Joshua, Act 1, No. 14b The trumpet calls

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Likewise, we enter into the abundant life of Christ the same way we were delivered from wrath—by faith in the saving life of Christ. Just as we trusted in Christ and the accomplishments of the cross for justification and redemption, so we must reckon on those same accomplishments as the basis for our security and daily deliverance Rom. Be strong and courageous! And what was true for Joshua is equally true for us. There is a word or theme repeated at least three times in these verses that we need to pick up on and relate to.

Then later, as it pertains to their obedience to God, Joshua will relate the same charge to the people 1: So the issue before Joshua was a call to be strong and courageous in view of the mantle of leadership that was being passed on to him. God was calling him to a very special and difficult ministry, one with tremendous challenges and obstacles far beyond his own skill or abilities. But life for all of us is filled with such challenges so let us not pass over this without seeing the personal application this can have for each of us.

Verses are fundamental for obtaining the strength and courage anyone needs for the challenges of any ministry or responsibility. This passage is not just for a special class of leaders like pastors or missionaries. God has called each of us to ministry. No believer is exempt. We are all gifted, we are all priests of God, and leaders in some sense with personal responsibilities to others whether elders, deacons, moms or dads, etc.

People often run from ministry or difficult situations because of fear or because of the obstacles. Others, being overconfident in themselves may seek to strike out in their own steam, an equally wrong way to try to serve the Lord as we will see illustrated in chapter 7 with the defeat at Ai. Biblically speaking, where does moral strength and courage come from and does it mean the absence of fear? Moral strength and courage come from 1 faith in the sovereignty and provision of God and 2 in the fact that we are convinced what we are doing is right and best and essential to life.

But there is much more as this passage will show us. Courage is that quality of mind that enables men to encounter danger and difficulty with firmness and resolve in spite of inner fears cf. In other words, courage is not the absence of fear. In his excellent book on spiritual leadership, J. Courage of the highest order is demanded of a spiritual leader—always moral courage and frequently physical courage as well ….

Martin Luther possessed this important quality in unusual measure. It has been asserted that he was perhaps as fearless a man as ever lived. I shall not flee, much less recant. But Luther would not be dissuaded. But not all men are courageous by nature as Luther was, and that fact is both explicit and implicit in Scripture. The highest degree of courage is seen in the person who is most fearful but refuses to capitulate to it.

Had they been without fear, the command would have been pointless. So where do strength and courage come from? These concepts teach us several important ingredients:. Without this understanding, one will hardly have the motivation or courage to move into the ministries God wants to call us to. There is a specific process to be noted here in verses Also, Joshua is reminded that he had been prepared and trained for this as the servant of Moses 1: Joshua being spoken to in verse 1 is equivalent to us gaining biblical insight.

It is this that forms the foundation for courage and conviction and for faith and action. Being the understudy of Moses illustrates a couple of key principles: Joshua had been faithful in the little things and would be faithful in much. Service in the larger areas of responsibility starts with faithfulness in smaller things. We each need to find a place to serve and grow. It may become the training ground for other areas of ministry to which God may be calling you.

This statement reminds us that no one is indispensable and leadership changes. If we are not training others and being trained ourselves, we leave gaping holes 2 Tim. And this is true for all of us in ministry for whatever reason there is a void left by the removal of the servants of God. But there is another element that is vital to courage and decisiveness in doing the will of God. Please note the promises given to Joshua here were given in relation to the ministry and work to which God had called him.

This applies to each of us regardless of the particular ministry God has called us to in the body of Christ. Read these verses carefully and see what application you can make from them to your life. Do you feel the tug of God on your life to serve him in a particular way, but you are afraid? Are you afraid of failure? Are you afraid of what it might cost you? Meditate on these verses. We might also note some of the obstacles that can be observed in this passage because in claiming the promises of God, faith must face the obstacles. There is good reason to believe that the Jordan was swollen over its banks at this time of year cf.

Here is one of the reasons courage is needed. Further, to cross the Jordan meant to enter into a hostile land, a land full of enemies some of whom were giants and who lived in strongly fortified cities. This was no simple challenge. Remember, the previous generation failed at Kadesh Barnea because of a lack of courage.

But there is more here. The very numbers made this a colossal task. But Joshua had the responsibility of leading a people who were noted for being stiff necked and throwing stones at their leaders. In fact, He was then and had for some time been preparing the inhabitants for defeat cf. The land had been theirs for forty years but they failed to enter in because of unbelief and a lack of courage. In essence, every principle of Scripture becomes a promise because with the principle comes the inherent promise of God who is perfect veracity so that we can count on the principle.

But we must know those promises and act on them by faith. They are not given so we can avoid or go around, but so we can cross them victoriously. How do we claim and act on those promises? How do we make those promises a part of our lives? Successful ministry according to a biblical definition of success is ultimately related to solid Bible teaching and study rather than to our human methods, techniques, and strategies which too often resort to pressure, coercion, and manipulation in order to achieve our own agendas or results.

The Word has been given to us to establish a communicative relationship with God. It is a means of fellowship with Him. But this takes time, quality time and diligence. Note the emphasis on this in these verses. The average person today wants a quick fix—three easy steps. We want God to do it now. But this kind of approach does not develop a relationship with the Lord. Relationship with God, knowing Him, as with any relationship, takes time. It is this that provides us with success in ministry and in life, wherever we go and in whatever we do.

Last, but certainly not least is the promise of the ever watchful and protective presence of God. There is no situation, no problem or enemy that we ever face alone. The Lord is always there as our constant support and supply. If we are concerned about our ministries or anything else, we can be absolutely sure God is infinitely more concerned than we are. Our need is simply to walk in the light of His presence and to count on His guidance, support, supply, and care by keeping our focus on Him Heb.

So note what follows. They focus our attention on who and what God is like. What made the difference in the disciples? This means the motivation and ability to make tough choices. So also, he cautions us concerning our values and our sources of security and then reminds us of the promise of the presence and supply of God. What shall man do to me? With the call of God to service there is always the matching provision of God. Then you shall return to your own land, and possess that which Moses the servant of the LORD gave you beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise. This forms the backdrop, the motivation and inspiration for this section and all that follows.

Now, in verses , Joshua speaks to the people to act on the revelation and promises of God. Delay can also be disobedience. Such immediate response shows faith in the Word and confidence in the Lord. This brings out the element of his courage even more. First, by his own experience he understood what they faced, for forty years earlier he was one of twelve spies who had had been sent to search out the land.

