Chapter D: The Advice of the Heroes

And Joshua and Caleb, which were of them that spied out the land, rent their clothes: and they spake unto all the children of Israel, saying, "The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceeding good land. If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it unto us; a land which floweth with milk and honey. Only rebel not against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is removed from over them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not."

But all the people cried to stone them with stones.

E. THE SENTENCE OF THE LORD

And the glory of the Lord appeared in the tent of meeting unto all the children of Israel. And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, "I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me. Say unto them, 'As I live, saith the Lord, surely as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you: your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me, surely ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I lifted up my hand that I would make you dwell therein, save Caleb and Joshua. But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have rejected. But as for you, your carcases shall fall in this wilderness. And your children shall be wanderers in the wilderness forty years.'"

=Sec.44. After the Forty Years= (Josh. 1:1-11; 11:16-18; 14:6-13)

A. JOSHUA'S REWARD

Now it came to pass after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, that the Lord spake unto Joshua, Moses' minister, saying, "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. Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, to you have I given it, as I spake unto Moses. 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 border. 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. Be strong and of a good courage: for thou shalt cause this people to inherit the land which I sware unto their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, to 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 have good success whithersoever thou goest. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not affrighted, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest."

Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, "Pass through the midst of the camp, and command the people, saying, 'Prepare you victuals; for within three days ye are to pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land, which the Lord your God giveth you to possess it.'"

B. JOSHUA'S CONQUESTS

So Joshua took all that land, the hill country, and all the South, and the lowland, and the hill country of Israel, and the lowland of the same; and all their kings he took, and smote them, and put them to death. Joshua made war a long time with all those kings. So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the Lord spake unto Moses; and Joshua gave it for an inheritance unto Israel according to their divisions by their tribes.