April 1924
T H E
K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
234
enemy. The day would be too short for the accomplish ment of their purpose and so Joshua uttered the most re markable command ever given, “Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, moon, in the valley of Ajalon.” And here was wrought the marvellous miracle which the infidel professors and teachers mock at and say “We know it was a fake story.” But Isaiah verifies it (Isa. 28:21) “ F or the Lord shall rise up as in Mount Perazim , he shall be w roth as in the valley o f Gibeon, that he m ay do his w o rt, his strange, w o rk ; and b rin g to pass his act, his strange act.” and so does. Habakkuk (3:11) ‘ The sun and moon stood still in their habitation; at the ligh t o f thine arrow s they w ent, and at the shining o f thy glitterin g spear.” Devoted students of God’s Word accept it. Herodotus, the Grecian father of history, quotes records shown him in Egypt which speak of it. Chinese history preserved an indisputable record of a similar event in the reign of Yeo, contemporary with Joshua. So Greeks, Egyptians, Hebrews and Chinese verify it. It does not take a great brajn to deny the authority and power of God and to assure us that such a miracle is im possible, when they find it easy to deny that God could create man in His own image and assert that it took Him millions of years to produce a human being. But it does take childlike faith to believe that “with God all tilings are possible.”' There is boldness in faith. Joshua had no precedent for such a command, but faith needs no precedent. Faith is inventive. Emergencies are opportunities. Necessity is the mother of opportunity. God often tempts faith as He did in this instance.1 Faith knows no difficulties, but ac knowledges God’s might. Thè need of thè church is to stir herself to lay hold of God’s commands and God’s promises and seek to carry out His program. Thè story of the conquest is found in 11:12. (3) THE CONQUERED KINGS, Ch. 12. “Now these are the kings of the land which the children of Israel smote.” v. 1. There were thirty-one in all, and the twelfth chapter gives their names and location. What a comment upon unbelief is the story of these twenty-four verses. Read and meditate upon its meaning. (4) THE CONFINES OF THE LAND, Chs. 13-22. “Now, therefore, divide this land,” 13:7. The task of taking the land was not completed. Joshua is growing old. He must leave something to be finished by someone else. It has been well said that while there is no definite commendation of Joshua in the opening words of the 13th chapter, yet these words can be imagined: “Thou art old; thy life work is done, faithfully and well; now, re view thy path of service; gather up’ the fruits of it; set thy last seal to the truth of my Word of promise, and enter into thy rest.” Prov. 16:31 is true when thè life is well lived. Joshua had done well his part, but much land remained to be possessed. So the church has much to do. The last sinner is yet to be won to Christ before His body is complete. The work day is short for all of us,' but we must remember the charge (John 9:4) “ I m ust w ork the w orks o f him that sent m e while it is day; the night eoineth when no man ean w ork.” The faithful Caleb is not to be forgotten. He had been sent by Moses to spy the land, and, together with Joshua, brought a good report. Moses had sworn that the land upon which Caleb’s feet had trodden should be his. Many years have passed, yet he is strong, and pleads for his promised possession (14:12) “ Now, therefore, give m e - this m ountain, whereof the Lord spake in that day. ****»if so he the Lord w ill he w ith m e, then X shall he able to drive them out, as the Lord said.”
Introduction: In looking at the sixteen chapters which conclude the book of Joshua and in which there are a number of im portant lessons for us,J—we can only take the most signifi cant ones for comment. We suggest to the teachers that the scholars be urged to read the ninth, LESSON tenth, eleventh, twenty-third and twenty- EXPOSITION fourth chapters and that out of those T. C. Horton chapters they seek to select some search ing truths that will help them always as they think of the history of Israel in the Promised Land. (1) THE CRAFT OF THE GIBEONITES AND ITS CON SEQUENCES, Ch. 9 “ ***the inhabitants of Gibeon ***did work wilily,” 9:3, 4. A careful and considerate reading of God’s Word cannot fail to give any one a real insight into human nature. Better than all the schools in the world, without it, is God’s Word as it unfolds to us man in his fallen state, God’s law is truth. Satan’s law is deceit. God has never changed. Neither has Satan. God’s plan is in the open, Satan always works under the surface. Satan is the god of this world. He is a wily worker and never off the job. The kings of Canaan have been aroused. The fall of Jericho, the capture of Ai stirred them to action. No mat ter what their differences, they were laid aside for unity of action now. Just as the Pharisees and Sadducees— enemies of each other^combined against Jesus Christ; and as the Modernists and Unitarians of all classes are now united against both the living and the written Word of God. We are confronted by a strange spectacle: A group of travellers appeared—-evidently from a far country. They bore the marks of a long journey—patched shoes, mouldy bread, weary, hungry, needing compassionate attention. Who are these people? From whence came they? ;• Their message is, “We are your servants. Now make a league with us.” . Israel is off its guafrd. The travellers said, “We have heard of Him and all that He did in Egypt” and “Joshua made peace with them, and made a league with them.” In a few days the truth was out, but it was too late for Israel to change its course. Israel had sworn to protect them. The people are angry at their princes but there is no help. One thing they could do and did do. They made the Gibeonites hewers of wood and drawers of water. The lesson is evident to all. Don’t allow the devil to trap you into entering a league with him and his people. “Come out from among them and be ye separate.” (2) THE CONQUEST OF CANAAN, Chs. 10, 11 “And the Lord said unto Joshua, Fear them not.” 10:8. Adoni-zedec, king of Jerusalem, heard the story of Is rael’s success and feared greatly. So he called on the Kings of Hebron, of Jarmuth, of Lachish and of Eglon to come up and help him, “that we may smite Gibeon” ; and the five kings and their hosts went up and encamped against Gibeon and made war against it. “And the Lord said unto Joshua, Fear them not, for I have delivered them into thy hand. There shall not a man of them stand before thee.” Joshua and his army moved at once and came upon them unexpectedly. Much depended upon the conflict and its influence upon Israel and the Canaanites. Is this not true of the church and the individual Christian? There are con flicts in the Christian life fraught with mighty import,-^, to the individual, to God and to the future. Joshua had the enemy upon the run. They fled toward Beth-horon and God rained stones from heaven upon the
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