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The LXX renders this word alogoi esontai 'shall not be reckoned' and
the Latin Vulgate irriti fiant 'to be vain, useless'. Naphal is also used of
an 'untimely birth', one who never saw the light (Job 3:16; Eccles. 6:3).
Yet once more the word is translated 'giants', the nephilim or 'fallen' ones
(Gen. 6:4).
These various shades of meaning have a bearing upon our text. God's
promises, whether to Joshua, to Israel, to the Church, or to individuals will
never fail, for
(1)
The Lord Himself is the speaker. The prophets are but His
mouthpiece. None of these words can fall to the ground. (1 Sam.
3:19).
(2)
The words of the Lord cannot fail by reason of any inferiority.
If mortal man understands, knows and sometimes speaks words of
wisdom and truth, how much more shall God's words prevail (Job
12:3).
(3)
The promises of the Lord will never 'lapse'. We have already
seen that He cannot fail either through lack of power or lack of
purpose, and even if for reasons that are discoverable there
should appear to be 'gaps' or His people called 'Lo -ammi' there
is no 'slackness' with God. He knows the whole circumstance; He
knew when He spoke to Abraham of the bondage that awaited Israel,
but He also knew that when the 400th year was reached that
Pharaoh himself would urge the captive people to leave the house
of bondage.
(4)
The promises of God are the promises of One Who 'cannot lie'
(Tit. 1:2). He will never 'fall' like the Nephilim fell, but
will remain steadfast to the end.
It does not require much spiritual insight to see once again that the
Lord Jesus Christ is the seal upon every promise of God. No one thing can
fail, for the purpose of the ages is in His hand, and rests upon His finished
work. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the Ending; in Him is
the Yea and the Amen to every promise of God, and so once again we rejoice to
conclude our third survey, with the precious words 'He Faileth Not'.
'I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee' (Josh. 1:5)
Here the book of Joshua again gives the subject of our meditation.
The word translated 'fail' here is raphah, which means, to relax,
slacken, yield. Here are some of the ways in which raphah is used.
In Proverbs 24:10, we read:
'If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small'.
Quite a number of times the word is rendered 'to wax feeble or weak' as
'The king of Babylon hath heard the report of them, and his hands waxed
feeble: anguish took hold of him, and pangs as of a woman in travail'
(Jer. 50:43).
'And when Saul's son heard that Abner was dead in Hebron, his hands
were feeble, and all the Israelites were troubled' (2 Sam. 4:1).