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TOPIC: Pink, Arthur - Gleanings in Joshua (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 05.1-Standing at the Jordan 3:1-6
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Gleanings In Joshua
5. Standing At The Jordan
Joshua 3:1-6
The Jordan
The long season of preparation had reached its close, and the arduous task confronting Israel must now be tackled. The forty years they had spent in the wilderness requires to be viewed from a twofold standpoint. First, it was a Divine judgment on the adult generation which, after being so graciously brought out of Egypt and so gloriously delivered at the Red Sea, gave way to an evil heart of unbelief, balking at the prospect of conquering Canaan (Num. 13:28-33) and resolving to "return into Egypt" (Num. 14:1-4)-whose carcasses fell in the wilderness (1 Cor. 10:5,10; Hebrews 3:8-17). Second, it was a training for the younger generation who were to occupy the land of promise. This has not been sufficiently recognized. During that forty years many sons and daughters had been born, and they were given to behold the wonders of the Lord in a manner and to an extent which no other generation ever has. Not only was there a visible display of Jehovah's faithfulness and power before their eyes in sustaining such a vast number by a daily supply of food from heaven, but at the close Moses could say "your clothes are not waxed old upon you and thy shoe is not waxed old upon thy foot" (Deut. 29:5).
And is not this ever the Lord's way with His people. He does not bid them to trust in Him with all their hearts and lean not unto their own understandings until He has given them clear proof that He is fully worthy of their confidence. He does not call upon them to overcome the world, mortify their lusts and resist the devil, until He has strengthened them with might by His Spirit in the inner man. He does not exhort them to tread that path of "much tribulation" which alone conducts to Glory, without first weaning their hearts from this world, giving a death wound to their love of sin, and vouchsafing them a ravishing earnest of that glory. How gracious is the Lord, and how tender are His ways! He does not quench the smoking flax, but feeds the spark of grace with the oil of His Spirit. He carries the lambs in His bosom (Isa. 40:11) until they be able to walk. Only a personal and experimental knowledge of Him with whom they have to do will sustain the heart of a saint under the testings and trails to which he must be submitted.
In the same way the Lord deals with and furnishes His servants. It was thus with Joshua's predecessor. When Jehovah first appeared unto him and made known it was His purpose to employ him in leading the Hebrews out of Egypt, he was fearful, and though the Lord declared He would stretch forth His hand smiting Egypt with all His wonders and giving His people favor in the sight of their oppressors, poor Moses continued to raise objections that Israel would not believe him nor hearken to his voice. Then the Lord bade him cast his rod on the ground, and it became a serpent; told him to take it by the tail, and it became a rod in his hand. Ordered him to thrust his hand into his bosom, and he drew it forth leprous as snow; repeating the action and it was made whole (Ex. 4:1-4). Thus assured Moses went forth on his mission. So it was with the Eleven: before they entered upon their life work and went forth to "make disciples of all nations", they spent three years with Christ (Mark 3:14)-witnessing His miracles and being instructed by Him.
We have already seen how such was the case with Joshua. First, the Lord had spoken to him after the death of Moses, giving him the most definite and heartening promises for his faith to rest upon (Josh. 1:1-6). Then his hands had been strengthened by the ready cooperation of the two and a half tribes whose portion lay on the eastern side of Jordan, vowing "According as we hearkened unto Moses in all things, so will we hearken unto thee" (Josh. 1:12-18). Next he had sent forth the two spies to reconnoiter the land and they, having received a most unlooked-for welcome and assistance from Rahab, had returned and said unto Joshua, "Truly the Lord hath delivered into our hands all the land, for all the inhabitants of the country do faint because of us" (Josh. 2:24). "What more could Israel and their leader want! The Lord had gone before them preparing their way, causing His "terror" to fall upon the inhabitants (Josh. 2:9). With what confidence then might Joshua and all the people go forward into their inheritance! And should it not be the same with Christians now? "When He putteth forth His sheep He goeth before them, and the sheep follow Him" (John 10:4). If our eyes be fixed on Him and our ears respond to His voice there is nothing to be afraid of.
But we must now turn to the sequel: and what does the reader suppose is the nature of it? A severe testing of faith? Doubtless that is what many would term it: personally we would prefer to say, A glorious opportunity for exercising faith in the living God. Do not, dear reader, look so much upon painful circumstances and difficult situations as unpleasant trials of faith which have to be endured, but rather thankfully regard them as golden occasions for you to prove afresh the sufficiency of Him who never fails those who fully trust Him. God gives His people grace not only for the comfort of their hearts, but to use for Him. He has placed His sure promises in the Word not merely for us to wonder at, but to turn unto good account. He grants encouragements along the way and strengthens us that we may press forward and do further exploits in His name. He imparts faith unto His people that they may employ it in a manner honoring to Him. Such it appears to us is, in part, the relation between Joshua 1 and 2 and what is now to be before us. Israel was faced with a most formidable obstacle, but in view of what God had wrought for them, there was no ground for dismay.
Above we have said, Such it appears to us is, in part, the relation between Joshua 1 and 2 and what is now to be before us. But there is something else, and if we deliberately disregarded it, we should be guilty of handling the Word of God deceitfully and seriously misleading His people. That 'something else' is either blankly repudiated today-by those who turn the grace of God into lasciviousness in failing to insist that grace reigns through righteousness (Rom. 5:21), teaching us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, that we should live soberly, righteously and godly (Titus 2:11, 12); or is ignored by those who studiously omit everything which would be unpalatable to empty professors, well knowing that if they are to receive their support, such must be Bolstered up in their worldliness and carnality. These hirelings harp continually on God's grace, His promises, and naught but faith being required by Him; and woefully fail to lay stress upon God's holiness, His precepts, and obedience being indispensably necessary. Joshua 1 and 2, my reader, contains something more than precious promises and gracious encouragements.
