Joshua 5:10

What a beautiful instruction doth Joshua and his army hold forth to all the soldiery, and all armies who profess to have the Lord for their God. You observe, that the campaign against Canaan is opened with prayer. And, Reader! never lose sight of this universal maxim, which must hold good in all ages: whatever is begun in prayer will give cause to end in praise. If any one of our soldiers or sailors in our British service should peruse this humble Commentary, I would beg of him to pause in this place; and, while he beholds this General in God's army, with his whole soldiery, bending the knee before the God of their salvation, may he learn from hence, that the most lovely of all sights is here manifested before him. True courage can only arise front this source. While God is our hope and strength, we need not fear what man can do unto us. It is sure confidence and sure victory when, like another of the Lord's warriors, the soldier fights in the, Lord's cause, and can say, as he did, the sword of the Lord and of Gideon. Judges 7:20. But while I desire the military Reader to make this observation on the passage, I would call upon every real Christian Reader, whether of the soldiery or not, to make a yet more particular remark on the festival, which Joshua and his army observed in this opening of their campaign, and in the face of the enemy. It was the celebration of the passover. And that passover pointed to Christ. Compare Exodus 12:11, with 1 Corinthians 5:7; Luke 22:15. And Reader! do not fail, to connect the services of circumcision and the passover together. When the people had received one sign or seal of the covenant, to testify their acceptance of it, the Lord brought them to the enjoyment of the other. When the Holy Ghost hath circumcised the foreskin of the heart, believers are prepared to feast on the body and blood of Jesus. Hence we find in the first days of the gospel church, after the disciples of Jesus had received the Holy Ghost, and were baptized, the next account is, that they were engaged in breaking of bread and in prayer, that is, celebrating the Lord's supper. Acts 2:41. I only detain the Reader to make one observation more, on this delightful passage in the history: and it is just to remark, how very gracious is our God, that he should feast his people even in the very face of their enemies, and so powerfully restrain those enemies, by his terror put into their hearts, that though all this was done in the plains of Jericho, not a soul ventured to stir, or lift up a sword against them. Reader! depend upon it, so it is now. Jesus will spread his table for his saints, in the presence of their enemies: it is He which anointeth our head, and maketh our cup run over. Psalms 23:5.