He could have remembered with pessimism the negative report of the ten and anticipated the same kind of response from the new generation. Too often we undermine our focus on the Lord and His power by thinking about all the negatives, about what might happen if we move forward. Second, Joshua may have also known what they were facing through the report of the two spies he sent into the land in chapter 2, which probably occurred before the command of verse Regardless, Joshua and the people faced a situation that in many ways paralleled the dilemma Moses and the Israelites had faced at the Red Sea Ex.

Both were impossible to solve through natural means. Both demanded implicit and absolute dependence upon a miracle-working God. After forty years of wandering, thinking they had at last come to the Promised Land, they find the river overflowing its banks 3: They faced what was for them an insurmountable difficulty. So often when our hopes are high, when things seem to be going our way, suddenly, problems loom up out of nowhere and we seem to be looking at an impossible crossing.

But all things are possible for God who works all things together for those who love Him see Gen. Two matters had to be taken care of before they could cross the Jordan.

The food gathered here is that which had been taken as spoils of their conquests through the wilderness. The manna was still available, but it could not be kept overnight without spoiling. They would be on the march moving from Shittim to the banks of the Jordan which was only about eight miles, but because of the number of people and all that was involved, they evidently would not be able to gather the manna.

So likewise, we need to be nourished on the Words of the faith so we can continue to enter into our blessings in Christ cf. In verses , Joshua reminds the tribes of Gad, Reuben, and the half tribe of Manasseh of their previous promises and responsibilities Num. His authority for his challenge to these two-and-a-half tribes was the Word of the Lord. It was not asking this as a favor to himself. No, the appeal and authority came from the facts of the commands of the Word of God. In principle however, this order from Moses and enacted here by Joshua was promoting the concept of the people of God as team.

Here he was delegating specific tasks to these people. Each person was needed and each needed to do his part. They would act as shock troops going before their brothers. There is also here another factor. It is tremendously encouraging to leaders and people alike when people respond to the Word with obedience and commitment. By the same token, it can be discouraging to see the opposite.

In such times, both the leaders and the people must continue to trust the Lord, examine their ministries, and look to the Lord to move them to obedience rather than resort to some form of manipulation or coercion. The people were not only willing to obey, but they were willing to deal with any disobedience in their midst because of the demoralizing effect on others and the dishonor it brings to the Lord. This is always crucial for any people of God.

This illustrates the need for the careful and loving application of church discipline in the body. Such is never easy. It requires real commitment, and must always be done with a view to reconciliation and to recover a sinning believer. It may be taken as a condition or as a wish or prayer.

If it is taken as a prayer or wish, it demonstrated their recognition of this need if they were to be successful. It stated the fact they recognized they were all insufficient for the task, but that the Lord was sufficient. They needed a leader who was in touch with the living God. People need and want to see mature spiritual reality in their leaders. It was because of this that Paul encouraged Timothy with the following words:. Prescribe and teach these things. Humanly speaking, how difficult was the task that confronted Joshua and the people with regard to entering the land of Canaan?

What were some of the obstacles Joshua and the people faced? As the leader, Joshua faced following in the steps of a leader like Moses and leading a stubborn, stiff-necked group of people. All of them together faced fortified cities, giants, and a flooded Jordan. Everything Joshua and the people were called to do, humanly speaking, was far beyond their ability.

From the crossing of the swollen and turbulent waters of the Jordan to conquering the fierce, powerful, ungodly people who occupied the land. We might wonder, why Joshua sent out the spies. Was this necessary if he was really trusting in the Lord? After all, had not God promised Joshua that He would give him success? By application, Joshua was living and acting on the precepts of Scripture as he was commanded in 1: As a wise military leader, he was simply gathering information concerning the layout of the enemies defenses, the condition of their moral, and other factors that would be important to any military campaign.

Moreover he was not to presume on the Lord. He was to trust the Lord implicitly, but in that trust, he was also to use the resources God gave him: Faith looks for the principles of Scripture that might be applicable, gathers information or the facts needed in making wise decisions, and then, based on biblical principles and the facts known, moves ahead trusting in the provision and directions of the Lord cf.

Obviously, the spies were to go into the land secretly, as spies do. Here, the reference to secrecy had to do with the people of Israel. He did not inform them that he was sending in the spies. Nehemiah did similarly when he surveyed Jerusalem. He remembered the evil report of the spies from the preceding generation and the way this disheartened the people. Sometimes it is wise for the leaders to do what is needed to keep the eyes of their people on the Lord and His promises rather than on the problems.

The need is to encourage one another. Jericho lay just five miles on the other side of the Jordan and was one of the most formidable fortresses in the land. Conquering this city would not only give them a strong foothold into the land, but conquering Jericho would literally split the forces of the Canaanites by coming into Canaan in the middle hindering their communication and supply lines.

This would have a further demoralizing effect on the rest of the inhabitants. Again, this illustrates how after praying for wisdom Ja. Start with the things that are the most important and work on them one by one. This includes our personal life spiritual needs, physical needs, educational needs , our family life relationships, spiritual needs, etc.

Rahab is mentioned eight times in Scripture Josh. Do you know what it is? Is there anything we can learn from this? This has created problems for many. To remove this stigma because her name is listed among the ancestors of the Savior in Matthew 1: One expositor, Pink, admits that she had been a harlot, but you can tell it bothers him. Unless Pink is assuming from 2: Moreover, her house afforded an easy way of escape since it was located on the city wall v. There is no indication that Rahab was a temple prostitute. More than likely, the two spies met her in the street where she could have been practicing her trade or perhaps, hearing of them, she was out looking for them as though she were drumming up customers as was the custom of a harlot or even an innkeeper cf.

Rahab may have recognized the men as strangers, and because the whole city was on alert to the possibility of spies, and because of her convictions about the God of Israel, she may have concluded they were Israelites and invited them into her house for protection and to express her faith, but not for business. He is no respecter of persons. He accepts and forgives us not because of what we are or might be, but because of His Son, because of what He would do and now has done and will do through those who trust Him and act in faith.

It matters not what we were or have been.

What matters is who Jesus Christ is, what He has done, and whether or not we will put our trust in Him. God could have made the spies invisible or smote the people with blindness or used angels, but He chose to use two men and one woman walking by faith with courage to act on their convictions and He chose to use the more normal circumstances of life.