Joshua 1 and 2 also make prominent the claims of God and strongly enforces human responsibility. Let us refresh the reader's memory. First, the Lord had bidden Joshua "Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded thee. This Book of the Law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein; for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous" Thus was the leader himself required to render the most complete subjection unto the revealed will of the Lord, and informed that success would hinge thereon. Joshua, in turn, "Commanded the officers of the people" what orders to give unto them. Then he pressed upon the two and a half tribes their obligations, bidding them "Remember the word which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you" (Josh. 1:7-13). It was only in the behalf of a people whose hearts were right with Him and who walked in the way of His precepts, that the Lord would show Himself strong. Faith in Him was to be evidenced by obedience unto His commands; no other faith would He own.
It is to be carefully noted that Joshua 3, like Joshua 2, opens with the word "And", which not only shows the three chapters are closely connected, but also tells us we must carry in our minds what has previously engaged our attention. Joshua and the people, as they started forward on their new venture, must be regulated entirely by the instructions which they had already received. So must we be! And if we are to make a right application of this memorable incident unto ourselves, if we are to draw from it the spiritual lessons which it is designed to teach us, then we need to heed what was before us in the previous sections. A most formidable obstacle lay in Israel's path: the river Jordan barred their entrance into Canaan, and we are now to behold how that obstacle was surmounted. If we are to make a personal and practical use of this portion of Scripture, that river which intercepted Israel's progress should be regarded as illustrative of any problem or obstruction which confronts the minister of the Gospel or the ordinary Christian, and then ascertain from this passage what he must do if he is to overcome his difficulty and be enabled to go forward.
"And Joshua rose early in the morning' (Josh. 3:1). Observe well that the Holy Spirit has taken due notice of this! Not only so, but He has recorded the same thing again in Joshua 6:12; 7:16; 8:20! In his early rising, as in so many other respects, he foreshadowed the antitypical Joshua, our Savior: see Mark 1:35, Luke 4:42, etc. Joshua's "early" rising shows that he was not slothful, a lover of his own ease, but one whose heart was in his work and who diligently applied himself unto the same. Therein he has left an example for each servant of Christ to follow. The minister of the Gospel is to be no slacker and shirker, but rather "a workman that needeth not to be ashamed" (2 Tim. 2:15). Whether he rises early or (as this writer) finds it more expedient to burn the midnight oil, he is in honor and duty bound to spend at least as many hours in his study each day as does the farmer in his field, the clerk in his office, or the labored in the factory. He has no warrant to expect God to use him unless he be industrious and denies himself.
"And they removed from Shittim and came to Jordan, he and all the people of Israel, and lodged there before they passed over" (Josh. 3:1). Moses had conducted Israel as far as Shittim (Num. 25:1), and after his death it was from there that Joshua had sent out the two spies (Josh. 2:1). They had returned to him with their favorable report, and now we behold the sequel. In his "rising early" Joshua gave proof that he did not shirk the difficult task before him, but was anxious to come to grips with it. The Lord rewarded his diligence by inclining the people to cooperate with him. They might have demurred, saying "What is the use of leaving this place where we have so long been en-camped, and moving forward to Jordan itself, where there are neither bridges nor boats for us to cross over it? Instead, they laid hold of the promise "within three days ye shall pass over this Jordan (Josh. 1:11), and went forward in faith and obedience. They knew not how the obstacle was to be overcome, and for the moment that was none of their business. Their responsibility was to proceed along the path of duty so far as they were able, and count upon God's continuing to keep that path open for them!
"And it came to pass after three days that the officers went through the host" (v. 2). At first thought it seems strange that such a multitude should be left encamped there for this length of time ere a further word was spoken to them, but a little reflection should indicate the Lord's design therein, and then show us the important lesson we should learn there-from. Ponder this incident; visualize the scene before your mind's eye. It was not an army of men only, but a vast congregation of men, women and children, to say nothing of their baggage and herds of animals, and further advance was blocked by the river. Whatever the breadth and depth of the Jordan in recent centuries or today, it is evident that it presented an impassable obstruction in Joshua's time-moreover, it was in flood at that particular season (Josh. 3:15): and yet they were left to gaze upon it for three days, faced with the fact that they had no means of their own for crossing it! Why? What was the Lord's object in this? Was it not to impress Israel more deeply with a realization of their own utter helplessness? Was it not to shut them up more completely unto Himself?
And is not that, very often, the chief design of God's providential dealings with us? To bring us to the end of our own resources, to make us conscious of our own insufficiency, by bringing us into a situation from which we cannot extricate ourselves, confronting us with some obstacle which to human wit and might is insurmountable? By nature we are proud and self-reliant, ignorant of the fact that the arm of flesh is frail. And even when faced with difficulties, we seek to solve them by our own wisdom, or get out of a tight corner by our own efforts. But the Lord is graciously resolved to humble us, and therefore the difficulties are increased and the corner becomes tighter, and for a season we are left to ourselves-as Israel was before the Jordan. It is not until we have duly weighed the difficulty and then discovered we have nothing of our own to place in the opposite scale, that we are really brought to realize our impotency, and turn unto Him who alone can undertake for us and free us from our dilemma. But such dull scholars are we that, the lesson must be taught us again and yet again before we actually put it into practice.
Those three days before that unfordable river was the necessary preparation for what followed-the background from which the following miracle might be the more evident to and the more appreciated by Israel. Man's extremity furnishes the most suitable opportunity for God to display His power. And it is not until man is made painfully aware of his extremity that he turns unto the Lord and seeks His intervention. That truth is writ large across the 107th Psalm, which forcible illustrates and exemplifies what we have been seeking to express. "Hungry and thirsty their souls fainted in them. Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble" (vv. 5,6). "There was none to help: then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He saved them" (vv. 12,13). "They draw near unto the gates of death: then they cry unto the Lord" (vv. 18,19). They "are at their wits' end: then they cry unto the Lord" (vv. 27,28). They are brought into a desperate situation, to the end of their own resources, and then it is that they-not merely utter a few cold and formal petitions, but-"cry unto the Lord", and such a cry is ever responded to by His deliverance.
