Now it came to pass after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, that the Lord spake unto Joshua, Moses' minister, saying, "Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, to you have I given it, as I spake unto Moses. From the wilderness, and this Lebanon, even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your border. There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. Be strong and of a good courage: for thou shalt cause this people to inherit the land which I sware unto their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, to observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest have good success whithersoever thou goest. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not affrighted, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest."
Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, "Pass through the midst of the camp, and command the people, saying, 'Prepare you victuals; for within three days ye are to pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land, which the Lord your God giveth you to possess it.'"
B. JOSHUA'S CONQUESTS
So Joshua took all that land, the hill country, and all the South, and the lowland, and the hill country of Israel, and the lowland of the same; and all their kings he took, and smote them, and put them to death. Joshua made war a long time with all those kings. So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the Lord spake unto Moses; and Joshua gave it for an inheritance unto Israel according to their divisions by their tribes.
C. CALEB'S REWARD
Then the children of Judah drew nigh unto Joshua: and Caleb said unto him, "Thou knowest the thing that the Lord spake unto Moses the man of God concerning me and concerning thee in Kadesh-barnea. Forty years old was I when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land; and I brought him word again as it was in mine heart. Nevertheless my brethren that went up with me made the heart of the people melt: but I wholly followed the Lord my God. And Moses sware on that day, saying, 'Surely the land whereon thy foot hath trodden shall be an inheritance to thee and to thy children for ever, because thou hast wholly followed the Lord my God.' And now, behold, the Lord hath kept me alive, as he spake, these forty and five years, from the time that the Lord spake this word unto Moses, while Israel walked in the wilderness: and now, lo, I am this day fourscore and five years old. As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me: as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, and to go out and to come in. Now, therefore, give me this mountain, whereof the Lord spake in that day; for thou heardest in that day how the giants, the sons of Anak, were there, and cities great and fenced: it may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall drive them out, as the Lord spake."
And Joshua blessed him; and he gave Hebron unto Caleb for an inheritance. And the land had rest from war.
THE MEANING OF THE STORY
141. We have followed the story of Moses to the time of his death. Now we shall go back to notice the part that two other heroes played in the wilderness. It was at the time when Moses had led the people from Mount Sinai toward the southern part of Canaan. Locate this journey on the map.
142 (§43A). Notice that we take up the Book of Numbers, which is so called because it tells of the census of the people in the wilderness. Try to imagine the feelings of the people who had come from slavery in Egypt and had reached the borders of the strange new land. They would wish to know what was before them. What plan was to be used to find out?