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 PKIITGETGIT 
 KtC. OCT 1882 
 
 THSOLOGIGAIv/ 
 
 Divis.on.SS) \\5 \ 
 No (^.... 
 
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 Hrearljfr's €ffm|rlctc Pomiletkal 
 
 COMMENTARY 
 
 OLD TESTAMENT 
 
 (On an Obiginal Plan). 
 
 With Critical arid Explanatory Notes,. Indices^ Etc., Etc. 
 
 VARIOUS AUTHORS. 
 
 bonbon : 
 RICHARD ]). DICKINSON, 27^ FARRINGDON STREET. 
 
 IS 7 9. 
 
HOMILETIOAL 
 COMMENT AKY 
 
 ON THE BOOK OF 
 
 JOSHUA, 
 
 WITH 
 
 €niml ixnh ^^^lixmkx^ ^ok^^ iuMa^, tk. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 BEV. F. G.^MAECHANT. 
 
 RICHARD D. DICKINSON, FARRINGDON STREET. 
 
 1879. 
 
j( r.LQ. OCT 1882 )t 
 
 \TI-iaOLOGICAL 
 
 HOMILETIC COMMENT ABY 
 
 JOSHUA. 
 
 The aim of this work is not critical, but moral and spiritual exegesis. The 
 Author's wish has been to expound the principles of Divine teaching contained in 
 the history, and to present the result of his study of these principles in a way 
 which may be useful to any preachers or students of God's Word, who, like 
 himself, may feel suggestions from other minds helpful to their own. No apology 
 seems necessary for a work of this kind ; why should it be ? Why should the 
 pulpit suppose entire originality, and the class room almost none ? Why should 
 public teachers in eveiy other department of life freely make use of the results of 
 scholastic attainments, feel no wrong in doing so, and be thought no evil of, if it 
 be utterly wrong in any and every measure for preachers to avail themselves of 
 the results of such gifts or attainments in their brethren as may best bear fruit 
 in the unfolding of moral or spiritual truth ? These questions, it need hardly 
 be said, are not meant to excuse dishonesty, but to vindicate the right of every 
 man to walk in Homiletic fields of thought with at least as much liberty as in 
 fields theologic, philosophic, or scientific. Probably nothing has more tended to 
 independent thought in preaching than the very free reading of sermons, so 
 common in religious circles in the present day : never were so many sermons 
 pubUshed and bought as now, and it may be said with almost equal certainty, 
 never was the pulpit so original and strong as now. The power of others, 
 rightly used, tends to our own strength. It is with the consciousness of the 
 absolute truth of this that this work has been written ; how far it may be helpful, 
 others must judge. 
 
 In outlines of discourses the style must necessarily be more or less abrupt. In 
 the '* Main Homiletics " an effort has been made throughout to avoid two evils — the 
 giving of mere heads of thought, which probably are of small use to any one, and 
 the extension of thought into that fulness of style which, however suitable for the 
 pulpit itself, would fruitlessly occupy space, and possibly tend to weariness. 
 Reducing the " bundle of hay " will make no more " needles ;" it may encourage 
 
PREFA CE. 
 
 research, if such as maj' be there are more readily found. The " Suggestive 
 Comments," as far as seemed desirable, have been thrown into homiletic form, it 
 being felt that they might be more useful given in some systematic manner, than 
 if written as disconnected thoughts ; on the other hand, thoughts which seemed to 
 promise assistance in expounding the truth of a verse or passage have not been 
 rejected because for want of coherence it might be inconvenient to bring them 
 under such arrangement. Free use has been made of the best Commentaries 
 and writings on the book, although, excepting some of the detached comments 
 and some outlines acknowledged in loco, the work is the Author's throughout. 
 An attempt has been made to give one or more outlines on every passage in the 
 text likely to furnish matter for preaching, and as much illustration has been 
 Bupplied as seemed to promise aid in intensifying the thought without too much 
 encumbering the pages. 
 
 A critical or extensive Introduction to the book of Joshua is not necessary. 
 Every private library which aspires to be theological will probably have at least 
 two or three good and sufficient notices of the Author, the Date, the Chronology, 
 the Unity, the Credibility, and the Design of this first of the so-called " Historical 
 Books of Scripture." Keil makes a remark on which it is well to lay much 
 stress — " The Christian revelation cannot be fully understood without a thorough 
 acquaintance with that of the Old Testament which prepared the way for it ; and 
 this again cannot be comprehended without a careful study of the history of the 
 Old Testament," We may call the time during which Israel was ruled by Joshua 
 and the succeeding Judges " the most s^cwZflr period of sacred history;" it is none 
 the less important. The '^ moral tone'' of the people who hear, and are called 
 upon to practise what they hear, may be lower than it should be ; the books 
 giving the history of these people under Joshua and the various Judges may be 
 much taken up in recounting a history of failure and sin ; this says nothing 
 whatever against the ^^ moral tone'' of the Scriptures that apply to this jieriod : all 
 the more, and certainly not the less, should we mark that the teachings of God 
 and His prophets here are as lofty in their character as those of the Pentateuch, 
 the Kings, or the Prophets. The people who hear and ought to perform 
 may transgress, but there is no flagging in the zeal of inspired teaching. If 
 this be so, the lessons in " Joshua " are as valuable for Christian preachers as 
 those elsewhere, and in point of interest they have this advantage — they shew 
 us the principles which, at the very beginning, God lays down for the guidance 
 of the nation which, in distinction from all others upon earth. He calls to be His 
 own. Here, more than anywhere else in the ]-5ible, we may look for the initial 
 ieachings of God to His " peculiar people " in the initial forms of their national 
 life. Theocracy in its earthly infancy ought not to furnish a history barren or 
 unfruitful in instruction to a Church which often needs "the first principles of the 
 oracles of God," to expose the sophistries which may be more readily connected 
 with advanced forms of truth as presented in the Apostolic Epistles. 
 
CHAP. I. IIOMILETIC C03I3IENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 It is with the deepest conviction that no part of the Bible will ever be found 
 to be " out of date," and that the book of Joshua contains much of Divine truth, 
 eminent, even among the Holy Scriptures, in its suitability for the instruction of 
 all men in the present day, that this work has been undertaken. May He who 
 moved holy men of old to the writing of the text, grant His rich blessing to this 
 further attempt at its exposition. 
 
 Wandsworth, Fobmary, 1875. 
 
 CHAPTER I. . 
 
 TUE CALL TO WAR, AND THE EESPONSB, 
 
 Criticai, Notes. — 1. And it came to pass after — Vayehi achrea,'] The conitmction 
 indicates that the history is a continuation of Deuteronomy. This suggests that Joshua was 
 probably the writer of the last chap, of Deut. He takes up and carries on his own record 
 from the point where he left off recounting the death, burial, and character of Moses. After 
 the death] Including the thirty days' mourning, — Deut. xxxiv. 8. Moses' minister] Not the 
 servant, but " the adjutant," chief helper. The Seventy translate ry virovpyu. The formal 
 appointment is reported, Num. xxvii. 15 — 23. 3. Every place that the sole] Every place 
 against which your faith and courage lead you to go up. shall be yours. Your inheritance in 
 the land shall have no limits but those set by your own unbelief and fears. As far as you 
 ^vill tread, you shall possess. 6. ^e strong and firm — (Schroeder)] " The words signify not 
 firmness and strength in general, but the strength in the hands and the firmness in the 
 knees, Isa. xxxv. 3, cf. Heb. xii. 12. 13" (J. H. Michaelis). H. Prepare you victuals] 
 Herein speaks both the prophet and the soldier. As God's prophet. Joshua anticipates the 
 cessation of the manna, and prepares the people for the new phase of life on which they must 
 soon enter (chap. v. 12). As a soldier, he looks with his keen military forecast to the busy 
 hours of the march, and to that closer massing of the people, which would be unfavourable 
 for gathering their usual food. "Within three days] Perhaps the best solution is indicated 
 by Knobel, " The three days mentioned in chap. iii. 2, are identical with the three days here 
 in ver. 11." The march from Shittim to Jordan would, in this case, have been made during 
 the absence of the spies, the events of chap, ii., on the one hand, and of chap. iii. 1, on the 
 other, being concurrent. Thus taken, the spies would rejoin the host, not at Shittim, from 
 ■whence they went out. but immediately before Jordan. 14. All the mighty men] All of 
 those selected for the campaign. About 40,000 passed over, leaving upwards nf 70,000 effective 
 men to guard the women and children. (Cf. chap. iv. 13 ; Num. xxvi. 7, 18, 34.) 
 
 MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PABAGB APE. —Verse?. 1, 2. 
 
 The Way of God in His Purposes. 
 
 The Divine purpose was to bring the children of Israel onward into Canaan. 
 Moses was just dead ; Joshua is here called to succeed him. This juncture gives 
 us interesting light on the plans of God, and man's relation to their fulfilment. 
 I. God's plans are not dependent on men. When Moses dies, He has Joshua 
 ready. The halt in the plains of Moab has in it nothing of hesitancy, but merely 
 sufficient of decency. There is no halting in God's purpose till another leader 
 can be found. Joshua was prepared ix his own mind and couscioiisnsss. Past 
 counsel with Moses had made him familiar with God's way and will. Past victo- 
 ries had given him confidence in God. Past communications from God had 
 pointed to his leadership. Thus, forty years before, " Piehearse it in the ears of 
 Joshua." ( YjX. xvii. 14.) Joshua was equally prepared in the minds of the 
 people. They had seen God giving him victory over Amalek at Rephidim. They 
 had seen him honouring God when the multitude were disobedient. He had no 
 
 - 3 
 
UOMILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. chap. r. 
 
 part in the folly of Aaron and the people at Sinai. (Cf. Ex. xxxii. 17.) Caleb 
 and he had stilled the murmurs which followed the report of the spies. They had 
 Been him openly honoured by Moses. (Deut. xxxi. 7, 8.) They had seen him 
 thus honoured by God. (Num. xxvii. 18 — 23 ; Deut. xxxi. 14,15.) Thus there could 
 be no question, with either Joshua or the people, who was to succeed Moses. 
 The work never halted. From this promptitude of Providence learn — 1. That 
 no man is necessary to God. 2. That the work of the godly man is not suffered 
 to collapse. Such workers are not like children in the winter, engaged in making 
 mere snow men, which the first sun shall melt away for ever. He who labours 
 within the scheme of God's purpose, necessarily works for immortality. 3. A 
 succession of able men, in Divine works, is a token of God's continued interest in 
 and presence with a people. II. God's plans are, sometimes, best advanced by 
 the removal of men who have been eminently useful. Moses was not to enter 
 the promised land, and no advance could be made while he lived as leader. He thus 
 barred the way. In addition to this, Moses was not the man for the future. He 
 had been the best of men for the past. Moses was best to stand before Pharaoh ; 
 Joshua before the Canaanites. Moses was fittest for the sea and the wilderness ; 
 Joshua for the fortified cities. Moses was the right man to lead the people out 
 from slavery in Egypt ; Joshua was the best to organise them into civihsed life. 
 Moses had, indeed, shewn neglect as to organisation when in the wilderness ; 
 Jethro had supplied a deficiency in his management. 1. To die in the midst of 
 work is not to have lived in vain. You make way for others. 2. The mistakes 
 of our lives are not less harmful because God uses our work generally. Meribah 
 was still a blunder and a sin. III. God's plan sometimes shews the inferior man 
 succeeding where the more eminent man has failed. " The Lord spake to Manes' 
 minister, Moses is dead, now therefore arise, go over," etc. We do not know what 
 or who is most helpful to success. We often fail to discern success when it does 
 come. Winter is as much a success as spring. The frost and the sun are alike 
 God's prophets to the vegetable world. The night is as much inspired to preach 
 as the day, and it too has blessing. In a world of sin, it may be that disease is 
 more successful than health. 1. Work on, ivhoevcr you are. You may not be as 
 Moses, who was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and trained for forty 
 years at the back of the desert. You may be only as Joshua, who was simply a 
 liberated slave, with "good parts" about him. Work on, for you may succeed where 
 better men fail. 2. But let not him who happens to be working in the hour of 
 success forfiet the labour of his predecessors. Joshua's work was simply the harvest- 
 ing ; the tilling and sowing and weeding had been arduously completed by IMoses. 
 IV. The fruit of God's plans, though developed very humanly and natui'ally, is 
 s'lrLL A GIFT. " The land which I do give." The corn may be the natural result 
 of cultivation, yet it is the gift of " the Lord of the harvest." V. God's plan 
 and its issues have their highest relation not to one man, or two, but to men 
 at large. " Which 1 do give to them, even to the children of Israel." This is 
 no mere question of Moses versus Joshua. The laud is for Israel ; God's gilt to 
 the nation. The honour of Moses, and the prestige of Joshua, are, comparatively, 
 small things. God's great idea is gifts and blessings for the people. Nor should 
 we read this even as a question of Israel versus Canaan. It was for the good of 
 men generally that Israel should enter in. It was for the welfare of the genera- 
 tions to come that these idolatrous Canaanites should be rooted out. This nucleus 
 of idolatry must be broken up and scattered, for the sake of the future world. A 
 nation worshipping God, and making way for the Saviour, must be planted here 
 instead. Such is the plan of the Gospel. It is for no caste of bishops or priests. 
 Individuals and classes are mere items in the great account of humanity. It is 
 for no denominations, as such. The Gospel is " Peace on earth, and good will 
 tnuards uien." Oh for the day when men will take larger views of the love of God ! 
 Amid the profound mysteries of one elect nation we have revealed in exceeding 
 clearness the Gospol-Bpirit of God's love to the whole human race. 
 i 
 
CHAP. I. 
 
 II03IILETIC C03IMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 SUGGESTIVE C03I3IEXTS OX THE VERSES. 
 
 Verses 1, 2. Instead of looking at 
 the passage in its connection with both 
 Moses and Joshua, it may be taken in 
 relation to the call of the latter only, 
 shewing thus Jehovah's selection of 
 human instruments. I. God's choice of 
 men for His service has regard to tem- 
 perament and disposition. Joshua's 
 military instincts (Ex. xxxii. 17) ; his 
 boldness and firmness ; his unselfish- 
 ness (chap. xix. 49, 50) ; his power of 
 personal influence (chap. xxiv. 81). 
 
 II. God's choice has regard to previous 
 training. Joshua had been for forty 
 years a responsible leader and ruler 
 (Ex. xvii. 9, 10 ; Num. xiii. 2, 3, 8). 
 
 III. God's choice has regard to past 
 character. Joshua had been zealous 
 for God's honour. He had shewn 
 holy faith. He and Caleb had stood 
 alone confronting the people. Milton's 
 Abdiel — " Among the faithless." Bk. V. 
 
 IV. God's choice has regard to the 
 work to be accomplished. To eject the 
 Canaanites, a soldier was needed. For 
 the Pentecostal sermon, impetuous Peter 
 is chosen ; for the gi-eat mission in Asia 
 Minor and Southern Europe, ardent 
 Paul; for the testimony on the plain 
 
 of Dura, the three inflexible Hebrews ; 
 for winning the favour of Artaxerxes, 
 the devout, yet courtly Nehemiah. The 
 man and the emergency must corre- 
 spond. Omnipotence never chooses to 
 waste itself on human awkwardness. 
 God cements things that fit. The man 
 who is inapt has need to pray for the 
 Divine training of himself ere he can 
 expect the Divine blessing on his work. 
 1. Whom the Lord calls He also 
 qualifies. 2. Where He entrusts men 
 with authority. He procures them re- 
 spect. 3. Where He sends them into 
 conflict. He secures them victory. 4. 
 Where he gives them victory, He in- 
 tends them to take possession. 
 
 "1. He that was here called to honour 
 had been long bred to business. Our Lord 
 Jesus Himself took upon Him the form of a 
 servant, and then God highly exalted Him. 
 2. Those are fittest to rule that have learnt 
 to obey. 3. He that was to succeed Moses 
 was intimately acquainted with him." 
 
 "Well doth Joshua succeed Moses. The 
 very acts of God of old were allegories. 
 Where the law ends, there the Saviour begins. 
 We may see the land of promise in the law : 
 only Jesus, the Mediator of the New Testa- 
 ment, can bring us into it." [-S/'. Hall.'} 
 
 MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Verset 3— 9. 
 
 "Serving the Lord." 
 
 In the service of God — 
 
 I. There is no honour without work. Joshua is placed at the head of the host, 
 not merely to be a chief, but a leader. "Every place" must be won. Israel 
 must go up against each. The sole of the foot must tread, and that often in 
 the tramp of battle, wherever the people would inherit. And the man who is 
 at their head must lead them to the war. He, too, must divide the inheritance 
 for them. Not least, he must "meditate day and night" in the law; for how 
 shall he secure obedience if he be ignorant of that which is to be obeyed ? Leading 
 in such a case means arduous toil, perpetual care, ceaseless interest, and unrest. 
 There can be no honour in the mere position. Idleness there would be simply 
 exalted shame and prominent disgrace. It is always thus. The height of our 
 position is the measure either of our honour or dishonour, according to the work 
 done. High position is vantage ground for work, not rest. It is so fsocially, 
 ecclesiastically, mentally, and even morally. He who climbs high in order to lie 
 down, only exposes his slothfulness. He may lie more quietly in altitudes which 
 the din of honest labour does not reach ; for all that, he is simply a conspicuous 
 sluggard. II. There is no work without encouragement. The whole passage is 
 emphatic with promise. Wherever God gives arduous duties. He supplies bright 
 hopes. Probably there is no position in which huiaanity ever stood, saving 
 
 5 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 that of impenitence and persistent sin, which has not its own specific illumina- 
 tion in the Scripture promises. The day has its sun, the night its moon and 
 stars, and even the arctic zone its aurora borealis. God's love has beams of 
 light strong enough to reach every spot in that part of the sphere of moral being 
 where His name is had in reverence. Scripture has light for the darkness of 
 penitence, of labour, of suflfering in all its forms, of bereavement, and of death. 
 1. Our gloom and darkness are not essentials of life. He who supposes they are 
 must begin by assuming the light of Divine encouragement to be insufficient. 2. 
 Our gloom and darkness are not desirable. They cannot be ; God has sought to 
 remove them in every form. 3. Our gloom and darkness are of our own choosing. 
 Our Heavenly Father has provided light for all who seek light, and invites all 
 to walk therein. 4. Our gloom and darkness are harmful and sinful. They pre- 
 vent our work, discourage others, shew our neglect of the Bible, or they shew 
 that reading and meditating we do not believe. III. There is no encouragement 
 apart from obedience, (Verses 7, 9.) In the sphere of moral life wicked men 
 always walk opposite to the Sun of righteousness, and thus are ever in the 
 night. In order to be strong for conflict, Joshua is to be strong in the comfort 
 of hope ; in order to be strong in hope, he is to be strong in obedience. 1. He 
 who disobeys the precepts has no right to the promises. It is as though a 
 child should steadfastly ignore his father's wishes, and then presume upon his un- 
 restrained gifts and his undiminished love. 2. He who disobeys the precepts lacks 
 the spirit which alone can use the promises. Lax obedience shews lax faith, and 
 promise yields its value only to trust. Lax obedience shews lax interest, and no 
 man can really delight where he is careless. IV. There can be no sufficient 
 obedience without meditation. (Verse 8.) We are responsible, not only to do 
 what we know, but to know what there is to be known. The ambassador who 
 refused to open the despatches of his government would plead ignorance in vain. 
 When Nelson shut his eye against his admiral's signal, he was none the less guilty 
 of disobedience. Men may neglect to read the Scriptures, and then say, " I knew 
 not that I transgressed," but the very ignorance which they plead is an aggra- 
 vated form of guilt. God complains of Ephraim, " I have written to him the 
 great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing." V. There 
 can be no satisfactory meditation which does not centre in God Himself. (Verse 
 9.) "Have not I commanded thee ?" We must look through the written word 
 up to God, whoni it is meant to reveal. We must look through all revelation 
 on to Him. The Bible is light on God. The miracles of Christ are not 
 recorded to excite wonder, they are to reveal God. It is possible to make Getli- 
 semane, the Lord's Supper, and even the Cross so many superstitions. The 
 brazen serpent became a relic at which men stopped, rather than a memory 
 through which they went on to God. Hezekiah did holy work, then, to break 
 it in pieces, and to call it "Nehushtan." If Christ be not risen again, even 
 Calvary is worthless ; " Your faith is vain ; ye are yet in your sins." Gethse- 
 mane, the Supper, the Cross, are only good as they reveal the finished atonement 
 and love of the living Saviour, and through Him the pardon and love of God. 
 Biddling all superstitions of mere Bible-reading and formal religion through and 
 through, the living Son of God looks down from heaven, and says to Saul of 
 Tarsus, " That they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them 
 which are sanctified nv faith that is in ME." (Acts xxvi. 18.) Faith is to bo 
 in the living Christ, not in cold duties and dead things. Trench has somewhere 
 said, '• Our blessedness is that Christ docs not declare to us a system, and say, 
 ' This is the truth ; ' so doing He might have established a school : but He points 
 to a person, even to Himself, and says, ' I am the Truth ; ' and thus He founded, 
 not a school, but a Church, a fellowship which stands in its faith upon a person, 
 not in its tenure of a doctrine, or at least upon this only in a sense which is 
 mediate and secondary." 
 
 6 
 
IIOJIILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 SUGGESTIVE C0JI3IEXTS ON THE VERSES. 
 
 Verses 3 — 5. God's Sufficient Pro- 
 jnsES. 
 
 I. They reveal their value only as 
 far as we use them. Where men tread, 
 there shall they inherit. This can only 
 be known by going on in the strength 
 of them. Each says, like its Divine 
 Author, " Prove_^_me_jiow herewith." 
 II. They have respect to all preceding 
 promises. "As I said unto Moses." 
 " Vested interests." No one promise 
 ignores the property which men may have 
 in another. Christ destroyed nothing 
 of the 0. T. Scriptures; He fulfilled them. 
 Nowhere so much as on and around the 
 cross do we read the words, " That the 
 Scripture might be fulfilled." III. They 
 have regard to all that which might 
 weaken and limit them from without. 
 (Verse 4.) The boundary had military 
 fitness. Strasbourg and Metz. God 
 loves to give so that we can hold. A 
 Christian with only penitence, only 
 •humility, only zeal, must ever be weak, 
 — too weak to stand. He who sets 
 foot on the whole circle of the graces, 
 and inherits them all, has not only a 
 broader and richer possession, but a 
 more secure. IV. They are not merely 
 general, but personal. " Before thee." 
 They are each for all the people, all 
 for each of the people, and most for 
 him who most needs them. V. They 
 are as continuous as human want. "All 
 the days of thy life." As good on week- 
 days as on Sundays; and on sad days 
 as on days of song. Good for all kinds 
 of days, to the end of our days. VI. 
 They are made clear by illustration, 
 and thrice blessed by precedent. " As I 
 was with Moses, so I will be with thee." 
 So of all in the Scriptures. Somebody 
 has tried and proved each of them. 
 The increasing value of the Scriptures. 
 The interest of man's experience is ever 
 accumulating on the capital of the 
 written word. The Bible is richer to- 
 day than it ever was before. VII. They 
 have their foundation and worth in 
 the Divine character. •' I will not fail 
 thee, nor forbukc thco." 
 
 Verse 5. I. God's presence gives 
 perpetual and unvarying victory. Any 
 
 man may conquer, who fights with the 
 Lord on his side. Victory is then as sure 
 in one place as in another. Pharaoh, 
 Red Sea, Wilderness, or Canaanites, — 
 it matters not which, nor when. II. 
 God's presence is given irrespective 
 of everything but sin. 1. Irrespective 
 of abihty, disposition, or temperament. 
 Men choose their companions in view 
 of traits of character. God walks with 
 all who fear Him. Variety in 0. T. 
 prophets. So the apostles. 2. Irre- 
 spective of social condition and par- 
 ticular circumstances. The various in- 
 stances under which this same promise 
 was given : To Jacob, the outcast (Gen. 
 xxviii. 15) ; to " the church in the 
 wilderness" (Deut. xxxi. 6); to Joshua 
 as well as Moses ; to Solomon, the 
 king, in his work of building the temple 
 (1 Chron. xxviii. 20) ; to " the poor and 
 needy " (Isa. xli. 17) ; to the persecuted 
 Hebrew Christians (Heb. xiii. 5). III. 
 God's presence once given is intended 
 to be given for ever. The doctrine is 
 full of consolation — should be as fully 
 received as it is absolutely stated — 
 must be carefully guarded from pre- 
 sumption. He who reverently listens 
 to the cry of Saul, " The Lord is 
 departed from me," or marks with 
 Christian spirit the pitiable weakness 
 of Samson, who " wist not " that he 
 was in like manner left to himself in his 
 deliberate sinfulness, will not rashly 
 blindfold himself with a creed. 
 
 "To be forsaken of God implies utter 
 loneliness, utter helplessness, utter 
 friendlessness, utter hopelessness, and 
 unutterable agony." — Met. Tab. Pulpit, 
 v. 8., pp. 603—605. 
 
 " Joshua was sensible how far he came short 
 of Moses in wisdom and grace ; but what 
 Moses did was done by virtue of the presence 
 of God with him. Joshua, though he had not 
 always the same presence of mind that Moses 
 had, yet if he had always the same presence 
 of God, would do well enough." "What 
 Joshua had himself encouraged the people 
 with lonir ago (Num. xiv. y), God here en- 
 cuurascth him with." 
 
H03IILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. chap. i. 
 
 MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Verses G— 9. 
 
 The Character and Sphere of Courage. 
 
 These words are principally about courage. Joshua would both need it, and 
 need to shew it, in leading the Israelites into the land of their inheritance. Gud 
 graciuiish/ braces men ivlwre they are most liable to fail. It was in this matter of 
 courage that the people had given way already. (Numb. xiii. 26 — 33 ; xiv. 1 — 10.) 
 So Jehovah mercifully strengthens them in their weak place. It is thus that our 
 Father deals with us all through the Bible. He does not fortify us where we are 
 Btrong, but on the side where our strength is small. Thus Christ dealt with 
 Peter. An earthly parent warns his child of what he knows to be dangers. So 
 God speaks to us. Wherever w^e come, then, to a warning in the Scriptures, let 
 us remember that it indicates a weakness. It is no mere spiritual talk. Danger 
 lies there. The warning comes fx'om Him whose eye sees farther down the line 
 of our life than we can ; and to go heedlessly on means collision, disaster, wounding, 
 and possibly death. God has rer/ard to the bearina of men personally. Napoleon's 
 oversight of men in battle is said to have been remarkable. It is with the infinite 
 discernment of omniscience that the King of kings watches His people, and says to 
 them individually, "I will be with thee." God specially marks the leaders of His 
 peoph. No officer must fail. Faint-heartedness in them would be doubly a sin. 
 I. God would have courage to occupy a large place in our characters and lives. 
 It is to cover all the ground, whithersoever Ave go. 1. Courage is to lead us up to 
 all conflicts that are duties. Joshua is to go against Jericho, whose people have 
 shut themselves within their walls, in fear ; against the five confederate kings, to 
 rescue the Gibeonites ; against each of the remaining kings. But courage is not 
 to run to foolhardiness ; it is to march only in the path of duty. It had nothing 
 to do with revenging itself on old foes in Egypt, or in anticipating future enemies 
 on the other side of the Euphrates. 
 
 " A valiant man 
 Ought not to undergo or tempt a danger, 
 But worthily, and by selected ways." — B. Jbnson. 
 
 It 18 folly that braves the field to which duty makes no call. True courage — • 
 courage that said, " I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened 
 till it be accomphshed," said also, " When ye pray, say .... Lead us not into 
 temptation, but deliver us from evil." Yet courage never falters before work 
 which ought to be done. Hougomont or Alma, Abyssinia or Ashantee, it matters 
 not which. 2, Courage is to help us to endure when reverses and suff"eriug come. 
 When, through Achan's sin, the Israelites were driven back at Ai, " the hearts of 
 the people melted, and became as water." There are many places in life where 
 soldiers of the cross must be tried by defeat as well as by ditficulties. The 
 struggle for maintenance. Family and social reverses. The moral conflict, in 
 which we arc to be found " striving against sin." The spiritual warfare, in which, 
 in holy communion, we are to seek to win our way into the presence and mind of 
 Christ. II. God would see us courageous, because no courage is the same thing 
 as no faith, and " without faith it is impossible to please Him." Almost all who 
 profess religion have the faith of a creed. They believe in certain doctrines. 
 They have, more or less fully outhned, a theological idea of the way to heaven. 
 It is well; but all this is a very small part of what God requires when He asks for 
 our faith. The faith which He seeks is faith in Himself, as always being with His 
 servants to help them ; it is faith in His watchfulness, His presence, His love, His 
 purpose, His power ; it is faith in victory everywhere through Himself. That is 
 the faith which Jehovah asks, as He sends the Israelites forward to inherit. 
 Probably many will be surprised by-and-by to discern how little God cares for the 
 laith which strives after some particular definition of a creed, rather than after 
 wliat an apostle calls " the faith of Him." It is against poor trust, not against 
 bad definitions, that the Bible is full of such urgent remonstrance. Does not the 
 . 8 
 
CHAP. I. HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 Lord allow as much room for definitions as for dispositions ? Caleb and Joshua 
 might differ in their understanding of the Passover, or the exact meaning of the 
 service on the Great Day of Atonement ; I do not think God would much mind, 
 providing the creed of neither shewed distrust of Him. The Holy Spirit inspires 
 Paul, and also James. No man would care much if, when his child grew up, she 
 differed from him in his views of gardening or poetry ; but it would be real pain 
 to him should she doubt his word. There are some creeds which must dishonour 
 God. The denial of the Saviour's divinity shews distrust of God simply on a 
 point of difficulty in comprehension. Praying to images, or to dead Christians 
 through them, is as though a child were to fear failure if it should ask a favour 
 of its parent in person, and were to get a servant to make the entreaty instead. It 
 is the distrust which wounds. There are places where creeds may become fatal, 
 yet not fatal as a matter of discernment and definition, but fatal in their utter 
 want of trust in the Lord. They present the most astounding of all paradoxes — • 
 doubt of God formulated into a religion, and then offered as worship. " With tho 
 heart man believeth unto righteousness." When we are tempted to do wrong by 
 the promise of great gain, can we remember God and dare to be true ? When 
 temptation promises present pleasure, can we remember our Father's warnings and 
 better promises, and be firm to deny ourselves ? When called to lose our best- 
 loved friends or children, can we look into the awful darkness, and rest in His 
 words about their happiness and our own profit ? When bidden to teach, or 
 preach, or live the Gospel in the face of bitter enemies who far outnumber us, can 
 we hear Him say, " Lo, I am with you alway," and dare to go on as in the 
 company of that overwhelming majority into which His presence ever multiplies even 
 our solitude ? That is the kind of creed about which God so incessantly enquires 
 in the Scriptures. He says almost nothing — perhaps nothing at all — about defi- 
 nitions which touch the judgment without necessarily involving the heart. Instead 
 of always translating " trust " into " faith," as we go forward to inherit, it may 
 be well if we sometimes render it in this old thought of " courage." " Have 
 courage in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." " Repent ye, and 
 have courage in the gospel." "Lord, increase our courage." "Have courage in 
 God." III. Though God desires courage in us all, fear has its proper sphere, 
 and often does holy work. 
 
 " The brave man is not he who feels no fear, 
 For that were stupid and irrational ; 
 But he whose noble soul its fear subdues, 
 And bravely dares the danger nature shrinks from. 
 As for your youth whom blood and blows delight, 
 Away with them ! there is not in their crew 
 One valiant sphit." — Joanna Baillie. 
 
 God never intended that we should feel no fear. We are to fear and distrust 
 ourselves. We are to fear danger as something beyond our own strength. " The 
 fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." And we are to " work out our own 
 salvation in fear and trembling." But all fear, as we look within, is to be stayed 
 in courage as we look up to God. The sin is in giving way when we have omni- 
 potence and infinite love for a defence. No man, then, should say, "I fear," and 
 let that drive him to fear which is 3'et deeper. IV. Courage, to bring honour to 
 God, must always be courage for the right and the true. 1. Men admire courage 
 in the abstract. Prize-fighting has drawn multitudes. The mere soldier is 
 sometimes not distinguished from the lofty patriot. Thus, perhaps, the mistake 
 concerning Milton's Satan, in " Paradise Lost." Some critics have complained 
 that Satan is the hero of the work. That is to forget that courage, in itself, is 
 not truly worthy of admiration. Fowls, sheep, bulls, wild beasts, also have 
 courage, and fight unto death. 2. God loves courage only when it is prompted 
 by truth and righteousness. Such courage He always has honoured, and will 
 honour : Daniel ; the apostles before the Sanhedrim ; Paul. It is said that the 
 King of France summoned the Prince de Conde before him, giving tiim his choice 
 
 
 
nOMILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. chap. t. 
 
 of three things : " Go to mass, die, or be imprisoned for life." Said the Prince, 
 " "With regard to the first, I am fully determined never to go to mass ; as to the 
 other two, I am so perfectly indifferent that I leave the choice to your Majesty." 
 We are not called to martyrdom, nor even to imprisonment for the truth's sake ; 
 possibly if our apprehension of sin were always what it should be, we should 
 find that whatever courage death might need, hfe requires even more. 
 
 Instead of discoursing on the topic of the passage, the verses may be taken as 
 shewing — 
 
 The HoxorR, thk Influence, and the Source of True Courage. 
 
 I. The honour which is put upon courage by God. 1. He makes the servant 
 who has courage in Himself His own constant companion. " The Lord thy God 
 is with thee withersoever thou goest." 2. He makes the servant who has 
 courage the subject of His peculiar teaching. The entire passage is a special 
 instruction to the man who has already so valiantly, before his fellows, shewn 
 himself afraid to distrust God. Thus " The secret of the Lord is with them that 
 fear Him." 3. He makes the servant who has courage the instrument of fulfilling 
 / His covenant. " The land which I sware unto their fathers, thou shalt divide." 
 4. He makes the servant who has courage a blessing and a joy to his fellows. 
 Joshua should lead them into the land : instrumentally, their homes and future 
 possessions should come to them from his braveiy and his fidelity to God. II. 
 The influence which is conceded to courage by men. All men own its power. 
 1. Courage loses no favourable opportunity to begin warfare ; fear would miss 
 many an opening. 2. Courage appals its foes before it smites them : it thus 
 needs only half the strength of timidity. The arm which resists it is already 
 feeble by reason of fear. 3. Courage seizes all advantages which are ofi'ered in 
 the conflict. Fear is blind, and, till too late, overlooks them. 4. Courage gives 
 no opportunity to the defeated foe to rally. Fear happens to win the day, and 
 sits down surprised and contented, talking of valour. The conflict has to be 
 fought over afresh, and it may be that the battle is then lost. 5. Courage is 
 imperial in itself, and must reign However it may be with the Graces of the 
 ancient classics, the Scripture grace" were all "born in purple." Love conquers 
 everywhere. Patience presently wins the day. Humility may seem of lowlier 
 mien, but "The meek shall inherit the earth," and "He that hunibleth himself 
 shall be exalted." Hope, always aspiring, enters already "within the veil." As 
 to cnnra<_'e, " To him that bolieveth, all things are possible." III. The strength 
 which courage draws from the Scriptures. 1. To neglect the Bible is to prepare 
 the way lor fear and trembling, [a) There can be no sufficient courage without 
 light, and the Bible is "a lamp unto our feet, and a light unto our path." The 
 awe which comes from darkness. (/<) There can be no sutficient courage without 
 confidence of being right, and the Bible assures the just man. The hesitation 
 which comes from uncertainty, (r) There can be no sutficient courage without 
 love, and our love is born of knowing the love of God. {d) There can be no 
 sufficient courage without hope, and he who neglects the I>ible can have no satis- 
 factory ground of hope. 2. It is not enough to have the Bible, it must be used. 
 {o) The courage that comes from speaking the truth to others : " This book of 
 the law shall not depart out of thy mouth." (//) The courage that comes from 
 meditation in the truth : " Thou shalt meditate therein day and night." (c.) The 
 courage that comes from doing the truth : " That thou mayest observe to do all 
 that is written therein." 
 
 The Tiiueefold Alliance; — Gon, Law, Man. — Versf 8 niih/. 
 
 I. The law of the Scriptures is one with physical law, and he who obeys the 
 
 Scriptures has physical law for an ally. All liie is against that uian who is 
 
 against the Bible ; all life is for the man who is obedient to the Bible. Suppose 
 
 the laws which touch our health worked just the other way ; what a curse law 
 
 10 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 would be ! Think of drunkenness, lust, crime, and all manner of debauchery 
 as contributing to physical health and gladness ; what a world this would become ! 
 But law is on the side of godliness, and he who walks with the Bible may sing 
 with Paul, " All things work together for good to them that love Grod, to 
 them who are called according to His purpose." II. The law of th.8 Scrip- 
 tures is in harmony with the law of conscience, and he who obeys the 
 Scriptures, in that proportion maintains his self-respect, and ultimately 
 wins the regard of men. 1. The relation of conscious integrity to individual 
 beaming, (rt) No man can respect himself, who is continually giving the lie to 
 his own sense of right. {h) No man can lose his conscious integrity without 
 proportionately suffering in moral dignity. By so much as he is dishonest 
 to the distinctive feature of his manhood, by so much does he become a mere 
 animal. He cannot stand in the same moral dignity before his fellows. He feels his 
 humiliation. 2. The relation of an honest life to individual influence. Not only 
 does the man who is dishonest to himself feel less before his fellows, but they see 
 him for what he is. The weakness may be too successfully concealed by artifice 
 or habit to awaken reflection, but the measure of every man's moral worth is more 
 or less accurately comprehended by his companions. They may not reason on it ; 
 they must apprehend it. Moral life is so much moral hght, and the heart of our 
 neighbour feels whether or not it is illuminated in our presence. The earth never 
 mistakes the moon for the sun by shewing daylight at night-time. If the light in 
 us be darkness or merely artifice, our fellow-men cannot be much or long deceived 
 by the imposition. Thus, human sin notwithstanding, the world has ever owned 
 her worthiest sons most proudly. The Pope may do as he will ; the world, in her 
 general conscience, and in her history, seldom canonises any but her saints. It 
 is the good man who has " good success." He may not be placed in the Calendar 
 till after his death, but society seldom fails ultimately to correct her temporary 
 errors. Socrates may live thinking that he has only earned hemlock, he may 
 write never a chapter to perpetuate his name, men will be true to his manhood 
 for all that. 
 
 Conscience, however, needs the light and encouragement of God's law to keep 
 it in activity. Scripture is the only fireproof in which conscience can enwrap 
 itself to prevent being seared into unfeeling callousness by the burnings of sur- 
 rounding and inward sin. Thus law and conscience, together, make way for good 
 success in the inheritance which is moral and social. III. The law of the Scrip- 
 tures is the mind of God, and he who keeps ever with the law is always 
 where God stoops to whisper, "I am with thee." When God established 
 His commandments in the earth. He bade law, both in the physical and moral 
 worlds, be on the side of goodness. From that day to this, law has never sided 
 with the sinner. But though much of God's help of His children is through law, 
 this is by no means His only method. He adds His direct blessings, and gives 
 His direct help to the obedient. Nothing is wi'itten more emphatically in Scripture 
 than this. The deliverance from Egypt, the miracles of the wilderness, the walls 
 of Jericho falling without any cause in ordinary law ; the histories given by 
 Samuel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Daniel, and other prophets, are full of incidents of 
 Jehovah's direct interposition. The Psalms tell us of the angels that encamp 
 about them that fear the Lord, and both the Old and New Testaments often shew 
 them coming to the guidance, or comfort, or help of the godly. The cross, most 
 emphatically of all, tells of help other than by the automatic method of law, to 
 which modern scientists would tie us. True discipleship not only finds Christ, 
 and cries with Nathanael, " Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God ; " it hears Christ 
 reply of the earthly future, " Hereafter thou shalt see heaven open, and the angels 
 of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man." The eyes of the 
 obedient see an open heaven even while yet on earth, and life evei'ywhere 
 becomes all but sentient with God. "If God" so "be for us, who can be 
 against us ? " Thus does our Father guarantee " good success." 
 
 11 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTABY : JOSHUA. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SUGGESTIVE C0M3IENTS ON THE VERSES. 
 
 Verse 6. God never tells us to be 
 Btrong without helping us to be strong. 
 To encourage His servant to begin this 
 vast work and dreadful war, God shews 
 him how all should end. " Thou shalt 
 divide the land." 
 
 Verse 7. No man's dignity, however 
 great, frees him in any measure from 
 absolute obedience to the Scriptures. 
 Joshua must obey in all things, turning 
 neither "to the right hand nor to the 
 left." Error and sin do not lie merely 
 on one side of the way of truth, but on 
 both : the path of holy obedience is the 
 via media. 
 
 "As the soldier of an earthly leader 
 is to act in all things according to cer- 
 tain rules laid down in a code drawn 
 up for the purpose, so the Christian 
 soldier has his code drawn up for him 
 by God Himself, and revealed to him 
 in the oracles of truth. This code he 
 is to study with diligence, that he may 
 conform himself to it in every particu- 
 lar. This will require all the courage 
 that any man can possess." 
 
 Verse 8. "Thou shalt have thy heart 
 BO constantly imbued with the letter 
 and spirit of the law, that thy mouth 
 shall, as it were, overflow with its rich 
 contents, as ' out of the abundance of 
 
 the heart the mouth speaketh.' The 
 same phrase occurs but once elsewhere 
 in the Scriptures." 
 
 "The Heb. term for 'meditate' im- 
 plies that mental kind of rumination 
 which is apt to vent itself in au audible 
 sound of voice." [7>»s/).] 
 
 Verse 9. The interrogative form of 
 the first clause, so far from suggesting 
 doubt, is expressive of the strongest 
 possible emphasis. 
 
 Our Lord continually assured Him- 
 self that He had kept the word and 
 followed the will of the Father (cf. 
 John v. 30 ; vi. 38). He may even be 
 said to encourage Himself in the thought 
 of His obedience to the will of God. 
 The prayer in John xvii. seems full of 
 the comfort of conscious obedience. If 
 the Saviour found this thought grateful 
 and refreshing to Him, how needful is 
 it that we in our weakness shall never 
 stand where we cannot strengthen our- 
 selves by saying, "Has not God com- 
 manded me in this thing ? Is not the 
 Father with me in His will, as well as 
 by His presence ? " 
 
 " The Lord never demands anything 
 of men without giving them a promise 
 in return." [A'ti/.] 
 
 MAi:S EOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Verses 10, 11. 
 
 The Gifts of God. 
 
 Some gifts we possess already, as the Israelites did the manna ; how are they 
 to influence us ? Some gifts are as yet only promised, as the land of Canaan 
 was to Israel ; how are we to regard them ? Some gifts are not promised at all, 
 excepting by implication, as strength and help to cross the Jordan in the face of 
 a warlike foe. How far may we go onward, depending on promises which are 
 not written, but merely implied ? In a word, what influence are the gifts of God 
 which we do possess, the gifts which through promise we hope to possess, and 
 the gifts which though not specified in any promise we absolutely require, to 
 exert on us in our daily life ? How far may we relax personal etl'orts, and rest 
 in mercies which wo have, because we have them ? How far may we look on pro- 
 mised mercies, and go on in the strength of them, as though they were in hand 
 already ? Yet again, in what measure may we reckon that our very necessities 
 guarantee to us tlio help of our heavenly Father, even where no actual promise 
 defines some visible emergency before us ? These are some aspects of a great 
 question, about which, and through Joshua, God is here seen impressing His mind 
 on the early and plastic life of this young nation. The principles of the teaching 
 12 
 
nOMILETIC COMMENTAHY : JOSHUA. 
 
 are deep, and important, and wide-reaching. I. The gifts of God are to be held 
 with a wise regard to the surroundings of our life. " Prepare you victuals." 
 But the the manna was yet falling (chap. v. 12) : probably the people had 
 gathered of it that very morning. Here they are told to prepare other food, 
 perhaps of the corn and cattle already taken as spoil in the border-land. Would 
 not the manna do for the next three days ? No. Joshua the soldier looks on, 
 and sees that in the marching and closer massing of the people, their enemies 
 moreover being near at hand, there will be no opportunity and no time for this 
 usual occupation. Joshua the prophet may know that the manna is soon to 
 cease, and be preparing the people for their new form of life. Joshua the godly 
 man sees that other supplies can be obtained now, and seems to be emphatically 
 saying, " Do not depend idly on food from heaven, now that you are where your 
 own arms can serve you in gathering the supplies of earth. In the wilderness 
 your own toil could do nothing ; here it can. ' Prepare you victuals.' " Prepare, 
 for yoH must, on account of the marching order necessary in front of your foes ; 
 prepare, for you can, as you have spoil by you; prepare, /or you ouyht to, God's 
 gifts being never bestowed to supersede your own efforts. 1. When ive rest on 
 God's help, ive should know for ivhat times (Did for tchat places in our life that help 
 has been promised. Even God has no manna for fat lands. Some food and some 
 kinds of help are only for life in the desert. Christian people sometimes try 
 their faith by praying for things and by expecting things that God will pro- 
 bably never give them, (a) Sometimes men stand in fertile places, and plead 
 promises which were meant only for help in a wilderness. Think of a man free 
 from trial pleading Isaiah xli. 10, 13, 17, 18, and saying, " I want to feel that, 
 to hear God's voice thus, and to see such wonders of His love and power." Men 
 pray in fruitful lands for help which is good only for the desert, and then, when 
 prayer is unanswered, think the promises are vague. It is we who are vague. The 
 martyrs, the reformers, the very poor, the terribly tempted, may ask and get help 
 that would curse other Christians. Our expectation of God's gifts should be 
 appropriate, {b) Sometimes earnest men cry out for visible interpositions of God. 
 They want some unmistakable manifestation, and " they seek after a sign." So 
 long as their outcry is after God, they think it must be scriptural. But God gives 
 visions only in the night-time ; the old prophets had them, but think of the 
 terrible times in which they lived. The man who cries, "I only am left," may 
 have an angel to speak with him in his despair ; probably none will ever come to 
 us, pray earnestly and long as we may. The cessation of miracles and signs 
 must not be taken as an arbitrary arrangement which can no longer happen 
 because prophets are gone and apostles are no more ; the visible signs are gone 
 because of increased light, and not because of extinct apostles. What we can bear, 
 it is best we sJiould bear. It is to Mary Magdalene in h&r simple, ardent, ab- 
 sorbing love, and her unquestioning faith, that the Saviour says, " Touch me not." 
 The other women in the same hour may hold Him by the feet, and worship Him ; 
 to the timid ten Christ will say, the same evening, " Handle me and see ;" to the 
 doubter the same pitying compassion will say, " Reach hither thy finger, and 
 behold my hands," etc.; to Mary, whose greater love is as greater light, Christ 
 virtually says, " Future contact with me is to be spiritual, and you can best bear 
 to first learn this hard lesson." It is as our day is that we may look for our 
 strength to be. Thus we should "Rejoice in the Lord always," whether the 
 signs of His presence with us are great or not. Suppose Israel had said in the 
 days of Gideon, " God cannot be with us as He was with our fathers ; manna 
 does not fall for us as it did for them ; " the answer would have been, " You are 
 not in the wilderness.'' It does not follow that God is not with us, because we 
 cannot see so much of Him as some one else has seen, or does see. Spurgeon, 
 and Miiller, the heavily bereaved, and the very poor, need a measure of help 
 which might hinder many. 2. True piety will consider how far God's promises 
 and gifts are practicable. The manna was a very elastic gift. It was always 
 
 13 
 
IIOMILETIC COMMEXTARY: JOSHUA. chap. r. 
 
 Bufficienl for necessity, would not bear accumulation in the week, and j-et kept 
 wholesome over the Sabbath. But even the manna was unsuitable for a march 
 in front of an enemy. Do not Christians sometimes plead for gifts which, in the 
 very nature of things, they could not have ? 3. Then the question of need comes 
 up in this ether light — How far can tec do to-morroiv without the thiiti/s which ue 
 really need to-day ? It will curse us to possess as a gift what we can get from 
 our own labour. Manna in Canaan would have tended to make a fertile land not 
 only as the wilderness, but worse. Think of decaying vegetation. In the miracles 
 of the Saviour, Divine power never undertakes to do what human hands could 
 accomplish. Men can fill the six waterpots with water ; gather the loaves and 
 fishes already in possession of some in the multitude ; roll away the stone from 
 the grave of Lazarus. That which men can do, Christ will not do for them. 
 Superhuman help only begins where human power fails. II. The gifts which 
 God's people have had should assure them concerning all other gifts which 
 they really need, whether these are promised or not. "In three days ye shidl 
 2)ass over this Jordan." It does not appear that at this time Joshua had received 
 any specific promise of help for the passage. That came later ; chap. iii. 7, 8. 
 How, then, was this mighty host to cross a deep and rapid river ? They knew 
 nothing of pontoon bridges, and had no engineers. How were they to cross ii 
 their warlike enemies should dispute the passage ? V/ho could say that the 
 Canaanites would not defend this watery pass ? If they would fight anywhere, 
 surely here, where "the swellings of Jordan " would help them. Spartans fight 
 desperately at Thermopyla3 ; and Britons off Dover go even into the sea to get 
 vantage blows at the bearers of Caesar's eagles. There seems to have been no 
 promise yet about the passage of the Jordan. Faith reads enough of help in 
 the very necessity, and says with unwavering words, "Ye shall pass over." 
 1. All our actual need is to be referred to the heart and character of God. God's 
 heart and arm have each a history ; the one, of gracious kindness, the other of 
 invincible power. It is because of what God is, and because of being in the way 
 of God's commandments, that Joshua is able to speak so confidently of making tho 
 other shore in so short a time. 2. To the godly man, not only tJie letter of the law, 
 hut the letter of the pivniiaes also, is ever suj^erseded by the spirit. There seems to 
 be no declaration that the manna shall cease, and yet Joshua says, "Prepare ye 
 victuals." We read of no promise which certifies a passage within three days, 
 nevertheless he says, " Ye shall pass over." 3. Our sicretest readings of God's 
 love and of the Scriptures are (ften the outcome of our greatest emergencies. But 
 for our wildernesses and rivers and enemies, our lives would have been without 
 many a rich strain which we could have learned nowhere else. The Jews in 
 Babylon cried, " How shall we sing the Lord's songs in a strange land ? " They 
 might not be able to do that, but they learned many a new one there which made 
 sweet music for them and for others after their return home. Some one has said 
 of our poets — 
 
 " They learn in suffering what tbcy teach in song," 
 
 and it is much the same with the Church of God. But for the wilderness, and 
 the Jordan, and the Canaanites, we had never had this rich reading of trust and 
 holy fear. Here is fear thinking of hunger, and saying, " Prepare j'ou victuals; 
 for although the manna falls now, j'OU must not depend on God for food when 
 you can get it yourselves ; " and here, too, is faith, which says, " Though the 
 river be wide and deep, and tho enemy may be fierce and numerous, and no 
 actual promise bridges the difficulty, within three days ye shall pass over." Let 
 these God-taught men of the old world teach us. Let them cheer us with 
 their unquestioning and yet suspicious trust. 
 
 •' Mortal 1 tbcy softly say, 
 Peace to thy heart. 
 "NVc too, yes, mort.ll, 
 
 Have bceu as thou art : 
 14 
 
nOMILETIC COMMENTAltr.- JOSHUA. 
 
 Hope-lifted, doubt-depressed, 
 
 Seeing in part; 
 Tried, troubled, tempted. 
 
 Sustained as thou art." 
 
 III. All our temporal gifts from God belong to us, at most, for this life 
 only. The manna was not even for a lifetime, and the land was only given 
 to them for as long as they could "possess it.'' When death took away the 
 power of possessing this gift of God, it could be theirs no longer. That is the 
 tenure of all our earthly holdings. Men try to hold and control their earthly 
 estates for generations after they are gone. The law of entail and primogeni- 
 ture ; curious wills ; trust deeds for charitable and religious purposes. The 
 " pious founder " of the past is perpetually hampering the action of pious men in 
 the present. Some trust-restrictions may be and must be made ; but surely it is 
 hardly right to tie down a future generation to matters of detail suggested to us 
 by our probably poorer light. If a Christian man is subject to the accident of 
 wealth during his life, is he therefore at liberty to provide a detailed creed for 
 thousands for the next ten or twenty generations ? In any case, our earthly 
 holdings must soon be laid down. They are only ours Avhile we can possess 
 them. Are we holding them wisely, and for God ? Have we any possession in 
 Christ Jesus, who came into the world to save sinners ? That inheritance only 
 can we hold for ever. 
 
 MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Verses 12—18. 
 Unequal Possessions and Coeresponding Obligations. 
 
 Several religious writers recently have called attention to the " Gospel" in the 
 0. T. Some books have been thought to shadow forth much of the doctrinal 
 teachings of the Gospel, others, the glory of the Church. " Christ in Leviticus " 
 is set forth typically ; in other books, prophetically. The Gospel in Joshua is 
 a Gospel of right feeling about daily life. It is a system of Christian ethics, 
 and the teaching is the same in outline as the teaching of the Saviour and His 
 apostles. Here are insisted on the same obedience towards God, and the same 
 duty towards men, which are made so emphatic by Jesus Christ. One glory of 
 the Bible is that all which is new is so old. Nothing of the 0. T. is recalled iv 
 the New ; nothing is amended, nothing is altered. Not a jot or a tittle of the 
 old principles passes away. The clothing of them may change, but Christ says 
 of the truths, "I came not to destroy, but to fulfil." The 0. T. shews us a 
 plant ; in the N. T. we have the same plant developed amid the glories of the 
 work of Christ into blossom and beauty ; now and here the centuries are bearing 
 fruits, and yonder these are being gathered home ; but the plant has been ever 
 the same. The Hindoos teach the doctrine of transmigration of souls. A man 
 dies, and they say he may become an elephant, then a bird, then an alligator, 
 then a tiger, then a serpent, and so on through various and endless forms of 
 being ; but with all these changes of body, they insist that the soul is always one 
 and identical. Revelation may come now in one form, and now in another ; it 
 may be given now by this man, and now by that ; the body may change, — the 
 spirit of the Bible is ever the same. This paragraph speaks of the inequalities 
 of human inheritances ; of the obligation of opportunity ; and of the duty of 
 caring for the weak. I. Men, by God's appointment, come into life's inhe- 
 ritance in differing measures and by various ways. The whole army of Israel 
 had gone up against Sihon and Og. (Cf. Numb. xxi. 21 — 35 ; Deut. ii. 24 — -37 
 iii. 1 — 17.) These marvellous victories thrilled the heart of the nation, and ani 
 mated its songs for at least four centuries. (Cf. Ps. cxxxv. 2, 11, 12, 21 
 cxxxvi. 17 — 21.) Yet the two and a half tribes inherited the whole of the land 
 
 15 
 
HOMILETIC C03IMENTARY: JOSHUA. c-uap. i. 
 
 on the east of Jordan. Reuben and Gad had a preponderance of cattle. (Cf 
 Numb, xxxii. 1.) How did that inequality of possession come about ? Perhaps 
 through greater industry, or more agricultural habits. This inequality of cattle 
 led to the two and a half tribes inheriting this fat and fertile land, which all Israel 
 had fought to conquer. Here was another irregularity. There were yet others. 
 The number of men upwards of twenty years of age was ia Reuben, 43,700 ; in 
 Gad, 40,500 ; in half Manasseh, 26,350. Manassth, though fewest by far in 
 population, had an immensely larger territory than either of the others. Gac 
 numbered less than Reuben, yet its territory was nearly double. Looking at the 
 plan of the land in ordinary maps, the case, in rough figures, stands nearly as 
 follows : — Where a Reubeuite inherited one acre, a Gadite would possess two, 
 while a member of the half-tribe of Manasseh would have nearly fifteen. How 
 this brings abruptly into view our heavenly Father's method of disposing of His 
 gifts. Men would say — at least, many poor men, and not a few others — " Let 
 every man have things equally." Their panacea for the ills which afflict the 
 world is an equal division of the world's substance. God does not even start 
 His model nation on that plan. To one tribe He gives no territorial property 
 whatever, and to this half-tribe, which is only as the fourth of the sons of 
 Joseph, He gives by far the largest acreage of all. And why not ? " Because 
 of justice," men say. Well, if all things were equalised to-day, they would 
 begin to get uneven again to-morrow. The industrious and able would gain ; the 
 idle and dissolute would lose. And why talk of justice where there are no rights ? 
 The parable of the labourers in the vineyard disposes for ever of this question. 
 The rights of rebels and traitors are not usually thought large among men. Besides 
 this, our life on earth is a system of training and discipline, and our God does not 
 govern by a routine method of equal pleasures and equal pains. 1. Glance at the 
 differing lots of different men now. («) Look at men in their birth. Life is a 
 race, and much depends on the start. Do men start equally ? " Some men are 
 born to greatness, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 
 them." Some are born in mansions, and some in hovels ; some of godly parents, 
 and some in the midst of vice ; some in civilised countries, and some of barba- 
 rians ; some with good mental powers, and some idiots ; some with a well- 
 balanced emotional nature, and some with passions which might need an angel 
 to control them, {h) There is the same diversity in providence. Some of even 
 the slothful rise to riches, and some of even the industrious never know pros- 
 perity. One farmer's corn is blighted, or his cattle are carried oti" by an epidemic ; 
 another, of far less merit, succeeds. One merchant suffers continually by fires, 
 or storms, or markets which seem always adverse ; another, not nearly so worthy, 
 is continually meeting with prosperity. You can only look at it all, and say, 
 *' The Lord maketh poor, and maketh rich." (c) There is the same inequality in 
 religious privileges. Some are so taught, and trained, and pleaded with, and 
 prayed for, that they seem carried to heaven by the force of Divine grace in 
 others ; some are so taught, and tempted, and constrained, that they seem borne 
 as on a flood tide to destruction. Some live long, and have many opportunities to 
 repent; others do but get fairly into years of responsibility, and suddenly they 
 die. These are not theories ; life is shewing them daily as her own stern facts. 
 2. What are the reasons for these differing measures and lots in Innnan life? 
 We are not omniscient, and therefore cannot tell. Not a small part of the effi- 
 ciency of life's teachings lies in the demand which they make on our absolute 
 trust in God. But " we know in part." Ask why the earth is not one level 
 plain, with no majestic hills and no pleasant valleys. What wondrous beauty 
 would be lost in such a dismal monotony of arrangement ! Ask why all climates 
 are not equal ? why the world was not made witli no Borneo and no Iceland, no 
 Sumatra and no Siberia, but with one dead level of temperature all over ? How 
 death would reign everywhere if this were the case ! With no breezes, no cur- 
 rents of nir, no purifying winds, earth would be a scene of perpetual pcstilenco, 
 10 
 
CHAP. I. HOMILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 60 long as any remained alive for victims. Ask why the w^orld has not one eter- 
 nal summer ; why trees do not bear flower and fruit all the year round ? How 
 beautiful this would be ; yes, but how enervating ! What about moral health, 
 moral strength, and moral beauty, if all men had an equal heritage and an even 
 course in coming into possession ? What, if among men, there were no hills and 
 valleys ? What if the moral climate were everywhere alike ? What if perpetual 
 summer reigned the wide world over ? Oh, if there were no sore poverty and 
 riches, no terrible bereavements and sicknesses, and no robust health, the currents 
 of pity and charity would sink into a calm, putrid, and fatal selfishness, and com- 
 passion would stagnate and die. With some it seems already to be, "Every man 
 for himself, and God for us all ; " then it would be, " Every man for himself, and 
 God for none of us." " No more pain and no more tears " may be well where 
 there is "no more sin;" it could not be so here. If the heritage of all men 
 were the same, the world's rich experiences and moral health and beauty would 
 vanish and die for ever. Thank God for such inheritance as you have. It is an 
 unmerited gilt, to be used to His glory. II. A common oblig-ation rests on all 
 men to whom God gives an easy inheritance, to help those whose lot is only 
 won through hard work and stern conflict. The two and a half tribes had fer- 
 tile lands, and had them through the service of all Israel : now, having rest, they 
 were to fight the battles of their brethren. God teaches the young nation that 
 men who have rest are to help men who are in unrest and conflict. How it all 
 reads like a verse out of the N. T. What is it but saying, " We then, that are 
 strong, ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves " ? 
 It is God's early version of a later proclamation, " Bear ye one another's burdens, 
 and so fulfil the law of Christ." Do we use our rest to help our brother who is 
 yet in stern anxiety and conflict ? Some men take all they can get, but give 
 nothing to their fellows. They are like the gluttons of whom the ancient Juvenal 
 wrote : — 
 
 " Such whose sole bliss is eatinc:. who can give 
 But that one brutal reason why they live." 
 
 Inequalities do but exist that we may give our rest for our brother's strife. 
 Especially should he who has entered into the rest of faith, labour for the help 
 of him who is borne down into sin by many temptations. Feltham well said, 
 " Shew me the man who would go to heaven alone if he could, and I will shew 
 you the man who will never be admitted to heaven." We are to be followers of 
 Him who, "though He was rich, for our sakes became poor," etc. III. The weak 
 have always been God's care, and ought ever to be ours also. [Ver. 14.) God 
 would not have their women and children exposed to the strife. He impresses 
 the gentleness of His own heart on His people from the very outset. How 
 beautifully this feeling of interest in the weak comes out all through tha 
 ministry of the Saviour! Why should God be so gentle with weak men? 1. 
 J hitik how useless iveak people are for service. Dr. Livingstone told us in one of 
 his indignant letters that twenty thousand slaves were annually exported from the 
 East Coast of Africa, but that having to walk five hundred miles, not one in five 
 of those captured ever lived to embark. Think of it ; one hundred thousand 
 people torn every year from home to furnish an exportation of twenty 
 thousand • What became of the eighty thousand? They became weak and sick 
 with marching, and were driven on till they fell down to die on the road 
 Think of it ; two hundred and twenty of the weak thus driven to death every day 
 all the year round ! Oh, how difl'erently God deals with us ; and how worthless 
 many of us are in our weakness ! 2. Rememher the tendenoj of n-eakness to de- 
 gpondencij. The way-worn Elijah cries out in his grief, " Lord, take away my 
 life." 3. Think on the tendency of men in weakness to reject their Saviour. Notwith- 
 standing this, Christ still cares for such. Peter, in his weakness, denies Christ, 
 yet Christ prays for him ; Thomas doubts, and his Lord says, " Reach hither thy 
 finger;" Judas betrays his Master, but how tenderly that Master pleads with him 
 
 c 17 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSIIVA. 
 
 CHAf. I. 
 
 at the table; of the eleven Jesus prophesied, "Beholrl, the hour cometh, yea, is 
 now come, that ye shall be scattered every man to his own, and shall leave me 
 alone," immediately He adds concerninfj the long discourse in which He had 
 ministered to their coming feebleness, " These things have I spoken unto you, that 
 in Me ye might have peace." It is said that during his youth Themistocles was very 
 idle, and that when he suddenly turned to a life of industry, many asked his reason 
 for the change ; the answer was, " The glory of Miltiades will not suflfer me to 
 sleep." The glory of the Lord's compassion for us in our helplessness might 
 well awaken our dormant sympathies, and quicken our still hands to holy ellurts 
 for others who are also weak. 
 
 SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VEESES. 
 
 Verses 12 — 16. The Promise between 
 THE Dead and the Living. 
 
 I. God ratifies, through Joshua, the 
 covenant made between these tribes 
 and Moses. He holds Himself bound 
 by the word of His deceased servant, 
 whom during his life He had so visibly 
 recognised. The importance of the 
 words of a man by whom the Lord is 
 manifestly working. In a measure, 
 God honours such words still. II. 
 God, "who keepeth covenant" on 
 His side, demands faithfulness from 
 men on their part also. These tribes 
 had made a solemn promise which they 
 are now called upon to fulfil. (Cf. 
 Numb, xxxii. 16 — 33.) 1. Vows which 
 ought never to have been made, and 
 which it would be sinful to perform, 
 should be kept only with penitence and 
 prayer, (e. g. Acts xxiii. 12.) 2. Vows 
 which in themselves are neither evil 
 nor good should be faithfully kept for 
 conscience' sake. 8. Vows in which 
 holy service is ofi*ered to God or man, 
 God holds to be unquestionably sacred 
 and imperatively binding. (Cf. Deut. 
 xxiii. 21—23.) The death of one of the 
 parties to this agreement in no mea- 
 sure cancels the obhgation of the other. 
 Numbers xxxii. 23, which treats of this 
 promise, does not so much assert that 
 sin is self-revealing as that it is self- 
 remunerating. It ensures its own 
 penalties ; and the penalty for this 
 broken vow should bo certain and 
 heavy. Verses 12 — 16 maybe otherwise 
 treated, as indicating some 
 
 iNCENTmCS TO GeNEEOSITY. 
 
 I. Generous kindness tou aids others 
 is the best policy towards ourselves. 
 If the nine and a hull tribes had been 
 18 
 
 defeated, or had not made their victory 
 sure, the two and a half tribes would 
 speedily have suflered also. It was secu- 
 rity for the eastern side of Jordan, thitt 
 the western tribes should have rest. 
 This is so throughout our own lives also. 
 To help our brethren, is to lay up riches 
 where, even for this life, " neither moth 
 nor rust" can wholly destroy them. 
 II. Generous kindness towards others 
 is invariably due to others. It may 
 be due to them because of what thry 
 have done for us. This was the case 
 here. It is always due because of what 
 some have done for us. What we owe 
 to men, should be judged in the light 
 of that which we have received from 
 men. Thus human kindness, while 
 always graceful, is ever a debt. Ill 
 Generous kindness towards others is 
 due to God, and is well-pleasing in 
 His sight. He from whom we have 
 received all that we prize most in life, 
 and all that we shall care for in death, 
 graciously says about all our efforts to 
 help needy brethren, " Ye have done it 
 unto Me." Even Cicero could write, 
 " Men resemble the gods in nothing so 
 much as in doing good to their fellow- 
 creatures." Self-interest, as a motive 
 for action, is allowable ; self-denial for 
 the good of others is noble. Wm. Jay 
 well said — " To render good for good 
 is human ; to render evil for evil is 
 brutish ; to render evil for good is 
 devilish ; to render good for evil is 
 divine." 
 
 Verses 16 — 18. These verses, at first 
 sight, read like the reply of the two 
 and a half tribes ; probably they should 
 be taken as the response of all Israel 
 to Joshua's call to war. Two addresses 
 had been given, of which the substance 
 
CHAP. I. 
 
 ROMILETIC COMMEyTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 is recorded; one to the " shoterim," 
 or subordinate officers of all Israel, and 
 the other probably to the similar officers 
 of the two and a half tribes. The 
 verses read like a declaration of fealty 
 to Joshua, made on behalf of the whole 
 of the twelve tribes, whose officers had 
 " passed through the host," and gathered 
 the mind of the people, which they here 
 formally express. 
 
 Joshua's claims on the people were 
 made not on his own behalf, but as the 
 representative of the mind of Jehovah. 
 The people had been led to regard him 
 as the medium through which God 
 declared His will. Taken in this light 
 the verses shew us 
 
 The Spirit of True Obedience. 
 I. Obedience to the will of God 
 should be prompt and complete. 1. 
 
 True obedience will lead us to keep, not 
 merely some, but all of the command- 
 ments. If we are really loyal to God, we 
 shall need no exposition of that seem- 
 ingly harsh word — " He that offendeth 
 in one point is guilty of all." The spirit 
 that can practise any one known dis- 
 obedience sets itself up in opposition to 
 God, who gave all the commandments, 
 and who is therefore greater than them 
 all put together. To break one com- 
 mand knowingly is to intentionally 
 violate the will of God ; and of what 
 use is it to obey some of His words, 
 and then io dare Him on the strength 
 of having kept a part of His precepts ? 
 For His people there is only one thing 
 to say — "All that Thou commandest 
 us, directly or indirectly, we will do." 
 2. True obedience will lead us in all 
 the ways of God. "All the paths of 
 the Lord are mercy and truth unto such 
 as keep His covenant and His testi- 
 monies." "Whithersoever Thou sendest 
 us, we will go." 3. True obedience 
 loves to refresh itself with helpful 
 memories. The Israelites had hearkened 
 unto Moses in some things, and therein 
 had been their greatest happiness. 
 Where they had murmured and rebelled, 
 there they had sufl'ered ; where they had 
 obeyed, therein had they been blessed. 
 They did not mean to vaunt in their 
 obedience to Moses as perfect, but 
 express, in this general way, their 
 
 desire in all things to obey Joshua. 
 They knew by a deep experience that 
 this was the path of happiness. " Great 
 peace have they which love Thy law ; 
 and nothing shall offend them." II. 
 The spirit of obedience to God, and 
 the spirit of prayer and holy desire 
 for God's people, ever go together. 
 
 1. " The Lord be with thee, as He was 
 with Moses." How constantly our 
 Lord Himself shews us the close con- 
 nection between the spirit of prayer and 
 that of obedience. The key to the 
 power of the prayer in John xvii. is 
 given in its own words, " I have glori- 
 fied Thee on the earth ; I have finished 
 the work which Thou gavest me to do." 
 
 2. " Only be strong and of a good cou- 
 rage." The voice of obedience is the 
 echo of the voice of God. These are 
 the very w'ords which the Lord hai 
 spoken in His charge to Joshua ; here 
 they are reiterated by the people. So 
 God supplements His teachings by the 
 common feeling of mankind. III. He 
 who best obeys God, most severely 
 estimates the penalties due to trans- 
 gression. The disobedient, they say, 
 " shall be put to death." This was 
 martial law, and was certainly as neces- 
 sary in an army then as it is now. 
 Through rebellion in the wilderness 
 there had been forty years' delay already. 
 This is no reckless statement made in 
 a moment of excitement, neither is it 
 unmerciful. Severity to the few would 
 be mercy to the multitude. It is when 
 in the spirit of obedience that the 
 Israelites see this. Were we more holy, 
 we should probably have far fewer dis- 
 cussions on the amount of punishment 
 due to sin. It is when we live nearest 
 to God that we most feel the guilt of 
 sin and its dreadful deserviugs. It 
 was Murray McCheyne who talked with 
 such awful gentleness and love of the 
 wrath of God. Probably no angel sees 
 any reason for wonder, much less for 
 complaint, when he "looks into" the 
 w^ord to guilty men — " The soul that 
 sinneth, it shall die." Apart from dis- 
 position and desii-e, could it be other- 
 wise ? 
 
 " The Moral Advantages of Good Or- 
 ganization. — Soiiety must have leader- 
 ship, aud leadership must be a question of 
 
 19 
 
EOMILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 competence. There are three things about 
 the true leader which are most notable : 1. 
 He must be directly called of God. Moses 
 was ; Joshua was. 2. Being directly called 
 of God, he will walk constantly in the Divine 
 counsel. ' This book of the law shall not 
 depart,' etc. 3. Walking constantly in the 
 Divine counsel, he shall achieve the most dis- 
 tinguished success. This is God's promise. 
 
 " Organization is as much required in the 
 Church as in the army. God is nut the author 
 of confusion, but of order. Every man has a 
 place, and ought to keep it ; and if he overstep 
 it, he should be made uncomfortable until he 
 return. The mature thinker, the new-born 
 Christian, the untried youth, the undisciplined 
 mind, and the cultivated intellect, cannot be 
 equal, and ought not to have equal authority 
 in the Church. There are chief seats for 
 chief guests, and lower rooms for less con- 
 spicuous men ; and society should exhibit 
 displeasure towards the man who wantonly 
 asserts a claim to a place above the merits of 
 his character. When this prini^iple is recog- 
 nised, we shall get good organization, and 
 Buch organization will secure the following 
 advantages: — I. Such organization would 
 facilitate the developmeut of individual 
 talent. In the abscnre of wise organization, 
 the modest man will be ignored or crushed. 
 He will have no power and no disposition to 
 cope with the self-asserting and blustering 
 men who worship their own infallibility. For 
 the moment insolence will vanquish genius, 
 simply because genius disdains the rude wea- 
 pons whifh insolence adopts, and cares not to 
 fight where even victoiy would be disgrace. . . . 
 li. Such organization would consolidate the 
 Christian society assembling in one place. 
 The army is a compact confederacy. Its 
 consolidation is its strength. Break up its 
 wisely arranged gradations, and its power is 
 paralysed. The same principle has its bearing 
 
 upon "the Church III. Such organiza- 
 
 tion would present the most formidable front 
 to the enemy. Every man in his place, every 
 
 man moving at the same word of command, 
 every man living for the common good — let 
 that programme be carried out, and no power 
 can withstand the united influence of Christ's 
 believers. Disorder is weakness ; disorder is 
 waste ! The Church is to-day torn by intes- 
 tine strife. Every man's hand is lifted up 
 against his brother, and through all the ranks 
 this question is asked. Who shall be greatest? 
 What wonder if the enemy be laughing at 
 our impotence, and deiiding our pretensions? 
 IV. Such organization would promote a most 
 healthful spiritual discipline. The organi- 
 zation which God appoints is calculated to 
 
 train men to habits of self -dominion 
 
 The young man is held in check ; the pas- 
 sionate man is subdued; the lethargic man is 
 quickened ; and each nature has the advan- 
 tage of association with natures of a different 
 type. The organization thus commended is 
 not merely mechanical ; it is the order which 
 comes of a li\ing love, which is willing to do 
 the most good in the least time. It is quite 
 possible to have a pei-fect mechanical outline, 
 and yet to make no impression on the age* 
 We want all the force of iudividuahty com* 
 bincd with all the regulation of order; and 
 this we can only have by living constantly in 
 the spirit of Jesus Christ, without which we 
 are none of His. It may be said that life 
 will make its own order. This is a pleasant 
 sophism, very gratifying to an indolent 
 spirit ; but the whole history of huuu.n 
 training gives it emphatic contradiction. It 
 is forgotten that we have to do, not with life 
 in the abstract, but with/aWf« life; with life 
 underthe constant influence of Satanic appeal, 
 and which is inclined to go down rather than 
 to go up : so that life under such conditions 
 cannot be trusted to make its own order ; it 
 must be brought under Divine discipline, as 
 that may discover itself in human appoint- 
 ments, and by serving humbly must learn to 
 rule benignantly." \_l)r. Parker: Pulpit 
 Analyit, vol. i. 626,] 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 THE MISSION OF THE TWO SPIES. 
 
 Chitical Notes. — 1. Joshua sent] Or, as in the margin, had sent. It is probable that 
 the spies had left the camp for Jericho one or two days before the giving of the two 
 addresses by Joshua, which are recorded in chap, i. Out of Shittim] Called in Numb. 
 i.Txiii. 49. Abel Shittim. The last camping-ground of the Israelites in connection with tLcir 
 nomadic life, and the scene of their sin with Moab. (Cf. Numb, xxv.) 4. Hid them] " Hob. 
 'hid him,' i.e. each one of them ; imjjlying. proli.ably, that .she hid them sei>aratcly, at some 
 distance from ea<h other" n^ush). 5. The time of shutting the gate] Tliis was at sunset. 
 The absence of artiticial liL'ht would render this piecaulioii neeesMiiy, es])e<'ially in a time 
 of war. When it was dark] As it grew dusk (De W'ette). The evening twilight in the East 
 is of very short duration. 6. Stalks of flax] -Flax of the wood, that is, undressed fliuc, 
 or flax with its ligneous parts" (Kitto), 9- Your terror is fallen upon us] As Moses had 
 predicted forty years before; Ex. xv. 15. 12. Give me a true token] Kahab asks them to 
 enter into solemn covenant with her, and to establish something as the usual token or sign. 
 lli€ sign of the covenant in this case was the seaiiet cord named in ver. 18. 14. Our life for 
 
 20 
 
HOMILETIC C03IMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 yours] The sentiment is, " If we fail to regard your lives as sa'^red, may God so fail to think 
 of ours." It became afterwards a common form of oath in Israel. (Of. Ruth i. 17; 1 Sam. 
 iii. 17 ; xxv. 22 ; 1 Kings xix. 2, etc.) 16. Get you to the mountain] " Probably the cavern- 
 ous mountain to the north of Jericho, which the Arabs now call Kuruntul " (F. R. Fay). 
 18. This scarlet thread] This crimson cord. The dye is supposed to have been made from 
 the larvae of the cochineal insect, called in Arabic '• kermes," or crimson. 19. His blood bo 
 upon us] A common form of adjm-ation (Ezek. xxxiii. 4 ; Matt, xxvii. 2.5, etc.). 22- Abode 
 there three days] One clear day, and part of two others. The spies were probably sent out 
 on the sixth of Abib ; on the evening of the same day as that on which they arrived at Jericho 
 they escaped to the mountain ; they waited in hiding there throughout the next day, and 
 through the night and the day and the greater part of the night following, when they 
 returned to Joshua, and made their report. 
 
 MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Verses 1—7. 
 
 Emergencies in the Life of Piety. 
 
 1. Here was an emergency to Joshua and all the people. They were on the 
 eve of a bloody and terrible war. Omnipotence and Omniscience had guaranteed 
 success ; how far were jealous precautions and earnest eflbrts on the part of men 
 to be coupled with the promised help of God ? Joshua had to choose between idle 
 trust and active co-operation. 2. Equally eventful is this same period to Rahab. 
 Her newly found faith in God was tried hard in its very beginnings. She had to 
 choose between her country and her newly discovered God ; she chose God, and 
 chose rightly. She had also to choose between telling a lie and giving up the 
 spies ; she chose the lie, and thus sinned. We see here, faith working to ensure 
 a victory which God has already promised ; faith choosing between a country on 
 the one hand, and God on the other ; and faith mixed with sin. and God graciously 
 over-ruling the sin for the good of men. I. The relation between man's efforts 
 and God's guarantees. " Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, 
 that have 1 given unto you," said God to His servant Joshua, and immediately 
 after Joshua sent out the two spies, saying, " Go, view the land, even Jericho." 
 The spies were sent out as a special precautionary measure. They were thoroughly 
 to acquaint themselves with Jericho; its situation, its approaches, its surroundings, 
 its fortifications, its weak places, the tone of the people — whether tbey were 
 confident or, as we should say, demoralised by fear ; all these things, «nd more 
 as they might be able, these men were to spy out. Here was as much care as 
 though all things depended on Joshua. Would not the Divine omniscience do the 
 spying, and omnipotence secure the victory already guaranteed ? As it proved, 
 the work of the spies had nothing to do with the victory ; it was in no way 
 accessory to triumph. This was peculiarly God's battle, in which for wise pur- 
 poses He seemed to be saying, " The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold 
 your peace." Yet God manifestly approves the sending of the spies, giving the 
 whole mission the stamp of His approval in the salvation of Rahab, and in the 
 commendation of her faith in the N. T. 1. God's help was never intended to make 
 v-s idle. The promises are not so many arm-chairs in which we may quietly 
 ensconce ourselves, and letting ecstasy take the place of service, cry out in lazy 
 rapture, 
 
 " My willing soul would stay 
 
 In such a frame as this, 
 And sit and sing herself away 
 
 To everlasting bliss ; " 
 
 neither are they couches on which we may recline, softly chanting about 
 
 " that sweet repose. 
 Which none but he that feels it knows ; " 
 
 a truth which however happy as it concerns the world in general, would, in suoh 
 an application of it, be simply wickedness in the lips of the singer. The promises 
 of the Bible have sometimes been compared to golden stones with which God has 
 
 21 
 
HOMILETIC COMMEXTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 pared for His children a highway to heaven. Let us rather say, God has given 
 them to us, that ue vtiuj pave with them this hrm and beautiful way ; but that unless 
 each one of them is laid and imbedded in active service and holy obedience, none 
 will be firm ; they will simply precipitate us into the Slough of Despond, or, 
 if not, they ought to, lest like Ignorance we presently find that even from the gate 
 of heaven there is a by-way to hell. The promises have been likened, to a boat 
 in which God's children ride to their desired haven ; yet are there times when 
 we must row hard to keep the head of the boat to sea, lest the waves prevail and 
 Bwamp us, and we perish. If we would know the true value of God's assurances, 
 it must be by using them for something better than idleness. 2. God's help should 
 not oiili/ mean no less work ; it should mean more tvork. It is because the end 
 is guaranteed that we should work cheerfully and strive manfully. Is not this 
 what fervent John intended, when he said, " This is the victory that overcometh 
 the world, even our faith " ? How some of the old heathen, whose deeds have 
 been sung in the Iliad and ^neid, used to oli'cr their sacrifices, pour their liba- 
 tions, and then fight ! How some believers in fate have striven on in life's battle, 
 just because of faith in an idea, like the last Napoleon, who was always 
 "accomplishing his destiny." Oh, how we ought to fight, who have for a faith and 
 a guarantee the many and beautiful words of the Scriptures from the " God that 
 that cannot lie," and " who made the worlds." How beautifully significant is 
 Paul's phrase, " Fight the good fight of faith ; " that is just why we should fight 
 — the issue is guaranteed, and the very battle is a faith, (a) With faith in God, 
 "we should go into every conflict zealously, (h) It should be just the same in our 
 temporary defeats ; we should look on them as only temporary. What led David 
 and Peter back into the way of truth, but faith ? there was faith in forgiveness, 
 in God's love, and the Saviour's tenderness ; in help for future, (o) No true 
 Christian should complain, because life will have to be like this to the very end. 
 The inheritance to all of us is on the other side of the river ; our strife is all on 
 this side, and it will last all the time we are here. The long conflict is meant 
 to develop manhood and womanhood in ourselves, as well as to inspire it in others. 
 The life of an infant in heaven, saved ere it fell, will be beautiful ; the life of the 
 aged saint, made strong by many a conflict, seamed it may be by not a few scars, 
 but graced withal by numerous victories, will be far nobler. The penitent thief's 
 life above is doubtless glorious, but that of Paul must be incomparably more so. 
 8. 2 he assurances of victor]/ (jiven us hy God demand not only our active ejj'orts, hut 
 our caution and prudence. Promise does not free us from work, neither does it absolve 
 us from the consequences of indiscretion. The late Mr. Binney once said, '• If the 
 twelve apostles were walking on a railway when a train was rushing along, it would 
 go over them, if they did not get out of the way, and the whole twelve apostles 
 would be crushed to atoms. God would not interfere." Certainly God would not; 
 Buch interference would be a miracle to save careless men from their folly ; it would 
 put a premium on imprudence, it would make law uncertain, not only for destruc- 
 tion, but for protection, and it would make carelessness the best form of prayer 
 out. It is very instructive to hear God sa)', " I will not fail thee," then to see 
 Joshua turn away and command the spies to " Go, view the laud," and finally 
 to see God stamp this mission with His manifest approval. To some people zeal 
 is everything, and prudence is nowhere. They seem to think that Zeal is the very 
 chief among the elect angels of the Almighty, sitting on llis right hand, and close to 
 His throne, whenever found sitting at all ; and that Prudence, if in heaven, can 
 only have a mission in keeping the most remote gate of the city, so that none but 
 zealots may 1)0 suflered to enter. These good people make Zeal not only the 
 chief, but almost the sum of the graces ; Prudence is a stranger and a foreigner 
 in the land — a mere Giheonite, fit for nothing better than to be " a hewer of 
 wood, and a drawer of water " on behalf of the disciples of Zeal. Such is not 
 God's way, and such is not the spirit of the Saviour. " Behold, my servant shall 
 deal prudently," is a word embodied with marvellous emphasis in the life of the 
 22 
 
nOMILETIC C03IMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 Messiah. Christ's true followers must have not only the zeal which consumes, 
 tut the prudence which is wise. No man has any commission for abolishing all 
 bat his own pet graces ; we are to be Christians all round and all through, 
 " transformed into the image of His Son." II. The relation of patriotism to 
 piety. This woman had to choose between her country and her God, and she 
 chose to put the claims of the King of kings before those of her sovereign. She 
 was no traitor, who sold her country for considerations which were mean and 
 paltry. True, she stipulated for the safety of her family, bat even this could only 
 spring from faith in God. This conclusion was right; but the case must be taken 
 oa its own merits : the N. T. does not speak one way or the other about the 
 character of her works ; it merely commends her faith because that was not 
 inactive. God's claims must come before those of earthly monarchs. Would not 
 this justify the claims of Rome, which are based on the Vatican Decrees ? Ought 
 net those of our soldiers and sailors who are Roman Catholics to desert to the 
 enemy in a time of war, if the infallible (?) Pope bade them ? The whole :]nestioa 
 lies m another — Is the voice of Rome the voice of God ? A history of pontifical 
 crime and sensuality, stretching through many generations, is answer enough to 
 any who are not devotees. The simple truth as to Rome is this — it is a great 
 mixed system, having a single name ; the system is political and spiritual, but the 
 name is wholly religious ; its deepest polirical schemes are baptized with the 
 name of God, and backed by the claims of God. It is on this ground that it 
 claims the right to siabvert the allegiance of the Roman Catholic subjects of any 
 sovereign on earth. English dignitaries of that Church tell us that this will never 
 be done. History answers, " It often has been done, and still oftener attempted ; 
 and this was so many generations before the decrees were defined and declared ; 
 the war stirred up between France and Spain in 1556, Black Bartholomew, the 
 Spanish Armada, the Oath of Allegiance which followed the Gunpowder Plot, and 
 not a few other instances bearing prominent official witness." The recent case 
 of the Roman Catholic dignitaries is this — "Even if the Vatican Decrees mean 
 what they have been said to, it is impossible that Rome should ever interfere to 
 require English soldiers or sailors to desert the cause of their country;" that 
 is to say, " Home having done this kind of thimj for many generations, tvJteii she had 
 no decrees to declare her voice to be the voice of God, cannot possibly do it now 
 that the process is made comparatively easy since the passiiig of these decrees." I 
 must grieve all lovers of freedom to say it, but surely when a church with a 
 history like this claims liberty to teach high treason in every nation in the world — 
 to teach it to the uneducated and superstitious, backed by all their hopes of 
 heaven and fears of hell — the time has come to insist on so much of civil disability 
 to Roman Catholics as shall ensure the safety of the state in which they may 
 happen to live. This is not a question merely of tolerating a religion ; it is a 
 question of tolerating an open claim of right, made bj'' the largest and most com- 
 pact society in the world, to establish an imperium in imperio throughout the 
 earth. That the claim is made in the name of religion is perfectly true ; but when 
 religion condescends to become an instrument of grave political disturbance, men 
 must treat with the facts, and cannot atlbrd to be duped by a label. III. The 
 relation of human sin to Divine triumphs. About this woman's lie there can be 
 no doubt whatever ; it was as palpable a lie as humiin lips ever uttered. About 
 the universal condemnation in the Scriptures of all lying there can be no doubt ; 
 no temptation, no danger, no good aims ever justify an untruth ; to do evil that 
 good may come is always sin in the judgment of the Bible. The N. T., however, 
 absolutely commends the faith of Rahab, and the fact that her faith had works 
 is the very point of the commendation given by the apostle James. The fact that 
 she worked as well as beheved was good ; the manner of her working in this 
 matter was indisputably wicked. The austere morality of James is alone suffi- 
 cient to tell us that he could give no approval to that. The question has often 
 come up, could the woman have protected the spies in any other way ? Probably 
 
 23 
 
IIOMILETIC COM^ilLXTARY : JOSHV.i. chap. n. 
 
 not ; it is enongh th.it God conld have protected them. The woman evidently diJ 
 not think the lie very wrong, and God will probably judge her, as others, in hgbt 
 of the word, " To whom much is given," etc. A great part of the difficulty about 
 this case lies in assuming that this woman should at once be an angel the moment 
 she begins to be a saint. Her faith was mixed with much sin, but was good as 
 far as it went. One difficulty remains ; God seems to have suffered both a he and 
 a liar to be the means of sheltering His people, and that when they were eugaj,ed 
 in a work i'^timately connected with the fulfilment of His covenant. God often 
 takes sin in its own snares, and that is what He is doing here. The Canaanitcs, 
 though children of Noah, and warned by many judgments, had chosen a lie for 
 their very religion. As this woman, who had learned both her morality and 
 religion of the Canaanites, turns to desert them, she fires this lie like a Parth:an 
 shot, which they themselves had taught her how to aim, and God suffers the lie to 
 wound those whom the woman meant to wound, and to rescue those whom she 
 sought to defend. " Surely the wrath of man shall praise Thee ;" and why should 
 it not ? Blessed be God, who condescends to overrule even sin for good. So God 
 suffered Jacob's lie to work out good ; so He permitted the malice and lying of 
 Fcribes and Pharisees to work out the greatest of all mercies, the cross of Christ. 
 And this yjrinciplo is in the gospel of nature, and belongs to all men, Christiana 
 or not. The atheist should rid it from his book, ere he condemns it in ours. 
 Drunkenness is seen working its own cure, sensuality its own shame, war its own 
 healing, while even such outrages as that of the persecution of the Huguenots laid 
 the foundation of much of the commercial prosperity of our laud. Oh, there is 
 hope for sinners, when God by sin overthrows sin. Just as He set Midianitcs 
 against Midianites, and Philistines to beat down Philistines in some of the later 
 battles of Israel, so He arrays sin against itself. With Christ for us, and sin 
 working its own ruin, who may not dare to hope ? 
 
 SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES. 
 
 Verses 1 — 7. — Secret Service. watching of Christians. III. The se- 
 
 I. The secret service of govern- cret service of the Church. The sp} iug 
 
 ments. The sum yearly voted for this out of the world's most secret pleasures. 
 
 in our national estimates. The neces- None should go, but such as are wisely 
 
 sity for it born of human deception chosen and sent. It is always a service 
 
 and sin. II. The secret service of of danger. It is ever tending to the 
 
 the world. Secret pursuit of sinful light. If necessary at all, the sooner 
 
 pleasures. Secret enmity against, and it is over the better. 
 
 MAIN IIOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Verses 8—13. 
 Phases of Human Faith and Divine Mercy. 
 
 Notwithstanding the labours of such writers as Josephus, the Jewish Rabbins, 
 and Adam Clarko, who from worthy motives have tried to shew that Rahab was 
 merely an innkeeper, or hostess, there can be no doubt to most people that she 
 was the abandoned woman which our version declares her to have been. Kitto 
 summarises the argument nearly as follows :— The balance of opinion among 
 scholars* supports our translation ; the Septuagiut renders the Hebrew word by 
 an expression which all agree means " a harlot ;" the Epistle to the Hebrews 
 and that of James fullow the Septuagint ; Rahab, who is so careful about the 
 saving of her relatives, Siiys no word as to her husband or children ; after her 
 settlement among the Israehtes she married Salmon, a Jewish prince; and, 
 finally, there are no such persons as " hostesses " in the East. Vobey says, 
 
OHAP. II. HUMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 " There are no inns anywhere, but the cities and commonly the villages have 
 a large building called a khan or caravanserai, which serves as an asylum for 
 all travellers. The keeper of this khan gives the traveller his key and a mat, 
 and he provides himself the rest." It is important, as it affects the gracious 
 teaching of the Scriptures, that Rahab's character be taken as it is set before 
 us. I. Some phases of this woman's faith. 1. It seems, at the stage where 
 the N. T. commends it, to have been only the faith of fear. It sprang from her 
 terror (ver. 9 — 11). The strange and unprecedented passage of the Red Sea 
 had appalled the Canaanites. The overthrow of Sihon and Og had alarmed 
 them no less. The Amorites were a very powerful and warlike race. They 
 had overcome the Rephaims or giants (Deut. ii. 20, 21) ; they had driven out 
 the Ammonites and Moabites. A contest with Sihon, therefore, was a terrible 
 thing for Israel ; but they had Ebenezers of mercy even then behind them, 
 Moses with them, and God and His word for all the conflicts before then). 
 The Amorites were utterly defeated, and their king slain. The kingdom of Og 
 was even more formidable. The territory was far larger, the people very 
 warlike, their king a giant, and their land crowded with fortified cities. For 
 the armour of those days the very houses must have been as forts ; they were 
 built, we are told, of huge basalt rocks, having the walls, in some cases, four 
 feet thick, and thick stone slabs, swingmg upon pivots in sockets, for doors. 
 But the battle of Edrei was decisive ; Og was slain, as Sihon had been, and 
 his forces were utterly routed. No wonder that the fear of the Lord fell on the 
 Canaanites on the western side of the river. No wonder that the inhabitants of 
 Jericho felt their hearts melting for fear. With Rahab's fear there came something 
 more ; she was convinced that the God of Israel was " God in heaven above, 
 and in earth beneath." Her fear led her to faith, and her faith to fear still 
 more. Is such faith ** saving faith" ? Yes, if you follow it up, and no amount 
 of faith will save any one without. See how God has often aimed at the salvation 
 of men by beginning with their fears. What else but leading men to faith 
 through fear was God's work through Elijah on Carmel, or through Jonah at 
 Nineveh ? What else had been God's work with these Israelites and their 
 fathers in Egypt and the wilderness ? The ten plagues, the miracle at the 
 Red Sea, the judgment on Korah and his followers, the fiery serpents, and 
 many other wonders were designed to work awe in the minds of the Israelites, 
 and, with awe, belief. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" in 
 these days of the gospel, as well as in those days of old. It does not matter 
 how we begin to be Christians, if we only go on, and keep on. What men want 
 is to be made to think ; thought on God will soon lead to decision, let the 
 thinking begin bow it may. If a sleeper awake at night in a burning house, 
 it is of no consequence whether he sees the fire, smells it, tastes the disagreeable 
 smoke, feels the hot air, hears the roaring of the flames within, or earnest voices 
 calling "fire" from without. The one thing for safety is to know that there is 
 fire, and it does not matter at all by which of the senses it was first apprehended. 
 Let no one say, " I am so full of fears ; I cannot be saved:" it is just as well 
 for safety that we appreliend God through fear as through any other faculty or 
 power of our being. After all, there may be more faith in fear than many think 
 there is. No man should expect to begin a Christian life in songs of rich 
 experience. If a rich man were to adopt a ragged child from the streets, the 
 joys of childhood would not come at once. At first there would be timidity and 
 pain at all the new grandeur ; it could be only when the child got to feel it was 
 really loved that it would gradually come into the child-feeling, and begin to 
 store up filial experiences. The twenty-third Psalm was not written as the 
 beginning of David's piety. Peter wrote, " Unto you therefore which believe 
 He is precious," but he had to find all that out by a long, a varied, and often 
 a most humiliating experience. It was only as an old man, who had learned 
 how Christ had prayed that Satan might not " sift him as wheat," how Christ 
 
 25 
 
nOMTLETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 had often forgiven him, often encouraged him, and always loved him, that Peter 
 could say, " He is precious." Go on with even the faith of fear ; that also 
 leads to an inheritance in the land. 2. Rahab's faith was mired xvith absolute 
 sin. I do not know if she was immoral at the time when the spies came ; many 
 good people say she was not, trying to prove the next best thing possible. Why 
 should we go so far about to prove this sinner almost a saint, in order to make 
 her fit to be saved ? Perhaps it would be better to take her for just what 
 Scripture calls her. It is much more simple, more encouraging to many, and 
 certainly more sensible. If the Saviour could say to the Pharisees, " The thieves 
 and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you," we shall do very little, 
 excepting that we shall lower the grace of the gospel, by saying here of Rahab 
 that she " had formerly been of ill fame, the reproach of which stuck to her 
 name, though of late she had repented and reformed." Any way, Rahab lied. 
 Not a few good men, with laudable motives, doubtless, but with most unwise 
 zeal, have tried to justify or excuse even this. Under no circumstances whatever 
 can a lie be anything but sin. The morality of the great epic poet of the 
 Greeks, call him a heathen though we may, is blessedly better than some of the 
 casuistry which Christian men have written on this. Homer said bluntly, — 
 
 " My soul detests him as the gates of hell, 
 Who knows the truth, and dares a falsehood tell." 
 
 With equal firmness and excellent definition good George Herbert also wrote,— 
 
 " liie not ; but let thy heart be true to God ; 
 Thy tongue to it, thy actions to them both. 
 Dare to be true 1 nothing can need a lie ; 
 The fault that needs it most grows two thereby." 
 
 Some who begin to serve God are discouraged when they find sin mixed with 
 their faith. Sin cannot make us too much distrust ourselves, but no sin that 
 has penitence should lead to distrust of God. 3. As far as Rahab's faith had 
 knowledge, it aho had vorks. James seizes on that feature. The woman hid 
 the servants of God. She confessed her faith freely, and her confession is very 
 wonderful. No amount of faith can be of any use without works. We may 
 believe as much as the angel Gabriel, but not to work is to sin against all the 
 additional light which goes with our faith. God garners faith in fruit, not faith 
 in blossom. 4. Rahab believed in God in the midst of nnhelief. She alone, in 
 Jericho and all Canaan, seems at this time to have accepted Israel's God for her 
 God. It is all very well and sufficiently easy to beheve what every one else 
 accepts ; can we dare to believe God when alone ? Can we believe when all 
 the companions of our daily life scoff at us ? Can Ave hold our faith singly 
 about particular truths or principles ? 6. Rahab's faith ui>nt uith cumpussiun 
 and lore. She had thought for the safety of her relatives. If we are doing 
 nothing to save others, let us remember that no one can fill our place. No one 
 else has our particular mind, or temperament, or experiences, or opportunities. 
 6. Rahab's laith was o///// in God. She believed in a living being of great 
 power, who loved the Israelites, and helped them so that none could stand 
 against them. She was absolutely without any systematic creed. Creeds are 
 good so far as we must have them, but we had bettor leave them to come to 
 us, and not go in search of them. Max Miiller has pointed out that though 
 " nature is incapable of progress or improvement," when men become familiar 
 with any science they begin to classify its features. So the botanist began in 
 time to classify flowers; and when men began to study language, that too entered 
 upon its " classificatory stage." Classification is the necessary outcome of 
 knowledge. Men accumulate items of knowledge, and then, in order to romomber 
 them better, and understand them more thorougbly, tbey formulate and arrange 
 them. A Christian with much experience and many thoughts of God must have 
 a creed ; he cannot help it; it is the necessary outcome of growth. Rut it is 
 unwise for anxious souli» seeking Jesus Christ as their Saviour to burden and 
 26 
 
CHAP. IT. H03IILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 perplex tliemselves with theology. Like Rahab, let them simply believe in Him 
 who has helped so many of His people to such mighty victories. 11. Some 
 forms of Divine mercy. 1. God's mercy tends to strengthen faith from its very 
 beginnings to its crisis. This woman had heard of the Red Sea, of the overthrow 
 of Sihon and Og, and she believed. After her confession she is strengthened 
 right up to the time of trial, (a) The Jordan divides ; while the hearts of her 
 neighbours became still more "as water," how Rahab must have been confirmed 
 in the choice she had made ! [h) Then here was this strange procession of this 
 vast army, marching round Jericho, for six days, once a day Not a shout was 
 to be heard ; the only noise was from those seven rams' horns, which blew out 
 their strange notice just in front of the ark, which was the symbol of religion 
 and of God's presence. How unlike ordinary fighting it must have seemed ! 
 Taken in connection with the circumcision and passover hard by at Gilgal, how 
 superhuman the aspect of the whole campaign must have become ! Every 
 movement would be saying to Rahab, " The God of heaven and earth is 
 undertaking all." Surely the very strangeness of the siege, so terrifying to the 
 Canaanites, would have tended to increase her faith, (c) On the seventh day, 
 at the close of the seventh march round the city, each of the last six of which 
 had been indicating the coming crisis, the people shouted, and the wall fell down 
 flat, and the Israelites went up "every man straight before him into the city." 
 It seems as though the wall fell down entirely round the city, so that the men 
 who surrounded the city had not to walk some one way and some another to 
 various breaches, but there was an open path before them all. We find, however, 
 that Rahab's house was upon or against the wall, and yet that fell not; for the 
 spies went in, and brought her and her family out in safety. Here, then, in the 
 very crisis of trial, God gave this woman a sign which seemed to say within her, 
 " Israel has covenanted with me, and, lo, the God of Israel makes the covenant 
 of His people His own bond also!" All the wall, or much of it, had fallen; 
 her house stood firmly. Thus from its beginning to its greatest ordeal does 
 God's mercy graciously provide means to sustain and strengthen this woman's 
 faith. Is Divine mercy less careful for us ? No ; to us all, if we will only 
 look, God gives increasing light. " The path of the just is as the shining light, 
 which shineth more and more unto the perfect day. 2. God's mercy is very 
 pitiful in its estimate of human surroundings. Only this woman's faith is spoken 
 of in the N. T, ; nothing whatever is said of her lie ; and while she is called a 
 harlot, there is no upbraiding of her because of past sin. The good is proclaimed 
 with honour ; the evil is recognised, but the very terms in which it is named 
 seem to treat it as forgiven. Thus God "hides His face'' from our transgressions, 
 and our sin He "covers." 3. God's mercy is seen (jivinri exceptional faith 
 conspicuous honour, [a) This woman marries a prince in Israel ; {b) becomes 
 a progenitor of our Lord ; [c) and has most honourable mention in the New 
 Testament. Christ comes through all sorts of characters, and through all ranks 
 of society ; some ancestors are kings, and some are the poor. He seems to say 
 by the very manner of His coming that He appears on earth for all sorts of 
 sinners, and for all ranks and conditions of men. It is significant, too, that 
 Christ's parents — the last in the line of genealogy — are poor, as though even 
 the birth of the Saviour should lay its emphasis on the after word, "To the poor 
 the gospel is preached." When sinful Rahab stands in the line of so much 
 honour, faith in any one may well anticipate "the things which God hath 
 prepared for them tlaat love Him." 4. God's mercy is seen saving " all them 
 that believe," even thouffh faith maij be poor and small. Rahab had only the 
 faith of fear, and she and her family were delivered from death ; doubtless the 
 wonders of God's mercy, when Jericho fell, led her into a larger trust and a 
 holier life. We cannot but look on her as in heaven, when we see her so 
 commended in the New Testament. So does God encourage even fear, and so 
 does He teach our feeble faith to hope in His mercy. 
 
 S7 
 
EOMILETIC COMJSIENTAUY : JOSHUJ. 
 
 SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES. 
 
 Verses 8 — 12. The Differing 
 Measubes of Life's Influence on 
 Men. 
 
 " I know that the Lord " (v. 9) ; 
 ** We have heard how the Lord " (v. 
 10). " We heard, and our heart did 
 melt" (v. 11). "Now therefore I 
 pray you " (v. 12). All had heard the 
 same things, and all feared ; only one 
 prayed, and only one believed and 
 worked the works of faith. I. There 
 are multitudes who hear of the Lord, 
 but the voice of the Lord is one 
 voice to them all. Some men hear 
 or see moro of the Lord's deeds than 
 others, but, substantially, the deeds all 
 " speak the same thing." There are 
 no contradictions ; the works and words 
 are all in one direction. 1. The teach- 
 ings of Nature are substantially the 
 same everywhere. " The testimony of 
 the rocks " is one testimony to all who 
 read it aright. Each flower and blade 
 of grass and tree alike tells of creative 
 wisdom, power, and love. The voice 
 is the same in all places. So it is of 
 the " great and wide sea, wherein are 
 things creeping innumerable." " The 
 heavens declare the glory of God. . . . 
 There is no speech nor language where 
 their voice is not heard. Their line 
 [or teaching] is gone out through all 
 the earth, and their words to the end 
 of the world ; " and the words are the 
 same wherever men will listen to them 
 and search out their meaning. African 
 stars, American heavens, the Asian fir- 
 mament, and the European sky, all 
 speak in harmony. In the hymn usu- 
 ally attributed to Addison, but recently 
 claimed, and apparently with good rea- 
 Bon, as Andrew Marvell's, we sing — 
 
 " The spantrled heavens, a shining frame, 
 Theu" great Original proclaim ; " 
 
 and they proclaim Him without con- 
 tradiction, and, unlike men, without 
 controversy. Law everywhere preaches 
 the same thing about fire and water, 
 about heat and actinism and colour, 
 about chemical properties and mechani- 
 cal appliances, about obedience to its 
 precepts on the one hand, or our trans- 
 gression of them on the other. 2. The 
 28 
 
 teachings of Providence have been every- 
 vhrre similar. In all times the wicked 
 have often been found to " flourish 
 like a green bay tree," and the true- 
 hearted have oi'ten been " an afflicted 
 and poor people ; " yet the industrious 
 and the wise have ever had their re- 
 ward. Sudden accidents and calamities 
 have been the heritage of all the ages. 
 Similar weaknesses, sicknesses, diseases, 
 bereavements, graves, have been, from 
 the first proclaiming one providence for 
 all times and lands. 3. The teachings 
 of Human History are similar. Man's 
 sins — his wars, murders, lyings, dupli- 
 city, mere pleasure-seeking, his pride 
 and selfishness — have always tended to 
 degradation and misery : Man's vir- 
 tues — his sympathy, self-denial, gene- 
 rosity, love, meekness — have always 
 worked peace, and brought a goodly 
 heritage. 4. The tcarhivys of the Hitman 
 Conscience and the Heart have never mate- 
 rially differed. Conscience has brought 
 fear to the wicked and peace to the 
 pure, from the day when Adam hid 
 himself till now. The heart that has 
 Uved merely for this world has always 
 had its sense of emptiness. Human 
 desires and yearnings and hopes have 
 ever gone out to things beyond death. 
 5. The teachings of the Bible have ever 
 been in one direction. The early times 
 had not so much light as these latter 
 days, in which God has spoken unto us 
 by His Son, but the light has ever 
 shewn one path, having but one kind 
 of traveller, and one hope and end for 
 them all. II. When the mightier 
 works of the Lord and His sterner 
 words have been forced prominently 
 on the thoughts of men, they have 
 always tended to work fear and de- 
 spondency. Now some divided sea, 
 now the smiting of mighty kings who 
 could have helped them, and now pro- 
 mises of a heritage to some one else 
 which threatened them with disposses- 
 sion, have, all through human history, 
 made the hearts of men "to melt." 
 Disastrous earthquakes, the ravages of 
 epidemic disease, appalling accidents, 
 the threatenings of the Scripture against 
 idolatry and all sin, have, when forced 
 
nC^IILETlC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 suddenly on the attention, made men's 
 hearts " as water." Power, when not 
 understood, ever works awe. III. 
 While the works and word of the 
 Lord bring fear to all men at first, in 
 some fear gives place to faith, and 
 desire, and love. The inhabitants of 
 Jericho all heard and trembled ; only 
 Rahab passed out of fear into faith and 
 service. Nothing is more marked in 
 the Bible than this differing measure of 
 influence wrought by the same word. 
 Whether the risen Saviour has revealed 
 Himself to men, or Paul has preached 
 at Athens or in his own lodging at 
 Rome, it has ever had to be written, 
 " And some believed the things which 
 were spoken, and some believed not." 
 How are we hearing ? "He that hath 
 ears to hear, let him hear." 
 
 Verse 9 only. I, The testimony 
 of those who are weak and un- 
 taught. "I know," said Rahab; 
 what witness should we bear? " Much 
 is given" to us; — education, associ- 
 ations, godly parents. Christian teach- 
 ers, an entire gospel of mighty and 
 merciful works. II. The confidence 
 of the weak and untaught. " I 
 know," etc. In all Rahab's gospel 
 there was not a single promise. She 
 only saw two or thi'ee of the mighty 
 acts of the Lord, yet she believed, 
 doubting nothing. Our gospel has the 
 cradle, the promises, the tenderness, 
 and even the tears and the cross of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ. III. The encou- 
 ragement given by the weak and 
 untaught. " The Lord hath given you 
 the land," etc. Rahab was with these 
 Israelites "in much assurance;" she 
 might have no promise of her own, she 
 would read and understand and pro- 
 claim the blessedness of theirs. 
 
 Verses 10, 11. Coming to a Know- 
 ledge OF THE Truth. 
 
 I. The use of religious memories. 
 The miracle of the Red Sea had taken 
 place forty years before. This was a 
 period equal to half a lifetime. If 
 Uving then, Rahab could have been 
 only a child. Perhaps, to her, the 
 miracle was only a tradition ; but she 
 thought on it, and it helped to lead her 
 to a conclusion. 1. We want help f rum 
 all the /acullies of our heliiy when we are 
 
 seeking to know the Lord. Within, we 
 have much to dim our vision : pride, 
 self-love, and sin in many forms. With- 
 out, temptation has a thousand fair dis- 
 guises, and every time we sia we hide 
 God from our eyes. We might as well 
 try in the same instant to look north 
 and south, to the sky over oar heads 
 and the earth at our feet, as to seek sin 
 and see God. To know Him, we need 
 each power of our being for that one 
 purpose. 2. Memory, however, is pecu- 
 liarly helpful in getting this knowledge. 
 
 (a) Memory brings to us life's select 
 teachiogs. We look through our family 
 albums, and do not find there cartes in 
 general ; they are not portraits of Her 
 Majesty's army or navy ; they are se- 
 lect — every face is the face of a friend. 
 We look through our Bibles, and we 
 have in them favourite passages which 
 fill us with peace ; and we know far 
 better where to find our twenty-third 
 Psalm, or our fourteenth of John, than 
 some name in the genealogies, or some 
 obscm'e incident written in the book of 
 Chronicles. So when we look through 
 our minds, many things are hidden by 
 time, only select memories come up, 
 and these, where they are religious, are 
 the most beautiful and the most helpful. 
 
 [b) Memory often brings delineations 
 of God from the past which are both 
 clearer and purer than our present 
 impressions. They are pictures of our 
 childhood, at once full of reahsm and 
 full of innocence, (c) Memory might 
 bring up, not only its visions of the past, 
 but its reproof in the present. Rahab, 
 and we not less, might find room to 
 ask, " How am I, compared with my 
 thoughts of God years ago ? what has 
 my life been since — alas ! what ? Have 
 I grown in the knowledge of Him ? " 
 Memory helped her to decide in this 
 her last opportunity ; destruction soon 
 came, suddenly as at the Sea, and these 
 few moments with the spies were stand- 
 ing for her eternity. What of our 
 moments ; are they equally important ? 
 what of our memories ; are we using 
 them, while yet there is time, to help us 
 to know Him, " whom to know is eter- 
 nal life"? II. The blessings of ob- 
 servation and reflection. " The two 
 kings of the Amorites " had fallen but 
 
 29 
 
EOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 CHAi'. n. 
 
 recently. The victories obtained over 
 them made this woman think. Some 
 paHS through life seeing but little, and 
 not reflecting on even that. Life is a 
 stream which runs past them ; they see 
 its waters shimmer in the sunhght, and 
 hear the cheerful ripple, the soft mur- 
 muring, or the ceaseless roar of its pro- 
 gress, but they never stoop to drink. 
 Life carries everything past them, and 
 brings them nothing which they make 
 their own. Who can wonder if danger 
 and death overtake them while yet un- 
 prepared ? III. The value of cumula- 
 tive evidence and repeated emotions. 
 The Red Bea made Rahab do nothi)ig, 
 the death of Sihon does not apparently 
 move her to any works, the overthrow 
 of Og leaves her still in Jericho; but 
 the coming of the spies, and their con- 
 versation, added to all that went before, 
 make her covenant for her salvation. 
 1. The unused evidence of life. No 
 man can destroy this evidence. It is 
 accumulating either to {a) gradually 
 convince us, or to {h) finally overwhelm 
 UB. 2. The unimproved feelings of 
 life. Joys, sorrows, fears, etc., are 
 either exhausting and withering our 
 hearts, and leaving them callous, or they 
 are being treasured up and cultivated 
 within us as the beginnings of our eter- 
 nal hymn of adoration and praise. IV. 
 The salvation that comes of facing 
 the whole truth, and then confessing 
 it to others. 1. We should never con- 
 ceal from om-selves our utter helpless- 
 ness as against God. 2. We should 
 never deny even to our own hearts the 
 glory of God ; {a) His sovereignty in 
 heaven above ; (//) His sovereignty in 
 earth beneath. 3. What we acknow- 
 ledge of the glory of God to ourselves, 
 it is best to confess to His people. 
 (a) It is God's right, {h) His people 
 may be able to help us. (c) Our con- 
 fession may lead to our salvation. 
 
 Verses 12, 13. I. Faith looking 
 within. 1. It has self-distrust. 2. It 
 has no rest till it secures covenanted 
 mercy. 3. Though it be faith, it yet 
 needs some help from signs — " Give 
 me a true token." Those ■»vho feel 
 most sincerely how blessed it is to be- 
 lieve when they have not seen, clii:g, 
 nevertheless, to that sign of the ever- 
 
 lasting covenant, the cross of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ. II. Faith looking 
 around. Faith in God, though in a 
 sinner like this, and in days so far 
 back and light so feeble as hers, has 
 ever the same tendencies. 1. It wants 
 others to be in the covenant also. 2. It 
 begins among its own kindred. 8. It 
 places the life first, and makes thinijs 
 subordinate. 4. It not only has com- 
 passion for others, but expectation from 
 others: "I pray you, since I have 
 shewed you kindness, that ye will also 
 shew kindness." Faith is very human 
 in its pity and generous kindness ; it is 
 not so superhuman that it can receive 
 harshness for gentleness without feeling 
 wounded. Some people know very 
 well that the faith of Christians should 
 lead to compassion and help ; they 
 utterly forget that it is natural for even 
 faith to be pained by ingratitude. III. 
 Faith looking on high. 1. It has adora- 
 tion and praise for God's power (v. 11). 
 2. It regards that power no longer as a 
 terror, but a joy. Rahab wanted to get 
 with God's people, in order that Divine 
 power, instead of destroying her and 
 hers, might defend them. The truth 
 which at first made the heart melt, 
 became speedily its " shield and buck- 
 ler." 3. Faith has not only praise for 
 God, and a new feeling as to His power, 
 it has regard to the honour of His 
 name : *' Swear unto me by the 
 Lord." 
 
 On the passage in James ii. 25, 
 Manton gives the following very sug- 
 gestive thoughts concerning the case of 
 Rahab : — 
 
 " I. God may choose the worst of sinners. 
 Even in a harlot faith is accciUa])le. II. The 
 meanest faith must justify itself by works 
 ami gracious effects. III. Believers. thouy:h 
 they justify their profession, are still monu- 
 ments of free grace. It is Itahah the harlot, 
 though justijiid Inj rcorlis. IV. Ordinary 
 acts are gracious, when they flow from faith 
 and are done in obedience. Ente tainnient, 
 in such a case, is not civility, but religion. 
 A cup of cold water in the name of a prophet 
 is not courtesj', but duty, and shall not lose 
 its reward. A carnal man performs his reli- 
 gious duties for civil ends, and a godly man 
 his civil duties for religious ends. There is 
 no alchemy like that of grace, where brass is 
 turned into gold, and actions of commerce are 
 made wnrsliip. V. Tin; great trial of faith 
 is in actions of seK-dcuial. Kahab preferred 
 
nOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 the will of God to the welfare of her country ; our good actions. He that drew Alexander 
 
 Abraham the same will to the life of Isaac. while he had a scar upon his face, drew him 
 
 A man is not discovered when God's way and with his finger upoa the scar : God putteth 
 
 his own Ii« toj^retber. VI. The actions and the finger of marcy upon our scars. Job 
 
 duties of God's children are usually blemished curseth the day of his birth; it is simply 
 
 with some notable defect. Rahab's enter- written, ' Ye have heard of the patience of 
 
 tainment was associated with Rahab's lie ; Job.' How unlike are wicked men to the 
 
 Moses smote the rock twice, and with faith Lord ; with them one blemish is enough to 
 
 mixed anger. Thus we still plough with an stain much glory, but with Him a little°faith 
 
 ox and an ass in the best duties. VII. God and a few works are thrown into everlasting 
 
 hiduth His eyes from the evil that is in honour." 
 
 MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Verses 14—21. 
 
 Social Integrity and the Public Faith, 
 
 Perhaps no one knows the value of integrity better than those who abuse it. 
 Just as the great are valued after their death, and just as we prize our mercies 
 when they have departed from us, so they who have forfeited their truthfulness 
 have a keen appreciation of its worth. It is not a little suggestive that this 
 woman who has just tuld a lie to shield the spies, proceeds immediately to ask 
 an oath from them, wherein she and her family may find some assurance of salva- 
 tion. Probably the cruelties attendant on the worship of Baal, and the lewd rites 
 connected with the service of Ashtoreth, had so far debased the public conscience 
 of the Canaauites generally, that Rahab had become familiar with both deceit and 
 its consequences in many forms. She proves herself an adept in deceiving others, 
 and then asks a solemn covenant to protect herself from similar deception. This 
 is ever the way where truth is lightly esteemed ; they who think that there is 
 little harm in telling lies, ever confess the measure of their wickedness by the 
 suspicions and precautions in which they endeavour to shield themselves from 
 the deceit of others. The distrust of a liar is a sort of habitual confession, "If 
 every one were as wicked as lam, life would have no securities, and would become 
 unbearable." Thus, ever, " out of its own mouth " the judgment of sin is spoken. 
 I. The importance of public integrity. It is a national caUiinitij when a nation 
 is not believed. When the policy of a government is made up of diplomacy and 
 subtlety and acts of small cleverness, the policy is ruinous ; it may be dignified 
 by the name of * statesmanship," but the name can only make the ruin greater 
 by deferring it, through a temporary concealment. A good label will not alter the 
 contents of a poison -bottle, nor can a promising name keep a rotten vessel afloat 
 through a storm. One Machiavel is not only enough to pass a name into a 
 proverb, and to introduce a new set of words into language ; he is also enough 
 to curse a country for generations, till some succeeding Garibaldis, through self- 
 denying and disinterested integrity, shall, notwithstanding mistakes, do a little 
 to restore the public faith. It was a terrible verdict for Crete, when "their own 
 poet," Epimenides, wrote, " Liars and sluggish gluttons, savage beasts, the 
 Cretans are," and when an apostle gave the sentiment the fearful prominence 
 of a Scripture record, in which the nations still read, " The Cretans are alway 
 liars." The commercial ivorlil could not go on for a month, if " credit " were not 
 maintained. There are few pulpits where the relation of truth to prosperity is 
 preached as it is "on 'Change." He who does anything to lessen the faith of 
 men in each other, does just so much to ruin them for all prosperity in the things 
 of this life and the next. Probably one or two of our own countrymen in high 
 places, during the last quarter of a century, huve done sufficient to lower the tone 
 of the public conscience manifestly and appreciably for a long while to come. 
 When falsehoods are repeatedly told, which depend on a sufficient amount of grave 
 impudence and eflfrontery in the teller to provoke the laughter of the hearers, 
 it is perfectly well understood that the laughter makes the audience in some 
 measm-e participators in the untruth, and that rebuke is silenced in its very 
 
 SI 
 
HOMILETIC COMMEKTAUY : JOSHUA. chap. ii. 
 
 beginnings. Thus it has got to be known in some quarters, that a great liar need 
 only have an equivalent impudence and gravity, to be heard and received as though 
 he were only a wit, and no liar at all. This flippancy of untruth, practised by 
 anybody, is an incalculable wrong to everybody, and as such it should be resented. 
 II. The culture of the public conscience. 1. These spies u-ere most careful vot 
 to mal;e a promise which they could not keep. They held llahab bound by several 
 conditions, [a) They would not be responsible, unless she bound the sign of the 
 crimson cord in the window. As God Himself had once bidden the Israelites 
 to mark their houses, so that the destroying angel might pass them by, in like 
 manner this woman is to distinguish her house from the abodes of those who Mere 
 delivered over to destruction. [h) The spies covenanted that they would be 
 guiltless of the blood of any of this family who might be slain out of the house. 
 Any one might say, "I am of Rahab's family; " nothing would avail, but to be in 
 the covenanted dwelling-place, (c) The spies would be blameless, unless Kahab 
 kept the oath a secret. Let her once betray that, and all Jericho might bind its 
 "windows with crimson cord. 2. These tun spies were representative men, and it 
 was therefore most important that the promise should be made carefully, (a) Joshua 
 was held bound by the word of these men. They were his servants, (h) All 
 Israel was bound by their word. The men represented the nation, (c) Even 
 God graciously condescended to recognise the promise of the spies as His own 
 bond. AVhile almost all of the wall of the city seems to have fallen, the part on 
 which Rahab's house stood was safely preserved (chap. vi. 22, 23). Had this 
 one promise to a Canaanite been broken, the good faith of Israel Avould have been 
 despised among the idolaters, wherever it had become known ; added to this, the 
 Israelites themselves would have been harmed. These men who were sent 
 to spy out the land cultivate a conscience void of otfence, Joshua and Israel 
 support them, and the Divine seal is set to this care of a truthful spirit. The 
 Divine teaching of the 0. T. in these early times is most emphatic in the stress 
 which it lays on truthfulness. No one can carefully read of the solemn tokens 
 which God gives with His own covenants, and the solemn charges which are given 
 in connection with vows, oaths, and all forms of promise made by men, without 
 being made to feel that all lying and deceit are hateful to God. Promises were, 
 in every case, to be made with the utmost care, and when once given, to be most 
 Bacredly kept. 
 
 SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON TUE VEESES. 
 
 Verse 14. — Thk self-producing answer, " IJ'hen the Lord hath given 
 
 Power of Piety. us the land." III. Kindness and truth 
 
 In the record given of the creation reproduce themselves in kind. "We 
 
 we read of the tree "whose seed was will deal," etc. Rahab, though false 
 
 in itself." All Hfe tends to spontaneous to some, had been kind and true to 
 
 increase. It is ever thus with the life them, and nothing of her good words 
 
 of God in a human heart. Of each falls to the ground, 
 grace it maybe said, "Its seed is with- Verse 18. It seems necessary to bear 
 
 in itself." I. Mercy begets mercy, in mind, when reading this verse, that 
 
 "Blessed are the merciful; for tlicy fanciful interpretations of Scripture may 
 
 shall obtain mercy." Rahab had risked be no part of the teaching of God. 
 
 her life for the spies, and now they Any quantity of imnginative nonsense 
 
 readily respond, "Our life for yours," has been written on the incidents of this 
 
 or literally, " Let our soul bo to die chapter, and particularly of this red 
 
 instead of you." II. Faith stimulates cord. Thus Lyra, who is followed by 
 
 faith. Rahab had said, " 1 know that Mayer, and partly by some others, 
 
 the Lord hath given you the land." found here, that "by Rahab is meant 
 
 Under her influence the spies have the church of the Gentiles ; by the two 
 
 insensibly and more than ever come spies, the sending forth of the apostles 
 
 to regard this as a truth; thus tbev two and two ; by Jericho, the mu^^i^''' 
 82 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 moon; by the king of Jericho, the devil; truth things of this character, without 
 
 by the scarlet red cord there is figured grave harm to many who hear us ? The 
 
 out the blood of Christ," efc, and acnii. maxim of Cecil is a good rule for ua 
 
 Can it be seriously thought that God all — "The meaning of Scripture is the 
 
 ever meant to teach this, or anything word of God." Nothing else ever was, 
 
 like it ? Ought we not- to ask with ever is, or ever will be. 
 gome anxiety if we can teach as Divine 
 
 MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Verses 22—24. 
 With and " without God in the World." 
 
 I. He who watches and works without God, watches and works in vain. 
 
 The king of Jericho had sent to take the spies, but they escaped out of his hand ; 
 *' the pursuers sought them throughout all the way, but found them not." 
 "Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain;", so, 
 apparently, cut of the rich experience of his life the aged David counselled his 
 son and successor in " The Song of degrees for Solomon." The children of God, 
 when they are without the presence of their heavenly Father, labour as much in 
 vain as the greatest idolater or infidel. The king of Jericho and his pursuers 
 fail ; equally do the Israelites themselves, when a week or two later they go up 
 without God against Ai. Moses well said, " If Thy presence go not with us, carry 
 us not up hence." II. He who goes out under the care of God is safe from 
 the wrath of man. If Rebekah and Jacob had not lied, the younger son would 
 still have inherited the blessing. The promise of God needed no falsehood of 
 men to make it into a truth. If Rahab had said only the thing which was 
 right, God could with equal ease have secured the safety of these His two 
 servants. Even had it been otherwise, they had been no less safe ; they fall 
 well, who fall into their Father's arms. Where God does not bless our righteous 
 efi'orts to preserve ourselves, we need not seek safety in sin. Those were noble 
 blushes which rose on the face of Ezra, when he said, "I was ashamed to 
 require of the king a band of men and horsemen to help us against the enemy 
 in the way " (cf. Ezra viii. 21 — 23). Paul in his perils ; Luther at Worms ; 
 Wesley preaching under threats of violence and falling stones. III. He who 
 reports the goodness and faithfulness of the Lord can never report too 
 confidently or too cheerfully. The ten spies had given the report of fear ; 
 these give the report of faith. The giants and the Anakim were probably as 
 huge as they were forty years before, the cities walled up as near to heaven, 
 and the Israelites no larger than they were formerly ; but where fear then saw 
 grasshoppers in the presence of giants, faith said now, "Truly the Lord hath 
 delivered into our hands all the land." The message of these two men to 
 Joshua was full of confidence, full of ctuercrfulness, and full of praise. They 
 thanked God for victories yet to come. ^^^He who makes the best of every- 
 thing which concerns God, serves God and men much better than he who is 
 timid and doubting and depressed. It is quite possible to make too much of 
 the work of men ; we cannot well over-report God. Too many modern servants 
 are far more like the ten spies than the two. (^A bad report of Divine things 
 is not only injurious to others, but most harmTuf to ourselves. Good Bp. Hall 
 well said, " Our success or discomfiture begins ever at the heart. A man's 
 inward disposition doth more than presage the event. If Satan sees us once 
 faint, he gives himself the day. There is no way to safety, but that our hearts be 
 the last that shall yield." We have need to keep our heart with all diligence; for 
 out of it, even in this sense, there are issues of life. The glad confidence in 
 Christ which some constantly manifest carries its own reward; for "the joy of 
 the Lord is their strength," and hardly less strength to all who are sufiiciently 
 with them to catch the enthusiasm of their praise. 
 
 D Sb 
 
nOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. chap. m. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 THE PASSAGE OP THE JOED AN. 
 
 Critical Notes. — 1. In the morning] The morning after the addresses and reply re- 
 corded in chap. i. 10 — 18. From Shittim to Jordan] Josepbus (Antiii. v. 1.1) gives the distance 
 as sixty stadia, or furlongs, Ijcing nearly eight English miles. Lodged there] i.e., rested there 
 till the return of the s{)ies. and till the completion of the time named in chap. i. 11. There is 
 nothing in the verse which requires the misleading conjecture that they lodged here only one 
 night. 2- After three days] According to chap. iv. 19, the people ci'ossed the Jordan on 
 the tenth of Abib, which it may be well to remember is not called " Nisan " in the 
 Scriptm-es till more than nine hundred years later (cf. Esther iii. 7). "Three days" before 
 crossing the river, i.e., on the seventh of Abib, the time of the passage was foretold (chap. 
 i. 11). Early on the morning of the eighth, the preparations began for the movement of the 
 camp from Shittim (chap. iii. 1), the raising of the tents, the march of the vast ho.st for 
 eight miles, and their temporary re-encampment before Joi-dan, probably occupying them 
 till the clo.se of the eighth {Tlcbrew) day of the month. On the evening which introduced 
 the ninth of Abib they would begin to lodge before Jordan, resting there over the following 
 day, and throughout the night which commenced the tenth of the month. J^^^ spending oj 
 two nigkfs and one clear day before Jordan seenvs in no way eontradicfory to chap. iii. 1. 
 
 The spies probably left Shittim in the morning, or as early as mid-day on the sixth of 
 Abib, walked eight miles to the Jordan, and about seven more from Jordan to Jericho, reaching 
 the latter place considerably before sunset (chap. ii. .">). Iteckoning inclusively, they would 
 be in the mountains " three days," i. e., on nearly all the seventh, the whole of the eighth, and 
 from sundown till say four o'clock on the morning of the ninth, when two hours' walk in 
 the darkness would bring them to the Jordan, swimming the overflowing waters of which 
 they would rejoin the camp now pitched on the eastern side of the river. Thus understood, 
 the spies left Shittim one day before the array ; this agrees with the margin, '• had sent," of 
 chaj). ii. 1. coincides with each of the four verses given in the three chapters, and is in 
 harmony with the view of Josephus. 3- The Priests the Levites bearing it] The duty of 
 bearing the ark on ordinary occasions belimged to the suns of Kohath, who were Levites, 
 but not priests (cf. Nn.mb. iv. 1.5) ; on solemn occasions it was customary for priests to under- 
 take this duty. 4- Come not nea unto it] The distance of about one thousand yards was 
 probably to be observed, not only in the short march to the river, but also when crossing ; 
 the people were to pass .the Jordan at this distance below the ark. 5- Sanctify yourselves] 
 There seems no sullicieut reason for the very general supposition that the formal rites of 
 sanctification were disjjcnsed with for want of time. The phrase " for to-morrow " shews that 
 there would be as much time for washing the garments, etc., as in the instance given in 
 chap. vii. 13. 10. Drive out] "One of Several incidential confirmatimis of the view that 
 many of the Canaanites were expelled, and not slain " (Groser). 15. Jordan overfloweth] 
 Owing to the melting of the snow on the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon mountains. " The 
 swellings of Jordan " seems to have driven the wild beasts from their usual lairs (cf. Jer. 
 xlix. V.)). IQ. The City Adam] The site is unknowm ; probably it was several miles to the 
 noitli ; tlu! back-llow of the accumulated waters was apjiarent as far up the river as this city. 
 17- All the people] All excepting the women and children of the two and a hali tribes, 
 •with the 70,000 armed men left to guard them (chap. iv. 12, 13). 
 
 MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PABAGRAPH.— Verses 1—6. 
 The Presence of God. 
 
 Joshua had received the evening before, through their officers, the reply of the 
 people to the charge which he had given (chap. i. 16—18). Their unanimous and 
 ardent fealty must have lilled this hue-spirited man with thankiulness to God, and 
 given him good hope in the people : "And Joshua rose early in the morning." 
 1. (jod ijives us eucuimu/enwnts, nut merely for our joy, hut for (utiun. The Lord 
 loves the praise of His people ; He loves it best when the songs of their lips are 
 set to harmony with the tread of feet that run in the way of His command- 
 ments, and with the noise of labour made by hands which hasten to do His will. 
 Mere praise is like a tune in one part ; it is only a theme, pleasant for the moment 
 as a Kolo, but poor and thin and insudicicnt, unless fullowcd by these harmonies of 
 labour. 2. Uod tfiies Jlis acridiits the confidence if men, I'/uit fitey nnty uae it 
 
nOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 promptly for the good of ynen. Nothing sooner loses its beauty and fades than the 
 unused confidence reposed in us by our fellows. Changing the figure, service is 
 at once the exercise and the bread of trust ; and when a leader does not use the 
 confidence given him by those about him, he is simply allowing it to stiffen and 
 die. He who hears over-night, "All that thou commandest us we will do," had 
 better rise " early in the morning," and begin to turn this spirit of obedience to 
 good account. This, again, cannot be better done than by leading the people 
 manifestly nearer, not simply to their leader's, but also to their own inheritance. 
 8. God (jives some men wisdom to see into the possibilities of the fat u re, but he who 
 can read events to come should be careful fiot to disappoint his auditors. (Chap, i 
 11, with iii, 2.) 
 
 Thus the first two verses of this paragraph lead up to the important subject of 
 the Divine presence, on which much stress is laid in the four verses that follow. 
 I. The sign for the special movement of God's people is God's presence going 
 before them. 1. It is noteworthy that in both the Old and New Testaments this 
 is repeatedly made the sign for going forward. This was the case during the 
 marches of the wilderness ; the pillar of fire and cloud preceded the host. David 
 at Baal-perazim was to know that the Lord went out before him when he heard 
 " the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees ; " not till then was he to 
 go forward to the battle. What else was the waiting for Pentecost by the men 
 who were to tarry in the city of Jerusalem for this preceding presence of God '? 
 It was of no avail for even apostles to go, till God went before them. They were 
 men of good ordinary ability, they had recollections of the Saviour's example to 
 guide them, and glorious memories of His love to inspire them ; yet they were 
 to tarry, as though they were helpless as children, waiting for the promise of the 
 Father. The Saviour's words, " Without me ye can do nothing," are written not 
 simply in the Gospel of John, but throughout the Bible. 2. The Pillar of Fire 
 and Cloud, and the Ark of the Covenant, were the two and only visible guides, 
 indicating God's presence, that the Israelites had to accompany them in their 
 journeys. There is one feature which is common to them both : in times of rest 
 they were with the people, in times of marching the Cloud always and the Ark 
 sometimes went before them. Resting, the Cloud stood over the camp ; march- 
 ing, it went before the people. The Ark, too, was set up in the middle of the 
 camp, and in ordinary marches was carried in the midst of the Israelites ; but in a 
 great emergency like this the Ark leads the way. Surely all this is significant, and 
 intended not merely for the Jews ; read in the light of the tarrying for Pentecost, 
 does it not seem " written for our admonition" ? God's presence with us should 
 always lead to praise, worship, and work ; there are, however, solemn seasons in 
 the history of the Church when God seems manifestly to go before His people, and 
 then both Testaments teach that His people must follow. There must be no resting 
 then, nor are ordinary methods of worship and work sufficient for periods like 
 these. Does not this comprehend all great revival movements in the history of the 
 Church, not excepting that which has recently excited so much attention through- 
 out England, and is now stirring the multitudes of London to new thought and 
 intense feeling ? Is God with this work '? Are men being saved, and helped to 
 turn to holiness ? If so, energy of this kind does not come from beneath, neither 
 is this the manner of man. There cannot be the least doubt that ordinary methods 
 of teaching and training are good for ordinarj- times ; but ought we not to be 
 prepared for God to sometimes go altogether before us ? And if it be God who 
 goes before, we must follow, — follow gladly, heartily, and earnestly. The Ark of 
 His presence may get quite out of the usual track, it may wander even into the 
 bed of the river ; timid Israelites may fear lest it should be swept away in the 
 flood ; yet, if it be His presence, they will do well to follow, for even this unusual 
 way leads to a rich inheritance for the teeming thousands of the people, who till 
 it is trodden only experience the bitterness of a grievous bondage, and the 
 possession of a barren desert. Holy fear and holy caution maybe well, and none 
 
 35 
 
nO^riLETIC C03nrEXTARr: JOSHUA. fn\p. m. 
 
 should be angry or harsh -with any who are moved thereto, for thinf^s are not so 
 visible to sense now as on the banks of the Jordan ; yet those who fear harm 
 from the flood of unusual feeling may do well to remember that the Ark commands 
 the waters, and not the waters the Ark. II. Even when God is most mani- 
 festly present with His people, He ever leaves ample scope for faith. 1. The 
 Pillar of Cloud was, at this time, probably withdrawn. The people had only the 
 every-day Ark. That which for forty years had been a supernatural assurance 
 that the Lord was with them, had probably vanished altogether. This could nut 
 but have been a trial to those who were weak in faith. 2. Although the passage 
 was to take place on the morrow, it does not seem that the people at this time 
 had any idea of the manner in which it was to be made. 3. When they arrived 
 at the river, much firmness would be needed by them all. Think of the faith 
 required by those who were the first to cross, and of the demand made by the 
 accumulated body of water on the trust of those who crossed last. However 
 much faith may be taxed when we see few signs of God's presence, let none think 
 that poor faith will suffice when God is manifestly with us. Faith is taxed then 
 more than ever. True, it has blessed encouragements, but the encouragements 
 are not given for nothing. Those whom the Lord most helps, have temptations 
 to unbelief which His ordinary servants know little of, and from which the boldest 
 might well shrink. He is but poorly taught, who thinks that any of God's 
 children on earth ever walk by sight. III. The consciousness of God's presence 
 best goes with deep reverence and profound humility. The people were not 
 to come near the Ark by a space of more than half a mile. With so much reason 
 to love God for His mighty works on their behalf, it is just at the point where His 
 goodness should provoke love, that His wisdom finds an occasion to teach them 
 reverence. Glowing with thankfulness for Divine help, the very distance at which 
 they are kept teaches them to walk " in awe, and sin not." The advance of the 
 Ark for nearly three quarters of a mile in front was calculated no less to teach 
 them humility. There was the Ark, borne only by a few weak priests quite away 
 from its armed guard, and right in the direction of the enemy. It should have 
 been enough to make Israel say once for all, " We can do nothing to protect that. 
 Our many thousands of armed men are not needed to guard the Ark, however 
 much, as these rising waters teach us, they may need the Ark to defend them," 
 Thus we have an inter-working of several things : Mighty works are wrought, 
 which tend to provoke love, love must not forget reverence, triumph must go with 
 humility ; and then we are taught incidentally by the distant Ai'k that the position 
 of reverence and humility is after all the very best position in which to see God. 
 Had the Ark been close to the people, few would have seen it ; the distance that 
 is favourable for right feelings is also best for clear perception. 1. The temh'ncies 
 qt love to familiaritii . Flippant thoughts; fliiDpant quotations of Divine words; 
 flippant prayers. 2. TIte tendencies of reverence to a cold and stately foniKtlitij. 
 God loves this no better than irreverence. David is called the man after 
 God's own heart ; sermingly this was most of all on account of his enthusiasm. 
 IV. Reverence is nothing, and humility is nothing, unless there be also holiness. 
 "Sanctify yourselves." 1. Holiness is to be the rule of God's people in ecir[i-day 
 life. Luther said, "Holiness consisteth not in a cowl or a garment of gi'ay. 
 When God purifies the heart by faith, the market is sacred as well as the 
 sanctuary; niiither remaiueth there any work or place which is profane." 
 
 " We need not bid, for cloister'd cell, 
 Our neighbour .and our work fare;vcll : 
 Tlie trivial round, the foninion task, 
 Would fuiiiish all wc ought to ask ; 
 Room to deny ourselves ; a road 
 To bring us, daily, nearer God." — Keble. 
 
 2. Yet there are solemn seasons in our lives, which demand our special consecra^ 
 Iton to God. The very work that avc do, the journey that we take, the new period 
 8(5 
 
CHAP. III. 
 
 HOBIILETIC COmiENTABY: JOSHUA. 
 
 of life on which we enter, the special tokens which we have of God's presence ; 
 these, in themselves, may urge on us this old commandment, " Sanctify your- 
 selves." 3. Remember that ^^Without Itolincss no man sJiall see the Lord," It 
 is said that an atheist, well known to the late Bp. Wilberforce, once contemptu- 
 ously and flippantly accosted him by saying, '* Good morning, sir: Can you 
 kindly tell me the way to heaven ? " With dignity and wisdom quite equal to the 
 occasion, the Bishop is said to have immediately answered, " Turn to the right, 
 and then go straight on." Salvation is through Jesus Christ only ; it is never by 
 works, it is also never without works. 
 
 SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES. 
 
 Verses 1, 2. The Penalties of 
 Greatness. 
 
 1. Great encouragements are to be 
 followed by diligent service. The 
 
 people gladly owned Joshua as their 
 leader, and Joshua at once began to 
 enter on his arduous service. He " rose 
 early," and set to work diligently. (See 
 introduction to previous discourse.) It 
 is said that when an ancient Boman 
 was onoe accused of witchcraft, in draw- 
 ing away the fertility of his neighbours' 
 lands into his own, because he had 
 great crops and theirs were but small, 
 he had brought with him to the place 
 of trial his well-fed oxen, his industrious 
 servants, and the instruments of his 
 husbandry : pointing to them in the 
 presence of his judge, he exclaimed, 
 " These are the instruments of my 
 witchcraft, which I diligently apply, 
 and besides these I use none." The 
 idle find that nothing prospers ; the 
 diligent, that there is little which fails. 
 God's blessing comes to men throiuih 
 their eflbrts, not instead of them. II. 
 The avowal of the public confidence 
 should be succeeded by prompt eiiorts 
 for the public good. 1. No one will 
 trust for long those who are slotliful. 
 2. Self-seeking is even worse than idle- 
 ness. Joshua, in his energy, sought not 
 so much an inheritance for himself, as 
 for all the people. 
 
 " Self-love thus pushed to social, to divine, 
 Gives thee to make thy neighbour's blessing 
 
 thine. 
 Is this too little for the boundless heart ? 
 Extend it, let thy enemies have part. 
 Grasp the whole world of Eeason, Life, 
 
 and Sense, 
 In one close system of Benevolence : 
 Hajipier as kinder, in whatever degi'ee, 
 And height uf Bhss but height of Charity." 
 
 III. The utterances of a God-taught 
 mind are to be sustained by the most 
 scrupulous fidelity. It was in no mere 
 enthusiasm that Joshua had promised 
 that the Jordan should be crossed in 
 three days ; even if it were so, he here 
 shews himself faithful to his word. 
 Lavater wrote : " Words are the wings 
 of actions;" with too many they are 
 wings to nothing but the tongue. How 
 much higher than the common estimate 
 of the dignity of speech was that of the 
 late Canon Ivingsley, when he gave 
 utterance to the following thoughts : 
 " What is it which makes men dilfercut 
 from all other living things we know 
 of? Is it not speech — the power of 
 words ? The beasts may make each 
 other understand many things, but they 
 have no speech. These glorious tilings 
 — words — are man's right alone, part 
 of the image of the Son of God — the 
 Word of God, in which man was created. 
 If men would but think what a noble 
 thing it is to be able to speak in words, 
 to thmk in words, to write in words ! 
 Without words we should know no 
 more of each other's hearts and thoughts 
 than the dog knows of his fellow dog ; 
 w 'lOut words to think in, for if you 
 will consider, you always think to your- 
 self in ivords, though you do not speak 
 them aloud ; and without them all our 
 thoughts would be mere blind longings, 
 feehugs which we could not understand 
 ourselves. Without words to write in 
 we could not know what our forefathers 
 did — we could not let our children after 
 us know what we do." 
 
 If such be the dignity of speech, how 
 sacred our words ought to be. Think 
 of the careless words, the deceitful 
 words, the vain words, the malicious 
 words, the slanderous words, in which 
 
 37 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 men sin with their tongues. No won- 
 der, when we think of the high dignity 
 and distinctive privilege of speech, that 
 Jesus Christ should say, "Every idle 
 word that men shall speak, they shall 
 give an account thereof in the day of 
 judgment." When the Saviour speaks 
 thus of men generally, what manner of 
 persons ought His disciples to be in all 
 holy conversation and godliness ? And 
 when God gives to men special light, 
 and a prominent position, how carctuUy 
 they should speak, and with what holy 
 fidelity should they seek to let none of 
 their words fall to the ground. 
 
 If preferred, the subject of these two 
 verses might be thrown into some such 
 form as the following : I. The respon- 
 sibilities imposed by great encourage- 
 ments. II. The responsibilities im- 
 posed by the confidence of our fellows. 
 III. The responsibilities imposed by 
 words based on superior know edge. 
 
 Verses 3, 4. Following aftku God. 
 
 I. He who follows God in His cove- 
 nant must follow Him at all times 
 and everywhere. Of what use would 
 it have been for Israel to have marched 
 alter the pillar of cloud in the wilder- 
 ness, where there were no rivers and 
 no enemies, if they had refused to fol- 
 low the ark thrcsgh Jordan ? 1. Men 
 ncli'cl the paths of life, even when con- 
 science points clearly to one, and no 
 better reason than personal preference 
 can be found for the other. Even 
 Cliristian men are founl doing this. 
 Unlawful callings, questionable com- 
 panions ; forbidden pleasures. Bye- 
 Path Meadow looks fairer to walk in 
 than the King's highway, and men 
 choose the pleasant, irrespeetiye of 
 where it leads. 2. Men select the prin- 
 ciples ahich (juide and direct life. Poli- 
 tical society is made up of parties ; it 
 would be very interesting, but perhaps 
 not a little humiliating, could we know 
 how far father, mother, friends, and 
 family traditions have had to do with 
 the forma! ion of these distinctive asso- 
 ciations ol' men, and how far each mem- 
 ber of political society has been guided 
 and ruled by principles. Religious 
 society is made up of many denomina- 
 tions ; how far are these the outcome 
 ol taste, preference, and love of case ? 
 38 
 
 It is not a little strange to think how 
 many Christian men inherit not only 
 their bodies from their parents, but also 
 their consciences and their creeds. It 
 is fashionable in high life to think 
 much of descent, and to trace it through 
 as many generations as possible : think 
 of the divine historian writing down 
 for our perusal presently the ancestry 
 of our individual conscience, and the 
 genealogy of our personal faith. What 
 a book it will be ! What a holy satire 
 on ecclesiastical polemics, and on the 
 enthusiasm of our Christian (!) contro- 
 versies ! 3. Men select the duties of life. 
 Some are ignored as inconvenient, while 
 others are performed because they are 
 not so particularly troublesome ; and 
 when the process is over, the performer 
 lies down to sleep, softly murmuring to 
 himself as a preliminary dream, " I am 
 a Christian ; I am a Christian too." 
 4. il/eu carry this idea of selection even 
 to the precepts of the Bible. As Dr. 
 Bushnell has forcibly pointed out, we 
 have "respectable sin" and sin un- 
 respectable, where the Scriptures make 
 no such distinction-. Fancy any chui'ch 
 gravely proposing to exclude a member 
 for being covetous or a railer. Yet these 
 are deliberately included by the apostle 
 with the fornicators and idolaters, with 
 whom, if called brethren, he told the 
 Corintliians not even to eat. People 
 are quite willing to think that some of 
 the sins named in 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10, are 
 fatal to a Christian profession ; judging 
 by the love of money and the love of 
 scandal current in many churches, they 
 seem equally willing to forget that in 
 these same verses it is said of extor- 
 tioners, of the covetous, and of revilers, 
 they " shall not inherit the kingdom of 
 God." With ever so much indignation 
 against I'arwin and Spencer, Tyndal 
 and Huxbjy, the Church also has not 
 onlj' its ticory but its practice of "Na- 
 tural SeL ction," and the "survival of 
 the fittes.." Tne inconvenient com- 
 mandments of God arc pushed out of 
 life, and left to weakness and death, 
 while such as are thought bearable, and 
 at the same time helpful to respecta- 
 bility, are selected as the essentials of 
 piety, and made, according to the doc- 
 trine that prevails, the sign of a living 
 
CHAP. III. 
 
 IIOMILETIC COMMENT AILY: JOSUUA. 
 
 faith or a direct passport to eternal life. 
 O for more grace that shall lead Chris- 
 tians everywhere to say from the heart, 
 " Lord, I will follow Thee withersoever 
 Thou goest." II. He who follows God 
 fully must be prepared for much 
 walking by faith. He who " com- 
 mits his way unto the Lord " will often 
 be led to wonder at the strangeness of 
 the path. There is no saying where 
 the next steps will take him ; they may 
 lead into darkness quite beyond the 
 power of human ken, and into depths 
 where the only voice that reaches the 
 ear will be simply one that says, " Take 
 no thought for to-morrow." This is 
 not by any means the only instance 
 where those who follow the Lord have 
 bad to walk through the place of mighty 
 waters, and where the only thing seen 
 interposing between themselves and 
 destruction has been the covenant which 
 told of help from an omnipotent Arm, 
 and of love and sympathy and care 
 from a Father's heart. III. He who 
 follows God need have no fear; for 
 when men really follow, God Himself 
 goes before. God asks us to go no- 
 where and do nothing in which He is 
 not wilhng to be with us. If God be 
 with us, that is salvation ; the very rocks 
 will have water for our thirst, the skies 
 manna for our hunger, the torrent a 
 path for our feet, and even the walled 
 cities will fail to lend to our adversaries 
 any sufficient defence. IV. He who 
 follows God will constantly find him- 
 self walking in new paths. " Ye have 
 not passed this way heretofore." There 
 will be new service, new experiences, 
 new prayers, and new songs, till he 
 shall enter into the heavenly inheritance, 
 and take his part with celestial hosts in 
 singing the song of the Lamb. The 
 way down to death is ever the way 
 to obscurity and contractedness, till it 
 ends in the darkness and narrowness 
 of the grave; the way after God is 
 incessant development and increasing 
 light, till it leads into the bi-oad expanse 
 of heaven, and into the effulgent bright- 
 ness of the Divine presence and glorj^ 
 
 Verse 4, last clause. Sermon for a 
 New Year. 
 
 When the Israelites beard the evil 
 report of the ten spies, and rebelled 
 
 against Moses, God said of all of them 
 under twenty, " Your children shall 
 trander in the wilderness forty years." 
 During that long period the people must 
 have become very familiar with the 
 desert ; its principal geographical fea- 
 tures would be known by heart to men 
 who frequently crossed old tracks and 
 re-trod old paths. Crossing the Jordan, 
 the way would be strange and altogether 
 new ; it would be new, moreover, not 
 merely in a geographical sense, but alto- 
 gether, to most of them, a totally fresh 
 kind of experience. That they might 
 know this way, which they had not 
 passed heretofore, they were to follow 
 the ark, and follow it in such a man- 
 ner that each could see i for himself. 
 Time has strange jxdJis an i iieir experi- 
 ences as irell as territonj, and the teach- 
 ing of God to keep the Ark of the 
 Covenant in sight is important, not only 
 in the one case, but equally so in the 
 other. We who "know not what a 
 day may bring forth " may well won- 
 der into what strange and new paths 
 we may be led by a whole year. 
 Happy is he who can walk every step 
 with his faith directed to a present 
 God, and bis eye looking into that 
 covenant which is "A lamp unto the 
 feet and a light unto the path." I. The 
 year upon which we have entered may 
 bring new perplexities; therefore we 
 should seek afresh the Divine guid- 
 ance. Financially, socially, spirituall}', 
 the days may form a very labyrinth and 
 maze about us. How are we to walk 
 where our own discernment is insuffi- 
 cient, and when the wisdom of men 
 would be only as the blind*'leading the 
 blind ? It is said that when Philip of 
 Macedon was about to set out on bis 
 Persian expedition, he sent to consult 
 the oracle of Delphi as to the issue of 
 the war. The answer was given with 
 the usual ambiguity, " The bull is 
 crowned, everything is ready, and the 
 sacrificer is at hand," a reply which 
 would do equally well to foreshadow 
 the king's victory or depict bis death. 
 Within a few days Philip was slain -with 
 the sword of the assassin Pausanias. 
 These old oracular utterances form a 
 grim satire on the advice of men, not a 
 little of which is given more with a 
 
HOMILETIC C031MEN1ARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 view of avoiding responsibility, than of 
 affording genuine direction. Jonah was 
 by no means the last of the race Avho 
 think more of the prestige of the pro- 
 phet than of the fate of the city. "What 
 with human selfishness and human 
 blindness, we often need better guid- 
 ance than that of our fellows. He is 
 led well and wisely who makes the 
 Scriptures the man of his counsel, — 
 who prays, " Shew me Thy ways, 
 Lord, teach me Thy paths ; " for " The 
 secret of the Lord is with them that 
 fear Him, and He will shew them His 
 covenant." II. The year may bring 
 new afflictions ; therefore we should 
 each cultivate a closer union with 
 God. He who forms a lowly habit of 
 depending on Divine help, gradually 
 gets his life rooted and grounded into 
 the life of God. " Growing up into 
 Him " who is our strength in days which 
 arc calm, we are not likely to fail in 
 the day of tempest and storm. How 
 the ivy clings to the strong oak, just 
 because when the last rough wind which 
 had loosened it ceased to blow, it began 
 afresh to knit fibre to fibre, and ivy- 
 root to oak bark, so as to be prepared 
 for the trial that should come next. 
 Nature uses her calms in preparing for 
 her storms. So should we use the 
 peace and prosperity of the present to 
 anticipate the possible strife and ad- 
 versity of the future. III. The year 
 may bring new temptations, and there- 
 fore calls on us to " watch and pray." 
 As we get older we are apt to grow into 
 a careless feeling of security. Men vir- 
 tually say, "I have stood, I do stand; 
 therefore I shall stand." Christian his- 
 tory should rather teach us to put it, 
 " I have stood, I do stand ; therefore I 
 may grow careless and fall." It was 
 just after the destruction of Sodom 
 which threw Abraham's fidelity into pro- 
 minence, by disclosing the fall of Lot 
 and the guilt of the cities of the plain, 
 that the father of the faithful denied 
 his wife. It was the long-tried Moses 
 who sinned at Meribah. It was after 
 David had so long behaved himself 
 wisely belore Saul ; after he had danced 
 before the ark, written many a sweet 
 song for Israel, and volunteered to build 
 the temple, that he turned adulterer and 
 •40 
 
 murderer. It was long after his noble 
 confession, at the end of all the miracles, 
 and when he had for years delighted in 
 the teaching and love of the Saviour, 
 that Peter said, "I know not the man." 
 IV. The year will discover new duties, 
 and thus requires oui' re-consecration 
 to the service of Christ. There will 
 be new demands for work, new oppor- 
 tunities, and new responsibilities. The 
 ardour and zeal of the past will sufiice 
 but poorly for the labour of the future. 
 It was on "the first day of the first 
 month" that this Ark of the Covenant 
 was set up ; it was God's new year's 
 gift to encourage His people to a year 
 of fresh work and worship. When 
 David was called from the sheepfold to 
 be a king, Samuel anointed him with 
 oil in the name of the Lord ; the 
 new sphere and the new duties were 
 anticipated in this customary act of for- 
 mal consecration. So we need stage 
 by stage throughout our lives " an unc- 
 tion from the Holy One." V. The 
 year may bring new privileges, which 
 we should be prepared to embrace. 
 The new way will have new scenery, 
 new possessions, new joys, and should 
 have new songs. As a traveller iu 
 classic Rome, or among the mountains 
 of Switzerland, provides himself with a 
 guide, that he may see as many things 
 and points of interest as possible, so 
 we should be careful to search out the 
 mercies which are "new every morning," 
 and often place ourselves where broad 
 views of Divine greatness and love shall 
 gladden our spirits and renew our life. 
 VI. The year may reveal a new life 
 and a fresh inheritance ; therefore we 
 should be prepared for death. Our 
 cold river may also have to be crossed. 
 Shall we find on the other side the New 
 Jerusalem, and one of the many man- 
 sions ready for us ? Shall we find 
 again, waiting for us there, our loved 
 ones, who have already departed to be 
 with Christ ; and with them, and tho 
 whole host of the redeemed, take our 
 part in the New Song ? 
 
 Verses 5, G. I. The Lord's wonder- 
 ful works demanding Kis people's 
 special sanctification. This is by no 
 means a solitary instance in which God 
 re(iuircs His great works to be received 
 
ca.\p. HI. liOJIlLETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 by man with peculiar holiness. (Cf. feeling was taught to Moses ; with God 
 
 Ex. xix. 10 ; Numb. xi. 18; Joel ii. 15 before him in the burning bush, he was 
 
 — 82.) If the more wonderful work- to put his shoes from ofl" his feet ; with 
 
 iiigs of God are not met on our part by God passing by, he was to hide himself 
 
 increased holiness, they Avill assuredly in the cleft of the rock ; and when God 
 
 do us harm. The Pentecost that blessed met His servant on Sinai, we are told 
 
 three thousand, probably left a multitude that it was amidst such manifestations 
 
 in Jerusalem harder in their hearts than of power and majesty, that Moses 
 
 ever. II. The Lord's wonderful works said, " I exceedingly fear and quake.'' 
 
 demanding His people's devoutest Faber's beautiful hymn, beginning 
 
 " My God, how wonderful Thou art ! 
 
 reverence. The priests carried the ark 
 only on very solemn occasions. They, 
 and not the Kohathites, were the bear- is written throughout with exquisite 
 ers here. It was the same in the march feeling, beautifully expounding the awe 
 around Jericho, and in other important that should go with love, and the rap- 
 events where God was, or was supposed ture that may mingle with our lowliest 
 to be, specially present. The same adoration. 
 
 MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGEAPH.—tetses 7—13. 
 Divine and Christian Honoues. 
 
 Honour is one of the rewards of Hfe which Christian men have sometimes 
 failed to honour. In the ordinary conscience and judgment it has often been con- 
 fused with petty pride and paltry ambition. The world has tried to dignify mere 
 position or possessions by the name of " honourable," till even good men are not 
 quite certain that coming to honour does not mean, at least partially, coming to 
 something wicked. Society tells us that "the king is the fountain of honour," 
 and that is supposed to hold good even when the fountain has no better repute than 
 rJchard HI., Henry VIII., or one of the Charleses Stuart. A member of Parliament 
 is always " The Honourable Member," whether he has any houour or not, and if 
 he happen to be in the Privy Council, then he is " Right Honourable," though in 
 mind and character he may be neither the one nor the other. Irrespective of 
 what a lady may be, she has only to be attached to the household of the Queen 
 to be a "Maid of Honour," and even transactions so nefarious as the traffic 
 through Penn for the liberty of the Taunton school girls has been supposed to 
 ioave the "honour" quite unimpaired. A man need only be the younger son of 
 r i\earl, the son of a viscount or a baron, or possess some equally adventitious 
 chiinVand forthwith society dubs him "honourable." Thus it has come to pass 
 that we have had honourable outlaws and honourable debtors, whose only thought 
 has been how to avoid payment of that which they owed ; all sorts of honourable 
 people, with hardly enough character to keep blushes out of the face of a respect- 
 able tramp or of a decent beggar. So perhaps it is not wonderful that Christian 
 men have been found to think small things of houour, and to treat even the fame 
 of a noble life with scant courtesy, as if it were only some more respectable ren- 
 dering of worldliness and sin. Our great poet had other thoughts when he said — 
 
 " If it be a sin to covet honour, 
 I am the most offending soul alive." 
 
 He tells us more distinctly what he means, when he writes — 
 
 " Mine Honour is my Life ; both grow in one ; 
 Take Honour from me, and my Life is done." 
 
 Men have done themselves wrong — we cannot say how much wrong — by allowmg 
 themselves to be driven from the desire for a just fame before the eyes of their 
 
 41 
 
HOMILETIC COMiMSiXTAKY: JOSHUA. 
 
 fellows. God, who also knows human weaknesses, has not dealt with them in 
 a manner so indiscriminate. He says to Joshua, " I will magnify thee, I will 
 magnify thee before the people ; this day will I begin to magnify thee in the 
 sight of all Israel." I. The honour which God loves to put upon His servants. 
 God would magnify Joshua as He had maguitied Moses. He would give him a large 
 place in the minds of the people ; He would do this by a miracle. God tells His 
 servant this before it comes to pass ; He fills him with thought about it, and 
 sets his mind and desu'e on this matter. Honour and desire for honour cannot all 
 be sinful, when the Holy God docs this. We are not altogether to shut ourselves 
 out from the wish and hope that others may think well of us. There is a certain 
 place in the public mind which we may earnestly desire to fill ; we may yearn 
 to shew men that God is with ?/s, with us in our character and work, with us 
 for the sake of others. 1. God's dcdifiht in Jionouriiuf His faithful serraiits is slwwn 
 throiK/hout the Bible and all throunh Iniman historij. Take the case of Elijah ; 
 the long drought, the miracle on Carmel, the prayer and the answering rain, the 
 fulfilment of the predictions concerning the death of Ahab. The preservation of 
 Daniel in the den of lions was God's distinguishing honour set upon the life of 
 the man who was found faithful both in his business and his religion. Think 
 of Paul foretelling the disaster in the Adriatic Sea, and of his being able to 
 speak to those about him of the angel of God who had stood by him to reveal the 
 future, an impression presently deepened by the marvellous incident at Malta, in 
 which the bite of the viper from the fire brings no harm. God loved to exalt the 
 man who had so exalted the Saviour. All through profane bistort' '.1 has been the 
 game : there are great names which tower up above all other names, just be- 
 cause God has honoured the men who bore them. How human all this makes 
 God seem ; how human in His sympathies ! This is how we feel about our 
 children. Who would not see his son honoured ? It seems to bring God so near, 
 that He should think about His children as we so naturally and ardently think 
 Concerning ours. Do not, then, let us worship a groat abstraction of omnipotence 
 and majesty ; this is a Father who waits to magnify His children, just as we might 
 wish to worthily exalt ours. When we draw near to adore God, let us also 
 learn to love. 2. How is it that wore of His cJiildren are not magnified hij God ] 
 He could honour us all, if He would ; why are so few made prominent ? Well, 
 if God were to magnify everybody in this way, the world would all become pious 
 in order to get its celestial decoration — a kind of blue ribbon from above — and 
 thus religion would become the most selfish and vain and sinful condition of 
 human life. But we need not contemplate the evil which would arise in this 
 direction. There is another reason Avhich intercepts that by a long way. So very 
 few of us could bear to be magnified. Most men Avould shew their honours, and 
 find in them an eccasion for pride. Honour, such as Joshua's, would ruin most of 
 us ; so God withholds this source of harm. By-and-bj', when we can bear it, He 
 is going to make us all kings — kings and priests unto Himself; but we cannot 
 endure that till we become like Him, and see Him as He is. How human this 
 is also ; it is thus that we feel in our holiest longings for our children. If it were 
 not for the temptation, and the mischief, and the curse, few would think any 
 honour too great for his own son. Were we to consult only our hearts, 
 where should we come to the limit at which we would stay the honour and the 
 joy of our children ? And if it were only a question of God's heart how we, as 
 His children, should be magnified even on earth, nothing' would be too large for 
 God's love, only the honours would harm us, curse us, destroy us ; so just as we 
 should desire to place limits on our children, our heavenly Father limits us. 
 3. The life nhick God is /irepared to honour is the life irhirh is ^cilling to (jire itself 
 for God and for men. Joshua puts all his honour back again on God; he gives his 
 life, and the influence which comes from his magnified mime, not to win a posses- 
 sion for himself, but to bring his brctlircn into their inheritance. When all the 
 fighting and labour arc over, Joshua asks for himself only a poor and insignificant 
 42 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 estate, which we only hear of as his own name mikes It conspicuous (cf. chap. xix. 
 49, 50). Joshua sought to bless men, and desired to magnify the name of Jehovah. 
 God is just as willing to magnify any one of us, if we were only able to bear it, for 
 there are no prejudices with Him. But what about all our self-seeking, self-love, 
 self-adoration ? what of this constant turning of our thoughts to ourselves, as if 
 the chief good of the universe began and ended there ? When we are ready to 
 give ourselves for others, God will be ready to set us on high before men. " If 
 any man serve Me, him will My Father honour." II. The honour in which a 
 true servant loves to proclaim his God. 1. The true servant rcfem all (jradous 
 words to their Author. "Hear the words of the Lord." There is no spirit of 
 plagiarism ; all the grace is referred back at once to God. It reads like an early 
 edition of Paul — "God forbid that I should glory, save," etc. This anticipates 
 the song of " Not unto us, not unto us, Lord, but unto Thy name be the 
 glory." Joshua says never a word about his own magnified name; he simply 
 says, " Come hither, and hear the words of the Lord your God." 2. The true 
 servant thinks the words of his Lord worthy to be heard. Joshua is anxious to 
 bless men and eiicourage them, and he knows that these Divine words will be 
 helpful. Oh for a larger measure of enthusiasm in the Scriptures, and a faith 
 which will believe that they are the power of God unto salvation ! 3. The true 
 servant, even in his incidental expressions, shews that he tliinks there is none like unto' 
 God. " Hereby . . . the living God," etc. The people had left a country of 
 dead and polluted gods, and the gods of the Canaanites were no better than those 
 of the Egyptians. The very manner in which this is said shews how incident- 
 ally the thought of the contrast came to the speaker's lips. If we love God 
 indeed, our love will make itself seen in a multitude of forms. 4. The true ser- 
 vant shews that he thinks notJiing too hard for the Lord (ver. 10). Our life also 
 has to meet with opposition from men, and with natural obstacles, but through 
 Jesus Christ we should feel and know that we may be " more than conquerors." 
 6. TJie true servant confirms his proclamation of God bij pointinr/ his fellows to 
 the visible link in which God is seen comucting Himself with the interests of men. 
 " Behold the ark," etc. The superstition around us is a great evil ; we have need 
 to be even more filled with concern at the way in which men seek to obliterate 
 from the earth all visible tokens and traces of Deity. The materialist does this 
 on principle, as a theory ; the pleasure-seeker and the careless do it in practice ; 
 the true servant of Jehovah points to the tokens of Divine presence, and says, 
 *' God is there, and there, and there." With which class do we take our posi- 
 tion ? Are we with the superstitious who obscure the Lord's presence ? with the 
 men whose lives proclaim that they are " without God in the world" ? or can 
 we take our stand with this man, who, looking at to-morrow's difficulties, says, 
 X'ith a holy faith, " Behold the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of all the earth 
 passeth over before you " ? 
 
 SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES. 
 
 Verse 7. The Spirit and Ten- is of God has humility. " As the lark 
 
 DENCiES OP Worldly and Divine that soars the highest, builds her nest 
 
 Honours. the lowest ; the nightingale that sings 
 
 I. "Worldly honours often have no the sweetest, sings in the shade when 
 
 relation to character, while the all things rest ; the branches that are 
 
 honour wliich comes from God is most laden with ripe fruit, bend lowest; 
 
 usually more within a man than upon and the ship with the heaviest cargo 
 
 him. The dignity in one case is often sinks deepest in the water, — so the 
 
 accidental and foreign ; in the other hoUest Christians are the humblest " 
 
 case it is through and because of no- (Mason). It has frequently been pointed 
 
 bility of spirit. II. Worldly honours out that soon after his conversion Paul 
 
 lead to pride, while the honour which said he was " unworihi/ to he called an 
 
 43 
 
nOMILETIC COMMElsTARY: JOSHUA 
 
 apostle." Nearly thirty years later this 
 experienced Christian of much grace 
 and many works "wrote to the Ephesians, 
 speaking of himself as " less than the 
 least of all saints." Just before his 
 martyrdom when his course was finished 
 and his good fight fought, he wrote to 
 Timothy, " sinners, of uhom I am 
 chief." Thus, too, Joshua goes away 
 to the Israelites, forgetting to say any- 
 thing about his own magnified name. 
 How often Avhen worldly honours come 
 to a worldly spirit, they soon get to be 
 the only thing about the possessor for 
 which even the world has any respect. 
 The spirit which is really noble wears 
 with increasing humility both the ap- 
 plause of men and the favours of God. 
 III. Worldly honours are unsatisfy- 
 ing, and tend to promote selfishness, 
 while the honour which is from God 
 is filled with peace and benevolence. 
 Any man who gives himself up in a 
 worldly spirit to delight in fame, even 
 though it should be fame for fame's 
 sake coming through spiritual work, 
 gets to live in a world which is daily 
 narrowing down to himself ; and when 
 life comes to be bounded all round by 
 his own small individuality, no wonder 
 that life is soon found to be mean and 
 insignificant. The man who wears his 
 honours with a godly mind gets to live 
 every day in a larger and more beauti- 
 ful world, while the mere creature of 
 fame is like a prisoner in the cell, the 
 iron sides of which drew gradually 
 closer each week, till the miserable 
 victim was presently crushed to death. 
 IV. Worldly honours are temporary 
 and perishing, while the honour which 
 conies from God abides for ever. Time 
 has done nothing to obscure the names 
 of Abraham, and Moses, and Joshua, 
 and Samuel, and Paul; they are as 
 great before men to-day as when they 
 were first magnified by the Lord. Even 
 poor Byron, looking at the world's 
 glories, could only write, — 
 
 " Thy fanes, thy tern pics, to the suT-face bow, 
 Coniniiii5|lin}x ssluwly with heroic raith, 
 Urokohy the sh.Tre ot evury rustic ])hiu^'h : 
 
 So perisli monuments of mortal birth, 
 So pci-ish all in turn, save ivell-rccvrdc^ 
 \\ ortL" 
 
 Thus while all material honours, and 
 
 everything which might be great, hvt 
 which is made worldly by being re- 
 ceived in a worldly spirit, perishes and 
 vanishes away, the glory of the Lord, 
 like His mercy, endureth for ever and 
 ever. 
 
 It is thought by some that at the 
 place where the Israelites crossed the 
 river our Lord was afterwards baptized 
 by John. The best MSS. call the 
 place named in John i. 28, Bethany, not 
 Bethabara. Origen, it is thought by 
 Dr. Clarke and others, altered the 
 reading to Bethabara, which means 
 " the house of passage." The name 
 Bethabara seems to have given rise 
 to the conjecture that the Saviour was 
 baptized at the spot where the Israelites 
 went over ; some maintain that the 
 baptism was administered at the very 
 place where the priests, supported the 
 Ark in the midst of the river. If this 
 were so, it is deeply interesting, nor 
 could it be justly treated as any mere 
 coincidence. It would be most signi- 
 ficant to think that in the spot where 
 Israel was baptized unto faith in Joshua 
 (as their fathers, in the Red Sea, were 
 said to have been baptized unto Moses), 
 Christ, the Joshua of the New Cove- 
 nant, was consecrated to the service in 
 which He also sought the faith of a 
 mighty multitude, that He might win 
 for them an abiding inheritance. It 
 would be temptingly suggestive for 
 homiletical purposes if we could believe 
 that God's people entered into that 
 Canaan which is a type of heaven at 
 the very place where Jesus was after- 
 wards set apart as a Saviour for His 
 peo|ilc. What a picture it would be -of 
 the Lord's own word, "I am the way." 
 The evidence, however, for the fact is 
 insuflicient, and perhaps the very in- 
 terest attaching to the idea should make 
 us receive it cautiously. No amount of 
 spiritual significance in teaching could, 
 possibly compensate for an untruth, or 
 for carelessness respecting truth. Kahab 
 might save the spies in her own way, 
 and Bebekah might seek to make the 
 covenant to Jacob sure by similar 
 methods ; God's ti'uth is never so much 
 adorned by us as Avhcii we make it 
 manifest that it has taught us truthful- 
 
nOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 Verse 8. "I will fear no Evil, 
 FOR Thou art with me ; " or, The 
 Swollen River, The Visible Ark, 
 AND the Undismayed Pilgrims. 
 
 This passage has no direct teaching 
 about death, and it would seem a wrong 
 use of Scripture to suggest that it has. 
 Let it be granted freely that Canaan 
 may be a type of heaven, and Jordan 
 a symbol of death, still we have no 
 authority to make the parables "stand 
 on all-fours." If this were otherwise, 
 the heaped up waters, their back-flow 
 to Adam, their on-flow to the Dead 
 Sea, the double valley of the river ; 
 the very drops of the water, and the 
 dill'erent trees of the land might, no 
 doubt, all be found to be " instructive." 
 While, however, God does not here 
 give us direct teaching about death, 
 there is no reason why this beautiful 
 illustration of a believer's confidence 
 during the passage of those last deep 
 waters should be passed fruitlessly by. 
 I. We are reminded that death, like 
 the Jordan, is sometimes calm and 
 peaceful, and sometimes turbulent. 
 Ordinarily the river was narrow, and 
 easily fordable ; but it was in the time 
 of "the swellings of Jordan" that the 
 Israelites had to cross over. 1. Death 
 is always a trial. No man ever becomes 
 familiar enough with death to do away 
 with its ordeal and solemnity. We 
 may have seen it often in others, 
 but it will be new to us. Concerning 
 some loved ones who have passed its 
 cold waters before us, we may have 
 only thoughts of gladness. We may 
 think of them and sing in the soft and 
 rich s<*ains of T. K. Hercey — 
 
 " I know thou hast gone to the home of thy 
 rest, 
 Then why should my soul be so sad ? 
 I know thou hast gone where the weary are 
 blest, 
 And the mourner looks up and is glad ; 
 
 " Where Love has put off, in the land of its 
 birth, 
 The stains it had gathered in this ; 
 And Hope, the sweet singer that gladdened 
 the earth, 
 Lies asleep on the bosom of Bliss. 
 
 " I know thou hast gone where thy forehead 
 is starred 
 With the beauty that dwelt in tliy soul ; 
 
 Where the light of thy loveliness cannot 
 be marred. 
 Nor the heart be flung back from ita 
 goal. 
 
 " I know thou hast drunk of the Lethe that 
 
 flows 
 Through a land where they do not forget, 
 That sheds over memory only repose, 
 And takes from it only regret." 
 
 So brightly and peacefully may we be 
 able to think of some who have fathomed 
 the depths before us. With all this to 
 cheer us, death will still be new when 
 we come to it for ourselves, and not 
 without its solemnity. But those who 
 can contemplate death like this, find 
 that not even its strangeness and awe 
 can destroy the calm given by its attend- 
 ant hopes. 2. Sometimes death is made 
 harder by jj%s/crtZ saffering. Many, 
 doubtless, sufier more severely in life 
 than when passing from life, but with 
 others these conditions may be reversed. 
 Terrible accidents or fearful diseases 
 may make death as the swellings of 
 Jordan, 3. Great social trials some- 
 times make death a severer ordeal. For 
 a father to die, and leave a family in 
 poverty, or for a widow to pass into 
 eternity, and leave several children un- 
 provided for and orphans, must aggra- 
 vate very terribly the pains of dying. 
 4. But the pain before which all others 
 seem to sink to peace, must be that of 
 dying " withoiU hope.'' May God deliver 
 us from such turbulence as the river 
 must shew to souls who come to it like 
 this. II. We are reminded here that 
 even when the attendant circum- 
 stances of death are very aggravated, 
 the believer may pass through fear- 
 ing no evil. The priests in their faith 
 could "stand still in Jordan," and the 
 believing hosts of the people could 
 tread the bed of the river in confidence. 
 Faith gives death also a very dilTerent 
 appearance from that which it presents 
 to men in unbelief. 1. The natural 
 view of death ha.s fear and even terror, 
 (a) Look at the world's literature. A 
 modern writer tells us that the fore- 
 most men of Greece and Rome applied 
 more than thirty epithets to death, "all 
 indicative of the deepest dejection and 
 dread." To them death was an " iron 
 sleep," " an eternal night," " gloomy," 
 
 45 
 
HOMILETIC COMMEXTAnY: JOSHUA. 
 
 " merciless," and " iDexorable," Our 
 great English poet, whom for many 
 years the world has delighted to honour, 
 wrote — 
 
 " Donth is a fearful thing : 
 To die and go \ve know not where ; 
 To lie in cold obstruction and to rot ; 
 
 " 'Tis too horrible 1 
 The weaiiest and most loaded worldly life, 
 That age. ache, penury, and imprisonment 
 Can lay on nature, is a paradise 
 To what we fear of death." 
 
 This is a dull, hard strain, and these 
 are but a few of many dreary lines 
 which the brilliant mind that catered 
 so long and ably for the world's joy 
 poured forth on this dread subject. 
 Another wrote : " Neither the sun nor 
 death can be looked at steadily." 
 Byron said — 
 
 " How clay shrinks back from more quiescent 
 clay 1 " 
 
 And Dry den — 
 
 " that I less could fear to lose this being:, 
 Which, like a snowball in my coward hand. 
 The more 'tis grasped, the faster melts 
 away. " 
 
 [b) What, too, are the world's unwritten 
 thoughts on death ? Think of the 
 myriad thoughts like these which no 
 one ever sets down. Think of the 
 stolen glances, and the quick turning 
 away ; of the deeper darkness which so 
 often, to some, seems to lie hidden away 
 within the folds of each returning night. 
 If the speech be so sad, what are the feel- 
 ings themselves ? 2. The view of death 
 given to faith is not like this. Look at 
 Christian literature, and commune with 
 the thoughts of the children of the 
 cross. One says, "I am now ready to 
 be offered," etc.; "Having a desire to 
 depart, and be with Christ, which is far 
 better;" "0 death, where is thy sting ? 
 O grave, where is thy victory ? " Nor 
 is this spirit of triumph an exceptional 
 heritage of apostles. The whole history 
 of the Church is harmonious with the 
 songs of its dying sons and daughters. 
 III. We are reminded that the only 
 suiiicient encouragement for faith to 
 contemplate, when we ccme to death, 
 will be the presence of God through 
 the covenant. The Ark was at oLce 
 the sign of fcafcty and the occasion of 
 AG 
 
 confidence. If we are to lose the fear 
 of death both now and when we come 
 near to it, it must be through Him who 
 came to deliver us from this "bondage." 
 The cross of Christ does not bridge the 
 river, but it stands up well out of it3 
 cold waters, that we may keep it in 
 sight ; and seeing it we are to behold 
 not merely a cross, but the covenant 
 of His presence who is " able to save to 
 the uttermost." It is knowing this that 
 we shall " stand firm in Jordan," say- 
 ing, " I will fear no evil, for Thou art 
 with me." 
 
 Verse 9. The Incomparable Woeds 
 
 OF THE LOED. 
 
 I. Consider the words of the Lord 
 in their claims. They are " the words 
 of the Lord your God." They come as 
 such to every one in the multitude of 
 the human race. No family privileges 
 or adversities, no dignity, and no po- 
 verty, no dislike to them or disbelief 
 of them can in any measure weaken 
 their claims. To every living man, 
 whether atheist, deist, idolater, world- 
 ling, or Christian, they come as the 
 words of his Lord and his God. 
 1. God made us each, and ovr opinion 
 about that cannot alter His claims upon 
 us. Our view of the origin of the 
 human race can never alter the fact 
 itself. 2. God supports us and provides 
 for us, and our disbelief can never affect 
 the measure of our oblif/ation. Fancy an 
 intelligent Israelite saying, " I know 
 that I had manna every morning, and 
 sometimes quails ; I know that I drank 
 of water, which flowed out of a rock, 
 just as I was perishing ; I know when 
 the hills were all about me, the Egyp- 
 tians behind me, and the waters cold 
 and threatening before me, that the sea 
 opened and became as a defending wall 
 on either side, and that while I escaped 
 mine enemies perished from my sight ; 
 I know that I have lived for forty years 
 in a desert which did not seem to have 
 supplies enough to support me alone, 
 and that two or three millions of my 
 people have always had enough, and 
 often more than enough ; I know that 
 the words of Moses, who professed to be 
 God's prophet, always came true — that 
 the nianra had a way of spoiling or 
 failing when we gathered it contrary to 
 
CHAP. III. 
 
 HOMILETIC C03I3IENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 instructions — that the brazen serpent 
 healed me and my bitten children, just 
 as he said it would, and that the man 
 himself often had amoral majesty about 
 him, which brought us back to obedience 
 when we felt most rebellious ; I re- 
 member feeling almost awed that morn- 
 ing when he came down from the 
 eruption of Mount Sinai — for such, as 
 an intelligent man, I prefer to call it — 
 with his face shining in that strange 
 brightness, and when he dashed down 
 the tables of stone in front of our new 
 calf, and made Aaron and all of us 
 feel as if we had done something very 
 wrong : I cannot forget all these things, 
 but I am wiser than I once was, and 
 now I see clearly that all the events 
 which we used to call miracles were the 
 working of natural causes, that Moses 
 was a shrewd and far-seeing man, and 
 as to his moral majesty, why he was 
 born to command. True, the coinci- 
 dences between our need and the deve- 
 lopment of these natural causes, which 
 so often helped us just as we were 
 perishing, leaves something to be ex- 
 plained; but I can understand so much, 
 that I am sure this part may be passed 
 over. Now when you talk to me of the 
 claims of the word of the Lord, don't 
 you think I am fairly entitled to ask, 
 How do you know that there is any 
 Lord, much less that you have His 
 words ?" Oh, how devils might laugh, 
 and how God, if He were less than 
 God, might despair, when men reason 
 like this ! II. Think of the words of 
 the Lord in their purity. The tenden- 
 cies of them are to make men holier 
 and larger in heart. They stimulate no 
 mean passions, such as vanity and self- 
 ishness. The ambition which heaven 
 stirs within us is exaltation through a 
 more exalted spirit. The Lord had told 
 Joshua that the day of his honour was 
 at hand ; but Joshua was stirred by the 
 words of the Lord, not to petty ideas of 
 his personal greatness, but to eflbrts 
 which should secure the inheritance of 
 the land to the people. The tenden- 
 cies of the Bible are to lead us to (1) 
 forgetfuluess of ourselves, (2) to a gene- 
 rous interest in men, and (3) to ardent 
 praise of God. III. Reflect on the 
 words of the Lord in their distinctive- 
 
 ness. 1. The ivords of the Lord are the 
 only words ivhich are ever addressed to 
 mans most serious difficulties. Only 
 Divine words are heard as to the way of 
 crossing into Canaan, and driving out the 
 Canaanites. In man's greatest neces- 
 sities it is still the same ; only the 
 words of God ever propose to meet 
 them, (rt) Law has no suitable wordr. 
 Think of listening to law in our be- 
 reavements, in our need of the pardon 
 of sin, of sanctification, of hope beyond 
 the grave. Law is pitiless, cold, and 
 inexorable. Law never said, " Com- 
 fort ye, comfort ye my people ; speak 
 ye comfortably unto men, and cry unto 
 them that their warfare is accomplished, 
 that their iniquity is pardoned." Law 
 never proposed for Israel a path through 
 the sea, manna from heaven, water from 
 rocks, or that the Jordan should stand 
 up in a heap till the people had passed 
 over. (I)) Men have never had any 
 suitable words for the deeper necessi- 
 ties of their race. The physician ac- 
 companies the sick within sight of the 
 grave, but once seeing that open before 
 them, he has nothing more to propose. 
 He has no medicine for death, and not 
 a single cordial is there in the whole of 
 his pharmacopoeia which he has ever 
 thought it worth while to prescribe as 
 a cure for bereavement. The engineer 
 has opened no door for us on the other 
 side of the grave, the chemist has 
 failed to bring immortality to light, and 
 the mechanician has never contrived 
 anything to bear the burden of sin. 
 The naturalist, the poet, and the phi- 
 losopher, as the priests of this world 
 must, have ever passed by, and left the 
 world's wounded on the other side ; or 
 if pity has drawn them to the side of 
 distress, they have discovered no words 
 but those of the old stoic, "You must 
 bear up as bravely as you can." It is 
 only God who ever speaks to the sub- 
 ject of our keenest miseries and pro- 
 foundest want. On questions like these, 
 there are no icords but the words of the 
 Lord. 2. The words of the Lord, even 
 on our deepest necessities, are not vaia 
 ivords. (a) They are practical. We 
 can always use them. They are not 
 mere theory, or poetry, or mysticism ; 
 they are never Utopian. Men can read 
 
 47 
 
UOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSRUA. 
 
 «;HAP. III. 
 
 them before any floods or any enemies, 
 and know what to do next, (b) They 
 are thorougb and sufficient. They do 
 ijot buoy men up for a season, and let 
 them sink after all. It is something 
 to say for Christianity, at least, that 
 even its' bitterest enemies have never 
 been able to charge its words with being 
 weak and comfortless, (r) They betiay 
 no efl'ort. There is as much ease about 
 words that propose to divide a river, to 
 raise the dead, or to save men, as about 
 words which simply give directions con- 
 cerning our least important duties. The 
 Saviour's words in calming the sea, 
 feeding the thousands, or raising Laza- 
 rus, are as free from hesitation or efl'ort 
 as any of the words in the sermon on 
 the mount. 3. Thus it miijht be clear 
 to all men that the uords of the Lord are 
 the ovbjrcords of hope. No other words 
 are addressed to our extreme wants ; 
 rot even enemies can charge them with 
 weakness. Those who lean on them 
 most are most satisfied with them, and 
 they never seem so dear as at the point 
 of death, farther than Avhich we cannot 
 trace their effect. These were the soli- 
 tar)' words of hope to Israel at the 
 Jordan ; in all our greater need they 
 alone can afford hope and help to us. 
 Let us receive these words, then, with 
 enthusiasm, as did Joshua and the 
 people of Israel. Wherever in our life 
 we come to the words which belong to 
 any present difficulty, lot there be no 
 doubt and no distrust till we are found 
 safely on its other side. Let us tell 
 these words to one another, as though 
 there were little else worth telling, cry- 
 ing here and there in life's way to our 
 perplexed and helpless brethren, " Come 
 iaither, and hear the words of the Lord 
 your God." 
 
 Verse 10. "By what do we also 
 recognise the presence of a living God 
 among us ? 1. By Ilis word which He 
 still causes to be perpetually published 
 among us. 2. By His deeds which He 
 is still perpetually performing." 
 
 " How should we think of God ? 1. 
 Not as a rigid order of nature, 2. As 
 the living God and ruler over all the 
 earth — the mightiest Ilulcr, the be.;t 
 Ruler." (Lot) fie.) 
 
 Verses 11 and 13. "I. "We need 
 i8 
 
 new grace for new experiences. Some 
 trial which we have never before 
 endured is to be borne by us. Some 
 duty which we have never before 
 discharged is to be performed by 
 us. Some relationship that is en- 
 tirely new is to be formed b)' us, and 
 we know not how we shall bear our- 
 selves. Let us take courage. He who 
 gave these minute directions to His 
 ancient people will not fail us ; and 
 though He may not come to us with 
 such specific guidance. He will yet by 
 His providence and Spirit give us the 
 help WG need. II. "When we have to 
 cross any river of difficulty, let us put 
 the Ark of the Covenant into the 
 middle of the stream. In simple 
 phrase, when we come to a difficulty, 
 let us see Christ in it, and then we 
 shall be able to surmount it. He turns 
 the water into dry land. He makes 
 our difficulties stepping-stones to glory. 
 "We are never really in danger when 
 we can see Him. III. There are no 
 degrees of difficulty with God. All 
 things are equally easy to omnipotence. 
 Let us not limit the Holy One of Israel 
 by supposing that any of our emergen- 
 cies are too great for Him to help us 
 through them." (Dr. William Taylor, 
 Ni'}o York.) 
 
 " The Ark was not a talisman that 
 wrought wonders, as if by some ma- 
 gical charm ; for in after years, when 
 Israel's warriors took it into the battle- 
 field, they were defeated (cf. 1 Sam. 
 iv. 5 — 10). That which is a help to 
 faith when God commands it, becomes 
 a snare when He has not given His 
 sanction to it. There is all the dif- 
 ference in the world between faith and 
 presumption." (Dr. Win. Tuyhir.) 
 
 Verse 13. " This seems to have 
 been the first intimation given to the 
 people as to the manner in which they 
 were to cross tlie river." (Bush.) 
 
 " Joshua telling the people of the 
 miracle that God would now do upon 
 Jordan, laboureth to confirm their faith 
 about the expelling of the heathen 
 before them. When marvellous things 
 arc done for us by the Lord, we are 
 hereby taught to build our confidence 
 on Hie promises touching things to 
 corny " {l^r. Mdi/cr, a.d. 1G17.) 
 
nOMILETIC COMMEXTA R Y : JOSB UA. 
 
 MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Verses 14—17. 
 Man's Firm Faith and Jehovah's Mighty Works. 
 
 Three events, each of imposing magnitude, are recorded in Scripture history 
 as having taken place within a few miles of each other in that reach of the river 
 Jordan which is opposite to Jericho. Fii-st, here is the passage of the Israelites 
 through the miraculously divided river, when, without counting the families of the 
 eastern tribes, some two and a quarter millions of people went over into Canaan. 
 Five hundred and fifty years later, near to this same place, Jordan was divided 
 again. As if to throw into prominence the significant symbolism in which the 
 crossing of this river illustrates death, and to re-aflirm in a marked manner that 
 dying has no actual death to the children of God, Elijah, just before his ascent to 
 the heavenly inheritance, smites the waters with his mantle, when they again part, 
 that this ransomed servant of the Lord may also pass over. Elijah is seen to cross 
 Jordan immediately before going up into heaven, as though designedly to connect 
 the river with death, and to throw over the latter, as is so vividly seen with the 
 former, the beautiful assurance of the sufficiency of Divine love and power to 
 bring the believing traveller safely into rest. Elisha returns from accompanying 
 Elijah, and the waters part again ; thus twice in one day is Jordan divided, not 
 far from Jericho, over against which all Israel had crossed more than five centuries 
 before. Somewhere in this neighbourhood the more important event of the 
 Saviour's baptism also took place. The Lord's people had gone repeatedly into a 
 river which through His power opened to make a way for their feet ; the Lord 
 Himself enters, and Him the waters overwhelm in a most significant baptism, the 
 full meaning of which cannot be reached till the Saviour endures that other bap- 
 tism, of which He cries, "How am I straitened till it be accomplished! " The 
 waters of death overwhelm Deity, that redeemed humanity may pass through 
 them, unharmed, into the richer life that lies beyond. Near the place where the 
 typical people pass safely into the land, notwithstanding the roughest "swellings 
 of the river," there Christ is consecrated to a work which offers the only ford to 
 death, and at which point all of us must pass into life, if such life is really to be 
 ours. Thus here, too, does this greater Joshua " begin to be magnified " in a 
 glory which shall endure for ever. Here, then, are three imposing events, each 
 of which seems mysteriously connected with the other in the idea of death, 
 which is common to them all ; and each of which lies centuries apart from the 
 others, as though, by the very breadth of the time which they cover, they were 
 to lay stress on the unchanging and stately purpose of God to bring safely through 
 the grave into life that great multitude which no man can number. While we 
 might well shrink back even in pain from the irreverence of a merely fanciful 
 exposition, it would be almost like "taking away from the things of this book" 
 to resist the impressions which fairly come from so sug'^cstive a sequence and 
 method in the Divine working. Bearing these thoughts in mind, there are three 
 principal features in the narrative which claim attention : — I. Entrance into the 
 Promised Land is through the wonderful working of God. 1. Think of the ijlory 
 of (Jod lihich is shewn in the sahation of His people, (a) It knows no dimness 
 whatever. No physical difficulty throws the slightest shade upon the majesty of 
 His power ; no lack of patience, or forbearance, or forgiveness so much as sug- 
 gests any imperfection in His grace and love. The many sins of the wilderness 
 are all cast behind His back ; now that His people are to be brought into their 
 inheritance, He remembers their transgressions no more than as if they had 
 never been. Even the recent guilt on the plains of Moab seems as far removed 
 from His children as the east is from the west. But though the glory of 
 Divine mercy is so beautiful in this passage of the Jordan, it is the perfection 
 of God's power which is forced most prominently on our attention. Think of 
 the shock which throbs through the whole river the moment it ie touched 
 by the feet of the priests ; of that half of the flood which hastes away, as if 
 
 D 49 
 
BOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 affrighted, from the presence of Jehovah ; of the ever accumulating waters in which 
 
 the other half of the " deep utters its voice, and lifts up its hands on high," as in 
 
 very awe, nor dares to pass the presence of its God. Oh what perfection of power is 
 
 this, in which the fierce torrent of the flooded river is thus in its full sweep shocked 
 
 in twain, and made to stand up in an heap till the ransomed of the Lord shall have 
 
 passed over ! And all this is done with no eti'ort, and with no machinery, saving 
 
 that of the ordinary ark, with which all Israel had become familiar. " Great and 
 
 marvellous are Thy works. Lord God Almighty ! " " Thou wentest forth for the 
 
 salvation of Thy people, even for salvation with Thine anointed." The stars are 
 
 obscured by the glory of the day, even the sun has its spots, but no one has ever 
 
 yet seen even the beginning of shade on the perfect and awful brightness of Divine 
 
 majesty. Not even the mightiest obstacles ever shew so much as the beginnings 
 
 of difficulty to Him who is "Lord of all the earth." Shall we remember that when 
 
 we are tempted, as many often are, to think salvation possible only in proportion 
 
 as it seems free from hindrance ? Some seem to want all the road paved, and the 
 
 rivers bridged, in order to make their heaven accessible ; they forget that nothing 
 
 binders God even for a moment, (b) God's glory is never for mere display. Men 
 
 speak of God sometimes as though He sought to make known His glory merely for 
 
 the honour of His own name. God's glory ever reveals itself in connection with 
 
 His people's good. It is when Israel is in need that the sea divides, the manna 
 
 falls, the Jordan parts asunder. When we speak of an " economy of power " in 
 
 the Saviour's miracles, we are only saying in another form that God never does 
 
 mighty works for the sake of Himself. Whenever, then, we behold any wonderful 
 
 work of the Lord, let us look for its human occasion, (c) The same glory that 
 
 encourages those who believe, is a terror to all who walk after " other gods." 
 
 All the men on one side of the parted waters find a song in the mighty work of the 
 
 Lord, which even for centuries afterwards animates the hearts of their children ; 
 
 all the people on the other side are appalled, — fear and pain take hold on them. 
 
 How do we feel amid the more manifest works of God ? To answer that enquiry 
 
 faithfully may give us a clue to the state of our own hearts. Divine power to the 
 
 three men on the plains of Dura was a trust and a joy, to Nebuchadnezzar it 
 
 became a terror ; to Paul it was a never-failing theme for song, it made Herod 
 
 the Sadducee fear lest John the Baptist was risen from, the dead ; to the jailor of 
 
 Philippi the earthquake was a thing of terror, but Paul and Silas sang praises to 
 
 God. 2. Think of the method of God in tvorkinrj for the salrntion of His people. 
 
 The incident lays much stress on one feature which we are all prone to overlook — 
 
 in the salvation of men it is not so much God's way to remove our hindrances as 
 
 to help us to overcome them. The Israelites were brought to this river at the 
 
 worst possible season of the year. The caverns of the mountains, filled by the 
 
 latter rain, were emptying themselves, the snow was melting under the great heat 
 
 by which those rains were followed, and thus Jordan overflowed " all his banks." 
 
 God, who overlooks nothing, and times carefully the ways of His providence, 
 
 selects these very days of the flooded river for the passage. What is this but His 
 
 more ancient way of saj'ing, " Through much tribulation ye must enter into the 
 
 kingdom"? What is it but a clear revelation of the fact that trial is not arbitrary, 
 
 but an occasion for helping His children, and of bringing terror and discomfiture 
 
 to their enemies ? It stands back here in the nursery volume written for the infant 
 
 Church like a pictorial rendering of God's early and easy answer to man's grave 
 
 and troubled and ever-recurring complaint — " He hath fenced up my way, that I 
 
 cannot pass, and He hath set darkness in my paths." The fence is put about us, 
 
 tliat we may learn to trust the love and power which will presently remove it ; 
 
 the darkness is in our paths, that we may learn to say in the moment when His 
 
 presence appears through the departing gloom, "The Lord is my light and my 
 
 salvation ; whom shall I fear ? The Lord is the streiigth of my life ; of whom shall 
 
 I be afraid ? " IL Entrance into the Promised Land can only be through the 
 
 faith of men. Even the mighty power of God would carry no man, woman, or 
 
 60 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 child over the river, and none would walk over but those who believed that the mass 
 of water which gathered above them would be held back from sweeping them to 
 destruction. 1. The first steps of faith are often the most difficult to take. When 
 the waters were cut off, it would be comparatively easy for the priests to go on ; 
 it would need more courage to dip their feet boldly into " the brim of the water" 
 which only began to yield as they began to tread onward seemingly into the depths. 
 (a) It is so in the first steps of an unsaved man towards his God. It is hard to 
 resolve, hard to decide, hard for men to commit themselves before the eyes of some 
 one else to any decidedly Christian act. It is hard for a young man to begin 
 prayer before godless companions who share his chamber. It was a trial to the 
 Prodigal Son to take the first steps homeward ; it would be comparatively easy, 
 after the Father's embrace and kiss and welcome, to go onward in the new life. 
 (/;) Not less the first steps are the hardest to Christians who undertake special 
 work for God. The first tract that is given ; the first personal exhortation ; the 
 first effort to preach Jesus Christ to perishing men ; Milller's first orphan house. 
 2. Faith is salvation, even ivhen it has fear. Those who walked tremblingly across 
 would be as safe as those who went confidently ; those who had just faith enough 
 to commit their way unto the Lord, although terror accompanied every step, would 
 also, and equally with their bolder companions, enter into Canaan. It was thua 
 on the night of the passover ; if the father of the family had only sufficient faith 
 to kill the lamb, and sprinkle the door-posts as directed, he might tremble, and 
 even cry out like the Egyptians, as the destroying angel passed by, but he would 
 be as safe as though he sang praises to God. Salvation is not in our freedom from 
 trembling, but in Christ ; if our faith only lead us to Him, He is the life. 3. The 
 faith of each is helped by the faith of all. Shrieking priests would have made 
 shrieking people; one trembling Israelite would have inflicted his fear on his 
 neighbour. The firmness of the priests is confidence to the host, and the boldness 
 of each courageous individual in the host was help and strength to all around him. 
 " No man liveth unto himself." Our faith will help the faith of others ; our doubt 
 will not only dishonour God, but injure men. One of the difficulties at which 
 infidels cavil in the doctrine of the resurrection is the distribution of the bodies of 
 the dead into other life. Plants take up the elements of the bodies into vegetable 
 life, and animal life takes up the same elements in consuming the plants. The 
 same process is going on in the spiritual world ; our personality overruns, and 
 each man is taking up something of the being of his companions. Though God 
 may not suffer our fear to destroy us, it may be ruinous to others. 4. Faith, 
 though weak in many, miyht well be firm in lis all. We look too much to the gathered 
 heap of the waters, and at the time which it will take us to cross, and too little at 
 the covenanted presence of God. McCheyne used to say, "For one look at self, take 
 ten looks at Christ." We endure best, not as seeing ourselves, but " as seeing 
 Him who is invisible," and of whose presence the death of the Saviour should 
 give us sufficient assurance. This sublime scene of an open tvay quite across the 
 Jordan is a true picture of the results of the work of Christ : there are no obstacles 
 to our entrance into heaven, but such as are in our own hearts. III. Entrance into 
 the Promised Land under the Old' Covenant forcibly and perhaps designedly 
 illustrates our entrance into that New Covenant life which is through and 
 beyond death. (Cf. outline on verse 8.) Pulsford has said, "If the approach of 
 Death awaken fear in you, tell Death that you are bringing the Lord Jesus along 
 with you, and Death, like Jordan before the Ark, will put back, and a free 
 passage will open before you into eternal life. ' What ailest thou, sea, that 
 thou fleest ; and thou Jordan, that thou art driven back ? ' But hide Christ 
 in thee indeed; for it will not serve to say, 'Lord, Lord.' The devils will leap 
 upon thee, and prevail over thee, if the Lord Jesus be only on thy tongue, and not 
 present, by His Holy Spirit, in tliy soul. If He be in thee, who is the Light of 
 Life, very Light and very Life, then, Avhen the candle-light of thy body's life goes 
 out, the Sun-light of thy soul's life shall be bright about thee." Let no one fear, 
 
 51 
 
EOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 ■U'hose trust is in the Saviour ; He who has been bread for ua and water of life to 
 us through the desert, who has given us " honey out of the rock, and oil out of 
 the flinty rock," will not sufi'er us at last to be overwhelmed in Jordan. 
 
 SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES. 
 
 Verse 14. Developments in Divine 
 Teaching. 
 
 The Pillar of Cloud had here given 
 place to the Ark of the Covenant. The 
 Ark becomes the one visible symbol of 
 God's presence for the next four hundred 
 and fifty years, and excepting at the 
 end of that time, when it once more 
 appears, as if in holy blessing of the 
 new arrangements, the Cloud is seen 
 no more in the days of the Old Cove- 
 nant. (Cf. 1 Kings viii. 10, 11, etc.) 
 In the days of the New Covenant it 
 most significantly reappears on the 
 Mount of Transfiguration, and at this 
 time, also, seems present to consecrate, 
 or rather to recognise before men as 
 consecrated, a fresh development in 
 the Divine plan of teaching and guiding 
 the Church of the living God. The 
 Cloud overshadows Moses, and in him 
 the Law ; Elijah, and in him the pro- 
 phets ; and presently departing, leaves 
 visible to the representatives of the 
 Church " Jesus only." Yet once again 
 in the New Covenant, as if to put the 
 Divine mark on that period in which 
 men should see Him no more, it is the 
 Cloud which receives the ascending 
 Saviour out of sight, till that time when 
 He shall reappear, still coming "in the 
 clouds of heaven," and coming then 
 with power and great glory. Thus the 
 Pillar of Cloud is seen as the first mani- 
 festation of God's presence with His 
 people, the Cloud gives place to the 
 Ark, the Ark becomes absorbed in the 
 Temple, of which Jesus said, "My 
 Father's bouse," and the Temple, in 
 its turn, makes way for the Church of 
 the Cross, The Cloud which inaugu- 
 rates all these forms of teaching re- 
 appears tv> oless them all, and receives 
 the ascending Saviour up into glory ; 
 and although the Cloud now is not 
 visible in its old form, Isaiah prophesied 
 , of these days of the Saviour's kingdom, 
 "The Lord will create upon every 
 dwelling-place of Mount Zion, and upon 
 her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by 
 52 
 
 day, and the shining of a flaming fire 
 by night : for upon all the glory shall 
 be a defence." These changes in the 
 outward form of God's plan of teaching 
 or guiding His people, of which the 
 removal of the Cloud is the first, natu- 
 rally lead us to look for their reason 
 and cause. Why should God reveal 
 Himself difi'erently to diflerent ages, 
 guiding some men by one form of mani- 
 festation, and some by another? I. 
 Developments in God's plan of teach- 
 ing are a necessary accompaniment 
 of human growth. The books that are 
 good for the boy of eight years of age 
 are of little use to the youth of fifteen ; 
 yet it is with the elementary books that 
 the child must begin. 1. The Divine 
 plan never shews over-teaching. God 
 has infinite pity for us in all the forms 
 of our weakness, and His pity is not 
 less when the weakness is in our under- 
 standing than when we are feeble in 
 some other manner. The Divine gentle- 
 ness begins with these liberated slaves, 
 by shewing God in the imposing Pillar 
 of Fire and Cloud, which is light in 
 the darkness, and refreshing shade in 
 the day ; and when they are able to 
 go on to something further, the same 
 gentle care changes the form of com- 
 munication. Jesus Christ shews us 
 that the plan is still the same. He 
 taught His apostles three years by 
 miglity miracles, and by Avonderful 
 words from His own lips ; then, as He 
 was about to depart, He added, " I 
 have many things to say unto you, but 
 ye cannot hear them now." Christ 
 taught men, not as keeping in view His 
 power to impart knowledge, but as ever 
 having regard to their power to learn. 
 So God has ever taught the world ; 
 He begins with it in its weakness, and 
 raises the measure of its after lessons 
 into fitness with its increasing powers 
 of acquirement. 2. The Divine plan, 
 tJius ohaervcd, shews iccviderfid pa- 
 tience and lonri-sxtffering. Think of the 
 centuries in which men have contem- 
 
UOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 plated God in each of these several 
 forms of manifestation, and how little 
 they have seemed to learn. Yet God 
 has waited patiently in each case, till 
 men were ready to go on to the next 
 new forms of truth. He has never 
 grown weary, and closed the book of 
 revelation altogether ; it is still more 
 glorious that, in His majestic self-con- 
 trol. He has never hurried His dull 
 children from one form of communica- 
 tion till they were ready for the next. 
 II. The changes which occur in this 
 development of God's plan of teach- 
 ing are always from the sensuous 
 TO THE SPIRITUAL. The Ark had less 
 of the supernatural about it than the 
 Cloud. The Cloud was God-made 
 and God-moved ; men had made the 
 Ark, and men carried it from place 
 to place. In giving the Ark instead 
 of the Cloud, God was withdrawing 
 Himself gradually from the apprehension 
 of the senses. The direction of this 
 teaching was continually and unalterably 
 the same till Christ came, saying to the 
 woman of Samaria, " God is a Spirit," 
 and to the woman of Magdala, "Touch 
 me not." The fathers came "unto the 
 mount that might be touched ; " we are 
 come " unto Mount Sion." 1. All 
 teaching or worship that gives undue 
 prominence to the sensuous is reaction- 
 ary. It is crossing God's plan, it is 
 turning back in the way of God's pur- 
 poses. 2. All personal trials of faith 
 should be accepted as honours conferred 
 by God, or at least with a devout regard 
 to His patience in the training of men 
 generally. God looks about in the 
 family of His children to see who can 
 best bear the next lessons in walking 
 by faith, and where He selects us for 
 trial He also selects us for honour. 
 Abraham's trial of faith was honourable, 
 not simply because he proved faithful, 
 but also because God chose him as the 
 man who could best endure, and best 
 lead his fellow-men a step onward in 
 the Divine life. Even if we cannot 
 welcome trial as an honour, we should 
 remember God's long patience in teach- 
 ing His people, and willingly and cheer- 
 fully take our part in leading men into 
 the knowledge of His ways. 3. The 
 high aim of every Christian should be 
 
 to trust in God. This is the Divine 
 ideal lor the Church : let it be ours 
 personally. III. No change in the 
 outward form of God's presence ever 
 indicates less need of God, or shews 
 less efficiency in His power to help 
 His people. 1. The presence of the 
 Lord did not become less actual as it 
 became less manifest. The Cloud might 
 give place to the Ark, the Ark to the 
 Temple, and the Temple to the living 
 Church, but God was not most present 
 when He was most seen. The wilder- 
 ness was not more blessed with the 
 Divine presence than the Church of the 
 New Testament. Is not this true, also, 
 in the personal experience of Chris- 
 tians ? God is not with us least when 
 we least behold Him nigh. 2. The 
 power of the Lord did not become less 
 mighty to save and to help as His pre- 
 sence became less visible to the senses. 
 The dividing of the Jordan seems even 
 more miraculous than the dividing of 
 the Sea ; the falling of the walls of 
 Jericho shews an arm as potent to help 
 as the rending of the rock at Horeb ; 
 the mighty works of Christ are tran- 
 scended by nothing in the Old Testa- 
 ment ; while the glories of Pentecost, 
 when Christ had ascended up on high, 
 seem absolutely to surpass everything 
 that had gone before. Do not let us 
 think that to have to " worship in the 
 Spirit" means worshipping or waiting 
 in weakness. Help, in the desert, may 
 be more gross and material in its forms ; 
 it is not more glorious. Looking on 
 the weak men who were about to for- 
 sake Him and flee, Christ said, " He 
 that believeth on me, the works that 
 I do shall he do also ; and greater 
 works than these shall he do, because 
 I go unto my Father." To that pre- 
 diction the first fulfilment came in 
 P'intecost. 
 
 Verses 14, 15. The changes which 
 God makes in His methods of teaching 
 men are not because of any change in 
 God ; they are because of our altered 
 circumstances, or different state of heart, 
 or our fresh necessities. Thus is it 
 that men find to guide them, now a 
 Pillar of Cloud, and now an Ark. 
 
 The waters that roll between us and 
 our possessions seldom shew signs of 
 
 53 
 
nOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 making way for us till our feet are 
 "dipped in the brim." It is not till 
 the twelve apostles bear their few loaves 
 to feed the thousands, that they find 
 how much bread they carry. It is only 
 when the withered arm tries to raise 
 itself in obedience to the Saviour's bid- 
 ding, that it finds itself healed of its 
 infirmity. In the kingdom of the Lord, 
 he who never attempts to perform what 
 he cannot do, seldom does that which 
 he might and ought. 
 
 God loves to bring us to our difii- 
 culties when they are at flood-tide, that 
 we may not attempt to cross them 
 •without His help. God delights to 
 help His children in their absolute 
 necessities, that the remembrance of 
 His love and power may be more 
 abiding. Those whom God would 
 largely help He suffers to be much 
 hindered : He brings Israel to Jordan 
 in its heaviest swellings, that nothing 
 may efi'ectually hinder them in the con- 
 flicts which are to come. 
 
 Verse IG. The passing over " right 
 against Jericho '^ may teach us two 
 things : — 1. God helps His people over 
 their difficulties, not that they may be 
 out of difficulty, but that they may turn 
 again to Him when difficulty comes 
 next. " The last enemy that shall 
 be destroyed is death," and no man 
 need think his foes are all behind him 
 till death also is in the rear. 2. God 
 would have not only His children, but 
 His enemies also, to behold His w'onder- 
 ful works. This is not that He wishes 
 to destroy His enemies : He willeth not 
 the death of any. He makes the hard 
 heart to melt with fear, because fear 
 alone can soften it. If out of fear His 
 enemies will go on to faith, they too 
 shall bo received among and become 
 His children, even as Rahab bears 
 witness. 
 
 Verse 17. He who trusts God with 
 the beginning of his salvation, may well 
 trust Him for the end. As Bp. Hall 
 has said, "The same hand that hath 
 made the way hard, hath made it sure. 
 He that hath made the wilderness com- 
 fortable, will make Jordan dry." The 
 things which we most fear, our Father 
 knows how to make most helpful. The 
 mighty works of the Lord arc not bo 
 54 
 
 much to excite our astonishment as to 
 instruct our hearts ; they are to teach 
 us to know Him. 
 
 Verse 17. The Priests in the midst op 
 Jordan ; ok, Moral Firmness. 
 
 If we look at the journey of the Israelites 
 in the wilderness as illustrating the journey 
 of human life, the narrative before us will 
 supply three facts concerning it : — 1. The 
 future d\ffiiniltij in Ufesjovrncr/. The Jews 
 in their journey had surmounted many dirti- 
 oulties. but there was one before them yet — 
 the overflowing Jordan. So it is with us. 
 The Jordan of death is before us all. The 
 passage through it, to us, as to the Jews, is 
 .strange, pei-ilous. necessary ; we cannot reach 
 Canaan without it. 2. The true guide in life's 
 jo-urney. God directed Joshua what the people 
 were to do (ver. 7, 8). God guided them in 
 two ways : («) By the external symbol — the 
 ark. {b) By human efEort — " the priests." 
 What the ark and the priests were to these 
 men then. Christianity and trve teachers are 
 to humanity now ; they are God's means of 
 guiding us on our journey. A guide must 
 know the way ; God alone knows the wind- 
 ing and endless path of souls. 3. The final 
 deliverance in life's journey. " All the 
 people were passed clean over," etc. " The 
 last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." 
 But the point to which we would now draw 
 particular attention is the sublime calmness 
 of these priests ; they stood firm in the midst 
 of the waters till all passed over. The cir- 
 cumstances suggest two remarks about their 
 firmness. I. That it was rational in its 
 foundation. What was its foundation .' The 
 answer to this question will enable us to see 
 what moral firmness really is. 1. It was not 
 stolid indifference. Some men are lauded 
 for their composure, who ought to be de- 
 nounced for their stoicism. 2. It was not 
 confidence in their own power to keep back 
 the mountain of water. 3. It was not, of 
 course, faith in the laws of nature. All men 
 have a fixed and practical faith in the 
 laws of nature ; the mariner, agriculturist, 
 physician, etc., all trust these. But these 
 men were firm in defiance of the laws of 
 nature. It was the law of nature that the 
 Jordan should roll on and whelm them in 
 destruction. What, then, was the founda- 
 tion of their firmness ? The WORD OF GoD. 
 God had told them, through Joshua, that 
 they were thus to stand, and they would be 
 safe (ver. 8, 13). Now our position is, that 
 it is more rational to triist the wm-d of God 
 than the laws if nature. First: Because His 
 ivords hind. IJini to action, the luirs of nature 
 do nut. He may continue to act according 
 to what are called the " laws of nature," or 
 
 He may not But His word allows 
 
 Him no such ojition. The absolute rectitude 
 of His being binds Him to carry it out. 
 Secondly: Jierau.\e deriation from I lis word 
 would he a far more serious thing to the 
 vniversc. than deviation from the laws of 
 Hutu re. Ho may reverse every natural law, 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 roll the wheels of nature backward, without 
 infringing any moral principle, or injuring 
 any sentient being. But were He to deviate 
 from His word, what stupendous evils would 
 ensue ! Virtue would be at an end, moral 
 government would be disobeyed, and the 
 grand barrier between right and wrong, truth 
 and error, heaven and hell, would be broken 
 down, and anarchy and misery would deluge 
 the moral creation. Thirdly: Because He 
 Juis departed from the laws of nature, but has 
 never swerved an iota from Mis wo7'd. The 
 history of Moses, Elijah, Cln-ist, furnishes 
 numerous instances of deviation from the 
 laws of nature, but the history of the uni- 
 verse, from its earliest dawn, supplies not a 
 single instance of deviation from His word. 
 " Heaven and earth shall pass away," etc. 
 
 Two inferences necessarily flow from the 
 foregoing considerations : 1. That it is more 
 reasonable to walk bt/ faith than by sight. 
 Our senses and our reason deceive us ; sense 
 and reason have deceived millions, but the 
 word of God is infallible. 2. That ajjjjarent 
 impossibilities can never be pleaded against 
 Divine predictions. There are, especially, 
 two works predicted in the Bible, which 
 sceptical men declare impossible — The entire 
 evangelization of the world, and the resurrec- 
 tion of the dead. But the question is, has 
 God predicted them 1 If so, the idea of im- 
 possibility is an absurdity. With Him " all 
 things are possible." 
 
 The other fact which the circumstances 
 before us suggest in relation to the moral 
 firmness of these priests, is — II. That it was 
 salutary in its influence. The firmness of 
 these priests in the midst of Jordan, with 
 the billows piled above them, inspired the 
 thousands of Israel to follow. Had one of 
 these priests displayed, in that terrible situa- 
 tion, the least excitement or fear, would it 
 not have struck a panic through all the 
 assembled tribes, so that they would not have 
 ventured to the brink ? But seeing the priests 
 standing sublimely calm, they were braced 
 with courage to step into the fearful channel 
 and pursue their way (ver. 17). 
 
 This incident suggests two thoughts: — 
 First : TJie force of human influence. All 
 Israel now follows these men. Men are 
 made to follow their superior brethren. The 
 millions of every age follow the few. 
 Secondly : The philosophy of useful influence. 
 The influence of these priests was useful, 
 because they were following God. Fidelity 
 to God is the spring of useful influence. 
 Brother, the Jordan of death is before thee, 
 cold, dark, and tumultuous. Take courage 
 from the example of the brave men who, 
 trusting in God, have stood firmly in its 
 midst, and crossed it safely. Follow them 
 who ' through faith and patience inherit the 
 promises, ' " \_Dr. Tho^mas : Homilist, vol. 
 iii. 334.] 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE PASSAGE OF THE JORDAN, AND ITS MEMORIAL. 
 
 Critical Notes. — 2. Take you twelve men] These had been already chosen for the 
 work. The twelfth verse in chap. iii. is not to be regarded as misplaced, but as a brief record of 
 the notice then given to prepare the men to whom reference is again made here. Ver. 4 plainly 
 recognises this previous selection. 3. Where the priests' feet stood firm] The stones were 
 to be taken as nearly as possible from this spot, that the monument might be more vivid in 
 its appeal to memory and reflection. 4. Out of every tribe a man] The unity of the 
 twelve tribes was to be preserved in one memorial. The very river which should afterwards 
 separate the eastern tribes from the western, should furnish from its bed the materials for a 
 memorial which should bind Israel together in the recollection of a mercy common to all its 
 families. 5. Pass over before the Ark] Probably these twelve selected men had remained 
 behind the Ark, on or towards the eastern bank, during the crossing of the multitude. When 
 the people had all passed over, Joshua commanded these twelve men to take each a stone, and 
 precede the Ark out of the river. As the Ark had been fii'st in entering the river, so it should 
 be last in leaving, that the power from the beginning to the end of the miracle might be 
 manifestly of God. Upon his shoulder] This indicates that each stone was to be as large 
 as one man could conveniently carry. 9. I^i the midst of Jordan] Dr. Kennicott's pro- 
 posal to read " from the midst," instead of " IN the midst," seems to have no support in the 
 best MSS. Joshua appears to have erected this separate memorial in the ordinary channel of the 
 river ; and Calvin suggests that it could probably be seen when the " swellings of Jordan " 
 subsided. If it be asked, " Would not the first rush of the waters, which had gathered during 
 the passage of the Israelites, sweep the memorial away ?" it may be answered that the Divine 
 power, which had for so long kept the waters back, would also be able to guide them past 
 these twelve stones. 12. Before the children of Israel] The usual order of marching was 
 thus broken, that their promise, given in Numb, xxxii. 17, might be faithfully observed. 
 13. About forty thousand] This left about seventy thousand men fit to bear arms, besides 
 women and children, who did not pass over. The total number of the two and a half tribes 
 who remained behind probably amounted to between three and four hundred thousand. 
 19. Gilgal] Accortling to Josephus (Antiq. v. 1. 4), Gilgal was fifty furlongs from Jordan, 
 and too from Jericho. 20. Pitch in Gilgal] " Heb., erect, rear up" (Bush). " It is very 
 
 55 
 
EOMILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. chap. iv. 
 
 likely that a base of mnson-work was erected, of some considerable hcicrht. and that the 
 twelve stones were placed on the top of it" (A. Clarke). 24. AH the people of the earth] 
 The Israelites and the various peoples of the land. Even the idolatrous Canaanites. and any 
 of the heathen who might in after years see these stones, were to learn from them that 
 Israel's God was a God of niii;ht. To the close of the twenty-third verse, the parents are 
 represented as speaking to their children ; in the twenty-fourth verse Joshua gives the reason 
 for this instruction, and points out the object for which the memorial was to be erected. 
 
 MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Verses 1—9. 
 Remembrance of God through His Works. 
 
 An American gentleman, speaking very recently to a meeting of Christian 
 people assembled in London on the occasion of opening some new buildings as a 
 college for ministerial students, said, "I have been, during the last day or two, 
 looking at some of the national monuments in your great metropolis, and almost 
 every one seemed to me like an eloquent page in your conspicuous national 
 history." All current history may be said, in one respect, to be merely a monu- 
 mental record ; it perpetuates only the things which are most prominent. History, 
 in the ordinary meaning of the word, is made up of great events and conspicuous 
 lives. The principal events in the lives of principal men are written down ; to 
 these are added the chief events which belong to a nation or people, taken col- 
 lectively, and the result is called " history." Perhaps it is the best thing of the 
 kind for which men can either find time or make room. And yet a mere record 
 of great battles, chief men, and conspicuous parliamentary measures, is in many 
 respects very unsatisfactory. The view which it gives is rather distorted than 
 correct ; and just as a drawing of a mansion which only set forth to view the 
 tallest chimneys, the largest windows, and the most prominent features would be 
 a poor picture, so history is poor and misleading if we forget to bring to it a good 
 knowledge of human nature and human life, and to fill in, by the help of imagina- 
 tion, some of the numerous blanks which are necessarily there. We have only a 
 partial history of the Lord's mercies: they are "new every morning," and where 
 we cannot even count correctly, it is hardly likely that we shall truthfully record. 
 God only asks His people to remember what they can. Comparatively, it is only 
 here and there a monument which He bids His children erect. In the " sweet 
 reasonableness " of His pity for our weakness, He did but bid His servant write, 
 "Bless the Lord, my soul, and forget vot all His benefits." 
 
 The subject set forth in these verses teaches — I. Man's forgetfulness of God 
 and God's works. This direction to build a monument, to perpetuate tlio memory 
 of the miracle, is a recognition of our liability to sufi'er even the mightiest of the 
 Lord's works to pass out of mind. 1. The occasion of our forgelfulness is often found 
 in the pressure of earth] 1/ duties. But for the specific command of God, it seems 
 quite possible that the day on which the Jordan was crossed might have been 
 thought too crowded with necessary duties to leave any time to prepare for the 
 erection of a memorial. Think of having to get two millions or more of people 
 over a river divided in this manner. Many of them would be timid and shrinking, 
 many of them were children, who would have to be carried over a rough or muddy 
 path, and up steep banks; and though, saving Caleb and Joshua, no man in the 
 host would be over sixty years of age, yet in so vast a company there must have 
 been many sick and feeble, who would have needed assistance in crossing. Added 
 to all this, there was the enormous task of transporting to the other side the tents 
 and effects of the people, and all their cattle. If, as many are but too ready to 
 believe, there are ever days when religious duties may be neglected because of 
 the pressure of secular claims, this day must have been one of them. It is with 
 both instruction and reproof that this passage should be road by most of us ; this 
 day of pressing secular duties is also a day of urgent religious service. How 
 commonlv do we meet with people who seem to have no time for perpetuating their 
 
CHAP. IV. EOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 memory of God's mercies ; they have no time for prayer, no time for public 
 worship, no time for religion. To be in harmony with itself, a life like that 
 ought to have no time for death. " Time and Eternity," said Pulsford, "both 
 touch me, for I am both. Time assaults me for the dust which I have, and 
 insists that I give back to the dust every atom which I have derived therefrom. 
 Eternity appeals to me for the spirit which I have. Owing to these two claimants, 
 the partnership will soon have to be dissolved between my soul and body, that 
 Earth may take its own, and Eternity its own." No man, be he ever so busy, can 
 postpone for a single day the claims of eternity. Would it not be wise to make 
 room for the claims of religion "while it is called to-day"? This pressure of 
 business makes the pressure of religious need still more urgent, not less. The 
 very fact that life is " so fast," tends to blot out from the mind our memory of 
 God and His merciful works. It is said that Luther, the hard-worked reformer, 
 complained that the duties of life pressed him so heavily that he could not perform 
 them without having three or four hours in each day set apart for prayer. Havelock, 
 the busy soldier, is said to have risen every morning two hours before commencing 
 his military duties, that he might spend them in communion with his God. 2. The 
 real cause of our forgetfidness of God is ever in the heakt. The natural powers of 
 our memory are strong enough to retain good recollection of things which we love. 
 Cardinal Mezzofanti, who was the son of a carpenter at Bologna, and who died 
 less than thirty years since, is said to have acquired his first knowledge of languages 
 by listening to scraps of Latin and Greek, heard through the open casement of a 
 schoolroom window, near which he often worked. To many of the boys within, 
 the tasks were no doubt irksome enough ; but the stolen waters were sweet to the 
 poor lad who could not pay for such learning. He went on acquiring knowledge 
 from the very love of it, till at the age of seventy he could converse in upwards of 
 fifty languages, besides possessing some acquaintance with at least twenty more. 
 If men only loved God as they love some earthly objects and pursuits, they would 
 need few stone memorials to keep Him or His works in mind. Bad memory is 
 usually owing to bad interest and poor attention. The heart needs setting right, 
 and then the mind would not often be wrong. 3. 1 he forijeifulness of GoiVs merciful 
 works is a sure indication that ive have forgotten God. A man may repeat the 
 Apostles' Creed week by week, or join with devout exterior in the worship of the 
 Free Churches ; but if he forgets God's mercies, no weekly public service, let him 
 engage in it as heartily as he may, is sufficient to contradict the six days of 
 testimony that he has forgotten God. II. God's gracious interest in man's 
 remembrance of His works. 1. The Scriptures are full of Divine complaints and 
 solicitations on this matter of human forgetfulness. God speaks as if man's ingratitude 
 wounded and pained Him. How pathetic are some of the words in which the 
 Lord reminds men of their neglect. If an ungrateful heart were not invariably so 
 hard, men might be moved to tears to read thoughtfully, as from the lips of Him 
 who made heaven and earth, such words as those spoken through Hosea — " Israel 
 hath forgotten his Maker, and buildeth temples ; " or, " She went after her lovers, 
 and forgat me, saith the Lord." How humanly they read, and how real the pain 
 of them seems ; how they seem to tell of a heart balanced and poised between the 
 dignity that feels so worthy of better regard that it may justly punish, and the 
 love which is so deep and tender that it cannot forsake. A keen observer of human 
 nature said — 
 
 " How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is 
 To have a thankless child." 
 
 We read some of these complaints from the Divine lips ; and so real is the 
 parental relation in which God stands to His people, that they come to us in 
 all the tenderness and pain and pathos which pervade a natural cry from the 
 wounded heart of an earthly father. Let us seek to possess an observant eye to 
 the goodness of the Lord, and to cultivate a spirit of praise for His manifold 
 mercies. 
 
 §7 
 
UOMILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 •* Some murmur wlien their sky is clear, 
 
 And wholly brought to view, 
 If one small speck of dark appear 
 
 In their great heaven of blue ; 
 And some with thankful love are filled, 
 
 If but one streak of light, 
 One ray of God's good mercy gild 
 
 The darkness of their night. 
 
 ** In palaces are hearts that ask, 
 
 In discontent and pride. 
 Why life is such a dreary task, 
 
 And all good things denied ; 
 And hearts in poorest huts admire 
 
 How Love has, in their aid, 
 With care that never seems to tire, 
 
 Such rich provision made." — Trench. 
 
 2. AltJioKqTi our remembrance can be but a small thing to God, He trell knows that 
 it is everything to us. However base our ingratitude may appear in His sight, our 
 praise could be but a few strains the less in the mighty song of the universe. It 
 is because of God's love to us, and of His knowledge that our forgetfulness of 
 His works must leave us to destruction, that He so graciously manifests this 
 interest in our thankfulness. 3. He knows that His works are ouronhj sufficient in- 
 terpretation of Himself. Even Jesus Christ, who has been seen in the flesh, needs 
 His mif^hty and merciful works to make Him known to men. He " went about 
 doinfT good," speaking gracious words, doing benevolent miracles, and thus we 
 learn of Him who must otherwise be an abstraction. We w^ant the cradle, and 
 the life, and the cross, to expound the Saviour. So he who never reads God's 
 works, and above all His unspeakable gift of Jesus, can never have anything 
 more for his religion than a superstition, and nothing more as an object of worship 
 than a theological abstraction called Deity. III. The condescension in which 
 God graciously meets men in this infirmity of their forgetfulness. 1. He allows 
 them to help their memory through things which are visible. A man ought to be able 
 to remember his mother without a monument ; much more should he remember 
 Him who said, " Can a woman forget ? " etc. Yet God deigns to say, " Put up 
 the stones, and try and keep Me and My mercy in mind by the help of these." 
 2. He points out such helps to memory as are most suitable, (a) The stones were 
 to be taken from the very spot where the priests had stood. God condescends 
 not only to allow His people a monument ; they may have one so vivid, that, as 
 far as possible, it shall recall the whole scene, (b) The twelve stones were to be 
 taken out of the river, and carried to Gilgal, by one man from each tribe. The 
 tribes would soon be divided by the river. It only wants something to separate 
 men, and forthwith they grow clannish. A highway, a hedge, an idea, a dozen sticks, 
 any small line, is often enough to divert human feehng into channels, and make 
 the quarrelsome take sides. By this selection of a man from each tribe, God 
 virtually says, " I will not only have your remembrance vivid, but I will have 
 the praise of all Israel to be as the song of one man. Take, from the very river 
 that w'ill soon separate you, the materials for a memorial of thankfulness in which 
 all your hearts may be knit together, and knit together in Me." 3. These material 
 helps, given to His early people, were given by God to teach a principle and to culti- 
 vate a habit. It was not merely now and then, when some mighty work was 
 wrought on their behalf, that they were to pile up a few stones and occasionally 
 go and inspect them, that this command was given. By this God would teach all 
 men to definitely mark heavenly mercies, and cultivate the habit of thanksgiving 
 for all His manifest help. The lesson was written also for our admonition. Some 
 people contemn the habit of having special services which mark the lapse of time. 
 *' Watch-night services," special appeals on the occasion of a new year, and even 
 the worship of the Lord's day, have provoked remarks like the following : — " These 
 things are all very well ; but men ought to be religious and devout all the year 
 68 
 
EOMILETIG COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 round, and all the week through." It is enough to answer, " The man who finds 
 no special appeal made to his heart by peculiar seasons like these, is seldom very 
 devout at any period." It is natural, and the Divine teaching supports our 
 human feeling, when we give emphasis to our praise where God has set special 
 marks to His mercy. The conspicuous events of social life should find us settinc 
 up memorials in our hearts. Anniversaries of deaths, marriages, births, of busi- 
 ness prosperity or failure, may well call for their corresponding stress of thought 
 and worship in our religious life. Anniversaries of spiritual experiences should, 
 above all, be times of memorial. He who has no special prayers and special 
 songs will probably have few ordinary ones which are useful to himself or 
 acceptable to God. He who spread the table of His supper for our help, and 
 said, " Do this in remembrance of Me," will love to see us finding in this 
 memorial of the greatest work of God for man the devout recognition of the 
 principle that all peculiar mercies demand our special praise. 
 
 Teaching the Children. — Verses 6, 7. 
 
 In the formation of the liberated Hebrews into a nation, most significant pro- 
 minence is given, from the very beginning, to the religious education of their 
 children. The godly nation was to be made by teaching godliness to its sons and 
 daughters The fathers proved rebellious, and were left to die in the wilderness ; 
 the hope of Israel was in its children, and it was left for them to enter into 
 the inheritance, and to commence the national life in its more consolidated form. 
 Divine care was shewn concerning the children from the first. Even before the 
 people left Egypt, the very rite which commemorated the exodus was pointed and 
 emphasised in the direction of the children. The ordinance of the Passover was 
 to be perpetual, that when the children should ask their parentS; " What mean ye 
 by this service ? " they might be taught to fear, and love, and praise, and trust 
 the God of then- fathers' deliverance. The sojourn in the desert is marked by 
 repeated injunctions concerning the pious training of the young. The words of 
 the Lord were to be taught to the children diligently, to be written even on the 
 doorposts of the houses, and on the gates (Deut. xi. 18 — 21) ; and in a great 
 septennial gathering in the year of release, at the feast of tabernacles, the words 
 of the law were to be read and expounded, that any who had been neglected in 
 servitude, that the " children who had not known anything," and all the people, 
 might learn to fear the Lord. In the miracle which makes a way through Jordan 
 for entering into the long- deferred possession, equal stress is laid on teaching the 
 children : as in the exodus, so here, the teaching of the young is the first thing 
 for which p)rovision is made. God's hope of the nation is seen taking shape and 
 form through hope in the families, and His hope in the families through religious 
 training in childhood. Perhaps these early histories, in this aspect, ought to give 
 more alarm to people who have grown up into manhood' and womanhood " with- 
 out God in the world," than any other part of the Scriptures. Men and women sin 
 away half or three parts of a lifetime, and contemplate repenting before they get 
 too old, and before they die. Taking these urgent injunctions, which are written 
 as in capital letters on the very face of the miracles which lead out of bondage 
 and into Canaan, and reading them in the light of the overthrow of the fathers 
 in the wilderness, it seems as though even God were half hopeless of genuine 
 piety in those who grow well into maturity mthout the knowledge and fear and 
 love of Himself. 
 
 Dealing rather with modern necessities than with ancient details, we may 
 consider tlie subject of parental training in two principal aspects : — I. Some 
 mistakes whicli we are apt to make. 1. Perhaps ive are too ready to assume, 
 that the children of Christian parents will become Christians. Saved ourselves, it 
 becomes easy, in the bustle of daily life, almost to take it for granted that our 
 children will be saved also. True, we Christian parents teach our children ; we 
 are not Antinomians, and we believe that if they are to be saved we must train 
 
 59 
 
nOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. chap. iv. 
 
 tliein. Tru<?, we pray for our children ; it is ridit and it is pleasant to remember 
 l.efore the Lord these who are so dear to us. But is this real, or do we sutler it 
 to become perfunctory ? Do we realize that our children way be lost 1 We 
 believe that mme children grow up to be bad men and godless women, and that 
 many of these die out of Christ, and perish. Our Christian convictions and our 
 whole Christian work are grounded upon this. Then it ought not to be thought 
 sensational to ask, Have we realized that our dear children may thus perish ? 
 Have we carried our awful convictions about the children of other people to the 
 case of our own dear boy or beloved girl ? To what holy patience and perseve- 
 rance and etifort and prayer would such a realization lead. What is meant by 
 those dark pictures in the Bible about the children of godly parents ? What are 
 we to gather from the histories which tell us of the wickedness of the children of 
 Eli, of Samuel, of David, of Hezekiah ? What are we to learn from these ? 
 Many have looked on them as a ground for serious discouragement, and yet that 
 cannot be the reason why they are written down for our reading. Matthew Henry 
 says of the two thieves at the crucifixion, *' One was saved, that no man might 
 despair; the other was lost, that none might presume." Should we not also 
 read, The children of some godly parents are saved, that no Christian father or 
 mother may despair : the children of some of the best 0. T. saints seem lost, 
 that no one may take it for granted that his children will be saved. Piety does 
 not run in the blood, nor is grace always hereditary. 2. Many make the mistake 
 of svj)posi)ui that a child must yrotv up into maturity before its conversion uill 
 jirobably take place. The possibility of early conversion is generally admitted ; 
 as a matter of fact, many parents do not expect it in their own children while they 
 are children. Some seem to take it for granted that there will most likely be a 
 previous course of open connection with the world, that presently conversion 
 will come with a kind of manifest jerk, and that then it will probably be genuine. 
 A most unhealthy spirit seems in recent years to have grown up among some of 
 the most earnest evangelical workers, in respect to the prominence given to cases 
 of conversion after a long coui'se of sin. It would be unfair, as some have rather 
 recklessly asserted, to say that children have been received into the Church 
 " with suspicion ;" it is only too true that people have got to behave as if it were 
 comparatively a small thing to be saved young, and something for endless parade 
 when a bad man of forty or fifty years of age is brought to the Saviour. It is an 
 occasion for joy, and great joy, when such as the latter are led to Christ ; it 
 cannot but be a matter for sorrow, when they are almost taught to feel as if 
 there were some special merit in not having become Christians before, and when 
 they are supposed to be authorities as to what is the proper measure of Christian 
 zeal and hohness in proportion to the wickedness of their own previous lives. 
 Instead of such men being helped to know that it is a thing for humiliation and 
 a cause for modesty that they have served sin so long and so deeply, they are 
 led to think that preaching to other people, and teaching even Christians whose 
 lives have been a holy training, is the natural outcome and prerogative of their 
 previous and long-continued wickedness. The way in which '' converted prize- 
 fighters," or "converted colliers," or "converted chimney-sweeps" have been 
 handed round, as if they were a kind of specially burnished jewel worthy of the 
 profound attention of the Christian public, has, during late years, been a fit 
 cause for considerable shame. To say nothing of the comparative neglect which 
 Christian children and youths must have sometmies been made to feel, or of the 
 premium tacitly put on a previous life of wickedness, the serious harm done to 
 these people themselves ought to have led Christian men to keep them more 
 decently in the background. The temptations given to vanity and self-esteem, in 
 some cases, might well have been fatal even to a trained Christian life ; bow 
 could it be expected that such feeble uprightness could endure so severe a strain 
 in the direction of the old and chronic crookedness ? What wonder if " the sow 
 that was washed has turned again to her wallowing in the mire " when men in 
 CO 
 
CHAP. IV. HOMILETIC COMMEXTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 luthority have made the heat of temptation unbearable even to acclimatised feeling 
 ^nd habit, and then have driven some newly cleansed one straight in the direction 
 of the mud ? 3. There is a temptation to make the teachimf of children interesting 
 rather than substantial. Too interesting it never can be made, so long as love of 
 the pleasant and the cheerful does not impair the quality of the truth imparted. 
 Has it been wise to give up the old methods of catechisms, and learning verses 
 and hymns ? Are not many trusting more to impremons, scratched lightly in 
 with the point of an anecdote or picture, rather than to that deeper graving in 
 of truth on the mind which used to be customary ? The story of the cross and 
 of the Saviour's love should be cut deeply into the memory, as well as be made 
 pleasant to the heart for the time in which it is being heard. Impressions are 
 very fleeting, and most of us soon forget them, but well-learned words come up 
 even in after years, and repeat the impressions again. 
 
 II. Some encouragements whicli we are tempted to forget. 1. The work has 
 God's command. No Israehte had any need to fear that he would be doing wrong 
 in an earnest endeavour to lead his children to God. The memorial was for the 
 teaching of all the people and all their children. We need none of us feel that 
 we are presuming, in any efibrts which we may make to lead oar children to the 
 Saviour. No man is made to feel that God would not welcome his children also. 
 On this point we cannot apply the commands of Scripture to the wrong family. 
 We cannot get the wrong child in any family. Whatever truth there may be in 
 election, we never have to read, *' Train up a child in the way he should go, and 
 if he happen to be one of the elect, he shall not depart from it." With such 
 encouragement, every one may and should bring up his children " in the nurture 
 and admonition of the Lord." A lady, it is said, once told Archbishop Sharpe 
 that she would not communicate religious instruction to her children until they 
 had grown to years of discretion ; she received an answer from the prelate no less 
 true than blunt, as he replied, " Madam, if you do not teach them, the devil will." 
 2. The work to which ecery parent is thus commanded is full of promise. It has the 
 promise of nature. Most training, when wisely and perseveringly pursued, does 
 succeed. The obedient vine and tree, which yield to the gardener; the dog, who 
 learns from his shepherd ; the horse and the ox, that learn to obey their trainers ; 
 all these preach encouragement. If the Christian training of children be more 
 difficult, it has, to meet that, the higher stimulus of the promise of God. God 
 co-operates with the pious parent. This memorial was a Divine suggestion, and 
 carried in itself the promise to every pious Jew that he should be a " worker 
 together with God." The promises are unto us and to ours also, if we are Chris- 
 tian parents ; and if we have not that necessary qualification, our first duty is to 
 seek Christ for ourselves. Do we go to this work, feeling as we do it that God 
 works with us ? 3. The work has an eternal and glorious reward To the faithful 
 parent it would not be right to say that it maij have such a reward ; surely it 
 must have. We can hardly think of a holy and persevering labour of faith for our 
 own children as fruitless at last. It cannot be that a life of faith and prayer and 
 wise labour shall ever fail here. But Christian parents may have to wait long ; it 
 may be that they will not even live to see their children brought to Christ. If 
 we can be patient anywhere, surely we may be for our children's salvation. It is 
 said that when Kepler, the immortal astronomer of Wurtemburg, who discovered 
 the laws of the motions of the planets, lay dying, he was asked by a friend 
 whether he did not sutler cruelly to be obliged to depart without seeing his dis- 
 coveries appreciated. He answered, " My friend, God has waited five thousand 
 years till one of His creatures discovered the admirable laws which He has given 
 to the stars ; why should I, then, not wait till justice is done to me ? " We might 
 all well labour on in the beautiful spirit of that reply. How long, in many cases, 
 does God patiently wait for the salvation of the parents themselves ; remembering 
 that, they may well wait before Him for their children. But to earnest prayer, 
 wise training, and holy faith, the rewartl cannot but come eventually. Let us 
 
 CI 
 
nOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 lead our children to Christ. Though it may not he before, yet when we are dead 
 and gone, when the coffin and the grave contain all that is left of us to earth, 
 when the clods of the valley cover our heads, and years of fled time have in many 
 minds obliterated our memory, still shall our children remember that they once 
 had Christian and then have glorified parents. Thoughts of a holy life and earnest 
 prayers will follow them, even in the way of sin ; and when the sacred beacon of 
 our past rises, like another star of the East, to guide them to Him who was born 
 in J3eth]ebem, that memory of Christian father and godly mother will be for ever 
 a shrined and holy thing in our children's hearts. It will go with them in their 
 own Christian life, recollected as their noblest birthright, and cherished as a 
 princely heritage. With our own Cowper, they may think of us and sing — 
 
 My boast is not that I deduce my birth 
 From loins enthroned, and rulers of the earth ; 
 But higher far my proud pretensions rise, 
 The son of parents passed into the skies." 
 
 SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES. 
 
 Verses 1,2. " The command of 
 chap. iii. 12 is reported in that place, 
 because it was given by Joshua at that 
 time. The election of twelve men by 
 the people would have been impossible 
 whilst they were crossing, though, after 
 they were chosen, Joshua could easily 
 explain to them, whilst the rest were 
 passing over, what they were to do. 
 The twelve men were elected by the 
 people, that they might act as their 
 representatives, and be witnesses of the 
 miracles which were about to be wrought 
 at their passage through the river." — 
 Kdl. 
 
 Beaking Witness to the Works of 
 
 THE LOED. 
 
 I. God's witnesses are carefully pre- 
 pared beforehand. Memorials of God's 
 wonderful works and great mercies had 
 for some time been contemplated. A 
 command in relation to them had been 
 given by Moses (cf. Deut. xxvii. 2). This 
 commandment was partially obeyed on 
 this very day of the passage, and fully 
 at Mount Ebal (chap. viii. 80—32). 
 The men who were to prepai'e for this 
 particular memorial at Gilgal had been 
 already selected. They were to be sta- 
 tioned close to the spot where the 
 waters were divided ; and while the 
 multitude '* hasted and passed over," 
 they could stand during the whole time 
 and watch this marvellous work, re- 
 porting it afterwards each man to his 
 own tribe. God graciously prepares 
 the testimony of those things which He 
 C2 
 
 would have most surely believed among 
 us. For centuries before He came, the 
 prophets bare witness unto Christ. 
 Jesus Himself told His disciples of 
 things to come, that when these came 
 to pass they might believe. Peter speaks 
 to those in the house of Cornelius of 
 " witnesses chosen before of God, who 
 did eat and drink with Christ after He 
 rose from the dead." Elsewhere the 
 same apostle says, " We were eye-wit- 
 nesses of His majesty." In the testi- 
 mony of the Lord's marvellous works 
 and mercies, nothing is left to accident. 
 II. God's witnesses are so prepared 
 as to merit the confidence of men. 
 In this case they were chosen by the 
 people from among themselves. They 
 were not priests or Levitcs, who might 
 afterwards be suspected, from motives 
 of interest, of having coloured the re- 
 port to keep up the good name of the 
 Ark. 1. The witnesses to the truth of 
 the Scriptures demand our confidence. 
 Many of them were men who sacrificed 
 much for the truth's sake. Who can 
 venture to cast suspicion on such men 
 as Moses, who " forsook Egj'pt ; " or 
 Jeremiah, whose life was one long per- 
 secution ; or Elijah, who seemed alone 
 in his fidelity, and whose grief in the 
 desert is told with such evident truth- 
 fnlness ? What a life of testimony, 
 ever bearing witness of itself while tes- 
 tifying of the Saviour, is the life of 
 Paul ! Think of his self-sacrifice, of his 
 persecutions, of his boldness, his mani- 
 fest integrity, his exemplary life, and 
 
C'TAP. IV. 
 
 HOMILETIC COMMENTALY: JOSHUA. 
 
 of the unmeditated coincidences of his 
 ]f;tters as shewn in Paley's Horse 
 1-aulin^. 2. The witnesses to the truth 
 since the days of the apostles have been 
 also eminently worthy of the faith of 
 men. (a) Many Christians have been 
 men of holy and self-denying lives ; 
 men who have done great services or 
 given much in sacrifice for their fellows ; 
 men whose death has been a confirma- 
 tion of their own previous testimony. 
 (b) There is the witness given by 
 poetry, painting, music, and literature 
 contributed by many who have made 
 no profession of attachment to the 
 gospel. The noblest inspirations of 
 men have been drawn from the Bible, 
 and have thus borne testimony at least 
 to its elevated character and holy 
 power. (c) There is the witness of 
 the enemies of the gospel. Literature 
 abounds with concessions and expres- 
 sions of admiration in which avowed 
 unbelievers have borne their witness to 
 Christ and His word. Few will sus- 
 pect these of any interested motives. 
 (d) There is the witness of Christian 
 societies and Christian work. When 
 men look at the fruits which the tree 
 of truth has ever borne, and is still 
 bearing, they read testimony which 
 surely is worthy of some confidence : 
 missionary societies and schools ; hospi- 
 tals and poor laws, both of which 
 sprang from the Church. III. God's 
 witnesses are so placed that they can 
 speak with authority. These men 
 were near to the Ark, and to the scene 
 of the miracle. They could tell what 
 they saw with the claim that belonged 
 to men who had possessed good oppor- 
 tunities for information. The apostles 
 repeatedly insisted on their qualifica- 
 tions in similar respects. " That which 
 was from the beginning, which we have 
 heard, which we have seen with our 
 eyes .... declare we unto you," said 
 John. Think of the power in which 
 these men were qualified to speak, when 
 they stood up to bear witness, " begin- 
 ning at Jerusalem " amongst the very 
 men who could best sift their evidence, 
 and whose malice and desire to vindi- 
 cate themselves would lead them to 
 deny anything which could be denied. 
 Let us learn that no word of God is to 
 
 be received lightly. Dr. Bushnell says, 
 "A suit upon a note at hand had long 
 been pending in one of the courts of 
 our commonwealth, payment of which 
 was resisted on the ground that it was 
 and must be a forgery, no such note 
 having ever been given. But the diffi- 
 culty in the trial was to make out any 
 conclusive evidence of what the defend- 
 ing party knew to be the truth. Hig 
 counsel was, in fact, despairing utterly 
 of success ; but it happened that just 
 as he was about closing his plea, 
 having the note in his hand, and bring- 
 ing it up so that the light struck 
 through, his eye caught the glimpse of 
 a mark in the paper. He stopped, held 
 it up deliberately to the light, and be- 
 hold, the name, in water-mark, of a 
 company that had begun the manufac- 
 ture of paper after the date of the in- 
 strument ! Here was evidence without 
 going far to seek it ; evidence enough 
 to turn the plaintifi" forthwith into a 
 felon, and consign him, as it did, to a 
 felon's punishment." The truth of 
 God's word has also the witness in it- 
 self; although its water-mark is one, 
 not which disproves, but which strik- 
 ingly confirms, its own utterances. 
 This "man of our counsel" has the 
 aspect of truth in every feature, and 
 may well be felt to speak with indisput- 
 able authority. IV. Those who bear 
 witness for God now should also seek 
 to make their testimony unimpeach- 
 able. There is still room for holy and 
 disinterested and self-sacrificing lives. 
 These will impress most men more than 
 argument, and more than eloquence. 
 To all Christians the word is spoken 
 still, " Ye are My witnesses, saith the 
 Lord." 
 
 Verse 1, first clause. The Complete- 
 ness AND DeLIBERATENESS OF God's 
 
 Works. 
 
 I. The effectual working of Divine 
 power. " All the people were clean 
 passed over Jordan." Not one of the 
 mighty host whose inheritance lay on 
 the other side of the river was left be- 
 hind. 1. Divine power ivas sufficient to 
 cover all human weakness. Some of the 
 people would be infirm, some infants, 
 some sick and diseased ; all passed over 
 nevertheless. So in our passage to the 
 
EOMILETlC COMMENTAiiY: JOSHUji. 
 
 inheritance above, God's power not only 
 meets the case of the spiritually sti'ong, 
 it equally covers the need of those who 
 are gpiritually feeble. The gospel of 
 our Joshua, also, is a gospel for the 
 poor and the maimed and the halt and 
 the blind. When Moses stood before 
 Pharaoh previous to the exodus, 
 Pharaoh spoke as if he had made a 
 great concession when he said, " Let 
 your little ones also go with you." 
 Moses answered him, "Our cattle also 
 shall go with us ; there shall not an hoof 
 be left behind." Brave words were 
 those, for one man to dauntle^sly speak 
 in the face of a despot, and they were 
 as beautiful in their significance as they 
 were bold in their spirit. Nothing of 
 the Lord's was to be left in the land of 
 the idolater. The power of God should 
 be found sufficient to bring out every 
 one of the cattle also. 2. LHvinc poivcr 
 uas sufficient to cover all dijfictilties and 
 obstacles. God not only parted the 
 waters, but held them parted till all 
 the people were clean passed over. 
 Not less " the effectual working of His 
 power" proves sufficient for all obstacles 
 in the path of His children now. II. 
 The absolute sufficiency of Divine 
 mercy. All passed clean over. The 
 fathers had died in the wilderness, for 
 mercy must punish sin, lest all suffer 
 destruction. Justice is more passive 
 than active in the matter of punishment 
 for transgression ; it is the attribute 
 which proclaims that punishment is 
 right and due. It is Mercy tbat applies 
 punishment. It is Jesus Christ with 
 tears in His eyes who says over 
 Jerusalem, " The days shall come upon 
 thee, that thine enemies shall lay thee 
 even with the ground, and thy children 
 within thee." So, for the sake of the 
 living, Mercy bad sorrowfully smitten 
 and buried the fathers in the wilderness. 
 But the cbildren were completely for- 
 given. They, too, had sinned deeply and 
 long. The plains of Moab were close 
 by ; the people had grievously erred 
 there, but Divine mercy is equal to the 
 occasion, and it is from those very plains 
 of Moab that the people pass over. 
 Every one enters in ; not only Phinehas 
 and Joshua and Caleb, but the forgiven 
 binners also. How complete and bean- 
 os 
 
 tiful is the pardon of the Lord ! No 
 man may tamper with sin, for eveu 
 Mercy stands weeping by the graves ol 
 the dead which her own hands have 
 slain ; all the more glorious is it to see 
 that where ]\Iercy once forgives she has 
 no memory whatever of the past. While 
 the people clean pass over, she utters 
 not a single upbraiding to any one of 
 them all. 
 
