great light flooded his mind as he

recalled those prophetic words, “There shall come a Star out of Jacob,

and a Scepter shall rise out of Israel.”[839] He beheld Christ’s humble

life in Nazareth, his ministry of love and sympathy and healing, his

rejection by a proud, unbelieving nation. Amazed he listened to their

boastful exaltation of the law of God, while they despised and rejected

Him by whom the law was given. He saw Jesus upon Olivet as with weeping

he bade farewell to the city of his love. As Moses beheld the final

rejection of that people so highly blessed of Heaven,—that people for

whom he had toiled and prayed and sacrificed, for whom he had been

willing that his own name should be blotted from the book of life; as he

listened to those fearful words, “Behold, your house is left unto you

desolate,”[840] his heart was wrung with anguish, and bitter tears fell

from his eyes, in sympathy with the sorrow of the Son of God.

He followed the Saviour to Gethsemane, and beheld the agony in the

garden, the betrayal, the mockery and scourging,—the crucifixion. Moses

saw that as he had lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so the Son

of God must be lifted up, that whosoever would believe on him “should

not perish, but have eternal life.”[841] Grief, indignation, and horror

filled the heart of Moses, as he viewed the hypocrisy and satanic hatred

manifested by the Jewish nation against their Redeemer, the mighty Angel

who had gone before their fathers. He heard Christ’s agonizing cry, “My

God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” He saw him lying in Joseph’s

new tomb. The darkness of hopeless despair seemed to enshroud the world.

But he looked again, and beheld him coming forth a conqueror, and

ascending to heaven escorted by adoring angels, and leading a multitude

of captives. He saw the shining gates open to receive him, and the host

of heaven with songs of triumph welcoming their Commander. And it was

there revealed to him that he himself would be one who should attend the

Saviour, and open to him the everlasting gates. As he looked upon the

scene, his countenance shone with a holy radiance. How small appeared

the trials and sacrifices of his life, when compared with those of the

Son of God! how light in contrast with the “far more exceeding and

eternal weight of glory”![842] He rejoiced that he had been permitted,

even in a small measure, to be a partaker in the sufferings of Christ.

Moses beheld the disciples of Jesus as they went forth to carry his

gospel to the world. He saw that though the people of Israel “according

to the flesh,” had failed of the high destiny to which God had called

them; in their unbelief had failed to become the light of the world;

though they had despised God’s mercy, and forfeited their blessings as

his chosen people,—yet God had not cast off the seed of Abraham; the

glorious purposes which he had undertaken to accomplish through Israel

were to be fulfilled. All who, through Christ, should become the

children of faith, were to be counted as Abraham’s seed; they were

inheritors of the covenant-promises; like Abraham they were called to

guard and to make known to the world the law of God and the gospel of

his Son. Moses saw the light of the gospel shining out, through the

disciples of Jesus, to them “which sat in darkness,”[843] and thousands

from the lands of the Gentiles flocking to the brightness of its rising.

And beholding, he rejoiced in the increase and prosperity of Israel.

And now another scene passed before him. He had been shown the work of

Satan in leading the Jews to reject Christ, while they professed to

honor his Father’s law. He now saw the Christian world under a similar

deception in professing to accept Christ while they rejected God’s law.

He had heard from the priests and elders the frenzied cry, “Away with

him!” “Crucify him, crucify him!” and now he heard from professedly

Christian teachers the cry, “Away with the law!” He saw the Sabbath

trodden under foot, and a spurious institution established in its place.

Again Moses was filled with astonishment and horror. How could those who

believed in Christ reject the law spoken by his own voice upon the

sacred mount? How could any that feared God set aside the law which is

the foundation of his government in heaven and earth? With joy Moses saw

the law of God still honored and exalted by a faithful few. He saw the

last great struggle of earthly powers to destroy those who keep God’s

law. He looked forward to the time when God shall arise to punish the

inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity, and those who have feared

his name shall be covered and hid in the day of his anger. He heard

God’s covenant of peace with those who have kept his law, as he utters

his voice from his holy habitation, and the heavens and the earth do

shake. He saw the second coming of Christ in glory, the righteous dead

raised to immortal life, and the living saints translated without seeing

death, and together ascending with songs of gladness to the city of God.

Still another scene opens to his view,—the earth freed from the curse,

lovelier than the fair land of promise so lately spread out before him.

There is no sin, and death cannot enter. There the nations of the saved

find their eternal home. With joy unutterable, Moses looks upon the

scene,—the fulfillment of a more glorious deliverance than his brightest

hopes have ever pictured. Their earthly wanderings forever past, the

Israel of God have at last entered the goodly land.

Again the vision faded, and his eyes rested upon the land of Canaan as

it spread out in the distance. Then, like a tired warrior, he lay down

to rest. “So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of

Moab, according to the word of the Lord. And he buried him in a valley

in the land of Moab, over against Beth-peor; but no man knoweth of his

sepulcher.”[844] Many who had been unwilling to heed the counsels of

Moses while he was with them, would have been in danger of committing

idolatry over his dead body, had they known the place of his burial. For

this reason it was concealed from men. But angels of God buried the body

of his faithful servant, and watched over the lonely grave.

“There arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom Jehovah

knew face to face, in all the signs and the wonders, which Jehovah sent

him to do, ... and in all that mighty hand, and in all the great terror

which Moses showed in the sight of all Israel.”[845]

Had not the life of Moses been marred with that one sin, in failing to

give God the glory of bringing water from the rock at Kadesh, he would

have entered the promised land, and would have been translated to heaven

without seeing death. But he was not long to remain in the tomb. Christ

himself, with the angels who had buried Moses, came down from heaven to

call forth the sleeping saint. Satan had exulted at his success in

causing Moses to sin against God, and thus come under the dominion of

death. The great adversary declared that the divine sentence,—“Dust thou

art, and unto dust shalt thou return,”[846]—gave him possession of the

dead. The power of the grave had never been broken, and all who were in

the tomb he claimed as his captives, never to be released from his dark

prison-house.

For the first time, Christ was about to give life to the dead. As the

Prince of life and the shining ones approached the grave, Satan was

alarmed for his supremacy. With his evil angels he stood to dispute an

invasion of the territory that he claimed as his own. He boasted that

the servant of God had become his prisoner. He declared that even Moses

was not able to keep the law of God; that he had taken to himself the

glory due to Jehovah,—the very sin which had caused Satan’s banishment

from heaven,—and by transgression had come under the dominion of Satan.

The arch-traitor reiterated the original charges that he had made

against the divine government, and repeated his complaints of God’s

injustice toward him.

Christ did not stoop to enter into controversy with Satan. He might have

brought against him the cruel work which his deceptions had wrought in

heaven, causing the ruin of a vast number of its inhabitants. He might

have pointed to the falsehoods told in Eden, that had led to Adam’s sin

and brought death upon the human race. He might have reminded Satan that

it was his own work in tempting Israel to murmuring and rebellion, which

had wearied the long-suffering patience of their leader, and in an

unguarded moment had surprised him into the sin for which he had fallen

under the power of death. But Christ referred all to his Father, saying,

“The Lord rebuke thee.”[847] The Saviour entered into no dispute with

his adversary, but he then and there began his work of breaking the

power of the fallen foe, and bringing the dead to life. Here was an

evidence that Satan could not controvert, of the supremacy of the Son of

God. The resurrection was forever made certain. Satan was despoiled of

his prey; the righteous dead would live again.

In consequence of sin, Moses had come under the power of Satan. In his

own merits he was death’s lawful captive; but he was raised to immortal

life, holding his title in the name of the Redeemer. Moses came forth

from the tomb glorified, and ascended with his Deliverer to the city of

God.

Never, till exemplified in the sacrifice of Christ, were the justice and

the love of God more strikingly displayed than in his dealings with

Moses. God shut Moses out of Canaan, to teach a lesson which should

never be forgotten,—that he requires exact obedience, and that men are

to beware of taking to themselves the glory which is due to their Maker.

He could not grant the prayer of Moses that he might share the

inheritance of Israel; but he did not forget or forsake his servant. The

God of heaven understood the suffering that Moses had endured; he had

noted every act of faithful service through those long years of conflict

and trial. On the top of Pisgah, God called Moses to an inheritance

infinitely more glorious than the earthly Canaan.

Upon the mount of transfiguration, Moses was present with Elijah, who

had been translated. They were sent as bearers of light and glory from

the Father to his Son. And thus the prayer of Moses, uttered so many

centuries before, was at last fulfilled. He stood upon “the goodly

mountain,” within the heritage of his people, bearing witness to Him in

whom all the promises to Israel centered. Such is the last scene

revealed to mortal vision in the history of that man so highly honored

of Heaven.

Moses was a type of Christ. He himself had declared to Israel, “The Lord

thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy

brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken.”[848] God saw fit to

discipline Moses in the school of affliction and poverty, before he

could be prepared to lead the hosts of Israel to the earthly Canaan. The

Israel of God, journeying to the heavenly Canaan, have a Captain who

needed no human teaching to prepare him for his mission as a divine

leader; yet he was made perfect through sufferings; and “in that he

himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that are

tempted.”[849] Our Redeemer manifested no human weakness or

imperfection; yet he died to obtain for us an entrance into the promised

land.

“And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a

testimony of those things which were to be spoken after; but Christ as a

son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the

confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.”[850]

[Illustration: “The resurrection was forever made certain.”]

Footnote 830:

Deut. 32:11, 12.

Footnote 831:

Matt. 5:18.

