Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Joshua 1:10
Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying,
10 18. The Command of Joshua to the People
10. the officers ] Or, Shoterim. The word denotes (1) literally a “writer,” or “scribe;” then (2) an overseer, in whose office were combined various duties, including enrolments, orders &c., also genealogies; (3) a magistrate, prefect, leader of the people, especially, as here, the leaders, officers, of the Israelites in Egypt and in the desert. Comp. Num 11:16; Num 31:14; Num 31:48; Deu 1:15; Deu 16:18; Deu 20:5; Deu 20:8-9; Deu 31:28. Their duties were at once civil and military.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Officers – The scribes. (See the Exo 5:6 note, and Deu 16:18.)
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Jos 1:10-11
Within three days ye shall pass over this Jordan.
Three days pause
I. What this pause meant. Three days is a recognised period in Scripture for death and resurrection. But there was another and deeper reason for the delay, which closely touches one of the greatest principles of the inner life. When Israel reached its banks, the Jordan was in flood, and overflowing the low-lying lands on either side of its bed. Across the river stood Jericho, embosomed in palms and tamarisks, in a very paradise of exquisite vegetation, its aromatic shrubs and gardens scenting the air. But as the people beheld it, all their cherished hopes of taking it by their own energy or courage must have been utterly dissipated. What could they do in face of that broad expanse of rushing, foaming, turbulent waters? Multitudes have come to the brink of that river, and have been left there, waiting on its banks, that they might consider the meaning of those impassable waters, and carry away the sentence of death in themselves. Abraham waited there for more than twenty years face to face with the apparent impossibility of ever having a son. David waited there for almost as long, and it must have seemed that the kingdom foretold to him as a youth lay on the other side of insurmountable difficulties. Many a saint since then has been brought down to these same banks, and has stood to witness these flowing streams. What though the promise of God has offered all manner of blessedness and delight! That river! That flooded, fordless, bridgeless, boatless river! Are you there now? Do not hasten from it. Stand still and consider it until the energy and impetuosity of your self-life lies down. You can never reach the blessed life by resolutions, or pledges, or forms of covenant; your good self is as powerless now as your bad self was formerly; you must learn that your strength is to sit still, and that the rich blessings of God stored in Christ for you are an absolute gift to be received by the outstretched hand of faith.
II. How this pause was spent. During this space of three days events transpired which are both interesting and typical. Amongst other things Jericho was entered by the two spies.
1. Jericho may fitly stand for the world of men over which judgment is impending, but which goes on its way unheeding. Rahab, the poor outcast of Jericho, who had such strange faith in God, entered in with the people to possess the land that flowed with milk and honey. She is thus the type of Gentile-sinners who are permitted to share in the unsearchable riches of Christ, to sit with Him in the heavenlies, to form part of that new race which is gathering around the true Joshua, the Lord from heaven.
2. During this brief pause Joshua also had an opportunity of ascertaining the feelings of the two tribes and a half. Are not these the type of Christians to whom the land of promise is as freely open as to others, and who make an incursion into it with no thought of remaining? They are willing to meet and measure their strength with the seven nations of Canaan, but they are not prepared to abandon the strong facinations of the world, and to settle down to a life hidden with Christ in God. The end of such is but too clearly suggested by the fate of those Eastern tribes. They had their much grass, but they became gradually cut off from the corporate life of Israel. They gave few great names to the roll of saints and heroes emblazoned on Israels story. They fell first beneath the invasions of Assyria, and were swept into captivity, from which they never returned.
III. How the pause ended. On the third day the hosts seem to have come nearer the rivers brink, and their tents were pitched for the night within close proximity to the hurrying waters. It was then that Joshua said unto the people, Sanctify yourselves, &c. From which it would seem that the wonder-working power of God is dependent upon the sanctification of His people. Why art Thou as a mighty man that cannot save? He could do no mighty works there, because of their unbelief. We all want to see wonders wrought by God–in our own characters, that the fir-tree may replace the thorn and the myrtle the briar; in our homes, that the desert places may blossom with roses; in our Churches, that they may arise and put on their beautiful garments. Oh! for another Pentecost! Oh! to see converts fly as doves to their windows! And why is it that we strain our eyes for them in vain? Is it not because we have not sanctified ourselves? Sanctification means the cleansing of the soul, and the putting on of the white robes of purity and humility. We are not clean enough for God to use us. We are not humble enough to bear a great success. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
Crossing the Jordan
Many good people daily pray against sudden death, and there are legitimate reasons for so doing; but to a child of God it is of small consequence, for death will never find him unprepared if he is living in communion with God. We will enter into the joy of our Lord, and be for ever with Him. When Gods children have their candle lighted for them, and they know that it is time to go upstairs, they feel glad to end their pilgrimage, and rest in Jesus. We are all of us much nearer home than we think. It will be greatly wise to talk with our last hours, and to anticipate that time when the message shall come, Within three days ye shall pass over this Jordan.
I. Observe the tenor of this notice. Notice that there are three leading words in it: prepare, pass over, possess. The first word that came to them was, Prepare. Be in journeying order. The soldier carries his rations with him when he has to make a quick march: Prepare you victuals. Children of God, be ready to go from this world. But inasmuch as he said, Prepare you victuals did he not mean Begin to feed on food of that sort upon which you are henceforth to live? The manna would cease in three days, and never fall again. After they crossed the Jordan, they would feed on the corn of the land. Feed on Christ, feed on spiritual food, feed on the pure truth of Gods Word, and feed your souls on nothing else. Know the taste of what you eat, and let it be as clear and definite as that of butter and honey, that so you may steadily refuse the evil and choose the good. Joshua meant–Stand ready, for the time is getting very short. There is not long to wait. Soon you will have traversed the stream, and landed on the hither shore. How would you feel if you knew that within three days you must die? The exhortation given in verse 13 is one which may be useful also to us: Remember the word. It is a grand help for going over Jordan if we will remember the word of the Lord. Our faith enables us both to live and to die on the promise of God. But then he said also, Sanctify yourselves (Jos 3:5). If we knew we were to die in three days, should we not wish to put our hearts, our thoughts, our families, into a better state? Since we may die suddenly, let us purify ourselves of all filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit. The next word was, Pass over this Jordan. They were not called to linger on the brink, nor to sit with their feet in the stream, but to cross over it. Israel had been forty years in the wilderness, and surely that was long enough. He who hath served his God with all his heart will not wish to linger a moment after his life-work is done. You are not called to linger on the bed of sickness for ages, but to pass over to your rest. And notice, the call was not to go down into the Jordan to stop there. Blessed be God, we are not going down into the grave to be lost there; but we make use of it as an opened door to paradise. The third word was possess. They were to pass the river to possess the land which God had given them. We possess nothing here. Those goods which we think we possess melt away like an icicle from a hot hand. But we have on the other side of Jordan treasures worth owning. By a covenant of salt, God has given us in Christ Jesus everlasting rest, triumph, happiness, glory.
II. Observe the sequel of this notice, or what followed upon the summons. The first thing that happened to Israel was this, a singular faith was bestowed. I can hardly believe that the people under Joshua were the children of those unbelieving Jews whose caresses fell in the wilderness; for throughout the early chapters of Joshua it is recorded that they believed Joshua, whatever he said to them. He had strange and strong things to utter, but they did not doubt or demur. Now, when the children of God come to die, those of them who have been poor, trembling things before, receive new courage and unwonted strength, and even minister comfort to those who are stronger than themselves. It is brave to see how Mr. Ready-to-halt puts his crutches away when he is going over Jordan. Mr. Feeble-mind bids them bury his feeble mind in a dunghill, for it would be of no use to anybody. The Lord will give us more grace, and we shall wonder at ourselves that we could have been aforetime so distrustful. At eventide it shall be light. Next, a special assurance was given: To-morrow the Lord will do wonders among you (Jos 3:5). The Lord is always working marvels; but when we come to cross the Jordan we shall see His wonders in the deep. Next, note that the people had with them a conquering leader. Joshua was at their head, to encourage and direct them. When you and I shall pass over Jordan we shall have Jesus with us. He says, Be of good cheer. Because I live, ye shall live also. But what next? The Israelites had a clear guidance afforded them (Jos 3:4). You have been through many experiences, but to die will be a new one. Once for all, you must cross this Jordan, therefore the Divine presence shall go before you, and show you the way. Oh, yes, you shall have Divine direction when the darkness gathers about you! With Israel a forerunner led the way. So our great High Priest has tasted death for every man. Nor did the forerunner quit the scene, for the Divine presence remained. The priests went on till they came to the river-bed, and descended the hollow, going on to the very centre of it. There they stopped till all the host had passed over. The Lord Jesus will go before you as your great High Priest, your propitiation and your covenant; and He will abide with you in the last solemn article until you are safe landed on the shore of the land of promise. In consequence of the priests going down into the river the stream was dried up. Wonderful sight it must have been to behold the waters roll back, and stand in a congealed heap. Thus there was a broad passage-way for the multitudes of Israel to go marching through, and to effect the crossing rapidly. Suppose, when you come to die, the Jordan should turn out to be no river at all. What if you should go over dry-shod? Why should it not be so? Death is a pints prick to many. Death hath lost its terrors. The sting of death is sin, and that is forgiven. The strength of sin is the law, and that is fulfilled. The black waters have failed; we pass over Jordan dry-shod. Then notice, the people were very quick in crossing. Death is short work. After all, what is the act of death? What! cries one, is there not a terrible amount of pain connected with death? I answer, No. It is life that has the pain; death is the finis of all pain. You blame death for a disease of which he is the cure. You imagine a thing called death which does not really exist. In the twinkling of an eye we shall be up and away! Therefore, because you will haste to pass over, you need not be alarmed at so short a trial, which will actually turn out to be no trial at all. We read in (Jos 4:9) that the Israelites in traversing the Jordan left a memorial behind. You also will bear your testimony in departing: you will set up your memorial for your children after you, and they shall say, Our father died in sure and certain hope of being with Jesus. Even if your death-bed should not be so bright as some, even its clouds may not be without their effect. A holy man had prayed much for his boys and girls, but never saw them converted, and this, with the troubles which grow out of their waywardness, made his last hours to be sadly clouded. But mark how the Lord wrought! They buried their father, and when they were met together, the eldest son turned to his brothers and remarked, If our father, who was so good a man, was so troubled in death, what will become of us when we die? This most reasonable remark was the means of the conversion of the brothers. I would like to die in the dark if it would bring all my people to the Saviour. Would not you? One thing more: they also raised a memorial on the other shore. They piled twelve stones upon each other in Canaan. You and I, when we get to heaven, shall take our memorials with us, and pile them up. We will make known to angels and principalities and powers the manifold wisdom and goodness of God to us in life and death. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Jordan at hand
I. The first feeling excited by the announcement must have been that of joy and triumph. It was not alone on the contrast between its fountains and depths springing out of valleys and hills, and the arid desolation of the great howling wilderness, that the thoughts of the Hebrew rested, but on the contrast of its repose. The sorest trials of his life had not probably been the hunger and the thirst, the laborious journey and the tumult of the battle, but the ceaseless motion–the movement ever on and on. Rest, rest! rest anywhere, but, above all, in the land that flowed with milk and honey, must have been the innermost desire of his heart. Is not all this applicable to ourselves? It is not the great sorrows of our experience that constitute, after all, the weariness of life; but it is its change, its sense of uncertainty, the consciousness that we keep nothing, call nothing absolutely our own.
II. There must have blended with it a great trial of faith. The chosen land was indeed close at hand. It seemed as if they could almost touch the shore. Just beyond gleamed in the sunshine the towers of Jericho, and blue in the distance were the hills of Judaea. But, close as they seemed, Jordan rolled between, and they could not but ask how they were to cross it. What, then, of that other Jordan, which we all must cross? that death we must all die some time or other, and through which alone we can enter into our Canaan? Let us make sure that what awaits us beyond on the other shore is heaven, and not the darkness. With the act of dying we have nothing whatever to do. It is in Gods hands, not ours, and there we must leave it. Has not the ark gone before?
III. An act of preparation needed: Prepare you victuals. There is nothing actually corresponding to this in the experience of the Christian when he is called to cross into the better land. Special preparation for heaven, the Christian needs none. If he be in Christ, that is enough; he is safe. If he be a believer, he can have no less; and though he were the highest of saints that ever caught the light of the face of God, he could have no more than to be found in Him, not having his own righteousness, &c. For myself I can conceive nothing more blessed than for a saint to pass at once from the midst of his work for his Master into the enjoyment of his Masters presence. Yet I admit that the near sight of so great a change could not but very solemnly affect us, were the warning given to ourselves. There would be an intense revival of faith and hope, and in that close sight of heaven a flinging away of all earthly and temporal ties. (E. Garbett, M. A.)
Prepare you victuals
Sometimes we have heard words like these fall from Christian workers: I have faith to believe that God will provide the means necessary to carry on this work, and straightway they assume liabilities and enter into engagements, and incur debts, in violation of the plain command, Owe no man anything; yea, they even sometimes accuse their brethren of lack of faith because they cannot do Gods work in this way. This is not good. To obey is better than to profess great faith; and to hearken than sentimental unthinking zeal. What would we have thought of Joshua if after he had received the Divine order to march forward he had said, I have faith to believe that God will provide the food necessary for victualling the army all through the campaign; our commissariat is absolutely safe, for it is in Divine hands. God has promised to be with me as He was with Moses, I have no need to think of these things. All I have got to do is to hasten forward. Nay, nay! Joshua manifested his faith in a much more Divine fashion. Prepare you victuals, he said; do not expect that miraculous supply which has been granted for forty years, now that you are in a position to do without it. You are no longer helpless children, but grown men able to provide for yourselves. The battle is the Lords, and He will not fail us nor forsake us, but we must use all reasonable foresight in carrying on His work. We dare do nothing, we dare omit nothing, out of harmony with His ways. (A. B. Mackay.)
Self-help necessary
Joshua reminds us of the famous order attributed to Cromwell, Trust in God, and keep your powder dry. His piety was very unlike that of a certain Duke of Parma, of whom it is written that, in a great crisis, while he had been praying, and nothing more, the English had been praying, and something more. He acted in the spirit of the proverb, God helps those who help themselves. (T. W. M. Lund, M. A.)
