Custer County Republican. (Broken Bow, Neb.) 1882-1921, 1906-12-13


this land. Your wives, your nttli
ones and your cattle shall remain in
the land which Moses gave you on
this side Jordan; but we shall lass
before your brethren armed. all the
mighty men of valor, and help them;
until the Lord have given your hreth-
rem rest as he hath given YOU
And the Reubentes and the Sad
ties and half the tribe of Manasseh
had promised that they would do even
as Moses had commanded, but the
first day had passed without their put
ting in an appearance, and tb IN the
second and now the third day had
dawned, the day on which they were
to go into the Promised Land and
still they did not appear. And as the
people waited there by the swollen
waters they wondered whether their
brethren would fail thene and how
they were to cross over
1t must be that Joshua would lead
them across, for the night before he
had sent word through the camp tell
ing the people to sanctify themselves
and declaring that on the morrow the
Lord would do wonders among them.
And that morning in eager expectancy
the people had come forth from their
tents but the river was still there,
and their brethren, the Reubenites
and Gadites and the men from Man
asseh had not yet come, and how,
then were they to cross Jordan and
gain the Promised Land? Troubled
and anxious they set about the morn
ing task of gathering the mama, but
scarcely had they finished, when mes
sengers came from Joshua, saying:
when We see the ark of the COW
enant of the Lord your God, and the
priests the Levites bearing it, then we
shall remove from your place, and go
after it,"
But the river?" the people ex-
claimed, and the armed men of the
tribes of Reuben and Cad and Man
asseh have not come, as they prom
sed."
But the messenger had departed I'M
haste even while they were making
their complaint, and wonderingly, but
obediently, the people struck their
tents and prepared for the onwardl
march.
In the meantime there was test
ing time going on for the men of the
tribes of Reuben and Cad and Man
asseh, to whom the call had come to-
leave their families and their posses.
sions and go before their brethren to-
help them gain possession of the land
on the other side Jordan. God had.
blessed them, and given them rest in
goodly land. They must show their
gratitude by helping their brethren
in the harder task of winning posses
sion of their inheritance. They must.
leave their possessions, even while
they were Just beginning to enjoy
them. They must give up their rest
which was so sweet after the long,
weary years of wandering. But they
would do it because they had prom
Used. While any of their brethren
were still without the borders of the
land God had promised to give them
they could not enjoy their own inner
itance. Nay, the permanency of their
own possessions must depend upon
their brethren taking possession Of
|
Thus during those three days did they
purpose to loyalty support Joshua.
And on that third day while the
people waited by Jordan's brink with
their flocks and their little ones I'M
til the priests should set forth bearing
the ark of the covenant they babe their
wives and their little ones good-by
and turning their backs upon their
own possessions they set their faces
steadfastly in helping their brethren
in obtaining the rest into which they
had already come.
The bugle note had sounded and the
people see the priests lift the ark
and start towards the rivers brink.
And as they watch in awe and wonder,
the waters suddenly stand upon a
heap and those below the place where
the feet of the priests have touched
flow on revealing the bed of the river.
On move the priests until the center
of the river is reached, where they
pause.
So absorbed have the people been.
in watching this miraculous dividing
of the waters that they did not OBJ
serve the commotion in the camp in,
their rear, but now as the priests
pause in the center OF the river, there
marches forth the long columns of the
Reubenites and their brethren, armed
and ready for war.
There are times when the joy and
gratitude of the heart are so. intense
that the lips are dumb and the voice
hushed before realization of the great
blessing which has come into the life
There were the great multitudes OF
the children of Israel watching those
mighty waters of the Jordan rolling
, apart and opening highway by
which their feet might gain the Prom
ised Land there were the armed
, forces of their brethren going before