I. THE FORWARD MOVEMENT FROM KADESH-BARNEA TO PALESTINE. In our last lesson we left the Israelites at Kadesh-barnea (Num. 20: 1;

They

Deut. 2 14) on the border between Southern Palestine and the Great Desert. had arrived there about fifteen months after the Exodus, and remained 38 years, leaving it nine months before taking possession of Palestine.. During all this time Kadesh was probably their central nucleus or rendezvous, from which they could go into other parts of the lands around them with their cattle. It is not at all likely that they remained in Kadesh all the time. The Sin of Moses. Num. 20. In the wilderness of Zin the Israelites came to Meribah, i.e." Strife"; called Meribah of Kadesh in Deut. 32: 51, to distinguish it

The Brazen Serpent.

from the Meribah of Sinai (Ex. ,172, 7). Here was a waterless region, and they bitterly charged their thirst to Moses. God. told Moses and Aaron to take their wonder-working rod, gather the people together, "and speak to the rock before their eyes," and water would come forth, as once before in a like case of need (Ex. 17 : 6). But Moses was indignant and stirred to the depths of his soul, because the people forgot all the times he had helped them. He upbraided them, "Hear now, ye rebels! Must we fetch you water out of the rock?" Then he smote the rock with his rod twice," passionately," and the water came forth abundantly. . . . And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed not in me, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them."

"And did all drink of the same spiritual drink; for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.". I Cor. 10: 4.

The Fiery Serpents. Num. 21: 5-9. The Israelites rebelled. They Doré. were punished by deadly fiery serpents, "the burning ones," which killed many of the people. Moses made a serpent of brass, placed it on a pole, and every one who had been bitten was cured if he had faith enough to look at the serpent of brass.

"As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life."-John 3: 14, 15. II. MOSES MAKES HIS LAST APPEAL TO HIS PEOPLE, Deut. 6:3-9; 27; 28.

"And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with
all thine heart, and with all thy soul,
and with all thy might."

"And it shall come to pass if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: and all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God."

And so on to the end of the blessings.

"But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:

"Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field." And so on to the end of the curses.

I. Now after the death of Moses the servant of the LORD it came to pass, that the LORD spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying, 2. 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.

3. Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses.

"And Moses went up.

III. THE DEATH OF MOSES, Deut. 34 1-6. unto the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho. And the LORD showed him all the land" of Palestine. "And the LORD said unto him, This is the land I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy seed."

The vision comforted him in view of death, as he saw in the glorious view spread out before him a symbol of that better Promised Land to which he was going.

"Could we but stand where Moses stood,

And view the landscape o'er,

Not Jordan's stream, not Death's dark flood,
Should fright us from the shore."

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No one ever knew the place of his burial, and for several reasons it was well that the place was unknown. According to the word of the LORD,' or, as the word literally is, by the mouth of the Lord; and we do not wonder that the Jewish rabbis understand it to mean by the kiss of the Lord. As the father kisses his boy when he lifts him to his knee, so death came to Moses as a token of his lord's affection." W. M. Taylor.

Ruskin's words in his delightful thoughts on the falling leaves are especially descriptive of Moses : "We, also, careless of a monument by the grave, should build it in the world -- a monument by which men may be taught to remember, not where we died, but where we lived."

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IV. JOSHUA, THE NEW LEADER, Josh. 1 : 1-9. 1. His Name was originally Hoshea, the same as the prophet Hosea, signifying "salvation or help." To this was added afterward (Num. 13: 16) "Je " for Jehovah, and the name became Jehoshua, "Jehovah is salvation," shortened to Joshua, later modified to Jeshua (Neh. 8: 17), from which came its Greek form in the Septuagint, Jesous, Jesus. It is an excellent thing to have a name which we are to strive to live up to.

2.

His Ancestry. He was an Ephraimite, a descendant of Joseph through Ephraim. His father's name was Nun, and his grandfather, Elishama, was a captain of the army of the Ephraimites, 40,500 in number, at the organization of the Israelites soon after the Exodus (Num. 2: 18, 19, compared with 1 Chron. 7 : 27).

I

3. His Birthplace. He must have been born in Goshen, where his parents were in slavery.

4.

years.

His Age when he took command as general and crossed the Jordan was 83 At that time he began his greatest work. But his whole life previous to this was a preparation, an absolutely necessary preparation, for that work. Joshua now comes to the reward of his faithfulness as one who obeys orders. By obeying he has learned to command. By faithfulness in little things he is able to do great things. This is the only ladder that may be climbed to the best.

Joshua was great because he was under divine guidance, taught by divine wisdom, and, therefore, humble and strong.

He was a man of great courage, both physical and moral.
He was a man of faith, devout as he was brave.

"Service awaits every one,

He was deeply and intensely religious, through and through. 2. Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise. and he best honors his dead who arises and takes up his task with resolute heart, strong in the faith that God will not forsake him." Tarbell. "For all you know, God has set his heart on you to appoint you a captain of his army, or to make you a standard-bearer in the legion of his cross. He chooses those who by diligence in welldoing have deepened their capacity for wider service and a more extended useful

V. THE CONDITIONS OF JOSHUA'S SUCCESS, vs. 3-9. FIRST CONDITION, GOD'S PROMISES, VS. 3-5. Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread

4. 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 coast.

5. 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.

6. Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them.

7. Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest 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 prosper whithersoever thou goest.

The

upon. "That is, every place within the limits specified in the ensuing verse. expression also intimates the condition upon which the land was to be given to the Israelites their feet must treat it as conquerors.' : Keil. "As the old Chinese proverb puts it, ' What will you have? says God. Pay for it and take it.'"

