Joshua spoke to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, saying,
Parallel Translations
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Joshua spoke to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, saying,
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And to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to half the tribe of Manasseh, spake Joshua, saying,
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And to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, spoke Joshua, saying:
Cross-references (1)
Passages linked to Joshua 1:12 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Numbers 32:20-22 Moses said to them: “If you will do this thing, if you will arm yourselves to go before Yahweh to the war, and every one of your armed men will pass over the Jordan before Yahweh until he has driven out his enemies from before him, and the land is subdued before Yahweh; then afterward you shall return, and be clear of obligation to Yahweh and to Israel. Then this land shall be your possession before Yahweh.
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 12. And to the Reubenites, etc An inheritance had…
12. And to the Reubenites, etc An inheritance had been granted them beyond the Jordan, on the condition that they should continue to perform military service with their brethren in expelling the nations of Canaan. Joshua therefore now exhorts them to fulfil their promise, to leave their wives, their children, and all their effects behind, to cross the Jordan, and not desist from carrying on the war till they had placed their brethren in peaceable possession. In urging them so to act, he employs two arguments, the one drawn from authority and the other from equity. He therefore reminds them of the command given them by Moses, from whose decision it was not lawful to deviate, since it was well known to all that he uttered nothing of himself, but only what God had dictated by his mouth. At the same time, without actually asserting, Joshua indirectly insinuates, that they are bound, by compact, inasmuch as they had engaged to act in this manner. He next moves them by motives of equity, that there might be no inequality in the condition of those to whom the same inheritance had been destined in common. It would be very incongruous, he says, that your brethren should be incurring danger, or, at least, toiling in carrying on war, and that you should be enjoying all the comforts of a peaceful settlement.
When he orders them to precede or pass before, the meaning is, not that they were to be the first to enter into conflict with the enemy, and in all emergencies which might befall them, were to bear more than their own share of the burden; he only in this way urges them to move with alacrity, as it would have been a kind of tergiversation to keep in the rear and follow slowly in the track of others. The expression, pass before your brethren, therefore, does not mean to stand in the front of the battle, but simply to observe their ranks, and thereby give proof of ready zeal. For it is certain that as they were arranged in four divisions they advanced in the same order. As he calls them men of war, we may infer, as will elsewhere more clearly appear, that the aged, and others not robust, were permitted to remain at home in charge of the common welfare, or altogether relieved from public duty, if in any way disabled from performing it.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Jos 1:12 And to the Reubenites, and to the…
Jos 1:12 And to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to half the tribe of Manasseh, spake Joshua, saying,
Ver. 12. And to the Reubenites,] i.e., To the rulers of their tribes, who were their representatives.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and…
And to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to half the tribe of Manasseh,.... Who were settled on that side Jordan where Israel now were:
spake Joshua, saying; as follows.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain ADDRESS TO THE TRANS-JORDANIC TRIBES, Jos_1:12-15.
ADDRESS TO THE TRANS-JORDANIC TRIBES, Jos_1:12-15.
Palestine, east of the Jordan, had already been conquered, and allotted, at their earnest request, to the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, in the order here enumerated, passing from the south toward the north. Num_32:23. It was a more fertile and attractive country than “the mountain,” as Western Palestine is sometimes appropriately called.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 12. the Reubenites] Gadites, and the Half-Tribe of Manasseh,…
12. the Reubenites] Gadites, and the Half-Tribe of Manasseh, on account of their wealth in flocks and herds (Num_32:16; Num_32:24), had received already their possessions in “the forest-land,” “the pastureland” of the country beyond the Jordan, the territory of the conquered kings Sihon and Og. The remote downs of this portion of Palestine received a special name, “Mishor,” expressive of their contrast with the rough and rocky soil of the west. “The vast herds of wild cattle which then wandered through the woods, as those of Scotland through its ancient forests, were in like manner, at once the terror and pride of the Israelite,—“the fat bulls of Bashan.” The king of Moab was but a “great sheep-master,” and “rendered” for tribute a “hundred thousand lambs, and an hundred thousand rams, with the wool” (2Ki_3:4). And still the countless herds and flocks may be seen, droves of cattle moving on like troops of soldiers, descending at sunset to drink of the springs—literally, in the language of the Prophet, “rams and lambs, and goats, and bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan” (Eze_39:18). See Dean Stanley’s Lectures on the Jewish Church, i. 217, 218; Sinai and Palestine, App. § vi.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (12) To the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and…
(12) To the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to half the tribe of Manasseh, spake Joshua.—The reference to Numbers 32 explains this order. We have only to observe that these two tribes and a half were not forbidden to leave a sufficient number of their fighting men to protect their homes and families. (See on Jos_4:12.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain And to the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the…
And to the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh. (see Num_32:1-33) We have here a remarkable instance of undesigned agreement between the various books of the Old Testament: one of those signs of the genuineness of the narrative which would be almost impossible to a compiler of fictitious records. We are told in the passage just cited that the reason why these particular tribes desired an inheritance on the other side Jordan was because they were particularly rich in cattle. Now we learn from other passages that this region was and travellers tell us that it is to this day a region particularly suited for pasture. The "Jewish Chronicle," in December, 1879, mentions a scheme projected by Mr. Laurence Oliphant for colonising this district for agricultural purposes under the auspices of a company. The "fat bulls of Bashan" were almost proverbial in Scripture. Mesha, king of Moab, was a "sheep master," we read, (2Ki_3:4) and his tribute, rendered in sheep to the king of Israel, was a very large one; especially when we remember that Moab was at that time but little larger than an ordinary English country. (see also Deu_32:14 Eze_39:18) The land to the east of Jordan bore the name Mishor, or level land, as contrasted with the rocky region on the other side of Jordan.