Ah, my reader, do not close your eyes to the Jordan-the problem, the difficulty, the obstacle-that confronts you, but face it. Do not attempt to minimize it, but take its full measure. Continue contemplating it until you plainly realize your own helplessness to cope with the same, and then trustfully turn unto Him who is capable of dealing with it. Suppose you be a minister of the Gospel, and you yearn for your hearers to be saved is there not an insuperable obstacle standing in the way of the realization of your desire? Indeed there is' the stolid indifference and unresponsiveness of your hearers. That is the "Jordan" which confronts you the spiritual insensibility of your congregation-and "Jordan" is the symbol of death! Do you fully realize that' that your hearers have no more spiritual life in them than the waters of that river had? That you can no more open their hearts to the reception of the Gospel than Israel could open a path through the Jordan? Are you acting accordingly? Few ministers, few churches today are! When they would have a "revival" they hire an outside evangelist and count on special singing, instead of crying unto the Lord.
"And it came to pass after three days that the officers went through the host. And they commanded the people, saying, When ye see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests the Levites bearing it, then ye shall remove from your place and go after it" (Josh. 3:2,3), For three days the congregation of Israel had been encamped before that river which barred their entrance into the land of promise, thus being obliged to take full stock of that formidable barrier and made fully conscious of their own helplessness. The Jordan is the symbol of death, and it is not until the saint appropriates the solemn truth or has learned from painful experience that death is written upon all his natural powers that he is likely to make any real spiritual progress or enter practically into his fair heritage. That was the great lesson which had to be learned by the father of them that believe, before his longing could be realized and fruit borne. Because Sarah was barren he thought to obtain the desired son by Hagar, only to bring trouble upon his household. Not until he truly recognized the natural impotency of himself and his wife did he count upon Him who quickeneth the dead' Romans 4:17-21.
Thus it was too with the chief of the apostles. "For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life. But we had the sentence of death in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raiseth the dead. Who delivered us from so great a death (Acts 19:22-41), and doth deliver (from those who then sought his life), in whom we trust that He will yet deliver us" (2 Cor. 1:8-10). It is God's way with His people to so order His providences that they are "pressed out of measure, above strength", until they are brought to despair of deliverance by their own efforts. Then it is they discover that death is stamped upon all their members and powers and are brought to acknowledge "we have no might . . . neither know we what to do" (2 Chron. 20:12). Ah, but note they at once added, "but our eyes are upon Thee"! It was for that very reason Paul and his companions had "the sentence of death" in themselves-that they "should not trust in themselves, but in God which raiseth the dead"
By nature we are self-confident and by practice to a considerable extent self-reliant. But those qualities have no scope or place in the spiritual life, having to be completely renounced. Just as we must repudiate our own righteousness before the righteousness of Christ is imputed to us, so we are required to disown our own wisdom and strength ere the power of Christ works in us and for us. "Whosoever will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me" (Mark 8:34) is Christ's own unchanging demand. To "deny himself" is for a man to abandon all trust in himself, to disclaim any capability of his own, to be emptied of self. In order thereto God often brings him into situations where he discovers it is utterly vain to look to himself for relief. Until he has found out that all attempts to extricate himself are futile, he has not learned his utter helplessness, and until he does so he will not really look outside himself unto the Lord. Israel then were made to feel their powerlessness during the three days they were encamped before the overflowing Jordan, and that, in order to prepare them to count upon the Almighty.
But let it is also be duly observed that to "deny himself" is not only for a man to disown his own righteousness, wisdom and strength, but also to renounce all self-will and self-pleasing. The whole of "self" is to be set aside and "the cross" taken up: that is, the principle of self-sacrifice, is to dominate and regulate him, and that, in order to "follow Christ" The former are negative-means to an end' they are preparatives unto a life of obedience or a practical owning of the Lordship of Christ. We turn to God "from idols"-the chief of which is self-that we should "serve the living and true God" (1 Thess. 1:9) i.e., that we should be subject to Him, governed by Him. And that is the important truth set forth here. Israel were now commanded to turn their gaze away from the Jordan and fix their eyes steadily on "the ark" And of what or of whom does the ark speak? Of Christ, says the reader. True, yet such an answer is far too general to be of any elucidation. Of Christ in what relation? Of His person, His work, or His official character? If of His office, which particular aspect thereof?
It should be evident to any attentive student that the spiritual interpretation of our passage-both doctrinally and practically-turns upon our answers to those questions. The ark is the central object in this miraculous event, being mentioned by name in chapters 3 and 4 no less than sixteen times and alluded to as "it "five times, or a total of twenty-one times, or 7x3, which in the language of Scripture numerics signifies, a complete manifestation of God. What, then, was the ark, and for what purpose was it made? The ark was a coffer or chest, made of shittim wood, overlaid both within and without with pure gold (Ex. 25:10,11). It was to be a depository for the two tables of stone (Ex. 25:16), and accordingly, when all its sacred furniture was made and the tabernacle was set up, we are told that Moses "took and put the testimony into the ark" (Ex. 40:20), where it still abode in the days of Solomon (1 Kings 8:9). It is most essential that this fact be carefully noted, if we are to perceive aright the spiritual meaning of this holy vessel: the ark was made for the Law, and not the Law for the ark, as is abundantly clearly from Deuteronomy 10:1-5.
