Synthetic Bible Studies by James Gray

• Title Page
• Pentateuch
• History
  • Lesson 10: Joshua
    • I: The Command to Joshua, Joshua 1
    • II: The Spying of the Land, Joshua 2
    • III: The Crossing of Jordan, Joshua 3–4
    • IV: The Conquest of Jericho, Joshua 5–7
    • V: The Defeat at Ai, Joshua 7–8
    • VI: The Rescue of Gibeon, Joshua 9–10
      • Did the Sun and Moon Stand Still?
    • VII: The Close of the War, Joshua 11
    • VIII: The Division of the Land, Joshua 12–21
    • IX: The Altar of Witness, Joshua 22
    • X: The Renewal of the Covenant, Joshua 23–24
  • Lesson 11: Judges and Ruth
  • Lesson 12: I Samuel
  • Lesson 13: II Samuel
  • Lesson 14: I Kings
  • Lesson 15: II Kings
  • Lesson 16: I and II Chronicles and Esther
• Poetry
• Prophets
• Post Captivity Prophets
• Gospels, Acts
• Pauline Epistles
• General Epistles

in the settlement of “the Eastern question.” Observe the promise (Joshua 1:5-6) and the conditions of blessing (Joshua 1:7-8). Also the promptness and leadership of Joshua (Joshua 1:9-15). Suppose we call the second great fact

The Spying of the Land, Joshua 2

As this was not disapproved of God, we may assume it has His sanction, and shows that, notwithstanding His promise to Joshua, the latter was to use the ordinary methods of warfare except where specially instructed otherwise. The use of means is not dishonoring to God, nor does it discount faith in any way, some times indeed the very opposite is true. It may exhibit weaker faith to be straining after the marvelous always, than to be willing to carry on the work of God with the common agencies at hand.

It need not be supposed that God commended Rahab’s falsehood by what we read in Hebrews 11:31, or James 2:25, any more than that He commended her other sins. Those allusions are to call attention to her faith, a living faith which took hold of God and saved her, sinner as she was. Indeed this story of Rahab is in several points a suggestive type of redemption, and can be employed as a sermon or Bible reading. Observe:

Her abode, a condemned city; her character; her faith; the promise she received; the token she displayed; her deliverance (Joshua 6); her interest in saving others.

All these particulars can easily be wrought out into a most helpful and soul-stirring discourse.

The Crossing of Jordan, Joshua 3-4

Let the title at the head of this paragraph identify the third great fact. See the preparation for it, (Joshua 3:1-5), observe the particulars, (Joshua 3:14-17), and memorials of the event, (Joshua 4:8-9). Dwell especially on Joshua 3:15, which shows it to have been all the more extraordinary because of the time it took place. The locality named in Joshua 3:16 was about 30 miles from their encampment.

This event has always seemed to me an impressive type of the mediatoral or intercessory work of Christ on behalf of His people. The priests standing in the river-bed until every member of the host had passed over in safety, strangely yet blessedly, brings to mind Hebrews 7:25. F.B. Meyer, in Joshua, and the Land of Promise, suggests many spiritual analogies of this kind, helpful not only to the quiet reader, but also to one who is teaching the contents of the book to others.