The Expositor's Bible: The Book of Joshua

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William Garden Blaikie. The Expositor's Bible: The Book of Joshua

CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY: THE BOOK OF JOSHUA

CHAPTER II. JOSHUA'S ANTECEDENTS

CHAPTER III. A SUCCESSOR TO MOSES

CHAPTER IV. JOSHUA'S CALL

CHAPTER V. JOSHUA'S ENCOURAGEMENT

CHAPTER VI. JOSHUA'S CHARGE TO THE PEOPLE

CHAPTER VII. THE SPIES IN JERICHO

CHAPTER VIII. JORDAN REACHED

CHAPTER IX. JORDAN DIVIDED

CHAPTER X. CIRCUMCISION AND PASSOVER – MANNA AND CORN

CHAPTER XI. THE CAPTAIN OF THE LORD'S HOST

CHAPTER XII. THE FATE OF JERICHO

CHAPTER XIII. RAHAB SAVED

CHAPTER XIV. ACHAN'S TRESPASS

CHAPTER XV. ACHAN'S PUNISHMENT

CHAPTER XVI. THE CAPTURE OF AI

CHAPTER XVII. EBAL AND GERIZIM

CHAPTER XVIII. THE STRATAGEM OF THE GIBEONITES

CHAPTER XIX. THE BATTLE OF BETHHORON

CHAPTER XX. THE BATTLE OF MEROM

CHAPTER XXI. JOSHUA'S OLD AGE – DIVISION FOR THE EASTERN TRIBES

CHAPTER XXII. THE INHERITANCE OF CALEB.15

CHAPTER XXIII. THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE LAND

CHAPTER XXIV. THE INHERITANCE OF JUDAH.20

CHAPTER XXV. THE INHERITANCE OF JOSEPH

CHAPTER XXVI. THE DISTRIBUTION COMPLETED

CHAPTER XXVII. THE CITIES OF REFUGE

CHAPTER XXVIII. THE INHERITANCE OF THE LEVITES

CHAPTER XXIX. NO FAILURE OF GOD'S PROMISE

CHAPTER XXX. THE ALTAR ED

CHAPTER XXXI. JEHOVAH THE CHAMPION OF ISRAEL

CHAPTER XXXII. JOSHUA'S LAST APPEAL

CHAPTER XXXIII. JOSHUA'S WORK FOR ISRAEL

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Four hundred years is a long way to go back in tracing a pedigree. Joshua's might have been traced much farther back than that – back to Noah, or for that matter to Adam; but Israelites usually counted it enough to begin with that son of Jacob who was the head of their tribe. It could be no small gratification to Joshua that he had Joseph for his ancestor, and that of the two sons of Joseph he was sprung from the one whom the dying Jacob so expressly placed before the other as the heir of the richer blessing (1 Chron. vii. 20-27). It is remarkable that the descendants of Joseph attached no consequence to the fact that on the side of Joseph's wife they were sprung from one of the highest functionaries of Egypt (Gen. xli. 45), any more than the children of Mered, of the tribe of Judah, whose wife, Bithiah, was a daughter of Pharaoh (1 Chron. iv. 18), gained rank in Israel from the royal blood of their mother. The glory of high connections with the heathen counted for nothing; it was entirely eclipsed by the glory of the chosen seed. To be of the household of God was higher than to be born of kings.

Joshua appears to have come of the principal family of the tribe, for his grandfather, Elishama (1 Chron. vii. 26), was captain and head of his tribe (Num. i. 10, ii. 18), and in the order of march through the wilderness marched at the head of the forty thousand five hundred men that constituted the great tribe of Ephraim; while his son, Nun, and his grandson, Joshua, would of course march beside him. Not only was Elishama at the head of the tribe, but apparently also of the whole "camp of Ephraim," which, besides his own tribe, embraced Manasseh and Benjamin, being the whole descendants of Rachel (Num. ii. 24). Under their charge in all likelihood was a remarkable relic that had been brought very carefully from Egypt – the bones of Joseph (Exod. xiii. 19). Great must have been the respect paid to the coffin which contained the embalmed body of the Governor of Egypt, and which was never lost sight of during all the period of the wanderings, till at length it was solemnly deposited in its resting-place at Shechem (Josh. xxiv. 32). Young Joshua, grandson of the prince of the tribe, must have known it well. For Joshua was himself cast in the mould of Joseph, an ardent, courageous, God-fearing, patriotic youth. Very interesting to him it must have been to recall the romance of Joseph's life, his grievous wrongs and trials, his gentle spirit under them all, his patient and invincible faith, his lofty purity and self-control, his intense devotion to duty, and finally his marvellous exaltation and blessed experience as the saviour of his brethren! And that coffin must have seemed to Joshua ever to preach this sermon, – "God will surely visit you." With Joseph, young Joshua believed profoundly in his nation, because he believed profoundly in his nation's God; he felt that no other people in the world could have such a destiny, or could be so worthy of the service of his life.

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At last Joshua rejoins his master, and they proceed towards the foot of the mount. As they approach the camp, a noise is heard from afar. His military instinct finds an explanation, – "There is a noise of war in the camp." No, says the more experienced Moses; it is neither the shout of victors nor of vanquished, it is the noise of singing I hear; and so it was. For when they reached the camp, the people were at the very height of the idolatrous revelling that followed the construction and worship of the golden calf, and the sounds that fell on the ears of Moses and Joshua were the bacchanalian shouts of unholy and shameful riot. What a contrast to the solemn and holy scene on the top! What a gulf lies between the holy will of God and the polluted passions of men!

During the painful scenes that ensued, Joshua continued in faithful attendance on Moses; and when Moses removed the tabernacle (the temporary structure hitherto used for sacred services) and placed it outside the camp, Joshua was with him, and departed not out of the tabernacle (Exod. xxxiii. 11). We are not told whether he ascended the mount the second time with Moses, but it is likely that he did. At all events he was much with Moses at this early and susceptible period of his life. The young man did not recoil from the company of the old, nor did he who had been commander in the battle of Rephidim shrink from the duty of a servant. Deeper and deeper, as he kept company with Moses, must have been his impression of his wisdom, his faith, his loyalty to God, and his entire devotion to the welfare of his people; and stronger and stronger must have waxed his own desire that if ever he should be called to a similar service he might show the same spirit and fulfil the same high end!

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