HERE we get another mention of Caleb. I have always thought that he could not carry it out fully himself, and so his brother's son helped to carry it out. The idea is that they cleared their property-that they were a family of faith.
Caleb, as a spy, was a servant of God. God, I believe, opens out to His servants what He is going to do, so that they may lead His people into it. The other spies behaved exceedingly badly; they inspired the people with their own fears. I have often admired the way in which Joshua sank back into the ranks of the people, to come out again when his day came. He and Caleb, instead of getting all that which they had faith to take possession of, had to go wandering through the wilderness for forty years. Caleb is one who stands out as a type of what the church ought to be; he says, "I am as strong this day as in the day that Moses sent me." Faith never grows old.
Verse 63.-Here we get Jerusalem with the Jebusites in it, and " Judah could not drive them out." It was David who "took the stronghold of Zion: the same is the city of David." It is remarkable that David at the close of his history recalls the mighty men that he had during his rejection, not during his royalty.
And the Lord looking down through all these years-it is not so much the church as the servants that are before Him; when the church failed it was the servants who commenced it; it is the evil servant who says in his heart, "My Lord delayeth his coming." And when the cry came and ministry revived, there was a revival of the saints. I do not exonerate the congregation, but to a certain point I excuse them. In the epistles to the churches it is "the angel" that is addressed; and this angel is not simply one person, a particular gift, as is often thought. The church itself is looked upon as the angel; it might fail in being a true representative before the Lord; but if there were but one faithful person, like Gaius, it would be responded to by him. It is remarkable that with Gains comes an exclusiveness that never was before: there is the exclusive name of " friends "-those who were really friendly; it is not the generic name of " brethren; " some were evidently hostile; Diotrephes was. But the apostle supposes " an ear to hear; " and this makes everything more definite at the close.
Well, I think Caleb's history is a very encouraging one. He says, " If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land," and I am sure we can say, He does delight in us, and He has brought us in. I feel that, having such things, we owe an immense responsibility towards the rest of the saints in Dublin. A Caleb has immense responsibility towards others: " Others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire." It is not seeking to proselytize, but to deliver. " Of some have compassion, making a difference," you must deal gently with them; others it can only be "with fear." And when we look at David's mighty men we see they did not war so much for the good of David as for the good of his country; it was a patriotic thing. It was a public act-not a sectarian one, if I am to speak plainly.
Joshua 16
WE find now that some of the tribes have full possession, but not all of them; still, there is some failure in each of them, as we find in the last verse of chapter 15. There is a point where each fails; the lot of their inheritance they have in possession; but there are still enemies. So in the last verse of this chapter.
Joshua 17
HERE we find the same as to the half tribe of Manasseh; it is the lesson that we never do attain to full possession. I do not mean that there is lack of faithfulness, but still it is a fact. We have always something to attain to. It is impossible to suppose that you can reach perfection here; the actual possession is in measure. It is a never ceasing warfare; it is not-because a person has got firm on the ground that there is a point where there is nothing to conquer. You must be always attaining.
In another place it says God allowed the nations to continue in the land, lest the wild beasts should increase upon. them; and it is a wonderful thing how the world protects the people of God from evil and violence in that way. A wicked man will not defraud a Christian, because men in general would not stand it; so the fear of men in general secures you your rights.
But you never can say that you have done everything, that all is cleared away. So it is a great mischief to a saint when he 'thinks that he has made such a good stand, that there is nothing more left to do; as for instance, a man giving up the army, and thinking it so great a thing, that nothing more is needed. As a writer once said: " It is the most unfortunate thing-for most men to do a great action, because they then think they never need do another."
When Peter left the ship to walk on the water, the Lord might have said to him, Do not think you will never have to do this again-; for the fact was, the ship did tempt him again. There may be a trial before you-a renunciation that you have never had before. Or it may be some favor; as God said to Gideon, " Bring them down to the water;" a mercy often tries people more than a trial.
The enemies are people who encroach on your property, and at the same time infect you with their society.
Verse 13.—Here we get it again. Here is where the mistake is: " They put the Canaanites to tribute, but did not utterly drive them out." A person may say, I cannot drive them all out. But the question is, Do you set yourself to do so? When they put them under tribute, they ceased to drive them out. It is almost better for a man not to be a heavenly man at all, than to say he is, and not maintain it. He is like a bird with a wounded wing; he cannot walk, and he cannot fly; he is neither fit for land nor sky. Nothing can stand but the heavenly man. The Lord walked through this earth as a heavenly man; through here in human nature, and having perfect sympathy with human weakness apart ' from sin, He was ever " the Son of man who is in heaven." It was not that He adopted man's feelings and gave them a gilding; it was divine feelings exhibited in a man.
Believers—agree in saying they are new creatures; but that is not true; a butterfly is a new creature; but we are a new creation. It is not one creature altered into another creature of the same creation, but it is a new creation altogether, This is the argument of Cor.
It is not a question of what we shall be, but the apostle is showing, by the present state of things, that there are now different kinds of flesh, and that then there will be the heavenly man as well as the earthly one.
And I am now to carry out this new creation in the old one. If I say, the old creation is a barrier to my carrying out the new, then I am impugning my Creator. The eye is all right in itself; it is the will that works it that makes the mischief; so I carry about in my body, " the dying of the Lord Jesus," that I maybe getting rid of everything that hinders my being a true exponent of the life of Jesus upon earth. He is the head of the new creation. The Old Testament is the history of the old man under trial, and that is always failure: the New Testament is the second man, and that is always success. Everything- is brought out again in Christ that had failed in Adam: the first man was tried in every conceivable way; innocence, conscience, law-every way; and then Christ comes in.
Verses 16-18.-This gives us fresh conquests. You can get an accession-an. increase-to what you already possess. Thus, a person may get in advance beyond his brethren in heavenly things, because of his faithfulness. An interesting thought in connection with this, is the way in which the Lord gave Mary Magdalene Ephesian truth which He does not propound to the assembly. He gave the message to her; He considered her to be in a fit State to receive it,- and state is what is required. You will find that every servant of God is put through a state of things which will fit him to give out to others the trust that God reveals to him. God puts each where He will be able best to expound the truth He has given him. Paul in prison is in the fit place to declare heavenly truth; and John in Patmos is in the fit place to see what God-thought of the earth. If you were to transpose them, you would not have either in the fit place to carry out his ministry. John was an exile on earth, having nothing, and so the Lord shows him all the condition of things that will be on the earth. Paul was in prison for the mystery, and God shows him what heaven is and the glory of it. You see this continually in the Old Testament prophets. The Lord brings His servant into a state of things which will make him not a mere automaton, like a pump bringing up water, but where what He teaches in word may be learned practically.
Well you are " a great people; " the greatness is there; but if you are great, you must prove your greatness; you may have a double and a larger portion of the heavenly position, but you will have to fight for it.
Joshua 18.
VERSE 1.-There is the possibility of getting such a sense of possession that it gives a person rest for the time, so that they can turn to God. They " set up the tabernacle." I think, without pressing the thing too much, that we now get into the true place of worshipping God.
Verses 4-6.-What is the meaning of these three men out of each tribe 2 The seven tribes do not get their turn yet. I think it answers to the ministry.' You see service is never over. A man never can say he has done serving the church-edifying the body of Christ-no one can ever say he has done enough. I suppose the number three shows that there is a sure testimony. " In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established." Very often difficulties in the word of God prove the occasions for the unfolding of the greatest light. I think people ought not to be in a hurry to find out the meaning of a thing; it is well to raise questions for yourself; to say, What does this mean?
