OS 5-6{M. In this fifth chapter of Joshua we read, that the kings of the people of the land were greatly frightened when they heard what the Lord had done for Israel. Then the Lord told Joshua to circumcise all the children of Israel; for none of the people that were born in the wilderness were circumcised, and you know that those men who came out of Egypt died in the wilderness, because of their unbelief.
This was to show that they must not think anything of themselves. It was God who had brought them there, they had nothing to be proud of. Do you remember when circumcision began?
S. When God told Abraham to put God's mark upon his son.
M. Yes. Circumcision was the sign that they had given up their own will. The place where Joshua circumcised the people was called Gilgal, which means a rolling away, because the Lord said, This day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you. Gilgal was a blessed place, it was their first possession in the promised land; and it was there they laid the stones that they took out of Jordan, so that Gilgal kept up the, remembrance of Jordan; and there, God wiped away the disgrace of Egypt, for it was a great disgrace for the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to have been bond slaves in Egypt.
In this happy place they encamped, and there they kept the Passover. God had set them free from the service of sin, free from the trials of the wilderness, and free from their own selfish wills.
There they ate of the lamb roast with fire, and on the day after the Passover they ate of the old corn of the land, and unleavened cakes and parched corn.
S. How delightful! Was that why the manna did not come any more?
M. Yes. Every day for forty years the manna had not ceased to fall around their dwellings; but on the day after they tasted of the old corn of the land the manna did not come; for they ate of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year. But it was in Gilgal they tasted it first.
S. Did they keep the Passover to remember the night that they came out of Egypt?
M. Exactly. When they ate the lamb in Egypt it was the beginning of their journey, they ate it in haste, because they were going to fly from the power of Pharaoh; but when they ate the Passover on the other side of Jordan, they had come to the end of their journey, and they could look back in peace, and remember all that God had done for them.
He had in His mercy brought forth His people whom He had redeemed, He had guided them in His strength to His holy habitation. God had brought them in to the promised land and there they kept the Passover again, for it was a night to be much remembered forever.
S. Will the people in heaven remember that Jesus died on the cross?
M. Yes, that will never be forgotten. In heaven we shall have Jesus Himself. The One who is God's Lamb, and who, is also the manna, the Bread which came down from heaven; and also the old Corn of the land; for all these are figures to teach us the different ways in which Jesus is known and enjoyed by His heavenly people.
S. What is the difference between the manna, and the corn of the land?
M. The manna came down to where they were and lay all round them in the wilderness; but the corn only grew in the land, they must be in Canaan to get it. When we speak of feeding upon Jesus as the manna, we mean that we enjoy Him as the humbled Man down here, when He took the form of a servant, and became obedient unto death. Every word He spoke down here and everything He did, was like the small coriander seed which the children of Israel gathered; and the Holy Spirit shows us how to gather, to admire, and to delight in the ways and manners of this heavenly Man, and to feed upon Him in our hearts. But when we speak of feeding upon Him as the old corn of the land, we mean that we are enjoying Him as the risen Man who is gone up to glory. The same Jesus still, but risen from the dead and set down at God's right hand in heaven. All power is His, and all glory is His, and we who believe are one with Him where He is.
S. I am afraid I do not understand that, mamma.
M. God alone can teach it to you, my child.
Now when Joshua was near Jericho he looked up, and he saw a man standing before him, with a sword drawn out of its sheath in his hand, and Joshua went to him and said, Are you for us or for our enemies? And he said, As Captain of the host of the Lord am I now come. Then Joshua fell on his face and worshipped him and said, What says my lord to his servant? And the Captain of the Lord's host said, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot, for the place whereon thou standest is holy; and Joshua did so.
S. That is what God said to Moses at the, burning bush.
M. Yes. It was the same God, and His servant must always be as one who stands on holy ground. The Lord was Captain of His own host, and His sword was drawn for His people.
Now Jericho was closely shut up and no one went in or out, for fear of the children of Israel.
S. Do you think Rahab was watching for the spies to come back?
M. She certainly expected them to return, for she hung the scarlet line in her window. Perhaps she could see the children of Israel in their camps outside, for her house was built on the wall of the city; in that country they used to put great walls round their cities, and they built houses on the top of the walls. And the Lord said to Joshua, See I have given into your hand, Jericho, and the king, and the mighty men. Then the Lord told him how he was to take Jericho. So Joshua called the priests—he did not call the armed men first—and he said to the priests, Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of the Lord. And Joshua told the armed men to go on before the ark, and to march all round the city; they were to do it once every day for six days, and on the seventh day they were to march round the city seven times, and then the Lord would give them the city.
S. Were they not to fight a battle?
M. No. Obedience to God's word was to give them victory.
God was with them, He was the Captain of His own host, His Spirit was not yet grieved by evil in their midst and He used His great power for His people. They had to obey in patience. They were to go on for a whole Week doing what God told them to do; they might have said, What a foolish thing to march round a city, and to blow with trumpets; how could that make those great walls fall down? But God had said it, and every time they marched round the city; it was like telling the people inside that judgment was coming on them. When Joshua had spoken, the seven priests took their trumpets, and the armed men went first, then the priests, blowing with their trumpets, and then the ark. And Joshua said, You must not shout or speak at all until the day I tell you to shout. So the ark of the Lord went round the city once and they came back to the camp and rested there. And the next day Joshua got up early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark, and they all went round the city as before, and then went back to the camp. And they did this every day for six days. But on the seventh day they got up very early at the dawning of the day; and they all marched round the city seven times; and at the seventh time, when the priests blew with the trumpets, Joshua said, Shout! for the Lord, has given you the city! And they gave a great shout, and the wall of the city fell down flat!
S. Oh what a crash it must have been! I wonder if they were frightened?
M. It was a terrible moment for those inside, for the people rushed in at every part, and they destroyed every living creature in the city, but one solitary house was saved.
S. That was Rahab's!
M. Yes. Joshua had desired the two spies to go to Rahab's house and to bring her out, and also all that were with her in the house; and they did so. Rahab had thoroughly believed that God's judgment was coming, and she believed that He would save her and her house, for she had gathered all who belonged to her into her house: her father was there, and her mother, and her brothers, and all her family. And the spies brought them out every one, and left them outside the camp of Israel. Then they burned the city with fire. But the gold, and the silver, and the vessels of brass and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord.