'Come not near unto it, that ye may know the way by which ye ought to
go.' In a shipwreck, the chances are that the boats will be swamped by
the people scrambling into them in too great a hurry. In the Christian
life most of the mistakes that people make arise from their not letting
the ark go far enough ahead of them before they gather up their
belongings and follow it. An impatience of the half-declared divine
will, a running before we are sent, an acting before we are quite sure
that God wills us to do so-and-so, are at the root of most of the
failures of Christian effort, and of a large number of the miseries of
Christian men. If we would only have patience! Three-quarters of a mile
the ark went ahead before a man lifted a foot to follow it, and there
was no mistake possible then.
Now do not be in a hurry to act. 'Raw haste' is 'half-sister to delay.'
We are all impatient of uncertainty, either in opinion or in conduct;
but if you are not quite sure what God wants you to do, you may be
quite sure that He does not at present want you to do anything. Wait
till you see what He does wish you to do. Better, better far, to spend
hours in silent--although people that know nothing about what we are
doing may call it indolent--waiting for the clear declaration of God's
will, than to hurry on paths which, after we have gone on them far
enough to make it a mortification and a weariness to turn back, we
shall find out to have been not His at all, but only our own mistakes
as to where the ark would have us go.
And that there may be this patience the one thing needful-as, indeed,
it is the one thing needful for all strength of all kinds in the
Christian life--is the rigid suppression of our own wills. That is the
secret of goodness, and its opposite is the secret of evil. To live by
my own will is to die. Nothing but blunders, nothing but miseries,
nothing but failures, nothing but remorse, will be the fruit of such a
life. And a great many of us who call ourselves Christians are not
Christians in the sense of having Christ's will for our absolute law,
and keeping our own will entirely in subordination thereto. As is the
will, so is the man, and whoever does not bow himself absolutely, and
hush all the babble of his own inclinations and tastes and decisions,
in order that that great Voice may speak, has small chance of ever
walking in the paths of righteousness, or finding that his ways please
the Lord.
Suppress your own wills, dwell near God, that you may hear His lightest
whisper. 'I will guide thee with Mine eye.' What is the use of the
glance of an eye if the man for whom it is meant is half a mile off,
and staring about him at everything except the eye that would guide?
And that is what some of us that call ourselves Christian people are.
God might look guidance at us for a week, and we should never know that
He was doing it; we have so many other things to look after. And we are
so far away from Him that it would need a telescope for us to see His
face. 'I will guide thee with Mine eye.' Keep near Him, and you will
not lack direction.
And so, dear brethren, if we stay ourselves on, and wait patiently for,
Him, and are content to do what He wishes, and never to run without a
clear commission, nor to act without a full conviction of duty, then
the old story of my text will repeat itself in our daily life, as well
as in the noblest form in the last act of life, which is death. The
Lord will move before us and open a safe, dry path for us between the
heaped waters; and where the feet of our great High Priest, bearing the
Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, stood, amidst the slime and the mud,
we may plant our firm feet on the stones that He has left there. And so
the stream of life, like the river of death, will be parted for
Christ's followers, and they will pass over on dry ground, 'until all
the people are passed clean over Jordan.'
'THE WATERS SAW THEE; THEY WERE AFRAID'
'And Joshua said unto the people, Sanctify yourselves: for tomorrow the
Lord will do wonders among you. 6. And Joshua spake unto the priests,
saying, Take up the ark of the covenant, and pass over before the
people. And they took up the ark of the covenant, and went before the
people. 7. And the Lord said unto Joshua, 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. 8 And thou shalt command the
priests that bear the ark of the covenant, saying, When ye are come to
the brink of the water of Jordan, ye shall stand still in Jordan. 8.
And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, Come hither, and hear the
words of the Lord your God. 10. And Joshua said, Hereby ye shall know
that the living God is among you, and that He will without fail drive
out from before you the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Hivites,
and the Perizzites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the
Jebusites. 11. Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the
earth passeth Over before you into Jordan. 12. Now therefore take you
twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, out of every tribe a man. 13.