Joshua 19
VERSES 49-51.—This is very interesting. It reminds us of " his inheritance in the saints." I have a very happy feeling about this division. of the land. I think my place is assigned to me in heaven, though I have not got it yet. No one else will get it; it is appointed for me; each lot falls to the right man; no other can take it; you will have your own, whether you are in possession now or not. First two and a half tribes are put in possession as an earnest: and thus we are sealed, we have " the earnest of the spirit," and so we worship God: the tabernacle is set up; and then the rest of the land is to be explored and divided, and each person to get his lot.
Joshua 21
THE Levites are men not so much occupied. with the enjoyment of Canaan as with leading the people of God into Canaan. They have not possession of the land, but they have dwelling places in it. It is another thing the whole army fighting to take possession, and this one tribe set apart to keep the people's hearts in connection with God. Real service is always to bring the soul to God. If I am in the enjoyment of God myself, I want to bring souls into the same enjoyment; if the Scriptures are unfolded to me, I want to bring other souls into the understanding of them; therefore the Levites and the priests were all connected with the sanctuary, that they might bring the people into the nearness to God in which they were themselves. We come from. Christ now as really appointed and gifted to draw souls near to Him. That is true service.
Verse 13.-It is very interesting to see that Hebron becomes one of the cities of the Levites, as well as a city of refuge. Caleb gives it up to them, and especially to the children of Aaron the priest. The cities were marked out; they were appointed to them; they were dwellers in the land rather than taking it as their inheritance: " They which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar." It is interesting to see this one tribe wholly given to the service of God, dwelling in cities scattered all over the country, making the service of God their object. As the people were more devoted to God the Levites were better looked after; and, as the people began to decline, we find the Levites were neglected in proportion. I never saw a person yet who made little of ministry in the word, that he was in a good state. Of course one may not be edified; but the thing is to seek it. In ministry, saints often come together to be acted upon instead of coming to help. No one is ever really disappointed who comes in the spirit of " Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it; " out of the stones He can make bread, and He can turn a very little thing into immense profit to a soul. But I find saints come together expecting to be acted upon; it is a very different thing if I come expecting to hear something I am to act on.
Joshua 22
VERSES 10-20.-We now get the two and a half tribes building an altar. What is this? Did they build it to escape going to Shiloh?
It is the failure of the epistle to the Hebrews; there they tried to make an earthly worship on a heavenly ground; they did not mean to give up the tabernacle. Here the people had not got into the true position. In Hebrews they did not understand that they were to take a heavenly position before God on earth.
We find in this altar the principle which is the root of all idolatry: it was " a great altar to see to." When Aaron made the calf he never thought of giving up God; all he wanted was something visible something to appeal to the eye. The thing was to get a representation.
Now there was to be no representation of God but Christ, and not that until Christ came. Here it was the altar-not an idol. And this is the character of all the systems that have been set up on earth. The excuse given is that they are needed to meet the weakness of man; something " to see to." It is seeking to bring God to man's ground, instead of man to God's. But God has come down to the lowest point of humiliation in order to exalt man to the highest point of the creature. The greatness of the grace is in the humiliation to which He descended, and so it is called "the riches of his grace." But getting a something " to see to," is losing the place of divine power. The whole thing is really a conflict between the visible and the invisible: " the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal; " it is the invisible God that we have to do with.
It was subtle. They did not mean to do it; but they wanted something to connect itself with their natural senses. But I am never either to take from or to add to God's word. One of the most specious reasons for system given by the Rationalists is, that you must have a church to suit the temperament of the- people-a church to suit ignorant people, and another to suit the learned. That is just the rationalism of man. I do not want an altar " to see to; " if I do I am going counter to God's altar, " We have an altar whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle," so that we are outside the Jewish polity. Unbelief and independence go together.
If you say, the Lord suffered it, I admit it; He suffers many a thing that He does not commend. He let the people have a king when they desired one. Even in one's own life we have ' seen how God, as it were, says, If you will have it so, then try it. I have the strongest feeling about asking God to give me merely temporal things.