 " Kind hearts are here, yet would the tenderest 
 one 
 Have limits to its mercy ; God has none ; 
 But man's forgiveness may be true and 
 
 sweet, 
 When yet he stoops to give it : more com- 
 plete 
 Is love that lays forgiveness at thy feet, 
 And pleads with thee to raise it. Only 
 
 heaven 
 Means crowned, not vanquished, when it 
 says, Forgiven." 
 
 A. A. Proctor. 
 
 III. The majestic deliberateness of 
 Divine methods. Four hundred and 
 seventy years before God made a 
 covenant with Abram, saying, " Unto 
 thy seed have I given this land." At 
 the same time the four centuries which 
 were previously to elapse were predicted 
 as years to be spent in Egypt, many of 
 which were to be years of bondage and 
 affliction. At the end of four hundred 
 and thirty years, not a day had been 
 lost in the Divine count of time (cf. Ex. 
 xii. 40, 41 ; Gal. iii. 17). Then the 
 Israelites sin in the desert, and calmly 
 and patiently God takes forty more years 
 to blot out the evil of this transgression. 
 Slowly and painfully, and often solemnly, 
 these days of the wilderness go by, 
 God working miracles, shewing mercy, 
 and bearing His people all the way. 
 Here at the end of the time — four days 
 before the end, for His mercy loves to 
 discount the bill of our sulVering — God 
 divides the river, and leads the people 
 into the land. How calm, how deliberate, 
 how patient, how stately, is the slow, 
 sure march of God in this working for 
 His people's good ! 1. lite natural pro- 
 cesses in the cure of human sinfulness and 
 urahiess are shnrer than men usually 
 estimate, and God does not hurnj them. 
 It took four thousand years for fallen 
 man to become ready for the cross ; 
 then, " in due time, Christ died for the 
 ungodly." It took over thirty years for 
 
HOMILETIG COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 the Saviour, in His way from Bethlehem 
 to Calvary, to leave the influences and 
 words and works necessary for the salva- 
 tion of men ; at the end of this period 
 He prays, saying, "Father, the hour is 
 come." So the time from the cross to 
 Pentecost, from Pentecost to the last 
 words of the solitary man of Patmos, 
 ere he sits down to write the gospel 
 which closes Divine revelation, seems 
 long. God's way has no hasty miles. 
 2. The sloirness of God's method is never 
 for lack of pity and mercy. Scripture 
 calls the Divine waiting "long-sufier- 
 ing," a word which means not simply 
 long patience, but also long pain. So 
 we read of this waiting in the desert, 
 "Forty years long was 1, gi-ieved,"etc. 
 The bearing of God, while He waits, 
 shews that His deliberateness and slow- 
 ness are never for lack of mercy. Think 
 of the manna falling in the wilderness on 
 the days of Israel's great sins ! Manna 
 on the morning of Korah's rebellion ; 
 manna and the brazen serpent in one 
 day; manna from heaven and a calf for 
 a god on earth ; think of it, and see 
 how God's slow methods and great 
 mercies go on together ! 
 
 The magnitude of the miracle. — 
 " This seems to us a more signal miracle 
 than the passage of the Ked Sea ; and 
 it appears as if expressly framed, not only 
 to effect its own objects, but to relieve 
 the other from all naturalistic interpreta- 
 tions. In connection with the Red Sea 
 passage, we hear travellers and scholars 
 talk learnedly about east winds and 
 tides and shallows, so that, whether 
 intentionally or not, the fact, as a de- 
 monstration of Divine power, is explained 
 away or -attenuated. But nothing of 
 this is possible in the case of thepassage 
 of the Jordan. The fact must be taken 
 as it stands. It was a miracle, or it was 
 nothing. There has not been, and there 
 cannot be, any explanation of it on 
 natural grounds. And if, therefore, men 
 are obliged to admit this, it becoines 
 scarcely worth their while to tamper with 
 the Red Sea miracle — unless they would 
 deny the authority of the narrative 
 altogether." [7w7/o.] 
 
 Verses 3 — 5. " Objecti\-e Teaching." 
 I. We see God developing the spirit 
 
 of enquiry. The Lord loves to set His 
 children problems. This is not to perplex 
 them, but to teach them. Men every- 
 where may hear Him saying, " Seek, 
 and ye shall find." His way is to 
 stand up before men strange objects, 
 and so to set them asking questions. 
 1. God takes this way in Nature. We 
 are to " lift up our eyes on high," and 
 reverently to enquire, " What meanest 
 Thou by these stars ? Who hath created 
 these things?" In the depths below, 
 where "He putteth forth His hand 
 upon the rock," marking it here with 
 the footprints of extinct animals, there 
 with the rain-drift, and piling it else- 
 where in strange formations of strata, 
 we are to behold that which shall prompt 
 our devout question, "What meanest 
 Thou by these stones ? " There is no 
 thunder in which we may not hear 
 " the voice of the Lord ; " no Hghtning 
 of which we may not enquire concerning 
 the laws of electricity, and thus find out 
 in a deeper sense how " His brightness 
 is as the light." Nature is full of 
 wonders ; strange forms stand up in all 
 her fields to provoke the spirit of in- 
 vestigation within us. 2. It is the same 
 inprocidence. The wicked prosper, and 
 the righteous fail ; and this has set men 
 asking questions ever since the days 
 when David wrote the thirty- seventh 
 Psalm, and he or some one else the 
 seventy-third, not to speak of earlier 
 bewilderment. Why do babies die ? 
 Why do our boys and girls just get our 
 whole being entwined around their own, 
 and then suddenly pass from us ? 
 Broken-hearted fathers and mothers, 
 for centuries, have been walking into 
 grave-yards, looking at little graves 
 and "broken columns," and have cried 
 out in anguish, " What meanest Thou 
 by THESE stones ? " 
 
 '• Only a baby's grave, 
 A foot or two at the most 
 Of star-daisied sod. 
 Yet methinks that God 
 Knows what that little grave cost." 
 
 So intense have been the questions ; 
 so soft and tnistful, as the case has 
 had to be referred back to Him, have 
 been at least some of the answers. 
 Sudden sickness or calamity blasts 
 the hopes of a life which hence- 
 
 65 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA, 
 
 forth drags on in pain ; appalling 
 accidents slay their thousands, and 
 fierce diseases their ten thousands, 
 and men and women who are left bow 
 their heads low, hardly lifting them for 
 a time, saving in the energy that asks 
 with such terrible earnestness, " Why 
 is this ? Wherefore am I dealt with 
 thus?" 3. It is so hardly less in the 
 Scriptures. The hardened heart of 
 Pharaoh here, slaughtered Canaanites 
 there ; the origin of evil, the mysteries 
 of the fall ; federal responsibilities and 
 privileges ; sovereignty over, and ac- 
 countability in, the will ; vicarious 
 burdens, pain, and death ; atonement, 
 its effect ; punishment, its duration ; 
 immortality, its basis and conditions : 
 what numberless stones there are, 
 standing up, too, in such strange 
 forms ! What can these all mean ? 
 They mean enquiry, investigation, 
 reverent curiosity. " Search the 
 Scriptures ; " that is what they have 
 said to thousands ; thousands have 
 obeyed, wondered still more, adored, 
 trusted, loved, and been content 
 presently to put for their whole case, 
 " Now I know iu part ; but then shall 
 I know even as also I am known." 
 Anything is better than stagnant con- 
 tentment with our own ignorance, 
 which corrupts so fast into deadly 
 pride, unless there are problems from 
 which we have now and then humbly 
 to turn away, saying, " Thy judgments 
 are a great deep ! " This is what so 
 many of the stones mean. II, We see 
 God cultivating and directing the 
 powers of memory. 1. The powers of 
 memory in many vistanccs hare Iwen not 
 a little remarhahle. It is said that 
 Thcmistocles could call by their names 
 each one of the twenty thousand citizens 
 of Athens. Cyrus is reported to have 
 been able to name every soldier in his 
 army. Ben Jonson tells us that he 
 could repeat all that he had ever 
 written, and whole books that be had 
 read. Still more remarkable instances 
 are on well-authenticated record. Me- 
 mory was as much given to be trained 
 as any other faculty. 2. Memory, 
 hoiveier, may be ahuscil, ami so God 
 directs it to the hiyhcst objects. Men 
 &re to remember His marvellous works 
 
 and His gracious goodness. 3. In 
 teachiny vs to remember His ivories, God 
 uses the natural rather than the ornate. 
 Stones from the river's bed, where the 
 feet of the priests stood firm, would tell 
 the story better than the most artistic 
 and elaborate monument. So, as M. 
 Henry suggests, "God hath chosen 
 the foolish things of the world" to 
 keep His name and works before men 
 to this day. III. We see God, through 
 well-directed remembrances, provok- 
 ing praise to Himself, and care for the 
 piety of men in the future. The 
 Israelites for years to come, their 
 children, and all who saw the stones, 
 were to learn to fear and worship God. 
 Memory was to provoke praise, and 
 lead to interest in the piety of others. 
 
 Verses 6, 7. " Taught of the Lord." 
 I. God's method of teaching children 
 He stimulates enquiry. He would have 
 the fathers set their children asking 
 questions. This is the Di\dne plan in 
 the service of the passover. The same 
 idea pervades such passages as Deut. 
 vi. 8, 9. This method has the advan- 
 tage of beginning with the heart. When 
 a desire to know is created, when 
 curiosity is excited and interest is 
 stirred, teaching is comparatively easy. 
 True tact begins by laying siege to the 
 heart ; let that be taken, and forthwith 
 the mind readily yields. Our human 
 methods of teaching, although much 
 improved during the last generation, 
 are too often awkward and unnatural. 
 Impress a child very formally and 
 solemnly that you propose to give him 
 some religious instruction, and you 
 repel him by the very manner of your 
 approach. The light and cheerful 
 heart of a child shuts itself up before a 
 solemn face, a didactic bearing, and 
 under the opening sentences of a set 
 lecture, as a sensitive plant closes 
 before the coming of a cold wind or 
 the beginnings of night. Satan teaches 
 Jiis ptijiils by br(ii)iniiiy nith the heart ; 
 he fascinates men through the medium 
 of the senses, sets the heart aglow with 
 wicked longings, and the biggest dullard 
 can soon master the hardest ways of sin 
 alter that. Heaven and hell alike shew 
 us that the way to learning is through 
 
CHAP. IV. 
 
 HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA 
 
 loviug. He whose interest is deeply 
 excited is already far advanced towards 
 the attainment of the lesson which the 
 careless pupil thinks it very tiresome 
 to have to begin. II. The subjects 
 which God selects for the teaching of 
 children. 1. God does not imje upon 
 men the teachim/ of tJiiiKjs which are 
 secular. This is not because secular 
 things are unimportant. All through 
 the Scriptures, and not least in the 
 Pentateuch, the importance of knowing 
 civil and social duties is fully recog- 
 nised. But men do not so much need 
 urging to teach their children the things 
 of this life. 2. Divine wisdom, therefore, 
 lays stress on spiritual teachinrj. It is 
 this which is of supreme importance, it 
 is this which parents would most readily 
 neglect ; therefore, whenever the sub- 
 ject of teaching children is mentioned, 
 God says, " Teach them of Me, teach 
 them of My works, teach them 
 My words." III. The ends which, 
 through such teaching, God would 
 secure. 1. He would lay deep the foun- 
 dations of the national u-elfare. These 
 should rest in nothing less than the 
 Lord Himself. So far is the Bible 
 removed from any sympathy with the 
 modern cry against " political dissent- 
 ers" and "political Christians," that it 
 shews us God Himself most carefully 
 connecting the political welfare of His 
 people with their religious training. 
 Worldly and wicked men may think it 
 highly desirable to have all government 
 in their own hands ; it is so much more 
 comfortable than to be subject to the 
 constraints of piety. Besides, it is 
 easier for such men to feel religious 
 when they control the Church, than when 
 " society" is held in check by men of 
 evident godliness. Some good but weak- 
 minded Christian people think that it 
 conduces to piety for all who love God 
 to let politics alone, and thus leave all 
 government, and elections to all places 
 of authority, in the hands of the enemies 
 of the cross of Christ. This is not the 
 manner of God with His model nation. 
 Divine wisdom was wont to teach that 
 personal holiness was a necessary qualifi- 
 cation for civil authority ; the holiest 
 men were placed highest in power, and 
 their sins were treated as so much per- 
 
 sonal unfitness for the control of others. 
 The children of every household were to 
 be trained in the fear of the Lord ; all 
 the nation was to be pious. Had this 
 direction been faithfully followed, and 
 all Israel loved God, no one thinks that 
 it would have been necessary to have 
 spared a few wicked Canaanites for the 
 government of the people, in order to 
 keep the piety of the nation uncon- 
 taminated by politics. God would have 
 all the people pious, for thus only could 
 their highest national welfare be secured. 
 2. This teaching ivas to aim not less at 
 the jyersonal welfare of each citizen. 
 (fl) God would have them correct the 
 mass by attending to the units, [h) God 
 would have each person to feel himself 
 a subject of Divine care and love. 3. 
 Most of all, this religious teaching ivas 
 meant to secure spiritual life and eternal 
 salvation. Civilization would be nothins, 
 social and national greatness nothing, 
 without this. All the ways of God 
 with men are meant to lead upward 
 to Himself. He who afterwards said 
 through Hosea, " I taught Ephraim 
 also to go, taking them by their arms," 
 never yet taught men a single step 
 which was not meant to lead to the 
 throne of God and eternal life, and 
 which was not a part of the way there. 
 
 "Parents should relate to their chil- 
 dren, and hold before them, not their 
 own vile deeds, but God's merciful deeds 
 (Exod. X. 1, 2 ; Deut. vi. 20). 
 
 " That is the right application of God's 
 marvellous and beneficent acts, when 
 we learn from them truly to know, fear, 
 and love Him (John ii. 11)." [Starke.] 
 
 These stones were erected into a 
 memorial to keep the generations in 
 remembrance that the waters were cut 
 off " before the Ark of the covenant of 
 the Lord." How readily we forget, in 
 our afilictions, that the covenant is our 
 only security. Like Canute and his 
 courtiers, we too endeavour, by methods 
 of our own, to keep back the tides which 
 flow towards us. Happy is he who at 
 such a time is enough in the secret of 
 the Lord to hear Him whisper, "When 
 thou passest through the waters, I will 
 be with thee, and through the rivers, 
 thev shall not overflow thee." 
 
 67 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 CHAP. IT. 
 
 Those who have been delivered from 
 suffering and danger, through the cove- 
 nant mercy of the Lord, should not 
 fail to erect memorials of praise, which 
 may serve to teach and remind others 
 of the only means by which the waters 
 of affliction can be eli'ectually cut off. 
 
 Verse 8. Vicarious Service and 
 Honour. 
 
 I. Our labour for God's people is 
 representative labour. We work not 
 only for others, but in place and instead 
 of others. One man was chosen from 
 each tribe to bear these stones from 
 Jordan to Gilgal, and the work is spoken 
 of as that of " the children of Israel." 
 1. There is not room for all Christians to 
 he doing the same thimj, nor are there men 
 to spare. If the Church were to attempt 
 it, the industries of life would be crowded 
 at some points, while at others they 
 would be utterly forsaken. And the 
 desolation of the forsaken places would 
 soon be fatal to the overwrought in- 
 dustry of the crowded places, even if 
 the crowds themselves were not fatal to 
 the success of the few works in which 
 everybody felt it his duty to engage. 
 Christian men cannot all preach ; there 
 is not room, nor time, nor can more 
 than a few be spared for the work. 
 For the same reasons, all cannot be 
 Sunday-school teachers or missionaries. 
 So some are chosen out of our families 
 and congregations to serve for all. But 
 those who go down into the deep waters 
 for service are there for their brethren, 
 who elsewhere are engaged in "hold- 
 ing the ropes " which keep the du-ect 
 workers from sinking. These twelve 
 men from the tribes needed others, it 
 may be, to help their wives, and little 
 children, and aged relatives, or their 
 sick, or some weak ones in the host 
 for whom they should have cared, 
 across the river. Thus the division 
 of labour, urged so forcibly by Adam 
 Smith, must ever be recognised, if we 
 are to realize as we ought the proper 
 "wealth" of Churches. Each worker 
 in a prominent position should say, 
 " I am here at this post for all my 
 brethren ; I represent thcui, and I must 
 carry as for them, as well as for myself, 
 as big a stone as I can, so that my 
 G8 
 
 tribe, my church, my school, my town, 
 my family, may be well represented in 
 this memorial of work for the Lord, 
 which we are trying to build to the 
 honour of His name, and for the help 
 of the generations now and to come." 
 Each worker in a lowly position may 
 feel, on the other hand, "I am here 
 that my brother may be j'onder ; and 
 all the time I am freeing his hands to 
 bear the actual burden of memorial, I 
 am working in his work, which but for 
 me and others like me he could not 
 labour in at all. 2. All are not fitted to 
 do the same thing. Life's discipline tries 
 us and selects us, choosing one man for 
 this part of the common service, and 
 another for that. The tender and gentle- 
 spirited man may not be fit for carrying 
 large stones, but he may care for the 
 children and encoui'age the weak ex- 
 cellently. The brawny muscular man 
 may do well for the stones, but be poor 
 and out of place in stimulating those 
 who lack faith, or in sympathising with 
 such as need patience and gentleness. 
 Both workers are wanted, and one may 
 be as valuable as the other. 
 
 II. The results of work for God are 
 representative results. If Christian 
 men thus labour vicariously and for 
 one common object, it follows that 
 the fruits of labour belong to them all. 
 1. No Christian worher whose labours 
 seem much blessed should claim, pre- 
 eminence in usefulness over his equalhj 
 laborious and earnest brother. No doubt 
 some are more useful than others, but 
 they are often poor judges, and espe- 
 cially so if they think their superior 
 usefulness very self-evident. After all, 
 we can seldom tell who is most success- 
 ful in the process of bringing souls to 
 the Saviour. Some conversions are 
 claimed by many different workers, 
 each one, instrumcntally, regarding the 
 work as his own. There are other 
 cases in which the new-born believer 
 acknowledges some one Christian worker 
 as the means of leading him to the 
 Saviour, whereas, perhaps, there have 
 been fifty or a hundred other workers, 
 each of whom has done as much, and 
 it may be some of them far more than 
 the last. If a chain in the time of storm 
 were to hold a ship from going on the 
 
HOMILETIG COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 rocks, would it be meet for the link 
 next to the vessel, supposing it sentient 
 and vocal, to exult over its brother 
 links, and cry, " I saved the ship, and 
 its two hundred passengers owe their 
 lives to me ; not a link had hold of the 
 vessel but myself"? Why, every link 
 all down the chain would have done 
 as much as the links nearest to the 
 ship. The same principle is often not 
 less true in the salvation of men. 2. 
 No conscientious ivorker should depre- 
 date his service, and discoura/je himself, 
 because he seems to he less successful than 
 others. If he be working zealously and 
 faithfully, perhaps he merely stands 
 farther from the results. Spring does 
 not get depressed, and say, " I was 
 utterly unsuccessful with that wheat, 
 and in my hands it never became much 
 more than grass, whereas summer had 
 no sooner come in than it burst out 
 into ear, then into blossom, and in a 
 few short weeks it was converted into 
 golden grain ripe for the harvest." 
 Spring had as much to do with that 
 conversion as summer, though it had 
 died out of the calendar, and become a 
 buried season, long ere a single ear was 
 ripe. And winter did as much in that 
 conversion as either spring or summer. 
 But for its cold wind and hardening 
 atmosphere, keeping back as they did 
 the blade, and allowing time for the 
 downward growth beneath the soil, the 
 whole crop might have been " root- 
 fallen " and "lodged" and blighted, 
 and never have come to corn at all. 
 Winter and spring were much farther 
 away than summer, and did a lowlier 
 and less cheering part of the work ; but 
 surely at the time of garnering the Lord 
 of the year shall say to these also, 
 "Well done, good and faithful spring; 
 well done, good and faithful winter: 
 enter each into the joy of harvest." 
 Not less do humbler workers contribute 
 to the salvation of souls, and not less 
 will they have the commendation of 
 the Lord of this more glorious harvest. 
 III. The honour in God's work 
 should thus also be representative 
 honour. It should not merely be so 
 by and by before the throne ; as far 
 as possible, it should be thus down here. 
 They also who took care of the families 
 
 of the men from the twelve tribes had 
 part in the memorial of Gilgal. When 
 Ciseri painted that wonderful picture 
 of " The Entombment," which has been 
 for some time hanging in the gallery of 
 the Crystal Palace, the honour was not 
 all won by the artist's hand. In point 
 of execution, that may have been near- 
 est to the work ; but the eye saw, 
 the mind thought, the imagination con- 
 ceived, the emotional nature felt, the 
 nerves and the whole body suffered the 
 strain, as the hand became the vehicle 
 to carry to the canvas those marvellous 
 mysteries of light and shade, and that 
 embodiment of a broken heart which 
 looks out upon the beholder through 
 the grief-smitten face of the Madonna. 
 Did we regard our spiritual work as all 
 our other labour and the processes of 
 nature teach us to regard it, the balance 
 of honour would be struck more evenly. 
 Those who are known as very success- 
 ful would still be glad in a just and 
 righteous joy, though a few might be 
 found humbler and speaking less often 
 of their work ; while, on the other hand, 
 many a godly mother who thought she 
 had failed with her children, many a 
 teacher who prayed and strove and 
 saddened under a similar sorrow, many 
 a humble preacher and lowly servant 
 of Jesus would be encouraged, as they 
 were helped to feel that their words 
 had not fallen to the ground, and that 
 their arduous and well-meant labour 
 was " not in vain in the Lord." 
 
 Verse 9. The Memorial in Jordan. 
 
 I. The value of corroborative testi- 
 mony. In the years to come, when 
 the generation who had seen the miracle 
 had died out, the memorial in the river 
 would help to impress beholders with 
 the absolute truth of the tradition. 
 Jordan would go to confirm Gilgal, and 
 the stones at Gilgal would serve to sub- 
 stantiate the record of those in Jordan. 
 So in the history of our Lord's ministry, 
 Matthew, and Mark, and Luke, and 
 John, each serve to confirm the other. 
 A single epistle of Paul might be ques- 
 tioned, but the coincident testimony of 
 them all has placed them each above 
 the reach of the most maHgnant criti- 
 cism. II The beauty of offerings 
 
 69 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 which come from the promptings of 
 the heart. This memorial in Jordau 
 does uot appear to have been com- 
 manded. It may have been that Joshua 
 was told to erect this also, but there is 
 no record of the command. This me- 
 morial seems to have been the outcome 
 of the heart's gladness. Such "praise 
 is comely " to God. Christ's reception 
 of the irregular and, to some, unseemly 
 offering of the woman's box of oint- 
 ment. III. The permanence of in- 
 terest which belongs to our holier 
 service for God. " They are there 
 unto this day." Bush says, " These are 
 either the words of Joshua, who wrote 
 his history near the close of his life, 
 and about twenty years after the event 
 occurred, or they were added at a sub- 
 sequent period by Samuel or Ezra, or 
 some other inspired man or men by 
 whom the sacred canon was revised." 
 1. Oi(r holier times of thankfulness to 
 God and communion with Him can 
 never be foryotten by ourselves. If 
 Joshua wrote this verse twenty years 
 after the miracle, it shews how deep 
 was the spiritual joy in which he had 
 
 thanked God for dividing the waters. 
 Every godly man should have times of 
 refreshing from the presence of the 
 Lord which he can never forget. 2. 
 Our holier times of thankfulness to God 
 and communion with Him will lead us 
 so to use and record them that they will 
 lony prove of interest to others. If 
 Samuel added these words, it must have 
 been three hundred years later ; if 
 they were added by Ezra, it must have 
 been after the lapse of nine centuries. 
 Probably they were written by Joshua, 
 for the phi-ase, " unto this day," occurs 
 no less than twelve times in this book. 
 Be this as it may, it is the work of our 
 deeper spiritual experiences which fur- 
 nishes memorials of interest to others. 
 When, being dead, a Christian man yet 
 speaketh to those who follow him, it is 
 ever from the intenser experiences of 
 his spiritual life. It is such experiences 
 that preserve the names of the men 
 themselves : Luther, Knox, Brainerd, 
 McCheyne. It is only in the outcome 
 of his richest life that any Christian 
 survives himself. 
 
 MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PAEAGRAPH.— Verses 10—19. 
 The Rewakds of Sekyice and the Penalties of Sin. 
 
 I. He who begins with God will need God to the end. Ver. 10, 11. It was 
 
 not •^' until everything was finished," and "all the people were clean passed 
 over," that the Ai-k left the river. Having begun to cross under the help of 
 God, His presence was needed till the last man was in Canaan. It is ever thus 
 with God's people now. There is no single step Avhich they can afford to take 
 without Him. The moment He left them, the pent-up floods would sweep them 
 away. He who is thus needed by His people graciously abides with them. They 
 who follow Christ may presently say, " Having loved His own which were in the 
 world, He loved them unto the end." II. He who is faitliful before God will 
 be rewarded with God's approval. Yer. 12, 13. Our promises to each other 
 arc not hidden from the Lord. When they are kept. He makes record of our 
 taithfulness. Not less does He behold us if they are broken. III. He who 
 honours God will be honoured by God. Joshua had honoured God by his 
 obedience to the Divine commands, and uot less by the spiiut which he had 
 manitested throughout. Joshua, in turn, was magnified (1) in his exalted com- 
 munion with God, (2) in his abiding influence over the people, and (3) in his 
 mlicritance ol th.^ dignity uud power, as wdl as tlie place, of Mosos, his great 
 predecessor. IV. He who waits in obedience to God will not be forgotten 
 01 Uod. Ver. 15—17. The priests must have stood m this position of seeming 
 Hanger, bearing the Ark for several hours. "When we where wait God bids us or 
 places us :— 1. We wait in ptrfect safety. 2. Wo never wait in vain. Such 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 waiting is useful (a) to ourselves, {b) and useful to others. 3. We shall not have 
 to wait a moment after our work is done. None need think, in his trial, that God 
 has forgotten him. V. He who trusts God will assuredly find cause to bless God. 
 Ver. 18. The people had been walking by faith ; the priests had waited in faith. 
 Keason, and intelligence, and thought on the laws of nature, could make nothing 
 of these upstanding waters. It was only as they remembered God that the 
 priests dared to stand in the river, or that the people dared to cross. Each 
 ventured because of the presence of God, symbolised as it was in the Ark. They 
 feared as they crossed, and they " hasted and passed over." How their fears 
 must have been rebuked and their faith confirmed by the closing scene of the 
 miracle ! No sooner did the Ark leave Jordan, than the waters burst forth, and 
 rushed on their way. The people must have felt more than ever, " This thing 
 was all of God." 1. Usintj our faith, u^e shall soon have reason to bless God for 
 the increase of faith. The end of His ways confirms our ventures into confidence. 
 2. Using our faith, we shall presentlji come, almost before we are aware of it, into 
 the full fruition of all our hope. They who ventured and went on in haste, and 
 trusted as best they could, presently found themselves in the promised land. It 
 had been long looked for, long desired; then, through some fear, and some con- 
 fusion, and the best trust they could command, they suddenly find themselves in 
 Canaan. What a picture it is of many a life and many an ending of life ! Still 
 we have to say, " So He bringeth them unto their desired haven." VI. He who 
 rebels against God will find that God's penalties are as severe as His 
 threatenings. Ver. 19. The forty years were fully accomplished, saving just 
 this margin of five days with which God seems to lay emphasis on the 
 merciful side of His faithfulness. The carcases that were doomed had every 
 one fallen in the wilderness. The spared lives of Joshua and Caleb seem 
 to lay even a severer stress on the faithfulness of Divine threats and the 
 terrible realness of Divine wrath. It is by such incidents as these that we 
 can best contemplate such solemn questions as that of eternal punishment. 
 Those who have almost come to believe that no one will be utterly destroyed, 
 would do well to remember that God has ever been as severe as His word. 
 The historij of His judgments is quite as auful as the prophecies which foretold 
 them. Was not the banishment from Eden as awful as the threat ? Was the 
 destruction of Sodom less terrible than the terms in which it was revealed to 
 Abraham ? Were not the successive struggles which preceded the captivity at 
 Babylon, and was not the captivity itself, fully as dreadful as the warning words 
 of the prophet '? True, the Saviour stood and wept over Jerusalem, and said 
 fearful words about wrath coming through the Romans : surely no one can read 
 the heart-rending story of Josephus, and not feel that, stern as was the prophecy, 
 the history is even more awful. God's threats have never been mere threats. 
 The fulfilment has ever been as terrible as the prediction. None of the Divine 
 threats recorded in the Bible in any measure approximate to the awful words 
 which set forth the final destruction of the wicked. Read these numerous passages 
 how we will, the world has never heard anything like them before. With such a 
 series of threatenings, and with such a history of previous fulfilments of lesser 
 threatenings to expound them, it seems almost idle to speculate as some are specu- 
 lating on theories of punishment. Of tvhat account are any differences which ire can 
 measure and estimate, where all is so incomprehensibhj dreadful? As to the merciful 
 character of God, the mercy which would fail so to punish would also have for- 
 borne thus to threaten. Some modern views of Divine mercy proceed on the 
 assumption that it is necessary to the perfectness of the Divine character. It 
 seems to be forgotten that where mercy becomes essential it ceases to be mercy, 
 and at that point is a right. Let us look somewhat more steadfastly at the 
 threatenings which have been fulfilled, and remember that " God in history " will 
 better serve for guidance than man in theory. 
 
 < 
 
HOMILETIG COMMENTARY : JOSHUA 
 
 OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VERSES. 
 
 Verses 10, 11. — The Way of Diffi- 
 culty. 
 
 I. Remembrance of God is the only 
 encouragement thiough whicli some 
 parts of life's way become bearable 
 and passable. What the symhul of 
 God's presence was to Israel, such is 
 our perception of Him by faith to us. 
 We may have to endure " as seeing 
 Him who is invisible," but there are 
 not a few places in which this is the 
 only way to endui'e Avith hopefulness. 
 Stoicism may be matm-ed till a man, in 
 any trial, can keep just calm enough not 
 to cry out ; at such times it is only in 
 the thought of God that we can walk on 
 in the calmness of hope. Happy is he 
 who is not driven to say, "I remem- 
 bered God, and was troubled." II. 
 God's regard to the greater trials of 
 our life does not call off His attention 
 from details. He not only parted the 
 waters, but He waited in the river, both 
 in power and presence, " until cvci-)/- 
 thini/ Avas finished." III. The general 
 commandments of the Bible are meant 
 to regulate and control the specific 
 acts of our life. ' ' According to all that 
 Moses," etc. But Moses had never 
 given any commands touching the actual 
 passage of the Jordan. Yet Moses had 
 commanded an implicit reliance on 
 Divhae guidance and a careful obedience 
 to Divine requirements. Such general 
 words covered all the particulars of the 
 case. There are many things in the 
 family, in business, in the Chm-ch, and 
 in the world, which no specific precept 
 may touch ; there is absolutely no place 
 which we can occupy in our daily life 
 which in principle and in spirit is not 
 covered by the Scriptures. IV. While 
 Divine patience never wearies in 
 giving us necessary help, when God 
 goes before, we should promptly 
 follow. "The people hasted and 
 passed over." Whatever motive actu- 
 ated then haste, haste was the right 
 thing for the time. God does not work 
 that we may idly look on. His mani- 
 fest energy is a call for our marked 
 diligence. Cf. 2 Sam. v. 2L V. God, 
 who makes way in the van of our 
 difficulties, is no less necessary to 
 
 secure our rear. Ver. 11. Cf. Deut. 
 XXV. 17, 18. Not only that He may 
 see His people, but that He may save 
 them, He besets them " behind and 
 before." They may say one to another, 
 " The Lord will go before you, and the 
 God of Israel will be your rereward." 
 
 Ver. 10, last clause. Several reasons 
 have been given by different Aviiters for 
 this haste, each writer usually contend- 
 ing for his own. Probably the majority 
 of the people were moved by fear, but 
 some feelings may have led some of the 
 host to hasten, and other considerations 
 others. I. The haste of fear. This also 
 leads to Canaan. U. The haste of dili- 
 gence. With so many to cross, and so 
 much to be done, each had need to 
 remember, " the night cometh." III. 
 T'he haste of reverent obedience. God does 
 not work mightily and command ur- 
 gently that men may move slothfuUy. 
 IV. The haste of compassion. While the 
 people tarried, the priests must wait. 
 No man ever idles without expense and 
 inconvenience to some one else. V. 
 The haste of unconscious influence. The 
 quick movement of a few would com- 
 municate itself to all. Our pace times 
 that of our companion, and his that of 
 others. How glorious arc life's privi- 
 leges ; how solemn its responsibilities ! 
 
 Verses 12, 13. — I. They who pro- 
 mise freely should perform faithfully 
 (Numb, xxxii. 17-20). No promise can 
 be broken without injury to him who 
 has pledged his Avord, however it may 
 be concerning those to whom the pro- 
 mise is made. It is said that the Earl 
 of Chatham promised his son that he 
 should be present at the pulling down 
 of a garden wall. Through forgetful- 
 ness, the wall was destroyed in the son's 
 absence. Feeling, however, the im- 
 portance of his word, the father had it 
 rebuilt, in order that, according to his 
 promise, his son might Avitness its demo- 
 lition. II. They who have already 
 come into the joy of inheritance should 
 be foremost in seeking the same blessing 
 for others. III. They Avho are best 
 fitted to go to the front should not 
 
HOMILETIG COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 shrink from it on account of danger. 
 These were chosen men. They had no 
 families with them to hinder their move- 
 ments. IV. They who take the place 
 of danger in the cause of theii' brethren 
 must win honour, whether victory is 
 theirs or not. 
 
 Verse 14. I. The Lord's idea of 
 the qualifications necessary in a 
 leader of His people. 1. Natural 
 capacity. 2. Absolute obedience. 
 3. Lofty courage. 4. Deep humility. 
 5. Absence of self-seeking, 6. Gene- 
 rous concern for others. II. The 
 Lord's idea of the influence neces- 
 sary to a leader of His people. 1. The 
 gratitude of the people through remem- 
 brances of past help. 2. The fear of the 
 people for one with whom the Lord 
 evidently dwells. 3. The confidence of 
 the people in one through whom the 
 Lord manifestly works. 
 
 The best way to the highest honour 
 is through obedience to our exalted 
 Lord. 
 
 God does but magnify men that they 
 may better help their fellows, and thus 
 glorify Him in return. 
 
 He only will be magnified by God, 
 who longs to bring men into the pro- 
 mised possession. 
 
 " Whom God will make great, him 
 He first makes small through wearisome 
 cross, and care, and toil, and danger." 
 \Cramer.^ 
 
 Whom God greatly magnifies, men 
 should regard with reverence and fear. 
 Cf. 2 Kings ii. 23—25. 
 
 Verses 15 — 17. Waiting on the 
 
 LOKD. 
 
 The priests stood still till they were 
 commanded to leave the river. The 
 waters Avere heaped above them, the 
 people had all passed over, but even then 
 they waited for the word of the Lord. 
 I. The character and spirit of our 
 waiting. 1. Waiting on the Lord does 
 not mean the suspension of our oivn 
 efforts. The priests were still to bear 
 the Ark. Not for a single moment were 
 they to put it down. Our toil may 
 have to go on to very weariness. 
 
 2. Waiting on the Lord does mean that 
 no trust is to be placed in our own ef- 
 forts, but that all our faith is to be in 
 the love and energy of God. Our ef- 
 forts have often about as much power 
 to work out the results we seek as the 
 holdinjj of this wooden chest in the 
 middle of the river had to keep back the 
 Avaters. II. The necessity for our 
 waiting. 1. There is often a necessity 
 in the nature of the case itself. The 
 time taken for so large a host to cross 
 the river could not be other than 
 long. God was willing to work miracu- 
 lously to make a way for the people, 
 but not to help them over. Our diffi- 
 culties always present not only a place 
 for Divine help, but a sphere for human 
 eflbrt, and our part generally takes up 
 much time. 2. There is a necessity in 
 the direction of our own discipline. We 
 cannot learn trust and patience as theo- 
 ries, any more than a soldier can learn 
 drill and battle from books. He must 
 go through his task ; we must do the 
 same with ours. Carlyle has said, 
 "Experience is an excellent school- 
 master, but he does charge such dread- 
 ful wages." Beecher has somewhere 
 Avritten, " God sends experience to paint 
 men's portraits. Does some longing 
 youth look at the settled face of a 
 Washington, whose lineaments have 
 been transmitted to us by the artist's 
 skill, and strive to wear as noble a 
 mien ? That look — the winds of the 
 AUeghanies, the trials of the Jersey 
 winter, the sufi'erings at Cambridge, the 
 conflicts with Congi-ess, wrought it out; 
 and he who would gain it must pass 
 through as stern a school." Much 
 more must the childi-en of God, who 
 would be " transformed into the image 
 of His Son," get one by one those 
 Divine lineaments graven into their 
 spirits by doing and bearing the will 
 of God. 
 
 " He cannot be a perfect man, 
 Not boiiig try'd and tutor'd in the world." 
 
 3. The will of God to His children 
 should ever be necessity enough. If we 
 can see no other reason for having to 
 wait, this may well be sufficient. Christ 
 placed the dreadful agony of Gethse- 
 mane just on this ground — •' Not as I 
 
 73 
 
HOMILETIG COMMENT ABY : JOSHUA. 
 
 will, but as Thou wilt." III. Encou- 
 ragements in our waiting. 1. Many 
 of our ilijjicultics are maiidij in the heart, 
 and the very act of trustbui in God hrim/s 
 the relief ive seek. There are times, as 
 was the case here in Jordan, when 
 difficulties are outward and actual ; 
 even then, to wait on God is best. 
 There are other times when our trials 
 come from our own fears and weakness ; 
 then "They that wait on the Lord shall 
 renew their strength " in the very pro- 
 cess of trusting Him. 2. At the poiyit 
 where our earthly comforts fail its, 
 heavenly deliyhts begin most to abound. 
 God would not prepare all His mercies 
 for our flesh. This time of weary 
 waiting and physical discomfort to the 
 priests was a time in which with rever- 
 ent communion and holy joy their spirits 
 might be strengthened in God. Such 
 hours with God make spiritual stamina 
 for a lifetime. 3. Exceedinfi yreat and 
 jweciousjiromises assure us that "Blessed 
 are all they that iv ait for Him." Our 
 waiting is ever in the light of His word, 
 let there be what other darkness there 
 may. 4. " Did ever any trust in God 
 and was confounded ? " Our waiting is 
 illuminated with promises before us, 
 and with history behind. "He that 
 believeth shall not make haste." 
 
 " If often the faithful God before our 
 eyes graciously helps others out of need 
 and peril, while we, in our own thought, 
 are left far behind, still our hour also 
 shall yet come. Let us only await the 
 right time."' [Crawer.'] 
 
 Verse 18. " So long as Christ, the 
 true mercy-seat, is under us, and His 
 ministers in this unquiet life preach the 
 gospel, we need not fear; the great 
 floods of sin and of the wrath of God 
 must retire, because for them that are 
 in Christ Jesus there is now no con- 
 demnation." 
 
 " The enemies of the Church can 
 proceed no farther than has been ap- 
 pointed to them." 
 
 " If Christ and His word depart from 
 us, then must we be eternally over- 
 whelmed and perish." [Crawer.] 
 
 1. In the beginning of a believer's 
 triumph he sees readily that the power 
 and the work are alone of God. 2. Fa- 
 miliarity with the wonderful works of 
 God sometimes finds His people regard- 
 ing them as natural, and taking them 
 as matter-of-course occurrences. 3. 
 Therefore the end of God's ways, even 
 more manifestly than the beginning, 
 declares the power to have been all 
 from on high. 
 
 MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Verses 20—24. 
 
 Religious Teaching. 
 
 1. Its inspiring topics. 1. llie glory of God in His works. Not merely in 
 His works in Nature ; in such also as are contrary to Nature. 2. The lore 
 ayid mercy of God in His works foe His people. The Lord " doth put a difler- 
 ence " between these and others. God loves all men. Under the Gospel, He 
 invites all men into His family. It is simply cruel and sinful to teach that 
 the Lord works for and defends everybody ahke. If the Bible be true at all, 
 God's merciful works are as distinctively given to the Church now as of old. 
 He has always caused His rain to descend, and made His sun to shine, on the 
 fields of the just and the unjust ; for by His goodness and in His all-reaching 
 love He would lead the unjust to repentance; nevertheless, "The wrath of God 
 is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, 
 who hold the truth in unrighteousness." Every page of the Bible reveals this. 
 These old typical nations were specially meant to set forth the truth that 
 distinctive mercies here, and salvation hereafter, were the heritage of only such 
 as feared the Lord. 3. The ej/iciency of (lad's works to make a way for I its people 
 through any and all obstacles. The sea and the flooded river are two of the 
 strongest symbols of force which the world presents. In His hands, neither 
 can hinder for an hour the free movement of His people. 4. The comfort 
 74 
 
CHAP. IV. HOMILETIG COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 which the Lord can give, and loves to give, to those who ivalk in His paths. No 
 matter where the paths lie, He loves to shew His people that through sea or 
 through river He can make the way as " dry land." Such are some of the 
 themes which this one work and its memorials were to set to music. II. Its 
 unlimited aims. Religious teaching is to aim at the benefit: 1. Of our own 
 children. Home should be our first care. Some earnest people in the present 
 day seem to think that religious life and zeal must be very poor unless they 
 spend four or five evenings in the week at religious meetings. Some can hardly 
 avoid this, and to these it may be a duty which they dare not neglect ; may 
 those who can avoid it never have to say, " They made me the keeper of the 
 vineyards, but my own vineyard have I not kept." 2. Of neglected children. The 
 Jews were all supposed to teach their own children. Religious instruction among 
 them was to be parental. The heads of each family were supposed to fear 
 God, and, fearing Him themselves, were to teach their households to fear Him 
 also. Still, some parents would be careless, and, from various causes, some 
 children would be neglected. These were to be carefully instructed by others. 
 At the feast of tabernacles in the year of release, special attention was to be given 
 to any who were ignorant of God (Deut. xxxi. 10 — 13). So carefully did the Lord 
 provide against the leaven of ignorance that might in time leaven the whole lump 
 of the nation. 3. Of neglected men and women. Opportunity was to be taken to 
 let " all the people" of the land know of God (ver. 24). 4. Of the generations to 
 come. It was said of Achilles, that he was vulnerable only in the heel. However 
 fictitious that may be as to the ancient Greek, there is only one place in which 
 the sin and ignorance of the future can be attacked; it is as some one has said, 
 •' The children of this generation are the only point at which the generation to 
 come is vulnerable." If it be asked, as some have asked, "Why all this care 
 about the coming generations ? What do we owe to future society ? " it would be 
 enough to reply as the late John Stuart Mill replied to the same question, put in 
 our British parliament, — " What have we received from society ? " Let us count 
 but a little of that, and even from this human point of view our duty will be clear. 
 But every Christian must also ask, "What have I received from God? What 
 does God demand of me in return ? " Our fathers have been the channel through 
 which a thousand mercies have come to us, and the generations to come are calling 
 upon us by our most sacred obligations to the generations that are past. III. 
 Its lofty and holy purposes. 1. To help men to know God. 2. To help men 
 to fear God. 3. To help men to live as in the presence of God for ever. F. W. 
 Faber beautifully said, " The more we know of God, the more our complacency 
 increases ; because, to fill our minds and engross us, the simple thought of God 
 must be multiplied and repeated from a thousand objects. It is like the sun fight- 
 ing up a mountain chain. He is not multiplied in himself, but as his golden 
 magnificence lights up peak after peak, we become more and more surrounded by 
 His eftulgence. It is thus with God : each attribute to which we give a name, 
 though His attributes in truth are His simple self, is to us a separate height 
 crowned and glowing with His glory, and so reflecting Him upon our souls ; while 
 the multitude of nameless perfections, for which we have neither ideas, words, nor 
 standards, are to us like the consciousness of the glorious sea of mountain tops 
 which are beyond our ken, but which we know to be resting in that furnace of 
 golden light, and adding to the burning splendour which is circumfused over earth 
 and sea and sky." So, too, as we learn to see God in His many works which are 
 about us, especially in those works which make part of our personal experience 
 and life. His name will be repeated to us as from a thousand points instead of one 
 or two. Our grateful remembrances of His mercies will make them so many 
 upstanding points, rising far above the low and poor levels of a natural life, and 
 catching and retaining for our vision something of the brightness of His majesty 
 and the glory of His love, which will thus be sufl"used over us from all oui- per- 
 sonal history, and hardly less from the history of the whole Church of Christ. 
 
HOMILETIC C0M3fJSNTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VEBSES. 
 
 Verses 20 — 22. Sunday School In- 
 struction. 
 
 The principles invohed in the work 
 of our Sunday-schools are repeatedly 
 enforced even in the 0. T. I. The 
 duty of this work. To whom does 
 the duty belong '? Given that time 
 and opportunity arc at command, surely 
 it belongs to all who love Christ. Our 
 Lord, on receiving the assurance of 
 Peter's love, said, " Feed my lambs." 
 Many feel that they arc not worthy to 
 engage in labour like this. The thought 
 of personal sin keeps many back, albeit 
 they claim to be Christians, and could 
 not bear to think themselves without 
 love to the Saviour. Is not that scene 
 at the sea of Tiberias specially meant 
 to assure such ? We are usually told 
 that our Lord there rebuked Peter 
 three times, because Peter had thrice 
 denied Him. The reason of our Lord's 
 threefold utterance lay far deeper than 
 that. Possibly rebuke was intended, 
 but mercy and the forethought of 
 Divine love were far more prominent. 
 Would not the day be likely to come 
 in Peter's future when he should say, 
 " Can I who have denied Christ dare 
 to teach Him to others ? " Peter might 
 come to feel that he who had thrice 
 disowned his Lord was utterly un- 
 worthy to engaged in work like this. 
 So three times, once for every denial, 
 does the Saviour tenderly recommission 
 him to the work of feeding both the 
 sheep and the lambs. It seems as if 
 our Lord had not only thus anticipated 
 what might be the future feeling of His 
 apostle, but the feeling of many of His 
 disciples now. To love Him is to 
 become responsible for doing all that 
 we have opportunity to perform. II. 
 The necessity of adaptation in this 
 work. God adapts Himself to the 
 minds of children, now in the imposing 
 rites of the Passover, and now in this 
 cairn of stones at Gilgal. What is 
 here indicated in the way of a general 
 principle, a wise teacher will endeavour 
 to carry out in detail ; he will try and 
 meet each child where he linds him ; 
 ho will study even individual disposi- 
 tions. One child will be loving and 
 76 
 
 warm-hearted ; excite his love, meet 
 him where he is accessible, tell him 
 something which has pathos. Another 
 boy will be strong in integrity, and 
 honesty, and truthfulness ; tell him of 
 Joseph and Daniel, and the three 
 Hebrews. A third will be quiet and 
 gentle ; speak low to him. One will 
 hate hard ; give him fit subjects for his 
 idiosyncrasy, tell him of Herod and 
 Judas, and presently he will hear you 
 on higher themes. Another will be 
 the stupid boy of the class ; on him, 
 most of all, lavish kindness, attention, 
 and gentleness. Our aim in Christian 
 work is to win others to love the 
 Saviour ; and God, who comes to men 
 where they are, and brings pictures 
 into the nursery of the infant world, 
 teaches us adaptation. III. The nobi- 
 lity of this work. Addressing, a few 
 years since, a convention of Sunday- 
 school teachers, the Eight Hon. John 
 Bright said, "I may be in a more con- 
 spicuous, but I am certainly not in a 
 more noble field than that in which 
 you are engaged." Peradventurc the 
 statesman was right, for there are few 
 labours more exalted than this. We 
 look at Rembrandt's pictui'e of Christ 
 stilling the tempest, and as we see the 
 storm-tossed waves dashing over the 
 prow of the boat, and behold the agi- 
 tated faces of the disciples, we love to 
 think of the majesty of Him who with 
 His mere word hushed both sea and 
 men into calm and peace. But Over- 
 beck's subject of Christ with the Httle 
 children is even more sublime. In the 
 one case you see power controlling 
 power; in the other you have the 
 loftier spectacle of power blessing 
 weakness. It is this which makes 
 the ministry of the Saviour so glorious ; 
 all through it. His perfect power and 
 spotless holiness are seen healing and 
 helping sinful men in their weakness 
 and necessity. Whatever of greatness 
 was manifested in the work of Knibb 
 and Clarkson, Sturge and Wilbcrforce, 
 in nothing were they so great as in 
 using their power to take oil' the fetters 
 from the last of England's slaves. 
 Howard and Cobdeu won all their 
 
CHAP. IV. 
 
 HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 fame in helping the weak and the op- 
 pressed. It is this which makes the 
 work of Sunday-schools so truly noble. 
 In that work, Christian men and women 
 give their time and strength, not only 
 for children, but for neglected children. 
 Many of these, in their weakness and 
 guilelessness, would be taken captive 
 by the wicked on every hand, and 
 dragged low as perdition ; this work 
 hopefully proposes to make them " heirs 
 of God and joint-heirs with Jesus 
 Christ." 
 
 Verse 23. New mercies should lead 
 us to call to mind mercies that are past. 
 If we compare those which our fathers 
 had with those which God gives to us, 
 great as theirs undoubtedly were, ours 
 will often be found to be even greater. 
 
 The mercies which came to our 
 fathers should also be counted among 
 our own ; they too made way for the 
 heritage on which we daily enter. 
 
 God's mercies to us should be so 
 turned to account, that they may become 
 an inheritance to our children. 
 
 Meditation on the ways of God in 
 past mercies will serve to assure us that 
 the mercies which we now have will be 
 continued so long as we need them : 
 sea or river, it matters not which, each 
 is divided till the Lord's people have 
 " passed over." 
 
 Verse 24. Mighty Wokks and their 
 
 MIGHTY PURPOSES. 
 
 I. The mighty works of God are 
 never meant to be self-contained. 
 They invariably reach out to things 
 beyond the actual work, and beyond 
 those to whom it seems confined. No 
 Divine miracle is ever complete in itself. 
 Though it may sound paradoxical, the 
 miracle ever appears to be the smallest 
 part of the work which the work con- 
 templates. For once, the less is made 
 to contain the greater. Divine works 
 are seed-forms which are sown from 
 the hand of Omnipotence ; they are 
 meant to swell and germinate and 
 grow, and to bring forth fruit through 
 the years and centuries which follow. 
 Who knows but that during the ages 
 which have since fled, more souls have 
 not been brought by this mu-acle into 
 
 the heavenly Canaan, than even the 
 number who, through it, entered the 
 goodly land on earth ? Our works, like 
 those of our heavenly Father, should 
 ever contemplate results beyond those 
 which are immediate and present. He 
 works well, and after the pattern of 
 God, who works (1) for others, (2) for 
 time to come, and (.8) for eternity. 
 II. The mighty works of God are 
 meant to teach us the knowledge of 
 God. 1. All work is declarative of the 
 ivorkcr. Some persons profess to read 
 a character in the handwriting of a 
 letter ; they might read more perfectly 
 if, to the manner in which it were set 
 down, they added a study of the letter 
 itself What a man does is a photo- 
 graph of what a man is ; it is the out- 
 ward expression of his inward self. 
 Perhaps we need our works to know 
 ourselves ; certainly others need them 
 in order that they may know us. Our 
 features and bearing reveal much of 
 our disposition to others ; but our works, 
 most of all, seem to be the glass through 
 which men look into our consciousness 
 and life. If works are needed tc de- 
 clare to us men whom we have seen, 
 much more must we study Divine works 
 if we would know God, whom we have 
 never seen. 2. Even aimless ivork jivo- 
 clainis the character of its author. So 
 far as such work goes to make up the 
 life, it shews a worker who is willing 
 that power should be thrown away. 
 Aimless work tells of no to-morrow in 
 a man's mind, of no consciousness of 
 the woes and wants of men around, of 
 no longings and yearnings to help them. 
 Aimless work tells of nothing but the 
 corresponding blank in the worker's 
 heart, out of which it was born. It is 
 the outward and empty " amen " to 
 the inward and empty life. 3. The 
 desif/n of ivork reveals the character of the 
 worker. Is the work selfish or generous ; 
 for the hour only, or for time to come ? 
 What a magnificent study, taken in this 
 light, is presented by the works of God ! 
 4. The execution of a ivork no less pro- 
 claims the worker. It tells us of the 
 measure of his power, and writes down 
 the character of his patience ; it tells 
 us whether there is a love of efiect and 
 display, or whether the energy which 
 
 77 
 
nOMILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 performR is animated mainly by the 
 generosity that desires to help. The 
 best works of the best of men shew 
 failure in purpose, failure in capability 
 failure in patience ; it is only before the 
 results of Divine wisdom and energy 
 and love that we can dare to say, " All 
 Thy works praise Thee, God ! " If 
 God's works do not teach us of Himself, 
 though they may bring us temporaiy 
 relief, the chief purpose of them is lost. 
 III. The mighty works of God are 
 for all men, and whether men will 
 or not, they will be for all men for 
 ever. 1. They are designed to teach 
 His people. 2. They are wrought and 
 
 perpetuated before the heathen and the 
 stranger, so that whosoever %vill may 
 see, and fear, and turn to the Lord. 
 3. They will be for ever a cause of self- 
 reproach to the lost. 4. They will be 
 eternally a theme of praise for the re- 
 deemed. As though in allusion to the 
 rejoicing at the Red Sea, we are told 
 of the host above who have gotten the 
 victory — "They sing the song of Moses 
 the servant of God, and the song of the 
 Lamb, saying. Great and marvellous 
 are Thy works. Lord God Almighty : 
 just and true are Thy ways, Thou King 
 of saints." 
 
 CHAPTEE V. 
 
 PREPARATION FOR THE LORD'S WAR. 
 
 Ceitical Notes. — 1. Amorites] Deriv. from .i4w«?'= "high," "lofty." The people were 
 "dwellers in the mountains" (cf. Numb. xiii. 29, .nnd chap. xi. 3). Kurtz and Fiirst think 
 that the word has an allusion to the large stature of the race : " lofty, high-towering, 
 gigantic " men. Sometimes, and apparently in this verse, the term Amorites is appUcd to 
 the inhabitants of the land generally. In chap. x. .5, the king of Jerusalem, who ruled over 
 Jebusites, is mentioned as one of five kings of the Amorites. Spirit] Lit. " breath." The 
 stopping or taking away of the breath is indicative of the extreme astonishment and fear by 
 which they were overwhelmed. 2. Sharp knives] Marg. "knives of flints" (cf. Exod. iv. 2.5), 
 The reason for ixsing stone knives may have l)ecn more on account of legal than of physical 
 considerations. The use of iron was certainly forbidden in some covenant rites (cf. Exod. xx. 
 25 ; Deut. xxvii. 5; chap. viii. 31). ["Among the additions of the LXX. at the end of this 
 book is the curious statement after chap. xxiv. 30 : ' There they placed with him, in the 
 tomb where they buried him. the knives of stone (ras fxaxaipas ras Trfrptvas) \\'ith which he 
 circumci.sed the .sons of Israel in Gilgal.' " — Dr. Jili.ss.'] The second time] Perhaps the 
 phrase, as is intimated in the verses which follow, has regard to the circumcising, at tjvo 
 diffcrrnt periods, or times, of the entire host of men now assembled in Canaan. Mentally, 
 the host is divided into two parts, which are circumcised some at one time, some at another ; 
 the time of the earlier circumcision was in Egypt, and " the second time" of circumcision 
 was this at Gilgal. The reference made by Masius to two general circ7imei.<tions, one at the 
 time of the introduction of the rite by Abraham, and the other here, an idea often noticed 
 since, appears too remote, and is rather opposed than otherwise to the fourth and fifth verses. 
 A similar use of this phrase occurs in Isa. xi. 11. 4. This is the cause] The cause of this 
 general circumcision is stated at length, the explanation reaching to the close of ver. 7. The 
 reason why the rite had been omitted during the sojourn in the wilderness is given in ver. 6. 
 The people had broken the covenant, and " the Lord sware that He would not shew them 
 the land." The oath of the wilderness cancelled for the time the oath to Abraham, and 
 Jehovah would not allow the jieoplc to set the oath that was suspended over against the oath 
 which was in force. 9. The reproach of Egypt] Not necessarily any one phase of Ihe reproach 
 arising out of tlieir ])ast relation ti) Kg;^pt, Imt the reproach in. all its forms. Wherefore the 
 name of the place is called Gilgal] Marg. = " rolling." "It denotes liberty: they looked 
 on themselves as freed from the miseries which they had undergone" {Joseplats. Ant. v. 1. 11). 
 "All objections (of the rationalists) indicate an utter inattention to the fact that most of the 
 O. T. etymologies contain allusions to words .and their meaning, r.athcr than such full 
 explanations of them as befit a lexicon " {Keil). 10. Kept the passover] This was the third 
 pa-ssover feast; the first was kept in Egypt, the second at Sinai (Num. ix. 5). The feast of 
 the covenant could not be observed while the covenant itself was liroken. 13. By Jericho] 
 Lit., in Jericho. Ewald gives the meaning, "the immediate neighbourhood, the closest 
 connection with another thing, .and. as it were, the act of entering into it." This should have 
 prevented the rem.ark, "The place m.ay have been near Gilgal .... 'Ne.ar Gilgal' would be 
 equivalent to ' by Jericho.'" Joshua h.ad evidently gone" to investigate the city, and was 
 near to it when the vision occurred. X4. And did worship] " The words arc not only used 
 78 
 
CHAP. V. HOMILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 in connection with the worship of God, but also to denote the deep reverence which is shewn 
 in the East by a subject to his king ; e.g., 2 Sam. Lx. 6, xiv. 33 " {Keil). Taken by them- 
 selves, therefore, the words do not prove that this was the Divine Being ; taken with other 
 expressions, they are nevertheless contributive to this conclusion. "Whatever reverence kind's 
 may accept, angels seem jealously to regard such homage as the sole prerogative of God 
 (cf. Rev. xix. 10, xxii. 9). 
 
 MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Verse 1. 
 
 The Feak of the Ungodly. 
 
 In the facts of which this verse assures us, and in the history to which it 
 refers us : — I. We have conviction coming through the manifest working of 
 God. 1. The occasion of man's idolatry and sin is ever Jound in low and poor 
 thoughts of God. Let God be distant and remote from a man's consciousness, let 
 Him be thought of infrequently and feebly, and the result will soon be seen in a 
 following after " other gods." Joshua's predecessor, through whom God was so 
 manifestly present before the Israelites, had not left the people six weeks ere 
 they said unto Aaron, " Up, make us gods which shall go before us; for as for 
 this Moses, we wot not what is become of him." The history of these Canaanites 
 must have contained a similar experience. Sons of Noah though they were, and 
 intense as must have been the religious remembrances of their fathers. Ham and 
 Canaan, the power and goodness and justice and the very being of God had become 
 a mere tradition. On the basis of the Usherian chronology, barely nine hundred 
 years had elapsed since the awful deluge. In the antediluvian age this was only 
 about the period of a lifetime, and if in the subsequent generation the sons of 
 Ham lived as long as the sons of Shem — a term of some four hundred and thirty 
 years — Canaan himself would possibly have been living, to teach the fear of the 
 Lord among his descendants, for nearly half the period between the days of the 
 flood and the crossing of the Jordan. Nor had the Canaanites been left without 
 at least one solemn intervening remonstrance. Just about midway between the 
 time of the flood and the entrance of the Israelites into their land, and possibly 
 not fifty years after the death of Canaan, another and an awful judgment had 
 told these people of an all-seeing and omnipotent God, who was determined to 
 punish sin. It was on the families of the Canaanites that God poured out the 
 terrible fire of Sodom and Gomorrah (comp. Gen. x. 19 with Gen. xix.) God 
 ought not to have been so absent from the thoughts of these men ; but they had 
 long sufi'ered His very name to become merely a story of the past, and ou neither 
 name nor story did they trouble themselves much to think. Hence they went 
 after idols, the idols being, as idols always are, the embodiment of the wicked 
 and corrupt desires which ever follow forgetfulness of God. With no conscious- 
 ness of God's presence, they had long been led to unrestrained idolatry and 
 unchecked wickedness. He who, in these days, loses the sense of God's presence 
 and power and goodness and purity, loses all that can keep him from idolatry 
 and its consequent degradations. The very name Emmanuel — God with us — 
 tells where our danger most lies, and wherein the blessedness of following 
 Christ so much consists. 2. llie manifest interposition of God, in (jreat ivorhs for 
 His people, hrinr/s conviction to the most hardened and abandoned of men. So long 
 as men only hear of God, they can disbelieve Him, and more or less undisturbedly 
 pursue their own way ; but when God works in a manner for which no human 
 hand or name is a sufficient explanation, immediately the unbelieving are arrested. 
 The gi-eat cause of all that is different between the disciples of Christ and the 
 unbeUeving in the present day is given in the Saviour's own words — " Yet a 
 little while, and the world seeth Me no more, but ye see Me." The one eff'ort of 
 such modern scientists as are virtually atheists seems to be to account for such 
 works as are too great for man by some other name than that of God. If 
 
 79 
 
nO^IILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. chaf. v. 
 
 "protoplasm" could only account for life; if "development" would but bt 
 
 sufficiently agreeable to stand as an equivalent for its various forms ; if tha 
 
 movements of life would only allow themselves to be called "automatic;" and 
 
 if human consciousness, which will keep looking upward, and lisping that great 
 
 word God, could only be taught to pronounce the obscure and ugly compound 
 
 " anthropomorphism," then, surely, the world, and even its more wicked sons 
 
 and daughters, might have peace. True, some of us might still want a long 
 
 word to explain fulfilled prophecies, and shew us how Nature taught some of her 
 
 more reverent children to " shew us things to come," and to shew them in 
 
 marvellous fulness of detail seven or eight centuries — not to say more — before 
 
 they came to pass. The more anthropomorphic of us might require a good many 
 
 Greek vocables, and tax rather tiresomely the patience and scholarship of the 
 
 learned sons of science to put them pleasantly together, ere we could keep that 
 
 great word God from speaking within and echoing through our consciousness, 
 
 when we read together, as makhu/ one chapter, the well-authenticated works and 
 
 CLAiJis and CHARACTER of Jesus Christ. There might be a lew other things 
 
 which, in the event of insufficient explanation, we should require to read of in 
 
 awkward and unnatural phrases ere we could persuade ourselves that they were the 
 
 outcome merely of Nature. Meanwhile, like the Amorites and Israelites before 
 
 the divided Jordan, we behold many wonderful works around us in life and 
 
 behind us in history, for which we can only find one equivalent cause, and that 
 
 cause God. 3. History sJteirs ns that when standhxj imrnediaiehj before the (jreater 
 
 and more manifest icorks of God, men have ever felt that from them there teas no 
 
 appeal. At the Red Sea the long enslaved Israelites sang, " The Lord is my 
 
 strength and song." Their history but too sadly proves their readiness to forget 
 
 Jehovah ; they could not but own Him there, and on many similar occasions 
 
 afterwards. The assembled people on Carmel waited all day in the spirit of 
 
 judgment; we feel their indecision and unformed conclusions in their very silence. 
 
 The whole attitude of the host was one of expectancy and waiting. The very act 
 
 of pronouncing their verdict tells us that they were at least not biassed before it 
 
 was given. It was only after the laboured failure of the Baalites, the scorn and 
 
 confidence of Elijah, and after seeing the fire of heaven lick up the water and attack 
 
 the sacrifice, that they cried with one accord, "Jehovah, He is the God." 
 
 However much he might have doubted before or after, amid the solemn darkness, 
 
 the rending earthquake, and the awful words of Calvary, the centurion could 
 
 only feel and say, "Truly this was the Sou of God." The arrogant Sanhedrin, 
 
 who thought they had disposed for ever of the Master, and could do as they 
 
 would in contemning the work of the disciples, "when they saw the lame man 
 
 healed, could say nothing against it." It is easy enough to try and dismiss 
 
 numberless cases like these by saying that such conclusions of men are not 
 
 spoken in calmness, but under the influence of excitement and awe. That is 
 
 the very difficulty. How is it that ever, when the heart stands in awe before 
 
 unusual power, it remembers God, and is troubled ? We can understand the 
 
 relapse into the normal unbelief when the sounds of the call to faith have died 
 
 away in the distance. How is it that whenever the supernatural is present, men 
 
 invariably stand convinced of the unseen God ? It is no answer to this question 
 
 to talk of superstition ; when all the talk about superstition is ended, it still 
 
 remains to be asked, "Why should superstition ever lead men into the presence 
 
 of God, and never choose to leave them elated or abashed before the majesty of 
 
 Nature ? There can be only one answer : The soul is responding to the voice of 
 
 its Maker, and that Maker is God. II. We see conviction invariably working 
 
 fear. Insensibly and instantaneously, as these Canaanites behold the river 
 
 divided, and remember the overthrow of Sihon and Og, and the miracle at the 
 
 Red Sea, they are filled with fear of the Lord God of Israel. It is ever thus 
 
 with those who have forgotten Jehovah, and turned to devices of their own. 
 
 1. The fear which comes from ignorance. Not "seeing Him who is invisible," 
 
 80 
 
OHAP. V. H03IILETI0 C03I3IENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 men cannot endure the works which declare His presence. 2. Fear as intensified 
 by sin. Sinful Adam heard the voice of God, and, for the first time, so far as 
 we know, he was afraid. When guilty Herod heard of the fame of Jesus, he 
 said, "John the Baptist is risen from the dead." Conscience, as Trench has 
 pointed out, is, in its very structure, a solemn word. "It is from ' con' and 
 scire.' But what does that ' con' intend ? Conscience is not merely that which 
 
 I know, but that which I know with some one else That other knower 
 
 whom the word implies is God." So, when we transgress, we have only to be 
 brought by some of His works into the consciousness of the Lord's presence, and 
 sin intensifies fear at once. We feel that the guilt which we know, He knows 
 also. And from this law none escape : 
 
 '■ What .art thou, thou tremendous Power, 
 Who dost inhabit us \vithout our leave ; 
 And art within om'sclves another self, 
 A master-self, that loves to domineer, 
 And treat the monarch frankly as the slave ? " — Yonng. 
 
 3. Fear as a Divine provision and ordinance. God had determined and appointed 
 this very melting of heart which the Amorites now sufi'ered. Foi'ty years pre- 
 viously God had said to Moses, about this very trepidation, " I will send my 
 fear before thee." The fear of the wicked is no less God's ordinance now than it 
 was of old. III. The fear thus wrought by God is seen becoming helpful 
 to speedy salvation, or accessory to sudden destruction. Rahab feared, and 
 believed, and sought deliverance, and was saved; the Canaanites feared, and 
 resisted, and were destroyed. Montaigne said, " Fear sometimes adds win^s to 
 the heels, and sometimes nails them to the ground, and fetters them from moving." 
 Happy is he in whom the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Where 
 this is not so, fear is often immediately preliminary to overthrow. It is the 
 awful gloom of coming destruction which is seen overshadowing those whom it 
 hardly waits longer to involve, and the very fear of the coming calamity hastens 
 the end which it so solemnly predicts. 
 
 OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VEESES. 
 
 Verse 1. — Religious Conviction, of Christ through His mighty working, 
 
 L The essence of true religious con- started back abashed, saying, "Depart 
 
 viction is conviction of the presence from me, Lord, for I am a sinful 
 
 of God. For want of that, these man." So it has ever been : to see 
 
 men had turned idolaters. Had they God present is to feel that sin is very 
 
 always felt the God of Israel as near real and very ofi'ensive. 2. Assured of 
 
 as they felt Him now, the worship God's presence, ive have no peace till we 
 
 of their idols would have been an feel that sin is put away by foryiveness. 
 
 impossibility. When we get and con- With deep and true insight Milton tells 
 
 tinue to know and feel that God is us how the prince of darkness was 
 
 round about us, all else in rehgious life troubled in the presence of hohness — 
 will follow. 1 . Assured of God's presence, 
 
 ttr shall immediately feel the reality and . , , -'Abashed the devil stood 
 
 ^. . T 1 • T ., TVT • And felt how awful goodness is. 
 
 yuilt oj sin. Job said, " Now mme eye 
 
 seeth Thee, I abhor myself, and repent So must unforgiven men ever feel 
 
 in dust and ashes." Isaiah in his vision troubled by the presence of God. When 
 
 saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, Peter first saw the Deity of the Saviour, 
 
 high and lifted up, and cried, " Woe is he had no peace in that holy and to 
 
 me ! for I am undone ; because I am a him awful presence ; after he had been 
 
 man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the a long time with Jesus, and had learned 
 
 midst of a people of unclean Hps : for of Him, and when he was in the rapture 
 
 mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of a di^dner mood, he cried as he beheld 
 
 of hosts." Peter, beholding the Deity the glory of the transfigured Son of God, 
 
 G 81 
 
HOMILETia COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 " Master, it is good for us to be here ; 
 let us make three tabernacles." It is 
 only when we have learned the love and 
 forgiveness of the Saviour, and come 
 ourselves somewhat into the mind of 
 Christ, that we are able to endui'e His 
 presence. Then that presence is no 
 longer our keenest pain, but becomes 
 our deepest peace. 3. A growing sense of 
 God's presence is the essential accompani- 
 meiit of a reVuiious life. When Nathanael 
 came to Christ, he came sceptically, nor 
 did he care to conceal his doubts. With 
 that frank guilelessness on which he seems 
 to have prided himself, and which, as 
 far as it was good, even Christ admired, 
 he bluntly told out his unbelief in the 
 question, "Can there any good thing 
 come out of Nazareth?" How did the 
 Saviour convict this man of the Divine 
 presence ? Christ told him his secrets ; 
 He looked into his heart, and exposed 
 this conceit of an open and transparent 
 nature, on which this guileless Jew 
 prided himself, as being so unlike many 
 of his nation. " Behold," says the 
 Saviour, " an Israelite indeed, in whom 
 is no guile." Nor was this all ; Christ 
 told the honest Jew how he had been 
 praying under that secluded fig-tree, as 
 pious Jews were wont to withdraw for 
 prayer — praying but a short time before, 
 and praying, it may be, about this very 
 matter of the coming Messiah, to which 
 the thoughts of his more godly country- 
 men were at this time so earnestly 
 directed. It was enough : Nathanael 
 felt that God was there. Very much 
 under the influence which, in a similar 
 case, had made the Samaritan woman 
 exclaim, " He told mo all things that 
 ever I did," Nathanael cried out, 
 " Rabbi, thou art the Son of God ; 
 thou art the Iving of Israel." Did the 
 Saviour intimate that this conviction 
 was sufficient, and that the matter of 
 this man's new-found faith might rest 
 there ? Quite the contrary. Belief was 
 to go on. Christ Himself might with- 
 draw ; but to this, as to every truly 
 religious soul, conviction of the Divine 
 presence was to become a growing thing. 
 When Christ as manifest in the flesh was 
 far away, when no one was near, this be- 
 lief should go on till he could say with 
 his great countryman, "Thou compassest 
 82 
 
 my path and my lying down, and art 
 
 acquainted with all my ways 
 
 Thou hast beset me behind and before." 
 Comdction of a present God was to be a 
 growing thing; so Christ says, " Your 
 faith now is only the beginning of the 
 faith of the future ; you shall see greater 
 things than these. Through my media- 
 torial work you shall see heaven and 
 earth united. Hereafter ye — you and 
 such as believe with you — shall see 
 heaven open, and the angels of God 
 ascending and descending upon the 
 Son of man." 
 
 Thus conviction first feels God near 
 through some extraordinary manifesta- 
 tion ; and, given that God's mercy 
 spares, and His grace still plies the 
 convicted one, the religious life goes on 
 to all its future developments in the 
 consciousness that God is round about 
 it. The first feeling arising fi-om a sense 
 of that Presence is fear, the after feelings 
 are love and joy, while the culmination 
 is peace, even in the grim presence of 
 death : "I will fear no evil, for Thou 
 art with me." These Canaanites only 
 knew that sense of God's presence 
 which precedes judgment and destruc- 
 tion : every living man, in the one way or 
 the other, must awake to a sense of 
 that presence sooner or later. II. The 
 medium of this conviction of God's 
 presence is God's working. The 
 Canaanites heard that the Lord had 
 dried up the waters of Jordan, and 
 forthwith they believed in a " God nigh 
 at hand." (Cf. instances in previous 
 outline.) Jacob beheld the wonders 
 of God in his dream, and said, " Surely 
 the Lord is in this place, and I knew it 
 not." The centurion at the cross, and 
 the jailor of Philippi, looked each on 
 supernatural things, and each at once 
 told out his faith. The chief priests 
 consulted that they might put Lazarus 
 to death, because " by reason of him 
 many of the Jews went away, and 
 believed on Jesus." The present 
 attempts which are being made in the 
 name of Science to banish God's work- 
 ing from the faith of men, touch the 
 question of religion in a point most vital 
 and important, ^^1lerc "the arm of 
 the Lord is not revealed," God's servants 
 still have to ask, " Who hath believed 
 
CHAP. V. 
 
 HOMILETIC GOMMENTARl : JOSHUA. 
 
 our report ? " Give the name of 
 "eternal laws" or "evolution" to 
 account for the works of God ; get men 
 to believe that which the terms imply, 
 and then there is no need for God at all. 
 How much we lose, if the arm of the 
 Lord is not revealed to us ! Think of 
 Belshazzar and his lords, when they 
 held high carnival in Babylon. It may 
 be that some among the thousand 
 courtiers at the feast only saw the 
 writing on the wall, and not the hand 
 that wrote. But "the king saw the 
 part of the hand that wrote : then the 
 king's countenance was changed," To 
 him the words would have an awful 
 meaning. It makes all the difference, 
 in our reading of life around us, whether 
 the arm of the Lord which does the 
 writing is hidden or revealed. 
 
 In view of the somewhat lofty tone 
 of some modern scientists it may be 
 allowable to ask, How much right have 
 these who speak most dogmatically to 
 speak on this question at all ? It may 
 be remarked : 1. En'rij man is horn 
 ivith the faculty, or capacity, of spiritual 
 ■perceptio7i. We each come into the 
 world with powers which, if cultivated, 
 will presently enable us to see God. 
 Men are born with capacities for seeing 
 mathematics, poetry, and music ; yet 
 the work of a senior wrangler, of 
 Tennyson, or Beethoven, would be ut- 
 terly incomprehensible to an ordinary 
 farm labourer. 2. Of all human powers 
 of perception, the God-seeing sense is the 
 most refilled. Other faculties must be 
 trained by a suitable experience, but 
 this most of all. Let a man live forty 
 or fifty years as if there were no such 
 things as arithmetic, poetry, or music, 
 and, practically, there will be no such 
 things. May it not be so in the matter 
 of these sphitual perceptions ? Un- 
 taught men cannot look over and read 
 a music score of a dozen staves like 
 Costa and Barnby, or Stainer and Best. 
 Can a man who ignores God year after 
 year be in a position to see God ? 3. If 
 not, haw utterly incompetent unsjiiritnal 
 men are to pronoinice on spiritual thinys! 
 Some men act as if mental and spiritual 
 insight are identical ; why should they 
 be identical, any more than physical and 
 mental perception ? Each kind of eye 
 
 is only good for its own sphere. Some 
 men seem to think that scientific culture 
 and spiritual culture are one and the 
 same thing. They have mistaken spec- 
 trum analysis for spiritual vision. It is 
 like using the microscope to find out if 
 there is any music in the Old Hundredth 
 or the Twelfth Mass. It is much the 
 same as climbing to the top of the 
 Matterhorn, where there is a wide out- 
 look, in order to see through a mathe- 
 matical problem. It is as though a 
 man should take a telescope to try and 
 perceive if his friend loved him, or 
 seize on an opera glass to discover the 
 exquisite pathos of the twenty-thu'd 
 Psalm. The philosophers appear to 
 have forgotten what they of all men 
 should remember, — the eye and the world 
 must fit ; the power of perception, and 
 the sphere in which it is exercised, must 
 bo appropriate. Meanwhile we may 
 feel thankful that men who have given 
 a lifetime to find out God do not pro- 
 nounce against His existence. We 
 might be alarmed if Abraham and 
 Moses and Isaiah, if John and Peter 
 and Paul, if Luther and Baxter and 
 Wesley, if Newton and Simpson and 
 Farraday joined to say, " We have 
 thought on this question reverently and 
 devoutly for many years, we have tried 
 to live in that spiritual purity which is 
 said to be, and which, from the nature 
 of the case, must be necessary in order 
 to see God, and we come to the conclu- 
 sion that while there may be a God, or 
 may not be, we have no data by which 
 to form any conclusion." Without 
 judging others, it is a matter for devout 
 gladness that in all the pages of history 
 we have no names of men who, having 
 followed after God throughout life in 
 that reverence which alone becomes 
 such a pursuit, and which alone could 
 hope to succeed in finding Him, have 
 turned round at the close of life, and 
 pronounced their faith mistaken. It is 
 at least significant that history as well 
 as Scripture always shews the path of 
 such as one that " shineth more and 
 more." This world has tempted many 
 to deny the faith ; we cannot recollect 
 that the grave has so tempted one. 
 
 " A candle wakes some men, as well 
 83 
 
EOMILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 as a noise ; the eye of the Lord works altogether. The very essence of love is 
 
 upon a goo'd soul, as well as His hand ; that it looks away from itself and to 
 
 and a godly man is as much affected another." 
 
 with the consideration, * Thou God " Fill the heart with love, and there 
 
 seest me,' as with 'The Lord strikes is an end to the dominion of fear. The 
 
 me.' " [Dr. Donne.] love of God entering into a man"s heart, 
 
 "Fear is entirely based on a con- destroys all tormenting fear of Him. 
 
 sideration of some possible personal evil All the attributes of God come to be on 
 
 consequence coming down upon me our side. He that loves has the whole 
 
 from that clear sky above me. Love Godhead for Him." [MacLaren.] 
 is based upon the forgetfulness of self 
 
 MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGBAPH.— Verses 1—9. 
 
 The Renewal of the Covenant. 
 
 Probably there is nothing throughout the entire book of Joshua which appeals 
 to us more solemnly and more graciously than this most significant resumption of 
 covenant rites at this particular period. The account of the giving of this covenant 
 is contained in Gen. xv. At that time Abraham had no children, and the covenant 
 was sealed on the side of God only, the vision of the burning lamp being its sign. 
 Some fourteen or fifteen years later, when Ishmael was thirteen years old, the 
 covenant was renewed, or rather completed, the seal on the human side being 
 circumcision. The covenant was, that Abraham should have a numerous seed to 
 inherit the land of Canaan, or, as it was sometimes called, the Promised Land. 
 Here, then, at the very time of entering into the land, the rite is renewed. The 
 land can only be taken possession of under the covenant. Not an enemy shall fall, 
 not a town capitulate, not an acre shall be really their own, till that covenant is 
 recognised by all Israel. I. The relation between God's covenant and His 
 people's transgression. The rite of circumcision had been faithfully observed in 
 Egypt; the rite had not been observed in the wilderness (verses 4, 5). This 
 neglect during the wilderness life was, almost certainly, not because of any 
 difficulties of journeying, for the people sometimes encamped for an entire year in 
 one place. The reason for the cessation of circumcision lay in the fact that the 
 people had ignored the covenant itself They had said with almost one voice, 
 " Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt." They deliberately rejected 
 the covenant then and there. At the same time God rejected them. For the time 
 the covenant was suspended. The sixth verse, therefore, connects the cessation 
 of circumcision with the Lord's counter-oath. God would not have the people 
 guilty of a solemn farce. Every act of circumcision in the wilderness would 
 ignore this later oath of Jehovah. As confirmatory of this, it should be remem- 
 bered that the passover was probably not observed in the wilderness any more 
 than circumcision. Israel had been told to keep the passover "as an ordinance 
 tor ever." At the end of the first year, before the rebellion, they did keep it 
 at Sinai (cf. Numb. ix. 1 — 5). Apparently they did not observe it afterwards till 
 the occasion mentioned in this chapter. Here, then, is a most significant break. 
 There is no feast of the Exodus, for the Exodus had been ignored ; there is no rite 
 of the covenant, for tbe covenant had been foresworn. What bearing has all this 
 on us? 1. See what God thinks nf services that are unreal. God would have no 
 feast of the Exodus from the people who said, " Let us return unto Egypt ; " God 
 would have no covenant rite from the people who thought indifi'erently of the 
 covenant. Both feast and rito would be hollow and false, and a mockery. How 
 this old sermon of the desert comes preaching itself on to us, across all the 
 cev,turies which roll between us and these ancient servants of Jehovah. Think 
 84 
 
HOMILETIG C03I3IENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 of it in connection with all the worship in which we fail to worship Him. Think 
 of it in connection with many of the hymns which we join in singing, the prayers 
 which we offer, and the heartless service which some are tempted to render. 
 Think of the Lord's Supper — the feast of the new covenant — if there be no real 
 covenant between us and God. God would have no service from us rather than a 
 service which is unreal. He seeks the heart. Sham adoration is no pleasure 
 to Him (cf. Isa. i. 11 — 15). 2. See how solcuin and sacred is God's view of His own 
 promises. All the time the covenant was in force the covenant rite was to be 
 observed. The bondage of Egypt made no difference. Unlike men, God does 
 not think His promises something to take notice of in proportion as they look 
 promising. Difficulties and bonds and slavery made no difference whatever in 
 the sight of God. In Egypt's darkest days they were still to circumcise their 
 children. But they were not to celebrate that rite a day after the rebellion. God 
 would not have two sets of promises in force at the same time, one of which con- 
 tradicted the other. Oh, how sacred to Him is His holy word ! It is all yea, 
 and all amen. It is said that Sir William Napier one day met a poor child crying 
 bitterly because she had broken a bowl which she had been carrying along the 
 road towards her home. Having no money with him, he promised to meet her at 
 the same place and hour on the next day, and to give her money to buy another. 
 On reaching his home, he found an invitation to dine out with a gentleman whom 
 he particularly wished to see. As it would interfere with his pre-engagement 
 with the child, he declined it, saying, *' I could not disappoint her, she trusted 
 me so implicitly." God loves our implicit trust, too ; but, excepting where He 
 has made it thus conditional, the fulfilment of His word does not depend on our 
 confidence. Each promise stands fast in His own eternal truthfulness. 3. This 
 history suggests the question, Docs God, when ice sin, regard His covenant with us in 
 Christ as broken / The history indicates the answer as clearly as it prompts the 
 inquiry. It was not for every sin that God looked on the covenant as violated ; 
 it was only for this deliberate rejection of the covenant. The people often sinned, 
 but it was only when they proposed to return to Egypt, and voted the covenant 
 of no account, that God took them at their thought and word. So he who looks 
 on Christ as " without form or comeliness," and thus carelessly neglects and ignores 
 the Saviour for the pleasures of sin, puts himself in a similar position, and where 
 God has no covenant with him personally. No transgression is so fatal as unbe- 
 lief. 4. Salvation is not in the covenant, but in the grace and love of God. It is 
 very blessed to be able to feel that even when God regarded the covenant as 
 solemnly broken by the people. His mercy was sufficient for all the way of the 
 wilderness. Think of it, a broken covenant, and manna every morning ; a broken 
 covenant, and water from the rock ; a broken covenant, and the man who wanted 
 to curse, crying successively, "How shaU I curse whom Gv^d hath not cursed?" 
 "Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob ; " " How goodly are thy tents, 
 Jacob, and thy tabernacles, Israel ! '' Think of it, no covenant, and the ark 
 built prospectively, in view of its renewal ; no covenant, and the pillar in which 
 the Lord abode going with them all the way ; no covenant, and the trespass of 
 Baal-peor forgiven ; no covenant, and mercies that, should make way for the song, 
 " What ailed thee, Jordan, that thou wast driven back ? " God loves us enough 
 to bless and help and save us, if there were not a single promise in the Bible. He 
 does not propose to go on with our salvation because He has become entangled in 
 His words ; the promises are but given to still our fears and encourage us by 
 hope and assurance. As for our salvation, that is ever in the grace and love of 
 God. II. The relation between a renewed covenant and fresh acts of faith 
 and submission. The covenant was to be renewed by a rite which would, for 
 some days, disable the greater part of the army in the very presence of their 
 enemies (cf. Gen. xxxiv. 25). Too much stress, however, must not be laid on this. 
 There would still be about a quarter of a million men between forty and sixty 
 years of age, who were circumcised in Egypt, left to guard the camp. Still, mnn 
 
 85 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. chap. v. 
 
 for man, these Israelites were probably not to be compared to their disciplined 
 and warlike enemies, and the state of the camp would seriously encumber their 
 operations in the event of an attack. Perhaps faith was still more tried in the 
 trial of their patience. This time must have seemed the best of all times to press 
 forward. The two spies had reported that their enemies' hearts had failed them, 
 and since then Jordan had divided to disconcert them even more. At the very 
 moment when victory would seem easy, God detains them for one or two weeks. 
 1. Gettina into nnum uith God docs not wean (lettbuj into a state of freedom from. 
 trial. He whom God brings near to Himself may even have to hear his Lord say, 
 " I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake." 2. y either 
 does union uith God mean liherty to follow our own ideas and ivishes. The Divine 
 teaching in this hour of covenant mercy went on to say, " Wait on the Lord; 
 sink your thoughts and desires in His." 3. Union tcith God means that God is to 
 he first in everi/thin;/. There is always time to worship and serve and honour Him. 
 
 III. The relation between a restored covenant and fitness for conflict. Israel 
 was to stay and seek fresh union with God before attempting to fight a single 
 battle. The position is strikingly similar to that of the apostles, to whom Christ 
 said," Tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from 
 on high." So were these ancient servants to tarry in the camp at Gilgal. 1. //' 
 tve uould worii for God snccessfulhj, tee must seek the help of God. Israel was 
 repeatedly taught this. When the siege of Jericho did begin, God shewed them 
 that He must be " all in all." The same truth was taught in a different way 
 shortly afterwards at Ai. So all our conflict and service for Christ must fail, 
 without God for our strength. He who would often win in the fight must often 
 and personally reconsecrate himself to God. 2. The rule is equalh/ absolute in our 
 jjersonal contest ai/ainst sin. Israel learned to say in after days, " I will lift up my 
 eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help." God had so often helped 
 them from the hills, as at Rephidim and Sinai and Carmel, that even their 
 enemies had come to believe " The Lord is God of the hills, but He is not God 
 of the valleys." It was not wonderful, with such a history, that the Israelites 
 came to feel that everything depended on the presence of God. Let us not seek 
 to enter into conflict with sin, unmindful of His word, who says, "Without Me 
 ye can do nothing." The battle will be too hard for the best of us without Jesus. 
 
 IV. The relation between an intact covenant and the removal of our reproach. 
 " The name of the place is called Gilgal unto this day," meaning a rolling away, 
 or, as Joscphus prefers to render it, "liberty," still giving the idea of being no 
 longer in bondage to this reproach. What was this reproach of Egj^pt ? It is 
 by no means necessary to contend, as some have done, for one selected phase of 
 the reproach. It may be taken as bearing in at least three directions. 1. There 
 was the reproach of the long bondcaje itself . The Israelites had sojourned in Egypt 
 for more than two hundred years, and dm-ing the greater part of that time they 
 had been treated as slaves. God had now rolled away this reproach ; they were 
 free, and were henceforth to be a nation themselves. 2. There was the reproach 
 which came of their lomjimj to return to Etjiipt. In this longing the covenant had 
 been broken, and in the rite which reneAved the covenant, telling, as it did, of 
 Divine forgiveness, the reproach, in this aspect also, was rolled away. 3. Then 
 there was tlie reproach of the E<iyptians themselves (cf. Exod. xxxii. 12 ; Num. xiv. 
 13 — IG; Deut. ix. 28). All these reproaches were removed by the covenant. 
 Bunyan tells us of the burden which rolled away as Christian looked upon the 
 cross. The blood of the everlasting covenant can alone assure us of the rolling 
 away of the reproach of sin. V. The relation between God's recognised 
 covenant and His people's triumphant inheritance. When the covenant was 
 once restored, the iuheritaiico was only a question of time. No enemies against 
 whom the people .'should he divinely led would be able to withstand them. "If 
 God be for us, who shall be against us?" We, too, in all our struggles and 
 fightings, may come off " more than conquerors through Him that loved us." 
 
 86 
 
CHAP. V. 
 
 HOMILETIC COMMJ^NTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VERSES. 
 
 Verses 2, 3. — Divine Thoughts on 
 Human Service. 
 
 I. WMle Divine wisdom takes ac- 
 count of human ideas of urgency, 
 God's ways are ever above the ways 
 of men. Men vs^ould feel this an un- 
 suitable time and place to perform a 
 rite which would disable all in the 
 army under forty years of age. Men 
 would feel that this time of fear on the 
 part of enemies was the very season in 
 which to press forward. God usually 
 works by what we term natural means. 
 Ordinarily He moves to the accom- 
 plishment of His purposes in ways 
 which seem best adapted to secure the 
 desired issues. To overcome the Mi- 
 dianites with Gideon's three hundred 
 men, to inflict terror on the Philistines, 
 and slay them in multitudes by a single 
 man, as by Samson, or as by Jonathan 
 and his armour-bearer, are exceptional 
 and not usual instances of Divine work- 
 ing. Yet when God would lay special 
 emphasis on particular teachings, He 
 often departs from plans and ways 
 which seem best to us. He who serves 
 under God must not wonder if he 
 sometimes comes to places where his 
 own favourite ideas and cherished plans 
 have to be set aside. II. All success- 
 ful work for God supposes submission 
 and self-denial on the part of His 
 people. The way to possess the land 
 is His way, not ours. His way may 
 disappoint us, and may be a way of 
 suffering, but it has possessions at the 
 end : our way may seem easy and 
 more natural, yet it leads to nothing 
 but shame and confusion of face. "The 
 meek shall inherit the earth." The 
 words, " Father, not as I will, but as 
 Thou wilt," may lead to the cross ; 
 they also lead to the riven sepulchre 
 and to the ascension, and make way 
 for the song, " He shall reign for ever 
 and ever." He who thus sank His 
 will in the will of Heaven said, ere He 
 left us, "If any man serve Me, him 
 will my Father honour." III. God, 
 who leads His people to wars and 
 fightings, loves first to animate and 
 strengthen them for the conflict. The 
 Israelites, through their own sin, had 
 
 to endure the toil and sorrows of the 
 wilderness, feeling that the covenant 
 was set aside. They would breathe as 
 in a new atmosphere now that they 
 were again taken into union with God. 
 They would go up to fight, having their 
 arms nerved by promises of victory, 
 made not only to them, but to their 
 fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 
 IV. The first of all our religious du- 
 ties is to become reconciled to God. 
 Nothing is acceptable from us till we 
 ourselves are accepted. The rite of the 
 covenant, in which the people gave 
 themselves again to God, made fit way 
 for the feast of the passover. No 
 amount of going to the house of God, 
 no constancy in hymn-singing, Bible- 
 reading, or religious work, can be 
 acceptable to God from any man or 
 woman who still rejects Christ. 
 
 " The path of duty is the path of 
 safety ; and it is impossible for any 
 soul to be injured while walking in the 
 way of obedience." [Clarke.] 
 
 " The Israelites were now circumcised 
 for three reasons: — 1. To shew that 
 they held, and would continue in, the 
 same faith with their father Abraham, 
 to whom this sign was first given. 2. 
 That they would be separated from the 
 wicked manners of the heathen Canaan- 
 ites, into whose land they were now 
 come, and would have nothing in com- 
 mon with them. 3. For the mystery 
 which was chiefly respected herein, i'/;:;., 
 our Jesus bringing of us into the land 
 of life, by our drawing the sword, and 
 fighting as it were with ourselves." 
 [Ferus.] 
 
 Verses 4 — 7. — Qualifications for 
 Religious Ordinances. 
 
 Consider : — 
 
 I. The celebration of religious ordi- 
 nances as independent of outward 
 surroundings. "All the people that 
 came out were circumcised." Nothing 
 in Egypt disquahficd them for those 
 rites of formal service incidental to 
 the dispensation of the first covenant. 
 The spirit of religious service is ever 
 the same. That being so, we see that — 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 1. Slaverxj is no disqualification for 
 
 2iitrticijiatin(/ in onlinances. The Israel- 
 ites were in a bitter bondage ; that 
 made no diflference to the liberty which 
 they had in God. The Lord's Supper, 
 ton years ago, might be partaken as 
 acceptably to God by Christian slaves 
 in the Southern States of America, as 
 by any free citizen of the freest nation 
 upon earth. The baptism of a bonds- 
 man may be as much a baptism into 
 Christ as that of a freeman. In thus 
 drawing near to God, 
 
 " Stone walls do not a prison make, 
 Nor iron bars a cage." 
 
 2. Poverty is no disqualification. The 
 Israelites could call very little their 
 own, but they might approach God in 
 the rites which He had appointed. The 
 poorest of Christian communicants is 
 no farther from the Saviour because of 
 his poverty. It is said that the late 
 Duke of Wellington was on one occasion 
 taking the Lord's Supper in the country, 
 when a poor labourer in a smockfrock, 
 not knowing who he was, came and 
 knelt beside him. As one of the church- 
 wardens whispered to the labourer to 
 retire, the Duke, noticing the action, 
 turned and said, "Let him remain; 
 we are all equal here." Even so : the 
 liberty of God's children knows no 
 limitation from poverty. 3. Persecution 
 and contempt are no disqualification. 
 The Hebrews in Egypt could not call 
 even their children their own ; it made 
 no diflercnce before God that they were 
 smitten and despised of men. Our 
 libci-ty to serve and follow the Saviour 
 does not stand in the good opinion of 
 our fellows. 4. Mental der/radation is 
 no disqucdification. The abject state of 
 these men, who on leaving Egypt were 
 BO untutored and debased by bondage, 
 was not one jot off from their rchgious 
 freedom. Even in Egypt they admi- 
 nistered to each other the rites of the 
 covenant. The "Education Act" is a 
 great boon to many as earthly citizens ; 
 no man needs it as a preliminary to 
 intercourse with the Saviour. 5. J'-'ccle- 
 siastical deficiencies are no disqualifica- 
 tion. The tribe of Levi was not then 
 sot apart for religious ministration. 
 There was no high priest, no priest at 
 
 8b 
 
 all, no ecclesiastic of any kind ; and 
 yet, in this most ritualistic dispensation, 
 even that made no difference. "All 
 the people that came out were circum- 
 cised." The ordinance was not depend- 
 ent on priestly administration. Many 
 religious men in the present day are 
 claiming large prerogatives as to the 
 intercourse of their fellow-men with 
 God. These men claim an essential 
 place of mediation between each ordi- 
 nary worshipper and his God. Perhaps 
 no Scripture is more pressed and dis- 
 torted than the verse (John xx. 231), 
 "Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are 
 remitted unto them ; and whosesoever 
 sins ye retain, they are retained." The 
 circumstances under which these words 
 were spoken are conveniently forgotten 
 by those who press for auricular con- 
 fession and mediatorial prerogatives. At 
 the time when the Saviour uttered these 
 words, there were no written words of 
 the new dispensation to guide anxious 
 men and women who wished to know 
 if their sins were forgiven. The Gospel, ' 
 upon which we can so readily fall back 
 to help us in our anxieties, was not a 
 word of it written. It is almost im- 
 possible for us, with all our light, to 
 mentally put ourselves in the position 
 of a man who, under the new preaching 
 of John the Baptist and the apostles, 
 might come to cry out in an agony of 
 spirit for some assurance that he was 
 forgiven. So the extraordinary power 
 bestowed on the apostles was not even 
 the outcome of their official position, 
 but of the urgent needs of the anxious. 
 Jesus breathed on the apostles, and said, 
 " Receive ye the Holy Ghost." The 
 Holy Spirit was so to guide them, that 
 they should be able to pronounce to 
 the anxious whether God had forgiven 
 them or not. The men who felt sin an 
 intolerable burden, and who had no 
 written Gospel to go to, as wc have, 
 might go to these God-guided men, and 
 they in turn should be so infaUibly 
 directed, that where they declared sin 
 remitted, it should bo remitted, and 
 where they pronounced it retained, it 
 should be retained. In other words, 
 they should be so instructed as to de- 
 clare the mind of God on each particular 
 case. We even see something of the 
 
HOMILETIO COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 exercise of this prerogative by the 
 apostles. To the agonised jailer of 
 Philippi, Paul says, "Believe on the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, and thou slialt he 
 saved." On the other hand, Peter says 
 to the commercial Simon Magus, "Thy 
 money perish with thee." The "de- 
 livering unto Satan," of which Paul 
 speaks, was probably simply the exer- 
 cise of this declarative power. Other 
 instances might be named, and these 
 expounded in fuller detail ; they should 
 be enough to shew how utterly un- 
 tenable is the priestly rendering of the 
 verse in question. Even the ritual of 
 the Old Testament gives no such place 
 to men as this. There might be no 
 priests ; religious ordinances might be 
 administered notwithstanding. II. The 
 disqualification for religious ordi- 
 nances arising from unforgiven sin. 
 "All the people that were born in the 
 wilderness .... they had not circum- 
 cised." The reason for this is stated 
 at length in the sixth verse. On account 
 of the rebellion, God had sworn a 
 punishment which should endure to the 
 end of the forty years. . During that 
 time there might be no circumcision at 
 all. All the bondage of Egypt could 
 not break in upon their glorious liberty 
 as the children of God ; what all the 
 tyranny of Egypt could never accom- 
 plish, their personal sin had wrought in 
 a single day. 1. Wilf ah disobedience in 
 any one thinij is the rebellion of the heart. 
 We are apt to measure our disobedience 
 to God by the magnitude of the things 
 in which we fail to yield. We persuade 
 ourselves that the thing is small, and 
 that therefore the sin is small. The 
 sin is that we have dared to disobey. 
 One wilful sin carries with it all the 
 heart into an act of disobedience ; it 
 is the rebellion of the whole man, until 
 the sin is realised and confessed and 
 abandoned. 2. The heart that is in rebel- 
 lionagainst God cannot worship God. It is 
 a contradiction. It is playing at adora- 
 tion, and indulging in practical despising. 
 It is an endeavour to mix absolute and 
 essential opposites. 3. God sometimes 
 sees it ivell to punish sin even after repent- 
 ance. Many of the Israelites doubtless 
 repented of their transgression. Even 
 this repentance may have been largely 
 
 owing to the penalty of forty years' 
 wandering which God had sworn to 
 inflict. If the penalties of sin could 
 be all averted, and immediately averted, 
 by our repentance, a premium would 
 be put on guilt by the cheap facilities 
 with which its painful consequences 
 might be avoided whenever we chose. 
 III. The distinction made in the his- 
 tory between judicial pardon and Di- 
 vine love. The sin could not be said 
 to be forgiven while the punishment 
 continued. Judicially, the offence was 
 not put away till the penalty was with- 
 drawn. But God's love was every day 
 proclaiming itself through all the forty 
 years. The mercies which were new 
 every morning were telling of forgive- 
 ness in the Divine heart. 1. The suffer- 
 ing which men feel on account of sin is 
 no evidence that God does not love them. 
 Given that a man has to trace his 
 trials to his transgressions, there is 
 still much to proclaim that God is 
 love, and that God loves him, 2. To 
 ivalk ijratefulhj in the sense of God's love 
 is to have the promise that any present 
 suffering for sin will he ultimately put 
 away. Just as every year in which the 
 Israelites walked in submission to God, 
 and in the consciousness that He loved 
 them still, told of an ever-narrowing 
 margin to that life in the mlderness ; 
 so he who yields where he has rebelled, 
 and rejoices in Divine mercy, may 
 contemplate the time when the love of 
 God will remove all his present suffer- 
 ing. Even the ci-oss of Christ may not 
 at once put away the penalties of past 
 transgressions ; yet, to accept Christ cru- 
 cified is to know the love and to have 
 the promise of the salvation of God. 
 
 Where God speaks, it matters not 
 whether we read prophecy or history ; 
 they are ever aUke. Thu'ty- eight years 
 before, the sentence had gone out 
 against every living man of the host, 
 saving Caleb and Joshua ; it is only 
 a matter of course that we read here, 
 " All the men of war died in the wilder 
 ness." 
 
 The fact that the fulfilment of God's 
 word is recorded so quietly, and that it 
 excites in us so little surprise, assures 
 us of the absolute truthfulness of Divine 
 
 89 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 words, and of our inward acquiescence 
 in their statements. 
 
 Divine promises are not more sure 
 than Divine threatenings. The graves 
 of the rebels are as certainly found in 
 the wilderness as the homes of the 
 obedient are found in Canaan. When 
 all the theories of men on the impro- 
 bability of final punishment have been 
 elaborately expounded and carefully 
 proved, hell will still remain as sure 
 as heaven; the "lake of tire," though 
 ever so figurative, will be seen to have 
 as much reality as the " sea of glass 
 like unto crj'stal," or the "streets of 
 pure gold." During those thii-ty-eight 
 years which followed the sentence on 
 Israel, there would have been time and 
 room for a great many sermons on 
 Numb. xiv. 28 — 35, in which some of 
 the gentlest hearts and noblest spirits 
 might have clearly proved the mercy of 
 God, and the improbability of so many 
 deaths in so short a time. For all that, 
 when the years had ended, there were 
 exactly as many graves in the wilder- 
 ness as had been predicted. 
 
 Verse 4. — Fruits of Sin. 
 
 I. Sin as the cause of our disap- 
 pointments. " The Lord sware that 
 He would not shew them the land." 
 II. Sin as the occasion of much of 
 our poverty. The Lord woixld not 
 give them the land " flowing with milk 
 and honey." III. Sin as the instru- 
 ment of death. " They were consumed 
 because they obeyed not the voice of 
 the Lord." IV. Sin as revealing 
 Divine mercy even more than Divine 
 anger. The deaths were spread over 
 forty years. Space was given for re- 
 pentance, and opportunity oflercd for 
 securing eternal life. God's anger is 
 not vindictive ; it has little in common 
 with the anger of men ; it waits to save 
 Avith an everlasting salvation ; if it de- 
 stroy some suddenly, it generally ap- 
 pears that these are so evil that they 
 will probably prevent the repentance 
 of others. Thus the very anger of God 
 seems rooted and grounded in love. 
 
 Verse 7. — Divink Patience and 
 Mercy. 
 
 I. The Lord's independence of par- 
 
 UO 
 
 ticiilar men. If the fathers failed, 
 He would raise up the children. II. 
 The Lord's steady persistence in 
 His purposes. Although the genera- 
 tion then living had proved themselves 
 unfit for Canaan, God would not be 
 defeated in His promise to Abraham. 
 III. The Lord's abundant and stately 
 patience. " One day with Him is as a 
 thousand years, and a thousand years 
 as one day." IV. The Lord's merci- 
 ful beginning with individual men. 
 The children of the slain arc permitted 
 to begin their new life in the full cove- 
 nant rights which their fathers had once 
 enjoyed. 
 
 Verse 9. — Reproach rolled away. 
 
 I. The reproach of man is ever of 
 men and by men. 1. It has its occa- 
 sion in man's sin, 2. It is ever minis- 
 tered by men : " God, who upbraideth 
 not," is said to cause those who sin to 
 be a reproach, and to bring reproach 
 upon them ; but He Himself reproaches 
 not. The word partakes of the idea of 
 taunting, and God could not descend to 
 that. It is men, who also have sinned, 
 who reproach their fellows when sufl'er- 
 ing for sin. II. The effectual rolling 
 away of reproach is ever of God. 
 The Scriptures abound with records of 
 prayers to God to take away reproach, 
 of praises to God for taking it away, or 
 of God's assurances that He will deliver 
 His people, and vindicate them against 
 those who have held them in contempt. 
 It is only God who dares to say, 
 " I will lildt Old thy transgressions." 
 III. The removal of man's reproach 
 should lead to the perpetuation of 
 God's praise. " Wherefore the name 
 of the place is called Gilgal unto this 
 day." The place was named after the 
 mercy, thus declaring the goodness of 
 the Lord throughout many genera- 
 tions. What memorials should we raise 
 for the rolling away of our reproach 
 on Calvary ! The Israelites had only 
 Gilgal ; we have Golgotha. " Let us 
 go forth, therefore, unto Him without 
 the camp, bearing His reproach," who 
 has taken ours away, that it should 
 be remembered against us no more for 
 ever. 
 
OHAP. V. HOMILETIC C03IMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Verses 10—12. 
 
 The First Passover in the Promised Land. 
 
 Several events of deep interest are recorded in these three verses ; probably 
 there were others which happened about the same period, of scarcely less signi- 
 ficance, of which no mention is made. Somewhere about this time the pillar of 
 cloud must have disappeared. It seems natural to suppose that, having accom- 
 panied the people all through the wilderness, it remained with them during the 
 passage of the Jordan ; perhaps it departed from them here in Gilgal. Here, also, 
 the tabernacle would be for the first time set up in the land. Here the ark would 
 be deposited in its place ; the altar of burnt offering, for the morning and evening 
 sacrifice, would probably be erected; and the fire which " came out from before 
 the Lord," and which was never to be sufi'ered to go out, would consume its first 
 victims in Canaan, ofl"ered as the morning and evening sacrifices. The first of a 
 long series of observances, to be perpetuated through many years, were, it is 
 likely, even now beginning to be celebrated. Conspicuous above all these was 
 the keeping of the third paschal festival mentioned in these verses. I. The time 
 at which this passover took place. 1. It teas immediately after the renewal of 
 the covenant. During what Jehovah called His " breach of promise " (Numb, 
 xiv. 34), it was deemed unallowable to perform the rite of the covenant, and not 
 less so to keep the feast of the covenant. Both circumcision and the passover 
 seem to have been discontinued on account of the sin at Kadesh-barnea. God 
 wiU have no service from us which is untrue, unreal, and insincere. Acts of 
 worship are nothing in themselves ; the heart must go with the act. The soul 
 tied to an untrue and dead service might cry with the apostle, " Who shall 
 deUver me from the body of this death ? " A service which had ceased to have 
 any meaning, and which represented an untruth, must needs be corrupting in its 
 influence ; man should not have it, and God would not. With what care should 
 we, who live in the greater light of these latter days, celebrate the rites and ser- 
 vices of the New Covenant ! Surely a meaningless baptism, which represents 
 things which have no existence in fact ; or a Lord's Supper, which commemorates 
 the putting away of sin, observed by any who have never sought forgiveness ; or 
 worship oflered outwardly, when the heart is still in rebellion, must be ofi"ensive to 
 God. 2. The passover was celebrated after a Ion;/ interval of cessation. Thirty-eight 
 years had fled since the Israelites rejoiced together at Sinai in their deliverance from 
 Egyptian bondage. This must needs be a time of gladness. It must have been 
 like the joy of the people, after a similar interval of cessation, at the passovers of 
 Hezekiah and Josiah (cf 2 Chron. xxx. 21, 23, 26 ; xxxv. 18). They who have 
 been long kept from the service of the house of the Lord may well cry, " How 
 amiable are Thy tabernacles, Lord of hosts !" 3. This passover was celebrated 
 when the exodus was complete. The people were not only out of Egypt, but in 
 Canaan. In the first passover they celebrated the beginning of the fulfilment of 
 God's promise to Abraham; the second found them far advanced through the 
 wilderness ; this was eaten when they were really in the land. The feast of 
 " Christ our Patssover " will be ever fresh and precious, and the fulfilment of His 
 promised deliverance of us will be ever seen advancing, as we continually bring 
 our new experiences to aid us in expounding the meaning of the service. The 
 feast may be ever the same ; he will find in it no monotony, who eats and drinks 
 in the light of pastjourneyings, past trials and mercies and victories, new camping 
 grounds, fresh spiritual scenery and surroundings, and who marks that each com- 
 memoration finds him one stage nearer being " for ever with the Lord." 4. This 
 passover ivas celebrated preparatory to fresh conflicts. Our feastings here are only 
 to make way for oui- successful fightings. The Saviour Himself went from the 
 baptism to the wilderness, and from the passover, which He had so desired, to 
 Gethsemane and Calvary. " It is not meet that the servant should be above his 
 
 yi 
 
nOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 Lord." II. The place where this passover was celebrated. It was " in the 
 
 plains of Jericho ; " in the very front and presence of their foes. God can make 
 us a feast anywhere ; He can fill us with contentment and gladness even in our 
 direst necessities. He fed Elijah by the brook during a famine, and refreshed 
 him under the juniper tree when despairing in the wilderness. He gave Daniel 
 peace even in the presence of the lions. He enabled Peter to sleep when in 
 prison, and bound fast with chains, though he might soon be led out to a death 
 like that already sufi'ered by James. He helped Paul to say, when chained to a 
 Praetorian guard as a prisoner of the monster Nero, " I have learned, in whatso- 
 ever state I am, therewith to be content." He who bade Israel eat the passover 
 on the plains before Jericho, has been shewing, through all the history of His 
 Church, that He can make a feast for His people, irrespective of their surround- 
 ings (cf. succeeding outline on ver. 10). III. The events by which this pass- 
 over was followed. 1. The com of the land hcccune henceforth their foud. God 
 had fulfilled His promise, and led them into " a good land." The well-stored 
 granaries of the Canaanites, who had fled into Jericho, and the roasted ears 
 from the cornfields of Gilgal, enabled the Israelites to find a sufficiency of 
 pleasant food. 2. When the;/ had eaten of the corn of the land, the manna ceased. 
 The cessation of the manna just then would serve to assure them afresh that it 
 had been always given miraculously. They would also see the necessity of at 
 once going on to conquer the country, now that they were dependent on their 
 own efforts for their temporal supplies. God works no miracles where natural 
 supplies are sufiicient. We must not expect Divine help to furnish what is within 
 the reach of our own powers. 
 
 OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VERSES. 
 
 Verse 10. — The Feast on the 
 Battle Field. 
 
 God has literally anticipated here, in 
 the plains of Jericho, the song which 
 David sang some four centuries later — 
 *' Thou preparest a table before me in 
 the presence of mine enemies." What 
 the Israelites at Jericho, and David 
 afterwards thus realized, is still and 
 ever true in the history of the Church 
 oi" •Hhrist. I. There is the satisfaction 
 whicii. God provides in the presence of 
 enemies who sureound us. 1. 'J'al,e 
 the case of the scoriter. Scorn is loftier 
 to-day than it used to be. A recent 
 writer in the North American Ucvicu-, 
 speaking of frauds in New York, said, 
 "The cunning civilization of the nine- 
 teenth century is but a hypocritical 
 mask spread over the more honest bru- 
 tality of the twelfth." Perhaps that is 
 not far from the truth. Formerly people 
 who wished to commit robbery became 
 highwaymen, and used for their instru- 
 ments fleet horses and deadly weapons ; 
 now they study stock exchanges, bank- 
 ing methods, and practise all kinds of 
 handwriting. Similarly the religious 
 scorner has changed his weapons, and 
 92 
 
 altered his bearing. Men no longer 
 hear or use the coarse invective of the 
 past generation of atheists and deists ; 
 the seat of the scorner has been removed 
 to the halls of learning and science, and, 
 excepting in occasional instances, the 
 language of the scorner is that of a 
 scholar, and his manners are the manners 
 of a gentleman. And this makes scorn 
 so much the harder for some to endure. 
 Many young men who would be able to 
 laugh at the ribald vulgarities of fifty or 
 a hundred years ago, are concerned to 
 find the atheism of to-day guilty of only 
 decent manners, and to hear it speaking 
 with the reservations of a well-bred 
 courtesy. Perhaps it is only the young 
 and the undecided on whom even this 
 polished scorn makes any considerable 
 impression. Those Avho have sat at the 
 Lord's table, and have feasted indeed on 
 the provisions of His love, little care 
 whether the antipathies of infidelity are 
 written down in coarse epigrams, or 
 penned in the politer periods of a better 
 bred animosity. The evidence of the 
 truth of the Gospel is so sufficient, and 
 its pleasant food is so sweet, that the 
 enemies are often almost forgotten. 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA, 
 
 saving in the wish that they could sit 
 at the table too. What would it matter 
 to the hungry labourer, in the presence 
 of good food, in what language or spirit 
 an author might write against genuine 
 bread and healthy meat ? classical or 
 rude, he would still feast. So it is with 
 those who really rejoice in the Lord. 
 The character of the Saviour is so strong 
 and lofty and beautiful, that probably 
 no one ever yet felt the beginning of 
 shame because of Him. His doctrines 
 are so lofty, their influences so pure, 
 and the hopes which spring from them 
 so exalted, that the people may still feast 
 joyously, even when fronted by their 
 foes. His name is indeed a strong 
 tower, into which His children may run, 
 and be, not only safe, but glad. 2. Take 
 the case of the patronisimj enemies. There 
 are men who profess sincerely to pity 
 Christians. Those who keep festival at 
 the table of Christ care not even to 
 reject such pity ; it is not worth the 
 trouble, so they simply sit and feast. 
 They have a gospel eighteen centuries 
 old, and never more suitable to the 
 world than now ; a Master whose life 
 and words never raised a blush, and " a 
 hope that maketh not ashamed." 3. Take 
 tliecdse aftJie seeiiviiujhj triuniphantenenuj. 
 There are times when, to the superficial 
 observer, the world seems to have the 
 best of the battle. "The wicked 
 flourish," and the righteous are " an 
 aftlicted and poor people." It is for- 
 gotten that they " trust in the name of 
 the Lord," and how much of prosperity 
 and satisfaction are contained in that. 
 Paul and Silas in prison ; Paul before 
 Felix and Agrippa ; Paul at Rome. 
 4. Take the case of the worldhj cnoinj. 
 There are many foes who are encamped 
 on what Bunyan has called the " En- 
 chanted Ground." The fascinations of 
 the world. Too manj'-, alas, fall here ; 
 but for the man who would really resist 
 there are not only weapons, there are 
 better provisions and richer songs : — 
 " I need not go abroad for joys ; 
 I have a feast at home." 
 
 So in the presence of all His people's 
 surrounding foes the Lord enables them 
 to keep the feast. II. The satisfaction 
 which God provides in the presence of 
 enemies which may be said to be upon 
 
 US. "Many are the afflictions of the 
 righteous." These touch his very flesh ; 
 they come both upon himself and those 
 of his family. Pain and disease and 
 death are the lot of all. What kind of 
 feast does the Lord provide in the front 
 of foes like these.? 1. There is Divine 
 forewarning to set over against suddenness 
 and surprise. Christ has " told us 
 before it come to pass," " In the world 
 ye shall have tribulation." Sorrows 
 come unannounced by any lips of men, 
 and they often come in rapid succes- 
 sion. Like the vultures, in the song of 
 Hiawatha, which follow one another 
 
 " From the invisible ether, 
 First a speck, and then a vulture, 
 Till the air is dark with pinions. 
 
 So disasters come not singly ; 
 But as if they watched and waited, 
 Scanning one another's motions. 
 When the first descends, the others 
 Follow, follow, gathering flockwise 
 Round their victim, sick and woviuded, 
 First a shadow, then a sorrow. 
 Till the air is dark with anguish." 
 
 \^Longfcllow.'] 
 
 Thus sufi'erings came successively to 
 Job ; he was able to say, " Blessed be 
 the name of the Lord." Thus, too, 
 Paul writes of having " sorrow upon 
 sorrow ; " he does but " reckon that 
 the sufi'erings of this present time are 
 not worthy to be compared with the 
 glory which shall be revealed in us." 
 The Lord has so prepared the minds of 
 His people for suflering, that they can 
 meet it, even when it comes thus heavily, 
 without counting that " some strange 
 thing has happened" unto them. 
 
 2. There is Divi)ie si/mpatJti/ to set over 
 against seeming severity. The love ot 
 God, and the sympathy of Him who is 
 " touched with the feeling of our infir- 
 mities," have been made too manifest 
 to allow of any place for doubt. 
 
 3. There are Divine promises to set over 
 against human fears. Every one is 
 " Yea and Amen," and the number and 
 variety are so great, that no man ever 
 stood where he had to feel there was no 
 promise of God for him. 4. There is 
 the Divine example to set over against the 
 worst sorrows possible. Stand where we 
 may, and " consider Him who en- 
 dured " for us, He will always be found 
 in front. 5. There are the rod and staf 
 
 93 
 
EOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 of the Divine Presence to set over against 
 death. Even before the Sa\-iour came 
 to deliver them who through feai' of 
 death were all their lifetime subject to 
 bondage, faith could look up and say, 
 " I will fear no evil, for Thou art with 
 me." Christian history continually 
 shews that when face to face with the 
 " last enemy," the people whom the 
 Lord leads are wont to hold festival. 
 III. The satisfaction which God pro- 
 vides in the presence of enemies 
 WITHIN us. Om- sins ai-e the worst foes 
 of all ; but, even here, Christ bids us 
 keep the feast. 1. There is an army of 
 sins in the rear. Can we be forgiven ? 
 The Lord provides " patterns for them 
 who should hereafter believe." David ; 
 Peter; the penitent thief; the sinful 
 woman who loved much ; Saul of 
 Tarsus, who says, " Sinners, of whom 
 I am chief." Even Judas is wooed by 
 the love of Christ, and seems to go " to 
 his own place " only because he can 
 find no place for repentance. 2. There 
 is an army of temptations in front, and the 
 best of men feel that they carry ternhhj 
 correspondent weaknesses uithin. The 
 habits of half a lifetime are not easily 
 forgotten ; the tenacious vitality of 
 the nature, which is always having to 
 be crucified to make it die, cannot but 
 be felt and feared. Even here Divine 
 provision is bountiful and sufBcient. 
 Those who testify to His power to save 
 from sin are "a cloud of witnesses," 
 and He Himself says, "I will never 
 leave thee, nor forsake thee." 
 
 Christ our Passover is given : — 
 I. In view of sin's bondage and 
 burden. He came to give liberty to 
 the captive. II. In view of the sinner's 
 gladness and purification. "There- 
 fore let us keep the feast;" yet "not 
 with the old leaven, neither with the 
 leaven of malice and wickedness." 
 III. In view of sin's judgment and 
 penalty. The warnings which precede 
 the sinner's overthrow, and the power 
 and gi-ace in which God delivers those 
 who harden not their hearts, tell at once 
 of the love which would " have all men 
 to be saved," and of the holiness which 
 " will by no means clear the guilty." 
 
 " The first passover on the soil of 
 94 
 
 Canaan : (1) A feast of thankful re- 
 membrance ; (2) a feast of blessed hope. 
 The bread of the land, although not 
 maima, yet also bread from heaven." 
 [La n lie.] 
 
 " The passover would assure them 
 that He who had been with them in the 
 exodus would sustain and protect them 
 now. The circumcision would remind 
 them of God's promise, the passover 
 would remind them of His power to 
 deliver them, and the two together 
 would lead them to encourage them- 
 selves in the Lord theii' God." [Dr. 
 Wm. Taylor.] 
 
 " 1. In whatever circumstances we 
 are placed, religion should be our first 
 concern. If ever there were circum- 
 stances which would seem to justify the 
 postponement of rehgious duties, one 
 would think they were those of Joshua 
 on this occasion. 2. In whatever cir- 
 cumstances we are placed, we should 
 put the most implicit confidence in God. 
 These religious services were in an 
 enemy's land." [Bush.] 
 
 Verse 12. 
 
 " God is everything to His people. In the 
 wilderness they had no pathway ; but He led 
 them in a pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar 
 of fire by night. They were in danger ; but 
 He was their defence. They had no water ; 
 but He gave them streams in the desert. 
 They had no provision ; but He rained down 
 manna around their tents. So what Nature 
 refused, Providence furnished : and what 
 could not be derived from the ground came 
 from the clouds. ... At length the manna 
 ceased, and wisely too. What was necessary 
 before, became needless now ; and what want 
 would have endeared, abundance would have 
 despised. This teaches us not to look for 
 extraordinaiy supplies when relief is to be 
 had in an ordinary way. He who sustained 
 Israel is as almighty as ever, but we must 
 plough, and sow, and gather into bams. He 
 who fed Elijah by ravens, commands us to 
 labour, working with our hand the thing that 
 is good. If a m.in neglects the means of 
 subsistence, he is not trusting Providence, but 
 tempting it, and is likely to be reminded by 
 something more than Scripture, that if any 
 man will not work, neither shall he eat. Even 
 in miraculous achievements, what human 
 agency could do, was not done supernatu- 
 rally. When Peter was in prison, the angel 
 of the Lord opened the door, and broke off 
 his fetters, for this Peter could not have done ; 
 but he did not take him up in his arms and 
 cany him out, but said unto him, 'Bind on 
 thy sandals, and follow me.' Miracles were 
 never ntedlcssly employed. . . . The manna 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 was typical. ' I am,' said Jesus, ' that bread " Shall this Bread cease ? Far from it. 
 
 of life.' As the manna came down from You shall live by Him, as well as with. Him, 
 
 heaven, and preserved the Israelites from for ever. But many things now necessary 
 
 famine, ' God so loved the world, that He will then be done away. Conjecture, opinion, 
 
 gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever reasoning, will give place to knowledge. . . . 
 
 believeth in Him should not perish, but have We are now glad when they say unto us, 
 
 everlasting life.' And the Saviour surpasses ' Let us go into the house of the Lord ;' but 
 
 the emblem. The manna was for the body : says John, ' I saw no temple therein ; but the 
 
 He saves the soul. The manna could not glory of God and of the Lamb was the light 
 
 preserve fi'om death always : but they who thereof.' When that which is perfect is come, 
 
 partake of Him live for ever. The manna that which is in part will be done away. The 
 
 was confined to one people : He gave His fare of the wilderness mil be superseded by 
 
 flesh for the life of the world. He therefore the produce of Canaan." \_Jay.'\ 
 is the true bread. 
 
 MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Verses 13—15. 
 Times and Forms of Divine Manifestation. 
 
 The angel who here appears to Joshua was manifestly none other than the 
 Angel of the Covenant — Jesus Christ. Calvin, and many since him, have come to 
 this conclusion. As it was none other than the Lord Himself who wrestled with 
 Jacob at the ford Jabbok, so that Jacob cried, " I have seen God face to face ;" 
 as it was none other than He who appeared to Moses in the bush, and gave His 
 name as " I AM," though He is called an angel ; so He who now appears to Joshua 
 is none other than Jesus Christ. There are several things in the narrative which 
 seem to require this interpretation. 1. This armed being calls himself the 
 Captain, or Prince, of the host of the Lord, a phrase which comes near to " the 
 Lord of hosts " — "the Lord of Sabaoth" — by which we are ever wont to recog- 
 nise Deity. 2. This warrior claims to make the very place holy by his presence. 
 God said to Moses at the bush, " Put off thy shoes," etc.; so, similarly, it is said 
 to Joshua, "Loose thy shoe from off thy foot." 3. Joshua is said to have wor- 
 shipped. Referring to the usage of the East, when a subject meets his king, and 
 quoting 2 Sam. ix. 6, xiv. 33, Keil expresses his opinion that the word does not 
 mean Divine worship. The custom of kings, as has been shewn, is no rule for the 
 conduct of angels, whom we see in the book of Eevelation repeatedly refusing 
 even the prostrations of men ; to them the very act meant worship. 4. Li chap. 
 \i. 2, this armed visitant claims Divine powers: " See, I have given into thine 
 hand Jericho." 5. In the same verse the speaker is actually called Jehovah. 
 Thus we may unquestiouingly take this as one of those Old Testament anticipa- 
 tions of the Incarnation in which the Son of God appears to men. It is what 
 Isaiah calls " the Angel of His presence," once more di-awing near to save His 
 people. As a recent writer has said, " Thus the first and the second Joshua met, 
 the type and the Ant'type ; he who led Israel to \dctory over fierce and terrible 
 foes, and He who leads the spu'itual Israel to the conquest of the world, the flesh, 
 and the devil ; who will finally cause them to triumph over death, the last enemy, 
 and will award to each faithful follower the crown of endless life. [Groser.] 
 
