The Pulpit Commentary — Joshua — Section 140

2. Shrink ~ot from underta~ing o.ny duty of ser\'ice with which Go,l cho.rges you. Do_ not be enlly modest, foldmg yom· pound in some napkin of seeming humility. If 1t be t.he path of duty, let no obstacles deter ; they will only prove the occo.sion for grander help from God than you ever dare to hope . . 3. Have you just begun discipleship or service, o.ml are you overwhelmed with difficulty? ". In yo°:1' p~t1ence pos~ess your soul," for even o.s a, mother gives her finger to the little child Just begiunmg to walk, so to us, who are but children of a, larger growth, God lends His finger when we are gegiuning some greo.t life task.-G. Vers. 15-17.-Prophets and priests-the order of precedence. Here alo,yman commands a priest. It was not a case of royal snpremo.cy exo.ctly nor did he govern them by virtue of his being the civil head of the community;' Lut because, thongh layman (he was of the tribe of Ephraim), he was a prophet. "The Lord spake to Joshua," and therefore Joshua could comma.nd even the priests of God. \Ye have here not a question of a.rchieo!ogical interest merely. It is a live question of to-day. Rome goes in for ha.ving an order of priests; Protesta.ntism for an order of prophets-i.e., speakers forth of God's messa.ges to man. They want a, prescrip- ti ,·e class, eleYated above their fellows, "ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices to God ; " we want, uot men ordained, but men inspired, who, fresh from the vision of God and converse with Him, will be a.hie to tell us what He is, and feels, o,nd wants. Are they or we following the more excellent way? Let the subordi- na.tion of the prieet to the prophet here help us to the answer. It may do so, for observe- • I. THE PRECEDENCE HERE is the consta.nt precedence. Ao.ron was older brother and high priest. Moses wa.s the prophet who "spa.ke with God fa.ce to face."· The order of the names invariably is " Moses and Aaron : " prophet first, priest second, In all the subsequent centuries you find prophets foremost, priests subservient. The greatest men of Israel-those who sustained their po,triotism, kindled their devo- tion, fed the fl.a.me of hope, those who led them in the pa.th of duty, and were the reformers of religion-were prophets, Elijah and Elisha, Isaiah, Da.niel. Ezra was the only priest who, without being a, prophet, can be classed with them. J eremia.h and Ezekiel were priests and prophets, but it is in the latter cbara.cter they rendered their grandest service. We must not deprecia.te the services of the priesthood. Perhaps the tone of Dean Stanley's lecture on the Jewish Priesthood (· Jewish Church,' rnl. ii. 356) is too disparaging. They tended to keep alive devo- tion, io famili-1.rise men with the great idea of a.ccess to God, they guided men in the ways of gratitude a.nd trust. Still the teachers, inspirers, leaders of souls were the prophets ; and throughout all Old Testa.ment history down to the time of the Maccabees, it is the prophetic order that keeps alive piety in o.11 its gra.nd activi- ties. Auel if we had applied the same terms on the Christia.n dispensa.tion it might be shown that tLe greater of the two services ha.a been tha.t rendered by men of the prophetic, rather than that rendered by men of the priestly, stamp. Atho.nasius, Augustine, Tertnllian, St. Berna.rd, Luther, Calvin, K~ox, Wesley-those that ?an speak out the heart and the will of God-have, accordmg to a la.w of mora.1 g_ro.v!ta- tion, found a higher level than the most devoted and self-forgetful of eccles1astws. Anyhow, here the prophet commands, a,nd the priest obeys. Observe secondly- iL THIS ORDER OF PRECEDENCE 18 THE NATURAL ORDER. The mnk of priest is high-an a.mbassador of ma.n in the co~ of heaven. Dut the_ rank o! p1:ophet is higher-an ambassador of God. The pnest's grandest work 1s supphcat10n; the prophet'o is to mediate the promises, comma.nds, requirement!! of God. For the former office the requirements were low-a certain lineage, freedom from physica.l def~ct, familiarity with ritual, rubric, and law. For the office of the prophet far higher requirements were made-purity of heart, to see God ; the open ear, that could hea1· His voice; the heart of love, tha.t could enter into His Pl!rposes ; the courage wLich could confront men with the Divine behest. The priest could bit made by ma.n--the prophet only by God. The former had outward and visible ordination ; the latter was ordained by the la.ying on of the unseen hands of the great God Himself. One reason why communities that have degenerated in faith are so en. 1v. 1-24.J THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 75