HOMILIES R. GLOVER Vers. 12-15. Duties of brotherhood.
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We have here a fine appeal, and a fine answer to that appeal. Arrived at the Jordan, they are about to make that invasion of Palestine which gave the Church of God a country and truth a home. At first the settlement of all the twelve tribes in the country between the Jordan and the sea seems to have been the design of Moses. But "the region beyond Jordan" was fertile a finer land for flocks than Canaan itself. It was not surprising, therefore, that the pre-eminently pastoral tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh should desire to settle there. And when the opposition of Og, king of Bashan, and Sihon, king of the Amorites, necessitated war, and ended in their defeat, the desire of these tribes found expression in a formal request. On the condition that their settlement on the nearer side of Jordan was not to be a "secession," and that they would help their brethren in the conquest of the whole land, Moses had granted their request, and divided the territory between them. Now Joshua, on the death of Moses, requires their fulfilment of their pledge. Rest would have been pleasant, and selfish reasons in plenty forthcoming for evading the fulfilment of their promise; but the claim for brotherly help was made to men of brotherly nature. This chapter shows their prompt response, and the remainder of this Book shows one might almost say all the subsequent books of the Bible do so the splendid results of their brotherliness. I find a very perfect illustration of a great theme, viz., the duty and blessedness of the more favoured helping their less favoured brethren. Observe
I THE DUTY OF THOSE MORE EARLY, OR MORE RICHLY BLESSED, HELPING THEIR LESS FAVOURED BRETHREN. There are those more and those less favoured. Those that attain the desire of their hearts much earlier and much more fully than their brethren. God does not divide His favours as a communistic philosopher would do. All are largely, but all unequally and diversely, blessed. So it happened here. The two and a haft tribes had got all their fighting over before the others had well begun. Had Israel entered the land of Canaan by the south, as they probably would have done if they had not shrunk from the enterprise on the return of the spies, then Judah would have been the first to find its home secure; and Reuben, Gad, and half Manasseh would have been the last if they still desired the district of Gilead. It is not the peculiar virtue of the latter that it should be earlier, nor any fault of the former that it should be later. It is due simply to their entering now from the east instead of from the south. So in the contrasted condition of these tribes we have but a type of the contrasted conditions of men. There are some have made their fortune by the time others are just beginning to struggle for it. To some, truth comes with clear evidence as a bright heritage of their youth, while others only reach it with protracted struggle. Some are favoured with a knowledge of the gospel, while others are in densest ignorance. Some nations have vast wealth of liberty and justice, when others are just beginning to achieve the first sweets of freedom. And in such circumstances the more fortunate are very apt to enjoy their comforts, regardless of the struggles of their brethren; just as these tribes might have argued with plausible ingenuity that they should be excused from rendering assistance to their brethren. The struggle with Bashan that district which rises like an island of rock from the pastoral plains, and which is the great natural fortress, the "keep" of the whole district had been arduous. The remains of the cities of Bashan, so strongly built that three thousand years has not been able to reduce them to ruins, show the energy and developed civilisation of their foes. There are not a few indications that the stress of the conflict fell on the two and a half tribes. How easily they might have been tempted to settle down, indifferent to their brethren"s welfare. Besides, they had respectable excuses. Who would defend their wives and children when all their mighty men were across the Jordan? What would become of their cattle? What security was there against the Bedawin, then, as now, roving about intent on spelt? Might they not act as rear guard, and keep the communications open secure a safe retreat? But Moses, Joshua, God, all expect the more to help the less fortunate, and the generous instincts of their own hearts assent to the doctrine, and the nobility of their action testifies to all posterity that privilege carries responsibility, and that all who have are bound to aid all who lack. "Go forth before your brethren armed, till the Lord hath given them rest." Let the upper classes of our country share rather than monopolise education, power, enjoyment of life. Let the rich aid the poor; the strong the weak. Let those who have the gospel help those who are in darkness to attain its light. The successful have a duty to the struggling to aid them, not feebly, but with their full strength. If this example illustrates the duty of the more helping the less favoured, it illustrates with equal clearness, secondly
II THE BLESSEDNESS OF DOING SO. One does not like to contemplate what would have been the results had they withheld their help. The Amorites, strong in their mountain fastnesses, the Canaanites the race we know better under the name of Phoenicians, strong in their civilisation, wealth, commerce, maritime enterprise, inhabiting the seaboard plains were not enemies to be lightly overcome. Ten out of the twelve spies all brave men reported the conquest impossible; and the other two hoped for it only because they had the faith that remembered nothing was impossible. What would have been the effect on the world if Phoenician religion, with its unutterable vileness and cruelty, destruction of morality and virtues in all their forms, had extirpated Hebrew religion, with its inspiration of virtue, truth, liberty, and all things high, one is content to leave unguessed. But Israel was fighting the world"s battle of truth and righteousness against enormous odds, and the two and a half tribes nobly taking their share in the conflict. Observe what blessed results followed.
