Joshua 17
RileyJoshua 17:1-18
THE WEST SIDEChapters 14 to 21.The apportionment was in fulfillment of prophecy. If one doubts that “prophecy is the mold of history”, let him read the forty-ninth chapter of Genesis and follow it with chapters fourteen to twenty-one of Joshua, and he will discover that these tribes were finally located, as Jacob, the father of twelve, declared when dying.Who will say that life is a lottery, that affairs are mere accidents? Who will doubt that the end is known to God from the beginning, or say that He operates without a plan? Who will claim that a blind force, known as Energy, or Nature, is weaving the web of human history? Certainly not the man who has intelligently studied his Bible.The apportionment expressed the estimate of the tribe. These tribes do not fare alike.
Apparently no effort whatever is made to put them on an equal basis. Back in Numbers 26:54-55, it was written concerning this very distribution of the land,“To many thou shalt give the more inheritance, and to few thou shalt give the less inheritance: to every one shall his inheritance be given according to those that were numbered of him.“Notwithstanding the Land shall be divided by lot: according to the names of the tribes of their fathers they shall inherit”.There is a difference, then, between the lot of men-shuffling, and the lot that God employs.
The first is a mere chance, and by it the noblest may be cheated. The last is an absolute science and expresses a perfect judgment. God’s lots work no injustice. The principle employed in the distribution of these lands to the nine and one-half tribes, or, for that matter, to the twelve tribes, is the principle of the New Testament parable of the talents, where to one the absent Lord “gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability” (Matthew 25:15).That’s the basis, doubtless, of the apportionment to the tribes. God knew what ones of them would conquer a mountain; what ones of them would clear a forest; what ones of them would cultivate a plain; what ones of them would make to blossom a desert, and distributed them accordingly.The occupancy of America illustrates the fact that God does not cease to give men opportunity according to their several abilities, nor quit locating them according to character and custom. Who will doubt that the Mississippi region and almost our entire southern border was intelligently occupied by the Spanish; that the northeast states flourish the better in the possession of English, Irish and Scotch; that the central west was adapted to the German; the northwest to the Scandinavian?
A little careful study will illustrate the fact that these occupations were not mere accidents, but in each and every instance the people possessing were adapted to the climatic and industrial conditions of the particular section settled.The Levite occupied the entire land. He had no territory that he could claim, but he was given a place in certain cities and distributed among all the tribes.
There was a double reason for that fact. First, every tribe needed both the service and ensample of the Levite. Any people who propose to occupy a land, and have among them no ministers, will eventually demonstrate that irreligion cannot create a successful state, and never in history has built a strong nation.Again, distributed through the nations, they could have their living by the nations. Every community, in self-interest, should sustain a priest unto God—a minister of the Divine will, and if the law of God is regarded, every ten families in the world could maintain a minister and let him live on an absolute equality with them, for that is the law of the tithe. And when one has his living and the conscious presence of the Lord, what greater riches are needed? Let David sing of such, “The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot.
The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage (Psalms 16:5-6).POINTS OF The reading of these nine chapters brings us face to face with the fact that humanity is the same in all ages. It would not be expected that so intricate a service as the location of so many people could be accomplished without dispute.
In some instances, that dispute would be short-lived, and for the most part, a cordial discussion; and in others, it would border on battle itself. To three of these, let us call brief attention. First,Caleb presented an unselfish and righteous claim to the mountain. The record of this is found in the fourteenth chapter, Joshua 14:6-15. In this record, Caleb reminds Joshua of Moses’ promise to him. It must then have been understood that Moses was God’s man and that his word was regarded of God.
It is a great thing to so live that men will look on our word as God’s Word, and even after we are buried, will appeal to what we have spoken as truth too sacred to be forgotten and disregarded. Caleb claims that “Moses sware on that day, saying, Surely the land whereon thy feet have trodden shall be thine inheritance, and thy children’s for ever, because thou hast wholly followed the Lord my God” (Joshua 14:9).Again, there is a bit of an old man’s boast in Caleb’s words, “I am this day fourscore and five years old.
As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me”. We are not condemning Caleb for making it; we are admiring him, rather. It is a fine thing for an old man to feel his strength and to believe that, no matter how many years have passed over his head, he is still equal to war, still ready to meet giants and drive them out. We have a few such old men friends! They are a joy, an encouragement, an inspiration—great men who renew their strength in God and who, to their last breath, do valiant battle.Caleb was the one man that joined Joshua in making a report on the land of Canaan, and in that report he admitted that there were giants in the mountains, but declared, “We are well able to overcome it”.Forty-five years have swept by, and the indomitable spirit still lives, and Caleb, even now, illustrates the truth of the words spoken when he was yet a young man. He conquered because “he hath wholly followed the Lord God”.The fifteenth chapter recordsAchsah’s request for springs of water.
