Joshua 14:1

Peasant proprietorship.

The land of Canaan is divided not amongst nobility and gentry, but amongst the people. Each family has its little farm—probably averaging about ten acres. Divided equally amongst the people, the Mosaic law expressly forbade its alienation in perpetuity from any family. The jubilee year was ordained in order that twice in a century any too great inequalities of condition which had crept in might be redressed; that every family which, through misfortune or even fault, had fallen out of property, might regain their land, and with it the means of maintenance for their families. In that jubilee year his freedom reverted to the slave, and his family heritage to him who had fallen into poverty. There was no injustice, for the value of the land was assessed in the case of every sale as that of a leasehold having so many years to run. Every tax and every religious charge upon the land similarly varied, according as the jubilee year was near or distant. None hurt by this system; numerous and incalculable advantages arose from it. It prevented the rise of a feudal aristocracy, with the inevitable degradation of the poor. It put Israel in the best of all conditions for developing self respect in the individual. Its equality was a school for liberty. It averted many of the most prolific causes of poverty. It diffused a homely comfort throughout all the land. It made the well being of the State a matter of vital interest to every citizen, giving each able-bodied man a "stake in the country." It made Israel a model commonwealth, where the land was the home of all, and all classes without envy and without arrogance enjoyed the gifts of God in fairly even distribution. Observe—

I. THE GROUNDS OF SUCH A PLAN OF DISTRIBUTION . The first "idea" lying at the root of this distribution of land is, that land is, unlike all other property, not proper to be the possession in perpetuity of any holder. The land is like the air of heaven, like the rain and the sunshine, like the fisheries of the sea, meant to be a common blessing for all, rather than the private good of any. Its productiveness is due to Nature's chemistry as much as to man's art. What man has no part in producing, he has no title to possess, anal therefore no man can legitimately possess himself, to the exclusion of others, of that Divine part of the earth's fruitfulness. Accordingly, the theory of Moses is, that God is the great and only landlord; none having more than life interests in the land. Every fifty years it all was to fall into His hands again. Under God the land belonged to the nation, and the jubilee year permitted it to be so divided that all the families of the nation would enjoy it with a rough equality. A second idea lying at the base of this legislation was, that great wealth and great poverty were both of them great evils, to be prevented at any cost. The evils of poverty are obvious. Insufficient food, physical degeneracy, the development of a servile and dependent spirit; or of a reckless, turbulent spirit, that in its haste to relieve its hunger is apt to overthrow the State. Strife of classes inevitably springs from it. There is a poverty the result of indolence, which the law wisely would not attempt to prevent; and one the result of accidents, which it was impossible to foresee, and so provide against. But every State should direct its first and most patient attention to poverty produced by law; for that is generally the worst kind of all, as well as being a very general kind. And wealth corrupts equally with poverty. Wealth is full of fears, and fear begets tyranny and injustice. Too much is good for no one. The body is weakened by being pampered, the mind by want of constant occupation, the character by the softness that comes from the absence of struggle with difficulties. Ignorance of many of the ills of life begets hard heartedness, and destroys the finer sympathies. The presence of great wealth and great poverty, side by side, intensifies the mischiefs of each, and becomes one of the greatest perils that any community has to contend with. The law of Moses, and the carrying out of it by Joshua, was thus directed to prevent the development of the two great evils of modern civilisation—excessive wealth and excessive poverty. A third idea, lying at the foundation of this legislation, was that the equality of the citizens is the condition most favourable to the well being of the State. All exaggerated differences of condition tend to divide and alienate classes, depriving the land in some degree of cooperation in enterprise, in defence of liberties, in practice of religion. Joshua aimed not at a stagnant communism, which would rob life of its energy, but yet of a brotherly state in which all would have a fair chance of comfort, and none an unfair chance of inordinate wealth. In the present circumstances of our country the land legislation of Moses is especially worthy of our study. We differ from Israel in one important condition—England finds the chief part of her national wealth, not in agriculture, but in manufactures and in commerce. This fact has made land laws, such as every other civilised nation has abolished, tolerable here. But even for England, and still more for Ireland, which is an agricultural land, the time has come when the needless loss and harm and waste which they produce should terminate. In these circumstances mark—

II. SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR LAND LEGISLATION AT HOME CONTAINED IN THE LAWS OF CANAAN .

1 . These present us with the ideal at which to aim; viz; to get the land into as many hands as possible.

2 . Such an ideal should, it is almost needless to say, be pursued only in a righteous and peaceful way. In a land of such wealth and resource as ours any other method would be as foolish as wicked.

3 . Every facility that the law can give for the sale and transfer of lands ought to be given. Entail ought to be forbidden at once, as unjust to the younger children of a family, and injurious to the State, Settlements destroying the right of sale should be prohibited. These two alterations would at once bring much land into the market.

4 . A law for division of property among his children on the death of the holder would in two or three generations effect a marvellous revolution in the present most deplorable distribution of land, and would work the same blessings here as such a law has wrought in France, Belgium, Denmark, etc. Instead of 2,000 persons holding more than one-half of the land in the United Kingdom, it is desirable 2,000,000 of persons should share it. If by facilities for sale, the abolition of feudal laws tending to accumulate property in few hands which survive nowhere but here, the land could be by justice and peace brought again into the possession of the people, the gain to the nation would be incalculable. An enormous increase in productiveness would, judging from the experience of the other nations of Europe, at once accrue. This would be the least of the benefits. There would be less poverty, more self respect, more energy, more patriotism, more union amongst our people; perhaps, with the extinction of so much injustice, more religion too. And we should find in this, as in other things, that modern civilisation is never so wise as when it sits at the feet of ancient inspiration. Moses and Joshua are the grandest of all political economists.—G.

Joshua 14:6 -end

Caleb the son of Jephunneh.

Few characters finer than that of Caleb. If Moses was pattern of faithful leader, Caleb was of faithful follower. There are some things which suggest he was not an Israelite by birth. Kenaz the name of his father or brother, is an Edomite name, and the expression in Joshua 14:14 , "Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb … because that he wholly followed the God of Israel;" and that of Joshua 15:13 , "Unto Caleb he gave a part among the children of Judah," are expressions which suggest that he was associated with that tribe rather than sprung from it. Whether or not he was an Israelite in flesh, he was earnestly so in faith. If not by birth an Israelite, he is an instance of the converting power of truth, and of the way in which identity of heart and aim supersedes all diversity of nature. He was one of the twelve spies. Had there been other ten like him, the invasion of Canaan would have begun and finished forty years earlier. There was no delusion in his mind; he saw all his colleague saw—the stature of the men, the walls of the cities, the difficulty and all but impossibility of the con. quest. But he saw what only Joshua saw besides him—the presence and the power of God. And seeing that, he believed in the possibility of what seemed to others impossible. Consider some elements of instruction here.

I. GOOD MEN ARE NEEDED FOR SECOND PLACES AS WELL AS FIRST . We cannot all be statesmen, rulers, missionaries. There are many more humble positions than exalted ones. Twelve spyships for one lordship. Good men are needed for all stations. Men who fear to do wrong, who fear to grieve God, and who have no other fear. Complain not of an obscure lot, of a slight opening for your powers; but do the duties of the lot, and avail yourself of the openings you have, and all will be well.

II. Second, observe THE PERSEVERANCE OF SAINTS . He believed in his prime, he believes in his old age. Ready to follow God's leading then, ready now. "As my strength was then, even so is my strength now for war, both to go out and to come in." There is, of course, a miraculous element in this persistence of physical strength and mental vigour at such an age. But it is only a miraculous extension of what is a blessed fact of daily experience. It is strange the vie inertiae of souls. Forty years ago some were faithless, and are so now; others believing, they are so now. There is a tendency for the unjust to be unjust still, and for the righteous to be righteous still. Motion or rest alike tend to be eternal Rise up and follow Christ, and you tend to follow Him on through countless ages. Forsake Him, and you tend to go on forsaking Him. This persistence of habit is nature; but the persistence of better habit is partly grace as well. God keeps the feet from falling, daily charms the spirit afresh, while each step of progress in a good path reveals new reasons for choosing and pursuing it. Do not despair. Of Christ's flock none is lost. "They go from strength to strength; every one of them appeareth before God in Zion." We may not, like Joshua, see eighty-five, and long before the life ends our powers may wither; but grace will not wither.

III. Observe THE USEFULNESS OF SUCH A LIFE OF PROGRESS . Eighty-five years of steady well doing! of right aiming and right action I of the boldness of faith. Joshua and He were left alive, as a sort of leaven to leaven the whole lump of Israel, and they did it. One steady, progressive life of goodness—the same today as yesterday—how invaluable in a village, in a church, in any community. If you would be useful, keep on. Remember Abraham Lincoln's policy for the conquest of the secession—it was to "keep pegging away." Seeming hopeless, it was crowned with success.

IV. Lastly, observe, CALEB 'S FAITH HAS A GRAND REWARD . A manifold reward.

1 . In the contagiousness with which it spread. It infects his own family (see Joshua 15:17 ). It infects, as we have seen, many besides.

2 . His faith has the opportunity of proving its wisdom. That city, which was impregnable, he took; and these Anakim, who seemed terrific, he mastered. Some men, some things, some forces may be stifled for want of opportunity. But God will always see that there is a candlestick for the light. An "open door" for the "little strength" which can enter it.

3 . His faith gets an earthly inheritance of a noble kind. Hebron is his family's for an everlasting possession. The shortest road to getting anything is deserving it. While the clever, the tricky, the greedy, the saving see only what they aspire to "afar off," the deserving go straight on and reach it. His property we can trace in the possession of his descendants down to the time of David ( 1 Samuel 30:14 ). It is not sufficiently observed how essential to goodness the courage of faith really is. Let Caleb's example commend it to us.—G.