Footnote 832:

Matt. 25:41.

Footnote 833:

Ex. 34:7.

Footnote 834:

Deut. 31:23.

Footnote 835:

Deut. 32:49, 50.

Footnote 836:

Deut. 33:26-29, Rev. Ver.

Footnote 837:

Deut. 34:1.

Footnote 838:

Deut. 33:13-16.

Footnote 839:

Num. 24:17.

Footnote 840:

Matt. 23:38.

Footnote 841:

John 3:15.

Footnote 842:

2 Cor. 4:17.

Footnote 843:

Matt. 4:16.

Footnote 844:

Deut. 34:5, 6.

Footnote 845:

Deut. 34:10-12.

Footnote 846:

Gen. 3:19.

Footnote 847:

Jude 9.

Footnote 848:

Deut. 18:15.

Footnote 849:

Heb. 2:10, 18.

Footnote 850:

Heb. 3:5, 6.

ESTABLISHMENT IN CANAAN

“He brought them to the border of his sanctuary, even to ... the

Mount Zion which he loved.”

“He cast out the heathen also before them, and divided them an

inheritance.”

CROSSING THE JORDAN—44

The Israelites deeply mourned for their departed leader, and thirty days

were devoted to special services in honor of his memory. Never till he

was taken from them, had they so fully realized the value of his wise

counsels, his parental tenderness, and his unswerving faith. With a new

and deeper appreciation, they recalled the precious lessons he had given

while still with them.

Moses was dead, but his influence did not die with him. It was to live

on, reproducing itself in the hearts of his people. The memory of that

holy, unselfish life would long be cherished, with silent, persuasive

power moulding the lives even of those who had neglected his living

words. As the glow of the descending sun lights up the mountain peaks

long after the sun itself has sunk behind the hills, so the works of the

pure, the holy, and the good, shed light upon the world long after the

actors themselves have passed away. Their works, their words, their

example, will forever live. “The righteous shall be in everlasting

remembrance.”[860]

While they were filled with grief at their great loss, the people knew

that they were not left alone. The pillar of cloud rested over the

tabernacle by day, and the pillar of fire by night, an assurance that

God would still be their guide and helper if they would walk in the way

of his commandments.

Joshua was now the acknowledged leader of Israel. He had been known

chiefly as a warrior, and his gifts and virtues were especially valuable

at this stage in the history of his people. Courageous, resolute, and

persevering, prompt, incorruptible, unmindful of selfish interests in

his care for those committed to his charge, and, above all, inspired by

a living faith in God,—such was the character of the man divinely chosen

to conduct the armies of Israel in their entrance upon the promised

land. During the sojourn in the wilderness he had acted as prime

minister to Moses, and by his quiet, unpretending fidelity, his

steadfastness when others wavered, his firmness to maintain the truth in

the midst of danger, he had given evidence of his fitness to succeed

Moses, even before he was called to the position by the voice of God.

It was with great anxiety and self-distrust that Joshua had looked

forward to the work before him; but his fears were removed by the

assurance of God, “As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee; I will

not fail thee, nor forsake thee.... Unto this people shalt thou divide

for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give

them.” “Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that

have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses.”[861] To the heights of

Lebanon in the far distance, to the shores of the Great Sea, and away to

the banks of the Euphrates in the east,—all was to be theirs.

To this promise was added the injunction, “Only be thou strong and very

courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law,

which Moses my servant commanded.” The Lord’s direction was, “This book

of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate

therein day and night;” “turn not from it to the right hand or to the

left;” “for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt

have good success.”

The Israelites were still encamped on the east side of Jordan, which

presented the first barrier to the occupation of Canaan. “Arise,” had

been the first message of God to Joshua, “go over this Jordan, thou, and

all this people, unto the land which I do give to them.” No instruction

was given as to the way in which they were to make the passage. Joshua

knew, however, that whatever God should command, he would make a way for

his people to perform, and in this faith the intrepid leader at once

began his arrangements for an advance.

A few miles beyond the river, just opposite the place where the

Israelites were encamped, was the large and strongly fortified city of

Jericho. This city was virtually the key to the whole country, and it

would present a formidable obstacle to the success of Israel. Joshua

therefore sent two young men as spies to visit this city, and ascertain

something as to its population, its resources, and the strength of its

fortifications. The inhabitants of the city, terrified and suspicious,

were constantly on the alert, and the messengers were in great danger.

They were, however, preserved by Rahab, a woman of Jericho, at the peril

of her own life. In return for her kindness, they gave her a promise of

protection when the city should be taken.

The spies returned in safety, with the tidings, “Truly the Lord hath

delivered into our hands all the land; for even all the inhabitants of

the country do faint because of us.” It had been declared to them in

Jericho, “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.”

Orders were now issued to make ready for an advance. The people were to

prepare a three-days’ supply of food, and the army was to be put in

readiness for battle. All heartily acquiesced in the plans of their

leader, and assured him of their confidence and support: “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.”

Leaving their encampment in the acacia groves of Shittim, the host

descended to the border of the Jordan. All knew, however, that without

divine aid they could not hope to make the passage. At this time of the

year—in the spring season—the melting snows of the mountains had so

raised the Jordan that the river overflowed its banks, making it

impossible to cross at the usual fording-places. God willed that the

passage of Israel over Jordan should be miraculous. Joshua, by divine

direction, commanded the people to sanctify themselves; they must put

away their sins, and free themselves from all outward impurity; “for

to-morrow,” he said, “the Lord will do wonders among you.” The “ark of

the covenant” was to lead the way before the host. When they should see

the token of Jehovah’s presence, borne by the priests, remove from its

place in the center of the camp, and advance toward the river, then they

were to “remove from their place, and go after it.” The circumstances of

the passage were minutely foretold; and said Joshua, “Hereby ye shall

know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail

drive out from before you the Canaanites.... Behold, the ark of the

covenant of the Lord of all the earth passeth over before you into

Jordan.”

At the appointed time began the onward movement, the ark, borne upon the

shoulders of the priests, leading the van. The people had been directed

to fall back, so that there was a vacant space of more than half a mile

about the ark. All watched with deep interest as the priests advanced

down the bank of the Jordan. They saw them with the sacred ark move

steadily forward toward the angry, surging stream, till the feet of the

bearers were dipped into the waters. Then suddenly the tide above was

swept back, while the current below flowed on, and the bed of the river

was laid bare.

At the divine command, the priests advanced to the middle of the

channel, and stood there, while the entire host descended, and crossed

to the farther side. Thus was impressed upon the minds of all Israel the

fact that the power that stayed the waters of Jordan was the same that

had opened the Red Sea to their fathers forty years before. When the

people had all passed over, the ark itself was borne to the western

shore. No sooner had it reached a place of security, and “the soles of

the priests’ feet were lifted up unto the dry land,” than the imprisoned

waters, being set free, rushed down, a resistless flood, in the natural

channel of the stream.

Coming generations were not to be without a witness to this great

miracle. While the priests bearing the ark were still in the midst of

Jordan, twelve men previously chosen, one from each tribe, took up each

a stone from the river-bed where the priests were standing, and carried

them over to the western side. These stones were to be set up as a

monument in the first camping-place beyond the river. The people were

bidden to repeat to their children and children’s children the story of

the deliverance that God had wrought for them, as Joshua said, “That all

the people of the earth might know the hand of the Lord, that it is

mighty; that ye might fear the Lord your God forever.”

The influence of this miracle, both upon the Hebrews and upon their

enemies, was of great importance. It was an assurance to Israel of God’s

continued presence and protection,—an evidence that he would work for

them through Joshua as he had wrought through Moses. Such an assurance

was needed to strengthen their hearts as they entered upon the conquest

of the land,—the stupendous task that had staggered the faith of their

fathers forty years before. The Lord had declared to Joshua before the

crossing, “This day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all

Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with

thee.” And the result fulfilled the promise. “On that day the Lord

magnified Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they feared him, as

they feared Moses, all the days of his life.”

This exercise of divine power in behalf of Israel was designed also to

increase the fear with which they were regarded by the surrounding

nations, and thus prepare the way for their easier and complete triumph.

When the tidings that God had stayed the waters of Jordan before the

children of Israel, reached the kings of the Amorites and of the

Canaanites, their hearts melted with fear. The Hebrews had already slain

the five kings of Midian, the powerful Sihon, king of the Amorites, and

Og of Bashan, and now the passage over the swollen and impetuous Jordan

filled all the surrounding nations with terror. To the Canaanites, to

all Israel, and to Joshua himself, unmistakable evidence had been given

that the living God, the King of heaven and earth, was among his people,

and that he “would not fail them nor forsake them.”

A short distance from Jordan the Hebrews made their first encampment in

Canaan. Here Joshua “circumcised the children of Israel;” “and the

children of Israel encamped in Gilgal, and kept the Passover.”[862] The

suspension of the rite of circumcision since the rebellion at Kadesh had

been a constant witness to Israel that their covenant with God, of which

it was the appointed symbol, had been broken. And the discontinuance of

the Passover, the memorial of their deliverance from Egypt, had been an

evidence of the Lord’s displeasure at their desire to return to the land

of bondage. Now, however, the years of rejection were ended. Once more

God acknowledged Israel as his people, and the sign of the covenant was

restored. The rite of circumcision was performed upon all the people who

had been born in the wilderness. And the Lord declared to Joshua, “This

day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you,”[863] and in

allusion to this the place of their encampment was called Gilgal, “a

rolling away,” or “rolling off.”