It was for the above-mentioned reason that the ark was called "the ark of the testimony" (Ex. 26:33, 34, etc.). The tables of stone on which the finger of God had written the ten Commandments were termed "the tables of testimony" (Ex. 31:18), and from their being deposited in it the ark received its principal designation, and since the ark was the most important object in the tabernacle, it was called "the tabernacle of testimony" (Num. 1:51, 53, etc.). The tables of stone were designated "the testimony", the ark "the ark of the testimony", and the tabernacle "the tabernacle of testimony" because they one and all declared what God is and made known the terms on which He would hold fellowship with His people. The Law was a revelation of the righteousness of Jehovah, with its demands upon the faith, love and obedience of His saints. It witnessed immediately to the Divine holiness, yet by necessary implication to the sinfulness of Israel. The tabernacle was the place of God's habitation where Israel was to meet with Him: not only to receive a knowledge of His will and hold fellowship with Him (Ex. 25:21,22) but also having a prominent respect to their sins against which the Law was ever testifying, and to use the appointed means of their restoration to His favor and blessing.
It has not been sufficiently recognized by more recent writers that in that Tabernacle of Testimony not only was witness plainly borne unto the ineffable holiness and majesty of the Lord, but also to His gracious condescension and abounding mercy. It testified to the wondrous provisions He had made whereby transgressors of the Law could receive pardon and the defiled be cleansed. In its outer court stood the brazen altar, where sacrifices of atonement were offered. There too was the laver of water for the washing of the hands and feet (Ex. 30:18-20). Still more significant and blessed, the very ark which enshrined the Law was covered with the mercy-seat (Ex. 25:21)! That mercy-seat formed Jehovah's throne in Israel, for it was there between the cherubim that He "dwelt" (Ps. 80:1 etc.), ruling over His people. Thus the ark and its lid, the mercy-seat, testified unto His being "a just God and a Savior'!" (Isa. 45:21): the Law, proclaiming His inexorable justice, the mercy-seat testifying to the provision of His grace for the transgressions of His people-a covering of mercy that they might draw near unto Him and live.
We turn now to take particular note of the fact that in Joshua 3:3 etc. the ark is called "the ark of the covenant", the reference being to that compact into which Jehovah entered with Israel at Sinai and which they solemnly bound themselves to keep (Ex. 19:1-6; 24:1-8). By the establishment of the Sinaitic Covenant the relation between God and Israel was brought into a state of formal completeness. Under the Abrahamic covenant (Gen. 17:7, 8 etc.) the Lord had pledged Himself to faithfully bestow upon Abraham's seed every needful blessing, and now that covenant of promise was supplemented by the covenant of Law, which bound that seed to render the dutiful return of obedience which their gracious God justly required from them. The foundation was thus outwardly laid for a near and lasting relationship, resulting in a blessed intercourse between the God of Abraham on the one hand and the dutiful descendants of Abraham on the other. And it was primarily with the design of furthering and securing that end that the ratification of the covenant at Sinai was so immediately followed by instructions for the making and erection of the tabernacle.
The Ten Commandments were the terms of the covenant entered into at Sinai (Ex. 34:28): "He declared unto you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, even ten commandments" (Deut. 4:13), and it was on the basis of their compliance therewith that God undertook to deal with Israel and make good His promises to Abraham. His readiness to show Himself strong in their behalf was at once evidenced: "and they departed from the mount of the Lord three days' journey; and the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them in the three days' journey, to search out a resting-place for them" (Num. 10:33). But alas, the very next thing recorded is "the people complained" and "it displeased the Lord"' and His chastening hand fell heavily upon them (Num. 11:1). Then we learn of the opposition made against Moses by his own brother and sister, and the Lord's smiting Miriam with leprosy (Num. 12). That is at once followed by an account of the sending forth of the twelve men to spy out the land of Canaan, the mixed report which they made upon their return, the unbelief and rebellion of the people, with their repudiation of Moses as their leader and determination to return unto Egypt (Num. 13:1; 14:5).
The evil conduct of Israel is summed up by the Psalmist in those solemn words "They kept not the covenant of God and refused to walk in His Law (Ps. 78:10). Their breaking of the covenant at once released the Lord from making good unto that perverse generation His declarations unto Abraham, and therefore He told them "your carcasses they shall fall in this wilderness. And your children shall wander in the wilderness . . . after the number of the days in which ye searched the land, forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, forty years, and ye shall know My breach of promise" (Num. 14:32-34). They should know to their lasting misery what had produced that "breach of promise" (compare the "if" of Exodus 19:5!) and the protracted and woeful consequences thereof. The promises Jehovah made unto Abraham and unto Moses would not be fulfilled unto that particular generation because of their unbelief and disobedience; but unto their descendants they should be made fully good. As Joshua himself testified at a later date, "the Lord delivered all their enemies into their hands. There failed not aught of any good thing which the Lord had spoken unto the house of Israel: all came to pass" (Josh. 21:44, 45).
The forty years' wandering in the wilderness expired with the death of Moses, and all whose sins occasioned that punishment had also died. It was the new and younger generation over which Joshua was placed, and now a fresh chapter opened in the history of Israel What has been pointed out above explains not only the prominent position occupied by the ark in the crossing of Jordan and in the subsequent events, but why it is there designated "the ark of the covenant". Israel's success, or rather the Lord's showing Himself strong in their behalf, would turn upon their keeping of the covenant established at Sinai and their walking in implicit obedience unto God. Israel's crossing of the Jordan with their eyes fixed on the ark signified that they marched into Canaan led by the Law!
What has just been emphasized is of something more than mere historical importance: it is recorded for the instruction of God's people in all generations, and needs to be turned by them into earnest prayer for Divine enablement. It reveals to us the principal thing which the Holy One requires from us if He is to undertake for us and make a way through whatever "Jordan" may confront us. It makes known the basic principle of God's governmental dealings with His people in every age: the exercise of His power on our behalf is regulated by our submission to Him. God cannot be the Patron of sin, and therefore He will not show Himself strong in the behalf of rebellious subjects. As said before, we must deny self and take up our cross in order to "follow" Christ, and what that signifies is made clear to us here in Israel's "following" the ark of the covenant. "He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk even as He walked" (1 John 2:6), and He walked in perfect subjection to the Law of God!
