Bible Commentaries

The Ceasing of the Manna

Joshua 5:12

There was a deep doctrine in the giving of the manna. There was a doctrine not less deep in its withdrawal.

I. The ceasing of the manna should teach us that there is inevitable loss in all our gains. It was a great thing for Israel to gain the plains of Jericho, but when they had done Joshua 5:13

I. This ancient book of Joshua , while its simple purpose is to set forth the providence of God in one great episode of a nation's history, is yet by common consent of the succeeding generations of men looked on, not merely as an historical record of the conquest of Canaan, but as a continual allegory of Christian life. Such was the conception of life, based on individual and general experience, in the minds of those who, when the sign of Christ's cross was marked on our brow in baptism, pledged us thereby to a loyal soldiership in an unceasing warfare with evil. Such is the conception thrust upon us by the facts of life, which, as thought deepens and knowledge widens, confronts every son of God. Over against us there stands a man with his sword in his hand, unsheathed, drawn for the using, for offence, for action, for achievement. Over against us there lies a Jordan to be crossed, a Jericho to be assaulted, a Promised Land to be won, only in many an arduous campaign—our weapon the sword of the Spirit, our strength the strength of Him Who has girt that sword upon us, Whose abiding Presence in our life is our sole promise and hope of successful soldiership.

Gathering the whole teaching together, who can deny the undoubted call to leave the wilderness of wandering, unpurposeful life, of cold-hearted, listless stagnation, and cross the river of resolve, to the place of effort and the country of combat?

II. A man with a drawn sword—a weapon of offence for and with others. True, we need, and have given us, armour of defence as well; a shield of faith to guard us from our own fears and doubts and cares and sorrows, from the evil we see in nature and in man; a helmet of salvation—the hope which strengthens the weak-hearted, which guards the place where thought abides, and where plans of battle and of work are formed; a breastplate to protect the heart, where lie the issues of life, the treasures of pure passion, the loves, the sorrows—round these we are to bind the armour of righteous habit; and for the loins, where lies the strength of man, woven in and out in knitted muscle and sinew, there is the safeguard of truth—the inevitable necessity of sincerity.

III. These for defence. But our motto is not defence, but defiance; and for this there is the sword of the Spirit—the Word, the thought of God, all the Divine ideas expressed through the words and lives of men. Let it be drawn, and bright and clean, that so we may wage a continuing and a conquering warfare with evil around and within. Not defence alone, but defiance.

References.—V:13-14.—W. H. Simcox, The Cessation of Prophecy, p89. V:13-15.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xiv. No795. A. F. Winnington Ingram, Under the Dome, p254. C. Stanford, Symbols of Christ, p89. S. A. Tipple, Sunday Mornings at Norwood, p215. V:14.—A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture— Deuteronomy , Joshua , etc, p123. VI.—J. McNeill, Regent Square Pulpit, vol. ii. p161. VI:2 , 3.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xi. No629. VI:10 , 11.—A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture— Deuteronomy , Joshua , etc, p132. VI:17.—W. H. Hutchings, Sermon-Sketches (2Series), p183. VI:10.—C. Leach, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xl1891 , p262. VI:25.—A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture— Deuteronomy , Joshua , etc, p140. VII:1-12.—Ibid, p145. VII:3.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxiii. No1358. VII:19 , 20.—J. T. Bramston, Sermons to Boys, p40. VII:20.—J. Vaughan, Sermons Preached in Christ Church, Brighton (7th Series), p94. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. iii. No113.