Heathen nations had reproached the Lord and his people because the

Hebrews had failed to take possession of Canaan, as they expected, soon

after leaving Egypt. Their enemies had triumphed because Israel had

wandered so long in the wilderness, and they had mockingly declared that

the God of the Hebrews was not able to bring them into the promised

land. The Lord had now signally manifested his power and favor in

opening the Jordan before his people, and their enemies could no longer

reproach them.

“On the fourteenth day of the month at even,” the Passover was

celebrated on the plains of Jericho. “And they did eat of the old corn

of the land on the morrow after the Passover, unleavened cakes, and

parched corn in the selfsame day. And the manna ceased on the morrow

after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the

children of Israel manna any more; but they did eat of the fruit of the

land of Canaan.”[863] The long years of their desert wanderings were

ended. The feet of Israel were at last treading the promised land.

[Illustration: “God willed that the passage of Israel over Jordan should

be miraculous.”]

Footnote 860:

Ps. 112:6.

Footnote 861:

See Joshua 1-4.

Footnote 862:

Joshua 5:3, 10, 9.

Footnote 863:

Joshua 5:9-12.

THE FALL OF JERICHO—45

The Hebrews had entered Canaan, but they had not subdued it; and to

human appearance the struggle to gain possession of the land must be

long and difficult. It was inhabited by a powerful race, who stood ready

to oppose the invasion of their territory. The various tribes were bound

together by the fear of a common danger. Their horses and iron

battle-chariots, their knowledge of the country, and their training in

war, would give them great advantage. Furthermore, the country was

guarded by fortresses,—“cities great and fenced up to heaven.”[870] Only

in the assurance of a strength not their own, could the Israelites hope

for success in the impending conflict.

One of the strongest fortresses in the land,—the large and wealthy city

of Jericho,—lay just before them, but a little distance from their camp

at Gilgal. On the border of a fertile plain abounding with the rich and

varied productions of the tropics, its palaces and temples the abode of

luxury and vice, this proud city, behind its massive battlements,

offered defiance to the God of Israel. Jericho was one of the principal

seats of idol worship, being especially devoted to Ashtaroth, the

goddess of the moon. Here centered all that was vilest and most

degrading in the religion of the Canaanites. The people of Israel, in

whose minds were fresh the fearful results of their sin at Beth-peor,

could look upon this heathen city only with disgust and horror.

To reduce Jericho was seen by Joshua to be the first step in the

conquest of Canaan. But first of all he sought an assurance of divine

guidance; and it was granted him. Withdrawing from the encampment to

meditate and to pray that the God of Israel would go before his people,

he beheld an armed warrior, of lofty stature and commanding presence,

“with his sword drawn in his hand.” To Joshua’s challenge, “Art thou for

us, or for our adversaries?” the answer was given, “As Captain of the

host of the Lord am I now come.”[871] The same command given to Moses in

Horeb, “Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou

standest is holy,” revealed the true character of the mysterious

stranger. It was Christ, the Exalted One, who stood before the leader of

Israel. Awe-stricken, Joshua fell upon his face and worshiped, and heard

the assurance, “I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king

thereof, and the mighty men of valor,” and he received instruction for

the capture of the city.

In obedience to the divine command, Joshua marshaled the armies of

Israel. No assault was to be made. They were simply to make the circuit

of the city, bearing the ark of God, and blowing upon trumpets. First

came the warriors, a body of chosen men, not now to conquer by their own

skill and prowess, but by obedience to the directions given them from

God. Seven priests with trumpets followed. Then the ark of God,

surrounded by a halo of divine glory, was borne by priests clad in the

dress denoting their sacred office. The army of Israel followed, each

tribe under its standard. Such was the procession that compassed the

doomed city. No sound was heard but the tread of that mighty host and

the solemn peal of the trumpets, echoing among the hills, and resounding

through the streets of Jericho. The circuit completed, the army returned

in silence to their tents, and the ark was restored to its place in the

tabernacle.

With wonder and alarm the watchmen of the city marked every move, and

reported to those in authority. They knew not the meaning of all this

display; but when they beheld that mighty host marching around their

city once each day, with the sacred ark and the attendant priests, the

mystery of the scene struck terror to the hearts of priest and people.

Again they would inspect their strong defenses, feeling certain they

could successfully resist the most powerful attack. Many ridiculed the

thought that any harm could come to them through these singular

demonstrations. Others were awed as they beheld the procession that each

day wound about the city. They remembered that the Red Sea had once

parted before this people, and that a passage had just been opened for

them through the river Jordan. They knew not what further wonders God

might work for them.

For six days the host of Israel made the circuit of the city. The

seventh day came, and with the first dawn of light, Joshua marshaled the

armies of the Lord. Now they were directed to march seven times around

Jericho, and at a mighty peal from the trumpets to shout with a loud

voice, for God had given them the city.

[Illustration: THE FALL OF JERICHO. “The Mighty One of Israel had said,

‘I have given Jericho into thine hand.’ Against that word, human

strength was powerless.”]

The vast army marched solemnly around the devoted walls. All was silent,

save the measured tread of many feet, and the occasional sound of the

trumpet, breaking the stillness of the early morning. The massive walls

of solid stone seemed to defy the siege of men. The watchers on the

walls looked on with rising fear, as, the first circuit ended, there

followed a second, then a third, a fourth, a fifth, a sixth. What could

be the object of these mysterious movements? What mighty event was

impending? They had not long to wait. As the seventh circuit was

completed, the long procession paused. The trumpets, which for an

interval had been silent, now broke forth in a blast that shook the very

earth. The walls of solid stone, with their massive towers and

battlements, tottered and heaved from their foundations, and with a

crash fell in ruin to the earth. The inhabitants of Jericho were

paralyzed with terror, and the hosts of Israel marched in and took

possession of the city.

The Israelites had not gained the victory by their own power; the

conquest had been wholly the Lord’s; and as the first-fruits of the

land, the city, with all that it contained, was to be devoted as a

sacrifice to God. It was to be impressed upon Israel that in the

conquest of Canaan they were not to fight for themselves, but simply as

instruments to execute the will of God; not to seek for riches or

self-exaltation, but the glory of Jehovah their king. Before the capture

the command had been given, “The city shall be accursed, even it, and

all that are therein.” “Keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest ye

make yourselves accursed, ... and make the camp of Israel a curse, and

trouble it.”

All the inhabitants of the city, with every living thing that it

contained, “both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and

ass,” were put to the sword. Only faithful Rahab, with her household,

was spared, in fulfillment of the promise of the spies. The city itself

was burned; its palaces and temples, its magnificent dwellings with all

their luxurious appointments, the rich draperies and the costly

garments, were given to the flames. That which could not be destroyed by

fire, “the silver and gold, and vessels of brass and iron,” was to be

devoted to the service of the tabernacle. The very site of the city was

accursed; Jericho was never to be rebuilt as a stronghold; judgments

were threatened upon any one who should presume to restore the walls

that divine power had cast down. The solemn declaration was made in the

presence of all Israel, “Cursed be the man before the Lord, that riseth

up and buildeth this city Jericho. He shall lay the foundation thereof

in his first-born, and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of

it.”

The utter destruction of the people of Jericho was but a fulfillment of

the commands previously given through Moses concerning the inhabitants

of Canaan: “Thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them.” “Of the

cities of these people, ... thou shalt save alive nothing that

breatheth.”[872] To many these commands seem to be contrary to the

spirit of love and mercy enjoined in other portions of the Bible; but

they were in truth the dictates of infinite wisdom and goodness. God was

about to establish Israel in Canaan, to develop among them a nation and

government that should be a manifestation of his kingdom upon the earth.

They were not only to be inheritors of the true religion, but to

disseminate its principles throughout the world. The Canaanites had

abandoned themselves to the foulest and most debasing heathenism; and it

was necessary that the land should be cleared of what would so surely

prevent the fulfillment of God’s gracious purposes.

The inhabitants of Canaan had been granted ample opportunity for

repentance. Forty years before, the opening of the Red Sea and the

judgments upon Egypt had testified to the supreme power of the God of

Israel. And now the overthrow of the kings of Midian, of Gilead and

Bashan, had further shown that Jehovah was above all gods. The holiness

of his character and his abhorrence of impurity had been evinced in the

judgments visited upon Israel for their participation in the abominable

rites of Baal-peor. All these events were known to the inhabitants of

Jericho, and there were many who shared Rahab’s conviction, though they

refused to obey it, that Jehovah, the God of Israel, “is God in heaven

above, and in earth beneath.” Like the men before the flood, the

Canaanites lived only to blaspheme Heaven and defile the earth. And both

love and justice demanded the prompt execution of these rebels against

God, and foes to man.

How easily the armies of heaven brought down the walls of Jericho, that

proud city whose bulwarks, forty years before, had struck terror to the

unbelieving spies! The Mighty One of Israel had said, “I have given

Jericho into thine hand.” Against that word, human strength was

powerless.

“By faith the walls of Jericho fell down.”[873] The Captain of the

Lord’s host communicated only with Joshua; he did not reveal himself to

all the congregation, and it rested with them to believe or doubt the

words of Joshua, to obey the commands given by him in the name of the

Lord, or to deny his authority. _They_ could not see the host of angels

who attended them under the leadership of the Son of God. They might

have reasoned: “What unmeaning movements are these, and how ridiculous

the performance of marching daily around the walls of the city, blowing

trumpets of rams’ horns. This can have no effect upon those towering

fortifications.” But the very plan of continuing this ceremony through

so long a time prior to the final overthrow of the walls, afforded

opportunity for the development of faith among the Israelites. It was to

be impressed upon their minds that their strength was not in the wisdom

of man, nor in his might, but only in the God of their salvation. They

were thus to become accustomed to relying wholly upon their divine

Leader.