Caleb was of the tribe of Judah, and when he went forth to conquer, and found Kirjath-sepher a stronghold difficult to take, he proposed to give his daughter in marriage to the man who should conquer it, and Othniel, his brother, accepted the challenge and effected the conquest.Evidently Achsah was a woman of spirit and craved more than had fallen to her lot, and consequently, when her timid husband would not ask, she requested of Caleb a blessing, and an addition to her southland “springs of water”, and “he gave her the upper springs, and the nether springs”. This, also, is suggestive.
Who is content to dwell in an arid land when the Father has springs in His control, and who will doubt that these springs have their symbolic meaning, their spiritual suggestion?Do we not recall that marvelous chapter in John’s Gospel when Christ met the woman at the well and asked her to give Him to drink, and she answered, “How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of Me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.“Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water.“The woman saith unto Him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?“Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?“Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:“But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:9-14).Let us not hesitate to ask our Father for water, “Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation” (Isaiah 12:3).Finally, the schismatic altar of Reuben and Gad. The record of this is in the twenty-second chapter. This was a dispute that approached the fatal. The altar erected by Reuben and Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh over against the land of Canaan, in the borders of Jordan, was misjudged by the congregation of the Children of Israel. They looked upon it as a departure from the Lord and they proposed to abolish it, and, if need be, destroy their brethren rather than suffer such an altar to live. Was their spirit wrong?
Yes and No. They were not wrong in deciding that no false altar should live; they were not wrong in determining that rather than permit its existence, they would indulge in a civil war.
War is horrible, and of all wars, a war between brethren is the most to be deplored. But there are some things worse than war, and idolatry is one of them, and sin is one of them. They had already seen what the sin of Achan had wrought. They had witnessed thousands of their brethren perish because God’s Word had been disregarded, and they did not propose to pass through a kindred experience and be silent on the subject. In that they were right—a thousand times right.The church that supposes itself to be Christian because its officials and members are so good-natured that they will not quarrel with the false teacher in their midst, is a church guilty of the grossest folly. The time will come when that very teaching will divide and disrupt the body, and, in all probability, destroy it altogether.
History has illustrations in hundreds of cases of this identical result. Far better to call a brother to account for his false altars and false philosophy and false religion than to keep the peace.But, on the other hand, the nine and one-half tribes were mistaken in supposing this was a false altar, and mistaken in their judgment of the motive that erected it.
We want to be sure that men who are not worshiping in our particular house are thereby men who have departed from God before we fight against them. The old denominational controversies that raged white-hot were, for the most part, unjustifiable. The refusal to fellowship a man, and the proposal to fight a man because he approaches God in other ceremonials than we employ, or other sanctuaries than we have erected, is far from Christian. The great question is, Does he worship God and acknowledge the Lordship of His Son Jesus Christ, and the guidance of His Holy Spirit? If so, he is our brother, and with his conduct we should be pleased, and the altar of true worship should “be a witness between us that the Lord is God”.
Joshua 17:14
BY DIVINE Jos_17:14THIS text, when originally uttered, was the grumbling of Ephraim and Manasseh—the children of Joseph—about the portion of land that had been assigned to them. They felt that something more was due.Charles Spurgeon says, “He who would please all, attempts the impossible. God Himself was quarreled with”. And yet, in their very grumbling, these sons of Joseph expressed a great truth. God had blessed them hitherto, and it was meet that they should make mention of it. In no spirit of complaint, but rather to express gratitude, to secure inspiration, and to suggest service, have I chosen this text; and brief as it is, we will find both milk and meat in it.Permit me to set in order its most evident suggestions.REVIEW THE LORD’S PLANSEvidently the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh are reverting in memory to what God has been to them and what He has done for them; and their spokesman expresses it in the text, “Forasmuch “ as the Lord hath blessed me hitherto”.We must realize that leadership is with the Lord.
The individual is ever prone to forget that fact. The Church of God is alike tempted to the same, and yet Isaiah makes it perfectly clear that God is both the vanguard and the rereward of the Church. To Zion He says, “The Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rereward”. Therein is unspeakable comfort. We are not left to draw up a map of life and lay out our own roads; or a chart of the seas and determine our own course. If we had that to do, we should spend the greater part of our time retracing our steps or turning about the ship.
Children of chance we should become. But there is something better for God’s own. Every one of them has a right to sing, “He leadeth me! O blessed thought!O words with heavenly comfort fraught! Whate’er I do, where’er I be,Still ’tis God’s hand that leadeth me.“Sometimes ‘mid scenes of deepest gloom, Sometimes where Eden’s bowers bloom,By waters still, o’er troubled sea,Still ’tis His hand that leadeth me!“Lord! I would clasp Thy hand in mine,Nor ever murmur nor repine;Content whatever lot I see,Since ’tis my God that leadeth me.“And when my task on earth is done,When by Thy grace the victory’s won,Even death’s cold wave I will not flee,Since God through Jordan leadeth me.”We must recognize the appointments of His plans. Like the children of Joseph, men are likely to forget that the Lord who hath blessed us has had a definite purpose in the same; and that purpose is involved in a great plan for us. It is still more difficult to recognize His appointment in our disappointment. It is hard for Joseph to believe that God’s appointment involves a country where the trees must be felled, and the giants of the Canaanites destroyed. This is hard work!
This is running great risk! This is success through suffering!
This is refinement by fire; and the flesh starts back from it. And yet, God’s plan was just as definite in Paul’s imprisonment as in Paul’s preaching; just as surely in the cross of Christ as in the coming Throne. I have often watched the lightning artist drawing a picture. The strokes appeared to go wild, and to create only confusion, but suddenly some finishing touches were added, and lo, the perfect face or form was before you. It is a good deal so with much of God’s work. When we see Him at it we are tempted to criticise His movements, but if we will only follow Him far enough, we will find in the finished plan the execution of a definite and wise purpose.
I have little doubt that many things now made instances of complaint will one day, be looked back upon as an occasion of joy and rejoicing. In one of George MacDonald’s books you find this bit of conversation.
Said Mrs. Faber bitterly, “I wonder why God made me? I am sure I don’t know what was the use of making me”. “Perhaps not much yet”, replied Dorothy, “but then He hasn’t done with you yet. He is making you, and you don’t like it.” The same truth obtains with reference to the whole work of the Church of God. A half finished house is not a gainly looking thing, and if every man was not more or less of an architect, he would look upon unfinished walls and uncovered timbers to criticise them. On the contrary, knowing the builders are following a plan, he waits until it is finished to pronounce his judgment upon the same, and then finds only occasion for commendation upon both its beauty and utility.
It is not always easy to recognize the Divine appointment in the processes of life. But when His Word shall have been made good wherein He said, “What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter”, we see the great truth expressed by him who said, “Disappointment is often only another spelling of His appointment”.It is ours to rehearse the special events of God’s intervention.
It is good when the descendants of Joseph have recognized the fact, “The Lord hath blessed me hitherto”, but it is altogether right that he should give expression to the same. “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so”. Think of the significance of the 78th Psalm! There the Psalmist rehearses the entire history of Israel, and her relationship to God’s leadings. He reviews the oppression of Egypt, the crossing of the Dead sea, the forty years in the wilderness, and the final conquest of Canaan, evidently to remind his people of their obligation to God. There is no better exercise for the individual than that in which the saved Gadarene engaged, namely, telling how great things the Lord had done for him. When Jesus sent out the seventy, they shortly returned to rehearse how they had preached the Gospel, healed the sick and saw even devils subject to them.
Wherever you find a prayer-meeting in which people truthfully relate their latest experiences of grace, there will the crowd assemble. The live church is the one that is constantly experiencing the interventions of the Divine One.
Charles Spurgeon, speaking of the favors which had been enjoyed by his church, said, “Strangers will excuse us if we have a little mutual joy in what the Lord has done for us in a considerable time. These thirty-three years He has been with us, we have never been without conversions, never without fresh labor for Christ and fresh projects; and never a failure, nor a division of heart. We have gone from strength to strength in the Lord’s work. College, orphanage, colportage, evangelists, mission halls—thirty-four of them—Sunday Schools, etc. What then?” “Stop”, says the Devil. “We shall do nothing of the kind,” said Spurgeon. “We must keep our institutions going for Christ’s sake.” And, in proportion as the Church of God is loyal and true, it will not only continue to work for the Christ, but tell to the world how great things He has done for it. We could repeat Spurgeon word for word, concerning our thirty years’ pastorate in Minneapolis.Years ago an article was published in the English papers to the effect that the King of Italy had appeared in a court of law in behalf of a poor man charged with murder.
He had run down another with his wagon and left him dying. The king who had witnessed the accident volunteered the testimony, “The horse had mastered the driver, and the man was not to be blamed.”Can’t you imagine that from that hour, King Humbert’s praises were on that man’s lips and he was always telling how the king had favored him?
