Chapter 42—The Law Repeated
This chapter is based on
Deuteronomy 4
to
6
;
28
.
The Lord announced to Moses that the appointed time for the
possession of Canaan was at hand; and as the aged prophet stood upon
the heights overlooking the river Jordan and the Promised Land, he
gazed with deep interest upon the inheritance of his people. Would
it be possible that the sentence pronounced against him for his sin at
Kadesh might be revoked? With deep earnestness he pleaded, “O Lord
God, Thou hast begun to show Thy servant Thy greatness, and Thy
mighty hand; for what god is there in heaven or in earth, that can do
according to Thy works, and according to Thy might? I pray Thee, let
me go over, and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly
mountain, and Lebanon.”
Deuteronomy 3:24-27
.
The answer was, “Let it suffice thee; speak no more unto Me of
this matter. Get thee up into the top of Pisgah, and lift up thine eyes
westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and behold it
with thine eyes; for thou shalt not go over this Jordan.”
Without a murmur Moses submitted to the decree of God. And
now his great anxiety was for Israel. Who would feel the interest for
their welfare that he had felt? From a full heart he poured forth the
prayer, “Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over
the congregation, which may go out before them, and which may go
in before them, and which may lead them out, and which may bring
them in; that the congregation of the Lord be not as sheep which have
no shepherd.”
Numbers 27:16, 17
.
The Lord hearkened to the prayer of His servant; and the answer
came, “Take thee Joshua, the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit,
and lay thine hand upon him; and set him before Eleazar the priest, and
before all the congregation; and give him a charge in their sight. And
thou shalt put some of thine honor upon him, that all the congregation
of the people of Israel may be obedient.”
Verses 18-20
. Joshua had
long attended Moses; and being a man of wisdom, ability, and faith,
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