1. They had the reward of being grandly useful in the service they rendered. They did not fail, nor were discouraged until, as the result of three or four years of war, the whole land from Hebron in the south to Baal Gad in Lebanon was theirs. And God"s people, God"s Church, and God"s Truth had an earthly house. The candle was set on a candlestick, and gave light to all surrounding nations and succeeding ages. Thy brotherly help, in whatever direction rendered, will never be in vain. Nothing has such success and so little failure as kindly help.
2. Their service resulted in the development of a finer brotherhood. Not a perfect one, as there will be too much occasion to mark, but yet a relationship in which there was on the one hand the genial interest we always take in those we help, and on the other there was the gratitude always felt where service is promptly and freely given. They know not what they lose who never render help. Serve and love your brethren and they will pray for you and love you, when perhaps their love and prayer will turn the scale between hope and despair.
3. There was developed in these tribes a noble sentiment of heroic patriotism. We make our acts: but our acts make us. And a noble deed increases the nobility of nature from which it sprung. The service now rendered by the tribes inhabiting Gilead lived in their memory, an inspiration to similar service. Gideon and Jephthah headed the tribes, and twice over delivered Israel from her oppressors. And in later times this same region gave Israel her grandest prophet the great Elijah who restored pure and undefiled religion to its throne. The service you render ennobles you, and makes you more capable of nobler service in all time to come.
4. There was the direct outward reward. They lost nothing by it even in material wealth. No enemy attacked their families. They brought back great store of spoil, more wealth than herding could have given them in the interval. And through all their future history the service now rendered by them was repayed to them. So that, though exposed in situation, the first to feel the brunt of the attacks of Syria and Ammon, they retained, by help of their brethren, their possessions and their freedom, right down to the days of Ahab. It is no slight reward which waits on brotherly kindness and charity, but one which makes men richer than with any wealth of selfishness they could possibly be. Go thou, and in thy sphere do as these tribes did render prompt, willing, rich, lengthened service to your less favoured brethren, and "exceedingly abundant above all you ask or think" will you find your reward in heaven. G.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Ye shall pass before your brethren armed.
Jos_1:12-18
Ye shall pass before your brethren armed.
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Joshuas demand for the services of the trans-Jordanic tribes
In making this demand he declares their duty plainly, supports it with reasons, and enforces it with firmness. The demand he made was authoritative. It was founded on a past transaction to which they had agreed. He showed that this was nothing more than the carrying out of an arrangement previously made. From this it would not be lawful to deviate, for the commandment of Moses in regard to this was the word of the Lord. The demand was also reasonable. The raw lads and the worn-out soldiers, as well as the inferior men, may stay at home to do garrison duty, the veterans must march with him. Surely this is sensible. It is always wise to put the best men to the most difficult work. In fulfilling this commission of the true Joshua, has the Church always acted with equal wisdom and fidelity? It did so in the purest and palmiest days of missionary effort, when, filled with the spirit of wisdom and love and power, it broke forth on the right and left and speedily overran the known world, Now it seems as if all the mighty men of valour should stay at home to nurse the feeble spark of the Churchs vitality, while the striplings go to the wars. Yea, are there not some who, instead of evangelising among the heathen, expend all their energy in proselytising among Christians? The demand made by Joshua on the pastoral tribes was also equitable. You have rest, he might have said; your brethren have not. You got rest through their help, therefore you are bound to help them to the same blessing. The command of Moses in regard to this was acquiesced in by you, therefore truth and honour require its faithful carrying out. Moreover, what an unseemly picture it would have presented, to have seen part of the nation fighting hard, while their brethren sat still and looked on in ignoble ease. And how shortsighted would this policy of idleness have been. Only by the speedy and thorough conquest of all the land could the heritage of any tribe be kept in pleasant and unquestioned possession. To march with Joshua was the wisest, as well as the most seemly thing these tribes could do. Surely the same arguments could be urged with equal force as incentives to the grand work of world-wide Christian testimony. (A. B. Mackay.)
All that thou commandest us we will do.
