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Joshua Chapter
Eight
Joshua 8
Chapter Contents
God encourages Joshua. (1,2) The taking of Ai. (3-22) The
destruction of Ai and its king. (23-29) The law read on Ebal and Gerizim.
(30-35)
Commentary on Joshua 8:1,2
(Read Joshua 8:1,2)
When we have faithfully put away sin, that accursed thing
which separates between us and God, then, and not till then, we may look to
hear from God to our comfort; and God's directing us how to go on in our
Christian work and warfare, is a good evidence of his being reconciled to us.
God encouraged Joshua to proceed. At Ai the spoil was not to be destroyed as at
Jericho, therefore there was no danger of the people's committing such a
trespass. Achan, who caught at forbidden spoil, lost that, and life, and all;
but the rest of the people, who kept themselves from the accursed thing, were
quickly rewarded for their obedience. The way to have the comfort of what God
allows us, is, to keep from what he forbids us. No man shall lose by
self-denial.
Commentary on Joshua 8:3-22
(Read Joshua 8:3-22)
Observe Joshua's conduct and prudence. Those that would
maintain their spiritual conflicts must not love their ease. Probably he went
into the valley alone, to pray to God for a blessing, and he did not seek in
vain. He never drew back till the work was done. Those that have stretched out
their hands against their spiritual enemies, must never draw them back.
Commentary on Joshua 8:23-29
(Read Joshua 8:23-29)
God, the righteous Judge, had sentenced the Canaanites
for their wickedness; the Israelites only executed his doom. None of their
conduct can be drawn into an example for others. Especial reason no doubt there
was for this severity to the king of Ai; it is likely he had been notoriously
wicked and vile, and a blasphemer of the God of Israel.
Commentary on Joshua 8:30-35
(Read Joshua 8:30-35)
As soon as Joshua got to the mountains Ebal and Gerizim,
without delay, and without caring for the unsettled state of Israel, or their
enemies, he confirmed the covenant of the Lord with his people, as appointed, Deuteronomy 11. We must not think to defer
covenanting with God till we are settled in the world; nor must any business
put us from minding and pursuing the one thing needful. The way to prosper is
to begin with God, Matthew 6:33. They built an altar, and offered
sacrifice to God, in token of their dedicating themselves to God, as living
sacrifices to his honour, in and by a Mediator. By Christ's sacrifice of
himself for us, we have peace with God. It is a great mercy to any people to
have the law of God in writing, and it is fit that the written law should be in
a known tongue, that it may be seen and read of all men.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Joshua》
Joshua 8
Verse 1
[1] And
the LORD said unto Joshua, Fear not, neither be thou dismayed: take all the
people of war with thee, and arise, go up to Ai: see, I have given into thy
hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land:
Take all the people —
That all of them might be partakers of this first spoil, and thereby encouraged
to proceed in their work. The weak multitude indeed were not to go, because
they might have hindered them in the following stratagem; and it was but fit
that the military men who run the greatest hazards, should have the precedency
in the spoils.
Verse 2
[2] And thou shalt do to Ai and her king as thou didst unto Jericho and her
king: only the spoil thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ye take for a prey
unto yourselves: lay thee an ambush for the city behind it.
To Ai —
That is, the city and people of Ai.
Unto Jericho and her king — That is, overcome and destroy them. This was enjoined to chastise their
last insolence, and the triumphs and blasphemies which doubtless their success
had produced: and to revive the dread and terror which had been impressed upon
the Canaanites by Jericho's ruin, and had been much abated by the late success
of Ai.
Verse 3
[3] So
Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up against Ai: and Joshua chose
out thirty thousand mighty men of valour, and sent them away by night.
To go up against Ai —
That is, to consider about this expedition; not as if all the people of war did
actually go up, which was both unnecessary and burdensome: but it seems to be
resolved by Joshua and all the council of war, that the thirty thousand here
following should be selected for the enterprize. Either, 1, the thirty thousand
now mentioned; or, 2. part of them; namely, such as were to lie in wait; and
these were only five thousand men, as is expressed, verse 12.
Verse 4
[4] And
he commanded them, saying, Behold, ye shall lie in wait against the city, even
behind the city: go not very far from the city, but be ye all ready:
Them —
The same party last spoken of, even the five thousand mentioned verse 12, there are only two parties engaged in the
taking of Ai, and but one ambush, as plainly appears by comparing verse 9, with verse 12, which speaks only of five thousand, who are
justly supposed to be a part of those thirty thousand named, verse 3.
Verse 5
[5] And I, and all the people that are with me, will approach unto the city:
and it shall come to pass, when they come out against us, as at the first, that
we will flee before them,
That are —
Or, that shall be: for at present he sent them away, verse 9, but the next morning followed, and joined
himself with them, verse 10,11.
That we — I
and the twenty five thousand with me.
Verse 9
[9]
Joshua therefore sent them forth: and they went to lie in ambush, and abode
between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai: but Joshua lodged that night
among the people.
Sent them —
The same party.
Among the people —
Heb. that people, the people of war as they are called, verse 11, that is, the main body of the host
consisting of thirty thousand.
Verse 10
[10] And
Joshua rose up early in the morning, and numbered the people, and went up, he
and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai.
The people —
Heb. that people, not all the people of Israel; which was needless, and
required more time than could now be spared; but the rest of that host of
thirty thousand, whereof five thousand were sent away; the remainder are
numbered, to see whether some of them had not withdrawn themselves, taking the
advantage of the night, and of the design of laying an ambush; and that it
might be evident, this work was done without any loss of men, whereby they
might be encouraged to trust in God, and to proceed resolutely in their work.
The elders of Israel — The chief magistrates and rulers of Israel under Joshua; and these, I
suppose, went with Joshua, and with the army, to take care that the cattle and
the spoil of the city, which was given by God to all Israel for a prey, verse 2,27, might be justly and equally divided
between those that went to battle, and the rest of the people.
Verse 11
[11] And
all the people, even the people of war that were with him, went up, and drew
nigh, and came before the city, and pitched on the north side of Ai: now there
was a valley between them and Ai.
That were with him —
Namely, the thirty thousand mentioned, verse 3, or the most of them.
Verse 12
[12] And
he took about five thousand men, and set them to lie in ambush between Bethel
and Ai, on the west side of the city.
And he took — Or
rather, but he had taken, namely, out of the said number of thirty thousand,
for this is added by way of recapitulation and farther explication of what is
said in general, verse 9.
Verse 13
[13] And
when they had set the people, even all the host that was on the north of the
city, and their liers in wait on the west of the city, Joshua went that night
into the midst of the valley.
Joshua went —
Namely, accompanied with a small part of the host now mentioned, that is, very
early in the morning, when it was yet dark, as is said in a like case, John 20:1, whence it is here called night,
though it was early in the morning, as is said, Joshua 8:10, for it seems most probable, that
all was done in one night's space, and in this manner; Joshua sends away the
ambush by night, verse 3, and lodgeth that night with twenty-five
thousand men, verse 9, not far from the city. But not able or
willing to sleep all night, he rises very early, verse 10, and numbers his men, which by the help of
the several officers was quietly done, and so immediately leads them towards
Ai; and while it was yet duskish or night, he goes into the midst of the
valley, verse 13, and when the day dawns he is discovered by
the king and people of Ai, who thereupon rose up early to fight with them,
verse 14.
The valley —
Which was near the city, thereby to allure them forth.
Verse 14
[14] And
it came to pass, when the king of Ai saw it, that they hasted and rose up
early, and the men of the city went out against Israel to battle, he and all
his people, at a time appointed, before the plain; but he wist not that there
were liers in ambush against him behind the city.
His people —
Namely, all his men of war, for the rest were left in Ai, verse 16.