God will do great things for those who trust in him. The reason why his

professed people have no greater strength, is that they trust so much to

their own wisdom, and do not give the Lord an opportunity to reveal his

power in their behalf. He will help his believing children in every

emergency, if they will place their entire confidence in him, and

faithfully obey him.

Soon after the fall of Jericho, Joshua determined to attack Ai, a small

town among the ravines a few miles to the west of the Jordan valley.

Spies sent to this place brought back the report that the inhabitants

were but few, and that only a small force would be needed to overthrow

it.

The great victory that God had gained for them had made the Israelites

self-confident. Because he had promised them the land of Canaan, they

felt secure, and failed to realize that divine help alone could give

them success. Even Joshua laid his plans for the conquest of Ai, without

seeking counsel from God.

The Israelites had begun to exalt their own strength, and to look with

contempt upon their foes. An easy victory was expected, and three

thousand men were thought sufficient to take the place. These rushed to

the attack without the assurance that God would be with them. They

advanced nearly to the gate of the city, only to encounter the most

determined resistance. Panic-stricken at the numbers and thorough

preparation of their enemies, they fled in confusion down the steep

descent. The Canaanites were in hot pursuit; “they chased them from

before the gate, ... and smote them in the going down.” Though the loss

was small as to numbers,—but thirty-six men being slain,—the defeat was

disheartening to the whole congregation. “The hearts of the people

melted, and became as water.” This was the first time they had met the

Canaanites in actual battle, and if put to flight before the defenders

of this little town, what would be the result in the greater conflicts

before them? Joshua looked upon their ill success as an expression of

God’s displeasure, and in distress and apprehension he “rent his

clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the Lord

until the eventide, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust upon their

heads.”

“Alas, O Lord God,” he cried, “wherefore hast thou at all brought this

people over Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to

destroy us?... O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs

before their enemies? For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the

land shall hear of it, and shall environ us round, and cut off our name

from the earth; and what wilt thou do unto thy great name?”

The answer from Jehovah was, “Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus

upon thy face? Israel ... hath transgressed my covenant which I

commanded them.” It was a time for prompt and decided action, and not

for despair and lamentation. There was secret sin in the camp, and it

must be searched out and put away, before the presence and blessing of

the Lord could be with his people. “Neither will I be with you any more,

except ye destroy the accursed from among you.”

God’s command had been disregarded by one of those appointed to execute

his judgments. And the nation was held accountable for the guilt of the

transgressor: “_They_ have even taken of the accursed thing; and have

also stolen, and dissembled also.” Instruction was given to Joshua for

the discovery and punishment of the criminal. The lot was to be employed

for the detection of the guilty. The sinner was not directly pointed

out, the matter being left in doubt for a time, that the people might

feel their responsibility for the sins existing among them, and thus be

led to searching of heart, and humiliation before God.

Early in the morning, Joshua gathered the people together “by their

tribes,” and the solemn and impressive ceremony began. Step by step the

investigation went on. Closer and still closer came the fearful test.

First the tribe, then the family, then the household, then the man was

taken, and Achan the son of Carmi, of the tribe of Judah, was pointed

out by the finger of God as the troubler of Israel.

To establish his guilt beyond all question, leaving no ground for the

charge that he had been unjustly condemned, Joshua solemnly adjured

Achan to acknowledge the truth. The wretched man made full confession of

his crime: “Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel.... 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.” Messengers were immediately dispatched to the

tent, where they removed the earth at the place specified, and “behold,

it was hid in his tent, and the silver under it. And they took them out

of the midst of the tent, and brought them unto Joshua, ... and laid

them out before the Lord.”

Sentence was pronounced and immediately executed. “Why hast thou

troubled us?” said Joshua, “the Lord shall trouble thee this day.” As

the people had been held responsible for Achan’s sin, and had suffered

from its consequences, they were, through their representatives, to take

part in its punishment. “All Israel stoned him with stones.”

Then there was raised over him a great pile of stones,—a witness to the

sin and its punishment. “Wherefore the name of that place was called the

valley of Achor,” that is, “trouble.” In the book of Chronicles his

memorial is written,—“Achar, the troubler of Israel.”[874]

Achan’s sin was committed in defiance of the most direct and solemn

warnings and the most mighty manifestations of God’s power. “Keep

yourselves from the accursed thing, lest ye make yourselves accursed,”

had been the proclamation to all Israel. The command was given

immediately after the miraculous passage of the Jordan, and the

recognition of God’s covenant by the circumcision of the people,—after

the observance of the Passover, and the appearance of the Angel of the

covenant, the Captain of the Lord’s host. It had been followed by the

overthrow of Jericho, giving evidence of the destruction which will

surely overtake all transgressors of God’s law. The fact that divine

power alone had given the victory to Israel, that they had not come into

possession of Jericho by their own strength, gave solemn weight to the

command prohibiting them from partaking of the spoils. God, by the might

of his own word, had overthrown this stronghold; the conquest was his,

and to him alone the city with all that it contained was to be devoted.

Of the millions of Israel there was but one man who, in that solemn hour

of triumph and of judgment, had dared to transgress the command of God.

Achan’s covetousness was excited by the sight of that costly robe of

Shinar; even when it had brought him face to face with death he called

it “a _goodly_ Babylonish garment.” One sin had led to another, and he

appropriated the gold and silver devoted to the treasury of the Lord,—he

robbed God of the first-fruits of the land of Canaan.

The deadly sin that led to Achan’s ruin had its root in covetousness, of

all sins one of the most common and the most lightly regarded. While

other offenses meet with detection and punishment, how rarely does the

violation of the tenth commandment so much as call forth censure. The

enormity of this sin, and its terrible results, are the lessons of

Achan’s history.

Covetousness is an evil of gradual development. Achan had cherished

greed of gain until it became a habit, binding him in fetters well-nigh

impossible to break. While fostering this evil, he would have been

filled with horror at the thought of bringing disaster upon Israel; but

his perceptions were deadened by sin, and when temptation came, he fell

an easy prey.

Are not similar sins still committed, in the face of warnings as solemn

and explicit? We are as directly forbidden to indulge covetousness as

was Achan to appropriate the spoils of Jericho. God has declared it to

be idolatry. We are warned, “Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” “Take

heed, and beware of covetousness.” “Let it not be once named among

you.”[875] We have before us the fearful doom of Achan, of Judas, of

Ananias and Sapphira. Back of all these we have that of Lucifer, that

“son of the morning,” who, coveting a higher state, forfeited forever

the brightness and bliss of heaven. And yet, notwithstanding all these

warnings, covetousness abounds.

Everywhere its slimy track is seen. It creates discontent and dissension

in families; it excites envy and hatred in the poor against the rich; it

prompts the grinding oppression of the rich toward the poor. And this

evil exists not in the world alone, but in the church. How common even

here to find selfishness, avarice, overreaching, neglect of charities,

and robbery of God “in tithes and offerings.” Among church-members “in

good and regular standing,” there are, alas! many Achans. Many a man

comes statedly to church, and sits at the table of the Lord, while among

his possessions are hidden unlawful gains, the things that God has

cursed. For a goodly Babylonish garment, multitudes sacrifice the

approval of conscience and their hope of heaven. Multitudes barter their

integrity, and their capabilities for usefulness, for a bag of silver

shekels. The cries of the suffering poor are unheeded; the gospel light

is hindered in its course; the scorn of worldlings is kindled by

practices that give the lie to the Christian profession; and yet the

covetous professor continues to heap up treasures. “Will a man rob God?

Yet ye have robbed me,”[876] saith the Lord.

Achan’s sin brought disaster upon the whole nation. For one man’s sin,

the displeasure of God will rest upon his church till the transgression

is searched out and put away. The influence most to be feared by the

church is not that of open opposers, infidels, and blasphemers, but of

inconsistent professors of Christ. These are the ones that keep back the

blessing of the God of Israel, and bring weakness upon his people.

When the church is in difficulty, when coldness and spiritual declension

exist, giving occasion for the enemies of God to triumph, then, instead

of folding their hands and lamenting their unhappy state, let its

members inquire if there is not an Achan in the camp. With humiliation

and searching of heart, let each seek to discover the hidden sins that

shut out God’s presence.

Achan acknowledged his guilt, but when it was too late for the

confession to benefit himself. He had seen the armies of Israel return

from Ai defeated and disheartened; yet he did not come forward and

confess his sin. He had seen Joshua and the elders of Israel bowed to

the earth in grief too great for words. Had he then made confession, he

would have given some proof of true penitence; but he still kept

silence. He had listened to the proclamation that a great crime had been

committed, and had even heard its character definitely stated. But his

lips were sealed. Then came the solemn investigation. How his soul

thrilled with terror as he saw his tribe pointed out, then his family

and his household! But still he uttered no confession, until the finger

of God was placed upon him. Then, when his sin could no longer be

concealed, he admitted the truth. How often are similar confessions

made. There is a vast difference between admitting facts after they have

been proved, and confessing sins known only to ourselves and to God.

Achan would not have confessed, had he not hoped by so doing to avert

the consequences of his crime. But his confession only served to show

that his punishment was just. There was no genuine repentance for sin,

no contrition, no change of purpose, no abhorrence of evil.