Ye shall pass over
Oh, but they might have said, we cannot pass over Jordan, because there is Jericho right in front of us, and of course the inhabitants will call in the Jebusites, who are not far off, at Jerusalem, and these will fetch in the Hivites, and the Amorites, and all the other nations; and these will hotly dispute the passage of the river, and it will be out of the question to force our way through that torrent, and fight up the other bank against such foes. Such a fear would be most natural. When Caesar tried to land in England, what did the Britons do? They rushed into the water off Dover to meet the Romans, and they fought with them in the surf of the sea. It was natural that brave men should fight the invaders in the water, and not suffer them to tread their soil. Do you suppose that the Canaanites were less brave than the ancient Britons? Had there not been a spell upon them, they would have pressed back Israel in the river itself, and would not have allowed them to enter the land. Yet Israel passed over Jordan at the appointed time. God had said, Ye shall go over, and they did go over; and no Canaanite, Hivite, or Jebusite dared to molest them. So the poor child of God sighs, Alas! when I come to die, Satan will meet me, temptations and doubts and fears will rush upon me. We read in chap. 3:16, And the people passed over right against Jericho. Fear not, O, trembling heart. God can so deal with evil spirits, and with the doubts of your own spirit, that they shall be still as a stone till you have passed over. No demon shall dare to peep or mutter. No doubt or fear shall venture near. We read, All the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan. Not an arrow or a stone came from over the walls of Jericho. Glory be to the name of the Lord, He made the hearts of Israels enemies to melt, so that no more courage remained in them. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 10. Commanded the officers] shoterim. These were different from the shophetim, who were judges among the people, and whose business it was to determine in all civil cases. The shoterim have been supposed to be subordinate officers, whose business it was to see the decisions of the shophetim carried into effect. Calmet conjectures that the shoterim here may have been the heralds of the army like those so often met with in Homer, who were called the messengers both of the gods and men; who bore sceptres, and whose persons were ever held sacred. See on De 1:13-16.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
10-18. Then Joshua commanded theofficers of the peopleThese were the Shoterim (see on Ex5:6; De 20:5).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people,…. The same word is used in De 16:18; where it seems to design such officers that attended on the judges, and executed their orders; but one would think it should here rather signify officers in the army, as captains, and the like; unless it should design a sort of heralds, who were to make proclamation throughout the camp, each of the orders issued by Joshua, immediately upon his having the above directions and instructions from the Lord:
saying; as follows.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Jos 1:10-11 Preparations for Crossing the Jordan. – Jos 1:10-11. For the purpose of carrying out the commands of the Lord, Joshua first of all directed the officers of the people ( shoterim : see at Ex 5-6), whose duty it was, as the keepers of the family registers, to attend not only to the levying of the men who were bound to serve in the army, but also to the circulation of the commands of the general, to issue orders to the people in the camp to provide themselves with food, so that they might cross the Jordan within three days, and take the land that was promised them by God. By zedah , provision for a journey (Gen 42:25, etc.), we are not to understand manna, for that had already ceased (see at Jos 5:12), but simply the natural produce of the inhabited country. The expression “ in three days,” i.e., as we may see from comparing Gen 40:13, Gen 40:19, with Gen 40:20, on the third day from the publication of the command, “ will ye go over the Jordan,” is not to be regarded as a prediction of the time when the crossing actually took place, but to be taken as the latest time that could be allowed to the people to prepare for crossing: viz., in this sense, “Prepare you victuals for crossing over the Jordan within three days,” i.e., that you may be able to leave Shittim within that time, to cross over the Jordan, and commence the conquest of Canaan. If we understand the words in this way, they are in perfect harmony with Josh 2 and 3. According to Josh 2, Joshua sent out spies from Shittim to Jericho, who were obliged to hide themselves for three days in the mountains after their flight from that city (Jos 2:22), before they could return to the Israelitish camp; so that they were absent three or four days at any rate, and came back at the earliest in the evening or night of the fourth day after they had been sent out. It was not till the morning after this that the Israelites left Shittim and proceeded to the Jordan, where they halted again. Then, three days afterwards, they went across the river (Jos 3:1-2), so that at least 4 + 1 + 3, i.e., eight whole days must have intervened between the day when the spies were sent out and the day on which the people crossed the river. Joshua no doubt intended to proceed to the Jordan and cross it within three days after despatching the spies; he therefore sent the spies to Jericho on the same day on which he issued the command to the people to prepare for crossing within three days, so that he might reasonably hope that they would fulfil their commission and return in two or three days. But as they were compelled to hide themselves for three days in the mountains, in consequence of the unexpected discovery of their arrival in Jericho, and the despatch of men in pursuit of them, Joshua could not remove with the people from Shittim and proceed to the Jordan till the day after their return; and even then he could not cross the river at once, but waited three days after reaching the bank of the river before he crossed to the other side (vid., Jos 3:1.).
(Note: In this way the different statements in the three chapters harmonize perfectly well. But the majority of commentators have arranged the order of succession differently and in a very arbitrary way, starting with the unwarrantable assumption that the time referred to in this verse, “within three days,” is identical with that in Jos 3:2, “it came to pass after three days.” Upon the strength of this groundless assumption, Knobel maintains that there is great confusion in the order of succession of the events described in Josh 1-3, that Jos 1:11 is irreconcilable with Jos 3:1-6, and that accounts written by three different authors have been mixed up together in these chapters. (For the different attempts to reconcile the accounts, see Keil’s Commentary on Joshua, pp. 72-75, note, Eng. trans. Clark, 1857.))
Jos 1:12-18 Joshua’s appeal to the two tribes and a half, to remember the condition on which Moses gave them the land on the east of the Jordan for an inheritance, and to fulfil it, met with a ready response; to that these tribes not only promised to obey his commandments in every respect, but threatened every one with death who should refuse obedience. In recalling this condition to the recollection of the tribes referred to, Joshua follows the expressions in Deu 3:18-20, where Moses himself recapitulates his former command, rather than the original passage in Num 32. The expression “ this land ” shows that the speaker was still on the other side of the Jordan. , with the loins girded, i.e., prepared for war, synonymous with in Deu 3:18 and Num 32:32 (see at Exo 13:18). , all the mighty men of valour, i.e., the grave warriors (as in Jos 6:2; Jos 8:3; Jos 10:7, and very frequently in the later books), is not common to this book and Deuteronomy, as Knobel maintains, but is altogether strange to the Pentateuch. The word “ all ” (v. 14, like Num 32:21, Num 32:27) must not be pressed. According to Jos 4:13, there were only about 40,000 men belonging to the two tribes and a half who crossed the Jordan to take part in the war; whereas, according to Num 26:7, Num 26:18, Num 26:34, there were 110,000 men in these tribes who were capable of bearing arms, so that 70,000 must have remained behind for the protection of the women and children and of the flocks and herds, and to defend the land of which they had taken possession. On Jos 1:15 see Deu 3:18; and on the more minute definition of “ on this side ( lit. beyond) Jordan” by “toward the sun-rising,” compare the remarks on Num 32:19. The answer of the two tribes and a half, in which they not only most cheerfully promise their help in the conquest of Canaan, but also express the wish that Joshua may have the help of the Lord (Jos 1:17 compared with Jos 1:4), and after threatening all who refuse obedience with death, close with the divine admonition, “ only be strong and of a good courage ” (Jos 1:18, cf. Jos 1:6), furnishes a proof of the wish that inspired them to help their brethren, that all the tribes might speedily enter into the peaceable possession of the promised inheritance. The expression “ rebel against the commandment” is used in Deu 1:26, Deu 1:43; Deu 9:23; 1Sa 12:14, to denote resistance to the commandments of the Lord; here it denotes opposition to His representative, the commander chosen by the Lord, which was to be punished with death, according to the law in Deu 17:12.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Joshua’s Address to the Reubenites. | B. C. 1451. |
10 Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, 11 Pass through the host, and command the people, saying, Prepare you victuals; for within three days ye shall pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land, which the LORD your God giveth you to possess it. 12 And to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to half the tribe of Manasseh, spake Joshua, saying, 13 Remember the word which Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, saying, The LORD your God hath given you rest, and hath given you this land. 14 Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle, shall remain in the land which Moses gave you on this side Jordan; but ye shall pass before your brethren armed, all the mighty men of valour, and help them; 15 Until the LORD have given your brethren rest, as he hath given you, and they also have possessed the land which the LORD your God giveth them: then ye shall return unto the land of your possession, and enjoy it, which Moses the LORD‘s servant gave you on this side Jordan toward the sunrising.
Joshua, being settled in the government, immediately applies himself to business; not to take state or to take his pleasure, but to further the work of God among, the people over whom God had set him. As he that desires the office of a minister (1 Tim. iii. 1), so he that desires the office of a magistrate, desires a work, a good work; neither is preferred to be idle.
I. He issues out orders to the people to provide for a march; and they had been so long encamped in their present post that it would be a work of some difficulty to decamp. The officers of the people that commanded under Joshua in their respective tribes and families attended him for orders, which they were to transmit to the people. Inferior magistrates are as necessary and as serviceable to the public good in their places as the supreme magistrate in his. What could Joshua have done without officers? We are therefore required to be subject, not only to the king as supreme, but to governors as to those that are sent by him,1Pe 2:13; 1Pe 2:14. By these officers, 1. Joshua gives public notice that they were to pass over Jordan within three days. These orders, I suppose, were not given till after the return of the spies that were sent to bring an account of Jericho, though the story of that affair follows, ch. ii. And perhaps that was such an instance of his jealousy, and excessive caution, as made it necessary that he should be so often bidden as he was to be strong and of a good courage. Observe with what assurance Joshua says to the people, because God had said it to him, You shall pass over Jordan, and shall possess the land. We greatly honour the truth of God. 2. He gives them directions to prepare victuals, not to prepare transport vessels. He that bore Egypt upon eagle’s wings would in like manner bear them into Canaan, to bring them to himself, Exod. xix. 4. But those that were desirous to have other victuals besides the manna, which had not yet ceased, must prepare it and have it ready against the time appointed. Perhaps, though the manna did not quite cease till they came into Canaan (ch. v. 12), yet since they had come into a land inhabited (Exod. xvi. 35), where they might be furnished in part with other provisions, it did not fall so plentifully, nor did they gather so much as when they had it first given to them in the wilderness, but decreased gradually, and therefore they are ordered to provide other victuals, in which perhaps was included all other things necessary to their march. And some of the Jewish writer, considering that having manna they needed not to provide other victuals, understand it figuratively, that they must repent of their sins, and make their peace with God, and resolve to live a new life, that they might be ready to receive this great favour. See Exo 19:10; Exo 19:11.
II. He reminds the two tribes and a half of the obligations they were under to go over Jordan with their brethren, though they left their possessions and families on this side. Interest would make the other tribes glad to go over Jordan, but in these it was an act of self-denial, and against the grain; therefore it was needful to produce the agreement which Moses had made with them, when he gave them their possession before their brethren (v. 13): Remember the word which Moses commanded you. Some of them perhaps were ready to think now that Moses was dead, who they thought was too hard upon them in this matter, they might find some excuse or other to release themselves from this engagement, or might prevail with Joshua to dispense with them; but he holds them to it, and lets them know that, though Moses was dead, his commands and their promises were still in full force. He reminds them, 1. Of the advantages they had received in being first settled: “The Lord your God hath given you rest. He has given your minds rest; you know what you have to trust to, and are not as the rest of the tribes waiting the issue of the war first and then of the lot. He has also given your families rest, your wives and children, whose settlement is your satisfaction. He has given you rest by giving you this land, this good land, of which you are in full and quiet possession.” Note, When God by his providence has given us rest we ought to consider how we may honour him with the advantages of it, and what service we may do to our brethren who are unsettled, or not so well settled as we are When God had given David rest (2 Sam. vii. 1), see how restless he was till he had found out a habitation for the ark, Psa 132:4; Psa 132:5. When God has given us rest, we must take heed of slothfulness and of settling upon our lees. 2. He reminds them of their agreement to help their brethren in the wars of Canaan till God had in like manner given them rest, Jos 1:14; Jos 1:15. This was, (1.) Reasonable in itself. So closely were all the tribes incorporated that they must needs look upon themselves as members one of another. (2.) It was enjoined them by Moses, the servant of the Lord; he commanded them to do this, and Joshua his successor would see his commands observed. (3.) It was the only expedient they had to save themselves from the guilt of a great sin in settling on that side Jordan, a sin which would one time or other find them out, Num. xxxii. 23. (4.) It was the condition of the grant Moses had made them of the land they were possessed of, so that they could not be sure of a good title to, or a comfortable enjoyment of, the land of their possession, as it is here called (v. 15), if they did not fulfil the condition. (5.) They themselves had covenanted and agreed thereunto (Num. xxxii. 25): Thy servants will do as my Lord commandeth. Thus we all lie under manifold obligations to strengthen the hands one of another, and not to seek our own welfare only, but one another’s.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Officers Commanded, vs. 10-11
Joshua had received his commission; the Lord’s work does not provide for delay, and he is to set about immediately moving the Israelites across the river Jordan to possess the land.
As he moved among the officers of the various tribes, telling them that in three days they would move into Canaan to possess it, a great thrill of excitement must have surged through the people.
It had been promised to the patriarchs, the generations in Egypt had longed for it, the disobedient generation in the wilderness had been denied entrance into it, and now, at last, they are to receive what the Lord had given them in anticipation many generations before. The anticipation of heaven will also be one day realized by God’s children. (Heb 13:5)
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
10. Then Joshua commanded (25) etc It may be doubted whether or not this proclamation was made after the spies were sent, and of course on their return. And certainly I think it not only probable, but I am fully convinced that it was only after their report furnished him with the knowledge he required, that he resolved to move his camp. It would have been preposterous haste to hurry on an unknown path, while he considered it expedient to be informed on many points before setting foot on a hostile territory. Nor is there anything novel in neglecting the order of time, and afterwards interweaving what had been omitted. The second chapter must therefore be regarded as a kind of interposed parenthesis, explaining to the reader more fully what had happened, when Joshua at length commanded the people to collect their vessels.
After all necessary matters had been ascertained, he saw it was high time to proceed, and issued a proclamation, ordering the people to make ready for the campaign. With the utmost confidence he declares that they will pass the Jordan after the lapse of three days: this he never would have ventured to do, without the suggestion of the Spirit. No one had attempted the ford, nor did there seem to be any hope that it could be done. (26) There was no means of crossing either by a bridge or by boats: and nothing could be easier for the enemy than to prevent the passage. The only thing, therefore, that remained was for God to transport them miraculously. This Joshua hoped for not at random, nor at his own hand, but as a matter which had been divinely revealed. The faith of the people also was conspicuous in the promptitude of their obedience: for, in the view of the great difficulties which presented themselves, they never would have complied so readily had they not cast their care upon God. It cannot be doubted that He inspired their minds with this alacrity, in order to remove all the obstacles which might delay the fulfillment of the promise.
(25) It is almost impossible to doubt that the view here taken is correct, and in confirmation of it, it may be observed, that it receives more countenance from the original than appears either from Calvin’s or our verse by “Then,” as if meaning, “At that precise time;” whereas the Hebrew is simply the copulative ו, which only means “And,” and is accordingly here rendered in the Septuagint by καὶ. It implies, indeed that the order issued to the prefects by Joshua was given subsequently to the gracious and encouraging message which he had received, but not that it was given immediately or at that particular instant, and it thus leaves it open for us to infer, that a period of less or greater length intervened during which the spies were sent on their mission, and the proceedings detailed in the second chapter took place. The sacred writer in thus omitting to follow the order of time in his narrative, has only adopted a method which is often convenient in itself, and which has been repeatedly followed by the most celebrated historians, both of ancient and modern times, and nothing can be more absurd than the inference attempted to be drawn chiefly by some German Rationalists, from this and a few similar apparent anachronisms, that the Book of Joshua is not so much a continuous history as a patchwork of distinct or even contradictory narratives by different writers. — Ed.
(26) This must be taken with some qualification, since, according to the view taken by Calvin himself, the river must, before this, have been forded by the spies, both in going and returning; and it is also obvious, from the direction which their pursuers took, in endeavoring to overtake them, that what are called “the fords,” must have been understood to be practicable, even during the season of overflow. Still a spot or two where an individual might manage to cross was altogether unavailable for such a body as the Israelites, and therefore Calvin’s subsequent statement cannot be disputed, that if they were to cross at all, human agency was unavailing, and the only thing which remained was for God himself to transport them miraculously. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.