At a time appointed — At
a certain hour agreed upon between the king and people of Ai, and of Bethel
too, who were their confederates in this enterprize, as it may seem from verse 17. Possibly they might appoint the same hour of
the day on which they had fought against Israel with good success, looking upon
it as a lucky hour.
Before the plain —
That is, towards or in sight of that plain or valley in which the Israelites
were, that so they might put themselves in battle-array.
Against him —
The former success having made him secure, as is usual in such cases; God also
blinding his mind, and infatuating him, as he useth to do with those whom he
intends to destroy.
Verse 15
[15] And
Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the
way of the wilderness.
Made as if they were beaten — That is, fled from them, as it were for fear of a second blow.
The wilderness —
Which lay between Ai and Jericho, whither they now seemed to flee.
Verse 16
[16] And
all the people that were in Ai were called together to pursue after them: and
they pursued after Joshua, and were drawn away from the city.
All the people —
Namely, all that were able to bear arms, for old men and children were unfit
for the pursuit or fight; and that they were yet left, may seem from verse 24,25.
Verse 17
[17] And
there was not a man left in Ai or Bethel, that went not out after Israel: and
they left the city open, and pursued after Israel.
Not a man —
Namely, fit for war.
Bethel —
Which, being a neighbouring city, and encouraged by the former success, had
sent some forces to assist them; and now, upon notice sent to them of the
flight of their common enemies, or upon some other signal given, all their men
of war join with those of Ai in the pursuit.
Verse 18
[18] And
the LORD said unto Joshua, Stretch out the spear that is in thy hand toward Ai;
for I will give it into thine hand. And Joshua stretched out the spear that he
had in his hand toward the city.
Stretch out the spear — This was, either, 1. for a sign to his host present with him, to stop
their flight, and make head against the pursuers: or, 2. for a signal to the
liers in wait, or, 3. as a token of God's presence and assistance with them,
and of their victory.
Verse 19
[19] And
the ambush arose quickly out of their place, and they ran as soon as he had
stretched out his hand: and they entered into the city, and took it, and hasted
and set the city on fire.
Set the city on fire — Not all of it, as appears from verse 28, and because then they had lost that prey
which God had allowed them; but part of it, enough to raise a smoke, and give
notice to their brethren of their success.
Verse 21
[21] And
when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city, and that the
smoke of the city ascended, then they turned again, and slew the men of Ai.
All Israel —
That is, all the Israelites there present.
Verse 22
[22] And
the other issued out of the city against them; so they were in the midst of
Israel, some on this side, and some on that side: and they smote them, so that
they let none of them remain or escape.
The other —
They who lay in ambush.
Verse 23
[23] And
the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him to Joshua.
Took alive —
Reserving him to a more ignominious punishment.
Verse 24
[24] And
it came to pass, when Israel had made an end of slaying all the inhabitants of
Ai in the field, in the wilderness wherein they chased them, and when they were
all fallen on the edge of the sword, until they were consumed, that all the
Israelites returned unto Ai, and smote it with the edge of the sword.
Smote it —
That is, the inhabitants of it, the men, who through age or infirmity were
unfit for war, and the women, verse 25.
Verse 25
[25] And
so it was, that all that fell that day, both of men and women, were twelve
thousand, even all the men of Ai.
Of Ai —
Not strictly, but largely so called, who were now in Ai, either as constant and
settled inhabitants, or as sojourners and such as came to them for their help.
Verse 26
[26] For
Joshua drew not his hand back, wherewith he stretched out the spear, until he
had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.
Drew not his hand back — He kept his hand and spear in the same posture, both stretched out and
lifted up, as a sign both to encourage them, and to direct them to go on in the
work.
Verse 29
[29] And
the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until eventide: and as soon as the sun was
down, Joshua commanded that they should take his carcase down from the tree,
and cast it at the entering of the gate of the city, and raise thereon a great
heap of stones, that remaineth unto this day.
Hanged on a tree — He
dealt more severely with the kings of Canaan than with the people, because the
abominable wickedness of that people was not restrained and punished (as it
should have been) but countenanced and encouraged by their evil examples; and
because they were the principal authors of the destruction of their own people,
by engaging them in an obstinate opposition against the Israelites.
Down from the tree —
According to God's command in that case, Deuteronomy 21:22.
The gate of the city — Which place he chose either as most commodious, now especially when all
the city within the gate was already turned in to an heap of stones and
rubbish; or because this was the usual place of judgment; and therefore proper
to bear the monument of God's just sentence against him, not without reflection
upon that injustice which he had been guilty of in that place.
Verse 30
[30] Then
Joshua built an altar unto the LORD God of Israel in mount Ebal,
Then —
Namely, after the taking of Ai. For they were obliged to do this, when they
were brought over Jordan into the land of Canaan, Deuteronomy 11:29; 27:2,3, which is not to be understood strictly,
as if it were to be done the same day; for it is manifest they were first to be
circumcised, and to eat the passover, which they did, and which was the work of
some days; but as soon as they had opportunity to do it, which was now when
these two great frontier cities were taken and destroyed, and thereby the coast
cleared, and the bordering people under great consternation, so that all the
Israelites might securely march thither. And indeed this work was fit to be
done as soon as might be, that thereby they might renew their covenant with
God, by whose help alone they could expect success in their great and difficult
enterprize.
Built an altar —
Namely, for the offering of sacrifices, as appears from the following verse.
Mount Ebal —
God's altar was to be but in one place, Deuteronomy 12:13,14, and this place was
appointed to he mount Ebal, Deuteronomy 27:4,5, which also seems most
proper, that in that place whence the curses of the law were denounced against
sinners, there might also be the tokens and means of grace, and peace, and
reconciliation with God, for the removing of the curses, and the procuring of
God's blessing to sinners.
Verse 32
[32] And
he wrote there upon the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he wrote in
the presence of the children of Israel.
Upon the stones —
Not upon the stones of the altar, which were to be rough and unpolished, verse 31, but upon other stones, smooth and
plaistered, as is manifest from Deuteronomy 27:2.
The law of Moses —
Not certainly the whole five books of Moses, for what stones and time would
have sufficed for this, but the most weighty parts of the law, and especially the
law of the ten commandments.
Verse 33
[33] And
all Israel, and their elders, and officers, and their judges, stood on this
side the ark and on that side before the priests the Levites, which bare the
ark of the covenant of the LORD, as well the stranger, as he that was born
among them; half of them over against mount Gerizim, and half of them over
against mount Ebal; as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded before, that
they should bless the people of Israel.
All Israel —
That is, the whole congregation, old and young, male and female.
That side —
Some on one side of it, and some on the other.
Mount Gerizim —
These two places were in the tribe of Ephraim, not far from Shechem, as appears
both from scripture, and from other authors.
Bless — Or
curse, which is easily understood out of the following verse.
Verse 34
[34] And
afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings and cursings,
according to all that is written in the book of the law.
Afterward —
After the altar was built, and the stones plaistered and writ upon.
He read —
That is, he commanded the priests or Levites to read, Deuteronomy 27:14.
Blessings and cursings — Which words came in not by way of explication, as if the words of the
law were nothing else besides the blessings and curses; but by way of addition,
to note that these were read over and above the words of the law.
Verse 35
[35]
There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua read not before
all the congregation of Israel, with the women, and the little ones, and the
strangers that were conversant among them.
Read not —
Therefore he read not the blessings and curses only, as some think, but the
whole law, as the manner was when all Israel, men and women, were assembled
together, or the ten commandments.
Among them —
Who were proselytes, for no others can be supposed to be with them at this
time.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Joshua》
08 Chapter 8
Verse 1-2
Fear not . . . I have given into thy hand the king Of Ai.