 I. The Saviour loves to recognise the spiritual life of His people, and when 
 they seek to come close to Him, He delights to draw near to them. Joshua had 
 followed the Divine will iu the circumcision, he had drawn near- to God in the 
 passover and the feast of unleavened bread ; these are hardly over when Jesus 
 Himself draws near to Joshua. It is like the Divine way in the repeatedly occur- 
 ring words, " Turn ye unto Me, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will turn unto you, 
 saith the Lord of hosts." 1. 1V7ie7i God gracioushj reveals Himself to men, it is to 
 meii who love Him and walk uith Him. When the three angels come, it is to com- 
 mune with Abraham, not with Lot, albeit they proceed to save the man who dwells 
 in Sodom. The vision of the burning bush was for Moses, not for Pharaoh. When 
 the form of the Son of man is seen in the province of Babylon, it is with the three 
 
 95 
 
IIOMILETIC C03IMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 Hebrews in the fire, not with Nebuchadnezzar on the throne. It was as they 
 communed together, and reasoned on their Lord's death, that Jesus Himself drew 
 near, and walked with the two disciples to Emmaus. It would hinder us, and 
 curse us, if God drew near to bless us when we were living far from Him. Fancy 
 the eflect of the Divine smile on Pharaoh ; it would have made that hard heart 
 harder still. Think of Nero and Judas singing, 
 
 " My God, the spring of all my joys ; " 
 
 of having occasion so to sing, and yet remaining wicked as ever ; they would have 
 been even worse than they were, had God given them His presence in their sin. 
 God will not draw nigh to us, any more than to others, if we persist in li-\-ing in 
 disobedience to Him. It would put a premium on sin for Him to bless us in times 
 like these. 2. Althowih the Saviour does not vow come to men risibly, we are not to 
 think that His coming is less actual and real than it was of old. We have all the 
 joy of reading the accounts of these visions given to the godly men of former 
 days. The very consideration of such mercy to them helps us also, by faith, to 
 see Him who is invisible. But this is not all : 
 
 " We shine not only ^^^th the light 
 Thou didst send down of yore ; 
 The fathers had not all of Thee, 
 Thy comings are not o'er." 
 
 Was not Christ as much with the apostles at Pentecost as during His ministry ? 
 When Peter was sinking, his Lord took him by the hand ; when the Saviour drew 
 apart from men into the glory of the transfiguration and into the darkness of Geth- 
 semane. He took with Him Peter ; but Peter never stood so near to his Lord as 
 when preaching at Pentecost. Let us learn to feel that Christ is with us indeed 
 when we in life and spirit are found with Him. His very name is Emmanuel. It 
 was one of the sins of this ancient people, that they asked, " Is the Lord among us 
 or not?" "I do set the Lord always before me," is, to the godly man, not 
 merely a faith, but a life. 3. Onrmore striking realizations of the Saviour s presence 
 are not desiipted to hi- perpetual. Joshua sees this vision but for a little time, and 
 then it vanishes away. The mercy was transitory, or it would have ceased to be 
 a mercy. The work would have been hindered, had worship been indefinitely 
 prolonged. Moses at the bush, and Saul on the way to Damascus, do but behold 
 the Lord for a brief season. And these transitory blessings of the old days are 
 like our higher visions of Christ — we cannot have them always. Constant rapture 
 would not be good ; it would drain and enfeeble the life, rather than give it 
 strength. In his "Scrambles amongst the Alps," Whymper says, with true 
 perception, " No views create such lasting impressions as those which are seen 
 but for a moment, when a veil of mist is rent in twain, and a single spire or dome 
 is disclosed. The peaks which are seen at these moments are not perhaps the 
 greatest, or the noblest, but the recollections of them outlive the memory of any 
 panoramic view, because the picture photographed by the eye has time to dry, 
 instead of being blurred, while yet wet, by contact with other impressions." It 
 would not be well that we should always gaze as in our more vivid beholdings of God. 
 Our better strength above may bear this more continuous sight of Him, but here 
 it is otherwise. The vision needs time to dry. It is when we see the Lord for a 
 moment between the riven cloud of some terrible affiiction, or in the joy of more 
 rapt communion, that the sight abides with us. When in a moment of ecstacy 
 Peter beheld the glory of the Lord, he wished to prolong the vision, and cried, 
 " Let us make three tabernacles." It was good to be there, and the servant 
 wished to stay. The Holy Ghost tells us that Peter spake, " not knowing what 
 ho said." Even so, when the glory was so bright, the fleeting vision was its 
 better form. And the fleeting vision was none the less permanent in its hold on 
 the mind and heart. More than thirty years after, Peter could call on his memory, 
 reproduce to himself the scene again, and write to them who had obtained hke 
 OG 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 precious faith, of the way in which " there came such a voice from the excellent 
 glory." Probably it was more than sixty years after the vision when John wrote, 
 " We beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father." Brief 
 visions of God may be life-long helps, Joshua would never forget, in all his wars. 
 Him who said, " See, I have given Jericho into thine hand." He who would 
 always live amidst exciting services, and can speak hopefully of nothing but 
 perpetual raptures, may be earnest, but is not wise. II. The Saviour beholds 
 the necessities of His people ; and where they particularly need Him, there 
 they may look for His special appearance. It is over against Jericho that 
 Jesus reveals Himself to Joshua; it is by the city that is fortified against 
 Joshua, and on the scene of the coming battle. 1. It h where ivp want Christ that we 
 may look for Him. What a blessed way He has, all through His ministry, of 
 suddenly putting in an appearance by the side of some one in urgent necessity ! 
 How He ever seems coming across the path of the blind ! How, when the impotent 
 man at Bethesda had been a long time in that sad case of his, the Saviour seems 
 to come that way in the very hour of the despair which feels the hopelessness of 
 waiting there any longer ! It is when the man has come to realize that he has no 
 one to put him into the pool, and to know the certainty of some one stepping down 
 before him, that Jesus comes. We look at the funeral procession leaving the city 
 of Nain, and are apt to think of the Saviour's meeting with it as a happy 
 coincidence. How many similar coincidences that sacred ministry of pity was 
 always having ! It is Christ's sweet mannerism of heavenly compassion to time 
 His meetings to our crises. He loves to meet want, because His love to help the 
 needy is genuine. Men talk about compassion, but too often, hke the priest and 
 the Levite of the parable, they " go by on the other side," lest they should have 
 some opportunity for its exercise. He who is the Good Samaritan comes to the 
 wounded where they are. Jesus has a heavenly way of being a " God nigh at 
 hand" when men are ready to perish. Do we feel our need of Him? Are we 
 thinking on our conflicts, present and to come, and, like Joshua, as he gazed on 
 the fortified city, feeling they may be too hard for us if we are unaided ? Let us 
 lift up our eyes, that we may look on His form, who times His visits to our 
 necessities. It is the Divine way to be near men in their hour of want. The 
 Scriptures are full of such instances of His mercy. When we cannot bear to wait 
 any longer as we are, then is the time for prayer ; He, whose way often is to come 
 when no word is uttered, will not leave us unanswered then. 2. This vision icas 
 (jiren to a man who had work to do for God. It is not only when we have anxieties 
 to disturb our peace, and burdens too heavy to be endured, but when we have 
 tasks to perform which are too difiicult for us, that we may look for His presence. 
 He who said, " Without Me ye can do nothing," will hardly leave us to work alone 
 in duties commanded by Himself. III. The Saviour has regard to the indi- 
 viduality of His people ; and as they need His help in that manner, and in that 
 character, He comes to meet their want. To Joshua, who has battles to fight, 
 Christ comes as an armed warrior. In order to encourage and strengthen His 
 servant, the very " Prince of Peace " manifests Himself ^vith a drawn sword in 
 His hand. 1. The Lord has rerjardto ovr particular work. He appeared to Gideon 
 to encourage him as "a mighty man of valour." To the apostles, who were 
 charged to preach the gospel to every creature, the Holy Ghost revealed Himself 
 at Pentecost as a tongue of fire, sitting upon the head of each of them. As our 
 work, so is God's help. 2. The Lord has rei/ard to the special character of our 
 trials. Moses should see, in the bush, that things which were burned were not 
 consumed when the Lord was in the midst of them. What a help to the man who 
 had to enter himself, and lead his brethren out of, the furnace of Egj'pt ! Jacob 
 the outcast should see the ladder that united heaven with earth, and hear the 
 voice that said, " I am with thee in all places whithersoever thou goest." Jacob, 
 whose life was to be one long struggle with adverse providences, should wrestle 
 with Him who was the author of them all, and thus learn that he might have 
 
 H 97 
 
EOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 power with God, and prevail, and come to great victory even through seeming defeat. 
 The man of the unclean lips should see the seraph fly with a live coal, as from 
 the altar of sacrifice, and hear a voice that proclaimed all his iniquity to he taken 
 away. As we want Christ, so Christ comes to us. It is said that in twelve niches 
 of a bridge in Austria there are twelve diifcrent representations of the Saviour, and 
 that day by day men may be seen praying before the particular representation of 
 Christ suitable to themselves. The mechanic will pray before Christ the carpenter, 
 the sick and wounded before Christ the physician, the keeper of sheep before 
 Christ the Good Shepherd, and similarly all through the various representations. 
 Whatever our personal need may be, the Saviour has revealed Himself in sufficient 
 variety to embrace our wants also ; and if our necessities and tricils seem peculiar, 
 He shews Himself willing to meet us with appropriate help. IV. Let the Saviour 
 appear to His people when and how He will, the more graciously He mani- 
 fests Himself to men, the more devoutly are they to remember that He is none 
 other than their Lord and their God. Christ comes to Joshua seemingly as a 
 man and a fellow-soldier ; He will forego none of the reverence due unto His 
 name because of His grace and condescension. 1. The more God blesses us, the 
 more profound should be our humility, and the deeper our adoration. 2. The 
 more God vouchsafes to help us, the more complete should be our sense of 
 dependence. "What saith my Lord unto His servant?" is meet language in 
 which to confess our allegiance, and declare our readiness to obey. 
 
 OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VEBSES. 
 
 The Courage of the Fear of God. 
 
 The courage of God-fearing men will 
 bear examination : — 
 
 I. In the light of history. The 
 Divine word to Joshua, that he should 
 "be of good courage," was not spoken 
 in vain. Walking out by Jericho, he 
 was probably seeking to make himself 
 acquainted with its surroundings. He 
 did not yet know the mind of the Lord 
 concerning the plan of battle ; he would 
 see where the city was strong and where 
 it was weak, that his attack might be 
 made with advantage. Suddenly, as 
 Joshua lifted up his eyes, an armed 
 man was seen standing over against 
 him. The very place, and not less 
 the attitude, was suggestive of an 
 enemy. With no hesitation, so far 
 as we can gather from the narrative, 
 Joshua went unto him, and said, "Art 
 thou for us, or for our adversaries ? " 
 Insensibly wo are reminded of the 
 similar appearance to Balaam. Balaam 
 went forth on a mission of sin, and he, 
 too, saw the augcl of the Lord standing 
 in the way, and having a drawn sword 
 in his hand. How did this man, walk- 
 ing in the ways of sin, bear himself 
 before such an appearance ? He bowed 
 bis head, and fell flat upon his face. 
 He did this at the very sight of the 
 98 
 
 angel,' and in a manner which looks 
 more like the fear so becoming his 
 guilty life, than this reverence of 
 Joshua, who bowed himself to the 
 earth only when he heard the lofty 
 title of Him before whom he stood. 
 All through the history of men, those 
 have been the bravest who have feared 
 God. 1. TJwy have heen Iwhind none in 
 martial conraijc. It was the son of 
 Jesse, who feared the Lord from his 
 youth, that dared to meet Goliath. 
 Not a single warrior of the army seems 
 to have thought of a deed like this. 
 It belonged to the future leader of 
 Israel's holy service and ardent song 
 to do what the trained veterans of Saul 
 trembled to think of, and refused to 
 attempt. It was just because David 
 feared the Lord, that he had no fear 
 of the monster who had defied the 
 Lord's army. So it has been ever 
 since. Though war is not the chosen 
 sphere of Christian service, and though 
 not a few who have lacked piety have 
 been unquestionably brave, the most 
 pious soldiers have ever been among 
 their country's staunchest defenders. 
 " Cromwell's Ironsides " and " Have- 
 lock's Saints " found none to despise 
 them in the field, let who would scorn 
 them in the camp. Col. Gardiner and 
 
CHAP. V. 
 
 HOMILETIG COMMENTARY: JOSTIUA. 
 
 Captain Vicars never tarnished their 
 swords with their rehgion, though many 
 would have preferred their rehgion 
 apart from their miHtary prowess. 2. 
 In conflicts on moral and spiritual fields, 
 God-fearing men have ever stood in ad- 
 vance of the courage of others. Many 
 rehgious professors have been cowards, 
 but not those who have feared the 
 Lord. They have excelled their fellows 
 in courage in standing by the weak and 
 the outcast ; in upholding commercial 
 and social integrity ; in bearing the 
 trials of life ; in meeting the last enemy 
 — Death. II. In the light of their 
 peculiar subjects of thought. In the 
 estimation of some, it might be supposed 
 that the particular subjects of religious 
 meditation set forth in the Scriptures, 
 are unfavourable to courage. 1. xiU of 
 Divine revelation lies over in the direction 
 of the unseen. The very name " revela- 
 tion " suggests looking into what, with- 
 out it, belongs to the invisible. To an 
 ordinary mind that is not supposed to 
 be helpful to bravery. Tell a man 
 human imaginings of the unseen world, 
 recapitulate the stories of " ghosts," 
 and talk about "the invisible spirits 
 that walk the earth," and the usual 
 result is trepidation. How is it that 
 the people who are students of the 
 book which shews them that they 
 are encamped around with angels, and 
 that spirits of evil go about them seek- 
 ing whom they may devour, are able 
 to sleep with so few disturbing dreams ? 
 How is it that the men who meet God 
 in every path are not timid ? How is 
 it that this constant gaze into the dark 
 and awful invisible does not destroy 
 the balance of the nervous system ? It 
 is precisely because these men have 
 learned to look into the unseen world, 
 that they are as they are. They have 
 seen God ; they have seen Him awful 
 in majesty, but more tender than a 
 mother in love ; and they have learned 
 to say, " If God be for us, who can be 
 against us ? " Thus do they sing, each 
 to the rest, 
 
 " Fear Him, ye samts, and you will then 
 Have nothing else to fear." 
 
 2. Much of Divine revelation deals ivith 
 sentiment and emotion. These things 
 are not usually thought good for 
 
 courage. Poetry and prayers and 
 visions are not supposed by some to 
 lie in the same direction as manliness 
 and stamina. " Reason," men say, 
 "think calmly, and wisely, and judi- 
 cially, and then you will not fear." 
 Christianity, on the other hand, stimu- 
 lates the strongest feelings, claims the 
 heart for its centre, deals with subjects 
 of pathos and song and ardent emotion ; 
 its very key-word is " faith ; " and the 
 Saviour, around whom its adherents 
 rally and move, is invisible, saving in 
 works which declare His hand, and in 
 words the latest of which are eighteen 
 centuries old. And yet no men dare to 
 sing in sorrow, and to be bold every- 
 where as Christian men do. Why is 
 this ? It is because they fear God. 
 3. Much of Divine revelation is a mani- 
 festation of supernatural power. Every 
 morning's ordinary mercies make the 
 God-fearing man say, " Thy mercies ;" 
 but supernatural things especially are 
 only to be accounted for by the presence 
 of God. Prayers are from Him, as 
 well as to Him ; comfort and help in 
 the sanctuary are because He is there ; 
 any single conversion means that He is 
 present ; all the generous ministries of 
 the Church, which come each from a 
 true heart fervently, come of Him. The 
 worldly and the wicked man is like the 
 child with his head beneath the bed- 
 clothes, who seeks to shut out at once 
 the terrifying darkness, and the sug- 
 gestive creaking of the boards, or the 
 moaning of the wind ; the only way to 
 his peace is the way of oblivion. " God 
 is not in all his thoughts." "I will 
 fear no evil," is peculiarly the watch- 
 word of those who fear God ; sinful 
 men have never made it their own yet, 
 and they never will. III. In the light 
 of their spirit of humility and obe- 
 dience. Joshua no sooner knew that 
 he was in this great Presence, than 
 he bowed himself; "he fell on his 
 face to the earth, and did worship : " he 
 was told to loose his shoe from oflF 
 his foot, " and Joshua did so." Yet 
 this was the man who met his seeming 
 foe with so bold a front. The man who 
 bows lowest before God, ever bears 
 himself most nobly before those whom 
 he ought to count his enemies ; and he 
 
 99 
 
HOMILETIC C0M3IEMARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 who knows how to obey the Lord, 
 knows how to resist where he ought 
 not to yield. It is sinful Adam who 
 hides, and guilty Cain who cries, " My 
 punishment is greater than I can bear ; " 
 it is Job who answers the tempter, 
 "Though He slay me, yet will I trust 
 in Him." 
 
 Verse 13, — The path of watchful- 
 ness and duty is often the place where 
 the Lord is met. 
 
 The Lord often seems to be resisting 
 His people, where He does but intend 
 to help them. 
 
 They who meet the Lord in the ways 
 of life, having, apparently, His sword 
 drawn against them, do but need to 
 inquire of Him with a right heart, when 
 they will find that the sword is for their 
 protection. 
 
 The godly man will pause to inquire 
 of his seeming foes, with gentleness 
 and candour, before he smites them in 
 anger. 
 
 Verses 13, 14. — The Loed and the 
 Servant. 
 
 I. The Lord's claims upon His 
 servants. 1. Absolute (mtlioritij. "As 
 Captain am I come." This authority is 
 claimed in the very moment of revealing 
 Himself. " As Captain am I voiv 
 come." This authority is claimed over 
 all the Church in common. " As 
 Captain of the Lord's Jiost," etc. 2. 
 Profound rererencc and adoration for 
 Himself. The prostration was not 
 enough. Joshua must " loose his shoe 
 from oil' his foot." This act of homage, 
 also, was necessary. 3. Hoh/ awe for 
 the place vhrre He is, and for the thimjs 
 uith uhivh He has to do. " The place 
 whereon thou standest is holy. II. The 
 servant's response to his Lord. The 
 true servant has : — 1. HiniiiUh/ in his 
 Lord's presenec. " Joshua fell on his 
 face to the earth." He himself was 
 revered by all Israel ; 
 
 " But merit lives from man to man, 
 And not from man. O Lord, to Thee." 
 
 2. Worship for his Lord's person and 
 ehmaeter. The very consciousness of 
 the Divine presence filled Joshua with 
 adoring awe : the style and title were 
 lUU 
 
 great, the Being and the character were 
 far greater. 3. Inquiry concerning his 
 Lord's 7rHI. He who says not, " Lord, 
 what wilt Thou have me to do ? " can 
 hardly claim to be a servant. 4. Obe- 
 dience to his Lord's command. "And 
 Joshua did so." 
 
 Verses 1.^—15. The True Campaion. 
 
 " In Hebrew history the Infinite Artist gives 
 us a pictui'e of the mind in its fallen condi- 
 tion, struggUng to deliver itself. The eman- 
 cipation from Egyptian bondage, the trying 
 pilgrimage in the desert, the special inter- 
 jxjsition of heaven in the crossing of the 
 Jordan, the fearful battles that were fought, 
 and the settling do^\^l at last in the promised 
 land, are all photographs of struggling souls 
 making their way from the thraldom of sin 
 into 'the inheritance of the saints in light.' . . . 
 Tlic war scene of the text suggests three facts 
 concerning man's true campaign. I. That in 
 the true campaign God has committed to 
 man a great work. 1 . Jf is an mieroux work. 
 Tlie work to which God called Joshua on 
 this occasion was the utter extermin.ation of 
 most formidable antagonists. . . . Our work 
 in the moral camjiaign is still more onerous. 
 We live in a world of evil. Corrnjit prin- 
 ciples, the mighty ' powers of darkness,' 
 possess the world we live in. Tliey crowd 
 our spheres of action ; and. alas, they are 
 encamped within us ! The work to which 
 we are called is their entire extermination, 
 both from ^^^thin and without. 2. It i^ a 
 rirjMcovfi n-orlt. . . . The man who consecrates 
 his energies to the downfall of evil, whose 
 life is one earnest stn;gglc against the prin- 
 cipalities and powers of darkness, is acting 
 evermore in .accordance with the eternal law 
 of rectitude. He is fighting ' the good fight 
 of faith.' and if he is faithful, he shall receive 
 ' a crowTi of glory that fadeth not aw.ay.' 
 3. It iv an 'indispcnxable work. Never will 
 you possess the Can.aan of spii-itual h.armony, 
 moral approbation, self-control, uplifting 
 thoughts, heavenly affections, ever-brighten- 
 ing hopes, and fi-ee and blessed intercourse 
 with the Infinite Father of spirits, without 
 the expulsion of evil from your soul. He 
 fMily that overcomcth sliall inherit. II. 
 That in the true campaign God blesses 
 man with a Great Leader. Taking the 
 description which is here given of Christ 
 as a figurative representation of Him as 
 our moi'.il chieftain, three facts arc sug- 
 gested concerning Him in that capacity : 
 1. Ih: is ever present when needed. Joshua 
 needed some special m.anifcst.ation to reassure 
 him of his duty, to inspire his cour.age. and 
 to nerve his arm for his terrible mission. 
 And here it is. ' He lifted up his eyes and 
 looked, and. Ijchold. there stood.' etc. So it 
 ever is. ' The Lord stood with me, and 
 strengthened me,' said Paul. 2. lie i.s always 
 ready. He was not only present in the hour 
 of need, but prepared. He stood before 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 Joshua 'with His sword drawn in His hand.' jdays the spirit of solemn ohedience. ' Louse 
 He stands by our side, and says, ' All power thy shoe,' . . . ' And Joshua did so.' On 
 is given unto Me in heaven and earth.' whatever place we stand, it is holy ground, 
 ' Lo. I am ^vith you alway.' 3. He is all- because God is present. . . , Did we always 
 sufficient. He is • the Captain of the Lord's feel His presence, we should walk this earth 
 hosts.' He is the controller of all powers. with reverent and solemn step ; feel that 
 The forces of the material universe are at .^■.. , ,.- • 
 His command. ... All the forces of the Life is real, Me la earnest ; 
 spiritual universe are at His command. He and that the great end and blessedness of 
 is Captain of the hosts of heaven. ' He our being consists in working out the will of 
 niaketh His angels spirits, and His ministers the Great All in All. . . . 
 a flame of fire.' ' Him hath God exalted,' etc. " Would you be a hero in the strife 1 Then 
 With such a chieftain as tlris, shall we fear put yourself under the command of the Cap- 
 our enemies, or can we fail in battle ? III. tain of the Lord's host. He will lead you on 
 That in the true campaign God requires a from victory to victory. His victories are 
 great spirit. 1. Joshua displays a spirit of real. They are not over the body, which is 
 indoiiiitahle valour. ' Art thou for us, or for the mere instrument of the man; they are 
 our adversaries 1 ' This is the courage which over the soul — over the man himself. He 
 we want, which we honoiu", and which we who subdues the mind is the only true con- 
 must have, before we can win one victory in queror. The Lord's victories are merciful, 
 the battle of life. 2. He displays the spirit It is love that nerves His arm. He stnkes 
 of reverent cnrjui/ry. ' He fell on Iris face to not to wound, but to heal ; not against Ufe, 
 the earth,' etc. Tliis is the true spirit. Paul but against its evils and curses ; not to de- 
 had this : ' Lord, what wilt Thou have me stroy, but to save. Every blow He gives is 
 to do ? ' Witli this spii'it. victory is certain ; to crush an evil and to save a soul." [^Dr. 
 without it, defeat is inevitable. 3. He dis- TJuimas, Homilist,^ 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 THE SIEGE AND FALL OF JEBICHO. 
 
 Critical Notes. — 1. This verse is merely a parenthesis in the account of the interview, 
 beginning chap. v. 13, and ending chap. vi. 5. The division of the chapters in the midst of 
 a deeply interesting narrative of only eight verses, is most unhapjiy. Was straitly shut up] 
 Marg. " Did shut up, and was shut up." The antecedent act of closing — which probably 
 followed the escape of the spies — and the continuance of that act, are both marked in the 
 phrase. 2. The Lord] Heh. '• Jehovah; " the same as " The Captain of the host of Jehovah," 
 in chap. v. 14. 4. Trumpets of rams' horns] " Trumpets of jubilee" [^Geseiiius']. The word, 
 the meaning of which is involved in considerable obscvirity. appears to indicate a bent or 
 curved horn, in distinction fi'om the straight trumpet. 5. Shall fall down flat] Lit. Fall 
 down under itself. The wall was to fall to its foundations ; the foundations themselves 
 should give way. Every man straight before him] The overthrow of the wall should be so 
 complete, that no soldier should have to deviate i!i'om a direct line in order to enter the city. 
 8. Before the Lord] The Ark is now taken as the symbol of the Divine presence, just as the 
 Pillar of Cloud had been formerly. 9. The armed "men went before] These are thought to 
 have been the chosen men of the two and a half tribes. ''The chalutz, or 'selected troops,' 
 went before the Ark, and the mcasseijh, or 'massed troops,' followed the Ark." [Croshy.'\ 17. 
 The city shall be accursed] Ueb. Cherem. Absolute devotion to God is here meant. Every 
 devoted thing was to be set apart as consecrated to Hkn, and every devoted person was to be 
 put to death ; neither could be redeemed (cf. Lev. xxvii. 28, 29 ; Deut. vii. 25, 26). 19. But 
 all the silver and gold, etc.'] These had to pass " through the fii-e," and probably to be molten 
 and re-cast (Numb. xxxi. 21 — 23). 23. And left them without the camp] Till they had 
 ui:idergonc ceremonial purification they would be regarded as unclean, and, as such, they were 
 forbidden to come where the Lord dwelt (cf. Numb. v. 2. 3). 26. Cursed be the man . . . 
 that buildeth this city Jericho. It is excectlingly difficult to accept the generally received view, 
 and to believe that this curse relates merely to the rebuilding of the city walls, and to the re- 
 storation of the fortifications. (1.) The old city seems to have been burnt, and utterly destroyed 
 (ver. 24). (2.) A new city of some extent appears to have been built witliin the next seven, 
 or at latest, within the next twenty-five years (Josh, xxiii. 21 ; Judges i. 16). AVithin the 
 next century, Jericho became of sufficient importance for Eglon to make war against Israel 
 by attacking it, and the fall of the city was accepted as the defeat of the Hebrew nation 
 (Judges iii. 13, 14). It is therefore fair to suppose that even within the first quarter of a 
 century after its overtlu'ow by Joshua. Jericho began to assume considerable importance. 
 (3.) Tliis new city would perhaps have beeir even more easily built on a new site than on the 
 old site, It is not likely that it would be whollu rebuilt on any site during the eai-licr yeara 
 
 101 
 
nOMlLETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 of the war : a few houses on a new site would be accessible, whereas a few houses on the old 
 site would be almost unapproachable. In any case, there is no improbability in supposing 
 a new site not far removed from the former city. (4.) It is quite natural to suppose that a 
 new city on an adjacent site would take the old names. (5.) If Jericho were rebuilt in the 
 time of Joshua, or within a few years of his death, it is almost imjfvs-sible to believe that the 
 jirople of those da^s would build on the old site, (a) Joshua's cui'se was no caprice of his 
 own ; he was bound to pronounce it by the law of Moses (Deut. xiii. 16. 17). (b) The curse 
 (111 a devoted city was irrespective of whether it had any fortitications or not ; the citij itself 
 mis to " be a heap for ever!' (y) Though the law was ignored during the \vicked times of 
 the Judges. Joshua and the people of his day were too pious and too loyal to God to have 
 set at defiance a law which Joshua had reiterated himself, and in the awful solemnity of 
 which that generation had received such long and terrible instruction. (6.) Finally, though 
 city gates probably suppose walls. Hiel's children are said to have been slain, not because of 
 fortifying an old city by re-erecting the walls, but because he did " build Jericho." Both the 
 curse and its fullilmcnt are said to have regard to building the city, and not merely the walls 
 of the city. 
 
 MAiy HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGEAPH.— Verses 1—5. 
 The Symbolical Battle. 
 
 This plan of attack on Jericho seems to have been communicated for four 
 reasons : — 1. It was for encouratjement. " I have given Jericho," etc. It is as 
 though, in the character of Prince of the host, the Lord had said to Joshua, 
 "Jericho is already yoi;rs ; I have left nothing to accident. Each march, each 
 day's work, the place for human silence and human shoitting, the order of march, 
 and the hour of victory, arc all planned." Israel was to see the assurance of 
 triumph in the completeness and delibcrateness of the arrangements. 2. These 
 words were fur dirrctioii. This was the first conflict in the new land, and nothing 
 was to be left for human discretion. God would have no hesitation before the 
 enemy ; every movement was to be firm and measured. Our Heavenly Father 
 loves that we should begin aright. He says, through Hosea, " I taught Ephraim 
 also to go, taking them by their arms." So it is here with the twelve tribes. God 
 would have His soldiers know His way of fighting. 3. This outline of the first 
 battle is (jiveii as an aid to faith in battles yet to come. Christ told Peter of his 
 denial beforehand, not that this would help him much in that temptation, for in 
 that he would fall ; but it would help him afterwards to see how exactly his Lord 
 had known the poor measure of his strength, and the exact force and results of the 
 conflict. It is the same here before Jericho. These words arc after the manner 
 of Him who loves to tell events to His disciples "before they come to pass, that 
 when they come to pass, they may believe." How firmly Joshua would believe 
 after this ! His faith is seen nowhere more beautiful than in his overwhelming 
 surprise at the defeat before Ai. When we are fighting for Christ, we should be 
 astounded where things go against us ; as it is, we are too often surprised when 
 they make for our victory. This picture was for future trust. 4. This siee/e of 
 Jericho was to be a pattern fifjht. It was to be a model and sample for all the battles 
 of God's people yet to come. Certain principles arc laid down and emphasized 
 which were never to be forgotten. These may be summarised under three leading 
 thoughts, some having regard to Man, some to Religion, and some to God. I. 
 Man's province and part in life's conflicts. There is to be on the part of man : — 
 1. Jliliiiciil labdiir. Once every morning these thousands of armed men were to 
 walk round Jericho, and on the last day this labour was to bo multiplied seven-fold. 
 What else could God mean to say Imt this — " Though I have given Jericho into 
 your hand, you are to work nevertheless " ? Again, we are made to see in this 
 history that God's pruniiscs should not lead to inactivity. If Antinomianism had 
 only been found oftcner sitting at the feet of Scripture History, it might have found 
 that the way of God's predestination and of man's toil are so plainly one way that 
 102 
 
HOMILETIG COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 none need err therein. Coleridge has made his Ancient Mariner say of the ship 
 becalmed in the tropics — 
 
 " Day after day, day after day, 
 
 We stuck, nor breath nor motion ; 
 As idle as a painted ship 
 Upon a painted ocean." 
 
 And so some have lain becalmed on the promises. Men have failed to work for the 
 salvation of sinners, have deliberately declined to teach the way of life even to their 
 own children, weakly and wickedly saying, " If these are elect, they will be brought 
 to Christ without any effort of mine." Who could wonder if the ocean of Divine 
 truth and precious promises became, to such, merely a painted ocean ? Who could 
 wonder if, before such a creed, and its correspondent life, those other words of the 
 Mariner found a terrible application ? — 
 
 " The very deep did rot : O Christ ! 
 That ever this should be ! 
 Yea, slimy things did crawl with legs 
 Upon the slimy sea." 
 
 He who lies becalmed and idle on doctrines or promises, will presently find that to 
 him they are rottenness, and that, out of their corruption, horrible forms will arise 
 to affright him, and to make his idle rest far more dreadful and unbearable than 
 his life could ever have become by the most arduous labour. God always gives 
 faith something to do. 2. As well as dilujent labour, there is to he reverent obedience. 
 God taught His people to work six days, apparently doing nothing. It is easy 
 enough to work for Christ when ground is manifestly being gained. Fighting is 
 not hard work when souls are won to Christ ; when an enemy goes down at well 
 nigh every blow, and many captives are delivered. It is far harder work to toil 
 and do nothing. The work of the treadmill is so fearful because nothing is done ; 
 it is but " grinding wind," say the wretched prisoners. Yet these Israelites were 
 content simply to walk round Jericho day after day, doing nothing; and, scarcely 
 less hard it may be to some, feeling very foolish, because of what seemed such 
 aimless and useless toil. Thus Carey labom-ed for a lifetime marching round 
 letters and languages and dialects, and probably some wondered how he could call 
 that work for Christ. So David Livingstone spent his life in walking up and down 
 Africa, and some well-meaning and good men asked, " How can he call himself a 
 missionary ? He is merely a geographer," they said; " he has been discovering 
 the water-shed of a continent, instead of carrying to its thirsty inhabitants the 
 Water of Life." So little did they know of what was being done ; so Httle, perhaps, 
 did Livingstone himself sometimes know. We can see now that in all that, to some, 
 aimless marching, England's sympathy, America's sympathy, the sympathy of all 
 Christendom, Avas being won for Africa ; and that the heart of the whole Church of 
 Christ was being brought to feel, " Those negroes must no longer be made slaves ; 
 those men and women must hear the gospel ; the work of the groat man who died 
 upon his knees for Africa, and whose heart lies buried in Africa, must not be 
 suffered — under God, shall not be suffered — to fall to the ground." It is very hard, 
 however, to learn to do what seems to be nothing. The soldiers at Waterloo, who 
 lay for hom-s beneath falling shot, waiting for Wellington's cry, " Up, guards, and 
 at 'em," had by no means the easiest part of the battle. Ehjah's toil seemed so 
 hopeless as he cried, " I only am left," that even from his brave lips, which were 
 wont to speak in other tones, there came presently the wail, " Lord, take away 
 my life." It is hard for parents to teach their children, when all their laboui' seems 
 so useless ; fruitless work is hard for other teachers, and hard for preachers. God 
 shews us here that it is enough for us to say, " Am I doing faithfully and prayer- 
 fully and zealously what my Lord has bidden me to do ? " If we are blameless 
 there, we may still find room for the joy of obedience. 3. On the part of men there 
 is to be, also, patient ivaitintj. A week is not long at some work and in some 
 places : yet it is long here. Think of it ; a week of laughter from their foes ; a 
 
 103 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 week on the battle-field ; a week of what men would call I'idiculous behaviour in 
 the sight and presence of death ! The old typical battle often repeats itself ; we 
 too have to wait, and we are to wait on, even when waiting has to be like that. 
 II. The sphere of religion in life's conflicts. 1. In all our battles, religion 
 is to be the prominent and central object before ourselves. In the midst of the 
 Jordan, the Ark was made to seem everything in the eyes of the Israelites : the 
 waters were kept back by that. So the Ark was made to seem the centre of 
 interest and hope before Jericho : everything was to be arranged before or behind 
 that. Thus our life is all to be counted ofl' and planned in the light of God. He 
 is to be the centre around which everything gathers, and from which every move- 
 ment is to be reckoned. In some of our battles we need look on little else than 
 God : — take poverty ; take sickness and pain ; take bereavement ; take sin. In 
 each of our conilicts, God must be " all in all." 2. Religion is to be shewn to be 
 our one hope before our enemies. We are to make others feel that every expecta- 
 tion gathers about the Ark. Men, in their earthly conflicts, are tempted to two 
 faults ; one is to keep religion out of sight, the other is to make religion a parade, 
 in which attention is drawn to themselves as being pious. Our hope in God is to 
 be firmly exhibited, to the confusion of our foes ; on the other hand, no trumpet 
 is to sound saving just before the Ark of the Lord ; all the sounds of triumph are 
 to gather about His Name and Presence. We must so manage such exhibition of 
 our religion as is necessary, that all eyes may be turned, not to us, but to Him. 
 8. Ilelif/ioa is not a s;/stem contrived to extol itself and its institutions, but a sifstem 
 designed to extol God. The very first battle in the land of the covenant should be 
 long enough to manifestly cover one Sabbath. For what reason was this ? Surely 
 it could but be to shew that God is pleased not to absolutely fetter and bind His 
 children by the religious services which He appointed for their help. In ordinary 
 times. Sabbath law was sternly imperative ; so imperative was it, that a Sabbath- 
 breaker had been already stoned before the eyes of all Israel. " The Sabbath was 
 made for man," and so great a mercy must be rigidly guarded ; not because it was 
 an arbitrary and an inflexible command of God, but because it was so priceless a 
 blessing for men. The sacredness of the Sabbath was to be jealously protected, 
 even unto blood ; the boon was so precious ! But ' ' man was not made for the 
 Sabbath," and thus, when man's necessities became urgent, the Sabbath was 
 subordinate to him. Thus does God lay down Sabbath law, and religious law 
 generally, even in these early days. History tells us that the Jews did not readily 
 learn this lesson, and that in after years many were slain by enemies who chose 
 this day on which to slay men who would not fight because it was the Sabbath. 
 Religion is not a God-appointed burden to be hung round the necks of His 
 children, to place them at a disadvantage before their enemies. There are places, 
 on the shewing of Divine Love itself, where Sabbaths must give place to men. 
 The farmer must tend his cattle on Sundays also. The soldier must sometimes 
 fight on the Lord's day, and is at liberty not merely to defend himself, but may, 
 where needful, even assume the offensive. He who reads this gracious teaching 
 reverently, will not find that it leads to lax thoughts of the Lord's day. By so 
 much as God's mercy is gentle and discriminating, by so much are its requirements 
 severe. It is precisely in this considerateness of our Lord, that a filial spirit will 
 learn to stand in awe and sin not. III. The influence and help of God in life's 
 conflicts. 1. All real pou-er for victori/ is to be seen to be in Him. That is the 
 secret of this strange plan of battle, in which Israel is to work hard doing nothing, 
 and to wuik in absolute silence till the time comes for the falling of the walls. 
 The Lord is to be all our hope and all our trust. Each soldier in His army is to 
 learn to say, " My expectation is from Him." 2. With God for us, victory is 
 alu-a,/s a mere ijue.s/ion of time. The pattern battle was to teach this also. No 
 faithful soldier of the Lord, from that day to this, has ever gone on fighting in the 
 confidence of that, and found it untrue. 3. This si/7nbolical battle, which shews that 
 pnurr is nil of God, shews, not less clearbi, that praise should he entirely to God. 
 104 ^ V J 
 
HOMTLETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 All the spoil, in this instance, was to be " devoted " to Him, as though He would 
 have His people to know that everything, at all times, was His due. It is when 
 we learn more truly to sing for victories past, that we shall find our victories more 
 common and more glorious in the future. Some one has said, "A line of praise 
 is worth a leaf of prayer." While it is ever His right, perhaps even more because 
 it is for our good, God would have us sing, " Not unto us, Lord, not unto us, 
 but unto Thy Name give glory." 
 
 OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VERSES. 
 
 Verse 1. Human Fortifications 
 Against Divine Power. 
 
 I. God designing the subjugation 
 of rebellious men. 1. God sees the 
 
 heyinniiKjs of rebellion. He marks the 
 abodes of men from the first (Gen. x. 
 18, 19). He beholds the iniquities of 
 men (Gen. xiii. 13). 2. God ivarns the 
 rebellious by solemn providences and judg- 
 ments (Gen. xix. 1 — 28). The plagues 
 of Egypt, and the wonders of the wil- 
 derness, with the rumours which must 
 have reached the Canaanites of the 
 purpose and mission of the Israelites, 
 should also have been taken as warn- 
 ings. 3. God ivaits patiently and yives 
 long space for repentance. From the 
 destruction of the cities of the plain to 
 the time of this encampment before 
 Jericho, there was a period of about 
 four hundred and fifty years. 4. When 
 time and mercy fail, God makes cominy 
 jmnishment more and more manifest. 
 The rumours of the past forty years 
 are seen gradually taking form and 
 substance in facts. The cloud of threat- 
 ening grows darker and larger, and 
 comes ever nearer, till it hangs imme- 
 diately over the city. To come back 
 to the figure befitting the history, the 
 military lines in God's war are being 
 pushed nearer and ever nearer pre- 
 liminary to the final assault. II. Men 
 fortifying themselves against Divine 
 power. The city was very closely shut 
 up and strongly secured. The Chaldee 
 says that it was " shut with iron gates 
 strengthened with bars of brass." 1. 
 The efforts of men to resist God are 
 always weak and foolish. Iron and brass 
 and stone, for gates and walls, are as 
 nothing in the hands of Him who made 
 them. Massive intellects, strong wills, 
 and hardened hearts cannot hope to 
 resist more successfully. He also made 
 the minds, the wills, and the hearts 
 
 which turn to rebellion, and rebellion 
 does but make them more feeble. 2. 
 The efforts of men to resist God are 
 manifestly weak and foolish. The Red 
 Sea divided, the Amorites overthrown, 
 and the Jordan "fleeing back" before 
 the approach of the Lord, might make 
 it plain to any who were not foolishly 
 infatuated that resistance would but 
 aggravate ruin. When the Lord of 
 Sabaoth thus compasses the rebellious 
 about with enemies, it were wise to 
 cry with Jehoshaphat: "We have no 
 might against this great company that 
 Cometh against us, neither know we 
 what to do ; but our eyes are upon 
 Thee." God loves to help the broken 
 and contrite heart even at the last hour. 
 Yet do the rebellious foolishly go on 
 fortifying. III. God visiting men in 
 order to overthrow them. Sometimes 
 Divine visitations are in love ; some- 
 times they are in anger. 1. Some men 
 are overthrown that they may be saved. 
 Rahab and her family were thus de- 
 livered. Had others repented, they too 
 might have been saved. God, who 
 changes not, shews us at Nineveh that 
 He loves to recall nothing so much as 
 His messages of wrath. 2. Some are 
 overthrown that they may be destroyed. 
 Were Divine threatenings other than 
 real, they would cease to have power ; 
 law would be at an end, and sin and 
 confusion would run riot in an awful 
 Hberty. IV. God overthrowing men 
 by men. 1. This is His way tcith those 
 who are saved. Jesus Christ comes into 
 our humanity, first conquering it, and 
 then delivering it. As Horace Bushnell 
 has so forcibly pointed out in his sermon 
 on " Salvation by Man," deliverance 
 comes from within the race. And it is 
 instrumentally by men that deliverance 
 goes on. It is " by the foohshness of 
 preaching" that God saves those who 
 
 1.5 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 believe. 2. Tliis is often the Divine 
 nay tcith those who are destroyed, (o) 
 God suflers the unrepentant to be 
 tempted and led on to ruin by theii- 
 fellows, {h) Saved men mil witness in 
 the day of judgment to the overthrow 
 of those who have refused to believe 
 (of. Luke xi. 31, 32). 
 
 " The closed and barred Jericho an 
 image (1) of a closed heart; (2) of a 
 closed house ; (3) of a closed congrega- 
 tion. As the Lord gave Jericho into 
 the hand of Joshua, so He still always 
 gives (eventually) every closed heart, 
 and every closed house, and every 
 closed congregation, or even city, into 
 the hand of His servants." [Lamje.'] 
 
 " Every carnal heart is a Jericho 
 shut up. God sits down before it, and 
 displays mercy and judgment in the 
 sight of the walls thereof : it hardens 
 itself in a wUful security, and saith, 
 'Tush, I shall never be moved.'" 
 [Bp. Hall.] 
 
 Verses 2, 3. "Jericho Captured." 
 I. God would have His people 
 WOKK. The work to be done by Israel 
 was to be: 1. Universal, 2. Done in 
 God's oicn appointed way. 3. Done dally. 
 4. Done in faith. II. God would have 
 His people wait. This delay must 
 have sorely tried the faith and patience 
 of the Israelites. How could they hope 
 to win that city by simply going round 
 and round ? Probably the citizens of 
 Jericho insulted them from the walls. 
 God has His reasons for making us 
 wait. It is for His own glory, we 
 doubt not. We beUeve it will ulti- 
 mately be for our profit. III. God 
 would have His people win. The 
 victory is very sure; it will be very 
 complete; it may, also, be very sudden; 
 and it will be very ylorious." [C. II. 
 tSpuryeon, Met. Tah. Pulpit.] 
 
 Verse 3. "It seemed good to Infinite 
 Wisdom to appoint this method of be- 
 sieging the city. (1) To maynify Divine 
 power, both to the ('anaaiiites and to 
 Israel, shewing that Omnipotence alone 
 had iicbieved the work, and that God was 
 infinitely above the need of the ordinary 
 means of obtaining a victory, (2) 'To try 
 106 
 
 the faith and obedience of Joshua and the 
 people, by prescribing a course of con- 
 duct that seemed to human wisdom the 
 height of folly and absurdity, and also 
 to secure a profound respect to all His 
 subsequent institutions, however simple 
 or contemptible they might seem. 
 (3) To put honour vpon the Ark as the 
 appointed token of God's presoice, and to 
 confirm still more fully that veneration 
 and awe with which they had always 
 been taught to regard it." [Bush.] 
 
 Verses 4, 5. When God makes reli- 
 gion to be the centre round which these 
 movements of war revolve, and the 
 power by which victory is won, surely 
 He would have us set^ that we should 
 engage in nothing where we cannot ask 
 Him to be with us, and hope to triumph 
 nowhere unless He be present. 
 
 In this world of sin and strife, the 
 consolations of religion, and the help of 
 God, have sometimes to be sought even 
 on the field of battle. 
 
 Religion carries her trumpets every- 
 where, and dares to be jubilant any- 
 where. 
 
 The city was to be compassed seven 
 times ; but we must look for the reason 
 of this in men, not in God. Omnipo- 
 tence would have found one journey 
 more than sufficient. 1. God would 
 give sinners space for repentance unto 
 life eternal, even when hope of tempo- 
 ral salvation is cut ofi". 2. God would 
 teach His children that punishment is 
 ever to come after patience. Even 
 Divine vengeance moves with slow and 
 measured paces. 3. God would shew 
 His servants that religion may have to 
 compass sin's strongholds not once, but 
 many times, ere victory be secured. 
 
 The march of silence should teach us 
 that the true soldiers of the cross are 
 to know themselves to be nothing ; and 
 the shout of anticipation, that they are 
 to know their Lord as faithful and all- 
 sufficient. 
 
 When God makes a way for His 
 people, each man may ascend " straight 
 before him " to victory. The angular 
 and devious ways which we have to 
 traverse in life's journey are not for 
 lack of power in Him, but for want of 
 discipline in us. 
 
CHAP. VI. HOMILETIG COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Verses 6—16, 20. 
 
 The Fall of Jericho. 
 
 In looking at the general features of this attack on Jericho, and of the over- 
 throw of the city, there are three things specially prominent : — 
 
 I. The significance of the typical formulae. Certain forms were very 
 minutely and emphatically commanded by God for the direction of Joshua and 
 the people. These are defined with so much care and precision, and urged in 
 detail so particularly, that they cannot be passed by as insignificant. What were 
 they meant to teach ? What would God impress upon the Israelites by these 
 unusual and conspicuous methods of attack ? 1. Here is a repeated and very 
 marked introduction of the number seven. There are seven priests, seven trumpets, 
 seven days for the continuance of the siege, one journey round the city each day, 
 making seven daily circuits, and then seven circuits on the last day. The long 
 blast of the trumpets, the great shout of the people, and the sudden falling of the 
 walls, were to immediately succeed this seventh circuit thus made on the seventh 
 day. When we remember that God was avowedly teaching His people by out- 
 ward signs, it is impossible to regard all this as empty repetition. We should 
 endeavour to ascertain the meaning and force of this use of the number to these 
 Israelites ; then, striking ofi' any diS"erences between their outward circumstances 
 and our own, the principles which remain will be the Divine teaching to us. 
 Eatto, Keil, Blihr, and Hengstenberg all agree that this use of the number seven had 
 reference to the covenant between Jehovah and Israel. Dr. Kitto points out very 
 fully that this number has ever had remarkable prominence in many nations besides 
 that of the Jews, and thinks that " the one great fact in which all this originated 
 is the work of creation in seven days." Several of the following illustrations are 
 from Kitto's remarks on the subject. Grimm says, " Even at the present day the 
 number seven is curiously regarded in Germany in matters of evidence." In 
 England we have seven years' parliaments. Leases of farms and houses are drawn 
 for seven, fourteen, or twenty-one years. Persons come of age at thrice seven 
 years. The transportation of criminals, the indentures of apprenticeship, and 
 other similar matters, have had reference to the number seven. These cases have 
 each to do with legal covenants and transactions. "Among the gifts with which 
 Agamemnon proposed to seal a covenant of peace with Achilles, Homer speaks of 
 
 ' Seven tripods, unsullied yet with fire,' 
 
 and further on, of seven female captives, skilled in domestic arts, the latter espe- 
 cially intended as an atonement-offering to the wrathful hero." It is said that 
 " among the ancient Arabians, when men pledged their faith to each other by 
 oath, blood, drawn from an incision near the mid-finger of the contracting parties, 
 was sprinkled upon seven stones, placed between them, and while this was done, 
 they called upon their gods." " In the Hebrew language, as in the Sanscrit, the 
 words for ' an oath ' and for ' seven' are the same. In the former language, Sheba 
 has that twofold meaning ; hence the question whether the name Beer- sheba, 
 where Abraham and Abimelech confirmed their covenant by a solemn oath, means 
 'the well of the oath,' or 'the well of seven,' or 'seven wells.' If, in this 
 remarkable instance, we dispense with the allusion in the name to the number 
 seven, that number is still present ; for before the oath was uttered, Abraham set 
 apart seven ewe lambs in so marked a manner as to attract the inquiries of the 
 king, to whom the patriarch answered, 'These seven ewe lambs shalt thou take at 
 my hand, that they may be a witness unto me that I have digged this well.' '' So 
 Balak builds for Balaam seven altars in order to secure a covenant with their 
 gods for a curse on Israel. Asa and Hezekiah, in after years, each brings his 
 ofi'erings in sevens, to renew the national covenant before the Lord. Naaman 
 dips seven times in Jordan. This prominence given to this particular number is 
 
 107 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 seen running not less conspicuously through the Jewish rites and sacrifices. 
 " The altar itself, at its original establishment, was to be consecrated for seven 
 days to render it most holy. A young animal was not held fit for sacrifice 
 until it had remained seven days with its dam ; and so likewise the male child, 
 among the Hebrews, was, after seven days, that is, on the eighth day, conse- 
 crated to the Lord by circumcision." By referring to a concordance, these in- 
 stances will be seen to be only a few among many which go to illustrate the 
 sacredness attached to this number by the Jews both before and after this siege 
 of Jericho. 
 
 While fanciful meanings are to be deprecated, there can be no possible doubt 
 that, in this attack on Jericho, God designed to call the attention of the Jews to 
 His covenant. They were to go up to this battle, and to all of which this was 
 meant to be a pattern, remembering the oath of the Lord to Abraham, Isaac, 
 and Jacob. So, in all our conflicts, we are to fight in sight of the promises, most 
 of all remembering " the blood of the everlasting covenant," by which alone we 
 can be victorious, (a) Do we work for the salvation of our fellows in \iew of 
 God's unfailing word ? Is the work of parents for their children, of teachers for 
 their classes, of ministers for their congregations, sufficiently carried on in the 
 light of covenanted blessing ? I>o we not often go in our own strength to 
 battles in which we can only hope to succeed as we go in the strength of the 
 Lord ? In vulgar phrase, it is " number one," and not " number seven," that 
 we emblazon on oui* banners ; it is about our poor weak personality that we 
 hang our expectations, instead of resting on the sure word of Jehovah. How 
 some of the old prophets were wont to cry, "For the mouth of the Lord hath 
 spoken it! " No matter what was to be done, if they could only say that : it 
 might be the captivity of a whole nation at Babylon, or a retui'n from such a 
 captivity ; it might be a cradle at Bethlehem, a cross on Calvary, and a Redeemer 
 for the whole world ; if they could only say, " The mouth of the Lord hath 
 spoken it," their utterance was ever given in the energy of faith and in the 
 unhesitating tones of triumph. If we only went to our work and conflicts with 
 all our hopes, like this army of Israelites, gathering about a covenant centre, we 
 should not so often be talking about our own weakness, or about the hopeless 
 wickedness of those whom we seek to win for the Saviour. The very fact that 
 we are so disheartened at our own feebleness, or at the difficulty of the work 
 which we are seeking to compass, says, as plainly as it well could be said, that 
 we have scarcely so much as given the covenant a thought, much less our trust. 
 (h) Are we bearing our sufferings through faith in Divine words ? Is "number 
 one," or is " number seven," the more conspicuous here ? (c) Are we seeking to 
 subdue personal sin, having all our hopes of victory gathering about what the 
 mouth of the Lord hath spoken ? Thoughts like these are surely thoughts which 
 God meant us to reflect on, as He had these ancient words " written for our 
 admonition." 2. Here is the prominent position (jicen to the Ark-. This has 
 already been adverted to under the previous verses. We not only need the 
 promises, but their Divine Author. 3. Here is the impressive silence of the people 
 (verse 10). Not only did it need that the Lord should be there, but men were 
 to be as though they were not there. They were to "keep silence before Him " 
 whose presence was necessary, and not so much as to pretend that they had any 
 real part in getting the victory. 4. Here is the equalhj impressive shout ivhich 
 immediately preceJed the overthrow of the ivalls (verses IG — 20). The Lord would 
 have His enemies to see that He and His people are in close union. The men 
 of Jericho must have seen that the God of Israel was doing all ; the shout which 
 just anticipated the fall of the walls would shew that God had means of making 
 His time known to the Israelites, and that they in turn fully believed in Him. 
 This is fi shout of faith, and a shout of anticipating praise. II. The severity of 
 the spiritual discipline. 1. <jod tries His servants by comvumdiny thinys which 
 apparently have Utile adaptation to the end sought. How absurd this marching 
 108 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 would seem to the critical Israelitish mind ; and how the patience of the " intel- 
 ligent " part of the host would be tried. If the dividing of the Jordan had not 
 been so fresh in mind, we feel as though there might have been yet another 
 rebellion. But this process of besieging the city, which looks so unnatural to us, 
 was exactly adapted to accomplish the purpose of Jehovah. God was not 
 waiting all this time to collect His energy for the overthrow of a few walls. He was 
 not waiting to gather up His power for the destruction of the Canaanites. He 
 could have spoken and destroyed the city and the idolaters at a word. The Lord 
 had a more exalted war. His battle was with human hearts. He was seeking 
 to overcome these Israelites rather than those Canaanites. He would subdue 
 them to Himself with faith, and bind them fast with wonder and thankfulness 
 and love. And whatever "intelligent " men might think of fancied absurdities in 
 this conflict, surely there never was such a display of military genius before. 
 These tactics of human silence and the quiet walking of so vast an host around 
 Jericho for six days were adapted with infinite wisdom to overawe the Canaanites. 
 We can fancy the fear which kept growing up for those six days within the city, 
 which took on new alarms at the unusual succession of these silent marches on 
 the seventh day, and which made the hearts of the idolaters to melt and become 
 as water indeed when that great shout of faith rent the aii' and seemed to 
 crumble the very walls to dust. If the Israelites had only fought a little more 
 humanly, the Canaanites might have hoped ; what hope dared they encourage 
 before these men who brought with them a superhuman history, and then gave 
 the history vivid realism by these superhuman methods ? The very air through 
 the whole week must have felt increasingly awful in the noiseless and tremulous 
 suspense which, as the stillness preceding a tropical storm, silently heralded the 
 coming God. And the strategy which was so divinely wise to conquer the 
 Canaanites through fear, was not less adapted to subdue the Israelites through 
 wonder and joy and love. God's way with the idolaters was wise ; but His 
 real war was with the Israelites, and that was not less wise. No one can think of 
 lack of adaptation, much less entertain the idea of absurdity, who pauses suf- 
 ficiently to understand where the real brunt of the battle lay. The world still 
 goes on with its intelligent criticisms, passed now on the Gospel and the Church ; 
 and it not seldom misses its way altogether through failing to understand what 
 God is about, and where His conflict is meant to bear. Men approach Calvaiy 
 from a mental and scientific standpoint, and take their observations in the light 
 of systematic theology ; the strategy of the cross is directed to the conscience, 
 and while it has enough of " sweet reasonableness " to make a feint upon the 
 mind, its heavier and real movements are ever made upon the heart. Men discuss 
 " the foolishness of preaching," and make merry over what they call the truth of 
 the apostolic description ; they do not heed that the larger half of God's battle 
 may be with the proud hearts which have to cry, " Woe is me if I preach not 
 the Gospel," and with the discontented spirits who have to hear. They do not 
 know that mere inteUectuaUsvi may be but a proud parade in mental uniform, and 
 that, to some natures, it needs as much humihty and grace to preach a good 
 sermon as it might have needed, under the pretence of miHtary genius, to march 
 for six days around Jericho. These are but indications ; but everj^where men 
 are misreading God's plan of battle, and forgetting that half of His war is to take 
 captive, through severe discipline and surprising successes, the men who are 
 named "His people," but whom He is wishing to see more entirely His own. 
 He could overawe the world Avith a word, if that were all ; instead of that. He is 
 designing that men should choose Him and love Him for what He is, and, 
 humbling themselves everywhere to prefer His will to their own, glorify Him for 
 what He does. 2. God would have His servants feel that iheij need as much trial 
 to hear victori/ as they could possihli/ realize even in defeat. In heaven we may be 
 able to bear triumphs without preparation ; on earth we need go to victory so as 
 to provoke the scorn of our foes, lest our victory should be even worse than 
 
 109 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOJSHUA. 
 
 defeat. In our defeats, God's plan is to lead us through defeat straight to victory, 
 lest we be discouraged ; in our victories, His way is to lead us to success through 
 paths of shame and weariness, lest victory be the most utter defeat of all. Thus 
 does He contrive everywhere to make His people " more than conquerors." 
 III. The splendour of Divine triumphs. 1. God's victories arc opcnhj won 
 before the ei/es d/ )iien, Imt no ei/e sees the process. Of old, and not less now, he 
 saps the walls silently, and undermines them secretly. " The wind bloweth 
 where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it 
 Cometh, and whither it goeth : so is every one that is born of the Spirit." 2, 
 GiicVs cictories (ire preceded hy an iinnccountaUe feeVmij of expectation. Jericho 
 held its breath in awe ; Israel marched on in outward silence, but inwardly was 
 full of the joy of anticipated triumph. On both sides, human consciousness was 
 acknowledging the approach of its Maker. So lias it been in many of the revivals 
 of the Church. 3. ]VJien God be<ji)is to fi(jht, His triumjths admit of no question. 
 Human fortitications simply serve to shew Divine prowess. 4. The victories of 
 God arc each preli)ni)uirij to triumph which is final, and to conquest ichich is 
 universal. This first victory at Jericho contemplated nothing less than the 
 possession of all Canaan. Thus it is also in the kingdom of Christ ; the cross 
 contemplates a last enemy, pronounces that that enemy " shall be destroyed," and 
 says of the greater Joshua, "He shall reign for ever and ever." 
 
 OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VERSES. 
 
 Verses G — 9. — The Spirit of the 
 True Servant. 
 
 In the opening verses of this chapter 
 we have the record of the Divine com- 
 mands which were given to Joshua 
 concerning the siege of Jericho. In 
 these verses which follow, we see the 
 impression made on Joshua's mind by 
 the vision with which he was favoured, 
 and by the words which he heard. 
 
 I. The true servant gives reverent 
 attention to that which his Lord says. 
 Joshua seems not to havp lost a Avord, 
 or to have forgotten anything which he 
 was commanded. He was not so ab- 
 sorbed in the glory of the Divine 
 Presence as to forget the importance 
 of the Divine message. Joshua did not 
 lack reverence ; he bowed low before 
 the majesty of God, and " fell on his 
 face to the earth." Joshua could not 
 but feel the greatness of the honour 
 done to himself in this visit so graciously 
 made to him by his Lord. He at once 
 accepted the subordinate position, and 
 said to his Divine Commander, " Wliat 
 saith my Lord unto His servant '? " 
 Joshua's profound reverence did not 
 distract his attention, and his sense of 
 the honour conferred upon him by God 
 did not take shape in conduct which 
 would prove him unworthy of such 
 honour. There is not a word in the 
 
 no 
 
 chapter to show that Joshua proclaimed 
 to the people the fact that he had been 
 favoured with this vision ; he may have 
 communicated it to the officers, but 
 even of that nothing is said. Certainly 
 no parade of this distinctive honour 
 appears to have been made. 1. He 
 serves well ivho accepts his Lord's distinc- 
 tive far 07irs as a stimulus to work, rathet 
 than as /jivin;/ an, occasion for display. 
 God's honours cannot but delight His 
 people, but the man who receives 
 honour to parade it assuredly does not 
 use it as God would have him. What- 
 ever of truth there may be in those 
 lines of one of Dr. Watts's noblest 
 hymns, in which he says, 
 
 '• Hut favourites of the Heavenly King 
 May speak thek joys abroad ; " 
 
 many have felt this exultant note of 
 joy in favouritism was not written in 
 that higher and nobler mood which 
 best becomes those who love the Lord. 
 Given that the doctrine represents 
 nothing but the truth, the spirit of that 
 single note jars painfully through the 
 otherwise exalted harmony of the whole 
 hymn. Our distinctive favours are to 
 help us in service rather than in song ; 
 they are rather for meditation than for 
 exhibition ; they are not so much for 
 others as for ourselves. 2. He worships 
 xcell who so adores the Divine glory as to 
 
CHAP. VI, 
 
 HOMILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 endeavoxir to mar/nifi/ it yet more. We 
 are not to be so absorbed in our visions, 
 and so taken up with our more ecstatic 
 moments of fellowship with God, as to 
 let them end only in communion. The 
 glory of the Lord must never take away 
 our attention from His commandments. 
 Even Saul of Tarsus, ere he became a 
 servant indeed, cried out under the 
 bright light which revealed to him the 
 presence and majesty of the Son of God, 
 " Lord, what wilt Thou have me to 
 do ? " So Joshua, the obedient man 
 of many years, asks at once from his 
 prostrate position of adoration, " What 
 saith my Lord unto His servant ? " It 
 is not enough to exult in God's glory as 
 seen in nature, as seen in His attributes 
 and word, or as seen in the character 
 of Jesus Christ ; the best reverence we 
 can pay to Him is, while we worship, 
 to hide His words in our hearts. That 
 is the first step in the way to victory. 
 II. The true servant faithfully makes 
 known the words of the Lord to his 
 fellows. The verses in which Joshua 
 speaks to the people are so very like 
 the verses in which the Lord speaks to 
 Joshua, that they sound like a mere 
 recapitulation. This is as it should be. 
 
 1. Our Jiiiinaii imaginings are not to he 
 put instead of 'Divine icords. What we 
 think is not even to be added to what 
 God says, with any view of perfecting 
 His plan or supplying His omissions. 
 Joshua had been the general of this 
 army for forty years, and out of his large 
 experience he could readily have made 
 suggestions for the attack, which would 
 have commended themselves to the 
 people ; he merely tells them what God 
 has said. He alters nothing, and he 
 does but amplify in order to explain and 
 enforce that which he has heard. Such 
 is the spirit of all true preaching. 
 
 2. Our human apologies or excuses air, 
 never needed for Divine words, and are 
 always out of place. If ever an apolo- 
 getic tone in reiterating God's words 
 were allowable, surely it would have 
 been here. This military order was so 
 strange. The people had seen some- 
 thing of war, and had some experience 
 in war ; and this command to march 
 round a fortified city in silence for six 
 days, and to shout at the close of the 
 
 seventh circuit on the seventh day, must 
 certainly have had a peculiar sound. 
 Joshua does not explain the command ; 
 he does not even add a word to remind 
 them that God had lately so revealed 
 Himself in the dividing of the Jordan, 
 that however strange might be His 
 precepts. He had a right to unquestion- 
 ing obedience. Joshua simply tells 
 what he has heard, and bids the people 
 do it. That is all that this faithful 
 servant has to say on the matter. This 
 was very beautiful in Joshua the soldier. 
 It was like saying, " Obey orders, and 
 ask no questions." It was accepting 
 the orders of his o^vn Commander 
 implicitly ; and it was the right method 
 to adopt, if he would have his soldiers 
 obey their commander. This spirit was 
 even more admirable in Joshua the 
 servant ; it was as though he should 
 say to himself, " Who am I to suggest 
 aught of excuse for the Lord ? " This 
 spirit, also, is a pre-requisite for victory. 
 Our preaching must have no additions 
 to the Gospel, and no apologies for the 
 strange ways of Divine mercy and love. 
 Pardon without penance may sound 
 peculiar, atonement through blood may 
 appear both awful and strange, victory 
 through faith may not seem the fittest 
 way of triumph to us ; perhaps he will 
 honour God best, and lead most of his 
 fellows to salvation, who simply tells 
 out the story as it is. The philosophy 
 of the cross is not the secret of its 
 triumph, and preaching about the Gospel 
 may be ever so diflerent from preaching 
 the Gospel itself. It is well that some 
 should " explain the way of the Lord," 
 no doubt ; yet the exposition of Divine 
 truth should ever be given in the spirit 
 of its enforcement. The tone of apology, 
 however, must always be as oftensive to 
 God as it is injurious to men. The way 
 to victory is not that way. III. The 
 true servant not only hears attentive- 
 ly, and reiterates faithfully ; he also 
 obeys promptly. Sometimes, in our 
 prayers, we plead before God as David 
 did — " Do as Thou hast said." If we 
 would have God do as He has said, we 
 must do as He has said also. Joshua 
 looks forward in faith to victory, but 
 only through promptly obeying the 
 Divine word. When we can lose our 
 
 111 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 way and will in the way and will of 
 God as Joshua did here, we shall not 
 be far removed from triumphs similar 
 to his. As we become perfect in the 
 spirit of serving the Lord, so shall we 
 become more than conquerors over the 
 world. 
 
 Verse 10. — The Silent and Dili- 
 gent Service of Men preliminaey to 
 
 THE MANIFEST WoRKING OF GoD. 
 
 I. The silence of obedience. There 
 are places where we are commanded to 
 " stand still, and see the salvation of the 
 Lord." Where speech might have been 
 murmuring, and thus rebelHon, " Aaron 
 held his peace." II. The silence of 
 humility. When the Lord fights for 
 us, it best becomes us to let all men see 
 that the battle is not ours, but His. As 
 Mackintosh has said, " No one would 
 think of bringing a lighted candle to add 
 brightness to the sun at mid-day ; and 
 yet the man who would do so might 
 well be accounted wise, in comparison 
 with him who attempts to assist God by 
 
 his bustling officiousness The 
 
 only possible effect of human efforts is 
 to raise a dust which obscures the view 
 of God's salvation." 
 
 " God doth not need 
 Either man's work, or His own gifts : who best 
 Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him best. 
 
 His state 
 
 Is kingly ; thousands .it His bidding speed, 
 
 And post o'er land .and ocean without rest ; 
 
 They also serve, ovho vnlij ftfnnd nnd ?rait." 
 
 Milton's Sonnets. 
 
 " The Lord is in His holy temple : let 
 all the earth keep silence before Him." 
 III. The silence of patience. They 
 who serve God can well afl'ord to wait. 
 The walls which fall not on the sixth 
 day, will yet give way on the seventh. 
 He who can only work when success is 
 manifest, is but a poor servant ; and he 
 who can only fight in the hour of evident 
 victory, is not worthy of the name of 
 soldier. How the Saviour waited during 
 those thirty long years ere He began 
 His work I Speaking of Him in that 
 period, F. W. Robertson said, " A mere 
 VKin — a weak, emotional man of spas- 
 modic feeling — a hot enthusiast — would 
 have spoken out at once, and at once 
 been crushed. The Everlasting Word 
 112 
 
 Incarnate bided His own time, — * Mine 
 hour is not yet come ; ' matured His 
 energies, condensed them by repression ; 
 and then He went forth to speak and 
 do and suflfer. His hour was come. 
 This is strength — the power of a Divine 
 silence, the strong will to keep force till 
 it is wanted, the power to wait God's 
 time." Not less patiently did Christ 
 wait after His work commenced. He 
 knew how to pass through the midst of 
 wrathful men, who sought to cast Him 
 from the brow of the hill at Nazareth 
 on the very day when He began His 
 ministry, and yet not to be discouraged. 
 He could endure to say, " The Son of 
 man hath not where to lay His head," 
 and not only to say that, but to feel the 
 bitterness of such rejection as none but 
 He could feel it, and yet to continue 
 His silent and holy service. He could 
 bear to know that "neither did His 
 brethren believe on Him," and still 
 work. He could see one apostle wait- 
 ing in weakness to deny Him, and 
 another in malice already on the way 
 to betray Him, and then, glancing back 
 over His apparently fruitless ministry, 
 say to the eleven, "He that beHeveth 
 on Me, the works that I do shall he do 
 also ; and greater works than these 
 shall he do ; because I go unto my 
 Father." He could enter into the agony 
 of Gethsemanc, expire amid the hoot- 
 ings of a nation who crowned their 
 rejection of Him on Golgotha, pass into 
 the darkness of the tomb, and emerging 
 thence say even to the disciples who had 
 all forsaken Him and fled, " Tamj yc in 
 the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued 
 with power from on high." Though 
 despised and rejected of men. He com- 
 manded them to wait for the promise of 
 the Father in the very place where men 
 would have said failure was most appa- 
 rent; and when that promise of the Father 
 came, they were to arise and preach 
 the Gospel among all nations, "begin- 
 ning at Jerusalem." There is nothing 
 that preaches to us, " Be silent to the 
 Lord, and wait patiently for Him" (Ps. 
 xxxvii. 7, Man/.), as does the Lord's 
 own life. In its beginnings, throughout 
 its duration, and in its earthly end, that 
 Life seems to spend itself in teUiug out 
 with Divine force the word of the ancient 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 prophet — "■ It is good that a man should 
 both hope and quietly wait for the sal- 
 vation of the Lord." IV. The silence 
 of faith. Silence is a time of power, 
 not of weakness. T. T. Lynch has told 
 us that 
 
 " In silence, mighty things are wrought ; " 
 and, similarly, another, 
 
 ■■' How grand is silence ! In l>cr tranquil 
 deeps 
 What mighty thiilgs arc born ! " 
 
 and Faber — " When God spake all 
 things into being, the everlasting silence 
 remained unbroken. No stir was seen, 
 no commotion felt. The starting into 
 life of ten thousand times ten thousand 
 millions of angels from the deep abyss 
 of eternity, created no noise. The 
 creation of millions upon millions of 
 worlds, by the fiat of His matchless 
 power, was done in noiselessness and 
 peace." Man may need commotion and 
 disturbance to assure him that work is 
 being done, silence is sufficient for God ; 
 and sometimes, as here around Jericho, 
 God asks His children to believe, 
 although there is nothing but Himself 
 on which their faith can rest. When 
 His children do thus rest in faith, they 
 are content to walk on in the same 
 silence out of which God so loves to 
 evolve His mightiest works. V. The 
 silence of expectation and awe. We 
 feel as if this very shout must have 
 had, almost within it, a silence intense, 
 profound, and absolutely awful. In his 
 "Battle of the Baltic," when the fleets 
 of England and Denmark had met, and 
 were about to engage, Campbell tells 
 us, 
 
 " There was silence deep as death ; 
 And the boldest held his breath, 
 For a time : 
 
 When each gun 
 From its adamantine lips 
 Spread a death-shade round the ships, 
 Like the hui'ricane eclipse 
 Of the sun." 
 
 So intense and terrible do we feel the 
 silence must have been which preceded, 
 and which again immediately succeeded 
 this fear-filling shout from six hundred 
 thousand believing men. When they 
 had thus given Jehovah's chosen sign 
 for His own working to commence, 
 
 what would God do ? — the God who 
 had made a path through the sea, and 
 divided the Jordan ; how would He 
 begin His toar on Jericho ? Joshua 
 knew how ; but had he told the 
 people ? It seems not ; and yet all 
 Israel must have felt that this was 
 the crisis. How would Omnipotence 
 declare itself? We can almost feel, 
 even now, the bated breath that 
 made silence painful ere that shout 
 was given, and the yet more awful still- 
 ness, coupled as it would be with in- 
 tense gazing and terrible expectation, 
 which abruptly followed — so abruptly, 
 perhaps, that all straggling sounds of 
 single lingering voices were choked 
 back in the solemn hush that fell like a 
 spell upon the host. What would God 
 do now ? And then, almost as they 
 ask that silent question, the walls fall 
 in upon themselves, a cloud of dust 
 arises right round the city, another 
 solemn stillness succeeds the murmur 
 of awe among the Israelites which the 
 sight had involuntarily provoked ; the 
 cloud clears away, fear and pain have 
 taken hold upon the fleeing idolaters ; 
 then the trumpets of the priests sud- 
 denly sound forth in the midst of the 
 hosts of Israel, and the army of the 
 Lord charges on the devoted city on 
 all sides at once, and proceeds to exe- 
 cute the terrible ban of cherent, in 
 slaughter and burning. 
 
 If such be the temporal punishment 
 of sin, what must be its final judgment? 
 If such be the awe gathering around 
 the overthrow of one guilty city, what 
 of those moments when the hosts of the 
 wicked of all time stand before the 
 judgment seat of Christ? "The name 
 of the Lord is a strong tower; the 
 righteous runneth into it, and is safe." 
 In that day it shall again be said, 
 "Happy is he that hath the God of 
 Jacob for his help, whose hope is in 
 the Lord his God." 
 
 Verse 11. I. The first day of 
 obedient service on the part of the 
 Lord's people. No murmurings ai-e 
 recorded as having been uttered against 
 doing a meaningless task. In days like 
 these, no desertions occur from the 
 army of the Lord to the side of the 
 
 113 
 
IIOMILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 Lord's enemies. Contempt and scorn 
 would hardly be felt by those who had 
 Been the mercy of Jehovah in the 
 dividing of the river. Rest must have 
 been sweet on the night succeeding 
 this day's toil ; it was the rest of 
 obedience overshadowed by mercies 
 which were hardly past, and made re- 
 freshing by promises almost fulfilled. 
 II. The first day of more direct and 
 solemn warning to the Lord's enemies. 
 The general warnings of Providence 
 and Scripture will have a day in which 
 they will begin to assume definite shape 
 to every man who has not repented of 
 sin (cf. Matt. xxiv. 32—34). As with 
 the inhabitants of Jericho and Jerusa- 
 lem, so must it be to all who fear not 
 God. The day will come in which 
 dispersed threatcnings will be seen 
 concentrating themselves for judgment. 
 
 The warnings of one day are very 
 like those of another ; even when they 
 are most solemn, it is possible to be- 
 come almost comfortably familiar with 
 them. On the morning of the seventh 
 day the men of Jericho had perhaps 
 learned to say to each other almost 
 pleasantly, " All things continue . they 
 were from the beginning." 
 
 It is significant, however, that we 
 have no single word of record to guide 
 us as to the feeling which prevailed in 
 Jericho from this first day of compass- 
 ing the city to the day when it fell. 
 Not so much as a sound of either scorn 
 or fear reaches us to tell us what these 
 men felt. All seems purposely shut off 
 in the darkness of oblivion. What a 
 picture of many other deaths, and how 
 like the speechless stillness which fol- 
 lows them ! As yet, eternity gives no 
 sign. 
 
 Verses 12—20. Jericho Taken. 
 
 " I. The city which was to be taken. 
 Jcriclio was a city of great antiquity and 
 importance. It was inclosed by w.alls so 
 consi(lcral)lc that houses were Iniilt upon 
 them (chap. ii. 15), while the spoil that was 
 f(jun(l in it is an evidence of its o])ulciicc. 
 When the tribes ni.ide tlieir encampment in 
 Gilgal, the inhal)itants caused Die city to be 
 strailly shut uj), so that " none went out and 
 none came in." But they could not shut out 
 God. There are 710 pates and bars that can 
 stand against Him. How vainly they reckon 
 who leave God out of their calculations ! 
 When He is with us, no opposing host can 
 
 114 
 
 harm us ; but when He is against us, no 
 earthly walls can protect us. II. The means 
 by which it was taken. These were very 
 peculiar. ... 1. There was no nativr.il fitness 
 in the means to produce the end designed. 
 2. The means employed were such as would 
 provoke the ridicule of the besieged. .S. The 
 means employed produced no effect whatever 
 for six days, nor even on the seventh, until 
 the shout was raised at the last. III. The 
 disposition that was to be made of the city. 
 It was to be accursed, or devoted, to God. 
 Tlie Israelites in destroying the inhabitants 
 cf Jericho and the Canaanites generally, were 
 l)ut the insti'uments in God's hand of carry- 
 ing out His sentence. 
 
 Lessons: 1. Retribution though long delayed 
 comes at last. God's judgments have leaden 
 feet, and so they come slowly ; but they have 
 iron hands, and so they strike deadly when 
 they come. 2. Faith does what God says, 
 and asks no questions. 3. At the sound of 
 the trumpets of the priests, the walls of 
 Jericho fell down. By the preaching of the 
 Gospel the strongholds of sin and iSatan are 
 to be overthrown. 4. Let us not be im- 
 patient of results when we are doing God's 
 commands. .5. Success in oiu' working for 
 God is His doing, not ours, and so the whole 
 glory of it should be given to Him." 
 \WilUam Taylor, D.BJ 
 
 Verse 20. 
 
 I. God gives His servants success when 
 they are prepared for it, aud as they are able 
 to bear it. A London minister, whose work 
 for the past nine years has been marked by 
 great prosperity, recently made the following 
 statement at a public meeting : " With the 
 first church over which I was called to pre- 
 side. I spent four years in what seemed an 
 almost fruitless ministry. I think I preached 
 as fervently then as t preach now. and I 
 prayed for God's blessing with all my heart, 
 I looked for success, and week by week 
 announced times at which I would meet 
 encjuircrs, but none came. I prayed till 
 prayer became an agony within me ; still 
 there were no converts. On one Sunday 
 evening I made a special effort to win souls 
 to Christ. All through the preceding week 
 I pleaded, as though I were pouring out my 
 very soul, for a blessing on that service. I 
 ]ivoparcd, as far as I knew how. simply with 
 a view to conversion. On the evening before 
 the service in question, I went into a field .at 
 the back of the chapel, and again, with tears, 
 I besought God to save some. I gave out 
 that I would meet enquirers at the close of 
 the service ; not one came cither then or 
 afterwards as the fruit of that appeal. Eight 
 years ago," s.aid the speaker, •• 1 preached f/te 
 same xcrmon m what was then my new 
 sphere of Labour, .and ninety-seven persons 
 joined the Church, who traced their conver- 
 sion to that one discourse." The minister 
 concluded by saying, " I think that in my 
 four years of fruitless Labour the Lord was 
 enabling me to bear present success, and 
 
BOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 getting me in a fit mind to endure the large is true too, if I mean that the lightning 
 measure of prosperity with which I have alone struck it, without the thunder striking 
 l)cen cheered for the past nine years." II. it. Yet read the two assertions, and they 
 When God gives His servants success, He seem contradictory. So in the same way, St. 
 ever gives it to their faith alone, and yet Paul says, ' Faith justifies without works ; ' 
 never bestows it without their work. ■• By that is, faith alone is that which justifies us, 
 faith the walls of Jericho fell down," but not works. But St. James says, ' Not a faith 
 they did not fall till '• after they had been which is without works.' There will be works 
 compassed about seven days." Works are of with faith, as there is thunder with light- 
 no use, as is most manifest in tliis siege, yet ning, but just as it is not the thunder, but the 
 God will give no blessing without the works. lightning (the lightning without the thun- 
 Some might say, " That is the precise point der), that strikes the tree, so it is not the 
 in dispute between Paul and James ; Paul works which justify. Put it in one sentence, 
 tells us that we must have faith, and James —faith alone justifies, hut not the faith which 
 that we must have works." True, they do is alone. Lightning alone strikes, but not 
 say that ; but there is no dispute between the lightning which is alone, without 
 Paul and James. Paul says that we are thunder ; for "that is only summer lightning, 
 justified by faith, meaning, of course, a good and harmless." The works of the Israelites 
 faith ; and James does but assure us that before Jericho stood in the same relation to 
 that only is a good and real faith which has the fall of the walls. The works accom- 
 works. Perhaps the late F. W. Robertson's plished absolutely nothing ; by faith the walls 
 illustration gives one of the best definitions fell down : it is equally true that the faith 
 of the difference and agreement between the would have been as powerless as the works, 
 two apostles : '• Suppose I say, ' A tree cannot had it not been accompanied by the works, 
 be struck without thunder : ' that is true, for Our faith alone is effectual to command the 
 there is never destructive lightning without help of God ; but if our faith is alone, as 
 thunder. But, again, if I say, ' The tree was having no works, it is not a faith which God 
 struck by lightning without thunder : ' that will accept. 
 
 MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Verses 17—19. 
 
 Devoted Things. 
 
 The word " accursed," which is used in this passage, does not so well represent 
 the meaning of the Hebrew " cherem. " as the word " devoted," given in the margin. 
 To our English ears, the former word is apt to convey an idea of anger and cursing, 
 which is not contained in the original. The '* devoted " persons or things, among 
 the Israelites, were persons or things doomed to destruction, or cut off from common 
 uses in perpetual consecration to the use or service of God. The idea of votive 
 offerings was not confined to the Jews ; it runs, more or less conspicuously, through 
 all human history, and is particularly prominent in that of the Romans. The 
 ancients believed that the life of one man might be ransomed by the death of 
 another, or that even a national boon might be purchased by such a sacrifice; 
 hence such legends as that of Curtius, who is said to have " devoted " himself for 
 the good of Rome by riding into the chasm which had opened in the Forum. It 
 is said that devotion to anu particidar person was unknown among the Romans till 
 the time of Augustus. " The day after the title of Augustus had been conferred 
 upon Octavius, Pacuvius, a tribune of the people, publicly declared that he would 
 devote himself to Augustus, and obey him at the expense of his life, should he be 
 so commanded. This example of flattery was immediately followed by all the rest, 
 till at length it became an established custom never to go to salute the Emperor 
 without declaring that they were devoted to him." It may thus readily be seen 
 through what process the idea of devoting one's self lost its former sacrificial, or 
 at least solemn, import, till it became a mere hyperbole of social flattery, and 
 presently, also, a form of speech to indicate strictness of attention to any business 
 profession or pursuit. To this day, the very word of the Israelites is perpetuated 
 in the East, the Turkish word harem coming, through the Arabic, from the Hebrew 
 cherem. The Old Testament has many allusions to the practice of devoting things 
 or persons to the Lord ; and even in the New Testament, we find Paul devoting 
 his hair at Cenchrea, saying that for the sake of his kinsmen in the flesh he could 
 
 115 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 wish himself accnrsed (dva^c/xa) from Christ, and proclaiming any preacher of 
 
 " another gospel," and, elsewhere, any man who should " love not the Lord Jesus 
 Christ," to be anntlicma. Much obscurity gathers round the whole subject. The 
 following questions will indicate some of the difiSculties. Who was authorised to 
 put men and things under the ban of devotion ; might God alone do tliis, or might 
 men also do it ? If men might devote things, what men were qualified to pronounce 
 the ban? Could a man pronounce the possessions of another to be devoted, or 
 could he merely place his own under ban ? Could one person devote another ? 
 What was the eft'ect of the ban ? Did it invariably involve the death of persons, 
 and the destruction of all things not indestructible '? Might the devotion be partial, 
 as is seemingly the case in the instances of Samuel and Samson, and if partial, 
 would this still be called cherem ? These are some of the questions raised by this 
 solemn and involved subject. 
 
 Jericho Devoted. 
 The claim that this city should be devoted was made by God, was most solemnly 
 enjoined on all Israel, and was still more solemnly enforced by the death of Achan. 
 What did God intend to teach men by this claim ? The mere surroundings of the 
 case are local and temporary ; the principles of deep spiritual teaching, which are 
 indicated by the solemnity of the case, were surely meant to be eternal. I. In 
 the wars of the Lord, the only right which there may be to any spoils is the 
 right of the Lord Himself. The Israelites, and all God's people subsequently, 
 were to learn that. God puts out His Hand, in this veiy first battle, and says, in 
 efi"ect, " The spoils of victory are all Mine." Israel was to take nothing, and the 
 stern penalty of disobedience was death. Such is the measure of the Divine claim 
 on the Church of Christ. Like the Israelites, we are but redeemed slaves, they 
 having been delivered from Egypt, and we from a harder bondage. Everything 
 which we may win in the spiritual conflict belongs to the Lord. To each one of us 
 He says, " Ye are not your own ; ye are bought with a price." 1. We are not to 
 serve the Saviour vierelij for xchat we can get. Archbishop Seeker used to say, 
 " God has three sorts of servants in the world : some are slaves, and serve Him 
 from fear; others arc hirelings, and serve for wages ; and the last are sons, who 
 serve because they love." How are we putting our hands to the work of Christ ? 
 Is it from fear ? Do we merely seek to gain a name, a place, a measure of the 
 world's respect, and a possession in personal peace ; or do we love Him to whom 
 we owe liberty and all we have ? He has devoted Himself for us. Look into the 
 cradle at Bethlehem — that manger cradle — and you see there a devoted body ; it is 
 the cherem of His humanity, in which He gave Himself for us. See Him in the 
 ministry, toiling now, and now saying, " The Son of man hath not where to lay 
 His head ; " that ministry is the cherem of His devotion in service. Reg<ard Him 
 as one " who did no sin ; " and this cutting off unto })imiifest holiness has reference 
 to His disciples, of whom he says, " For their sakes I sanctify Myself." Contem- 
 plate Him in the sorrow of Gethsemane, when " being in an agony He prayed more 
 earnestly, and His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the 
 ground ; " that was His devotion of Himself to men in spiritual suU'ering. Think 
 of Calvary, where He poured out His soul unto death, and crowned even His 
 sacrifice in the cry, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me ?" there, 
 says His apostle. He was " made a curse for us ; for it is written, ' Cursed is every 
 one that hangeth on a tree.' " Surely when we see the Saviour's gift of Himself 
 for our redemption, we might serve from some higher motives than those of fear 
 and gain, and freely own that what we are, what we have, and all we may win 
 througli His power and love, belong not unto us, but unto the Lord. 2. Where 
 God causes us to triumph, ive are not to claim the ;ilori/. The rights are all God's. 
 Ho does but put His Hand on the whole of Jericho as indicating the measure of 
 spoil and honour which ever belong to Himself. When Nebuchadnezzar exalted 
 himself, and said, " This is great Babylon which I have buildcd," ho was driven 
 116 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 out among the beasts to become as one of them : it was but God's other way of 
 saying, " The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib, but this man 
 doth not know, neither doth he consider." The man who was more ungrateful 
 than the beasts, God drove forth among the beasts. It is said that Pope John XXI. 
 built for himself a noble chamber in the palace of Viterbo, and that he was crushed 
 to death by the falhng in of the roof, which he vaingloriously admired. Dean 
 Milman says of the occurrence : " John was contemplating with too great pride 
 the work of his own hands, and burst out into laughter ; when, at that instant, 
 the avenging roof came down upon his head." That is ever the result, when wo 
 are foolishly taken up in our own work, and are found glorying in it as something 
 which we have done. Our very self-esteem, like Achan's selfishness, has a way of 
 making us chcrem. When we can come to the knowledge of what belongeth unto 
 God in no better way, the very consequences of our misappropriation become vocal, 
 and say, " He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." II. God, to whom all 
 the spoils in life's conflicts belong as a matter of right, gives us much for 
 ourselves, and claims only the firstfruits. 1. God does not claim ail. He 
 puts no other city under ban like this, but simply requires Jericho. God has 
 thought for the homage due unto His name, but more thought still for His people's 
 welfare : He would claim one city, they should have many. This has ever been 
 the way of Divine mercy. God has thought for the jwor. He only claims from 
 men according to then- ability (cf. Lev. xxvii. 8). God has thought for the busy. 
 He merely demands one day in seven. God has thought for men in the iveakness 
 which leads them to serve in view of rewards. He does not shut men out from 
 these lower motives. The Saviour, who is "touched with the feeling of our 
 infirmities," graciously stimulates men by thoughts of the pain and loss which 
 they can avoid in being His disciples, and by thoughts of peace and joy and 
 heaven which they can make then: own by cleaving to Him. There is a legend of 
 Bishop Ivo in which he is described as meeting one day a figure in the form of a 
 woman, of a sad and earnest aspect, like some prophetess of God, who carried a 
 vessel of fire in one hand, and of water in the other. He asked her what these 
 things were for. She answered, " The fire is to burn up Paradise, and the water 
 is to quench Hell, that men may henceforth serve their Maker, not from the selfish 
 hope of the one, nor from the selfish fear of the other, but from the love of Himself 
 alone." The Lord, who knoweth our frame, neither burns paradise nor quenches 
 hell ; knowing the weakness and poverty of our love. He mercifully plies us with 
 fear, and entices us with hope. How graciously He answers Peter's poor com- 
 mercial question, in Matt. xix. 27 — 29. He says at one time, " Fear him who is 
 able to destroy both body and soul in hell; " at another, "Be thou faithful unto 
 death, and I will give thee a crown of Ufe." So God thought for the Israelites of 
 old : in the siege of Jericho He claimed all ; yet might they fight, even there, with 
 the thought of other cities in which the sp:il should be enturely then* own. 2. 
 God, ivho does not everywhere claim all, nevertheless claims the firstfruits. This 
 was so in warfare, and it was so in the matter of harvest. Men too often give 
 God only the remnants of their life : they pour their strength out in business, and 
 call Sunday a rest ; they serve the world in youth and in the prime of hfe, and 
 become religious in old age. God complains of this : He requires " the fii'st of all 
 the firstfruits of all things." III. Our services and offerings to God are not 
 to enrich Him, but to bring more wealth to ourselves. Jericho was nothing 
 to God : all its riches were nothing ; and He who abhors human sacrifices, and 
 has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, could have no delight in this sheddmg 
 of blood. 1. God does not command our ojf'erings to meet any sense of want in 
 Himself. He cannot but be independent of all that we can bring. He who created 
 us, and all that we have, cannot sufier need where our service fails. 2. That 
 which tvc can give, or he, or do for God, is commanded because it will help us. The 
 giving of money for the poor, or for religious work, is but the Divine way of culti- 
 vating our compassion, our sympathy, and our sincerity. Oui- deeds and our 
 
 117 
 
UOMILETIC COMMENT ATiY: JOSHUA. 
 
 worship are requii-ed not merely for the honour of God and the help of our fellows, 
 but for the exercise of our spiritual faculties. As without exercise our limbs and 
 our physical powers would fail and die, so it is with our faith, and compassion, 
 and love. Think of the heritage of unselfishness, and of loving God so as to cost 
 us something. If we are giving nothing and doing nothing for the Saviour, we 
 are robbing no one so much as ourselves. The fraudulent railway passenger may 
 say to himself, " I have travelled all those miles, and paid nothing." He forgets 
 how much he has paid out of his self-respect and his integrity ; he little thinks 
 that he has been spending a vast amount of his manhood, and of his moral life. 
 That man had better have opened a vein and given blood for his fare ; he has 
 cheated a railway company at the cost of di'aining away the life of his soul. The 
 people who try to get to heaven by the process of avoiding all collections, and all 
 forms of work, seem to reckon on having a very inexpensive journey : they may 
 get to heaven ; let us hope so ; but they forget how very little of themselves will 
 be left to enter in when they arrive. The man who goes on for forty years 
 spending himself in order to save his belongings, may, when he dies, leave a great 
 Bubstance behind him ; he will carry very little with him ; so little, it may be, 
 that the angels will not find enough of him left to take home at all. No man can 
 withhold that which he ought to give, or do, for Christ, without being fined very 
 heavily in his soul's life. IV. God's claim on men is for a reasonable measure 
 of devotedness in them, or for the utter devoting of them. 1. Those who love 
 God arc not tti.red umrasonabbj. God only asks Jericho for Avinning all Canaan ; 
 He does but ask of us a " reasonable service." 2. Those wlio love not God enough 
 to devote themselves to Him, are ever tending to the tirJie when they must be devoted 
 by Him. The end of idolatry is to be made cherem. It matters not whether our 
 idols are rude as those of the ancient Canaanites, or take more modern forms. It 
 makes no difference whether we bear the name of the Lord's people, or men call us 
 worldly (cf. Deut. xiii. G— 18). Even in the New Testament, the end of not being 
 the Saviour's disciples indeed is to be made cherem: "If any man lore not the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema when the Lord cometh." 
 
 OUTLINES AND C03I3IENTS ON THE VERSES. 
 
 Verse 17. (I.) The Memoky of the others; God deals with all sins alike. 
 
 Lord. He has no favouritism in iniquity. 2. 
 
 I. The Lord's remembrance of man's God remembers, nevertheless, the different 
 sin. This command to slaughter the degrees of sin. Some men are " sinners 
 Canaanites was not given in order that before the Lord exceedingly," as were 
 room might be made for the Israelites, the Sodomites, and God remembers the 
 God's eye looked back over the eight excessive forms which sin has taken, 
 or nine centuries in which these chil- Men like Jeroboam and Ahab are 
 dren of Canaan had been strewing the singled out for prominence in wicked- 
 short path of their national history ness. 3. God remembers sin till it is 
 with many and aggravated sins. They forgiven, and not till then does He say, 
 had been heaping up wrath against the '^Their sins and iniquities will I remember 
 day of wrath, therefore was it that God no more." The only Lethe of forgot- 
 said, " The city shall be devoted." Many fulness for the guilt of men is "the 
 years later the Divine voice is heard fountain open for sin and uncleanness " 
 saying to the ten tribes, "They con- by Jesus Christ. Till sin is washed 
 sider not in their hearts that I remember away there, God will remember it and 
 all their wickedness : now their own men must. 4. God remen^bers no man's 
 doings have beset them about ; they are sins in vain. Moses dies on Nebo be- 
 before My face." 1. God rcmcmbeis cause God has not forgotten ; and, not- 
 sin in all its forms, and not merely con- withstanding the lapse of four hundred 
 rentional sin. Men agree to call certain years, God says to Saul, " I remember 
 trangressions sinful, to the exclusion of that which Amalek did to Israel. . . . 
 118 
 
CHAP. VI. 
 
 HOMILETIC C03IMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 Now go and smite Amalek " (cf. 1 Sam. 
 XV. 2, 3). II. The Lord's remembrance 
 of His own promises. In this slaughter 
 at Jericho, Joshua is seen acting, not 
 alone, but working together with God 
 for the salvation of Rahab. In the 
 covenant made with this woman: 1. 
 The fuljjhnent is equal to the promise. 
 In point of value the one is as the 
 other. 2. It is a faljilment in detail : 
 " She and all that are with her." 3. 
 The fulfilment has rerjard to the condi- 
 tions which ivere made — *' all that are 
 with her in the house " (cf. chap. ii. 19). 
 III. The Lord's remembrance of 
 human faith and service. No one 
 believes in the Lord ever so little, and 
 then has to find that his trust is dis- 
 regarded. Rahab in Jericho, the Syro- 
 phenician woman in the borders of 
 Tyre and Sidon, or the thief upon the 
 cross, it matters not which; none is 
 too lowly, too vile, or too much a 
 stranger to the covenants of promise, 
 to believe in vain. Even the feeble 
 faith of the woman who stole through 
 the crowd to touch the hem of the 
 Saviour's garment could not be kept 
 secret : she too had to see that 
 faith could not be hidden. God sees 
 the smallest act of faith, let it come 
 whence it may. So does God see the 
 smallest act of service done for His 
 people. Not only did Joshua know 
 that Rahab "hid the messengers," but 
 Jehovah knew it also, and kept the 
 woman's house from falling. God would 
 not suffer even the vain Nebuchadnezzar 
 to serve against Tyrus, without noticing 
 how " every head was made bald, and 
 every shoulder was peeled," and then 
 giving him Egypt as wages for himself 
 and his army. Certainly we cannot 
 give even the cup of cold water in His 
 name, and for His people, and then lose 
 our reward. 
 
 Verse 18. (II.) The Forethought of 
 
 THE LOKD. 
 
 I. Divine knowledge of the force of 
 temptation. The gold and the Baby- 
 lonish garments might bo solemnly 
 devoted, but the Lord knew they would 
 glitter temptingly notwithstandinp. He 
 
 who taught us to pray. Lead us not 
 into temptation, well knows how much 
 such prayer is needed by us each. 
 II. Divine acquaintance with hu- 
 man weakness. " Keep yourselves 
 from the devoted thing." The Lord 
 accurately measures not only the 
 pressure from without, but the power 
 of resistance also. III. Divine antici- 
 pations of human sin. Men may say, 
 " Is thy servant a dog that he should 
 do this thing '? " but God loves us 
 enough to speak plainly. He shews us 
 that in His estimation our danger is 
 real. If the warnings of Scripture were 
 not inwardly felt to be so necessary, 
 they might awaken our indignation ; 
 but the silence of even the infidels on 
 this point is given in contribution to a 
 general faith that the Bible is right. 
 IV. Divine solicitude for man's sal- 
 vation. 1. God is solicitous for men 
 individualhj. He is concerned for each 
 of us, lest we should make ourselves 
 accursed. 2. God is solicitous for men 
 collectivebj . He is concerned lest the 
 camp of Israel should be made a curse. 
 No man is so isolated as to be away 
 from God's thought and care, and no 
 host is so large as to outreach His love. 
 
 Verse 19. (HI.) The Claims of the 
 Lord. 
 
 I. God literally asserts His right to 
 claim all that which is His due. At 
 Jericho He demands everything. This 
 is not usual ; it was done to impress 
 men with the vastness of God's rights, 
 and to remind them of the grace of His 
 ordinary dealings. II. God symbol- 
 ically asserts His claim to man's 
 holiness in everything. Gold would 
 naturally be looked upon as one of the 
 most carnal of possesions. It was to 
 be shown that even this could be set 
 apart, and made to be " holiness unto 
 the Lord" (cf. Zech. xiv. 20). III. 
 God graciously shews that His most 
 exacting claims are made from a 
 generous interest in men. These 
 things were to enrich the treasury of 
 the Lord, that the house and service 
 of the Lord might be more precious in 
 the sight of men. 
 
 119 
 
HOMILETIC C03IMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Verses 21—25. 
 The Destruction of the Canaanites. 
 
 In slaying all the inhabitants of Jericho, with the exception of Rahab and her 
 kindred, it cannot be too distinctly borne in mind that the Israelites were fulfilling 
 the will and obeying the command of God. From Deut. xx. 10 — 18, it is clear 
 that although mercy was to be shewn to all cities out of Canaan, the Israelites 
 were to spare no one in the cities of the land itself. The command was, " Thou 
 shalt save alive nothing that breatheth : " the very sign of life was to be the 
 token for death. In carrying out this terrible mission, the Israelites were not to 
 consult any vindictive feelings of their own ; they were to act throughout as 
 servants of God. The subject of these verses is not human cruelty, but Divine 
 severity. It is not for us to "justify the ways of God to men;" it would be 
 equally wrong to turn from any of those acts on which God has laid emphasis, 
 because they may not be pleasant to our feelings. God meant us to think on 
 what He does : that is why His solemn works are recorded. In the light which 
 six thousand years have shed on the name and character of God, all His acts 
 should be received with unquestioning trust : His name written under any work 
 whatever should be a sufficient guarantee of its rectitude. When the Judge 
 bears such a character — a character even more Divine than His glorious name — 
 it is good philosophy to argue, " Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right ?" 
 Consider : 
 
 I. The grounds for the destruction of these idolatrous people. What is there 
 about the case to assure us that this is no departure from the invariable justness 
 and righteousness of God ? 1. It should not be forgotten that God Juts a riyJd to 
 the lives of all men. That right is being continually asserted. In London alone, 
 some one dies every eight minutes. God claims our httle children who are too 
 young to know what sin means, and our aged parents and friends also. Some- 
 times a dreadful accident sweeps away its scores, or even its hundreds ; or it may 
 be that a fearful pestilence takes, in a few weeks, many thousands to the grave. 
 At the back of every death is the will of God. The ancient Persians believed in 
 two gods, Ormudz and Ahriman ; the former, the cause of light and good things, 
 the latter, the cause of darkness and evil things. In the very teeth of that mistake 
 Jehovah proclaims, through Isaiah, "I form the light, and create darkness: I 
 make peace, and create evil : I the Lord do all these things." God claims to do 
 the things which wound and break our hearts, as well as the things which heal 
 them. The Saviour dares to stand prospectively by the slain martyrs of His 
 Church, and in view of their shed blood and burned bodies to expound : " Are 
 not two sparrows sold for a farthing ? and one of them shall not fall on the 
 ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 
 Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows." God claims 
 to stand by every death that occurs from disease or accident : He claims not less 
 the right to employ the sword of man as an instrument for the overthrow of the 
 wicked, and a means whereby He may call even His children home. If diseases 
 and accidents may be the messengers of a just God, why not the sword also ? 
 Even men claim the right to destroy murderers. God claims the right to take 
 life in single cases, and we bow in reverence to His demand. Joshua acts as God's 
 instrument in slaying Achan ; but no less does Elijah act as God's instrument in 
 the destruction of the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal. The demand in 
 one case is on a larger scale than the other, the principle is the same in both. It 
 may be asked, Would not the efi'ect of slaying all the Canaanites be morally 
 injurious to the IsracHtes as their executioners ? Could they possibly slay Avhole 
 cities of men, women, and children, without becoming dcgi-aded and brutaliscd 
 themselves ? Probably the efi"ect must be bad, if there were not some adequate 
 reason. If there were a solemn need for this slaughter, in order that myriads 
 might be rescued from the miserable degradations of idolatry, it might altogether 
 
HOMILETIC C03IMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 change and correct the influence on the minds of the executioners. But no theorizing 
 on that point is necessary : as a matter of fact, the generation of men who did 
 this dreadful work of slaughter were a great deal holier than their children. The 
 lessons of this solemn judgment were written deeply on the hearts of the Israelites, 
 and it was not till after they had passed away that the iniquity recorded in the 
 book of Judges was committed. 2. Apart from the Divine rvjht to human life, the 
 provocations of the Canaanites ivere very great, (a) They were gross idolaters. 
 For one thing, they worshipped Baal, in which worship the most degraded cruelties 
 were practised. Little children were offered in sacrifice, and, in the time of 
 Jehoshaphat, we find that the king of Moab ofi'ered for a burnt ofiering either his 
 own eldest son or the son of the king of Edom. Another of the idolatries of the 
 Canaanites was the worship of Ashtoreth, the Sidonian goddess of impurity, the 
 lewd rites connected with which warrant the suggestion that the death of these 
 children by the sword was merciful, compared with the life otherwise before them. 
 (b) The Canaanites, who worshipped idols like these, must have known much of 
 the true God. They were descendants of Noah, and with very few intervening 
 generations. Ham, the father of Canaan, was one of the eight persons saved in 
 the ark, and from his lips Canaan could not but have heard solemnly of God's 
 awful judgment in the deluge. As has been pointed out, if Canaan lived as long 
 as some of the children of Shem, his life and personal influence would have reached 
 on through about half the period between the deluge and the overthrow of Jericho, 
 The Canaanites had also received repeated warnings, which reached backward to 
 the destruction of Sodom. All the pious traditions of Noah's godliness, and the 
 subsequent warnings given because of the sinfulness of the Hamite branch of his 
 descendants, had been ahke despised. We have only to look at this case calmly 
 to see how much reason there was for this sword of destruction. 3. God's imrpose 
 ivas to remove this idolatry from the land. "VVe need not regard the whole of the 
 inhabitants of the land as destroyed. They evidently had the alte'rnative of flight, 
 and God's fear is said to have been sent in advance of the Israelites to induce the 
 idolaters to escape (cf. Exod. xxiii. 27 — 30). It is a matter of history that many 
 are known thus to have fled to other lands. Those who chose to remain were to 
 die, lest the Israelites should be corrupted. It might be asked, Might not the 
 women and children have been spared ? This, also, needs no consideration as a 
 theory : some were spared, and the result was the gross idolatry of the Israelites 
 themselves. The very history of the generations which followed, vindicates with 
 painful sufiiciency the necessity for this ten'ible command. 4. While we mark 
 here the severity of the Lord, we should also think on His lomjsuffering and His justice. 
 The covenant with Abraham, that his seed should inherit this land, was made 
 more than four hundred and fifty years before, and God had then said, " Thou 
 shalt go to thy fathers in peace ; thou shalt be buried in a good old age : but in 
 the fourth generation thy seed shall come hither again : for the iniquity of the 
 Amorites is not yet full.'' God waited for four centuries and a half; He would 
 not consume these idolaters till the measure of their guilt made it imperative, nor 
 would He allow Israel to take possession of the land so long as its original 
 occupants were sufi'ered to live. While we stand in awe before the severity of 
 Jehovah, we are also compelled to behold that He is " merciful and gracious, 
 longsufiering, and abundant in goodness and truth." II. The lessons wMchGod, 
 through this terrible judgment, would impress upon the contemporary and 
 after world. 1. His unwaveriny determination to punish sin. Longsufiering does 
 but make wrath seem more awful : it shews that there was no vindictiveness 
 in the Di\'ine anger, but it lays terrible stress on its deliberateness. God " will 
 by no means clear the guilty." Our sin must be borne personally, or be confessed 
 by faith, and put away in Jesus. 2. God's peculiar hatred of the si^i of idolatry. 
 This deliberately proposes other gods, and He alone will be worshipped. Israel 
 was to be punished for this just as severely as Canaan (cf. Deut. xiii. 6 — 16). 
 This also was in mercy. There can only be One God for eternity ; idolatiy could 
 
 121 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 not but lead to everlasting spiritual ruin. 3. Emphatic assertion was to be given 
 to the fact that Divine anger is not fictitious. Even good men, and some of these 
 especially, have ever been wont to lean to the side of Divine love, so as to lose 
 sight of the realness of Divine wrath. The need for these terrible records is 
 proclaimed by nothing more earnestly than by the readiness of men to blot out, 
 or interpret feebly, the sternest words of Scripture. 4. We are to learn the 
 importance of taldnrj heed to occasional u-arnimjs. The overthrow of the cities of 
 the plain, and of the Egyptians, the wonders of the Red Sea and the wilderness, 
 and the dividing of the Jordan, are preliminary to the destruction of a nation. 
 5. God would teach the ivorhl, through all time, the awful meaning of His own 
 silence. It is not enough that we do not often behold the judgments of the Lord ; 
 the only place for safety is to stand where we can hear Him speak in love. These 
 four hundred and fifty years were, notwithstanding some warnings, years of com- 
 parative calm. It would be only too easy for the Canaanites not to hear much of 
 the voice of the Lord in judgments as far back as Sodom, and as far ofi" as Egypt. 
 But the silence of God Avas only such stillness as often precedes the storm. Ought 
 not some to interpret prosperity and calm in the same way now ? It has been 
 written for our admonition, "These things hast thou done, and I kept silence: 
 thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself ; but I will reprove 
 thee, and set them in order before thine eyes. Now consider this, ye that forget 
 God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver." 
 
 OUTLINES AND C0M3fENTS ON THE VERSES. 
 
 Verse 21. "Every living thing in 
 Jericho — man, woman, child, cattle — 
 must die.'' Our folly would think this 
 merciless ; but there can be no mercy 
 in injustice, and nothing but injustice 
 in not fulfilling the charge of God. 
 
 " The death of malefactors, the con- 
 demnation of wicked men, seem harsh 
 to us ; but we must learn of God that 
 there is a punishing mercy. Cursed 
 be that mercy that opposes the God 
 of mercy." [Bp. Hall] 
 
 " The destruction of these Canaanite 
 cities followed upon an immediate 
 Divine directio)i (Exod. xvii. 14 ; Deut. 
 vii. 2 ; XX. 16 ; 1 Sam, xv. 3) ; at 
 another time the Israelites vow the 
 same (Numb. xxi. 2). Again, in other 
 cases, the devotement, in its inward 
 direction and in its outward, takes place 
 in consequence of appointments (f the 
 lau- (Lev. XX. 2; Deut. xiii. 16 ft'.). 
 By this a limit was set to all caprice ; 
 for the holiness of Israel, in rigid sepa- 
 ration from everything of a heathen 
 nature, and from every abomination of 
 idolatry (Exod. xxiii. 32 ; Deut. xx. 18), 
 was to be the only ground of the ban. 
 Otherwise every murderer might with 
 hypocritical mien have appealed to such 
 a devotement of his neighbour. He who 
 12-2 
 
 seized upon anything for himself that 
 had been devoted paid the penalty with 
 his life (Josh. vi. 18 ; Deut. xiii. 17 ; 
 Josh. vii. 11 fi".)." ILange.] 
 
 Verses 22, 23. The Delivebance of 
 Rahab and her Kindred. 
 
 I. The sacredness of representative 
 acts is as great as that of personal 
 acts. Joshua made the promise of the 
 spies as binding as if it were his own 
 act, and the Lord had regard to it no 
 less than Joshua; for Rahab's house, 
 though built upon or against the wall, 
 stood safely after the wall had fallen. Re- 
 presentative acts are common all through 
 society, and practically society often 
 holds them to be imperatively binding. 
 " No man live th to himself." We aro 
 always committing other people to re- 
 sponsibilities by our deeds, even though 
 we do not act officially on their behalf. 
 Thus, too, we sufier in the sin of Adam, 
 and are saved in the obedience of Christ. 
 II. The hope which comes from faith 
 in God is as certainly salvation to the 
 very sinful as to those who are out- 
 wardly righteous. " By faith Rahab 
 the harlot perished not with them that 
 believed not." Having acknowledged 
 in heart and by her deeds that the God 
 of Israel was the only God, her safety 
 
CHAP. VI. 
 
 HOMILETIC COMMENTJnY: JOSHUA. 
 
 was in Him whom she trusted, and 
 not in her past hfe. This woman, who 
 was a sinner, was as safe in Jericho, 
 though God Himself fought against it, 
 as righteous Daniel in the lions' den. 
 God loves all men ; and when they 
 accept Him by faith, it is He who is 
 their Saviour, not their character. A 
 young woman in Scotland left her home, 
 and became a companion of the street- 
 girls of Glasgow. Her mother sought 
 her far and wide, but in vain. At last 
 she caused her picture to be hung in 
 various places of public resort in the 
 city, which her daughter might be likely 
 to frequent. Many gave that picture a 
 passing glance. One lingered by it, 
 and could not break away. It was the 
 same dear face that looked down upon 
 her in her childhood. Her mother had 
 not forgotten her, nor cast off her 
 sinning child, or she would never have 
 sent her portrait to hang pleading with 
 the wandering one from that wall. The 
 very lips seemed to open, and to 
 whisper, " Come home : I forgive you, 
 and I love you still." So thought the 
 poor penitent, and bursting into tears 
 she hastened back once more to the 
 home and the hfe in which mother and 
 daughter could again be one. So God 
 here seems to pourtray His own heart 
 for the Rahabites of all time. He, too, is 
 Baying, through this pardoned woman 
 of Jericho, " Come home : I forgive 
 you, and love you still." Those who 
 hear His voice and do His bidding, 
 are as safe in His forgiveness as any 
 other of His children. III. The salva- 
 tion of the soul comprises the salvation 
 of everything else that is necessary, 
 so long as it is necessary. Both the 
 book of Joshua and the Epistle to the He- 
 brews lead us to hope that Rahab was 
 spiritually as well as temporally saved. 
 That being so, her very house stands 
 so long as it is necessary to shield her. 
 The Lord throws down the rest of the 
 wall, but not this part. Presently, when 
 Rahab is delivered, the house may be 
 burned in common with the other houses 
 of the city. If we love God, all that we 
 have is safe so long as it is wanted to 
 assist in shielding us. When this is no 
 longer the case, wo need not mourn 
 over our burnt dweUing-places, out of 
 
 which the owner has been so graciously 
 delivered. We might often sing over 
 our saved selves, where we foolishly 
 weep over our destroyed or removed 
 belongings. IV. The saved member of 
 any one family should mean, at least 
 often, a saved household. Rahab and 
 " all that she had " were delivered. It 
 seems very dreadful to think of one 
 member of a large family loving Christ, 
 and living with them for years on earth, 
 and yet at last going to heaven alone. 
 It seems as though there could be 
 neither love nor humanity in the creature 
 who was delivered ; or hardly a promise 
 in the Bible, and only a God who gave 
 no heed to prayer. V. Those whom the 
 Lord saves are not only to know 
 deliverance from outward danger and 
 death, they are to seek an inner and 
 actual life. These ceremonially un- 
 clean ones were to tarry without the 
 camp till they had been purified. Prose- 
 lytes were thus taught to feel that none 
 of the old heathenism must be brought 
 in to defile the children of the Lord, 
 and they themselves must be separated 
 from their former lives ere they could 
 dwell before the Ark of the Divine 
 Presence. Those who only come to 
 the cross, must never expect to reach 
 the crown. We need not only justifi- 
 cation, but sanctification also. Nothing 
 that defileth entereth in before God 
 above. VI. The salvation of the Lord 
 has not only forgiveness of sin, but 
 forgetfulness of it also. Salmon, an 
 ancestor of David, afterwards married 
 Rahab. God thus graciously suffered 
 her name to have a place in the gene- 
 alogy of the Saviour ; in addition to 
 which, honourable mention is made by 
 the Holy Spirit of her faith. It is as 
 though Divine mercy would not only 
 save the worst, but also hold before 
 them hope of the highest honours. 
 David did not speak vainly when he 
 said, *' As far as the east is from the 
 west, so far hath He removed our trans- 
 gressions from us." 
 
 *' It troubleth me not to conceive 
 how, the rest of the wall falling flat, 
 llahab's house, built thereon, should 
 stand upright ; seeing Divine power, 
 which miraculously gave the rule, 
 
 123 
 
HOMILETIC C03IBIENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 might accordingly make the excep- cast it into the depths of the sea " for 
 
 tion." \Fidler.'\ ever. The Scriptures continually repre- 
 
 , , ., sent God as " covering sin," " blotting 
 
 - Judgment and mercy shewn by the -^ ^^^ „ ^^ ^^ ., ^^3^.^^ -^ ^^^:^^^ ^^ 
 
 devotement of Jericho on the one hand, |^^^,j. ,, 
 
 and on the other by the deliverance of ' ^^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^i^^^ ^j^j^j^ ^^^ 
 
 Kanab. ^ -r^ ■, ■, ., j have obtained, not because He has 
 
 "The rescue of Rahab considered ^^^^^ ^^ ^j^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^^^^ ^^ ^^^^ 
 
 m reference_ (1) to her character ; (2) ^^^^^ ^^ ^.^^^^^. jjj^ ^^^^^ ^^^ ^o 
 
 to the conscientiousness of Joshua, who ^.^.^o^^ieage that by His strength all 
 
 would have the word which had been ^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^l ^^j.^^ 
 
 given kept ; (3) to the fu ure of the ^^ jj.^ ^^ ^^-j^ j^^^^g ^^^ ^^^ ^^^ 
 
 kingdom of God. Rahab the heathen ^f His servants, 
 woman is received into Israel, that 
 
 through Israel the heathen also might ^^^.^^ ^^ ,, j^ ^^^,^ ^xomx^e^ are 
 
 be saved. \Lange.\ ^^ ^^^.^^.^ ^^ -^ ^j^^^ j^^^ ^1^.^^^^ ^^^^ 
 
 Verse 24. God would have us blot fulfilled and gone into eflect. II. God 
 
 out even the traces of past iniquity, thinks also of compassion when He is 
 
 Sin is the abominable thing which the most angry, for in the midst of Avrath 
 
 Lord hateth ; where He exposes it, it He is gracious. III. What God curses 
 
 is but that He may hide it for ever, no man must bless, and what God blesses 
 
 Calvary reveals human sin only " to let no man curse." [Crmner.l 
 
 MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Verses 26, 27. 
 
 The Ruins of Jericho. 
 
 Reasons have already been given for the conclusion that Joshua's curse was 
 pronounced against the man who should rebuild the city of Jericho on its original 
 site, rather than against him who should re-enclosc any newly built city with a 
 wall. The very nature and object of the curse (cf. Deut. xiii. IG) are so entirely 
 lost sight of by the latter conjecture, that this alone seems sufficient to render 
 the opinion untenable. The place could not be called " a heap for ever," and 
 thus stand as a memorial of Divine reprobation, merely because it lacked a wall. 
 Strabo's allusion to similar curses pronounced in connection with the rebuilding of 
 Carthage, Troy, and Sidcne, is well known. In the case of Jericho, the curse 
 was doubtless intended to keep the memorial of desolation before the eyes of 
 coming generations. The ruins of the city would go on speaking vividly for ages, 
 while a new city on the old site would obliterate the traces, and thus also the 
 memory of this judgment of God. 
 
 I. The ruined city a permanent memorial of God's hatred of idolatry. 
 There would be " sermons in stones," which the Israelites could hardly fail to 
 read. God made the vision of His anger so plain upon the tables of these dis- 
 mantled walls, that he who read might well run from the desolating influences 
 and issues of idolatry. II. The ruined city a lasting monument of miraculous 
 help from heaven. The Israelites would have other conflicts, in the future. 
 Their future soldiers might come and see these walls as God had left thou, and 
 thus learn, that no enemies were strong enough, and no fortifications sufficiently 
 solid, to resist the people whose helper was the Lord. The ruins would them- 
 selves take up the Divine word to Joshua, and continually preach, " Be strong and 
 of a good courage." III. The ruined city a constant appeal to Israel not to 
 trust in an arm of flesh. Jericho was a strongluild of the land, and a key to its 
 possession. The old inhabitants could not stand with the fortress. The Israelites, 
 with the Lord on their side, could take the city without lilting a single weapon 
 against its walls. God meant His children to learn here how to sing, in all future 
 124 
 
CHAP. VI. 
 
 HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 emergencies, the song of after years, " I will lift up my eyes unto the hills, from 
 whence cometh my help." The generations to come were to see that they were 
 never to trust in their own strength, and never to doubt the sufficient power of 
 the Lord. 
 
 OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VERSES. 
 
 Verse 26. The Faithful Word. 
 
 About five hundred and thirty years 
 after this curse was pronounced, a 
 Bethelite named Hiel rebuilt this city, 
 and sufiered the exact penalty here 
 predicted. It cannot be doubted that 
 Hiel knew of Joshua's curse, knew that 
 the city had been made cherem, and 
 that, according to the law of Moses, it 
 was to remain a heap for ever. Hiel 
 would probably be as well acquainted 
 with the curse as the writer of the 
 history in the book of Kings. The 
 very tone and manner in which the 
 transgression is mentioned, seem also 
 to indicate that this Bethelite knew that 
 he was doing that which was forbidden. 
 This record in Joshua, taken in connec- 
 tion with 1 Kings xvi. 34, suggests the 
 following thoughts : — 
 
 I. The easy path to unbelief of God. 
 The law itself might have assured Hiel 
 that the curse was no mere utterance of 
 Joshua's vindictive or excited feelings, 
 but the mind and will of Jehovah. As- 
 suming that the man knew of the curse, 
 it is impossible to think that he believed 
 it would come true. No father would 
 have thus recklessly sacrificed his chil- 
 dren. It is interesting, and should be 
 instructive, to place ourselves mentally 
 in the position of this Bethelite, and 
 endeavour to ascertain by what process 
 of reasoning he might be led to conclude 
 that the curse would not take eftect. 
 1. Hiel mhjht have thought that time had 
 rendered the curse null and void. Nearly 
 five centuries and a half had rolled away 
 since the fall of the ancient city ; and 
 it would be easy to hope, and presently 
 get to feel, that the curse must have lost 
 all its vitality during that long period. 
 It is not difficult for men to persuade 
 themselves that the threatonings of the 
 Bible are very old, and to treat them as 
 correspondingly weak. Men read of 
 sin's penalty on Eli, on David, on Ge- 
 hazi, on Ananias and Sapphira, and see 
 that sin was punished; and they are 
 
 told that God still is angry with the 
 wicked. Then they remember that the 
 Scriptures are not merely five hundred, 
 but some eighteen hundred, years old ; 
 and forthwith they persuade themselves 
 that time must have rusted away the 
 edge from the sword of Divine threaton- 
 ings. So Hiel might have thought, but, 
 for all that, Abiram dies, and Segub 
 also. " One day is with the Lord as a 
 thousand years, and a thousand years 
 as one day." 2. Hiel might have reasoned, 
 It is unlike the mercy of God to deal with 
 me thus severely, even if this be a trespass. 
 Think of this man as sitting down to 
 study the character of God : he would 
 find mercy in Egypt, mercy in the 
 wilderness, and mercy in the after- 
 history of Canaan ; and might presently 
 conclude, It is altogether unlike God 
 to punish my innocent children, even 
 though my act might be guilty in His 
 sight. Nevertheless, this man's children 
 died. Life is everywhere vicarious, and 
 God seems to have chosen this way to 
 teach very emphatically that no man can 
 sin without doing wrong to his fellows, 
 and especially to his own children. 
 Meanwhile we are left to see that our 
 reasoning on Divine mercy never alters 
 facts. 3. Hiel might have said, I can 
 see no reason for this strange command. 
 He might have thought it of little con- 
 sequence in heaven whether he should 
 build on a hundred acres lying towards 
 his right hand, or on a hundred other 
 acres lying on his left. It is not enough 
 that we can call God's commandments 
 strange : this is no sufficient reason for 
 disobedience, or for unbeHef. The 
 ordinances of the Old and New Testa- 
 ments may not be after the pattern of 
 human fancy ; they were given, never- 
 theless, for faithful observance. The 
 cross is strange, and salvation through 
 faith not less so, but if God be gracious 
 enough to save us, it ill becomes us to 
 cavil at the method. 4. Hiel might 
 have persuaded himself, This curse, after 
 
 125 
 
EOMILETIC COMMENTARi': JOSHUA. 
 
