Bible Commentaries

The Distribution of the Land

Joshua 15:18-19). To whom did she pray? To her father. Have we not a Father to whom we can pray for springs of water? Yes, we have such a Father, and from him we can have the upper springs and the nether springs. The river of God is full of water. It cannot be drained off. It sets a-going all the fountains of creation, and is more at the end than at the beginning—the very fulness of God; a contradiction in words, but a grand reality in experience. The sun lights every lamp, and not a beam the less is his infinite glory. We therefore may have a special portion, a little all our own; yea, a double portion of the Spirit may be ours. Do not let us be content with the general blessing of the Church. That, indeed, is an infinite comfort. But that general blessing is a pledge of particular donations on the part of the Father of lights. Here we can pray without covetousness; here we can be ambitious without selfishness; here we can have great desires, and be enlarged in our generosity by their very operation in the heart. Let each say to the Father, Give me a field; give me a faculty; give me some dear, sweet consciousness of thy nearness and lovingness—something that nobody else can have just as I have it; whisper one word to me that no one in all the universe but myself can hear, and that whisper shall be to me an inspiration, a comfort, a security, a pledge; not that others may not enjoy the same in their own way, but I want something mine own. To that prayer who can measure the reply, if spoken in faith and love and noble unselfishness?

Now another voice is heard. Joshua was not going the right way about the work, in the estimation of some people:—

"And the children of Joseph spake unto Joshua 17:14).

"And Joshua answered them, If thou be a great people, then get thee up to the wood country, and cut down for thyself there in the land of the Perizzites and of the giants, if mount Ephraim be too narrow for thee" ( Joshua 17:15).

Joshua 17:17-18).

We come now to another set of circumstances. It appears that when all was done up to this point, a good deal still remained to be accomplished. We read of this in chapter Joshua 18:2-7 :—

"And there remained among the children of Israel seven tribes, which had not yet received their inheritance" ( Joshua 18:2).

And has Joshua nothing in all this—the great man himself, so quiet, so gentle? Caleb asked for his portion right boldly, but he asked—as a heroic man should ask—for difficulties. At eighty-five he wanted to prove that he was as young as he was at forty. Joshua might have taken that opportunity of saying, Caleb, I was with you in that matter of the espial of the land; if you want your portion now, I may as well have mine at the same time. Nothing of the kind. Joshua waited until the very last. So we read:—

"When they had made an end of dividing the land for inheritance by their coasts, the children of Israel gave an inheritance to Joshua the son of Nun among them: according to the word of the Lord they gave him the city which he asked, even Timnath-serah in mount Ephraim: and he built the city, and dwelt therein" ( Joshua 19:49-50).

A very tender word is found in regard to some of the tribes. "Gad, and Reuben, and half the tribe of Joshua 19:49

Joshua had rights of his own, and could have claimed such rights; but beyond rights which a man may claim are still more precious rights which are accorded to him by the conscience and generosity of the community.—This is the very law of divine providence.—The fact that we are born into the world is a fact which brings with it certain natural rights, in the absence of which we should hardly be men at all. But this is not the limit of the divine bounty. Beyond all that is merely legal and necessary there is a region of grace, of large and happy dowry, showing not only the bare justice, but the sweet mercy of the rule under which we live.—In a social sense it is true that we might get more if we claimed less.—Joshua lived a noble life amongst his people, and carried out his function of leadership with obvious justice and disinterestedness, and it is beautiful to observe how the people seem to have recognised this by their willing concession to him of an inheritance by their coasts.—This should be true in all family life. Obedience is due to parents by an unwritten law, as well as by formal decree; but beyond obedience there lies the whole region of voluntary testimony and service. Blessed is he who gives his parent an inheritance in that wide region!—The same thing should be true in commercial relations: there should be something more than a bond: where the bond is carried out loyally on both sides Duty will gracefully take upon itself any crown which Gratitude may be disposed to place upon its head.—This should be also true ecclesiastically: men who have laboured in season and out of season for the good of others ought not to be forgotten in the time of audit and general winding up of life and service, but should have accorded to them all possible honour in view of a life unstained by sin, and crowded with acts of beneficence and sacrifice.—The charm of some possessions lies in the spirit which dictated their ownership.—It is a poor thing to have only those possessions which are bought and sold, and on which merely commercial lines are inscribed; such things, of course, every man must have; but the things which are written all over with love and thankfulness are infinitely more precious, and in an obvious sense are even more enduring.—No man begrudged Joshua his city in mount Ephraim: every one felt that the city was due to the brave captain and obedient saint.—It is well when our honours are doubled by the recognition of their desert by those who know us best.—The Well-done of the Master constitutes the best part of heaven.—To go into heaven even as a mere act of justice is to deprive the holy city of its most fascinating charm. It is because the city is given with the Well-done of its King that residence in it becomes the final and eternal joy of the soul.