The Montgomery tribune., 1907-11-08
Joshua Renewingth the
Covenant With Israel
Sunday School Lesson for Nov. 10. 1907
Specially Prepared for This Paper
Specially Prepared for This Paper

day whom ye will serve."-Joshua I:15.
TIME.-Near the close of Joshua's life.
According to our Bible margins, b.. c.
1877, % years after crossing the Jordan,
and is after our last lesson. Prof. Beech
cr thinks that the time since the crossing
OF Jordan was much briefer.
PLACE.-The religious capital was at
Shiloh (Josh. 1SI). The great assembly
for renewing the covenant was at She
chem, between Mounts Ebal and Geri-
zim.
JOSHUA was nearly 40 years old, liv-
ing at Timnath Serah, not far from She
chem.
Comment and Suggestive Thought.
The conquest of the country took
several years, not of uninterrupted
warfare, but of wars intermingled with
cultivating the fields and making
homes and becoming citizens. Al
though the Canaanites were not wholly
exterminated Josh. 23:12; Judg. 2:
2, 81, yet the war was practically end
ed, and the people gave themselves
to the positive work of settling down
as prosperous citizens of the Prom
ised Land Josh. 21;43-45).
Joshua was drawing near to the
close of long and useful life of 11O
years. He had been watching the
tendencies Of the times, and knew well
the character Of his people and the pc
culiar dangers to which they would
be exposed Therefor he determined
to make, before he died, one more ap-
peal to them, under the most solemn
circumstances possible.
It is uncertain whether the last two
chapters of Joshua are two different
addresses or two reports of the same
address. The only Importance of the
question is its bearing on the struc-
ture of the book.
The Polychrome Bible, the Exposit-
or's Bible, and others regard them as
two trustworthy reports of the She
chem address, given separately as the
editor received them, and not inter-
woven according to the plan usually
adopted.
Others regard them as two similar
addresses on the same great occasion
to different audiences, the first to
mass meeting of the people, and the
second to the officers and judges of
all the tribes assembled at Shechem,
probably on the sloping sides of Mts.
Ebal and Gerizim, where they had
gathered 25 years before, on the first
entrance into the Promised Land, and
made the most solemn promises to
God.
VS.. 1-13. No circumstances could
be more impressive, as, amid these
hallowed associations and memories,
the white-haired, beloved leader, saint
| ly in character and touched with the
light of a near eternity, arose and
made his dying appeal, somewhat as
the Apostle John, when very old, went
| feebly among the disciples, saying
continually: Little children, love
one another" In this place all the
assembled multitudes could see and
hear him. For the air is so clear
that "single voice can be heard by
| many thousands" The longest re-
corded distance at which a mans
voice has been heard is Is miles in the
Grand Canyon of Colorado. DR.. Young
records that at Gibraltar the human
voice has been heard at a distance Of
ten miles.
Joshua first proclaims what God has
done in the past, as a motive for
trusting and obeying him in the pres
ent. Gratitude and love are awakened
by his wonderful goodness to them.
Faith in him and reverence and awe
are inspired by the manifestations of
his divine power Tvs. 1-13).
Joshua's Conference with the Peo.
ple.-Vs. 1924. Urges the people to
choose you this day whom ye will
serve. VS.. IA, Is. v. IA. Now there.
FORE" in view of these facts, fear the
LORD" Not be in terror before
him, nor driven from him by fright
but hold him in reverential awe and
respect, realize his power to help and
to punish, so as to devote yourselves
to him in perfect trust. There can be
no trifling Serve him in sincerity
and in Truth" Not in outward farms
merely, but also in the heart and the
life John 4:23, 2D. The idea, says
Prof. Beecher, is rather of Wilderness
integrity, than sincerity.
The Double Witness. .-Vs. 1928
First. The Covenant-V. rs. Made q
covenant with the people that day.
1. e., "he solemnly ratified and renew
ed the covenant of Sinai (Ex. 1920
as Moses had done before him in the
plains of Moab (Deut. 29: Cook
"Set them a statute" He determined
and established what in matters o.
religion should be with Israel law ant
right"
v. 26. "And Joshua wrote" Al
Moses at Sinai wrote all the words
that Jehovah had spoken in book
probably a papyrus-roll (Ex. :4:4), 81
Joshua now inscribed minutes o
the transactions connected with thu
renewal of the covenant at Sechem
"In the book of the law of God" Thi
protocol he placed inside the roll o
the Law of Moses. Cambridge Bible
Practical Points.
There Is only one right principle o
|