The use of failure
“Fear not.” How much of our misery arises from fear! How many a
beating heart, how many a shaking nerve, how many a sleepless night have come,
not from evil experienced, but from evil apprehended! To save one from the
apprehension of evil is sometimes more important, as it is usually far more
difficult, than to save one from evil itself. An affectionate father finds that
one of his most needed services to his children is to allay their fears. Never
is he doing them a greater kindness than when he uses his larger experience of life
to assure them, in some anxiety, that there is no cause for fear. Our heavenly
Father finds much occasion for a similar course. Virtually the command to
Joshua is to “try again.” Success, though denied to the first effort, often
comes to the next, or at least to a subsequent one. Even apart from spiritual
considerations, it is those who try oftenest who succeed best. There is little
good in a man who abandons an undertaking simply because he has tried once and
failed. Who does not recall in this connection the story of Alfred the Great?
Or of Robert the Bruce watching the spider in the barn that at last reached the
roof after sixteen failures? Or, looking to what has a more immediate bearing
on the kingdom of God, who has not admired the perseverance of Livingstone,
undaunted by fever and famine and the ferocity of savage chiefs; unmoved by his
longings for home and dreams of plenty and comfort that mocked him when he
awoke to physical wretchedness and want? Such perseverance gives a man the
stamp of true nobility. To Christian men especially failure brings very
valuable lessons. There is always something to be learned from it. In our first
attempt we were too self-confident. We went too carelessly about the matter,
and did not sufficiently realise the need of Divine support. In the case of
Joshua and his people, one of the chief lessons derived from their failure
before Ai was the evil of covering sin. Alas, this policy is the cause of
failures innumerable in the spiritual life! In numberless ways it interrupts
Divine fellowship, withdraws the Divine blessing, and grieves the Holy Spirit.
Joshua is instructed to go up again against Ai, but in order to interest and
encourage the people he resorts to a new plan of attack. A stratagem is to be
put in operation. (W. G. Blaikie, D. D.)
The right policy
I. These words
were spoken to give encouragment. God began His address with the exhortation,
“Fear not.” This indeed constitutes the burden of comfort which it contains.
God would renew Joshua’s confidence; for this is always essential to success in
the work of the Lord. Without holy confidence there can be no good hopes, no
wise plans, no buoyant energy, no patient endurance, no successful campaign.
The fact that this was an old exhortation made it doubly dear. Israel’s sins
had been confessed, acknowledged, judged, therefore God is faithful and just to
forgive it, thoroughly, absolutely. These words of God also contain a promise.
“Ai is thine”; this is the pledge given. It was sure, for God’s Word is never
broken. And it was as sweet as it was sure. It was the encouragement of a
perfect love that had long been experienced and enjoyed; a new outpouring of
its glory most grateful and precious.
II. But God thus
addressed Joshua in order to reprove an error. The spies had said, “Let not all
the people go up,” &c. Here God says, “Take all the people with thee, and
arise, go up to Ai.” Here God points out the error of division in His work, the
error of thinking that part can do the work designed for the whole. The policy
of the spies was a policy of pride. They were elated with their marvellous
success at Jericho, with that brilliant victory so easily won; and therefore
when they came to look at Ai their hearts were filled with contempt. And the
feelings which influenced them still possess the human heart. How dangerous is
success to the individual, to the congregation, to the Church I The policy of
the spies was also one of ignorance and disobedience. It was opposed to the
Divine design and command. So is it now. God has never said to any of His
children, “Son, go to church, enjoy the services, criticise the sermons, bury
yourself in business and pleasure from Monday till Saturday.” No, but He does
say, “Son, go work.” And He says that to every son whom He acknowledges. No Christian
can shake off his responsibility for personal service. And no one can buy
himself off, for the conscription is universal. We must each put our hand to
this work as we have opportunity, and if we do not, we show ourselves ignorant
or prove ourselves disobedient. Moreover, this policy of the spies was a policy
of inconsistency. In adopting it Joshua fell from his own model. He had begun
in the spirit and was continuing in the flesh. The taking of Jericho was the
pattern for faith to follow. What is the model set by God before His Church in
the prosecution of the campaign of salvation? Without dispute, the Day of
Pentecost. And what were the characteristics of that day? Unity of spirit,
unity of labour. Likewise, this policy sprang from presumption. Joshua in
listening to the advice of the spies acted according to the dictates of carnal
wisdom. If all the people go against Ai they will tread on each other and be a
hindrance rather than a help. If all the people quit the camp there will be a
useless expenditure of energy. It is absurd to use 50,000 men when 5,000 are
quite capable of doing the work. So they argued; and so the modern descendants
of these wise spies say, “Not all the people.” If all are engaged in this work,
many mistakes will be made, much energy will be wasted, much folly will be
wrought, much injury to the good cause will be done. What! Has not God ordained
that all are to take part in this campaign? Let us take heed, then, lest in our
wisdom we perchance become guilty of presumptuously opposing God, who has
ordained by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Certainly
it is delightful to see zeal well directed, but any zeal for the good of souls
is better than lethargy, indifference, death. Still further, this policy of the
spies was a policy of infatuation. That Joshua entertained this proposal and
acted on it was a sign that for the while he was left to himself on account of
that sin which had defiled all Israel. Its unanimous adoption by the people
(for both those who went to Ai and those who stayed in the camp signified their
approval of it) was a clear token of the Divine displeasure, and brought its
own punishment in the universal disgrace which followed. Thus does God often
deal with men when they will not hearken to His voice. He makes them eat of the
fruit of their own ways. May we ever be saved from such infatuation. Let us
fall every one into the ranks of this great army of salvation. Let us buckle on
the sword of the Spirit. Let us march to the attack on Satan’s citadels with united
front; and we also, like Israel, will divide the spoil and share the glory of
the victory.
III. God gave this
command to Joshua
in order to teach a lesson. Jericho was taken in one way, Ai in another:
therefore methods may vary; they are not stereotyped, cast-iron rules, which
cannot be altered. There are essential and there are non-essential elements in
the mode of conducting the Divine work. It is essential that all God’s people
should take part in the work. All were employed at Jericho; all were to be
employed at Ai. It is essential that there be organisation and arrangement. It
was an army, not a rabble, which did the work at Jericho; so was it at Ai. But
there are non-essentials also. There are great diversities of operation in this
army of the Cross. God does not always act exactly in the same way. He has
different modes of reaching the human heart and conscience in different ages,
in different countries, and among different classes. What is suitable in one
set of circumstances may be very unsuitable in another. (A. B. Mackay.)
The taking of Ai Spiritualised
1. It appears, in the first
place, that in going out to battle with anything that is doomed we must have a
right character and a right cause. The Lord would not allow a blow to be struck
at the city by a wicked hand; He will have judgment executed by righteousness;
He will have the law proclaimed by lips that have been circumcised and
anointed. The first great inquiry of man is a moral inquiry, not an inquest
about numbers, places: and possible issues--but, “Is this thing right? and am I
right who attempt to do the work?” That being the case, go forward.
2. The next great lesson of this incident is that we must all
advance upon the doomed institution. When the idea of taking Ai was first
broached, there were clever men in Israel who said, “Let two or three thousand
of us go up and take the city.” “I, and all the people that are with me, will
approach unto the city” (Joshua 8:5). That must be the rule of the
Church in all its great moral wars. The battle is not to be handed over to a
few persons, however skilful and zealous. The work of teaching the world and
saving the world is a work committed to the whole Christian body. The living
Church of the living God is one. When the Church realises its totality, when
every man is part of an army and not an isolated warrior, then every Ai doomed
of Heaven shall reel under the battering-ram which the Church will employ. There
are to be no mere critics; there are to be thousands of active soldiers.
3. This being so, the incident brings before us in a very suggestive
and picturesque manner the fact that we must excel the enemy in shrewdness. The
Church is to be shrewder than the world, believers are to be keener of mind and
more active in every energy than unbelievers. It is evident, moreover, that if
we are to do any real work in the world in the name of God and in the cause of
Christ we must be about our business night and day. In Joshua 8:10 we read, “And Joshua rose up
early in the morning”; in verse 13 we read, “Joshua went that night into the
midst of the valley.” How useful some men might be if they had the spirit of
consecration: what time they have on hand!