5. Standing At The Jordan
Joshua 3:1-6
The Jordan
The long season of preparation had reached its close, and the arduous task confronting Israel must now be tackled. The forty years they had spent in the wilderness requires to be viewed from a twofold standpoint. First, it was a Divine judgment on the adult generation which, after being so graciously brought out of Egypt and so gloriously delivered at the Red Sea, gave way to an evil heart of unbelief, balking at the prospect of conquering Canaan (Num. 13:28-33) and resolving to "return into Egypt" (Num. 14:1-4)-whose carcasses fell in the wilderness (1 Cor. 10:5,10; Hebrews 3:8-17). Second, it was a training for the younger generation who were to occupy the land of promise. This has not been sufficiently recognized. During that forty years many sons and daughters had been born, and they were given to behold the wonders of the Lord in a manner and to an extent which no other generation ever has. Not only was there a visible display of Jehovah's faithfulness and power before their eyes in sustaining such a vast number by a daily supply of food from heaven, but at the close Moses could say "your clothes are not waxed old upon you and thy shoe is not waxed old upon thy foot" (Deut. 29:5).
And is not this ever the Lord's way with His people. He does not bid them to trust in Him with all their hearts and lean not unto their own understandings until He has given them clear proof that He is fully worthy of their confidence. He does not call upon them to overcome the world, mortify their lusts and resist the devil, until He has strengthened them with might by His Spirit in the inner man. He does not exhort them to tread that path of "much tribulation" which alone conducts to Glory, without first weaning their hearts from this world, giving a death wound to their love of sin, and vouchsafing them a ravishing earnest of that glory. How gracious is the Lord, and how tender are His ways! He does not quench the smoking flax, but feeds the spark of grace with the oil of His Spirit. He carries the lambs in His bosom (Isa. 40:11) until they be able to walk. Only a personal and experimental knowledge of Him with whom they have to do will sustain the heart of a saint under the testings and trails to which he must be submitted.
In the same way the Lord deals with and furnishes His servants. It was thus with Joshua's predecessor. When Jehovah first appeared unto him and made known it was His purpose to employ him in leading the Hebrews out of Egypt, he was fearful, and though the Lord declared He would stretch forth His hand smiting Egypt with all His wonders and giving His people favor in the sight of their oppressors, poor Moses continued to raise objections that Israel would not believe him nor hearken to his voice. Then the Lord bade him cast his rod on the ground, and it became a serpent; told him to take it by the tail, and it became a rod in his hand. Ordered him to thrust his hand into his bosom, and he drew it forth leprous as snow; repeating the action and it was made whole (Ex. 4:1-4). Thus assured Moses went forth on his mission. So it was with the Eleven: before they entered upon their life work and went forth to "make disciples of all nations", they spent three years with Christ (Mark 3:14)-witnessing His miracles and being instructed by Him.
We have already seen how such was the case with Joshua. First, the Lord had spoken to him after the death of Moses, giving him the most definite and heartening promises for his faith to rest upon (Josh. 1:1-6). Then his hands had been strengthened by the ready cooperation of the two and a half tribes whose portion lay on the eastern side of Jordan, vowing "According as we hearkened unto Moses in all things, so will we hearken unto thee" (Josh. 1:12-18). Next he had sent forth the two spies to reconnoiter the land and they, having received a most unlooked-for welcome and assistance from Rahab, had returned and said unto Joshua, "Truly the Lord hath delivered into our hands all the land, for all the inhabitants of the country do faint because of us" (Josh. 2:24). "What more could Israel and their leader want! The Lord had gone before them preparing their way, causing His "terror" to fall upon the inhabitants (Josh. 2:9). With what confidence then might Joshua and all the people go forward into their inheritance! And should it not be the same with Christians now? "When He putteth forth His sheep He goeth before them, and the sheep follow Him" (John 10:4). If our eyes be fixed on Him and our ears respond to His voice there is nothing to be afraid of.
But we must now turn to the sequel: and what does the reader suppose is the nature of it? A severe testing of faith? Doubtless that is what many would term it: personally we would prefer to say, A glorious opportunity for exercising faith in the living God. Do not, dear reader, look so much upon painful circumstances and difficult situations as unpleasant trials of faith which have to be endured, but rather thankfully regard them as golden occasions for you to prove afresh the sufficiency of Him who never fails those who fully trust Him. God gives His people grace not only for the comfort of their hearts, but to use for Him. He has placed His sure promises in the Word not merely for us to wonder at, but to turn unto good account. He grants encouragements along the way and strengthens us that we may press forward and do further exploits in His name. He imparts faith unto His people that they may employ it in a manner honoring to Him. Such it appears to us is, in part, the relation between Joshua 1 and 2 and what is now to be before us. Israel was faced with a most formidable obstacle, but in view of what God had wrought for them, there was no ground for dismay.
Above we have said, Such it appears to us is, in part, the relation between Joshua 1 and 2 and what is now to be before us. But there is something else, and if we deliberately disregarded it, we should be guilty of handling the Word of God deceitfully and seriously misleading His people. That 'something else' is either blankly repudiated today-by those who turn the grace of God into lasciviousness in failing to insist that grace reigns through righteousness (Rom. 5:21), teaching us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, that we should live soberly, righteously and godly (Titus 2:11, 12); or is ignored by those who studiously omit everything which would be unpalatable to empty professors, well knowing that if they are to receive their support, such must be Bolstered up in their worldliness and carnality. These hirelings harp continually on God's grace, His promises, and naught but faith being required by Him; and woefully fail to lay stress upon God's holiness, His precepts, and obedience being indispensably necessary. Joshua 1 and 2, my reader, contains something more than precious promises and gracious encouragements.