Brave responses
The response of the people was as noble in its way as that of their leader. There is a holy rivalry between Israel and Joshua. They stir each other up to the great work that has to be done. The outstanding feature in the response of the people is its enthusiasm. It is plain from their response that they are heart and soul in the work before them, that they are only waiting for their leaders command to march forth a band of heroes. To say that their reply to Joshua was hearty would be to do them injustice; it was enthusiastic. Every soul in the camp was stirred to its utmost depth. This is plain from the readiness with which they replied. They did not hang back, waiting for each other to speak out. Much less did they hunt up excuses why they should not march. They did not modify or minimise their responsibilities. They were as eager to follow Joshua as Joshua was to follow Jehovah. This enthusiasm was also manifested by their cheerfulness. These men had not only promised to put their hands to this work, but also made if plain that they felt it their highest privilege to be able to do so. Oh! for such holy enthusiasm in the work of the Lord in these days! The best of us are but half-hearted at the best, and some, alas! seem utterly unable to get up the least spark of enthusiasm for holy things. If we profess to be Christians, if we profess to do Gods work, if we profess to respond to the call of the true Joshua, let us do it, not like galley-slaves, but like Gods freemen; let us do it as those who think His service our highest honour. Joshuas followers were also unreserved in acknowledging their allegiance. They kept nothing back and made no reservation. They asked no questions and imposed no conditions. Is obedience, prompt and unquestioning, the first duty of a soldier? See how splendidly it was possessed by these Israelites. They declare that it is not for them to make reply, not for them to reason why, but simply, constantly, to do all that was commanded them. And if such glorious allegiance was due to Joshua, much more it is due to our great Captain of salvation, Jesus Christ. Whatsoever He commands in His Word we should do. Wheresoever He sends us in His providence we should go. The response of the people was also humble, sincere, earnest, and hopeful. A slight transformation in the opening words of verse 17 makes their meaning more clear. It should read thus: According to all in which we hearkened to Moses so will we hearken unto thee. They do not here brag of their obedience to Moses. Though better than their fathers, they had nothing to boast of, and conscious of their own weakness they merely said, We will try to make our best obedience to Moses the model of our obedience to you. And there is good hope that they will succeed in carrying out this promise, for it is plain that they make it in a prayerful spirit, inasmuch as they follow it up by saying, Only the Lord be with thee as He was with Moses. This is no impertinent limitation, qualifying their full allegiance as already given; but an earnest prayer that Joshua might constantly enjoy the Divine guidance, protection, and blessing vouchsafed to Moses. Then they finish their response by words vehement and uncompromising: Whosoever he be that doth rebel against thy commandment, and will not hearken unto thy words in all that thou commandest him, let him be put to death. What more could a leader desire than such a spontaneous manifestation of fidelity? How must this declaration have strengthened Joshuas heart, showing so clearly as it did that his appointment to the leadership by Jehovah was so heartily ratified by all the people. (A. B Mackay.)
The moral advantages of good organisation
1. Society must have leadership, and leadership must be a question of competence. There are three things about the true leader which are most notable--
(1) He must be directly called of God. Moses was; Joshua was.
(2) Being directly called of God, he will walk constantly in the Divine counsel: This book of the law shall not depart, &c.
(3) Walking constantly in the Divine counsel, he shall achieve the most distinguished success. This is Gods promise.
2. Organisation is as much required in the Church as in the army. The mature thinker, the new-born Christian, the untried youth, the undisciplined mind, and the cultivated intellect, cannot be equal, and ought not to have equal authority in the Church.
I. Such organisation would facilitate the development of individual talent. In the absence of wise organisation, the modest man will be ignored or crushed. He will have no power and no disposition to cope with the self-asserting and blustering men who worship their own infallibility. For the moment insolence will vanquish genius, simply because genius disdains the rude weapons which insolence adopts, and cares not to fight where even victory would be disgrace.
II. Such organisation would consolidate the Christian society assembling in one place. The army is a compact confederacy. Its consolidation is its strength. Break up its wisely arranged gradations, and its power is paralysed. The same principle has its bearing upon the Church.
III. Such organisation would present the most formidable front to the enemy. Every man in his place, every man moving at the same word of command, every man living for the common good--let that programme be carried out, and no power can withstand the united influence of Christs believers. Disorder is weakness; disorder is waste!
IV. Such organi sation would promote a most healthful spiritual discipline, The organisation which God appoints is calculated to train men to habits of self-dominion. The young man is held in check; the passionate man is subdued; the lethargic man is quickened; and each nature has the advantage of association with natures of a different type. The organisation thus commended is not merely mechanical; it is the order which comes of a living love, which is willing to do the most good in the least time. (J. -Parker, D. D.)
Fidelity to engagements
There was no going back from their word, even though they might have found a loophole of escape. They might have said that as the conquest of Sihon and Og had been accomplished so easily, so the conquest of the western tribes would be equally simple. Or they might have said that the nine tribes and a half could furnish quite a large enough army to dispossess the Canaanites. Or they might have discovered that their wives and children were exposed to dangers they had not apprehended, and that it would be necessary for the entire body of the men to remain and protect them. But they fell back on no such afterthought. They kept their word at no small cost of toil and danger, and furnished thereby a perpetual lesson for those who, having made a promise under pressure, are tempted to retire from it when the pressure is removed. Fidelity to engagements is a noble quality, just as laxity in regard to them is a miserable sin. Even pagan Rome could boast of a Regulus who kept his oath by returning to Carthage, though it was to encounter a miserable death. In Psa_15:1-5. it is a feature in the portrait of the man who is to abide in Gods tabernacle and dwell in His holy hill, that he sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not. (W. G. Blaikie, D. D.)
The Lord thy God be with thee.