Jos. 1:11. Prepare you victuals] Herein speaks both the prophet and the soldier. As Gods prophet, Joshua anticipates the cessation of the manna, and prepares the people for the new phase of life on which they must soon enter (chap. Jos. 5:12). As a soldier, he looks with his keen military forecast to the busy hours of the march, and to that closer massing of the people, which would be unfavourable for gathering their usual food. Within three days] Perhaps the best solution is indicated by Knobel, The three days mentioned in chap. Jos. 3:2, are identical with the three days here in Jos. 1:11. The march from Shittim to Jordan would, in this case, have been made during the absence of the spies, the events of chap. 2, on the one hand, and of chap. Jos. 3:1, on the other, being concurrent. Thus taken, the spies would rejoin the host, not at Shittim, from whence they went out, but immediately before Jordan.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Jos. 1:10-11
THE GIFTS OF GOD
Some gifts we possess already, as the Israelites did the manna; how are they to influence us? Some gifts are as yet only promised, as the land of Canaan was to Israel; how are we to regard them? Some gifts are not promised at all, excepting by implication, as strength and help to cross the Jordan in the face of a warlike foe. How far may we go onward, depending on promises which are not written, but merely implied? In a word, what influence are the gifts of God which we do possess, the gifts which through promise we hope to possess, and the gifts which though not specified in any promise we absolutely require, to exert on us in our daily life? How far may we relax personal efforts, and rest in mercies which we have, because we have them? How far may we look on promised mercies, and go on in the strength of them, as though they were in hand already? Yet again, in what measure may we reckon that our very necessities guarantee to us the help of our heavenly Father, even where no actual promise defines some visible emergency before us? These are some aspects of a great question, about which, and through Joshua, God is here seen impressing His mind on the early and plastic life of this young nation. The principles of the teaching are deep, and important, and wide-reaching.
I. The gifts of God are to be held with a wise regard to the surroundings of our life. Prepare you victuals. But the manna was yet falling (chap. Jos. 5:12): probably the people had gathered of it that very morning. Here they are told to prepare other food, perhaps of the corn and cattle already taken as spoil in the border-land. Would not the manna do for the next three days? No. Joshua the soldier looks on, and sees that in the marching and closer massing of the people, their enemies moreover being near at hand, there will be no opportunity and no time for this usual occupation. Joshua the prophet may know that the manna is soon to cease, and be preparing the people for their new form of life. Joshua the godly man sees that other supplies can be obtained now, and seems to be emphatically saying, Do not depend idly on food from heaven, now that you are where your own arms can serve you in gathering the supplies of earth. In the wilderness your own toil could do nothing; here it can. Prepare you victuals. Prepare, for you must, on account of the marching order necessary in front of your foes; prepare, for you can, as you have spoil by you; prepare, for you ought to, Gods gifts being never bestowed to supersede your own efforts.
1. When we rest on Gods help, we should know for what times and for what places in our life that help has been promised. Even God has no manna for fat lands. Some food and some kinds of help are only for life in the desert. Christian people sometimes try their faith by praying for things and by expecting things that God will probably never give them, (a) Sometimes men stand in fertile places, and plead promises which were meant only for help in a wilderness. Think of a man free from trial pleading Isa. 41:10; Isa. 41:13; Isa. 41:17-18, and saying, I want to feel that, to hear Gods voice thus, and to see such wonders of His love and power. Men pray in fruitful lands for help which is good only for the desert, and then, when prayer is unanswered, think the promises are vague. It is we who are vague. The martyrs, the reformers, the very poor, the terribly tempted, may ask and get help that would curse other Christians. Our expectation of Gods gifts should be appropriate. (b) Sometimes earnest men cry out for visible interpositions of God. They want some unmistakable manifestation, and they seek after a sign. So long as their outcry is after God, they think it must be scriptural. But God gives visions only in the night-time; the old prophets had them, but think of the terrible times in which they lived. The man who cries, I only am left, may have an angel to speak with him in his despair; probably none will ever come to us, pray earnestly and long as we may. The cessation of miracles and signs must not be taken as an arbitrary arrangement which can no longer happen because prophets are gone and apostles are no more; the visible signs are gone because of increased light, and not because of extinct apostles. What we can bear, it is best we should bear. It is to Mary Magdalene in her simple, ardent, absorbing love, and her unquestioning faith, that the Saviour says, Touch me not. The other women in the same hour may hold Him by the feet, and worship Him; to the timid ten Christ will say, the same evening, Handle me and see; to the doubter the same pitying compassion will say, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands, etc.; to Mary, whose greater love is as greater light, Christ virtually says, Future contact with me is to be spiritual, and you can best bear to first learn this hard lesson. It is as our day is that we may look for our strength to be. Thus we should Rejoice in the Lord always, whether the signs of His presence with us are great or not. Suppose Israel had said in the days of Gideon, God cannot be with us as He was with our fathers; manna does not fall for us as it did for them; the answer would have been, You are not in the wilderness. It does not follow that God is not with us, because we cannot see so much of Him as some one else has seen, or does see. Spurgeon, and Mller, the heavily bereaved, and the very poor, need a measure of help which might hinder many.
2. True piety will consider how far Gods promises and gifts are practicable. The manna was a very elastic gift. It was always sufficient for necessity, would not bear accumulation in the week, and yet kept wholesome over the Sabbath. But even the manna was unsuitable for a march in front of an enemy. Do not Christians sometimes plead for gifts which in the very nature of things, they could not have?
3. Then the question of need comes up in this other lightHow far CAN we do to-morrow without the things which we really need to-day? It will curse us to possess as a gift what we can get from our own labour. Manna in Canaan would have tended to make a fertile land not only as the wilderness, but worse. Think of decaying vegetation. In the miracles of the Saviour, Divine power never undertakes to do what human hands could accomplish. Men can fill the six waterpots with water; gather the loaves and fishes already in possession of some in the multitude; roll away the stone from the grave of Lazarus. That which men can do, Christ will not do for them. Superhuman help only begins where human power fails.
II. The gifts which Gods people have had should assure them concerning all other gifts which they really need, whether these are promised or not. In three days ye shall pass over this Jordan. It does not appear that at this time Joshua had received any specific promise of help for the passage. That came later; chap. Jos. 3:7-8. How, then, was this mighty host to cross a deep and rapid river? They knew nothing of pontoon bridges, and had no engineers. How were they to cross if their warlike enemies should dispute the passage? Who could say that the Canaanites would not defend this watery pass? If they would fight anywhere, surely here, where the swellings of Jordan would help them. Spartans fight desperately at Thermopyl; and Britons off Dover go even into the sea to get vantage blows at the bearers of Csars eagles. There seems to have been no promise yet about the passage of the Jordan. Faith reads enough of help in the very necessity, and says with unwavering words, Ye shall pass over.
1. All our actual need is to be referred to the heart and character of God. Gods heart and arm have each a history; the one, of gracious kindness, the other of invincible power. It is because of what God is, and because of being in the way of Gods commandments, that Joshua is able to speak so confidently of making the other shore in so short a time.
2. To the godly man, not only the letter of the law, but the letter of the promises also, is ever superseded by the spirit. There seems to be no declaration that the manna shall cease, and yet Joshua says, Prepare ye victuals. We read of no promise which certifies a passage within three days, nevertheless he says, Ye shall pass over.
3. Our sweetest readings of Gods love and of the Scriptures are often the outcome of our greatest emergencies. But for our wildernesses and rivers and enemies, our lives would have been without many a rich strain which we could have learned nowhere else. The Jews in Babylon cried, How shall we sing the Lords songs in a strange land? They might not be able to do that, but they learned many a new one there which made sweet music for them and for others after their return home. Some one has said of our poets
They learn in suffering what they teach in song,
and it is much the same with the Church of God. But for the wilderness, and the Jordan, and the Canaanites, we had never had this rich reading of trust and holy fear. Here is fear thinking of hunger, and saying, Prepare you victuals; for although the manna falls now, you must not depend on God for food when you can get it yourselves; and here, too, is faith, which says, Though the river be wide and deep, and the enemy may be fierce and numerous, and no actual promise bridges the difficulty, within three days ye shall pass over. Let these God-taught men of the old world teach us. Let them cheer us with their unquestioning and yet suspicious trust.
Mortal! they softly say,
Peace to thy heart.
We too, yes, mortal,
Have been as thou art:
Hope-lifted, doubt-depressed,
Seeing in part;
Tried, troubled, tempted,
Sustained as thou art.
III. All our temporal gifts from God belong to us, at most, for this life only. The manna was not even for a lifetime, and the land was only given to them for as long as they could possess it. When death took away the power of possessing this gift of God, it could be theirs no longer. That is the tenure of all our earthly holdings. Men try to hold and control their earthly estates for generations after they are gone. The law of entail and primogeniture; curious wills; trust deeds for charitable and religious purposes. The pious founder of the past is perpetually hampering the action of pious men in the present. Some trust-restrictions may be and must be made; but surely it is hardly right to tie down a future generation to matters of detail suggested to us by our probably poorer light. If a Christian man is subject to the accident of wealth during his life, is he therefore at liberty to provide a detailed creed for thousands for the next ten or twenty generations? In any case, our earthly holdings must soon be laid down. They are only ours while we can possess them. Are we holding them wisely, and for God? Have we any possession in Christ Jesus, who came into the world to save sinners? That inheritance only can we hold for ever.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Joshuas Instructions to the People Jos. 1:10-18
10 Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying,
11 Pass through the host, and command the people, saying, Prepare you victuals; for within three days ye shall pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land, which the Lord your God giveth you to possess it.
12 And to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to half the tribe of Manasseh, spake Joshua, saying,
13 Remember the word which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, saying, The Lord your God hath given you rest, and hath given you this land.
14 Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle, shall remain in the land which Moses gave you on this side Jordan; but ye shall pass before your brethren armed, all the mighty men of valor, and help them;
15 Until the Lord have given your brethren rest, as he hath given you, and they also have possessed the land which the Lord your God giveth them: then ye shall return unto the land of your possessions, and enjoy it, which Moses the Lords servant gave you on this side Jordan toward the sun rising.
16 And they answered Joshua, saying, All that thou commandest us we will do, and whithersoever thou sendest us, we will go.
17 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.
18 Whosoever he be that doth rebel against thy commandment, and will not hearken unto thy words in all that thou commandest him, he shall be put to death: only be strong and of a good courage.
11.
Who are the officers) Jos. 1:10
These men were called in Hebrew the shoterim. Their duties were varied, At times they seemed to work first at one task and then at another. Their duties may be listed as follows:
a.
To keep family registers (providing for the levying of men at times of war, etc.)
b.
To circulate the commands of the leader
c.
To issue orders to the people
As Israel prepared to cross the Jordan River, these officers were to marshal the hosts of men, women, and children and direct them in the last leg of the march to Canaan.
12.
What were the victuals (vittles)? Jos. 1:11
The people were fed by manna through the days of the wilderness wanderings, and this bountiful provision did not cease until after they had renewed the rite of circumcision in the camp at Gilgal (see Jos. 5:12). No doubt the victuals included the daily supply of manna, but it would include more than this. It included all the equipment which was necessary for making the journey (see Gen. 24:25).
13.
What action took place after three days? Jos. 1:11
The people expected to move to a vantage point on the Jordan River from which they could cross over after this first three-day period. During this time the spies were to be on their way to Jericho and returning, a time which was lengthened by the necessity of their hiding for three days. The camp of the Israelites had been at Abelshittim while they were in the plains of Moab. They planned to move from this point down to the Jordan River during these three days; but when the spies were forced to extend their expedition, the Israelites probably remained in their camp all this time.
14.
How long was it before they crossed the Jordan? Jos. 1:11
Since the spies were absent for three days, it was not until the morning after their return that the Israelites left Shittim and proceeded to the Jordan. At the bank of the Jordan they halted again. After this second pause for three days (see Jos. 3:1-2) they went across the river.
Three days before leaving Shittim
3
(spies in hiding)
A day going to the edge of Jordan
1
Three days before starting across
3
A day in crossing
1
8 days
Joshua, no doubt, intended to proceed to the Jordan and cross it within the three days. He probably sent spies to Jericho on the same day he issued the orders to the people. As the spies were forced to hide in the mountains for three days, Joshua could not remove with the people until after their return.
15.
Did all the eastern tribes go over Jordan? Jos. 1:12
Only forty thousand men of war from the eastern tribes went over the Jordan River. There were 43,730 men of the tribe of Reuben who were twenty years of age and older. Gad had 40,500 men of this age. If the tribe of Manasseh were evenly divided, there would have been 26,350 men in the half tribe of Manasseh, since the total was 52,700 in this tribe. The total of this would be 110,580 men in the two and one-half tribes who wanted to live east of the Jordan. When Moses gave these people permission to settle east of the Jordan, they promised to arm themselves and to pass over the Jordan with the other warriors of Israel. After the conquest was finished, they were to be allowed to return to their homes. The historian says about forty thousand of these men prepared for war passed over before the Lord unto the battle to the plains of Jericho (Jos. 4:13). This would leave some seventy thousand men behind to care for the women and children who would not pass over to the western side of the river.
16.
Why had Moses instructed these tribes? Jos. 1:13
When the men of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh first approached Moses about settling east of the Jordan, he thought they were like the ten spies who had been afraid to enter into the conquest of the land. The men of the two and one-half tribes assured Moses they were not afraid. They made request for this land because it was suited to their occupations. They found it to be a good land, and they desired to have this for their inheritance. At the time they assured Moses they would go over and fight. They promised they would not return to their houses until all of the children of Israel had inherited their place in the Promised Land. When Moses received this assurance, he granted their request and told them they might build cities for their little ones and folds for their sheep (Num. 32:24). The land which they inherited was the territory which had formerly been the kingdom of Sihon, king of the Amorites, and the kingdom of Og, king of Bashan (Num. 32:33).
17.
Why did the eastern tribes reassure ?Jos. 1:16
After Moses had settled the question about inheriting the land with these eastern tribes, he gave express commandment to Eleazar, the priest, and to Joshua, the son of Nun, as well as to the chief fathers of the tribes of Israel. He made it clear to them that if the children of Gad, the children of Reuben, and the children of Manasseh kept their part of the agreement then they were to inherit Gilead. The pledge of allegiance of these three eastern tribes had been made to Moses. Since Moses was dead, it was proper for the men of these tribes to give their pledge of allegiance to Joshua. They were willing to go over the Jordan and fight before they received their inheritance. They assured Joshua they would put to death any man among them who proved to be disloyal to Joshua. Their only prayer was for the Lord God to be with Joshua as He had been with Moses (Jos. 1:17).
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
JOSHUAS FIRST ORDERS (Jos. 1:10-15).
(10) Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people.Joshuas first orders to the people were to prepare for the passage of Jordan within three days. We may compare this event, in its relation to Joshua, with the giving of the law from Sinai to Moses. Both were preceded by a three days notice and a sanctification of the people. Both were means employed by God to establish the leaders whom He had chosen in the position which He designed for them. (Comp. Exo. 19:9; Exo. 19:11 with Jos. 1:11; Jos. 3:7; Jos. 4:14.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
PREPARATIONS FOR THE MARCH, Jos 1:10-11.
