Joshua's long day. 



147 



of another means one of two things — that he who hearkens either 

 grants a petition made by the other person, or he obeys his command. 

 Mr. Collett has pointed out, what is obviously true, that God has 

 always heard and answered prayer ; therefore this expression, " that 

 the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man " has in this case 

 nothing to do v>^ith any answer to prayer. And Joshua did not offer 

 any prayer ; he issued an order : " Sun, be thou dumb upon Gibeon 

 and thou, moon, in the valley of Aijalon." " And the sun was dumb 

 and the moon ceased." The order was obeyed. 



Joshua knew as well as we do that neither sun nor moon could 

 hear him, and that even if they heard, they had no power either to 

 obey or disobey ; they are neither gods nor men ; their acts or 

 movements are the acts and movements of the Lord Himself, Who 

 alone is their Ruler. God heard His servant's order and He fulfilled 

 it; He hearkened unto the command of His servant and performed 

 it. No event like this is recorded in the whole of the Old Testament ; 

 that day stands unique. 



Joshua was a real man, with his passions and weaknesses like other 

 men, like ourselves. Forty years long he had been the servant, the 

 lieutenant, of the greatest man who ever lived before Christ came. 

 Many are the advantages of such a position, but it is seldom that a 

 man so brought up develops much self-reliance. So when the 

 crushing burden that Moses had borne was transferred to Joshua, 

 it is no wonder that he faltered. The Lord Himself knew His 

 servant's weakness, and, as we read in Josh, i, the Lord repeatedly 

 exhorted him to "Be strong and of a good courage," and those 

 over whom he had been appointed to rule gave him the same exhorta- 

 tion. These words were not said to him because he was strong, but 

 because he needed to be. Soon the day came that a most important 

 duty was laid upon him ; namely, to ensure that none of the spoil 

 from Jericho, which had been laid under the curse, should be touched 

 by any of his soldiers. In this, his first great responsibility, Joshua 

 failed ; the failure was not personal, as though he himself had 

 hankered after the spoil, but clearly he had not so dominated his 

 officers and men that they felt compelled to obey him. And so the 

 sin of Achan followed and the defeat of Ai. 



But Joshua made confession of his sin, and carried out faithfully 

 the stern duty which then devolved upon him, and the Lord renewed 

 to him his commission as Captain of the Lord's host. Then in that 



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