Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1907-10-17
The SUNDAY SCHOOL.
INTERNATIONAL LESSON COM.
MENTS FOR OCT. 20 BY THE
REV. I. w. HENDERSON.
Subject: The Capture Of Jericho,
Josh. 6:S.2O-Golden Text, Heb.
11:3O-Memory Verse, 30


11:3O-Memory Verse, 30
Commentary.
Jericho was a walled city of en-
trenched power Israel was an I'M
armed host. The contest appeared
to be unequal. But the inequality
was merely apparent. AS 1t turned
out, faith without armament was
mightiest.
1t must have seemed silly to those
who sat on the wall in fancied secur-
ity and laughed, to see such an army
march in silence around Jericho
twelve times in seven days and be
ready for more. The besieged were
doubtless as curious about the out
come as were they who marched with
silent faith in and at the word of
God. Israel had learned persever-
ance through privation and conf
dence through experience. The citi-
zens of Jericho were to learn that the
apparent unwisdom of God is the Sc
cret of the salvation of men. The ST.
lence of Israel was destined to be the
lull before the storm.
The victory at Jericho is a lesson
in the fruits of faithful obedience and
a demonstration of the effectiveness
of the unusual and apparently fool
ish methods God uses to force the full
fillment of His purposes.
The falling walls of Jericho sound
ed the praises of faithful human ODE
dience to divine DEGREES. 1t may have
seemed unwise to Israel to do as they
did, but they put their trust in God.
The tactics were as unmilitary as they
were original. The whole proceeding
was odd. To the men on the wall it
must have been strikingly fantastic,
judged by the accepted methods of
military procedure. 1t was not in
the code. After six trials marching
brought no results. It was, on the
surface, thoroughly absurd. What
ever the opinions of the Israelites
may have been, they obeyed the word
of Jehovah with conspicuous fidelity
They may have grown weary but they
never stopped until they were told
to do so. They were under march
ing orders. The spectacle of the 81
lent, tramping thousands must have
been terrific.
The tumbling battlements Of Jeri-
cho demonstrated the finality of
uOu ouu way. uS lhcIIHOOu ID
that, whatever the terror that ulti-
mately surged through the minds Of
the defeated city men, they were
scornfully amused at the strategy Of
Joshua for some days.
If he had besieged them in due and
ancient form they might have fore
seen the possibility of their over
throw. But to walk wall to pieces
was new to them. If they had been
shrewder they might have perceived
that Joshua would never have been
guilty of such movement had he
not been certain of an outcome favor
able to himself
The lesson is supremely applicable
to modern conditions and to the war;
fare of the church against militant
sinners and entrenched sin To-day
America is dominated by sinful and
rapacious men who sit snug and snug
and tight within the city of their
self-interest and of self-aggrandize-
ment at the expense of the public
welfare and the common need.
Politicians and journalists. mer-
chants and financiers, greedy, god
less lot, make up the census of the
modern Jericho. They laugh at mo-
rality. They scoff at religion. The
counsels of the church are idle
preachments to them. The councils
of the sincere souls who desire to
destroy their city and their power
simply excite their derision. They
disdain that simple declaration of the
Gospel of God in Christ.
But just as surely as Joshua saw
tho lie nf Tarinhn ~ nd oh
to earth, so shall we If we are faith
the destruction of the city and the
citizens of sin which affront and in
suit and flaunt and exploit us. For
God lives
The method is so simple in COM
parison with the devious and diverse
procedure of the forces of sin that
oftentimes we wonder whether it will
pay to do the bidding of Jehovah.
But it will. The continued and cumu-
lative reiteration of the truth that is
lnseparable from moral and religious
principles will surely have effect. We
may wonder why our earnest proc
lamations of divine verities do not
destroy sin at once and why in the
face of ages of testimony for right
eousness and for God so many yield
themselves to sin. But the fact re-
mains that no force has been so eff
ficient as this; no factor in life Is
so able and likely to destroy mod
ern sin and undo the guilty machina-
tions of modern men.
God is able to reward obedience
now as He was at Jordan in the
days of Joshua. He is as able to
win victories by apparently insult
ficient means as He was there and
then. His strength has not failed.
Nor is His wisdom weakened. His
capacity is co-existant with eternity.
We have only to obey Him to secure
success. Whatever may be the
strength, the cynicism, the hypocrisy,
the rapacity, the effrontery, the un-
bridled self-indulgence of the inhab-
itants of our modern Jericho we may
obey God and simply declare His
truth. For the truth is a stay and
sword. 1t is as supreme as 1t Is
superb.
The modern Jericho Is as real in
its way as was the Jericho that Josh
ua overcame by the grace of God.
The certainty of the downfall of the
modern Jericho is as sure as was that
Of Jericho of old. God is with US
Obedience will have fruitage.
"Rooter," "Bug," and cyan"
II must. indeed, be admitted. in all
Justice that, although photographers
have not as yet devoted their acu-