[ 10. Officers of the people Shoterim; subordinate magistrates or scribes among the Israelites, and more or less intimately associated with the administration of justice. They assisted the Egyptian taskmasters in apportioning and supervising the work of the Israelitish bondmen, (Exo 5:10; Exo 5:14-15,) were associated with the elders (Num 11:16) and with the judges, (Jos 8:33,) acted as overseers of levies, (Deu 20:5,) and from this verse, compared with Jos 3:2, and Jos 8:33, it seems to have been a part of their work to notify the tribes of any public order, and prepare them for action in any emergency.]
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘ Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying “Pass through the midst of the camp and command the people, saying, ‘Prepare victuals, for in three days you are to pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land which YHWH your God gives you to possess it.’ ” ’
The officers (shoterim) of the people are mentioned in Deu 1:15; Deu 20:5-9. They were the chief men of the tribes. In Deu 16:18 they are parallel with the judges. Moved by his dream Joshua told them to prepare the people for the crossing of the River. Although they were still receiving the manna (Jos 5:12), that would not be so easily gatherable on a war footing, and anyway it would shortly cease, so they needed to ensure that they were well provisioned. Now that they were out of the wilderness and close to the land, plenty of food would be available, such for example as they had captured in battles against the Amorites. The word for ‘victuals’ also includes hunted game.
“In three days.” That is, in a short time. ‘Three days’ is a standard way of saying ‘a few days, shortly’. (It means any period less than the next step up, ‘seven days’). Time was not as precise for them as it is for us. Life was more relaxed.
“You are to pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land which YHWH your God gives you to possess it.” Compare Deu 11:31; Deu 1:8; Deu 3:18. Moses’ words were burned into Joshua’s mind and became God’s voice to him. Notice his encouragement to the people, they were to possess what God had given them to possess. Thus they could be sure that He would enable them.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Joshua’s First Command to Israel as Their Leader – God had commanded Joshua to meditate upon God’s Word day and night (Jos 1:8). We then see in Jos 1:10-15 how this time of meditation produced revelation and insight into the words of Moses and God’s plan for the people of Israel. Joshua is then able to stand up with courage and command the people with words that are accurate and correct, words that come from the presence of God. God had a plan for this time and place in the life of His people and He has revealed it to Joshua their leader. The people responded positively with a willingness to follow Joshua’s command (Jos 1:16-18).
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The First General Order Of Joshua
v. 10. Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, v. 11. Pass through the host and command the people, v. 12. And to the Reubenites and to the Gadites and to half the tribe of Manasseh spake Joshua, saying, v. 13. Remember the word which Moses, the servant of the Lord, v. 14. Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle shall remain in the land which Moses gave you on this side Jordan; but ye shall pass before your brethren armed, v. 15. until the Lord have given your brethren rest, as He hath given you, and they also have possessed the land which the Lord, your God, giveth them. Then ye shall return unto the land of your possession and enjoy it, v. 16. And they answered Joshua, saying, All that thou commandest us we will do, and whithersoever thou sendest us we will go, v. 17. 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. v. 18. Whosoever he be that doth rebel against thy commandment and will not hearken unto thy words in all that thou commandest him, he shall be put to death; only be strong and of a good courage,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
JOSHUA‘S COMMAND TO THE PEOPLE,
Jos 1:10
Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people. The Shoterim, a term derived from the same root as an Arabic word signifying “to write.” Different ideas have been entertained of their duties. Keil, Jahn (Hebrew Commonwealth), and others believe that they were genealogists; but it seems more probable that their original duties were to keep processes and minutes, and that, like our Indian “writers” and the “Master of the Rolls” at home, they exercised some kind of judicial functions, with which, moreover, active duties were sometimes combined. The idea that they were genealogists is contrary, as Gesenius shows, to the context in many places. Thus in Exo 5:6-19, they seem to have had to see that the specified tale of bricks was delivered up; and we know from the recently deciphered Egyptian inscriptions that very accurate registers of such matters were kept. In Deu 1:16 (cf. Deu 16:18; Jos 8:33; Jos 23:2; Jos 24:1, etc) they appear to have exercised judicial functions in connection with the “princes” (not “captains,” as in our version, which would lead to the idea that they were military officers). In Num 11:16 they are connected with the elders. In 1Ch 26:29 they seem again to have exercised judicial functions, whereas in 2Ch 26:11 their duty appears to have been to keep the muster rolls. In Pro 6:7 we find them once more with active duties as in the text. The LXX. equivalent; , is rendered in Act 19:35 by “town clerk,” an officer with active as well as merely secretarial duties. Here they seem to have acted as officers of the commissariat, civil and military functions being naturally largely interchangeable in the then condition of the Israelitish people, just as they were in the early days of our Indian empire.
Jos 1:11
Prepare you victuals. Literally, game, the term being applied to meat obtained by hunting. Thus it is applied by Isaac to Esau’s venison in Gen 27:1-46. Here it means food of any kind, but especially animal food. It is therefore obvious that the miraculous supply of manna was soon to cease (cf. Jos 5:12). Within three days. Much difficulty has been created here by the fact that another three days are mentioned in Gen 3:2 as elapsing after the return of the spies, which has been supposed to have taken place between this command and the period then mentioned. Three more days were spent (Jos 2:22) by the spies in eluding the pursuit of the men of Jerichoone day in going thither, and one more in returning to Moses. Consequently eight days, if not more (see Jos 3:7), must have elapsed between this proclamation and the actual crossing of the Jordan. But when we remember that the Hebrew language possesses no pluperfect tense, that there are many instances, such as (very probably) Gen 12:1, and more certainly Gen 3:1, Gen 6:6, Gen 20:18, Gen 26:18, Gen 26:32, where the Hebrew narrative has clearly departed from the chronological order, and that the chronology is obscured by this chasm in the Hebrew linguistic system, we may suppose that the narrative in the second chapter is parenthetical, and relates to events which occurred before the occasion now spoken of. This is the view taken by Josephus and the Rabbis, and our translators have adopted it in the margina proceeding which, as their preface shows, may frequently be held to imply that in their opinion it is the preferable interpretation. It is energetically impugned by Keil, who maintains that there are insuperable difficulties in the way of this arrangement. He does not, however, make out a very powerful case against the simple explanation of Cornelius a Lapide, that the spies left the camp on the 3rd Nisan, returned on the 6th, that Joshua gave his order on the 7th, and that on the 10th (Jos 4:19) the crossing was effected. Stripped of all verbiage, Keil’s argument appears to amount simply to this, that it was not likely that the account of the narrative would be thus interrupted by an account of a transaction out of its proper chronological order. It may be added that it seems doubtful whether we must not render the word in verse 12, by the pluperfect, for it seems very probable that the word of command to the two tribes and a half who had obtained their inheritance beyond Jordan had been given before this, and that therefore it may have preceded the command given to the spies, in which case one of Keil’s chief objections fails to the ground. Other explanations than that of Cornelius a Lapide have been suggested. Thus Kimchi supposes that the spies left on the 5th Nisan and returned on the 8th; while Masius supposes that they were sent out simultaneously with these orders. Augustine’s explanation, that Joshua did not speak by revelation, but was influenced by human hope, is noticeable, as proving that the early fathers did not always take the strictest view of inspiration.
Jos 1:12
And to the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh (see Num 32:1-33). We have here a remarkable instance of undesigned agreement between the various books of the Old Testament: one of those signs of the genuineness of the narrative which would be almost impossible to a compiler of fictitious records. We are told in the passage just cited that the reason why these particular tribes desired an inheritance on the other side Jordan was because they were particularly rich in cattle. Now we learn from other passages that this region wasand travellers tell us that it is to this daya region particularly suited for pasture. The ‘Jewish Chronicle,’ in December, 1879, mentions a scheme projected by Mr. Laurence Oliphant for colonising this district for agricultural purposes under the auspices of a company. The “fat bulls of Bashan” were almost proverbial in Scripture. Mesha, king of Moab, was a “sheep master,” we read (2Ki 3:4), and his tribute, rendered in sheep to the king of Israel, was a very large one; especially when we remember that Moab was at that time but little larger than an ordinary English country (see also Deu 32:14; Eze 39:18). The land to the east of Jordan bore the name Mishor, or level land, as contrasted with the rocky region on the other side of Jordan.
Jos 1:13
Remember the word. The substance, and not the ipsissima verba, of the directions of Moses in Num 32:1-42. is here given (see also Deu 3:16-20). Hath given you rest. Perhaps, rather, hath caused you to resthath permitted you to settle; though the LXX. here has , and the Vulgate, dedit vobis requiem (cf. Heb 3:11-18; Heb 4:1-11; and Psa 95:11). This land, i.e; that in which they then were, on what we call the further side of Jordan.
Jos 1:14
Armed. This word, translated harnessed in Exo 13:18, only occurs besides here in Jos 4:12, and in Jdg 7:11. In the first cited of these passages it has given rise to much discussion among those whose studies have been confined to the text of the English Bible, excluding even the margin. But its meaning is much debated among scholars. There seems no authority whatever for the translation armed or harnessed. We must either take it
(1) to mean in five divisions, the usual manner of marching under Moses (see Num 2:1-34), “divided into centre, right and left wings, van and rear guard” (Ewald); or
(2) fierce, eager, brave, from a Semitic root found also in the Arabic. So Rosenmuller and Geseniuswho does not, however, as Keil asserts, derive the word from to be fat, but from a root akin to violence, and to be pungent. The former refers to the parallel passage in Num 32:17, where for we find quick. The first interpretation is rendered probable by Num 2:1-34; where the order of march is described as a fivefold order, and by the similarity of the word to five, and is not excluded by Jdg 7:11, where the army, though disorganised, may have still been arranged in its fivefold divisions. The fact that there is an Arabic word, almost precisely similar, which is applied to the fivefold division of an army, makes it almost certain that this is the true meaning. But some scholars prefer to render it “brave,” or “eager for war” (cf. Jos 4:13). This last word is also found in the parallel passages in Num 32:1-42. and Deu 3:18-20. Its original meaning is expeditusunencumbered. See note on the last-mentioned passage. All the mighty men of valour. The number of fighting men in these tribes would be, from a comparison of Num 26:7, Num 26:18, Num 26:34, remembering that half only of the tribe of Manasseh must be counted, between 110,000 and 111,000. But we read in Jos 4:13 that 40,000 only of them went over. Above 70,000 must have remained behind to guard their women, children,and flocks, a precaution both reasonable and necessary. So indispensable, in fact, was it, that in this apparent discrepancy we may find one of the strongest proofs of the genuineness of our narrative. For, as Calvin remarks, in a country not yet pacified, all the women and children would infallibly have been massacred had they been left unprotected.
HOMILETICS
Jos 1:10-15
Joshua’s command to the people.
I. WE MUST WORK WITH THE GRACE OF GOD. All these promises of God were not intended to supersede human effort. God had promised to be with Joshua, but Joshua must act on the promise. He had promised to plant the people in the Holy Land, but not without exertion on their part. Where their own action was impossible, as in crossing the Jordan, He did all for them. When a sign of His presence with them was necessary, as at Jericho, He did likewise. But in the rest of their warfare He did but prosper their own endeavours. So we are both to pray and work, save in cases where to work is denied us, and then our weapon must be prayer alone.
II. WE NEED PROVISION FOR THE WAY. Without meat we should “faint by the way.” But we have “meat to eat” that the world “knows not of,” even the flesh and blood of Christ. And this we must “prepare;” that is, we must take pains to obtain it. “This kind goeth not forth but by prayer and fasting,” and by endeavours to serve Christ. Whether in the sacrament of His love, or in any other way in which He vouchsafes to impart His humanity to us, there needs on our part
(1) an earnest petition for the gift;
(2) steady self denial in our lives;
(3) steadfast efforts to do His will.
It is remarkable that the miraculous provision failed as soon as there was no more need for it. So exceptional provision for our spiritual needs is withdrawn so soon as we find ourselves within reach of the means of grace. These we must use with due diligence and forethought if we would derive benefit from them.
III. WE FIGHT, NOT FOR OURSELVES ALONE, BUT FOR OTHERS. The two tribes and a half had received their inheritance, yet they were not allowed to settle down in it. They had been solemnly bound to help their brethren. Nor may we Christians sit down in the exclusive possession of religious privileges, but must impart them to our brethren, whether
(a) by nature, as the heathen, or
(b) by grace, as in the case of Christians less favoured than ourselves.
We cannot cease our labour till they are as well off as we. Thus the duty is incumbent upon us of cooperating in every good work, whereby the temporal or spiritual benefit of others is attained.
IV. EACH HAS HIS APPOINTED TASK. As Christ gave to His disciples to set before the multitude (Joh 6:11, etc), so Joshua “commands the officers” to “command the people.” All are not apostles or prophets, but each has his proper office in God’s Church. Some are set over the flock to guide and exhort them, while others have to listen and carry out the voice of exhortation. They were to go up chamushim, in battle array (verse 14), with van and rear, with wings and centre, each in his appointed rank. And we, too, shall only throw the army of Jesus into disorder if we fail to keep the place which God’s providence has assigned us.
V. SOME, BY THEIR POSITION, ARE DENIED A PART IN THE GENERAL CONFLICT. As Christ forbade the demoniac to attach himself to His person, but bade him “go home to his friends”, so there are those, like the women and children here, whose work for Christ is the simple discharge of domestic duties, whom Christ has not called to any more public efforts in His cause.
HOMILIES BY E. DE PRESSENSE
Jos 1:10-18
Joshua and the Reubenites.
The Reubenites and Gadites had already settled on the banks of the Jordan. They were at rest; they had not to await the ordeal of the conquest. As far as they were concerned, they had already received the promise. And yet they were not to be allowed to remain in idleness, and in selfish enjoyment of their own good. They were not to forget their brethren. “Ye shall pass before your brethren armed,” said Joshua, “and help them.” “And they answered Joshua, saying, All that thou commandest us we will do.” Such was the response of these valiant and true hearted men. We have here an admirable illustration of the great bond of solidarity which makes all the people of God one.
I. IN REALITY, NO SECTION OF GOD‘S PEOPLE CAN LIVE AN ISOLATED LIFE. It would he vain for the Reubenites to dream that they could rest at ease under their vines and fig trees. The defeat of their brethren would recoil upon them, and should the Canaanites be victorious the Reubenites would quickly find themselves driven out of the land. And it is the same with the Churcheach for all, and all for each; this is the Church’s motto. Therefore it is that all should rally round the great standard of the army.
II. FOR ANY SECTION OF GOD‘S PEOPLE TO ISOLATE THEMSELVES in their prosperity is not only the sure way to impoverish and ultimately to ruin themselves, but it is TREASON TO THE KING OF THE SPIRITUAL KINGDOM; for it implies that the first object of desire is prosperity for themselves, not the glory of the King; that he is loved, not with a pure, but with a selfish love.
