Bible CharactersTalmage, T. De Witt (Thomas De Witt)
Religion
Bible Characters
Talmage, T. De Witt (Thomas De Witt)
Bible -- Biography
When they went into Jericho they were told not to touch one solitary
thing. But there was Acham, who saw a nice garment--perhaps he thought
it would be a nice dress for his wife. He also saw two hundred shekels
of silver and a wedge of gold, and he coveted all these things and took
them. He hid them, but he could not conceal them. He had to confess that
he had sinned against the Lord God of Israel. Those men of Ai were so
humbled that they could not stand before the Lord.
After leaving Ai, we read that Joshua came to Mount Ebal, and there a
wonderful thing took place. On one side, on the slope of Mount Gerizim,
were half of the children of Israel, and on the other side, on the slope
of Mount Ebal, were the other half. There were three million people
gathered there, and the whole law of Moses was read over to them.
It was a solemn sight. Moreover, all the law of God was read--not a
part, but the whole. Joshua read the blessings and cursings. He did not
stand up there like some one reading a moral essay and say that they
must be good for they were going into the Promised Land; that there were
blessings for them, and said nothing about the curses. No; he did not do
that. He read all.
It says here, in the eighth chapter: “And all Israel and their elders and
officers and their judges stood on this side the ark and on that side,
before the priests, the Levites, which bore the ark of the covenant of
the Lord, as well the stranger as he that was born among them; half of
them over against Mount Gerizim and half of them over against Mount Ebal,
as Moses, the servant of the Lord, had commanded before, that they should
bless the people of Israel. And afterward he read all the words of the
law, the blessings and cursings, according to all that is written in the
book of the law.”
Now, mark that. “He read all the words of the law, the blessings and
cursings, according to all that is written in the book of the law.” If
Joshua had been like many of the present day, he would have said to
himself: “I will read the blessings, but not the cursings. I do not
believe God is going to curse a man if he does wrong, so I will read
the blessings and omit the cursings.” But, thank God, he read the whole
law--the blessings and the cursings. He did not keep back any thing. “And
there was not a word of all that Moses commanded which Joshua read not.”
Thank God for such a man! That is the kind of men we want nowadays--men
who will not cut the Bible to pieces like the king who took out his
penknife and said: “I don’t like that; cut that out. I don’t like this;
cut this out.” So they cut and slashed the Bible until very little was
left.
The thirty-third verse of the eighth chapter says they were all
there--“as well the stranger as he that was born among them.” You see,
Joshua made no distinction. He read to the stranger as well as to those
that were of the children of Israel. It was all read.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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