Verses 21-34.-We see they entirely repudiated the notion that it was an altar for worship; but there was true zeal for the Lord on the part of the other tribes; they were afraid of what it might come to.
We are to get great principles from this book. If we just look over what has come out, we find that we have possession of the land, a limited position in it, given to us by lot; we have the cities of refuge; we have the Levites in their cities; and then we get the failure that comes up-the altar. The people decide against it, but still there it stands. Ed is placed there, though it has been met with a storm of holy zeal for God, with the resolve that there should not be another altar-that nothing should be super-added.
Joshua 23
Now we come to what will lead to the loss, the forfeiture, of the heavenly standing. We have seen that it is the purpose of God to have us in that standing, and that to that end there is no measure to the power that He will give us; He would have us in the enjoyment of it, We have seen the failure, through want of purpose of heart, of the two and a half tribes; but now that the land has rest from War, and that the possession of the other tribes is a settled thing, the servant of God sets forth to the people how they would forfeit all this great possession-how it would come to pass by their leaving the inhabitants of the land in their midst, and their being corrupted by them. This would lead to their departure from God, and then they would-quickly lose everything; forfeiture would come. A person may be dispensationally right, and yet be " wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked," as the Lord says to Laodicea. As Moses had said to them in Deut. 28 " Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things, therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies, which the Lord shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things." A person is sometimes far more careful to reach a point than to maintain it. This is 'just what Israel was. It is evident if you do not enjoy what you possess, that you are not entering into the value of what you have. So the apostle says, "Rejoice in the Lord." It is not possible that the Lord should allow a person to be brought into a high position and yet leave him there when he is incompetent to maintain it. People often think position is everything, but position always requires condition. It is right, certainly, to stand up for position; but, I repeat it, the moral gain from position is condition.
False worship becomes the snare of the land. Deuteronomy gives us the difference that there is between the wilderness and Canaan, and between Egypt and Canaan: The eighth chapter gives us the wilderness and Canaan; the eleventh, Egypt and Canaan. When you come to the wilderness trials, it is not false worship that is your danger, but in Canaan this is the snare. In the wilderness it is more your own private trials and the like-you are pining for something that you have not got. But now that the people are dwelling in cities that they never built, and possessing vineyards that they never planted, false worship becomes their danger. Joshua, the leader, sets before them what would cause their failure-departure from the Lord their God; he is, like Peter in his second epistle, as the shepherd of the flock looking at what will cause it: the tendency is failure.
The snare is association with the people who belong to the land. That is man. It is always man that is the thing to be afraid of. You cannot read the Psalms without seeing that man is the oppressor: Balaam's advice holds good to this day: try and get them to be social; try and get them to mix with you. It is the old principle, that, by thus acting, the very best thing becomes the very worst. I have heard it maintained that the epistle to the Ephesians could not have been written to that church, because they were warned of such gross evils. But that is exactly the case; it is the man that goes highest that is the One who falls lowest; one high up, if he do fall, it must be a great fall. So the church of Ephesus when it fails takes the lead in failure.