4. We should miss one great lesson of this story if we did not note
that we are bound to set fire to every devoted abomination. Ai was burned. We
are not called to compromise, to paltering, to arranging, to expediency where
ignorance is concerned, or slavery, or vice, or wrong. Things must be so burned
down that they can never grow again. And after destruction, what then? Positive
religion comes next: “Then Joshua built an altar unto the Lord God of Israel in
Mount Ebal” (verse 30). It is no use building your altar until you have burned
the abomination. A great destructive work is to be done first, and in the doing
of it, there will be great outcry about change, and novelty, and reprisal, and
revolution. If you have not been faithful in the work of destruction, you
cannot be faithful in the work of construction. It is lying unto the Holy Ghost
to build an altar upon the basis of a rotten life. So we are called to
thoroughness of work. There is to be no superficial action here. And after the
altar, what? The law--the law of righteousness, the law of God. Verse 32 reads,
“And Joshua wrote there upon the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he
wrote in the presence of the children of Israel.” This is complete
work-destruction, the erected altar, the inscribed law. This is healthy work. (J.
Parker, D. D.)
So Joshua arose, and all the people of war.
All the people at work for Jesus
I. Consider the
advice of the spies which led to such a shameful defeat (Joshua 7:3).
1. Here we shall have to deal with the error of supposing that a part
only of the Church will be sufficient to perform the work of the whole.
2. In Joshua’s day this error sprang up among the Israelites
because, on account of their sins, God was displeased with them. When God is in
the midst of a Church He guides its counsels and directs the hearts of men to
go about His work in the wisest manner. Even upon the Lord’s own people a
measure of judicial blindness may come. You may depend upon it that when it
becomes a doctrine that only special classes of men are to be expected to work
in the Church there is some great wrong in the background.
3. Furthermore, this evil policy arose out of presumption engendered
by success. The full sail needs much ballast, lest the boat be overset. We must
be more sensible of weakness, more mindful that the conversion of souls is the
work of Omnipotence, or we shall see but little done. We must ourselves believe
more fully in the need of earnest work for God, and put forth all our strength,
and strain every sinew for Him, knowing that it is His power that worketh in us
mightily when we strive with all our hearts.
4. Let us not forget that these children of Israel were forgetting
their commission and violating the command of God. As they all expected to have
a dwelling-place in Canaan, so they were all expected to conquer the territory
by their own exertions. They were all an enlisted host for God, and He never
ordained that a part only should go forth in His great controversy with the
condemned Canaanites. If we ever neglect to render universal service as a
Church in the cause of Christ we shall depart from our trust and call, for the
Lord has sent all His disciples to testify of Him and contend against sin.
5. These Israelites, in the new fashion which they were trying to
set up, were departing from their own model. That model was, doubtless, the
siege of Jericho. In that siege there was much dependence upon God, but there
was no neglect of instrumentality; and, though all they did was to go round the
city and shout, yet in so doing they were literally fulfilling orders, and
doing all that was commanded. What, then, is our model as a Church? Is it not
Pentecost? In that day did they not break bread from house to house, all of
them? Did they not sell their lands and lay the price of them at the apostles’
feet? Was there not a burning enthusiasm throughout the entire company of
disciples? I suppose there is not one person present who heard that famous
sermon by Matthew Wilks upon the universal service rendered by idolaters to
their false gods, from the text, “The children gathered wood, and the fathers
kindled the fire, and the women kneaded their dough to make cakes to the queen
of heaven.” The preacher’s argument on that occasion was that which I would now
press upon you, that all should take part in the work of the Lord. Distinct
offices but united aims; diverse operations but the same spirit; many and yet
one--so let it be.
6. Again, this error which we are carefully to avoid was no doubt
the dictate of carnal wisdom. Spies were norm” of much use to Israel--two only
of the first twelve were faithful--what did Israel want with spies? Better far
had it been to walk by faith. To Ai they must needs send spies instead of going
up at once in the confidence of faith: evil came of it, for these spies
counselled that only part of the people need labour up the hill. And the
best ministers of Christ, worthy of all honour, would be the cause of great
mischief if once their carnal wisdom should make them think that they
can supersede primitive plans with wiser inventions.
7. These children of Israel, in sending to the war only part
of the men were breaking in upon the Divine design. The Lord never intended to
have two peoples, but one; and so we read that the Beubenites and the Gadites
came over Jordan to the war, although their portion was already conquered. It
was the Divine intent that they should be one army of the living God, each
separate son of the seed of Abraham belonging Go that army and fighting in it;
He meant that not some only, but all should see the mighty works of His hand,
working with them to overthrow their adversaries. I am sure it is so with the
Church of God to-day. Our Lord means to keep all His chosen ones as one army,
and to instruct them a]l as one band. And when are we most manifestly one? When
we get to work.
II. The command
that all israel should go forth to the fight: “Take all the men of war with
thee.” We must have all our Church members go to the war. We want to turn out
the drones, and we need an increase of true working bees. How is it to be done?
1. We must be ourselves deeply impressed with the evil brought upon
idle Christians by their idleness, and the evil which they bring upon the rest
of the Church. Indolence is temptation. Certain of our Churches are suffering
from unsound teaching, but they are suffering as much from want of work. The
moss is growing upon them, the rust is eating them up; the gold becomes dim,
the silver is losing its brightness, and all for want of use.
2. We need to be impressed with the mischief which idlers cause to
others. One sickly sheep infects the flock; one member who does nothing lowers
the tone of the whole body. The indolence of prominent professors is not merely
the waste of their own labour, but of that of scores of others. Every man in an
army who is not efficient and really serviceable is on the enemy’s side.
3. Moreover, we must hunt out the sin which leads to the evil
against which we contend, and I believe it is want of vital godliness in many
cases. It is often the sin which grows out of too much ease, self-indulgence,
and luxurious living. It seems as if the more God gives a man the less return
he is inclined to offer. Whatever the secret sin of the Church may be, let us
try to discover it, and then by the aid of the Holy Spirit endeavour to educate
all our members to work for the Lord.
4. There must be a continual insisting upon the personal obligations
of Christians. “What art thou doing for Christ?” is a question to be asked of
all. No one must appear before the Lord empty, but either by active or passive
service must prove his gratitude to God. And then, while each is responsible,
neglect by one is injurious to the common service of the whole. I saw a cart
standing this morning on the roadside with one wheel chained; there was no fear
of its moving with that one wheel fast. Sometimes one chained wheel in a Church
will hinder all.
5. Dwell upon the importance of the enterprise in which we are
engaged; and so act as to make others feel its importance. We must make men
feel that to save a soul is better than to possess all knowledge, or even to
gain the whole world! While others are making a new gospel let us labour to
save souls by the old one.
6. Above all, let us pray for more grace. Napoleon used to say,
“Conquest has made me what I am, and conquest must maintain me”; and it is so
with Christians. You must advance; you must outdo the exploits of the past, and
eclipse the deeds of your sires, or you will show yourselves unworthy of them.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
United effort needed
In the days of chivalry a certain band of knights had never known
defeat. In all battles their name was terrible to the foe. On their banners was
emblazoned a long list of victories; but in an evil hour the leaders of the
knights summoned them in chapter, and he said: “My brethren, we cause ourselves
too much toil. Let the champions go alone. Yonder knight with his sword can
cleave a man in twain at a single stroke, and his comrade can break a bar of
iron with his axe; others among us are equally powerful, each one being a host
in himself. With the terror of our name behind them, the chosen champions can
carry on the war while the rest divide the spoil.” The saying pleased the
warriors well, but from that hour the knell of their fame was rung, and defeat
defiled their standard. When they came together they complained of the
champions because they had not sustained the honour of the order, and they bade
them exert themselves more heroically. They did so, but with small success.