III. SUCH ISOLATION HARDENS THE HEART. It is a violation of the first law of the kingdomthe law of love. Its tendency is, as far as possible, to obliterate that law. It ignores the fact that we receive only to give again. Let us fully grasp, then, this great truth, that every blessing received is a trust placed in our hands only that we may diffuse it among our brethren. The applications of this great precept of Christian love are innumerable. Do we possess in large measure the good things of this world? It is that we may communicate to our less favoured brethren. Are we rich in spiritual gifts? It is that we may impart to those less privileged and of fewer opportunities than ourselves. And as we are indebted to the Church, so are we also to humanity, for are we not all one flesh? Hence the claim of missions, both at home and abroad, as a means of imparting the gifts of God already received by us to those who as yet are ignorant of them. Nor is this all. After having won the victory for ourselves, we have to begin the battle over again, and to suffer in sympathy with those who have yet the Jordan to cross. Let us never forget Him who left the blessedness of heaven to undertake our cause, and who, though He was rich, yet for our sakes became poor.E. DE P.
HOMILIES R. GLOVER
Jos 1:12-15
Duties of brotherhood.
We have here a fine appeal, and a fine answer to that appeal. Arrived at the Jordan, they are about to make that invasion of Palestine which gave the Church of God a country and truth a home. At first the settlement of all the twelve tribes in the country between the Jordan and the sea seems to have been the design of Moses. But “the region beyond Jordan” was fertilea finer land for flocks than Canaan itself. It was not surprising, therefore, that the pre-eminently pastoral tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh should desire to settle there. And when the opposition of Og, king of Bashan, and Sihon, king of the Amorites, necessitated war, and ended in their defeat, the desire of these tribes found expression in a formal request. On the condition that their settlement on the nearer side of Jordan was not to be a “secession,” and that they would help their brethren in the conquest of the whole land, Moses had granted their request, and divided the territory between them. Now Joshua, on the death of Moses, requires their fulfilment of their pledge. Rest would have been pleasant, and selfish reasons in plenty forthcoming for evading the fulfilment of their promise; but the claim for brotherly help was made to men of brotherly nature. This chapter shows their prompt response, and the remainder of this Book showsone might almost say all the subsequent books of the Bible do sothe splendid results of their brotherliness. I find a very perfect illustration of a great theme, viz; the duty and blessedness of the more favoured helping their less favoured brethren. Observe
I. THE DUTY OF THOSE MORE EARLY, OR MORE RICHLY BLESSED, HELPING THEIR LESS FAVOURED BRETHREN. There are those more and those less favoured. Those that attain the desire of their hearts much earlier and much more fully than their brethren. God does not divide His favours as a communistic philosopher would do. All are largely, but all unequally and diversely, blessed. So it happened here. The two and a haft tribes had got all their fighting over before the others had well begun. Had Israel entered the land of Canaan by the south, as they probably would have done if they had not shrunk from the enterprise on the return of the spies, then Judah would have been the first to find its home secure; and Reuben, Gad, and half Manasseh would have been the last if they still desired the district of Gilead. It is not the peculiar virtue of the latter that it should be earlier, nor any fault of the former that it should be later. It is due simply to their entering now from the east instead of from the south. So in the contrasted condition of these tribes we have but a type of the contrasted conditions of men. There are some have made their fortune by the time others are just beginning to struggle for it. To some, truth comes with clear evidence as a bright heritage of their youth, while others only reach it with protracted struggle. Some are favoured with a knowledge of the gospel, while others are in densest ignorance. Some nations have vast wealth of liberty and justice, when others are just beginning to achieve the first sweets of freedom. And in such circumstances the more fortunate are very apt to enjoy their comforts, regardless of the struggles of their brethren; just as these tribes might have argued with plausible ingenuity that they should be excused from rendering assistance to their brethren. The struggle with Bashanthat district which rises like an island of rock from the pastoral plains, and which is the great natural fortress, the “keep” of the whole districthad been arduous. The remains of the cities of Bashan, so strongly built that three thousand years has not been able to reduce them to ruins, show the energy and developed civilisation of their foes. There are not a few indications that the stress of the conflict fell on the two and a half tribes. How easily they might have been tempted to settle down, indifferent to their brethren’s welfare. Besides, they had respectable excuses. Who would defend their wives and children when all their mighty men were across the Jordan? What would become of their cattle? What security was there against the Bedawin, then, as now, roving about intent on spelt? Might they not act as rear guard, and keep the communications opensecure a safe retreat? But Moses, Joshua, God, all expect the more to help the less fortunate, and the generous instincts of their own hearts assent to the doctrine, and the nobility of their action testifies to all posterity that privilege carries responsibility, and that all who have are bound to aid all who lack. “Go forth before your brethren armed, till the Lord hath given them rest.” Let the upper classes of our country share rather than monopolise education, power, enjoyment of life. Let the rich aid the poor; the strong the weak. Let those who have the gospel help those who are in darkness to attain its light. The successful have a duty to the struggling to aid them, not feebly, but with their full strength. If this example illustrates the duty of the more helping the less favoured, it illustrates with equal clearness, secondly
II. THE BLESSEDNESS OF DOING SO. One does not like to contemplate what would have been the results had they withheld their help. The Amorites, strong in their mountain fastnesses, the Canaanitesthe race we know better under the name of Phoenicians, strong in their civilisation, wealth, commerce, maritime enterprise, inhabiting the seaboard plainswere not enemies to be lightly overcome. Ten out of the twelve spiesall brave menreported the conquest impossible; and the other two hoped for it only because they had the faith that remembered nothing was impossible. What would have been the effect on the world if Phoenician religion, with its unutterable vileness and cruelty, destruction of morality and virtues in all their forms, had extirpated Hebrew religion, with its inspiration of virtue, truth, liberty, and all things high, one is content to leave unguessed. But Israel was fighting the world’s battle of truth and righteousness against enormous odds, and the two and a half tribes nobly taking their share in the conflict. Observe what blessed results followed.
1. They had the reward of being grandly useful in the service they rendered. They did not fail, nor were discouraged until, as the result of three or four years of war, the whole land from Hebron in the south to Baal Gad in Lebanon was theirs. And God’s people, God’s Church, and God’s Truth had an earthly house. The candle was set on a candlestick, and gave light to all surrounding nations and succeeding ages. Thy brotherly help, in whatever direction rendered, will never be in vain. Nothing has such success and so little failure as kindly help.
2. Their service resulted in the development of a finer brotherhood. Not a perfect one, as there will be too much occasion to mark, but yet a relationship in which there was on the one hand the genial interest we always take in those we help, and on the other there was the gratitude always felt where service is promptly and freely given. They know not what they lose who never render help. Serve and love your brethren and they will pray for you and love you, when perhaps their love and prayer will turn the scale between hope and despair.
3. There was developed in these tribes a noble sentiment of heroic patriotism. We make our acts: but our acts make us. And a noble deed increases the nobility of nature from which it sprung. The service now rendered by the tribes inhabiting Gilead lived in their memory, an inspiration to similar service. Gideon and Jephthah headed the tribes, and twice over delivered Israel from her oppressors. And in later times this same region gave Israel her grandest prophetthe great Elijahwho restored pure and undefiled religion to its throne. The service you render ennobles you, and makes you more capable of nobler service in all time to come.
4. There was the direct outward reward. They lost nothing by it even in material wealth. No enemy attacked their families. They brought back great store of spoil, more wealth than herding could have given them in the interval. And through all their future history the service now rendered by them was repayed to them. So that, though exposed in situation, the first to feel the brunt of the attacks of Syria and Ammon, they retained, by help of their brethren, their possessions and their freedom, right down to the days of Ahab. It is no slight reward which waits on brotherly kindness and charity, but one which makes men richer than with any wealth of selfishness they could possibly be. Go thou, and in thy sphere do as these tribes didrender prompt, willing, rich, lengthened service to your less favoured brethren, and “exceedingly abundant above all you ask or think” will you find your reward in heaven.G.
HOMILIES BY S.R. ALDRIDGE
Jos 1:13
An agreement remembered.
The latter part of this chapter recounts the preparations made for the entrance of the Israelites into Canaan. Joshua was already showing himself “the right man in the right place.” Having given orders with respect to the food necessary for the next march, he now addresses the tribes who had been permitted to choose an inheritance on the east of the Jordan. He reminds them of their promise to send their armed men as a van-guard to the people. Though under the sheltering wings of the Almighty no prudent precautions must be neglected, no vigilance relaxed, the honour of God demands that reasonable care should be exercised to prevent surprise and the consequent disgrace that would attach to His holy name. God helps us not only outwardly but inwardly, teaching us how to live a sober, righteous, and godly life, and so to vanquish the machinations of the enemy.
I. A COVENANT REMEMBERED. If the Reubenites and Gadites had forgotten it, not so Joshua. Nor does God fail to recollect the vows we have made. As He recalled Jacob to a sense of his ingratitude and remissness (Gen 35:1), so He will not have us treat our promises lightly. It is part of the functions of a faithful leader to bring to light forgotten duties. A minister reminds his people of their engagements. What declarations of devoted adherence to Christ were uttered at conversion! how they bound themselves henceforth to live to the glory of God! The people’s promises to God must be insisted on, as won as the cheering promises which God has made to them. Let us not be angry nor revile such admonitions as the preaching of the law instead of the gospel. An appeal was made to authority. The agreement had been a commandment on the part of Moses. Joshua enforced compliance therewith. On the same grounds we draw attention to the precepts of prophets and apostles, as well as to the direct dictates of the Lord. These holy men were inspired, and to dispute their utterances is to call in question the authority of the Master whose servants they were. Joshua thus sanctioned Moses as Peter afterwards bore witness to Paul (2Pe 3:15).
II. PRINCIPLES RECOGNISED IN THE COVENANT.
1. Favours merit some grateful return. The land of Gilead and Bashan was desired by these two and a half tribes on account of its fruitful pasturage. It was adapted for flocks and herds, and the sight of such fertile territory caused the owners of much sheep and cattle to be willing to settle down at once, rather than to occupy soft in the “land of promise” itself. Their request was not pleasing to Moses, as it seemed to put a slight upon Canaan, and to threaten a relapse into idolatry, beside the imminent danger of discouraging the rest of the Israelites, and so effecting by the wrath of God the utter extinction of the nation. Yet on the condition to which reference has been made the petition was ultimately granted. As they had achieved their desire it was rightly expected that they would render some proportionate recompense. And in similar method our heavenly Father deals with us today. We must be ready to cry with the Psalmist, “What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me?” If more than others we have received, of us will more be required. Health and strength, wealth and position, learning and influencenot one of these gifts but entails a corresponding responsibility. If the conditions have not been stated in so many words, yet they are easily discoverable.
2. The priority of duty to pleasure. Before these armed men could lawfully enjoy their inheritance they must fulfil their engagement. We do not oppose duty to pleasure, strictly speaking, for it is obvious that only when mindful of the former can the latter be truly known. But the two may be distinguished, and it is clear that there are cases in which selfish inclination would lead one way and obligation calls us another. The rule to be adopted is plain. Listen to “I ought,” and follow whither it directs; there will be a satisfaction gendered which will go far to repay us for any sacrifice; and then when the period of relaxation has really arrived our delight will be embittered by no stings of reproachful conscience, but enhanced by the remembrance of duty discharged. Let this be noted and acted upon by the young, and there will be fewer wasted lives. Let Church members consult their obligations before their convenience and there will be fewer vacancies crying out for occupants.
3. The obligations of fraternal love. The dislike of Moses to the request of these tribes was akin to the grief of a father who witnesses the separation of some members of the family from the rest. The river Jordan was in itself but a small dividing line, but it might be significant of a wide and deep estrangement. Evidently perceiving the fear of Moses, the Reubenites, etc; offered to prove by their conduct that they were still at one with their brethren and intended so to remain. The offer was approved of and established as a covenant between the whole nation and these special tribes. It affirmed a participation in the common hopes and risks. The New Testament speaks not less clearly of the relationship between all the children of God. The members of the body. of Christ axe bound to feel with and for one another (1Co 12:25, 1Co 12:26). “Let brotherly love continue.” So forcible was the impulse of the first preaching of the gospel that it led the Christians of Jerusalem to a commonalty of goods. It is required of the rich to help the poor, the strong must assist in bearing the burdens of the weak, the settled in position and faith must stretch out the hand to those who axe still searching for a place of rest, and those who have leisure must devote a portion at least to the succour of the busily employed. The Jewish Paul having obtained the privileges of Christianity could wish himself to be “accursed for his brethren, his kinsmen according to the flesh.” We are selfish indeed if we pray not and labour not for the salvation of our friends till they become possessed likewise of an eternal inheritance. Briefly note
III. THE RATIFICATION OF THE COVENANT. The covenanters assented immediately to the command of Joshua. They were ready to keep their word. No excuses urged, no pleas of misunderstanding, no subtle equivocations, no attempts to secure a remission of their engagement, but downright honest confirmation of their pledged promise. They did not desire their sin to find them out (Num 32:23). The covenant had been really made with the Lord, and He would be certain to punish its violation. God give us grace to imitate their example! Like Jephthah, we have “opened our mouth to the Lord and cannot go back.” We have declared that our bodies shall be living sacrifices, that our mouths shall show forth the Redeemer’s praise, that as for us we will serve the Lord. Very shame should bind us to our word; we must not, dare not, “keep back part of the price.” And love to God and man draws us onward to our “reasonable service.”A.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Ver. 10. Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people Obedient to the divine injunction, Joshua hastens to take all those measures which human prudence could suggest to a pious mind in the present emergency. He commands the schoterim, i.e. the officers subordinate to the schophetim, or judges, whose sentences they published and put in execution.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
In the preparation of these victuals, I am at a loss to know what the particular nature of the command was. We are told, Exo 16:35 that manna was the food of Israel until they came to a land inhabited. And no doubt that land was Canaan. Perhaps a larger supply of this heavenly food was upon this particular occasion given them, as they were now going to besiege Jericho. But be this as it may, the Christian Reader may find a sweet lesson here. Wherever we are called, or to whatever siege we are led, until we come to Canaan itself, Jesus is the manna of his people. Not a day can we subsist without him. Lord the Holy Ghost! do thou prepare this spiritual food for me and give me increasing supplies of Jesus, until that I come to the heavenly Jerusalem, where he will be my food and my glory forever. Rev 7:17 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Aspects of Human Character
Jos 1:10-15
THESE opening paragraphs present Joshua in several interesting aspects, which we may profitably consider and personally apply: for there is nothing old in them, in the sense of outwornness; what is old in them is old in the sense of venerableness, ascertained reality, enduring energy and virtue. In that sense we must never give up what is old. Whatever is effete, exhausted, evidently done, you may shake off into forgetfulness, because however good it once was, it has served its time, and the age longs for some new inspiration, and clearer, broader, direction and guidance.
First of all, Joshua comes before us as a man with great official antecedents. He does not succeed a little man: he begins what, from the human point of view, is a rivalry that will strain his energy and test his quality. Men cannot go from a leader like Moses and follow some inferior personage, as if he filled up all the space and represented what was necessary to satisfy the heart’s hunger. This web cannot be continued, as to the weaving of it, by an apprenticed and unskilled hand. Our call is precisely the same.