In order for us to trust the Lord, are we looking for miracles, the sensational, and asking for out-of-the-ordinary experiences before we will step out and count for the Lord? Or are we willing to step out in the normal situations of life trusting God to use us and lead us to ordinary people whose hearts He has touched? Note that Joshua is an interesting combination of the miraculous and the ordinary.

These verses indicate the whole city had been on alert and the spies were recognized and seen going into the home of Rahab. The fact the king did not tear down the door and storm into the house may have been a matter of oriental hospitality.

Studies in the Life of Joshua

They had great respect for hospitality even in this decadent city. The king would have assumed that the spies were staying with Rahab. In antiquity too, as in modern times, prostitutes frequently were involved in intelligence activities. The king expected Rahab to do her patriotic duty and turn the spies in. The ancient law code of Hammurabi contains the following provision: Miles, The Babylonian Laws [Oxford: Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them.

In these verses Rahab conceals the spies, lies to protect the soldiers, and sends the soldiers of the king on a wild goose chase. At this point, we would do well to look at two New Testament verses and one Old Testament verse:. Why was Rahab saved? Because she had believed in the God of Israel. Hiding the messengers was an outworking of her faith. To hide the messengers was a calculated deception to protect them, just as many godly people hid Jews in European countries during World War II.

First, what Rahab did was a matter of faith. She knew eventually Israel would attack the city and destroy it because their God was the true God, and she wanted to be delivered and to become a part of Israel. Does Scripture condone it? Most commentaries approve of her faith, but disapprove of her lie.

In essence, they approve of her hiding the spies, but not telling the lies. The Bible approves her faith, demonstrated by good works, but not her falsehood.

He whose angels had smitten the men of Sodom with blindness Gen. But is this correct? What was she supposed to say? When you take a vacation, do you leave a light on or have the TV come on in the evening to give the impression you are home when in truth, you are gone? Note what Expositors Bible Commentary says: Deception is an important strategy in warfare. Espionage would be impossible without it. When Rahab hid the spies, she sided with Israel against her own people. It was an act of treason! This reminds us how our lives should not only be different, but there should also be that in our lives which points to God as the reason our lives are different through the things we do and say—like going to church, our concern for people and their needs, and our specific testimony giving a reason for the hope that is within us 1 Pet.

The idea is that He and He alone is the true God and that He is involved with the affairs of the earth and man. He is the sovereign God who holds all things together by the word of His power, who is at work in our lives. Do we live in the light of this? Fourth, we see in verses that she was not only concerned about herself. Her concern included her family or household. How concerned and involved are we in our network—praying for salvation, reaching out to know and love them, and in eventually sharing the love of Christ.

The inhabitants of the land were terror stricken. Mentally and emotionally, they were a defeated people. God had already given the people of Jericho into their hands. This had been the case for how long? Since they had heard about the events of the Red sea 2: The question is, did Israel know it? With the exception of Moses, Joshua, and Caleb, the people of Israel refused to believe the promise of God, instead they allowed the negative report of the ten spies to melt their hearts because they were looking at the problems rather than at their God. Note the irony here: The Israelites, who had seen the mighty works of God over and over again, were looking at their problems rather than God and were terrorized into unbelief.

And besides, we saw the sons of the Anakim there. How like us this is! Keeping quiet about their presence and refusing to inform on them would be an evidence of her faith in the Lord and good will to the people of God cf. Then afterward you may go on your way. Just before the spies left, they confirmed their agreement with Rahab: First, her house must be identified by a scarlet cord hung from the window. Second, she and her family were to remain in the house during the attack on the city.

Third, the spies reassured her that they would be free of their oath guaranteeing her protection if Rahab exposed their mission. This story was much like the deliverance experienced in the last plague God brought on Pharaoh and on Egypt when He killed the firstborn in every household, but He spared the Israelites because of the blood of the Passover lamb which had been sprinkled on the two doorposts and the lintel of their houses.

Though it has not been identified as such, it seems the scarlet thread was a picture of Christ. In the days of Noah, there was safety and refuge for those who entered into the door of the ark. In Egypt there was safety and refuge for those who were gathered behind the doors that were sprinkled with the blood of the Passover lamb.

For you and me, there is safety and refuge from eternal judgment—but only if we enter the right door: As He said in John Now the pursuers had sought them all along the road, but had not found them. Joshua and the men of Israel saw the words and actions of Rahab as a clear evidence of the sovereign providence and blessing of the Lord. It reminds us God knows the hearts of men and will lead us to them if we are only available.

It also teaches us that the work of God must take place at both ends. The only thing that can hinder us in doing the will of God and fulfilling our calling is our own unbelief. Rahab reached out to both the spies and to her household John 1: Rahab was an Amoritess and according to the law of Moses there was to be no pity or covenant with any inhabitants—only judgment cf.

Through her genuine faith, she became an exception. It becomes a warning against the hardening of the heart in those who see and hear but fail to respond by faith. Just hearing is not enough. Note the applications here:. Vol I, Genesis —Song of Solomon, p. Can you think back and remember a day you waited for a long time with great anticipation and excitement? Most of us can. As a child, Christmas and birthdays were such days. Later it may have been graduation day, your wedding day, or maybe earning the right to compete in some great competition like the Olympics. Depending on the nature of the day and what it might hold, such a time might also bring about a certain amount of anxiety because of the challenge you might face.

For months, weeks, and days you waited, and then finally, the day arrived. Can you imagine the anticipation and excitement the children of Israel faced as they stood before the River Jordan the evening before they were to cross over into the land? The earlier generation had failed to enter because of unbelief and the new generation had waited a long time, for some it was close to forty years. Joshua and Caleb, who were now about eighty years old, had waited even longer. According to the promise to the Patriarchs, Jewish anticipation went back some five hundred years. But if there was excitement, there must also have been some anxiety as they beheld the swollen river and thought about the fortified cities that lay on the other side.

Life is like that. Often, with our hopes at their highest, there are accompanying challenges and problems that we face at the very same time. After hearing a message at a Bible conference on how to cope with discouragement, three people greeted the speaker: But that is life in a fallen world. Along with our hopes and joys there are always problems for which we simply have neither the strength nor the wisdom to meet the challenge. We need strength from above. Do not come near it, that you may know the way by which you shall go, for you have not passed this way before.

Aside from the miraculous way the river was crossed, the most important feature of this chapter is the Ark of the Covenant. Its prominence is stressed in the number of times it is mentioned in chapters 3 and 4 nine times in chapter 3 and seven times in chapter 4 and by the nature of the commands and statements given in its regard. It represented the person and promises of God. And such is the case with all of life. In verse 5, Joshua commands the people to consecrate themselves in view of the wonders God would work among them on the next day.