Prayers for men in public offices
Rulers who answer the end of their office as guardians of civil and religious liberty are pillars of a land. They uphold and support it, and keep it from tottering and sinking. We should pray for them--
1. That they may be endued with every grace and virtue which can animate to the faithful and diligent execution of the duties of their office. If piety, true patriotism, and zeal for the interests of religion are at present less conspicuous in many who hold civil or military offices than they have been in some former periods, there is the greater need to beseech Him, with whom is the residue of the Spirit, to pour out abundantly.
2. We should pray that all in offices, civil or military, may be endued with the gifts and talents necessary for the honourable discharge of their several offices. Capacity and genius, as well as good dispositions, are requisite for serving the public. It is from Divine influence that rulers diligently search what conduct is just and wise; hearken to salutary advice, from whatever quarter it comes; and have clear understandings to discern, and sound judgments to choose the right path, even in situations the most intricate and perplexed.
3. We should pray that, in consequence of good dispositions and eminent abilities, rulers may actually adopt the measures which best tend to promote the public good. It is not enough that a ruler avoids, in his own practice, whatever may embolden wickedness, and recommends, by an exemplary conduct, that righteousness which exalteth a nation. He must vigorously enforce and execute the laws already established for restraining wrong and wicked lewdness, and help forward the enacting of such new laws as may be needful for restraining them more effectually.
4. We should pray God to prosper the endeavours of all in civil and military offices for promoting the public good. (John Erskine, D. D.)
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The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain Jos_1:14. All the mighty men] All of those selected…
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Jos_1:14. All the mighty men] All of those selected for the campaign. About 40,000 passed over, leaving upwards of 70,000 effective men to guard the women and children. (Cf. chap. Jos_4:13; Num_26:7; Num_26:18; Num_26:34.)
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MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Jos_1:12-18
UNEQUAL POSSESSIONS AND CORRESPONDING OBLIGATIONS
Several religious writers recently have called attention to the “Gospel” in the O. T. Some books have been thought to shadow forth much of the doctrinal teachings of the Gospel, others, the glory of the Church. “Christ in Leviticus” is set forth typically; in other books, prophetically. The Gospel in Joshua is a Gospel of right feeling about daily life. It is a system of Christian ethics, and the teaching is the same in outline as the teaching of the Saviour and His apostles. Here are insisted on the same obedience towards God, and the same duty towards men, which are made so emphatic by Jesus Christ. One glory of the Bible is that all which is new is so old. Nothing of the O. T. is recalled in the New; nothing is amended, nothing is altered. Not a jot or a tittle of the old principles passes away. The clothing of them may change, but Christ says of the truths, “I came not to destroy, but to fulfil.” The O. T. shews us a plant; in the N. T. we have the same plant developed amid the glories of the work of Christ into blossom and beauty; now and here the centuries are bearing fruits, and yonder these are being gathered home; but the plant has been ever the same. The Hindoos teach the doctrine of transmigration of souls. A man dies, and they say he may become an elephant, then a bird, then an alligator, then a tiger, then a serpent, and so on through various and endless forms of being; but with all these changes of body, they insist that the soul is always one and identical. Revelation may come now in one form, and now in another; it may be given now by this man, and now by that; the body may change,—the spirit of the Bible is ever the same. This paragraph speaks of the inequalities of human inheritances; of the obligation of opportunity; and of the duty of caring for the weak.
I. Men, by God’s appointment, come into life’s inheritance in differing measures and by various ways. The whole army of Israel had gone up against Sihon and Og. (Cf. Num_21:21-35; Deu_2:24-37; Deu_3:1-17.) These marvellous victories thrilled the heart of the nation, and animated its songs for at least four centuries. (Cf. Psa_135:2; Psa_135:11-12; Psa_135:21; Psa_136:17-21.) Yet the two and a half tribes inherited the whole of the land on the east of Jordan. Reuben and Gad had a preponderance of cattle. (Cf Num_32:1.) How did that inequality of possession come about? Perhaps through greater industry, or more agricultural habits. This inequality of cattle led to the two and a half tribes inheriting this fat and fertile land, which all Israel had fought to conquer. Here was another irregularity. There were yet others. The number of men upwards of twenty years of age was in Reuben, 43,700, in Gad, 40,500; in half Manasseh, 26,350. Manasseh, though fewest by far in population, had an immensely larger territory than either of the others. Gad numbered less than Reuben, yet its territory was nearly double. Looking at the plan of the land in ordinary maps, the case, in rough figures, stands nearly as follows:—Where a Reubenite inherited one acre, a Gadite would possess two, while a member of the half-tribe of Manasseh would have nearly fifteen. How this brings abruptly into view our heavenly Father’s method of disposing of His gifts. Men would say—at least, many poor men, and not a few others—“Let every man have things equally.” Their panacea for the ills which afflict the world is an equal division of the world’s substance. God does not even start His model nation on that plan. To one tribe He gives no territorial property whatever, and to this half-tribe, which is only as the fourth of the sons of Joseph, He gives by far the largest acreage of all. And why not? “Because of justice,” men say. Well, if all things were equalised to-day, they would begin to get uneven again to-morrow. The industrious and able would gain; the idle and dissolute would lose. And why talk of justice where there are no rights? The parable of the labourers in the vineyard disposes for ever of this question. The rights of rebels and traitors are not usually thought large among men. Besides this, our life on earth is a system of training and discipline, and our God does not govern by a routine method of equal pleasures and equal pains.
