The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1907-10-04
JOSHUA, ISRAEL'S
NEW LEADER
Sunday School Lesson Tor Oct. 6, 1907
Specially Prepared for This Paper

LESSON TEXT.-Joshua, 1: Ill. Mem
DRY verse, z.
GOLDEN TENT will not fail thee
nor forsake thee."-Joshua /: 5.
TlME.-The last of March or early in
April Josh. 4: 10 compared with Josh.
l: I'D, b. c. 1851 according to our Bible
margins. Many scholars place II two
centuries earlier. 1t was directly after
the Exodus.
PLACE.-The plain of the Jordan on
the east side. at the foot of the Moabite
mountains, opposite Jericho.
Comment and Suggestive Thought.
originally Hoshea, the same as the
prophet Hosea, signifying salvation"
or help" To this was added after
wards Mum. 10: 16) "Je" for Jeho-
Yah. and the name became Jehosua,
Jehovah is salvation" shortened to
joshua, later modified in Neh. 8: IL
o Joshua. from which came its Greek
'orm in the Septuagint. Jesous. Jesus.
Of whom Joshua was in some respects
type.
His Ancestry.-He was an Ephraim-
tie. descendant of Joseph, through
lphraim, and according to l Chron. z:
22-27 he was the eleventh generation
rom Joseph. His fathers name was
Nun. and his grandfather, Elishama,
vas a captain of the army of the
Ephraimites, 10000 in number, at the
organizations of the Israelites soon
after the exodus Mum. q: IS, etc.
compared with l Chron. Z: 2O.
His Birthplace.-He must have been
born in Goshen in Egypt, where his
parents were in slavery.
We would know all of life IL we com.
pletely understood any one life. 1t Is
we'll to read what we can in Joshua's
Book Of Life.
1. Matheson calls his life prosaic,
commonplace, that Of an assistant to
Moses. OF the three classes Of men
those "in advance of their time, the
men up TO their time, and the men fol-
lowing their time"-Joshua was one
Of the last type, without originality,
obeying orders; his deeds only breathe
through him, not from him." Thus
the blind preacher makes Joshua a
comfort and strength and hope to the
vast majority of men.
This may be true of the earlier por-
tons of his life up to the time of this
lesson. But now he comes to the re-
ward of his faithfulness as one who
obeys orders. By obeying he has
| learned to command. BY faithfulness
| in little things he is able TO do great
things. This is the only ladder that
may be climbed TO the best. The
one who would be an orator is
| told to learn the great orations by
heart. The one who would be paint
er studies and copies the great artists.
/ When the time came he was able to
enter the door to his great life-work.
2. A well.known scholar, says the
Temple Bible, considers the finest re-
1 ligious conception in the book the APP
pearance to Joshua of the angelic Cap
! tain of the Lords host Josh. 5: 49,
| 15). 1t is a noble illustration OF the
truth that in the great causes of God
upon the earth, the leaders. however,
supreme they seem, are themselves
| led" Joshua was great because he
was under divine guidance, taught by
divine wisdom, and therefore, humble
and strong.
8. He was a man of great courage,
! both physical and moral as he had
shown in the battle with Amalek, and
still more in action. in spying out the
land and in almost alone resisting
the clamors of the people.
4. He was a man of faith.
5. He was deeply and intensely re-
! ligious, through and through.
6. He came to have fine qualities
as a general,-keen observation,
power to control, wise leadership, ce-
lerity of movement skilful, strategy,
holiness of attack.
Ebers, in his romance Joshua"
makes him, not without some proba-
bility a captain prior to the Exodus,
in the Egyptian army. well accustom-
ed to campaigning.
The Difficulties in the Way.-These
were very great indeed.
1. The Jordan was at its food
Gosh. 3: 15). absolutely impossible
for an army, much less for the whole
people Of Israel. This made them safe
from attack, but also prevented them
from taking possession.
2. The people of the land dwelt in
walled cities against which the Israel
ties had no sufficient weapons.
These obstacles rose like an I'm
passable barrier OF mountains before
the people. Impossible to overcome
was written all over them II was like
the task which Jesus set before his
disciples when he was about to be
crucified-twelve unlearned, unarmed.
poor men to conquer the Roman EN-.
pire, when one breath of Cesar could
sweep them from the earth; to over.
come the wealth, the worldliness. the
selfishness, the sin. and crime of the
world. Lebanon was but a molehill to
this mountain Of difficulty The peo.
pie were dismayed. disheartened
hopeless almost to despair.
/