Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1902-10-18
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
Lesson In the International Series
for October 10, 10O2-The Fall
of Jericho.
THE lesson TEXT.

(Joshua 6:12-2o)
L. And Joshua rose early in the morning,
and the priests took up the ark of the Lord.
Ii. And seven priests beating seven trum-
pets of rams horns before the ark of the
Lord went on continually, and blew with
the trumpets: and the armed men went
before them; but the reward came after
the ark of the Lord, the priests going on.
and blowing with the trumpets.
"a. And the secon0 day they comprised
the city once, and returned into the camp:
so they did six days.
10 And il came to pass on the seventh
Gay, that they rose early about the dawn
Ing of the day, and comprised the city
AFTER the same manner seven times: only
on that day they comprised the city seven
times.
16. Andi came to pass at the seventh day,
When the priests blew with the .trumpets.
joshua said unto to the people, Shout: for
the Lord hath given you the city.
II. And the city shall be accursed, even It,
and all that are herein, to the Lord: only
Rahab the harlot shall live. she and all
That are with her in the house, because
she hid the messengers that We sent.
H. And We, in any wise keep yourselves
| from the accursed thing, lest We make
yourselves accursed, when We take of the
4ccursed thing. and make the camp of
Israel curse, and trouble 1t.
IT, But all the silver, and, gold, and yes
sells of brass and iron, aNe consecrated
unto the Lord they shall come into the
| treasury of the Lord.
~ ~ the people shouted Wnen the priests
blew with the trumpets: and it came to
pass, when the people heard the sound of
| the trumpet, and the people shouted with
a great shout, and the wall fell down fiat,
| so that the people went up into the city,
every man straight before him, and they
| took the city. ~
GOLDEN TEXT.-By faith the walls
of Jericho fell down.-Heb. II $50.
| LESSON TOPIC.-God's Word as to the
Walls. y
OUTLINE OF sCRIPTURAL SECTION.
Keeping the passover ........Josh. 5:1-12
R BY n1ti instructions ......Iosh. S-ISm6:s
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
An Unmilitary Delay.-When the
| inhabitants of Canaan heard of the
miraculous crossing of the Jordan,
their heart melted, neither was
there spirit in them any more, be-
cause of the children of Israeli
| (5:D. 1t is a well-known military
| principle that the best of all times
| to strike an enemy is when he is
| paralyzed with fear. According to
| this, Joshua should have marched
without delay against Jericho. But
at Gods command he halted at Gil
| gal, that the Israelites might renew
| their covenant with Jehovah through
| the rite of circumcision, and that
they might celebrate the passover
| Our lesson shows that nothing was
| lost by this delay.
Keeping the Passover.-The inhab-
| itants of Canaan were paralyzed
with fear at the approach of the
Hebrews, and at the marvellous way
| in which all obstacles vanished be-
fore them. There was absolutely
no danger Gf attack, and so Joshua
| rested for a time at Gilgal, which
was his headquarters throughout the
conquest. During this time the rite
of circumcision, which had been dis
continued during the years of wan
dering, was Reconstructed, and the
passover anniversary of the flight
from Egypt was observed for the
| first time in the land of promise
! Notice that the miraculous supply
of food was not continued after it
became possible to obtain food in
any other way. 1t was not Gods
purpose to encourage laziness.
Divine Instructions.-In seeing the
''prince of the host of jehovah
Joshua had his vision as Moses had
his at the burning bush. In the
great responsibility that had been
laid upon Joshua he needed spe-
cial, personal assurance of Jehovah's
actual leadership. He received 1t
here.
The City Taken.-The order of
march was (D a company of armed
men, (2) the seven priests with rams
horns, 90 the ark, a. the rest of
the hostile "rearward." The his
torian tells us that the siege of Jeri>
cho was very effective (6:1), and that
its final fall was wrought by the
hand of God alone, mans part being
simply the movements described in
the text. The account purposes to
teach at least these four things: ()
Obedience. The Hebrews were
armed men. They were strong and
of good courage" They must have
been tempted to attack the city in
the usual way, but they obeyed, ex-
ercising great self-control, for they
were allowed to make no demonstra-
ton against the city except the sol
emn one divinely ordered. The fall
of the city was the reward of obedi-
ence. (2) Faith. They were exhort.
ed to be strong, and then at once
commanded not to use that strength.
They needed the strength, but they
also needed to learn not to rely on
it. Here the historian saw lesson
of trust in God. 'By faith the walls
Of Jericho fell down. (3) Israel
was Gods chosen people. We are
made to see the conquest from two
points of view. First, God was TAX
ing the land of Canaan for his people
Israel and second God was usipo
his people as an instrument with
which to infiict deserved punishment
On race whose existence, for the
best interests of mankind at large
could no longer be tolerated. az
The conquest was religious move
mcnt. Tt was faithfulness to God
and the law that brought success.
and unfaithfulness that brought fail
ure.