is like the early history of the first Jewish legislator. Moses was
rescued from a watery grave, and raised at the court of Egypt.
Joshua, in infancy, was swallowed by a whale, and , wonderful to
relate, did not perish. At a distant point of the sea-coast the
monster spewed him forth unharmed. He was found by
compassionate passers-by, and grew up ignorant of his descent.
The government appointed him to the office of hangman. As luck
would have it, he had to execute his own father. By the law of the
land the wife of the dead man fell to the share of his executioner,
and Joshua was on the point of adding to parricide another crime
equally heinous. He was saved by a miraculous sign. When he
approached his mother, milk flowed from her breasts. His
suspicions were aroused, and through the inquiries he set a foot
regarding his origin, the truth was made manifest. (2)

Later Joshua, who was so ignorant that he was called a fool,
became the minister of Moses, and God rewarded his faithful
service by making him the successor to Moses. (3) He was
designated as such to Moses when, at the bidding of his master, he
was carrying on war with the Amalekites. (4) In this campaign
God's care of Joshua was plainly seen. Joshua had condemned a
portion of the Amalekites to death by lot, and the heavenly sword
picked them out for extermination. (5) Yet there was as great a
difference between Moses and Joshua as between the sun and the
moon. (6) God did not withdraw His help from Joshua, but He was
by no means so close to him as to Moses. This appeared
immediately after Moses had passed away. At the moment when
the Israelitish leader was setting out on his journey to the great
beyond, he summoned his successor and bade him put questions
upon all points about which he felt uncertain. Conscious of his