 CHAP, VL 
 
 all, mny be merely a tradition; or it may 
 he the curse of Joshua, and not the utter- 
 ance of God. Hiel ought to have known 
 the law of Moses ; but probably the 
 neglect of God, common at this period, 
 was accompanied by neglect of God's 
 word. The man, if he much wished to 
 build the city, might not find it difficult 
 to treat the reported history as a tradi- 
 tion, or to consider the curse as the 
 outcome of Joshua's excitement in the 
 hour of victory. Men may treat the 
 Scriptures as uninspired, calling this 
 Gospel the book of a man named John, 
 and another a history by a Jew named 
 Matthew, and the Epistles so many 
 different letters by various writers ; 
 but when men have succeeded in taking 
 all thoughts of Divine inspiration out 
 of theu' creed, the inspiration of the 
 Scriptures remains exactly as it was 
 before. The promises are as precious 
 as ever, and the threatenings as terrible. 
 5. Most nicely, however, Hiel built Jericho 
 without troubliny himself to think upon 
 the curse with any earnest consideration 
 whatever. While he probably knew of 
 the history, and had most likely heard 
 of the curse, and possibly loved his 
 children, he might proceed in a sort of 
 careless hope that no harm would follow. 
 More men are lost by careless unbelief 
 than by deliberate disbelief. Where 
 intelligent and honest scepticism slays 
 its tens, carelessness destroys its mil- 
 lions. II. The absolute and unfailing 
 truthfulness of God's words. Not one 
 jot or tittle of this curse passed away. 
 Abiram and Segub both died, the one at 
 the laying of the foundation, the other 
 at the setting up of the gates of the 
 city. History shews an unbroken ful- 
 filment of the Scriptures. It cannot be 
 denied that much learning and enmity 
 have for many years been arrayed 
 agamst the Bible : it is something to 
 say that no serious attempt has ever 
 been made by infidels to prove it guilty of 
 broken promises. III. The bad influ- 
 ences of unholy associations. It was in 
 tlie days of Altai) tluit Hiel built Jericho, 
 and the man himself was a IjetheUte, 
 In the city where Jeroboam had set up 
 his calf, making the place a metro- 
 polis of idolatry ; and during the reign 
 of Ahab, " who did more to provoke the 
 120 
 
 God of Israel to anger than all the kings 
 of Israel that were before him ; " there 
 and then did Hiel build Jericho. Thia 
 single sentence of history is one of 
 God's many and everlasting monuments, 
 erected in solemn protest against our 
 association with wicked men ; and from 
 north, south, east, and west there looks 
 out from the grim column this inscrip- 
 tion, " Stand not in the way of sinners." 
 IV. The power of unbelief, when it 
 is once seriously entertained. When 
 Abiram died, it might have been thought 
 that Hiel would have desisted ; tho 
 curse was seen to be efi'ective : yet this 
 miserable man appears to have gone on 
 building, losing, as some think, other 
 children while the work was proceeding, 
 and seeing his youngest child expire 
 when he had set up the gates of the 
 city. What must have been his feelings 
 while disobedience and death were thus 
 working together ? We do not know ; 
 this we know, the early death, or deaths, 
 did not prevent the continuation of the 
 work. It is hard to win men from 
 carelessness ; it is still harder to rescue 
 them from cultivated unbelief. 
 
 "The imprecation upon Jericho; 
 
 (1) a well-deserved sentence; hence 
 
 (2) fulfilled as a prophetic word, when 
 Hiel again built the city. 
 
 " Rather bless than curse, because 
 we are Christians. Men not to be 
 cursed, but only sin." [Lanye.^ 
 
 The curse on Jericho, though ful- 
 filled on Hiel and his children, seems 
 to have been absolutely and definitely 
 removed in the time of Elisha, and by 
 that prophet, about twenty-two years 
 after the city was rebuilt (cf. 2 Kings 
 ii. 19—22). The school of the pro- 
 phets at Jericho (cf. 2 Kings ii. 5) may 
 not have been in the Jericho that Hiel 
 built, but in the city which we have 
 supposed to have been built on an ad- 
 jacent site, and assigned by Joshua to 
 the tribe of Benjamin (Josh, xviii. 21). 
 If this were so, there was no recogni- 
 tion by God, or by godly men, of the 
 city which Hiel built on the original 
 site, nnlil after the curse iras ronoved 
 by Divine direction. After the curse 
 was thus removed, the city became 
 
CHAP. VI. 
 
 HOMILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 again famous, and was conspicuous as 
 the scene of several of our Lord's mira- 
 culous works. Taken in this light, the 
 history suggests the following impor- 
 tant subject : — 
 
 The Cukse of Sin and its Divine 
 Removal. 
 I. The occasion of sin's curse. 
 
 I. The curse of sin ever comes hy man. 
 It is not arbitrary. God does not pro- 
 nounce it on men because He has any 
 pleasure in human pain and death. He 
 swears by His own existence that this 
 is not the case : " As I live, saith the 
 Lord God, I have no pleasure in the 
 death of the wicked." So far from 
 that, the Scriptures represent God as 
 "grieved" on account of human sin 
 and woe. Jesus Christ, who is the 
 image of God, weeps at the grave of 
 Lazarus, and over the coming desola- 
 tion of Jerusalem. As we have been 
 told, God is 
 
 " Not in blessedness supernal. 
 Sitting easy on a tlu-one, 
 Dealing sorrow out to others, 
 "With no sorrow of His own." 
 
 Rather let us remember that " In all 
 our afflictions He is afflicted." 2. The 
 curse of sin is only pronoitnced after plain 
 learnings. It was so in Eden : God 
 said, " In the day that thou eatest 
 thereof thou shalt surely die," before 
 He spake the curse which followed the 
 fall. It was so with these Canaanites, 
 who had been warned solemnly and 
 often. 3. The curse of sin is, after all, 
 full of mercy. Sin could have no se- 
 verer curse than to remain uncursed. 
 Not only of necessity, but also of love, 
 *' sin worketh death," Death is within 
 sin, as fruit is within the plant : that 
 being so. Divine Love itself could do 
 nothing more gentle, and nothing more 
 kind, than to threaten punishment, and 
 sometimes to inflict it from without. 
 
 II. The fulfilment of sin's curse (cf. 
 1 Kings xvi. 34). This fulfilment is : 
 1. Sometimes long delayed. Hiel's pun- 
 ishment was five hundred and thirty 
 years after Joshua's execration. 2. iV.i-- 
 ceediny hitter. Hiel's punishment seems 
 more painful than if he had himself 
 died. 3. Falls on men not only directly, 
 but representatively. This, in the case 
 
 of Hiel's children, was only symbolical 
 of the usual and essential consequence 
 of sin : " By one man sin entered into 
 the world, and so death passed upon all 
 men." If the children of this Bethelite 
 died in infancy, we who believe that the 
 infants of both dispensations are saved, 
 can think of no greater mercy to them. 
 The chastisement is on the father, who 
 wronged himself, and, in an earthly 
 sense, wronged them also ; while the 
 children are taken from the evil to come 
 to a Father who wipes all tears from 
 the eyes of all who dwell with Him. 
 4. Faithful to the Divine ivord. Hiel's 
 punishment tells how not one jot or 
 one tittle of what God says passes away 
 until all is fulfilled. III. The removal 
 of sin's curse (cf. 2 Kings ii. 19 — 22). 
 The people who lived in the city which 
 Hiel rebuilt seem to have suffered se- 
 verely till God annulled the curse 
 through Elisha. When God removes 
 the curse of sin. He makes it as though 
 no curse had ever been. He takes it 
 away entirely. He forgets that it has 
 ever been : " Their sins and their ini- 
 quities will I remember no more." The 
 Saviour throughout His ministry treats 
 this city as though it had never known 
 the curse. Here Jesus healed blind 
 Bartima3us and his fellow-sufferer ; there 
 Zaccha)us was told of Him who had 
 come to seek and to save that which 
 was lost, and heard his Lord say to 
 him personally, " This day is salvation 
 come to thine house." Not least, it 
 was on an incident occurring on the way 
 down to Jericho that our Lord founded 
 the parable of the Good Samaritan. 
 Thus graciously does God take away 
 the curse of sin, and enable His ser- 
 vants to say, " Where sin abounded, 
 grace did much more abound ; that as 
 sin hath reigned unto death, even so 
 might grace reign through righteous- 
 ness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ 
 our Lord." 
 
 Although quite unsuitable for homi- 
 Ictical purposes, the reader is referred 
 to the article on " Barrenness " in 
 Calmet's Dictionary, for an exposition 
 of the passage in 2 Kings ii. 19 — 22 ; 
 and also to the remarks of Josephus, 
 Wars, iv. 8. 3. It will be noticed that 
 
 127 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. chap. vii. 
 
 Josephus plainly distinguislies between in the presence of temptation (verse 
 
 <' the old city, which Joshua took the 22) ; (6) Their fame will eventually 
 
 first of all the cities of the land," and be as apparent as their faithfulness 
 
 an adjacent Jericho, thus supporting (verse 27). They will say A\dth Paul, 
 
 the remarks previously made on this " Thanks be to God who leads me on 
 
 yerse. from place to place in the train of His 
 
 triumph, to celebrate the victory over 
 Verse 27. When the Lord is with the enemies of Christ ; and by mo sends 
 His servants, (1) Their methods of ser- forth the knowledge of Him, a steam 
 vice will appear singular to the world of fragi'ant incense throughout the 
 (verses 9 — 16) ; (2) Their triumphs world. For Christ's is the fragrance 
 will be manifest, notwithstanding all which I offer up to God, whether 
 obstacles (verse 20) ; (3) Their obedi- among those in the way of salvation 
 ence will be complete, even where difS- (as with Rahab), or among those in the 
 cult (verse 21) ; (4) Their mercy and way of perdition (as with the Canaan- 
 integrity will be conspicuous in the ites) ; but to these it is an odour of 
 midst of indignation (verses 22, 23) ; death, to those of life." [Conyheare's 
 (5) Their consecration will be thorough Paraphrase, 2 Cor. ii. 14 — 16.] 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 TROUBLE IN THE LORD'S CAMP. 
 
 Critical Notes. — 1. Committed a trespass] Z^Y., "deceived a deceit." The meaning of the 
 verb is to cover, as with a garment, thence to act deceitfully or treacherously. The sin of this 
 single member of Israel is put as the transgi'cssion of the whole body. Achan] Called, in 
 1 C'hron. ii. 7, Achar, the troublcr of Israel. '' Josephus also calls him "Axa/Jos for the same 
 reason ; the Vat. Cod. of the LXX. reads "Axap, the Alex. 'Axdv " (Keil). Son of Zabdi] 
 Zabdi, in 1 C'hron. ii. G, is given as Zimri, which latter form is thought to be an error of 
 transcription. 2. Ai] The same as Hai in Gen. xii. 8; siii. 3, usually mentioned with Bethel. 
 A small population returned to Ai from the captivity (Ez. ii. 28 ; Neh. vii. 32). In Neh. xi. 31, 
 it is called Aija; and in Isa. x. 28, Aiath; while in Josh, xviii. 23 it is apparently the same 
 place which is called Avim. Bethaven] The situation is uncertain. From this verse, it 
 cannot, as some have thought, have been " another name for Bethel." Kitto thinks that in 
 Hosea x. 5, Bcthaven. " the hovse of cmirtincxs" is put in dcrison for Bethel, " the house of 
 Gocir 3. They are but few] The number is given in chap. viii. 25, as twelve thousand. 
 Judging by the small force sent against the city, the spies seem to have been mistaken in 
 their estimate of the inhabitants. 5. Unto Shebarim] '• Probably stone quai'ries ; it is evidently 
 a proper name, as the Vulgate, Arabic, and most commentators agree, belonging to some 
 locality between Ai and Jericho" (Kcil). "Or, by translation, to the hrolivn places, i.e., ^.(i 
 the steep broken sides of the Mutyah " (Crosby). 6. Kent his clothes . . . put dust upon 
 their heads] Both are ancient and common signs of mourning. They were practised among 
 the Greeks and Komans. as well as among the Jews. With Joshua and the elders they were 
 indicative of humiliation before God. 11. Have also stolen and dissembled, etc.] To steal 
 devoted things was solemnly sinful ; every moment of hiding was a moment in which the 
 guilt of theft was perpetuated and repeated in the conscience, in addition to which all Israel 
 was being deceived and wi'onged ; but the sin mentioned last, as though that were the greatest 
 sin of all, was that of putting the devoted things " even among their own stuff," and thus 
 shewing a determination to appropriate to private uses what was under the awful ban of Gud. 
 14. Brought according to your tribes] lleh., " be brought near," probably near to the Ark — 
 near to tlic 1)1 vine I'resencc. Jehovah Himself would solemnly discover the offender. The tribe 
 which the Lord taketh, etc.] This is the process of election by lot, and was frequently 
 pursued, sometimes for widely different purposes than that of discovering the guilty (cf. 
 1 Sam. X. 20—22, xiv. 10—43 ; 1 Chron. xxiv. 5 ; Acts i. 26). The land of Canaan was divided 
 in this manner among the tribes, and Jonah was discovered similarly, when he fled to Tai'shish. 
 21. A goodly Babylonish garment] JAt. " A cloak of Shinar," Shinar being the ancient name 
 f(ir the land of Babylon (Gen. x. 10). These garments have the reputation of having been 
 highly wrought works of art. I'liny. Ili&t. Nat., Ub. viii., c. 48. says of them, " Colores diversos 
 picturae vestium intcxerc Babylon "raaxime celebravit et nomen imposuit." Josephus {Ant. v. 
 1. 10), says that the robe hidden by Achan was " a royal garment woven entirely of gold." 
 A wedge of gold] Marg., " a tongue " of gold. " What we commonly call an higot of gold, u 
 fi-om a corruption of the word lingot, signifying a little tongue " (Clarke). " The value of the 
 128 
 
IIOMILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 silver, reckoned at 5i?. per oz.. would be nearly £28; and the ingot of gold would, at £4 
 per oz., be worth rather more than £90. An estimate of this kind must however be very 
 uncertain, because we are unacquainted with the value which precious metals l^ore in <^e time 
 of Joshua" (Kitto). 23. Laid them out before the Lord] i)/ar/7. = poured them oat. They 
 were thus poured out before Jehovah, in token that they had been made cherem, and belonged 
 unto Him. 24. All that he had] Inordinary matters, toicchinrj the national welfare, theiaw 
 provided that the children should not " be put to death for the fathers " (Deut. xxiv. 16), but 
 this can hardly be used as an argument to prove that the family of Achan could not have 
 been slain, (a) God might well reserve to Himself a right with which human discrimination 
 and mercy were not to be trusted, {b) The awful solemnity vnth which the lian of devote- 
 ment was regai'ded places it in an exceptional position, {c) This was a wrong deliberately 
 done to God, as well as to the nation, and thus had featm-es which might take it out of 
 ordinary law. From versos 15, 25, vnih chap. xxii. 20, it seems that all the family of Achan 
 were put to death. They may have been privy to Achan's sin, but this is not stated. Nothing 
 is more solemn and emphatic throughout the whole chapter than the representative character 
 given to the entire transaction. Even the camp of Israel was counted to be devoted till the 
 iniquity was purged from out of their midst, and the thirty-six men who were slain in battle 
 were as much made ckerem as Achan himself. 26. The valley of Achor] This was doubtless 
 so called from Achan's sin and punishment. Is it not also probable that the man took his 
 name fi'om his sin, and thus is literally known by his deeds ? It seems unlikely that Achan 
 would have borne such a name before his transgression, nor would the coincidence, had he 
 been known all his life as " the troubler," be less singular. Instead of playing on the man's 
 original name, in verse 25, does not Joshua bitterly and graphically so describe the act, that 
 the term of description henceforth becomes the appellation by which the man is known in 
 Israel, and thus also the name under which the historian refers hack to so much of his life aa 
 is noticed ? From Isa. Ixv. 10 and Hoseaii. 15, it is evident that this solemn judgment made 
 a deep impression, and took a lasting hold of the national mind. 
 
 MAIN H0MILETIC8 OF THE PARAGRAPH.^Verses 1—5. 
 
 The First Repulse. 
 I. The separation which comes through sin. "The anger of the Lord was 
 kindled against the children of Israel." Jehovah, who till now had been in alliance 
 with them, " was tui'ned to be their enemy." Their sins had separated between 
 them and their God. The sepai-ating power of sin is one of its chief and most 
 disastrous features. Sin is disintegrating ; where holiness tends to join together 
 in the blessedness of a beautiful unity, sin rends, and divides, and isolates, and thus 
 desolates all through God's fair world. Sin is that ingredient from the devil's 
 laboratory, which, thrown into the cup of creation's happiness, precipitates all that 
 which otherwise would hold men and things together in the solution of a perpetual 
 joy. It disturbs at once the unity, the beauty, and the peace of a world. 1. Sin 
 separates betiveen men, irrespectire of character. It rends society, and revolutionises 
 kingdoms; it breaks up families, divides churches, brings to an end partnerships 
 in business, discharges the servant from his master, and has no more regard for 
 unity in a palace than in a cottage. 2. Sin separates between (jood men and had. 
 It is a kind of perpetual judgment, through which, already, the sheep are being 
 set on the right hand and the goats on the left. The sinful man withdraws himself 
 from the righteous by preference, and the righteous from the sinful for protection, 
 lest, standing in the way of sinners, he should become as one of them. Each, 
 being let go, joins his " own company." 3. Much more must sin separate hetireen 
 God and the wicked. The polar regions cannot be reconciled to the tropics ; the 
 night cannot make the same hours a common home, and dwell together within 
 them in amity mth the day ; spotless purity cannot be at one with defilement ; 
 much less can He who is the source of all warmth and light and love and goodness 
 and truth have fellowship with the powers of darkness and evil. II. The blind- 
 ness which comes through sin. God was not with the spies to enlighten and 
 guide them, and therefore they were deceived (verse 3). In the next battle the 
 strength of the people and place is very diflerently estimated. Instead of sending 
 three thousand, Joshua selects at least thirty thousand men, five thousand of 
 whom are detached to form an ambush on the west side of the city, while he him- 
 
 K 129 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. chap. vii. 
 
 self appears to lead the remainder into the midst of the valley. While the former 
 defeat would induce extra precautions, God had evidently suffered the judgment 
 of both Joshua and the spies to become obscured when about to make this first 
 attack on Ai. No such mistake was made in the matter of Jericho, either by the 
 spies whom Rahab sheltered, or by any of the leaders of Israel. This is but an 
 incidental illustration of an ever-recurring fact : sin is ever leaving men in obscu- 
 rity, or actually deadening their perceptive powers. 1. God still refuses to rfrant 
 His liijht to such as choose to icalk in the darkness of sin. Those only does He 
 guide with His eye, who have learned to say, " Our eyes are up unto Thee." 
 2. Sin, in itself, works blindness. They who do God's will shall know of His doc- 
 trine, and also of His ways. III. The weakness which comes through sin. 
 The conflict at Jericho is an exposition of the words of Paul, " I can do all things 
 through Christ which strengtheneth me ; " the conflict at Ai is an exposition of 
 the utterance of the Lord Himself, " Without Me ye can do nothing." We learn 
 in one battle that nothing is too hard for the Lord ; in the other, that little is 
 sufiiciently easy for men. When God departed from the Israelites, that clause 
 entered most naturally into the history, " They fled before the men of Ai." 
 IV. The wide-spread suffering which comes through sin. " The men of Ai smote 
 of them about thu-ty and six men," and presently Achan and his family fall by the 
 hands of their own brethren. The entire camp of Israel was made to sufler by 
 reason of Achan's transgression. 1. Sin brings loss and ruin. All its gains have 
 presently to be returned. 2. Sin produces fear. This is not only so among those 
 who know not God, but equally so among God's people. They have but to trans- 
 gress, and their hearts, also, "melt and become as water." 3. Sin works shame. 
 The Israelites are humbled before their enemies, Joshua is humbled before his 
 brethren, Achan's family have the shame of knowing that their deadliest foe is of 
 their own household, and Achan himself is humbled in the deepest shame of all. 
 This thief has to feel that he is bankrupt for his pains ; this father, that he is child- 
 less by his own folly ; this soldier, that he has brought defeat on his country ; 
 this Israelite, that his name must do worse than perish out from among his people — 
 that he must henceforth be known as "the troubler " of his nation. 4. Sin, let 
 it work what it may prerioushj, has its ultimate issues in nothing less than death. 
 " Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." It ends thus with Achan and 
 his family, thus with the thirty-six men who were slain, thus with myriads more ; 
 and but for Him who redeems souls from the power of the grave, it would have 
 this for its ultimate issue in every member of the human race. 
 
 OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VERSES. 
 
 Verse 1. — Corporate Responsibility, to demand a philosophical explanation 
 Achan sinned, and it is said, The of its basis and working ; but no man 
 children of Israel committed a trespass; should rail against religious people in 
 for some time, no man out of Achan's general because some religious people 
 household knew of his wickedness, yet fail to enlighten him, lest he lay himself 
 it is written. The anger of the Lord was open to the charge of blaming a whole 
 kindled against the children of Israel, community because of the offence of 
 The act of this one man brings penal some, and thus shew that his own 
 consequences on all the host, and Je- sociology has the same dogma as the 
 hovah is said to have regarded the sin theology which he so readily vilifies in 
 of the one as the transgression of all. others. The explanation of the difficulty 
 However difficult it may be to satisfac- must not be sought in any arbitrary 
 torily define and illustrate the principle dogma imposed on men from without, 
 on which accountability of this kind but in that inherent and essential one- 
 rests, there can be no doubt of its almost ness which every one practically believes 
 universal acceptance by men. It is easy to pertain to every form of organic 
 to clamour against it theologically, and unity. It is just because it is impos&ible 
 130 
 
CHAP. VII. 
 
 HOMILETIG COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 for it to be otherwise, that it becomes 
 fooHsh to inveigh against this principle. 
 Let a body be made up of limbs or 
 individuals, let it be held together by 
 joints that are physical, by interests 
 that are pecuniary, or by ties that are 
 social, responsibility cannot be disbursed 
 between its particular joints or ties so 
 as to fall singly on the culpable member, 
 but must be attached to the body as a 
 whole. In practical life, men find abso- 
 lutely no alternative from this law. It 
 can hardly be other than weak to stigma- 
 tise as an arbitrary dogma that which 
 all men find to be inherent and unavoid- 
 able. Because it so pertains to bodies, 
 as such, it may be better to term it 
 corporate than representative account- 
 ability. It will be sufficient, here, to 
 indicate its wide-spread adoption by 
 men for the purposes of daily life. 
 
 I. Corporate responsibility is adopted 
 in the intercourse of nations. It is 
 recognised between civilised nations. 
 Let one of our ambassadors abroad offer 
 an insult to the government to which 
 he is accredited, and that government 
 would interpret it as the insult of 
 England, reparation for which would be 
 counted due from our country. If vio- 
 lence were committed by the vessel of 
 a foreign nation to a vessel, or to any 
 person on board a vessel, sailing under 
 the English flag, England would hold 
 herself to have suffered that violence, 
 and would look for apology and acknow- 
 ledgment, not from the ofiicers or crew 
 of the offending vessel, but from the 
 government from which they came. In 
 the Alabama case, America held herself 
 to have suffered loss by England, and 
 did not concern herself with the firm 
 which built the vessel ; nor could this 
 country, without some intervention, 
 have suffered any harm to have been 
 done to members of that firm, even 
 though they had been found travelling 
 in America prior to the settlement of 
 the claims ; for, just as offending chil- 
 dren must be dealt -with by strangers 
 through their parents, so must offending 
 subjects be dealt with through their 
 governments. Nor are these principles 
 in any measure the outcome of an over- 
 ^vrought civilization ; they are of equal 
 force among barbarians, and assert 
 
 themselves with the same emphasis in 
 the intercourse of savages. Every mis- 
 sionary and inoffensive European, who 
 has been slain by natives in the South 
 Sea Islands, and elsewhere, because of 
 the wicked wrongs perpetrated by Euro- 
 peans who have preceded them, furnishes 
 an instance in point. Failing to reach 
 those actually guilty, the savages have 
 sought to avenge themselves by punish- 
 ing men of the same community. Let 
 a man in one tribe of North American 
 Indians have offered in past years insult 
 and injury to the member of another 
 tribe, and the fierce war whoop would 
 have proclaimed that in creeds savage 
 as well as in creeds civilised there stood 
 for an article of faith that ineradicable 
 dogma of the universal conscience — The 
 sin of a member is the offence of the 
 body. It is not the sin of the body, 
 excepting indirectly, unless the body 
 condone it in the member, or refuse to 
 make reparation to those who are in- 
 jured. Indirectly, the body may also 
 have moral participation in the guilt; 
 it may be a remote party to the sin, 
 through not having done its duty in 
 training the member, through not having 
 exercised sufficient care in selecting that 
 member for the service under which he 
 was tempted to sin, or through not 
 having restrained him in some stage 
 prior to the commission of the sin. Yet, 
 although there may be little moral partici- 
 pation by the body when a member of it 
 sins, the body must be, and is universally 
 held to be, responsible for the conse- 
 quences of the wrong done. It is per- 
 fectly in harmony with the world's own 
 practice that, when Achan sins, God 
 should be angry ^vith Israel. II. Cor- 
 porate responsibility is admitted in 
 family and social life. If the servant 
 of a master, or firm, or company drive 
 recklessly, and cause an accident, the 
 employers of that servant are held by 
 law to be responsible. Here the hability 
 is pecuniari/, though there might still 
 be a measure of moral guilt, such as 
 would arise from employing the servant 
 without taking reasonable care to ascer- 
 tain his efficiency, before employing him 
 in a service which might prove danger- 
 ous or injurious to others. If however- 
 a child grow up a thief, or is presently 
 
 181 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 
 executed for murder, society holds all 
 the family to be disgraced. The penalty 
 exacted from the father and mother of 
 the murderer is far more than pecu- 
 niary ; nor does this arise merely from 
 the supposed neglect of such parents in 
 training the child who ultimately com- 
 mitted murder, for the very children of 
 such a murderer would also bo held by 
 society to be disgraced, and they would 
 feel that disgrace tbemselves, whether 
 society were lenient to them or harsh. 
 If a man were to join for a single hour 
 a party of ten burglars, and one of the 
 burglars during that hour were to com- 
 mit murder, each man would be held in 
 law Hable to capital punishment, not 
 excepting the man who became merely 
 for the hour a member of the nefarious 
 body. III. Corporate responsibility 
 is the foundation of many exhortations 
 and reproofs which are addressed to 
 the Church of Christ. Every appeal 
 made to Christians not to disgrace the 
 Church, or to bring shame on the name 
 of Jesus, and every reproof to any who 
 have thus sinned, is based on the uni- 
 versal conviction that the sin of a 
 member is rightly held to disgrace the 
 entire community. Even the sacred 
 name of the Saviour is held not to be 
 exempt from these inexorable and far- 
 reaching penalties. Peter and Judas, 
 in the days of the ministry, could bring 
 dishonour upon Him ; and we, who 
 live now, are exhorted not to become 
 of them who " crucify to themselves 
 the Son of God afresh, and put Him to 
 an open shame." IV. Corporate re- 
 sponsibility is made the basis of deli- 
 verance in the case of every one who 
 is spiritually saved. "As in Adam 
 all die, even so in Christ shall all be 
 made alive. Through the first head 
 of the race, sin and death came upon 
 all, and the former of these penalties is 
 no less severe than the latter : through 
 Him who became by His own grace 
 and righteousness the second head of 
 the race, holiness and eternal life are 
 given for a heritage to every member 
 of His body. Only those are lost who 
 detach themselves from Ilim by sin and 
 unbelief. Coming into the race as its 
 second head, it is not merely those 
 who accept Him that are saved, but all 
 1^2 
 
 who do not reject Him, that is, little 
 children. The first head carried its 
 penalty of death to all belonging to the 
 body ; the second head carries, no less, 
 to all who do not reject Him the gift of 
 life. In each case, the body follows 
 its head, and for those who choose to 
 renounce Christ, after they have entered 
 into this natural life under His head- 
 ship, there remains nothing but the old 
 head and the old doom. 
 
 The Anger of God. 
 " God's anger is not an ebullition of 
 blind passion, but a holy displeasure 
 against the unrighteousness of men. 
 When this unrighteousness is removed, 
 God's anger ceases, as verse 26 shews. 
 All which has been injuriously said con- 
 cerning the blood-thirsty and wrathful 
 God of the Old Testament rests on a 
 failure to apprehend this holy displeasure 
 of God against the unrighteousness of 
 men. That brings upon them indeed 
 judgment and penalty, but never goes 
 so far as to shut up His compassion. 
 . . . Eternal justice, which belongs as 
 a constitutive element to the nature of 
 God, without which we cannot conceive 
 of any government at all of the world, 
 is constantly limited by His love. But, 
 conversely. His love towards men is not 
 a blind love, but rather a truly paternal 
 affection which leaves no fault, no trans- 
 gression of His commands, unrcproved. 
 Both justice and love co-exist in God, 
 and are mutually blended in Him with 
 an interpenetration of the most intimate, 
 highest, absolute kind. Hence the 
 jurists may say : Fiat justitia pcreat 
 mundus ! God never has and never 
 can." [Lange.] 
 
 " There is a community amongst men 
 that are of the same society, every one 
 being a part of the body, so that what 
 evil he does, he does not as one alone 
 by himself, but as a part of the body 
 whereof he is a member." [AuguMine.'\ 
 
 God not only knows every trans- 
 gressor's name, but each transgressor's 
 history. The fathers, the tribe, the 
 training, and all the surroundings of a 
 sinner arc naked and open to the eyes 
 of Him with wlmm wo have to do. 
 
CHAP. VII. 
 
 HOMILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 Verses 2 — 4. — Man's Unconscious- 
 ness OF God's Absence. 
 
 I. Here are men working together 
 for God, but not with God. God bad 
 
 withdrawn Himself from the Israelites. 
 Even if still present in the camp, the 
 Lord bad ceased to work with any of 
 the people. I. To he doing God's icork 
 is not a sufficient (juarantee of having 
 God's help. The people were as much 
 engaged in doing the work of the Lord 
 when they attacked Ai as when they 
 destroyed Jericho; yet the Lord, who 
 was with them in the one case, refused 
 to accompany them in the other. We 
 see {a) Joshua sending out spies, while 
 be himself is not moved to do this by 
 God ; {b) the spies searching in God's 
 cause, but without God's guidance ; 
 (c) the three thousand Israelites fight- 
 ing God's battle, but none of them 
 having God's assistance. 2. God's pre- 
 sence with us in the p)ast is no sufficient 
 guarantee of His contimial 2^''(^seuce. 
 The marvellous passage of the Jordan, 
 and the magnificent triumph at Jericho, 
 were but things of yesterday, and in- 
 disputably God was with them there ; 
 yet neither the one nor the other, nor 
 both, prevented God's absence and 
 Israel's defeat at Ai. We need manifest 
 grace for each day of our lives. Yester- 
 day's mercies may have been large, and 
 should be long and gladly borne in 
 mind, but we need also the assurance 
 of to-day that God is with us. Yet lot 
 no one think that these temporary 
 withdrawings of God furnish an argu- 
 ment for the doctrine that He withdraws 
 from His people perpetually. The 
 truth or falsity of that must be settled 
 elsewhere, not here. The history at 
 Ai distinctly shews that God does but 
 forsake Israel for a time, that He may 
 again come to them in even more than 
 the closeness of the former union. The 
 very design of the absence is to provide 
 for Jehovah's future presence. 3. The 
 godliness of ang part of a body of the 
 Lord's people is no sufficient guarantee 
 of the Lord's fellowship and co-operation 
 with that body. Joshua, and the rest of 
 the leaders, and the general multitude 
 of the people probably loved God more 
 than ever. Their hearts were warm 
 with gratitude for the wonderful help 
 
 of the past, and filled with hope in the 
 Lord as to the future. We can think 
 of no time in all their previous history 
 when the people were likely to be so 
 close in union and ardent fellowship 
 with God as after the fall of Jericho. 
 Yet because one man, and perhaps his 
 family, had broken covenant with God, 
 God bad turned against all Israel. 
 One offender in a church may prevent 
 the Divine blessing from resting on that 
 church. When a church altogether 
 walks in holiness, it may confidently 
 expect abundant blessing from on high ; 
 but the piety of any part of that 
 church, although it be a large part, 
 may be insufficient to secure God's 
 manifest presence. The sin of one 
 member may still be held to corrupt 
 the entire body. II. Here are men 
 working together for God, and utterly 
 unconscious of God's departure from 
 their midst. One of the most solemn 
 aspects of the narrative is its revelation 
 of the complete ignorance of all the 
 people that the Lord was no longer 
 with them. Joshua was ignorant of this. 
 Apparently he sent out the spies, and 
 formed his plans for the overthrow of 
 Ai, with as much confidence as when 
 he proceeded to lay siege to the City of 
 Palm Trees, albeit on that occasion he 
 took his instructions from the Prince 
 of the host of the Lord in person. The 
 spies iverc ignorant of the Lord's de- 
 parture. Comparing their conduct with 
 that of the spies who went to search 
 out Jericho, they were as prompt to 
 undertake the work, as ready in forming 
 an opinion, and perhaps even more con- 
 fident in the judgment to which they 
 came. There is an assurance, a defi- 
 niteness, and a precision about their 
 recommendation to Joshua, given in the 
 third verse, which has nothing to cor- 
 respond with it in the recorded utterance 
 of the spies who returned from a similar 
 mission to Jericho (cf. chap. ii. 23, 
 24). The aring, also, seems to have been 
 ignorant of this terrible change that had 
 come over the camp. The people who 
 waited in their tents remained quietly, 
 and the three thousand who went up 
 to the battle seem to have gone confi- 
 dently. No one seems to have had the 
 least suspicion that Jehovah had with- 
 
 188 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 drawn from Israel. It is, perhaps, even 
 more possible for us to suffer the with- 
 drawal of the Lord's presence, and to 
 remain for some time ignorant of our 
 loss. Just as the Ai'k still remained in 
 the camp of Israel, and Eleazar the 
 high priest, with his assistants, still 
 ministered in the service of the taber- 
 nacle, thus enabling the people to think 
 that all things continued as before ; so 
 may we, as we retain our Bibles, and 
 continue our religious worship and ser- 
 vice, satisfy ourselves with the outward 
 signs of religion, while God Himself 
 is absent from us. There is no more 
 solemn feature in the sad history of 
 Samson than that brief chronicle of a 
 similar ignorance, in which we read, 
 " He awoke out of his sleep, and said, 
 I will go out as at other times before, 
 and shake myself. And he wist not 
 that the Lord was departed from him." 
 III. Here are men working together 
 for God, and learning through defeat 
 and shame and death that God is not 
 with them. This ignorance is, and can 
 be, only for a time. Samson was not 
 long in discovering his loss. Saul, also, 
 learned to cry, ' ' God is departed from 
 me." The fathers of these very Is- 
 raelites would not believe Moses when 
 he said, " Go not up, for the Lord is 
 not among you," but they speedily 
 learned how true it was, when the 
 Amalekitcs and Canaanitcs came down 
 from the hill, "and smote them, and dis- 
 comfited them even unto Hormah." So, 
 in their very first battle after the Lord's 
 departure, the Israchtes learned at Ai 
 what they had failed to discover when 
 encamped around the Ark, Yet some 
 only learned this as they fell slain in 
 the battle. Happy is he who so walks 
 and talks with God as to promptly feel 
 the loss of Divine fellowship when God 
 is no longer present ; on the other hand, 
 terrible is the lot of him who only makes 
 the discovery as he knows death to bo 
 drawing nigh, and then, like Saul, learns 
 his loss too late. 
 
 Verse 5. — The CiiANrrELEssNEss op 
 God and the Mutability of Men. 
 
 I. The apparent vicissitudes of God's 
 changelessness. God here appears to 
 have altered His mind, and to have 
 13 i 
 
 turned completely round in His relation 
 to the Israelites. From being Israel's 
 friend, "He turned to be their enemy, 
 and fought against them." What the 
 swellings of Jordan could not do, the 
 tides of wicked feeling in Achan's single 
 heart did but too effectually, — they 
 turned aside the powder of Jehovah, and 
 made it work in another direction. The 
 majestic strength which the walls of 
 Jericho were unable to resist for a mo- 
 ment, this single man both resisted and 
 reapplied. The history reveals Achan 
 as the morally weakest man of all the 
 host, and yet as the man who reverses 
 omnipotence, making it to work in the 
 direction of seeming enmity instead of 
 in the way of manifest love. So great 
 is the power of a traitor friend beyond 
 the might of an open foe, and so infi- 
 nitely beyond the force of physical 
 things is the strength of things which 
 are moral. 
 
 Thus it is that we are abruptly 
 brought face to face with what has 
 been called the seeming vicissitudes 
 of God's changelessness. In plainer 
 words, God's changeless way with men 
 is made up of apparent and Avell-rcgu- 
 lated changes. But these changes are 
 only apparent ; they are not real and 
 actual. In this instance, before Ai, 
 although it may sound paradoxical, if 
 God had not changed, He would have 
 changed, and by changing He preserved 
 His glorious immutability. If God had 
 continued to fight for Israel, He would 
 have been helping men who had gone 
 over to the side of sin ; He would have 
 been found in alliance with men who 
 had done an act of rebellion against 
 holiness and against Himself. In a 
 word, it was Israel who had turned, 
 representatively, against God, hence the 
 apparent turning of God against Israel. 
 Life is full of these seeming changes on 
 the part of God. They are all to be 
 brought to this one explanation : God 
 alters His outward relation to men, that 
 He may sacredly preserve His own im- 
 mutable way in the interests of truth 
 and righteousness and mercy. "When 
 God seems to have turned against us, it 
 is because we have changed our ground. 
 If lie followed us. He would change 
 also. He keeps on in the way of mercy 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 and truth, saying, as only He in all the 
 universe can say, "I am the Lord, I 
 change not ; therefore ye sons of Jacob 
 are not consumed." Take an illustration. 
 The ship alters its course, and the com- 
 pass changes at once ; it traverses just 
 as many points over the deck of the ship 
 as the ship itself turns away from its 
 previous bearings. And thus it is that 
 the compass remains true to itself, and 
 continues to be known as 
 
 " That trembling vassal of the Pole, 
 The feeling Compass, Navigation's soul." 
 
 It is exactly because the compass moves 
 in its relation to the veering ship that it 
 continues to be so abiding in its relation 
 to the pole. Thus it is that when Israel 
 alters its course, and actually turns back 
 on its former path, it must needs come 
 into collision with an undeviating God. 
 Thus, too, in another and more pleasant 
 instance, when Nineveh repents and 
 turns to the way of the Lord, the Lord 
 is said to " repent of the evil that He 
 had said He would do unto Nineveh." 
 The outward relation is but altered that 
 God's eternal way of love and goodness 
 may stand firm and abiding. 1. When 
 God is against us, it is because ive have got 
 where ive are against Him. If we find 
 Him "hedging up our way with thorns," 
 it is because we are in the wilderness. 
 As Bunyan puts it, if we are in the 
 hands of Despair, it is because we are 
 out of the King's highway. 2. Where 
 God is secminghj against %is, He is really 
 for vs. It would have been a curse on 
 Achan, indeed, if all things had con- 
 tinued prosperous ; not less would it 
 have cursed Achan's family and all 
 Israel. The people would have learned 
 that they could sin with impunity, and 
 yet conquer triumphantly as ever. It 
 was Mercy that pleaded for defeat, and 
 for judgment on Achan ; and just be- 
 cause God's love was so deep and true, 
 the warning became so solemn and 
 bitter. II. The mutability of human 
 life. 1. The entire j>rospects of a mans 
 life may he suddenly altered by himself. 
 While God remains thus true, the re- 
 versal of our prosperity will be as sudden 
 as our departures from Him. This may 
 
 not always be manifest. God does not 
 always reveal His changed attitude in 
 our altered temporal life. For other 
 reasons than those appearing in this 
 battle before Ai, He sometimes lets " the 
 wicked flourish." Yet just as abruptly 
 as men turn aside into ways of sin, will 
 God ever turn aside theu' real prosperity. 
 2. The position and irrospects of a man's 
 life may he as suddenly changed by others. 
 Achan brings defeat on all Israel. So 
 long as we participate in the profits of 
 fellowship with men, we must also suffer 
 the penalties. Every corporate body, 
 with an identity of interest, is a kind of 
 ^ firm ; the members associate and unite 
 in view of certain advantages, and they 
 cannot do this without a joint responsi- 
 bility common to them all. Thus may 
 an individual bring shame and loss on a 
 host. III. The unswerving influence 
 of man's sin. 1. Si}i ever tends towards 
 defeat. It may not seem to do this, but 
 it at once begins to work in that direc- 
 tion, and in that only. 2. Defeat which 
 conies through sin invariably ivorks fear. 
 All defeat does not bring fear. Some- 
 times it stimulates. But when men 
 have to trace failure to their transgres- 
 sions against God, fear is the certain 
 result. In such a case, it matters not 
 whether they are Canaanites or Israel- 
 ites, unbelievers or Christians, the same 
 record serves for the history of all, 
 " Wherefore the hearts of the people 
 melted, and became as water." 
 
 *'At Jericho, Jehovah had shewn 
 Himself to be merciful. At Ai, Ho 
 magnified Himself as the just One, who 
 will not allow His laws to be broken 
 with impunity." [Hciverniek.^ 
 
 " It is not good to contemn an impo- 
 tent enemy. In the second battle the 
 Israelites are beaten. It was not the 
 fewness of their assailants that over- 
 threw them, but the sin that lay lurking 
 at home. If all the host of Israel had 
 set upon this poor village of Ai, they 
 had been equally discomfited : tho 
 wedge of Achan did more fight against 
 them than all the swords of the Canaan- 
 ites. The victories of God go not by 
 strength, but by innocence. [Dp. Hall.'] 
 
 135 
 
IIOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. chap. ^^I. 
 
 . MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PABAGBAPH.— Verses 6—9. 
 
 Defeated and Peaying. 
 Defeat is very painful when it comes to us as a first experience. The child, the 
 business man, the soldier, each is troubled to bear his first humiliation of being 
 beaten. When Adam was overcome for the first time, he hid himself When 
 Robert Hall failed in his early cfl'orts to preach Christ, he cried, " If this does 
 not humble me, the devil will have me." When Joshua was beaten back before 
 the men of Ai, he, and the ciders of Israel with him, fell before the Ark in humilia- 
 tion and prayer. I. We see the lord's servant acknowledging defeat. Joshua 
 felt that he had been sent on Jehovah's mission, that he had the prestige of former 
 help from on high and of previous victories, and that he had gone up to this fresh 
 conflict in the strength of Divine promises which hitherto had never failed him. 
 1. Think of the connection hetxveen the defeat of the godhj and the confession of such 
 defeat before God. The fii'st Napoleon is reported to have said of our soldiers, 
 *' The worst of those English fellows is, they never know when they are beaten." 
 That may be a good thing to say of bravery in earthly service and conflicts, but 
 it must not be said of the soldiers of Christ. When the Lord is gone over against 
 them, and defeat succeeds separation from Him, they can have no more fatal trait 
 of character than that proud stubbornness which refuses to own that the battle 
 has resulted in their overthrow, {a) All actual defeat, to a Chi-istian man, is from 
 God. God permits it, or occasions it. This is so in business life ; in family life ; 
 in Christian life ; in Christian work, [h) Defeat being always from God, should 
 ever be carried to God. Joshua falls before the Ark. Low at their Father's feet ; 
 that is the place for His beaten childi-en. They will learn the reason of defeat as 
 they He there. Thus, when the beaten disciples at the foot of the mount of 
 transfiguration fail to heal the boy with the dumb spirit, and confess their failure 
 before the Saviour, they soon learn the cause of their humiliation. They had 
 only to ask, " Why could not we cast him out ? " and the answer came at once, 
 " Because of your unbelief" 2. Think of the relation of defeat to humility. Joshua 
 rent his clothes, and fell on his face, and put dust on his head. Thus he, and the 
 elders of Israel, fasted and humbled themselves all the rest of the day until the 
 evening. They took the way common to the time and country in which to express 
 their humiliation. These usual forms were merely the vehicle in which they came 
 with humbled hearts to God. We need not take the same forms. It does not 
 matter what the vehicle is, if it only be suSicient to carry our hearts in true humi- 
 lity to the mercy-seat. But all defeat in the Lord's war should work lowliness of 
 mind. It is for this that each defeat is sent. Grosart has noticed that there was 
 " a kind of ascending scale " in our Lord's temptations in the desert. This seems 
 to have been the case. The temptations both in physical position and moral 
 intensity seem to lie successively on higher gi-ound. For the first temptation, 
 " Jesus was led vp of the spirit into the wilderness ;" the second temptation was 
 higher still, — it was " on a pinnacle of the temple ;" the third was highest of all, 
 — it was "up into an exceeding high mountain." And with this idea of physical 
 elevation there is a concurrent gradation of intensity in the temptations them- 
 selves. The first temptation is to Avork a miracle on the stones to satisfy bodihi 
 hiauier ; the second is to make a sensuous demonstration in order to secvme speedy 
 success to His work; the third is to take the short road to u)iirers(d poicer by 
 meeting sin and the devil half-way. Our temptations, also, intensify as we go 
 up. Let us not refuse to take the lowly position to which God ever invites us by 
 our defeats. He puts us low on the ground at His feet, just because in our present 
 state we could not bear the greater ordeal of the higher position to which wo 
 should be brought by further success. When God brings us down, we should 
 learn to lie down ; that ia the safest place for the present, and the quickest way 
 up as concerning the future. 3. Tliink (f the effect of defeat upon Joshua's faith. 
 When defeat came, Joshua was utterly surprised. His faith in God was so simple, 
 136 
 
CHAP. VII. HOMILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 and yet so strong, that he had no room for a lost battle. The chief feeling, 
 perhaps, which impresses us on reading his prayer, is his utter astonishment at 
 the repulse. We think our faith great Avhen we believe in a victory that comes. 
 "My husband is to be converted to-day," said f)n American Christian woman to 
 her minister. " How do you know that ? " asked he. And then the believing 
 wife told how she had been praying, and how, although her husband shewed no 
 sign of repentance, the assurance had taken firm hold of her heart that he would 
 that day be brought to Christ. Her minister testifies that the man was converted 
 on that selfsame day, and, in an exposition of some verses in the previous chapter, 
 narrates the incident, as it would probably strike most modern believers, as an 
 instance of gi'eat faith. Joshua's faith had room for nothing but victories. We 
 are surprised at one success ; he was overwhelmed with shame and confusion 
 when he was not triumphant everywhere. How this trust of the men who knew 
 not a verse of our Gospels, and who had no Cross in which to glory, should put 
 our small faith to shame ! We ought to live so in the faith of Him who died for 
 us, that defeat should make us stand aghast with astonishment, and then fall 
 low in the dust with humiliation. It is said that a few years ago a young engineer 
 was being examined for graduation, when his examiner proposed the following 
 question : " Suppose you have a steam pump constructed for a ship, under your 
 own supervision, and know that everything is in perfect working order, yet, when 
 you throw out the hose, it will not draw. What should you think ? " "I should 
 think, sir, there must be a defect somewhere." " But such a conclusion is not 
 admissible ; for the supposition is that everything is perfect, and yet that the 
 pump will not work." " Then, sir," replied the student, " I should look over the 
 side to see if the river had run dry." We profess to believe in the omnipotence 
 of the Spirit, and that the Spirit has been poured out from on high in a baptism 
 of holy power. When our children are not given to us in Christ, when no spu'itual 
 victories follow our spiritual eiforts and conflicts, is it not time to look for the 
 cause of failure ? Everything on God's part must be perfect, but may it not be 
 that we have let go our union with Him ? Surely it must be so, if in all these 
 things we are not more than conquerors through Him that loved us. II. We see 
 the Lord's servant praying that defeat may be turned into victory. 1. Praijer 
 may liace much i)ifirmiti/, ami yet Jie heard and answered bij God. {a) Joshua's 
 petition shews a spirit akin to murmuring and reproach. It seems to partake too 
 much of the tone of some of the previous rebellions, as we hear it said, " Where- 
 fore hast Thou at all brought this people over Jordan, to deliver us into the hand 
 of the Amorites to destroy us ?" {h) Joshua loses sight of God's past leading of 
 the people, or else he questions the wisdom of Divine guidance. He peevishly 
 cries, " Would to God we had been content, and dwelt on the other side Jordan ! " 
 He speaks as though the past had been a mistake, (c) Joshua shews us the 
 nearness of faith to unbelief. He whose former faith had been so great as to 
 leave no place whatever for defeat, now shews a distrust which can hardly find 
 room to hope for any future victory : " The Canaanites shall environ us round, and 
 cut off our name from the earth." So poor, in some aspects, seems the spirit oi 
 Joshua's petition before God. Yet this prayer prevailed ; if it did not bring an 
 immediate reversal of defeat, it made the way clear for futm-e victory. Our 
 prayers may be moved by an imperfect spirit, and may be poured out in unseemly 
 words ; if, like Joshua, we have a heart earnest with holy longings, and desirous 
 of God's honour and His people's welfare, they will not be pom-ed out in vain. 
 2. True praijer throus its principal stress on the //lory of the Divine name. "What 
 wilt Thou do unto Thy great name ? " Just as Moses had done before him, 
 Joshua felt truly and deeply concerned for the Divine honoui' before the heathen 
 nations. This is the true spirit of prayer, and one to which God ever has regard. 
 The Saviour said repeatedly, before leaving His disciples, "Whatsoever ye shall 
 ask the Fathei- in my name, He will give it you." Yet prayer is not merely the 
 formal mention of the Divine name. for. if that were so, the Lord's prayer itself 
 
 187 
 
nOMILETIC C03IMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 would be imperfect. The suppliant who would prevail indeed, must come in that 
 spirit which God loves, and which makes the Divine name the glorious name which 
 it is ; he must come, as the Saviour Himself loved to plead, having no will or 
 wish that stands opposed to that Sovereign will which by prayer he seeks to 
 move. 
 
 Verses 6 — 9. — Godly Sorrow. 
 I. The sorrow of the godly is deep and unfeigned. 1. It is involuntary. It 
 is independent of any act of the will. It comes as suddenly as its cause, answering 
 to the blow that smites as the echo answers to the call, or as the thunder responds 
 to the lightning. Godly sorrow flows naturally and freely, not stiffly and arti- 
 ficially. True humiliation has no onion tears. 2. It is continuous as the necessity. 
 It is not satisfied with a prescribed amount of tears and shame. Such sorrow has 
 no thought of any intrinsic merit in humiliation. It has no regard to penance. 
 It does not set itself a given lesson in grief, thinking that so much grief is equal 
 to so much guilt. Joshua fell upon his face, not merely untU eventide, but till 
 the Lord said, " Get thee up." II. The sorrow of the godly is not so much 
 the sorrow of selfishness as sorrow with God. Joshua has fears for Israel, and 
 he is not free from the sense of the personal pain which will come to himself and 
 the people through shame and loss. This is only human and natural. But 
 Joshua's great grief is that the enemies of the Lord will find opportunity to 
 blaspheme. He thinks it less that Israel's name shall be cut off from the earth, 
 than that the great name of Jehovah shall be dishonoured. The late F. W. 
 Robertson has said on the subject of sorrow for sin : " God sees sin not in its 
 consequences, but in itself: a thing infinitely evil, even if the consequences were 
 happiness to the guilty, instead of misery. So sorrow according to God, is to see 
 sin as God sees it. The grief of Peter was as bitter as that of Judas. He went 
 out and wept bitterly ; how bitterly none can tell but they Avho have learned to 
 look on sin as God does. But in Peter's grief there was an element of hope ; 
 and that sprung precisely from this — that he saw God in it all. Despair of self 
 did not lead to despair of God. This is the great peculiar feature of this sorrow : 
 God is there, accordingly self is less prominent. It is not a microscopic self- 
 examination, nor a mourning in which self is ever uppermost: my character gone; 
 the greatness of my sin ; the forfeiture of my salvation. The thought of God 
 absorbs all that." Such is the hopeful feature in Joshua's sorrow for the defeat 
 at Ai. Though he may suspect some wrong, he does not, at the time of this 
 prayer, know how fully the defeat is owing to actual sin. Yet the grief of this godly 
 man for himself and Israel is comparatively lost and absorbed in his concern for 
 the honour of his Lord's name. So, if our sorrow be really holy, it will ever 
 gather round the name and truth of God, rather than around our most sacred 
 personal interests. III. The sorrow of the godly is sometimes impatient and 
 unreasonable. Without, on the one hand, taking the seventh verse to be an 
 " irreverent remonstrance," and without reading it, on the other, merely as the 
 utterance of what the heathen would " infer from the event," it is almost 
 impossible not to discern in the language something of the peevishness of pain, — 
 something of that bitterness of impatience which is rather the sharp outcry of a 
 wounded heart than a remonstrance with Jehovah. The words are more subjective 
 than objective ; we must read them rather as words escaping from the man, than 
 as words addressed to God. Some men feel pain more keenly than others. 
 Thus a finely wrought spirit has cried out the enquiry : — 
 
 " Is it true, O Christ in heaven I that the highest suffer most ? 
 That the stronij;cst wander farther, and more hopelessly are lost 7 
 That the mark of rank in nature is capacity for pain, 
 And the anguish of the singer makes the sweetness of the strain 1 " 
 
 It is even so. As the author of " Ecce Deus " has told us, "Sufi'cring is a question 
 188 
 
CHAP. VII. HOMILETIC C03IMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 of nature. The educated man suffers more than the uneducated man : the poet 
 probably suffers more than the mathematician ; the commanding officer suffers 
 more in a defeat than a common soldier. The more life, the more suffering ; the 
 billows of sorrow being in proportion to the volume of our manhood. The storm 
 may pass as fiercely over the shallow lake as over the Atlantic, but by its very 
 volume the latter is more terribly shaken." It is this volume of manhood, this 
 capacity for pain, this sensitiveness to- shame and wounding, that, to superficial 
 gazers, makes the very strong sometimes seem so very weak. The pain of the 
 jelly-fish may be hardly perceptible, the agony of the lion is terrible. Moses 
 and Daniel and Paul stand conspicuous above their contemporaries, not only in 
 ability to work, but also in power to suffer. So Joshua, with his great nature, 
 his fine feeling, and responsible position, is bowed down by this calamity to the 
 very dust, the prostrate form of his body hardly serving to express his greater 
 prostration of spirit. 1. Those wJw have f/reatness enotifih to he Christians viust not 
 iconder if thei/ suffer more than those who have not. The man who is sensitive to 
 sin, to the commandments of God, to the power of truth, to the pain of conscience, 
 to the love of Christ, must not wonder if he suffers more than those, many of 
 whom are morally "past feeling," and the remainder of whom are more or less 
 advanced in this most terrible of all the forms of insensibility. Not only as from 
 the lips of the Saviour, but as the very outcome of the Christian condition of the 
 conscience, true disciples must expect to find it stated as their heritage in the 
 way of life, " Through much tribulation ye must enter into the kingdom." 2. 
 Those who are great enoucjh to he (jreatly Christian must ea-})ect to suffer conspicuousbj 
 even among the suffering Church. The greater tribulation of men like Moses, and 
 Joshua, and Isaiah, and Jeremiah, and Daniel, and Peter, and Paul, is no more 
 an arbitrary regulation than it is an arbitrary regulation that the Church shouid 
 suffer more than the world. Christ's word about the necessity of sufiering is 
 not to be read merely as the decree of a sovereign ; though it be the assignment 
 of His will, it is even more emphatically the heritage of life that is in Him ; 
 and the larger the measure of that life, the keener will be the sensitiveness to 
 the suffering which, in this world of sin, is inflicted on every hand. IV. God 
 is very tolerant of such impatience as is merely the expression of His chil- 
 dren's pain. A child may call out sharply under the touch of the hand that 
 tends him in some infirmity, but a mother never mistakes the cry of her child's 
 distress for the utterance of dislike to herself, or for the expression of rebellion 
 against her authority. Patients under the hand of the surgeon have been heard 
 to heap words of insult and threatening on the man who was engaged in setting 
 a broken limb, but no wise operator would interpret words like those as being 
 more than the expression of pain. Thus God ever discerns between the outcry 
 of a wounded heart and the irreverence of a rebellious spirit. Joshua may speak, 
 not as it is becoming that he should speak, but in the hastiness of disappoint- 
 ment and the bitterness of pain ; God has not so much as a word of rebuke for 
 this ; He simply proceeds to say, " Get thee up ; wherefore Uest thou thus upon 
 thy face ? " 
 
 OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VEBSES. 
 
 Verses 6, 7. — Man Praying and God ignorant of God's deep anger, ignorant 
 
 Silent. of the fact that victory at Ai would 
 
 I. The ignorance of man in prayer, have been one of the gi-eatest evils that 
 
 The defeat before Ai seems to have been could have befallen Israel. Human 
 
 in the morning. During all the remain- prayers are ignorant from various causes, 
 
 der of the day, Joshua and the elders of 1. There is the ignorance that results from 
 
 the people were bomng in humiliation carelessness. Men fail to study them- 
 
 and fastmg and prayer before God. selves, sin, the Bible, God. 2. There 
 
 Joshua was ignorant of Achan's sin, is the ignorance consequent on our limited 
 
 189 
 
IIOMILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 capacities and our straitened poivers of 
 obtaining knoidedgc. Joshua could not 
 watch an army to see that none trans- 
 gressed. It reqmred infinite knowledge 
 to mark the conduct of every man in 
 the hour of battle and confusion. Only 
 omniscience could see every man. Only 
 omniscience, too, could see the evil of 
 the sin which had been committed. 3. 
 Ignorance sometimes stands connected with 
 thething for uhicit pragrr is made. Joshua 
 wanted victory restored to Israel. He 
 did not know, during these hours of 
 prayer, how much richer Israel was 
 to be made through defeat. 4. Igno- 
 rance often has to do tvith the icag in 
 which prayer is to be answered. God 
 gave Joshua victory after all ; but the 
 way to victory lay through further 
 shame and a yet profounder humilia- 
 tion. Israel was to be discovered as 
 guilty of breaking the covenant, and 
 one family in Israel was to be utterly 
 destroyed out of the camp. II, The 
 wisdom of God's silence. We are not 
 told of the way in which God generally 
 communicated with Joshua, neither are 
 we informed how long God usually kept 
 His servant waiting ere He answered. 
 Commonly Divine counsel seems to be 
 given to Joshua at the time and place 
 where it is needed. It might be ex- 
 pected that in a grave emergency like 
 this God would have responded to His 
 servant's cry at once. Yet the Lord 
 kept silence, although for hour after 
 hour Joshua lay pleading to be heard. 
 Yet, now that we have the entire account 
 before us, the wisdom of Divine silence 
 is manifest. God's silence would gradu- 
 ally prepare the mind of Joshua (1) 
 To suspect that something was wrong in 
 the camp ; (2) To realise the severity of 
 the Divine anger; (3) To acquiesce in, 
 and j^resenthj execute, the solemn se^itence 
 against Achan ; (4) To understand, when 
 thep)eople were again purified, that victory 
 when in alliance uith sin, would he the 
 most ruinou.s defeat of all. III. Man's 
 misinterpretation of God's silence. 
 The seventh, eighth, and ninth verses 
 seem to bo only uttered when the day 
 of humiliation and prayer had well nigh 
 closed. Perhaps the sixth verso is 
 meant to epitomise the history of hours 
 of patient pleading for light, and in 
 140 
 
 that case the three verses which follow 
 would tell the tale of the impatient 
 outburst of Joshua's broken heart when 
 he finds himself unheard. 1. Failing 
 to obtain God's answer in the jrresent, 
 men despondingly misinterpret God's 
 mercy in the past. " Wherefore hast 
 Thou brought this people over Jordan ?" 
 One would have never expected to hear 
 any question as to the mercy and love 
 of God in the passage of the Jordan. 
 Apparently Divine goodness was indis- 
 putably manifest there. In times of 
 darkness men question God's greatest 
 mercies, doubt their own richest expe- 
 riences, blot out and re-write in hard 
 terms the noblest parts of their personal 
 history. 2. Failing to obtain God's 
 answer in the present, men iinbelievingly 
 doubt God as to the future. Hast Thou 
 brought us over Jordan "to deliver us 
 into the hands of the Amorites to de- 
 stroy us"? Defeated and distressed 
 minds see everything through the dis- 
 order and confusion of the present. 
 With so many examples in the Scripture 
 of the noblest servants of God who have 
 proved themselves utterly unfit for calm 
 judgment of their hope in the Lord 
 during times of sorrow, we might well 
 refuse to be led by personal feelings in 
 the hours of our own distress. 3. 
 Failing to obtain God's answer in the 
 present, nun are tempted to think any 
 part of their lives more profitable than that. 
 " Would to God we had been content,"' 
 etc. In after days Joshua would come 
 to look on those hours of weary agony 
 in prayer as some of the most notable 
 and useful in his life. They were a 
 time of crisis, in which, amid intense 
 suffering and doubt, this good man 
 waited for the salvation of Israel. They 
 were one of those times of trial in 
 which so many who ai'e but superficially 
 pious begin to go eternally wrong. 
 They were one of those judgment days 
 of the Lord which even here on earth 
 go to separate between the sheep and 
 the goats. Happy was it for that gene- 
 ration of Israelites that, in this crisis of 
 trial, they had a leader whose piety 
 was deep enough to wait before God, 
 and too deep to turn to anything else 
 than to prayer for a solution of this 
 mystery of darkness, and in order that 
 
CHAP. VII. 
 
 HOMILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 a way might again be found through 
 which he and they should again walk 
 forth into the light of the smile of God. 
 
 With those who are truly devout, 
 outward forms are the suitable expres- 
 sion of inward feelings. God never has 
 to say to such, " Rend your hearts, and 
 not your garments." 
 
 The devout heart alone is qualified to 
 pronounce on the religious ceremonial 
 in which its own sense of woe, or want, 
 or joy can best be told out to God. 
 
 So long as human hearts and ex- 
 periences differ, and men are true to 
 themselves, so long will the forms 
 through which they tell out their life 
 to each other and to God be various 
 and unlike also. 
 
 Verse 8. — I. The human weakness 
 of the Lord's people. They too can 
 turn their backs (cf. Ps. Ixxviii. 9, 10). 
 II. The Divine prerogative of the 
 Lord's people. They need not turn their 
 backs. Let them but walk with God, 
 and they have omnipotence on their 
 side. It is then- privilege alone to say, 
 "If God be for us, who can be against 
 us?" III. The pious shame of the 
 Lord's people. " Lord, what shall 
 I say ? 1. There are no logical ivords in 
 u-Mch to account for a Christian's defeat. 
 If Omnipotence says, "Lo, I am with 
 you alway," there is no making out of 
 a reasonable case for the overthrow of 
 a child of God. 2. The only words in 
 ivhich to speak of such a defeat, are words 
 of shame. We can but say, " I confess 
 that there are no words." 3. The best 
 place for ivords of shame, on account of 
 such defeat, is low before God. 
 
 Verse 9, first clause. — I. The eJBfect of 
 faith and victory. All the time Israel 
 believed and prospered, the hearts of 
 the Canaanites did melt and become as 
 water. " This is the victory that over- 
 cometh the world, even your faith." 
 II. The influence of fear and failure. 
 " They shall hear, and shall environ us 
 round." Every increasing thing tends 
 to increase, and every decreasing thing 
 to decrease. The impetus of success. 
 The retarding influence of failure. 
 " Nothing succeeds like success." 
 Doubting Christians, who morbidly en- 
 
 com'age doubt, think far too little of the 
 depressing efi'ect of their ceaseless dis- 
 course about fear and failure. 
 
 " The heart of man can nowhere 
 observe a just proportion. In pros- 
 perity it is too proud, in adversity too 
 pusillanimous." \fJramer.^ 
 
 In times of unusual prosperity we are 
 apt to unconsciously trust our success 
 rather than God from whom all success 
 must come. Thus, Elijah was bold and 
 undaunted when he had no victory upon 
 which to lean. Then came the triumph 
 on Carmel, in which the prophet heard 
 the multitude with one voice confess 
 Jehovah. Forthwith Elijah hoped for 
 Israel ; he seems to have trusted the 
 prospect of a spiritual harvest rather than 
 the God of the harvest. After that, it 
 only needed Jezebel's threat to fill him 
 with a despair which made him cry, " 
 Lord, take my life." So, after Jericho, 
 Joshua finds it hard to endure Ai. 
 
 Verse 9, last clause. — The Glory of 
 God's Great Name. 
 
 I. God's delight in His name is not 
 in any measure akin to self-praise and 
 vanity. The Scriptures constantly bid 
 us to seek the glory of God. God does 
 not desire glory as men desire it. With 
 men, the pursuit of glory is selfish and 
 vain ; God's way to glory is through 
 self-sacrifice. II. God's delight in His 
 name is delight in those things which 
 make His name glorious. His name 
 and Himself are alike The Good. He 
 delights in helping the helpless, in com- 
 forting the wretched, in \indicating the 
 cause of the oppressed, in sanctifying the 
 sinful, in saving the lost. He hates sin, 
 in the very attributes of His being, with 
 deliberate and eternal enmity ; He loves 
 holiness and truth in the same infinite 
 degree. His name, taken as such, is no 
 mere centre around which His interest 
 perpetually and eternally revolves ; His 
 name is Himself, and He is the everlast- 
 ing embodiment of all that is lovely, and 
 of all that makes His intelligent creatures 
 happy and good. III. God's care for 
 the honour of His name is also a care 
 for those who need that name for a 
 refuge and a joy. If God's name were 
 to lose its glory, heaven would lose its 
 
 141 
 
JIOMILETIC C0M3IENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 
 lustre, and the universe its brightness ; 
 angels would have no home, man no 
 rallying centre, and devils no restraint : 
 the universe would be as a huge solar 
 system without its sun ; confusion, and 
 darkness, and ruin, and death would be 
 everywhere. If but a stain were found 
 on the character of God to-day, the 
 power of that evil would uproot the 
 cross, abolish the Church, blast every 
 better human hope, banish the re- 
 deemed, make heaven into hell, and 
 hell riotous in the fierce fury of a new- 
 found and malignant joy. " The name 
 of the Lord is a strong tower : the 
 righteous runneth into it, and is safe." 
 IV. Where men are seen most con- 
 cerned for the honour of the great 
 name of God, God is seen most taking 
 care of that name. It is precisely 
 where Joshua is found crying, " What 
 wilt Thou do unto Thy great name ? " 
 that God is found taking such solemn 
 measures to reassert His antipathy to 
 sin. All His Divine sympathies for His 
 people are crossed, the majestic tide of 
 events which was flowing so fast to 
 fulfil His covenant with Abraham is 
 suddenly stayed, a temporary encourage- 
 ment is even permitted to the idolatrous 
 
 workers of iniquity, that God may have, 
 and may be seen to have, no collusion 
 or connection with sin. So it was 
 where Moses feared for the Divine glory, 
 that God was even then vindicating the 
 honour of His name (cf. Ex. xxxii. 
 11—14 ; Numb. xiv. 11—24). Let us 
 learn : 1. How impossible it is for God 
 to favour him who persists in sin ; 
 2. How abiding is the refuge of the 
 righteous ; 3. How encouraging is the 
 hope of the penitent ; 4. And that there 
 is none other name under heaven given 
 among men whereby we can be saved, 
 but the name of God as it stands re- 
 vealed in Jesus Christ. 
 
 " Joshua's humble prayer before God. 
 God withstands the proud, but giveth 
 grace unto the humble. 
 
 "Joshua's grief for his people com- 
 pared with the lamentation of Moses 
 and Ezra. 
 
 " Joshua as an example of mourning 
 before God. 
 
 " Comparison between Joshua's peni- 
 tence and that of Ahab. 
 
 " Rending the garments a significant 
 symbol of rending the heart (Joel ii. 13). 
 
 " How God hears prayer." {Laiujei] 
 
 MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Verses 10—15. 
 
 God Dealing with Human Sin. 
 
 In this chapter we see God dealing (1) with sin, (2) with an individual sinner, 
 (3) with a sinner's family, (4) with a sinner's possessions, (5) and with a com- 
 munity having a sinner for one of its members. This paragraph shews us the 
 mind of Jehovah concerning sin and the forgiveness of sin. 
 
 I. Sin not only brings a need for the prayer of suffering and tears ; but 
 while sin is unforgiven it limits the influence of prayer. God says to Joshua, 
 " Get thee up." The power of unforgiven sin in limiting the power of prayer is 
 here very emphatically marked. 1. TJic praijcr of the xtnforriiven is not refused a 
 Jwarinfi, or even an answer. God comes to Joshua. True, He does not come till 
 eventide ; Joshua and the ciders of the people have to lie all day ere He draws 
 nigh to attend to this prayer of suffering ; but God does come, and to a certain 
 extent He answers this cry of the needy. So far this is very merciful ; it is like 
 God. If men really pray. He keeps not silent, even though prayer come up to 
 His ear fi*om the lips of the unforgiven. God, who answered not " by prophets 
 nor by dreams," spake nevertheless through Samuel to unforgiven Saul in his 
 agony ; and had Saul truly repented, even though Gilboa might still have received 
 its royal victim, the pains of death would have been soothed with the thought of 
 Divine pardon. No man can truly pray and God not hear. The breath of real 
 prayer is not a mere electric current which rings a bell and moves the hands on a 
 dial in front of the throne and before the eyes of a God who sometimes refuses to 
 112 
 
CHAP. VII. HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 attend ; it is a current of troubled desire in man which moves in the heart of God 
 as a compassionate, wise, and holy sympathy. We may be sure that when we 
 pray importunately from our heart, sooner or later God draws nigh to see if we 
 are in a right mind to profit by help from on high. 2. But the prayer of the 
 nnforgiven can only secure God's attention in respect to the sin which is not jmt 
 away. The Lord comes to Joshua, and virtually says, " Get thee up : all that I 
 will hear thee upon is this matter of sin." He will speak on nothing else. He 
 will consider nothing else than this matter of sin. Mark the holy irony of the 
 question, "Wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face ? " As if prayer were not 
 God's own appointment ! As if lowly humiliation were not His own ordained 
 method of approach to the mercy- seat ! As if Abraham and Moses and others 
 had not been answered, till lowly prayer had become known, even through the 
 Divine response, as a mighty power ! But in this case there was this difference, 
 Joshua and the elders of the people, in common with all Israel, were held to be 
 guilty of Achan's sin — not personally guilty, yet corporately guilty. That is why 
 this question is asked, and that is why Joshua is bidden to get up, and to desist 
 from his particular pleading, while God speaks with him on this question of sin. 
 (rt) Humiliation is nothiny when it is not hniniliation for the miforyiren sin. In this 
 sharply defined picture, God shews us that it is useless to humble ourselves for 
 adversity, and leave out any unforgiven sin which may have had to do with the 
 adversity. It is so in national fasts ; in personal trials, etc. Rent garments, 
 prostrate forms, dust and ashes and sackcloth, are nothing to God, if we take no 
 account of sin. (/') Grief is nothiny, if it he not grief for the yuilt. A man may feel his 
 heart broken at the consequences of sin, and cry out of that broken heart to God ; 
 and God will hear him on the question of the sin, but not on the question of con- 
 sequences till the sin itself is put away. If a man lose a situation through ill- 
 temper or idleness, squander a fortune by prodigality, incur physical disease 
 through intemperance, it is useless to plead the sorrow till he have first com- 
 muned with God in sincere repentance on the matter of the transgression. 
 Joshua may mourn his thirty and six slain, and the shame and pain which have 
 come through defeat : God thinks it in good time to consider these when the 
 camp has been cleansed from its impurity, (c) The plea of future consequences 
 is nothiny, if the unforgiven do not find the most disastrous consequence of all 
 in the wrong done to God. God says in efi'ect, " Wherefore liest thou thus 
 upon thy face to tell me of Amorites and Canaanites to be feared, of Israelites 
 who turn their backs to the enemies, or of a national name to be cut off" from 
 the earth ? Wherefore concernest thou thyself with the honour of My great 
 name ? What is that to thee, thou unforgiven leader of an unforgiven people ? 
 Get thee up." So may an unpardoned man plead for his future peace and honour, 
 for his family, for the church with which he stands connected : God declines to 
 consider these sorrows to come, just as much as sorrows that are, till sin be put 
 away. The consequence which the guilty should mourn as most unbearable, is 
 the -wi'ong done to God, — the wrong done to His nature. His past mercies, His 
 unfailing goodness and love. II. Sin is not only limitation and weakness to 
 urgent prayer; it is, in itself, full of injustice and wrong. The eleventh verse 
 contains six allegations ; the first two dealing with the sin in its relation to God, 
 and the remaining four describing the character of the transgression. Two of 
 these four descriptions, the taking and the stealing, seem to be synonymous, unless 
 the taking be intended to refer to the secret appropriation of the heart, and the 
 stealing to the outward act of the hand. Probably, however, the verse should be 
 read as a succession of cumulative utterances, rising to a climax in the natural 
 rhetoric of strong emotion, rather than as containing that philosophically exact 
 analysis of the sin, more suitable to calmness of heart and thought. Taking the 
 terms of description as three, rather than four, we see that: 1. Sin is theft. And 
 this description of the particular sin of Achan has far more general truth in it 
 than some imagine. Sin is taking something from another. It is always that, 
 
 143 
 
JIOMILETIC COMMENT A li Y: JOSH UA. 
 
 and never less than that, let the sin be what it may. The murderer takes life ; 
 the bm-glar and the picki^ocket take goods ; and the theft in transgressions of this 
 kind is manifest. But the Kar is also a thief; the drunkard, the vain man, the 
 ambitious, the false-hearted, each deprives his fellows of valuable possessions. 
 Each takes from the purity of the moral atmosphere which surrounds his neigh- 
 bour, and thus takes away from his neighbour's means of maintaining a healthy 
 tone of life. Each, moreover, robs his fellow of the good example which every 
 living man owes to those about him. 2. Sin is drceitfuJ. Achan stole not only the 
 gold and the garment ; but he robbed the Israelites of God's favour ; he made the 
 camp of Israel to become devoted, and then by hiding both the stolen goods and 
 the knowledge of the curse brought upon his people, he suffered them to go 
 ignorantly up to their defeat. Achan stole the devoted things from God ; he stole 
 from Israel God's smile and help, victory over the men of Ai, and thirty-six lives ; 
 and he dissembled about the theft even in the presence of the slain. Thus sin 
 does )-et other injury in the deception with which it is ever accompanied. It 
 leads the innocent unsuspectingly into danger, and, it may be, to death. 3. Sin- 
 is misappropriation for personal advantai/es. " They have put it even among their 
 own stuff." The sinful seek personal gain and pleasure at the expense of others. 
 Like Achan, however, who presently has to restore all, and more than all that he 
 had taken, no man ever sins without having to feel ultimately that transgression 
 always costs more than it yields. III. Sin is not merely a wrong in itself; it 
 is a rejection and a breaking of God's covenant. " They have also transgressed 
 my covenant." The breaking of the covenant is put as an additional and dietinct 
 feature of the sin. If it be said that Aclian made no personal covenant with 
 Jehovah, it is enough to reply that the covenant made with the host was binding 
 on him individually. He was a member of the community, and he had stayed 
 with the people, and enjoyed with them the common privileges of the covenant for 
 many years previously. Thus Achan had voJnntarihj become a party to the 
 covenant. In addition to this, no man is at Hberty to ignore any covenant of the 
 Lord. For Jehovah to proffer Himself to man in anything, is for man to stand 
 bound. 1. The covenant made with men in Christ is binding on all men. Hence, 
 the Gospel leaves no man where it finds him. It is the " savour " of something 
 to everybody, — " of death unto death, or of life unto life." Every man comes 
 into life under this " New Covenant." It is because of this, and not because of 
 some specific act of mercy lying outside of the plan of salvation, that children 
 dying in infancy are saved. The child of a Hottentot, or a Maori, or a Green- 
 lander, dying ere it comes to years of responsibility, is saved because of God's 
 covenant with the human race. When Paul says, "As in Adam aU die," he 
 means everybody; there is no exception. Equally does the apostle mean every- 
 body when he says, "Even so in Christ shall all be made alive;" there is no 
 single exception in the case of the life, any more tlian in the case of the death. 
 Every one comes into life under the covenant with the race made through Christ, 
 and if nothing were done to forfeit that life, thus forensically secured in the 
 Redeemer, every one would bo saved. But no one comes into life regenerate. 
 The judicial life is one thing, the principle of the new life is another. In Adam 
 all have died, not only judicially, but morally, and hence it is written to all men, 
 " Ye must be born again." Yet it is true that till every child becomes responsible 
 for his acts he is under the covenant of life, and till actual sin bo committed, 
 he has the promise of life. Were it otherwise, wo should be absolutely forced 
 to accept the monstrous creed of elect babies and lost babies. There Avould be 
 no logical alternative but the absurdly fanciful conclusion that all the babies who 
 have died in their infancy, would, had they been spared, have grown up to be- 
 come Christians ; or that they came into the covenant of grace by the mere act oi 
 dying before a given day, after which they would have been personally responsible, 
 when the act of dying would no longer liavo been efficacious. If all children who 
 are saved, are saved by the work of Christ for the human race ; fuul if all children 
 144 
 
CHAP. vii. HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA 
 
 are not in Christ by virtue of being member;? of that race ; then, either some 
 , children are lost, or they must come into Christ by the mere act of dying at 
 a given time, or only such children as are elected to life ever die as children. 
 The first of these alternatives is not only unlike God, but inhuman ; the re- 
 maining two are simply frivolous. If this be so, then every child begins this 
 life completely justified by the work of Christ ; every child is under the cove- 
 nant. 2. FA-ery adult livimj in sin is not merely a heiny who has not accepted 
 the covenant, hut a heiny irhn, hariny been under the covenant, has ii/nored and 
 rejected it. It is this that makes the position of each intelligent transgressor 
 so unspeakably solemn. It is not that unbeheving men merely refuse to accept 
 Christ; such, having begun life imder the shelter of Christ's work, absolutely 
 reject Christ. Like Achan, who had partaken of covenant privileges, they 
 presently treat the covenant as of less concern than the things which tempt 
 them to transgress. 3. The most ayyravated form of human sin now, is the rejection 
 of the covenant made with them, in Christ. It is a rejection of God's love, of the 
 Saviour's sacrifice, of the past mercy which shielded them as helpless children. 
 IV. Sin has not only these ag-gravated forms of guilt in itself, but weakness,' 
 and injury, and many other evil results in its train (verse 12). 1. Sin brinys 
 weakness. God is not with sinners, and every transgression is so much loss of a 
 man's own moral strength. 2. Weakness brinys defeat. The weakness that comes 
 through sin is not a mere sentiment of the pulpit; it is something more than 
 ecclesiastical poetry. History, whether national, family, or individual, has many 
 battle-fields of failure and flight and shame and loss, to expound the reality of the 
 weakness. 3. Such defeat may stand connected with death. Not only before Ai 
 are there thirty and six slain ; many, yea countless, are the broken-hearted, and 
 other dead, who have gone down to their graves unable to bear the defeat which 
 has been wrought by some one's transgression. V. Sin is not only at the time 
 of transgression, but till the time of repentance. " Neither will I be with you 
 any more," etc. The heart repeats the guilt through every moment in which it 
 refuses to repent. A state of unrepentance is not negative, but positive ; the 
 heart refuses to think repentance a present necessity. The heart thus virtually 
 certifies the guilt afresh, and, in spirit, commits it over again. In this light, 
 (1) think of the importance of prompt repentance : (2) think if the ayyravated yuilt, 
 and of the solemn position of an aycd nnJ>eJiever. VI. The forgiveness of sin 
 requires not only separation from the transgression, but some adequate acknow- 
 ledgment of its guilt. 1. Foryiveness of sin requires separation from the sin. 
 " Sanctify yoiu'selves." The formal sanctification of the people was meant to be 
 the outward expression of a heartfelt antipathy to Achan's transgression. 2. For- 
 yiveness of sin requires an adequate protest ayainst the evil of sin. " He shall be 
 burnt," etc. Ere the Israelites were forgiven, they were to express in some suitable 
 way their disavowal and detestation of the ofience. This expression of feeling was 
 imperatively necessary for the Israelites themselves. If a child sin against his 
 father, a ■wise father will not recklessly forgive, but "will, for his child's sake, 
 require some expression of contrition and disavowal which shall be, so far as 
 possible, commensurate with the magnitude of the ofience. It is not because of 
 any longing to honour the abstract principles of justice that a wise father would 
 make such a demand ; justice would furnish the ground for that demand ; 
 but it is the father's love to his child, his love to hLs other children, and 
 his sense of duty towards society generally, which would make the demand 
 imperative and the father inflexible. In a modified form, the same feelings 
 would actuate a good governor or judge in dealing with criminals, and, allow- 
 ing a sufliciency of power, a good and wise nation in dealing with the ofience 
 of some other nation. Justice is passive, and does but furnish the license of 
 right to proceed ; it is the sense of duty to others, or the feeling of love to 
 them, which is active and urgent in its demand that the ofi"ender suitably ex- 
 press contrition. It was God's love to Israel that made Achan's prospect of 
 
 L 145 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 
 pardon so hopeless ; the offence had been great, and nothing less than the life of 
 the more immediate offenders would be understood by Israel, and therefore be taken 
 by God, as a suitable and suil&cient acknowledgment of the guilt. So it was 
 God's love to men, and not His hunger for justice, that made the cross of Christ 
 so absolutely imperative. Either man, the offender, or God who wished to 
 pardon, must for the sake of the world at large, perhaps for the sake of the 
 intelligent universe, suitably recognise the guilt of human sin, Man could only 
 do this in his own ruin; to save him from that ruin, " God so loved the world, 
 that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever belie veth in Him should not 
 perish, but have everlasting life." This "power to forgive sins," without dis- 
 ordering the moral forces which influence sinners, is the most wonderful mani- 
 festation of power ever displayed even by God. Thus the narrative of the cross is 
 greater than the record in the opening chapter of Genesis ; the glory of Calvary 
 transcends the majesty of creation. 
 
 OUTLINES AND C03I3IENTS ON THE VERSES. 
 
 Verse 10, — The Relation of Prayek 
 TO Work. 
 
 I. In times of new perplexity and 
 distress, the natural order is first to 
 pray, and then to work. It was not 
 till eventide that the Lord said, "Get 
 thee up," Although it would have been 
 useless to pray after that, God does not 
 rebuke Joshua for praying before that, 
 1, Prayer brings Uijht upon the difjiciiltij 
 itself. Without this humble and per- 
 severing petition, Joshua must appa- 
 rently have remained ^ignorant of the 
 sin which had been committed. 2. 
 Prayer secures the Lord's f/iiidance. The 
 petition that brings God to our side 
 cannot be useless. Jehovah guided His 
 servant (a) to know that sin had been 
 the cause of the defeat, (h) to under- 
 stand fully the nature of the sin, (c) to 
 the assurance that sin must be put away 
 before He would again bo with Israel, 
 [d) to discover the sinner, (e) and to 
 the way in which the Divine presence 
 could once more be secured. When 
 God begins to enlighten His people. 
 He guides them, not merely to know 
 the measure of their difficulty, but en- 
 tirely through that difficulty. He gives 
 the light of the law to reveal sin, the 
 light of the cross to shew how sin can 
 bo put away, and the light of precious 
 promises to assure us of His personal 
 presence till the last enemy shall be 
 destroyed. 3. Prayer brinys strenyth 
 for work. It was no light task which 
 Joshua had to perform. For the first 
 time in his capacity as leader, he was 
 called on to inflict the judgment of 
 death. The prayer, the words of the 
 IIG 
 
 Lord, and the solemn process of dis- 
 covering the offender, would prepare 
 both Joshua and the people for this 
 dreadful task, II. In times of distress, 
 work should never be willingly al- 
 lowed to precede prayer. Difficulty 
 may overtake men in the midst of work, 
 when there is little opportunity for 
 prayer. It was so when Joshua first 
 saw the beginning of the defeat at Ai. 
 Excepting momentary supplication, there 
 would have been little time for Joshua 
 to think of anything but the battle, and 
 the management of the retreat. But, 
 in times of emergency, work should 
 not precede prayer from choice. Had 
 Joshua renewed the battle with a 
 greater force, he would probably have 
 sustained a fresh defeat. Defeat would 
 have been added to defeat, and distress 
 to distress. He who pursues work that 
 has failed, when he should be asking 
 help from the Lord, can only expect to 
 add sorrow unto sorrow. III. Work 
 should never be neglected for prayer. 
 While Joshua merely ]n'a3'ed, (1) sin 
 could not be put away, (2) God would 
 not come to the help of the people, (3) 
 and the Canaanites would exult in their 
 recent victory. 
 
 " The question : ' Wherefore fallest 
 thou thus upon thy face ? ' is one of 
 reproof, implying that Joshua had no 
 reason to doubt the faithfulness of the 
 Lord, or to implore its continuance ; 
 since it was not to God, but to the sin 
 of the people, that he must trace the 
 calamity which had befallen Israel. The 
 reproof does not of course apply to the 
 more fact of Joshua's turning to tlio 
 
HOMILETIC C03[MENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 Lord and prostrating himself in prayer, 
 nor even to the tone of complaint 
 against the Lord observable in the words 
 of his prayer, but to the disposition, 
 which he manifested, to seek the cause 
 of his misfortune in God and His super- 
 intendence, whereas it was to be found 
 altogether in the transgression of the 
 people." [AV/7.] 
 
 Verse 11. — The Sinfulness of Sin. 
 
 I. The successive stages of sin. 
 " When Achan longed, he ought to 
 have resisted ; when he planned, he 
 ought to have stopped before taking ; 
 when he had taken, he should have 
 cast it away instead of stealing ; when 
 he had stolen, he should have freely 
 confessed it ; and when it was buried, 
 he ought to have dug it up again." 
 [5. Schmidt.'] II. The aggravated 
 guilt of sin. 1. It was a transijression 
 of rijjhteoiisness. "Israel hath sinned." 
 2. It ivas a transgression of the law of 
 gratitude. God had graciously entered 
 into covenant with them, under that 
 covenant they had already received 
 mercies for forty years, and recently 
 these mercies had been wonderful be- 
 yond conception. Forgetful of all this, 
 and in the very hour of a miraculous 
 victory under the covenant, Achan 
 ignored the covenant altogether. 3. 
 It was a transcfrcssion of God's word. 
 "Which I commanded them." 4. It 
 rvas the transfin'ssiun of good faith. 
 Under the specific condition of not 
 touching the spoil, the victory had been 
 granted, and Achan had " even taken 
 of the cliercm.'" 5. It was a transgres- 
 sion of honesty and truth. " They have 
 stolen and dissembled also." G. It was 
 a transgressio)i of AcJian's oivn con- 
 science. Had he not felt it wrong to 
 put the devoted things " among his 
 own stuff," he would not have hidden 
 them. III. The wide-reaching evil 
 of sin. God held that "Israel" had 
 done this wickedness. Through each of 
 the six charges contained in the verse, 
 the sin is ascribed to all the people: 
 " The;/ have also transgressed," etc. 
 IV. The connection between sin and 
 unbelief. Achan had no real faith : 1. 
 In Divine omniscience. Had he really 
 believed that God saw him, he could 
 
 not have taken of the spoil. 2. In 
 Divine punishment. Had he been con- 
 vinced that he would have been "de- 
 voted," he would have resisted the 
 temptation. 3. hi the Dirine word. 
 To disbelieve in the punishment was 
 to disbelieve Him who had threatened 
 to destroy. The man evidently believed 
 concealment from his brethren a much 
 more important matter than conceal- 
 ment from Jehovah. Thus does un- 
 belief in God usually lie at the root of 
 all transgression. 
 
 Verse 12. — The Consequences of 
 Unforgiven Guilt. 
 
 I. To be without forgiveness is to 
 be without God. IT. To be without 
 God is to be without strength (cf. John 
 XV. 5). III. To be without strength 
 is to be without courage. IV. To be 
 without repentance for the sin which 
 works results like these, is to be with- 
 out hope. 
 
 " The oracle of God, which told 
 Joshua that a great offence was com- 
 mitted, yet reveals not the person. It 
 would have been as easy foa' God to 
 have named the man as the crime." 
 [Bp. Hall.] 
 
 Verses 13 — 15. — Getting Ready to 
 BE Sanctified. 
 
 I. Human preparation for putting 
 away sin. What Jehovah teaches 
 I,rael, we should learn as necessary 
 for ourselves. There are no super- 
 fluities in the Divine teaching, and 
 human hearts arc as weak now as they 
 were three thousand j'ears ago. In 
 order to be sanctified indeed, the Lord 
 teaches us the following things : 1. To 
 get a deep consciousness of sin's existence 
 and guilt. " There is an accursed thing 
 in the midst of thee." There will be no 
 question of sin's presence in us if we 
 wait long in the Divine presence. We 
 are to feel that sin justly makes every 
 one who entertains it worthy to be 
 devoted. 2. To maintain an unwaver- 
 ing conviction that siii works misery and 
 ruin. " Thou canst not stand before 
 thine enemies, until," etc. He who 
 suffers himself to entertain the smallest 
 hope that sin can ultimately bring any- 
 thing but loss and misery, is hindering 
 his sanetification. If we would be 
 
 117 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 
 made holy, sin must be regarded in its 
 results, as well as in its nature, as an un- 
 mixed evil. 3. To undertake deliberate 
 and specific acts tending to sanctification. 
 It is only the forms, and never the 
 moral principles of the old dispensation, 
 which are abolished in the N. T. We 
 also need the help of a deliberate pur- 
 pose to be sanctified, and of outward 
 things in which we can manifestly act 
 in that direction. Kegular times for 
 private examination, meditation, prayer, 
 and the reading of the Scriptures, are 
 helps which no man can dispense with 
 for long without becoming irregular in 
 hohness. For special times of depar- 
 ture, fasting and humihation, in secresy 
 before God, should not be despised. 
 Most men are more in danger on the side 
 of worldhness, than on the side of super- 
 stitious asceticism. II. Divine help 
 for putting away sin. The Lord 
 would discover the Avay in which sin 
 entered into the camp, the person who 
 had introduced it, and the place where 
 the proofs of it lay hidden. This dis- 
 covery : 1. Supposes omniscience hrj its 
 boldness. The proposal was to single 
 out one person from two or three mil- 
 lions. A charlatan, relying on effron- 
 tery in himself, and superstition in his 
 victims, has sometimes ventured to 
 assert his power to detect a thief from 
 among half a dozen ignorant and cre- 
 dulous people, one of whom has been 
 known to be guilty of stealing ; and, 
 owing to the timidity which accom- 
 panies transgression, he has occasion- 
 ally succeeded. It Avould be a widely 
 difl'erent thing for a man to gravely 
 propose to unfailingly detect one thief 
 from among all the inhabitants of Lon- 
 don, and that by means of considering 
 the people, in their absence, under 
 some systematic division of the multi- 
 tude into classes. It required God, 
 calm in the consciousness of infinite 
 discernment, to announce that He would, 
 with invisible hand, unfailingly guide 
 the lot past the myriad names of Israel 
 to the name of him who was guilty of 
 the crime. 2. Is imjiartial in its sjnrit. 
 Prejudice had no place whatever in 
 the enquiry. 8. h deUhcratc in its 
 method. God moves to judgment slowly, 
 that the guilty may have opportunity 
 148 
 
 to repent and confess. 4. Is solemn in 
 its steady pror/ress. Jacob, under no 
 special accusation, felt the very presence 
 of God to fill him with awe : surely 
 when Achan watched the ever-narrow- 
 ing and unerring procession of the lot, 
 which pointed out successively his tribe 
 and his family, he must have been 
 ready to anticipate the last selection, 
 and to cry out in an intenser fear than 
 the patriarch, "How dreadful is this 
 place!" 5. Is certain and convincing 
 in its result. Probably no single per- 
 son in the host had, any more than 
 Joshua (verse 19), the smallest doubt 
 that Achan was the offender. Then, 
 what God so unerringly shews, and his 
 brethren without exception believe, the 
 guilty man unavoidably confesses. So 
 bold, and fair, and solemn is the judg- 
 ment of the Lord ; so terrible, to the 
 guilty, is its issue. III. Characteristic 
 features in the putting away of sin. 
 If we would be sanctified in heart, as 
 well as outwardly, we must deal severely 
 with that which ofi'ends (verse 15). 1. 
 No oiecessanj sacrifice must be nithheld. 
 Sin may call for extreme measures, but 
 the Saviour said for our guidance, who 
 live in this dispensation, " If thy right 
 hand off'end thee, cut it ofi'." 2. No 
 weal; hesitation is to be sufi'ered. " Jn 
 the morning ye shall be brought," etc., 
 and after that each step is prompt and 
 firm to the bitter end. 3. No room for 
 sympathy with transgression is to be left. 
 Achan, and all that he had, were to be 
 destroyed. No opportunity was left to 
 mourn with " the bereaved," and thus 
 get gentler thoughts of the sin in fellow- 
 ship with the sufi"erers. The trans- 
 gressor and his family, who might have 
 been privy to his guilt, were to be alike 
 " stoned with stones, and burned with 
 fire." He who would fight manfully 
 against sin, must leave no way of re- 
 treat into the regions of transgression. 
 
 Verses 10 — 15. — I. Prayer and hu- 
 miliation are of no ultimate account 
 without repentance. 
 
 II. Repentance avails nothing 
 without sanctification. 
 
 III. Sanctification is impossible 
 without abhorrence of sin really felt 
 aud unmistakably expressed. 
 
CHAP. VII. HOMILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHUJ. 
 
 MAIN H0MILETIC8 OF THE PABAGRAPH.— Verses 16—23. 
 The Revelation of Particular Sins. 
 
 Although God knew the actual ofiender as fully as He knew that transgression 
 had been committed, He directed Joshua to proceed as if the criminal were alto- 
 gether unsuspected. God would manifest the guilt in a manner which should 
 bring conviction to every individual in the camp. It is a beautiful feature in 
 Divine justice that the Lord never rests, as He might rest, in His own unerring assur- 
 ance of right ; He is concerned, also, to satisfy every feeling of enquiry and doubt 
 in the minds of those whom He judges. The issues of the Judgment Day will 
 represent not only the mind of Jesus Christ, the Judge ; they will express the 
 unwavering conviction of the lost, the undivided feeling of the redeemed, and the 
 confident assent of the universe. 
 
 I. The God- directed search for sin. The enquiry was directed to the discovery 
 of a specific act of sin, and to the detection of the individual transgressor. We 
 see the Lord deliberately undertaking to expose some particular act of sin in 
 some particular members of Israel. There is an immense difference between the 
 moral effect of any general exposure of sin, and such revelation of specific and 
 individual guilt as is undertaken here. Men think comparatively little of general 
 acknowledgments of iniquity. Witness the general confessions of sin made in 
 public services and prayer meetings. It would make confession a different thing 
 indeed, if those who acknowledge that they are sinners, at the same time named 
 their sins. The exposure of sin in this form concentrates and focuses the atten- 
 tion. The result in the two cases presents all the difterence that there is between 
 a dreamy theory, which all men admit, and a sharply defined and localized fact, 
 at which everybody is alaimed. It is sin in a specific form, and attaching- to 
 an individual man, that God here undertakes to reveal. It may be asked. Why 
 did Jehovah concern Himself to reveal actual sin in this form ? Why did the 
 Saviour repeatedly draw attention, openly, to particular transgressions among the 
 Apostles ? Why in the course of Divine providence, now, does God frequently 
 bring to light instances of guilt in Christian men, which at once shock the feeling 
 of the Church, and aflbrd opportunity for the scorn of enemies ? Would not 
 society gain by the concealment of iniquity in instances like these ? The late F. 
 W. Robertson, speaking of the case of sin in the Corinthian Church, has thus dealt 
 with the whole question : " There are two views of sin : in one, it is looked upon 
 as a wrong ; in the other, as producing loss — loss, for example, of character. In 
 such cases, if character could be preserved before the world, grief would not come ; 
 but the paroxysms of misery fall upon our proud spirit when our guilt is made 
 public. The most distinct instance we have of this is in the life of SauL In the 
 midst of his apparent grief, the thing still uppermost was that he had forfeited his 
 kingly character : almost the only longing was, that Samuel should honour him 
 before his people. And hence it comes to pass, that often remorse and anguish 
 only begin with exposure. Suicide takes place, not when the act of ^vrong is done, 
 but when the guilt is known, and hence, too, many a one becomes hardened, who 
 would otherwise have remained tolerably happy ; in consequence of which we 
 blame the exposure, not the guilt ; we say if it had hushed up, all would have 
 been well ; that the servant who robbed his master was ruined by taking away his 
 character ; and that if the sin had been passed over, repentance might have taken 
 place, and he might have remained a respectable member of society. Do not 
 think so. It is quite true that remorse was produced by exposure, and that the 
 remorse was fatal ; the sorrow which worked death arose from that exposure, and 
 so far exposure may be called the cause : had it never taken place, respectability, 
 and comparative peace, might have continued ; but outward respectability is not 
 change of heart. It is well kno\yn that the corpse has been preserved for centuries 
 in the iceberg, or in antiseptic peat ; and that when atmospheric air was introduced 
 to the exposed surface it crumbled into duet. Exposure worked dissolution, but it 
 
 141) 
 
HOMILETIG COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 only manifested the death which was already there ; so with sorrow, it is not the 
 living heart which drops to pieces, or crumbles into dust, when it is revealed. 
 Exposure did not work death in the Corinthian dinner, but life." 
 
 Who can say that this was not the effect in Achan's case ? Judging by his free 
 and open confession, so swiftly forced upon him, the opportunity for repentance 
 was sincerely seized ; and the low and poor measure of life, which would soon 
 have expired under concealment, was enabled again to shew itself, ere its possessor 
 was hurried into the more manifest presence of his Maker. This is why God so 
 often deliberately exposes guilt : if the guilty have any remaining life. He would free 
 that life from an oppressive and destroying incubus ; if there be no life. He would 
 reveal the death that is there, and thus give warning and salvation to the life that 
 is in others. II. The God- guided process of the lot. Whatever may have been 
 the exact method of the lot, the successive stages of its advance towards the 
 detection of the criminal were marked with terrible certainty. There was no haste, 
 and no hesitation ; no faltering even for a moment, as if waiting for light, and no 
 mistake which rendered necessary the retracing of a single step, or the repetition of 
 any one ineffectual movement. Like the hound, which with keen powers of smell- 
 ing, and a strong scent to guide it, running " breast high " towards its game, never 
 hunting on the " heel," never pausing to recover scent, and never faltering till its 
 fierce fangs meet in its exhausted victim ; so the very lot itself must have seemed, 
 to one man in that great multitude, as if mysteriously instinct with a life unerring 
 in its discernment, and unrelenting in its pursuit. Changing the figure : from the 
 circumference of that vast circle necessary to enclose the camp of Israel, standbuj 
 where Achan stood, every line drawn to detect the guilty would seem, from the 
 very first, to be pointing du-ectly to himself, and to be coming ever nearer as it was 
 produced successively through the three inscribed circles, the last of which nar- 
 rowed the examination to his own immediate family : the twelve tribal lines of 
 indication would centre on his tribe, the five lines from the ancestral heads of Judah 
 would join together on his ancestor, Zarah (cf. Gen. xlvi. 12), the lines from the 
 Zarhite ancestry would meet in the family of Zabdi, or Zimri (cf. 1 Chron. ii. 6), 
 while the lines from the family of Zabdi, passing through the apparently thin 
 house of Carmi, would focus themselves on Achan, becoming there, in their silent 
 intensity, almost vocal with an utterance which, later on, rang out from the lips 
 of an indignant prophet down into the conscience of another criminal — " Thou art 
 the man." So sui'ely was the lot guided to its mark by God. 1. Leant the/oily 
 of all the atte)npts nhkh are made to conceal sin. Exposure, at the farthest, does 
 but await the judgment of the Lord, 2. Admire the (jlory of iJirine omniscience. 
 God saw the acts of every man in the host of Israel, even during the tumult of 
 war. He sees, not less accurately, the thoughts of every mind, and the desires 
 of every heart. As Archbishop Seeker quaintly puts it, "God hath a glazed win- 
 dow in the darkest houses of clay : He sees what is done in men, when none other 
 can." III. The God-honouring result of discovery. 1. The act of God, in this 
 revelation of sin, carried with it the full concurrence of men. {a) The transgressor 
 himself fully acknowledged his guilt. Achan felt that he had done wickedly, nor 
 could he dispute the justice of his sentence, {h) The spectators must have been 
 equally impressed with the wisdom and justice and love of God. The confession 
 of Achan vindicated Divine wisdom, the solemnity of the offence and the express 
 terms of the covenant assured the people as to Divine justice, while in the stern 
 execution of the sentence they might behold God's love hedging up as "with 
 thorns " their own way to sin. (c) While the conscience and judgment of men 
 were fully satisfied, the formalities prescribed by the law were also scrupulously 
 met. The law explicitly stated : " At the mouth of two witnesses, or three wit- 
 nesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death ; but at the mouth of one 
 witness he shall not be put to death." Although the lot had pointed out the guilty 
 man, and Achan himself had confessed his sin, Joshua sent messengers to the tent 
 to furnish yot further evidence of the transgression. 2. This act of discovery was 
 150 
 
UHAP. VII. 
 
 HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 not only a revelation in the present, but also light upon the past. The defeat before 
 Ai, the slaughter of the Israelites, and the slowness of the answer to the prayer of 
 Joshua and the elders, were all explained now. Thus does the Divine discovery 
 of human sin still light up the darkness of the past. Thus, too, will the revelation 
 of the final judgment discover the cause of many defeats, shew the reason of much 
 pain, and disclose the grounds of not a few unanswered prayers. 
 
 OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VEBSES. 
 
 Verses 16 — 18. — Family History and 
 Family Sin. 
 
 Joshua rose up early in the morning 
 (1) when he was about to lead the 
 people to behold God's wonderful works 
 (chap. iii. 1 — 5 ; (2) when he was about 
 to lead them to a great victory (chap, 
 vi. 12, 14, 15); (3) when he was re- 
 quired to conduct this search for sin. 
 Our vigilance must not be one-sided. 
 He who would serve God indeed, must 
 not only be active in duties Avhich go 
 with great honour and joy, but also in 
 duties which are accompanied with much 
 shame and sorrow. I. The insufficiency 
 of family name and greatness to shield 
 men from sin. " The tribe of Judah 
 was taken." The tribe of Judah was 
 considered the chief in Israel. This was 
 the most numerous and powerful of all 
 the tribes, and had assigned to it the 
 place of honour in the general encamp- 
 ment around the tabernacle (cf. Numb. 
 ii. 8). To this tribe, too, had come the 
 richest blessing from their father Jacob ; 
 they were to be the royal family among 
 all the families of Israel ; in their in- 
 heritance should stand both the metro- 
 polis of the kingdom and the temple of 
 the Lord, or, as the patriarch prophe- 
 sied, " Unto him shall the gathering of 
 the people be." Not all the prestige 
 which came from past history, from 
 present dignity, or from future pros- 
 pects, saved Judah from this disgrace. 
 1. There is 7w family name which stands 
 sufficiently hiyh to make pride alloicahle 
 in any man. 2. No family diynity is 
 great enoiiyh to furnish to any of its 
 members securities against sin. II. The 
 connection between a bad life and a 
 bad antecedent history. "He took 
 the family of the Zarhites." It is 
 sufficient merely to remind ourselves 
 that Zarah, or Zerah, was one of the 
 children of Judah's transgi'ession. A 
 fact like this might have weakened the 
 
 moral force of Zerah through all his 
 life, and have enfeebled the character 
 of his descendants. One sin in a family 
 often repeats itself in that family's sub- 
 sequent history. He who sins, sins not 
 only to himself, but to his children after 
 him. III. The wide intervening space 
 which is sometimes seen between the 
 conspicuous transgressions which mar 
 the glory of a family name. Judah 
 sinned, but we hear little for good or evil 
 about Zerah, or Zabdi, or Carmi. JTheir 
 names never come into prominence in 
 connection with either virtue or vice. 
 Through the three intervening genera- 
 tions the family life went, for the most 
 part, smoothly and quietly. Then Achan 
 came, and another blot was made upon 
 the family history. There may be a 
 much closer connection between these 
 prominent acts of wickedness in a family 
 than we are accustomed to think. No 
 one can assert that it is out of Judah's 
 weakened life that sin, in another form, 
 presently appears in the life of Achan ; 
 it is equally true that no one can prove 
 the contrary. Speaking of the powers 
 of memory, MacLaren has said, " The 
 fragmentary remembrances ^\•hich we 
 have now, lift themselves above the 
 ocean of forgetfulness like islands in 
 some Archipelago, the summits of sister 
 hills, though separated by the estran- 
 ging sea that covers then- converging 
 sides and the valleys where theii' roots 
 unite. The solid land is there, though 
 hidden. Drain off the sea, and there 
 will be no more isolated peaks, but 
 continuous land. In this life we have 
 but the island memories heaving them- 
 selves into sight, but in the next the 
 Lord shall ' cause the sea to go back ' 
 by the breath of His mouth, and the 
 channels of the great deep of a human 
 heart's experiences and actions shall be 
 laid bare." As it is with our memories 
 of sin, so is it with the sins themselves. 
 
 151 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 CHAP. VU. 
 
 Conspicuous transgressions stand island- 
 like above the ocean of ordinary life and 
 history, and succeeding generations, see- 
 ing one sin here and another there, treat 
 them as separate and disconnected ; 
 but in the life to come, Avhen there is 
 "no more sea," and when we "know 
 even as also we are known," it may 
 appear that the huger evils which force 
 themselves up above the common level 
 of the family history ai'C all connected 
 by a chain of lesser transgressions 
 which now lie hidden from our view. 
 
 " At the casting of the lots, we are 
 not of course to suppose that all the 
 male members of the tribes were 
 present ; but that the heads of the 
 people attended, and the lots were cast 
 on them in the following order : first, 
 upon the heads of the twelve tribes ; 
 then upon the heads of all the clans of 
 Judah ; thirdly, upon the heads of the 
 father-houses of the clan of Zerah ; and 
 lastly, upon the individual members of 
 the father-house of Zabdi." — \Keil.'\ 
 
 Verse 19. — I. The tenderness of 
 Joshua towards the sinner. " My 
 son." "I pray thee." II. The se- 
 verity of Joshua toward the sin. 
 While Joshua speaks in accents of the 
 utmost gentleness to Achan, he holds 
 out no hope of pardon ; he does but 
 require the criminal to confess, that the 
 glory of God may be made manifest 
 before all Israel, and that Achan's hope 
 for another life, if any, may not be 
 destroyed by his obstinacy in this. 
 Thus we are taught 
 
 " To hate the sin with all om- heart, 
 And yet the sinner love." 
 
 The Gloky of God in the Confession 
 OF Sin. 
 
 I. To confess sin to be sinful, is a 
 tribute to the glory of God as the up- 
 holder of the majesty of truth and the 
 beauty of holiness. II. To confess 
 sin, even when it is already detected, 
 is to acknowledge God's glory in His 
 omniscience. III. To confess sin which 
 brings disgrace on the Lord's people, 
 is to display the glory of God as con- 
 sisting in light aiid truth, and not in 
 concealment. IV. To confess sin at 
 the Divine bidding, is to confess that 
 the glory of God is independent of men. 
 152 
 
 V. To confess sin, is to "give glory to 
 the Lord God," not as adding to His 
 glory, but as admitting and manifesting 
 that glory. VI. To confess sin when 
 the judgment of death will certainly 
 follow, may be to hope in Divine mercy 
 for the life to come, and thus to honour 
 God's glory in forgiveness. 
 
 Verses 20, 21. — Achan's Confession 
 OF his Crime. 
 
 I. The confession as a revelation of 
 human weakness. 1. Man as too weak 
 to see the beautiful. The goodly garment 
 was too attractive ; it drew Achan into 
 theft, and thus into forgetfulness of the 
 rights of God. The beauties of Nature, 
 and the beauties of Art, as leading men 
 to forget God, merely appropriating 
 pleasure, instead of also rendering 
 praise. 2. Man as too u-eak to behold 
 tlie means of easily obtaining life's com- 
 forts. Achan found the gold and silver 
 too attractive also. Whatever might 
 have been the difficulty of using these 
 in the present, the day would doubtless 
 come, he thought, when they would be 
 a power. They would stand, then, for 
 so much case from laboui', for so many 
 of the necessaries and comforts of life, 
 for so much social influence. Thus 
 does the unlawful pursuit of wealth 
 often lead men, still, to forget the claims 
 of God. 3, Man as too weak to be 
 grateful. In the very hour when victory 
 had been given, that victory itself, if 
 rightly used, leading on to a peaceful 
 inheritance, Achan ungratefully forgat 
 God. The mercies of the wilderness, 
 the mercies of victory over Sihon and 
 Og, the mercies of the passage of the 
 Jordan, and the mercies of a renewed 
 covenant at Gilgal, were all forgotten, 
 and this in the very midst of new 
 mercies at Jericho. A single coin, hold 
 close enough to the eye, will shut out 
 the glory of the sun ; so a little spoil, 
 held too close to the heart in a spu-it of 
 covetousness, shut out from this man's 
 soul the sight and remembrance of 
 Jehovah's manifold goodness. And still 
 this weakness repeats itself — worse fhau 
 repeats itself. Less valuable spoils than 
 these are not seldom permitted to shut 
 out the cradle of the incarnation, the 
 ministry of humiliation, the cross of 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 Buffering, and thus, too, the present love 
 of a living Christ. 4. Man as too weak 
 for faith. God had said, "Lest ye make 
 yourselves to be devoted." It may be 
 that Achan had believed that, and felt 
 its solemnity ; with the glittering prize 
 well before him, like many another in 
 the hour of temptation, he was too 
 feeble to believe then. 5. Man as too 
 weak to understand that the future wUl 
 soon be the 2)resent. Achan's lack of 
 faith must surely have been unbelief, 
 not disbelief. With so many assurances 
 of God's power to see, and power to 
 work, lying, as they did, close about 
 him, he could not deliberately disbelieve 
 that God saw, and that God would 
 punish. The gold and the garment did 
 but shut out the future ; present plea- 
 sure and present possessions, just then, 
 made up the whole vision of the man's 
 life. So with many, to-day still obscures 
 to-morrow, life hides death, and time 
 shuts out eternity. II. The confession 
 as reiterating a needful warning. 1. 
 It icarns us to avoid temptation. Here 
 we may learn again to pray as Christ 
 taught His disciples, " Lead us not into 
 temptation." 2. It teaches us to resist 
 the beginnings of evil. These beginnings 
 of evil were, probably, long before 
 Achan saw the spoil which tempted him 
 to sin. It may be that an hour before 
 he took the devoted things he would 
 not have thought himself capable of the 
 transgression ; yet we are not therefore 
 to think that the point where he began 
 to go astray was in the actual sin. The 
 very act of guilt supposes a previous 
 life in which there had been low thoughts 
 of sin, cold considerations of Divine 
 goodness, and poor views of God Him- 
 self. It is here that the preparation 
 for the reception of temptation constantly 
 begins, and here that it can best be 
 resisted. 3. It warns us that repentance 
 deferred is repentance embittered. At no 
 place would confession and restitution 
 have been so easy as immediately after 
 the sin. Every step, after the spoil was 
 taken, made repentance harder : the 
 defeat at Ai, the deaths of the slain, 
 the grief of Joshua, and even the solem- 
 nities attending the lot, were all so 
 many obstacles in the path backward. 
 4. It shews us that confession at last is 
 
 infinitely better than no confession at all. 
 This confession is the one and only 
 softening feature of the -wretched man's 
 story ; it is the one oasis in this moral 
 desert, and even that is small. If there 
 be any bow whatever in the cloud, it is 
 that which is faintly reflected to us from 
 these forced tears of penitence. III. 
 The confession as affording room for 
 hope. Are we to take the solemn judg- 
 ment on Achan in this life as shutting 
 out all hope for him in the life to come ? 
 1. There is no word uttei'ed to tell us 
 that Achan was eternally lost, (a) The 
 silence of the Bible on this point. 
 Perhaps the darkest case mentioned in 
 Scripture, excepting the parable of Dives, 
 is that of Judas. Even here, the indica- 
 tion of the eternal state is dim, although 
 very terrible: "It were good for that 
 man if he had never been born " . . " That 
 he might go to his own place." And 
 this seems to be the only instance in 
 which the Bible indicates positively the 
 eternal perdition of any one of its cha- 
 racters. True, to reverse a familiar 
 line, there are many names, like those 
 of Saul, Jeroboam, Ahab, and Ananias, 
 which seem light with insufierable dark- 
 ness, and yet even on the eternal state 
 of these men the Scriptures are silent. 
 {h) The mercy of this silence. Had 
 the eternal state of wicked individuals 
 been positively shewn, how many of 
 the desponding living would have read 
 their likeness in the character of some 
 one known to be lost, and then have 
 despairingly pronounced their own 
 doom, (c) The hope that comes of this 
 silence in cases like Achan's. Where 
 God has not shut out all hope, and 
 penitence leaves some room for hope, 
 let us hope, even though we have to 
 fear. 2. TJie character of Achan s con- 
 fession furnishes some slight ground for 
 hope. That it had been made earlier, 
 every one must desii'e ; yet even the 
 confession of the penitent thief seems 
 to have been made later, (a) Achan's 
 confession has no apparent reservation. 
 " I came, I saw, I coveted, I took, I 
 hid," he says, {b) The confession has 
 no attempt to implicate others. There 
 is nothing here which corresponds with 
 the word of the first man, — " The woman 
 whom Thou gavest to be with me, she 
 
 153 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHVA. 
 
 CHAP. VIT. 
 
 gave me of the tree ; " or with the similar 
 utterance of the first woman, — " The 
 serpent beguiled me, and I did eat." 
 (c) The confession has no attempt at 
 excuse. The only word that looks 
 towards anything else than Achan's own 
 weakness, is that which names the 
 " goodly" character of the Babylonish 
 garment, and even this can hardly be 
 said to plead the stress of the tempta- 
 tion. The acknowledgment throughout 
 has a simple regard to the man's own 
 wicked weakness, {d) The confession 
 bears marks of sincerity. The first 
 words of it almost anticipate the deep 
 anguish in which David cried, " Against 
 Thee, Thee only, have I sinned." " In- 
 deed I have sinned against the Lord 
 God of Israel,' says Achan. Let us 
 hope that the contrition Avas not in 
 vain ; let us also fear to stand at last 
 where hope needs so many words to 
 reveal it, and where, even then, it has 
 to be left so faintly discernible. 
 
 Verse 21. — The Progeess of Sin. 
 
 "I. It enters by the eye. II. It 
 sinks into the heart. III. It actuates 
 the hand. IV. It leads to secresy and 
 dissimulation. * I sa?/!,' etc. '■\ coveted,'' 
 etc. ^ I took and Jiid them in the earth.' 
 Thus saith James : ' When lust (evil 
 desire) is conceived, it bringeth forth 
 sin ; and when sin is finished, it bringeth 
 forth death.' " [Clarke.] 
 
 Verses 22, 23. — The Beginning of 
 THE End of Tkansgression. I. The 
 wretched issue of dissembling. " Be- 
 hold, it was hid," etc. The hidden had 
 become the revealed. That which had 
 been so carefully and industriously con- 
 cealed, the messengers now " behold," 
 and it would soon be exposed before 
 the eyes of all Israel. When God 
 questions in the judgment, the things 
 done in the body will be fully revealed. 
 Not only will every person be present, 
 but " we must all ajijiear (be made 
 manifest: A]/.) before the judgment 
 seat of Christ." II. The humiliating 
 and impoverishing act of restitution. 
 " They took them out of the midst of 
 the tent, and brought them unto Joshua." 
 Achan's labour had been all in vain. 
 Ho was as poor, outwardly, as before 
 154 
 
 the theft ; and, in heart, his theft had 
 left him bankrupt indeed. The gains 
 of sin will all have presently to be 
 retm'ned. 1. God w ill hare crcrij sinner, 
 not only to repent, hut, as far as is pos- 
 sible, to make restitution. 2. He h7«o 
 makes restitution too late, may hate also 
 to suffer retribution. Anne of Austria, 
 the Queen of France, when suffering 
 from the repeated cruelties of her im- 
 placable enemy. Cardinal Richelieu, is 
 said to have remarked : " My loi'd car- 
 dinal, there is one fact which you seem 
 entirely to have forgotten. God is a 
 sure paymaster. He may not pay at 
 the end of every week, or month, or 
 year ; but I charge you, remember that 
 He pays in the end." III. The only 
 place in which men can effectually 
 deal with sin. " They brought them 
 unto Joshua . . , and poured them out 
 before the Lord." 1. We shall best dis- 
 cover sin as we search for it before the 
 Lord. Joshua had evidently conducted 
 the inquisition for the off'ender imme- 
 diately before the Ark of the Divine 
 presence. Those who "walk in the 
 light " of fellowship with God, will most 
 readily detect iniquity. " Sin doth like 
 itself appear " nowhere so much as be- 
 neath the cross of the Saviour. 2. We 
 can only rigidly confess sin as u-e confess 
 it before the Lord. Thus, standing be- 
 fore the Ark, Joshua said unto Achan, 
 " Give glory to the Lord God of Israel, 
 and make confession unto Him. Although 
 the sin was to be told to Joshua, Achan 
 was to feel and to acknowledge it as in 
 the presence of Jehovah, and as sin 
 against Him. 3. We shall most effectu- 
 ally condemn sin as we judye it before the 
 Lord. Remembering the presence of 
 Him who is merciful and gracious, and 
 who will by no means clear the guilty, 
 Joshua was very tender to the man, 
 and very severe with the ofience itself. 
 There was a moral majesty about the 
 bearing of Joshua, which must have 
 very deeply impressed itself upon the 
 people around him. We shall never 
 condemn sin eil'octually, unless we bear 
 ourselves towards men in "the meek- 
 ness and gentleness of Christ," and 
 towards sin in the spirit of Him who 
 chose to suffer for it unto death, rather 
 than to suffer it in others. 
 
CHAP. VII. HOMILETIG C0M3IENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Verses 24—26. 
 
 The Punishment of Sin, 
 
 When the Israelites were beaten back from Ai, and some of them slain, Joshua 
 rent his clothes, and fell upon his face before the ark of the Lord, and fasted and 
 prayed till the evening. He seems to have had some suspicion of evil among the 
 people ; his bearing and words have about them more of the tone of enquiry than 
 of the spirit of complaint. Yet if Joshua suspected the people, he did not charge 
 them with sin, or, apparently, so much as name it to them, until he knew from 
 the lips of God that they were guilty. In the defeats and suficrings of men now, 
 there may sometimes be cause to suspect that they are connected with transgres- 
 sion. But while defeat and suifering should lead us to examine ourselves, they 
 should not lead us to make accusations against others. Let this course of treat- 
 ment be recognised, and there would be no end to the recriminations of men 
 against one another. It is related that Charles II. once said to John Milton, " Do 
 not you think that your blindness is a judgment upon you for having written in 
 defence of my father's murder?" "Sir," answered the poet, "it is true I have 
 lost my eyes ; but if all calamitous providences are to be considered as judgments, 
 your majesty should remember that your royal father lost his head." Every man 
 who heedlessly charges a fellow-creature to find in his afflictions a proof of his 
 wickedness, is open to some retort, although his family history may not furnish 
 occasion for a rebuke so severe as that which was deservedly administered by 
 Milton. 
 
 The affliction of Israel in the repulse at Ai is clearly seen, at this stage of the 
 history, to stand connected with the transgression of Achan. The sin has been 
 traced home to the sinner, and he who has brought shame and death upon others, 
 is here called to suffer in like manner himself. I. Achan's punishment as the 
 expression of a deep abhorrence of sin. Every man in the camp may not 
 actually have felt this abhorrence. Where one man was found willing to commit 
 such wickedness, it may be that there were others found to sympathise with it. 
 By the severity and manner of punishing Achan, God would teach all the people 
 that sin was to be hated exceedingly. Everything which the transgi'essor had stolen 
 was to be destroyed ; the Babylonish garment, and even the silver and gold, were 
 to be utterly put away. All the goods Avhich Achan had possessed before his 
 theft were likewise to be devoted ; the very tent which had sheltered him and 
 his, and the oxen and asses and sheep which he had accumulated, were to be 
 burnt with fire. Even his sons and his daughters seem to have been stoned with 
 him, and then in like manner to have been consumed. 1. Iniquitu u on no account 
 to he passed over, hut to he solemnhj put meat/. Men may be forgiven, but sin 
 never; that is to say, sin may be forgiven unto men, but it must never be forgiven 
 in itself. Sin must be put away (a) irrespective of temporal loss, (h) irrespective 
 of social afi'ections, (c) and irrespective of pain in its severest forms. 2. The 
 fiains of iniquity are all to he esteemed unholy. To retain the things which Achan 
 had stolen would be to retain the sin. 3. The gains of iniquity are not only 
 accursed in themselves, they i^ollute also that which they touch. Zacchasus restored 
 not only that in which he had wronged his fellows, but foui-fold. Such a restitu- 
 tion acknowledges that all the estate of a man is corrupted by its corrupt part. 
 " The eagle, in the fable, that stole flesh from the altar, brought a coal of fire with 
 it, which burnt her nest (Hah. ii. 9, 10 ; Zech. v. 4). They lose theii* own that 
 grasp at more than their own." [Henry.] This expression of abhorrence against 
 sin must not be held to relate merely to material possessions. The outward 
 picture, given in such terrible colours to Israel, portrays also God's law for the 
 inner life. The sins of the heart are to be equally hated, and similarly put away. 
 As Arnot has written, "To cover the sin which lies on the conscience with a 
 layer of earnest efi'orts to do right will not take the sin away ; the underlying sin 
 will assimilate all the dead works that may be heaped upon it, and the result will 
 
 155 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. chap. vn. 
 
 be a greater mass of sin. II. Achan's punishmeiit as a vindication of God's law 
 and covenant. 1. The punishment was to be carried out under the express pro- 
 visions of the law. The law held (a) that Achan had made himself and his people 
 to be devoted by taking of the devoted thing (chap. vi. 18 ; Dcut. vii. 26) ; 
 (h) that those who were thus sentenced to die should, as for other capital oflences, 
 be stoned (Deut. xiii. 10) ; (c) that such individual persons as were put to death 
 should be stoned without the camp (Lev. xxiv. 14) ; (d) that all the possessions 
 of devoted persons, including the bodies of their slaughtered cattle, should be 
 burnt, and that their own bodies should thus be consumed with their goods 
 (Deut. xiii. 15 — 17). Thus in the destruction of Achan the formalities of the law 
 were emphatically carried into execution. God would have the Israelites trace 
 A.chan's punishment, not to any sudden impulse of anger, but to that deliberate 
 wrath against idolatry which stood as a perpetual record embodied in His covenant. 
 2. The punishment was to he carried out in the true s])irit and interests of law. The 
 one impression left on the thousands of Israel must have been that God would 
 have His commandments honoured, no matter what the cost ; yet the tenderness 
 of Joshua and the merciful deUberateness of Jehovah must have assured the 
 people that love to them, no less than hatred of sin, was moving slowly round 
 and forward the wheels of this solemn judgment. III. Achan's punishment as 
 a memorial for future guidance and help. Modern monuments are almost 
 invariably, perhaps always, the records of triumphant personal career, or the 
 memorials of national victory. Wisely or unwisely, men and nations now never 
 celebrate their shame. <• History, more and more, gets to be one-sided ; and while 
 it presents much to animate, it has little to warn. The Israelites erected memorials 
 of their great events, and not merely of their great victories. The passage of the 
 Jordan has its cairn, but so has the grave of Achan ; the stone of Ebenezer is 
 set up between Mizpeh and Shen to tell the glory of victory, so also is the " very 
 great heap of stones" piled over the body of Absalom, to perpetuate the shame of 
 rebellion. This heap on the grave in the valley of Achor would be interpreted in 
 Israel's after history: — 1. Asa manorial of solemn warninn. Men should read 
 there: " So speedily may sin be committed, so certainly does God behold it, so 
 unerringly may it be revealed, and so bitter and shameful is its end. 2. As a 
 memorial of national purification and reconciliation with God. If all Israel was 
 held guilty in Achan's sin, not less is all Israel held purified in his punishment ; 
 the purification is judicial, rather than personal— it lies immediately in the direction 
 of justification, and only indirectly in that of sanctification ; but the purification 
 is held by God to be real, and not fictitious. " The Lord turned from the fierce- 
 ness of His anger," just as He had some time before declared that He would 
 (Deut. xiii. 17). Nor is this turning from anger any less real than the anger itself. 
 As under the Divine anger Israel had been defeated, so under the Divine forgive- 
 ness Israel proceeded directly to victory. Sin had been put away in God's 
 method, and every person in the camp, not long since held to be " accursed," or 
 " devoted," might now proceed to say, "There is therefore now no condemnation." 
 It should be noticed that in this revelation of God's mind on the question of 
 forgiving sin, there is absolutely no room for the commercial theory of an equivalent 
 in atonement. All Israel was solemnly held to be worthy of death in Achan's 
 sin, but it cannot be pretended that the lives of Achan and his family were an 
 equivalent for the lives of all the people. Atonement is here proclaimed to be, 
 not so much value in blood for so much sin, but an adequate expression of a 
 general abhorrence of sin so great that God who forgives, and man who is forgiven, 
 alike are seen determining that, whatever the cost, sin shall not be tolerated even 
 for a moment. Thus is law " magnified and made honourable ;" thus, too, does 
 Divine love proclaim itself in the one and only direction in which God could 
 speak, or man be benefited— the direction of right, and truth, and purity. 3. As a 
 memorial for (juidance into hope in times of future darkness. The remembrance of 
 Divine morcy which followed human penitence should long abide with Israel. 
 
