CHAPTER XXVIII.

JOSHUA.

"Only be strong and very courageous." Joshua i, 7.

"Foremost captain of his time,

Rich in saving common sense,
And, as the greatest only are,
In his simplicity sublime."

-Tennyson.

THE character and career of Joshua, as they are pictured to us in the Old Testament, 1 give forcible expression to the dignity of simple manhood and the dynamic force of faith and courage. From the time when he appears in the narrative as Israel's captain and Moses' minister, up to the final farewell, when, having as we are told 2 conquered the land for Israel, he laid down the burdens of life, having pledged his house to serve the Lord, the dominant note of his career was faith, and its prevailing atmosphere the courage which springs from faith. As a spy, he believed that Israel could take

1 For critical and historical discussions see the articles "Joshua" in Hastings's Dictionary of the Bible and the Encyclopedia Biblica. 2 Judges I gives a different account of the conquest which does not attribute it to Joshua.

the land; as a general, his courageous strategy made the conquest of impregnable fortresses like Jericho and Ai possible even by his smaller forces; as a moral leader, he would yield to no temptations to gain illicit wealth; as an impartial ruler, he is represented as justly dividing the land.

If

The life of faith and courage was not, however, necessarily free from error. What life is? Acting too hastily he made his league with the Gibeonites, 2-an act which, we are told, long crippled his people. One or two mistakes cannot ruin a life of faith. the persistent attitude of the heart is right, and its needle points faithfully to the polestar of the moral and spiritual world, its victories are sure. So it was with Joshua. An old Hebrew poet, a bit of whose song was copied from the lost book of Jashar into our book of Joshua, so strongly believed that heaven itself was interested in the struggles of this noble, manly life, that he represents in poetical hyperbole the sun as standing still to watch and aid his victories, for he sings:

7

1 The oldest narrative, which is now embedded in Joshua vi, so represents it. See Carpenter and Harford-Battersby's Hexateuch. Vol. II, pp. 328-330, and Joshua in the Polychrome Bible, pp. 8, 9, 2 See Joshua ix. 3 ff.

"And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed.""

The conquest which Joshua made is suggestive of that which may be made by every man of faith. Life lies before him as a promised land. Its physical frame and earthly environment are the rich valleys which are capable of bearing plentiful harvests; its mental and moral powers the mountain peaks which are capable of bearing upon their sides the exhilarating vine, and of affording from their summits broad prospects and inspiring visions. These are at the beginning of life under the sway of the selfish propensities inherited from the past and bound up in the bodily frame. The work of life consists in bringing this land of promise into subjection to the Highest, so that the harvests of its valleys and the inspiring vintage of its hills shall support the unselfish life of the ideal Christian disciple. At times it is an arduous work. The enemy often seems to have all the advantage; but faith, courage, and persistence in the right way may bring the victory in the end. The conquest is not completed in a

1 See Joshua x, 13.

moment; it is the work of years. Here and there in life's mazes one makes an alliance with an appetite or a propensity to which he should give no quarter; but if the heart is right, such errors will be ascertained and corrected. "If in any respect you take a mistaken view, God will make that also plain to you. Only we must order our lives by the standard which we have already reached." 1 The Father in heaven watches over such a life and will faithfully reward its faith and courage. Its victory is sure.

1 Phil. iii, 15, 16, as rendered in the Twentieth Century New Test

ament.

CHAPTER XXIX.

DEBORAH.

"I Deborah arose,

I arose a mother in Israel."

Judges v, 7.

“Maiden, when such a soul as thine is born, The morning stars their ancient music make." -Lowell.

THE poem which constitutes the fifth chapter of the book of Judges is thought by many to be the oldest poem in our Bibles. It is one of the purest and strongest bits of Hebrew verse. It is the poem of women. It celebrates a victory accomplished by women, and toward the end pathetically pictures the sorrows of a woman. Deborah inspired Israel's general; it was her prophetic voice which called the disunited tribes together, and welded them into an effective force. It was Jael who, when the hated oppressor fled from the victorious army, delivered her people by taking his life. It was a hard and savage deed, but we must not forget that it was a hard and savage age. It was a deed which appealed to her compatriots, and