Seventeenth Sunday.
ISRAEL IN BATTLE.
FIRST READING.
"Ye go over Jordan, and dwell in the land which the Lord your God giveth you."—Deut. 12:10.
AFTER the children of Israel had been forty years living in the wilderness, God led them into the beautiful land He had promised them. But before they could come in they had to get across a river—a deep river, with rocks on each side, and a stony bottom to it, and the water running very fast indeed. The name of the river was Jordan. There was no bridges to go over, and no boat to row them across; and not only all the strong men, but all the women and little children, had to get over it!
But nobody need be afraid when God is helping him. God told them what to do. The priests, who were like clergymen to them, were to take the ark—that is, the chest where the two tables of the Ten Commandments were kept—and were to walk down into the river, without being afraid. And they were brave men; they believed what God told them, and went down into the swift stream in no fear of being drowned. And behold, as soon as their feet touched the water it stopped flowing, and stood still. No more water came down, and all the hosts of the children of Israel went straight over the bottom of the river with dry feet.
The priests stood up in the middle all the time the others were going over, and when everyone was safe on the other side they came after them; and by-and-by the river came rushing down again in its own place, for it was God who had commanded it to stop short, and make a dry place for His people to pass over. And so they came into the land of Canaan that He had promised them so long.