And, when I look back over these thirty years of our labor together, I feel that this people have peculiar occasion both to love the Lord, and rehearse the special events of His intervention. In that time we have known His continuous favor in souls saved, missions planted and maintained, a Bible School organized and prospered, evangelists sent forth, some of them becoming our representatives in foreign lands; women’s and young people’s societies prospered; and last, but not least, a safe conduct through a short period of storm to a long-continued state of delightful harmony.To speak of the many minor matters, and yet matters of moment to our church life, in which His hand has appeared, would be impossible, so great is their multitude; and yet the Lord grant us the grace to rehearse them again and again to His own Name’s honor and glory, saying, with the sons of Joseph, “The Lord hath blessed us hitherto”.REASON TO THE LORD’S His past gives pledge of his purpose. The phrase, “Forasmuch as the Lord hath blessed me hitherto” is one that involves an argument. The son of Joseph means to say, “He who has done for us in the past will be with us in the days to come”. In truth, the confidence that makes all things possible rests upon this principle. This is the basis of commercial integrity.
Men trust those of good report. The same is true in the social world.
We confide in the future of the people whose past has confirmed a good reputation. Why should we not, therefore, reason to God’s purposes as we think of how He has preserved us in the past?Think of the twenty-third Psalm as an illustration of this great truth! What is David doing there? He is rehearsing what God has done for him, and what God has been to him:“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.“He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters.“He rest or eth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His Name’s sake.“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me.“Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil: my cup runneth over.“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever”.His continuance is the ground of our confidence. “Hitherto”—the meaning is, up to this very moment! It is not the acknowledgment of favors in some far past. Last month He helped me.
Last week He helped me. Yesterday He helped me.
His help has continued this morning, and up to this minute. How our confidence in Him is thus encouraged. I remember that Henryck Sienkiewicz has a volume entitled, “After Bread”. It is the story of a poor Polish girl who came to this country with her father, torn from homeland and her lover. Her father failed to find employment. They went from bad to worse until starved to very insanity.
The old man attempted to take away the life of his child, to rid himself of the sight of her suffering. But the Lord preserved her and sent her finally to a rich Polander, who received her as a very daughter, provided her every privilege of his house, and finally fitted her and her father out with clothing, passage and money for a Western trip in search of a livelihood, if not possible wealth.In the far West the father died, the expedition failed, the girl went down to the very edge of the grave and begged newly-found friends to send her back to New York to the man who had once done her so great a kindness.
But being returned, she was doomed to disappointment. The man had moved, no one knew where, and strangers occupied the house; and, in her utter despair, she drowned herself off the pier where the father years before had attempted her death. But the favors of our God are not old favors. He moves not beyond the successful search of His own. They are as new as this morning, as fresh as the latest breath, “Hitherto hath the Lord helped us”. Oh, what ground of confidence against the future. “Our helper, God, we bless Thy Name,Whose love forever is the same;The tokens of whose gracious care Begin and crown and close the year.“Amid ten thousand snares we stand,Supported by Thy guardian hand;And see, when we review our ways,Ten thousand monuments of praise.“Thus far Thine arm has led us on;Thus far we make Thy mercy known;And while we tread this desert land,New mercies shall new songs demand.“Our grateful souls on Jordan’s shore Shall raise one sacred pillar more,Then bear, in Thy bright courts above, Inscriptions of immortal love.”His resources are the assurance of our successes. When Job said of God, “Lo, He is strong”, he was only expressing his confidence in the Omnipotent One. And it is a significant expression in Numbers 23:21-22, “The shout of a king is among them. God brought them out of Egypt; He hath, as it were, the strength of an unicorn”. Truly, when the Lord is with one he has power. Witness the ministry of Spurgeon. Men everywhere attempt to explain his success and to understand his secret. There was but one explanation. The secret was an open one. Gideon long since came into it and the inspired explanation is, “The Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon”. No wonder the Psalmist wrote, “The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid” (Psalms 27:1). “O God, our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come,Our shelter from the stormy blast, And our eternal home.“Beneath the shadow of Thy throne Thy saints have dwelt secure;Sufficient is Thy arm alone, And our defense is sure.“Before the hills in order stood, Or earth received her frame,From everlasting Thou art God; To endless years the same.“O God, our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come,Be thou our guard while troubles last, And our eternal home.”RESPOND TO THE LORD’S APPEALSThe past is but a suggestion of God’s further plans. The conflicts in Egypt over, the long march of the wilderness past, it still remains to clear the mountains and occupy the valleys. The one blessed feature about God’s work is that it is never done. This is not a weariness to the flesh, but an inspiration to service. In business men like to get into a realm practically limitless; in the Christian religion every believer finds a realm perfectly limitless. The more one does the more Divine appointments multiply.
