ITS NAME. The book is so named because it records chiefly the history of Israel during the twenty-five or thirty years of the leadership of Joshua, the successor of Moses. ITS PLACE. This book naturally follows the last chapter of the book of Deuteronomy, both as to the history and as to literary form. It describes what must have taken place, the entrance of the Israelites into Canaan. Professor Moulton says, "If the deliverance from Egypt was the birth of the nation, the entrance into the Promised Land constitutes its coming of age.' The Hebrew canon separates Joshua from the Pentateuch, "The five books," or Fivefold Book, which comprises the Torah, the Law; and places it at the head of what they called the former prophets, that is, the historical books from Joshua to Kings, written by prophets or with a prophetical purpose. From this standpoint the division is natural and perfect. The higher critics from an entirely different point of view, that of the composite history running through the previous books, and continuing in this, and the close connection of the history with that of Moses as the completion of his work, join Joshua to the first five books and call the whole series the Hexateuch, or six-fold book; which arrangement is a natural one according to that classification. COMPOSITION. From a literary point of view the story is well told, harmonious, and, so far as composed of different documents, is so well arranged and connected that even when read in the polychrome edition the story flows on for the most part in a single current, with here and there hints of different documents, comments by a later editor, or one of his notes, which in a modern book would be placed at the bottom of the page in different type, but is here incorporated into the text itself. The conquest of Canaan. - Historical. Part I. Chaps. 1-12. On the other hand, it is quite possible, even in the English translation, to note places where the writer may have used different documents in compositing or editing the book. The higher critics seem to find in Joshua all the documents they have found in the Pentateuch. The two main documents are the Judaic (about 850 B. C.) and the Ephraimite (about 750 B. C.) with several combinations and editorial additions. The Polychrome Bible uses eight colors to distinguish these. Books will be referred to below which give the theory and the details for all who have time and interest to enter upon these problems. THE DATE. Note that the date of the events is a different thing from the date of writing. It is entirely probable that, as the art of writing was well known before the time of Joshua, records were kept at the time of the events. It is also quite probable that as the language changed and the circumstances, the history may have been rewritten, and edited more than once, exactly as our histories are rewritten from time to time, and the language modernized. We are continually doing it with our Bibles, with Chaucer, Spenser, Shakespeare, etc. It is therefore probable that the early written sources were much earlier than those given above. But it is very difficult to decide how late the last editings may have been. The date of the events, according to Archbishop Ussher's computation given in the margins of our Bibles, was from B. C. 1451, exactly forty years after the Exodus, to 1420 or 1425. It is understood that these figures are not a part of the Bible, but calculations made from what was thought to be the meaning of its facts. The date of entering Canaan given now by many Biblical scholars, derived from the succession of the Egyptian dynasties, is about 1250. But this date is very uncertain, and is disputed. All that dates can do for us in teaching these lessons is to give us a view of the order of events, and the contemporary history which often throws light upon this history. SOME SUGGESTIONS. 1. It is impossible not to take notice of the discussions and the work of the higher criticism. It is in the air. It is referred to everywhere, and cannot be ignored. 2. These discussions cannot be carried to any extent into an ordinary Sunday-school class. The emphasis in teaching should be on the great truths. Nine-tenths of the Bible is unaffected as to its teaching by the higher criticism. At the same time these discussions have awakened new interest in Bible study, and called attention to portions that were being neglected, and made some things much clearer and more beautiful. 3. The questions at issue are not settled. The discussion is not concluded. For most of us it is better to wait for further light. It is true that critics of a certain school, dominated by certain theories, have come with considerable unanimity to some definite conclusions. But the end is not yet. The scientific method is right; but from the history of science in the past in all departments we learn that while certain things become finally settled as the result of its investigations, yet the results in most things are continually changing, new light comes from unexpected quarters, arguments thought to be sound are superseded by better and truer ones. In all probability it will be so in regard to the modern criticism of the Bible. Much has been gained by the work of the higher critics. I believe in the scientific method, in all ascertained facts, in the evolution and development of the Israelite nation, and of their religion as accepted by them, distinguishing between the divine truth and ideal, and the discipline of the nation towards that ideal. But I also believe that many of the inferences from the facts are very uncertain; that contradictions are oftener made by the critics not by the book; that a fair treatment