UD 1-2{M. We have read the book of Joshua; and the next book in the Bible is called Judges, because it tells how God sent men to judge His people, after Joshua died.
The book of Joshua is like the sun rising, it gets brighter and brighter till it is full daylight; so the story of God's goodness to Israel gets grander and grander, till His purpose was fulfilled, and the children of Israel were in possession of the promised land. He led them over Jordan, then He led them to victory, and He gave them possession of the land; and, at the end of the book, we see the people enjoying the promises; and feeding on the fruit of Canaan. The tabernacle was set up in Shiloh, the place God had chosen; all the tribes were in their own inheritance; the Levites were in their inheritance and the cities of refuge were set apart.
S. Did God do all that He promised Abraham He would do?
M. Yes. This very land of Canaan, where Abraham had been a stranger, was now the possession of Abraham's children. God told him he should be a father of many nations, and so he was. Abraham had been dead hundreds of years ago, but God kept His word to Abraham; and God brought Abraham's children out of the land of bondage, into the promised land; it was a land flowing with milk and honey—a land the Lord God cared for—and His eyes were always upon it. And the people brought their first-fruits to God, and laid down their baskets before the priest, and confessed that God had brought them there.
S. Did they do all that Moses told them to do when they came into the land?
M. As long as Joshua lived they served the. Lord. But as soon as Joshua died, and when all the elders who lived in the time of Joshua died, they forgot God, and sin came like a dark shadow over the land of promise, and, like a cloud, it hid out the sunshine of God's goodness. So that if I call Joshua the book of sunshine, I must call Judges a book of dark clouds, with only a few flashes of light every now and then.
S. But why did the people forget God who loved them so much?
M. Because they were rich and comfortable, and they did not feel that they wanted God now; and they tried to go on without Him; until some enemy, whom they had let live in their land, came upon them; then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble and He delivered them out of their distresses.
S. Did God always deliver them when they cried to Him?
M. Always. No one ever cried to God yet that He did not answer; and Moses had told them when they were in trouble, always to cry to God and He would hear.
S. What did they do after Joshua died?
M. They asked the Lord who should go up to fight against the Canaanites. And the Lord said, Judah shall go up, for I have delivered the land into his hand. Then Judah asked Simeon to come and help him, and the Lord gave them a victory over the Canaanites; and they caught the king, whose name was Adoni-besek, and they cut off his thumbs, and his great toes.
S. Why were they so cruel?
M. Adoni-besek knew why God allowed it to be done to him, for he said, I have cut off the thumbs, and the great toes of seventy kings, and I have made them gather the crumbs under my table; and now God has done to me what I have done to them.
Then the children of Judah fought against Jerusalem and set the city on fire: And the Lord helped Judah to drive out the people that were in the mountains; but Judah could not drive out the people of the valley because they had iron chariots.
S. Why did he not ask God to break the chariots?
M. Because Judah was content with what he had gained, and none of the tribes possessed all that God gave them.
S. Why does God tell all about Caleb and Achsah again, mamma?
M. To remind us what the man of faith was able to do. It seems to me that the Spirit of God who taught these words to His servants to write, is glad to remember that, there was one man who wholly followed the Lord his God at a time when all forgot Him; and it is very encouraging to us, to see how just believing what God says, makes a man stronger than giants; Caleb was able to kill three giants, though they had cities with great walls; they were the very same giants who frightened the other spies; and Caleb got the best possession in the whole of the promised land.
Now the house of Joseph went up against Bethel. Can you tell me anything about Bethel?
S. Bethel is the name that Jacob called the place where he saw the ladder that reached up to heaven, and the angels going up and down on it; Jacob said it was the house of God and so he called it Bethel; because Bethel means the house of God.
M. And it was at Bethel that God gave him again the name of Israel, and there God told Jacob that his children would possess that land; and Jacob set up a pillar in the spot where God spoke to him. And the Lord was pleased with the children of Joseph for wishing to have Bethel. But there were many wicked people left still. The children of Israel did not drive them out, but when they were strong they made them pay tribute.
Israel ought not to have made any league with the people of the land. A league is an agreement to let them live there. The Lord was displeased at their doing so, for His angel went away from Gilgal, and came to Bochim, and He said, I brought you out of Egypt, and I said, I will never break my covenant with you; you must not make a league with the people of the land. But you have disobeyed my voice, therefore I will not drive out the people before you, they shall be like thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you. When the angel of the Lord said this, the children of Israel cried aloud, so the place was called Bochim, which Means Weeping, because there the people wept.
S. Why did the angel go away from Gilgal?
M. Because Gilgal was the place of power and victory; and now God was not going to give them victory, because they had made a league with the people of the land. They were content to let them live in their land. But it was God's land, and it was a dishonor to Him. The story of Joshua began at Gilgal, where God rolled away the reproach of Egypt. The Lord was at Gilgal, and He was the captain of His host there. When the armed men came from Gilgal they were strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might. But in the story of Judges the angel went away from Gilgal and He stopped at the place of a dry; because the only thing they could do then was to cry to God. But God came to Bochim, He did not give up His people. He stayed at Bochim listening for a cry! When Joshua died, and when all the old people who lived in the time of Joshua died, then the children of Israel forgot God and they worshipped the idols of Canaan.
S. Why did God bear with them still?
M. Because He would keep His covenant that He gave to Abraham; Israel was still God's people, and it was of His own goodness that He left His people in their land; but He punished them for their evil ways. God allowed the people of the land to afflict them, so that they were greatly distressed, then they cried to Him, and He sent a judge to deliver them; and God was with the judge; and God gave their enemies into the hands of the judge, but as soon as he died they went back to their wicked ways, and they got further and further away from God.
S. I am so sorry! I thought when they got into the promised land they would be always good.