Every age succeeds an age marked by greatness peculiarly its own. We are born now into a grand civilisation; it admits of no indolence, or reluctance as to work, and it cannot be satisfied by what is petty, perfunctory, and inexpensive as to the strength which is laid out upon it History brings its responsibilities. To be born immediately after such and such leaders have played their part in the world’s theatre is itself to have a cross of no mean weight laid upon the shoulder. We may close our eyes and think nothing about these things, but we do not thereby make them the less realities, nor do we thereby destroy the standard of judgment which they force upon us and by which our life will be tested. To close the eyes is to play a foolish part Every man should say, Whom do I succeed? Whose are these footprints near the place whereon I stand? Has a giant been here a great leader, a noble sufferer, a patient student, a father great in love, a mother greater still? then my responsibility begins with their greatness and goodness; what I have to do the soliloquist should say is to go on: where they have been great, I must try to be greater still, or if not along their line, along some line of my own, so that the ages may not stagger backwards but with steadiness and majesty of strength advance from one degree to another as the light increases to the perfect day. Thus we honour our ancestors; thus we bury Moses not in the grave of forgetfulness, but by turning his strength, wisdom, patience, foresight, and energy into elements which contribute to the sustenance and ennobling of our manhood. Now it has come to pass that every man is in a great historical succession. That succession may not localise itself in his particular family, but we do not live within the four corners of a measurable house: we are citizens of the world; whatever was done in the past was done for our sakes, upon whom the end of time has come for every age has an end of time to itself: every age must look for the Lord and say He will be here present at midnight at the crowing of the cock, ere the dawn has time to whiten the east and purple the mist-shrouded hills. Be ready! watch! Let those who have wives be as if they had none; let those who have fields ready for reaping be as if they had none; his chariot-wheels are sounding: he will be here today to-morrow: in that expectation we should live! It is in vain to say it is not realised in what we call localisation, or narrow fact: he comes when he moves our heart to an expectation of his coming; he descends upon us when he so ennobles our prayer as to make us feel more in heaven than on earth. So we have a great past; and that great past creates a solemn present, and forecasts a brilliant future, and clothes all life with responsibility and honour. So far, there is nothing old in the story of the soldier-prophet: he followed a great man; we follow men also great
In the next place, we find Joshua as a man with a definite purpose, a purpose which Moses could not have carried out. One man completes the work of another. Moses was a legislator: Joshua was a soldier, in every line of his story the soldier is evident. How he listens; how acute his attention; look at him he is all ear! Nothing can miss the observation of a man who looks like that when a voice from heaven speaks to him. He asks no questions, raises no difficulties; he receives hi marching-orders, and rises. The soldier is born in the man-not the petty fighter, not the pugnacious aggressor and self-promoter, but the valiant man, the heroic man, the man who sees only the purpose and hears only the command, who has no ear for objection, but a great capacity for inspiration. This is the secret of strength. Joshua did not attempt a hundred things: he concentrated his strength, for he had for the time being only one thing to do. What is there old in this state of affairs? Nothing that need awaken our contempt, or content us in our disregard. Why do not men succeed today? Often because they have no purpose, and not seldom because they have more purposes than one. To have a hundred purposes may be to have no purpose at all. Some men run away in multiplicity of vocation: they diffuse themselves, and by unwise attenuation their strength is gone, and when they strike they miss the object of their blow or smite it with a feeble hand. Every man should ask himself, what is my purpose in life? What have I to do? Am I prophet or soldier or minstrel? Am I commander or servant? Is it mine to create new heavens and a new earth, or mine to be diligent in heaven’s light and make some corner of the earth greener and happier than it was before? That question may be put by every one, by the simplest and obscurest. Blessed is that servant who is found waiting, watching, doing the work of the moment, and satisfied with it because it is preparing him for some larger duty yet to be disclosed. How criminal it is to fritter away strength; how often we hear the moan of old age to the effect: Had I but pursued one definite line for the last twenty years, had I but been constant to the thing I could do, without making experiments in things I could not do, how different would have been my lot today; but I was here and there and yonder; I ran with the crowd, I scattered my power, and today I have nothing to show; I have been a truant, a runner after bubbles that gleamed in the air and which, had I caught them, would have fallen to nothingness in my grasp. Why not learn from that moan? Why not vow to be some one thing, to pursue that one thing steadily? And why not vow especially to keep within the line of your obvious talent? along that line you will find honour and restfulness and gladness of heart: it is enough for you. Few are the men that can take up more lines than one. He who is faithful in the least shall be promoted to rulership, and shall be surprised that steady regard for one object in life has secretly and unconsciously prepared the industrious servant for the rulership of five cities, or ten. Power grows, capacity enlarges; thou knowest not how.
In the third place, Joshua comes before us as a man with a divine qualification. God “spake” to him. God promises not to “fail” him: “As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee nor forsake thee” ( Jos 1:5 ). What did God want in return? Cheerfulness: “Be strong and of a good courage…. Only be thou strong and very courageous… turn not… to the right hand or to the left,” be strong and of a good heart. So Joshua did not go to war at his own charges. Is there anything old and outworn in that happy reflection? Inspiration cannot cease until the Holy Ghost expires. It is the very function of the Holy Ghost to inspire; without that function he has, so to say, no mission amongst men; the very fact of his being the Spirit of God invests him with the continual prerogative to inspire and qualify his Church. We may all be divinely qualified; and unless we are so qualified our work ends in a cloud blown away by the veering wind. “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not.” “If ye being evil” broken-minded, dim of eye, and feeble altogether “know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more ” what a challenge to the contemplation and measurement of magnitude! “how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give the Holy Spirit unto them that ask him.” “Ye have not because ye ask not, or because ye ask amiss.” There is nothing that a man can do of his own strength. Inspiration must not be confined to what is too narrowly called the Church. No man can go forth to his labour to do it with real skill and with pureness of motive without being divinely qualified. He who handles the graving-tool handles it with fingers God made, and uses metal which God created in the earth. We must not have a Church God, a Sabbath deity, an altar available only one day in the week: we must live and move and have our being in God. The Lord inspires the letter-writer, the reader, the father, the merchant, the poorest labourer in the poorest sphere. Are the insects not regarded? Does a worm move in the mould apart from the eternal throne? “The earth is the Lord’s, and the “fulness thereof;” and if any man has arisen to mark off the world into “sacred” and “secular,” “religious” and “profane,” he has not studied geography in God’s sanctuary. Let us, then, seek divine qualification that we may do our poorest work well and treat our one talent as if it were a thousand, for if the talents be few in number they determine the consequent responsibility, only “be strong and of a good courage;” “only be thou strong” we read again “and very courageous,” rise to the work, take pleasure in it; if you do the work as an addition to something else of a different quality, what wonder if it be a joyless task and if the reluctant heart has only one prayer prayer for eventide and release from toil? The Church is lacking in courage: she allows every one who pleases to arise and insult her; she soon loses heart; she says The enemy is too strong for me: I will keep within doors. So saying, what has she lost? A comprehensive and just sense of her mission; she has lost God!
What does all this issue in but in divinely-promised and divinely-guaranteed success. “Thou shalt make thy way prosperous…. Thou shalt have good success…. Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed.”… “Only be thou strong and very courageous.” Let the youngest student hear this word and obey it Take heart again. If you are weary tor the moment, rest awhile. Do not abandon the study: tomorrow you will come to it with a conqueror’s heart; the pages will almost turn over of themselves, and he who wrote the difficult lines will annotate them and turn them into gracious simplicity, “only be thou strong and very courageous.” The meaning is that you may rest, sit down awhile, recover strength: but whilst expending your energy you need not surrender your courage. Hope wins; gladness conquers; confidence in God beats down the mountains and lifts up the places that are below the valley. These are the guarantees of success. The issue will be good. Virtue, it is proverbially known, is its own reward. There is a mystery about this which the heart knows full well. Being busy in the right way, how the time flies! There is no time to the truly-inspired worker; he has but one complaint which he translates in some such words as How short the day is! It is no sooner dawn than it is evening! How have the hours flown away! What is the voice of the sluggard in regard to this same matter of time? a voice of complaint: the hours are leaden-footed: they will not move, they are a burden; and the heart dies for want of what is called excitement. True work brings its own heaven with it. The true toiler lifts up his head from his task, saying I began it in God’s strength, I have carried it on in divine energy, and I am only sorry that I cannot do more of it and do it better, God permit that tomorrow may be as this day and more abundant. Christian workers all bear this testimony; there is no break or flaw in the massive and noble witness. All history testifies that to serve God is already to enter into rest.
Whilst Joshua comes before us so, there is an aspect or two in which the divine Being presents himself worthy of our notice. He comes before us in this record as removing men. He said unto Moses Your work is done. It is for him to say when the tale has been completed. Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? Is there not a dial by which the shadow makes known to men when the evening approacheth? We are all immortal until our work is done. Do not fret yourselves about the latter end, let it come in God’s time. To die now in the fulness of your strength and hope would be indeed a species of murder, but you will be led gently down the easy slope, step by step, little by little, until you say, “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace; I have a desire to depart and to be with Christ; I want to sleep, I long to see the upper world.” Do not be in bondage all your lifetime through fear of death. When death does come to the true Christian worker and waiter, it will come as a veiled angel; and when you are shut up together in the chamber you will have sweet converse and call the interview the beginning of heaven.
God comes before us as explaining his own method towards man. Canaan was promised as a gift, and now it must be fought for! Long ago we heard that this land was to be presented, and now as the history evolves we find that it is to be conquered! This is the divine method in all things. “I will give thee,” is the one word; “rise and do battle,” is the completing word. We value what we labour for; we treat with contemptuous disregard that which costs us nothing. We enter into rest by the gate of labour. We enjoy Canaan because we have toiled after a divine manner for it. So with heaven: it will come as a kind of reward for industry and labour, faith and love, prayer and patience. “Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things.” It will seem as if the Lord had permitted us to fight our way to heaven and to have won it by dint of valour. Nor do we claim any merit herein, or look upon heaven as a prize for superior strength. It pleases the Lord to accommodate himself to our modes of expression: so we shall have as a reward what we could not have obtained as the result of labour: our faith will be credited with the miracles which were wrought solely by divine grace; rulership will be given as a prize when it never could have been won as a reward. We need have no fear of corrupting the mind upon these questions, and so bedimming our vision as to lose full, clear sight of the divine glory. What we have to remember is this: God is king; God is the source of inspiration; God calls whom he will to such and such offices: the distribution of honour and place is with God, but he called all Israel to the land, to its possession and enjoyment; they were not all equal to Moses, they were not all equal to Joshua, they were not all commanders and mighty men, but the wise wife and the little ones and the whole host were all regarded by the divine love. So it is in the greater scheme of things divine which we call Providence, or by the nobler name of Redemption. We are not all called to bear the mantle of Elijah, or to play upon the harp of David, or to sing in the lofty strains of Isaiah, or to see the mystic symbolism of Ezekiel; we cannot argue like Paul, or love like John, or pray like Peter. Some are called to high places and to great honour, and are clothed with responsibility as with a garment, but, blessed be God, whilst there can be but few leaders, few commanders, few prophets and poets and legislators, the great call of God is to every man under heaven: “He that believeth shall be saved;” “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest;” “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.” So, whilst we speak of sovereignty and appointment, and distribution of place and honour, we are not speaking of the great matter of human salvation, for the Gospel is to be sounded unto all nations and kindreds and peoples and tongues. Wherever the Gospel is preached it is to signify love, welcome, offered pardon, offered heaven. For such a Gospel praise be to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost.
Selected Note
All the after life of Joshua is the carrying out with a remarkable simplicity of unquestioning faith this first charge of his God. His obedience is immediate…. At once he assumes in all its breadth the office so committed to his hands, and as God’s vicegerent “commands the officers of the people” ( Jos 1:10 ).
The first command was one which showed his great faith, and tested strongly the obedience of the people. The river Jordan lay between the camp and the land of their promised inheritance, and it must be passed over by them at the very outset of their march. But how could this be accomplished? Even if it were possible, with difficulty and risk, to transport over it a chosen handful of warriors, how could he possibly carry over the mixed multitude the women and the children, and the flocks and the herds? Even over the fords of Jordan, under the most favourable circumstances of the river, this would have been almost impossible; and at this season of the year, when, from the melting of the snow upon the highlands, Jordan war greatly flooded (for Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest), it was more than ever impossible ( Jos 3:15 ). Yet down to these threatening floods, on the hopeless errand of passing over them, all the people are ordered to inarch. Surely, it must have been a sore strain upon the simple faith of the young commander to issue such an order. But his faith was strong, and he commanded, and was obeyed.
Samuel Wilberforce, D.D
Prayer
Thy word is exceedingly comfortable to our souls, thou Father of spirits, thou God of eternity! We know thy words are good and full of power: they fill the necessity of our heart to overflow, yea, even to abundance, as of fulness upon fulness, until there is not room enough to receive thy gift. Thou dost speak from the sanctuary of eternity, and thy words come with all the infinite power of thy majesty; yet are they gentle, gracious, like the soft rain upon the tender herb: they come from a great height, but thou dost cause them to fall without burdensomeness, and they refresh and cheer and satisfy us as no other words have done. We bless thee for any measure of constancy in thy kingdom which we have been enabled to realise and to manifest There have been many who have said, Turn to the right-hand; and others have said, Turn to the lefthand; but because thou hast been with us, an abiding inspiration and a daily light, we find ourselves still in the sanctuary, standing upon the rock, clinging to the blessed Cross, looking to the Son of God for redemption and all the mystery of pardon. This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes. We would have no other delight; all other joys would we know in this lofty passion to love the Saviour, to know him more intelligently, and to serve him with a profounder obedience. Thou wilt not decline our prayer, or cause a cloud to come between thy throne and this poor earth: when we so cry we know that we have the answer even whilst we are breathing the prayer: for this is the will of God, even our perfectness, the completeness of our manhood, the subjugation of our will to right and truth and love. So we know that we have thy reply, may we know it still more confidently, and rejoice in deepening peace, and in ever-increasing strength, and in continual delight which makes the heart young and the hand strong. As for our sin, take it up in thy mighty power and love, and bury it where no man can find it, and thou thyself forget where the burden has been laid. Amen.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
XX
THE MIRACULOUS PASSAGE OF THE JORDAN AND EVENTS AT GILGAL
Jos 1:10-5:15
This section commences at Jos 1:10 and extends to Jos 5 . We will make more rapid progress in the book, having gotten through with the preliminaries. The theme is, miraculous passage of the Jordan and the marvelous events that occurred at Gilgal after they passed the Jordan.
1. Analyze Joshua’s commandment to the people.
Ana. (1) He commanded them to get ready to cross the Jordan in three days.
(2) He commanded that the armed men of the two tribes located east of the Jordan, the Reubenites, Gadites and the rest of the tribes help to conquer the lands on the east side.
2. What word is repeatedly stressed by Joshua in this command to the two and a half tribes? What use previously made of this word by Moses and will be made of it by the writers of both Old and New Testaments?
Ans. The word “rest.” We find that Moses uses that word in Deu 25:19 ; Deu 25:19 th verse where he says, “When you have been established in Canaan and God has given you rest.” We find the same word employed in Psa 95 , where there is a reference to those who did not enter into the rest because of their disobedience. They died by the wayside. And in Heb 3:7 ; Heb 4:13 , there is a continuous discussion of that “rest” as applied to Joshua the type of Jesus Christ. It will be very interesting for you to study that in Hebrews particularly, because in it lies the cream of the discussion of the New Testament sabbath.
3. What condition was prescribed by Moses in allotting territory east of the Jordan to the two and a half tribes, and what solemn promises had they made?