Joshua 1 and 2 also make prominent the claims of God and strongly enforces human responsibility. Let us refresh the reader's memory. First, the Lord had bidden Joshua "Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded thee. This Book of the Law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein; for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous" Thus was the leader himself required to render the most complete subjection unto the revealed will of the Lord, and informed that success would hinge thereon. Joshua, in turn, "Commanded the officers of the people" what orders to give unto them. Then he pressed upon the two and a half tribes their obligations, bidding them "Remember the word which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you" (Josh. 1:7-13). It was only in the behalf of a people whose hearts were right with Him and who walked in the way of His precepts, that the Lord would show Himself strong. Faith in Him was to be evidenced by obedience unto His commands; no other faith would He own.
It is to be carefully noted that Joshua 3, like Joshua 2, opens with the word "And", which not only shows the three chapters are closely connected, but also tells us we must carry in our minds what has previously engaged our attention. Joshua and the people, as they started forward on their new venture, must be regulated entirely by the instructions which they had already received. So must we be! And if we are to make a right application of this memorable incident unto ourselves, if we are to draw from it the spiritual lessons which it is designed to teach us, then we need to heed what was before us in the previous sections. A most formidable obstacle lay in Israel's path: the river Jordan barred their entrance into Canaan, and we are now to behold how that obstacle was surmounted. If we are to make a personal and practical use of this portion of Scripture, that river which intercepted Israel's progress should be regarded as illustrative of any problem or obstruction which confronts the minister of the Gospel or the ordinary Christian, and then ascertain from this passage what he must do if he is to overcome his difficulty and be enabled to go forward.
"And Joshua rose early in the morning' (Josh. 3:1). Observe well that the Holy Spirit has taken due notice of this! Not only so, but He has recorded the same thing again in Joshua 6:12; 7:16; 8:20! In his early rising, as in so many other respects, he foreshadowed the antitypical Joshua, our Savior: see Mark 1:35, Luke 4:42, etc. Joshua's "early" rising shows that he was not slothful, a lover of his own ease, but one whose heart was in his work and who diligently applied himself unto the same. Therein he has left an example for each servant of Christ to follow. The minister of the Gospel is to be no slacker and shirker, but rather "a workman that needeth not to be ashamed" (2 Tim. 2:15). Whether he rises early or (as this writer) finds it more expedient to burn the midnight oil, he is in honor and duty bound to spend at least as many hours in his study each day as does the farmer in his field, the clerk in his office, or the labored in the factory. He has no warrant to expect God to use him unless he be industrious and denies himself.
"And they removed from Shittim and came to Jordan, he and all the people of Israel, and lodged there before they passed over" (Josh. 3:1). Moses had conducted Israel as far as Shittim (Num. 25:1), and after his death it was from there that Joshua had sent out the two spies (Josh. 2:1). They had returned to him with their favorable report, and now we behold the sequel. In his "rising early" Joshua gave proof that he did not shirk the difficult task before him, but was anxious to come to grips with it. The Lord rewarded his diligence by inclining the people to cooperate with him. They might have demurred, saying "What is the use of leaving this place where we have so long been en-camped, and moving forward to Jordan itself, where there are neither bridges nor boats for us to cross over it? Instead, they laid hold of the promise "within three days ye shall pass over this Jordan (Josh. 1:11), and went forward in faith and obedience. They knew not how the obstacle was to be overcome, and for the moment that was none of their business. Their responsibility was to proceed along the path of duty so far as they were able, and count upon God's continuing to keep that path open for them!
"And it came to pass after three days that the officers went through the host" (v. 2). At first thought it seems strange that such a multitude should be left encamped there for this length of time ere a further word was spoken to them, but a little reflection should indicate the Lord's design therein, and then show us the important lesson we should learn there-from. Ponder this incident; visualize the scene before your mind's eye. It was not an army of men only, but a vast congregation of men, women and children, to say nothing of their baggage and herds of animals, and further advance was blocked by the river. Whatever the breadth and depth of the Jordan in recent centuries or today, it is evident that it presented an impassable obstruction in Joshua's time-moreover, it was in flood at that particular season (Josh. 3:15): and yet they were left to gaze upon it for three days, faced with the fact that they had no means of their own for crossing it! Why? What was the Lord's object in this? Was it not to impress Israel more deeply with a realization of their own utter helplessness? Was it not to shut them up more completely unto Himself?
And is not that, very often, the chief design of God's providential dealings with us? To bring us to the end of our own resources, to make us conscious of our own insufficiency, by bringing us into a situation from which we cannot extricate ourselves, confronting us with some obstacle which to human wit and might is insurmountable? By nature we are proud and self-reliant, ignorant of the fact that the arm of flesh is frail. And even when faced with difficulties, we seek to solve them by our own wisdom, or get out of a tight corner by our own efforts. But the Lord is graciously resolved to humble us, and therefore the difficulties are increased and the corner becomes tighter, and for a season we are left to ourselves-as Israel was before the Jordan. It is not until we have duly weighed the difficulty and then discovered we have nothing of our own to place in the opposite scale, that we are really brought to realize our impotency, and turn unto Him who alone can undertake for us and free us from our dilemma. But such dull scholars are we that, the lesson must be taught us again and yet again before we actually put it into practice.
Those three days before that unfordable river was the necessary preparation for what followed-the background from which the following miracle might be the more evident to and the more appreciated by Israel. Man's extremity furnishes the most suitable opportunity for God to display His power. And it is not until man is made painfully aware of his extremity that he turns unto the Lord and seeks His intervention. That truth is writ large across the 107th Psalm, which forcible illustrates and exemplifies what we have been seeking to express. "Hungry and thirsty their souls fainted in them. Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble" (vv. 5,6). "There was none to help: then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He saved them" (vv. 12,13). "They draw near unto the gates of death: then they cry unto the Lord" (vv. 18,19). They "are at their wits' end: then they cry unto the Lord" (vv. 27,28). They are brought into a desperate situation, to the end of their own resources, and then it is that they-not merely utter a few cold and formal petitions, but-"cry unto the Lord", and such a cry is ever responded to by His deliverance.