CHAP. VII, 
 
 HOMILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 In times when the national sin would lead to God's departure, and to the consequent 
 darkness of succeeding defeat, this vision of Achor should become a bow in the 
 cloud, teaching the godly not to despair. It should be even more than this ; it 
 should become as the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Prepare ye the way 
 of the Lord, and victory shall take the place of defeat ; Repent ye, and the kingdom 
 of heaven is at hand. Thus more than six centuries later the Lord stirred a^ain 
 the pulse of the national feeling by crying through Hosea, " I will give her vine- 
 yards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope." Still later, Isaiah 
 was taught to sing : " And Sharon shall bo a fold of flocks, and the valley of 
 Achor a place to lie down in, for my people that have sought me." So careful 
 is Divine mercy ever to leave a place to which sinful men may return in tears, 
 and from which they may presently sing in joy, " We are saved by hope." Let 
 who will teach himself to despair, God ever leaves the fastenings of the " door of 
 hope" well within reach of the hand of penitence. 
 
 OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VERSES. 
 
 Verses 24 — 26. — The Door of Hope. 
 
 Read in connection with Hosea's 
 obvious reference to this solemn inci- 
 dent, some such thoughts as the follow- 
 ing might be expanded to pi'ofit : — 
 
 I. The unconscious beginnings of 
 hope in the place of human sin and 
 trouble. 
 
 II. The silent growth of hope under 
 Divine chastisement. 
 
 III. Hope becoming visible through 
 the putting away of iniquity. 
 
 IV. Hope fully revealed through 
 words of Divine pardon and the wit- 
 ness of succeeding victories. 
 
 The Judgment in the Valley op 
 
 ACHOE. 
 
 From the foregoing narrative we may 
 learn : 
 
 I. The deceitfulness of sin. II. The 
 certainty of its exposure. III. The 
 awfulness of its reward." [Bush.] 
 
 The Certainty and Severity of Sin's 
 
 Punishment. 
 
 " Punishment is the recoil of crime ; and 
 the strength of the li.ick stroke is in propor- 
 tion to the original blow." [^Fn'7ich.'] 
 
 " The thought of the future punishment for 
 the wicked which the Bible reveals is enough 
 to make an earthquake of terror in every 
 man's soul. I do not accept the doctrine df 
 eternal punishment because I delight in it. 
 I would cast in doubts, if I could, till I had 
 filled hell up to the brim ; I would destroy- 
 all faith in it ; but that woi^ld do me no good : 
 I could not destroy the thing. Nor does it 
 help me to take the word • everlasting,' and 
 put it into a rack, like an inquisitor, until I 
 make it shriek out some other meaning : I 
 cannot alter the stern fact." [Bccc/ar.] 
 
 " Day and night follow each other not moie 
 surely than punishment comes upon sin. 
 Whether the sin be great or little, momentary 
 or habitual, wilful or through infirmity, its 
 own peculiar punishment seems, according to 
 the law of nature, to follow, as far as our 
 experience of that law carries us, sooner or 
 later, lighter or heavier, as the case may be. 
 . . . Who can pretend to estimate the effect 
 of apparently slight transgression upon the 
 spiritual state of any one of us ? Who can 
 pretend to say what the effect of it is in 
 God's sight ? Wliat do the angels think of 
 it ? WHiat does our own guardian angel, if 
 one be vouchsafed us, who has watched over 
 us, and been intimate with us from our 
 youth up ; who joyed to see how we once 
 grew together with God's grace, but who now 
 is in fear for us ? Alas ! what is the real 
 condition of our heart itself? Dead bodies 
 keep their warmth a short time ; and who can 
 tell but a soul so circumstanced may be severed 
 from the grace of the ordinances, though he 
 partakes them outwardly, and is but existing 
 iipon and exhausting the small treasure of 
 strength and life which is laid up within 
 him ? Nay, we know that so it really is, if 
 the sin be deliberate and wilful ; for the 
 word of Scripture assures us that such sin 
 shuts us out from God's presence, and ob- 
 structs the channels by which He gives us 
 grace." [J. II. Newman^ 
 
 '• Let us suppose, that at the time when 
 Britain was peopled by half-savage tribes, 
 before the peiiod of the Roman sway, some 
 gifted seer among the Druids had engraven 
 u]")on a rock a minute prediction of a portion 
 of the futiu'e history of the island. Suppose 
 he had declared that it should, ere long, be 
 conquered by a warrior people from the 
 south : that he should name the Cjesar him- 
 self, describe his eagle standard, and all the 
 cu'cumstances of the conquest. Suppose he 
 shoi;ld portray the Saxon invasion centuries 
 after, the sevenfold division of the monarchj'', 
 the Danish inroad, the aiTival and victory of 
 the Normans. Our imagined prophet pauses 
 here, or at whatever other precise period you 
 
 157 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. chap. viii. 
 
 please to suppose ; and his next prediction, ret^ard to the coming judgment." [Archer 
 
 overleaping a vast nndescribed interval, sud- Butler. ] 
 dcnly represents the England of the present 
 
 day. Now conceive the forefathers of existing The SPIRIT IN WHICH SiN IS TO BE 
 England to have studied this wondrous record, Confronted. 
 and to find, to their amazement, that every " Sin is never at a stay ; if we do not re- 
 one of its predictions was accurately verified; treat from it, we shall advance in it ; and 
 that, as theii- generations succeeded", they ])at the further on we go, the more we have to 
 walked in the traces assigned for them Ijy come back." [Barrow.] 
 the prophetic inscription, and all it spoke " U.se sin as it will use you ; spare it not, 
 progressively became fact. Can we suppose, for it will not spare you ; it is your murderer, 
 that however far away in futurity was the and the murderer of the world ; use it there- 
 one remaining event, and however impossible fore as a murderer should be used. Kill it 
 to them, at their early stnge. to conceive the before it kills you ; and though it kill your 
 means by which all the present wonders of Ijodies. it shall not be able to kill your souls ; 
 this miffhty empire could ever be realised. and though it bring you to the grave, as it 
 they would permit themselves to doubt its did your Head, it shall not be able to keep 
 absolute certainty after such overwhelming you there. If the thoughts of death and the 
 proofs of the supernatural powers of the seer grave be not pleasant to you, hearken to 
 who guaranteed it 1 Would they not shape every temptation to sin as you would hearken 
 their course as confidently in view of the to a temptation to self-murder. You love 
 unquestionable future as in reference to the not death ; love not the cause of death." 
 unquestionable past ? It should be thus with [Baxter.] 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 VICTORY RESTORED AT AI, AND THE LAW PROCLAIMED AT EBAL. 
 
 Critical Notes. — 1. Take all the people of war] The total number of men capable of 
 bearing arms, omitting the seventy thousand left on the eastern side of Jordan, amounted to 
 rather more than r)31,000. It is not likely that all of these were taken up to make war on 
 Ai. By '• all the people of war " we may understand a body of chosen troops made up by 
 selection from the various tribes ; or, as the third verse suggests, "all the people of war "' 
 were nmstered, and then thirty thousand were chosen from the asseml)led host. 2. As thou 
 didst unto Jericho and her king] This alludes in general tcrim to the devoting of the city 
 and its inhabitants, the one by ])urning, and the other by death. At Jericho the spoil was 
 made rherevi ; here it was given to the people. The king of Jericho seems to have been slain 
 with the sword; the king of Ai was hanged, although it is likely that he was first put to 
 death in some other way. Lay thee an ambush] " The question put by many with reference 
 to the propriety of employing stratagem in order to deceive an enemy, indicates excessive 
 ignorance. For it is certainly not physical force alone which determines the issue of war, 
 but, on the contrary, those are pronounced the liest generals, whose success is due less to 
 force than to skilful manoeuvTcs. Therefore, if war is lawful at all, it is indisputably right 
 to avail oneself of those arts by which victory is usually obtained. It is of course understood 
 that neither must treaties lie violated, nor faith broken in an}"- other way."' (Cw/ciw.) 3. 
 Thirty thousand , . . and sent them away] I'lobably 30,000 was the entire numlier chosen 
 to operate against Ai, and of these 5000 were sent, as stated in verse 12, to form the ambush 
 between Bethel and Ai. To suppose two ambushes, one of .30,000 on the south-west, and one 
 of 5000 on the north-we.st of the city, recjuires the further supposition that Joshua would 
 have led all the remaining men of war in the camp, nearly half a million, to the first assault. 
 As the fighting men of Ai could not have amounted to more than two or three thousand, it is 
 not likely th.at Joshua feigned to flee before this small band ^\^th an army of half a million 
 soldiers. On whichever hypothesis the passage is interpreted, there are great ilitficulties to 
 be explained ; but the view suggested, taken with the inartistic repetitions and anticipations 
 of the narrative, which arc common also to the historian's style in chap, vi., affords much 
 the easier solution. 5. As at the first] The first battle, when the Israelites tied in defeat 
 (chap. vii. 4). 9. Sent them forth] The five thousand iiUcnded for the ambush. Joshua 
 lodged that night among the people] Probably among the twenty-five thous md. already in 
 the neighbourhood of .\i. If Joshua lodged in the eaui]> at (iilgal. which was about twenty- 
 five miles from Ai, the .'unliush would have been comjielled to lie in hiding, over one entire 
 day, between the two cities. This could h;irdly be done without discovery, nor would it liave 
 served any purpose to incur such risk. 10. Joshua rose up early] We may sui)pose the two 
 divisions of the army to have started about seven o'clock in the evening, having before them 
 a march of some eight hom-s. This would allow each divisicm to arrive at its destination 
 shortly after three in the morning. Both divisions would probably leave Qilgal in company 
 (ver. 3), and inarch for four or five hours together, along a common road. The main body 
 158 
 
HAP. viii. HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 would then bear away to the right, to take up its position on the north of the city, while the 
 ambush would diverge to the left, pass Ai on the south, and gain its hiding-place on the west 
 of the city ; thus avoiding the danger of discovery from crossing the road Ixitween Bethel 
 and Ai. Each division on arriving at its post, say about three o'clock, would proceed to take 
 some rest ; " but Joshua lodged that night among the people," i.e., among the main body of 
 the army. Sleeping for one or two hours, Joshua might rise by five (ver. 10), silently call 
 up, and once more review his army, send messengers across the main road between the two 
 cities to communicate with the ambush, ascertaining their safe arrival, and giving them final 
 instructions (ver. 12); and then, still in "that night" (ver. 13), or by six o'clock in the 
 morning, march his 2.5,000 men from the temporary encampment on the north of Ai - into the 
 midst of the valley," and in open view of their enemies. Here they were almost immediately 
 seen, and the men of Ai '• hasted and rose up early " (ver. 14), and forthwith the battle 
 began. 12. And he took] Translated hj i)lvperfect—"IIe had taken ; so Masiia: C. a Lajnde, 
 and others. ■• This expresses the sense, but is not justifiable as a translation." {Kcil.) 
 Probably the historian only intended to refer to the communication with the ambush, made 
 in the early morning, from the northern side of the city. 17. Not a man left in Ai] Not 
 a soldier. It is e\ident. hj verse 24, that the women, children, and others unable to bear arms 
 remained within the city. Or Bethel] It is likely that Bethel was only one or two miles 
 distant, and the two cities were evidently in league on this occasion. Probably Bethel shared 
 the fate of Ai (cf. chap. xii. 16). 20. They had no power] IIeh.=no hands : there was no 
 direction in which they could flee ; they were enclosed on all sides. — surrounded, as we say, 
 '•on every hand." 25- Twelve thousand] This number is given, not as the number of the 
 soldiers of Ai, but as that of the entire population. In addition to these, it is likely that some 
 of the Inhabitants of Bethel were slain on this day. 29- Hanged on a tree] Possibly he was 
 first slain with the s^vord (cf. chap. x. 26). Until eventide] According to the instructions in 
 Dcut. xxi. 22, 23. 30. Then Joshua built an altar] Those who regard this section of the 
 chapter as misplaced in the liook have surely not sufficiently considered the command given 
 in Deut. xxvii. 2 — 8. The Israelites were there solemnly charged to seize the first available 
 opportunity for this work, after crossing the Jordan. 31- An altar of whole stones] Cf. Ex, 
 XX. 24. 2.5. The reason for this command is not given, either here or elsewhere in Seriptm-e. 
 32. Wrote there upon the stones] Upon the plaster with which the stones were to be 
 covered. These were not the stones of the altar itself, but rude pillars of stone reared near 
 to the altar (cf. Deut. xxvii. 2 — 4). A copy of the law of Moses] Lit. = a double, or duplicate 
 of the law. It seems natural to suppose that only the commandments which Moses com- 
 manded them on that day, i.e., the blessings and cursings ordered to be pronounced, were 
 thus \\Titten. Compare Deut. xxvii. 3, 8, with verses 1, 26 of the same chapter, and with 
 Josh. viil. 34. 
 
 MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGBAPH.— Verses 1, 2. 
 The Raising up of the Fallen. 
 
 The Bible is the only book from which men have learned to encourage each 
 other to sing, " Rejoice not against me, mine enemy : when I fall, I shall arise ; 
 when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a hght unto me." Men tread down the 
 fallen, and those who have suftered moral disgrace have little to hope from " the 
 tender mercies of the wicked," which are ever cruel in proportion to the wicked- 
 ness of those who shew them. It is only from Divine lips that we hear the 
 assurance, " To the poor the Gospel is preached." For the outcast and the fallen 
 the Pharisees had no good tidings ; they made broad their phylacteries, and 
 murmured of Him who came to give hope to such, " This man receiveth sinners, 
 and eatcth with them ; " and yet these Pharisees were the very men whose fathers 
 had been taught to say, " He will turn again, He will have compassion upon us ; 
 He will subdue our iniquities ; and Thou wilt cast all their sins into the deptlis 
 of the sea." 
 
 Three things may be noticed in these two verses : — I. The completeness of 
 Divine pardon. No sooner had the people put away their sin than " the Lord 
 said unto Joshua, Fear not." The Divine manifestation of love was as full as 
 though no sin had been committed. The encouragement given here is as free 
 from restraint as the encoiu'agement in chap. i. 9. 1. No mmi should postpone 
 repentance on the ijround of fear. How differently does God appear in these two 
 chapters ! in the seventh there was every cause for fear ; in this there was every 
 
 150 
 
nOMILETIC C03IMENTARY: JOSHUA. chap. viii. 
 
 reason for trust. Blake, the painter, in his energetic lines addressed to the tiger, 
 abruptly and with wonder asks the fierce beast, 
 
 " Did He that made the lamb make thee ? " 
 The God of the tiger seems one God, and the God of the lamb appears almost aa 
 another God. All life shews God passing before us in what seem to us these 
 conflicting manifestations of Himself. The God of spring and plenty and health 
 seems one Being ; the God of Avinter and of famine and of sickness appears as if 
 another. The God of our children's cradles is one to whom we lift our eyes in 
 thankfulness and love ; the God of their coffins, and of our other bereavements, 
 is one to whom, if we are not well taught, we are tempted to look up witli fear 
 and dismay, and ask, Who art Thou, Thou Dreadful One, that Thou smitest thus 
 severely ? So, to Israel, the Lord must have seemed in the first attack on Ai, 
 and in the subsequent inquisition and judgment, a God greatly to be feared ; here, 
 all Israel would have felt again, that He was a God to be adored and delighted 
 in and loved. We misunderstand the Heart that always loves us, in whatever 
 form it manifests itself ; and we mistake the time for fear. When a ship is sailing 
 in tropical regions, there will sometimes come over the ocean an unusual calm. 
 The mere passenger might enjoy it, and mistake it for peace. Not so the captain : 
 he hastens to his instruments, marks the rapid fall of the mercury, and turning 
 again promptly to his crew, in tones that mark urgency and coming danger he bids 
 them " Furl all." In the intense stillness in which a landsman might admire the 
 deep peace of the sea, the sailor beholds the hushed waves listening, as with 
 bated breath, to the tread of the coming tempest, ere the wild cyclone rushes madly 
 across the ocean. Men are at peace when they should fear, and fear when they 
 should be at peace. "The Lord raiseth up all those that be bowed down." It 
 is not the contrite man, but the unrepentant, who has cause to fear that God will 
 turn against him. The Pharisees may well cower before the indignant looks and 
 words of Christ ; the woman in tears at His feet may trust and not be afraid. 
 The conflict of Paul with sin, recorded in the seventh chapter of the Romans, does 
 but make way for the joy and confidence so soon after expressed in the eighth. 
 2, No vuoi. should think that a <jii'en amount of formal repentance will necessarily 
 be followed by a (jiven amount of spiritual ■peace. There seems a kind of intentional 
 irregularity in God's method of assuring men of the forgiveness of sin ; just as, 
 in the outward aspect, there is an intentional irregularity in the Divine method 
 of answering prayer. No intelligent Christian thinks that God answers prayer 
 by machinery which regulates the quantity of answer according to the quantity 
 of utterance ; He answers prayer by infinite love, and wisdom, and patience, 
 and therefore with infinite variations. A given amount of prayer from a hungry 
 Christian will not come out a given amount of bread, as though human supplica- 
 tions were so much corn, and the throne of grace were mill and bakehouse in one. 
 If so many prayers resulted regularly in so many loaves, then farewell to honest 
 industry and to the discipline of healthy labour : for men would turn into spiritual 
 vagrants by the million ; just as here, in London, the routine charity of foolish 
 and indiscriminate givers, makes hundreds of beggars every year, and spreads an 
 influence of easy indifference to pauperism, till it weakens and contaminates the 
 minds of even the honest and manly poor. God loves us too much and too wisely 
 to turn men into spiritual paupers thus ; and therefore He answers prayer, as wo 
 call it, "by crosses," or He keeps us waiting, or He seems not to answer at all. 
 InteUigent Christians have always understood that so many words of prayer could 
 never be equivalent to so many temporal gifts, to so many sins forgiven, or to so 
 much assurance of grace from on high. There is, and for the same reason there 
 must be, a similar irregularity in God's method of assuring men of fi)rgiveness. 
 A given amount of pain and tears can have no exact and ascertained relation to 
 the time when His sinful children shall hear Him say again, "Fear not, neither 
 be thou dismayed." If in all the future national sins of Israel the people had 
 said, " The sacrifice of one family in the valley of Achor brought Divine forgive- 
 160 
 
CHAP. viir. HOMILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 ness, and saved the nation when the nation had sinned then ; therefore we will 
 sacrifice another family, and save the nation now ; and we will always sacrifice 
 a family for the sake of the nation when we get into similar disfavour with God : 
 if the Israelites had said that, or felt and acted like that, the valley of Achor, 
 instead of being " a door of hope," would have become a door through which 
 would have entered into the national Hfe and history a horrible system of alternating 
 sin and sacrifices, of selfishness and cruelty, God may keep the penitent waiting 
 ere He speaks the words, " Fear not," so as to be heard ; let it be enough for us 
 to know that all the penitent are forgiven when they come to God in tears for sin, 
 and with faith in the offering of Christ ; and that ultimately, if not immediately, 
 those who wait thus on the Lord will enter into the peace of manifest reconcilia- 
 tion. 3. When pardon is pronounced bij (rod, enerij fon/iven man s/tuidil nyard it 
 as perfect, and wanting nothing. After the penitence of Israel, and the punishment 
 of Achan, the way to victory was held to be as open and clear as before Achan 
 had sinned. "As far as the east is from the west," so far was this transgression 
 put away. God had "cast it behind His back," and it was no more in view as a 
 reproach to the people, or as a hindrance to their triumph. Many a man has 
 felt the purity of child-life contrasting so painfully with the sin-stained course of 
 his maturer years, that he has responded with all his heart to the feeling of one 
 similarly moved : — 
 
 " I could have turned 
 Into my yesterdays, and wandered back 
 To distant childhood, and gone out to God 
 By the gate of birth, not death." 
 
 We cannot but be ashamed of our transgressions, yet we need not mourn that 
 we cannot go forth to God thus ; nor need we fear to meet Him in the way which 
 is common unto men, for His forgiveness is complete, and His welcome of every 
 pardoned child will be as though sin had never been committed. II. The beauty 
 of Divine gentleness. God said to Joshua, and through Joshua to all Israel, 
 " Fear not, neither be thou dismayed." " As one whom his mother comforteth," 
 so was Joshua gently assured and comforted by the Lord. 1. Divine gentleness 
 should he considered in relation to Divine power. The gentleness of an infant sur- 
 prises no one, but that of a strong warrior is imposing. A true representation of 
 tenderness must have power for its background. It is in this aspect that the 
 gentleness of Christ becomes so real and so attractive. It is He who stills the 
 storm with a word, that blesses the little children ; it is He who calls men calmly 
 back from the grave, that tenderly concerns Himself lest the unfed thousands 
 faint by the way ; in a word, the Lion of the tribe of Judah is also the Lamb of 
 God. Quite in harmony with this. He who says "Fear not" to Joshua, is also 
 He who smote Pharaoh, who made a path through the sea, who sent the manna 
 for forty years, and who gave Israel water from the rocks of the wilderness. 
 The words " Fear not " could have given little comfort from the lips of a feeble 
 child ; it was another thing to hear them from Him who had so recently overthrown 
 " famous kings," divided the Jordan, and given the marvellous triumph at Jericho. 
 It is the God of the sun and stars, and of all the universe, who stands by the 
 cross of Jesus, and says, " He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved ; " it 
 is the Lord of all power and might who softly whispers to His troubled disciples 
 through all time, " Fear not, little flock : it is your Father's good pleasure to 
 give you the kingdom." 2. Divine gentleness to sinners should be considered in con- 
 nection with Divine sensibility to sin. Men are gentle to transgressors from indif- 
 ference to transgression. The life of Christ is full of incident and utterance, in 
 which stern deeds and words of wrath against sin mingle with gentle assurances 
 to the penitent and fearful. Almost in a breath the Saviour proclaims woe unto 
 Chorazin, to Bcthsaida, and to Capernaum, and then adds, " Come unto me, all ye 
 that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Similarly, Luke tells 
 us, in a single paragraph, how Christ wept over Jerusalem, and then, with the 
 
 M IGl 
 
HOMILETIC C03I3IENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 
 
 tears hardly dried from His face, how He went into the temple and began to cast 
 out them that sold therein and them that bought. So, in this page of the history 
 of Israel, we see Jehovah, in one chapter, solemnly insisting on the death ot 
 Achan, and forthwith, in this, tenderly assuring Joshua of coming \'ictory. It is 
 a God so sensitive to sin, and one hating it so severely, who proposes to say to 
 every penitent believer in His Son, "Thy sins, which be many, are all forgiven 
 thee : go in peace." III. The fulness of Divine encouragement. All that Joshua 
 just now wanted to know was communicated to him by Jehovah. 1. Wo see God 
 gicinq special p)romises for j)eculiar discom-agcmcnt. Divine comfort has about it 
 nothing vague : it does not end in mere generahties. The utterances of Scriptui'o 
 are definite, and meet us in our actual necessities. 2. God's cncouragonent is 
 corrective of former errors. " Take all the people of war with thee." This is set 
 over against the former mistake arising from the counsel of the spies. The words 
 of the Lord deal not only with our need in the future, but with our errors in the 
 past. 3. God's encoiiratiemenU hare rcijard to the nature of His people's dejection. 
 The Israelites are sufi"ered to take at least thirty thousand men to give battle to 
 not more than three or four thousand of their foes. In the time of gi-eat weakness, 
 God sufiers us, somewhat more than in ordinary life, to take hope from things 
 visible. 4. God's encouragement is given in the form of a jtromise already prored. 
 Compare the words, " Fear not, neither be thou dismayed," with chap. i. 9 and 
 Deut. xxxi. 6 — 8. The whole of the Church above has gone before us, proving 
 for our use the words in which God asks us each for a little longer to trust and 
 not be afraid. 
 
 OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VERSES 
 
 Verse 1. — Freedom from Fear : Its 
 Necessity, Grounds, and Encourage- 
 
 JIENTS. 
 
 I. The necessity of freedom from 
 fear and dismay. 1. Cov/idence is ne- 
 cessary for active ivarfare. 2. Confidence 
 is necessary for successful work. 3. 
 Confidence is necessary for patient en- 
 durance. 4. Confidence is necessary for 
 spiritual growth. 
 
 II. The ground of freedom from fear 
 and dismay. "I have given into thine 
 hand," etc. 1. There is no other grovnd 
 sufficiently philosophical. True wisdom 
 is on the side of trusting God. The 
 human brain unpervcrted by the allure- 
 ments of the world, the pride of the 
 heart, and the scorn of men, ever elects 
 to "wait on the Lord." 2. There is 
 no other ground su(ficiently pleasing. 
 Imagination is on the side of trusting 
 God. Music, painting, poetry, and 
 everything which moves and delights 
 the human fancy has found a sufficient 
 theatre nowhere but in the faith of 
 Him. Deity is infinite space in the 
 beautiful, where holy imagination can 
 rove at large, never wearied, and ever 
 delighted. 3. There is no other ground 
 sufficiently preciatts. Oux hearts are on 
 
 162 
 
 the side of trusting God. If the intel- 
 lect and the fancy sometimes find a 
 temporary resting place in men or things, 
 the heart never can be satisfied except- 
 ing in the Lord. The being who has 
 been made in the Divine image can find 
 no sufficient and ultimate home for his 
 love, saving in the heart of Him who is 
 love. 4. There is no other ground suffi- 
 ciently proved. History is on the side 
 of trusting God. " Our fathers trusted 
 in Thee, and were not confounded," can 
 only be said of one Helper. Ho who 
 goes forth to meet the giant enemies of 
 life with any other weapons than those 
 furnished by the Lord of life, will, 
 sooner or late-r, fear to meet his foes, 
 and will cry with the shepherd youth 
 of Israel, wlien dressed in the armour of 
 his king, " I cannot go with these, for I 
 have not proved them." 
 
 III. The encouragements to freedom 
 from fear and dismay. 1. There is 
 error to he r((n(juishcd. The Israelites 
 might rejoice in the overthrow of idola- 
 try. They were not to delight in slaying 
 men, but to exult over the fall of error 
 which had brought such multitudes to 
 the saddest form of death. Wellington's 
 grief at Waterloo. 2. lliere is honour 
 
CHAP. VIII. 
 
 HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 to he won. In God's battles, this is no 
 empty thing tacked on from without ; 
 no medal, which can be cast in a die ; 
 no ribbon, which depends on texture 
 and colour for its brightness. Every 
 real victory in the way of truth brings 
 to each triumphant soldier of Christ a 
 holy sense of exaltation within himself. 
 He may say : By God's grace I have 
 helped the cause of righteousness ; I 
 have removed some temptations ; I have 
 helped weak men about me now, and 
 the weak of the ages to come. In the 
 warfare of life, every damaged idol may 
 stand for a delivered man. 3. Tliere is 
 rcuard to be gathered. The spoil of Ai 
 was to be given to Israel. Spiritual 
 victory has nobler and richer gains both 
 here and hereafter. 
 
 " God's Renewed Call to Joshua. 
 This is the same word indeed as before, 
 but now of quite a difierent import, 
 since God by it not only assures Joshua 
 of His support, but also gives him to 
 understand that He is again gracious to 
 Him." — [Lange.] 
 
 " Joshua needed the comforting ex- 
 
 hortation after the bitter experiences 
 through which he bad just passed. 
 Comp. Acts xviii. 9, 10, xxvii. 23, 24." 
 —[Crosby.] 
 
 " Although every victory comes from 
 God, it is still in the order of our own 
 fidelity and bravery." — [Starke.] 
 
 " The fortune of war is changeable, 
 but it turns as the Lord will have." — 
 [Bib. Tub.] 
 
 Verse 2. — God will have the first- 
 fruits, in order to teach us whence all 
 fruits come, and to whom they all 
 belong. 
 
 God gives His people the subsequent 
 fruits, to shew them that they can win 
 nothing which is essential to Him, and 
 to make manifest His love and care for 
 them. 
 
 God thus makes both firstfruits and 
 after-fruits to serve His people's good. 
 
 " The way to have the comfort of 
 what God allows us is to forbear what 
 He forbids us. No man shall lose by 
 his self-denial ; let God have His dues 
 first, and then all will be clean to us, 
 and sure, 1 Kings xvii. 13.'' — [He7iry.] 
 
 MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Verses 3—29. 
 The Ultimate Victory of God and of Truth. 
 
 I. The variable methods of God. (Verses 3 — 13.) If we look at the two 
 
 attacks on Ai, we see that in the first God was not there, while in the last He 
 chose to be present : the first attack failed utterly ; in the last, victory was 
 complete. Comparing the overthrow of Jericho and that of Ai, we see that, by 
 the deliberate choice of Jehovah, the attack on the former city lasted seven days, 
 while that on Ai was accomplished in one ; the assault on Jericho was without 
 the slightest concealment, that on Ai was made apparently dependent on strategy. 
 In view of these diflerences it may be remarked : — 1. The Divine method sometimn 
 teaches us that the beginning of real victory is through stern defeat. When Israel 
 suS"ered defeat, Joshua could not interpret the way of the Lord. He cried, in 
 his anguish, " Lord, wherefore hast Thou at all brought this people over 
 Jordan?" Now Joshua could clearly see that but for the defeat graciously 
 ordered by God, sin would have prevented victory in its highest form. It was 
 manifest now, that for God to have made Israel triumphant then, would simply 
 have been for Him to have chosen against one sinful people in favour of another. 
 Learn the folly of habitually judging a whole by its parts. We cannot judge a 
 watch by a wheel. We should know almost nothing of the beauty of Handel's 
 Messiah by taking two or three bars from any one of its choruses or solos. No 
 man could form a good opinion of a poem from one or two lines, selected at 
 random. It would be foolish to endeavoui' to pronounce on the merits of a 
 painting by examining a small fraction cut from any part of the whole. When 
 we attempt to interpret Divine providence, we can only do it in fragments. God's 
 
 163 
 
HOMILETIC C0M3IENTARY: JOSHUA. chap. viii. 
 
 plan is very vast : it has relation, not only to our present, but to all our life ; it 
 
 includes not only us, but ten thousand others who surround us. We must not 
 
 expect to judge the heart of the Lord aright by a broken limb, by a heavy loss of 
 
 property, by a severe sickness, or by the severity of some trying bereavement. 
 
 He is wise who studies the love of God in His dealings with men generally, who 
 
 contemplates " the image of God in the face of Jesus Christ," and who hears his 
 
 Lord say, What thou knowest not now thou shalt know hereafter. 2. The Divine 
 
 method sometimes shews that all real victory depends ahsolittely on God, and, at 
 
 others, nmkes it clear that ivithnut the utmost efforts of man, everything will fail. 
 
 Jericho shewed men that God must be all in all ; Ai, that men must do all that 
 
 human skill and power could devise and execute. Truth is very large, and we 
 
 cannot learn or even survey it on all sides at once. Men teach their children 
 
 sometimes reading, sometimes ^vl•iting, sometimes arithmetic, sometimes poetry ; 
 
 but reading and writing are not adverse the one to the other, nor is arithmetic 
 
 a contradiction of poetry. God teaches us now one thing, and now another, 
 
 because our powers of perception are very limited, and our views of truth are 
 
 necessarily partial, while He is sufficiently gentle and patient to endeavour to lead 
 
 us into all truth. 3. The variableness of Divine methods has reyard to the specific 
 
 forms of human necessity. If the first experience at Ai had preceded the victory 
 
 at Jericho, how gi'eat would have been the consternation in Israel ! If the absolute 
 
 victory at Jericho had been succeeded by a similar triumph at Ai, notwithstanding 
 
 the sin of Achan, how sadly might the people have been demoralised ! If the 
 
 defeat which followed the first attack on Ai had been repeated now, how the 
 
 hearts of the people would have "melted and become as water" indeed! God 
 
 not only teaches us in separate lessons, but He never teaches us the wrong lesson 
 
 first. At the entrance into Canaan, even as at the cross of Christ, we hear the 
 
 Divine voice proclaiming to men : "I have many things to say unto you, but ye 
 
 cannot bear them now." II. The fatuity of the enemies of God. A recent 
 
 author has said concerning the overthrow of Pharaoh: "It is written that Pharaoh 
 
 hardened his heart, and this again and again ; as well as, and we may be sure to 
 
 all intents and purposes antecedently to, the fact that the Lord hardened Pharaoh's 
 
 heart. Pharaoh would have it so. Judicial blindness set in after a time ; but 
 
 first there had been cause shewn in Heaven's chancery court. The infatuation 
 
 was beyond remedy. The ossification of the heart involved, in its progress and 
 
 development, paralysis of the brain. Dementation was now the precursor of 
 
 perdition. ' Quern Deus vult perdere jmus denientat.' " Thus it ever proves with 
 
 those who determinately set themselves against the Lord. Persistent sin works 
 
 blindness, stupidity, madness ; and madness needs only to be left to itself to 
 
 accomplish destruction. God has ordained that blind folly shall be the outcome 
 
 of persistent sin, and that destruction, in its turn, shall be the result of folly. 
 
 Thus did Pharaoh foolishly pursue after Israel into the midst of the sea ; and 
 
 thus, with equal blindness, the three or four thousand men of Ai rushed out of 
 
 their city against the overwhelming numbers of their foes. It was the forerunning 
 
 madness of idolatrous men whom God had determined to destroy. 1. The enemies 
 
 of the Lord are iynorant <f the cause of their victories. These idolaters had put 
 
 down their former triumph to the strength of Aiite arms, utterly unconscious that 
 
 it was entirely owing to wickedness in Israelitish hearts. It is ever so. The 
 
 wicked flourish, and do not know that their prosperity is but temporarily given 
 
 them by God, that His people may be better enabled to discover and put away 
 
 sin ; or that some other equally important purpose is to be served by their brief 
 
 period of exaltation. 2. The enemies of the Lord are ignorant of changes in God's 
 
 appointments. The men of Ai "wist not that there were liers in ambush." God 
 
 changes His plan of battle, and while the secret of the Lord is often with them 
 
 that fear Him, the enemies of truth know nothing of His way : they have no 
 
 access to His throne, and no acquaintance with His counsels. 3. The enemies of 
 
 the Lord are ahsoluteli/ poicerless before tJiose whom God guides and helps. "They 
 
 161 
 
CHAP. vm. BO^IILETIC C03IMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 had no power to flee this way or that way" (verse 20). (a) They had no way hy 
 which to flee (cf. Crit. Notes). They were surrounded on every hand, {h) They 
 had no strcwith to flee. The hand is sometimes put for the symbol of power, as 
 in Psalm Ixxvi. 5. Probably the former is the more correct meaning, although it 
 should not be forgotten that, practically taken, it involves the latter. Read in 
 either sense, it is seen that when God makes bare His arm, His foes are utterly 
 helpless ; the ways of escape are closed up, and courage and strength fail together. 
 III. The ultimate triumph of God and of truth. As with the men of Ai, the 
 triumphs of the wicked are but the forerunners of their fall. 1. The final victory 
 of God ivill have none to vphold error (verses 22 — 25). Not a Canaanite was left 
 to perpetuate idolatry. The wicked live on Divine sufierance, even as others, 
 although they exalt themselves against God : when then- salvation has become 
 hopeless, and God wills it, they are removed out of their place. The tares only 
 grow till God's harvest is ready ; when that time comes, God wUl leave not a 
 single seed to re-sow the " new earth " with sin. 2. The final victory of God ivill 
 sink the greatest of His foes even lower tJian the least. " The king of Ai he hanged 
 on a tree," etc. The measure of a wicked man's elevation here will be the measure 
 of his degradation when God goes forth for his overthrow ; then " the first shall 
 be last." 
 
 ** Each minute of man's safety he does walk 
 A bridge, no thicker than his fi'ozen breath, 
 O'er a precipitous and craggy danger 
 Yawning to death." 
 
 Every enemy of God and truth should feel that, but he who is as a king among 
 the wicked should read in it the most dreadful meaning ; beneath the lowest 
 deep which remains for others, he should discover a lower still, yawning for 
 himself. In human wars, officers who are taken prisoners receive superior treat- 
 ment to that afl'orded to privates ; their fare is better, theii* lodging superior, and 
 their confinement is sometimes not so strict. This may be well among men, 
 where each side generally represents at least some elements of right and truth. 
 In this war of the Lord, truth and right are all with Him, and, as in cases of 
 rebellion and treason among nations, those who are ringleaders are regarded as 
 being worst. 3. The final victory of God ivill leave no mcmonah of error, excepting 
 memorials of shame. Joshua made Ai " an heap for ever," and over the dead and 
 dishonoured body of its king he raised " a great heap of stones." The righteous 
 man, " being dead, yet speaketh;" so does the wicked, but every tongue which 
 is left to proclaim his name declares also his disgrace. 
 
 OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VERSES. 
 
 Verses 3 — 8. — The Address to the to do the will of the Lord himself; he 
 
 Soldiers of the Expedition. is equally concerned to lead others into 
 
 This address marks with some em- obedience. II. Joshua's prudence. He 
 
 phasis and distinctness several features enters heartily into the details of God's 
 
 in the character of Israel's leader. I. plan for secresy. The language is evi- 
 
 Joshua's obedience. As soon as he dently that of a man who is in earnest 
 
 knew the Divine will he arose promptly, to leave nothing undone to ensui'e suc- 
 
 and at once selected the troops which cess with as little loss as possible. The 
 
 were to be engaged (verse 3). The people are " sent away in the night." 
 
 closing words of his address shew that The plan of the ambush is sufficiently 
 
 his one concern was to perform the explained to make it of interest to all. 
 
 commandment of the Lord (verse 8). It is not enough to be zealous and 
 
 That command was uppermost in his prompt ; God says of Jesus Christ, our 
 
 own mind; he would have it stand pattern in work and conflict : "Behold, 
 
 before everything else in the minds of my servant shall deal prudently," III. 
 
 the people also. A godly man is anxious Joshua's courage. "I, and all the 
 
 105 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 CHAP. VIII, 
 
 people that are with me, will approach 
 unto the city." Joshua did not send 
 others to do dangerous work, and 
 abstain from it himself. Although, as 
 the commander of the forces, he might 
 not have been personally engaged in 
 the conflict, yet he was present on the 
 field of battle, and evidently shared the 
 dangers of the day. IV. Joshua's faith. 
 (Verses 6, 7.) If the former of these 
 two verses shews confidence in the 
 success of the stratagem, the latter pro- 
 claims that this confidence has its real 
 ground in the promise of Jehovah. 
 Joshua uses the means at his disposal 
 with all the tact and energy possible, 
 and then believes in the Lord. " The 
 Lord your God will deliver it into your 
 hand." The Divine consolation had 
 left no room for pain, and the Divine 
 promise no room for doubt. The "fear 
 not," of verse 1, had banished all 
 anxiety, and the "I have given" had 
 imparted calm assurance. The trust 
 of God's forgiven children should be as 
 perfect as though they had never fallen 
 under their heavenly Father's displea- 
 sure. V. Joshua's authority. (Verse 
 8.) He made the people feel that his 
 own commands were but the reiterated 
 commands of the Lord. 1. The autho- 
 rity of all God-fiiven words. We too 
 often speak the Lord's words as if they 
 were our own. He who does this will 
 assuredly weaken them. There are 
 very few things, perhaps, in which we 
 need concern ourselves to imitate men 
 who, in the present day, claim to be 
 priests over then- fellows ; many mi- 
 nisters might profitably learn from them 
 to teach the Lord's words as having 
 the Lord's authority. It is possible to 
 be so intent on commending the truth 
 by argument or anecdote, as to weaken 
 the truth. Many who " beseech men 
 in Chi-ist's stead," lamentably need the 
 tone of " ambassadors." 2. The an- 
 thority of ohcdictuc. " According to the 
 commandment of the Lord shall ye do. 
 See I have commanded you." The 
 leader who shews his own obedience 
 can shew no better right to be obeyed. 
 Verse 4. — The Loc/llity of Ai : Its 
 Suitability fok Concealing the Am- 
 bush. 
 
 " No neighbourhood in Palestine is 
 16G 
 
 more crowded with interesting Biblical 
 associations than this. I should like 
 to spend a day wandering over the 
 rough hills between Er Ram, Gibeah, 
 Michmash, Rimmon, Bethel, and Beer. 
 Perhaps we might stumble upon the 
 site of Ai, which Joshua's curse has 
 hidden from all the world; for he 
 * burned Ai, and made it a heap for 
 ever, even a desolation unto this day.' 
 It must be somewhere between Mich- 
 mash and Rimmon, a region greatly 
 cut up with gorges and ravines ; and 
 as I passed from Beit-in toward Mich- 
 mash, I could easily understand how 
 Joshua's ambush of five thousand men 
 could lie hid between Ai and Bethel. 
 Some of oui" Jerusalem friends identify 
 Ai with a conspicuous mound which I 
 saw from a distance. It bears now no 
 other name than Tell, which you may 
 translate ' heap ; ' and as for ' desola- 
 tion,' it remains complete imto this day. 
 No doubt traces still remain, could we 
 but find them, of that great heap of 
 stones which Joshua raised over the 
 carcass of Ai's hapless king." — [The 
 Laiid and the BookJ\ 
 
 Verses 14 — 17. — The Conflict of 
 Truth and Ekeor. 
 
 It should be borne in mind that this 
 was a reUgious war. The men who 
 invaded Canaan were the soldiers of 
 the God of truth, and their enemies 
 were fighting, not only for their own 
 territory and their homes, but in sup- 
 port of a cruel and debasing system of 
 idolatry. 
 
 In the conflict between truth and 
 error, if wo would prove that we are 
 contending on the side of truth : — 
 
 I. We need something more than 
 zeal. The Iving of Ai could rise up 
 early, as well as Joshua, and the men of 
 the city were equally on the alert, to 
 haste with theii- leader to the battle. 
 One of the arguments, if it be worthy 
 of the name, which we still hear urged 
 on behalf of certain supporters of erroi 
 is this plea of zeal : " See," we are told, 
 " how earnest these people are, and how 
 cold and dead are the men who oppose 
 them." As if the men who made fires 
 for the martyrs were not zealous ! As 
 if Bonner were not zealous in burning 
 
CHAP. VIII. 
 
 ROMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 the Bible ! As if he who " goeth about 
 as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may 
 devour," went about idly, and was in- 
 different concerning his prey ! No true 
 soldier of the cross will be " cold and 
 dead ; " but he who relies on zeal as 
 sufficient to prove that he is on the 
 Lord's side, must be prepared to adopt 
 into his brotherhood at least Mahomet, 
 the persecutors of the early Church, 
 many of the worst of the popes, and 
 not a few atheists. II. We need some- 
 thing more than bravery. While we 
 wonder to see these idolaters so infatu- 
 ated and blind, we cannot but admire 
 their courage. Though they were visibly 
 outnumbered in the proportion of at 
 least six to one, without counting the 
 ambush of their enemies, they shewed 
 no hesitation in commencing the attack, 
 and in subsequently pursuing after the 
 Israelites. For all that, they were 
 idolaters. III. We need something 
 more than wise precaution. The ex- 
 pression, "at a time appointed " (verso 
 14), shews that the sortie of the idolaters 
 was not wholly reckless. Keil is of 
 opinion that the original word may be 
 rendered in one of three ways : as in 
 the text, " at the avjnal aijreed upon,'" 
 or, '^ at the place appointi'd." Of these 
 three translations, he prefers the last 
 as the most appropriate, and then adds: 
 " Evidently before making the sally, the 
 king had arranged with the army, upon 
 what point the attack should be concen- 
 trated." Error has often shewn much 
 organisation and discipline in its attacks 
 on truth. The words in which unbelief 
 assaults faith are not all reckless ro- 
 domontade ; but intelligence, and the 
 systematic use of it, are not necessarily 
 truth. IV. We need something more 
 than the general support of those who 
 are about us. " There was not a man 
 left in Ai or Bethel," etc. (verse 17). 
 After a long argument, John Wesley is 
 reported to have said, with a view to 
 terminate the discussion by the force of 
 his dominating will: "You may say 
 what you will, sister, the voice of the 
 people is the voice of God." " Yes, 
 John," she quietly replied, "it cried, 
 Crucify Him, crucify Him." Men con- 
 tend against each other in parties, in 
 families, clans, nations ; and oftenor 
 
 than not sides are taken, utterly irre- 
 spective of truth and right. The accident 
 of our cradles and our nurseries has 
 more to do with our creeds than many 
 suspect. It is very strange to think 
 how many children of episcopalians 
 grow up to beUeve in the Church of 
 England, Wesleyans in Methodism, 
 Baptists in immersion, Calvinists in 
 Calvinism, Russians in the Greek 
 Church, Arabs and Turks in Maho- 
 metanism, and so on, through endless 
 divisions of our race ; and almost every 
 believer is prepared to contend earnestly 
 for his own view of truth, as " the faith 
 once deUvered to the saints." Baal and 
 Ashtoreth against the living God ; that 
 was the state of the case in this war 
 in Canaan , and while each Canaanite 
 found truth in his idolatry, each Israelite 
 found it only in Jehovah. The line of 
 religious faith was co-extensive and 
 identical wdth the line dividing the 
 nations. In deciding upon the true 
 reHgiou, it made all the difference 
 whether a man was descended from 
 Ham or Shem, from Canaan or Abram ; 
 whether he was left to grow up under 
 the traditions which had accumulated 
 upon a sinful people, or trained by the 
 God of heaven and the pious care of 
 His servants ; whether he had a home 
 and a country to defend, or a home and 
 a country to win. When we rely on the 
 unanimity of those about us to assure 
 ourselves that we are on the side of 
 truth, we forget the silent sarcasm of 
 history. In a matter like this, we want 
 hght to guide us, not numbers, and light 
 only comes to the obedient. " If any 
 man will do His wiU, he shall know of 
 the doctrine." No more arbitrary, and 
 no less true, is that word of the former 
 Testament, " I will visit the sins of the 
 fathers upon the children unto the third 
 and fourth generation." One lifetime 
 is not long enough to grow into the 
 doctrine of truth ; it is altogether too 
 short to grow out of a creed that is 
 erroneous. V. We need something 
 more than temporary success. The 
 servants of truth may " make as if they 
 are beaten," or, for a season, they may 
 be really beaten ; no seeming or even 
 actual prosperity, which is but for a little 
 while, can sufficiently prove that thev 
 
 1G7 
 
nOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 
 
 who pursue are fighting on the side of 
 truth. We need some better guaran- 
 tee than occasional and momentary 
 triumphs. The same hour that finds 
 us pursuing, may, ere it close, find us 
 fleeing. Happy is that man whose God 
 assures him that his last enemy shall 
 be destroyed, and whose brethren in 
 faith have by myriads quitted life 
 crying, " death, where is thy sting ? 
 grave, where is thy victory ? " 
 
 Verses 18, 19, 25, 26.— The Out- 
 stretched Spear. 
 
 1. The stretching out of human hands 
 towards God is a recognised form of 
 supplicating for mercy. (Cf. Psalms 
 xliv. 20 ; Ixviii. 31 ; Ixxxviii. 9, etc.) 
 2. The stretching out of the hand of 
 God towards men is indicative of His 
 anger. (Cf. Prov. i. 24 ; Isa. v. 25 ; 
 ix. 12, 17, 21 ; Ezek. xvi. 27.) 3. The 
 stretching out of human hands towards 
 things, or men, at the command of God, 
 is also indicative of Divine anger. This, 
 indeed, is the sign for the immediate 
 exercise of Divine power in some judg- 
 ment. Cf. Ex. vii. 19, and repeatedly 
 in the narrative of the ten plagues, in 
 the chapters following. See, also, 1 
 Chron. xxi. 16, where it is said that 
 the sword of the angel was " stretched 
 out over Jerusalem. Thus, the conclu- 
 sion of several of the earlier commenta- 
 tors that there was " nothing figurative" 
 in the outstretched spear of Joshua, 
 appears to be against the evidence. 
 
 I. The Lord's direct encouragement 
 and help of His servants in the time 
 of their most urgent necessity. In 
 these days of calmer thought, and of 
 determinate rejection of superstition, 
 we are little able to estimate the depres- 
 sion and fear which, probably, at this 
 time, distressed the army of Israel. 
 True, their numbers were gi'eatly aug- 
 mented since their former defeat, but 
 they could not forget they had been 
 beaten. The Israelites had only been 
 forty years away from the idolatrous 
 superstitions of Egypt ; the}' were even 
 now in a country where the inhabitants 
 believed that the gods who had, as they 
 thought, controlled the issue in the first 
 battle of Ai, would no less ordain a 
 similar issue now. To this should lie 
 1G8 
 
 added a recollection of the natural im- 
 pressibility of the oriental mind. We 
 may measure the depression of the 
 Israelites, at this time, by the absurd 
 and exultant confidence of the Aiites : 
 by so much as the latter were foohshly 
 assured, by so much were the Israelites 
 inclined to fear. We may measure the 
 fear of the Israelites, not less, by the 
 encouragement of Jehovah. The pro- 
 mise of verse 1 is here repeated, in the 
 very midst of the engagement. God 
 times His help and comfort to His 
 servants' wants, and makes the measure 
 of it proportionate to His servants' ne- 
 cessities. Scripture has many instances 
 of such direct interposition. It was 
 thus in the cases of Hagar, of Elijah, 
 of Peter when in prison ; of Paul and 
 Silas in the jail at Philippi ; of Paul in 
 the castle of Antonia at Jerusalem 
 (Actsxxiii. 11), and of the same apostle 
 on the sea of Adria (Acts xxvii. 23,24). 
 Is there anything to represent such help 
 and encouragement of the Lord's people 
 now ? Surely there is. These instances 
 are not symbols of nothing ; they tell us 
 of a heart that never changes, and of 
 a hand, which though it now remains 
 invisible, can always find its own way 
 to bring relief to such as fear God. 
 II. The Lord's adoption of such of 
 His servants' methods as are not out 
 of harmony with Divine principles. 
 " The Lord said unto Joshua, Stretch 
 out the spear,'' etc. And no sooner 
 was Joshua's spear thus stretched out 
 towards Ai, and the signal transmitted, 
 perhaps by watchers, to the ambush 
 far away, than the ambush arose quickly, 
 and entered the city, and set part of it 
 on fire. The stretching out of the spear 
 was evidently a prearranged signal ; it 
 was manifestly Joshua's preconcerted 
 sign to the ambush, and God does but 
 adopt His servant's plan, and make it 
 His own way. 1. GoiPs methods for 
 human serrice are not arbitrary. Much 
 is left to the judgment of men, even in 
 the exalted mission of doing His work. 
 God never crosses our way for the sake 
 of crossing it. 2. God frequenthj adopts 
 human methods of serrice. He adopted 
 the way of James in preaching against 
 a faith which lacked works, and Paul's 
 manner of preaching against works 
 
CHAP. VIII. 
 
 HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 which did not spring from faith, Peter, 
 fastening his eyes on the lame man, 
 lying at the gate Beautiful, said : " Look 
 on us. In the name of Jesus Christ of 
 of Nazareth, rise up and walk." God 
 adopted that method. Paul, looking 
 upon the cripple of Lystra, did not use 
 Peter's formula at all; he "said with 
 a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet." 
 And this cripple, also, " leaped and 
 walked." God honoured that method. 
 At Ephesus Paul permitted " handker- 
 chiefs or aprons " to be carried from 
 his body to the sick, and the diseases 
 departed from them. God made that 
 way His own also. At Troas, Eutychus 
 fell down, and was taken up dead. To 
 him " Paul went down, and embracing 
 him said. Trouble not yourselves ; for 
 
 his life is in him And they 
 
 brought the young man alive." God 
 adopted that method too. Peter, in a 
 similar case, following, perhaps half 
 unconsciously, the well-remembered 
 example of the Saviour, put every one 
 out of the room. His way, with the 
 dead, was to work alone with his God. 
 And so, being there in company with 
 the corpse only, he " kneeled down and 
 prayed ; and turning him to the body, 
 said, Tabitha, arise : and she opened 
 her eyes, and when she saw Peter she 
 sat up." God recognised this way as a 
 good way no less than the other, but 
 not more than the other. His way is 
 to give our individuality perfect liberty. 
 So long as our hearts are right, He 
 has little concern as to our particular 
 manner of working. The Divine way 
 is not to tie us down to set forms of 
 service, but to honour always the work 
 of those who are endeavouring to bless 
 men, and who therein seek to exalt 
 God. 3. God adopts human methods of 
 serrinij Him only icithin certain limits. 
 He never recognises by His help 
 methods which traverse Divine prin- 
 ciples, and which seek other ways than 
 the way of holiness. The seven sons 
 of Sceva had a great ambition. They 
 wanted to cast out devils, and thus exalt 
 themselves. So they found their man, 
 and cried, "We adjure you by Jesus, 
 whom Paul preacheth." The formula 
 was good enough, but the spirit was 
 
 altogether wrong; and "they fled out 
 of that house naked and wounded." The 
 devil is never di-iven out of another man 
 by a devil in ourselves. That would 
 be " dividing the house against itself." 
 He who would succeed against that 
 which is devilish must work together 
 with God. Simon Magus wished to 
 purchase with money the power of con- 
 ferring the Holy Ghost. To the apostles 
 the idea was revolting, and the thought 
 of the man's heart was even more 
 obnoxious to God. This was not the 
 Divine method at all. When our way 
 is in harmony with truth, it is ever in 
 harmony with heaven. Within the 
 circle of holiness our methods may take 
 any form whatever, and God will ap- 
 prove them ; without that circle, every- 
 thing which we do is offensive in His 
 sight. III. The Lord's encouragement 
 of His servants supplemented by their 
 remembrance of the Lord's former 
 mercies. " Joshua drew not his hand 
 back " so long as an enemy remained 
 (verse 26). The leader of Israel could 
 not but have thought of that other 
 battle, forty years before, when the tide 
 of victory had ebbed and flowed in 
 response to the faUing and uplifted 
 hands of Moses. It is of no account to 
 say that the spear of Joshua had no 
 such relation to success as the uplifted 
 hands of his forerunner ; no one can 
 pronounce on that either way. It is 
 enough to feel that Joshua must have 
 recalled the scene at Rephidim, and then 
 to observe that he kept his own hand 
 persistently steady. On that occasion 
 he had personally led in the conflict, 
 and he would well enough remember 
 how fitfully and sternly the battle had 
 gone. Thinking of that, he keeps his 
 spear steadily outstretched till the last 
 enemy has fallen. God's present en- 
 couragements were great ; to the 
 strength given by them, Joshua would 
 add the memoiy of the mercies oi 
 bygone years. We need often special 
 help from on high ; God would ever 
 have us use, also, every other aid which 
 our experience aftbrds. In every con- 
 flict of the present, we shall do well to 
 recall His goodness in the past. 
 
 169 
 
HOMILETIC C0M3IENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 
 
 Verse 20. — The Crisis of the 
 Wicked. 
 
 Sooner or later, all those who oppose 
 themselves against God must prepare 
 to meet their God. When the Lord 
 meets the wicked in conflict and judg- 
 ment : — 
 
 I. The wicked will see all their 
 earthly hopes destroyed. " The smoke 
 of the city ascended up to heaven." 
 These idolaters saw: — 1. That their 
 houses were destroyed. 2. That all 
 their property and gains were lost. 
 
 3. That every earthly hope was cut ofi". 
 
 4. That they had no hope for the life 
 to come. 
 
 II. The wicked will have no strength 
 to resist. These men of Ai saw how 
 completely they were at the mercy of 
 their foes, and they became power- 
 less. 
 
 III. The wicked will have no direc- 
 tion in which to flee. The idolaters 
 "had no hand" on which they could 
 escape. "The people that fled to the 
 wilderness turned back upon their pur- 
 suers." (Compare Luke xxiii. 30, 
 Rev. vi. 16, 17, with Isa. viii. 14, 15 ; 
 xxviii. 16, 17 ; 1 Peter ii. 6.) 
 
 Verses 26 — 29. — Victory in the 
 Lord"s War. 
 
 I. The way to victory is through 
 persistent conflict. Our hand is not 
 to be drawn back while a single enemy 
 remains (verse 26). 
 
 II. The rewards of victory are a 
 Divine gift. God took Jericho, as the 
 firstfruits, to shew that all the spoils 
 belonged to Himself; here, according 
 to his word, He gives the earnest of the 
 future possession as from Himself (verse 
 27). 
 
 III. The object of victory is to blot 
 out sin from the earth. The very cities 
 of this idolatrous land were to be puri- 
 fied by fire (verse 28). 
 
 IV. The doom which follows victory 
 will be according to the desert. The 
 king, who had ruled over these idolaters, 
 and been a leader among transgressors, 
 is singled out for the emphasis of the 
 curse (cf. Deut. xxi. 23), and is thus 
 made cherem even beyond his brethren. 
 
 V. The memorials of victory should 
 be suitable to its mercies. The heap 
 of stones was the customary monument 
 of the times, and, usually, one that long 
 remained to bear its witness. 
 
 MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Verses 30, 81. 
 The March to Ebal and Gerizim. 
 Two omissions in the history of the events which must have immediately suc- 
 ceeded the fall of Ai make the introduction of the narrative which closes this 
 chapter appear unusually abrupt. Ko account is given of the march of the people 
 who captured Ai to the neighbourhood of Shochem, and nothing is said of the 
 removal of the camp from the Gilgal near Jericho to that other Gilgal which was 
 evidently situated near the mountains Ebal and Gerizim. (Cf. Deut. xi. 30 ; Gen. 
 xii, 6.) These omissions are not a sufiicient reason for treating the passage before 
 us as misplaced, much less for regarding it as an interpolation by a later hand. It 
 would be as reasonable to treat the order of the first chapter of Genesis as incorrect, 
 because of the long space of time and series of events probably passed over 
 between its several paragraphs. Omissions are not, essentially, proofs of contra- 
 dictions. Keil and Kitto have shewn with much care that the Gilgal mentioned in 
 chapter ix. 6, should be taken as identical with the Gilgal named in Deut. xi. 30. 
 The author of Lange's commentary on the text, after speaking much too 
 flippantly on what he terms "Keil's prejudiced opposition to all which is called 
 criticism," makes the somewhat reckless remark: If the Gilgal of chapter ix. 6 
 wore another place of that name in the region of Shcchcm, " the author would 
 certainhj in some way have given an intimation of the fact. As he omits this, the 
 whole connection points to Gilgal near Jericho, and Joshua is in the southern part, 
 not in central Palestine." Keil, at least, has respected his readers sufficiently to 
 give weighty reasons for his opinion, while his critic has done little more than give 
 170 
 
CHAP. VIII. HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 a vehement opinion for his reasons. With the passages referred to in Deuteronomy 
 and Genesis before us, and with several other parts of Scripture, in the historical 
 books, which suppose a second GUgal somewhere in this locality, the omission 
 notwithstanding, we can only conclude that the entire camp had, at this time, 
 removed from Gilgal near Jericho to Gilgal, "beside the plains of Moreh," near 
 Shechem. 
 
 At the lowest estimate, two or three days must have intervened between the fall 
 of Ai and the gathering at Ebal. Keil, who thinks that Ai must be sought as far 
 north as where Turmus Aya now stands, makes the distance from Ai to Shechem 
 only about thirteen miles ; Hiivernick states it at twenty miles ; while others, who 
 conclude that Ai was farther south, reckon that the thirty thousand men employed 
 to destroy this city must have marched more than thirty miles ere they came to the 
 place where Moses had commanded them to celebrate this solemn religious service. 
 At least two or three days must have passed, then, ere even this part of the host 
 of Israel could have arrived at their destination ; nearly a week might have elapsed 
 ere the entire camp was removed from the plains of Jericho, and pitched in the 
 Gilgal which was not far from Shechem. Of these intervening days the history 
 gives no account. The record does not claim to be a diary ; it is merely the story 
 of the more conspicuous events, and as such, an occasional abruptness of transi- 
 tion is no sufficient reason for impugning the correctness of the narrative. True 
 manliness judges books as it judges men ; it holds them to be innocent till they 
 are proved guilty, and does not, under the plea of superior discernment, hasten to 
 proclaim falsity merely on the ground of obscurity. The Bible, of all books, might 
 be supposed to have estabhshed its claim to this fairness of criticism, especially at 
 the hands of its avowedly Christian interpreters. 
 
 The Altak on Mount Ebal. — Verses 30, 31. 
 
 The erection of this altar was the commencement of a service in which the 
 covenant was once more renewed. This may be gathered from such passages as 
 Deut. xxix., where the blessings and the curses to be pronounced at Shechem are 
 repeatedly spoken of as words of the Divine covenant. 1. The reneival of the 
 covenant by Israel ivas verij varied inform. At Gilgal, near Jericho, it was renewed 
 by the rite of circumcision, and also by the celebration of the passover ; at Mount 
 Ebal the ceremony of renewal was entirely difi'erent. In Exod. xxxi. 16, the 
 observance of the sabbath is spoken of as a perpetual covenant. Every act of 
 sincere worship should be regarded as a renewal of covenant with God. Every 
 true act of worship now is a fresh acceptance of Jesus Christ. 2. Whatever out- 
 ward variation there might be in services designed to reneiv the covenant, sincerity was 
 an absolute essential. Nothing short of a sincere heart would enable the Israelites 
 to keep the terms of the covenant, and without keeping these, all rites would be 
 useless. Curcumcision and the passover might be observed, as at Gilgal, near 
 Jericho ; blessings and curses might be solemnly repeated, as at Shechem ; all 
 rites would be fruitless to prevent ruin, if obedience were wanting, and no man 
 could be truly obedient who lacked sincerity. 
 
 In this erection of the altar unto the Lord God in Mount Ebal, four things 
 invite consideration. I. The time of building the altar. To otier this 
 service to the Lord, the people had to break away from then- miUtary 
 pursuits at a time which seemed to imperatively requu-e their presence in 
 the iield. The lesson of waiting on the Lord, taught so significantly at 
 Jericho, is even more significantly repeated here. Good generalship would 
 have led Joshua to say, *' Let us follow up our successes ; " his piety helped him 
 to determine that the duties owing to the Lord were of much more importance 
 than the pursuit of his disheartened enemies. 1. The spirit of true worship places 
 God before all else. Old Testament or New Testament, it matters not ; he who 
 serves God indeed is ever ready to say, " Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and 
 His righteousness ; and all other things shall be added unto you." A child, who 
 
 171 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. chap. viii. 
 
 has really a child's heart, can place nothing on earth before his father and mother. 
 He who is a child of God indeed, and who to filial love adds holy reverence, will 
 need no teaching from without to enable him to exalt the name of the Lord above 
 every other name which is named among men. 2. The spirit of true icorship is 
 also a spirit oj obedience. Moses had commanded the elders of Israel to attend to 
 this service on Ebal as soon as they should enter into the land (Deut. xxvii. 2). 
 Moses had spoken in the name of Jehovah, and at the earliest possible moment 
 Joshua hastens to perform the word of the Lord. True fellowship with the Father 
 and with His Son Jesus Christ, does not consist in the use of irreverent and 
 amatory phrases. One unctuous man may catch all these from another ; he may 
 even multiply the terms and sweeten the tones, and yet be little more than a kind 
 of religious parrot. In some men, ardent love naturally chooses terms of endear- 
 ment, even when approaching God ; when it does so lawfully, it ever chooses 
 them out of the heart, and not from the memory. Such a spirit is above criticism 
 to every hearer who also loves God. Yet it should be remembered that only he 
 who is devoutly obedient gives sufficient evidence of ardent love. Love that is 
 really sincere is never so much in earnest as when it cries, '* I will run in the way 
 of Thy commandments, when Thou shalt enlarge my heart." He whose fellowship 
 with God was absolutely perfect, made that perfect communion manifest in the 
 obedience which said, " Lo, I come : in the volume of the book it is written of 
 Me, I delight to do Thy will, my God : yea. Thy law is within my heart." 
 3. The spirit of true ivorshijt has reriard to the necessity of sacrifice. Breaking away 
 from their warfare to worship God, these men began by building an altar, (a) Ho 
 who worships in spirit and in truth must recognise both the need and the fact of 
 forgiveness, (h) He who worships in spirit and in truth rejoices not only in the 
 sacrifice through which he is forgiven, but in the self-sacrifice which proclaims 
 his own love and gratitude. The Israelites in this act of worship seemed sacrific- 
 ing their own worldly interest by not following up their victories promptly. The 
 really devout will gladly forego and forget worldly gain, when called upon to 
 render homage to the name of Him from whom they receive all that is worth 
 possessing. Christ's cross, seen aright, will provoke us to take up ours. 4. The 
 sjnrit of true worship not only adores God, but trusts Him. There seemed some 
 danger in advancing, like this, for twenty or thirty miles northward, into a part of 
 the country which had not yet submitted, and in encamping there for some days 
 to oti'er solemn religious service to Jehovah. But "The people that do know the 
 Lord shall be strong, and do exploits." The Israelites, during the last forty 
 years, had learned to know that they had no reason to fear anything which God 
 commanded. The way from the Red Sea to Ai was one continued reiteration of 
 their absolute safety in doing the will of God. To follow the Divine leading even 
 through the sea was to have a wall on either hand, standing sufficiently long to 
 shield them, and falling soon enough to destroy their enemies ; to disobey the 
 Divine command was to be in danger and to sufi'er defeat, even before the insignifi- 
 cant forces of the king of Ai. Thus, the spirit of trust must still enter into the 
 spirit of worship. He only can praise aright who rests in the Lord. II. The 
 situation of the altar, Joshua built it "in Mount Ebal." It was built there 
 by the Divine commandment. 1. Geoiiraphicalhj, the site of this altar was rery 
 siiinificant. Crosby has said of Ebal and Gcrizim : "If you draw a line from the 
 latitude of Sidon to the latitude of the supposed Kadesh-barnea, these mountains 
 are exactly at the half-way point. If you draw another line from the Mediterranean 
 Sea to the top of the Gilead range, again these mountains are at the half-way 
 point. Thus the spot taken for this grand ceremony was exactly in the centre of 
 the new country of the tribes." By God's commandment, therefore, this altar was 
 to be erected in the very centre of the land. As far as possible, it was to bo 
 accessible to all the people. This neighbourhood became a chief place for the 
 worship of the people during several succeeding centuries. It was probably at 
 the Gilgal near to Ebal, and subsequently at Shiloh, also in the neighbourhood, 
 172 
 
CHAP. viii. HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 that the Ark of the covenant was so long deposited. Hosea and Amos make 
 repeated references to the sacrifices offered at Gilgal, even after the nation had 
 lapsed into a general idolatry. The woman of Samaria said, as late as the time of 
 our Lord, " Our fathers worshipped in this mountain." The erection of this altar 
 on Ebal, the inscription of the law on the stones there, and the subsequent religious 
 history of the neighbourhood all point to these mountains in the middle of Palestine 
 as the centre of worship during several centuries. In the minds of one section of 
 the people, at least, even after the return from Babylon, the strength of the tradi- 
 tions which gathered about Gerizim successfully competed with the later glories 
 of Jerusalem. Designedly, God made the centre of Israel's early worship in the 
 very midst of the laud, [a) God has placed the cross within the reach of all men. 
 It is accessible to the remotest of the nations. Christ said, " The hour cometh, 
 Avhen ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father." 
 This very altar of Ebal seems to suggest coming days, when, although the name 
 of the Lord should be made known through all the earth, to draw near to Him 
 should still be within the power of every worshipper, {li) The cross is equally 
 within the reach of all classes. Sick or dying, rich or poor, with a character or 
 without, somewhat moral or very sinful, the grace which built for men the world's 
 altar on Calvary built it well within reach of them all. (c) The one cross of 
 Jesus Christ is enough for all the world. This one altar on Mount Ebal, for a 
 long time, was deemed sufficient for the millions of Israel, and the anger of the 
 home tribes when, six or seven years later, the two and a half tribes seemed to 
 have erected a second altar for sacrifices (chap, xxii.) is not a little significant. 
 Some people often talk of the sufficiency of the atonement in a very commercial 
 way. Figures which the Holy Spirit has used to represent Christ's work as pre- 
 cious, and the provisions of the Gospel as a rich banquet, are made to apply, not to 
 intrinsic excellence, as they were intended, but to a definite purchasing or feasting 
 power. Christ's blood is " a price," and forthwith we are given to understand 
 that it will redeem a given number ; or the Gospel is " a feast," and its provisions 
 are straightway contemplated as affording a sufficiency for believers. The Saviour's 
 death, in its extent, has, from the very nature of the case, absolutely no relation to 
 numbers. A price may represent the preciousness of His shed blood, but not its 
 definite purchasing power ; a feast may faintly illustrate the richness of the pro- 
 visions of the Gospel, but it is not meant to signify that the Gospel will feed so 
 many, and no more. In a large and lofty room, lighted by what is termed a sun- 
 light, placed near the ceiling, it would be foolish to say, " When the room is full, 
 and two hundred men are seated within it, reading, the gas must be turned on full, 
 but when only one person is so engaged in the room, the light may be reduced in 
 the proportion of two hundred to one." To see clearly, one man would need as much 
 light as a room full. If fifty millions of people were suddenly to die, and pass away 
 from the earth in one day, God would not turn the sun down to correspond with the 
 world's reduced number of inhabitants. Adam needed as much sunlight when he 
 was on earth alone, as all the teeming millions of his descendants need now. 
 Light which is not very local, is irrespective of numbers. The cross is not only 
 light, it is light from heaven ; and in order to see the way to heaven one sinner 
 needs as much Ught as all the world. Men want to see clearly enough to be 
 able to hope and to believe. They want light on God's mercy, on His love, and on 
 His willingness to pardon sin. In response to that want, Christ answers, "I am 
 the light of the world." Any single man needs all of Christ's light in order to 
 beUeve firmly, and all men together need no more. One sinner could have 
 done with nothing less than Calvary ; all the world combined would find this 
 one altar sufficient for the wants of its thronging multitudes. 2. Historically, the 
 site of this altar on Ebal was interestiwj and stimtdatin;/. It was here that Abraham 
 received the first promise of Canaan, and just at the foot of the mountain he 
 built his first altar in the land. Here the hope of possessing this inheritance 
 had first dawned. It was well that the childi*en who were taking possession 
 
 173 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. chap. viii. 
 
 should build their altar where their father Abraham had built his, and where 
 he at first received and believed the promise. The cross of Christ should be 
 dear to us in a similar light, {n) Our fathers were saved hero, {h) Here 
 hope first dawned on us. (e) When we go to take possession of the inheritance 
 in which we now believe, we shall still, in spirit, gather round the cross. 
 3. Symholicdlhi, the place where this altar was built rras vcri/ siif/nestire. It was 
 built on Ebal, not on Gerizim. On the place where the Israelites were bidden 
 to put the curse, there God commanded them to erect the altar (cf. Deut. 
 xi. 29). However strongly modern criticism may reject any spiritual meaning in 
 this arrangement, such a meaning could hardly escape the attention of a people to 
 whom God was revealing His will systematically through types and symbols. 
 Where the curse was put on account of sin, there must the altar be placed in view 
 of forgiveness. III. The materials of the altar. These were to be " of whole 
 stones," over which no man hath lift up any iron (cf. Exod. xx. 25). The leading 
 idea in this command seems to be, not "that the altar might retain both the 
 appearance and nature of earth," but that men must not presume to attempt to 
 finish God's work, and to perfect for themselves away of approach to His presence. 
 The unhewn stones of the altar were to stand there as fashioned by nature, and 
 were to "cry out against " every ofi'erer who thought that he could do anything 
 to make his own offering worthy of God, or that he could adorn by his own works 
 anything which must, after all, depend entirely upon God's grace. IV. The 
 offerings of the altar. 1. The hnrnt-oferin<is were ofered on account of sin. Sin 
 must be put away before any other service can be acceptable to God. 2. The 
 peace-offerinys were expressive of thanksi/ivin;/ and felJoirship. Keil saj^s, "By the 
 repast associated with the thank- offering (Deut. xxvii. 7), the communion of life 
 with God, a communion both of house and table, was once more restored." Thus 
 does this ancient altar of the Old Testament teach us the same principles and 
 truths as are set before us in the Gospel. "Coming events cast their shadows 
 before," said Campbell, and thus did this service at Mount Ebal project before 
 men a spiritual outline of the coming cross. 
 
 OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VERSES. 
 
 Verse 31. — The Altae of Whole they could not make the necessary 
 
 Stones. offering. This is no accidental concm*- 
 
 I, The materials connected with rence which thus points out mystically, 
 
 sacrifice to God were all prepared by and yet so clearly, that the way to the 
 
 God. Everything which had to do with forgiveness of sins could be opened only 
 
 off'eriugs for sin, must be of Divine by Jehovah. It is God's Old Testament 
 
 origin and formation. Men could only way of saying of Himself: "Neither is 
 
 take of God's o^vn, and render it back there salvation in any other." II. The 
 
 to God again. 1. The stones of which altar of sacrifice, erected to the Lord, 
 
 the altar was built must be of Divine could not in anything be perfected or 
 
 workmanship. The very altar on which beautified by men. Any tool lifted up 
 
 the ofiTerings were consumed, was to have upon it, even by the most skilful arti- 
 
 its stones fashioned by the hand of ficer, would pollute it. Wo are not to 
 
 Jehovah. 2. Not only the altar, but the presume to work after God, in order 
 
 sacrifices also, were to be of the tcorkwan- that the thing on which we labour shall 
 
 ship of the Lord . Only that which had be more acceptable in His sight. Ruskin, 
 
 possessed life, could be presented as an in his " Modern Painters," has admi- 
 
 ofi'ering forman's transgression. "With- rably expounded this, from the artist's 
 
 out shedding of blood is no remission." point of view. He says: "Our best 
 
 No man could create life ; therefore, in finishing is but coarse and bluudering 
 
 part, living things were to be killed for work after all. We may smooth and 
 
 sacrifices. Human hands must not hew soften and sharpen till we are sick at 
 
 into shape the stones of the altar, and heart ; but take a good magnifying glass 
 174 
 
CHAP. VIII. 
 
 EOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA 
 
 to our mii'acle of skill, and the invisible 
 edge is a jagged saw, and the silky 
 thread a rugged cable, and the soft sur- 
 face a granite desert. Let all the inge- 
 nuity and all the art of the human race 
 be brought to bear upon the attainment 
 of the utmost possible finish, and they 
 could not do vyhat is done in the foot of 
 a fly, or the film of a bubble. God alone 
 can finish ; and the more intelligent the 
 human mind becomes, the more the in- 
 finiteness of interval is felt between 
 human and Divine work in this respect. 
 .... But more than this : the fact is, 
 tbat in multitudes of instances, instead 
 of gaining greater fineness of finish by 
 our work, we are only destroying the 
 fine finish of Nature, and substituting 
 coarseness and imperfection. For in- 
 stance, when a rock of any kind has lain 
 for some time exposed to the weather. 
 Nature finishes it in her own way ; first, 
 she takes wonderful pains about its 
 forms, sculpturing it into exquisite 
 variety of dint and dimple, and round- 
 ing or hollowing it into contours, which 
 for fineness no human hand can follow ; 
 then she colours it ; and every one of 
 her touches of colour, instead of being 
 a powder mixed with oil, is a minute 
 forest of living trees, glorious in strength 
 and beauty, and concealing wonders of 
 structure, which in all probability are 
 mysteries even to the eyes of angels. 
 Man comes and digs up this finished and 
 marvellous piece of work, which in his 
 ignorance he calls a ' rough stone.' He 
 proceeds to finish it in his fashion, that 
 is to split it in two, rend it into ragged 
 blocks, and, finally, to chisel its surface 
 into a large number of lumps and knots, 
 all equally shapeless, colourless, death- 
 ful, and frightful. And the block, thus 
 disfigured, he calls ' finished,' and pro- 
 ceeds to build therewith, and thinks 
 himself great, forsooth, and an intelh- 
 gent animal. Whereas, all that he has 
 really done is, to destroy with utter 
 ' ravage a piece of Divine art, which, 
 under the laws appointed by the Deity 
 to regulate His work in this world, it 
 must take good twenty years to produce 
 
 the like again I do not say that 
 
 stone must not be cut ; it needs to be 
 cut for certain uses ; only I say that the 
 cutting is not * finishing,' but Mwfinishing 
 
 it ; and that so far as the mere fact of 
 chiselling goes, the stone is ruined by 
 the human touch. It is with it as with 
 the stones of the Jewash altar : ' If thou 
 lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast pol- 
 luted it.' In like manner, a tree is a 
 finished thing. But a plank, though ever 
 so polished, is not. We need stones 
 and planks as we need food ; but we no 
 more bestow an additional admirable- 
 ness upon stone in hewing it, or upon a 
 tree in sawing it, than upon an animal 
 in killing it." (Vol. iii., pp. 117-8.) 
 The more educated a man's sight be- 
 comes, to perceive artistic beauty, the 
 more will he feel the truth of these 
 statements. That truth must have in- 
 finitely more grace to Him who made 
 the world, and Avho beholds clearly the 
 most minute forms of beauty which His 
 hand has fashioned, which lie utterly 
 hidden from our grosser perception. To 
 Him, indeed, our finishing must seem 
 but poor rough work. But this is only 
 half the truth, and the least valuable 
 half, which God would have us read in 
 His command touching the stones of the 
 altar. If there were nothing more to 
 be considered, God would bear to look 
 upon our poor misshapen work hi mate- 
 rial, tkinga : in His fatherly pity He 
 might even be interested in our uncouth 
 forms, even as we are interested in the 
 awkward letters in our child's first 
 copies, or in the result of his early at- 
 tempts to fashion a toy. This command 
 to the Jews was not merely to prevent 
 uncouth material work, but to keep them 
 from unsightly and harmful spiritual 
 work. God would have men see, from 
 the first, that the way of approach to 
 His presence could never be through 
 human working. The moral embellish- 
 ments would fail even more gi-otesquely 
 than the material. Even the perfect 
 work of a heart and a life could only 
 make an obedient servant, who had done 
 that which it was his duty to do ; to 
 make a son, human work must give 
 place to Divine work, to Divine gifts, 
 and to Divine grace. If they were such, 
 what, in the light of this commandment, 
 are we to think of the so-called altars of 
 some modern worshippers ? What be- 
 comes of the ornate forms and the gaudy 
 embellishments in the light of this 
 
 175 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. chap. vm. 
 
 Divine revelation of God's will ? Still 
 worse, What is to be said of the prin- 
 ciple which accepts all this as afibrding 
 some easier access to His presence who 
 said, " If thou lift up thy tool upon it, 
 thou hast polluted it "? We have but 
 one altar, and that is the cross ; we 
 have but one sacrifice, and that is Jesus 
 Christ, who was offered once for all : 
 henceforth, " there remaincth no more 
 sacrifice for sins." To erect any other 
 altar is to ignore Calvary ; to bring any 
 other sacrifice is to reject the Saviour as 
 insufficient. III. The altar which was 
 so jealously guarded by God's com- 
 mandments, was thus guarded to pre- 
 serve a pure conception of human 
 worship. The Divine thought was not 
 concerned with human architecture, but 
 with men's hearts. The stones were of 
 small account to God, hewn or unhewn ; 
 it was of infinite importance that in 
 coming to Him men should not be led 
 astray. Jesus Christ, also, took this 
 same care to preserve pure the way of 
 human worship. Once at the beginning, 
 and again at the end of His ministry, 
 He swept from the temple the pollutions 
 of men. He made a scourge of small 
 cords, and with scathing words, and, it 
 may be, sharp blows, He drove out the 
 men who were corrupting the idea of 
 worship in its fundamental principles. 
 Christ was angry ; and some weak- 
 minded sceptics have sneered at the 
 anger. Divine love had no alternative 
 but to be divinely angry at a scene like 
 that. What if some demon in human 
 form, moved by the thought of gain, 
 were to go about a large city, breaking 
 fire escapes, or cutting holes in the hose 
 of fire engines ? What if he should 
 secretly unnail boards in ships' boats, 
 damage anchor chains, file nearly 
 through the wire rope holding the cage 
 in which the miners descend to their 
 work, and out of the death of many 
 human victims seek to make his own 
 fortune ? Who with any manhood could 
 be other than angry at work like this ? 
 Very degraded beings might contemplate 
 with little feeling the purpose of the 
 wretched man who lately proposed to 
 blow a passenger ship to pieces with 
 dynamite, which was to be exploded by 
 clockwork when the vessel had been 
 176 
 
 eight days at sea, in order that he might 
 secure a sum of money on a false insur- 
 ance ; every one with common humanity 
 was horrified and indignant at the tidings 
 which revealed a brutality so dreadful 
 and devilish. Goodness cannot but be 
 moved to wrath at some things which 
 this world shews. It was Christ's dear 
 pity which burst out into such blessed 
 anger in the temple. He was indignant 
 for us. Men were corrupting the streams 
 of life. They were destroying the one 
 way of salvation. They were polluting 
 the idea of worship, and making the 
 very temple of God an occasion for 
 scorn and contempt. Similarly, the 
 seething woes which are recorded in 
 Matt, xxiii., were uttered by Christ 
 against the Pharisees because they 
 " shut up the kingdom of heaven against 
 men." So this altar, to these ancient 
 people, was the divinely appointed way 
 to the presence and mercy of God. God 
 would have the way kept open. It was 
 of little moment to Him what forms or 
 finish might be presented by the stones 
 of the altar ; but the conception which 
 His people had of worshipping Him was 
 of profound importance. It was because 
 of this that the Divine word laid so 
 strong an emphasis on what, taken in 
 an external sense, might seem compara- 
 tively trivial. The one way of salvation 
 was by sacrifice, and men's thoughts of 
 that sacrifice must be kept free from 
 pollution. 
 
 Ebal, Gerizim, and Shechem. 
 
 " Mount Ebal, where Joshua erected 
 the altar, was situated on the north of 
 Sichem, opposite to Mount Gerizim, 
 which was on the south side of the same 
 town. These mountains rise with rocky 
 clifi's almost perpendicularly to the 
 height of about 800 feet on every side, 
 from a broad valley of 3000 paces long, 
 and from 500 to 1000 in width, in 
 which the city of Sichem (Nabulus) is 
 built. Most of the early travellers 
 describe Gerizim as fruitful and pic- 
 turesque, Ebal, on the contrary, as a 
 rugged and barren mass of rock ; but 
 accoitling to llohinson the sides of both, 
 as seen from the valley, are equally 
 bleak and barren, the only diHereuce 
 being that there is a small cleft in the 
 
OHAP. VIII. HOMILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 side of Gerizim, towards the western this exception the mountains are both 
 end of the city of Nabulus, which is barren, having only two or three olive 
 certainly full of springs and trees. With trees scattered about." — \_Kcil.'\ 
 
 MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Verses 32—35. 
 
 The Proclamation of the Word of God. 
 
 No sooner had the altar been erected, than Joshua proceeded to set up other 
 stones close by, plastering them over with cement, and then, ere the cement dried, 
 "he wrote there" upon it, and thus "upon the stones, a copy of the law of 
 Moses." Judging by verso 34, by the natural meaning of Deut. xxvii, 3, 8, and 
 by the improbability that all of " the second law " would be written in this manner, 
 it seems likely that only the blessings and the cursings were written on the plaster. 
 The portion of Scripture which has been called the second law — Deut. iv. 44, to 
 xxvi. 19 — contains no less than 538 verses, most of them being of unusual length. 
 The law was to be written upon the stones " very plainly." It is obvious that the 
 preparation of a sufficient number of superficial feet of stone to receive a record of 
 such length must in itself be a work of considerable time. It is not likely that 
 many of the Israelites could take part in the work of inscription, which would be 
 much more tedious. There is no evidence that this visit to Ebal was prolonged 
 beyond a few days ; indeed, the history supposes the contrary. We therefore 
 conclude that the law written on the stones was simply that epitome of its princi- 
 ples and spirit contained in the blessings and curses. I. The altar of the Lord 
 and the word of the Lord go together. Neither is sufficient without the other. 
 
 1. The cross of Christ would he insulticient without the Scrijjtures. We need the 
 Scriptures to assure us that He who died upon Calvary is indeed the Christ of God 
 and the Saviour of the world. Some people speak lightly of doctrine. It has 
 been said, " Give us facts; if the facts are against the doctrines, so much the 
 worse for the doctrines ; let the doctrines take care of themselves." As if the 
 facts of Scripture could be more than other facts without the doctrines which 
 illuminate the facts, and which make them admissible. Take the fact of the three 
 crosses on Calvary, and what is one cross more than another, without the doctrine 
 which tells us that He who hangs between the thieves is none other than the Sou 
 of God ? Faith in Him cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. 
 
 2. The Scriptures would be insufficient without the cross. They would but reveal 
 the surrounding darkness. They would but tell us of sin from which there would 
 be no escape. The Bible, to be faithful, must still say, " By the deeds of the law 
 there shall no flesh be justified in His sight ;" but without the sacrifice of Christ, 
 it could never enable us to read, "There is therefore now no condemnation." 
 8. Standinr/ together, the cross and the Scriptures reveal salvation clearlj/. Taken 
 separately, the one is incomprehensible, and the other a revelation which leads to 
 despair ; taken together, they blend to shed forth a light by which every repentant 
 man and woman may see the King in His beauty, and behold, as his own ultimate 
 home and country, the land which is very far ofi". II. The word of the Lord is 
 not only recorded, but recorded in a plain and an enduring manner, 1. These 
 words were to be written so that there should be no diffieuHyin reading them. Moses 
 commanded Joshua to write all the words " very plainly " (Deut. xxvii. 8). Such, 
 also, was the command of the Lord to Habakkuk : " Write the vision, and make 
 it plain upon the tables, that he may run that readeth it." Such is the character 
 of the Bible as a whole. Its message is so clear that he who reads, whether of 
 wrath or mercy, may well run from the one and to the other. 2. These ivords 
 were to beivritten in a manner whic/t woidd preserve them for a long period. (Cf. the 
 quotation from ' The Land and the Book,' following this outline.) In a marvellous 
 
 N 177 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. cnw. viii. 
 
 way, God has likewise preserved to us the records of the life of Christ and the 
 epistles of the apostles. Owing to the long-continued dominance of the Greek 
 power after the conquests of Alexander, the Greek language, at the time of Christ, 
 was kno^vn almost throughout the civilised world. The Hebrew language had 
 been the granary in which the seed of Divine truth had hitherto been carefully 
 preserved ; in the days of Christ, the Greek tongue became the machine by which 
 the good seed was distributed, in many thousand furrows, to the very ends of the 
 civilised earth. The Gospel for the Gentiles being ready, the language suited to 
 spread it abroad was ready also. The Gospel for all nations was set down in a 
 language so rich in literature that it would never die, — a language so necessary 
 to the learned of all countries in the future, that the foremost men of every land 
 throughout time would be certain to learn and know the tongue in which the 
 truths of salvation were written. But while this language was so suitable for the 
 spread of the Gospel, it was no less fitted to preserve the Gospel free from corrup- 
 tion. The Greek power had long ceased to be dominant. The Greek language 
 was fast becoming what we call a " dead language." If it had been a language 
 spoken as widely as the Latin, and having as much vitality, the truths of the 
 Gospel might have been varied by the changes which are always insensibly taking 
 place in a living and spoken tongue. Thus Divine wisdom took this Greek lan- 
 guage just where it was living and plastic enough to receive this great addition to 
 its literature, and just where it was dead enough for the use and meaning of words 
 not to be much changed. And what is the consequence ? Like the rain-drift of 
 ages ago, which stands vsrritten so plainly in the tablets of the stones, that we can 
 tell even the direction of the shower ; like the extinct animals, whose footprints, 
 just as they left them, are set down in what is now hard rock ; so these words of 
 life from the lips of Jesus and His apostles became fossilised in a language just 
 plastic enough to receive them, and just unused and dead enough to petrify into 
 the unalterable word of truth. It was God's way of lithographing the New Cove- 
 nant, which no less than the Old was " written and engraven in stones." In Old 
 Testament times, God had the Scriptures laid up in the Ark, or written, as here 
 at Ebal, on stones ; in New Testament times. He laid up the Gospel unalterably 
 in a widely known but dying language. III. The word of the Lord is recorded 
 not only in blessings, hut also in cursings. The word ' curse ' is not often used in 
 the New Testament, but it is used ; the threatenings of the New Testament, how- 
 ever, are certainly as severe as those of the first dispensation. 1. GocVs promises 
 of hlcssintj arc very jirecious. (Cf. Deut. xxviii. 3 — 14.) [a.) They cover our entire 
 life, {h.) They are neither few nor small. 2. If the hjcsshuis are preciom^ the 
 threatenwfis are vut less necessarij. {a.) The noblest motive for serving God is 
 love of Him and of the things which He commands. Too few, it is to be feared, 
 serve in this spirit, {h.) God, who " knoweth our frame," permits us to servo 
 Him in view of promised mercies. He plies us with the thought of reward to bo 
 gathered both here and hereafter, [e.) Divine wisdom has no less recognised the 
 necessity of threatening. Those who will not servo Him in love, or from expec- 
 tation of reward, His love seeks to awaken by fear. After knowing something of 
 the blessedness of His truth, they may do His will from higher motives ; but with 
 many, "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." How grateful we 
 should be for this love which thus surrounds us on every side, and which prompts 
 us in every possible manner to seek the way of life and joy, IV, The word of 
 the Lord is not only impartially written, but should he impartially pro- 
 claimed. When God Himself directs the public service in which the people are 
 to approach Him, He will have the cursings uttered as well as the blessings, 
 1. Tlif jircarliuKj and readinr/ of God's word is often partial, and one-sided. Chapters 
 are read because they are pleasant and soothing. Themes are chosen which arc 
 inspiring and comforting. Thus, too often, the words of the Lord are subject to 
 an irreverent selection. This is often done almost unconsciousl3\ There may bo 
 no desire on the part of a minister to avoid any particular truths, and no con- 
 178 
 
CHAP. VIII. HOMILETIG COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 sciousness of being unfaithful. Men get perverted by their sympathies. This 
 evil is not merely the error of the pulpit, but also of the pew ; for while it is true 
 ihat a minister will do much to make a congregation what they are, the congrega- 
 tion will generally do much more to make a minister what he is. Time, and 
 freedom from a public position in the service, are always on the side of the con- 
 gregation. These perverted sympathies should be guarded against. Our strongest 
 sympathies should always be in doing the will of our heavenly Father. Infinite 
 love and wisdom have arranged, far better than we can, the desirable proportion 
 of threatening and promise. 2. Experience .^heics that the threaten! »(/s of Divine 
 truth have often awakened wen to seek Christ, where words of mercy have failed. 
 President Edwards never uttered kinder words than when he preached his truly 
 awful discourse from the text, " Their feet shall slide in due time." Many in glory 
 now, know how to thank him, and God for him, because of the loving earnestness 
 which moved him to risk even utterances like those, if by any means he might 
 save some. It has been affirmed that this sermon has never been preached without 
 conversions, although spoken several times by the author, and sometimes by others, 
 on account of the remarkable blessing ])y which it had invariably been followed. 
 V. The word of the Lord thus written and proclaimed, was written and pro- 
 claimed for all the people. It was read " before all the congregation of Israel." 
 The women were there, for the Bible has no words of help for men, which are not 
 addressed to them also. The little ones were there. They were not too young 
 to hear the word of the Lord, and in the event of the fathers' backsliding, their 
 very children might rise up to reprove them. The strangers were there : prose- 
 lytes, it may be, like Rahab and her family. How this proclamation of the word 
 of the Lord to everybody rebukes the practice of the Romish Church in with- 
 holding, as far as possible, the Bible from the people. The elders and the little 
 ones, the princes and the poor, the judges and the judged, were all to listen to, and 
 might all read, these words of the Lord God, VI. The word of the Lord to all 
 the people was a word to which all the people bore witness, and which, if 
 broken, would, in its turn, witness against them. 1 . The people testified that this 
 icord must be either a blessing or a curse. Every word of God comes under this 
 description. To the unfaithful God has said, " I will curse your blessings " (Mai. 
 ii. 2), while from all the obedient He removes the curse for ever. The word of 
 the Lord to every hearer now is "a savour of life unto life, or of death unto 
 death." 2. The iwoide e/ave their " Amen " to the threatenings aswell as to the pro- 
 mises. Thus even the Old Testament reveals God as preparing to say, " Out of 
 thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant." No man who provokes 
 the curse will find room to complain of its penalty as unjust. The heart of every 
 hearer of God's word now inwardly utters its " Amen" to the truth as it is in 
 Jesus. 3. The people ivho thus accepted the word of God, necessarily made the acts of 
 their after life a petition to God The " Amens " which they had so solemnly uttered 
 were so many interpretations which they themselves agreed should be put to their 
 daily deeds. Henceforth, when a man made or worshipped idols, he was virtually 
 saying to God, " Let the curse be upon me." When he removed his neighbour's 
 landmark, set light by his parents, misled the blind, or perverted judgment, he 
 rendered himself liable to the curse pronounced on Ebal, and his guilty act, read 
 in the light of his " Amen " then, still invoked the curse. The after generations who 
 knew what their fathers had done, and who could not but recognise the justice of 
 the law to which their ancestors had given so solemn a consent, stood in exactly 
 the same position. To know the covenant to which their fathers had agreed, was 
 to become parties to its terms. Thus, all thi-ough the dispensation, the daily life 
 of each Israelite was a prayer for blessing, or a prayer for the curse. It is equally 
 so with men now. Every heart hearing the word of God acknowledges its purity, 
 authority, and justice ; and for a man to know the word and do it not, "to him 
 it is sin," and each sin invokes the penalty to which the conscience has given its 
 solemn assent. 
 
 179 
 
IIOMILETIC COMMEyTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 
 
 " The deed ye do is the prayer ye pray : 
 ' Lead us not into temptation, Lord ; 
 Withhold the bread from oivr babes this day, 
 To evil we turn us, give evil's reward.' 
 
 Over to-day to-morrow bends, 
 
 With an answer for each acted prayer ; 
 And woe to him who makes not fi'iends 
 
 With the pale hereafter hovering there 
 
 — G. S. Burleigh. 
 
 4. The people tcho solemnly assented to the word of the Lord, gave a no less solemn 
 witness to its unfailin(j truth. The after history of the nation reads like an echo of 
 these utterances on Ebal and Gerizim. That history is the seal and testimony of 
 Time that the Scriptures are what they claim to be, — " a sure word of prophecy." 
 
 OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VEBSES. 
 
 Verses 30 — 35. — The Solemn Ser- 
 vice AT Mount Ebal. 
 
 I. The erection of an altar to the 
 Lord. " History repeats itself." Abra- 
 ham's altar (Gen. xii. G). Jacob's altar 
 (Gen. xxxiii. 18—20). 
 
 II. The writing of the word of the 
 Lord. This was : 1. By the altar. 
 2. On the stones. 3. In the centre of 
 the land. The Scriptures are to be 
 accessible to all the people. 
 
 III. The proclamation of the word 
 of the Lord. This should be : 1. Im- 
 partial. 2. Reiterated. 3. Continuous. 
 
 IV. The hearers of the word of the 
 Lord. These should embrace men : 
 
 1. Irrespective of rank and occupation. 
 
 2. Irrespective of age. 3. Irrespective 
 of nationality. 
 
 Verse 33. — The Divine Idea of Pre- 
 cedence AND Honour among Men. 
 
 The tribes were to stand " half of 
 them over against Mount Gerizim, and 
 half of them over against Mount Ebal, 
 as Moses the servant of the Lord had 
 commanded." In Deut. xxvii., the ar- 
 rangement of the tribes is specified, and 
 is declared to be not merely the word 
 of Moses, but the command of Jehovah. 
 The enunciation of the blessings could 
 hardly fail to bo esteemed the more 
 honourable work. The very selection 
 of the tribes recognises the blessing as 
 the more, and the cursing as the less 
 honourable part of the service. In this 
 Divine recognition of precedence and 
 honour among men, certain principles 
 ]R0 
 
 of interest and importance are more or 
 less clearly marked : — 
 
 1. Nothing preventing, the elder 
 children are preferred before the 
 younger. The list of the tribes chosen 
 to bless begins with Simeon. 
 
 2. The youngest of the children take 
 precedence of the man who has forfeited 
 his character. Keuben, although the 
 firstborn, gives place even to Joseph 
 and Benjamin. His lost character was 
 reckoned as a lost birthright (cf. Gen. 
 XXXV. 22 ; xlix. 4 ; 1 Chron. v. 1). 
 
 3. The children of the legitimate 
 wives are placed before the children of 
 Zilpha and Bilha. Reuben and Zebulun 
 are the only two children of Jacob's 
 wives who are passed by ; the former 
 for the reason stated, and the latter as 
 the youngest son of Leah. Dan and 
 Naphtali are probably named before 
 Zebulun, on the ground of seniority. 
 Joseph and Benjamin seem to be chosen 
 for the work of blessing, because, al- 
 though they were younger than Zebulun, 
 they were the first and second children 
 of the second wife, whereas Zebulun was 
 the sixth child of the first wife. 
 
 Ebal and Gerizim. 
 
 " Imagine that the range of mountains 
 running north and south was cleft open to 
 its base by some tremendous convulsion of 
 nature, at right angles to its own line of ex- 
 tension, and the liroad fissure thus made is 
 the vale of Nablfts as it appears to one com- 
 ing up tlie plain of Muklnia from Jerusalem. 
 Mount Ebal is on the north. Gerizim on the 
 south, and the city between. Near the eastern 
 end, the vale is not more than sixty rods 
 
CHAf. VIII. 
 
 HOMILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 wide; and just there, I suppose, the tribes as- 
 sembled to hear the ' blessings and cursings ' 
 
 read by the Levites This was, beyond 
 
 question or comparison, the most august 
 assembly the sun has ever shone upon ; and I 
 never stand in the narrow plain, with Ebal 
 and Gerizim rising on either hand to the sky, 
 without involuntarily recalling and repro- 
 ducing the scene. I have shouted to hear the 
 echo, and then fancied how it must have licen 
 when the loud-voiced Levites proclaimed from 
 the naked cliffs of Ebal, • Cursed be the man 
 that maketh any graven image, an abomina- 
 tion unto Jehovah.' And then the tremendous 
 Amen ! tenfold louder, from the mighty con- 
 gregation, rising, and swelling, and re-echoing 
 from Ebal to Gerizim, and from Gerizim to 
 Ebal. ' Amen 1 even so let him be accursed.' 
 No, there never was an assembly to compare 
 
 with this 
 
 " Moses did not order such a Herculean 
 labour as to grave the whole law in marble, 
 but simply to write it on or in properly pre- 
 pared cement. In this hot climate, where 
 there is no frost to dissolve the cement, it will 
 continue hard and unbroken for thousands of 
 years. The cement on Solomon's Pools re- 
 mains in admirable preservation, though 
 exposed to all the vicissitudes of the climate, 
 and with no protection. The cement in the 
 tombs about Sidon is still perfect, and the 
 writing on them entire, though acted upon by 
 the moist, damp air always found in caverns, 
 for perhaps two thousand years. What Joshua 
 did, therefore, when he erected those great 
 stones at Mount Ebal, was merely to write in 
 the still soft cement, with a stile, or, more 
 likely, on the polished surface, when dry, with 
 red paint, as in ancient tombs. If properly 
 sheltered, and not broken away by violence, 
 they would have remained to this day." — 
 \_Thc Land and the Hook.] 
 
 The place and use of Divinh threat- 
 
 ENINGS. 
 
 A late writer, with some knowledge of 
 mountain vegetation, has said : " While the 
 trees and flowers that clothe the fields of 
 natui'e are dispersed over the \vide surface of 
 the earth, there are mountain regions lying 
 within the tropics, where, in the course of a 
 single day, the traveller finds every vegetable 
 form peculiar to every line of latitude between 
 ^he equator and the poles. These are all laid 
 
 out in regular arrangement. Leaving the 
 palms which cover the mountain's foot, the tra- 
 veller ascends into the region of the olive ; from 
 thence he rises to a more temperate climate, 
 where vines festoon the trees, or trail their 
 limbs along the naked rock; still mounting, 
 he reaches a belt of oaks and chestnuts ; from 
 that he passes to nigged heights, shaggy with 
 the hardy pine ; Ijy-and-by the trees are 
 dwarfed into bushes ; rising higher, his foot 
 presses a soft carpet of lowly mosses ; tUl, 
 climbing the rocks where only lichens live, he 
 leaves all life below, and now, shivering in 
 the cold, panting in the thin aii- for breath, 
 he stands on those dreary elevations, where 
 eternal winter sits on a thi-one of snow, and, 
 waving; her icy sceptre, says to vegetation, 
 ' Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further.' " 
 In Bible scenery, to the anxious spiritual 
 climber, the order of the landscape often lies 
 the other way. His spiritual experience be- 
 gins amid stern and severe thi-eatenings. He 
 endeavours to ascend to more fi-uitful regions, 
 and comes now to warnings, and now to pre- 
 cepts which he seeks to embody in the duties 
 of his daily life. These affording no peace, he 
 climbs yet fm-ther, finding exceedingly great 
 and precious promises, but feeling that he can- 
 not, and must not, call them his own. Eising 
 higher, the love of God breaks upon his view; 
 would that he could find it God's love to 
 himself ! Climbing still, he comes to the 
 cross of a dying Saviour, fi'om which Mercy 
 pleads even for the murderers of the Son of 
 God, saying, " Father, forgive them ; for they 
 know not what they do." Forgiveness which 
 can compass and embrace such, can surely 
 include him, and thus he passes into the peace 
 of faith ; and henceforth, from his high stand, 
 point, he looks out with the joy of an heir 
 of God, and of a joint-heir with Christ, on 
 the spiritual territory around him. Thus do 
 many, inverting the way of mercy as it is 
 experienced by others, come into the know- 
 ledge of forgiveness by starting from the fear 
 WTought by threatenings. Climb to the sum- 
 mit of Bible truth into the rest of faith ho\\- 
 he may, that man will have a firmer peace 
 and a broader ovitlook, who, discarding th- 
 sentimental and unintelligent idea that God i 
 unmixed love to everything, finds a richer 
 depth of mercy in contemplating the wrath 
 which, in himself, he so fully merited, and 
 which, through Christ, he has so completely 
 escaped. 
 
 181 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE GUILE OF THE GIBEONITES, AND THE LEAGUE WHICH 
 THEY SECURED. 
 
 Critical Notes.— 1. On this side Jordan]— Zi^., beyond Jordan ; meaning the westcni 
 side. The historian contemplates the invasion as having been made from the country east nf 
 Jordan. Hills . . . valleys . . . coasts] By •• the hills " is meant the whole of the hill- 
 country which became afterwards the territory of Judah and Ephraim ; "the valleys" indi- 
 cate the plain, or lowland, from Gaza to the Cape of Carmel ; " the coasts of the great sea 
 over against Lebanon " include the country on the coasts of the Mediterranean from the bay 
 of Acre to Tyre. The Hittite, etc.} '• The Girgashite is left out of this list. The Jewish ti-a- 
 dition, sustained by Procopius, is that they lied the country on Joshua's approach, and settled 
 in north-western Africa. Josh. xxiv. 11, shews that if they did thus flee, they fought against 
 Israel, with the other tribes of Canaan, before their flight " {Croi^hij). 2. With one accord] 
 Lit., '• with one mouth," i.e., unammously. 3. The inhabitants of Gibeonj -'Gibeon was a city 
 situated, as its name indicates, upon a hill. It was about forty stadia from Jerusalem, according 
 to Josejfhus, Ant. vii. 11. 7 (50 according to his Bell. Jud. ii. 19. 1), on the road towards Beth- 
 horon and Lydda. In size it surpassed Ai, being one of the royal cities, though then without 
 a king. Its constitution was republican, under the government of elders ; the republic em- 
 bracing, in addition to Gibcon. the tovms of Chephirah, Bceroth, and Kirjath-jearim " {Keil). 
 4. Went and made as if they had been ambassadors] •• They went and travelled as ambassa- 
 dors,"' or •• they started on their journey as ambassadors" {KcU). " They tlid not pretend to 
 be ambassadors, for they were ambassadors ; the pretence consisted in their saying that they 
 came from a distant land " (^CajJcUiis). Wine bottles] y/eZ*., wine skins. 5. Clouted] From 
 Saxon clitt (Swed. klut), " a fragment of cloth." •* a patch," also "a cuff, or blow, with the 
 hand." In both of these senses, the word is still often used in some of the provinces. Chaucer, 
 Ascham, Spenser, Shakspeare, and other old writers, repeatedly use it with the sense given to 
 it in the text. Mouldy] •• Spotted." or •' crumbled," i.e., falling to pieces because dry fi'om 
 being old. 6. The camp at Gilgal] Reasons have already been given for the conclusion 
 that this was not the Gilgal in the plains of Jericho, but '• Gilgal beside the plains of Moreh " 
 (cf. Dcut. xi. 30 ; Gen. xii. 6), between Bethel and Shechem. It is apparently the same place 
 which is mentioned in 2 Kings ii. 1, 2, as having Bethel bcloiv it. It is highly improbable 
 that Joshua would have taken the entu'e body of the people back from Mount Ebal to the 
 Gilgal of the first enc.inipnient. and thus have abandoned for a time the altar and the pillars 
 containing the law, which it had been deemed of such importance to turn aside from the war 
 and erect. 8. We are thy servants] This was not a declaration of fealty, but is rather to be 
 lead as an expression of courtesy (Gen. xxxii. 4 ; 1. 18). very adroitly introduced to turn 
 aside the pointed (juestion, which, however, Joshua abruptly presses back upon them. 10. 
 All that He did to the two kings of the Amorites, etc.] They craftily omit all reference to 
 the miracle at the crossing of the Jordan, and to the victories at Jericho and Ai, '" because it 
 would have been impossible for the rumour of those events to reach them, if they came, as 
 they said, from so distant a land " (Masiiis). 14. They took of their victuals] Marg., " They 
 received the men by reason of their victuals." There .seems no reason to suppose that the 
 Israelites ate of the bread in token of their disposition to enter into covenant. They judged 
 by the evidence of the dried bread, instead of asking counsel of the Lord by the Urim and 
 Thummim (Numb. xx\ai. 21). 17. On the third day]' That is the same as "at the end of three 
 days," in verse 16. " The armed men would move from Gilgal to Gibeon (about twelve miles) 
 in the same day on which the news was heard " (Crogf)!/). Keil. with more apparent 
 accuracy, reckons Gibeon as eighteen or twenty miles from Gilgal. and supposes the phrase, 
 '• the third day," to mean on the third day after the discovery of the strat,agem. He adds : 
 the third day " is not to be interpreted as meaning that their journey occupied three days," a 
 statement which Fay conveniently overlooks while criticising Keil's opinion. 23. Ye are 
 cursed] " I/eb. =' arar,' and not ' cJiaram,' whence cherrm" (Crosbi/). Thus, although the 
 Gibconites were not devoted in the fullest mamier, they were devoted in the sense of being set 
 apart exclusively for the menial service of the tabernacle. They were the slaves of the 
 tabernacle, and afterwards of the temple. Like the metal of the devoted cities, which, foi 
 another reason could not be destroyed, and which was dedicated to the service of the taber- 
 nacle, so these Gibconites were still held to be forfeited to God. No one might employ them 
 for his own private service. In these Hivites was begun the literal fulfilment of Noah's curse 
 upon Canaan (Gen. ix. 2.5). 27- In the place which He should choose] Shewing that this 
 book was written before the building of the teiiii)Ie : or, if the words refer to an assigned 
 place for the tabernacle, as .seems most i)robable. Fay's view, that they indicate the ajipoint- 
 ment of the Gibconites " at once to the lowest service of the sanctuai-y," must be held to bo 
 correct. 
 
 182 
 
H031ILETIC C03IMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Verses 1, 2. 
 The Confederacy of the Kings. 
 
 When about four hundred years after this league was made and broken up, 
 David wrote what we know as the second Psalm, it seems as if the history of this 
 confederacy must have been more or less fully present to his mind. A devout 
 lover of the word of God, he would be familiar with the incidents of the combina- 
 tion ; and, as the scene of the battle recorded in chapter x. was only a few miles 
 from Jerusalem, he would bo well acquainted with the very ground on which this 
 southern half of the confederacy was defeated and destroyed. Who can say that 
 the poet who was probably led to write the song of the thunder-storm (Ps. xxix.) 
 to the movements of its own grand music, was not similarly influenced, on the 
 human side, as he penned the prophetical lyric of the triumphs of the greater 
 Joshua? We can almost think of David as just returned from Ajalon, and the 
 remarkable pass of Beth-horon ; as having read over, with a thrill of patriotism 
 and piety, these yet exciting chapters of Joshua ; as having his soul still moved by 
 those exultant words from the book Jasher ; and then as sitting down to 
 write of those more glorious victories of the Son of God. Any way, the opening 
 of this Psalm of wonderful prophecy reads almost like a song, prompted in part 
 by this memorable history : — " Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine 
 a vain thing ? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel 
 together, against Jehovah and against His anointed, saying, Let us break their 
 bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens 
 shall laugh : Jehovah shall have them in derision. Then shall He speak unto 
 them in His wrath, and trouble them in His sore displeasure." 
 
 This combination of the kings of Canaan may be considered in the following 
 aspects :— 
 
 I. The influences by which it was provoked. "When all the kings heard 
 thereof, they gathered themselves together, to fight," etc. The tidings which led 
 them to plan this league may not have been the tidings of any one event in par- 
 ticular. They had recently " heard " of a good many things, more than a little 
 calculated to attract attention, and to incite to some common action. Let us 
 think of some of these things which presently brought about this combination. 
 1. There was the anxiety that came from the Israelites' victories. These runaway 
 slaves from Egypt, who had been wandering up and down the southern deserts 
 for forty years, like so many demented people, had actually overthrown the 
 Amorites, all the Amorites on the eastern side of Jordan. Sihon and his people 
 had fallen. Og and his people had fallen also. The men who formerly had dis- 
 possessed the "giants," and taken their country, were now, in their turn, over- 
 thrown and slain by these slaves. Suddenly the news is spread over the whole 
 land that these people have crossed the river. Not even " the swellings of 
 Jordan " had sufficed to stop them. Then came the tidings that Jericho had 
 fallen, and soon that Ai, too, had been entirely destroyed. No wonder that the 
 country was stirred by reports like these, from Gaza even unto Tyre. («.) So 
 long as they walk with God, any people may be victorious. Walking in the way 
 of holiness, even recently liberated bondsmen soon become triumphant soldiers of 
 Christ. " Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast Thou ordained strength, 
 because of Thine enemies." (b.) The victories of the past make way for yet more 
 glorious triumphs in the future. They nerve and stimulate the conqueror ; they 
 dishearten and paralyse his foes. 2. There ^vas the dismay that arose from the 
 siquTnatural element. The staying of the waters of the Jordan, and the falling of 
 the walls of Jericho, could not be other than the work of the God of heaven. 
 These things must have reminded the Canaanites strongly of the traditions of the 
 working of that same Almighty hand in the flood, from which their father Ham 
 had escaped, and in the terrible destruction of Sodom. From the language of 
 Rahab (chap. ii. 10, 11), and of the Gibeonites (verse 9), it is evident fhat there 
 
 183 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. chap. ix. 
 
 was still some knowledge of God, and faith in God, among these backsliding 
 descendants of Noah. When the people saw and heard such evidences of the 
 working of God as accompanied the entrance of the Israelites into their land, they 
 Qiight well feel overcome with dismay, 3. There iras the hope icJiich sprami from 
 hrael's defeat. These enemies of Canaan had been beaten at Ai ; why might not 
 the defeat which had been inflicted on them there be repeated elsewhere on a 
 larger scale ? What had been might be again. When they heard of this thing, 
 perhaps then they took fresh courage, and resolved on this combination. Every 
 defeat of a Christian is an encouragement to the world. 4. There was the provoca- 
 tion ivhich arose from the reliijious service at Ehal. The Israelites were daring to 
 behave as though already they were masters of the land. They had held a 
 general convocation at which their laws had been proclaimed, at which their 
 obedience had been avowed, at which an altar had been erected, and at which 
 their God had been thanked and worshipped. And "when the kings heard there- 
 of, they gathered themselves together," II. The spirit in which it was pro- 
 moted. 1. The confederucij was formed in a spirit of rebellion aijainst God. Not 
 that the kings of Canaan wished to appear as acting against Jehovah. They 
 would much have preferred to leave God entirely out of the question. But this 
 could not be. In spite of themselves, they wex'e constrained to believe that the 
 Lord fought for Israel. It is worth while to notice that out of five instances in 
 the book of Joshua, in which Canaanites are represented as speaking, three con- 
 tain an expression of this conviction, and the remaining two are each merely the 
 record of a command, and are so brief as not to exceed the limits of a single verse 
 (cf. chapters ii. 9 — 12 ; ix. 9 ; ix. 24 ; ii. 3 ; x. 24), In every instance in the book in 
 which a Canaanite speaks at any length, he confesses his belief in the God of heaven. 
 Other grounds are furnished by the history for concluding that many of the inhabit- 
 ants of the land felt that they were fighting, not merely against Israel, but against 
 God. There is a point where opposition to men becomes rebellion against God, 
 Where God is evidently with men, shewing that He shields and helps them as 
 His people, to fight against them is to fight agamst Him. 2. This confederacij was 
 formed in a feeliwj of heartij imanimitfj. They gathered together to fight " with 
 one accord;" or, as stated in the margin, "with one mouth." The voice of all, 
 excepting the Gibeonites, was unanimously for the league. Thus while the 
 Church is sometimes divided in its defence of the truth, the enemies of the Church 
 arc united and firm in their opposition. They willingly sacrifice private diflerences 
 and feuds in their resistance of truth and righteousness. When Christ is to bo 
 tried, even Herod and Pilate are straightway made friends. III. The instrumen- 
 tality by which it was anticipated and weakened. The unanimity of the 
 inhabitants of the land was hearty as far as it wont, but it was not complete. 
 1. TJie combination of the Canaanites tvas broken by a serious defection amomj them- 
 selves. The Gibeonites Avent over to the other side of Israel. Although not 
 required or permitted to take any active part in the war, the Gibeonites, by their 
 secession, placed four important cities in the hands of the enemies of their country. 
 (a.) Christ overcomes the world by the world. In His army, those who fight for 
 Him were once contending against Him. The world is ever going over to the 
 Church. The foremost Christian leaders of to-day, and of every age, were once 
 opposed to the Saviour, (b.) Christ attacks individual men from within them- 
 Bclves. The human conscience invariably goes over to the side of truth ; then the 
 aflections, the intellect, and the man often follow, 2. For tlie purposes (f thetvar, 
 the position of these cities of the Gibeonites was amon<i the most imjiortant in all the 
 land. With them in his possession, Joshua was able to break up the confederacy 
 of the kings, almost ere it was formed. As Professor Wilkins has remarked, " he 
 was able to drive his army like a wedge into the very heart of the hostile country, 
 and strike his blows right and left at the isolated divisions of the enemy," The 
 geographical position of nations has not been lost sight of by Providence in the 
 conflicts of the cross. When England went over to Christ, Christianity obtained 
 Ibi 
 
HOMILETIC C03IMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 a stronghold in the very centre of the world's future commerce and enterprise, 
 3. The time of the Giheonite secession was no less important than the fact itself. 
 Just as the kings of Canaan had all combined to resist the Israelites, this defection 
 of the Gibeonites severed the new union into halves. The southern confederacy 
 hastened to wreak its vengeance on the traitorous cities ; Joshua hastened to 
 succour them, and ere the northern kings could join in the conflict, the southern 
 half of the kingdom had fallen for ever. Thus, as events proved, no time could 
 have been more favourable for the league of the Gibeonites with Israel. Thus, 
 too, has it been in the history of the Church. When the faith of men in the 
 Romish hierarchy was shaken by the corruptions of priests like Tetzel, Luther 
 went over to Christ. The history of Christianity in England offers similar 
 parallels. The events even now occurring in connection with central Africa, 
 suggest similar thoughts. The results of recent missionary and geographical 
 expeditions, and of events in Egypt and the South-east of Europe, seem as it 
 working together and concentrating for the spiritual redemption of a long-neglected 
 and degraded people. IV. The ease with which it was utterly destroyed. As 
 the after history shews, the very efforts which the Canaanites made to defend 
 themselves only served to hasten their overthrow. Apparently the combined 
 forces of the kings effected no more harm than was done at Jericho, and not so 
 much as was wrought at Ai. The battle at Gibeon was a rout, and that which 
 was subsequently fought at the waters of Merom was little better. 1. The 
 ninnher and power of the enemies of the Cross need offer no discouragement to the 
 soldiers of Christ. 2. He fights safely and victoriously, who fights with God. 
 3. Every confiict between truth and error does but hasten the ti)ne wJien Christ 
 ^^ shall have dominiun from sea to sea." "He must reign till He hath put all 
 enemies under His feet." 
 
 OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VERSES. 
 
 Verses 1, 2. — Tiu itness of Last The Folly of the Wicked. 
 
 Hours. I. The foolish delays of the un- 
 
 To the Israelites, or to the Canaanites, godly. Why was not this confederacy 
 
 the end of life was rapidly approaching, formed earlier ? The overthrow ol 
 
 Things had gone too far for any retreat, Sihon and Og might have been a suffi- 
 
 or for any room to hope for much mercy, cient warning that Israel was not an 
 
 Henceforth, manifestly, as it had really enemy to be despised as insignificant, 
 
 been from the first, the war was unto Why did not the combined forces of the 
 
 death. One nation or the other was kings of Canaan meet the Israelites at 
 
 about to be swept from off the earth, the Jordan, and dispute with them the 
 
 These possibiUties of the end bear wit- passage of the river ? The ungodly are 
 
 ness in every man. The secret places ever behind in preparing for the dangers 
 
 of the heart are turned towards the of their future. 
 
 light. A dying man finds concealment II. The mistaken action of the nn- 
 
 difficult. The crisis without makes a godly. After the displays of God's 
 
 revelation within. The hidden things, power at the Jordan, and at Jericho, 
 
 for once, come outside. Consciousness this league was manifestly going from 
 
 informs demeanour, and demeanour in- bad to worse. The folly of the former 
 
 forms every beholder. delay, looking at it on the human side, 
 
 In the light of these final struggles was now equalled by the folly of the 
 
 between the representatives of truth and present movement. It is not seldom 
 
 of idolatry, mark : — God's way to take the wicked in their 
 
 I. The hurried excitement of the own net, and to bind them fast by their 
 sinful. own mistakes. 
 
 II. The strong confidence of be- 
 lievers. " The Canaanites might have seen 
 
 III. The majestic calmness of God. themselves in Jericho and Ai, and have 
 
 185 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. chap. ix. 
 
 well perceived it was not an arm of overstayed prevention, and trust to that 
 
 flesh that they must resist; yet they experience which we cannot redeem." — 
 
 gather their forces, and say, ' Tush, we \^Bp. Hall.] 
 shall speed better.' It is madness in a 
 
 man not to be warned, but to run upon "As once the Canaanites against 
 
 the point of those judgments wherewith Israel, so still and ever the foes of God 
 
 he sees others miscarry, and not to be- gather themselves together to fight 
 
 lieve till he cannot recover. Our assent against Him and BUs Church." — 
 
 is purchased too late, when we have [Lange.] 
 
 MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Verses 3—15. 
 An Ancient Estimate of the Value of Life. 
 
 We see in these Gibeonites and their history : — 
 
 I. An overwhelming conviction of being on the side of error, and thus, in 
 these hours of danger, on the side of weakness. The Gibeonites did not lack 
 courage. This very mission to Joshua was boldly conceived, boldly executed, and 
 boldly defended. There is a singular freedom from trepidation in the telling of 
 what, perhaps, was necessarily a clumsy story. This is manifest in their reply to 
 the closely pressed question of the Israelites, recorded in the eighth and ninth 
 verses. Nothing but a bold presence could have passed so poor a coinage. Even 
 through the fear in which these men go to treat for their lives, boldness is evident. 
 Moreover, the Gibeonites had a reputation for valour among their own country- 
 men : "Gibeon was a great city, as one of the royal cities ; it was greater than 
 Ai, and all the men thereof were mighty " (chap. x. 2). But these Gibeonites 
 had become convinced that might and bravery would not avail them. They had 
 heard " what Joshua had done unto Jericho and Ai," and putting the story of 
 these recent triumphs and the tidings of several other marvellous events together, 
 they were convinced that the Israelites were fighting on the side of God and of 
 truth. Men judge their gods from a very utilitarian point of view. Just then 
 the gods of the Gibeonites were manifestly very useless ; and these cool-headed 
 people, seeing that the help of Jehovah was something immensely dili'erent from 
 the help of Baal or Ashtoreth, determined on a change of place, as a natural 
 outcome of their change of faith. Let who will judge the manner of their 
 change, for that was full of error and meanness ; as to the fact, they did what 
 myriads of people have done in all ages ; they proved their former religious notions 
 to be useless in the day of trial, and they went over to the side of power. They 
 beUeved in God because of the prowess of God's people (verses 9, 10, 24). It 
 was a poor, low, selfish faith, no doubt ; make a discount for their surroundings, 
 and their previous habits of religious thought and feeling, and they began with 
 God as a great many people begin now — in the day of their trouble they sought 
 the Lord. This view seems to have been common to the foui' cities of the 
 Gibeonite republic : in this low measure of faith, a nation was born in a day. 
 1. To some men the viiijlity works of God brhi<j conviction, ichile in others they 
 provoke a yet more deliberate rebellion. The same story of Divine triumphs had 
 gone through the whole land ; as it was in Rome when Paul preached Christ, so 
 it was in Canaan when God proclaimed Himself by many and marvellous works ; 
 " Some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not." It is 
 ever thus, and probably ever will be. The colhery explosion, the railway accident, 
 the ravages of disease, bring some men to meditate and to believe ; others, the 
 same providences harden. " Take heed how ye hear." 2. In times of <jreat 
 dantjer the conviction of error is also the conviction of weakness. Only truth is 
 always strong, and everywhere strong. When Peter asked, " Who is ho that will 
 harm you, if ye bo followers of that which is good ? " ho preached not only to 
 human hearts, but out of a human heart. It does us good to hear such an exultant 
 18G 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 question from Peter. Peter did not set a problem ; he proclaimed an experience. 
 Peter had set himself to seek safety behind the sword : that failed. Peter had 
 followed afar off: that did not answer. Peter had tried to shield himself by lying, 
 and by ungratefully shirking the responsibility of a trying connection : that led, 
 within the same hour, to bitter tears. Peter had tried the other way. He followed 
 embodied Goodness to Galilee, and, lo ! it spake of love even to the denier, and 
 said, "Feed my sheep." Peter had followed that which was good at Pentecost, 
 and three thousand were added to the Lord. Peter followed that which was 
 good, and it led him to prison ; an angel delivered him. Thus had it been all his 
 life ; error had made him weak always, truth and righteousness had been strength 
 everywhere. It is refreshing to hear such a challenge, when it comes to us from 
 such lips. All might has its time of failure, saving the might which goes with 
 truth. The " wooden walls of old England" are as reeds and rushes before the 
 armaments of to-day. A granite fortress is of no good to the man who is dying. 
 A man's intellectual power cannot make him strong to overcome his own fatal 
 accident or fever. A noble imagination can do little in a prison, saving to mark 
 with a keener sensitiveness the narrowness of the limits which confine the man. 
 The "almighty dollar," as our American friends say when they wish to indicate 
 the power of riches, is no match for an outraged and olfended conscience. In 
 some emergency or other, all things are weak, saving truth ; when life is in 
 danger, nothing but truth can make a man feel secure from harm. Happy is he 
 who long before that trial comes has learned to cry, "Thy truth shall be my shield 
 and buckler." II. An irrepressible desire to preserve life, before which every- 
 thing else has to give way. These men placed their safety above everything 
 else. 1. Every tnan thuiks life precious. " Life," said a recent writer, " is lovely 
 every way. Even if we look upon it as an isolated thing existing apart from the 
 rest of nature, and using the inorganic world merely as a dead pedestal on which 
 to sustain itself, it is still beautiful." The tallest and sublimest mountain would 
 be simply a gigantic upheaval of desolation, but for the life which clothes its sides. 
 The barren face of the cliff gathers not a Uttle of its beauty from the background 
 of life on which it is set. The long reach of the sea shore could be no holiday 
 resort, but for beautifying life which is behind it. If life around us is esteemed 
 so precious, perhaps it is not wonderful that we value even more highly the life 
 that is within us. 2. So)ne )nen ivill do anythbuf, or almost auythiivj, to preserve 
 their lives. Satan said, " Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath, will he give for 
 his life." As pertaining to Job, the estimate was wrong. Here was a man who 
 could say, as many others have done, " Though He may slay me, yet will I trust 
 in Him." As pertaining to Satan's own children, the estimate was right. It 
 seems to have been nearly correct as applying to these Gibeonites. (a.) Think of 
 their shameful disguise. Probably they were the wisest and ablest men of this 
 royal city, and yet they could demean themselves to dress up like this in order to 
 be suffered to live, {h.) Think of their low cunniny. The attire of their minds was 
 more "clouted" than their sandals, and their manhood more "mouldy" and 
 "spotted" than then- bread, (f.) Think of their lies. The story which they told 
 had no beginning in truth, and no end of falsehoods. It was a garb of falsities, 
 woven throughout, with hardly a seam of truth to hold it honestly together, 
 (f/.) Think of their wretched use of the name of God, and of their new-found faith in 
 God. On the one side, they pleaded their belief in Him ; on the other, there was 
 no depth of meanness and hypocrisy to which they did not prove themselves 
 willing to descend. Thus these men, in endeavouring to save their lives, sacrificed 
 everything for which true men would have deemed it worth while to live at all. 
 3. Life may he purchased too dearly. Dishonour of this deliberate nature was far 
 too much to pay for its preservation. He who has lived long enough to forget 
 that life has any dignity, has lived too long. Milton said I'ightly : 
 
 " Nor love thy life, nor hate ; but while thou liv'st 
 Live well ; how long, how short, permit to Heaven." 
 