Louder and louder were the notes of discontent and the demands for new
champions. Then one of the oldest of the knights said: “Brethren, why do you
blame us? The mistake lies here. In the old time, when the enemy assailed us, a
thousand men were up in arms, and we who led the van knew that a gallant army
followed at our heels. But now you have made us solitary champions, and the
adversary takes heart to defy us, finding us unsustained. Come you all with us
to the fray as aforetime, and none shall stand against us.” (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Work for God among the heathen
Let us each question his own heart as to the claims of the
heathen: for my own part, I dare not sleep till I have honestly considered
whether I ought to go or not. We tell our young men in the college that they
must prove that they have not to go, or else their duty is clear. If some of
the men of Israel had said to Joshua, “We cannot go to At,” Joshua would have
replied, “You must prove that you cannot go or you may not be excused.” All
other things being equal, ministers should take it for granted that it is their
duty to invade new territory unless they can prove to the contrary. France is
wanting the gospel. See what one beloved brother in Paris has been able to
do--are there none who can do the like for other cities in that neigh
bout-country? Here and there a good man can say, “I have made a
competency”--why not live and employ it where you can lay it out personally for
the spread of the Redeemer’s kingdom? Such a thing is being done by a few, it
is not therefore impossible, and you who follow the grand example shall have
your reward. See what Pastor Harms did in the village of Hermansburg, how he
stirred up all the people until they gave themselves and their property to the
Lord, and built a ship for the mission and went forth in it to Africa, company
after company, to evangelise. Should it not be the ambition of a minister to
feel that if he stays at home he will at least, by the Holy Spirit’s help,
produce missionaries by scores in the village where he labours? (C. H.
Spurgeon.)
Ye shall lie in wait
against the city.
Joshua’s address to the soldiers of the expedition
I. Joshua’s
obedience.
II. Joshua’s
prudence.
III. Joshua’s
courage.
IV. Joshua’s faith.
V. Joshua’s
authority.
1. The authority of all God-given words.
2. The authority of obedience. (F. G. Marchant.)
The victorious retreat
I. There is such a
thing as victorious retreat. There are times in your life when the best thing
you can do is to run. You were once the victim of strong drink. The glass and
the decanter were your fierce foes. Your only safety is to get away from them.
Your dissipating companions will come around you for your overthrow. Run for
your life! Your retreat is your victory. Here is a converted infidel. He is so
strong now in his faith in the gospel, he says he can read anything. What are
you reading? Bolingbroke? Theodore Parker? Drop them and run. You will be an
infidel before you die unless you quit that. Fly before they cut you with their
swords and transfix you with their javelins. There are people who have been well-nigh
ruined because they risked a foolhardy expedition in the presence of mighty and
overwhelming temptations, and the men of Ai made a morning meal of them. So
also there is such a thing as victorious defeat for the Church. Thousands of
times the kingdom of Christ has seemed to fall back. When the Vaudois of France
chose extermination rather than make an unchristian surrender, when on St.
Bartholomew’s day mounted assassins rode through the streets of Paris, crying,
“Kill! Blood-letting is good in August! Kill! Death to the Huguenots! Kill!”
When John Bunyan lay rotting in Bedford Jail, saying, “If God will help me, and
my physical life continues, I will stay here until the moss grows on my
eyebrows rather than give up my faith,” the days of retreat for the Church were
days of victory. But there is a more marked illustration of victorious retreat
in the life of our Joshua, the Jesus of the ages. First falling back from an
appalling height to an appalling depth, falling from celestial hills to
terrestrial valleys, from throne to manger; yet that did not seem to suffice
Him as a retreat. Falling back still further from Bethlehem to Nazareth, from
Nazareth to Jerusalem, back from Jerusalem to Golgotha, back from Golgotha to
the mausoleum in the rock, back down over the precipices of perdition, until He
walked amid the caverns of the eternal captives and drank of the wine of the
wrath of almighty God amid the Ahabs and the Jezebels and the Belshazzars. Oh,
men of the pulpit and men of the pew, Christ’s descent from heaven to earth
does not measure half the distance! It was from glory to perdition. He
descended into hell. All the records of earthly retreat are as nothing compared
with this falling back. Santa Anna with the fragments of his army flying over
the plateau of Mexico, and Napoleon and his army retreating from Moscow into
the awful snows of Russia, are not worthy to be mentioned with this retreat
when all the powers of darkness seem to be pursuing Christ as He fell back,
until the body of Him who came to do such wonderful things lay pulseless and
stripped. But let not the powers of darkness rejoice quite so soon. Do you hear
that disturbance in the tomb of Arimathea? I hear the sheet rending! What means
that stone hurled down the side of the hill? Who is this coming out? Push Him
back! The dead must not stalk in this open daylight. Oh, it is our Joshua! Let
Him come out. He comes forth and starts for the city. He takes the spear of the
Roman guard and points that way. Church militant marches up on one side and the
Church triumphant marches down on the other side. And the powers of darkness
being caught between these ranks of celestial and terrestrial valour, nothing
is left of them save just enough to illustrate the direful overthrow of hell
and our Joshua’s eternal victory.
II. The triumph of
the wicked is short. Did you ever see an army in a panic? There is nothing so
uncontrollable. If you had stood at Long Bridge, Washington, during the opening
of our unfortunate war, you would know what it is to see an army run. And when
those men of Ai looked out and saw those men of Joshua in a stampede, they
expected easy work. They would scatter them as the equinox the leaves. Oh, the
gleeful and jubilant descent of the men of Ai upon the men of Joshua! But their
exhilaration was brief, for the tide of battle turned, and these quondam
conquerors left their miserable bodies in the wilderness of Bethaven. So it
always is. The triumph of the wicked is short. Call over the roll of bad men
who prospered, and see how short was their prosperity.
III. How much may be
accomplished by lying in ambush for opportunities. Are you hypercritical of
Joshua’s manoeuvre? Do you say that it was cheating for him to take that city
by ambuscade? Was it wrong for Washington to kindle camp-fires on New Jersey
Heights, giving the impression to the opposing force that a great army was
encamped there when there was none at all? I answer, if the war was right then
Joshua was right in his stratagem. He violated no flag of truce. He broke no
treaty, but by a lawful ambuscade captured the city of Ai. Oh, that we all knew
how to lie in ambush for opportunities to serve God! The best opportunities do
not lie on the surface, but are secreted; by fact, by stratagem, by Christian
ambuscade, you may take almost any castle of sin for Christ. Come up towards
men with a regular besiegement of argument, and you will be defeated; but just
wait until the door of their hearts is set ajar, or they are off their guard,
or their severe caution is away from home, and then drop in on them from a
Christian ambuscade. There has been many a man up to his chin in scientific
portfolios which proved there was no Christ and no Divine revelation, his pen a
scimetar flung into the heart of the theological opponents, who, nevertheless,
has been discomfited and captured for God by some little three-year-old child
who has got up and put her snowy arms around his sinewy neck and said, “Papa,
why don’t you love Jesus?” Oh, make a flank movement; steal a march on the
devil; cheat that man into heaven! Do not rub a man’s disposition the wrong
way. Do not take the imperative mood when the subjunctive mood will do just as
well. You can take any man for Christ if you know how to get at him. Do not
send word to him that to-morrow at ten o’clock you propose to open your
batteries upon him, but come on him by a skilful, persevering, God-directed
ambuscade.
IV. The importance
of taking good aim. There must be some signal--a signal to stop the one
division and to start the other. Joshua, with a spear on which were ordinarily
hung the colours of battle, points towards the city. He stands in such a
conspicuous position, and there is so much of the morning light dripping from
that spear-tip, that all around the horizon they see it. It was as much as to
say: “There is the city. Take it. Take it now. Roll down from the west side.
