The Tupelo journal., 1902-10-17
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
Lesson In the International serics
for October 10, 10O2-Tbe Fall
of Jericho.
THE LESSON TEXT.

the ark of the Lord, the priests going on,
and blowing with the trumpets.
IA. And the second day they comprised
the city once. and returned into the m
SO they did six days.
Is. And 1t came to pass on the seventh
day, 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.
Is. Audit came to pass at the seventh day,
when the priests blew with the trumpets,
Joshua said unto to the people. Shout. foI
the Lord hath given you the city.
IL. And the city shall be accursed. even II.
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.
Is. And We, in any wise keep yourselves
from the accursed thing, lest We make
yourselves accursed, when We take of the
accursed thing, and make the camp of
Israel a curse. and trouble It.
~. But all the silver, anG, gold, and YES.
sells of brass and iron, are consecrated
unto the Lord: they shall come into the
treasury of the Lord.
20. So therpeople shouted when 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
GOLDEN TExT.-By faith the wall.
OF Jericho fell down.-Heb. IL 3
LESSON TOPIC.-God's Word as to the
Walls.
Keeping the passover .......Josh. SLIP
Divine Instructions Josh. 5-13-6:5
The city taken ...,...........Josh. $3.50
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 Israel"
(5:1). 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 Gill
gal, that the Israelites might renew
their covenant with Jehovah through
the rite of circumcision, and that
tthey 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 of 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 fight
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 a spe.
cial, personal assurance of Jehovah's
actual leadership. He received il
here.
The City Taken.-The order OF
march was (1) a company of armed
men, (2) the seven priests with rams
horns, (3) the ark, (4) the rest OF
the hostile "rearward." The his.
torian tells us that the siege of Jeri
cho was very effective (6:1), and that
it's 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: (1)
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
1t. Here the historian saw a 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 using
his people as an instrument with
which to inflict deserved punishment
on a race whose existence, for the
best interests of mankind at large, |
could no longer be tolerated. a.
The conquest was a religious move
ment. 1t was faithfulness to God
and the law that brought success,
and unfaithfulness that brought fail
ure.
PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS.
The love of God is the light of man.
Gods orders are not to be- criti.
cised, but are to be carried out.
If the church triumphs, it will be
through faith and obedience.
Gods (apparent) foolishness is
wiser than the wisdom of the wisest
men.
If the church triumphs, it will do
so through Gods methods and not
thronrh mans |