After the Israelites had wandered forty years in the desert, Moses one day called them together. As God had commanded him, he told them that Josue should succeed him as their leader.After the Israelites had wandered forty years in the desert, Moses one day called them together. As God had commanded him, he told them that Josue should succeed him as their leader.
Then Moses went up Mount Nebo, from where God showed him the Promised Land. "That is the land I will give to the children of Israel," God said, "but you shall not enter it, because you doubted Me."
Moses died at the age of one hundred and twenty years. He was a wise ruler, an illustrious Prophet, and a great Saint. He wrote the first five books of the Bible, called the Pentateuch.
After the death of Moses, God said to Josue, "Arise and lead the people into the Promised Land. As I was with Moses, so I shall be with you. I will never forsake you. Take courage and be strong."
So Josue took command of the Israelites. He sent two spies before him across the river Jordan into the city of Jericho. The two spies stayed in the house of a woman named Rahab. The house was built near the walls of the city. When the king of Jericho heard that there were two Israelites in Rahab's house, he ordered her to give them up to him. But she hid them on the roof, and told the king that they had left. When night came, she helped them escape by letting them down with a rope out of a window.
The two spies returned to Josue, and said, "The Lord has truly given us Jericho. All the people there are afraid of us."
Josue prepared the Children of Israel to cross the Jordan to Jericho. The priests wenz first, carrying the Ark of the Covenant. As soon as they stepped into the Jordan, the waters went back on both sides, so that there was a dry passage to the other bank. The Israelites crossed safely through this dry passage to the opposite bank of the river. In this way, after many years of wandering, the Israelites came at last to the Promised Land. There the manna ceased to fall, because the land was flowing with milk and honey.
The Promised Land is a figure of Heaven. Once in Heaven, we shall see God face to face and no longer under the appearances of bread and wine.
- from My Bible History in Pictures, by Bishop Louis LaRavoire Morrow, D.D., 1934; it has the Imprimatur of Archbishop Michael J O'Doherty of Manila, Philippines