And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the
priests that bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall
rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be out
off from the waters that come down from above; and they shall stand
upon an heap. 14. And it came to pass, when the people removed from
their tents, to pass over Jordan, and the priests bearing the ark of
the covenant before the people; 15. And as they that bare the ark were
come unto Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bare the ark were
dipped in the brim of the water, (for Jordan overfloweth all his banks
all the time of harvest,) 16. That the waters which came down from
above stood and rose up upon an heap very far from the city Adam, that
is beside Zaretan: and those that came down toward the sea of the
plain, even the salt sea failed, and were cut off: and the people
passed over right against Jericho. 17. And the priests that bare the
ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst
of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all
the people were passed clean over Jordan.'--JOSHUA iii 5-17.
The arrangement of the narrative of the passage of Jordan, which
occupies chapters iii. and iv., is remarkable, and has led to
suggestions of interpolation and blending of two accounts, which are
quite unnecessary. It is divided into four sections,--the preparations
(Joshua in. 1-6), the passage (Joshua in. 7-17), the lifting of the
memorial stones from the river's bed and the fixing of one set of them
in it (Joshua iv. 1-14), the return of the waters, and the erection of
the second set of memorial stones at Gilgal (Joshua iv. 15-24).
Each section closes with a summary of the whole transaction, after the
common manner of Old Testament history, which gives to a hasty reader
the impression of confusion and repetition; but a little attention
shows a very symmetrical arrangement, negativing the possibility of
interpolation. The last three sections are all built on the same lines.
In each there is a triple division,--God's command to Joshua, Joshua's
communication of it to the people, and the actual fact, fulfilling
these. So each stage passes thrice before the view, and the
impressiveness of the history is heightened by our seeing it first in
the mirror of the divine Word, and then in the orders of the commander,
before we see it as a thing actually happening.
Verses 5 and 6 of the chapter belong to the section which deals with
the preparation. General instructions had been already issued that the
host was to follow the ark, leaving two thousand cubits between them
and it; but nothing had been said as to how Jordan was to be crossed.
No doubt many a question and doubt had been muttered by the
watch-fires, as the people looked at the muddy, turbid stream, swirling
in flood. The spies probably managed to swim it, but that was a feat
worthy to be named in the epitaph of heroes (1 Chron. xii. 15), and
impossible for the crowd of all ages and both sexes which followed
Joshua. There was the rushing stream, swollen as it always is in
harvest. How were they to get over? And if the people of Jericho, right
over against them, chose to fall upon them as they were struggling
across, what could hinder utter defeat? No doubt, all that was
canvassed, in all sorts of tones; but no inkling of the miracle seems
to have been given.
God often opens His hand by one finger at a time, and leaves us face to
face with some plain but difficult duty, without letting us see the
helps to its performance, till we need to use them. If we go right on
the road which He has traced out, it will never lead us into a blind
alley. The mountains will part before us as we come near what looked
their impassable wall; and some narrow gorge or other, wide enough to
run a track through, but not wide enough to be noticed before we are
close on it, will be sure to open. The attitude of expectation of God's
help, while its nature is unrevealed, is kept up in Joshua's last
instruction. The people are bidden to 'sanctify themselves, because
to-morrow the Lord will do wonders' among them. That sanctifying was
not external, but included the hallowing of spirit by docile waiting
for His intervention, and by obedience while the manner of it was
hidden. The secret of to-morrow is partly made known, and the faith of
the people is nourished by the mystery remaining, as well as by the
light given. The best security for to-morrow's wonders is to-day's
sanctifying.