So confessions will be made by the guilty when they stand before the bar

of God, after every case has been decided for life or death. The

consequences to result to himself will draw from each an acknowledgment

of his sin. It will be forced from the soul by an awful sense of

condemnation and a fearful looking for of judgment. But such confessions

cannot save the sinner.

So long as they can conceal their transgressions from their fellow-men,

many, like Achan, feel secure, and flatter themselves that God will not

be strict to mark iniquity. All too late their sins will find them out

in that day when they shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering

forever. When the records of heaven shall be opened, the Judge will not

in words declare to man his guilt, but will cast one penetrating,

convicting glance, and every deed, every transaction of life, will be

vividly impressed upon the memory of the wrong-doer. The person will

not, as in Joshua’s day, need to be hunted out from tribe to family, but

his own lips will confess his shame. The sins hidden from the knowledge

of men will then be proclaimed to the whole world.

Footnote 870:

Deut. 9:1.

Footnote 871:

Joshua 5:13-15; chapters 6, 7.

Footnote 872:

Deut. 7:2; 20:16.

Footnote 873:

Heb. 11:30.

Footnote 874:

1 Chron. 2:7.

Footnote 875:

Col. 3:5; Matt. 6:24; Luke 12:15; Eph. 5:3.

Footnote 876:

Mal. 3:8.

THE BLESSING AND THE CURSES—46

After the execution of the sentence upon Achan, Joshua was commanded to

marshal all the men of war, and again advance against Ai. The power of

God was with his people, and they were soon in possession of the city.

Military operations were now suspended, that all Israel might engage in

a solemn religious service. The people were eager to obtain a settlement

in Canaan; as yet they had not homes or lands for their families, and in

order to gain these they must drive out the Canaanites; but this

important work must be deferred, for a higher duty demanded their first

attention.

Before taking possession of their inheritance, they must renew their

covenant of loyalty to God. In the last instructions of Moses, direction

had been twice given for a convocation of the tribes upon mounts Ebal

and Gerizim, at Shechem, for the solemn recognition of the law of God.

In obedience to these injunctions, the whole people, not only men, but

“the women, and the little ones, and the strangers that were conversant

among them,”[880] left their camp at Gilgal, and marched through the

country of their enemies, to the vale of Shechem, near the center of the

land. Though surrounded by unconquered foes, they were safe under the

protection of God as long as they were faithful to him. Now, as in the

days of Jacob, “the terror of God was upon the cities that were round

about them,”[881] and the Hebrews were unmolested.

The place appointed for this solemn service was one already sacred from

its association with the history of their fathers. It was here that

Abraham raised his first altar to Jehovah in the land of Canaan. Here

both Abraham and Jacob had pitched their tents. Here the latter bought

the field in which the tribes were to bury the body of Joseph. Here also

was the well that Jacob had dug, and the oak under which he had buried

the idolatrous images of his household.

The spot chosen was one of the most beautiful in all Palestine, and

worthy to be the theater where this grand and impressive scene was to be

enacted. The lovely valley, its green fields dotted with olive groves,

watered with brooks from living fountains, and gemmed with wild flowers,

spread out invitingly between the barren hills. Ebal and Gerizim, upon

opposite sides of the valley, nearly approach each other, their lower

spurs seeming to form a natural pulpit, every word spoken on one being

distinctly audible on the other, while the mountain-sides, receding,

afford space for a vast assemblage.

According to the directions given by Moses, a monument of great stones

was erected upon Mount Ebal. Upon these stones, previously prepared by a

covering of plaster, the law was inscribed,—not only the ten precepts

spoken from Sinai and engraved on the tables of stone, but the laws

communicated to Moses, and by him written in a book. Beside this

monument was built an altar of unhewn stone, upon which sacrifices were

offered unto the Lord. The fact that the altar was set up on Mount Ebal,

the mountain upon which the curse was put, was significant, denoting

that because of their transgressions of God’s law, Israel had justly

incurred his wrath, and that it would be at once visited, but for the

atonement of Christ, represented by the altar of sacrifice.

Six of the tribes—all descended from Leah and Rachel—were stationed upon

Mount Gerizim; while those that descended from the handmaids, together

with Reuben and Zebulun, took their position on Ebal, the priests with

the ark occupying the valley between them. Silence was proclaimed by the

sound of the signal trumpet; and then in the deep stillness, and in the

presence of this vast assembly, Joshua, standing beside the sacred ark,

read the blessings that were to follow obedience to God’s law. All the

tribes on Gerizim responded by an Amen. He then read the curses, and the

tribes on Ebal in like manner gave their assent, thousands upon

thousands of voices uniting as the voice of one man in the solemn

response. Following this came the reading of the law of God, together

with the statutes and judgments that had been delivered to them by

Moses.

Israel had received the law directly from the mouth of God at Sinai; and

its sacred precepts, written by his own hand, were still preserved in

the ark. Now it had been again written where all could read it. All had

the privilege of seeing for themselves the conditions of the covenant

under which they were to hold possession of Canaan. All were to signify

their acceptance of the terms of the covenant, and give their assent to

the blessings or curses for its observance or neglect. The law was not

only written upon the memorial stones, but was read by Joshua himself in

the hearing of all Israel. It had not been many weeks since Moses gave

the whole book of Deuteronomy in discourses to the people, yet now

Joshua read the law again.

[Illustration: REJOICING AT THE FEAST. “The redeemed of the Lord shall

return and come with singing unto Zion; ... they shall obtain gladness

and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.”]

Not alone the men of Israel, but “all the women and the little ones”

listened to the reading of the law; for it was important that they also

should know and do their duty. God had commanded Israel concerning his

statutes: “Ye shall lay up these my words in your heart and in your

soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as

frontlets between your eyes. And ye shall teach them your children, ...

that your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the

land which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of

heaven upon the earth.”[882]

Every seventh year the whole law was to be read in the assembly of all

Israel, as Moses commanded: “At the end of every seven years, in the

solemnity of the year of release, in the Feast of Tabernacles, when all

Israel is come to appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he

shall choose, thou shalt read this law before all Israel in their

hearing. Gather the people together, men, and women, and children, and

thy stranger that is within thy gates, that they may hear, and that they

may learn, and fear the Lord your God, and observe to do all the words

of this law. And that their children, which have not known anything, may

hear, and learn to fear the Lord your God, as long as ye live in the

land whither ye go over Jordan to possess it.”[883]

Satan is ever at work endeavoring to pervert what God has spoken, to

blind the mind and darken the understanding, and thus lead men into sin.

This is why the Lord is so explicit, making his requirements so very

plain that none need err. God is constantly seeking to draw men close

under his protection, that Satan may not practice his cruel, deceptive

power upon them. He has condescended to speak to them with his own

voice, to write with his own hand the living oracles. And these blessed

words, all instinct with life and luminous with truth, are committed to

men as a perfect guide. Because Satan is so ready to catch away the mind

and divert the affections from the Lord’s promises and requirements, the

greater diligence is needed to fix them in the mind and impress them

upon the heart.

Greater attention should be given by religious teachers to instructing

the people in the facts and lessons of Bible history and the warnings

and requirements of the Lord. These should be presented in simple

language, adapted to the comprehension of children. It should be a part

of the work both of ministers and parents to see that the young are

instructed in the Scriptures.

Parents can and should interest their children in the varied knowledge

found in the sacred pages. But if they would interest their sons and

daughters in the word of God, they must be interested in it themselves.

They must be familiar with its teachings, and, as God commanded Israel,

speak of it, “when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by

the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.”[884] Those who

desire their children to love and reverence God, must talk of his

goodness, his majesty, and his power, as revealed in his word and in the

works of creation.

Every chapter and every verse of the Bible is a communication from God

to men. We should bind its precepts as signs upon our hands, and as

frontlets between our eyes. If studied and obeyed, it would lead God’s

people, as the Israelites were led, by the pillar of cloud by day, and

the pillar of fire by night.

[Illustration: The Fruit of the Vine.]

Footnote 880:

Joshua 8:30-35.

Footnote 881:

Gen. 35:5.

Footnote 882:

Deut. 11:18-21.

Footnote 883:

Deut. 31:10-13.

Footnote 884:

Deut. 11:19.

LEAGUE WITH THE GIBEONITES—47

From Shechem the Israelites returned to their encampment at Gilgal. Here

they were soon after visited by a strange deputation, who desired to

enter into treaty with them. The ambassadors represented that they had

come from a distant country, and this seemed to be confirmed by their

appearance. Their clothing was old and worn, their sandals were patched,

their provisions moldy, and the skins that served them for wine-bottles

were rent and bound up, as if hastily repaired on the journey.

In their far-off home—professedly beyond the limits of Palestine—their

fellow-countrymen, they said, had heard of the wonders which God had

wrought for his people, and had sent them to make a league with Israel.

The Hebrews had been specially warned against entering into any league

with the idolaters of Canaan, and a doubt as to the truth of the

strangers’ words arose in the minds of the leaders. “Peradventure ye

dwell among us,” they said. To this the ambassadors only replied, “We

are thy servants.”[885] But when Joshua directly demanded of them, “Who

are ye? and from whence come ye?” they reiterated their former

statement, and added, in proof of their sincerity, “This our bread we

took hot for our provision out of our houses on the day we came forth to

go unto you; but now, behold, it is dry, and it is moldy. And these

bottles of wine, which we filled, were new; and, behold, they be rent.

And these our garments and our shoes are become old by reason of the

very long journey.”

