Vol 20 Issue 05

With the thirteenth chapter begins the second part of the book of Joshua. The description of the division of the land begins with this chapter and continues through chapter nineteen, As Joshua has become old and stricken in years, and as much of the land is still to be conquered, with no prospect of his completing the conquest, God commands him to wait no longer, but to undertake the division, Joshua 13:1-17. It will be well to note the land that remains to be subdued. First, there were all the borders of the Philistines, and all Geshuri, in the south...

Attention has already been called to the great offence which the history of the conquest of Canaan has given to the opponents of Christianity. As was said, the Manichaeans classified it among “the cruel things which Moses did and commanded,” and which went to prove, according to their view, that the God of the Old Testament could not be the God of the New. This is the usual criticism brought against the Jehovah of the people of Israel. He is a cruel and unjust deity. Thus to identify Him with the God of the Christians is to inflict the followers...

It has always been a safe and established rule to determine the author of a certain book of Holy Writ, if at all possible, from the book itself. What surer guide could we have than the Word of God, which is its own indubitable testimony of its infallibility? Applying this rule to the book of Ecclesiastes it hardly seems possible that any one should as much as question the fact that Solomon is its author. The first chapter expresses this very definitely. Its opening statement reads: “The words of the Preacher, the Son of David, king in Jerusalem.” Although he...

“Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.” Three days and three nights in the belly of a fish! But how? Was he alive during that three day entombment, as the consensus has always been among students of the Bible? Or is it possible that he was dead, and that the church has been in error on this point? I should like to begin with a few general observations. First, we are not questioning the fact as such that the prophet of...

Chapter 3: The Eternal Father Creator (continued) This same truth, that in God’s eternal good pleasure Christ is first and all other things are conceived in Him and unto Him, is also taught in other passages of Holy Writ. We have in mind especially that glorious and profound part of the epistle to the Colossians that expresses the theme of the whole letter: “Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or...