Ans. If you will turn to Num 32:20-24 , you will find that Moses, when these people asked to have the east part as their part, told them that the only condition upon which it would be granted was that when the Jordan was crossed they should send these tribes and help to conquer the other land, and they made a solemn promise to Moses that when the time came they would do that very thing
4. How did they respond to that promise, and what the later evidence of a fair fulfilment of it?
Ans. You learn from your lesson Jos 1:16-18 , that they readily recalled what they had promised to Moses and promptly announced their Willingness to do what they said they would do. If you turn to Jos 22:1-8 , you will find that at the end of the conquest Joshua gives them a receipt in full of having kept their promise to the letter.
5. How long were they thus away from their own homes, wives and children and property, that is, the men of the Reubenites, Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, and what comment do you make on this fidelity?
Ans. Generally, I will say that they were away from their wives and children and property seven years. And the comment is that there is no parallel to this in the history of the world. All the able-bodied men leaving their homes, wives and children and property and going away armed to engage in a terrible war that was to be prosecuted west of the river, fulfilling their engagement to the letter before they ever go back and enjoy their rest as the other tribes were now prepared to do.
6. What event preceded the passage of the Jordan, and what the salient points of the story? Ans. This event was the sending out of the two spies by Joshua to find out the condition of the country and report back to Joshua. The salient points of the story are: (1) When these two men went into Jericho they were received at this lodging-house of a harlot. Why? Probably if they had gone to one of the regular inns or caravansaries they would have been apprehended by the officers of the king. But the true reason was that this woman, because she believed in Jehovah, invited them to come to her house. (2) What the evidences of her faith? These evidences are as follows:
(a) What she did. She received, lodged, sheltered, and protected the messengers of God’s people because they were God’s people. That was her motive, illustrating the words of our Lord in his address to his apostles, “When I send you into the city, you go to a house, and if there be a son of peace in that house, let your peace rest on that house” (Mat 10 ). And where he further says, “Whosoever receiveth you receiveth me, and whosoever receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward.” Now, this woman did so receive these people.
(b) What she said. Read exactly what she said, Jos 2:8-11 : “And before they were laid down she came up unto them upon the roof; and she said unto the men, I know that the Lord hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you, when you came out of Egypt; and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites, that were on the other side of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed. And as soon as we heard these things our hearts did melt because of you; ‘for the Lord your God he is in heaven above and in earth beneath.” Now, that is what she said. Then notice further (c) what she did as an evidence of her faith.
She asked that as she had sheltered them as messengers of God’s people, when they came to take possession of Jericho, they would exempt her and her family from the doom that would fall upon the city. And they gave her a duty to perform as a token. First, that she would bring her kindred into her house and stay there. The walls of Jericho would fall in the other parts of the city but not in that part. Second, that she was to hang a scarlet cord out of the window through which she had let down the spies to enable them to escape over the wall. The binding of the scarlet thread in the window was the token.
(d) The fourth evidence is found in Heb 11:31 , and Jas 2:25 . Another salient point in connection with the story of the spies is that this woman married an Israelite and became an ancestress of Boaz, David, and our Lord. We read about that when we come to Ruth and when we read the genealogy in the New Testament. The next incident is the great sermon preached by Spurgeon on the text, “And she bound the scarlet thread in the window.” He puts a good deal of stress on the “scarlet” as referring to the blood of salvation. The last point is, the spies returned and reported to Joshua that their enemies were panic stricken.
7. What the arrangement or program of crossing the Jordan?
Ans. (1) They must sanctify themselves. That means that they were to perform the ablutions that are required in that kind of setting apart to the service of God, and offer the sacrifice
(2) That the ark must precede the marching by a sabbath day’s journey, 2,000 cubits.
(3) That God himself would that day magnify Joshua in the eyes of the people as he had magnified Moses at the passage of the Red Sea.
(4) That God’s presence would be manifested in marvelous power.
(5) The cutting off of the waters of the Jordan, not dividing them as the Red Sea was divided, but cutting them off.
(6) That Israel should pass over safely.
(7) That a memorial should be erected of that passage.
8. Describe the execution of this program and the effect on their enemies, Jos 5:1 .
Ans. It is of thrilling interest that just as at the passage of the Red Sea they were to stand still and see the power of the Lord, so here. That was something which God would do, not they themselves. Just as soon as the priests, carrying the ark (a sabbath day’s journey), touched the edge of the swollen waters of the Jordan, that very moment, as if a knife had been let down from heaven, the Jordan was cut in two, and all the waters below flowed on to the Dead Sea and all the waters coming down from above, that mighty rush of the “Descender,” were stayed there and massed up and the backwater extended for over thirty miles. By the breath of the Almighty, that turbulent tide in the day of its flood, flowing over that down grade, stopped right there, damned up, not by a wall, but by the Word of God, and there stood the priests in silence, carrying the ark of God. As soon as the way was open, the priests standing still, the whole of that mighty host of 3,000,000 people with all of their animals and goods passed over that empty bed of the river.
Joshua commanded one representative of each tribe to take a rock out of the bed of the river and right where the priests had been standing in the bed of the river, each one of the men should take a rock on his shoulder, and they should carry those stones, and they did just that way. Here came twelve representatives and took up twelve huge rocks and carried them ahead of the column and never put them down until they got to the place where they were going to lodge, and there those stones were placed together as an everlasting memorial of that deliverance. The effect upon the enemy was that it intensified their panic. God said that those Canaanite inhabitants should know that he was God and the story of that divine presence and the display of his power is circled around the world through all the succeeding ages.
9. How do you reconcile Jos 4:9 , with Jos 4:20 ?
Ans. Jos 4:9 , says that Joshua took stones and set up a column right where the priests had stood in the bed of the river, and Jos 4:20 , says that they took the stones across the river and a memorial was erected at the place where they stopped. There are only two ways of reconciling those two statements. One is that the pillar that was erected by Joshua where the priests stood was done not by the command of God, but appropriately done to mark the spot where the priests stood. It is not said that they used the twelve memorial stones carried by the representatives of the tribes, to build that structure. A good many commentaries say there were two monuments erected, one in the bed of the river and another in the camp where they remained a long while, even years. Now, that is one explanation and the more probable one. Another explanation is, that in reading Jos 4:9 , you read it this way, “and Joshua set up the twelve stones taken from the midst of the Jordan where the feet of the priests had stood who bare the Ark of the Covenant.” That is a simple statement of what is going to be more elaborately stated in Jos 4:20 and provides for only one monument The first is a brief statement and the second a more elaborate statement. I will leave you to wrestle with the apparent contradiction.
10. What evidences in the later prophets that Israel misused this memorial of Gilgal by making it a place of idolatry? Give a similar case.
Ans. (1) You will find in Hos 4:15 ; Hos 9:15 , and Amo 4:4-5 .
(2) The similar case was the case of the brazen serpent. The brazen serpent that had been lifted up in the wilderness was kept as a memorial, but in Hezekiah’s time the people began to burn incense to it and Hezekiah broke it to pieces, saying, “Nehushtan,” it is only a piece of brass.
11. What the educational uses of this memorial and what similar use of a preceding memorial?
Ans. This section tells us in Jos 4:21-24 , that when the children asked, “Why do you bring these rocks from the river? Why do you set them up here?” they should diligently teach their children that it commemorated the great power of God in cutting off the waters of the Jordan, that his people might pass over in safety. What similar use of a preceding memorial? You will find it in Exo 12:26-27 . They were to eat the first Passover standing with their loins girt about them. Now, after that in their later history the first thing little children will say, “This is a strange dinner, being bitter herbs, roasted lambs, and eating it standing.” Then you may say to your children, “This is the Lord’s Passover.” I think these two incidents about the educational use of the memorials contains a very fine lesson showing the duty of parents whenever a child asks, “Why these monuments?” The first time I ever noticed the Fourth of July, I asked, “Why, what does this mean?” A child naturally asks “why” about Christmas. And a stranger looking at Bunker Hill Monument will ask, “Why this monument?” In Austin, near the Capitol, there is a monument that commemorates the Alamo. On the battlefield of San Jacinto is one, and on my pocketbook is inscribed what is written on the sides of that monument.
12. What the name of the place where the memorial was erected, its location, and how long did that place remain headquarters of the nation?
Ans. The place derived its name from an event that took place there, viz.: circumcision. Gilgal was in the upper part of Judea and not a great way, only a few miles, from Jericho, and for years the Ark rested there, and it was the place of assembly for the nation. It remained until we come to Jos 18 ; there, after the conquest, Shiloh is selected as the headquarters until the ark was captured by the Philistines. Later that ark was brought to Jerusalem, as their headquarters throughout the rest of their history.
13. What great events happened in that first camp?
Ans. (1) The males of the younger generation were circumcised. They had not circumcised any children during the thirty-eight years of wanderings. The old generation had passed away and everybody born in the thirty-eight years, of course, was uncircumcised. Now at that place they were circumcised.
(2) The second great event that took place was that their manna ceased. For forty years that manna had been coming down from heaven) but now they were eating of the new harvest of the Promised Land, and the temporary provision for their food ceased when it was no longer necessary; the cessation of the manna which was a standing miracle for forty years.
(3) The third great event was that there they kept the Passover. No Passover had been kept since they left Mount Sinai.
(4) The most important event that happened there was the appearance to Joshua of a pre-manifestation of Christ, a man with a drawn sword, the captain of the hosts of the Lord. In other words, Joshua, the type, meets face to face, in pre-manifestation, Christ, the antitype.
14. In the meantime what the state of Jericho, and why was the enemy idle while Joshua was remaining so long at Gilgal?
Ans. See Jos 5:11 ; Jos 6:1 . We learn from these passages of scripture, why. The first says the people of Jericho were under an awful fear of the people whose God could open that river, and the second reason is that they had shut their gates; that Jericho was sealed up because the Israelites were lying so near.
15. Describe and explain the meeting of Joshua, the type, with the pre-manifestation of Christ, the antitype.
Ans. Now, that explanation is given in Jos 5:13-15 . Joshua going his rounds meets a man standing with a drawn sword, who approached him and said, “Are you for us or against us?” The man said, “I am the captain of the host of Jehovah.” Later it says the Lord spoke to Joshua, but it means Jehovah. The object of the meeting of the captain on earth with the captain in heaven was to arrange the program for the capture of Jericho. As for the things that would follow that in overcoming the enemy, the people were to do nothing active. Jericho was to be taken by the Almighty and everything in it was devoted, put under ban, consecrated to Jehovah; the inhabitants to die, the property to go to the service of the sanctuary. This is he who later becomes captain of our salvation, who is known in the New Testament as the rider of the white horse, going forth, having written on his thigh, “King of kings and Lord of lords.” This pre-manifestation of Christ outlines Joshua’s campaign, establishes them, God opening the way.
16. Now here is a question. It says, Jos 5:9 , “This day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you.” Now, what was this rolling away of the reproach of Egypt?
Ans. “The reproach of Egypt” was the charge they made that Jehovah Was not able to deliver Israel into the Promised Land. Now, since he has delivered them, he has “rolled away the reproach of Egypt” from off them. (Exo 32:12 ; Num 14:13-16 ; Deu 9:28 ).
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
Jos 1:10 Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying,
Ver. 10. Then Joshua. ] After the spies were returned. Jos 2:23
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED TEXT): Jos 1:10-11
10Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, 11Pass through the midst of the camp and command the people, saying, ‘Prepare provisions for yourselves, for within three days you are to cross this Jordan, to go in to possess the land which the LORD your God is giving you, to possess it.’
Jos 1:10 the officers of the people These were official scribes or military officers (BDB 1009, cf. Jos 23:2; Jos 24:1). They are mentioned as helpers of the elders in Num 11:16. They were Joshua’s way of communicating to the large number of Israelites.
Jos 1:11 This verse has three IMPERATIVES, two to the officers and one through them to the people:
1. the officers
a. pass through the camp, BDB 716, KB 778, Qal IMPERATIVE
b. command the people, BDB 845, KB 1010, Piel IMPERATIVE
2. the people: prepare provisions, BDB 465, KB 464, Hiphil IMPERATIVE
prepare provisions for yourselves This refers to food (cf. Jos 9:11; Gen 42:25; Gen 45:21; Exo 12:39; Jdg 7:8; Jdg 20:10; 1Sa 22:10).
three days This seems to be the period required for ritual purification (cf. Exo 19:10-11) as well as time for preparation of food and for travel. It referred to the remainder of the day on which it was spoken and all of the next day and part of the succeeding day (cf. Jos 3:2).
to go in to possess. . .to possess it There are three Qal INFINITIVE CONSTRUCTS:
1. go in, BDB 97, KB 112
2. possess, BDB 439, KB 441
3. possess, BDB 439, KB 441
The VERB possess is used of the Promised Land several times:
1. Leviticus , 3 times
2. Numbers , 14 times
3. Deuteronomy, 71 times
4. Joshua, 27 times
5. Judges, 25 times
The immediate focus of the Abrahamic covenant for Israel was the land of promise! Gen 15:12-21 is about to become a reality!
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Provisioned and United for Conquest
Jos 1:10-18
It was enough that God had spoken and promised. Nothing more was necessary. Joshua took immediate steps, dictated by sanctified common-sense, to prepare the people for the great step in advance to which God was calling them. We are not to throw away prudent foresight when we go forth on Gods errands. Faith does not supersede precaution and preparation, where these are possible; although she does not rely on them, but on the living God.
When Joshua addressed the two tribes and a half, there was no faltering in his tone. He was absolutely certain that God would fulfill His promise, Jos 1:15. This inspired the people with similar courage. It was very helpful to have the reassurance of those who were least likely to be enthusiastic, since the campaign must sever them from their families. God often speaks to us through the lips of others. Can we utter Jos 1:16 to our Lord?
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
the officers of the people: The shoterim, or officers, were different from the shophetim, who were the judges among the people. The shoterim have been supposed to be subordinate officers, whose business it was to see the decisions of the shophetim carried into effect. Calmet conjectures, that the shoterim here may have been the heralds of the army. Jos 1:10
Reciprocal: Jos 3:2 – three days
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Faith from an Unlikely Place
Jos 1:10-18 ; Jos 2:1-21
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
Jos 1:10-11. The officers of the people Those who commanded under Joshua, in their respective tribes and families, attended him for orders, which they were to transmit to the people. Prepare you victuals For although manna was given them to supply their want of ordinary provisions in the wilderness; yet they were allowed, when they had opportunity, to purchase other provisions, and did so, Deu 2:6; Deu 2:28. And now, having been some time in the land of the Amorites, and, together with manna, used themselves to other food, with which that country plentifully supplied them, they are warned to furnish themselves therewith for their approaching march. Within three days These words, though placed here, seem not to have been delivered by Joshua till after the return of the spies, such transpositions being frequent in Scripture. And hence it is, that these three days, mentioned here, are again repeated below, after the history of the spies, Jos 3:2.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2. Joshua’s charge to Israel 1:10-18
Having received his marching orders from Yahweh, Joshua prepared to mobilize the nation.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Joshua expected to be able to cross the Jordan within three days.
"The Jordan River wanders about two hundred miles to cover the sixty-five mile distance from the Lake of Galilee to the Dead Sea, dropping an additional six hundred feet below sea level as it goes." [Note: Trent C. Butler, Joshua, p. 17. Cf. The New Bible Dictionary, 1962 ed., s.v. "Jordan," by J. M. Houston.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
CHAPTER VI.