This is not exactly what we might expect from a military standpoint. In this regard, it was especially used in connection with confession or cleansing through the use of Old Testament sacrifices, washings, and offerings Ex. It portrays the need to deal with sin in the life. It was used of setting something apart for use by the Lord and His purposes in the sense of cleansing, preparing, and dedicating it to the Lord e. But there is more included here in this call for consecration. They were to be eager, gripped by a sense of wonder.

Israel was not to lose sight of their God who can do the incredible and the humanly impossible. God is absolute holiness, completely set apart from sin. He is a holy God who cannot have fellowship with sinful man or allow sin in His presence without a solution to the sin problem. For believers, those saved and cleansed by the work of Christ, this command for consecration demonstrates the necessity for cleansing through confession or getting right with God and with men in order to be used of God and to experience His deliverance. It meant they were to set themselves apart to Yahweh to cross the Jordan so they could enter the land, defeat the enemies, and become a testimony to the nations Ex.

This command suggests this because of the prevalence of anointing mentioned in connection with consecration of the priests, etc. These verses in essence reinforce the concept of grace. They show that crossing the Jordan and dispossessing the enemies as in all aspects of our salvation and sanctification is the work of God. So it was time that God establish Joshua as His representative to guide the nation. It is significant that it was God who did the exalting.

Rather, when reporting the words of God to Israel, he focused their attention on the fact that it was the living God who was among them and that it was He and He alone who would dispossess the enemies of the land vs. What do we gather from this? It reminds us of our part in the plan of God. We must learn to step out in faith and obedience to the principles and promises of Scripture. They were not to run down into the waters. This is just like the words of Moses in Exodus Stand by 18 and see the salvation Hebrew, yeshua of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever.

I am reminded of Isaiah To the Ark of the Covenant. The key is staying focused on His presence and resting in Him. During the Civil War, the town of Moresfield, West Virginia was on the dividing line, and seesawed back and forth between Federal and Confederate troops. In one old house which still stands today, an elderly woman lived alone. One morning Yankee troops stomped up on her porch. Though at their mercy, she remained calm and invited them to be seated at her table.

The soldiers were gone! Her lack of fear had made them fearful of lingering any longer! So the people crossed opposite Jericho. After breaking camp, as instructed, the priests, carrying the Ark of the Covenant, led the way and walked to the Jordan which was swollen over its banks. This must have been a fearful sight, but resting in the presence of the living God they stepped into the waters. Immediately, a miracle occurred. A wide stretch of riverbed therefore was dried up, allowing the people with their animals and baggage to hurry across cf.

How could this sensational event occur? Many insist that this was no miracle since the event can be explained as a natural phenomenon. They point out that on December 8, an earthquake caused the high banks of the Jordan to collapse near Tell ed-Damiyeh, damming the river for about 10 hours. On July 11, another earthquake near the same location blocked the river for 21 hours. Of course these stoppages did not occur during flood season.

Admittedly God could have employed natural causes such as an earthquake and a landslide and the timing would have still made it a miraculous intervention. But does the biblical text allow for such an interpretation of this event? Considering all the factors involved it seems best to view this occurrence as a special act of God brought about in a way unknown to man. Many supernatural elements were brought together: As one studies this third chapter and marvels at the miraculous work of God displayed here, there is an important principle that should not be missed.

Crossing the Jordan at flood stage with two million people had several immediate results: God was magnified, Joshua was exalted 3: God was giving them the land. Indeed, He had already done so, providentially speaking 1: The inhabitants of the land would resist with all the resources at their disposal. Crossing the Jordan and possessing their possession was not going to be a piece of cake. It would entail battle after battle.

Crossing the Jordan, then, meant two things for Israel. First, they must be totally committed to going against armies, chariots, and fortified cities. But then, if they were to be successful, they must also be committed to a focused walk of faith in Yahweh , the only true and living God rather than, as they had done in the wilderness, a walk according to the flesh and their own resources.

For believers today, crossing the Jordan represents passing from one level of the Christian life to another. It is not a picture of a believer dying and entering heaven. For the Israelites Canaan was hardly heaven! It is a picture of entering into spiritual warfare to claim what God has promised. This should mean the end of a life lived by human effort and the beginning of a life of faith and obedience. And the people hurried and crossed; 11 and it came about when all the people had finished crossing, that the ark of the LORD and the priests crossed before the people.

Who is like Thee, majestic in holiness, Awesome in praises, working wonders? There He made for them a statute and regulation, and there He tested them. In only three days this people who had seen and sung of the mighty works of God suddenly seemed to have developed a serious case of amnesia. Negative illustrations of remembering: These verses comprise only a partial list of warnings and commands to remember rather than forget because of our natural tendencies. The memorial of commemoration of stones falls into three objectives:.

The very site of the stones was to be an encouragement, but also a reminder of the sovereign power of the Lord over nations and creation so they might fear the Lord forever and remain faithful to their purpose in the plan of God. Parents dare not and cannot abdicate this to others. God charges parents with this privilege and responsibility. Here God was again reminding Israel of her purpose as a nation of priests Ex. The application to us should be obvious. Christians are living stones of a holy temple, living memorials of the power of God. But we too face the threat of forgetting the Lord by forgetting our pilgrim character through preoccupation with the world.

By way of application, what are some of the things we regularly do and are called to do that form memorials of the saving grace of God and our calling as believers in Christ? Chapter 5 describes the consecration of the people of Israel in preparation for the great task that lay before them. As such, it stands as a bridge between the crossing of the Jordan and the beginning of the military campaigns to subjugate the inhabitants of the land.

From all appearances, now was the time to attack the enemy. The people of Israel were filled with the excitement and motivation of having miraculously crossed the Jordan. They apparently knew the enemy was in disarray from the standpoint of their morale 5: Now is the logical time and the enemy is ripe for the taking! As one man, the whole nation has handed over all its resources to the Government. We have invested the Cabinet with the right to conscript any of us for any task, to take our goods, our money, our all.

Never have rich men set such little store by their wealth; never have we been so ready to lay down life itself, if only our cause may triumph. To ensure victory, God took them through several events to instruct and prepare them for battle. Chapter five falls into five instructive sections, each one fundamental to victory. Essential to spiritual victory is our understanding that in Christ, all the enemies we face are, in essence, defeated foes cf. It was an act of faith and spiritual preparation. By partaking of the Passover, Israel was to relive their deliverance out of Egypt by the blood of the Lamb, but as with circumcision, this too was related to the land.

