Chapter 44—Crossing the Jordan
This chapter is based on
Joshua 1
to
5:12
.
The Israelites deeply mourned for their departed leader, and thirty
days were devoted to special services in honor of his memory. Never
till he was taken from them had they so fully realized the value of his
wise counsels, his parental tenderness, and his unswerving faith. With
a new and deeper appreciation they recalled the precious lessons he
had given while still with them.
Moses was dead, but his influence did not die with him. It was to
live on, reproducing itself in the hearts of his people. The memory of
that holy, unselfish life would long be cherished, with silent, persuasive
power molding the lives even of those who had neglected his living
words. As the glow of the descending sun lights up the mountain
peaks long after the sun itself has sunk behind the hills, so the works
of the pure, the holy, and the good shed light upon the world long after
the actors themselves have passed away. Their works, their words,
their example, will forever live. “The righteous shall be in everlasting
remembrance.”
Psalm 112:6
.
While they were filled with grief at their great loss, the people
knew that they were not left alone. The pillar of cloud rested over the
tabernacle by day, and the pillar of fire by night, an assurance that God
would still be their guide and helper if they would walk in the way of
His commandments.
Joshua was now the acknowledged leader of Israel. He had been
known chiefly as a warrior, and his gifts and virtues were especially
valuable at this stage in the history of his people. Courageous, resolute,
and persevering, prompt, incorruptible, unmindful of selfish interests
in his care for those committed to his charge, and, above all, inspired
by a living faith in God—such was the character of the man divinely
chosen to conduct the armies of Israel in their entrance upon the
Promised Land. During the sojourn in the wilderness he had acted as
prime minister to Moses, and by his quiet, unpretending fidelity, his
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