These representations prevailed. The Hebrews “asked not counsel at the

mouth of the Lord. And Joshua made peace with them, and made a league

with them, to let them live. And the princes of the congregation sware

unto them.” Thus the treaty was entered into. Three days afterward the

truth was discovered. “They heard that they were their neighbors, and

that they dwelt among them.” Knowing that it was impossible to resist

the Hebrews, the Gibeonites had resorted to stratagem to preserve their

lives.

Great was the indignation of the Israelites as they learned the

deception that had been practiced upon them. And this was heightened

when, after three days’ journey, they reached the cities of the

Gibeonites, near the center of the land. “All the congregation murmured

against the princes;” but the latter refused to break the treaty, though

secured by fraud, because they had “sworn unto them by the Lord God of

Israel.” “And the children of Israel smote them not.” The Gibeonites had

pledged themselves to renounce idolatry, and accept the worship of

Jehovah; and the preservation of their lives was not a violation of

God’s command to destroy the idolatrous Canaanites. Hence the Hebrews

had not by their oath pledged themselves to commit sin. And though the

oath had been secured by deception, it was not to be disregarded. The

obligation to which one’s word is pledged,—if it do not bind him to

perform a wrong act,—should be held sacred. No consideration of gain, of

revenge, or of self-interest, can in any way affect the inviolability of

an oath or pledge. “Lying lips are abomination to the Lord.” He that

“shall ascend into the hill of the Lord,” and “stand in his holy place,”

is “he that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.”[889]

The Gibeonites were permitted to live, but were attached as bondmen to

the sanctuary, to perform all menial services. “Joshua made them that

day hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation, and for

the altar of the Lord.” These conditions they gratefully accepted,

conscious that they had been at fault, and glad to purchase life on any

terms. “Behold, we are in thine hand,” they said to Joshua; “as it

seemeth good and right unto thee to do unto us, do.” For centuries their

descendants were connected with the service of the sanctuary.

The territory of the Gibeonites comprised four cities. The people were

not under the rule of a king, but were governed by elders, or senators.

Gibeon, the most important of their towns, “was a great city, as one of

the royal cities,” “and all the men thereof were mighty.” It is a

striking evidence of the terror with which the Israelites had inspired

the inhabitants of Canaan, that the people of such a city should have

resorted to so humiliating an expedient to save their lives.

But it would have fared better with the Gibeonites had they dealt

honestly with Israel. While their submission to Jehovah secured the

preservation of their lives, their deception brought them only disgrace

and servitude. God had made provision that all who would renounce

heathenism, and connect themselves with Israel, should share the

blessings of the covenant. They were included under the term, “the

stranger that sojourneth among you,” and with few exceptions this class

were to enjoy equal favors and privileges with Israel. The Lord’s

direction was,—

“If a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him. But

the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among

you, and thou shalt love him as thyself.”[890] Concerning the Passover

and the offering of sacrifices it was commanded, “One ordinance shall be

both for you of the congregation, and also for the stranger that

sojourneth with you.... As ye are, so shall the stranger be before the

Lord.”[891]

Such was the footing on which the Gibeonites might have been received,

but for the deception to which they had resorted. It was no light

humiliation to those citizens of a “royal city,” “all the men whereof

were mighty,” to be made hewers of wood and drawers of water throughout

their generations. But they had adopted the garb of poverty for the

purpose of deception, and it was fastened upon them as a badge of

perpetual servitude. Thus through all their generations, their servile

condition would testify to God’s hatred of falsehood.

The submission of Gibeon to the Israelites filled the kings of Canaan

with dismay. Steps were at once taken for revenge upon those who had

made peace with the invaders. Under the leadership of Adoni-zedek, king

of Jerusalem, five of the Canaanite kings entered into a confederacy

against Gibeon. Their movements were rapid. The Gibeonites were

unprepared for defense, and they sent a message to Joshua at Gilgal:

“Slack not thy hand from thy servants; come up to us quickly, and save

us, and help us; for all the kings of the Amorites that dwell in the

mountains are gathered together against us.”[892] The danger threatened

not the people of Gibeon alone, but also Israel. This city commanded the

passes to Central and Southern Palestine, and it must be held if the

country was to be conquered.

Joshua prepared to go at once to the relief of Gibeon. The inhabitants

of the besieged city had feared that he would reject their appeal,

because of the fraud which they had practiced; but since they had

submitted to the control of Israel, and had accepted the worship of God,

he felt himself under obligation to protect them. He did not this time

move without divine counsel, and the Lord encouraged him in the

undertaking. “Fear them not,” was the divine message; “for I have

delivered them into thine hand; there shall not a man of them stand

before thee.” “So Joshua ascended from Gilgal, he, and all the people of

war with him, and all the mighty men of valor.”

By marching all night he brought his forces before Gibeon in the

morning. Scarcely had the confederate princes mustered their armies

about the city when Joshua was upon them. The attack resulted in the

utter discomfiture of the assailants. The immense host fled before

Joshua up the mountain pass to Beth-horon; and having gained the height

they rushed down the precipitous descent upon the other side. Here a

fierce hailstorm burst upon them. “The Lord cast down great stones from

heaven.... They were more which died with hailstones than they whom the

children of Israel slew with a sword.”

While the Amorites were continuing their headlong flight, intent on

finding refuge in the mountain strongholds, Joshua, looking down from

the ridge above, saw that the day would be too short for the

accomplishment of his work. If not fully routed, their enemies would

again rally, and renew the struggle. “Then spake Joshua to the Lord....

And he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon;

and thou, moon, in the valley of Ajalon. And the sun stood still, and

the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their

enemies.... The sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not

to go down about a whole day.”

Before the evening fell, God’s promise to Joshua had been fulfilled. The

entire host of the enemy had been given into his hand. Long were the

events of that day to remain in the memory of Israel. “There was no day

like that before it or after it, that Jehovah hearkened unto the voice

of a man; for the Lord fought for Israel.” “The sun and moon stood still

in their habitation; at the light of thine arrows they went, and at the

shining of thy glittering spear. Thou didst march through the land in

indignation, thou didst thresh the heathen in anger. Thou wentest forth

for the salvation of thy people.”[893]

The Spirit of God inspired Joshua’s prayer, that evidence might again be

given of the power of Israel’s God. Hence the request did not show

presumption on the part of the great leader. Joshua had received the

promise that God would surely overthrow these enemies of Israel, yet he

put forth as earnest effort as though success depended upon the armies

of Israel alone. He did all that human energy could do, and then he

cried in faith for divine aid. The secret of success is the union of

divine power with human effort. Those who achieve the greatest results

are those who rely most implicitly upon the Almighty Arm. The man who

commanded, “Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, moon, in the

valley of Ajalon,” is the man who for hours lay prostrate upon the earth

in prayer in the camp at Gilgal. The men of prayer are the men of power.

This mighty miracle testifies that the creation is under the control of

the Creator. Satan seeks to conceal from men the divine agency in the

physical world,—to keep out of sight the unwearied working of the first

great cause. In this miracle, all who exalt nature above the God of

nature stand rebuked.

At his own will, God summons the forces of nature to overthrow the might

of his enemies,—“fire and hail, snow and vapors, stormy wind fulfilling

his word.”[894] When the heathen Amorites had set themselves to resist

his purposes, God interposed, casting down “great stones from heaven”

upon the enemies of Israel. We are told of a greater battle to take

place in the closing scenes of earth’s history, when “Jehovah hath

opened his armory, and hath brought forth the weapons of his

indignation.”[895] “Hast thou,” he inquires, “entered into the treasures

of the snow? or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail, which I have

reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and

war?”[896]

The Revelator describes the destruction that is to take place when the

“great voice out of the temple of heaven” announces, “It is done.” He

says, “There fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about

the weight of a talent.”[897]

Footnote 885:

See Joshua 9, 10.

Footnote 889:

Prov. 12:22; Ps. 24:3; 15:4.

Footnote 890:

Lev. 19:33, 34.

Footnote 891:

Num. 15:15.

Footnote 892:

Joshua 10:6.

Footnote 893:

Hab. 3:11-13.

Footnote 894:

Ps. 148:8.

Footnote 895:

Jer. 50:25.

Footnote 896:

Job 38:22, 23.

Footnote 897:

Rev. 16:17, 21.

THE DIVISION OF CANAAN—48

The victory at Beth-horon was speedily followed by the conquest of

Southern Canaan. “Joshua smote all the country of the hills, and of the

south, and of the vale; ... and all these kings and their land did

Joshua take at one time, because the Lord God of Israel fought for

Israel. And Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, unto the camp to

Gilgal.”[901]

The tribes of Northern Palestine, terrified at the success which had

attended the armies of Israel, now entered into a league against them.

At the head of this confederacy was Jabin, king of Hazor, a territory to

the west of Lake Merom. “And they went out, they and all their hosts

with them.” This army was much larger than any that the Israelites had

before encountered in Canaan,—“much people, even as the sand that is

upon the seashore in multitude, with horses and chariots very many. And

when all these kings were met together, they came and pitched together

at the waters of Merom, to fight against Israel.” Again a message of

encouragement was given to Joshua: “Be not afraid because of them; for

to-morrow about this time will I deliver them up all slain before

Israel.”

Near Lake Merom he fell upon the camp of the allies, and utterly routed

their forces. “The Lord delivered them into the hand of Israel, who

smote them, and chased them, ... until they left them none remaining.”