The wilderness was south of Palestine. Lebanon was the mountain range north of Palestine. The land of the Hittites extended from northern Palestine to the Euphrates. The great sea, the Mediterranean.

The principle here stated has a very large application. It is true of God's promises, of the kingdom of heaven, of our opportunities, of prosperity, the enjoyments of civilization, usefulness, goodness, the higher joys of the spirit. We can enjoy only so much of this good land as we conquer and take possession of.

All the great powers and resources which have been sleeping in earth and air and sky from the Garden of Eden down to to-day have been waiting for man to discover and use them. Man has received only so much as he has actually taken possession of. Only what he conquers can he have; and we have but just begun to acquire our inheritance in this world. The same is true of God's blessings, of the Gospel, of missions, of the kingdom of heaven, of living truth unfolding still year by year.

For, saith Jehovah, I will be with thee: I will not fail thee nor forsake thee. SECOND CONDITION, COURAGE AND FAITH, vs. 6, 7, 9. Only be thou strong, to resist all temptations to depart from God and His covenant laws, even though the people should rebel, and threaten to stone him as in the time of the spies. And very courageous, because so much was at stake; and only by the greatest courage could Joshua divide the Promised Land among the tribes.

Courage is not ignorance of danger, shutting one's eyes to facts. It is the doing right and being true in spite of danger. The bravest soldier is the one who sees most clearly the danger into which, nevertheless, he is resolutely pressing, without hesitation.

"The test of courage is not found in easy warfare, but in strong opposition. Faith in God is needed more than faith in man. It is not what we can do, but what God can do through us, and true courage glories in hardness and opposing strength.

"Unbelief and cowardice go together and are very contagious. We would not imply that the unbeliever is a coward, but would affirm that the coward is always an unbeliever ! He fears because he believes not in God. It is easier to rebel than to obey, to fear than to fight, but courage and faith are ever willing to believe, obey, and fight." J. T. Stone, D. D., in S. S. Times.

"Mr. Moody, on the last day of his life, was listening to passages from the Bible as they were read to him by one of his sympathizing friends. At last he asked that the Bible be laid beside him, and he wrote on the margin of it: If God be your partner, make your plans large.' The trouble with most of us is that we do not make our plans in life large enough. Why do we not enlarge the horizon of our life and let God be our partner in very truth? When we have done this, we can say with confidence,' Nothing is too hard for God.'" From Onward, quoted in S. S. Times.

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THIRD CONDITION, A TRUE-HEARTED PATRIOTISM. Patriotism is "Love of one's country; the passion which moves a person to serve his country, either in defending it from invasion or in protecting its rights, and maintaining its laws and institutions.". Century Dictionary.

"The force which moved men to such awful sacrifice we call patriotism. It is that deep love of country that makes us willing to give anything for its welfare, or, expressed in another way, it is a combination of heroic self-sacrifice and public spirit. It is one of the most powerful of the emotions, dormant as a rule until aroused by some crisis in the country's progress. Like every other emotion it must express itself

in action."

Patriotism is closely allied to heroism. Patriotism is to be far more cherished in peace than in war; it is more difficult, more costly to the patriot, and requires a higher type of courage. To do right when others do wrong, to withstand the tide of false opinion, to stand alone for principle, to turn from all gains though Satan spread out before one as before Christ in his temptation, "all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them," to do right at any cost, here is the universal field of heroism, open to every boy and girl, every day.

The Man without a Country. Edward Everett Hale, in that most brilliant and touching story, The Man without a Country, represents a young naval officer as punished for disloyalty by being transferred from ship to ship and never being allowed to step upon his native shore, nor hear or read one word from his native land. He grew old thus, till it became a fearful punishment; and to one, who uttered some careless word against his native land, the " man without a country" burst out with, "If you are ever tempted to say a word or do a thing that shall put a bar between you and your family, your home, and your country, pray God in his mercy to take you that instant to his own heaven. And for your country, boy (and the words rattled in his throat), and for that flag, never dream a dream but of serving her as she bids you, though that service carry you through a thousand hells. No matter what happens to you, no matter who flatters you, or who abuses you remember that behind all these men is the country itself, - your country, and that you belong to her as to your own mother.""

"Breathes there a man with soul so dead,
Who never to himself hath said,
This is my own, my native land?
Whose heart hath ne'er within him burned
As home his footsteps he hath turned
From wandering on a foreign strand?

If such there breathe, go, mark him well,
For him no minstrel raptures swell;

High though his titles, proud his name,
Boundless his wealth as wish can claim,
Despite those titles, power, and pelf,
The wretch, concentered all in self,
Living, shall forfeit fair renown,
And, doubly dying, shall go down
To the vile dust from which he sprung,
Unwept, unhonored, and unsung.'

Patriotism in Daily Life. He who makes of himself a good citizen, who overcomes selfishness and vice and passion, and lives a clean, useful, helpful life; he who does

all he can as a citizen to destroy the corruption and selfishness and intemperance and vice which are far more dangerous to our country than any armed force from without, is just as truly a patriot as he who enlists in the army of defence, and joins battle against an invading force. Thus every citizen can be a patriot. Every child should be taught that living for his country is as needful and as glorious as dying for it.

BY THIS

CONQUER

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How to Serve Our Country. One paragraph in the proclamation of President Wilson to the people of the United States, made on April 15, 1917, is as applicable to our service of our country in peace as in war. Consider the words "this great thing," and "the task " to mean the keeping of our nation strong and true under all circumstances, and we can learn from it a lesson for all time. "To do this great thing worthily and successfully we must devote ourselves to the service without regard to profit or material advantage and with an energy and intelligence that will rise to the level of the enterprise itself. We must realize to the full how great the task is and how many things, how many kinds and elements of capacity and service and self-sacrifice it involves."