The command to the priests discloses to them a little more, in bidding
them pass over before the people, but the additional disclosure would
only be an additional trial of faith; for the silence as to how so
impossible a command was to be made possible is absolute. The swollen
river had obliterated all fords; and how were priests, staggering under
the weight of the ark on their shoulders, to 'pass over'? The question
is not answered till the ark is on their shoulders. To-day often sees
to-morrow's duty without seeing how it is to be done. But the bearers
of the ark need never fear but that the God to whom it belongs will
take care of it and of them. The last sentence of verse 6 is the
anticipatory summary which closes each section.
In verses 7-17 we have the narrative of the actual crossing, in its
three divisions of God's command (vs. 7-8), Joshua's repetition of it
(vs. 9-13), and the historical fact (vs. 14-17). The final instructions
were only given on the morning of the day of crossing. The report of
God's commands given in verses 7 and 8 is condensed, as is evident from
the fuller statement of them in Joshua's address to the people, which
immediately follows. In it Joshua is fully aware of the manner of the
miracle and of the details of the crossing, but we have no record of
his having received them. The summary of that eventful morning's
instructions to him emphasises first the bearing of the miracle on his
reputation. The passage of the Red Sea had authenticated the mission of
Moses to the past generation, who, in consequence of it, 'believed God
and His servant Moses.' The new generation are to have a parallel
authentication of Joshua's commission. It is noteworthy that this is
not the purpose of the miracle which the leader announces to the people
in verse 10. It was a message from God to himself, a kind of gracious
whisper meant for his own encouragement. What a thought to fill a man's
heart with humble devotion, that God would work such a wonder in order
to demonstrate that He was with him! And what a glimpse of more to
follow lay in that promise, 'This day will I _begin_ to magnify thee I'
The command to the priests in verse 8 is also obviously condensed; for
Joshua's version of it, which follows, is much more detailed, and
contains particular instructions, which must have been derived from the
divine word to him on that morning.
We may pass on, then, to the second division of the narrative; namely,
Joshua's communication of God's commands to the people. Observe the
form which the purpose of the miracle assumes there. It is the
confirmation of the divine Presence, not with the leader, but with the
people and their consequent victory. Joshua grasped the inmost meaning
of God's Word to himself, and showed noble self-suppression, when he
thus turned the direction of the miracle. The true servant of God knows
that God is with him, not for his personal glorification, but for the
welfare of God's people, and cares little for the estimation in which
men hold him, if they will only believe that the conquering God is with
them. We too often make great leaders and teachers in the church opaque
barriers to hide God from us, instead of transparent windows through
which He shines upon His people. We are a great deal more ready to say,
'God is with him,' than to add, 'and therefore God is with us, in our
Joshuas, and without them.'
Observe the grand emphasis of that name, 'the living God,' tacitly
contrasted with the dead idols of the enemies, and sealing the
assurance of His swift and all-conquering might. Observe, too, the
triumphant contempt in the enumeration of the many tribes of the foe
with their barbarous names. Five of them had been enough, when named by
the spies' trembling lips, to terrify the congregation, but here the
list of the whole seven but strengthens confidence. Faith delights to
look steadily at its enemies, knowing that the one Helper is more than
they all. This catalogue breathes the same spirit as Paul's rapturous
list of the foes impotent to separate from the love of God. Mark, too,
the long-drawn-out designation of the ark, with its accumulation of
nouns, which grammatical purists have found difficult,--'the ark of the
covenant of the Lord of all the earth'; where it leads they need not
fear to follow. It was the pledge of His presence, it contained the Ten
Words on which His covenant was concluded. That covenant enlisted on
their side Him who was Lord of the swollen river as of all the fierce
clans beyond; and with His ark in front, their victory was sure. If
ever the contemplation of His power and covenant relation was in place,
it was on that morning, as Israel stood ranked for the march that was
to lead them through Jordan, and to plant their feet on the soil of
Canaan. Nor must we omit the peculiar appropriateness of this solemn
designation, on the occasion of the ark's first becoming the leader of
the march. Hitherto it had been carried in the centre; now it was moved
to the van, and took the place of the pillar, which blazed no more. But
the guidance was no less divine. The simple coffer which Bezaleel had
made was as august and reliable a symbol of God's presence as the
pillar; and the tables of the law, shut in it, were henceforth to be
the best directors of the nation.