1. Glance at the differing lots of different men now. (a) Look at men in their birth. Life is a race, and much depends on the start. Do men start equally? “Some men are born to greatness, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.” Some are born in mansions, and some in hovels; some of godly parents, and some in the midst of vice; some in civilised countries, and some of barbarians; some with good mental powers, and some idiots; some with a well-balanced emotional nature, and some with passions which might need an angel to control them. (b) There is the same diversity in providence. Some of even the slothful rise to riches, and some of even the industrious never know prosperity. One farmer’s corn is blighted, or his cattle are carried off by an epidemic; another, of far less merit, succeeds. One merchant suffers continually by fires, or storms, or markets which seem always adverse; another, not nearly so worthy, is continually meeting with prosperity. You can only look at it all, and say, “The Lord maketh poor, and maketh rich.” (c) There is the same inequality in religious privileges. Some are so taught, and trained, and pleaded with, and prayed for, that they seem carried to heaven by the force of Divine grace in others; some are so taught, and tempted, and constrained, that they seem borne as on a flood tide to destruction. Some live long, and have many opportunities to repent; others do but get fairly into years of responsibility, and suddenly they die. These are not theories; life is shewing them daily as her own stern facts.
2. What are the reasons for these differing measures and lots in human life? We are not omniscient, and therefore cannot tell. Not a small part of the efficiency of life’s teachings lies in the demand which they make on our absolute trust in God. But “we know in part.” Ask why the earth is not one level plain, with no majestic hills and no pleasant valleys. What wondrous beauty would be lost in such a dismal monotony of arrangement! Ask why all climates are not equal? why the world was not made with no Borneo and no Iceland, no Sumatra and no Siberia, but with one dead level of temperature all over? How death would reign everywhere if this were the case! With no breezes, no currents of air, no purifying winds, earth would be a scene of perpetual pestilence, so long as any remained alive for victims. Ask why the world has not one eternal summer; why trees do not bear flower and fruit all the year round? How beautiful this would be; yes, but how enervating! What about moral health, moral strength, and moral beauty, if all men had an equal heritage and an even course in coming into possession? What, if among men, there were no hills and valleys? What if the moral climate were everywhere alike? What if perpetual summer reigned the wide world over? Oh, if there were no sore poverty and riches, no terrible bereavements and sicknesses, and no robust health, the currents of pity and charity would sink into a calm, putrid, and fatal selfishness, and compassion would stagnate and die. With some it seems already to be, “Every man for himself, and God for us all;” then it would be, “Every man for himself, and God for none of us.” “No more pain and no more tears” may be well where there is “no more sin;” it could not be so here. If the heritage of all men were the same, the world’s rich experiences and moral health and beauty would vanish and die for ever. Thank God for such inheritance as you have. It is an unmerited gift, to be used to His glory.
II. A common obligation rests on all men to whom God gives an easy inheritance, to help those whose lot is only won through hard work and stern conflict. The two and a half tribes had fertile lands, and had them through the service of all Israel: now, having rest, they were to fight the battles of their brethren. God teaches the young nation that men who have rest are to help men who are in unrest and conflict. How it all reads like a verse out of the N. T. What is it but saying, “We then, that are strong, ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves”? It is God’s early version of a later proclamation, “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” Do we use our rest to help our brother who is yet in stern anxiety and conflict? Some men take all they can get, but give nothing to their fellows. They are like the gluttons of whom the ancient Juvenal wrote:—
“Such whose sole bliss is eating, who can give
But that one brutal reason why they live.”
Inequalities do but exist that we may give our rest for our brother’s strife. Especially should he who has entered into the rest of faith, labour for the help of him who is borne down into sin by many temptations. Feltham well said, “Shew me the man who would go to heaven alone if he could, and I will shew you the man who will never be admitted to heaven.” We are to be followers of Him who, “though He was rich, for our sakes became poor,” etc.
III. The weak have always been God’s care, and ought ever to be ours also. (Jos_1:14.) God would not have their women and children exposed to the strife. He impresses the gentleness of His own heart on His people from the very outset. How beautifully this feeling of interest in the weak comes out all through the ministry of the Saviour! Why should God be so gentle with weak men?
1. Think how useless weak people are for service. Dr. Livingstone told us in one of his indignant letters that twenty thousand slaves were annually exported from the East Coast of Africa, but that having to walk five hundred miles, not one in five of those captured ever lived to embark. Think of it; one hundred thousand people torn every year from home to furnish an exportation of twenty thousand! What became of the eighty thousand? They became weak and sick with marching, and were driven on till they fell down to die on the road Think of it; two hundred and twenty of the weak thus driven to death every day all the year round! Oh, how differently God deals with us; and how worthless many of us are in our weakness!
