The Montgomery tribune. (Montgomery City, Mo.) 1892-1910, 1907-10-04
ISRAEL'S
NEW LEADER
Sunday School Lesson for Oct.6 4, 1907
Specially Prepared for This Paper
Specially Prepared for This PAPER

ME.-The last of March or early in
Apr Josh. 4: 10 compared with Josh.
1: ID, B. G. 1851 according to our Bible
margins. Many scholars place It two
centuries earlier. 1t was directly after
the Exodus.
PLACE.-The plain OF the Jordan on
the east side. at the foot Of the Moablte
mountains, opposite Jericho.
Comment and Suggestive Thought.
Joshua, the New Leader.-His Name,
originally Hoshea, the same as the
prophet Hosea, signifying Salvation"
or help" To this was added after
wards (Num. 10: 16) "Je" for Jeho-
yah, and the name became Jehosua,
Jehovah is salvation" shortened to
Joshua, later modified in Neh. s: II
to Joshua, from which came its Greek
form in the ~Septuagint, J%esous, Jesus,
OF whom Joshua was in some respects
a type.
His Ancestry.-He was an Ephraiu-
tie, a descendant of Joseph, through
Ephraim, and according to 1 Chron. Z:
e2-27 he was the eleventh generation
from Joseph. HIS fathers name was
Nun, and his grandfather, Flishama,
was a captain of the army Of the
Ephraimites. A 800 in number. at the
organizations of the lsraelitcs Boon
after the exodus (Num. 2: IS, etc,
compared with 1 Chron. Z: 27).
His Birthplaee.-He must have been
born In Goshen in Egypt, where his
parents were IN slavery.
We world know all of life IL we CON-
pletely understood any one life. 1t Is
we'll to read what we can in Josl1a's
Book of Life.
l.. Matheson calls his life prosaic,
commonplace, that OF an assistant to
Moses. or the three classes of len
those Sin edvance Of their time, the
men up to their time, aud the men fol-
lowing thet. time"-Icshua was one
of the last type, "wit'put originality.
obeying o%rters; his des1s only breathe
through hin. not from him" Thus
the blind preacher makes Joshua a
comfort ap1 strength III d hope to the
vast majority of men.
This may pc true of tie earlier Ior-
lions of Ills life up to the time of this
lesson. But Icw he cones to the re-
ward of his saithfulness 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
ore who would be an orator Is
tod to leero the great o~rations by
heart. The enc who would be a paint
eJ studies and copies the great artists.
When the time came ne was able to
enter the 6cor to his great life-work.
2. A well known scholar, says the
Temple Bible, considers the finest re-
lIgious conception in the book the APP
p%earance to Joshua of the angelic Cap.
tain of the Lords host' Josh. 5: 49,
1O. 1t is a noble i'll Istration of the
Truth that In the greey causes of God
Supreme they seem, rre themselves
I'D" Joshua was great because he
vas under divine guids nee, taught by
divine wisdom, and Therefore, humble
aid strong.
5. He was a nan Of great courage,
brth physical and moral, as he had
! Shown in the battle will, Amalek, and
still more In action, in spying out the
laid and in almost alone resisting
the clamors OF the people.
4. He WAS a man Of faith.
Il. He WAS deeply and intensely re-
lig,ous, through and through.
6. He came to have dne qualities
as a gencral,-keen observation,
power to control, wise leadership, ce.
ler'ty of movement skiltul, strategy,
holiness of attuck.
Ebers, in his romance Joshua"
makes him, not without some proSa.
biltty, a captain prior 70 the Exodus,
In the Egyptian army. we'll accustom.
ed to campaigning.
The Difficulties In the Way.-These
were very great indeed.
], The Jordan was at its food
Gosh. 8: 15). absolutely impossible
for an army, much less for the whole
people Of Israel. This made them safe
from attack. but also prevented them
frora taking possession.
q. 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. 1t was like
the task which Jesus set before his
disciples when he was about to be
cruciied-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
~selishness, the sin, and crime of the
world. Lebanon was but a molehill to
this mountain OF difficulty. The PEG.
pie were dismayed, d~isheartened
hopeless almost to despair.
Practical Points.
The path of duty is like a direct
road to success, and moving from II