JOSHUA’S CHARGE TO THE PEOPLE.
Jos 1:10-18.
GOD has spoken to Joshua; it is now Joshua’s part to speak to the people. The crossing of the Jordan must be set about at once, and in earnest, and all the risks and responsibilities involved in that step firmly and fearlessly encountered.
And in the steps taken by Joshua for this purpose we see, what we so often see, how the natural must be exhausted before the supernatural is brought in. Thus, in communicating with the people through the shoterim, or officers, the first order which he gives is to “command the people to prepare them victuals.” “Victuals ” denotes the natural products of the country, and is evidently used in opposition to ”manna.” In another passage we read that ”the manna ceased on the very morning after they had eaten of the old corn of the land ” (Jos 5:12). This may have been a considerable time before, for the conquest of Sihon and Og would give the people possession of ample stores of food out of the old corn of the land. The manna was a provision for the desert only, where few or no natural supplies of food could be found. But the very day when natural stores become available, the manna is discontinued. One cannot but contrast the carefully limited use of the supernatural in Scripture with its arbitrary and unstinted employment in mythical or fictional writings. Often in such cases it is brought in with a wanton profusion, simply to excite wonder, sometimes to gratify the love of the grotesque, not because natural means could not have accomplished what was sought, but through sheer love of revelling in the supernatural. In Scripture the natural is never superseded when it is capable of either helping or accomplishing the end. The east wind helps to dry the Red Sea, although the rod of Moses has to be stretched out for the completion of the work. The angel of God knocks Peter’s chains from his limbs and opens the prison gates for him, but leaves him to find his way thereafter as best he can. So now. It is now in the power of the people to prepare them victuals, and though God might easily feed them as He has fed them miraculously for forty years, He leaves them to find food for themselves. In all cases the co-operation of the Divine and the human is carried out with an instructive combination of generosity and economy; man is never to be idle; alike in the affairs of the temporal and the spiritual life, the Divine energy always stimulates to activity, never lulls to sleep.
A little explanation is needed respecting the time when Joshua said the Jordan must be crossed – ” within three days.” If the narrative of the first two chapters be taken in chronological order, more than three days must have elapsed between the issuing of this order and the crossing of the river, because it is expressly stated that the two spies who were sent to examine Jericho hid themselves for three days in the mountains, and thereafter recrossed the Jordan and returned to Joshua (Jos 2:22). But it is quite in accordance with the practice of Scripture narrative to introduce an episode out of its chronological place so that it may not break up the main record. It is now generally held that the spies were sent off before Joshua issued this order to the people, because it is not likely that he would have committed himself to a particular day before he got the information which he expected the spies to bring. In any case, it is plain that no needless delay was allowed. Half a week more and Jordan would be crossed, although the means of crossing it had not yet been made apparent; and then the people would be actually in their own inheritance, within the very country which in the dim ages of the past had been promised to their fathers.
Yes, the people generally; but already an arrangement had been made for the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh on the east side of the river. How, then, were they to act in the present crisis? That had been determined between them and Moses when they got leave to occupy the lands of Sihon and Og, on account of their suitableness for their abundant flocks and herds. It had been arranged then that, leaving their cattle and their children, a portion of the men likewise, the rest would cross the river with their brethren and take their share of the toils and risks of the conquest of Western Canaan. All that Joshua needs to do now is to remind them of this arrangement. Happily there was no reluctance on their part to fulfil it. There was no going back from their word, even though they might have found a loophole of escape. They might have said that as the conquest of Sihon and Og had been accomplished so easily, so the conquest of the western tribes would be equally simple. Or they might have said that the nine tribes and a half could furnish quite a large enough army to dispossess the Canaanites. Or they might have discovered that their wives and children were exposed to dangers they had not apprehended, and that it would be necessary for the entire body of the men to remain and protect them. But they fell back on no such after thought. They kept their word at no small cost of toil and danger, and furnished thereby a perpetual lesson for those who, having made a promise under pressure, are tempted to resile from it when the pressure is removed. Fidelity to engagements is a noble quality, just as laxity in regard to them is a miserable sin. Even Pagan Rome could boast of a Regulus who kept his oath by returning to Carthage, though it was to encounter a miserable death. In the fifteenth psalm it is a feature in the portrait of the man who is to abide in God’s tabernacle and dwell in His holy hill, that he “sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.”
One arrangement was made by these transjordanic tribes that was perfectly reasonable – a portion of the men remained to guard their families and their property. The number that passed over was forty thousand (Jos 4:13), whereas the entire number of men capable of bearing arms (dividing Manasseh into two) was a hundred and ten thousand (Num 26:7; Num 26:18; Num 26:34). But the contingent actually sent was amply sufficient to redeem the promise, and, consisting probably of picked men, was no doubt a very efficient portion of the force. The actual fighting force of the other tribes would probably be in the same proportion to the whole; and there, too, a section would have to be left to guard the women, children, and flocks, so that in point of fact the labours and dangers of the conquest were about equally divided between all the tribes.
Here, then, was an edifying spectacle: those who had been first provided for did not forget those who had not yet obtained any settlement; but held themselves bound to assist their brethren until they should be as comfortably settled as themselves.
It was a grand testimony against selfishness, a grand assertion of brotherhood, a beautiful manifestation of loyalty and public spirit; and, we may add, an instructive exhibition of the working of the method by which God’s providence seeks to provide for the dissemination of many blessings among the children of men. It was an act of socialism, without the drawbacks which most forms of socialism involve.
God has allowed many differences in the lots of mankind, bestowing on some ample means, for which they toiled not neither did they spin; bestowing, often on the same individuals, a higher position in life, with corresponding social influence; setting some nations in the van of the world’s march, bestowing on some churches very special advantages and means of influence; and it is a great question that arises – what obligations rest on these favoured individuals and communities? Does God lay any duty on them toward the rest of mankind?
The inquiry in its full scope is too wide for our limits; let us restrict ourselves to the element in respect of which the transjordanic tribes had the advantage of the others – the element of time. What do those who have received their benefits early owe to those who are behind them in time?
The question leads us first to the family constitution, but there is really no question here. The obligations of parents to their children are the obligations of those who have already got their settlement to those who have not; of those who have already got means, and strength, and experience, and wisdom to those who have not yet had time to acquire them. It is only the vilest of our race that refuse to own their obligations here, and this only after their nature has been perverted and demonized by vice. To all others it is an obligation which amply repays itself. The affection between parent and child in every well-ordered house sweetens the toil that often falls so heavily on the elders; while the pleasure of seeing their children filling stations of respectability and usefulness, and the enjoyment of their affection, even after they have gone out into the world, amply repay their past labours, and greatly enrich the joys of life.
We advance to the relation of the rich to the poor, especially of those who are born to riches to those who are born to obscurity and toil. Had the providence of God no purpose in this arrangement? You who come into the world amid luxury and splendour, who have never required to work for a single comfort, who have the means of gratifying expensive tastes, and who grudge no expenditure on the objects of your fancy: – was it meant that you were to sustain no relation of help and sympathy to the poor, especially your neighbours, your tenants, or your workpeople? Do you fulfil the obligations of life when, pouring into your coffers the fruits of other men’s toil, you hurry off to the resorts of wealth and fashion, intent only on your own enjoyment, and without a thought of the toiling multitude you leave at home? Is it right of you to leave deserving people to fall peradventure into starvation and despair, without so much as turning a finger to prevent it? What are you doing for the widows and orphans? Selfish and sinful beings! let these old Hebrews read you a lesson of condemnation!
They could not selfishly enjoy their comfortable homes till they had done their part on behalf of their brethren, for wherever there is a brotherly heart a poor brother’s welfare is as dear as one’s own.
Then there is the case of nations, and pre-eminently of our own. Some races attain to civilization, and order, and good government sooner than others. They have all the benefit of settled institutions and enlightened opinion, of discoveries in the arts and sciences, and of the manifold comforts and blessings with which life is thus enriched, while other nations are sunk in barbarism and convulsed by disorder. But how much more prone are such nations to claim the rights of superiority than to play the part of the elder brother! We are thankful for the great good that has been done in India, and in other countries controlled by the older nations. But even in the case of India, how many have gone there not to benefit the natives, but with the hope of enriching themselves. How ready have many been to indulge their own vices at the cost of the natives, and how little has it pained them to see them becoming the slaves of new vices that have sunk them lower than before. Our Indian opium traffic, and our drink traffic generally among native races – what is their testimony to our brotherly feeling? What are we to think of the white traders among the South Sea islands, stealing and robbing and murdering their feebler fellow-creatures? What are we to think of the traffic in slaves, and the inconceivable brutalities with which it is carried on? Or what are we to think of our traders at home, sending out in almost uncountable profusion the rum, and the gin, and the other drinks by which the poor weak natives are at once enticed, enslaved, and destroyed? Is there any development in selfishness that has ever been heard of more heartless and horrible? Why can’t they let them alone, if they will not try to benefit them? What can come to any man in the end but the well- merited punishment of those who out of sheer greed have made miserable savages tenfold more the children of hell than before?
We pass over the case of the early settlers in colonies, because there is hardly any obligation more generally recognised than that of such settlers to lend a helping hand to new arrivals. We go on to the case of Churches. The light of saving truth has come to some lands before others. We in this country have had our Christianity for centuries, and in these recent years have had so lively a dispensation of the gospel of Christ that many have felt more than ever His power to forgive, to comfort, to lift us up and bless us. Have we no duty to those parts of the earth which are still in the shadow of death? If we are not actually settled in the Promised Land, we are as good as settled, because we have the Divine promise, and we believe in that promise. But what of those who are yet “without Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world”? Have we no responsibility for them? Have we no interest in that Divine plan which seeks to use those who first receive the light as instruments of imparting it to the rest? Infidels object that Christianity cannot be of God, because if Christianity furnishes the only Divine remedy for sin it would have been diffused as widely as the evil for which it is the cure. Our reply is, that God’s plan is to give the light first to some, and to charge them to give it freely and cordially to others. We say, moreover, that this plan is a wholesome one for those who are called to work it, because it draws out and strengthens what is best and noblest in them, and because it tends to form very loving bonds between those who give and those who get the benefit. But what if the first recipients of the light fold their hands, content to have got the blessing themselves, and decline to do their part in sending it to the rest? Surely there is here no ordinary combination of sins! Indolence and selfishness at the root, and, with these, a want of all public spirit and beneficent activity; and, moreover, not mere neglect but contempt of the Divine plan by which God has sought the universal diffusion of the blessing. Again we say, look to these men of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh. They were not the elite of the race of Israel. Their fathers, at least in the case of Reuben and Dan, were not among the more honoured of the sons of Jacob. And yet they had the grace to think of their brethren, when so many among us are utterly careless of ours. And not only to think of them, but to go over the Jordan and fight for them, possibly die for them; nor would they think of returning to the comfort of their homes till they had seen their brethren in the west settled in theirs.
And this readiness of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh to fulfil the engagement under which they had come to Moses, was not the only gratifying occurrence which Joshua met with on announcing the impending crossing of the Jordan. For the whole people declared very cordially their acceptance of Joshua as their leader, vowed to him the most explicit fidelity, declared their purpose to pay him the same honour as they had paid to Moses, and denounced a sentence of death against any one that would not hearken to his words in all that he commanded them.
Joshua, in fact, obtained from them a promise of loyalty beyond what they had ever given to Moses till close on his death. It was the great trial of Moses that the people so habitually complained of him and worried him, embittering his life by ascribing to him even the natural hardships of the wilderness, as well as the troubles that sprang directly from their sins. It is the unwillingness of his people to trust him, after all he has sacrificed for them, that gives such a pathetic interest to the life of Moses, and makes him, more than perhaps any other Old Testament prophet, so striking an example of unrequited affection. After crossing the Red Sea, all the marvels of that deliverance from Pharaoh of which he had been the instrument are swallowed up and forgotten by the little inconveniences of the journey. And afterwards, when they are doomed to the forty years’ wandering, they are ready enough to blame him for it, forgetting how he fell down before God and pled for them when God threatened to destroy them. Moreover, his enactments against the idolatry they loved so well made him anything but popular, to say nothing of the burdensome ceremonial which he enjoined them to observe. The time of real loyalty to Moses was just the little period before his death, when he led them against Sihon and Og, and a great stretch of fertile and beautiful land fell into their hands. Moses had just gained the greatest victory of his life, he had just become master of the hearts of his people, when he was called away. For Moses at last did gain the people’s hearts, and those to whom Joshua appealed could say without irony or sarcasm, ”According as we hearkened unto Moses in all things, so will we hearken unto thee.”
In point of fact a great change had been effected on the people at last. Moses had laboured, and Joshua now entered into his labours. The same thing has often occurred in history, and notably in our own. In civil life how much do we owe to the noble champions of freedom of other days, through whose patriotism, courage, and self-denial the hard fight was fought and the victory won that enables us to sit under our vine and under our fig tree. In ecclesiastical life was it not the blood of the martyrs and the struggles of those of whom the world was not worthy, who wandered in deserts and in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth, that won for us the freedom and the peace in which we now rejoice? What blessings we owe to those that have gone before us! And how can we better discharge our obligations to them than by hastening to the aid of those who have but emerged from the period of struggle and suffering, like the Christians of Madagascar or of Uganda, whose fearful sufferings and awful deaths under the merciless rule of heathen kings made Christendom stand aghast, and drew a wail of anguish from her bosom?
The unanimity of the people in their loyalty to Joshua is a touching sight. So far as appears there was not one discordant note in that harmonious burst of loyalty. No Korah, Dathan, or Abiram rose up to decline his rule and embarrass him in his new position. It is a beautiful sight, the united loyalty of a great nation. Nothing more beautiful has ever been known in the long reign of Queen Victoria than the crowding of her people in hundreds of thousands to witness her procession to St. Paul’s on that morning when she went to return thanks for the rescue of her eldest son from the very jaws of death. Not one discordant note was uttered, not one disloyal feeling was known; the vast multitude were animated by the spirit of sympathy and affection for one who had tried to do her duty as a queen and as a mother. It was a sight not unlike to this that was seen in the streets of New York at the centennial celebration of the inauguration of George Washington as first President of the United States. One was thrilled by the thought that not only the multitude that thronged the streets, but the representatives of the whole nation, gathered in their churches throughout the land, were animated by a common sentiment of gratitude to the man whose wisdom and courage had laid the foundation of all the prosperity and blessing of the last hundred years. Are not such scenes the pattern of that spirit of loyalty which the entire race of man owes to Him who by His blood redeemed the world, and whose rule and influence, if the world would but accept of it, are so beneficent and so blessed? Yet how far are we from such a state! How few are the hearts that throb with true loyalty to the Saviour, and whose most fervent aspiration for the world is, that it would only throw down its weapons of rebellion, and give to him its hearty allegiance! Strange that the Old Testament Joshua should have got at once what eighteen hundred years have failed to bring to the New Testament Jesus! God hasten the day of universal light and universal love, when He shall reign from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth!
“One song employs all nations, and all cry ‘Worthy the Lamb, for He was slain for us’! The dwellers in the vales and on the rocks Shout to each other, and the mountain tops From distant mountains catch the flying joy, Till nation after nation taught the strain Earth rolls the rapturous Hosanna round.”