As observing the Passover in Egypt protected them from the destroying angel, it also assured them of two more things: Remembering the past became an excellent preparation of faith for the tests of the future. It spoke of their new beginning, of their new life as the people of God delivered from judgment and rock solid in the place of blessing. May I repeat the principle: Now when all the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings along the coast heard how the LORD had dried up the Jordan before the Israelites until we had crossed over, their hearts melted and they no longer had the courage to face the Israelites NIV.

This first important statement in verse 2 shows the demoralized condition of the inhabitants of the land. They were, in essence, an already defeated foe. They were fearful of the nation of Israel because of the mighty works of God described in verse 1. However, this truth needs to be seen in light of the twofold purpose of 4: Before moving on to the renewal of circumcision, it would be well to reflect briefly on the statements of verse one regarding the morale of the inhabitants in view of the mighty works of God.

There are some significant and instructive New Testament parallels here. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world. Our capacity, however, to overcome and tear down the fortresses raised up against the knowledge of God and their impact on us and others is always dependent on our new life in the Savior. But being triumphant in Christ is not automatic. Overcoming through the Savior requires that we be rightly related to Him as well as focused and dependent on Him as the source of our daily walk, step by step. Our need is to be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might Eph.

For this reason, Israel not only needed to know they faced a defeated and demoralized foe, but they needed spiritual preparation. Thus, the Lord led them through a number of important experiences to spiritually fortify and prepare them to enter into the battle that lay before them. In verse 2, the Lord instructs Joshua to circumcise the sons of Israel a second time. Rather, as a nation this was the second time all the men were circumcised, the first being while the old generation was still in Egypt. During the time the children of Israel were slaves in Egypt they had not practiced circumcision, not until they were about to leave.

Circumcision was an Egyptian practice with religious connotations, being reserved for the priests and upper-class citizens. Because of this, it would most likely have been prohibited as a practice for the Israelites. At any rate, every male who partook of the Passover in Egypt, native Israelite or stranger, was then circumcised cf.

The comment concerning this circumcision in Exodus But why the renewal of the rite of circumcision and especially at this time for it would certainly leave the men of war more vulnerable to attack because it totally disabled the men for a period of time. For an illustration of the effects of circumcision on adult men, compare the story in Genesis 34 regarding the Shechemites and the sons of Jacob.

The Shechemite men, who wanted to intermarry with the Israelites women, agreed to be circumcised, but this was only a ruse to incapacitate them for battle. Verses explain the specific reasons:. They had failed to practice the right of circumcision while in the wilderness vss. But more than anything else, because of what circumcision stood for, it was unfitting for them to practice circumcision in the wilderness as a judged people who would die there. The old generation would never possess the land because of their unbelief. As such, it was to be a sign of faith in what God would do through and for His people.

Undoubtedly, for this reason no male could legitimately partake of the Passover if he was uncircumcised Ex. The Passover reminded Israel of their deliverance from Egypt, but it was a deliverance that had as its goal the possession of the land. So there is a play on words here for the sake of teaching an important truth. But what was the reproach of Egypt? Based on Genesis A new significance was thus attached to the name Gilgal. First, Gilgal would stand for what God had done in rolling back the waters of Jordan that they might cross on dry land.

But, second, it would also remind Israel of what they had done as an act of faith and obedience through the rite of circumcision. Circumcision symbolized their faith in what God would do to enable them to posses the land. Included in this was their separated commitment to Him and to His purposes for them as His people. It was these two things, the mighty works of God and their act of faith, that had rolled away the reproach of Egypt. In essence, then, God was saying at Gilgal that to be victorious against the enemies of the land, you must be a holy people and trust Me to fight your battles; you must trust in My covenant promises and be committed to me as My people, ever keeping in mind your purpose as a nations of priests, My own possession among all the peoples of the earth Ex.

With circumcision accomplished, the people were spiritually ready and qualified to observe the Passover. It is also significant that they crossed just in time to observe it on the fourteenth day of the month. This was only the third Passover the people had kept. The first was in Egypt Ex. Sinai just before they broke camp Num. But why the Passover? By partaking of the Passover, they were to relive their deliverance out of Egypt by the blood of the Lamb sprinkled on the doorposts and on the lintel of their houses in Egypt.

As the lambs were slain they were assured that as the Red Sea crossing was followed by the destruction of the Egyptians, so the crossing of the Jordan would be followed by the defeat of the Canaanites. So remembering the past was an excellent preparation for the tests of the future. The Passover not only reminded them of their deliverance and redemption out of Egypt, but it looked forward to other victories—to the defeat of the Canaanites, but also to a victory accomplished in Jerusalem on Calvary.

It naturally pointed to the cross where Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Clean out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed 1 Cor. The Passover was a memorial of a physical deliverance from Egypt by the sacrifice of a lamb Ex. The Passover was also an anticipation in shadows and types of a future fulfillment—the person and work of Christ in His first advent, which encompassed His birth, sinless life, and death on the Cross as the Lamb of God to redeem us from the clutches of sin.

As one studies the Passover and how it was to be observed according to Scripture, this becomes even more evident and significant when you consider how the Passover is celebrated today by the Jewish community. When Jews today celebrate the Passover they do not sacrifice a lamb. They have only a dry bone of a lamb. They have not celebrated the Passover by sacrificing a lamb for over nineteen hundred years.

Consequently, since the temple was destroyed in 70 A. On the one hand God demands that they kill a lamb as a permanent ordinance. On the other hand, God makes it impossible for Jews to do this very thing. Because Jesus Christ is the Lamb and the answer.

Since His death, the observance of the Passover in the typical Jewish fashion is illegitimate. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Instead, our responsibility lies with the feast of unleavened bread which speaks of purity of life. As it was with Israel, so today the Lord wants Christians to dispossess their enemies.

Our enemies are those things that stand against our fellowship with the Lord and our fruitfulness. We too must remember that our deliverance comes from one source—the work of God for us in Christ. But this is so hard for us to grasp regardless of what we know doctrinally because of our natural penchant to lean on our own strategies and effort to live our lives by our own means, even in spiritual matters.

With verse eleven, our attention is focused on the fact they ate of the crops of the land on the very next day after celebrating the Passover. The explanation that follows answers this question. It spoke of the their new beginning, of their new life as the people of God delivered from judgment and rock solid in the place of blessing. As mentioned, the Passover had not been observed since Mount Sinai Numbers 9 after which they broke camp and began their march toward the land.