eliminates most of them; that the dominating theory which leads to these inferences will be changed; that there are better and truer theories; that there are other facts which have been largely neglected, but which will lead to different and better conclusions; that in place of the temple built partly on rock and partly on shifting sands by the present popular critical school (reverent and religious as much of it is), and filled with a dim religious light of divine inspiration, there will arise a temple far more beautiful, founded on solid rock, and shining with a fuller inspiration and a clearer divine light from heaven than even the most reverent of the present higher critical school permit us to see. not a 4. Let us not be disturbed. Discussion is education. What seems tearing down may be like the taking off the plaster from some of the rooms in ancient churches, destruction, but a bringing to light of paintings hidden for centuries. Good has always come from every great period of discussion concerning the Bible. REFERENCE BOOKS. COMMENTARIES. The International Critical Commentary on Joshua, by Prof. Geo. Adam Smith; Judges, by Prof. George F. Moore ($3.00, Scribners); Cambridge Bible; Expositor's Bible; Pulpit Bible; Commentaries by Bush, Jacobus, Keil, Lange; Handbooks for Bible Classes, Joshua. FROM THE HIGHER CRITICAL STANDPOINT. Abbott's Life and Literature of the Ancient Hebrews (1901, Houghton & Mifflin); George Adam Smith's Modern Criticism and the preaching of the Old Testament (1901, Armstrong); Polychrome Edition of the Holy Bible, on Joshua and on Judges (Dodd and Mead); Cornill's History of the People of Israel; Day's The Social Life of the Hebrews (1901); Professor Driver's Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament; Hastings' Bible Dictionary; Cheyne's Encyclopedia Biblica. IN GENERAL. Professor Price's Syllabus of Old Testament History; Professor Sayce's Patriarchal Palestine; Prof. Geo. Adam Smith's Historical Geography of the Holy Land; Trumbull's Studies in Oriental Social Life; Professor Moulton's Modern Reader's Bible, on Joshua and Judges; Lex Mosaica (Eyre and Spottiswoode). FROM THE PRACTICAL STANDPOINT. Geikie's Hours with the Bible; Edersheim's Bible History; Stanley's Jewish Church; Geikie's Old Testament Characters; Tuck's Revelation by Character; White's Bible Characters; Joshua, His Life and Times, by Rev. William Deane, M.A. (Nisbet, London); Joshua and the Land of Promise, by F. B. Meyer, B.A. ($1.00, Revell Co.); Joshua and His Successors, by William H. Groser (S. S. Union, London); Thornley Smith's Joshua and His Times, chap. 4; Miss Sarah Smiley's Fulness of Blessing; F. B. Meyer's Our Daily Homily, Genesis to Ruth. JOSHUA ENCOURAGED.- Joshua I: I-II. GOLDEN TEXT. - Be strong and of a good courage. SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS. One volume of Professor Moulton's Modern Reader's Bible is devoted to "Bible stories of the Old Testament," in the preface to which he says, "There can surely be no question that these classic stories of Biblical literature should have a place in all education, whether of the home, the Sunday school, or the instruction that calls itself secular." A great educator says that one of the chief qualifications of a good teacher is to be able to tell a story well. In this quarter there will be an abundant opportunity to exercise this gift, and to present the lessons in a picturesque form which will interest all. The five degrees of grading are represented as (1) personal stories, (2) heroes, (3) history, (4) ethical and religious, (5) literary. All of them are combined in these lessons, and in the lesson for to-day. - JOSH. I: 9. LEARN BY HEART. Vs. 7-9; Psa. I. CO-OPERATIVE STUDY. Subjects to be distributed the previous Sunday, for home study and class report and discussion. The book of Joshua. Study of God's Word. THE SECTION includes the first two chapters of Joshua with a review of the last chapter of Deuteronomy. I. Now it came to pass PRONUNCIATIONS. Am'orites, Euphrates, Găd'ītes, Hit'tites, Mănăs'seh, Nun, Og, Ra ́hăl, Reū'běnītes, Si'hon, Shittim. after the death of Mō'ses the servant of the LORD it came to pass, that the LORD spake unto Josh'u-a the son of Nun, Mō'ses' Character Sketch. I. The New Leader. A V. I. Now after the death of Moses, described in Deut. 34. The LORD spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, who by divine authority had been already designated as Moses' successor by Moses himself (Num. 27: 18; Deut. 31: 14-23). A hint of one possible way in which God spoke to him is found in Josh. 5: 13-15. Moses' minister, his closest attendant, his prime minister, or, as it were, his private secretary. HIS NAME, originally Hoshea, the same as the prophet Hosea, signifying "salvation" or 66 help." To this was added afterwards (Num. 13: 16) "Je" for Jehovah, and the name became Jehoshua, “Jehovah is salvation," shortened to Joshua, later modified in Neh. 8: 17 to Jeshua, from which came its Greek form in the Septuagint, Jesous, Jesus. HIS ANCESTRY. He was an Ephraimite, a descendant of Joseph, through Ephraim, and according to I Chron. 7: 22-27, he was the eleventh generation from Joseph. His father's name was Nun, and his grandfather, Elishama, was a captain of the army of the Ephraimites, 40, 500 in number, at the organization of the Israelites soon after the Exodus (Num. 2: 18, etc., compared with 1 Chron. 