Joshua 23:1

A BRAVE SOLDIER

‘And it came to pass a long time after that the Lord had given rest unto Israel from all their enemies round about, that Joshua waxed old and stricken in age.’

Joshua 23:1

At the death of Moses a sudden gleam of heaven, as it were, came over the elder Church. The law seemed for a while suspended as regards its threats and punishments; all was privilege on the one side, all was obedience on the other. Joshua led the people forward, conquering and to conquer; he led them into rest and prosperity. His history is made up of two parts: triumph and peace. Such a blessed season never returned to the Church of Israel till that Church was made glorious by the coming of the Sun of Righteousness, and was brought forth out of the shadows and dreariness of the law into the fulness of grace and truth.

I. First, as is very obvious, Joshua is a type of our Lord Jesus Christ as regards his name, for Joshua is in Hebrew what Jesus is in Greek.

II. Joshua is a type of Christ in an act of grace which he exercised, and that to his enemy Rahab.—Why have we at once a sinful woman spared and admitted into covenant on her faith, nay privileged in the event to become the ancestress of our Lord, except that in Joshua the reign of the Saviour is typified, and that the pardon of a sinner is its most appropriate attendant?

III. As Joshua answers to our Lord in his name and in his clemency, so, too, does he in his mode of appointment.—Moses chose Joshua, who had no claim or title to be chosen; he consecrated him, not in a legal, but in a Gospel, way; he prefigured in him the ministers of Christ and soldiers of His Church. Joshua was chosen, not by the will of men, but by the will of God.

IV. In a special way God’s choice ended in Joshua.—He did not receive it by inheritance, nor are heirs mentioned to whom he left it. He who divided the land by lot, who gave to each his portion to enjoy, is allotted in the sacred history neither wife, nor children, nor choice possession. In this he was the type of the Lord Himself, who, ‘though He was rich, yet for our sakes became poor, that we through His poverty might be rich.’

V. We read of no lamentation of friends, no special honours being paid to Joshua, at his death.—He was buried neither by his sons nor by the assembled people, as if to teach us to raise up our hearts to Him for whom no mourning was to be made, for He was the living among the dead; and though for a while He laid Himself down in the grave, He did it that, there lying, He might quicken the dead by His touch, that so first He and then they all might rise again and live for ever.

VI. Joshua did not accomplish all the work that was to be done, but left a remnant to those who came after him.—And so in like manner Christ has done the whole work of redemption for us, and yet it is no contradiction to say that something remains for us to do: we have to take the redemption offered to us, and that taking involves a work. He has suffered and conquered, and those who become partakers in Him undergo in their own persons the shadow and likeness of that great victory. We advance by yielding; we rise by falling; we conquer by suffering; we persuade by silence; we become rich by bountifulness; we gain comfort through mourning; we earn glory by penitence and prayer.

Illustrations

(1) ‘Joshua was essentially the soldier, and as such was just the man raised up by God for his age. His obedience to God was a soldier-like obedience. Such was his energy, his power to inspire others, his very piety. Teachers will find the best illustrations, for the character and work of Joshua, in such generals as Havelock or Gordon. What is remarkable in him is that he was wholly free from personal ambition, or any thought of self-aggrandisement. “His whole heart was in the highest degree patriotic, under a system which required patriotism to take the form of religious obedience.” Note Joshua’s power of decision, and promptitude. “He was a valiant without temerity, and active without precipitation.” “His piety was gentle, his faith was impregnable, and his confidence in God unshaken.” ’

(2) ‘After forty years of wandering, seven years of war, and eighteen years of peace, Joshua, now 110 years old, stands as straight and as firm as an oak tree, and never stammers or mumbles his message. Talk about growing old and useless! Some men grow old like bread; they get stale. Others grow old like wine, richer and stronger.’

(3) ‘The final farewell of Joshua, the manifest dignity and serenity of saintly ripeness, the vigour of his exhortations, and the assurance of his faith, are worthy of devout study. This his last service is his best service. He had been faithful as a spy, as the helper of Moses, as a warrior and leader, and as a divider of the land among the tribes. But here he seeks to lead them into covenant with God, that they may through faith and obedience be enabled to keep all they had conquered.’