But now the new generation had crossed over by faith in the power of God. Now that they are in the land and have celebrated the Passover in faith, they are able to appropriate the blessings of the land and taste of the goodness of the Lord. Leaven is a symbol of corruption and evil in Scripture. So, the nation ate of the produce, which was surely to be a demonstration of faith and a lesson from the Lord of the saving life of God through fellowship with Him. After eating the produce of the land, our attention is immediately focused on the fact the manna ceased. There is an obvious connection here.

But what is it? But they were still His people; they were the objects of His love, and because of that and for the sake of the younger generation who would cross over, the manna continued to be supplied. But what was the manna? It was a supernatural gift for the desert journey , but it was not food for the land of promise. When we walk with the Lord, when we focus on Him and live obediently, we are able to appropriate and taste of His goodness. Miracles like the manna are exceptions to the rule, special provisions for special purposes. While the Lord is always able to work supernatural miracles at will, we should not expect them nor should we be disappointed or think something is wrong with our walk when we do not experience them.

Finally, we need to note that tasting of the blessings of the Promised Land was only a foretaste of what was to come. Experiencing our blessings in Christ should lead to a two-fold expectation: How exactly is the Holy Spirit defined for us in the New Testament? What do you suppose he was doing there? Joshua was naturally concerned about several things. First of all, he needed a plan of action.

Just how would they go about attacking Jericho, probably the best fortified city in Canaan. They had little or no experience for besieging a city like Jericho. Further, they undoubtedly lacked equipment such as battering rams, catapults, scaling ladders or moving towers. All they had were swords, arrows, slings, and spears which naturally would seem totally inadequate for the task before them. So how would Joshua prepare his army and how should they go about taking the city? He must have felt like the weight of the world was pressing down on his shoulders. Can we fault Joshua for being at Jericho and surveying the situation?

In fact, another great leader, Nehemiah, did the same when faced with the condition of the walls of Jerusalem. Nevertheless, Joshua needed an encounter with the God whom he served that he might grasp afresh an important truth, one that was equally vital as part of his preparation for victory by the power of God. Perhaps he simply needed to be reminded of some very important truth for both clarification and encouragement. What kind of picture does this bring to mind and what does it mean?

Standing with any weapon drawn is a military position of one who either stands guard defensively or stands ready to go against a foe offensively. Standing with sword drawn suggested he was there to fight either for or against Israel. Compare the response of Paul in Acts No one from the army of Israel should have been there for evidently no orders had been given for anyone to leave the camp.

So who was this stranger who suddenly appeared out of nowhere? What then is that mindset? We tend to see the battles we face as our battles and the forces we face as forces marshaled against us and our individual causes, concerns, agendas, and even our theological beliefs or positions on doctrine. And in a sense, that is true, if we are truly standing in the cause of Christ. But there is another sense in which that is simply not true, and that is the issue here. The answer comes in two parts. The second part of the answer gives the reason.

We tend to approach our battles and causes backwards; we turn things around and try to marshal God to support us rather than to submit and follow Him. Likewise, the promise of His powerful provision always carries with it the promise of His infinite supply and power no matter how impossible the problem may appear to us. Three other passages can serve as helpful examples that we might grasp the issue here and its significance to our daily walk.

First, compare 2 Kings 6: When Elisha was at Dothan with his young servant, he found himself surrounded by the army of Ben-Hadad, who, during the night had marched out and surrounded the city of Dothan. What shall we do? A second example is found for us in Matthew With the disciples still reluctant and perplexed over the fact Christ must go to the cross, Peter drew his sword and struck the slave of the high priest cutting off his ear. Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels?

How we each need this response—the response of worship and submission. He turned to English oratorio in the s in response to changes in public taste; Messiah was his sixth work in this genre. Although its structure resembles that of opera , it is not in dramatic form; there are no impersonations of characters and no direct speech. Instead, Jennens's text is an extended reflection on Jesus as the Messiah called Christ.

The text begins in Part I with prophecies by Isaiah and others, and moves to the annunciation to the shepherds , the only "scene" taken from the Gospels. Handel wrote Messiah for modest vocal and instrumental forces, with optional settings for many of the individual numbers. In the years after his death, the work was adapted for performance on a much larger scale, with giant orchestras and choirs. In other efforts to update it, its orchestration was revised and amplified by among others Mozart. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries the trend has been towards reproducing a greater fidelity to Handel's original intentions, although "big Messiah" productions continue to be mounted.

The composer George Frideric Handel , born in Halle , Germany in , took up permanent residence in London in , and became a naturalised British subject in He subsequently wrote and presented more than 40 such operas in London's theatres. By the early s public taste for Italian opera was beginning to fade. The popular success of John Gay and Johann Christoph Pepusch 's The Beggar's Opera first performed in had heralded a spate of English-language ballad-operas that mocked the pretensions of Italian opera. Such funding became harder to obtain after the launch in of the Opera of the Nobility , a rival company to his own.

Handel overcame this challenge, but he spent large sums of his own money in doing so. Although prospects for Italian opera were declining, Handel remained committed to the genre, but as alternatives to his staged works he began to introduce English-language oratorios. Its success encouraged Handel to write two more oratorios Deborah and Athalia.

All three oratorios were performed to large and appreciative audiences at the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford in mid Undergraduates reportedly sold their furniture to raise the money for the five-shilling tickets. In Handel received the text for a new oratorio named Saul from its librettist Charles Jennens , a wealthy landowner with musical and literary interests. The work, after opening at the King's Theatre in January to a warm reception, was quickly followed by the less successful oratorio Israel in Egypt which may also have come from Jennens.

After three performances of his last Italian opera Deidamia in January and February , he abandoned the genre. The Subject is Messiah". In Christian theology , the Messiah is the saviour of the Jewish people and humankind. The Messiah who is called Christ , is identified with the person of Jesus , known by his followers as the Christ or "Jesus Christ". Handel's Messiah has been described by the early-music scholar Richard Luckett as "a commentary on [Jesus Christ's] Nativity, Passion, Resurrection and Ascension", beginning with God's promises as spoken by the prophets and ending with Christ's glorification in heaven.