The chariots and horses that had been the pride and boast of the

Canaanites, were not to be appropriated by Israel. At the command of God

the chariots were burned, and the horses lamed, and thus rendered unfit

for use in battle. The Israelites were not to put their trust in

chariots or horses, but “in the name of the Lord their God.”

One by one, the cities were taken, and Hazor, the stronghold of the

confederacy, was burned. The war was continued for several years, but

its close found Joshua master of Canaan. “And the land rested from war.”

But though the power of the Canaanites had been broken, they had not

been fully dispossessed. On the west the Philistines still held a

fertile plain along the sea-coast, while north of them was the territory

of the Sidonians. Lebanon also was in the possession of the latter

people; and to the south, toward Egypt, the land was still occupied by

the enemies of Israel.

Joshua was not, however, to continue the war. There was another work for

the great leader to perform before he should relinquish the command of

Israel. The whole land, both the parts already conquered and that which

was yet unsubdued, was to be apportioned among the tribes. And it was

the duty of each tribe to fully subdue its own inheritance. If the

people should prove faithful to God, he would drive out their enemies

from before them; and he promised to give them still greater possessions

if they would but be true to his covenant.

To Joshua, with Eleazar the high priest, and the heads of the tribes,

the distribution of the land was committed, the location of each tribe

being determined by lot. Moses himself had fixed the bounds of the

country as it was to be divided among the tribes when they should come

in possession of Canaan, and had appointed a prince from each tribe to

attend to the distribution. The tribe of Levi, being devoted to the

sanctuary service, was not counted in this allotment; but forty-eight

cities in different parts of the country were assigned the Levites as

their inheritance.

Before the distribution of the land had been entered upon, Caleb,

accompanied by the heads of his tribe, came forward with a special

claim. Except Joshua, Caleb was now the oldest man in Israel. Caleb and

Joshua were the only ones among the spies who had brought a good report

of the land of promise, encouraging the people to go up and possess it

in the name of the Lord. Caleb now reminded Joshua of the promise then

made, as the reward of his faithfulness: “The land whereon thy feet have

trodden shall be thine inheritance, and thy children’s forever, because

thou hast wholly followed the Lord.”[902] He therefore presented a

request that Hebron be given him for a possession. Here had been for

many years the home of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and here, in the cave

of Machpelah, they were buried. Hebron was the seat of the dreaded

Anakim, whose formidable appearance had so terrified the spies, and

through them destroyed the courage of all Israel. This, above all

others, was the place which Caleb, trusting in the strength of God,

chose for his inheritance.

“Behold, the Lord hath kept me alive,” he said, “these forty and five

years, even since the Lord spake this word unto Moses.... And now, lo, I

am this day fourscore and five years old. As yet I am as strong this day

as I was in the day that Moses sent me. As my strength was then, even so

is my strength now, for war, both to go out, and to come in. Now

therefore give me this mountain, whereof the Lord spake in that day; for

thou heardest in that day how the Anakim were there, and that the cities

were great and fenced. If so be the Lord will be with me, then I shall

be able to drive them out, as the Lord said.” This request was supported

by the chief men of Judah. Caleb himself being the one appointed from

this tribe to apportion the land, he had chosen to unite these men with

him in presenting his claim, that there might be no appearance of having

employed his authority for selfish advantage.

His claim was immediately granted. To none could the conquest of this

giant stronghold be more safely intrusted. “Joshua blessed him, and gave

unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh, Hebron for an inheritance,” “because

that he wholly followed the Lord God of Israel.” Caleb’s faith now was

just what it was when his testimony had contradicted the evil report of

the spies. He had believed God’s promise that he would put his people in

possession of Canaan, and in this he had followed the Lord fully. He had

endured with his people the long wandering in the wilderness, thus

sharing the disappointments and burdens of the guilty; yet he made no

complaint of this, but exalted the mercy of God that had preserved him

in the wilderness when his brethren were cut off. Amid all the

hardships, perils, and plagues of the desert wanderings, and during the

years of warfare since entering Canaan, the Lord had preserved him; and

now at upwards of fourscore his vigor was unabated. He did not ask for

himself a land already conquered, but the place which above all others

the spies had thought it impossible to subdue. By the help of God he

would wrest this stronghold from the very giants whose power had

staggered the faith of Israel. It was no desire for honor or

aggrandizement that prompted Caleb’s request. The brave old warrior was

desirous of giving to the people an example that would honor God, and

encourage the tribes fully to subdue the land which their fathers had

deemed unconquerable.

Caleb obtained the inheritance upon which his heart had been set for

forty years, and trusting in God to be with him, he “drove thence the

three sons of Anak.”[903] Having thus secured a possession for himself

and his house, his zeal did not abate; he did not settle down to enjoy

his inheritance, but pushed on to further conquests for the benefit of

the nation and the glory of God.

The cowards and rebels had perished in the wilderness; but the righteous

spies ate of the grapes of Eschol. To each was given according to his

faith. The unbelieving had seen their fears fulfilled. Notwithstanding

God’s promise, they had declared that it was impossible to inherit

Canaan, and they did not possess it. But those who trusted in God,

looking not so much to the difficulties to be encountered as to the

strength of their Almighty Helper, entered the goodly land. It was

through faith that the ancient worthies “subdued kingdoms, ... escaped

the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant

in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.” “This is the

victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.”[904]

Another claim concerning the division of the land, revealed a spirit

widely different from that of Caleb. It was presented by the children of

Joseph, the tribe of Ephraim with the half tribe of Manasseh. In

consideration of their superior numbers, these tribes demanded a double

portion of territory. The lot designated for them was the richest in the

land, including the fertile plain of Sharon; but many of the principal

towns in the valley were still in possession of the Canaanites, and the

tribes shrank from the toil and danger of conquering their possessions,

and desired an additional portion in territory already subdued. The

tribe of Ephraim was one of the largest in Israel, as well as the one to

which Joshua himself belonged, and its members naturally regarded

themselves as entitled to special consideration. “Why hast thou given me

but one lot and one portion to inherit,” they said, “seeing I am a great

people?”[905] But no departure from strict justice could be won from the

inflexible leader.

His answer was, “If thou be a great people, then get thee up to the wood

country, and cut down for thyself there in the land of the Perizzites

and of the giants, if Mount Ephraim be too narrow for thee.”

Their reply showed the real cause of complaint. They lacked faith and

courage to drive out the Canaanites. “The hill is not enough for us,”

they said; “and all the Canaanites that dwell in the land of the valley

have chariots of iron.”

The power of the God of Israel had been pledged to his people, and had

the Ephraimites possessed the courage and faith of Caleb, no enemy could

have stood before them. Their evident desire to shun hardship and danger

was firmly met by Joshua. “Thou art a great people, and hast great

power,” he said; “thou shalt drive out the Canaanites, though they have

iron chariots, and though they be strong.” Thus their own arguments were

turned against them. Being a great people, as they claimed, they were

fully able to make their own way, as did their brethren. With the help

of God, they need not fear the chariots of iron.

Heretofore Gilgal had been the headquarters of the nation and the seat

of the tabernacle. But now the tabernacle was to be removed to the place

chosen for its permanent location. This was Shiloh, a little town in the

lot of Ephraim. It was near the center of the land, and was easy of

access to all the tribes. Here a portion of country had been thoroughly

subdued, so that the worshipers would not be molested. “And the whole

congregation of the children of Israel assembled together at Shiloh, and

set up the tabernacle of the congregation there.”[906] The tribes that

were still encamped when the tabernacle was removed from Gilgal,

followed it, and pitched near Shiloh. Here these tribes remained until

they dispersed to their possessions.

The ark remained at Shiloh for three hundred years, until, because of

the sins of Eli’s house, it fell into the hands of the Philistines, and

Shiloh was ruined. The ark was never returned to the tabernacle here,

the sanctuary service was finally transferred to the temple at

Jerusalem, and Shiloh fell into insignificance. There are only ruins to

mark the spot where it once stood. Long afterward its fate was made use

of as a warning to Jerusalem. “Go ye now unto my place which was in

Shiloh,” the Lord declared by the prophet Jeremiah, “where I set my name

at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people

Israel.... Therefore will I do unto this house, which is called by my

name, wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I gave to you and to

your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh.”[907]

“When they had made an end of dividing the land,” and all the tribes had

been allotted their inheritance, Joshua presented his claim. To him, as

to Caleb, a special promise of inheritance had been given; yet he asked

for no extensive province, but only a single city. “They gave him the

city which he asked, ... and he built the city, and dwelt therein.”[908]

The name given to the city was Timnath-serah, “the portion that

remains,”—a standing testimony to the noble character and unselfish

spirit of the conqueror, who, instead of being the first to appropriate

the spoils of conquest, deferred his claim until the humblest of his

people had been served.

Six of the cities assigned to the Levites,—three on each side the

Jordan,—were appointed as cities of refuge, to which the manslayer might

flee for safety. The appointment of these cities had been commanded by

Moses, “that the slayer may flee thither, which killeth any person at

unawares. And they shall be unto you cities for refuge,” he said, “that

the manslayer die not, until he stand before the congregation in

judgment.”[909] This merciful provision was rendered necessary by the

ancient custom of private vengeance, by which the punishment of the

murderer devolved on the nearest relative or the next heir of the

deceased. In cases where guilt was clearly evident, it was not necessary

to wait for a trial by the magistrates. The avenger might pursue the

criminal anywhere, and put him to death wherever he should be found. The

Lord did not see fit to abolish this custom at that time; but he made

provision to insure the safety of those who should take life

unintentionally.

