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Home > Books > The Bible In The Light of Christian Science, Vol. III: Joshua, Judges
The Bible In The Light of Christian Science, Vol. III: Joshua, Judges
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Product Code: 0-942958-07-1
Manufacturer: Kappeler Institute Publishing
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Paperback, 210 pages
Level:
SUBJECT(s):
The Bible in the Light of Christian Science
RELATED RECORDINGS:
F-1, The Minor Prophets in the Light of Christian Science (32 hours, audio)
F-2, The Epistles in the Light of Christian Science (31 hours, audio)
SYNOPSIS: There is a definite spiritual structure underlying the Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. This series of books, The Bible in the Light of Christian Science, Vol. I–IV, uncovers and illuminates this structure within the Bible.
In Volume III, the Book of "Joshua," the journey from sense to Soul (wandering) is concluded. In the Book of "Judges," we learn that God demands our adherence only to that which is divinely right.
Joshua
Truth = crossing the river Jordan and entering the Promised Land (seven steps).
Judges
Love = settling in the Promised Land by overcoming enemies (the seven noumena of evil).
CONTENTS:
Chapter 1: Joshua
- The command to enter the Promised land
- Crossing the river Jordan
- Inheriting the Promised Land
- The spiritual structure of the book of "Joshua"
Chapter 2: Judges
- Judges: Working out the nothingness of evil
- Mind, Spirit: Accepting the demand to handle error
- Soul, Principle: The divine power that handles error
- Life, Truth: The effect: error being overcome in us
- Love: The fulfillment: error destroyed universally
- The spiritual structure of the book of "Judges"
Appendices
EXCERPT:
From Max Kappeler, The Bible In Light of Christian Science, Vol. III: Joshua, Judges, pp. 4–9 (Joshua); 74, 78–79 (Judges).
The following are excerpts from Joshua, then Judges:
JOSHUA
The journey from sense to Soul
With the book of "Joshua," the wandering—symbolizing the journey from sense to Soul, the transition from a material to a spiritual sense of being—is concluded. As we step-by-step identify ourselves with divine Principle, we free ourselves from a false sense of identity, from the mortal ego and bondage to its perceptions, feelings and emotions. Translated from ancient Hebrew, "Joshua" means: "God delivers," "God saves." This delivering, saving Christ-consciousness is the basic theme of the book of "Joshua."
The journey began with Abraham, when he received the command: "Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee" (Gen. 12:1). In other words, go out of Ur (appearance, beliefs) into a land (not a wilderness) of certainty that is your own. Seen spiritually, this means freeing ourselves from the false beliefs of mortal man, enabling us to inherit the definite conscious¬ness that we are the son of God….
The divine numeration table
As we work through the books of "Joshua," "Judges," "Samuel," and "Kings," we must not forget that our aim and interest is not to study events of the past, but to school ourselves in the Science of ideas. The prophets' sole purpose was to show how we can adopt a practical, divinely structured consciousness of the omni-active Science of ideas. Just as students of arithmetic drill themselves in the multiplication table in order to structure their thought according to the system of arithmetic, so must the student of the Science of being be thoroughly drilled in the divine numeration table, the infinite calculus of ideas. The divine system through which the infinite ideas of God operate and interact with each other in an ordered and lawful way must form the structure of our thought and understanding.
"Man's rights are invaded when the divine order is interfered with" (S&H 106:12). To keep our inheritance, our Promised Land, we must allow nothing to mould our consciousness that does not conform to divine order. But what is divine order? It is an ordered consciousness of ideas, a consciousness of the system and Science of ideas. Just as the student of arithmetic advances to the multiplication table and does not stay forever with counting 1–10, so too in the Science of being, we must let our understanding unfold beyond the simple sequence of the seven days of creation to see ideas operative in their divine system and Science. No idea of God, just as no synonym for God, ever stands alone, for there is no fragmentation in being. Being is one coherent, infinitely interrelated system. Accordingly, every idea of God reflects all other ideas. Since idea has neither extent, location, or time, it is ever-present, always reflecting other idea.
The structure of the book of "Joshua"
The book of "Joshua" presents a beautifully systematic and exact spiritual structure, perfectly ordered to teach the numeration table or calculus of divine ideas. Every synonym for God reflects, in an ordered sequence, every other synonym for God. Specifically, the text first shows how Mind reflects Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love. Then it shows how Spirit blends with Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love. In the same way, it presents Soul in connection with all the seven synonyms for God, followed by Principle, Life, Truth, and Love, each in connection with all seven synonyms. Thus the layout or spiritual structure of the book of "Joshua" presents seven subjects, each elaborated through seven subtones, yielding a seven-by-seven matrix. With this symmetrical layout, the book of "Joshua" gives a perfect example of the numeration table of Christian Science, the full blending or reflection of ideas of the synonyms. To express the specific spiritual computations among the synonyms for God and their ideas, we will use the convention of "Mind as Spirit" or "Principle as Soul," etc., meaning by this the specific spiritual tone that emerges when we consider how Mind reflects Spirit, or how Principle blends with Soul.
