The Washington herald., 1913-11-22
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
Joshua the New Leader.
LESSON. JoShuAi, Is
GOLDEN TEXT Joshua. -

BE strong and of good cou7Se."
O Now II came to pass after the death
OF Moses the servant OF the Lord, that
the Lord spake unto Joshua the son OF
Nun, Moses minister. saying:
q Moses My servant is dead; nov
therefore arise, go over this Jordan. thou,
and all this people unto the land which
DO give to them, even to the children
Of Israel
90 Every place that the sole OF your
foot shall tread upon, to you have ]
given 1t, as 1 spake unto Moses.
% From the wilderness. and this Leb-
anon. even unto the great river. the River
Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites,
and unto the great sea toward the going
down of the sun, shall be your border.
(0 There shall not any man be able
to stand before thee all the days of thy
life; as I was with Moses, so will 1 be
with thee; / will not fail thee, nor forsake
thee.
(0 Be strong and Of a good courage;
for thou shalt cause this people to Inherit
the land which sware unto their fathers
to give them.
O Only be strong and very coura-
geous. to observe to do according to all
the law, which Moses My servant COM
manded thee; turn not from 1t to the
right hand or to the left, that thou may
est have good success whithersoever thou
shalt mediate therein day and night, that
thou mayest observe to do according to
all that is written therein; for then thou
shalt have good success.
(9 Have not / commanded thee? Be
strong and of good courage; be not af-
frighted. neither be thou dismayed: for
the Lord thy God is with thee whittier
soever thou goest.
The Story.
In the brief paragraph constituting our
lesson for today we have the account of
the special call of Joshua. and of the
charge given to him. Attention is drawn
to the time. 1t was after the death Of
Moses. and this is further emphasized by
the fact that the first word OF Jehovah
to Joshua was, Moses My servant is
dead; now therefore arise" This is not
for a moment to reflect upon Moses. or
to- suggest that he was in any sense
hindrance to the forward march Of the
people Of God. On the contrary, it indi-
Gates the fact that he had completed his
work, that his mission was ended; and
that upon the basis of work done by
servant who was faithful in all his house,
the hour had come when the people were
to go forward. The particular work of
Moses had been that OF bringing the peo-
pie under the government of God, into
national constitution; and that of giving
them the law. AS his work had had thus
to do with the people and the law; that
of Joshua had to do with the land, its
conquest, and the settlement Of the peo-
pie of God therein. To this work Joshua
wss definitely called as he was command
ed, go over this Jordan, thou. and all
this people. unto the land which l do
give to them, even to the children OF
Israel"
The charge delivered to him falls into
two parts, the first being expressed in
the terms of the covenant God made with
him: and the second in the terms of the
conditions which he was to fulfill. Je-
hovah covenanted that He would give to
the people every place upon which they
trod, Indicating the boundaries thereof.
the wilderness, the great river, Euph-
rates, and the great sea: declaring that
He would be with Joshua as He haG been
with Moses, neither failing him nor for-
saking him
The conditions laid upon Joshua were
that he should be strong and of good
courage: and that this strength and cour-
age should be realized and maintained
by obedience to the law. Here for the
first time a leader was placed under a
written law by the words. This book OF
the law shall not depart out Of thy
mouth, but thou shalt mediate therein
day and night. that thoH mayest observe
TO do according 10 all that is written
therein"
II Is an interesting fact that Joshua
had been associated with Moses In the
FIRST experience OF war in the history OF
the nation. and that II was in that con-