The Pulpit Commentary — Joshua — Section 205

HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Yers. 30-35.-Tht altar on Ebal, and the reading and recording of the law .. ·we come on this scene unexpectedly. War, with its stratagems, its carnage its im·ersion of ancient order, was filling our mind. But suddenly, instead of 'the camp, there is the religious assembly ; sacrifice instead of slaughter; instead of the destruction of heathen cities, the erection of monumental insc1·iptions of the law. The must{)ring of the whole people to learn and accept afresh God's great law. It was not a casual gathering, but one prescribed by Moses in 27th chapter of Deuteronomy ; what tribes have to stan~ on the slopes of Ge1·izini, to respond to all the bened1ct10ns of the law, and what tnbes are to stand on Ebal to respond to its curses. are all detailed. The ark in the valley between ; an altar reared on one of the heights ; the law, solemnly read, and greeted with the responses not of a congregation, but of a gathered nation; covenant sacrifices offered; the inscription on memorial stones of the leading precepts of the law-these all constitute a scene of utmost impressiveness. A nation accepting a solemn league and covenant, hallowing their conquest, taking formal possession of the country for their God, in the heart of the land hallowing a mountain for His throne-this is not an every- day occurrence, but one full of moral meaning. Consider some of its lessons. I. SACRED RESTS SHOULD BE MIXED WITH ALL WORLDLY WORK, Not many would have gathered. a nation at such a time for such a work. At most only the conquest of the middle of the land had been achieved. The kings of the south and the north were forming their leagues to crush the terrible invaders. A saint less heroic or a hero less saintly would have postponed all such solemn assemblies till the conquest was complete. But Joshua "sets the Lord alway before hini ; '' and ac the rnry outset he seeks to hallow their fighting and their victories. As in Gilgal, he tan-ied to observe the sacraments of the law, so here in Shechem he tarries to build an altar and rehearse the law. That time is not Jost which we spend in calm co=union with God. And in the degree in. which, like the occupations of these invaders, our daily work is absorbing and worldly, in that degree it is well to arrest . our acti,ities, and turn ear and eye and heart to God. In Israel's case, such a halt would tend to prevent the coarsening of their feelings in their bloody work ; would put them in the position of executors of God's judgment; would help to make them abhor the sins of those they extirpated; would suggest that "they should be holy who carried the " sword " of God." -Our daily tasks are not so absorbing nor so rough as theirs; but, like Israel, it will_ always be well that we should take tinie or make tinie to keep in Gilgal the ordinances, and take tinie or make it toleam in Shechem the law of God. "Prayer and meals stop no man's work." Israel went from Shechem with more unity, faith, and gravity-that is, with all its elements of strength im-igorated. Keep your Sabbaths well. Have a sacred closet and enter it. Take tinie regularly to get calm and to listen to the voice of God. Joshua mixes sacred rest with worldly activity. II. Observe secondlv : WITH NEW POSSESSIONS, THEIR RESPONSIBILITIES SHOULD BE RECOGNISED. Is the centre of the land won, it is not theirs to do with as they like. There is a law whose blessings they should aspire to, whose curse they should avoid. Their new possessions are not theirs to do with what they like. Masters of the Canaanites, they are only servants before God. With all possession of wealth, and all consciousness of strength, there is apt to rise a certain degree of wilfulness and self-assertion. Men think that wealth is a sort of holy orders, giving a power of absolution from every unpleasant duty. It is well whenever we have attained what we desired, or come into the enjoyment of any sort of wealth, that we should take the position of servants, and listen to God's law. Otherwise the mercies that should bind us closer to our God separate us from Him, and blessings which should leave us more free for gracious work secularise all our moods and motives. "The desire accomplished is sweet to the soul," but it is only helpful when in Shechem we listen to God's law. How much wiser would some have been if gaining wealth, or power, or whatever their hearts' desire, they had hallowed CII. VIII. 80-8/i.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 14/l