Truly, the whole process of Christian labor is that of sowing even while one reaps, and the ripening harvest ever increases. The phrase regarding Canaan is as true today as when uttered, “There remaineth yet very much land to be possessed”.In enlarged enterprises He privileges us a part.
God is ever increasing the circle of His interest, and teaching us to walk with Him farther afield. It is related that the young eaglets, when they first leave the nest, make a very small circle, but as they learn that their wings will bear them, they enlarge it again and again, until they go forth under all the heavens. I believe that every time God calls to a special service and tests our strength, He is only fitting us for larger endeavor, training us to go farther afield with Him. And surely the Church of God needs to get the use of her wings. The circle described by the average one is small, pitiably small. We are not called to little things; we are privileged a part with Him who spake and the worlds were, and who at this present moment is engaged, with all His wisdom and strength, in the great problem of saving lost men.It is all right for us to rejoice over battles fought, and victories won. It is all right, I believe, to review our past and to praise God for it. Thirty years ago, on March 1st, 1897, this pastorate began. By a clearing of the membership rolls, we reduced our numbers to 585. The statistical table for these years follows.Comparative Statement Covering Present Pastorate 1897—1927Year EndingBasketReceipts forTotalApr. 1Membership OfferingCur. ExpensesReceipts$1,086.41$7.70474$4,762.19.4811,507.9821,825.59.5010,434-7417,641.94 72745-3712,503.8818,325.98.659.353-5414,553-89,037766.6110,972.9017,085.0519039638734710,563.8821,359-73,054891.0112,144.3220,370.75,000.5012,920.9621,082.67,119872.6513,936.0119,70341,1831144.9113,798.8121,119.41,2921,259.6213,968.5121,619.60,3861,2924416,4437525,14421,5542120,001.2534,175.05,329.6838,626.9255425.41,4801,554-6315,242.5933418.05,5331477.6014,852.3833,942.27,5831,939-5016,509.2335.977.16,6952,301-7416,547.8246,74479,7392,571-5914,306.5570,290.71,7832,558.0711,645.8275,26048,9073,226.8214,824.6061,30440,1022,783.7122,2224564422.92,2214,848.8721,931.24101,690.18,3937,064.1027,558.97138,408.72,4896,937-1725,503.44126,93415,6586,646.9027,322.32201,139.32,8087430.6040,495-91**229,10454,9099,1907048,686.75200,637.03,9908,510.2348,37585197,699.8519273,1027,0393545,561.05236,30442*A new church formed 146 letters granted**Award from city for street widening included $41,220.00.We should raise our Ebenezer, and say, “Hitherto hath the Lord helped us”. But as the quaint Spurgeon once put it, “We should not lift up an Ebenezer to sit down on it. That is not what this stone is meant for.
I have a commission to put spikes on the top of this stone. We must not dream of sitting down upon, ‘Hitherto hath the Lord helped us’.
A voice from the throne saith, ‘Speak unto the Children of Israel, that they go forward’!” If some seas are in the rear, there are lands ahead to be occupied, and enemies yet to conquer. “Forward then, in God’s Name!”His projects can only be discovered by prayer. Magazine articles and books oft discuss “Prayer as a Working Force.” And truly it is! Wisdom is in prayer as well as strength. Man needs to be upon his knees for the enduement of power; he must know the Divine will before he can discover the Divine appointment. The great General Booth once told an audience that he opened his watch and prayed with eyes open wide and talked with the Lord full fifteen minutes at a time. He said a lot of our prayers are only petitions, and we make ourselves pestiferous beggars before God. We drop on our knees and ask and ask and ask; but we do not even wait for His reply, nor listen for the still small voice that would give us direction”. The great need of the hour is to know what God would have us to do. That must precede even the power to perform, or else we will be going on missions to which we have never been appointed, and undertaking labors to which God has never called. When one remembers that Jesus Christ was much in prayer, that the early morning found Him upon His knees, and the mid-night hour revealed this infinite One in the same attitude of inquiry, he has an interpretation of the text where it is written of Him, “Lo, I come to do Thy will”; and it may be discovered by asking the great question, “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do”?Aye, my friends, that is the query for you and for me this morning. “Hitherto the Lord hath helped us”. I am unable this morning to lay my finger upon a single point and say, There, we made a serious mistake and went forward without the leadings of the pillar of cloud and fire. May the very favors which have been ours for the past three decades impress us more deeply this hour than ever. If we are not to fail in the future, if we are not to go on foolish errands, if we are not to find defeat, as did the Children of Israel at Ai, we must wait upon God until His will is clearly revealed.