 187 
 
nOMILETIC C0M3IENTARr: JOSHUA. 
 
 Every man who professes to believe in God, should be ready to say, with 
 one of the later inhabitants of Canaan, " Because Thy lovingkindness is better 
 than life, my lips shall praise Thee." III. The unmistakable earnestness of 
 some men triuniphing over other men. These Gibeonites succeeded in their 
 purpose by their real and genuine earnestness. We cannot commend their conduct 
 in its details. Their manner of endeavouring to obtain this league was wrong. 
 The earnestness, in itself, was good. The lord of the unjust steward commended 
 him for doing a wise thing ; he did not commend the manner in which the provi- 
 sion was made. The steward was commended for his wisdom in providing for the 
 future, but not for his dishonest method. It is thus that these Gibeonites are to 
 be commended : their aim to preserve life was right, their manner was wrong. 
 Addressing the people of Wotton, Rowland Hill exclaimed, " Because I am in 
 earnest, men call me an enthusiast. When I first came into this part of the 
 country, I was walking on yonder hill, and saw a gravel-pit fall in, and bury three 
 human beings alive. I lifted up my voice for help so loud, that I was heard in 
 the town below, at a distance of near a mile. Help came and rescued two of the 
 sufferers. No one called me an enthusiast then ; and when I see eternal destruc- 
 tion ready to fall on my fellow men, and about to entomb them irrecoverably in 
 eternal woe, and call aloud on them to escape, shall I be called an enthusiast 
 now? " No man should be disconcerted by the charge of enthusiasm. 1. If we 
 are seeking to save our own Urcs; we shall do nothbuj without carnestiiess. The Bible 
 has no word of blame for the enthusiast. It reserves its reproaches for the in- 
 different. " The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by 
 force." 2. Jf we are seeking to save others' lives, earnestness is equally necessary. 
 Simeon, of Cambridge, is said to have kept the portrait of Henry Martyn in his 
 study. Move where he would through the apartments, it seemed to keep its eyes 
 upon him, and ever to say to him, "Be earnest, be earnest ! don't tritle, don't 
 trifle ! " It is said that Simeon would gently bow to the speaking picture, and 
 with a smile reply, " Yes, I will be earnest ; I will, I will be in earnest ; I will 
 not trifle, for souls are perishing, and Jesus is to be glorified." If we would not 
 go home alone, we too must be in earnest. The life of the soul is seldom saved, 
 perhaps never, without deep spiritual earnestness. IV. A very low measure of 
 faith tacitly accepted by God. Bp. Hall says : "If the secret counsel of the 
 Almighty had not designed these men to be spared, Joshua could not have been 
 deceived by their entreaty." No doubt that is true. But for the fact that God had 
 resolved to spare them, we may rest assured that something would have betrayed 
 them. Theii- secret would have come to the light ere the league had been con- 
 cluded. But for this conclusion we are not left to conjecture. About foui* hundred 
 years afterwards Saul slew some of the Gibeonites. What came of that breach of 
 this covenant ? God sent a famine on Israel for three years ; and when David 
 enquired of the Lord, the Lord answered, "It is for Saul, and for his bloody 
 house, because he slew the Gibeonites." It is not till seven of Saul's sons have 
 been hanged, and the covenant made here at Giigal has been thus honoured by 
 Israel, that we read, "And after that God was intreated for the land." Thus did 
 God set His own seal to the league which the Israelites made with these Gibeonites. 
 Perhaps there is nothing in the whole word of God more encouraging to the 
 anxious than this incident. The case of the Ninevites is encouraging. The threat 
 of destruction had gone out against them ; yet they said, " Who can tell if the 
 Lord will turn from His fierce anger ? " In that hope they were saved. Here, 
 the threatening was in specially emphatic terms. The Israelites were solemnly 
 charged to make no covenant with the Canaanites. The slaughter had already 
 begun. Then God saw these poor men believing in His power, believing in the 
 protection He was able to afford. In that faith God saw these men come begging 
 for their lives. He saw the meanness and deception and lying with which these 
 men clothed themselves within and without. But God also saw their faith, and 
 because of that faith, poor and low us it was, His mercy forbore to expose them. 
 188 
 
H03£ILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 He suffered the eyes of Joshua and the princes to be blinded : nay, the story is 
 so clumsy and stupid, that we are almost inclined to feel of these Israelites, that 
 " theu" eyes were holden that they should not know" this deception as such. 
 This is more encouraging than the case of the penitent thief, for against him there 
 was the divinely appointed vow. God knew the training of these Gibeonites, and 
 He had pity ; God heard their lying, and abhorred the deception ; God saw their 
 faith, and if He made not haste to deliver. He made no movement to expose them 
 to destruction. Through this incident God says in the Old Testament what Christ 
 says to Jairus in the New : " Only believe." The poor selfish faith of these 
 idolaters is suffered to become life to those who, already, were as good as dead. 
 
 OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VEESES. 
 
 Verses 3 — G. — Deception and its 
 Ad.juncts. 
 
 I. Deception is by putting on ap- 
 pearances which are unreal and false. 
 
 The garb, and utterances, and conduct 
 of these Gibeonites, furnish a lively and 
 Bomewhat prolonged illustration of this 
 obvious assertion. The imposition de- 
 scribed in this chapter vividly depicts 
 several of the more prominent features 
 which are so often common to cases of 
 deliberate deception. 1. Assistance is 
 often soui/ht from dress. The man who 
 wishes to appear what he is not clothes 
 himself in false garments. Dress has 
 been distinctive almost ever since it 
 has been worn. Different nations dress 
 each in its own way. Ofiiccs, dignities, 
 professions, the classes of society in 
 which men move, are all indicated by 
 distinctive dress. The phrase " plain 
 clothes" indicates an entire genus of 
 clothing which is official, or professional, 
 to classify the various species of which 
 would probably require an amount of 
 patient perseverance hardly so much as 
 suspected even by the most conscien- 
 tious and laborious botanist ; and then 
 the " plain clothes," themselves, would 
 have to be arranged into endless divi- 
 sions which may be roughly indicated 
 by the two great "families" of the 
 sexes, and thence by such words as 
 fabric, texture, colour, shape, quality, 
 etc. Language is said to have needed 
 a Babel to confuse it, and to cause it to 
 diverge into the numerous tongues and 
 dialects of the earth; dress has reached 
 a similar diversity by the force of its 
 own inherent power. The practice of 
 dressing in false garments, to aid de- 
 
 ception, is certainly not of modern 
 origin, however common it may be now, 
 Rebekah took the raiment of Esau in 
 which to clothe Jacob, and then put 
 upon the hands of the younger brother 
 " the skins of the kids of the goats." 
 When the wife of Jeroboam wished to 
 deceive Ahijah, she disguised herself, 
 and "feigned to be another." Zecha- 
 riah was bidden to say concerning the 
 prophets: " Neither shall they weai- a 
 rough garment to deceive." This easy 
 device of the Gibeonites is one which 
 has probably been practised almost from 
 the beginning. He who seeks to trans- 
 gress will readily find aids to transgres- 
 sion. 2. To render deception conqjiete, 
 other outward heloncjingshave to he hroufjht 
 into hannotiy icith the dress. The bread 
 and the wineskins were chosen to match 
 the character selected. The expression 
 of the face would have to be one of 
 languor and weariness, and weariness 
 in the tones would be necessary to har- 
 monise with weariness in appearance. 
 To all this, and more, there was added 
 direct and continuous lying. When a 
 man deliberately begins to sin, he should 
 understand that he is only beginning ; 
 the new character which has been chosen 
 must be made complete and unique. 
 The more perfect the unity, the less is 
 the danger of exposure. Thus, very 
 literally, he who offends in one point 
 is likely to be guilty in all. 3. Decep- 
 tion sometimes requires, not onli/ that 
 OKtn-ard thinr/s shall be unreal, but that 
 inward (traces shall aha be assumed. 
 These Gibeonites had to deal with men 
 before whom it was convenient to assume 
 both humility and religious fear. We 
 
 189 
 
JIOMILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 cannot charge them with hypocrisy in 
 their manifestation of godly fear ; judg- 
 ing by the way in which they were 
 afterwards protected by God, they 
 should, perhaps, be credited with reli- 
 gious sincerity. Of one thing we may 
 be confident : when men go as far in 
 deceiving others as did these Gibeonites, 
 it will need little more than the neces- 
 sity to tempt them to feign religious 
 feelings also. 4. Whatever may he the 
 form of its manifestation, the seat of deeep- 
 tionis ever in the heart. It is there that 
 truth suffers distortion most severely. 
 The outward guise of a deceiver, how- 
 ever fair it may be, is always ugly 
 morally, because it is false ; but the 
 deformity of the heart is ever greater 
 than the deformity of the act. Hearts 
 are deceitful when the deceit never takes 
 shape in actions, and that which we see 
 always represents but a small part of 
 that which is. How divine must be the 
 patience which not only bears with what 
 we see, but with the grosser impurities 
 of the corrupt heart, only a few of which 
 impurities are ever witnessed by men. 
 Young might well regard the hiding of 
 corruption at its source as the outcome 
 of Divine compassion. He tells us 
 truly : 
 
 " Heaven's Sovereign saves all beings but 
 Himself 
 That hideous sight, a naked human heart." 
 
 Let us not forget that our inmost 
 life is exposed to the gaze of the Lord. 
 As among their fellows, men may say 
 to each other, Let us 
 
 " Sleek o'er our nigged looks, 
 
 • * * ♦ 
 
 And make our faces vizards to our hearts, 
 Disguising what they arc ; " 
 
 but no outward assumption of inno- 
 cence will hide us for a moment from 
 Him who searches us, and knows our 
 hearts ; who tries us, and knows our 
 thoughts. II. Deception has not only 
 various guises, but many purposes. 
 It lays all external things on earth under 
 tribute for its garments : its purposes 
 are not limited to earth, but enter hea- 
 ven also. Imitating these " fathers of 
 all modern diplomacy," men practise 
 deception for political objects. Some- 
 times they seek to deceive in order to 
 preserve life, or to serve ambition, or 
 190 
 
 even to secure so comparatively small 
 a possession as monetary gain. But 
 deception is also attempted even before 
 God. Prayer goeth out of " feigned 
 lips." Love is not always "without 
 dissimulation," even when it approaches 
 Christ ; it may but draw near, like Ju- 
 das, to inflict the kiss of betrayal. Even 
 at the door of heaven, deceivers dare 
 to stand and say: "When saw we Thee 
 an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, 
 or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did 
 not minister unto Thee ? " III. Decep- 
 tion is not merely sin in the present ; 
 it is usually a pledge to sin also in 
 the future. No one who deceives 
 others for a guilty purpose mshes to 
 be discovered. The very character of 
 such imposition supposes that it shall 
 be repeated as often as may be neces- 
 sary to prevent exposure. Thus this 
 sin deliberately proposes as much future 
 sin as may be necessary to hide the 
 wickedness of the past. It is not 
 merely an advance into the territory of 
 transgression; it is a " burning of the 
 bridges," to prevent any retreat into 
 purity and integrity. The deceiver not 
 only forfeits his truthfulness for the 
 time being, but mortgages it for the 
 time to come. IV. The guilt of de- 
 ception is not to be judged by the 
 measure of its success, but rather by 
 its purpose and method. The object 
 of deception may be not only innocent, 
 but praiseworthy, in which case, pro- 
 viding that the manner of misleading 
 be harmless, only the purist who judges 
 God's law by its letter would hold it 
 to be sinful. No one thinks of calling 
 Joseph wicked, "because he spako 
 roughly" unto his brethren, and took 
 other measures to deceive them, till the 
 time was come to make himself known. 
 The command to place the cup in the 
 sack of Benjamin might, to some, seem 
 hardly justifiable ; but the rough bear- 
 ing and stern treatment under which 
 Joseph chose to conceal his kinship, 
 till he could win his brethren back to 
 true brotherhood, can scarcely be reck- 
 oned blameworthy. Even our Lord, 
 on one occasion, prudently concealed 
 His intention of being present at the 
 Feast of Tabernacles. The language 
 in John vii. 8, may or may not be 
 
BOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 ambiguous, in either view it was truth- 
 ful ; but coupling the reservation made 
 in the language with the going up " in 
 secret " which followed, there can be 
 little doubt, to a fair-minded reader, 
 that our Lord designed, for a time, to 
 conceal His purpose. And why not ? 
 The way of truth binds no one to reveal 
 all his intentions to every questioner. 
 It is doubtless inexpedient that even 
 innocent concealment should be prac- 
 tised often, because its frequent repe- 
 tition would beget suspicion, and create 
 an unhealthy influence ; but for decep- 
 tion to be actually sinful, the deceiver 
 must employ wrong methods, or con- 
 template some guilty purpose. In either 
 of these cases the deceit attempted is a 
 sin, irrespective of success or failure. 
 V. Deception is often but for a short 
 time, and, in any case, must end with 
 eternity. This piece of craft on the 
 part of these Hivites was fully exposed 
 but a few days later. If not earlier, 
 all deception will be made manifest 
 before the judgment seat of Christ. 
 What is more, the heart's sense of its 
 own guilt, in every sinful act of the 
 kind, Mdll have to be acknowledged. 
 Then, even as was felt at the time of 
 transgression, the person who sent down 
 word that he was " not at home," will 
 confess that he lied ; and every equivo- 
 cation, not needing to await the verdict 
 of the Judge, will be pronounced innocent 
 or guilty by each man's own conscience. 
 A pure life needs little restraint from 
 law, and will not concern itself much 
 with mere questions of casuistry ; an 
 impure heart will always be on the 
 safer side when it interprets the letter 
 of Divine truth so as to limit its liberty 
 in the direction of worldliness. He who 
 abstains from " all appearance of evil," 
 will be in little danger of having to 
 condemn himself in eternity for the 
 thing which he allowed himself in time. 
 
 Verses 7 — 9. — The Misery and 
 Meanness which wait on Imposition. 
 
 I. Impostors are in constant danger 
 of detection. The Inquisition in Spain 
 is said to have contained many refined 
 instruments of torture. Imposition is 
 continually provoking enquu-y ; and, to 
 the guilty, the inquisition of Truth must 
 
 be as severe an ordeal as the Inquisition 
 of the Eomish Church. 
 
 II. Impostors are repeatedly tempted 
 to fresh iniquity. " Perad venture ye 
 dwell among us." . . . " Who are ye ?" 
 etc. Thus the way of sin is ever down 
 hill. 
 
 III. Impostors are continually sub- 
 ject to fresh humiliations. " We are 
 thy servants." "Because of the name 
 of the Lord thy God" are we come. 
 Beneath the lowest depth of degrada- 
 tion to which he has descended, the 
 liar is ever finding " a lower still." 
 
 IV. Impostors render even their 
 sincerest words liable to suspicion. 
 This concern about God was probably 
 real ; the string of falsities by which 
 the expression of it was surrounded, 
 make it appear the most monstrous im- 
 position of all. 
 
 Verse 8. — The Abuse of the Cour- 
 tesies OF Life. 
 
 The words, "We are thy servants," 
 seem used here to turn aside the ques- 
 tion in the previous verse. Consider : 
 
 I. Courtesy as the expression of 
 truth. 
 
 II. Courtesy as used to hide the 
 truth. 
 
 III. Courtesy as a means to secure 
 an end. 
 
 " The Trick of the Gibeonitcs :— 
 
 "I. Shrewdly thought out. II. Cun- 
 ningly carried out. III. Detected and 
 punished. 
 
 " There is no thread so finely spun, 
 but comes at last before the sun. 
 
 " Lying and deceit bring no blessing. 
 Humble words alone do not accomplish 
 it; they must also be true." — [Lamjc^ 
 
 " This history warns the congregation 
 of God at all times of the craft and 
 disguises of the world, which often, 
 when it would bo an advantage to it, 
 seeks recognition and admission into 
 the kingdom of God." — \_Gerlach.'\ 
 
 "Nothing is found fitter to deceive 
 God's people than a counterfeit copy of 
 age. Here are old sacks, old bottles, 
 old shoes, old garments, old bread. It 
 is no new pohcy, that Satan would 
 
 191 
 
HOMILETIC C03IMEXTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 beguile us with a vain colour of an- 
 tiquity, clothing falsehood in rags. . . . 
 If we be caught with this Gibeonite 
 stratagem, it is a sign we have not 
 consulted God. 
 
 " There is no wisdom in staying till 
 a judgment come home to us : the only 
 way to avoid it is to meet it half-way." 
 ~[Bp. HaJL] 
 
 Verses 9 — 11. The Fame of God. 
 
 The Gospels make repeated mention 
 of "the fame of Jesus," which "went 
 abroad into all the land," in the days 
 of the Saviour's ministry. Only in 
 two instances does this word appear to 
 be applied to God in the Old Testa- 
 ment. On one occasion the expression 
 comes from the leader of God's people. 
 Moses makes the fame of God, in bring- 
 ing the Israelites out of Egypt, a plea 
 for Divine mercy to them in the wilder- 
 ness (Numb. xiv. 15, 16). On the 
 other occasion, it is these idolatrous 
 Hivites who say. We have heard the 
 fame of Him, and all that He did in 
 Egj'pt. Consider : — 
 
 I. The fame of God in its cause. 
 
 1. The works of the Lord had been nunii/ 
 and marvelJoiia. 2. Divine power had 
 been steadihj and consistently directed 
 a<ininst idolatri/ and sin. God's hand 
 had been lifted against sin, (a) when 
 committed by the Egyptians, (b) when 
 seen in His own people, (r) when in- 
 dulged in by the Canaanites. 3. The 
 mercy of the Laid had continuously 
 spared and foryiven the penitent. It 
 mattered not whether the suppliants 
 were His own people, or those Avho 
 were guilty as Rahab ; sincere penitence 
 was sure to be followed by Divine 
 mercy. 4. The Lord had safely shielded 
 from their enemies all who had walked in 
 His fear. No malice or might of men 
 had ever been able to harm His people, 
 so long as they were obedient. Thus, 
 even in these ancient days, was the 
 fame of the Lord spread abroad through 
 all that region. II, The fame of God 
 in its influence. 1. Jt jilled with fear 
 all who irere not manifestly under Divine 
 protection. Rahab or Achan, the 
 Gibeonites or the Canaanites, it mat- 
 tered not ; to be without God's 
 covenanted mercy, was to have a heart 
 192 
 
 that " melted and became as water." 
 2. The mere fame of God, while sufficient 
 to work fear, did not, in itself, move men 
 to holiness. These Gibeonites come 
 with prayer, but also with lying. The 
 fountain, troubled by fear, and not yet 
 purified by love, sent forth, at the same 
 place, both sweet water and bitter. 
 
 III. The fame of God in its issues. 
 
 1. Some heard of it, and they were 
 hardened, and jpresently pi^^'ished. 2. 
 Some heard of it, and sought and found 
 life. 3. Those ivho were saved found de- 
 liverance, not only for themselves, but for 
 their defenceless children. 4. It is to be 
 hoped that many whose lives were thus 
 sjiared were aftertrards saved spiritually. 
 
 IV. The fame of God in its relation to 
 God's people. 1. They should do no- 
 thing by uJiich the Divine fame is marred. 
 
 2. They should continually make that 
 fame known. 
 
 Verses 14, 15. — Asking Counsel of 
 THE Lord. 
 
 Through omitting to consult God 
 by Urim and Thummim, Joshua and 
 the princes of the congregation too 
 hastily covenanted to spare the lives of 
 these Gibeonites. What the Divine 
 answer would have been, we are not 
 told, and conjectures are useless. Pos- 
 sibly the Gibeonites would still have 
 been spared ; for althoug)- God had for- 
 bidden His people to make any covenant 
 Avith the inhabitants of the land. He 
 had not forfeited His own prerogative 
 of mercy. These Hivites might still 
 have been saved, as Rahab and her 
 family had been saved. But although 
 Joshua's oath may not have altered the 
 issue, Joshua and the princes did wrong 
 to swear that oath. God designed that 
 Jacob should be preferred before Esau, 
 but although the elder was to serve the 
 younger, the conduct of Rebekah and 
 Jacob was nevertheless blameable. God 
 does not need our transgression of His 
 commnndmcnts, in order to maintain 
 either the truth of His promise, or the 
 mercy of His character. 
 
 These versos teach us three principal 
 truths : — I. He who walks in his own 
 light must not wonder if the light 
 prove to be darkness. Pliny said, 
 " No man is wise at all times." Hare 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 HOMILETIC C03IMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 writes, "The intellect of the "wise is 
 like glass : it admits the light of heaven, 
 and reflects it." Nature itself teaches 
 us, on every hand, that we need light 
 from the Author of Light. 1. The 
 appare^it 2>lcdnn€ss of the way should not 
 prevent ms in enquirw(j of God. The 
 Israelites took it for granted that the 
 case made out by these Gibeonites was 
 clear. Scripture does not often give 
 examples of men who acted in error 
 through omitting to pray ; it prefers, 
 instead of this, to shew us how many 
 have triumphed through prayer. Per- 
 haps in the stronger light of the life to 
 come we shall see that not only has our 
 true wisdom been in answer to prayer, 
 but our serious errors have all occurred 
 for the want of prayer. 2. The past 
 success of our career should lead lis con- 
 tinually to Him from tchom all success 
 comes. The repeated triumphs of the 
 Israelites had unconsciously given them 
 a sense of importance. Had they been 
 filled with the spirit of dependence, 
 they would not have needed to be re- 
 minded of the desirability of appealing 
 to God ; as it was, probably it did not 
 so much as occur to them that this was 
 necessary. II. He who asks counsel 
 of God may look for direction from 
 God. The reproof which the history 
 gives, teaches us that if Joshua had 
 sought the Lord, he would certainly 
 have been answered. 1. llie encourage- 
 mcnts {liven to the Israelites to ask Divine 
 counsel were many and jilain. (a) The 
 method of seeking Divine guidance was 
 fully and clearly pointed out (cf. Exod. 
 xxviii. 30 ; Numb, xxvii. 18—21). The 
 blessing of the Urim and Thummim had 
 been specially pronounced by Moses on 
 the tribe of Levi as its choicest heritage. 
 
 The Septuagint renders these two words 
 by expressions signifying ^' mayiifesta' 
 tion" and " truth.'' However obscure 
 the subject of the Urim and Thummim 
 may be to us, we must not forget that 
 it was comparatively clear to the Israel- 
 ites, (b) The history of prayer, as it 
 pertained to Israel, was no less encour- 
 aging. In the captivity of Egypt, on the 
 borders of the Red Sea, and during the 
 forty years' wandering in the wilderness, 
 the people had many times proved in 
 their own experience the blessedness of 
 waiting on the Lord. 2. Iheoicourage- 
 meats yiven to men noiv to ask counsel of 
 God are far more numerous than they 
 were of old. We have the light cast 
 upon prayer by the example of Christ, 
 by the promises of the New Testament, 
 and by the experience of godly men in 
 all ages. We have the light cast upon 
 the character of God by the life of 
 Christ. To us every generation of men, 
 and every page of Scripture, join in 
 saying, " If any of you lack wisdom, 
 let him ask of God, that giveth to all 
 men liberally, and upbraideth not ; and 
 it shall be given him." III. He who is 
 guided by God may expect to be pre- 
 served from the errors whicli are 
 natural and common to men. Had 
 Joshua but enquired of the Lord, he 
 would not have been betrayed into this 
 mistake. The rebuke given in the nar- 
 rative, because of the error which was 
 committed, is given on the assump- 
 tion that had Joshua consulted God, the 
 error would not have been possible. 
 Our darkness is a consequence of our 
 opinion that we see ; our true light 
 results from that sense of ignorance 
 which drives us to ask guidance from 
 our Father in heaven. 
 
 MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Verses 16—27. 
 The Treaty and its Consequences. 
 Soon after Joshua and the princes had sworn to preserve the lives of the 
 Gibeonites, they discovered the imposition of which they had been made the 
 victims. The treaty was concluded without asking counsel of the Lord, and it 
 took only three days ere it began to bring shame and work confusion. This 
 paragraph shews us : — 
 
 I. The sacredness which should ever attach to promises. Verse 18. The 
 oath which had been solemnly sworn before the Lord might or might not have 
 
 193 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. chap. ix. 
 
 been binding. The league was obtained by entirely fraudulent representations. 
 It might be urged that when the conditions under which it was granted were 
 proved to be feigned and false throughout, the league itself would have no more 
 foundation in fact than the conditions had. Whether the conditions were ex- 
 pressly named in the terms of the covenant or not, this could make no diflerence 
 whatever to the moral obligation of the Israelites in respect to keeping the covenant. 
 By implication, if not expressly, the treaty was made with the Gibconites on the 
 ground that their story was true ; and none knew this better than the Gibeouites 
 themselves. If we proceed on the assumption that Joshua was not morally 
 obliged to keep this treaty, the history makes the sacredness of promises in general 
 still more emphatic. He kept his word when he was not bound to keep it, be- 
 cause the word of one man to another is a holy thing. Whether the treaty bo 
 considered binding or not, God solemnly approved the course eventually taken. 1. 
 A promise, once really made, should be held to be a.t sacred as an oath. When Christ 
 said, " Swear not at" all," lie did not mean to prevent men from giving the utmost 
 possible assurance of fidelity to their fellows. The " yea, yea," and the "nay, 
 nay," were to be felt to be as obligatory as the most solemn oath. 2. Promises 
 should be kept, even u'hen they hare to be kept at considerable sacrifice. When David 
 asked, " Lord, who shall abide in Thy Tabernacle ? " he also answered, " He that 
 Bweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not." He Avho breaks his promise in 
 order to spare his own capital robs the estate of human trustfulness, and thus 
 pays a personal debt with public property. Such a man steals from the faith and 
 rest and peace of mankind generally, that he may protect himself and the com- 
 paratively small circle associated with him. 3. If possible, promises should be kept 
 even ichen they have been fraudulently obtained. Herein lies the chief emphasis of 
 this story. Seeing that the treaty had been made, it was best that it should be 
 kept. When once the Gibeonites had been punished for their lie, it was abso- 
 lutely imperative that the treaty should be respected. Hence the chastisement 
 which God inflicted, four centuries later, for Saul's breach of his promise (2 Sam. 
 xxi. 1 — 14). God would have us keep our word at all times, unless the thing pro- 
 mised be in itself sinful. 4. If u-e hope that God vill keep His promises to us, u-e 
 must keep ours to each other. The Divine promises are only sure to us in Christ, 
 and to break our promises to our fellows is, in this matter, to ignore Christ. 
 The Saviour uses the same argument on the question of forgiveness : " If ye 
 forgive not men their tresp;\sses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." 
 II. The opposition which is continually found in the way of truth. '• All 
 the congregation murmured against the princes." It is not necessary to suspect 
 the congregation of selfish motives, touching the question of spoil, because of 
 this opposition. Probably the people feared the wrath of the Lord, because a 
 league had been made which He had forbidden. The Israelites had recently 
 suffered shame and anxiety and loss because of Achan's sin, and it is reasonable 
 to suppose that they were mainly actuated to this murmuring against their 
 leaders by their fear of the anger of Jehovah. 1. lie who contends for truth and 
 tq)ri(ihtness must not expect to escape opposition. 2. Opposition to those who are 
 faithfid to truth is offered from various motices. 3. Such opposition should be 
 firmly met (ver. 19). He who contends for integrity mav well stand firmly. He 
 who strives for fidelity need not fear to be faithful. III. The penalties which 
 ultimately attend fraud. The Gibeonites and their children were made slaves 
 of the tabernacle for ever. Possibly if they had come openly, and pleaded for 
 mercy, they would have been spared, as liahab and her family had been. Israel 
 had no right to conclude a covenant of peace with an entire city or people ; 
 for their general guidance they were forbidden to do so ; it was not safe to trust 
 them with powders to make peace with even single cities, lest repentance had 
 been simulated by the Canaanites, and this deception had sj)read to city after 
 city, and tribe after tribe, till Israel had entered into covenant with many of the 
 inhabitants of the land who remained in heart as idolatrous as ever (cf. Deut. xx. 
 104 
 
BOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 10 — 18). But had the leaders of Israel asked counsel of the Lord, He might have 
 given them the right to make peace in this or any other particular instance. This is 
 implied in chap. xi. 19. Judging by what we know of the character of God, He would 
 certainly have commanded the Gibeonites to be spared, had they been penitent. 
 There can be no doubt whatever about this. When God could swear by no greater, 
 He sware by Himself: " As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the 
 death of the wicked ; but that the wicked turn from his way, and live." The whole 
 spirit of the Scriptures assures us that had all the Canaanites sincerely repented 
 of idolatry, and sought Divine mercy, God would have pardoned them as readily 
 as He afterwards spared Nineveh. This being so : 1. The bondmji of the Gibeon- 
 ites n^ust be rct/arded as a punishwnit. Lying thought it could do better than can- 
 dour and penitence ; it set out to find life, and life was granted, but it was a life of 
 perpetual slavery ; confession would have found not only life, but liberty also. 
 The bondage was the outcome of sin, and was meant also to be remedial. 2. 
 This bondage of the Gibeonites was expedient, because of the Israelite-^. The social 
 status of the Gibeonites was lowered, till the poorest Israelite would think little 
 of the men, and less of their gods. Men do not learn of their slaves. The gods 
 of Canaan, moreover, would be ignored daily by the very service which the 
 spared Gibeonites rendered in the worship of the God of Israel. Thus God 
 shews us that when we cannot remove a temptation, we are to disarm it. Ho 
 shews us not less, how He makes all things work together for good to them that 
 love Him. The habits of a lifetime could hardly be changed throughout an 
 entire community by the penitence of a week. God sufi"ers the prowess of His 
 people to work prayer in the idolaters ; He also suflers the prayer to go hand in 
 band with the deception. Then the slavery follows naturally as a punishment for 
 sin — the sin of lying, and the half-repented sin of idolatry ; and thus is the danger 
 of a great temptation taken from the Israelites, and a purifying discipline, to con- 
 tinue through many generations, reserved for the idolaters themselves. Surely 
 one of the most gladdening studies of heaven will be that in which the redeemed 
 of the Lord search out the wonderful interworkings of the providence and 
 grace by which, personally, each has been brought to his city of habitation, the 
 New Jerusalem, 
 
 OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VERSES. 
 
 Verses 10, 17. — Feom Guilt to would it come? Fear ever waits on 
 
 Judgment. sin. The guilty no sooner become 
 
 Consider : — guilty than they are delivered over to 
 
 I. Guilt in its relation to ex- the keeping of fear. Even when God 
 posure. Sooner or later it must be had brought the sin of Cain to the 
 revealed. The Gibeonites well knew, light, and sent him from the Divine 
 in their case, that it could not long re- presence, Cain was overwhelmed with 
 main hidden. Their feeling is very a vision in which discovery was per- 
 much the normal condition of guilty petually repeating itself, and death con- 
 hearts generally. Guilt is like the moth tiuually waiting on discovery : he cried, 
 of the summer evening ; it will make " It shall come to pass that every one 
 for the light. The guilty heart feels that findeth me shall slay me," The 
 that the tendency of things is ever in murderer's vision of life was made up 
 the direction of exposure, but hopes of two things : a state of chronic ex- 
 for concealment notwithstanding. posure, and a time of incessant judg- 
 
 II. Guilt in its connection with ment. Joseph's brethren succeeded for 
 fear. The state of mind in which the a long while in concealing their wicked- 
 Gibeonites found themselves after the ness, but not even the years which 
 success of their ruse must have been intervened between their sin and their 
 most unenviable. The blow would trial could keep down the consciousness 
 come: when would it come? how that their old act of iniquity was approach- 
 
 195 
 
HOMILETIC C0JI3IENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 CHAP. IX, 
 
 ing the light. More than twenty years 
 after their sin, they saw in the rough 
 usage of the Egyptian lord the coming 
 judgment of their crime : "And they said 
 one to another, We are verily guilty 
 concerning our brother," A guilty 
 heart continually goes in fear of coming 
 exposure. It often feels about its 
 wickedness, as one says of guilt, in a 
 fragment by Landor : — 
 
 •' It wakes me many mornings, many nights, 
 And fields of poppies could not quiet it," 
 
 Owen has told us that " One lie must 
 be thatched with another, or it will 
 soon rain through ; " and the thatching 
 is miserable work indeed when the 
 thatcher is driven to feel that, labour 
 ingeniously and perseveringly as he may, 
 the rain will come through after all. 
 
 III. Guilt finding its worst fears 
 realised. The Gibeonites could not 
 hope to conceal their fraud for long ; 
 they could not but be anxious as to 
 whether their trick would be resented. 
 Their anxiety was not without cause. 
 In less than a week the armed hosts of 
 the Israelites, indignant at the treat- 
 ment they had received, were seen march- 
 ing hastily into the territory of the 
 Gibeonites to demand an explanation, 
 and, it might be, to take vengeance 
 on the deceivers. The fear of the 
 wicked is not vain. It has its counter- 
 part in reality. It is the shadow cast 
 on the heart by an actual cloud. It 
 often precedes solemn judgment. About 
 food and raiment, Christ says to His 
 disciples, " Take no thought for the 
 morrow. Suflicient unto the day is 
 the evil thereof." No such word is 
 ever spoken to the unrepentant man 
 concerning the judgment that follows 
 sin. 
 
 Verses 18 — 20. — The Opposition of 
 THE People to titeih Leaders. 
 
 I. The murmuring of the congre- 
 gation, rrobiilily tht; peciplo were con- 
 cerned lest God slu)ul(l be angry. Pos- 
 sibly some murmured in view of lost 
 spoil. 
 
 II. The faithfulness of the princes. 
 They were faithful to their promise : 1. 
 Because of the sohnniiti/ of an oath (cf. 
 Ezek. xvii. 13 — 19). 2. Dccau^". »/ the 
 
 1% 
 
 sacred name by which the oath had been 
 sworn (ver. 19). 3. Althoui/h they had 
 2Jrevioushj erred in not asking counsel of 
 God. 
 
 " The obligation of an oath should be 
 so far held sacred by us, as to prevent 
 our departing on pretence of an error, 
 even from engagements into which we 
 may have been led by mistake ; the 
 sacred name of God being of more 
 importance than all the wealth in the 
 world. Therefore, although a man may 
 have taken an oath without sufficient 
 consideration, no loss or injury can re- 
 lease him from his engagement 
 
 My decision therefore would be, that 
 whenever it is only our advantage that 
 is in question, we are bound to perform 
 whatever we have promised on oath." 
 — [Culrin.] 
 
 Verses 22 — 25. — The Beaeing op 
 Teue Men and False. 
 
 I. The dignity that belongs to truth- 
 fulness. Truth is greater in its defeats 
 than lying is in its triumphs. 1. It has 
 a nobler demeanour. 2. It can discuss 
 calmly even the details of the plan by 
 which it has been overthrown. 3. To 
 it, eventually, belongs the right of passing 
 sentence. 
 
 II. The servility which accom- 
 panies falsehood. Falsehood foresha- 
 dows its bondage in the spirit which it 
 manifests. 1. It can argue only from 
 motives of selfintcrcst. 2. It i^leads its 
 very fears as excuses. 3. It accepts its 
 sentence without remonstrance. 4. It 
 endeavours to the last to take advantage 
 of that sense of right in others which has 
 been wanting in itself. " As it seemeth 
 good and right to thee to do unto us, 
 do." 
 
 Verses 26, 27.— The Nethinim. 
 
 These hewers of wood and drawers 
 of water were probably appointed not 
 merely to the work indicated in these 
 words, but to the general drudgery 
 of the tabernacle, and subsequently ot 
 the temple. In Ezra viii. 20 they are 
 called "the Nethinim," that is, the 
 " given " or " dedicated " ones. Hence- 
 forth these Gibeonites, then, were not 
 their own ; they belonged unto God in 
 a perpetual servitude. Their history, 
 
OTTAP. IX. 
 
 HOMILETIC C03IMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 and the name by which they were after- 
 wards known in Israel, suggest to us 
 the following thoughts : — 
 
 I. Life forfeited by sin, but pre- 
 served by grace. The Gibeonites 
 appear to have owed their lives to the 
 princes ; really, they owed them to 
 God, who had so diligently taught His 
 servants the sacredness of every pro- 
 mise. 1. The lives of these men had been 
 forfeited Inj their own iniquitij. They 
 had become " devoted " by reason of 
 the idolatry for which the rest of the 
 Canaanites were actually slain. They 
 might see their own deserts in the fate 
 of their fellows, 2. Their lives were pre- 
 served by Divine cjracs. (a) By the 
 grace of God in the leaders of the 
 Israelites, {b) By the grace in which 
 God afterwards shielded them from 
 their enemies (2 Sam. xxi.). II. Life 
 preserved by grace, but preserved 
 for work. The Gibeonites were not 
 to be useless. They were not to be 
 mere pensioners in the land. They 
 were to be the servants of the temple 
 of the Lord. God's dedicated ones are 
 not redeemed to idleness. They are 
 called to arduous work, to constant work, 
 to the humblest work. Christ washed 
 His disciples' feet, to shew us in what 
 lowliness we ought to serve one another. 
 The Psalmist sang, " I had rather be a 
 doorkeeper in the hoiise of my God than 
 to dwell in the tents of wickedness." 
 He who owes life to undeserved mercy 
 may well serve in continual gratitude. 
 Seeker said, " God has three sorts 
 of servants in the world : some are 
 slaves, and serve Him from fear ; others 
 are hirelings, and serve Him for the 
 sake of wages ; and the last are sous, 
 and serve Him under the influence of 
 love." Ill, Life preserved for work, 
 and this work entirely for God. The 
 Nethiuim might not be pressed into the 
 service of the Israelites. They were 
 not only the servants of God, but of 
 God only. They were dedicated, or 
 devoted, perpetually unto Him. Those 
 ■whom grace saves (1) are not their 
 own ; (2) they belong not unto men ; 
 (3) they are the servants of Christ. 
 They sing in the gladness of one who 
 felt it no mean thing to belong unto 
 Jehovah : " Lord, truly I am Thy 
 
 servant." One of our modern hymns, 
 by far too little known, breathes, 
 through six verses, the same spirit. 
 The last four are these : — 
 
 " No longer would my soul be known 
 As self-sustained and free ; 
 not mine own, O not mine own I 
 Lord, I belong to Thee. 
 
 " In each aspiring burst of prayer. 
 Sweet leave my soul would ask 
 Thine every burden, Lord, to bear, 
 To do Thine every task. 
 
 " For ever, Lord, Thy servant choose. 
 Nought of Thy claim abate ; 
 The glorious name I would not lose, 
 Nor change the sweet estate. 
 
 " In life, in death, on earth, in heaven, 
 No other name for me ; 
 The same sweet style and title given 
 Through all eternity." 
 
 Thus should every pardoned and saved 
 man and woman, not simply submit to, 
 but delight in, the rank and dignity 
 and labour of a servant of Jesus Christ. 
 IV. Life entirely devoted to God, 
 and thus in the highest manner 
 given to men. 1. No man serves his 
 fellows, who does not serve God. That 
 which he does for them with one hand, 
 he more than undoes with the other. 
 He teaches men to live "without God 
 in the world," and nothing can com- 
 pensate for that. 2. He serves his 
 fellows most dili[iently, who also serves 
 God. It is " the zeal of His house " 
 that leads men to consume themselves 
 as willing sacrifices for others. Some of 
 the most earnest of the apostles loved to 
 begin their E pistles by calling themselves 
 " servants (SouAoi) of Jesus Christ." As 
 they felt how entirely they belonged to 
 the Saviour, they saw in the utmost 
 which they could do for men only "a 
 reasonable service." 3. He who is devoted 
 to God is an.rious to serve men. in the 
 hii/hest possible manner. He strives to 
 serve them, not merely in things con- 
 nected with the body and with time, 
 but in priceless things touching the 
 soul and belonging to eternity. 
 
 Nebt-SamwIl, ok Gibeon. 
 " The chief fame of Gibeon in later times 
 was not derived from the city itself, but from 
 the ' great high place ' hard by (1 Kings iii. 4 ; 
 ix. 2 ; 2 Chrou. i. 3, 13); whither, after the 
 destruction of its seat at Nob or Olivet, the 
 tabernacle was brought, and where it remained 
 till it was thence removed to Jerusalem by 
 
 197 
 
BOMILETIC CO^IMENTARF: JOSHUA. 
 
 Solomon. It can hardly be doubted that to 
 this great sanctuary the lofty height of Neby- 
 Sannvil, towering immediately over the town 
 of El- Jib, exactly corresponds. The tabernacle 
 would be appropriately transferred to this 
 eminence, when it could no longer remain at 
 Nob on the opposite ridge of Olivet ; and, if 
 this peak were thus the • great high place ' of 
 Solomon's worship, a significance is given to 
 what otherwise would be a blank and nameless 
 feature in a region where all the less conspicuous 
 hills are distinguished by some historical name. 
 This would then be a grcjund for the sanctity 
 with which the Mussulman and Christian tra- 
 ditions have invested it, as the Ramah and the 
 Shiloh of Samuel, even though those traditions 
 themselves are without foundation. In Epi- 
 I^hanius' time it still bore the name of the 
 Mountain of Gibeon ; and from its conspicuous 
 height the name of ' Gibeon ' (' belonging to a 
 hill') was naturally derived to the city itself, 
 which lay ahvaj-s where its modern representa- 
 tive lies now, on the lower eminence. From 
 thence the Gibeonites ' hewed the wood ' of the 
 adjacent valley, and ' drew the water ' from 
 the s]jrings and tanks with which its immediate 
 neighbourhood abounds, and carried them up 
 to the Sacred Tent ; and there attended the 
 
 'altar of the Lord,' which, from its proud 
 elevation, overlooked the wide domain of 
 Israel." — [Stanley's Sinai and Palestine.^ 
 
 Hewers of Wood amd Dr.\wers of Water. 
 " I was forcil)ly remmded of one item in the 
 sentence of condemnation pronounced upon 
 the Gibeonites — that they should be hewers 
 of wood — by long files of women and childreu 
 carrjnng on their heads heavy bundles of wood. 
 It .seemed to be hard work, especially to the 
 young girls. It is the severest kind of drudgery; 
 and my compassion has often been enlisted in 
 behalf of the poor women and children, who daily 
 bring loads of wood to Jerusalem from these 
 very mountains of the Gibeonites. To carry 
 water, also, is very laborious and fatiguing. 
 The fountains are far off, in deep wadies with 
 steep banks ; and a thousand times have I seen 
 the feeble and the young staggering up long 
 and weary ways with large jars of water on 
 their heads. It is the woik of slaves, and of 
 the very poor, whose condition is still worse. 
 Among the pathetic lamentations of Jeremiah 
 there is nothing more affecting than this : 
 ' They took the j'oung men to grind, and the 
 childreu fell under the wood.' " — \_Tlie Land 
 and the Buok.'\ 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 TEE OVERTHROW OF THE CITIES OF THE SOUTH. 
 
 Criticai, Notes. — 1. Adoni-zedek] = " lord of righteousness." Melchi-zedek was apparently 
 king of the same place in the time of Abram. The Jebusite kings may have borne this title, as 
 the rulers of Egypt and Rome did that of Pharaoh and Cte.sar. The a^ipellation " Jabin " was, 
 perhaps, similarly given to the Canaaniti.sh kings of Hazor (cf. chap. xi. 1, and Judges iv. 2). 
 Jerusalem] = "possession of peace," or " seat of peace." This is the first time that the name 
 occurs in the Scriptures. " There is no ground for questioning the identity of Salem (Gen. xiv. 
 18) and the city which was afterwards called Jeru-slialcm. The supposition that the name Jeru- 
 Balem dates from the time of David is altogether without supjjort from history, and overthrown 
 by the fact that the city of the Jebusites was called the citi/ of David (2 Sam. v. 9) after David 
 had taken it ; whilst the name Jerusalem bears no relation wiiatever to the circinustances of 
 David's time. It does not follow that because Jerusalem was also called Jebiis before the time of 
 David, so long as it was in possession of the Jebusites (Josh, xviii. 28 ; Judges xix. 10 ; 1 Chrou. 
 xi. 4). therefore it had no name besides Jebus. All that c;ui be inferred is, that in addition to 
 its proper name Jerusalem, contracted Salem, it was also called Jebus, from its inhabitants ; just 
 as Hebron was also calh'd Kiijath-Arba, from the family of Ai'ba (comp. chap. xiv. 15)." 
 [Keil.] 2- As one of the royal citiesj Man/. = " cities f)f the kingdcnn." Although the leading 
 city of only a small republic which was governed by eldcis, Gilieon probablj' surpassed in dignity 
 and power many of the cities in which a king dwelt. 3- Hebron] One of the most ancient and 
 important cities of the land. Antiquity referred to in Numb. xiii. 22. Nearly twenty miles 
 south of Jerusalem. Celebrated in connection with Abraham, David, and Absalom. The Cave 
 of Maclqielah was close by. The city was given to Caleb at the distribution of the land. 
 Jarmuth] Al)out fifteen miles south-west of Jerusalem. There was another city of the samo 
 name in the lot which went to the tribe of Issachar (chap. xxi. 29). Lachish] It was after- 
 wards fortified by Rehoboam (2 Chron. xi. 9). Amaziah was slain here by conspirators from 
 Jerusalem. The city became famous by the siege which it suffered tluring the reign of Hezekiah, 
 allusions to which are made in the historical ;uid ]>rophetical books of Scripture. The siege of 
 the city by Sennacherib is said to be further conunemorated by a remarkable bas-relief found .at 
 Nineveh. Lachish is tho\ight to be the nindeni {'in Lnlcis, but this is opposed by Robinson. 
 Eglon] Probably identilicd in .[j/iui, .ibout thirty four miles south-west of Jeru.salem, in the 
 low country of Judah. 4- Come up unto me, and help me] It di>es not seem cle.ir, as several 
 have supposed, that these words are a connnaud. and that Adoni-zedek, as a siii>erior monarch, 
 had some general authority over the rest of the southern kings. It iis more natural to suppose 
 
 198 
 
CHAP. X. HOMILETIC C03I3IENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 that he feared Jerusalem might be the next place attacked by Joshua and the Gibeouites. It 
 was the nearest important city to the now common foes of Canaan, and was thus most in danger. 
 Hence the words are probably to be taken as an entreaty, not as a command : "Come up unto 
 me, and help me." 7- So Joshua ascended] " He da-ew near ; not, he went up, as De Wette has 
 wrongly translated it." [A'e;7.] So the phrases " come up" and " went up," in verses 4, 5, are 
 probably used in the "military sense" given by ii'osen7nM??cr — "come up with forces." From 
 Gilgal] Probably Gilgal "beside the plains of Moreh " (cf. Deut. xi. 29), to which the camp 
 seems to have been removed previous to the service at Ebal. "' If the reading of the Hebrew 
 text (2 Kings ii. 2, 4), 'they tcent down,' is right, then the Gilgal spoken of in ii. 1 cannot bo 
 that near Jericho ; and another Gilgal must be sought in the mountains north-west of Bethel ; 
 where some such iilace is indicated by the ancient Canaanite kingdom of the ' nations of Gil/al ' 
 between Dor and Tirzah (Josh. xii. 23), and where a modern village exists, called JiJjuleh. But 
 the LXX. read iyXd'o;/, ' they came.'" \_A. P. Stanley. '\ \Q. Jehovah discomfited them] Dis- 
 comfited them by the Israelites. In the same manner it is said that Jehovah " slew them with a 
 great slaughter at Gibeon," before the storm of hail came. Azekah] Ne;ir to Shochoh (1 Sam. 
 xvii. 1), and probably on the road to Gaza. It was fortified by Rehoboam (2 Chron. xi. 9), was 
 fought against by the king of Babylon (Jer. xxxiv. 7). and was still standmg when the Jews 
 returned from the captivity (Neh. xi. 30). Makkedah] Groser supposes that it has been 
 " identified by Lieut. C'onder with El Mughar {the care), between seven and eight miles from 
 Kamleh." 11. Great stones . . . hailstones] Intimations of their destructive effects are 
 given in Exod. ix. 19, 25 ; Job xxxvui. 22, 23 ; Ezek. xiii. 11 — 14, etc. Records of several storms 
 in the East are preserved, in which it is stated that the hailstones, or stones of ice, were found 
 to weigh from half to three-quarters of a pound. (But cf. Rev. xvi. 21.) 21' None moved his 
 tongue] A proverbial phrase, intimating that even the most offensive and insolent should be 
 iwed into absolute silence (cf. Exod. xi. 7 ; also Judith xi. 19). 24- Put your feet upon the 
 necks] The customary token of the triumph of the conquerors and the humiliation of their 
 snemies. Joshua commands it here as an earnest of the victories yet to be won (ver. 25). From 
 this custom such pa.ssages as Ps. ex. 1, Isa. xxvi. 6, derive their meaning and force. 23- And 
 that day] On the day of the great victory just recorded. The army seems to have returned 
 from Azekah with the intention of encamping for the night at Makkedah (verses 10, 21 ; see also 
 maps, placing Makkedah near to Ramleh). On reaching i\Iakkedah, the people proceeded to slay 
 and hang the five kings (verses 22 — 26). "While the kings were yet suspended on the trees the 
 Israelites attacked and destroyed the city and its inhabitants (ver. 28). Then, before encamping 
 for the night, they cut down the bodies of the kings, as the law commanded, and buried them ; 
 the account of this being given in verse 27, and before the record of the destruction of Makkedah, 
 to preserve the unity of the paragraph. Thus was the arduous work, of what might well have 
 L)een a very long day, comjileted ; the sun "going down" (ver. 27), at least now, at its appointed 
 time. 29- liibnah] Another of the cities belonging to the Shephelah, or low country of Judah. 
 It was besieged bj- Sennacherib (2 Kings xix. 8), and it was probably in this neighbourhood that 
 the 185,000 Assyrians were slain, in one night, by the angel of the Lord. Dean Stanley and Van 
 de Velde differ as to the site of Libnah — the former placing it at Tell cs-Sufieh, five miles N.W. of 
 Eleutheropolis, and the Latter, with more confidence, at Ardk el-Mcusluyeh, four miles W. of 
 Eleutheropolis. 32. Oil the second day] On the second day of the siege. Thus, even in the 
 days of Joshua, Lachish gave indications of the strength, as a fortified town, which was mani- 
 fested in its subsccjuent history. 33- Gezer] Ibis city is not said to have been destroyed. 
 Judging by 1 Kings ix. IC, some have concluded that it "was not subdxied tiU Solomon's days." 
 Tliis is obviously a mistake, for with "'none remaining " of the inhabitants, what could there 
 have been left to subdue ? The city, as was the case in other instivnces, was no doubt speedily 
 re-occupied by the fugitive Canaanites, and thus re-inhabited it was spared, and made to " serve 
 under tribute " (cf. chap. xvi. 10 ; xxi. 21 ; Judges i. 28, 29). Twice in the history of David's 
 time it is called Gazer. " Perhaps the stiongest claims for identity with Gezer are put forward 
 by a village called }'((»•«?•, four (ir five miles east of Joppa, on the road to liamleh and Lydd" 
 [Smith's Bib. Diet.] 38. Debir] The same as Kirjathscphcr, "the city of the Oracle," or the 
 "Book." Sometimes called Kirjath-sannah, from its palm trees. It wns near Hebron. There 
 were two other places called Debir. 37. 39' And all the cities thereof] Shewing that both 
 Hebron and Debir had smaller cities under their respective governments. 40. "The hills] i.e., 
 the nimmtnin country ; the south] i.e., the Negeb, or land on the southern slopes toward the 
 desert; the vale] i.e., the Shephelah or Philistine plain ; the springs] i.e., the ravines on the 
 borders between the mo\mtain country and the Shephelah" [Crosbi/]. He left none remaining] 
 Many, however, fled into Philistia and elsewhere, and returned as soon as they were able to do 
 so. 41. From Kadesh-barnea even unto Gaza] The southernmost line of the land of Canaan, 
 from about twenty miles below the Dead Sea to Gaza, on the Mediterranean coast. The site of 
 Kadesh-barnea is luiknown. Goshen even unto Gibeon] Go.shen is also unkni>wu. It was 
 ]iossibly so named by the Israelites iii memmy of their dwelling-place in Egypt, and ajjparently 
 must have been sumewhere smith of llebnin. It is again named in chapters xi. 16 ; xv. 51. The 
 two lines of ileseription, one du the extreme si^iuth, and the other through the miilst of this part 
 of the laud, are evidently meant to describe Joshua's complete couqueat of all southern Canaan. 
 
 199 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. chap. x. 
 
 Jl/^I.V HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Verses 1—11. 
 The Defeat of the Five Kings. 
 
 This chapter is full of movement and energy. It is a rapidly shifting drama, 
 in which we see passing before us scenes of surprising vigour, ending in results 
 of colossal magnitude. It is a kind of heroic song of the wonderful wars of the 
 Lord, in which the poetry is made to depend on the energy of facts, rather than 
 on the rhythm of language. The key- words of this historic canto are " speed," 
 "force," " revolution." Nothing could avcII be sufficiently sudden to be out of 
 time with its quick movement, nothing mighty enough to be out of character with 
 its overwhelming energy, nothing huge enough to be disproportionate to its 
 gigantic results. The simple and inartistic record of Joshua fairly leaves behind 
 it, as a thing of comparative languor and weakness, the otherwise stately historic 
 fiction of Homer. In response to the swift messengers of the generally brave 
 but then trembling Jebusites, five armies are rapidly concentrated on Gibcon. 
 Ere they arrive before the city, the Gibeonite elders promptly despatch a post by 
 way of Bethel to Joshua at Gilgal, begging him in the most fervent words to 
 come up and save them from their enemies. The selected portion of the troops 
 immediately strike their tents, and marching all night from near Shiloh to Gibeon, 
 a distance of from fifteen to eighteen miles, as the sun rises they burst like a living 
 torrent on the assembled armies of the kings. Then comes the flight down the 
 western pass, and the fearful accompaniment of slaughter by the pursuing 
 Israelites. After a long ascent, Upiier Beth-horon is reached, and the instrument 
 is changed, but not the slaughter. The heavens, which had rained down fire on 
 the fathers at Sodom and Gomorrah, now pour forth upon the children destroying 
 bail. " The Lord cast down great stones from heaven upon them unto Azekah, 
 and they died : they were more which died with hailstones than they whom the 
 children of Israel slew with the sword." Meanwhile the day seems to have 
 waned towards closing. The sun was already " in the bisection of the heavens" 
 — possibly neariug the horizon. Then, taking the record as it stands before us, 
 come Joshua's sudden appeal to Jehovah, and the marvellous prolongation of 
 the day, till the people have fully " avenged themselves upon their enemies." 
 Nor does the record of wonders cease, even with this. The chapter which opens 
 with such an exhibition of activity and might, ends with a rapid procession of 
 fresh battles and new victories. Besides Makkedah, which Joshua takes on that 
 same day, ere " the going down of the sun," five important cities are utterly 
 destroyed by the Israelites ; Horam, king of Gezer, and his people, are also 
 slain ; and then the historian, no longer descending to details, sums up the 
 account in a few words of general description, intended, no doubt, to indicate the 
 fall of several minor cities and villages : " Joshua smote them from Kadesh- 
 barnea even unto Gaza, and all the country of Goshen even unto Gibcon." So 
 imposing, even in those brief and simple chronicles, are the mighty works of the 
 Lord ; and so easily victorious are the people whom He leads on from place to 
 place in the train of His triumph ! 
 
 This opening paragraph of the chapter sets before us four principal topics for 
 consideration : — I. The earnest request of the Jebusites. Through their king 
 they sent to these four cities of the south, saying, " Come up unto me, and help 
 me, that we may smite Gibeon." In taking this course, they may have had 
 several motives. 1. They were pttrtJij moved by fear (ver. 2). The fear of the 
 wicked has several defects, {a) It generally comes too late. Fear of God, 
 attended to in time, is the " beginning of wisdom." Such fear, when too long 
 neglected, is the dark shadow of approaching ruin. (//) AVhen it docs come, it is 
 '•esistcd. The fear of the Lord never comes too late for pardon, wlien it brings 
 men in penitence to His feet ; but it does often come too late to lead them there, 
 (c) This fear of the Lord is resisted because both it and He arc misunderstood. 
 To fear, in some instances, is no sign of wanting courage. To fear a shadow is 
 200 
 
nOMILETIC C0M3IENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 the fear of folly ; to fear the rock-bound coast in a storm, and to seek because of 
 that fear to give it as wide a berth as safety requires, is a seaman's wisdom. It 
 is wise, in a sanitary point of view, to fear to live in a filthy street, to drink pol- 
 luted water, or to sufler an accumulation of any of the conditions which certainly 
 bring disease. In a social and moral point of view, he is wise who fears to sin. 
 There are multitudes of things which no man and no number of men can resist. 
 To resist the fear of God is to misinterpret a warning voice that speaks kindly ; 
 it is to fail to understand God. 2. Then icere jiossibhj actuated hj a desire for 
 revemie. To smite the Gibeonites would, from their point of view, be to smite 
 traitors. But those who go over to the side of God are, in reality, merely 
 returning in true allegiance to their rightful sovereign. Those who put them- 
 selves under divine protection take no vain measures for safety. He can keep 
 them, and loves to keep them, 3. Tlicy mat/ have been impelled to attack the 
 Gibeonites by policij. It would be dealing with their enemies in detail. Hence 
 the suddenness of the movement. The policy is always bad, however promising 
 it may appear, which opposes God. As Bishop Hall says : "If they had sat still, 
 their destruction had not been so sudden. The malice of the wicked hastens the 
 pace of their own judgment. No rod is so fit for a mischievous man as his own." 
 4. 2'hus do fear, and revenge, and mere policij work together for destruction. All 
 things work together for good to them that love God ; all things work in the 
 opposite way to them who do not. II. The urgent prayer of the Gibeonites 
 (ver. 6). 1. The Gibeonites, also, ivere influenced bi/ fear. Freedom from fear 
 does not come by merely getting on the side for which God fights, but by getting 
 to know God, and by getting into His mind and will. The Gibeonites, as yet, 
 were a long way from this. 2. Their trust, in this onergenci/, was honourable 
 rather titan presuniptuoiis. They had deceived Joshua, but seeing that he had 
 ratified the covenant with them, they did well to conclude that he would aflbrd 
 his protection. The forgiven sins of our past should not hinder our trust in the 
 present. We honour God more by our trust than by our fears lest we should 
 presume. Great fear of our own sufiiciency may go with great faith in the Lord, 
 and with confidence in the fidelity of those who are really under His teaching and 
 guidance. III. The prompt fidelity of the Israelites (verses 7 — 9). Joshua, 
 and all Israel with him, immediately responded to this appeal of the Gibeonites. 
 1. llie obligation felt by a true man to defend all belonging to him. The Gibeonites 
 were weak, compared with the host gathered against them. They were the mere 
 servants of the Levites, and their position was the humblest in all Israel. The 
 danger of the weak does but inspire a true man. The meanest part of the body 
 calls, no less than the head itself, for the full strength of the defending arm. 2. 
 The responsibility felt by a true man to honour, not merely the letter, but the veri/ 
 spirit of his ivords. Joshua had only promised to "let them live" (chap. ix. 15), 
 and not to risk the lives of his army to save theirs. Thus ran the letter of the 
 league. But to have no occasion against them, and to have recognised them as 
 servants of the tabernacle, was for Joshua to feel bound to defend them. " He 
 knew little diftcrcnce betwixt killing them with his own sword and the sword of 
 an Amorite : whosoever should give the blow, the murder would be his. Some men 
 kill as much by looking on as others by smiting. We are guilty of all the evil 
 we might have hindered." [Bishop Hall.] 3. The energy nith nhich a true man 
 is inspired uJien he feels himself in the tvay of rigJit. "Joshua therefore came unto 
 them suddenly, and went up from Gilgal all night." " He gives twice, who gives 
 quickly," says the old Latin proverb. Fer Joshua not to have aided Gibeon at 
 once, would have been to lose the opportunity altogether. We may well go promptly 
 where righteousness bids us go at all. 4. The comfort given by God to a true man who 
 readily undertakes nhat is diificult because it is right (verse 8). He who conscientiously 
 and promptly follows the way of truth when it is dangerous, and when he might 
 readily find excuses for being elsewhere, may always hear the '' Fear not" of the 
 Lord, if he w^ill only listen. IV. The gracious co-operation of Jehovah (verses 
 
 201 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 10, 11). 1. The comfortuiij rconls of the Lord are not merely words. The words 
 of His eucouragement arc but the forerunner of Himself. They are the earnest of 
 the future possession. The mighty hand of God is ever at the back of the gracious 
 utterances of His h'ps. 2. The works of the Lord ever exceed those of His people, 
 and soiiuiiines visiblij. It was He who discomfited the Canaanites before Israel. 
 They were but the instrument through which He worked, even in the first part of 
 the battle ; and ere the battle closed, His hand, without theirs, slew more than all 
 Israel together. 3. The promiie of the Lord knows no limit by reason of His 
 people's insufficiency . Weary with the night's march and the morning's conflicts, 
 many of their enemies would have fled to the walled cities, and have made good 
 their escape, but for Divine interposition. But God had said, " I have delivered 
 them into thine hand ; " and where the hand of Joshua would have failed to smite 
 these idolaters, " the Lord cast down great stones from heaven upon them unto 
 Azekah, and they died." Where our hands fail through weakness to overtake 
 the complete measure of the promises, there may we look for help from the out- 
 stretched hand of God till all be fulfilled. 
 
 OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VERSES. 
 
 Verse 1. Names, 
 
 This verse contains a curious con- 
 junction of significant names, which, 
 while worthy of passing remai'k, should 
 not be pressed into fanciful extremes. 
 " What's in a name ? " In some of the 
 names that follow, we cannot but trace 
 the Divine Hand and purpose, as we are 
 so often compelled "to do in the early 
 nomenclature of Jewish history. 
 
 I. A bad man with a good name. 
 Adoni-zedcc, " Lord of Righteousness." 
 A pious name is no guarantee of a holy 
 heart. 
 
 II. A good man with a good name. 
 Joshua, " the salvation of Jehovah," 
 or, " he shall save." This is a name 
 which we cannot but feel that Provi- 
 dence directed to be given to the leader 
 of Israel. A good name may well be 
 felt by its possessor to be an incentive 
 to a good life. A little superstition in 
 this direction might be rather useful to 
 some men, and lead them to " accom- 
 plish a destiny " which at least might 
 have the merit of doing less harm to 
 other people than that which, for want 
 of some ideal, they finally do accom- 
 plish. 
 
 III. A great city with its greatness 
 foreshadowed in its name. Jimsdlnn, 
 " possession of peace," or, " vision of 
 peace." T])us the metropolis in the 
 Kingdom of Peace anticipates, from the 
 first, the glory and honour which should 
 como to it. Even the names of its early 
 kings seemed to herald Him under 
 
 202 
 
 whose reign its glory should be con- 
 summated. 
 
 Verse 2. The Influence of tub 
 Gkeat. 
 
 I. The example of the wisest and 
 bravest men in a community por- 
 voking fear. When this free state, 
 with its mighty men, gave up resistance 
 as hopeless, who else might think to 
 fight successfully ? 
 
 II. The numerous instruments which 
 God has for accomplishing His pur- 
 poses and fulfilling His word. God 
 had repeatedly said, " I will send my 
 fear before thee" (cf. Exod. xv. 14 — IG; 
 xxiii. 27 ; Deut. xi. 25). The Lord 
 here fulfils this word (1) by means of 
 some of the Canaanites themselves, and 
 (2) by those of them esteemed to be most 
 eminent. 
 
 Verses 6, 7. The Delivek.'Vnce of 
 
 THE GiBEONlTES. 
 
 Joshua's rescue of the Gibeonites 
 was : — 
 
 I. The deliverance of a people who 
 a little while before were under sen- 
 tence of death. The scMitcnce against 
 them had in no way diflerod from that 
 against the I'cst of the Canaanites. But 
 for their repentance, that sentence would 
 hiive been as certainly carried out against 
 th;'m as against the rest. 
 
 II. The deliverance of men who 
 had sought protection in a mean and 
 unworthy manner. 1. Tlwy had sowjht 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENT A li Y : JOSIIUJ . 
 
 pardon at the eleventh hour, 2. They 
 had soiKjlit it hij sulderfuye and ly'nKJ. 
 Yet God forgave their sin eveu in view 
 of so imperfect a trust and so poor a 
 repentance. 
 
 III. The deliverance of men who 
 in the hour of their need appealed 
 to the covenant. On their side, that 
 covenant was all imperfection. Touching 
 their part of it, in it there was no good 
 thing whatever. Yet these Gibeonites 
 did well to believe that God's people, 
 and through them God Himself, would 
 hold the other side of that covenant to 
 be sacred. The Psalmist said, "I am 
 Thine : save me ; " so these Gibeonites 
 dared to plead that they were servants 
 of Israel, and though they became so 
 unworthily, the league was recognised 
 as binding, 
 
 " The greatest obligation, to a good 
 mind, is another's trust, which to disap- 
 point were mercilessly perfidious. If 
 Joshua's very Israelites had been in 
 danger, he could have done no more. 
 How much less shall our true Joshua 
 fail the confidence of our faith ! my 
 Saviour, if we send the messengers of 
 our prayers unto Thee into Thy Gilgal, 
 Thy mercy binds Thee to relieve. Never 
 any soul miscarried that trusted Thee. 
 We may be wanting in our trust ; our 
 trust can never want success." — Bp. 
 Hall. 
 
 Verse 8. The Lord's Encourage- 
 ment OF His Servants. 
 
 I. Divine encouragement given 
 when unsolicited, it was needed, but 
 
 apparently not asked. The right heart, 
 from its very rectitude, is "praying 
 always." 
 
 II. Divine encouraj^ement given in 
 the way of duty. Gud spoke to His 
 servant when he was respecting an oath 
 the keeping of which had been opposed 
 by the people. 
 
 III. Divine encouragement given 
 when in the act of succouring the 
 weak. He who loves our compassion 
 for others, will not withhold His com- 
 passion from us. We are but on the 
 errand of His own heart. Prov. xxiv. 
 11, 12 ; Matt. xii. 20. 
 
 IV. Divine encouragement point- 
 ing to absolute and complete victory. 
 " There shall not a man of them stand 
 before thee." We too are told of the 
 "last enemy" as one that shall bo 
 destroyed. 
 
 V. Divine encouragement the fore- 
 runner of omnipotent help (verses 10, 
 11). The Lord loves to establish His 
 words unto His servants, upon which 
 He has " caused them to hope." 
 
 Verses G — 11. 1. Gibeon's need. 2. 
 Joshua's faithfulness. 3. God's help. 
 
 " If men come to us for help in time 
 of need, God gives the courage to render 
 aid. True courage comes alone from 
 God. 
 
 " If a man has once gained a real 
 victory over his spiritual foes, he must 
 boldly follow it up without indolent 
 delay, and faithfully reap the fruits of 
 the success given him." — Lanye. 
 
 THE MIRACULOUS PROLONGATION OF THE PAY.— Verses 12—15. 
 
 Whatever may have been the view adopted by expositors in the exegesis of 
 the text of this remarkable passage, and in the explanation of the phenomena to 
 which it refers, only one thing of a positive character seems as yet to have been 
 fully and satisfactorily proved ; and that is, the inexpediency of urging any par- 
 ticular view in the spirit of an over-confident dogmatism. Theories have been 
 advocated, which, perhaps, may very confidently, and yet fairly, be pronounced 
 erroneous ; but that is a different matter. It is one thing to know that a given 
 explanation cannot possibly be right, and another thing to know with equal 
 certainty what is the right explanation. With so much obscurity pertaining to 
 the character of the text, and with so much difiiculty attaching to any probable 
 explanation of the miracle itself, it is a comparatively easy course to set out with 
 a given theory, treat very lightly all which is urged against it, render as emphatic 
 as possible everything which can bo said for it, and then consider the case proved. 
 
 203 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. chap, x. 
 
 Such a method, however, is not ultimately helpful in the settlement of any 
 involved question, and is certainly unworthy of the dignity of Biblical truth. 
 Those who have read most closely, and thought most conscientiously, on this 
 alleged miracle at Beth-horon, will probably be least inclined to dogmatise in any 
 attempts which they may make to construct a positive theory of explanation. 
 
 It is not within the scope of a work like this to discuss the question of these 
 verses at any considerable length. It is only proposed to examine one or two 
 recent theories of exposition in which attempts have been made to do awaj-, 
 more or less fully, with the miraculous element ; and then to endeavour to 
 ascertain whether the older belief in an actual prolongation of the day by 
 miraculous interposition, in some icay or other, be not the most feasible view 
 which can be taken of the matter. 
 
 The principal exposition on which modern opponents of the miracle have 
 relied, may be described as 
 
 The theory of interpolation. Rejecting the unity of authorship in the book 
 of Joshua, some commentators have held that it is a compilation from several 
 other documents. This view, which is by no means a modern one in its leading 
 idea, has been advocated and expanded by, among others, Tuch, Stiihelin, Bleek, 
 and notably by Ewald and Knobel. The Dutch theologian, C. H. van Herwerden, 
 thought he found in the style of the book " ten diiferent monumenta, fz'om which 
 it is compiled." Taking the theory at the stage at which it has more recently 
 been left by Knobel, it may be briefly summarised as follows. The book of 
 Joshua is asserted to have been compiled by a " Jehovist," from three sets of 
 documents. The principal of these are termed " Elohistic " records, and are 
 supposed to form the " ground-text " for the work. The supplementary docu- 
 ments are said to be two : first, the " Law Book," which was supposed to contain 
 laws, historical reports, and poems ; the remaining documents being named the 
 " War Book," which is said to be alluded to in Numb. xxi. 14, and to have been 
 composed of a great number of warlike narratives. Finally we are told that the 
 " Jehovist," or the compiler of the book of Joshua, " cannot have lived before 
 the Assyi'ian period, because he has the ' Law Book ' and the 'War Book ' before 
 him. Since, moreover, the ' Law Book ' especially comes down to Hezekiah, the 
 last years of this king are about the earliest date to which the ' Jehovist ' can 
 be assigned." 
 
 All this being granted, by any who choose to grant it, the theory of Knobel 
 as to these four verses then is, that they are " a fragment from the first 
 document of the ' Jehovist ; ' " that is, that they were inserted by the compiler 
 of the book of Joshua, as late as the last years of Hezekiah, from the documents 
 termed the " Law Book." While differing from Knobel in details, this is sub- 
 stantially the view adopted by the leading advocates of the theory of interpolation. 
 
 Let us see to what this rationalising amounts, and whether it has sufficient ot 
 " sweet reasonableness " to make it rational. First, let it be i-emembered that 
 each of the three sets of documents .are imaginary. The " Elohistic ground text" 
 is nothing else. The "Law Book," by a very free application of the phrase 
 " Sepher llaifi/ashar," here rendered "the book of Jasher," or of " the upright," 
 is also imaginatively identified with a hypothetical book containing laws, historical 
 reports, and poems. Thus, in this second case, fancy has " a wheel within a 
 wheel." The "War Book " also succeeds in getting a kind of Scripture name, 
 though little more can be said in its behalf. This " book of the wars of Jehovah,'' 
 we are told, "contained a great number of warlike narratives — more, in fact, 
 than all the others together, .... and appears to have originated in the southern 
 country, . ... as it agrees very neiirhj in nnitter and stt/le with the ijmund-ti'.vt. 
 .... The author, from his interest in religious legislation, was probably a 
 Levitc, .... and wrote in the time of Jehoshaphat." Then we find this book, 
 80 coMifortalily imagined and so fully described, just as easily identified witli the 
 records mentioned in Numbers xxi. 14. What is even more remarkable, certain 
 2U4 
 
CHAP. X. HOMiLETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 passages in the book of Joshua, after having been imagined oif into the separate- 
 ness of belonging to a " War Book," are just as jauntily distinguished from the 
 Elohistic documents, notwithstanding that the said War Book " agrees very 
 nearly in matter and style w^ith the ground-text." Thus the case comes to this : 
 the ground-text in Joshua agrees very nearly in matter and style with itself; but 
 so far from this being an argument in the direction of unity of authorship, a new 
 set of documents is imagined out of a difference which is acknowledged to be 
 hardly a difference ; and then an author called a " Jehovist," a country for him 
 in which to form his style, and a suitable time in which he can write, are created 
 with equal facility. 
 
 With very much respect for the learning and labour which have been expended 
 in support of this theory, and in no way depreciating many valuable collateral 
 results which the researches of those who have upheld it have produced, the 
 theory itself is manifestly too vapid to convince many persons besides its authors. 
 To most people, the statement of it will probably be a sufficient refutation. As 
 has been remarked by Dr. Bliss, the English translator of Fay's Commentary, 
 in the Lange Series: "The faucifulness and subjectivity of such elaborate and 
 minute specifications, and the tenuity of many of the reasons assigned, provoke 
 laughter rather than argumentative confutation. That one should gravely split a 
 verse into numerous passages, so as to refer the various fragments to their 
 respective authors, and should be obliged to do it to save his theory, is, to most 
 minds, slaughtering the theory at its birth. Our curiosity is naturally raised by 
 such attempts to imagine what the next speculator in Biblical criticism will pro- 
 pose for our wonderment ; nay, we inquire what even the same mind, after 
 having dropped for a time and forgotten the particulars of his previous fabri- 
 cation, would invent, if he were to take up the whole subject anew." 
 
 Taking, then, the unity of the authorship of the book of Joshua as in no 
 measure disproved or even shaken by this giddy theory, the date at which the 
 book was written has an important bearing on the question of the interpolation 
 of this passage from the book Jasher. Is the passage an interpolation made 
 several centuries after the book was written, or is it merely a quotation made by 
 the author himself ? Not condescending to notice the sublime claim of Scripture 
 to inspiration, Fay has adopted so much of Knobel's theory as to enable him to 
 proceed as follows (the italics being his own) : '' Acconlim/ to the view of the autlwr 
 of 13 h — 15, Jehovah has performed an objective astronomical miracle, of which 
 the poet from whom the quotation is made, had no thought, and of which ue, 
 follou'iiuj ]iiin {the poet), have no thoughtJ" This sentiment has been very recently 
 repeated by the author of the Notes on Joshua in the Speaker's Commentary, 
 who says, in loco: " We claim liberty to think with the poet who wrote in the 
 book of Jasher the ode, of which a few words have come down to us, who did 
 not dream of a literal standing still of the heavenly bodies, and to side with 
 him rather than with the later writer who quotes him." 
 
 This argument of Fay's assumes that the author of the book of Joshua did 
 not himself insert the quotation from the book Jasher. It further assumes that 
 the person who inserted these verses in the text did not live sufficiently near to 
 the time of the battle of Beth-boron to enable him to see, even so well as Fay 
 sees in the nineteenth century, that the poetry had no historical basis of truth, 
 but was merely poetry, and that of the most mythical kind, its air of fact to the 
 contrary notwithstanding. In a word, for Fay's argument to be worth anything 
 whatever, even outside the doctrine of inspiration, the Jehovist who inserted the 
 verses must have lived at least two or three centuries after the battle, when 
 all trustworthy traditions and accounts had so far faded into obscurity, that no 
 one could contradict or correct his revised edition of " the Elohistic records." 
 Looking at the tenacity with which the Jews preserved the accounts of their 
 history, and at the exceedingly important character of this history, lying as it 
 did at the foundation of both the uational existence and the national theology, 
 
 205 
 
IIOMILETIC COMMENTAIiY: JOSHUA. thap. x. 
 
 it is almost incredible to suppose that even the seven centuries which intervened 
 before the death of Hezekiah would have been sufficient to so completely blot 
 out the accounts of such a battle as to allow, by the misinterpretation of an 
 ancient poet's words, of the foisting into the sacred record of the most gigantic 
 of all Old Testament miracles, when it was a miracle that never happened. 
 
 How then stands this other important question, touching the date of the book ? 
 Has Fay even a single century in which the battle could be so forgotten as to 
 allow this account of a miracle, which it is said never took place, to have been 
 written down by the author of the book of Joshua ? Nothing has been advanced 
 sufficient to prove it even probable that the book of Joshua had more than one 
 author : did that one author of the book of Joshua live so far away from the time 
 of the battle as to render it possible for him, irrespective of inspiration, to make 
 so enormous an error ? Till something substantial be advanced against his 
 arguments, Keil must be held to have demonstrated that the book of Joshua was 
 certainly written before the time of David, and probably by some member of the 
 host which crossed the Jordan, the writer having seen at least some of the 
 important events which he narrated (cf. chap. v. 1). It is impossible even to 
 summarise these arguments here ; those who are interested in the question should 
 read them in full, and will probably find it no easy matter to answer them. 
 (Cf. Keil's "Introduction," pp. 80—47.) 
 
 Taking it for granted, then, that the book of Joshua was written certainly as 
 early as the days of Saul, and probably by one of the Israelites who had himself 
 crossed the Jordan with Joshua, this interpolation theory is absolutely untenable. 
 No writer in the time of Joshua, or even of the Judges, would have dared to 
 foist into a history, of which the meanest Jew of the time would be sternly 
 jealous, a story, poetical or otherwise, which gave serious impressions of a victory 
 won mainly by means of an amazing miracle which everybody knew never took 
 place. Thus, apart from what some still feel to be the very important con- 
 siderations arising from the doctrine of Divine inspiration, this passage cannot 
 reasonably be held to have been inserted by a more recent compiler ot the book. 
 
 The only remaining view opposing the actual miracle, to which any weight 
 seems to be attached by critics of the present time, is 
 
 The theory which regards the passage as merely a poetical quotation made 
 by the author of the book of Joshua. This view has recently found a hearty 
 advocate in Hamuel Cox, the editor of the "Expositor," who holds that the entire 
 passage (verses 12 — 15) is a poetical quotation, and who pronounces Avith an 
 apparently untroubled confidence on the whole question: "No; there is no 
 miracle recorded here." It is asserted by those who regard the entire passage as 
 poetry that we must read it as poetry ; and that in this light there is no more 
 necessity for thinking of an actual prolongation of the day, because a poet has 
 written of the sun standing still, than there is of interpreting the tropes literally 
 when the Hebrew poets write of the hills and the mountains as " skipping," of 
 the waters as " fleeing," of the trees of the field as " clapping their hands," or 
 of the stars in their courses " fighting against Sisera." 
 
 The following remarks may be placed against this entire theory : — 
 
 1. Even if the whole of the verses were admitted to be a poetical quotation, 
 they must still have a foundation in truth, so real as to require the miracle just 
 as much as prosaic history would require it. Given that the book of Joshua Avas 
 written by one living near to the time of these events, and there is still an amount 
 of quietly told fact in the record, of which, with ever so liberal a margin for 
 the figurative language of poetry, no account whatever is given. Unless we 
 irreverently impugn the truth of the history, several things will still be left as a 
 residuum in tlie crucible, which this process of poetical evaporation does not in 
 any Avay touch ; what is more, this residuum of insoluble fact is so important, 
 that it will require as much miracle to account for its presence as would be 
 required if the whole record were prosaic history. Given that the account as it 
 20G 
 
CHAP. X HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 stands was written, say within two or three centuries of the event, and it will 
 still have to be felt that Joshua offered a prayer for something (verses 12, 14) ; 
 that Joshua offered this prayer in the presence of the army ; that the words, " he 
 said in the sight of all Israel," shew that many of the people knew of the prayer 
 at the time when it was ofl'ered ; that Joshua's prayer was answered by God as 
 the army might have desired ; and that the Israelites had never known a day 
 which had so witnessed to the power of prayer. These are so many facts for 
 which the theory of poetical hyperbole in no way accounts. It does not even 
 begin to depreciate their historical value. Indeed, this poetical theory has alto- 
 gether overlooked the fact that, to the author of the hook of Joshua, the most 
 conspicuous feature of the day uas, not the \conderful miracle, hut the viiracle as a 
 wonderful ansiver to jmii/er. Certifying us, unconsciously to himself, of the depth 
 of his pious perception, and thus giving us an incidental guarantee of godliness 
 and truth, the author finds the wonder of the day even more in the graciousness 
 of God than in the power of God. Never before in the history of Israel, not 
 even at the Red Sea, had there been such a day for answering prayer as this day. 
 The important fourteenth verse is in no way affected by the plea about hyperbole. 
 
 2. The claim to discount the historical value of the passage on the ground of 
 figurative language is in itself exceedingly weak. As has been noticed above, 
 the passage has been compared to the figures used by other Hebrew poets ; and 
 then it has been argued that as figures elsewhere are merely figurative, this is 
 only figurative language, — which is simply upetitio princiini. The difficulty, more- 
 over, still remains, that in reading the phrases, " He bowed the heavens and 
 came down," " the mountains skipped," " the stars in their courses fought against 
 Sisera," etc., the reader never thinks of interpreting literally, while here, till he 
 has calculated the difficulty of the miracle, it docs not so much as occur to him 
 to explain figuratively. With far too much candour to serve his argument, Mr. 
 Cox says successively, after his somewhat thread])are instances of comparison : 
 ♦• We are in no danger of insisting, or of hearing sceptical men of science insist, 
 that these figures must be taken in a hteral sense ;" " We do not even pause to 
 ask in what sense we are to understand David's words " (Ps. xviii. 9, 16) ; 
 " No such miracle (Judges v. 20) has ever been imagined." Exactly so. But a 
 miracle has been almost universally imagined in this matter at Beth-horon. The 
 conclusion is unavoidable : the cases are not parallel. 
 
 3. It is very unlikely that all four of these verses are quotation. They may be 
 all poetical, although critics are not agreed on this ; it would not follow, if all 
 were poetical, that they were necessarily from the book Jasher. The great 
 difficulty in believing that the whole of the verses are from the book Jasher is 
 that the formula of citation stands right in the middle of the supposed quotation. 
 The author of the book of Joshua is thus made to awkwardly break off in the 
 midst of a short extract to tell us from whence the extract was obtained. This 
 is done in no other instance of a similar kind throughout the Scriptures. In 
 2 Sam. i, 17 — 27, containing the only other extract from the book Jasher, tho 
 order stands thus : a poetical stanza by David, then the formula of citation, and 
 finally the song itself. May not this be the true order of these four verses 
 in Joshua ? If so, it would stand as follows : {n) the rhythmical introduction by 
 the author of the book of Joshua, telling us of the prayer ofi'ered ; [b) Joshua's 
 apostrophe to the sun, which might naturally, as an apostrophe, have been spoken 
 in a poetic form, but if not so spoken, might have been so rendered by the author 
 of our book, who cannot be held bound to have given the ipsissima verha of 
 Joshua ; (c) the formula of citation ; [d) the poetical {or prose) quotation from the 
 book Jasher, including verse 15, which the historian repeats exactly at verse 43. 
 It is generally supposed that the quotation from the book Jasher is that which is 
 given hefore the formula of citation, and that the historian's comment follows ; but 
 this makes the difiiculty of accounting for the fifteenth verse, and its position, 
 almost insuperable. In view of this, the order as given above has been suggested, 
 
 207 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. chap. x. 
 
 although this in no way affects the conclusion that the theory which regards 
 all of the four verses as from the book of Jasher cannot be maintained. One 
 thing seems pretty clear: that the very jubilant tone in which scientific sceptics 
 have been bidden to hold their peace about this " enormous and exorbitant 
 miracle," on the ground that the Bible records no such miracle, is somewhat 
 misplaced, and is altogether unworthy of the excellent writer who has long 
 rendered such valuable service in Scripture exposition. Had he considered the 
 matter with his usual care, he would probably have found reason to suspect 
 that several of the German writers had fallen back on a theory of interpolation 
 60 late as the days of Hezekiah, because the theory of entire poetry, inserted by 
 any one living near to the time of Joshua, was altogether too weak to be seriously 
 argued. Probably it is, on the whole, the least satisfastory explanation of the 
 passage which has ever been offered. 
 
 It only remains to take into consideration, as briefly as possible, 
 The theory of an actual prolongation of the day by the miraculous interpo- 
 sition of Jehovah. Did the miracle of an extension of the day actually take 
 place ? These verses seem to say so. This is the first impression we all have on 
 reading them. If the daylight were not miraculously prolonged, there is much 
 in the passage which is utterly inexplicable. Keil's view — that the prayer was for 
 a satisfactory termination of the battle before sunset, and that instead of the day 
 being lengthened the victory was hastened — is not at all in accordance ^^^th the 
 natural impressions arising from the narrative. Besides this, it makes the four- 
 teenth verse not only meaningless, but false. If the only answer to prayer was an 
 expediting of the battle, then there had been days of answering prayer obviously 
 greater than this day. Who would hesitate to call greater the day of Abraham's 
 prayer for Sodom, or that of Moses' prayer at Pi-hahiroth ? The fourteenth 
 verse plainly alludes not only to a marvellous, but also to a manifest answer to 
 prayer. If Joshua prayed after the storm began to smite the Canaanites, and this 
 is the order of the narrative, there was too little of manifest answer to prayer to 
 account for the fourteenth verse. 
 
 The reality of the miracle is further thrown into prominence by a feature which 
 seems to have escaped notice. Comparing these four verses with the immediately 
 preceding miracle, recorded in the eleventh verse, we are driven to ask. If the day 
 were not miraculously prolonged, how is it that the incident of verses 12 — 15 has 
 so taken precedence of the incident of verse 11 ? There was a miracle also in 
 the hailstorm ; it was miraculously timed, and miraculously made to follow and 
 smite down Canaanites, while it did no harm to the immediately pursuing Israelites. 
 If the day were not prolonged, how is it that some lesser miracle, if any, has so 
 utterly absorbed attention from what would then be this greater miracle of the 
 hailstorm ? The interest gathers round, not this marvellously guided hail, but 
 about what was so wonderful that the lesser wonder of the hail was lost in some 
 greater wonder. What could that greater theme for praise have been, if it were 
 not this miraculously extended day ? 
 
 Scripture elsewhere seems to give some testimony to this miraculous extension 
 of the day. Isaiah xviii. 21 may or may not refer to the lengthening of the day. 
 The reference may be to David's victory at Gibeon (2 Sum. v. 25 ; 1 Chron. xiv. 
 IG) ; or it may be to this triumph through Joshua. But if the reference were 
 certainly to the victory won by Joshua, the allusion to the rising up of Jehovah in 
 wrath might bo accounted for by the storm of hailstones. This passage therefore, 
 while it harmonises well with the greater miracle, proces nothing. Very different 
 is the force of the allusion in Ilab. iii. 11. Notwithstanding Keil's criticism, that 
 the historical reference is " disproved by the grammatically incorrect and really 
 trivial arguments " advanced in support of it — an opinion since substantially 
 adopted by Fay, Thornley Smith, and others — it is by no means proved that 
 Habakkuk does not celebrate this wonderful work of Jehovah. The words used 
 by Habakkuk are, " Shcmcsh y reach' 'umail z'vuldh." Keil says of them : " The 
 208 
 
CHAP. X. ITOMILETIG COMMENT A flY: JOSHUA. 
 
 literal meaning is, ' Sun and moon have entered into tlieir habitation.' " He adds, 
 by way of comment, " and hence the expression denotes not even their actual 
 setting, but a darkening of the sun and moon, resembhng their setting." But 
 Habakkuk says nothing whatever of this "darkening; " that is simply the judg- 
 ment of Keil. Accepting his translation, but not his comment, the idea of a 
 prolongation of the day is rather established tlian overthrown. Gesenius renders 
 " z'rv.}," " habitation," " residence." The Jews, so far as they defined the matter at 
 all, believed in the old phenomenal view, afterwards systematised by Ptolemy, 
 that the sun travelled round the earth. Quite in accordance with the bold hyper- 
 bole of Hebrew poetry, Habakkuk vigorously describes both sun and moon as 
 having entered into temporary residence ; i.e. , they tabernacled in the heavens ; 
 they took up their abode, or habitation, in the firmament. Contrary to their 
 supposed continual motion round the earth, they entered into habitation till the 
 victory was won. Thus Keil's translation simply emphasises and beautifies the 
 p oetry, and gives no room whatever for the notion that Habakkuk alludes to some 
 darkening of the sun resembling an eclipse. Apart from the translation, the 
 nature and order of the passage in Habakkuk strongly tend to the assurance that 
 he alludes to the phenomenon at Beth-horon. The verses from 3 to 10 graphically 
 depict the wonders at Sinai, at the Red Sea, in the wilderness, and at the passage 
 of the Jordan ; the verses 11, 12, 13, depict in natural order, as a continuance of 
 the record, the overthrow of the Canaanites under Joshua. The very allusion to 
 the sun and moon in such a connection would be strong enough to establish the 
 reference to the battle of Beth-horon, even if the language of Habakkuk were fai 
 less clear. 
 
 In addition to the passage in Habakkuk, it should not be forgotten that direct 
 reference is made to this miracle, as an historical event, in the Apocrypha. Thus 
 we read in Ecclus. xlvi. 4, of Joshua, " Did not the sun go back by his means ? 
 and was not one day as long as two ? " Homer, Ovid, and other classical writers 
 of antiquity, unless credit is to be given to them for a larger amount of imagina- 
 tion, not to say wilder fancy, than seems necessary or fair, must be held to have 
 had some acquaintance, in a traditional form, with the event recorded in Joshua. 
 Part of Dr. Kitto's reference may be quoted. After speaking of a Chinese tradi- 
 tion, he remarks : " Herodotus also says that he learned from the Egyptian 
 priests, that within the period of 341 generations the sun had four times deviated 
 from his common course, setting twice where he usually rises, and rising twice 
 where he usually sets. It is useless to expect minute accuracy in these old tradi- 
 tions ; but to what else can they refer than to some derangement in the apparent 
 course of the sun, that is, in the actual motion of the earth ? The story of 
 Phaeton, and some other classical fables, seems to have reference to the same 
 event. In the poets, also, there are allusions of a similar character, which would 
 probably never have been imagined but from some general tradition that such a 
 circumstance had at one time occurred. In Homer there are not less than three 
 passages to this purport. In one Agamemnon prays : — 
 
 " Ahiiiglity Father ! clorious above all ! 
 Cloud-cfirt, who dwell'st in heaven, Thy throne sublhne ! 
 Let not the sun go down, and night approach, 
 Till Priam's roof fall flat into the flames,"' etc. 
 
 Again, Jupiter having promised the Trojans that they should prevail until the sun 
 went down, Juno, who was favourable to their adversaries, made the sun go down 
 before its time : — 
 
 " Majestic Juno sent the sua, 
 Unwearied minister of light, although 
 Eeluctant, down into the ocean stream." 
 
 And, finally, Minerva retarded the rising of the sun, in order to prolong that great 
 night in which Ulysses slew the suitors, and discovered himself to Penelope : — 
 
 s 209 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. chap. x. 
 
 " ]\IincrYa checked 
 Night's almost finished course, and held, meantime, 
 The golden dawn close pris'ner in the deep ; 
 Forbidding her to lead her coursers forth, 
 Lampas and Phaethon, that furnish light 
 For all mankind.' " [Illnst. Fam. Bib., in loc.'] 
 
 If references like these do not of themselves suggest a common tradition from 
 which they must have originated, we who are familiar with the history in the 
 book of Joshua can hardly avoid feeling that they are contributive towards 
 establishing as a fact that extension of the day which the history seems to 
 record. 
 
 Not nearly sufficient streps has been laid on the object for which the miracle 
 was apparently wrought. Most writers on the subject have hastily concluded 
 that the onln ol)ject for this phenomenal staying of the sun and moon was to give 
 Joshua time for a completer victory. That was part of the Divine purpose, no 
 doubt ; but did that embrace all ? Did it make up even half of that which 
 Jehovah had in view ? Was not the main purpose of the miracle to dishonour 
 the sun and moon as objects of the idolatrous worship of the Canaanites ? (Cf. 
 the closing remarks in the following outhne on " The Victory of Faith.") It is 
 only on some such ground as this that any reason whatever can be found for 
 Joshua's command concerning the moon. It was certainly not essential that the 
 moon should stay above the horizon for the purpose of giving light. The ordinary 
 light of the sun would be sufficient without that, and would receive no perceptible 
 addition by having the moon for an auxiliary. But if the " sun-god " Baal was 
 to be degraded by being shewn to be subservient to the command of Joshua, it 
 naturally followed that the " moon-goddess " Ashtoreth should be similarly 
 degraded also. 
 
 We therefore conclude that the teaching of the Scripture is that the day was 
 actually prolonged, and that it was prolonged in response to the prayer of Joshua, 
 offered in an outburst of strong and simple trust, in the heat and emergency of 
 the battle. 
 
 The question yet remains. In what manner was the miracle performed ? With 
 this feature of the case we confess we have little concern. The inquiry may be 
 both natural and interesting, but it is not important. The day may have been 
 extended by means of refraction, as was long since suggested by Grotius. In 
 view of the Divine principle of economising power, this method of performing the 
 miracle seems the most reasonable and probable. But if we grant omnipotence, 
 and if our faith in that be real, and not the mere article of a creed, the process of 
 staying the rotation of the earth, and of preventing all the harmful consequences 
 which would otherwise naturally ensue, would be as easi/ to God as (nn/thiiuj else. 
 Omnipotence, if it be that at all, can know no etlbi't. Finally, for those who are 
 interested by this part of the question, May not the direction of the earth's axis 
 have been shifted ? The battle proliably took place in the summer, when, even 
 in the middle of the natural night, Gibeon, as situated at nearly 32'^ north latitude, 
 would not be depressed very far below the horizon. If the north pole were 
 gradually shifted towards the sun, and made to move slightly in a circle of elevation 
 and depression, a very small displacement would keep Gibeon above the horizon 
 all night, and in the morning, at the time for ordinary sunrise at Gibeon, the 
 earth would have assumed its usual position of 23|° inclination in the ecliptic. 
 This, of course, would have the effect of dropping one night at Gibeon altogether, 
 and of allowing the ordinary rotation of the earth to go on as usual, the only 
 difference being the gradual shifting and return of the inclination of the earth's 
 axis. As to any inlluence which this movement might have upon the waters ol 
 the earth, that part of the question is answered by omnipotence. The suggestion 
 is simjjly made in view of the feeling which must impress all careful students of 
 Scrii)ture, that God's way in the working of miracles is to economise force rather 
 210 
 
nOMILBTIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 than to display it ; and that the entire cessation of the earth's revokition would 
 shew an interposition of Divine power which seems, to even believing men, so 
 gigantic as to contradict in some measure that reservation of force usually shewn 
 in the miraculous working of God, as set before us in other parts of the Scriptures. 
 It should not be forgotten that, not simply in this miracle, but in all miracles, 
 the questions of how they are wrouglit, and which of any two requires most 
 power, are utterly beyond our capacity to answer. How was life brought 
 back into the body of dead Lazarus ? How was the bread multiplied in the 
 hands of the disciples ? How was the water changed into wine ? What laws 
 had, for the time, to bo suspended ; what new forces set in motion ? Which of 
 these miracles was most miraculous ? Even if the revolution of the earth on its 
 axis actually ceased in response to Joshua's prayer, which miracle was the greater, 
 the " standing still of the sun and moon," or the feeding of the five thousand by 
 Christ ? Which of us knows ? If we are not prepared to let go our faith in the 
 miracles altogether, we shall do well to guard against the naturally strong tempta- 
 tion which too readily besets most of us, to explain them away, or tone them 
 down, as we become oppressed by what seems to us their unusual magnitude. 
 Unfortunately this, too, is one of the temptations that are continuous ; and when, 
 driven on by sceptical laughter, we have ever so conscientiously explained away 
 the miracles which are " enormous and exorbitant," and have secured as the 
 heritage left to our faith the " lesser miracles," which we deem becoming to the 
 Scriptures ; then others will probably be tempted to take up the case where we 
 have left it, and proceed to demonstrate that the giving of sight to the man born 
 blind, of elasticity to the ligaments of her who was bowed with an infirmity for 
 eighteen years, or the withering up of the barren fig tree, were even greater 
 miracles than this phenomenal staying of the sun and moon. None of us should 
 dare to believe, as the teaching of Scripture, what Scripture does not say ; most 
 of us have need to guard our expositions of Divine truth from the unconscious 
 yet none the less injurious influence of our too easily weakened faith. 
 
 MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Verses 12—15. 
 The Victory of Faith. 
 
 John says, "This is the victory that overcometh the world, even your faith." 
 This triumph at Beth-horon is hardly less owing to faith than was the triumph of 
 the Israelites at Jericho. 
 
 Consider — 
 
 I. The life of faith in the greatness of its emergencies. 1. Believing men by 
 no means escape emen/ejicics. Life is full of them. Every realm of duty discovers 
 them. They confront us when we seek to aid our fellows. Joshua Avas here 
 aiding the Gibeonites. They meet us as we seek to obey the commands of God. 
 So far from being exempt from them as we do the will of God, it is here that 
 they seem most plentiful and most severe. 2. The emergencies of believing men 
 are God-given opportiuiities for faith. The proverb tells us that, " Necessity is 
 the mother of invention." Necessity which is beyond the capacity of human wit 
 or power to meet is not seldom the mother of faith. 3. God often times and 
 measures the necessities of His people so as to tempt their faith. Joshua was fast 
 gaining the victory. The hail was giving witness of Divine help. Yet the light 
 was threatening too speedy a departure to allow of complete victory. Unless 
 Heaven helped more fully, many would escape, and to a great extent the battle 
 would have to be fought over again. Why might not Jehovah, already so mani- 
 festly making the battle His own, help yet more ? Thus the very crisis entices 
 trust : " Then spake Joshua to the Lord," etc. II. The life of faith in the 
 boldness of its requests. 1. Faith, like love, cannot wait for precedents. No 
 
 211 
 
nn^TTLETIC COMMENT A r.Y: JOSHVA. 
 
 prayer like this had ever been offered before. The chronicles of prayer shewed 
 nothing approaching this. As the woman who wept on Christ's feet, and wiped 
 away the tears with her hair, shews us love which never thought of stajang to 
 ask if that kind of thing had ever been done before ; so Joshua shews us a faith 
 which forgets all but God's power and love, and Israel's need. Faith is not 
 empirical ; it acts from given principles which have been accepted by the heart, 
 rather than from the proofs which are written in history. He who only suffers 
 his faith to imitate that of some one else will win little renown among spiritually 
 minded men, and obtain little blessing from God. Faith is essentiall}^ spontaneous, 
 and independent of men, and is always weak when imitative. 2. Faith cannot 
 he limited hy ilijficulties. It begins by granting a might which is omnipotent and 
 a love which is infinite, and then simply speaks as moved by its necessities. 
 III. The life of faith in its prevalence with God. 1. Tlun/ who tmst shall vcver 
 '^ he ro)ifoiin(le(l," vo matter for irJuit tlieij trust. When God promises to answer 
 prayer, He never stipulates beforehand to know the nature of the prayer. This 
 sublime feature runs through the entire Bible. Men inquire about the thing 
 which they are asked to promise ; God simply inquires about the kind of spirit 
 which asks. 2. What some would think the extravatjancies of faith, the Scriptures 
 occasioiKdhj guarantee God's acceptance of, hij f/ivinrj vs instances in kind. Christ 
 certifies that the very mountains should be at the command of faith. If some 
 adequate necessity required the removal of a mountain, and occasion were thus 
 given for a faith that should deal with a reality, and not with an experiment ; 
 then, on the exercise of faith, the Saviour assures us that the mountain should be 
 removed. So this seemingly extravagant request of Joshua's is put before us to 
 shew that with a need that is real, and a heart that asks unquestiouingly, God an- 
 swers without any respect whatever to the magnitude of our petitions. IV. The 
 life of faith in the thoroughness of its victories over error. 1. The idnhitn-s 
 themselves were vtterhj overthrown. 2, Tlie ohjects of their idolatry were placed at 
 the command of the enemies of idolatry. The Canaanites, like the Phccnicians, 
 worshipped Baal and Ashtoreth. This worship was closely connected with the 
 adoration of the heavenly bodies. Baal by some has been identified as the 
 "Sun-god," while Ashtoreth, it is thought, was worshipped as the "Moon- 
 goddess." " There can be no doubt that the general notion symbolised by 
 Ashtoreth is that of productive power, as Baal symbolises that of generative 
 power ; and it would be natural to conclude that as the sun is the great symbol 
 of the latter, and therefore to be identified with Baal, so the moon is the symbol 
 of the former, and must be identified with Ashtoreth. That this goddess was so 
 typified can scarcely be doubted. At any rate it is certain that she was by somo 
 ancient writers identified with the moon." [Smith's Diet.] The commanding of 
 the sun and the moon to stand still thus becomes profoundly significant. Just 
 as the miracles of Moses were directed " against all the gods of Egj-pt," so does 
 this miracle in answer to the prayer of Joshua demean the gods of the Canaanites 
 before the eyes of all concerned. The sun and moon, which had so long been 
 worshipped, were shewn to be at the command of Joshua ; the deities which the 
 idolaters had adored were bidden by a man to stay, and to give their light while 
 the idolaters were slain. This, it may be remarked, alfords, in the light of the 
 plagues of Egypt, presumptive evidence of the reality of the miracle itself, and 
 shows, what for the purposes of the battle is somewhat obscure, why the moon 
 was addressed as well as the sun. As objects of worship, these symbols of idolatry 
 should be degraded in the sight of both the Canaanites and the Israelites (cf. 
 Deut. iv. 19). So thorough is the victory of truth ; so complete is the triumph 
 of the man who, in unquestioning faith, fights for the God of truth. 
 
 212 
 
TIOMILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VERSES. 
 
 Essential, Accompaniments of Faith. 
 
 I. He only believes well who works 
 well. Joshua bad hastened up against 
 this confederacy ol'Canaanites as though 
 the entire burden of the battle lay on 
 the men who were to fight it. It is the 
 man who labours thus dihgently that 
 beheves thus fully. 
 
 II. He alone can rightly believe in 
 God's word, who is very jealous of his 
 own word. Joshua had kept faith most 
 conscientiously with the Gibeonites. 
 In all that in which he had excited their 
 hopes he met them with strict integrity. 
 The hope of a trusting heart was a sacred 
 thing to him. This is the man who, 
 remembering that God had said, " I 
 will not fail thee," dared to believe that 
 every hope which such words had en- 
 couraged would be sacredly honoured 
 by God, A lack of integrity in our 
 hedrts towards men will assuredly work 
 within us a proportionately weak trust 
 in God. It is he who honours every 
 hope which he has caused in the bosoms 
 of others, who is best prepared to cry 
 for himself, " Stablish Thy word unto 
 Thy servant, upon which Thou hast 
 caused him to hope." 
 
 III. He best believes in Divine help 
 for the penitent, who himself has com- 
 passion for the penitent. The peni- 
 tence of the Gibeonites seems to have 
 been very poor. Whatever may have 
 been its motives, and however low its 
 manifestation, Joshua seems really to 
 have been glad to spare these men who 
 pleaded for mercy, even though tliey 
 '•^me with lies upon their lips. It was 
 easy for such a man to feel, " Can I be 
 more merciful than God ? If I llnd 
 pleasure in hastening to save them from 
 their foes, must not God be even more 
 interested in their deliverance ? " 
 
 IV. He most fully believes in the 
 overthrow of error, who has long 
 learned to hate error. Joshua had 
 long shewn far more than a mere love 
 for the cause of the Israelites. He had 
 shewn a hatred of unbelief as seen in 
 tbo ton spies, and of sin as manifested 
 
 in Achan. We seldom hear mm speak 
 without feeling how deep is his love for 
 the truth. He who thus hates evil him- 
 self has little difficulty in believing that 
 God hates it more, and that He will 
 spare no work to overthrow it. 
 
 V. He who would believe that no- 
 thing is too hard for the Lord must 
 walk very much with the Lord. Joshua 
 had not only proved the might of the 
 Divine arm, but the love of the Divine 
 heart. He walked in sympathy with 
 God, and in joy in God. This is the 
 man who dared to say, " Sun, stand 
 thou still upon Gibeon ; and thou, Moon, 
 in the valley of Ajalon." 
 
 The Poetical Celebration of the 
 Mighty W^orks of the Lord. 
 
 God's mighty works should be per- 
 petuated in song. They should be 
 chronicled, not only in language which 
 can inform the mind, but in words 
 adapted to move the heart. They 
 should be written down in the natural 
 language of joy and praise. Poetry is 
 the smile of the fair face of literature, 
 while logic, in its sterner procedure and 
 heavier forms, more nearly resembles 
 the frown. God's gladdening works of 
 deliverance are not so much things to 
 be argued about, as mercies to be sung. 
 
 *' A Believing Word of Joshua. 
 
 1. Spoken under what circumstances? 
 2. How intended ? 3. How answered '? 
 
 The Great Day at Gibeon. 
 
 It was great : 1. Through the mighty 
 strife of the combatants. 2. Through 
 tlie courageous faith of the general. 3. 
 Tiirough the victory which God gave." 
 — \_l''aij : Lamje's C'o/u.] 
 
 "It is a good care how we may not 
 anger God ; it is a vain study how we 
 may fly from His judgments when we 
 have angered Him. 
 
 " God's glory was that which Joshua 
 aimed at : he knew that all the wi r.d 
 must needs be witnesses of that which 
 the eye of the world stood still to see." 
 —[LliJ.lhdl.-] 
 
 213 
 
irOMILETIC C()3IMENTA11Y : JOSHUA. 
 
 MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Verses 16—28. 
 
 After the Victory. 
 
 I. The workers of iniquity vainly attempting to hide themselves. "The 
 five kings fled, and hid themselves in a cave at Makkedah." Fancy the thoughts 
 which must have filled their minds during the time in which they lay 
 nndiscovered. These were the first moments of quiet which they had known 
 for at least two or three days. With what ahsolute amazement must they 
 have surveyed the dreadful events of the few preceding hours ! The change 
 was positively awful both in its completeness and in its suddenness. It 
 must have seemed like a dream. Only a few hours before, Adoni-zedec had 
 sent out his summons for help. Hoham, and Piram, and Japhia, and Debir, 
 had at once mustered their forces, and marched to join the king of Jerusalem, 
 That done, they had proceeded, the evening before, to invest Gibeon. The day 
 was too far advanced to commence operations ; so they would wait till the morrow. 
 With the morning light, the army of Joshua burst upon them. The attack was 
 so sudden and so terrible, that panic and slaughter and flight took the place of 
 battle. Then came the awful and destroying storm — huge hailstones which 
 seemed hurled from the hand of an angry God, touching no Israelite, and sparing 
 no Canaanite. Verily Jehovah must be fighting against them. At that stage 
 their one hope must have been in the darkness. Would not the sun and moon, 
 whom they had so often worshipped, hide their light, and thus facilitate the escape 
 of their votaries ? Alas ! no. The hours passed on, but both sun and moon stood 
 still in the heavens, as though at once to witness and aid in their destruction. 
 How these thoughts, and many similar, must have chased through the minds of 
 the five kings as they gained the welcome silence of the cave near Makkedah ! 
 And then, while they indulged in the hope that they had personally escaped, sud- 
 denly voices were heard at tbe cave's mouth ; some of their enemies appeared, and 
 gazed on their five crouching forms ; then a messenger entered, and the Israelites 
 withdrew, rolling, however, great stones upon the cave's mouth, and setting a 
 guard outside. Thus once more the kings were left to darkness and silence, and 
 this time to reflect sadly on the certainty of coming death. 1. They hide vainly, u-ho 
 seek to hidefroinGod. (Cf. Gen.iii. 8 ; Job xxvi. 6 ; Ps. cxxxix.7 — 10 ; Jer. xxih. 24.) 
 2. They hide too late, who hide after God's hand is stretched forth ayaivst them. (Cf. 
 Amos ix, 1 — 3.) 3. Only they hide ivell, icho hide in God. The Gibeouites had 
 done this, and though they had done it singly, and thus brought upon them a 
 confederate army, they were perfectly safe. The five kings had tried to hide_/Vo»j 
 God, and they had failed utterly. Happy is ho who can seek refuge in the Rock 
 of Ages, and there say in the joy of conscious safety, " Thou art my hiding-place." 
 (Cf. Ps. xvii. 8; xxvii. 5.) II. The servants of the Lord concerning themselves 
 with tokens of Divine favour rather than with their prostrate foes (ver. 19). 
 These (Jod-aided Israelites are calm in the very heat of a most exciting victory, 
 Joshua thinks, not of vengeance, but of fulfilling to the utmost the commandment 
 of the Lord. More than this, Joshua looks upon the captured kings not uioroly as 
 enemies to be killed, but as witnesses of God's further help in triumphing over 
 enemies yet left. He sees in the captive kings one more token that God will give 
 him the victory over enemies yet unsulnlued : " The Lord your (rod hath delivered 
 them into your hand." III. The victories of the Lord as bringing to His people, 
 sooner or later, perfect peace from their enemies. " None moved his tongue 
 against any of the cliildren of Israel " (ver. 21). When the Lord fought for His 
 people in Egypt, it was with the same result (Exod. xi. 7). How complete will bo 
 the peace of God's children in their final triumph ! Then, indeed, " the beloved of 
 the Lord shall dwell in safety." IV. Men, once prominent in sin, suffering in 
 conspicuous shame and peculiar punishment (verses 22—27). 1. The jive kiuys 
 utrc not siij/'rred to die as their jwnple died. No one of them fell in tbe battle. The 
 hail, also, spared them each. They who lead in iniquity must expect to be foremost 
 2U 
 
IIOMILETIC C0M3IENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 in punishment. 2. The Jive kings icere made in their degradation the sign of the 
 triumphs yet to come (verses 24, 25). This was not mere cruelty. Although a 
 customary usage of the time, it was also something more. It was significant of 
 other victories, and was meant to encourage the Israelites : " Thus shall the Lord 
 do," etc. V. The wrath of godly men displaying itself, not in vindictive 
 passion and heedless malice, but calmly, and in view of law and justice. 
 (Compare verses 26, 27 ; Deut. xxi. 22, 23.) Nothing is more imposing in this 
 terrible mission entrusted to the Israelites, than the solemn and judicial spirit iii. 
 which it is continually executed. In the very heat and excitement of battle the 
 leaders of Israel steadily maintain the character of God's servants, and act with 
 the calm demeanour of judges. So far is the spirit of Joshua from offering any 
 excuse for the vindictive zeal which has sometimes been shewn by Christians, that 
 it intensely condemns it. Joshua never forgets that judgment belongs unto the 
 Lord, and that he is merely the Lord's servant, charged with a terrible and un- 
 usual mission. 
 
 OUTLINES AND C03I3IENTS ON THE VERSES. 
 
 Verses 16 — ^18. The Workers of 
 Iniquity hiding themselves. 
 
 I. Like the five kings, wicked men, 
 in times of danger, hide themselves. 
 
 1. Tlie wicked often hide themselves by 
 seclusion. They come not to the light, 
 lest their deeds be reproved. 2. The 
 tricked seek to hide themselves by deceit. 
 Although appearing among men, they 
 strive to conceal themselves from men. 
 3. The tricked so^netimes endeavour to 
 hide themselves by false j't'o/essions of 
 religion. The sacred name of Christ is 
 used as a mask. Even behind the 
 cross, and the form of the agonised 
 Saviour dying thereon, do the wicked 
 try to hide, sinning without remorse so 
 long as they seem to be sinning with- 
 out danger. 4. The wicked, wiio hare 
 j)ractised hiding all their lives, irill still 
 feel the need of Ividing when God begins 
 to move towards them in judgment. They 
 will feel the need of hiding more than 
 ever then. " The kings of the earth 
 . . . hid themselves in the dens and 
 in the rocks of the mountains. And 
 fiaid to the mountains and rocks, Fall 
 on us, and hide us from the face of Ilim 
 that sittcth on the throne, and from the 
 wrath of the Lamb ; for the great day 
 of His wrath is come ; and who shall 
 be able to stand ? " II. Like the five 
 kings, they who seek to hide from 
 God will utterly fail. (Cf. preceding 
 outline.) 1. Theg will hide in vain, who 
 try to hide from God. "There is a re- 
 cent application of electricity, by which, 
 under the influence of its powerful 
 
 light, the body can be so illuminated 
 that the workings beneath the surface 
 of the skin can be distinctly seen. Lift 
 up the hand, and it will become almost 
 translucent, the bones and veins clearly 
 appearing. It is so in some sort with 
 God's introspection of the human heart. 
 His eye, which shines brighter than the 
 sun, searches us and discovers all our 
 weakness and infirmity." \J. G. PiU 
 kington.'\ 2. Tliey hide too late, irho 
 hide after God's hand is stretched out for 
 judgment. 3. They only hide safely and 
 trell, who hide in God. God graciously 
 invites us to hide in Himself (Isa. xxvi. 
 20, 21). Let us respond in the trust 
 of David, who, when hunted by Saul 
 into another cave, cried unto his God : 
 " In the shadow of Thy wings will I 
 make my refuge, until these calamities 
 be overpast." 
 
 Verse 19. First Principles in 
 Christian AVarfare. 
 
 The directions here given by Joshua 
 for this battle with living and personal 
 foes indicate principles which are no 
 less appropriate and important in oui 
 conflicts with evil and sinful habits. 
 We shall do well in the battle of life 
 to remind ourselves of the following 
 things : — 
 
 I. All the victory of the past 
 should be used as an encouragement 
 for the present. " Stay ye not, but 
 pursue after your enemies." Past 
 triumphs are not merely for thanks- 
 giving. The victories of yesterday are 
 
 215 
 
HOMILETIC C03I3IENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 to bo strength for to-day. Sin should 
 be pursued and smitten in the hours of 
 its weakness. Sin should on no account 
 be left to take up its abode within us. 
 We may spare it in its weakness, and 
 presently find it too strong for us. 
 " Use is second nature ; " thus sin 
 which has become a habit is an enemy 
 in a fortified place. Sin may entrench 
 itself behind our holiest passions and 
 noblest services. Pride gets behind 
 Christian work. Love of self conceals 
 and fortifies itself behind what we call 
 love for souls. Victory is to be utilized 
 for new victories. II. All the victory 
 of the past is by the Lord, and should 
 assure us of the Lord's help for the 
 future. As Joshua thought of the help 
 of Jehovah in the hail storm, and in 
 the miracle which extended the day, he 
 could not but say of the enemies which 
 yet remained, " The Lord your God 
 hath delivered them into your hand." 
 We may well argue thus in sight of 
 our spii'itual victories, and in the pre- 
 sence of spiritual enemies which remain 
 unsubdued. 1. Kvcry post triumph 
 over si)i (/ires evidence of Jjivine help. 
 " Without me ye can do nothing." This 
 was true at the beginning of our conflict. 
 2. Every instance of Divine help in 
 the past should assure us of God's will- 
 imjncss to help in the future. God's 
 help yesterday is a prophecy and a 
 promise for to-day. The Lord "changes 
 not." 3. The continuance of Divine 
 help must lead to complete and final 
 victory. Every real triumph of the 
 soldiers of the cross should become to 
 them "an earnest of the future posses- 
 sion." Thus verse 21 indicates, so 
 far as concerns this battle, a victory 
 which was so complete that no one 
 ventured in any way to molest the 
 victors. 
 
 Verse 25. Thk Song of Faith. 
 
 I. An old song. The "new song" 
 iS not till the battles are all ended. 
 This is the theme with which the book 
 opens. The song of faith is a fugue, 
 running off, as througliout this book, 
 now in one direction, and now in 
 another, but continually returning to 
 its theme. (Cf. chapters i. G, U ; viii. 1 ; 
 ' 21G 
 
 X. 8, 25 ; xi. 6 ; xxiii. 5, 6.) The song 
 of faith is not merely the repetition of 
 a single life, but a repetition from one 
 life to another. This assuring utterance 
 was repeated from Abraham (Gen. xv. 
 1) to Isaac (Gen. xxvi. 2 — 4), and 
 Jacob (Gen. xxviii. 13 — 15), and Moses 
 (Exod. ii. 12) ; it was reiterated by 
 Moses to Joshua (Deut. xxxi. G, 23), 
 and by Joshua, again and again, to all 
 Israel. Thus it becomes the established 
 song of the children of faith. It is 
 sung now by David (1 Chrou. xxiii. 13, 
 xxviii. 20), and repeatedly to or by his 
 successors, till the angels repeat it to 
 the trembling women at the empty 
 tomb of the Saviour. It is sounded 
 encouragingly into the ears of the " little 
 flock" by Christ on earth, and, not less, 
 is given to cheer disciples by Christ 
 from heaven (Rev. i. 17, 18). This 
 " Fear not " of the Church of the 0. T. 
 is also the song of the Church of the 
 N. T. It is the national anthem in 
 the kingdom of heaven upon earth, 
 and will only give place to the new 
 song before the throne of God. II. An 
 old song, but one to be ever rendered 
 with new meanings. The trials and 
 triumphs in each singer's life arc to 
 give it a new significance. To Abra- 
 ham its music would be interpreted by 
 visions and gracious words ; to Moses, 
 by mighty miracles ; to Joshua, by 
 wonderful victories ; and so to every 
 child of God, by his own peculiar 
 mercies and triumphs. Thus, though 
 the song is ever the same, it has its 
 individuality of sweetness and harmony 
 to every particular singer. III. An old 
 song, the meaning of which is to be 
 more and more incorporated into our 
 life. 1. It can only lie learned by t/ic 
 hellcrer. It is said of the new song, 
 "No man could learn that song" but 
 those who were "redeemed from the 
 earth." None but the heart of faith 
 can " Fear not, and be of good courage" 
 at all times. Not to fear is to believe. 
 2. It can only he learned yradually, even 
 liy him, ivho does believe. Hence the 
 significance of the repetition of this 
 word throughout the book of Joshua. 
 Every new triumph is to be turned into 
 a little more trust. 3. Jle w/iu best 
 learns it will most, even ivhile yet on, 
 
II03IILETIC C03I3IENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 earth, enter into the peace of heaven. rest." Thus the song of faith is to 
 *' We which have beheved do enter into contribute to a life of faith. 
 
 OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE PARAGRAPH.*— Verses 29—43. 
 
 Verse 30. Of Makkedah and Libnah, and of the remaining cities whose de- 
 struction is recorded in this chapter, it is particularly said that Joshua smote " all 
 the souls that were therein." Joshua did this under the special and emphatic 
 commandment of the Lord. In the overthrow of Jericho, in the hail storm and the 
 mu-aculous extension of the day at Beth-horon, God made this war iiuntifcstlij His 
 own. These solemn records seem to have a special claim to notice, and a peculiar 
 value at the present time. In days when so many are disposed to make the wrath 
 of the Lord unreal, we shall do well to remember that this wrath has a history. It 
 is not merely a doctrine of that which is to come ; it is also recorded as that 
 which has been. When the arguments which go to depreciate the anger of Jehovah 
 have been urged to the utmost, these terrible histories will still remain. If they 
 serve to warn any who are too prone to believe in unlimited mercy, and thus to 
 bring them to Him through whom alone mercy is proclaimed, they will prove, as 
 undoubtedly they will, that they also are a part of the good tidings of the God of 
 love. 
 
 Some men are typical both in sin and punishment. They are ensamples unto 
 them who believe 9uit. Thus, for the second time, we read of these acts of Joshua, 
 " as he did unto the king of Jericho." Great grace causes some men to be known 
 as pillars of the Church ; great infamy in the rejection of grace makes the names 
 of others to become by-words in the way of wickedness. 
 
 Verse 33. It is not enough to help men ; we must help them in the way of 
 righteousness. Compassion and sympathy may be misplaced, and may but lead to 
 ruin. Sin has its patriots and its volunteers, as well as righteousness. How hard 
 is the yoke of Satan, under which even generous service, like this rendered by 
 Horam, leads to death ! how easy is the yoke of Christ, where even a cup of cold 
 water, given in the name and spirit of a disciple, shall in no wise lose its reward ! 
 
 Verses 30, 37. Past, Present, and Future. 
 
 I. The fame of the past has no guarantee against degradation in the present. 
 
 A great history of godly names, even in these early days, already stood connected 
 Avith Hebron. The city itself was famed for its antiquity (Numb. xiii. 22) ; better 
 still, the names of holy men of old were associated with its history. Nearly four 
 hundred and seventy years before, Abraham came and dwelt here, and lifty years 
 after his settlement he purchased of Ephron the llittite the field of Maclipclah. 
 Here Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Kebekah, and Leah, were all buried. Not far 
 from Hebron was Mamre, beneath the famous terebinth of which Abraham had 
 entertained the angels unawares. Near to this very Hebron Abraham had poured 
 forth his holy prayer for Sodom, and long before that he had built in the outskirts 
 of the city an altar to the Lord (Gen. xviii., xiii. 18). Formerly the place was 
 redolent of God ; now it was the seat of an abominable idolatry. This degenera- 
 tion which stands associated with a city, is no less true of individual men. No 
 man can atVord to rely on his past. That which has been oflers but small assur- 
 ance of that which will be. 
 