Ah, my reader, do not close your eyes to the Jordan-the problem, the difficulty, the obstacle-that confronts you, but face it. Do not attempt to minimize it, but take its full measure. Continue contemplating it until you plainly realize your own helplessness to cope with the same, and then trustfully turn unto Him who is capable of dealing with it. Suppose you be a minister of the Gospel, and you yearn for your hearers to be saved is there not an insuperable obstacle standing in the way of the realization of your desire? Indeed there is' the stolid indifference and unresponsiveness of your hearers. That is the "Jordan" which confronts you the spiritual insensibility of your congregation-and "Jordan" is the symbol of death! Do you fully realize that' that your hearers have no more spiritual life in them than the waters of that river had? That you can no more open their hearts to the reception of the Gospel than Israel could open a path through the Jordan? Are you acting accordingly? Few ministers, few churches today are! When they would have a "revival" they hire an outside evangelist and count on special singing, instead of crying unto the Lord.
"And it came to pass after three days that the officers went through the host. And they commanded the people, saying, When ye see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests the Levites bearing it, then ye shall remove from your place and go after it" (Josh. 3:2,3), For three days the congregation of Israel had been encamped before that river which barred their entrance into the land of promise, thus being obliged to take full stock of that formidable barrier and made fully conscious of their own helplessness. The Jordan is the symbol of death, and it is not until the saint appropriates the solemn truth or has learned from painful experience that death is written upon all his natural powers that he is likely to make any real spiritual progress or enter practically into his fair heritage. That was the great lesson which had to be learned by the father of them that believe, before his longing could be realized and fruit borne. Because Sarah was barren he thought to obtain the desired son by Hagar, only to bring trouble upon his household. Not until he truly recognized the natural impotency of himself and his wife did he count upon Him who quickeneth the dead' Romans 4:17-21.
Thus it was too with the chief of the apostles. "For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life. But we had the sentence of death in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raiseth the dead. Who delivered us from so great a death (Acts 19:22-41), and doth deliver (from those who then sought his life), in whom we trust that He will yet deliver us" (2 Cor. 1:8-10). It is God's way with His people to so order His providences that they are "pressed out of measure, above strength", until they are brought to despair of deliverance by their own efforts. Then it is they discover that death is stamped upon all their members and powers and are brought to acknowledge "we have no might . . . neither know we what to do" (2 Chron. 20:12). Ah, but note they at once added, "but our eyes are upon Thee"! It was for that very reason Paul and his companions had "the sentence of death" in themselves-that they "should not trust in themselves, but in God which raiseth the dead"
By nature we are self-confident and by practice to a considerable extent self-reliant. But those qualities have no scope or place in the spiritual life, having to be completely renounced. Just as we must repudiate our own righteousness before the righteousness of Christ is imputed to us, so we are required to disown our own wisdom and strength ere the power of Christ works in us and for us. "Whosoever will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me" (Mark 8:34) is Christ's own unchanging demand. To "deny himself" is for a man to abandon all trust in himself, to disclaim any capability of his own, to be emptied of self. In order thereto God often brings him into situations where he discovers it is utterly vain to look to himself for relief. Until he has found out that all attempts to extricate himself are futile, he has not learned his utter helplessness, and until he does so he will not really look outside himself unto the Lord. Israel then were made to feel their powerlessness during the three days they were encamped before the overflowing Jordan, and that, in order to prepare them to count upon the Almighty.
But let it is also be duly observed that to "deny himself" is not only for a man to disown his own righteousness, wisdom and strength, but also to renounce all self-will and self-pleasing. The whole of "self" is to be set aside and "the cross" taken up: that is, the principle of self-sacrifice, is to dominate and regulate him, and that, in order to "follow Christ" The former are negative-means to an end' they are preparatives unto a life of obedience or a practical owning of the Lordship of Christ. We turn to God "from idols"-the chief of which is self-that we should "serve the living and true God" (1 Thess. 1:9) i.e., that we should be subject to Him, governed by Him. And that is the important truth set forth here. Israel were now commanded to turn their gaze away from the Jordan and fix their eyes steadily on "the ark" And of what or of whom does the ark speak? Of Christ, says the reader. True, yet such an answer is far too general to be of any elucidation. Of Christ in what relation? Of His person, His work, or His official character? If of His office, which particular aspect thereof?
It should be evident to any attentive student that the spiritual interpretation of our passage-both doctrinally and practically-turns upon our answers to those questions. The ark is the central object in this miraculous event, being mentioned by name in chapters 3 and 4 no less than sixteen times and alluded to as "it "five times, or a total of twenty-one times, or 7x3, which in the language of Scripture numerics signifies, a complete manifestation of God. What, then, was the ark, and for what purpose was it made? The ark was a coffer or chest, made of shittim wood, overlaid both within and without with pure gold (Ex. 25:10,11). It was to be a depository for the two tables of stone (Ex. 25:16), and accordingly, when all its sacred furniture was made and the tabernacle was set up, we are told that Moses "took and put the testimony into the ark" (Ex. 40:20), where it still abode in the days of Solomon (1 Kings 8:9). It is most essential that this fact be carefully noted, if we are to perceive aright the spiritual meaning of this holy vessel: the ark was made for the Law, and not the Law for the ark, as is abundantly clearly from Deuteronomy 10:1-5.