Then follows the command to elect twelve representatives of the tribes,
for a purpose not yet explained; and then, at the last moment, the
manner of crossing is disclosed, to the silencing of wise doubters and
the confirmation of ignorant faith. The brief anticipatory announcement
of the miracle puts stress on the arrest of the waters at the instant
when the priests' feet touched them, and tells what is to befall the
arrested torrent above the point where the ark stood, saying nothing
about the lower stretch of the river, and just hinting by one word
'heap' the parallel between this miracle and that of the passing of the
Red Sea: 'The floods stood upright as an heap' (Exod. xv. 8).
Verses 14-17 narrate the actual crossing. One long sentence, like the
roll of an Atlantic wave, or a long-drawn shout of triumph, masses
together the stages of the march; the breaking up of the encampment;
the solemn advance of the ark, watched by the motionless crowd; its
approach to the foaming stream, running bank-full, as is its wont in
the early harvest months; the decisive moment when the naked feet of
the priests were dipped in the water. What a hush of almost painful
expectation would fall on the gazers! Then, with a rush of triumph, the
long sentence pours on, like a river escaping from some rocky gorge,
and tells the details of the transcendent fact. Looking up stream, the
water 'stood'; and, as the flow above went on, it was dammed up, and,
as would appear, swept back to a point not now known, but apparently
some miles up. Looking down the course, the water flowed naturally to
the Dead Sea; and, in effect, the whole bed southwards was quickly left
bare, giving room for the advance of the people with wide-extended
front, while the priests, with the ark on their shoulders, stood silent
in the midst of the bed, between the heaped waters and the hasting
host. Verse 17 gives the usual summary sentence, which partly
anticipates what is still to follow, but here comes in with special
force, as gathering up the whole wonderful scene, and recounting once
more, and not without a ring of astonished triumph, how the priests
stood firm on dry ground in that strange place, 'until all the nation
were passed clean over Jordan'
From verses 7 and 10 we learn the purpose of this miracle as being
twofold. It was intended to stamp the seal of God's approbation on
Joshua, and to hearten the people by the assurance of God's fighting
for them. The leader was thereby put on the level of Moses, the people,
on that of the generation before whom the Red Sea had been divided. The
parallel with that event is obvious and significant. The miracle which
led Israel into the wilderness is repeated as they pass from it. The
first stage of their deliverance and the second are begun with
analogous displays of divine power. The same arm which cleft the sea is
stretched out, after all sins, for the new generation, and 'is not
shortened that it cannot save.' God does not disdain to duplicate His
wonders, even for very unworthy servants. The unchanging,
long-suffering patience, and the unwearied strength to which all
generations in succession can turn with confidence, are wonderfully set
forth by these two miracles. And though we have passed into the higher
stage, where miracles have ceased, the principle which dictated the
parallelism still holds good, and we too can look back to all these
ancient wonders, and be sure that they are done over and over again
according to our needs. 'As we have heard, so have we seen,' might have
been Israel's song that day, as it may be ours every day.
The beautiful application made of the parted waters of Jordan in
Christian literature, which sees in them the prophecy of conquered
death, is perhaps scarcely in accordance with truth, for the divided
Jordan was the introduction, not to peace, but to warfare. But it is
too deeply impressed on the heart to be lightly put aside, and we may
well allow faith and hope to discern in the stream, whose swollen
waters shrink backwards as soon as the ark is borne into their turbid
and swift current, an emblem of that dark flood that rolled between the
host of God and their home, and was dried up as soon as the pierced
foot of the Christ touched its cold waters.
'What ailest thee, thou sea, that thou fleest; thou Jordan, that thou
turnest back?' Christ has gone up before us. He has shaken His hand
over the river, and caused men to go over dry shod.