In his libretto, Jennens's intention was not to dramatise the life and teachings of Jesus, but to acclaim the "Mystery of Godliness", [15] using a compilation of extracts from the Authorized King James Version of the Bible, and from the Psalms included in the Book of Common Prayer. The three-part structure of the work approximates to that of Handel's three-act operas, with the "parts" subdivided by Jennens into " scenes ". Each scene is a collection of individual numbers or "movements" which take the form of recitatives , arias and choruses.

The annunciation to the shepherds of the birth of the Christ is represented in the words of Luke's gospel. Part II covers Christ's passion and his death , his resurrection and ascension , the first spreading of the gospel through the world, and a definitive statement of God's glory summarised in the "Hallelujah". Part III begins with the promise of redemption, followed by a prediction of the day of judgment and the " general resurrection ", ending with the final victory over sin and death and the acclamation of Christ.

Charles Jennens was born around , into a prosperous landowning family whose lands and properties in Warwickshire and Leicestershire he eventually inherited. His family's wealth enabled him to live a life of leisure while devoting himself to his literary and musical interests. He was certainly devoted to Handel's music, having helped to finance the publication of every Handel score since Rodelinda in Jennens's letter to Holdsworth of 10 July , in which he first mentions Messiah , suggests that the text was a recent work, probably assembled earlier that summer.

As a devout Anglican and believer in scriptural authority, Jennens intended to challenge advocates of Deism , who rejected the doctrine of divine intervention in human affairs. The music for Messiah was completed in 24 days of swift composition. Having received Jennens's text some time after 10 July , Handel began work on it on 22 August. The autograph score's pages show some signs of haste such as blots, scratchings-out, unfilled bars and other uncorrected errors, but according to the music scholar Richard Luckett the number of errors is remarkably small in a document of this length.

This inscription, taken with the speed of composition, has encouraged belief in the apocryphal story that Handel wrote the music in a fervour of divine inspiration in which, as he wrote the "Hallelujah" chorus, "he saw all heaven before him". The effort of writing so much music in so short a time was not unusual for Handel and his contemporaries; Handel commenced his next oratorio, Samson , within a week of finishing Messiah , and completed his draft of this new work in a month.

Thus, Se tu non lasci amore from became the basis of "O Death, where is thy sting? Before the first performance Handel made numerous revisions to his manuscript score, in part to match the forces available for the Dublin premiere; it is probable that his work was not performed as originally conceived in his lifetime.

Handel's decision to give a season of concerts in Dublin in the winter of —42 arose from an invitation from the Duke of Devonshire , then serving as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. These concerts were so popular that a second series was quickly arranged; Messiah figured in neither series. In early March Handel began discussions with the appropriate committees for a charity concert, to be given in April, at which he intended to present Messiah. He sought and was given permission from St Patrick's and Christ Church cathedrals to use their choirs for this occasion.

The women soloists were Christina Maria Avoglio , who had sung the main soprano roles in the two subscription series, and Susannah Cibber , an established stage actress and contralto who had sung in the second series. Handel had his own organ shipped to Ireland for the performances; a harpsichord was probably also used. The three charities that were to benefit were prisoners' debt relief, the Mercer's Hospital, and the Charitable Infirmary.

Delaney, was so overcome by Susanna Cibber's rendering of "He was despised" that reportedly he leapt to his feet and cried: Handel remained in Dublin for four months after the premiere. He organised a second performance of Messiah on 3 June, which was announced as "the last Performance of Mr Handel's during his Stay in this Kingdom".

In this second Messiah , which was for Handel's private financial benefit, Cibber reprised her role from the first performance, though Avoglio may have been replaced by a Mrs Maclaine; [47] details of other performers are not recorded. The warm reception accorded to Messiah in Dublin was not repeated in London when Handel introduced the work at the Covent Garden theatre on 23 March Avoglio and Cibber were again the chief soloists; they were joined by the tenor John Beard , a veteran of Handel's operas, the bass Thomas Rheinhold and two other sopranos, Kitty Clive and Miss Edwards.

In an attempt to deflect such sensibilities, in London Handel had avoided the name Messiah and presented the work as the "New Sacred Oratorio". He wrote a new setting of "And lo, the angel of the Lord" for Clive, never used subsequently. He added a tenor song for Beard: The custom of standing for the "Hallelujah" chorus originates from a belief that, at the London premiere, King George II did so, which would have obliged all to stand. There is no convincing evidence that the king was present, or that he attended any subsequent performance of Messiah ; the first reference to the practice of standing appears in a letter dated , three years prior to Handel's death.

London's initially cool reception of Messiah led Handel to reduce the season's planned six performances to three, and not to present the work at all in —to the considerable annoyance of Jennens, whose relations with the composer temporarily soured. I have with great difficulty made him correct some of the grosser faults in the composition The revival at Covent Garden, under the proper title of Messiah , saw the appearance of two female soloists who were henceforth closely associated with Handel's music: Giulia Frasi and Caterina Galli.

In the following year these were joined by the male alto Gaetano Guadagni , for whom Handel composed new versions of "But who may abide" and "Thou art gone up on high". The year also saw the institution of the annual charity performances of Messiah at London's Foundling Hospital , which continued until Handel's death and beyond.

The orchestra included fifteen violins, five violas, three cellos, two double-basses, four bassoons, four oboes, two trumpets, two horns and drums. In the chorus of nineteen were six trebles from the Chapel Royal; the remainder, all men, were altos, tenors and basses. Frasi, Galli and Beard led the five soloists, who were required to assist the chorus. During the s Messiah was performed increasingly at festivals and cathedrals throughout the country.

The orchestra employed was two hundred and fifty strong, including twelve horns, twelve trumpets, six trombones and three pairs of timpani some made especially large. In continental Europe, performances of Messiah were departing from Handel's practices in a different way: In the 19th century, approaches to Handel in German and English-speaking countries diverged further.

Messiah was presented in New York in with a chorus of and in Boston in with more than In the s and s ever larger forces were assembled. Bernard Shaw , in his role as a music critic, commented, "The stale wonderment which the great chorus never fails to elicit has already been exhausted"; [82] he later wrote, "Why, instead of wasting huge sums on the multitudinous dullness of a Handel Festival does not somebody set up a thoroughly rehearsed and exhaustively studied performance of the Messiah in St James's Hall with a chorus of twenty capable artists?

Most of us would be glad to hear the work seriously performed once before we die. Many admirers of Handel believed that the composer would have made such additions, had the appropriate instruments been available in his day. One reason for the popularity of huge-scale performances was the ubiquity of amateur choral societies. The conductor Sir Thomas Beecham wrote that for years the chorus was "the national medium of musical utterance" in Britain. However, after the heyday of Victorian choral societies, he noted a "rapid and violent reaction against monumental performances Bourne pioneered revivals of Messiah in Handel's orchestration, and Bourne's work was the basis for further scholarly versions in the early 20th century.

