The Promised Land

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Bernard and Winnie were a classic case of assimilation: Nor did they conceal their origins. When her elder brother Walter changed his name from Regensburg to Raeburn, Winnie unmarried at the time refused to follow suit. But Bernard and Winnie stood firm. But he remained upbeat about England as a fair and decent society, despite antisemitism being the norm. He was still a schoolboy at the time, head of house and in the first XV for rugby at Uppingham, but due to take his Cambridge entrance exams and, more to the point, eager to get to France and do his bit: Exhausted and covered in boils, he was shipped back in October , fetching up in the same ward of the military hospital where Winnie was nursing — a coincidence that must have seemed like fate.

They announced their engagement in but it was another three years before they married. Bernard, at Cambridge, encouraged Winnie to go to Oxford, which eventually, after much resistance, she did she liked to portray herself as a golf-and-horses sort of woman, lacking the brains of her highbrow German cousins.

I am afraid you married rather a greenhorn. The interwar years, which Bernard and Winnie mostly spent together, are short on letters, naturally enough.

But there are sporadic mentions of their growing unease at what was happening in Germany. Most of the duties involved, both with these children and her own, fell to Winnie, since Bernard was soon away as a forces medic, first in Norway and later in India. The letters they exchanged during the second world war are full of fascinating asides: A token was agreed upon as proof of their intention to protect Rahab and her family from destruction in return for her assistance.

This thread would serve as a reminder to attacking Israel that Rahab and all within her house were to be spared from destruction. In both instances Israel passed through the water into a newness of life. In each instance the passage represented a new covenant agreement.

Israel passed over the River Jordan on the first day of the Passover see Joshua 3: Biblical peoples were very fond of symbolic acts to commemorate great events. It is important to remember that the Israelites did not move into a land where no one lived. On the contrary, the area known as Canaan had been inhabited for centuries. The mention of the Amorite and Canaanite kings and their response to the miraculous crossing of the Jordan further indicates that all of the land of Canaan was laid at the feet of Israel by the Lord.

They had only to physically conquer those who were already defeated mentally, but they lost the advantage the Lord gave them when they began to forsake their covenants with Him.

Promised Land

Israel had wandered forty years in the wilderness because they were not faithful in their covenant with God. It is not surprising, then, that during that period they had failed to continue the practice of circumcision, which was the symbol of their covenant. Therefore, after Joshua had led his people through the waters of the Jordan—a type of baptism see Reading —onto the sacred ground that had been denied their fathers, the Lord required them to reinstitute the physical token of the covenant. This event marks a major turning point for Israel. For the first time in forty years the children of Israel were on their own.

The Israelites had been tenderly nursed with manna during that time, but now they were to stand forth in maturity and, from their own labor, eat the bread of the land. Considering that the manna had appeared every day but the Sabbath for forty years, or more than twelve thousand times, it truly was the end of a remarkable era. Although there is a noticeable lack of detail in this account, what is recorded suggests a miraculous vision shown to Joshua.

Most commentators assume either a mortal servant of God or an angel came to strengthen Joshua and Israel as they prepared for their first battle. Two things, however, suggest that Joshua may actually have seen Jehovah, the premortal Jesus Christ.

First, when Joshua fell down to worship him, no attempt was made to stop him. Yet the mortal servants of God are quick to prevent others from worshiping them, even when they have demonstrated great power see Acts But no attempt was made to prevent Joshua from falling down to worship this being. Second, the personage commanded Joshua to remove his shoes because he was standing on holy ground—the same instructions Jehovah gave to Moses on Mount Sinai see Exodus 3: But, since this account in Deuteronomy is very scant on details, it can only be surmised that the being may have been the Lord.

The inhabitants of Jericho knew full well of the powerful destruction that Israel had directed against the kingdom of the Amorites east of Jordan. Therefore, it is no surprise that they shut up their walled city against Israel. Throughout the law of Moses, seven was used numerous times to signify the covenant.

By patterning the conquest of Jericho in sevens, the Lord taught Israel that their success lay in the covenant with Jehovah; His perfect power brought conquest, not their own. Scholars are generally agreed that the shofar was the oldest musical instrument in Israel. After being flattened by heat, the horn of a ram was forced to turn up at the ends. This shape thus created a most unusual and easily recognizable sound. In early times the horn was used to warn of approaching armies, to give the signal for attack, or to dismiss troops from the field.

This was not a mere mortal conflict: Canaan was to be destroyed by the very God of Israel. This truth was impressively taught to Israel by the presence of the ark. Great care was given to honoring every detail of the oath that had been given to Rahab. Men have argued this question for ages.

Did the marching feet, the blaring trumpets, and the final shout weaken the walls in some way so that they tumbled in accordance with natural law? Or was some other principle in operation? Did the Lord simply, at a convenient point in time, level the walls by His power? Talmage discussed this question in these words:. To count the ticking of a watch thousands of miles away; to speak in but an ordinary tone and be heard across the continent; to signal from one hemisphere and be understood on the other though oceans roll and roar between; to bring the lightning into our homes and make it serve as fire and torch; to navigate the air and to travel beneath the ocean surface; to make chemical and atomic energies obey our will—are not these miracles?

The possibility of such would not have been received with credence before their actual accomplishment. Nevertheless, these and all other miracles are accomplished through the operation of the laws of nature, which are the laws of God. For further discussion of the significance of this loss, see Points to Ponder in this chapter.

It was a token of great remorse, true humility, and deep repentance. It also symbolized the unworthy station of man compared to deity see Genesis Some offenses of men are of such consequence that the payment of the life of the offender is required for the expiation of the sin. It is apparent from his voluntary confession that Achan understood this truth see Joshua 7: See the tables of weights and measures in Maps and Charts to better understand the value of a shekel of silver. More than Jericho, Ai, the second city conquered after Israel crossed the Jordan, became a model for the conquests of other cities.

Once Ai was taken, Joshua moved Israel to Mount Ebal and fulfilled the instructions of Moses to build an altar there and pronounce the blessings and cursings of the Lord from Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim see vv.

Promised Land Art Festival

Although the subtle alliance manufactured through deceitful means saved their lives, the people of Gibeon became the perpetual slaves of Israel. Moses had warned Israel not to make any covenants with the Canaanites see Deuteronomy 7: Since the oath had been made, however, he honored it, placing the people of Gibeon in slavery instead of having them killed.

He was the chief of the confederacy of five kings that made war against Gibeon. Mormon, discoursing on the might and power of God, wrote:. Yea, if he say unto the earth—Thou shalt go back, that it lengthen out the day for many hours—it is done; And thus, according to his word the earth goeth back, and it appeareth unto man that the sun standeth still; yea, and behold, this is so; for surely it is the earth that moveth and not the sun. And behold, also, if he say unto the waters of the great deep—Be thou dried up—it is done.

Behold, if he say unto this mountain—Be thou raised up, and come over and fall upon that city, that it be buried up—behold it is done. And since on the occasion in question he was fighting to bring victory to Israel, this was one of his means of doing so. And they shall behold blood, and fire, and vapors of smoke. And before the day of the Lord shall come, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon be turned into blood, and the stars fall from heaven.

Some power will darken the sun and make the moon refuse to give its light. Revell Company, , p. Like numerous other books mentioned in the Old and New Testament but not contained within their pages, the book of Jasher appears to have been a source that contained accounts of heroic deeds in ancient Israel.

It is thought by many to have been written in verse, but it likely contained some prose as well. A book with this title is currently available, but it is of doubtful origin, according to most scholars, and probably is not the one mentioned in the Old Testament. One had then been literally trodden underfoot. The destruction of the five nations of the Canaanites was accomplished over a period of days rather than on the same day as the battle at Gibeon.

Instructions to Students

This chapter summarizes the conquest of northern Canaan. The destruction of these northern kingdoms, however, required a long time see v. To hough a horse is to cut the leg tendons above and behind the tarsal joint or ankle, thus rendering the horse useless. The Israelites were foot soldiers rather than charioteers. These chapters contain accounts of the division of the land of Canaan among the twelve tribes of Israel. The map of Canaan in Maps and Charts gives a clear picture of how the land was divided between the tribes.

Chapter 18 discusses the Levite cities commanded by Moses to be given to members of the tribe of Levi see Reading ; Numbers This chapter demonstrates the critical balance between true worship and apostate idolatry.

Fortunately, the tribes showed that it was an act of legitimate worship and not idolatry. The tragedy is that in a short time Israel would no longer react strongly against idolatry. The thirty-one Canaanite city-states destroyed by Joshua in his day were not all that the Lord intended to purge from Israel see Numbers Since men tend to adopt the values or habits of those with whom they associate, it was imperative that all idolatrous nations in Canaan be destroyed.

Joshua warned Israel of three things in the event that some heathen nations, including those that surrounded them, were allowed to remain: Near the end of his life Joshua called his people together for a final blessing and warning, very much as Moses had done. Such messages should be considered very significant, for what a prophet says as he approaches death seems to be an effort on his part to rid his garments of the blood of the people by placing the full responsibility for their conduct squarely upon their shoulders see Jacob 1: Joshua showed Israel exactly what God had miraculously done for them in the past and challenged them to choose whom they would serve.

Elder Erastus Snow, commenting on the feeling some have that being obedient to God somehow limits their agency, gave an interesting insight on choosing to follow God:. I leave you to answer this question in your own mind.

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