Surge up from the north side. It is ours, the city of Ai.” God knows and we
know that a great deal of Christian attack amounts to nothing simply because we
do not take good aim. Nobody knows, and we do not know ourselves, which point
we want to take, when we ought to make up our minds what God will have us to
do, and point our spear in that direction, and then hurl our body, mind, soul,
time, eternity, at that one target. (T. De Witt Talmage.)
Variety of Divine means
Jericho was taken by the power of God; this was to be by the
stratagem of His people. “Lay thee an ambush for the city behind it.” The
designs of Jehovah engage a diversity of means and operation as may best
promote the ends of His infinite wisdom. It had been equally as easy to have
taken this city without hands, and to have caused its fenced walls to have
yielded to invisible operation, as those of Jericho; but then the courage of
faith had not been exercised in His people, nor had the conquest of their
enemies, now exulting, been so striking and instructive. The achievements of
the Lord’s people are all of Him, whether effected by the measures of force or
of artifice. (W.
Seaton.)
Joshua drew not his hand
back, wherewith he stretched Out the spear, until he had utterly destroyed all
the inhabitants of Ai.--
The outstretched spear
A spear outstretched, outstretched by Divine command,
outstretched till the doom of Ai was sealed--what means it?
I. It was the
signal of prudence. Plans had been carefully prepared for the capture of Ai,
and that spear, probably with a pennon hanging from its head like the weapon of
the Lancers, was a pre-arranged signal for the carrying out of these plans. The
outstretched spear would have been useless, meaningless, apart from the plans
to which it referred. But it was most important when these are taken into
consideration. In the great war we wage against evil within and without, God
desires us to use all the appliances of wisdom and prudence. How wary is the
fisher as he angles on the stream, taking advantage of every bush and tuft of
grass, of every passing cloud and gentle ripple; and the more the waters are
fished the more wary and ingenious is he. Oh, for a holy ingenuity, a
sanctified sagacity in winning souls! Oh, that the dictates of prudence were
more faithfully carried out in the sanctification of the scull
II. It was the sign
of obedience. While much was left to human prudence, certain Divine principles
clearly laid down must not be traversed. Joshua must not in every respect do as
he pleased. There was a circle within which wisdom might have free and full
play, but beyond that circle he dared not go at his peril. But not only was
there a general obedience to this Divine command, there was also a very special
and definite act of obedience in connection with the outstretched spear. Joshua
did not do this when he pleased, but waited patiently till he got a clear
intimation of the Divine will that the time had come for striking the decisive
blow. Thus Joshua’s act in stretching out the spear was well-timed. We need the
same patient and punctual obedience which Joshua manifested. We must not be
like the horse, going before, or the mule lagging behind, and therefore
requiring the bit and the bridle of God’s providences. We must not be like
Moses, who when he was forty was too fast, and when he was eighty was too slow,
to obey the Divine command. Let us be like Joshua here, led by the eye of God
to a well-timed obedience.
III. It was also a signal
of attack. Its waving pennon cried to those in ambush, “Up and at them!” It
called to those who were retreating, “Turn and smite!” And it shouted to all of
them, “Retrieve your lost honour, win back your laurels.” How many deeds of
daring were the answer to that signal. Every common soldier in Israel was a
hero that day, a noble brother of the man who waved that spear aloft. Oh, for
like courage and energy in the wars of the Lord, for noble deeds done against
deadly sins!
IV. It was also the
mark of confidence. He did not think because he had once failed that he would
fail again. He had no foreboding of defeat. Not with nervous, trembling,
fearful hand did he hold it aloft, but with the firm, sure grasp of perfect
confidence. From the vantage-ground on which he stood, he ordered the fight, as
again an assured victor. Thus should we engage in the war to which we are
called--with sublime confidence, sure of victory, aye, even after we have
experienced defeat. So should it be in the inner fight, for He who has begun
the good work will perfect that which concerns us to the praise of His glorious
grace. And so should it be in the outer. Never let us dishearten ourselves or
our neighbours with the thought that we are fighting a losing battle. The very
idea is blasphemous; as if man or the devil, or both, were stronger than the
Almighty.
V. It may be also
looked upon as a memorial of mercy. As certainly as Amalek fled before the
Lord’s hosts, so certainly will the men of Ai. Victory is sure. In the
spiritual warfare how stimulating is it to bring to mind past victories; to
remember how David and Paul, Luther, Calvin, and Knox, Wesley, Whitefield, and
McCheyne, wrestled with evil and prevailed. But above all, the remembrance of
hard-won victories in our own experience is pre-eminently fitted to encourage.
VI. It was the
symbol of perseverance. No doubt Joshua remembered how the battle with Amalek
swayed forward and backward as the rod of Moses was elevated or depressed; and this
perhaps explains the fact that he never drew back the spear till the work was
finished. As if his hand had been glued to that spear he held it aloft, and
thus he urged his soldiers to look like himself to the God of Sabaoth, who
alone giveth victory. We have seen the battle well begun, with prudence and
obedience, courage and confidence. See it nobly continued and ended with
stubborn perseverance. Oh, for such a spirit in the fight of faith! Alas! how
few endure to the end.
VII. It was also the
omen of doom. It hung over Ai like the great sword of the angel over Jerusalem. And it is
worthy of notice that these men were not without resources. They showed great zeal
and enthusiasm in defending their city, rising early to go out to fight. They
also displayed far greater courage than the men of Jericho, for they marched
against overwhelming odds. They also showed considerable wisdom in acting on
the offensive, and not waiting to be attacked like their neighbours. It was
also plain that they believed that union was strength, for they got the men of Bethel
to unite their forces with theirs in the attack on Joshua. They also had great
confidence in their success, emboldened as they were by their previous victory.
They had all these qualities, good in themselves, but all useless because on
the wrong side. The all-important question is, On which side are you? Are you
on the wrong side? Then cast down your weapons of rebellion. “Kiss the Son,
lest He be angry, and ye perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a
little.” Are you on the right side? Then “Fight the good fight of faith, lay
hold on eternal life.” (A. B. Mackay.)
Then Joshua built . . . an altar of whole stones.
The plastered altar
Let us behold in the story of Joshua’s altar in Mount Ebal the
mirror of an honest Christian life.
1. It is well to recognise the fact that this world is under the
curse, a true Mount Ebal. Is human existence hard? There is sunshine in life,
it is true, but think of the shadows. Go into the houses of the rich, where
luxury meets yon on every hand. In this mansion the servants go about with
noiseless tread; the street in front is thickly strewn with tan bark; often at
the door is seen the physician’s carriage. Is it a happy household? Enter the
next mansion. Here, too, wealth is supreme, everything of the costliest, but
the face of the father of the family is clouded with anger, and the mother’s
eyes are red with weeping. What is the trouble? Shame, dishonour; a child has
fouled a parent’s noble name, disgraceful deeds have made the son and heir of a
great house a byword and a hissing. But thank God there is Mount Gerizim as
well as Ebal; the blessings are as rich as the curses are deplorable, and the
curses come first, only to give place to the blessings. We may not forget,
however, that the great heart altar for God is to be set up in Ebal, in the
consciousness of the power of the curse. The first thought we ought to have in
our Christian life is that Christ hath redeemed us from the curse.
2. Well, then, Christian, saved by Christ’s blood from wrath to
come, rear up to thy Lord and Master thine altar. Of what sort shall we make
it? The altar in the heart must be of whole stones upon which no man hath lift
up any iron. I suppose that no metal enters into our life to the extent that
iron does in its myriad forms of using. Is its cold hardness not an appropriate
symbol of human selfishness, the occasion of all strife and quarrelling,
hatred, and crime? Is there any one who lives his life on earth unselfishly,
who is not concerned more with his own interests than with those of his
neighbours? If the secret of the worthy heart altar as towards God be humble
acquiescence in the Divine ordering of things, the secret of it as towards men
is genuine unselfishness. Towards God the “whole” stones, unfashioned by our
wilfulness, towards man stones piled up with no help of iron, but erected in
brotherly love, self-forgetting generosity.