2. Remember the tendency of weakness to despondency. The way-worn Elijah cries out in his grief, “O Lord, take away my life.”
3. Think on the tendency of men in weakness to reject their Saviour. Notwithstanding this, Christ still cares for such. Peter, in his weakness, denies Christ, yet Christ prays for him; Thomas doubts, and his Lord says, “Reach hither thy finger;” Judas betrays his Master, but how tenderly that Master pleads with him at the table; of the eleven Jesus prophesied, “Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered every man to his own, and shall leave me alone,” immediately He adds concerning the long discourse in which He had ministered to their coming feebleness, “These things have I spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace.” It is said that during his youth Themistocles was very idle, and that when he suddenly turned to a life of industry, many asked his reason for the change; the answer was, “The glory of Miltiades will not suffer me to sleep.” The glory of the Lord’s compassion for us in our helplessness might well awaken our dormant sympathies, and quicken our still hands to holy efforts for others who are also weak.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Jos_1:12-16. THE PROMISE BETWEEN THE DEAD AND THE LIVING.
I. God ratifies, through Joshua, the covenant made between these tribes and Moses. He holds Himself bound by the word of His deceased servant, whom during his life He had so visibly recognised. The importance of the words of a man by whom the Lord is manifestly working. In a measure, God honours such words still.
II. God, “who keepeth covenant” on His side, demands faithfulness from men on their part also. These tribes had made a solemn promise which they are now called upon to fulfil. (Cf. Num_32:16-33.)
1. Vows which ought never to have been made, and which it would be sinful to perform, should be kept only with penitence and prayer, (e. g. Act_23:12.)
2. Vows which in themselves are neither evil nor good should be faithfully kept for conscience’ sake.
3. Vows in which holy service is offered to God or man, God holds to be unquestionably sacred and imperatively binding. (Cf. Deu_23:21-23.) The death of one of the parties to this agreement in no measure cancels the obligation of the other. Num_32:23, which treats of this promise, does not so much assert that sin is self-revealing as that it is self-remunerating. It ensures its own penalties; and the penalty for this broken vow should be certain and heavy. Jos_1:12-16 may be otherwise treated, as indicating some
INCENTIVES TO GENEROSITY
I. Generous kindness towards others is the best policy towards ourselves. If the nine and a half tribes had been defeated, or had not made their victory sure, the two and a half tribes would speedily have suffered also. It was security for the eastern side of Jordan, that the western tribes should have rest. This is so throughout our own lives also. To help our brethren, is to lay up riches where, even for this life, “neither moth nor rust” can wholly destroy them.
II. Generous kindness towards others is invariably due to others. It may be due to them because of what they have done for us. This was the case here. It is always due because of what some have done for us. What we owe to men, should be judged in the light of that which we have received from men. Thus human kindness, while always graceful, is ever a debt.
III. Generous kindness towards others is due to God, and is well-pleasing in His sight. He from whom we have received all that we prize most in life, and all that we shall care for in death, graciously says about all our efforts to help needy brethren, “Ye have done it unto Me.” Even Cicero could write, “Men resemble the gods in nothing so much as in doing good to their fellow creatures.” Self-interest, as a motive for action, is allowable; self-denial for the good of others is noble. Wm. Jay well said—“To render good for good is human; to render evil for evil is brutish; to render evil for good is devilish; to render good for evil is divine.”
Jos_1:16-18. These verses, at first sight, read like the reply of the two and a half tribes; probably they should be taken as the response of all Israel to Joshua’s call to war. Two addresses had been given, of which the substance is recorded one to the “shoterim,” or subordinate officers of all Israel, and the other probably to the similar officers of the two and a half tribes. The verses read like a declaration of fealty to Joshua, made on behalf of the whole of the twelve tribes, whose officers had “passed through the host,” and gathered the mind of the people, which they here formally express.
Joshua’s claims on the people were made not on his own behalf, but as the representative of the mind of Jehovah. The people had been led to regard him as the medium through which God declared His will. Taken in this light the verses shew us
THE SPIRIT OF TRUE OBEDIENCE
I. Obedience to the will of God should be prompt and complete.
1. True obedience will lead us to keep, not merely some, but all of the commandments. If we are really loyal to God, we shall need no exposition of that seemingly harsh word—“He that offendeth in one point is guilty of all.” The spirit that can practise any one known disobedience sets itself up in opposition to God, who gave all the commandments, and who is therefore greater than them all put together. To break one command knowingly is to intentionally violate the will of God; and of what use is it to obey some of His words, and then to dare Him on the strength of having kept a part of His precepts? For His people there is only one thing to say—“All that Thou commandest us, directly or indirectly, we will do.”
2. True obedience will lead us in all the ways of God. “All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep His covenant and His testimonies.” “Whithersoever Thou sendest us, we will go.”
3. True obedience loves to refresh itself with helpful memories. The Israelites had hearkened unto Moses in some things, and therein had been their greatest happiness. Where they had murmured and rebelled, there they had suffered; where they had obeyed, therein had they been blessed. They did not mean to vaunt in their obedience to Moses as perfect, but express, in this general way, their desire in all things to obey Joshua. They knew by a deep experience that this was the path of happiness. “Great peace have they which love Thy law; and nothing shall offend them.”