Although the huge-scale oratorio tradition was perpetuated by such large ensembles as the Royal Choral Society , the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Huddersfield Choral Society in the 20th century, [88] there were increasing calls for performances more faithful to Handel's conception. At the turn of the century, The Musical Times wrote of the "additional accompaniments" of Mozart and others, "Is it not time that some of these 'hangers on' of Handel's score were sent about their business?

With our large choral societies, additional accompaniments of some kind are a necessity for an effective performance; and the question is not so much whether, as how they are to be written. Prout continued the practice of adding flutes, clarinets and trombones to Handel's orchestration, but he restored Handel's high trumpet parts, which Mozart had omitted evidently because playing them was a lost art by The Musical Times correspondent wrote, "Handel's orchestral instruments were all excepting the trumpet of a coarser quality than those at present in use; his harpsichords are gone for ever In Germany, Messiah was not so often performed as in Britain; [92] when it was given, medium-sized forces were the norm.

At the Handel Festival held in in Handel's native town, Halle, his choral works were given by a choir of and an orchestra of For example, in , Beecham conducted a recording of Messiah with modestly sized forces and controversially brisk tempi, although the orchestration remained far from authentic. Recordings on LP and CD were preponderantly of the latter type, and the large scale Messiah came to seem old-fashioned. The cause of authentic performance was advanced in by the publication of a new edition of the score, edited by Watkins Shaw. In the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians , David Scott writes, "the edition at first aroused suspicion on account of its attempts in several directions to break the crust of convention surrounding the work in the British Isles.

Messiah remains Handel's best-known work, with performances particularly popular during the Advent season; [46] writing in December , the music critic Alex Ross refers to that month's 21 performances in New York alone as "numbing repetition". Indeed if they are not prepared to grapple with the problems presented by the score they ought not to conduct it. This applies not only to the choice of versions, but to every aspect of baroque practice, and of course there are often no final answers.

The numbering of the movements shown here is in accordance with the Novello vocal score , edited by Watkins Shaw, which adapts the numbering earlier devised by Ebenezer Prout. Isaiah's prophecy of salvation. The prophecy of Christ's birth. The annunciation to the shepherds. Christ's healing and redemption. Christ's Death and Resurrection.

Christ's reception in Heaven. The beginnings of Gospel preaching. The world's rejection of the Gospel. The promise of eternal life. The Day of Judgment. The final conquest of sin. The acclamation of the Messiah. Handel's music for Messiah is distinguished from most of his other oratorios by an orchestral restraint—a quality which the musicologist Percy M. Young observes was not adopted by Mozart and other later arrangers of the music. After their introduction in the Part I chorus "Glory to God", apart from the solo in "The trumpet shall sound" they are heard only in "Hallelujah" and the final chorus "Worthy is the Lamb".

Although Messiah is not in any particular key, Handel's tonal scheme has been summarised by the musicologist Anthony Hicks as "an aspiration towards D major", the key musically associated with light and glory. As the oratorio moves forward with various shifts in key to reflect changes in mood, D major emerges at significant points, primarily the "trumpet" movements with their uplifting messages.

It is the key in which the work reaches its triumphant ending. For example, the musicologist Rudolf Steglich has suggested that Handel used the device of the "ascending fourth " as a unifying motif ; this device most noticeably occurs in the first two notes of "I know that my Redeemer liveth" and on numerous other occasions.

Nevertheless, Luckett finds this thesis implausible, and asserts that "the unity of Messiah is a consequence of nothing more arcane than the quality of Handel's attention to his text, and the consistency of his musical imagination". From the gentle falling melody assigned to the opening words "Comfort ye" to the sheer ebullience of the "Hallelujah" chorus and the ornate celebratory counterpoint that supports the closing "Amen", hardly a line of text goes by that Handel does not amplify".

The opening Sinfony is composed in E minor for strings, and is Handel's first use in oratorio of the French overture form. Jennens commented that the Sinfony contains "passages far unworthy of Handel, but much more unworthy of the Messiah"; [] Handel's early biographer Charles Burney merely found it "dry and uninteresting".

The pastoral interlude that follows begins with the short instrumental movement, the Pifa , which takes its name from the shepherd-bagpipers, or pifferari , who played their pipes in the streets of Rome at Christmas time. The remainder of Part I is largely carried by the soprano in B flat, in what Burrows terms a rare instance of tonal stability. The second Part begins in G minor, a key which, in Hogwood's phrase, brings a mood of "tragic presentiment" to the long sequence of Passion numbers which follows.

The sense of desolation returns, in what Hogwood calls the "remote and barbarous" key of B flat minor, for the tenor recitative "All they that see him". This, as Young points out, is not the climactic chorus of the work, although one cannot escape its "contagious enthusiasm". Commentators have noted that the musical line for this third subject is based on Wachet auf , Philipp Nicolai 's popular Lutheran chorale.

The opening soprano solo in E major, "I know that my Redeemer liveth" is one of the few numbers in the oratorio that has remained unrevised from its original form. Handel's awkward, repeated stressing of the fourth syllable of "incorruptible" may have been the source of the 18th-century poet William Shenstone 's comment that he "could observe some parts in Messiah wherein Handel's judgements failed him; where the music was not equal, or was even opposite , to what the words required".

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The reflective soprano solo "If God be for us" originally written for alto quotes Luther 's chorale Aus tiefer Not. It ushers in the D major choral finale: Many early recordings of individual choruses and arias from Messiah reflect the performance styles then fashionable—large forces, slow tempi and liberal reorchestration.

The first near-complete recording of the whole work with the cuts then customary [n 10] was conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham in It represented an effort by Beecham to "provide an interpretation which, in his opinion, was nearer the composer's intentions", with smaller forces and faster tempi than had become traditional. In the first recording based on Handel's original scoring was conducted by Hermann Scherchen for Nixa , [n 11] quickly followed by a version, judged scholarly at the time, under Sir Adrian Boult for Decca.

They inaugurated a new tradition of brisk, small scale performances, with vocal embellishments by the solo singers. By the end of the s the quest for authenticity had extended to the use of period instruments and historically correct styles of playing them. The first of such versions were conducted by the early music specialists Christopher Hogwood and John Eliot Gardiner

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