3. When Joshua had set up the great cairn, he plastered it all over
with plaster, that he might engrave thereon the words of the law. In this way
the separate stones, without having been fashioned or fitted together by human
hand and tool, were in a certain sort made one through human agency. There is a
strange factor in our life which is indeed given more than its rightful share
of importance in most earthly things, while in the Divine service it seems to
be hardly enlisted at all. I mean the purpose or the will. As the plaster
covered all those rough stones and gave them a smooth, well-compacted surface,
so does a firm and well-set will, a steadfast heart-purpose, make the unhewn
circumstances of our lives homogeneous, a shapely altar for the Lord’s use.
God’s law has been revealed in order that we may obey it, and we have no other
guide to duty. The end of the Christian life, in the world at least, is
obedience. To believe not what we think reasonable, but what God has said; to
do not what seems edifying, but what He has enjoined.
4. Thus are we, every one of us, if we be in earnest, raising up
altars in our hearts, as we go on through this world; gathering up one by one
the circumstances and opportunities of our lives. Great, rough, ill-shaped
stones they seem, yet we may not think to trim and fashion them to our own
notion, nor to hew them out with iron tools of selfishness and pride. Lay them
up, O soul, in a cairn, as they come, plaster them all over with devout purpose
and zealous will, then write on them the law of God, that it may be the guiding
principle of all thy thoughts and words and deeds, His will not thine own. (Arthur
Ritchie.)
Gerizim . . . Ebal.
Ebal and Gerizim
The valley between these two is one of the most beautiful in
Palestine. Jacob’s well lies at its mouth, and all its luxuriant extent is
covered with its verdant beauty of gardens, and orchards, and olive groves,
rolling in waves of billowy beauty up to the walls of Shechem, whilst the
murmur of brooks flowing in all directions fills the air. The width of the
valley is about a third of a mile, though the summits of the two mountains, in
the lap of which it lies, are two miles apart. It is remarkable that where the
two mountains face each other and touch most closely, with a green valley of
five hundred yards between, each is hollowed out, and the limestone stratum of
each is broken into a succession of ledges, “so as to present the appearance of
a series of regular benches.” Thus a natural amphitheatre is formed, capable of
containing a vast audience of people; and the acoustic properties are so
perfect in that dry and rainless air that Canon Tristram speaks of two of his
party taking up positions on the opposite mountains, reciting the ten
commandments antiphonally, and hearing each other perfectly.
I. The altar on
Ebal. Ebal was stern and barren in its aspect. There was a congruity,
therefore, between its appearance and the part it played in the solemn
proceedings of the day. For far up its slopes gathered the dense masses of the
six tribes, who, with thunderous amens, twelve times repeated, answered the
voices of the band of white-robed Levites, as standing with Joshua, and the
elders, and officers, and judges, in the green valley, they solemnly repeated
the curses of the law. But that was not the first proceeding in that holy
ceremonial. Before the people took up their assigned places on the mountain
sides an altar was reared on the lower slopes of Ebal. As we pass into the land
of promise we must be watchful that we do not leave behind the devout and
loving consideration of that precious blood by which we have been redeemed and
which is our life. Our highest and most rapturous experiences can never take
the place of this. Constantly we must remind ourselves and others that we are
redeemed sinners, and that all our hopes of salvation, our fellowship with God,
our motives for service, are derived from what our Saviour did when He bore our
sins in His own body on the tree. But because He died there, we need never
stand there. Because He counted not His life dear to Himself, those gaunt and
forbidding slopes have become the scene of blessed communion with God. We sit
and feast with Him, and from peak to peak the joy chases the terrors of the
curse, and smiles look out on us from the old rocks, whilst the torrents tinged
with the light of the sun flash and sing.
II. The law in
canaan. Around the altar strong men reared great stones, and plastered them
with a facing of cement, composed of lime and gypsum, on which it was easy to
write all the words of the law very plainly (Deuteronomy 27:8). In that dry air, where
there is no frost to split and disintegrate, such inscriptions, written on the
soft cement with a stencil, or on its polished surface, when dry, with ink or
paint, as in the case of the monumental stones of Egypt, would remain for
centuries. As the time could not have admitted of the inscription of the whole
law, it is probable that the more salient points were alone committed to the
custody of those great cromlechs to perpetuate to after generations the
conditions of the tenure on which Israel held the lease of Palestine. They were
a standing protest against the sins which had blighted those fertile valleys,
and an incentive to the obedience on which so much of the future hinged. The
case is this: when we yield ourselves entirely to the Spirit of life which is
in Christ Jesus, and which passes freely through us, as the blood through
artery and vein, He makes us very sensitive to the least commandment or desire
of Him whom He has taught us to love; we dread to see the shadow of suffering
pass over His face more than to feel the pang of remorse rend our hearts; we
find our heaven in His smile of approval, and the “Well done!” that glistens in
His eyes when we have done aught to the least of His; we are conscious of the
pulse of a love which He has instilled, and which supplies us with the highest
code for life--and so insensibly, whilst we yield ourselves to Him, we find
ourselves keeping the law after a fashion which was foreign to us when it was a
mere outward observance, and we cry with David, “Oh, how I love Thy law, it is
my meditation all the day.”
III. The
convocation. It is well worth our while to ponder the list of blessings
appended to obedience in that memorable twenty-eighth chapter of Deuteronomy,
that we may discover their spiritual counterparts, and, having found them, to
claim them. Let us, first, be quite sure that we are right with God; next, that
we are on His plan and doing His will; also, thirdly, that we are set upon His
glory, altogether irrespective of our own interests; and we shall find
ourselves able to claim blessings of which we little dreamt. The Lord will open
His good treasury in heaven and make us plenteous for good, and establish us
for an holy people unto Himself. (F. B. Meyer, M. A.)
Ebal and Gerizim
I. Where we go. We
go to a distant place; about a week’s journey from Gilgal. Why do we go there?
To take some strong fortress? To fight some great battle? No, but to worship
Jehovah, and to take formal possession of the land in His name. But it is a for
midable thing to move all the host of Israel so far as that. It is; but no trouble
is too great that serves to show our loyalty to Jehovah. What a reproof is this
to those whose religion costs them nothing! who seek to serve God with the
miserable fag-ends of time--the odd intervals of a busy life, or the poor dregs
of the evil days of nature’s decay. There is no fear of any man’s temporal
interests suffering by due attention to the spiritual. Turning again to Israel,
we notice that they went to a dangerous place. Why march a company of religious
worshippers to that distant valley, instead of a mighty army to destroy every
foe? Surely prompt action, preventing their enemies from amalgamating their
forces, is their only policy. Nay, to wait on God is better. Man is only weak
when he disobeys. And they go to an appointed place. This makes the march wise
and profitable. This journey had a special bearing on the formal possession of
the land in Jehovah’s name. From being defiled Canaan, resting under God’s
curse, it is to become the inheritance of Jehovah, the holy land which He
delights to bless. As Noah’s first act was to take possession of the new world
in the name of God, so at the first opportunity Joshua took possession of
Canaan in Jehovah’s name. Still further, this was an appropriate place to which
Israel marched. It was appropriate, whether we consider its past associations
or look at its position in the land. It was here that Abraham, the father of
Israel, built his first altar in the land that God had promised. What more
appropriate, then, than that his children should first come here, and as
inheritors of his faith and piety, as well as of his promise, rear their altar
and worship the unchanging Jehovah? It was here that Jacob bought ground and
dug a well which remains to this day, leaving it in faith a heritage to his
children’s children. And here they come, the possessors of all that was
promised; their feet shall stand on this earnest of the inheritance; they and
their little ones and their flocks shall drink of their father’s well. This
rendezvous was also appropriate because it was so central and so beautiful.