The cities of refuge were so distributed as to be within a half-day’s

journey of every part of the land. The roads leading to them were always

to be kept in good repair; all along the way, sign-posts were to be

erected bearing the word “Refuge” in plain, bold characters, that the

fleeing one might not be delayed for a moment. Any person—Hebrew,

stranger, or sojourner—might avail himself of this provision. But while

the guiltless were not to be rashly slain, neither were the guilty to

escape punishment. The case of the fugitive was to be fairly tried by

the proper authorities, and only when found innocent of intentional

murder was he to be protected in the city of refuge. The guilty were

given up to the avenger. And those who were entitled to protection could

receive it only on condition of remaining within the appointed refuge.

Should one wander away beyond the prescribed limits, and be found by the

avenger of blood, his life would pay the penalty of his disregard of the

Lord’s provision. At the death of the high priest, however, all who had

sought shelter in the cities of refuge were at liberty to return to

their possessions.

In a trial for murder, the accused was not to be condemned on the

testimony of one witness, even though circumstantial evidence might be

strong against him. The Lord’s direction was, “Whoso killeth any person,

the murderer shall be put to death by the mouth of witnesses; but one

witness shall not testify against any person to cause him to die.”[910]

It was Christ who gave to Moses these directions for Israel; and when

personally with his disciples on earth, as he taught them how to treat

the erring, the Great Teacher repeated the lesson that one man’s

testimony is not to acquit or condemn. One man’s views and opinions are

not to settle disputed questions. In all these matters, two or more are

to be associated, and together they are to bear the responsibility,

“that in the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word may be

established.”[911]

If the one tried for murder were proved guilty, no atonement or ransom

could rescue him. “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be

shed.” “Ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer which

is guilty of death; but he shall be surely put to death,” “thou shalt

take him from mine altar, that he may die,” was the command of God; “the

land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, but by the

blood of him that shed it.”[912] The safety and purity of the nation

demanded that the sin of murder be severely punished. Human life, which

God alone could give, must be sacredly guarded.

The cities of refuge appointed for God’s ancient people were a symbol of

the refuge provided in Christ. The same merciful Saviour who appointed

those temporal cities of refuge, has by the shedding of his own blood

provided for the transgressors of God’s law a sure retreat, into which

they may flee for safety from the second death. No power can take out of

his hands the souls that go to him for pardon. “There is therefore now

no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.” “Who is he that

condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who

is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us;”

that “we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to

lay hold upon the hope set before us.”[913]

He who fled to the city of refuge could make no delay. Family and

employment were left behind. There was no time to say farewell to loved

ones. His life was at stake, and every other interest must be sacrificed

to the one purpose,—to reach the place of safety. Weariness was

forgotten, difficulties were unheeded. The fugitive dared not for one

moment slacken his pace until he was within the walls of the city.

The sinner is exposed to eternal death, until he finds a hiding-place in

Christ; and as loitering and carelessness might rob the fugitive of his

only chance for life, so delays and indifference may prove the ruin of

the soul. Satan, the great adversary, is on the track of every

transgressor of God’s holy law, and he who is not sensible of his

danger, and does not earnestly seek shelter in the eternal refuge, will

fall a prey to the destroyer.

The prisoner who at any time went outside the city of refuge was

abandoned to the avenger of blood. Thus the people were taught to adhere

to the methods which infinite wisdom appointed for their security. Even

so, it is not enough that the sinner _believe_ in Christ for the pardon

of sin; he must, by faith and obedience, _abide_ in him. “For if we sin

willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there

remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for

of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the

adversaries.”[914]

Two of the tribes of Israel, Gad and Reuben, with half the tribe of

Manasseh, had received their inheritance before crossing the Jordan. To

a pastoral people, the wide upland plains and rich forests of Gilead and

Bashan, offering extensive grazing land for their flocks and herds, had

attractions which were not to be found in Canaan itself, and the two and

a half tribes, desiring to settle here, had pledged themselves to

furnish their proportion of armed men to accompany their brethren across

the Jordan, and to share their battles till they also should enter upon

their inheritance. The obligation had been faithfully discharged. When

the ten tribes entered Canaan, forty thousand of “the children of

Reuben, and the children of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh, ...

prepared for war, passed over before the Lord unto battle, to the plains

of Jericho.”[915] For years they had fought bravely by the side of their

brethren. Now the time had come for them to get unto the land of their

possession. As they had united with their brethren in the conflicts, so

they had shared the spoils; and they returned “with much riches, ...

with very much cattle, with silver, and with gold, and with brass, and

with iron, and with very much raiment,”[916] all of which they were to

share with those who had remained with the families and flocks.

They were now to dwell at a distance from the sanctuary of the Lord, and

it was with an anxious heart that Joshua witnessed their departure,

knowing how strong would be the temptations, in their isolated and

wandering life, to fall into the customs of the heathen tribes that

dwelt upon their borders.

While the minds of Joshua and other leaders were still oppressed with

anxious forebodings, strange tidings reached them. Beside the Jordan,

near the place of Israel’s miraculous passage of the river, the two and

a half tribes had erected a great altar, similar to the altar of

burnt-offering at Shiloh. The law of God prohibited, on pain of death,

the establishment of another worship than that at the sanctuary. If such

was the object of this altar, it would, if permitted to remain, lead the

people away from the true faith.

The representatives of the people assembled at Shiloh, and in the heat

of their excitement and indignation, proposed to make war at once upon

the offenders. Through the influence of the more cautious, however, it

was decided to send first a delegation to obtain from the two and a half

tribes an explanation of their conduct. Ten princes, one from each

tribe, were chosen. At their head was Phinehas, who had distinguished

himself by his zeal in the matter of Peor.

The two and a half tribes had been at fault in entering, without

explanation, upon an act open to such grave suspicions. The ambassadors,

taking it for granted that their brethren were guilty, met them with

sharp rebuke. They accused them of rebelling against the Lord, and bade

them remember how judgments had been visited upon Israel for joining

themselves to Baal-peor. In behalf of all Israel, Phinehas stated to the

children of Gad and Reuben that if they were unwilling to abide in that

land without an altar for sacrifice, they would be welcome to a share in

the possessions and privileges of their brethren on the other side.

In reply, the accused explained that their altar was not intended for

sacrifice, but simply as a witness that, although separated by the

river, they were of the same faith as their brethren in Canaan. They had

feared that in future years their children might be excluded from the

tabernacle, as having no part in Israel. Then this altar, erected after

the pattern of the altar of the Lord at Shiloh, would be a witness that

its builders were also worshipers of the living God.

With great joy the ambassadors accepted this explanation, and

immediately carried back the tidings to those who sent them. All

thoughts of war were dismissed, and the people united in rejoicing, and

praise to God.

The children of Gad and Reuben now placed upon their altar an

inscription pointing out the purpose for which it was erected; and they

said, “It shall be a witness between us that Jehovah is God.” Thus they

endeavored to prevent future misapprehension, and to remove what might

be a cause of temptation.

How often serious difficulties arise from a simple misunderstanding,

even among those who are actuated by the worthiest motives; and without

the exercise of courtesy and forbearance, what serious and even fatal

results may follow. The ten tribes remembered how, in Achan’s case, God

had rebuked the lack of vigilance to discover the sins existing among

them. Now they resolved to act promptly and earnestly; but in seeking to

shun their first error, they had gone to the opposite extreme. Instead

of making courteous inquiry to learn the facts in the case, they had met

their brethren with censure and condemnation. Had the men of Gad and

Reuben retorted in the same spirit, war would have been the result.

While it is important on the one hand that laxness in dealing with sin

be avoided, it is equally important on the other to shun harsh judgment

and groundless suspicion.

While very sensitive to the least blame in regard to their own course,

many are too severe in dealing with those whom they suppose to be in

error. No one was ever reclaimed from a wrong position by censure and

reproach; but many are thus driven further from the right path, and led

to harden their hearts against conviction. A spirit of kindness, a

courteous, forbearing deportment, may save the erring, and hide a

multitude of sins.

The wisdom displayed by the Reubenites and their companions is worthy of

imitation. While honestly seeking to promote the cause of true religion,

they were misjudged and severely censured; yet they manifested no

resentment. They listened with courtesy and patience to the charges of

their brethren, before attempting to make their defense, and then fully

explained their motives and showed their innocence. Thus the difficulty

which had threatened such serious consequences, was amicably settled.

Even under false accusation, those who are in the right can afford to be

calm and considerate. God is acquainted with all that is misunderstood

and misinterpreted by men, and we can safely leave our case in his

hands. He will as surely vindicate the cause of those who put their

trust in him as he searched out the guilt of Achan. Those who are

actuated by the spirit of Christ will possess that charity which suffers

long and is kind.

It is the will of God that union and brotherly love should exist among

his people. The prayer of Christ just before his crucifixion was that

his disciples might be one as he is one with the Father, that the world

might believe that God had sent him. This most touching and wonderful

prayer reaches down the ages, even to our day; for his words were,

“Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe

on me through their word.”[917] While we are not to sacrifice one

principle of truth, it should be our constant aim to reach this state of

unity. This is the evidence of our discipleship. Said Jesus, “By this

shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to

another.”[917] The apostle Peter exhorts the church, “Be ye all of one

mind, having compassion one of another; love as brethren, be pitiful, be

courteous; not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing, but

contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye

should inherit a blessing.”[918]

Footnote 901:

See Joshua 10:40-43; chapter 11.

Footnote 902:

Joshua 14:6-15.

Footnote 903:

Joshua 15:14.

Footnote 904: