1
"The hand of Moses and Aaron brought the people out of Egypt, but left them in the wilderness, and could not seat them in Canaan… Joshua, the successor, only could effect that in which Moses failed… The death of Moses and the succession of Joshua pre-signified the continuance of the law till Jesus came… Moses must die that Joshua might succeed… If we look on Joshua as the judge and ruler of Israel, there is scarce an action which is not predictive of our Saviour. He begins his office at the banks of the Jordan where Christ is baptized, and enters upon the public exercise of his prophetical office. He chooseth there twelve men out of the people to carry twelve stones over with them; as our Jesus thence began to choose His twelve apostles… It hath been observed that the saving Rahab the harlot alive foretold what Jesus once should speak to the Jews – 'Verily I say unto you, that the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.'…"
2
"Can death itself when seen in the light of this truth [the adjustment of every being in animated nature to every other] be denied to be an evidence of benevolence? I think not. The law of animal generation makes necessary the law of animal death, if the largest amount of animal happiness is to be secured. If there had been less death there must also have been less life, and what life there was must have been poorer and meaner. Death is a condition of the prolificness of nature, the multiplicity of species, the succession of generations, the co-existence of the young and the old; and these things, it cannot reasonably be doubted, add immensely to the sum of animal happiness." – Flint's "Theism," p. 251.
3
See "The Empire of the Hittites." By William Wright, D.D., F.R.G.S. London, 1886.
4
The promise is not inconsistent with the fact that Joshua's troops were defeated by the men of Ai. In such promises there is an implied condition of steadfast regard to God's will on the part of those who receive them, and this condition was violated at Ai, not by Joshua, indeed, but by one of his people.
5
"For the Oracles of God: four Orations." Pp. 3-6.
6
It is somewhat remarkable that the present village of Riha, at or near the site of the ancient Jericho, is noted for its licentiousness. The men, it is said, wink at the infidelity of the women, a trait of character singularly at variance with the customs of the Bedouin. "At our encampment over 'Ain Terâbeh (says Robinson) the night before we reached this place, we overheard our Arabs asking the Khatib for a paper or written charm to protect them from the women of Jericho; and from their conversation it seemed that illicit intercourse between the latter and strangers that come here is regarded as a matter of course. Strange that the inhabitants of the valley should have retained this character from the earliest ages; and that the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah should still flourish upon the same accursed soil." – "Researches in Palestine," i. 553.