II. The spirit of obedience to God, and the spirit of prayer and holy desire for God’s people, ever go together.
1. “The Lord be with thee, as He was with Moses.” How constantly our Lord Himself shews us the close connection between the spirit of prayer and that of obedience. The key to the power of the prayer in John 17 is given in its own words, “I have glorified Thee on the earth; I have finished the work which Thou gavest me to do.”
2. “Only be strong and of a good courage.” The voice of obedience is the echo of the voice of God. These are the very words which the Lord had spoken in His charge to Joshua; here they are reiterated by the people. So God supplements His teachings by the common feeling of mankind.
III. He who best obeys God, most severely estimates the penalties due to transgression. The disobedient, they say, “shall be put to death.” This was martial law, and was certainly as necessary in an army then as it is now. Through rebellion in the wilderness there had been forty years’ delay already. This is no reckless statement made in a moment of excitement, neither is it unmerciful. Severity to the few would be mercy to the multitude. It is when in the spirit of obedience that the Israelites see this. Were we more holy, we should probably have far fewer discussions on the amount of punishment due to sin. It is when we live nearest to God that we most feel the guilt of sin and its dreadful deservings. It was Murray McCheyne who talked with such awful gentleness and love of the wrath of God. Probably no angel sees any reason for wonder, much less for complaint, when he “looks into” the word to guilty men—“The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” Apart from disposition and desire, could it be otherwise?
“THE MORAL ADVANTAGES OF GOOD ORGANIZATION.—Society must have leadership, and leadership must be a question of competence. There are three things about the true leader which are most notable:
1. He must be directly called of God. Moses was; Joshua was.
2. Being directly called of God, he will walk constantly in the Divine counsel. ‘This book of the law shall not depart,’ etc.
3. Walking constantly in the Divine counsel, he shall achieve the most distinguished success. This is God’s promise.
“Organization is as much required in the Church as in the army. God is not the author of confusion, but of order. Every man has a place, and ought to keep it; and if he overstep it, he should be made uncomfortable until he return. The mature thinker, the new-born Christian, the untried youth, the undisciplined mind, and the cultivated intellect, cannot be equal, and ought not to have equal authority in the Church. There are chief seats for chief guests, and lower rooms for less conspicuous men; and society should exhibit displeasure towards the man who wantonly asserts a claim to a place above the merits of his character. When this principle is recognised, we shall get good organization, and such organization will secure the following advantages:—
I. Such organization would facilitate the development of individual talent. In the absence of wise organization, the modest man will be ignored or crushed. He will have no power and no disposition to cope with the self-asserting and blustering men who worship their own infallibility. For the moment insolence will vanquish genius, simply because genius disdains the rude weapons which insolence adopts, and cares not to fight where even victory would be disgrace.…
II. Such organization would consolidate the Christian society assembling in one place. The army is a compact confederacy. Its consolidation is its strength. Break up its wisely arranged gradations, and its power is paralysed. The same principle has its bearing upon the Church.…
III. Such organization would present the most formidable front to the enemy. Every man in his place, every man moving at the same word of command every man living for the common good—let that programme be carried out, and no power can withstand the united influence of Christ’s believers. Disorder is weakness; disorder is waste! The Church is to-day torn by intestine strife. Every man’s hand is lifted up against his brother, and through all the ranks this question is asked, Who shall be greatest? What wonder if the enemy be laughing at our impotence, and deriding our pretensions?
IV. Such organization would promote a most healthful spiritual discipline. The organization which God appoints is calculated to train men to habits of self-dominion.… The young man is held in check; the passionate man is subdued; the lethargic man is quickened; and each nature has the advantage of association with natures of a different type. The organization thus commended is not merely mechanical; it is the order which comes of a living love, which is willing to do the most good in the least time. It is quite possible to have a perfect mechanical outline, and yet to make no impression on the age. We want all the force of individuality combined with all the regulation of order; and this we can only have by living constantly in the spirit of Jesus Christ, without which we are none of His. It may be said that life will make its own order. This is a pleasant sophism, very gratifying to an indolent spirit; but the whole history of human training gives it emphatic contradiction. It is forgotten that we have to do, not with life in the abstract, but with fallen life; with life under the constant influence of Satanic appeal, and which is inclined to go down rather than to go up: so that life under such conditions cannot be trusted to make its own order; it must be brought under Divine discipline, as that may discover itself in human appointments, and by serving humbly must learn to rule benignantly.” [Dr. Parker; Pulpit Analyst, vol. i. 626.]
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
The tribes of Reuben, Gad and half of the tribe of Manasseh chose to settle east of the Jordan River. (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
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Reubenites
These were the descendants of Reuben. (See: How to Translate Names)
Gadites
These were the decendants of Gad. (See: How to Translate Names)
translationWords
Gad
tribe
Manasseh
Joshua
Moses
servant
Yahweh
command
God
rest
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 1:12-15 Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh had…
1:12-15 Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh had requested and received from Moses the conquered land east of the Jordan (Num 32:33).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.