It was for the above-mentioned reason that the ark was called "the ark of the testimony" (Ex. 26:33, 34, etc.). The tables of stone on which the finger of God had written the ten Commandments were termed "the tables of testimony" (Ex. 31:18), and from their being deposited in it the ark received its principal designation, and since the ark was the most important object in the tabernacle, it was called "the tabernacle of testimony" (Num. 1:51, 53, etc.). The tables of stone were designated "the testimony", the ark "the ark of the testimony", and the tabernacle "the tabernacle of testimony" because they one and all declared what God is and made known the terms on which He would hold fellowship with His people. The Law was a revelation of the righteousness of Jehovah, with its demands upon the faith, love and obedience of His saints. It witnessed immediately to the Divine holiness, yet by necessary implication to the sinfulness of Israel. The tabernacle was the place of God's habitation where Israel was to meet with Him: not only to receive a knowledge of His will and hold fellowship with Him (Ex. 25:21,22) but also having a prominent respect to their sins against which the Law was ever testifying, and to use the appointed means of their restoration to His favor and blessing.
It has not been sufficiently recognized by more recent writers that in that Tabernacle of Testimony not only was witness plainly borne unto the ineffable holiness and majesty of the Lord, but also to His gracious condescension and abounding mercy. It testified to the wondrous provisions He had made whereby transgressors of the Law could receive pardon and the defiled be cleansed. In its outer court stood the brazen altar, where sacrifices of atonement were offered. There too was the laver of water for the washing of the hands and feet (Ex. 30:18-20). Still more significant and blessed, the very ark which enshrined the Law was covered with the mercy-seat (Ex. 25:21)! That mercy-seat formed Jehovah's throne in Israel, for it was there between the cherubim that He "dwelt" (Ps. 80:1 etc.), ruling over His people. Thus the ark and its lid, the mercy-seat, testified unto His being "a just God and a Savior'!" (Isa. 45:21): the Law, proclaiming His inexorable justice, the mercy-seat testifying to the provision of His grace for the transgressions of His people-a covering of mercy that they might draw near unto Him and live.
We turn now to take particular note of the fact that in Joshua 3:3 etc. the ark is called "the ark of the covenant", the reference being to that compact into which Jehovah entered with Israel at Sinai and which they solemnly bound themselves to keep (Ex. 19:1-6; 24:1-8). By the establishment of the Sinaitic Covenant the relation between God and Israel was brought into a state of formal completeness. Under the Abrahamic covenant (Gen. 17:7, 8 etc.) the Lord had pledged Himself to faithfully bestow upon Abraham's seed every needful blessing, and now that covenant of promise was supplemented by the covenant of Law, which bound that seed to render the dutiful return of obedience which their gracious God justly required from them. The foundation was thus outwardly laid for a near and lasting relationship, resulting in a blessed intercourse between the God of Abraham on the one hand and the dutiful descendants of Abraham on the other. And it was primarily with the design of furthering and securing that end that the ratification of the covenant at Sinai was so immediately followed by instructions for the making and erection of the tabernacle.
The Ten Commandments were the terms of the covenant entered into at Sinai (Ex. 34:28): "He declared unto you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, even ten commandments" (Deut. 4:13), and it was on the basis of their compliance therewith that God undertook to deal with Israel and make good His promises to Abraham. His readiness to show Himself strong in their behalf was at once evidenced: "and they departed from the mount of the Lord three days' journey; and the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them in the three days' journey, to search out a resting-place for them" (Num. 10:33). But alas, the very next thing recorded is "the people complained" and "it displeased the Lord"' and His chastening hand fell heavily upon them (Num. 11:1). Then we learn of the opposition made against Moses by his own brother and sister, and the Lord's smiting Miriam with leprosy (Num. 12). That is at once followed by an account of the sending forth of the twelve men to spy out the land of Canaan, the mixed report which they made upon their return, the unbelief and rebellion of the people, with their repudiation of Moses as their leader and determination to return unto Egypt (Num. 13:1; 14:5).
The evil conduct of Israel is summed up by the Psalmist in those solemn words "They kept not the covenant of God and refused to walk in His Law (Ps. 78:10). Their breaking of the covenant at once released the Lord from making good unto that perverse generation His declarations unto Abraham, and therefore He told them "your carcasses they shall fall in this wilderness. And your children shall wander in the wilderness . . . after the number of the days in which ye searched the land, forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, forty years, and ye shall know My breach of promise" (Num. 14:32-34). They should know to their lasting misery what had produced that "breach of promise" (compare the "if" of Exodus 19:5!) and the protracted and woeful consequences thereof. The promises Jehovah made unto Abraham and unto Moses would not be fulfilled unto that particular generation because of their unbelief and disobedience; but unto their descendants they should be made fully good. As Joshua himself testified at a later date, "the Lord delivered all their enemies into their hands. There failed not aught of any good thing which the Lord had spoken unto the house of Israel: all came to pass" (Josh. 21:44, 45).
The forty years' wandering in the wilderness expired with the death of Moses, and all whose sins occasioned that punishment had also died. It was the new and younger generation over which Joshua was placed, and now a fresh chapter opened in the history of Israel What has been pointed out above explains not only the prominent position occupied by the ark in the crossing of Jordan and in the subsequent events, but why it is there designated "the ark of the covenant". Israel's success, or rather the Lord's showing Himself strong in their behalf, would turn upon their keeping of the covenant established at Sinai and their walking in implicit obedience unto God. Israel's crossing of the Jordan with their eyes fixed on the ark signified that they marched into Canaan led by the Law!
What has just been emphasized is of something more than mere historical importance: it is recorded for the instruction of God's people in all generations, and needs to be turned by them into earnest prayer for Divine enablement. It reveals to us the principal thing which the Holy One requires from us if He is to undertake for us and make a way through whatever "Jordan" may confront us. It makes known the basic principle of God's governmental dealings with His people in every age: the exercise of His power on our behalf is regulated by our submission to Him. God cannot be the Patron of sin, and therefore He will not show Himself strong in the behalf of rebellious subjects. As said before, we must deny self and take up our cross in order to "follow" Christ, and what that signifies is made clear to us here in Israel's "following" the ark of the covenant. "He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk even as He walked" (1 John 2:6), and He walked in perfect subjection to the Law of God!