Mahomed called it the fairest spot on earth; and many have named it the
paradise of the Holy Land. No greater contrast could be conceived than that
presented by the scenery of Mount Sinai, where the law was first given, and
that of Ebal and Gerizim, where it was repeated. The former is stern, still,
and forbidding, without speck of green or sign of life. This is smiling and
verdant, vocal with the songs of innumerable birds, laden with the fatness of
the olive, the sweetness of the fig, the luscious richness of the vine--the
most inviting spot the heart of man can conceive. Here the traveller, enchanted
by the indescribable air of tranquillity and repose which hang over the scene,
pitches his tent beside the purling and pellucid rills, and however anxious to
renew his journey, feels he would gladly linger days and weeks in such a
paradise. Such is it even now, as described by those whose eyes have rested on
it- what must it have been in those days of Joshua?
II. What we see.
First of all we
behold the ark, as conspicuously prominent as on the day that Israel crossed
the Jordan. The Holy Presence of which the ark speaks has never failed them,
has never forsaken them. We also behold an altar here. The altar is for the
ark. The blood of the one sprinkles the mercy-seat of the other, and thus sin
is purged; God can dwell among the people, and say to the sinful, “There will I
meet with thee.” This altar was constructed of rough stones, untouched by any
instrument of iron, and therefore spoke of the work of Christ as divinely
finished, requiring not any addition or improvement that man’s wisdom could
suggest or man’s skill accomplish. This altar was pitched on Ebal, the loftier
height, from which the curses came. There it was set to remove the curse; for
apart from the sacrifice of the altar which God has provided all flesh are
under the curse of the law. On this altar were offered up burnt-offerings and
peace-offerings. The burnt-offerings spoke of Christ offered to God, a sacrifice
of a sweet-smelling savour; yielding a perfect and glorious obedience to all
that law which He thus magnified and made honourable. The peace-offering spoke
of Christ as the centre and substance of rest, delight, and refreshment to God
and man; the glorious means whereby communion is restored and maintained. God
and man delight in the same sacrifice, are sharers in the same feast. Thus the
ark and the altar, the Holy Presence and the Perfect Sacrifice, guarantee to
Israel all the glory of God’s inheritance. Behold the imposing scene. The
elders of the tribes stand with Joshua and Eleazar and the priests in the
centre of the valley beside the ark. The tribes stretch outward, like two dark
wings, on either side in compact masses. Then, when all were in their places
and solemn silence reigned, the Levites read aloud the curses of the law, and
the men on Ebal responded with a deep amen, like the sound of many waters.
Again the clear notes of the Levites rise as they recite the blessings, and
like the sound of harpers harping with their harps comes the joyous amen from
the slopes of Gerizim. But there is still another object for our eyes to rest
upon. As a lasting monument of that great event, Joshua put up great stones on
Mount Ebal, plastered with plaster, and having written upon them “a copy of the
law of Moses.” The altar spoke of what the Holy Presence in Israel bestowed.
These stones spoke of what this Holy Presence demanded. The stones on Jordan’s
bank spoke of Jehovah’s gracious power. The stones of Jericho declare His
judgment. The stones of Achor speak of His discipline. The stones of Ai tell
His faithfulness. The stones of Ebal are witnesses of His holiness. They tell
what is becoming in the people whose God is the Lord. They hold up the standard
whereby His people are to walk. Has this standard changed? Are its precepts
binding still, or have they become antiquated? Are these ten words the
Christian’s standard and rule of life? It is a vain morality, it is a false
spirituality, which dreams that it can rise above obedience to the law. (A.
B. Mackay.)
He read all the words of
the law.
The reading of the law
I. The fitness of
marking life’s changes by a special recognition of dependence upon God and
obligation to him. With Israel it was a time of transition, involving triumph,
gain, a new and long-desired possession. At such times, men of the world are
apt to think only of themselves and their good fortune. It was not so with
Israel. This is their first pause on entering the promised land. And they trust
God to protect them, while they use it to own Him as having brought them
thither. With solemn ceremony they put themselves afresh into covenant
relations with Him. Supposing ourselves to be changing our residence or
occupation, to be entering a new place or state of responsibility, to be
keeping a birthday or other anniversary--how becoming it would be to make it a
time of re-dedication to God! So of a youth passing from school to business,
entering the marriage state, going out from the old home, and taking up for
himself a life’s work. Our religious faith should make it natural to do this.
II. The value of
special means to deepen the sense of obligation to God. There are such ordinary
means as the daily reading of the Bible, attendance on the public ordinances of
God’s house, Christian conversation, giving heed to the voices of conscience
and the Divine Spirit. Many things remind us of duty and dependence. And yet it
is easy to forget. Ordinary means lose a measure of their power, save as they
are reinforced now and then by those that are special and extraordinary. It was
once more common than we fear it now is for persons entering the Christian life
to do it with a solemnly-written covenant, to be recalled and renewed in after
months and years. Other occasions were signalised in a similar way. On the day
of the birth of the late Dr. Bethune, his father solemnly dedicated him to God
in writing--an act more than once repeated. Churches have had their times of
renewing covenant vows by rising in a mutual pledge to each other, and a common
re-dedication to God. I have seen the record of “an holy covenant entered into,
and renewed with God, by ye Church of Christ in concord, upon a day of fasting
and prayer, set apart for that purpose, July 11, 1776,” bearing the signature
of Rev. William Emerson (then pastor) and sixty-one others. Religious revivals
have been begun and prolonged by such means. Piety that is from the heart
readily approves them. It makes glad use, not only of common, but of special,
helps to fidelity and growth in godly living.
III. The wisdom of
heeding all God has told us of our obligation to him, and of the peril of
casting it off. Joshua “read all the words of the law, the blessings and
cursings.” Just what things were included in the inscription on the stones and
in the reading we are not told. Doubtless, at least, the substance and sanctions of the
law. It is clear that there was no self-pleasing discrimination in favour of
the easy and agreeable commands, nor yet in the singling-out of the blessings
and the rejection of the cursings.
IV. The mistake of
withholding any part of God’s law from any age or class. “All Israel, and their
elders and officers, and their judges, stood on this side the ark, and on that
side.” None were so great and wise that they had no need to be present. And
“there was not a word of all that Moses commanded which Joshua read not,”
&c. It is sometimes thought that the great and sober things of God’s law
are not to be
taught to children. “Set before them only the bright things,” it is said. How
strange that it is so much easier to be wise in earthly things than in the heavenly! In this
world’s affairs, we teach the child to foresee that which is evil, that he may
hide himself. We remember, too, that great souls are never nurtured on the
ostrich plan. The ostrich thrusts his head into the sand, shuts his eyes, and,
seeing no peril, says, “Now I am safe!” This is not God’s way. The “little
ones” were to hear “all that Moses commanded.” They might comprehend little.
They would feel much. Through the imagination, their souls would be filled with
abiding, restraining, and uplifting awe.
V. The possibility
of a serene contemplation of God’s law and remembrance of our past
unfaithfulness to it. First of all, before he ventured to read the law, “Joshua
built an altar,” &c. On this altar, burnt-offerings and peace-offerings
were to be presented. The burnt-offering signified self-surrender, entire
devotement to God; the peace-offering, joyful communion with Him. Thus the
people came face to face with law and penalty, not as aliens, but as friends;
their sins expiated and pardoned; their persons, powers, and possessions made
over to Him to be wholly His; their hearts at rest in the gladdening sense of
His favour. To such the law could be nothing other than a blessed,
Divine rule. So it may be with us. (Sermons by the Monday Club.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》