There is nothing more seductive than man. Solomon was drawn away by marrying strange wives. Nothing shows such a lack of spirituality in a saint as his getting on in worldly company; and by this I do not mean grossly bad people, but people with whom he cannot have communion. It is then the Nazarite loses his hair. The moment you fall to the level of a person, you have lost your power with him; you have lost your hair, which is the sign, I may say, of your singularity. But how about business? you ask. Well, business is like a horse in a mill: it is no pleasure to the horse, but it is his work, and he gets it done and over as soon as he can. People who keep worldly company always show it in their ways; it is curious to see how even staying one week in a worldly house often makes one trim oneself up in one's dress to suit them. A man rubbing up against a whitewashed wall gets the color of it. And what does not appear at all worldly in worldly company, looks very much so when you are out of it. The burden of every epistle is, keep clear of the world. But, say-'some, I shall not get into their religious ways, if I mix with them; I shall have nothing to do with their false gods. You cannot be sure of that; if you get into the world you will get into its lusts, and it says, " covetousness, which is idolatry"- covetousness, the wish to obtain anything which God has not given you. Your great power against the enemy is fasting and prayer: fasting, refusing to minister to the man; while prayer keeps you dependent on God; you must take the place of separation from them. But, you say, this will be a very strait-laced life. And so it would, were it not that I have a better thing.. Canaan is larger than the world, and it is larger than the wilderness. In the wilderness there are no cities to dwell in, no vineyards to enjoy the fruit of; and in Egypt I have to water with my foot-nothing without toil; whilst in Canaan I have the rain from heaven. It is a miserable thing when a Christian thinks every one in the world is better off than himself. Canaan is a type of the heaven we are now in, and of the spiritual blessings that we now enjoy in Christ; there are enemies there, and it is not the Father's house, but we have enjoyment there, and the tabernacle is set up there. It is the enemies there that are our danger; Jude tells' us of men who have " crept in unawares " who are " spots in your feasts," "wandering stars; " it is the people who have crept in who have done the mischief; " cursed children, ", as Peter calls them. Each has his peculiar difficulty to overcome, each will meet with enemies; as John says, the snare of "babes " is men; the snare of " young men " is the world. The " fathers " have no snare; I do not mean they do not have trials, difficulties, and so on, but they have found rest of heart in Christ-" him that is from the beginning."
Joshua 24
VERSES 1-15.-Joshua reminds the people two or three times in this address that they were idolators at first,' and that therefore there is a natural tendency in them to go back to idolatry.
It must have been a very interesting moment when Joshua confronted the tribes in this way at Shechem, and when he forecast their future to them as Jacob did, and Moses. What a sad thing for the servant of God, after long service, to thus have true fore castings as to the failure that would come after his departure. Here, after a long and blessed campaign, putting the people in possession of the land, he sees that failure is imminent; and certainly nothing can be more pitiable than their history after this: carried away into Babylon they "perish from off the good land which the Lord gave them."
There is enough to keep us humble in looking back to what we have been. We see the mighty hand of God; He has brought us into this wealthy place, and it enhances His grace to look back and see the state of wretchedness which he has brought us out of. As the apostle puts it: " Such were some of you." You could not -remember that you had been poor unless you were now rich; it is the very fact of being set in this wondrous position that enables you to go back in thought to your former one. When in worship, being set high, we can look back to the low; it is not necessary to begin low, though often a meeting does begin in a low tone and rise to a high one, like Habakkuk, who begins- his prayer upon variable notes and ends on stringed instruments. But this is not Deut. 26; there worship begins; and it is not well to drop low to see how you can rise.
Verse 14.-This is our responsibility.
Verse 19.-Joshua is fully aware of the state of things, just as Moses was; he had no expectation from the people. They were too confident; as the Scripture says: " A fool rageth and is confident." They said just what they did to Moses, "All that the Lord hath spoken we will do:" But Joshua did not believe in them.
Verses 26,27.-He says, I have no confidence in you, but in this stone I have. It has heard all the words that I have spoken, and it will retain them. I believe this stone is Christ. So here Joshua falls back upon the stone, and writes all the words on it, and says to the people, I hear your declaration, and I have no confidence in it; but I will tell you in what I have confidence: in this stone, the Rock of Israel; " I have confidence in you, through the Lord."
Verse 32.-Joseph's bones being brought was the proof that they expected resurrection in the land. The idea was, that he was to rise where he was buried. And so, morally, I say we rise where we are buried.
The close of the book is very like the close of the day: it does come to a close, but—it is with the hope for every one that we are coming to the morning-that eternal morning when Christ Himself will be the perfect witness. But you cannot let the book flow- through your mind without its bringing very distinctly before you the wonderful working of God, the desire of His heart to set you upon heavenly ground, and the terrible character of opposition that you are subject to from your fellow-man and Satan upon the earth. (J.B.S.)