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Chosen no: R-5335 a, from: 1913 Year. |
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Israel Under A New Leader
--NOVEMBER
23.--JOSHUA
1:1-9.--
"Be strong and of a good courage."--V.9.
ISRAEL spent thirty days in mourning for their great leader, Moses, yet with one
accord accepted Joshua as their new leader by Divine appointment through Moses.
Like other Bible heroes, Joshua was renowned for his faith and his loyalty to
God. At the time of taking Moses' place he was in his eighty-third year, yet
full of vigor, and evidently the best qualified man for the position. He and
Caleb only had been of mature years when the Israelites left Egypt. They
only had been witnesses of God's marvelous dealings with His people. They two
had been the spies who brought an encouraging report of Canaan,
which the people refused and on account of which refusal the adults died during
the succeeding forty years of wilderness journeying.
The fact that Moses was vigorous at one hundred
and twenty, and Joshua at eighty-three, speaks loudly to us in confirmation of
the Bible's teaching that Adam was created perfect, and that the entire race
has since been fallen in sin and death--sharing Adam's penalty, "Dying,
thou shalt die." The intelligence of these men, as well as their vigor,
quite contradict the Evolution theory; for this very Joshua had been one of the
slaves in Egypt.
ISRAEL'S
REAL LEADER--GOD
Not for a moment are we to lose sight of the
fact that God had adopted the nation of Israel and entered into a special
Covenant with them; and that, therefore, He was their real Captain and
Leader--Moses, Joshua and others being merely His representatives and
mouthpieces. We have already referred to the reasons for the adoption of Israel by the
Almighty, and in a subsequent lesson will consider them more fully.
THE NEW
LEADER'S NAME
Joshua's name was originally Hoshea, the same as
that of the Prophet Hosea, signifying salvation. To this was prefixed (Numbers 13:16) Je, an abbreviation
representing the word Jehovah. Thus the name became Jehoshua, signifying
Jehovah's salvation. This was shortened to Joshua and Jeshua. (Nehemiah
8:17.) The Greek form of this word in the Septuagint is Jesous--Jesus.
For twenty-seven years Joshua was the leader of Israel,
faithful to God and to the people. He not only led them through Jordan and
directed in the conquering of city after city, but he divided the land amongst
the tribes and governed the people with great acceptance, dying at the age of
one hundred and ten.
It would not do for us to contrast Joshua with
Moses as a leader; for they were men of totally different types. Indeed, any
one contrasted with Moses would be disadvantaged, so high did that great
statesman tower above the average of humanity then or since. But while Joshua
could not be Moses, the leader, commander, law-giver, he was faithful as a
follower of Moses, as one who obeyed the Divine Law, and whose faith and
influence with the people were helpful to them. He was just what God wished him
to be, and whoever is worthy of such a testimony is truly great.
The Lord's command to Joshua was, "Moses My
servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this
people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of
Israel....There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of
thy life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee nor
forsake thee....Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of good courage; be
not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee
withersoever thou goest."
THE LAND OF PROMISE
That Joshua and Israel
in conquering Canaan should take forcible
possession of it is called in question by some. They ask, By what right might
one branch of the human family destroy another and seize their land? Where is
the justice of such a course, not to mention the absence of love? How could the
Golden Rule be applied to such a course--do unto others as you would be done
by?
There is but one answer to this query; and,
rightfully seen, it is a satisfactory answer. The Lord declares that the earth
is His, that He gave it to the children of men, as represented by Father Adam.
(Psalm 115:16.) But the gift was conditioned
upon obedience and loyalty-- disobedience, disloyalty, being punishable by
death. Adam incurred this penalty; and his children, under the laws of
heredity, shared it with him, because born in sin and shapen in iniquity. Thus all
human right in the earth was abrogated by the death sentence upon the sinner.
God purposed in Himself the recovery of Adam and
his family from the curse of death--through Messiah-- through His death and by
the power of His Messianic Kingdom, not yet established. In preparation for
these blessings to come, God laid hold upon the nation of Israel and
blessed them by making a Covenant with them. Although they could not fulfil the
terms of the Covenant and obtain the choicest blessing of God, nevertheless the
Israelites were greatly blessed by their Law Covenant, and many of them were
fitted and prepared by it for cooperation with Messiah in His Kingdom in due
time. Meantime, the experiences of Israel were overruled by the Almighty, to make
of them types and symbols illustrative of the Divine Plan as it will be finally
outworked on a higher plane.--I Corinthians 10:11.
In carrying out this arrangement with Israel, God promised them and gave them Palestine. He explained
to them, nevertheless, that this gift was not because of their worthiness, but
because of His favor toward them in pursuit of His own great plans previously
outlined to Abraham. He further explained that the people of Canaan
were not making progress, and that their further continuance would be neither
for their good nor for the [R5336 : page 317] Lord's
glory--as with the Sodomites, whom God took away as He saw good.--Ezekiel 16:49,50.
TO SHEOL,
NOT TO TORMENT
It is well that we should remember that the
Bible hell, to which the Canaanites went when they were slaughtered, is not the
hell of torment pictured to us in the creeds. Their destruction by the
Israelites sent them to Sheol, to Hades, to the tomb, where "there is
neither wisdom nor knowledge nor device." (Eccles.
9:10.) There they sleep with their forefathers--just as we read of all
the good as well as of all the evil ones of that time. Abraham slept with his
fathers, who were heathen men.
All through Bible history we read that both good
and bad, dying, were gathered to their fathers--slept with their fathers. There
they are still, waiting for the glorious resurrection Morning, when Messiah's
Kingdom, having inaugurated a reign of righteousness, will bring the earth to
its Edenic condition and bring back eventually every man in his own order--all
that sleep in Hades, in Sheol, in the tomb.--I
Corinthians 15:21-29.
Death with humanity is totally different from
death with the brute, because of the Divine promise that there shall be a
resurrection of the human dead, the just and [R5336
: page 318] the unjust; and because in fulfilment of that promise God has
already sent His Son. Jesus already has died for human sin, thus opening up the
way for the resurrection-- that God might be just and yet be the Justifier of
those accepting Jesus.
True, few have accepted Him as yet, because few
have come to a knowledge of the Truth. The great masses of the world are still
blind and deaf, and know not. The glorious promise is that in Messiah's Day not
only shall all be awakened from the tomb, but the knowledge of the glory of God
shall fill the whole earth. Then all the blind eyes will be opened and all the
deaf ears will be unstopped. All will have the opportunity of returning to
Divine favor under Messiah's Kingdom. Those refusing to come into harmony will
be classed as wilful rebels, and will die the Second Death.
The nation of Canaan,
like all other nations, will have a share in that glorious time when Jesus, the
Light of the world, will lighten every man which shall come into the world.--John 1:9.
From this viewpoint, the taking of Palestine
from the people who were using it to no profit themselves, and the giving of it
to Israel for the enactment of types of good things to come, was not injustice,
but wisdom. And taking away by the sword the people already condemned to death
was just as proper as if they had been taken away by famine and pestilence. In
any event, the Divine provision for them all through Christ is a blessing,
which will reach them in Messiah's Day, when the earth shall be free from the
curse. Then the curse will be rolled away and the blessing of the Lord shall be
rolled upon them, when the enlightened will love righteousness and hate
iniquity. To all such there will be no more sighing, no more dying, no more
crying. Wilful evil-doers will be destroyed; and all the earth having been
brought to perfection, God's will shall be done on earth as perfectly as it is
done in Heaven.
W.T. R-5335a : page 317
- 1913r