The main theme: inheriting our true manhood (Truth)
Spiritually interpreted, the book of "Joshua" continues the story where Moses left it. As "Volume II: Exodus" of this series on the Bible shows (see especially p. 85), Moses led the exodus out of Egypt—from sense to Soul—through the unfolding order of the Word. Beginning with the emergence of the saving idea, symbolized by the birth of Moses (Mind), "Exodus" shows how this idea separates itself from its opposite (Spirit), dissolves the beliefs of mortal mind into their native nothingness (Soul), demonstrates and proves itself with spiritual power (Principle) and so exalts us beyond material sense to an ever more spiritual sense of Life (Life). With the tone of Life, symbolized by the seven ascents, "Exodus" closes; Moses' mission is complete. It is for the saving Christ-idea, symbolized by Joshua, to lead the children of Israel onward.
Under the main tone of Truth, the book of "Joshua" teaches how we must identify ourselves with our true manhood and thereby claim our rightful spiritual inheritance. How? This true spiritual manhood trans¬lates itself to us as a saving consciousness (Joshua), showing how we can free ourselves, step-by-step, from every false sense of manhood, from mortal consciousness and its manifold false beliefs….
JUDGES
Who were the judges
The 13 judges were not judges in courts of law in the present sense, but were spiritually courageous, spiritually guided liberators, leading the people to a higher sense of being. Their task was to liberate their tribe from servitude; jurisdiction was completely subordinate to this primary role of liberating. Thus, the judges were men and women who arose in times of need to take over the leadership of a tribe or sometimes several tribes. A judge was never the leader of all the tribes, neither were the judges elected by the tribes. They chose themselves, placing themselves at the head of the army to lead the people against the enemy. Jesus said: "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you (John 15:16). Like the judges, we too must choose ourselves and individually accept what the Christ-idea knows about us as the man of God. Each one of us must learn to recognize our spiritual mission and actively pursue the accomplishment of our divinely determined task. In this way, we work out the basis of divine government, in which man governs himself according to the leading of his Soul-defined identity.
Symbolism, not history
Symbols to teach spiritual values. The book of "judges" has a practical, spiritual value for us only through the interpretation of its symbolism. Interpreted literally, the book presents an incoherent conglomeration of passed-down tribal tradition, expressed through stories that seem crude, immoral, cruel, and often completely irrelevant. By contrast, interpreted spiritually, the book of "Judges" yields a beautifully ordered, coherent structure of ideas, teaching spiritual values and how these spiritual values redeem us from every phase and form of error, proving error's nothingness….
The structure of the book of "Judges"
Biblical scholars feel there is good evidence to suggest that the books of "Joshua" and "Judges" were written by the same author. Interpreting the two books spiritually, we find all the more support for this view, since we discover that they present the same spiritual structure.
Like the book of "Joshua," the book of "Judges" is developed according to the Word-order—Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love (S&H 465:10)—in which the tone of each synonym is further elaborated through seven subtones. The book thus deal with its subject through the tones of Mind and Mind, Mind as Spirit, Mind as Soul, Mind as Principle, Mind as Life, Mind as Truth, and Mind as Love, followed by Spirit in seven subtones, then Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, and Love, each in seven subtones. Again we find the structural layout of a 7 x 7 matrix, presenting the subject in a beautifully complete and consistent way.
The question then arises: What constitutes the difference between the book of "Joshua" and the book of "Judges," if their structure is the same? As we will see, the two books deal with distinctly different issues within the spiritual order unfolding itself from "Exodus" to "Judges." What is this difference? We can consider it from various angles.
The different standpoints of "Joshua" and "Judges"
Obedience and the consequences of disobedience. The book of "Joshua" describes the pure reflection of spiritual ideas comprising our try manhood, showing how obedience to the law of God—obedience to our true manhood—brings forth harmony. The victories were always victories of God and proof of the working of God's saving idea. By contrast, the book of "Judges" shows the consequences of disobedience: what happens when we fall away from our divine manhood by wedding ourselves to anything other than God and its purpose for man. Again and again in "Judges" we read: "And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord … And they forsook the Lord God of their fathers." Throughout the book we find a recurring pattern: The people fall away from Jehovah, and Jehovah delivers the people to its enemies; thereupon the people cry to Jehovah, and Jehovah sends them a redeemer (one of the judges): this judge smites the enemy, restoring adherence to the Lord and giving the people peace for 40 years.
Translated into our modern language, "Judges" describes a familiar pattern in human experience: For whatever reason, we lose sight of divine Truth and of how Truth forms our manhood. As a result, we witlessly deliver ourselves to error, which manifests itself in our experience as inharmony, sickness, sin, or crisis. In such a situation, we are forced to turn to God; we let God's saving idea raise up within us a redeeming consciousness, compelling us to "return to the Lord." The enemy of deviating from our true Christ-manhood is not only forced to yield but, even more, made to serve our spiritual progress. We gain the solution to our problem through a more scientific understanding of divine Principle, and this divinely scientific understanding both liberates us from error and reestablishes harmony.
Truth and Love. Considering the difference between the two books through the tones of the synonyms, the book of "Joshua" illustrates the tone of Truth in the ordered way out of Egypt, showing how the spiritual idea establishes itself in us and demands our adherence to what God knows of us as man. The book of "Judges," illustrating the tone of Love, shows that even if we reject this divine inheritance, Love enforces our redemption, chastening us through experiences until we realize that no human resistance can prevent the divine plan from fulfilling itself in us. Love compels our acceptance and makes man partake of its blessing.
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