7: 27). HIS BIRTHPLACE. were in slavery. He must have been born in Goshen in Egypt, where his parents. DATE OF BIRTH. He was about eighty-four at the time he became commanderin-chief. He died at the age of 110 (Judg. 2: 8). And if he was twenty-seven years in Canaan, as the Jews say, he would be 83 at the time of the crossing in B. C. 1451, and therefore 43 at the time of the Exodus, or thirty-seven years younger than Moses. His birth, according to Ussher's chronology, would therefore be about B. C. 1534; or 1334, according to the later chronology. HIS HISTORY. Brought up in Egypt, under their bondage, he must have known and had part in the great deliverance, the plagues, the first passover, the crossing of the Red Sea, the desert march, the giving of the Law from Sinai. His first appearance in the Scripture narrative is as a commander of the Israelite forces in a battle with the Amalekites soon after the Exodus (Ex. 17: 8-16), before the arrival of the Israelites at Sinai. then became an attendant or aide-de-camp to Moses. He was one of the explorers sent out to spy out the land, and, with Caleb, stood up with great courage and faith against public opinion, which was ready to stone them to death. He CHARACTERISTICS. 1. Joshua's most distinguished characteristic was courage, both physical and moral, to which he is so earnestly exhorted in vs. 6, 7, 9. ILLUSTRATION. In an article in the Century for June, 1888, we are warned against misjudging as to courage. Moral courage, not indifference to danger, is the highest form of courage. Two soldiers were charging up a hill with their regiment, in a desperate attempt to capture a battery. "When half-way up, one of them turned to the other, and said, 'Why, you are as pale as a sheet. You look like a ghost. I believe you are afraid.' 'Yes, I am,' was the answer; and if you were half as much afraid as I am, you'd have run long ago.' One of the bravest officers in the Civil War, who had treated shot and shell with an indifference that had made him a marvel of courage, was in perpetual fear on a steamboat. Often the timid, who dread the smallest things, are far more courageous than those who physically have no thought of fear. ILLUSTRATION. "The great Admiral Nelson, as courageous an Englishman as ever lived, who attacked a polar bear with a handspike when he was a boy of fourteen, and told his captain, when he was scolded for it, that he did not know what fear was, had a slight form and a weak constitution, and could never have won a boat race. The highest courage which ever animated a human body would not enable the owner of it, if he himself were 1 even to the 2. 1 Mō'ses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jor'dan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, children of Is'ra-el. even 1 Deut. 34: 5. untrained, to stand for five minutes against a trained wrestler or boxer. . . True manliness is as likely to be found in a weak as in a strong body." - Thomas Hughes. The two most distinguished instances recorded of Joshua's courage are the expedition of the spies and its sequel (Num. 13: 16-14: 10); and the crossing of the Jordan described in the next lesson. 2. His faith in God. 3. His deep piety. 4. His trustworthiness as a subordinate. 5. His fine qualities as a general, — keen observation, power to control, wise leadership, celerity of movement, skilful strategy, boldness of attack. PRACTICAL LESSONS. 1. All his past life was a preparation for the great work to which he was now called. He never could have done the work, he never would have been called to it, had he not been faithful, active, ready to learn, and always doing his best. He that is faithful over a few things will be made ruler over many things. This is the only ladder upward. So it was with David. So it always has been, and always will be. Much evil results from the ambition to have high position and to do great things, without being willing to undergo the necessary discipline and preparation. 2. When the time came, God called him, and opened the door to the great work of his See the whole poem in Suggestive Illustrations on Acts, p. 102. JOSHUA AS A TYPE OF CHRIST. 1. Their names are the same. 2. Their work was similar, to save the people. 3. Joshua was a conqueror in Canaan, as Christ was conqueror of the world. 4. Joshua succeeded Moses, as Christ with his Gospel succeeded the law. 5. Joshua led the people across the Jordan into the Promised Land. 6. Joshua led the people in the conquest of their enemies. 7. When the war was over, Joshua retired to his own possession in Mount Ephraim, and 'dwelt there. Jesus ascended on high, and there forever sat down on the right hand of God. - Condensed from the Cambridge Bible for Schools. 2. Moses my servant, the II. The Great Work to be Performed. — Vs. 2-4. one appointed to do my work, is dead. Therefore there is a vacancy. A new leader is needed. "The workers die, but the work goes on." "Men may come and men may go, ILLUSTRATION. In Westminster Abbey is a marble tablet containing the medallion portraits of the two Wesleys combined together, and underneath is the inscription: "God buries the worker, but carries on the work.' Arise, take the place of the dead leader. Go over this Jordan, which lay below them at flood-tide, between the Israelites and the Promised Land. See next lesson. This command was a severe test of his faith and courage. The land which I do give to them, "which I am giving to them. That is, the land of which I have long promised them the inheritance, and of which I am now in the very act of putting them in possession." Bush. "The possession of Canaan by the Israelites is constantly set forth as a free gift of the divine favor" (Gen. 12: 7; 13: 15; 17: 8, etc.). "But while the donation of this land was an act of the Lord's free favor to the Israelites, the taking it away from the Canaanites was no less an act of his retributive justice of such justice as it behooved |