 • We are now entering on a part of this book in which many passages occur not likely to be 
 chosen as texts for sermons. Some of these, like the remaining vei'ses of this chapter, are brief 
 historical chronicles ; others arc merely geographical records. Verses of this description can 
 hardly be thought suitable for any extended homiletlc treatment, and will be dealt with prin- 
 cipally in brief comments, or only in the •• Crit'cal Notes.". 
 
 217 
 
IIOMILETIC COJnfEXTAnY: JOSHUA. 
 
 II. The degradation of the present is no sufficient reason for despairing of 
 an honourable future. 1. Hebron ivjain became great. It was given as an 
 iuheritauce to one of the godliest of the IsraeUtes (chap. xv. 13), and was made 
 one of the six cities of refuge (chap. xx. 7). Later in the history it became the 
 capital from which David ruled over Judah for seven years and a half (2 Sam. 
 ii. 11). Under the guidance of men like Caleb and David, Hebron would have 
 often resounded with the voice of prayer and praise, instead of echoing to the 
 oi'gies of the old idolatry. 2. Hebron became (jreat and honourable only throiKjh 
 the intervention of God. It is because God is merciful, and loves to interpose His 
 saving arm, that there is hope even for " the dark places of the earth which are full 
 of the habitations of cruelty." It is because of this Divine mercy that no degraded 
 man need despair of himself, and no good man of the most degraded community. 
 
 III. The honourable history of the past should stimulate us in attempting 
 to redeem the present. Right before these Israelites, as thej' pressed upon Hebron 
 in the battle, was the cave of Machpelah, wherein lay the bodies of the fathers and 
 mothers of all the host of Israel. Dean Stanley says, " The cave of Machpelah 
 
 is concealed, beyond all reasonable doubt, by the mosque at Hebron And 
 
 marvellous, too, to think that within the massive enclosure of that mosque lies 
 possibly, not merely the last dust of Abraham and Isaac, but the very body — the 
 mummy — the embalmed bones of Jacob, brought in solemn state from Egypt to 
 this (as it then was) lonely and beautiful spot." \^Sinai and Palestine, pp. 1-19, 
 102.] At the time of this assault on the city, no mosque covered the cave ; but 
 there, close by these Israelites in their strife, was the cave, and in the cave all 
 that was left of the bodies of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. How the very thought 
 of that, doubtless made known to them all, must have nerved their arms for the 
 fight ! In his " Lays of Ancient Rome," Macaulay has made Horatius ask with 
 thrilling patriotism, 
 
 " And how can man die better 
 Than facing fearful odds 
 For the ashes of his fathers 
 And the temples of his gods ? " 
 
 Similarly must these warriors of Israel have been moved against their foes, as they 
 pressed upon them at Hebron. Every man in the army of Joshua might feel that 
 the grave of the fathers of all the host was almost beneath his feet ; and as to the 
 religious inspiration, the place all around was sacred by the prayers of Abraham, 
 the altar of Mamre had stood hard by, and the very God whom Abraham had 
 worshipped there now bade these children of Abraham to "be of good courage, 
 and tear not." While the history of the past is insulHcient, in itself, to keep us, 
 yet should the memories and traditions of what has been greatly honourable make 
 us thu-st to see old glory re-established. To a true heart, " Ichabod " should be 
 nothing less than a trumpet call to earnest prayer and holy strife. 
 
 IV. The victory of to-day gives no certain promise of peace to-morrow. Caleb 
 bad this city of Hebron to take a second time (chap. xv. 14 ; Judges i. 10). No 
 sooner had Joshua withdrawn than the fugitive Canaauites seem to have re-estab- 
 lished themselves in the city. This was the case in other towns taken by the 
 Israelites. Our present victories, however apparently complete, are never more 
 than partial. "Let him that thinkcth he standeth take heed lest befall." All 
 our earthly victories must go with watchfulness. He who would have us to triumph 
 finally, says, " Hold fast that which thou hast ; let no man take thy crown." 
 
 Versos 40 — 43. The Rapid Prowkss of the Obedient. The secret of Joshua's 
 invincible prowess and rapid victories lay in the fact that he was doing the will of 
 God, and that God was with him. So, if wo fight the good fight of faith in full 
 accord with the will of our heavenly Father, we may look for victory no less 
 certainly, and, perhaps, no less rapidly. God Himself says, " I change not." Wo 
 have the same Heart on our side that Joshua had — a heart loving us, and hating our 
 218 
 
CHAP. XI. nOMILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 sins ; we have, no less, the same Arm of power to contend for us. Why should 
 we not go forth to victory with equal confidence ? " Just so far as a Christian is 
 led by the Spirit," said F. W. Robertson, " he is a conqueror. A Christian in full 
 possession of his privileges is a man whose very step ought to have in it all the 
 elasticity of triumph, and whose very look ought to have in it all the brightness 
 of victory." It is because we so often go to our conflicts with doubting hearts 
 and trembling steps, that our victories are so slowly won ; it is because we so often 
 go unled of God, that we have so repeatedly to mourn defeat. God is as potent 
 in the spiritual realm as in the physical ; it is only because we fail to get thoroughly 
 into accord with His will and His aims that we fall short of Joshua's rapid and 
 continuous victories. The more marvellous are our victories for God, the more 
 readily shall we give glory to God (ver. 40). Those who do but little are tempted 
 to call their triumphs their own ; the man of many victories cannot but confess 
 that in all cases the battle has been the Lord's. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE OVERTHROW OF THE CITIES OF THE NORTH, AND GENERAL 
 
 RETROSPECT. 
 
 Critical Notes. — 1. Hazor] In ver. 11, Hazor is described as " the head " of all the kingdoms 
 named in ver.se.s 1 — 3. It was in his capacity of principal monarch of North- West Canaan that 
 Jabiu summoned the other kings. Hazor was burned by Joshua (ver. 13), but was afterwards 
 rebuilt (Judges iv. 2 ; 1 Sam. xii. 9); it was fortified by Solomon (1 Kings ix. 15), and its 
 inhabitants, in the time of Pekah, were carried into captivity by Tiglath-Pileser (2 Kings xv. 29). 
 Jabin]=" tkeioise," " the inteliir/ent." It is uncertain if Judges iv. 2 shews merely a coincidence 
 of names, or whether the recurrence of the word points to the term as a title given to the kings 
 of Hazor. Madon] Only mentioned here and in chap. xii. 19. The site is unknown. Shimron] 
 In chap. xii. 20, called Shimron-Meron ; it was probably situated near the Waters of Merom. It 
 became part of the lot of Zebulon (chap. xix. 15). Achshaph] Not identified. It fell to the lot 
 of Asher (chap. xix. 25). 2. On the north of the mountains] Ileb.^" hi the north on the 
 mountains ;" i.e., on the mountains of Naphtali (cf. chap. xx. 7). The plains south of Chinne- 
 rothj Chinneroth may be used here for the Lake of Gennesareth itself (Numb, xxxiv. 11 ; Josh, 
 xii. 3) ; the Arabah, or desert (not " plains ") on the south, indicates the Ghor, or Jordan valley, 
 immediately below the lake. In the valley] Lit. iu " the Shephelah," or lowlands. " Probably 
 the strip bordering the sea between Akko and Sidon, to which the following Naphoth-Dor on the 
 sea du-ects us (chap. xii. 23)." [Fat/.] The lowlands, south of Cape Carmel, situated on the 
 sea coast, raaj^, however, be intended. 3. liand of Mizpeh] Gesenius traces several places bearing 
 this and the similar name '' Mizpah." Both words signify " a watch-tower," " a lofty place," 
 " an outlook." " The land of Mizpeh (here intended) cannot be any other than the tract of 
 country at the foot of the Jebel-esh-Sheikh Ijetween the Jebel Heisch and Nahr Hiisbeya, through 
 which a broad arm or hne of hills of inconsiderable height runs southwards from the foot of the 
 loftiest part of the Jebel-esh-Sheikh, forming the high laud which shuts in Lake Huleh on the 
 east. This tract is called Jebel Heisch according to Burckhardt (cf. Robinson iii. 344)." [AV;7.] 
 " Descriptive names are always liable to be duplicated ; hence tho Newtous and Moretons, the 
 Sandfords and Uptons, the Fairfieids and Stokes of our own country." [Oi-oscr. ] 4. Horses 
 and chariots very many] The Israelites were not strangers to the use of war chariots. They 
 had seen thcni in Kgypt. They had been pursued Vjy Pluiraoh and his host with this rude kind 
 of cavah-y. Tlie.se were not chariots with scythes. Keil has shewn that these were first intro- 
 duced by Cyrus, being quite unknown at any earlier period. 5. Waters of Merom] The only 
 places in which the name Merom occiu's in the Scriptures are verses 5. 7, of this chaiiter. It has 
 been almost universally identified with the Buhr-d-llalch of the modern Arabs, which is called 
 by Josephus, Semechonitis and Samochonitis ; but the identification is supported by no docu- 
 mentary evidence, and lias been disputed recently by two or three careful expositors. 6. Thou 
 Shalt hough their horses] The LXX. translate by vevpoKoir-qaeLS. To hough means to ham- 
 string, to sever the tendons of the hind legs. It seems by no means certain that this was done 
 on this occasion by Joshua. "The Ueh. ' akar' is used in 2 Sam. viii. 4, and in 1 Chron. xviii. 4, 
 of chariots (' horses' is inserted in the English version), and in Zeph. ii. 4 it is used (in a paro- 
 nomasia it is ti-ue) of the city of Ekron. In the passage in Gen. xlix. 6, if we read ' shur ' instead 
 of ' shor ' (as is done by some, and as seems to be the most probalile reading), the word ' akar ' is 
 used of a wall. The word seems to be of the same stock with ' acltai- ' (compare the roots 
 ' kalian' and ' chaiian,' and many other examples), and the primary idea seems to be 'to strike ' 
 or ' to smite.' Proof is wanting that the ordinary translation of ' hough ' is a correct one. It 
 
 219 
 
UOMILETIC COMMENTARV: JOSHUA. 
 
 wf)uld have been a difficult and useless task to hamstring au enemy's horse in battle, when a 
 blow on the head or Ijody would be easy and efficacious. And, moreover, there would have been 
 a cnieltj' in it uttei-ly at war with the kindly care enjoined upon the Jews in the law with respect 
 to dumb animals (Deut. xxv. 4)." [Cronhy.^ 8. Great Zidon] Called "the great," both here 
 and in chap. xix. 28, not to assert its superiority over any other city of the same name, but to 
 indicate its large number of inhabitants, and that it was the chief city of Phanicia. In the tune 
 of David and Solomon. Tj^re had become the superior city of the two. Misrephothmaim] Various 
 meanings have been given to the word. The place, though evidently near to Sidon, ha.'j not been 
 satisfactoiily identified. 13. Stood still in their strength] Hcb. = '- stood upon their hill;" 
 mar[/.^" on their heap." This docs n<jt mean that Joshua spared the cities which stood on hills, 
 and destroyed cities which were not on hills. The historian simply points to the fact that the 
 customary situation of the cities of the neighbourhood was upon some eminence. Freely para- 
 phrased, the sense is : " Of the cities which stood each upon its hill, Israel burned," etc. (Cf. 
 Jer. XXX. 18.) 17. From the mount Halak] J/urf/.=" The smooth mountain ; " or " the bare" 
 or "bald" mountain : thought by llobinson and others to be a row of white clifis, from sixty 
 to eighty feet high, a few miles south of the Dead Sea, and supposed to be identical with the 
 " ascent of Akrabliim." Unto Baal-gad] Sohwarz supposes this to be identical with the modern 
 Banias (Csesarea Philippi). These two extreme points are given to mark the extent, southwards 
 and northward.s, of Joshua's conquest. 18. A long time] Comparing chap. xiv. 7, 10, and the 
 date of sending the spies from Kadesh-Barnea (which Fay seems to forget was between one and 
 two years after the exodus), the war of Joshua with the Canaanites must have lasted between 
 six and seven years. Perhaps about a year was employed in the first general overnuining of the 
 south, the remaining period of somewhat more than five years being spent in subduing the north, 
 and in rendering the southern conquests more complete. Verse 21 obviously points to a return 
 of the campaign to the southern part of the land, and is not to be read as merely a supplementary 
 account of the same conflict recorded in chap. x. 36 — 41. 21. Anab] Mentioned also in cha](. 
 XV. 50. " It has retained its ancient name, and lies among the hills about ten miles S.S.W. of 
 Hebron, close to Shoco and E.shtemoa (Robinson i. 494)." \_SmitKs Bib. Diet.] 22. Gaza] 
 This was one of the five chief cities of the Philistines. It was the frontier city on the way 
 towards Egypt. It sustained for five months a siege by Alexander the Great, whose character, 
 saj's Dean Stanley, sufieis severely in the history of that event. (Cf. Grote's " Hist. Greece," xii. 
 193.) The coast line from Gaza to Cresaiea is remarkable in connection with the ministry of the 
 apostles. Gath] Another of the five principal cities of Philistia. Mr. Porter concluded tliat it 
 was situated on the hill now known as Tell-es-Safieh. Goliath, whose home was here, may have 
 been a descendant of the Anakim. Ashdod] Now caWed Ash dud ; the Azotiis of Acts viii. 40. 
 It was in the lot of Judah (chap. xv. 47), but seems never to have been entirely subdued. It 
 preserved a language distinct from that of the Jews, till after the return from the captivity (Neh. 
 xiii. 23, 24). The siege by Psammetichus, the longest on record, lasted twenty-seven years, and 
 is thought to be alltuled to in Jer. xxv. 20. It was destroyed by the Maccabees (1 Mace. v. 68 ; 
 X. 84). 23- And the land rested from war] This marks the close of the first division of the 
 book. In a geneial sense, it is said that Joshua had taken "the whole land ;" in the details 
 given in the second part of the book we learn that this is not to be imderstood absolutely; thus 
 Jehovah Himself says (chap. xiii. 1), " There remaineth yet very much land to be possessed." 
 
 MAIN UOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Verses 1—14. 
 The Victory at the Waters of Merom. 
 
 I. The multiplied number of Joshua's enemies. The great battle at Gibeon 
 had been uyaiust live kiiiys ; this was against many kings. It was the largest 
 force that the Israehtes had yet encountered. Josephus (Ant, v. 1. 18), in what 
 seems to be merely his own estimate, says : " The number of the whole army 
 was three hundred thousand armed footmen, and ten thousand horsemen, and 
 twenty thousand chariots ; so that the multitude of the enemies aflVighted both 
 Joshua himself and the Israelites." While this statement must not be taken as 
 proved, the Scripture reference to " all these kings," with an army " even as the 
 sand that is ui)on the sea shore in multitude, witii horses and chariots very many," 
 plainly shews that the force was the largest which had yet conlVonted the army of 
 Joshua. 
 
 God leads His people on to increasingly dillicult conflicts : 1. For srrcnr disci- 
 pline; 2. For greater trust ; 8. Far hiijlirr victories. The path of the just shines 
 more and more, through conflicts which are sterner, thiough dependence which 
 is humbler, and through victories which are nobler. The number of our foes, 
 220 
 
CHAV. XI. II03IILEriC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 when Gofl fights for us, is bnt the visible pledge of the greatness of onr victory. 
 II. The gracious encouragement given by Jehovah. " Be not afraid," etc. 
 (ver. G). 1. Tiris encuunvjt'iDcnt sec})ts to liarc hccn nnaolicited. Joshua seems to 
 have been on the march to meet his foes when God spake to him. The distance 
 from Gilgal, a little south of Mount Ebal, was too great for the march to Merom 
 in less than one day, the time intimated by this verse. The spirit of obedience and 
 the spirit of prayer are one, and God reads our plea for all necessary help in the very 
 acts in which we seek to keep His commandments. 2. Tlie encuiiraf/emevt meets 
 the new cause for fear. For the first time in their experience, the Israelites had 
 to encounter horsemen and war chariots. So the promise runs, " Thou shalt hough 
 their horses, and burn their chariots with fire." The promise takes an old form 
 (of. chap. X. 8, etc.), but is adapted to the new emergency. God would have us 
 give to His old encouragements such new meanings as our circumstances require. 
 3. The e)H'oura(jemcnt is made emphatic Inj being made definite. " To-morrow about 
 this time," etc. God speaks to us as a mother might speak to her timid child ; 
 He accentuates the tones of His comforting assurances, according to the measure 
 of our necessity and the depth of our fear. 4. Tlie encouragement points to help 
 from God only. " Will / deliver them." Keil says, " There is a peculiar em- 
 phasis intended in the I which precedes the participle." Similarly Masius wrote, 
 ** There is great force in the pronoun I. It is as if God had said, ' There is no 
 cause for you to estimate the greatness of the present war by comparing it with 
 your own strength. For that which I have so often manifested to you, I will now 
 provide by My invincible power, and My nod, which shakes heaven and earth, 
 shall perform these things.' " The Divine promises are generally so framed as to 
 lead every devout man to say to his own soul, Hope thou in God. 5. There nas 
 great encoiirage)nent i)i tlie verg neighbourJiood in which the battle was fought. Here, 
 it is thought, Abraham defeated Chedorlaomer and the three kings acting with 
 him, and rescued Lot. Dr. Thompson says, in "The Land and the Book": 
 ♦' Often have I sat and gazed in dreamy delight upon the luxuriant plain of the 
 Huleh. No wonder the spies exclaimed, ' We have seen the land, and, behold, it 
 is very good ; a place where there is no want of anything that is in the earth ' 
 (Judges xviii. 9, 10). We have spread out before us one of the great battle-fields 
 of the Bible — a vast theatre built by the Architect of the universe ; and i;pon its 
 splendid stage has many a bloody tragedy been played out in downright earnest." 
 The first of these recorded battles by the waters of Mei'om was the victory of 
 Abraham. Did Joshua know of and remember this as he proceeded to attack his 
 foes ? If so, the very site of the battle must have re-echoed back to him again 
 and again during the conflict the gracious promise of this verse. III. The com- 
 plete fulfilment of the Divine assurance (verses 7 — 9). The prospect of our 
 conflicts shews the need of God. The hour of our necessity reveals the promise 
 of God. The retrospect of our victories manifests the hand of God. " The Lord 
 delivered them into the hand of Israel," as He said He would. It was, beyond all 
 doubt, a God-given triumph. Every jot and tittle of the promise was fulfilled. 
 The army was broken up into three great divisions, and the horses were 
 "houghed," or rather, perhaps, smitten and slain. " Those that have God on 
 their side, need not be disturbed at the number and power of their enemies ; 
 ' more are they that are with us than they that are against us.' They that have 
 the Lord of hosts engaged for them have also the hosts of the Lord." [Henrg.] 
 IV. The deep degradation and conspicuous ruin of those who are exalted 
 highest in fighting against Jehovah (verses 10 — 14). As the King of Ai 
 (chap. viii. 29), and the five kings at Makkcdah (chap. x. 2G, 27), were singled 
 out for a peculiar measure of punishment and shame, so also was Jabin the king 
 of Hazor. With many of the Lord's people, the measure of their present humilia- 
 tion will prove the measure of their future glory ; for " He that humbleth himself 
 shall he exalted." With those who are enemies of God, the dignity of the present 
 is but an index of the degradation of the future. 
 
 221 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 CHAP. XI. 
 
 OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VEESES. 
 
 Verses 1 — 6. Taught of the Lord. 
 
 About seven centuries after this period 
 in the national history, one of the 
 prophets, portraying the blessings of 
 the Church of the Messiah, made use 
 of this expression : "All thy children 
 shall be taught of the Lord." Many of 
 the more pious of the Old Testament 
 saints had previously poured forth their 
 praise of Jehovah in similar utterances. 
 It was out of events like these in the 
 conquest of Canaan that the more 
 devout Israelites became so deeply im- 
 pressed with the beauty of the Divine 
 leading and teaching. Mark the gen- 
 tleness and care of the Lord in the 
 instruction given, up to this point, as 
 outlined in the previous history of the 
 war. 
 
 I. God's care in teaching His people 
 to rely on His unseen help. At 
 Jericho the hand of Jehovah had been 
 conspicuously manifest ; at Ai it was 
 less visible. The conflict at Beth- 
 horon was altogether greater, and more 
 calculated to fill the Israelites with 
 fear ; God therefore gave manifest help 
 in the miraculous hail-storm, and in the 
 wonderful extension of the day. In the 
 presence of the mighty host of the five 
 kings, God stilled the fear of His people 
 by revealing His own presence. In the 
 minor conflicts of the south, God more 
 concealed Himself. Still victory was 
 sure. Jehovah was teaching His people 
 to believe that His help was as potent 
 when unseen as when plainly manifest. 
 Then came this second great battle. 
 Israel had to fight this also without 
 manifest miraculous aid. Yet, not to 
 withdraw Himself too fully, God gra- 
 ciously gave the apsurance recorded in 
 the sixth verse. Before Jericho, in the 
 first battle, God had given comforting 
 words, an assuring vision, and a mira- 
 culous overthrow of the walls. At the 
 smaller battle of Ai there was merely a 
 promise. At Bcth-horon, the first really 
 great battle in the land, the sun and 
 moon and the hail, in addition to direct 
 words of assurance, told the people of 
 a present God. Then followed the 
 minor battles in which they had to 
 " walk by faith, and not by sight." In 
 222 
 
 this second great battle the cheering 
 words were given, but not the manifest 
 works. 
 
 God would have us " endure as 
 seeing Him who is invisible." God 
 ever leads us from the sensuous to the 
 spiritual. It has been so in the history 
 of the Church. The ministry of Christ 
 had many miracles. In the days of 
 the apostles miracles M'ere fewer. In 
 subsequent times miracles were entirely 
 withdrawn. True faith believes when 
 little can be seen. True faith M-orks 
 when success seems small. II. God's 
 care in regulating the temptations by 
 which His people are overtaken. This 
 huge battle with "all these kings" 
 does not come at the beginning of 
 the war. The Lord directly claimed 
 to be dealing with the hearts of the 
 Canaanites (verse 20) ; He did not 
 sufi'er Jabin to be moved to this 
 mightj^ eflbrt till he " heard of those 
 things " which had happened at Beth- 
 horon. Not till Israel had proved 
 the help of God did God sufl'er them to 
 be confronted by the mighty host of 
 Jabin. 1. God tries His i)eople gradu- 
 (dhj. 2. God never suffers His people 
 to he tempted beyond that which they are 
 able to bear. 3. God does but try His 
 people that they may prove Him. He 
 praj'^s well, who cries, " Lead us not 
 into temptation." He believes well, 
 who, when temptation comes, remem 
 bers that his Lord is counting upon 
 him as altlo to endure. III. God's 
 care in directly nourishing His peo- 
 ple's faith. (Verse 6.) Faith is the 
 gift of God. It is no less necessary 
 that it should be maintuined by God. 
 Calvin aptly says, on this verse : " Un- 
 less new nourishment is every now and 
 then given to faith, it forthwith melts 
 and vanishes." 1. God cultivates in us 
 the rest of faith. " Be not afraid." 2. 
 God points ?/s to the one object of faith. 
 " I will deliver." 8. God enables us to 
 confirm our faith. " To-morrow about 
 this time." 4. God e.vjxcts from, vs the 
 obedience of faith. " Thou shalt hough 
 their horses," etc. That part of tlio 
 spoil was not to be rctninod. IV. 
 God's care in cultivating His people's 
 
CHAP. XI. 
 
 HOMILETTC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 dependence. The horses and chariots 
 were to be destroyed for wise reasons. 
 The Israelites had long before been 
 forbidden to accumulate horses (Dent, 
 xvii. IG). They were not to make war 
 an art, as did the idolatrous nations 
 around them. They were to deny 
 themselves the facilities for, and thus 
 keep themselves from the temptations 
 to, that ofiensive warfare which would 
 be likely to result from maintaining a 
 force of cavalry. Above all, God would 
 teach His people to say, " Some trust 
 in chariots, and some in horses, but we 
 will remember the name of the Lord 
 our God." 1. The choicest spoil from 
 our victories bij God is an increased sense 
 of dependence upon God. 2. Some of the 
 incidental spoils in most of our spiritual 
 triumphs have need to be sacrificed for 
 our own spiritual safety. 
 
 Verse 1. Take heed how ye hear. 
 
 I. Hearing and not hearing. The 
 tidings of the overthrow of Sihon and 
 Og, and of the fall of Jericho, seem to 
 have made almost no impression on the 
 sleepy king of Hazor. 
 
 II. Hearing, but hearing in vain. 
 When Ai fell, there seems to have been 
 a general movement all through Canaan 
 west of Jordan, to combine against 
 Joshua (chap. ix. 1). Before Jabiu had 
 gathered the northern legions, southern 
 Canaan had been desti'oyed. 
 
 III. Hearing, and hearing to ruin. 
 When Jabin did exert himself, it was 
 but to arise and proceed straight to 
 destruction. Thus do the wicked delay 
 heedlessly, awaken slowly, and finally 
 bestir themselves to anticipate judg- 
 ment. 
 
 Verses 4 — 8. The Multitude of 
 E\t^l-doers. 
 
 I. Unity is not always strength. 
 (Verse 4.) To bind them together in 
 might that is invincible, numbers need 
 truth. 
 
 II. The visible does not always cor- 
 
 respond to the actual. The world 
 ever loves to lean upon the host which 
 is manifestly " as the sand that is upon 
 the sea shore in multitude," and yet, all 
 unwittingly, even upon its own ground 
 of safety, the world ever miscalculates. 
 (Cf. 2 Kings vi. IB, 17; 2 Chron. 
 xxxii. 7, 8 ; Ps. Iv. 18.) 
 
 III. To walk "in the light of the 
 eyes " is sometimes to lose the consola- 
 tion that is of the ears. (Verse 6.) 
 The deaf and the dumb have marvellous 
 intuitive perception. The blind are 
 wonderfully quick in feeling. The loss 
 of power in one physical sense com- 
 pensated by an increased power in other 
 senses. This emphatically the case in 
 the spiritual world. Constant per- 
 ception by sight the dulness of faith. 
 Men who are ever dependi;ig on what 
 they can see, hear few of the whispers 
 of the Lord. Jabin and his host caught 
 not a word of this heavenly consolation 
 that fell so sweetly upon the open ears 
 of Joshua. 
 
 IV. To be strong in evil means 
 presently to be tremendous in ruin. 
 (Verses 7, 8.) The height of evil-doers 
 is but the distance of their fall. To be 
 very strong, and yet surely destined to 
 break, is only to break violently. The 
 mighty hosts of Jabin only represented 
 so much additional horror in the mo- 
 ments of his overthrow. Directly the 
 great multitude fled, numbers did but 
 accelerate and aggravate the end. The 
 fear of a single man may be sore ; the 
 panic of the multitude, in which the 
 fears of the host are multiplied into and 
 focused upon the soul of the individual, 
 is simply terrible. What will be the 
 horror of that great day in which the 
 infinitely larger host of all the wicked 
 of all time flee away before the presence 
 of the Lord, crying to the mountains 
 and rocks, " Fall on us, and hide us 
 from the face of Him that sitteth on 
 the throne, and from the wrath of the 
 Lamb : for the great day of His wrath 
 is come ; and who shall be able to 
 stand ? " 
 
IIOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 fUAl-. XI. 
 
 OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE PABAGnAPU.— Verses 15—23. 
 
 Verses 15 — 18. Fidelity to the 
 Commands of God. 
 
 I. True fidelity has regard, not to 
 the commandmeut, but to God, from 
 whom the commandment conies. 
 Joshua "left nothing undone" which 
 the Lord had bidden. Joshua's instruc- 
 tions came to him indirectly. He re- 
 ceived the Lord's words through Moses. 
 Joshua was concerned not so much with 
 the stream, or its channel, as with the 
 source from which it issued. Ho had 
 submitted himself to another will, and 
 like a true servant he set himself to obej^ 
 Nor was this implicit obedience either 
 blind orunintclligent. To really trust God 
 is to believe that He cannot do wrong ; 
 that He cannot fail in righteousness ; 
 that He cannot lack knowledge ; that 
 He cannot want love. 1. Some men are 
 faithful onhjin thinijs ivJdch are pleasant. 
 Where God's commands and then* own 
 desires run in parallel lines, they go in 
 the same direction as the command- 
 ments. Let not such deceive them- 
 selves ; the}' are not in the way of the 
 Lord. It is simply that their own way 
 runs, for a little season, alongside the 
 way of God. "He that offendeth in 
 one point is guilty of all." 2. Others 
 only obej/ where they can nnderstand. 
 Unless they can see what they think 
 some adequate reason for obedience, 
 they choose to regard obedience as un- 
 important. This is really to question 
 the wisdom of God. 3. True fidelity to 
 Godjlnds its controlUny injluences in God 
 Himself. To a noble-minded man like 
 Joshua, this work of blood and judg- 
 ment must have been one of pain. Like 
 a true soldier, and a true servant, ho 
 had respect to his Commander rather 
 than to the nature of the command. 
 4. Suvli fidelity is a trust left to us by 
 faithful jtredecessors. These commands 
 had been given to Moses. (Cf. Exod. 
 xxxiv. 11 — 14 ; Numb, xxxiii. 50^ — 50 ; 
 Deut. XX. 10 — 18.) So far as he could, 
 Moses had been obedient to the Divine 
 word (Heb. iii. 5). Had Joshua been 
 disobedient, ho would have impaired tho 
 faithful work of his predecessor. Each 
 of us is called to continue tho faithful 
 service of some who have gone before us. 
 224 
 
 For us to fail is to mar the work on 
 which they so conscientiously laboured. 
 
 II. Fidelity that is thorough is also 
 fruitful. 1. The yood results <f faithful 
 sirriee are foretold (Exod. xxiii. 20 — 
 23). We also have exceeding great and 
 precious promises. 2. The yood results 
 of faithful service are attested by human 
 experience. Did ever any labour con- 
 scientiously for God, and find that he 
 had served in vain ? 3. The yood results 
 (f faithful service are not of man s ejforts, 
 hut of God's yrace. This the Israelites 
 themselves cheerfully acknowledged for 
 many centuries after (Ps. xliv. 1 — 3). 
 
 III. The fruits of fidelity have to 
 be gathered with patience. The war 
 lasted for nearly seven years. (Cf. ver. 
 18, and Critical Notes.) 1. Patience is 
 essriitial to fa it J fulness. Unless men 
 had to wait, there would be no time for 
 testing or shewing fidelity. 2. Patience 
 cultivates faitJfulness. To wait well 
 is to discipline ourselves in fidelity. 
 3. Patience is often necessary for tJie very 
 prosperity >rhi(fi we seek. God repeatedly 
 told the Israelites that sudden success 
 would be harmful to the very estate 
 which they sought to inherit (Exod. 
 xxiii. 29, 30 ; Deut. vii. 22). 4. Patience 
 does not reap less because it reaps sloivly. 
 To wait for God never means to wait 
 for nothing. " The vision is yet for an 
 appointed time, but at the end it shall 
 speak, and not lie." 
 
 " Even the weariest river 
 Winds somewhere safe to sea." 
 
 No man can conscientiously and perse- 
 veringly do the will of his Father in 
 heaven, to find, ultimately, that he has 
 laboured in vain. There is no field so 
 fruitful as that which we plough at the 
 bidding of God. 
 
 Verses 18, 19. I. The patience of 
 the Lord's servants. 
 
 II. The persistence of the Lord's 
 enemies. 
 
 " The Extirpation of the Canaan- 
 
 ITES : 
 
 1. Due to their idolatry and immo- 
 rality. 2. Executed through a Divine 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 command. 3. Set as a warning ex- 
 ample for all times. 
 
 " They left nothing remaining which 
 had breath. So when a whole people 
 have sinned, the less guilty and the 
 guilty fall together." — [i''«y.] 
 
 Verse 20. — Hardened Hearts. 
 
 This cannot mean that God directly 
 influenced the Canaanites to resist Him- 
 self and all repentance of their sin. 
 The thought is too dreadful to be 
 entertained even for a moment. It 
 would be God's active participation in 
 the Canaanites' guilt. Whether in the 
 time of the Old Testament or in that of 
 the New, " God cannot be tempted with 
 evil, neither tenipteth He any man." On 
 this authority of the Holy Spirit, then, 
 Calvin is simply wrong when he says : 
 *' The Lord commanded Moses to de- 
 stroy the nations whom He had doomed 
 to destruction ; and He accordingly 
 opened a way for His own decree when 
 He hardened the reprobate. . . . God 
 hardens them for this very end, that 
 they may shut themselves out from 
 mercy." On the other hand, the words 
 mean more than that God permitted the 
 Canaanites to become hardened, God 
 had been permitting the Canaanites to 
 have their way ever since they settled 
 in the land. He had warned them re- 
 peatedly ; His Spirit had striven with 
 them in those warnings ; but God had 
 done nothing to coerce them. To that 
 extent, the Lord always permits every- 
 body to have his own waj^. Even to 
 the apostles, Jesus Christ says, " Will 
 ye also go away ? " They had libei'ty 
 to depart, if they chose. God ever 
 leaves so much of liberty to every man. 
 Were it not so, saved men would ro 
 more be holy than a criminal is holy, 
 ■who happens to be temporarily redeemed 
 from the actual commission of guilt, and 
 who walks, by a compulsion he cannot 
 resist, the successive rounds of the tread- 
 mill. God had always "permitted "these 
 Canaanites, in the sense of not coerc- 
 ing them. We must look for the Divine 
 meaning, then, somewhere between 
 these two positions. The essentially 
 holy God could not influence these men 
 to sin : yet God, who calls nothing holy 
 which does not come from the choice 
 
 of our hearts, had always perndlted 
 these men to sin. When it is said, 
 "It was of the Lord to harden their 
 hearts," if the words are not meaning- 
 less, some change is indicated in the 
 Divine attitude towards these Canaan- 
 ites. This change must lie somewhere 
 between the two positions indicated. 
 AVhat is the change of attitude intended? 
 Perhaps it may be defined, as nearly as 
 we can define it, in some such thoughts 
 as the following : — 
 
 I. God's ordinary way with all men 
 is to actively promote their sanctifica- 
 tion. Solemn and cheering providences. 
 Messages of wf.rning, or mercy. Ex- 
 amples and consequences of piety, and 
 wickedness. Perhaps, also, the direct 
 influences of His Spirit on the heart (cf. 
 Gen. vi. 3). 
 
 II. In the resistance which men 
 offer to God, there is a certain point 
 at which God forsakes those who are 
 determined to transgress. Were this 
 not the case, no man could ever be lost 
 hopelessly. If God were actively work- 
 ing for the lost in perdition itself, there 
 must be hope even there. Nothing can 
 be hopeless that is furthered by the 
 hand of the Infinite. But perdition is 
 without hope. It follows that, at 
 some time or other before perdition, 
 God must refrain from all His ordinary 
 active interference for the salvation of 
 those who are about to enter that state. 
 That cessation of God's active inter- 
 ference is the time of God's forsaking. 
 
 III. When God so forsakes men, 
 they may be said to be given over by 
 Him to hardness of heart. He does 
 not actively work the hardness. He 
 no longer works to hinder it. True, 
 this may be called '' pennittinc/ " men 
 to harden their own hearts ; but the 
 liberty to sin is so enlarged, it is so 
 removed from all the direct gracious 
 influences of heavenly constraint, that 
 the " permission " must not be con- 
 fused with that ordinary measui'e of 
 liberty which God gives to all men. 
 Henceforth, the result is so certain that 
 language like that of the text is at least 
 appropriate. If, in these New Testa- 
 ment times, no man can call Jesus 
 Lord " but by the Holy Ghost," the 
 issue in those Old Testament times must 
 
 225 
 
EOMILETIG COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 have been so certain that it was proper 
 to speak of God as having ah-eady given 
 the transgressors over to judgment. In 
 fact, when God leaves a man in absolute 
 freedom to sin, to that man the begin- 
 nings of judgment have come already. 
 
 IV. Past that point at which God 
 gives men up as hopeless, all influ- 
 ences which tend to the shortening of 
 life are merciful rather than other- 
 wise. Sin would be aggravated, indeed, 
 by a prolonged life in such a state of 
 heart. Surely no words ever breathed 
 on earth were more profoundly full of 
 pity than the words of Jesus to Judas, 
 after all the " wooing of the betrayer " 
 at the table had failed : " What thou 
 doest, do quickly." Mercy had said, " It 
 were good for that man that he had 
 never been born." The birth and the 
 life, however, were irremediable. The 
 next best thing that Mercy could devise 
 was that the end should come as soon 
 as possible. Hence those words of 
 terribly significant pity : " What thou 
 doest, do quickly." 
 
 Verses 21, 22. — The Oa'erthrow of 
 THE Anakim. 
 
 The Anakim were a race of people of 
 gigantic stature, descended from Arba 
 (chap. xiv. 15 ; xv. 13). From passages 
 like the former, it has been concluded 
 that the word Anak was not the name 
 of an individual, but of the race. Hebron 
 seems to have been their principal city 
 previous to their destruction by Joshua 
 and Caleb. The chief tribes of this 
 people appear to have been named after 
 Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai. 
 
 I. The Anakim as an old occasion of 
 fear and unbelief. The spies saw these 
 giants, and reported, " We were in our 
 own sight as grasshoppers, and so we 
 were in their sight " (cf. Numb. xiii. 
 22 — 83). At the time referred to in 
 this passage, the Israelites refused to 
 trust God. 1. TJiey preferred to walk 
 by sitjlit rather than by faith. From 
 Deut. i. 22 it seems tliat the wish to 
 send spies had originated with the 
 people ; and thus Numb. xiii. 1 — 3 must 
 be read merely as shewing that God 
 had acceded to this wish, taking the 
 direction of the matter, however, into 
 His own hands. God had declared the 
 22G 
 
 land good, and had promised it to the 
 people for an inheritance. The)' wished 
 to send and see for themselves. 2. 
 When the spies did see, they were less able 
 to believe than before. The cities were 
 walled, and these sons of Anak looked 
 BO huge. Seeing made believing harder 
 than ever. This is not an unusual re- 
 sult of trying to walk by sight, where 
 God asks for our trust. He who de- 
 pends on his intelligence for his faith 
 must not wonder if he soon has cause 
 to question both. 3. The unbelief of 
 the ten spies resulted in the unbelief of 
 nearly all the host. Only Moses, Joshua, 
 and Caleb seem to have escaped tho 
 contagion. He who believes well gene- 
 rally leads others also to faith. Unbelief 
 is even more fruitful than faith. No 
 man can doubt to himself. 
 
 II. The fear and unbelief of the past 
 becoming victory and joy in the pre- 
 sent. Tlie forty years in the wilderness 
 had not been in vain. The Israelites 
 had grown in grace. Where they had 
 once sought to flee, they had now 
 strength to fight. Where of old they 
 had come to shame, they now found 
 victory. Where they had formerly 
 gathered a terrible heritage of pain, 
 they now entered into joy and honour. 
 There are fields of conflict behind most 
 of us which yet wait to be redeemed 
 from shame. The spiritual foes of our 
 past, from whom we have fled in un- 
 belief, should be confronted and con- 
 quered at the first opportunity. 
 
 III. The fear and unbelief of the 
 past turned into victory and joy only 
 by the grace of God. Piviue mercy 
 had led and taught these Israelites till 
 at last they did not fear to attack even 
 the Anakim. 1. God's patience in train- 
 iny. 2. God's encourayements throuyh 
 nii(jhty works. 8. God's perseverance 
 unto the end. It is He who " giveth 
 the oil of joy for mourning, and the 
 garment of praise for the spirit of heavi- 
 ness." His love and power, as seen in 
 the past, should make us strong in faith 
 to meet the enemies of the future. 
 
 " Even that opposition which seemed 
 invincible was got over. Never let the 
 sons of Anak bo a terror to the Israel of 
 God, for even their day to fall will 
 
OHAF. XII. 
 
 BOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSIIVA. 
 
 come. Giants are dwarfs to Omni- 
 potence. 
 
 ** This struggle with the Anakim was 
 reserved for the latter end of the war, 
 when the Israelites were become more 
 expert, and had more experience of the 
 power and goodness of God. God 
 sometimes reserves the sharpest trials 
 of His people, by affliction and tempta- 
 tion, for the latter end of their days. 
 Therefore ' let not him that girdeth on 
 the harness boast as he that puts it 
 off.' " [Henry J\ 
 
 Verse 23. — The People for whom 
 THE Lord Fights. 
 
 I. The magnitude of their difficul- 
 ties should be regarded as only the 
 measure of their victories. " Joshua 
 took the whole land." 
 
 II. Their most signal earthly vic- 
 tories are ever incomplete. The whole 
 land, yet not the whole (cf. chap, 
 xiii. 1). 
 
 III. The triumphs which they do 
 win are ever the fruit of God's pro- 
 
 mises. " According to all that the Lord 
 said unto Moses." This clause serves 
 also to limit and explain the former. 
 God had specially told Moses that the 
 whole land should not be conquered too 
 suddenly (Exod. xxiii. 20, 30). 
 
 IV. The inheritance thus given by 
 God should be the inheritance of all 
 God's people. " Joshua gave it for an 
 inheritance unto Israel according to 
 their divisions by their tribes." 
 
 V. The rest which they obtain here 
 faintly foreshadows the perfect rest 
 hereafter. " And the land rested from 
 war." 1. Rest after severe strife. 2. 
 Rest only through faith and obedience. 
 8. Rest, hut rest which still requires that 
 they watch and jnay. 4. Rest, tchich 
 thoufih but an im perfect pattern, should 
 stand for a sure prophecy of the rest 
 which is perfect. If we really enter into 
 the rest of faith, it will be by that Holy 
 Spirit of promise, " which is the earnest 
 of our inheritance until the redemption 
 of the purchased possession." 
 
 CHAPTER XIL 
 SUMMARY OF PREVIOUS CONQUESTS. 
 
 Criticat. Notes. — 1. The river Arnon] Now known as Wddy el Modjeh. Before the war, it 
 separated between the Moabites and the Amorites of Eastern Palestine ; it afterwards became the 
 boundary between Moab and Israel. The river falls into the Dead Sea, and is described by 
 Josephusas rising in the mountains of Arabia. Mount Hermon] Forming the southern extremity 
 in the range of Anti-Lebanon, and thought to bo about ten thousand feet high. It was famous 
 for its appearance, and for its "dews " (Ps. cxxxiii. 3). It is thoiight by some to have been the 
 scene of the Transfiguration. 2. Heshbon] Situated about twenty miles east of the Jordan, 
 and near the boundary between lleuljen and Gad. The ruius are more than a mile in circum- 
 ference. The " lishpools in Heshbon " are named in Cant. vii. 4. Sihon had taken this city from 
 the Moabites (Numb. xxi. '20), into whose possession it afterwards again came. Aroer] This city 
 stood on the northern bank of the Anion (Deut. ii. 36 ; iv. 48). There were two other places of 
 the same name ; one assigned to Gad (cha[). xiii. 25), and another in the south of Judah (1 Sam. 
 XXX. 2(5 — 28). Half Gilead] The whole of Giload reached from the Arnon to Bashan ; the brook 
 Jabliok, famous in the history of .Jacob, dividing the territory about equally. 3. The way to 
 Beth-jeshimoth] i.e., " towards Beth-jeshimoth," which was in the plains of Moab, near the place 
 ■where the Jonbm flowed int(j the Dead Sea, and to which point eastwards the Arabah extended. 
 From the south under Ashdoth-pisgah] Or " towards the south under the slopes of Pisgah," 
 thus marking the southern extremity of the Arabah. The word " Ashdoth " is probably not a 
 proper name, and should not be taken, as by Dr. Clarke, to indicate a city. It is a deriv. of 
 " 'cshcd"=" a jiourittf/ out." '• A pouring out (of streams), a low place at the foot of mountains 
 (Josh. X. 40 ; xii. 8)." With " Pisfj(ih"='' the roots (or springs) of Pisgah (Deut. iii. 17; iv. 49 ; 
 Josh. xiii. 20)." [Gesen.~\ This word does not occur excepting in the Pentateuch and in the book 
 of Joshua, whereas?, on the theory of the " Jehovists" (cf. Art. on chap. x. 12 — 15), it would 
 seem natural to tiud it occasionally, up to the time of Hezekiah, or even to the captivity, instead 
 of its being so consistently contined to these earlier books of Scripture. Had it grown obsolete, 
 "the Jehovist near to the Assyrian period" should have modernized it from his " Elohim 
 documents." As it is, it looks somewhat like "a footprint on the sands" of its own time. 
 4. The coast of Og, king of Bashan] " The expressed intention (ver. 1 ) w;xs to give a list of the 
 conquered kings, but here the kingdom is mentioned instead of Og the king." [ii/asiu.s-.] Og also 
 
 227 
 
EOMILETIC COMMENT! R T : JOSHUA . en ^ p. xtl 
 
 niled over the northern part of Oiload (ver. 5), .altlioiigli his title refers t« Bivshan only. Dwelt 
 at Ashtaroth and at Edrei] Not "the remnant of the Rephaim," l>nt Og, who resided at times 
 in either city. Perhaps Asht^irotli is the A^^hten)th-Ivarnailn of Gen. xiv. 5, but this is very uncer- 
 tain (cf . Smith's Bib. Diet.) In Deut. i. 4 we have " Ashtaroth in Edrei," yet these were evidently 
 two cities (Josh. xiii. 12, 31 ; 1 Chron. vi. 71). Edrei is only named in Scripture in connection 
 with the victory of Moses, bnt it is mentioned repeatedly in profane history. 5. Salcah] Now 
 called Sulkhad, situated at the south of the Jeliel Hauran. Burckhardt places it at about seven 
 hours' journey from Bozra. The Geshurites and the Maachathites] Geshur was probably at the 
 north or north-east of Bashan, adjoining Argob (Deut. iii. 14), afterwards called Trachonitis. 
 Miuachah seems to have been an adjoining province. The children of Amnion hired a detachment 
 of Maachathites against David (2 Sam. x. 6). AbsaliMii's mother was the dani^hter of Talmai, 
 king of Ge.shur (2 Sam. iii. 3). After the murder of Anmon, Absalom fled to Talmai for refuge 
 (2 Sam. xiii. 37). 7. Baalgad .... Halak] Cf. on chap. xi. 17. 8. Mountains, etc.] Cf. on 
 chapters is. 1 ; x. 40. Geogi-aj)hical notes on most of the places named io the following verses 
 will be found under the Critical Notes of the preceding chapters, principally under chapters x., 
 xi. 13. King of Geder] Geder is thought to be the Gederah of chap. xv. 36, and was probably 
 situated in the lowlands of Judah. 14. Hormah] = " destruction." The place was thus devoted 
 on two occasions (Numb. xxi. 3 ; Judges i. 17). As the latter passage indicates, it was also 
 called Zephath. The Israehtes were defeated in this locality after the return of the spies (Numb, 
 xiv. 45). The site is placed by Robinson near the pass es-S"f/ih, on the south of the Dead 
 Sea. Arad] On the north of the wilderness of Judah (.Judg. i. 16), i.e., the southern part of 
 this wilderne.ss. It is thought to have been about twenty miles directly south of Hebron. 
 15. AduUam] A city of great anticjuity (Gen. xxxviii. 1), situated m the Shephelah (Jo.sh. 
 XV. 33, 35), not far from CJath. It was fortified by Rehoboam, reoccupied on the return from 
 the captivity (Neh. xi. 30), and is mentioned under the name of Odollam in 2 Mace. xii. 3S. 
 17. Tappuah] Probably that mentioned in chap. xv. 33, 34, as in the Shephelah, or it may bo 
 the Tappuah on the frontier between Ephraim and Manasseh (chaps, xvi. 8 ; xvii. 8). There was 
 also a Beth-Tappuah in the mountains of Judah (chap. xv. 53). Hepher] = " a pit." '' In 
 1 Kings iv. 10 we find it mentioned as "all the land of Hepher," being named together with 
 Shochoh as placed under one of the twelve officers whom Solomon set over all Israel. It should 
 therefore be looked for near to Shochoh, i.e., in the Shephelah, and not, as by Knobel, be identified 
 with Haphraim (= " tivo pita ") in the plain of Jezreel, belonging to Issachar (chap. xix. 19). It 
 is also to be distinguished from Gath-Hepher, or Gittah-Hepher, in the tribe of Zebulon (chap. 
 xix. 13 ; 2 Kings xiv. 25). 18. Aphek] = '^ strength." It might be appUed. says Dean Stanley, 
 to any fort or fastness. " It is so common a name in Palestine, that its mention in 1 Sam. xxi.x. 1 
 is not of itself sufficient to identify it with the spot so called near Jerusalem, in 1 Sam. iv. 1 ; 
 and the scene of the first Philistine victory must therefore remain uncertain, since there is nothing 
 in the details of the battle to fix it" (Sinai and Palestine). The Aphek here named isthou;,'ht 
 to be the same as Aphekah, in the mountains of Judah (chap xv. 53), while Keil holds it to be 
 identical with the Aphek of 1 Sam. iv. 1. 19. Lasharon] Cf. Margin. Mentioned only in this 
 place, and not known. 21. Taanach . . . Megiddo] Two cities generally named together, 
 situated on the boundary between Manasseh and Issachar, in the plain of Esdraelon by the river 
 Kishon, into which the " waters of Megiddo " probably ran. The neighbourhood is famous as 
 the scene of some of the most important battles in Hebrew history. 22. Kedesh] " A Levitical 
 city of refuge on the mountains of Naphtali (chap. xix. 37 ; xx. 7 ; xxi. 32), according to the 
 Onomast., twenty Roman miles from Tyre. There are two other cities mentioned of the same 
 name — one in Judah (chap. xv. 23), and the other in Issachar (1 Chron. vi. 72) " [Keil.'\ Jokneam 
 of Carmel] Belonging to Zebulon, and given to the Merarite Levites (chap. xxi. 34). Robinson 
 thinks it may be placed at the modern Tel Kriimdn. 23. Nations of Gilgal] Lit. z=z'' Goyim of 
 Gilgal." The Goyim are thought to have been certain tril>e.s, as those named in Gen. xiv. 1, 
 called by this term .as a proper name, and living in Gilgal, now Jiljilia, near Antipatrig. 
 24. Tirzah] "Evidently near Sheehem, and of proverbial beauty (Cant. vi. 4); selected by the 
 first sovereign, Jero])oam (1 Kings xiv. 17), and then, during three short reigns, the habituiil 
 residence of the royal house (1 Kings xv. 21 ; xvi. 8, 17, 23). [Htunley' a Sinai and Palestine.] 
 Robinson identifies the city with Tdluzah. 
 
 OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE PARAGRAPHS. 
 
 Verses 1 — 6. The Records of the of Jordan had been won under Moses. 
 
 Past. At the time when this history was 
 
 The summary contained in this para- written, Moses had been dead at least 
 
 graph is — several years. God remembers the 
 
 I. The record of a good man's labours of His servants after He has 
 
 work, the worker having long gone removed those who wrouglit them to 
 
 to his rest. The victories on the east another world. He who caused all 
 228 
 
nOMILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 scripture to be writteu for our admo- 
 Dition would have us see that the pious 
 man, "being dead yet speaketh," and 
 speaketh not only to men, but in the 
 memory of his Maker. God would 
 have us also to remember the works of 
 His departed servants. " Fresh mercies 
 must not drown the remembrance of 
 former mercies, nor must the glory of 
 the present instruments of good to the 
 Church be sutl'cred to eclipse and dimi- 
 nish the just honour of those that have 
 gone before them, and were the bless- 
 ings and ornaments of their day. 
 Joshua's services and achievements are 
 confessedly great, but let not those 
 under Moses be overlooked and for- 
 gotten." [i^it'j/ ;•//.] In the midst of 
 his greatest honour, the true servant of 
 the Lord will sometimes love to think 
 of the foundation laid for his own 
 work by the honourable service of 
 others who preceded him. 
 
 II. The record of mighty works 
 wrought by Divine power and Divine 
 patience. The work of overthrowing 
 Hihon and Og was, after all that may 
 be said of the instruments, not the 
 work of Moses, or Joshua, but the 
 work of God. God prepared the Israel- 
 ites for those great coutlicts in several 
 ways. 1. By the envonnttje)nent of a 
 precedhuj victory (cf. Numb. xxi. 1 — 3). 
 2. By aevcre disc'udine on the way 
 (Numb. xxi. 4 — G). 8. By yrcat mercies 
 on the ivay. The brazen serpent. The 
 gift of water, and the song at Beer. 
 4. By direct proiiiiaes of triumph over 
 both ISiJum and Oy (Deut. ii. 81 — 88, 
 iii. 2, 3). Thus were the people pre- 
 pared by Divine patience, and helped 
 by Divine power when the time of 
 battle came. 
 
 III. A record made in brief chro- 
 nicles which state results but omit 
 the process. Even the fuller accounts 
 given in Numbers and Deuteronomy 
 tell us but few of the details. What 
 fears, what hopes, what disappoint- 
 ments, what pain of some and gladness 
 of others are necessarily omitted from 
 the record ! All history is more or 
 loss like that. Men can never set 
 down anything but the prominent, and 
 much which they think obscure is 
 probably more noteworthy to God 
 
 than that which they deem suffi- 
 ciently important to be written. Our 
 powers are too limited for anything 
 more than a brief epitome of what 
 we call life's greatest events. But 
 what are the "great events" of life? 
 To our keener penetration and calmer 
 estimate, everything is great — so great 
 that, with our limited perception, all 
 things seem great alike, when once we 
 fairly confront them. 
 
 " There is no great and no small 
 To the soul that niiiketh all : 
 And where it cometh all things are ; 
 And it Cometh everywhere." 
 
 Emerson. 
 
 And yet we go on epitomising and 
 making abstracts of life, and needs 
 must go on. With our straightened 
 powers, it is the only way possible of 
 getting the majesty of the past into the 
 present. We have to transport it ia 
 fragments which are selected by the 
 fancy of the moment, and then we 
 name the fragments "history." We 
 call chapters like this before us " sum- 
 maries " ; to God our fullest histories 
 cannot be even worthy of that poor 
 name, albeit it so humbly confesses its 
 own weakness. To the mind of the 
 Infinite, our amplest records can only 
 be summaries of life with the sum of 
 life's events left out. How glorious in 
 its fulness and awful in its truth must 
 be that " Book of Life " in the mind of 
 the God of all the ages in which every 
 thought and word and deed of men is 
 accurately and completely written ! 
 
 IV. A record which has regard not 
 only to the glory of victory but also 
 the glory of faithfulness, in the eyes 
 of true Wisdom thero are things greater 
 than the taking of cities. The Israelites 
 had found the territory on the east of 
 Jordan a truly noble possession. The 
 land was well suited to enrich a people 
 hoping soon to settle down to quieter 
 habits of life (Numb, xxxii. 1, 4). 
 The rest of the people, in the hour of 
 victory, might feel some desire to share 
 this fertile tract of country. But even 
 these brief chronicles put faithfully on 
 record, at the very time for dividing the 
 spoil, the promise which had been made 
 to the two and a half tribes (ver. G). 
 These tribes had kept their word to 
 
 229 
 
KOMILETIG COMMENTARY : JOSHVA. 
 
 CHAP. XII. 
 
 Moses (Numb, xxxii. IG — 18) ; the rest 
 of the people here iudicate their readi- 
 ness to fulfil the word of Moses to their 
 brethren. No triumphs over others are 
 so noble as our victories over ourselves. 
 That nation is blessed indeed whose 
 chronicles show its victories over itself, 
 and its willingness to be subject to its 
 own word. 
 
 V. A record thus briefly chronicled 
 in its results to be presently rendered 
 into heart-stirring song. The history 
 here merely states the facts. The first 
 five verses are almost entirely geogra- 
 phical notes of the territory taken ; and 
 the last verse hardly does more than 
 tell us to whom the territory was to 
 be given. The only expression which 
 alludes to the conquest is the statement, 
 in the first and sixth verses, that "the 
 children of Israel smote and possessed 
 the laud." Centuries afterwards the 
 facts were embodied in two of the 
 national songs of praise, in language of 
 warm-hearted thanksgiving and glad- 
 ness (cf. Ps. exxxv. 10 — 13, cxxxvi. 
 17 — 24). Are there not many events 
 in our personal and national experience 
 which, lying now in the past, with 
 hardly a note to record them or a memory 
 to recall them, shall presently be cele- 
 brated in joyiul song before the throne 
 of God itself? Meanwhile, let each of 
 us learn to sing, even here, "Bless the 
 Lord, my soul, and forget not all His 
 benefits." 
 
 Verses 7 — 24. The Counted and 
 Uncounted Dead. 
 
 In the brief chronicles of these few 
 verses, dull and unimaginative as they 
 look, there may be traced two or three 
 features not Avithout their pathos, and 
 not devoid cf significance to us who are 
 the tenants of life and time now. 
 
 I. Some of the dead are counted, 
 and some are not counted. Here is 
 one man put down as slain, to represent 
 a kingdom of dead. That is done in 
 each of the thirty-one instances. The 
 slain of the army and the slain of the 
 home, the slain who were aged and the 
 slain who were young, slain men and 
 slain women : all these are merely 
 rounted in their slain king. Modern 
 cegistration may be more thorough, but 
 230 
 
 in the minds and thoughts of surviving 
 men and women now, the count of the 
 dead proceeds on much the same basis. 
 1. jSltn count the few, and not the inanij. 
 Only here and there a name of the past 
 survives in the present. The living 
 are too weak, in more ways than one, 
 to bear in mind more than a few of the 
 dead. We, too, count our dead repre- 
 sentatively. 2. Men count the t/reat, 
 and ]iass over the obscure. In the realms 
 of statesmanship, eloquence, hterature, 
 art, science, and the like, men can do 
 little more than put down the names of 
 their kings. 3. Meti count the deaths 
 which are unusualhj sad, and keep little 
 reckoning of such as are more ordinari/. 
 Irrespective of those who may be left, 
 it seems more than a common calamity 
 for a king to be slain, or die. To pass 
 out of all the magnificence and power 
 of an imposing past into a stillness and 
 silence and helplessness which dillcr 
 nothing from that of a dead peasant, 
 seems peculiarly sad for the dying man 
 himself. So, for a little season, over 
 whatever realm the departed king may 
 have reigned, his survivors will remem- 
 ber him. They put his death down 
 in their chronicles. 4. Me7i count 
 the rich a)td for/icl the poor. Great 
 Avealth ? then much marble, or granite ; 
 little wealth ? only a small monument ; 
 just enough during life for life's neces- 
 sities ? the barest measure of plainest 
 stone must sutfice in death ; very poor ? 
 then no stone whatever, and, it may 
 be, not even a grave to oneself. Such 
 is the testimony given by the grave- 
 yards and the cemeteries ; and, taking 
 society in its broader aspect, the witness 
 without is a pretty faithful symbol and 
 record of the mind within. What 
 county, or town, or pai'ish, remembers 
 a dozen of its poor of the last genera- 
 tion ? Without murmuring against the 
 inevitable, it may be well sometimes to 
 mark the fact. 5. (rod counts, and will 
 count, ererij one. He forgets no single 
 person in all the host of the dead. 
 From the youngest infant to Methuselah, 
 from the poorest person to the richest, 
 He remembers all. " I saw the dead, 
 small and great, stand before God." 
 
 II. These dead Canaanites, counted 
 and uncounted, were all overtaken 
 
rHAP. XII. 
 
 nOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA 
 
 by a common judgment. Kings, and 
 leaders, and people, fell in a general 
 slaughter. Heedless of condition or 
 character, every one appeared to be 
 dealt with alike. 1. In this life the 
 (fuilty and innocent often seem to be 
 jmhjed in the same measure, (a) Some 
 men are conspicuously guilty. They 
 are leaders in wickedness. They use 
 high positions and great influence to 
 lead others astray, (b) Others are com- 
 paratively innocent. Like many of these 
 Canaanites, who, it may be, held aloof 
 from the wickedness around them, they 
 take little active part in the open 
 wickedness of their fellows. (c) The 
 innocent and guilty seem to be dealt 
 with alike. Children and adults, wor- 
 shippers of idols and those who refused 
 to worship, fell in the same way before 
 the swords of the Israelites, Men look 
 on life as, in its degree, it everywhere 
 repeats this history ; and tliey say, 
 " The ways of the Lord are not equal." 
 2. The judgmeiits of life are far more 
 i'(jiial than they seem, (o) The particular 
 way in which we may be taken out of 
 this life is a very small item in the 
 account of eternity. We must all die. 
 Who can say what time is the best ? 
 Who can say what manner is the best ? 
 God has the right to choose both the 
 time and manner of our departure. It 
 is best so. We are thankful it is so. 
 What a mass of embodied pain and 
 crime and wrinkled wickedness would 
 still crawl the earth, if men chose the 
 day of their own death ! Ahab and 
 Jezebel and Judas and Nero would be 
 Avith us still. What per})lexity would 
 till men if they had to dcciiic on the 
 manner of their departure ! Men would 
 stand before the various diseases, and 
 other ways of exit, saying, " What I 
 shall choose I wot not." To have made 
 us all choose our own way of dying 
 would have been for God to have 
 doubled the ordeal : most men would 
 have sufl'ered at least one death in anti- 
 cipation, ore they came to the fact. It 
 is probably only our shortsightedness, 
 and our I'ccoil from the horror that 
 is visible, which leads us to throw so 
 much emphasis as we mentally do on 
 the slaughter of these more innocent 
 Canaanites by the sword. Anyway, 
 
 the manner and time of death are small 
 items in the matter of eternity. (6) 
 God's real judgment of every man is 
 within the man. Much of punishment is 
 the recoil of our own guilt. The true 
 Nemesis is not some one with a pair 
 of scales and a whip, standing without 
 us, but something standing within us 
 making us to do our own weighing and 
 our own scourging. 
 
 " Fear not, then, thou child infirm : 
 There's no gnd dare -wTong a worm. 
 Laurel crowns cleave to deserts, 
 And power to him who power exerts ; 
 Hast not thy share ? on winged feet, 
 Lo ! it rushes thee to meet ; 
 And all that Nature made thy own. 
 Floating in air. or pent in stone. 
 Will rive the hills and swim the sea. 
 And, like thy shadow, follow thee." 
 
 Uiiwrson. 
 
 (c) This judgment of God within a 
 man is continued after this life, and is 
 always true and equal to the man's 
 deserts. Thus, the Saviour, for once 
 during His ministry, draws aside the 
 veil that shuts out perdition, and shews 
 us Abraham standing afar off, and saying 
 in language of terrible significance to 
 Dives: "Son, remember.'' Whatever 
 may be the outward state of the wicked 
 on the other side of this life, surely 
 this "remembering" will be the jiahj- 
 uioit. 
 
 III. These dead are all overwritten 
 by a common epitaph. The counted 
 kings, antl the uncounted people, were 
 those " which Joshua and the children 
 of Israel smote.'" They were not 
 merely killed in a war ; they were 
 "smitten" because of idolatry. God 
 had said : " The iniquity of the Amo- 
 rites is not yet full," and, till it became 
 full, God waited. Then the Israelites 
 Avere bidden to smite. Thus the com- 
 mon epitaph of all these Canaanites is 
 really this : " Slain because of idolatry." 
 1. 77te state of unrepenled sin ijenerally 
 leads to some conspicuous sin, yreat in 
 the insult which it ofcrs God and in the 
 injury uhich it does to men. 2. Tlw 
 con.siiicuous sins of nun, uhich stand 
 iinmi'diately ctmnected with Judymeut, are 
 but the outcome of a life <f sin. 3. The 
 ciDisjiicuous sin of this dispensation, with 
 whhli the judymcnt of men is sjiecially 
 connected, is the rejection of the Saviour. 
 
nOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSIIVJ. chap. xiii. 
 
 The great epitaph which stands written children God writes, " These all died in 
 over all those who enter into "the second faith"; of the rest of mankind it may 
 death" is a very brief one. Of His be said, " These all died in unbelief." 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 JOSHUA C0M3fANI)ED TO DIVIDE THE LAND: THE CITIES AND 
 BOUNDARIES OF THE TWO AND A HALF TRIBES. 
 
 Critical Notes. — 1. Old and stricken in years] IIeb. — "old and come into days," or "years." 
 A common form of expression for advanced age (Gen. xviii. 11 ; xxiv. 1). Repeated of Joshua 
 (chap, xxiii. 1, 2). There are no sufficient data for ascertaining Joshua's exact age at this time. 
 Josephus (Ant. v. 1. 29) says that Joshua lived twenty-five years after the death of Moses. 
 This would make Joshua eighty-five years of age at the time of Moses' death, and about ninety- 
 two at the date marked by this verse, according well with his death, about eighteen years later, 
 at the age of one hundred and ten years (chap. xxiv. 29). If these figures are correct, Joshua 
 was six or seven years older than Caleb (chap. xiv. 5). 2- The borders of the Philistines] Lit. — 
 " the circles" ^^the circumference." The Philistines were not Canaauites, but were descended 
 from Mizraim, through Casluhim (Gen. x. 6, 13, 14 ; 1 Chron, i. 8, 11, 12). They must therefore 
 be regarded as belonging to the second rather than the fourth branch of the great Hamitic race. 
 In Gen. xxi. 32, 34 ; x.xvi. 1, 8, the Philistines are named as ah-eady inhabiting the neiglibourhood 
 of Gerar, in the extreme south-west of Palestine. In Deut. ii. 23. we find them as " the Caph- 
 torim which came forth out of Cajihtor," destroying ''the Avim." and making an encroachment 
 northwards to Azzah (afterwards Gaza), and establishing themselves in what was subsequently 
 known as "the land of the Philistines," or " the plain of tlie Philistines." They are more than 
 once mentioned as Caphtorim by the prophets (Jer. xlvii. 4 ; Amos ix. 7). They are sometimes 
 called " Cherethites " (1 Sam. xxx. 14 ; Ezek. xxv. 15, 16 ; Zeph. ii. 4— G), who are repeatedly 
 named with "tlie Pelethites" (2 Sam. viii. 18 ; 1 Kings i. 38, 44). In view of this interchange 
 of such names as point to the origin of the Philistines, perhaps it is safest to accept the hint 
 given elsewhere by the prophets (Jer. xxv. 20, 24 ; Ezek. xxx. 5), and regard them, in common 
 with some other races included in the phrase, as a "mingled people." Thi.s, too, is in part 
 sustained by the probable meaning of the word " Philistines" ^' Phillstwa — prop, 'the land of 
 wanderers,' 'strangers;' LXX. = 'AAX6(/)uXot, yrj ' A\\o<pv\u)v." [Gescn.] The language of the 
 Philistines is held to have been Shemitic rather than Hamitic. Perhaps this merely points to 
 a very early contact of these nomadic Casluhim and Caphtorim with some of the .Shemitic 
 families; e.g., Abimelech and his jicuple with Abraham and Isaac, as above. GeshuriJ Not 
 the same as "the border of the Geshurites," in clia]i. xii. 5, but a district south of Philistia, on 
 the way towards Arabia. 3- Sihor] Or S/iichor — " the Black River." Thought by some to 
 mean here the Pelusiac branch of the Nile. This lias been controverted by Rauiner and others. 
 Keil says : " The Sihor, tchirh is before (on the east of) L(/i/pt, can be no other than the Nachal 
 Mizraim (brook of Egypt), which Ls described as being the southern boimdary of Canaan towards 
 Egj'pt, not only in chap. xv. 4, 47, and Numb, xxxiv. 5, but also in Isa. x.wii. 12, 1 Kings 
 viii. G5, and 2 Chron. vii. 8. It is the brook which fiovvs into tlie Red Sea near to Rhinocorura 
 (el Aiish). In 1 Clinm. xiii. 5, thi.s is actually called Shihor of Egypt." The last passage shews 
 tliat. in (lie tinio <if I )avi(l, llic land had been taken as far south as this extreme boundary. To 
 the borders of Ekron northward] indicating the entire extent of the I'liilistine territory: 
 altjinugh the I'liilistines were not a part of "the devoted people," yet their land was '"counted 
 to the Canivanites," i.e., it formed a part of Canaan pro[>er. Ekron, now Ahir; in Mace. x. 89 
 it is called Accaron. The city was celebrated for the worship of Baal-zebub, the fiy-god (cf. 2 
 Kings i. 2). Gaza . . . Ashdoth . . . Gath] Cf. on chap. xi. 22. Gath was the city of the 
 Gittites. The Eshkalonites] ivshkalon, or Askelon, stood ui>on the sea co:i«t, south of Ashdod 
 It was taken by Judah (Judges i. IS), but is not named with the other Phili.stine cities, in chap. 
 XV. 45 — 47, as in the allntiiient of this tribe. The AvitesJ The former nccupants of the land 
 (Deut. ii. 23). some of whom may have l)cen spaicd, and suU'ered to retain a part of tlie land. 
 4. From the south] The Masoretic division of this verse is confusing, and is generally held to 
 lie incorrect, (imsor's remark seems to furnish the correct meaning: "The words ' from the 
 south' have cau.se(l some iliificulty, wliich disappears by reading them (as in the LXX. version) as 
 a proper name, — 'from Temaii,' tlie former southern limits of the Avites' territory. ^ All the 
 land of the Canaauites' accmn to sum up wliat has gone Ijcfore, and should be followed hj' a 
 full stop. From ' Mearali ' on the north-west, between 'lyre and Sidon, to one of tlie Ajilicks on 
 the east, bordering the old Amorite territory of Baslian." [Joshua and his Sncres.mi-s.] 5- The 
 Giblites] Probably the inhaliitants of Cebal. The LXX. have " Biblians ;" the Vulg. "Giblians." 
 Gebal was apparently on the coast of Phoenicia, near to Sidon (cf. Ezek. xxvii. 9 ; Ps. Ixxxiii. 7; 
 
 282 
 
CHAP. XIII. IIOMILETIC C03IMENTA11Y: JOSHUA. 
 
 eee also Mcmj. 1 Kings v. 18). LeTjanon toward the sunrising] = The eastern range, i.e., Anti- 
 Lebanon. The entering into Hamath] The valley of the Orontes, between the two ranges of 
 Lebanon, and leading into Upper Syria, towards its chief city Hamath. 9- Medeba unto Dibon] 
 The southern part of a table-laud reaching from Rabbath Amnion to the river Arnon. Both 
 places were given to the lieubenites (verses 16, 17), but were afterwards retaken by Moab (Isa. 
 XV. 2). Dibon, now Dihan, was rebuilt by the Gadites after it was taken by Moses (Numb, xxxii. 
 34), and thus for a short time seems to have borne the name of Dibon-Gad (Numb, xxxiii. 
 45, 46). The famous " Moabite Stone," containing an inscription of great anti([uity, was found 
 here a few years since. 17. Bamoth-baal] Cf. Manjin, and Numb. xxi. 20 ; xxii. 41 ; Isa. xv. 
 2. Baal-Meon] " (Jne of the town.s which were built by the Keubeuites (Numb, xxxii. 38), 
 and to which thej' 'gave other names.' It occurs in 1 Chron. v. 8, and on each occa.siou with 
 Nebo. In the time of Ezekiel it was Moabite. one of the cities which were the ' glory of the 
 coimtry ' (Ezek. xxv. 9). In the days of Eusebius and Jerome it was still called Balmauo, nine 
 miles distant from Hcshbou, and reputed to be the native place of Elisha." ySmith's Bib. Dict.l 
 18. Jahaza] Probably on the east of Dibon, bordering on the deseit (cf. Numb. xxi. 23, etc.). 
 Here Sihou was defeated and slaiu. The city was given to the Levites, a.s were the two other 
 cities named in this verse (chap. xxi. 36, 37), both of which seem to have been not far distant 
 (Deut. ii. 26 ; 1 Chron. vi. 78, 79 ; Jer. xlviii. 21). IQ. Kirjathaim] The Emim were defeated 
 here by Chedorlaomer (Gen. xiv. 5). With Sibmah, and Zareth-Shahar, it seems to have stood 
 in the ri.se of the valley from Heshbou towanls Mt. Ncbo. ISibmah was famous for its vines 
 (Isa. xvi. 8, 9 ; Jer. xlviii. o2). 20- Beth-Peor] Near to or vipun Mt. I'eor (Numb, xxiii. 28 ; 
 Deut. iii. 29). Ashdoth-Pisgah, etc.] Cf. on chap. xii. 3. 21. Dukes of Sihon] = " Vaasals of 
 iSihon;" so Kcil and other.s. "\Mnle "princes," or petty "kings" (cf. Numb. xxxi. 8) of the 
 Midianites, they were probably tributaries to Sihon. in whose country they were dwelling. 22. 
 Balaam also, etc.] There is no good reason for considering this and the preceding verse to be 
 " irrelevant " and " borrowed from the hi.storj' in Numbers," as suggested by Dr. A. Clarke. 
 Balaam's counsel had been the cause of the battle in which he and the five princes who dwelt 
 in this territory were slain. "When dealing with the geogi-aphy of this country, it was not 
 irrelevant but natui'al for the historian to tell us of these people who were in the unusual position 
 of pastoral settlers among its regular inhabitants, and to allude thus briefly to the cause of their 
 destruction. 23. Jordan and the border thereof] The natural bouudary which the Jordan 
 formed. The Joidau is similarly mentioned in verse 27. 25. Jazer] ■' It was taken from the 
 Amorites, and fortified by the Gadites (Nvuub. xxi. 32 ; xxxii. 35). It was as.signed to the 
 Levites (Josh. xxi. 39 ; 1 Chron. vi. 81) and afterwards taken by the Moabites. After the exile 
 it belonged to the Ammonites (Lsa. xvi. 8 ; Jer. xlviii. 32 ; 1 Mace. v. 8). Its situation, according 
 to Eusebius, was ten Roman miles westward from Philadelphia (Rabbath-Ammau), and fifteen 
 miles from Heshbon." [AV(7.] Aroer that is before Kabbah] Thus distinguished from Aroer 
 of Reuben, on the banks of the Anion. Kabbah] Called sometimes, in distinction from other 
 cities of the same name, " Rabbath of the Auimonites." It was the chief city of Amnion, and 
 though not originally assigned to Israel, it was subsequently besieged by Joab, and taken by 
 David (2 Sam. xi. 1 ; xii. 26—31). About B.C. 250, Ptolemy Philadelphus gave it the name 
 l'hiladeli)hia. 26. Unto Kamath-mizpeh and Betonini] These two cities seem to represent the 
 extent of the territory of the (Jaditcs towards the north, from the direction of Heshbon, which 
 stood in the lot of Reuben. This is the only place where the former of the two cities is mentioned 
 xiader this name, though it is thought by some to be the same with Ramoth-Gilead. Maha- 
 naim] = " I'lco /touts" (cf. Gen. xxxii. 2, 7, 10). It seems to have been strictly a frontier town, 
 as it is named as being also on the border of Man.asseh (ver. 30). It belonged to the lot of Gad, 
 but was given to the Levites (chap. xxi. 38). Here Abner proclaimed Ishbosheth (2 Sam. ii. 8, 
 9), and to the same place David fled from Absalom (2 Sam. xvii. 24), it being then a walled 
 town large enough to contain the king and the thousands who followed him (2 Sam. xviii. 1,4). 
 Debir] There is some iincertainty concerning the name, and the site is unkninvn. 27- Iq the 
 valley, Beth-aram. and Beth-nimrah] The valley of the Jordan, in which these and the two 
 following towns were situated. The order of the names is from the south of the valley upwards. 
 Beth-aram lieing near Peor and Zaphon (Tsaphon = " the north") the most northerly town of 
 the four, and probably of the tribe, standing near to the sea of Chinnereth. 30- All the towns 
 of Jair] I/(b. =" Chavvoth-Jair ;" the same as the Havoth-Jair of Numb, xxxii. 41. Chaivoth, 
 ]>1. of (7«((!a/i = "life," is the same with cJiayi/ah, which (according to Gesenius) = '' A family, a 
 tribe, especially of Nomades, hence a viUai/e of Nomudcs. a i'illaijv [prop., place where one lives, 
 i/ wells, so Germ, hheii in proper names £'islehcn. Asc/ier.sUhcn] (Deut. iii. 14; Josh. xiii. 30; 
 Judges X. 4 ; 1 Kings iv. 13)." Hence, the Havoth-Jair were " the dwelling-places of Jair." 
 The passage in Judges speaks of them as thirty cities, but the nmnber is usually given as sixty 
 (cf. also 1 Chron. ii. 22, 23). 31- The children of Machir] ]\lachir was the eldest son of 
 Manasseh. His descendants appear to have been by far the larger portion of the tribe (cf. Numb. 
 xxvi. 29 ; chap. xvii.). It seems impossible to decide how the families of Machir. Jair, and 
 Nobah, the sons of Manasseh, were distributed in the two luts, one on each side of Jordan, \\ hich 
 fell to this tribe. 
 
 233 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. chap. xin. 
 
 MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Verses 1—7. 
 
 God's Outlook upon Man's Life, and Work, and Hopes. 
 
 The Lord, who had called His people to this war (chap, i.), is here seen bidding 
 them to rest from war. For nearly seven years they had been toiling and striving 
 on the battle-fields of Canaan. Without this special commandment to rest, Joshua 
 would probably have felt it to be his duty to go on with the coutlict till every city 
 was won, and there remained no more of the land to be possessed. The Divine 
 command, while it may have wrought some anxiety of mind, must have been 
 very welcome to Joshua personally. The aged warrior needed rest, and must have 
 longed with deep desire to see the hosts of his people settled, each in their portion. 
 This is given as a principal reason for the command to cease from war and proceed 
 to the division of the land. I. The outlook of God on a human life. " Thou art 
 old and stricken in years .... now therefore divide this laud.'' 1. Oud ha^ 
 rei/finl to the. failure of our lives. We do not grow feeble unobserved. The 
 gathering infirmities of the aged are watched, not merely by loving hearts on 
 earth, they are seen also from heaven. God marks our failing strength. " He 
 knoweth our frame." " Few people know how to be old," said La Rochefoucauld ; 
 and Madame de Stael, " It is difficult to grow old gracefully." Vast numbers 
 prove the sayings only too true. Joshua had been a noble exception. Ever since 
 he went with Caleb and the other ten spies to search out the land, ho had been 
 putting on with each increasing year something more of the fear of God ; and now, 
 as an old man of well nigh a hundred years, he was full of wise kindness and 
 gentleness towards his fellows, and of love to Him who had given him strength in 
 so many marches, and victory in so many battles. And Jehovah had respect 
 unto His servant, (a) God sees the failure of men who are conscious that they 
 are failing, (b) God marks the failure of men who are careless of their infirmities, 
 or who seek to hide them. Young has told us that old age should 
 
 " W:ilk thoiijrhtful on the silent, solemn shcire 
 Of that vast Ocean it must sail so soon ; " 
 
 but whether men heed their nearness to eternity or hide it, God daily watches 
 their failing powers. Many years later He looked down upon the children of 
 some of these very people whom Joshua led into the laud, and said of Ephraim, 
 " Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth it not; yea, grey hairs 
 are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth not." 2. God thinks icith si/inpathi/ 
 on the Jiopes and disajijioinlitients of our lives. Joshua could not but have hoped to 
 see the people settled in their lots. When Moses had to go up Mount Ncbo and 
 die, without loading the people into Canaan, it was regarded as a piinisluuL'nt. It 
 was in mitigation of that punishment that he was permitted to see the land. So, 
 doubtless, Joshua would have been disap|)ointed had he been called away ere the 
 people had received their inheritance. God had sympathy with the hopes of His 
 servant. No less docs our heavenly Father sympathise with our hopes, when 
 they have regard to His glory and to His people's joy. 3. (rod rememhers the 
 jiroinises h\j which our hopes hare been insfiired and animated. Joshua had 
 repeatedly received the promise that he should cause the people to inherit. It 
 had been given through Moses (Dent. i. 88 ; iii. 28 ; xxxi. 7, 28). It had been 
 given by God to Joshua directly (chap. i. 2 — 15). When God Himself has 
 inspired our hopes and kept tlicui alive, He will not sufi'er tliem to fail because of 
 our weakness. II. God's contemplation of our life's work. " Tliere remaiucth 
 yet very much land to be possessed." Venj much of what Joshua had been wont 
 to consider as his assigned labour would have to be left undone. Consider the 
 following features in the liord's thought of us as engaged in His work : 1. He is 
 sclf-rontiiined and iialient in view of our slowness. There is no word of reproach to 
 Joshua. God takes time for His own work. The length of the geological periods. 
 The quiet and steady succession of the seasons. The silent and gradual growth 
 234 
 
CHAP. XIII. BOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 of animal and vegetable life. God can allow His servants time for their work. 
 He who hastens not Himself, is not dependent on the haste of men. No purpose 
 of His will fail because human hands are but weak. God is willing to allow His 
 servants all time that is necessary. He measures our work, not by what we have 
 done, but by how we have done. 2. He is very compassionate towards us in our 
 urakness and weariness. Looking back on our past. He sees where we have left 
 our strength. Beneath His considerate eye, every act which we have done from 
 a right heart becomes the visible embodiment of so much of our departed power. 
 In the Jerichoes and Beth-horons and Meroms which lie in the rear of His 
 children's march. He is pleased to behold monuments reared to His own name, 
 each one being built out of so much of their freely offered might. Their work, at 
 places, may be rough and poor, and may stand for little of good to men or of glory 
 to Himself ; there may be Ais in it, as well as Jerichoes ; it is enough for Him that 
 His people have been trying to serve Him, and that the process has exhausted 
 them. When He comes to the place where He has to say, " Thou art old and 
 stricken in years," that is also the place where He loves to think of their long- 
 cherished hopes, and to add, "Now therefore divide this land for an inheritance." 
 God sees where our sti'ength has been poured out. He pities us in our weakness, 
 and if we have been spending our might in His service. His compassion will not 
 come to us empty-handed. He still loves to connect His pity with our rest, and 
 with some inheritance. Jesus also says to His weary disciples, " Come ye your- 
 selves apart into a desei't place, and rest awhile ; " and the desert, like the sea 
 immediately after, witnesses to new wonders both of His love and power (cf. Mark 
 vi. 31 — 51). 3. His CiDiipassion docs not leave us to idleness, but uicrchj leads Him to 
 chaiuje our work Joshua might cease from war, but he must proceed to divide the 
 land. So with the disciples just referred to : the rest of the desert was but a 
 change of work, and the rest of the sea came only in the peace which followed the 
 storm. The " rest of faith " should not be inactivity. The rest of heaven will 
 not be inactivity. Here or hereafter, the Ijord does not make a heaven for us out 
 of idleness within us. III. The stateliness of God's words and purposes. Bring 
 together yet again the words of the opening and closing verses of the paragraph : 
 " There remaiiieth yet very much land to be possessed. . . . Now therefore 
 divide this land for an inheritance." The land which was not taken was ap- 
 portioned with the same calmness as the land already conquered, (Compare 
 chap. xiii. 2 — 4a, with xv. 45 — 47 ; also xiii. 4/^ — 0, with xix. 24 — 48.) Had 
 Israel been faithful, all would have been equally inherited. 
 
 Here, then, as we survey this calm assignment of the land of unconqucred nations, 
 we feel constrained to adoringly acknowledge that we are in a Presence far above 
 our own. Like admiring David, when Divine mercy had spoken of his house " for 
 a great while to come," we can only say, This is not " the manner of man, Lord 
 God " (cf. also Isa. Iv. 8, 9). These are ways and thoughts which, in their 
 combination of calmness and majesty, are " stamped with their own divinity." 
 
 1. This lofty manner (jivcs us a yliinj)se of the sublime rcjiose of (jod in His onii co)iscio us- 
 eless of inji nit ude. («) Touching His enemies, He rests in His felt might. No word is 
 spoken to assert the sufficiency of the might. Nothing so much as looks in that 
 direction. There are no disturbing thoughts whatever. The power is so great, 
 that the question of sufficiency does not even occur, (/>) Touching His people, 
 God rests in His love (cf. Zcph. iii. 17). For the present, God said to assure 
 Joshua, " Them will I drive out." These are words, however, the Israelites well 
 knew must depend on their faithfulness, and must be remembered together with 
 some other words to which they had often listened, and which were yet to be 
 repeated (cf. Exod. xxiii. 20—24; Numb, xxxiii. 52 — 5G ; chap, xxiii. 11 — 13). 
 
 2, 2 his lofty Duinner also bclonys to the ministry of Jesus Christ, (a) It is manifest 
 ill idl His tniraclcs. He says, " Fill the water-pots with water ; " " Give ye them 
 to eat; " "Take ye away the stone," The beginning of every miracle gives a 
 pledge of the end, and the pledge is given in a manner peculiar to Christ Himself.- 
 
 235 
 
TIOMILETIC C0M3IENTATiY: JOSHUA. chap. xm. 
 
 Moses at the sea, or before the rock at Horeb, makes you feel his excitement. 
 Elijah, standing on Carmel, or stretched on the body of the dead child at Sarepta, 
 trembles in the consciousness of a mere humanity which is about to become the 
 vehicle of a power so utterly beyond his own. Paul with dead Eutychus, and 
 Peter with dead Dorcas, ai'e ever so unlike Christ with the dead son of tho 
 widow, the dead daughter of the ruler, or dead Lazarus of Bethany. There is 
 always this " manner of men " even when men in an unquestioning faith know they 
 are to be aided to work the works of God ; their manner is not the manner of Jesus 
 Christ, {h) This feature is still more viarrelloiisli/ niKniJcst in many of the Saviour's 
 prumises and invitations. Examples : " If I be lifted up," etc. ; " Come unto mo, 
 all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest ; " " I am the bread 
 of life ; he that cometh to me,'' etc. ; "Heaven and earth shall pass away," etc. 
 ((•) 'There is the same assuredness of outlook in the Saviour's words of doom over the 
 ivicked. His prophetic denunciations over particular cities sometimes embrace a 
 considerable amount of detail ; and however full the detail, nothing is left contingent 
 or ambiguous. His utterances have in them nothing of the ancient oracles ; they 
 provide but one meaning, and never so much as glance at the possibility of that 
 meaning remaining unfulfilled. This is so in His dealing with Cliorazin and Beth- 
 saida, and the same calm realism pervades the words which announce the fall of 
 Capernaum. He seems to speak from within His own unerring consciousness, 
 looking with quiet sadness at the clear map of the inevitable future lying unfolded 
 there, rather than in indignation against the offending cities themselves. Thus 
 above Jerusalem, which would not be gathered to Him, He beholds the hovering 
 eagles of Rome, around it He sees the trench of Titus, while within it He marks 
 the would-be fugitives who are hastening from point to point, only to learn in an 
 increasing terror that they ought to have escaped to the mountains yesterday. All 
 this, and more, is seen in a calmness disturbed only by His tears, and proclaimed 
 as unavoidable just because the people will have the sin which not even He can 
 separate from tho doom. In the same august knowledge and power He still waits 
 upon His throne. He must reign. There may be much more land which, as yet, 
 His people have not possessed. He treats it already as His own. Meanwhile, in 
 a great and calm anticipation which has not even a thought that it can be other- 
 wise. He sitteth in the heavens, " from henceforth expecting till His enemies be 
 made His footstool. 
 
 Lessons. — 1. Touehing our inheritance, how jwaceful should be the rest of our 
 faith! 2. Hoiv realistic and hnght should he our hope! 3. How inevitable, to 
 themselves, should seem the destruction of all the enemies of Christ ! 
 
 OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VERSES. 
 
 Verse 1. Old Age in its Relation age ; and the third extending from the 
 
 TO WoKK. eightieth year to the end of life, and 
 
 " The words, ' old and stricken in constituting what was called advanced 
 
 years,' do not contain a tautology, but age, and caused the person who had 
 
 accurately express the period of life reached it to be described as one stricken 
 
 according to a division which was long in years. At this closing stage Joshua 
 
 familiar to the Jews, and may not have had now arrived." [Jul. of Calvin, in 
 
 been unknown to them even at this early /oc] 
 
 period. According to this division, old In this verse several important 
 
 age consisted of three stages, the first practical considerations are suggested, 
 
 extending from the sixtieth to the Read in connection with the history, wo 
 
 seventieth year, constituting the com- have brought under our notiro — 
 mencementof old age properly so called; I. A good man helped very much 
 
 the second extending from the seventieth by God, but subject no less than others 
 
 to the eightieth year, and constituting to the laws of nature. Joshua grew 
 
 what was called hoary, or hoary-headed old. It was proper to say of him also 
 236 
 
CHAP. XIII. 
 
 HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 that he was " stricken in years." God's 
 love does not exempt any man from 
 God's laws. The holiest of men, in 
 common with the wickedest, have ever 
 been subject to " the wear and tear of 
 life." A poet said admiringly of the 
 ocean, 
 
 *' Time writes no wrinkle on thine azure 
 brow ; " 
 
 but however much Time may spare the 
 face of the ocean, it spares no man. 
 Abraham was "the friend of God;" 
 but of him also it is written, he " was 
 old and well stricken in age." David 
 is spoken of as the man after God's own 
 heart ; he had to write of himself, 
 nevertheless, " I have been young, and 
 now am old." John was wont to speak 
 of himself as " that disciple whom Jesus 
 loved ; " he, too, drifted presently into 
 that consciousness of many years, which 
 made it seem to him quite appro- 
 priate to address men around him as 
 " little children." Paul knew much, 
 and wrote much, of the love and fellow- 
 ship of Christ ; it did not keep him 
 from coming to that sense of years out 
 of which he wrote of himself to Phile- 
 mon, " being such an one as Paul the 
 aged." God's love to us will give us 
 no immunity from God's laws. Why 
 should it ? His laws are not to be set 
 over against Himself, as though He were 
 on one side, and they were on another. 
 His laws are the outcome of His love, 
 and not something working contrary to 
 His love. Not a few have learned that 
 this law of physical decay is also a law 
 of love. Many besides Job have looked 
 gratefully at even the issues of decay, 
 and have said in their turn also, " I 
 would not live alway." Yet in the 
 stately march of time there seems some- 
 thing of unfeelingness. We measure 
 the flight of time by our clocks, and 
 how ruthlessly each individual clock 
 seems to tick ! A clock seems the 
 embodiment of a living thing with 
 absolutely no heart. Are we in joy ? 
 no pulse of the clock beats any faster. 
 Are we in sorrow ? the length of the 
 tick is exactly the same. The thing 
 has no sympathy — no bowels, as these 
 ancient Hebrews would have said. Are 
 we HI ? nothing seems so uuafl'ected by 
 
 it as the clock. Are we strong in health, 
 buoyant in spirits, cheei'cd by some 
 great victory, or made very glad by 
 some of God's good mercies ? the clock 
 seems absolutely indiflerent. Are many 
 lives depending for their rescue on two 
 or three more minutes ere a tide flows 
 or a train is due ? the clock will not 
 vary a single second for them all ; it 
 will not even go faster ; it has no delight 
 in the deaths, and no concern in the 
 lives ; it is so aggravatingly itself. An 
 heir is born to a throne ; a city is moved 
 with joy, and a whole kingdom is excited 
 with gladness ; even the iron cannon 
 that greet the new life seem to put on 
 an unusual loudness ; but the clock 
 puts on simply nothing, and puts off 
 nothing. It is the same when people 
 die. However great they may have 
 been, however good, it makes no differ- 
 ence ; through the long hours of the 
 night in which loving watchers wait 
 around the bed of the sufferer ; amidst 
 the interruption of the dying man's 
 groans, and over the silence of his ex- 
 haustion ; while friends anxiously stoop 
 to see if the breathing has ceased, and 
 when it has ceased ; as if in contempt 
 of the first bursts of passionate grief in 
 the bereaved, and of indifference to the 
 mute despair by which the passion may 
 be followed : always, and eveiywherc, 
 that eternal tick of the clock remains 
 the same. With movement enough and 
 rhythm enough to seem sentient, a clock 
 is as impassible as a mass of cast iron 
 which has been lying for ages in the 
 same place ; it is as indifferent as the 
 Pyramids themselves. 
 
 After all, these clocks are only our 
 obedient servants. They are the faith- 
 ful registrars of time. It is Time which 
 is so ruthless — so sternly indiflerent. 
 And yet this sternness of Time is God's 
 kindness through Time. Like the good 
 surgeon, who cannot aflbrd to weep 
 with his patient while he uses his knife, 
 but who uses it unflinchingly as the 
 only possible way of using it beueticially, 
 so Time deals with his subjects. Thus 
 it comes to pass that the man loved 
 much of his God fails even as others. 
 It is only our mistake when we cry, as 
 we are all apt to cry, and that with 
 little more variation than the two sisters 
 
 237 
 
IT O MILE TIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 (HAP. iiir. 
 
 of Bethany, " Lord, if Thou hadst been 
 here, my brother had not died." God 
 was with Joshua in the triumphs of 
 Jordan, of Jericho, of Ai, of Beth-horon, 
 and of Hazor ; for all that, Joshua's 
 end was coming fast. God would have 
 His people inherit a better Canaan than 
 any down here, and the way into that 
 also lies through a wilderness and across 
 a river — the wilderness of decay and 
 the Jordan of death. 
 
 II. An old man taught by God to 
 regard his age as a motive for dili- 
 gence. There was yet another great 
 work for Joshua to do ; he was to di- 
 vide the entire land of Canaan among 
 the people, and God virtually reminded 
 His servant that if this were to be done 
 at all it must be done at once. Many 
 Christians seem to think it quite enough 
 to have been active in early life, and 
 quite becoming to do almost nothing 
 when a ripened experience and a maturer 
 wisdom might enable them to render to 
 the Cburch a more valuable service than 
 ever. It is recorded of John Wesley, 
 that preaching one evening at Lowestoft, 
 when he was exceedingly old and infirm, 
 he was attended, and almost supported, 
 in the pulpit by a young minister on 
 each side. " The chapel was crowded 
 to suffocation. In the course of the 
 sermon he repeated, though with an 
 application of his own, the lines from 
 Anacreon : 
 
 • Oft am I by woman told, 
 Poor Anacreon ! thou fjrow'st old ; 
 See, thine hairs arc fallinfjall; 
 Poor Anacreon ! how they fall 1 
 Whether I grow old or no, 
 By these sij,Mis I do not know ; 
 By this I need not be told 
 'Tis time to live, if I grow old.' " 
 
 Perhaps no better example of diligence 
 in old age has ever been given to men 
 than that set by Wesley. Other aged 
 men might think it " time to die," or, 
 at least, " time to be idle," when 
 burdened with the weight of many years; 
 he found in his passing strength a re- 
 newed call to Christian earnestness. 
 The aged, also, have their duties. They 
 siiould hear in their infirmities the re- 
 iteration of their Lord's word : " The 
 night Cometh when no man can work." 
 God teaches aged Joshua that he can 
 238 
 
 j'et serve his fellows by dividing the 
 land. 
 
 III. A diligent man, who had been 
 diligent all his life, having to feel 
 that he must leave much of his work 
 to others. Joshua had been led to 
 regard the work of driving out the 
 Canaanites as peculiarly his own. Now 
 it had become evident that he must 
 leave the work incomplete. No doubt 
 God intended this. He had wise pur- 
 poses yet to fulfil through the people 
 who were unsubdued. To Joshua, how- 
 ever, it must have seemed, at times, as 
 though his own special work had to bo 
 left in an unfinished state. Thus, too, 
 was Moses called away. He had been 
 called by God to lead the Israelites iuio 
 Canaan ; he was summoned away while 
 they were yet in the wilderness. There 
 are thousands who seem called to some 
 great life-work, and who, when only 
 well into the midst of it, have to retire 
 from it, saying like Job, " My days 
 are past, my purposes are broken off, 
 even the thoughts of my heart." 1. Miii 
 should set themselves no work in life in 
 which they would not he overtaken h;i in- 
 firmitij and death. Failure of strength 
 comes irrespective of the task in which 
 men spend their strength. The most 
 miserable outlook which this life can 
 unfold to any man is at that point of 
 infirm helplessness in the present from 
 which not a few have to look backwards 
 on many years which have been worse 
 than useless, and forwards to an eternity 
 which is utterly hopeless. 2. Life, and 
 history, and Scripture, alike join in sayinff 
 to every man, " Whatsoever thy hand 
 findeth to do, do it icith thy miyht." The 
 young are apt to think that whatever 
 else they may want, they have plenty 
 of time ; the aged get to feel that there 
 is nothing which they need so much. 
 
 " Youth is not rich in time, it may be poor : 
 
 Part with it as with money, sjiaring ; pay 
 
 No moinont. but in purchase of its worth : 
 
 And wliat its wortli, ask. death-beds, they 
 
 can tell." Youmj. 
 
 He who would not feel bankrupt in the 
 possession of time when standing on 
 the margin of eternity, should loaru to 
 change each available monuuit, as it 
 passes, into the imperishable wealth 
 
CHAP. XIII. 
 
 HOMILETIC C0M3IENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 of something done for his fellows, and 
 thus for his God. That is the only 
 wealth of ours which can be ferried to 
 the other side, and that alone will have 
 any kind of currency with the Lord of 
 Life who awaits us there ; for while 
 our entrance into His presence will be 
 all of His work, and not at all of our 
 own, yet has he been pleased to an- 
 nounce His readiness to read our faith 
 in Himself through true service rendered 
 to His people, and to greet each be- 
 lieving worker with the welcome, " Well 
 done, good and faithful servant." 
 
 IV. A man with his life nearly 
 done and his labour unfinished able 
 to rest in the love of God both for 
 himself and his work. Whatever frailty 
 might have overtaken Joshua physically, 
 and whatever of incompleteness might 
 be manifest in the great task of his life, 
 everything was rendered beautiful by 
 his relation to God. After speaking of 
 the appearance of some of our English 
 ruins which he had been visiting, and 
 of the delight which they had given 
 him even in their decay, Nathaniel 
 Hawthorne exclaims : " Oh that we 
 could have ivy in America ! What is 
 there to beautify us when our time of 
 ruin comes ? " That which is outward 
 may bear marks of decay ; yet it may be 
 even more beautiful in its ruins than it 
 has ever been in its strength. " The 
 hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be 
 found in the way of righteousness." 
 Beautiful as is Joshua's life in its 
 strength, it is nowhere more beautiful 
 than in the integrity and faith attending 
 this closing work of his life {e.(j. chap- 
 ters xxii. 1 — 6, xxiii., xxiv.). He who 
 walks always in the obedience of faith 
 and the joy of love will be ever moving 
 into a life more peaceful to himself, and 
 more beautiful to those by whom he is 
 surrounded. 
 
 Verses 2 — 6. — The Lord's Interest 
 IN THE Unfinished Labours of His 
 Servants. 
 
 The verses suggest for consideration 
 the following thoughts : — 
 
 I. The items of our unfulfilled 
 labour as being all observed and 
 counted by God. Philistia, Pha'nicia, 
 and the region of Lebanon and Anti- 
 
 Lebanon were not yet subdued. God 
 saw all that had been conquered, and 
 all that was unconquered. The very 
 boundaries describing the uncompleted 
 labour are carefully defined. It is well 
 that our prayers should also have regard 
 to the " things which we have left 
 undone." 
 
 II. Our unfulfilled labour as being 
 met by the promised help of God. 
 " Them will 1 drire out,'' etc. (ver. 6). 
 God is not unconcerned about that 
 which His servants have done. He 
 also, as well as they, regards with 
 interest the work which they have been 
 unable to finish. He meets His ser- 
 vants' desires touching their unfinished 
 work both with sympathy and with 
 promises. 
 
 III. The promises of God as being 
 only fulfilled to His servants when 
 they walk with God. Some parts of 
 this territory never were subdued by 
 the Israelites. Occasionally they lost 
 some laud which had been conquered. 
 This was in strict accordance with God's 
 word, which had repeatedly declared 
 that all the people should not be driven 
 out if the Israelites transgressed. 
 
 IV. The promises of God, where 
 they are unfulfilled through His ser- 
 vants' sins, becoming the very ground 
 on which His servants sufferings are 
 most severe. Some of these very people 
 whose defeat was covenanted to Israel 
 by this promise, became the source of 
 Israel's greatest pain and shame in the 
 future (cf. Numb, xxxiii. 55 ; Judges ii. 
 1 — 5 j x. 6 — 9 ; xiii. 1 ; 1 Sam. iv.). 
 When Balaam went to curse the Israel- 
 ites, he could only bless them. With 
 God for them, the false-hearted prophet 
 could only cry, " How shall I curse 
 whom God hath not cursed ? " With 
 God for us, there can be no curse 
 against us ; with God against us, our 
 very blessings may become the sorest 
 curse of all (Mai. ii. 2). An unfulfilled 
 promise should be a cause of fear. 
 Something must be wrong when the 
 word of the faithful God is found re- 
 turning void. 
 
 " God orders the whole inheritance 
 to be divided into tribes, and the whole 
 line of the Mediterranean coast which 
 
 239 
 
HOMILETIC C03IMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 CHAP. xiir. 
 
 was possessed by ilie encm}^ to Ite put, 
 into the lot. A division of this kind 
 might indeed seem absurd and hidicrous, 
 nay, a complete mockery, seeing they 
 were dealing among themselves with 
 the property of others just as if it had 
 been their own. But the Lord so ap- 
 pointed for the best of reasons. 
 
 " . "irst. They might have cast away 
 the hope of the promise, and been con- 
 tented with their present state. Nay, 
 although after the lot was cast they had 
 security in full for all that God had 
 promised, they by their own cowardice, 
 as far as in them lay, destroyed the 
 credit of His words. Nor was it owing 
 to any merit of theirs that His veracity 
 did not lie curtailed and mutilated. The 
 allocation by lot must therefore have 
 been to them an earnest of certain pos- 
 
 session so as to keep them always in 
 readiness for it. 
 
 " Sccnndhi. Those who happened to 
 have their portion assigned in an enemy's 
 country, inasmuch as they were living 
 in the meanwhile as strangers on pre- 
 carious hospitality beyond their own 
 inheritance, must have acted like a kind 
 of taskmasters spurring on the others. 
 And it surely implied excessive stupor 
 to neglect and abandon what had been 
 divinely assigned to them. 
 
 " Thirdhj. It was also necessary that 
 the seat of each tribe should be allo- 
 cated while Joshua was alive, because 
 after his death the Israelites would have 
 been less inclined to obedience ; for none 
 of his successors possessed authority 
 sufficient for the execution of so difficult 
 a task." [Calviji.] 
 
 OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE PARAGRAPH.— Verses 8—83. 
 
 Verses 8 — 12. The Inhekitance on 
 THE East of Jordan. 
 
 The communication of God to Joshua 
 closes at the end of the seventh verse. 
 The Divine utterances are followed by 
 the author's personal reference to the 
 inheritance of the Reubenites, of the 
 Gadites, and of the remaining half tribe 
 of Manasseh, on the other side of Jordan. 
 Verses 9 — 12 give a general definition 
 of this eastern territory, which is more 
 minutely specified in the latter half of 
 the chapter. 
 
 The repetition in the eighth verse, 
 contained in the words, "As Moses the 
 servant of the Lord gave them," must 
 not bo regarded as meaningless. It 
 appears designed to emphasise the fact 
 that Moses had acted os tlie servant of 
 Jehovah in that particular assignment 
 of the eastern possessions already made. 
 The inheritance of the nine and a half 
 tribes was decided % lot ; that of the 
 two and a half tribes seems to have 
 been ordered according to the judgment 
 of Moses (chap. xiv. 2, 3). Tlie Israelites 
 undoubtedly believed in God's guidance 
 of the lot, the unerring direction of 
 which had been so solemnly attested 
 in the discovery of Achan. From these 
 early instances in which God gave wit- 
 240 
 
 ness that He guided the lot, it most 
 likely became a common faith that 
 "the whole disposing thereof was of 
 the Lord" (Prov. xvi. 33; xviii. IB). 
 Lest it might afterwards be thought 
 that God had not decided the respective 
 positions of the two and a half tribes 
 also, it is here emphatically asserted 
 that Moses had acted as Jehovah's 
 servant. God provides not only for 
 His people's possessions, but likewise 
 for their peace. 
 
 Verse 13. This verse indicates that 
 the book of Joshua was not Avritten 
 till after the time when it might have 
 been expected that the Geshuritcs and 
 Maachathites would have been expelled. 
 But the phrase "unto this day" may 
 only point to a few years later than the 
 time of the general conquest. The king 
 of Maachah was able to lead a thousand 
 men against Joab in the time of David 
 (2 Sam. X. G) ; but after the defeat of 
 Hadarczer, IMaachah, with the neigh- 
 bouring small states, probably became 
 tributary to David (2 Sam. viii. 5, 6 ; 
 X. 19). As after this no more is heard 
 of either Goshur or Maachah, and in- 
 dividual Maachathites are occasionally 
 mentioned amon" the warriors of Israel, 
 
CHAP. XI II. 
 
 H031ILET1C C031MENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 it seems natural to suppose that these 
 petty kingdoms were attached to Israel 
 by David. 
 
 Verse 14. The LE\aTEs. 
 
 The Levites, unlike the rest of the 
 tribes, were to have no detached portion 
 of the land as a separate inheritance. 
 Instead of this, they were to have their 
 inheritance in the religious offerings of 
 all Israel, and in the eight and forty 
 cities, scattered throughout Canaan, in 
 which they were permitted to reside. 
 
 We see in these Levites, 
 
 I. Men called to special service for 
 God, and specially exempted from the 
 cfires and responsibilities of secular 
 life. 
 
 II. Men crJled to spiritual service 
 for their fellows, and to be liberally 
 cared for by their fellows. 
 
 The New Testament makes no effort 
 to maintain the old Levitical machinery 
 as a means of providing for those who 
 minister in spiritual things ; it certainly 
 does maintain the principle of such pro- 
 vision. The machmery was necessarily 
 temporary ; theidea which themachinery 
 worked was essentially as lasting as the 
 necessity it was intended to meet. Some 
 think that gifts for religious work should 
 not be taken from irreligious men. No 
 man has a right to judge who is religious 
 enough to give and who is not. Every 
 man's gift to religion is to some extent 
 an acknowledgment of religion, and in 
 that measure is religious. Apart from 
 the inability and sin of Christians who 
 do not hesitate to sit in judgment on 
 their fellows, no wicked man's wicked- 
 ness, however wicked he may be, ex- 
 empts him from the duty of making 
 personal sacrifices to support the wor- 
 ship and service of God in the land of 
 which he is a citizen. A man's wicked- 
 ness exonerates him from no religious 
 duty Avhatever. Every day in which a 
 man lives in unbelief he is under obli- 
 gation to believe ; when he blasphemes, 
 he is still bound to worship : when he 
 lies, the obligation to be truthful is as 
 fully upon him as ever ; when he with- 
 holds his temporal things from service 
 which God designs to be an eternal 
 good to those around him, and whom 
 he himself has helped to deprave, he is 
 
 as much bound to give for religious 
 work as the godliest man living. No 
 rebel becomes free to rebel by rebelling, 
 or ceases to be amenable to taxation for 
 the crown by saying that he believes in 
 a republic. No wicked Israelite was 
 free to withhold his part in supporting 
 the worship of God, because his per- 
 sonal love of transgression, or of his 
 property, made any gift to the Levites 
 distasteful. Probably God sets little 
 value on the gifts for His service which 
 are offered by a wicked man ; yet when 
 a wicked man tries to do what is right 
 in anything, no other man is justified 
 in hindering him ; certainly no Christian 
 man should dare to ofi'er an unseemly 
 rebufi' to a fellow-man who is seeking 
 even in one thing to discharge his con- 
 science towards God. The Saviour, who 
 saw in the Pharisees only " bruised 
 reeds" and "smoking flax," would 
 neither break them in the one sense, 
 nor quench them in the other. True, 
 the Pharisees had not much religion 
 left, but even Christ did not forbid 
 them the little they had on the ground 
 that they had only that little. 
 
 Verse 22. The Wages of Uneight- 
 
 EOUSXESS. 
 
 The Apostle Peter tells us that Balaam 
 " loved the wages of unrighteousness." 
 The hope of gain had induced Balaam 
 to leave his home in Pethor of Mesopo- 
 tamia (Deut. xxiii. 4), and come to the 
 aid of the king of Moab. It is probable 
 that the reward given to the false prophet 
 was large; and, thus far, his expecta- 
 tions may have been satisfied. The 
 real reward of his iniquity was yet to 
 come. " The wages of sin is death," 
 and Baalam gives an example of the 
 way in which these words may have a 
 phj'sical as well as a moral fulfilment. 
 The connection between Balaam's sin 
 and his death is repeatedly and strongly 
 marked in Scripture. The war against 
 the Midianites was avowedly a war of 
 retribution, and the death of Balaam 
 is mentioned as that of the principal 
 ofi'ender (Num. xxxi. 3, 8, IG). It 
 seems named here for the same reason ; 
 the man had wrought great evil against 
 Israel, and his death was the outcome 
 of his wicked counsel. The successive 
 I 241 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTAliY: JOSHUA. 
 
 CHAP. XTII. 
 
 stages of Balaam's guilt and its conse- 
 quences may be thus noticed. We 
 see — 
 
 I. A weak man tempted to sin, and 
 tempted where he was weakest. — 
 1. Temptation ever comes to men on the 
 side on which theij are least able to resist. 
 A soldier may invest a fortress on all 
 sides ; he dii'ects the strength of his 
 assault where there are fewest means 
 of defence. The man who loved the 
 wages of unrighteousness was tempted 
 with that which he loved. Men who 
 are willing to run " greedily after the 
 error of Balaamfor reward," are tempted 
 in hke manner with Balaam. Judas 
 carried the bag and was a thief, and 
 forthwith came the opportunity to sell 
 Christ. Each man is tempted in the 
 direction of his peculiar weakness. 
 David was a man warm-hearted and 
 enthusiastic, and the attack which over- 
 threw him was on the least fortified 
 side of his nature. Peter was at once 
 ardent, impulsive, and possessed of a 
 certain pride of manliness. Nothing 
 would be so likely to betray him into 
 falling as a sudden attack in the direc- 
 tion of shame. The point of weakness 
 was the point of assault. Of the par- 
 ticular temptation before which Balaam 
 fell, Addison well remarked : " A man 
 who is furnished with arguments from 
 the mint will convince his antagonist 
 much sooner than one who draws them 
 from reason and philosophy. Gold is 
 a wonderful clearer of the understand- 
 ing ; it dissipates every doubt and 
 scruple in an instant, accommodates 
 itself to the meanest capacities, silences 
 the loud and clamorous, and brings over 
 the most obstinate and inflexible. Philip 
 of Macedon was a man of most invinci- 
 ble reason this way. He refuted by it 
 all the wisdom of Athens, confounded 
 their statesmen, struck their orators 
 dumb, and at length argued them out 
 of their liberties." 2. Most hinds of 
 temptation come to every man, and teniji- 
 tation is stromj or weak, accordinf/ to the 
 state of the heart that is tempted. A 
 recent writer narrates an incident which 
 aptly illustrates this. "Years ago, in 
 Cheshire, some new plants, quite un- 
 known before in the neighbourhood, 
 sprang up beside the canals by which 
 242 
 
 the salt was carried, and in pools around 
 the salt works. The people did not 
 know what to make of this phenomenon. 
 At last, some one who had lived by the 
 seaside recognised the plants as identical 
 in kind w^ith those which haunt the 
 ledges of the rocks just above the flow 
 of the tide, but within wash of the 
 spray. Then the thing was clear. The 
 germs of the plants had been from year 
 to year borne by the wind, or carried 
 by birds, to that place, but the conditions 
 under whifh they could grow had not 
 arisen. By-and-by the same conditions 
 which prevailed on the sea-coast were 
 fulfilled, and the gei'ms which formerly 
 had died took root and grew. Piemove 
 those conditions, and though the germs 
 are brought there at intervals, they will 
 not develop into life." Tlius the seeds 
 of temptation are scattered far and wide. 
 Most temptations, sooner or later, fall 
 into the laeart of every man. It de- 
 pends on the state of the heart into 
 which they fall whether they spring 
 up and grow into destroying sins, or 
 whether they die in the very beginnings 
 of life. Earth has only known one 
 Heart in which no seed of this kind 
 ever even so much as germinated at all. 
 Of Christ only has it been written, 
 " Who did no sin." Balaam received 
 his temptation, and forthwith, in such 
 fruitful soil, the seed grew apace. 3. No 
 man is aiii/ stronner than the place where 
 he is weakest. We are apt to measure 
 the strength of our life by those traits 
 of our character which are most pro- 
 mising. One man is benevolent, and 
 he thinks of his whole manhood as in 
 keeping with the compassion in which, 
 possibly, he prides himself. Another 
 man is strong in honesty, and by him 
 the strength of his integrity is apt to bo 
 regarded as though it were the measure 
 of the strength of all his manhood. The 
 earnest evangelist, whom men call "a 
 revivalist," has not seldom been found 
 taking it for granted that his Christian 
 character is as strong all round as it is 
 in tliat particular point in which he has 
 been found to be peculiarly successful. 
 IMen look at the strong place of their 
 life, and then go into temptation, for- 
 getting the weak side of their tempera- 
 ment and disposition. It is as though 
 
CHAP. XIII. 
 
 HOMILETIC COMMENT ART: JOSHUA. 
 
 a ship of war should he armour-plated 
 over only some half a dozen square 
 yards, and her captain should guide her 
 into a conflict, thinking only of the small 
 space through which the enemy's shot 
 could not penetrate, and forgetting that 
 a hall in any other part of the vessel 
 might sink him and his crew almost 
 immediately. It is as if a miner should 
 gauge the strength of his chain hy a 
 few stout links, and load the cradle by 
 which he himself was ahout to descend, 
 almost up to theu' breaking strain, heed- 
 less of the average power of the chain, 
 and not concerning himself in the least 
 about such links as were specially weak. 
 An engine-driver who would avoid an 
 explosion must have regard to the 
 weakest part of his boiler. The girder 
 of the bridge which spans the river is 
 only as strong as where it is weakest. 
 According to the axiom of the engineers, 
 "the weakest is the strongest." So 
 should every man estimate his own 
 character. He only is strong who 
 watches, and prays, and fortifies himself 
 where he is weak. 
 
 II. A tempted man restrained by 
 God, and restrained earnestly and 
 continuously. — The history in Numbers 
 shews us how graciously God had inter- 
 posed to prevent Balaam from this 
 miserable end. 1. God restrained J )alacan 
 h]i the poirer of cousrience. When the 
 elders of Moab and Midian first tempted 
 the prophet, ho seems instinctively to 
 have felt that it would be wrong for him 
 to go on this mission (Xumb. xxii. 8). 
 He who overrides his conscience must 
 be prepared to meet and confront it 
 again under less favourable circum- 
 stances. Conscience thus outraged, like 
 the ghost of Cnesar before the gaze of 
 the bewildered Brutus, may seem to 
 withdraw for a time ; but there is always 
 some Philippi where the sinner will 
 have to look upon it again. 2. God 
 restrained Balaam hij actual words. 
 " Thou shalt not go Avith them " (Numb, 
 xxii. 12). All along the ways of iniquity 
 men are opposed by the words of the 
 Jjord. It is easy to pass these words ; 
 it is hard to repass them, back to the 
 way of holiness. 3. God restrained 
 lJ(daain hy unusual and marvellous in- 
 te7-j)osition. The dumb ass was made 
 
 to speak, and the armed angel stood 
 between this man and the consummation 
 of his iniquity. Providence has still its 
 extraordinary calls. Accidents, sick- 
 nesses, bereavements. Even these may 
 be passed. The very angels must make 
 way for the man who is determined to 
 sin. It could not be otherwise. Sin 
 may be prevented by warnings only 
 when a man will accept the warning ; 
 goodness is not at the command of 
 swords, even when they are celestial. 
 The persecutors of the old days might 
 have learned a useful lesson from this 
 retiring angel. Every wilful man may 
 learn, no less, for himself, that God's 
 warnings stop short of coercion. The 
 sword which Divine love puts across 
 the path of the man who will go on to 
 sin, is but the shadow of the " coming 
 event" which heaven's mercy thus casts 
 before him, that he may turn again by 
 the way which he came. 4. God re- 
 strained Balaam by a continuous influ- 
 ence, wliich to a certain point ivas all- 
 powerful to hold this had man hack. Three 
 times did Balak build for Balaam seven 
 altars, on each of which was ofl'ered a 
 bullock and a ram, but Balaam could 
 only say, " How shall I curse whom 
 God hath not cursed?" Most men 
 have felt this restraining influence of 
 the Almighty. God does not seek to 
 compel men to be good ; but where He 
 will. He does hold men back from 
 wickedness. He can say, even to the 
 most violent desires and passions of the 
 vilest, " Thus far shalt thou come, and 
 no farther." 
 
 III. A man restrained by God 
 evading^ restraint, and sinning while 
 appearing to obey. — Balaam only sub- 
 mitted to the restraint outwardly ; he 
 did not curse Israel, because he could 
 not ; but the curse was in his heart all 
 the while. Mark a few points touching 
 the man's spiritual failure. 1. Balaam'' s 
 religion was neyative rather than posi- 
 tire. He did not say. What can I do 
 for God ? How can I serve men ? 
 He preferred to put the case thus : 
 Where must I obey God ? What com- 
 mandments must I keep ? See where 
 this spirit of mei'e commandment-keep- 
 ing ends. A man may go on like 
 Balaam saying, If I should have given 
 
 243 
 
IIO^IILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. chap. xni. 
 
 to me my house full of silver and gold, 
 I cannot go beyond the word of the 
 Lord, and yet come to an end as terrible 
 and sad as this. 2. l)alaam''s pieti/ 
 consisted of o)ily so much obedience as 
 mi(/ht serve to keep him from harm. He 
 sought to go as near to sin as possible 
 without getting smitten. Religion is 
 not a moderate love of the world ; it is 
 not moderate luxury, moderate avarice, 
 moderate ambition, moderate selfishness; 
 it is not in asking, How much of the 
 world may I have, and yet get to 
 heaven ? " If any man love the world, 
 the love of the Father is not in him." 
 The overflowing Nile renders Egypt 
 fertile ; the overflowing of the world in 
 a human heart causes spiritual barren- 
 ness and death. 3. Balaam's relujion 
 teas made 7ip of feelings of duty rather 
 than of thoughts of love. He " loved 
 the wages of unrighteousness." His 
 heart was yearning to curse because 
 of gain. Duty may bo a good and 
 sufficient word for ordinary conflicts. 
 Nelson hung it out at the masthead of 
 his ship for a battle signal, and dying 
 said, " Thank God, I have done my 
 duty." But the stern warrior was 
 moved to conflict by something more 
 than the sense of duty. He loved his 
 duty, and loved the nation which he 
 served ; otherwise even his conflicts 
 had not so often ended in victory. The 
 Christian has a sterner tight — a fight 
 with foes unseen and innumerable. Let 
 others do as they will, he can only 
 triumith by love. 4. Balaam's religion 
 lay merely in feariny God rather than in 
 desiriiiy God's ylory. Only fear kept 
 him from pronouncing the curse out- 
 right. We are told that "The foar of 
 the Lord is the heyinnivy of Avisdom ; " 
 but he will be very foolish who lets his 
 wisdom end there. Fear may do well 
 enough for the beginning of the way, but 
 only the love of God can keep a man to 
 the end. David ardently desired to 
 glorify God, and was restored from sin's 
 lowest depths ; Solomon was enamoured 
 of his own glory, and his end is sad and 
 obscure. Peter loved his Lord witli 
 passionate fervour, and we see him go 
 from his denial to the Sea of Tiberias, 
 and thence into the joy of Pentecost and 
 the mellow godliness of his epistles ; 
 244 
 
 Judas loved the bag, and he went and 
 hanged himself. 
 
 IV. A man sinning while simulat- 
 ing obedience, and the sin working 
 steadily towards death and ending in 
 death. — From the time when Balaam 
 started on this mission of cursing, he 
 was unconscioi;sly drawing near to his 
 end. Each step was so much near to 
 the time when he should lie a ghastly 
 corpse on the battle-field of Midian. 
 Added to this constant approach to the 
 place where he should be slain, there 
 was a concurrent movement towards 
 spiritual death. Every hour of inward 
 yearning to do what God had bidden 
 him not to do was an hour of spiritual 
 decay. Thus Balaam went on till he 
 was able to give his fiendish counsel to 
 the Midianites, and probably to rejoice 
 in the terrible success which attended 
 it. The dead body upon the battle-field 
 was only a symbol and a consequence 
 of the dead spirituality which it had 
 once covered. The man was dead every 
 way. 1. Learn that sin in the heart 
 will presently come out in the life. There 
 comes a time when wickedness cherished 
 in the heart will burst its way through 
 the thin crust of a mere outward 
 obedience, and, like some terrible 
 Vesuvius, will pour out the hidden 
 material of many years in a destroy- 
 ing lava — molten at last into that by 
 the tierce fires of a long-eucouraged 
 passion. 2. Learn aUo that God n-ill not 
 always ivarn. There comes a time when 
 He bids His dumb creatures speak to 
 wilful sinners no more, when He stands 
 no more angels in their path to destruc- 
 tion, and when His own forbidding voice 
 ceases to bo heard. Again it miglit be 
 written, in this case with another mean- 
 ing, " There was silence in heaven for 
 the space of half an hour." This silence 
 of heaven is very awful. It is the pause 
 in the spiritual world which immediately 
 precedes the storm of judgment. Let 
 those who hear nothing more from 
 heaven be alarmed. "Ask now the 
 beasts, and they shall teach thee." Be- 
 hold, in the similar silence of nature, 
 they llee every one to his haunt ! So 
 let him who has ceased to hear the 
 voices of God flee to the riven Rock of 
 Ages. Let hira hear in the very silence 
 
CHAP. XIII. 
 
 HOMILETIC COMMENTAEY: JOSHC/J. 
 
 of heaven the final invitation of Jehovah, 
 "Enter thou into thy chambers, and 
 shut thy doors about thee : hide thyself 
 as it w^ere for a little moment, until the 
 indignation be overpast." 
 
 Verses 23 — 32. — The Inheritance of 
 Keuben, Gad, and the Half-tribe of 
 Manasseh. 
 
 The boundaries of these tribes whose 
 possessions were " on the other side of 
 Jordan " are as carefully defined as 
 those of the tribes wlio inherited the 
 lard originally promised. 
 
 1. God's people are His people 
 everywhere. The people were not 
 for the land, but the laud was for the 
 people. 
 
 2. God's care of His people is irre- 
 spective of place. One side of Jordan 
 or the other, it matters not, so long as 
 they walk in the knowledge and love of 
 Him. 
 
 3. God's care of His people provides 
 for their peace with each other. Lest 
 disputes should arise, the territory of 
 each tribe is, from the first, carefully 
 marked. Lest the Levites should after- 
 wards claim some of the land for a 
 possession, they are repeatedly told, as 
 in verses 14, 33, that th(>ir inheritance 
 was to be in the Lord God of Israel. 
 Pence also is meant to bo a part of the 
 earthly inheritance of the children of 
 God. 
 
 Verses 14, 33. — The Inheritance of 
 THE Tribe of Levi. 
 
 This exclusion of the Levites from 
 any possession in the land, and the 
 assurance that they had in some way 
 beyond their brethren an inheritance 
 in the Lord God of Israel, we find 
 repeatedly mentioned in the books of 
 Numbers, Deuteronomy, and Joshua. 
 The emphasis which is laid on the 
 arrangement shews unmistakably that 
 it was deemed by God Himself to be 
 one of unusual importance. Two dis- 
 tinct features are made prominent in 
 this regulation on behalf of the Levites. 
 God shews us — 
 
 I. Men with special religious work 
 having as great an exemption as 
 possible from secular anxieties. The 
 Levites were only to have certain "cities 
 
 to dwell in, with their suburbs for their 
 cattle and for their substance " (chap, 
 xiv. 4). They were not to be cumbered 
 with the cares of business, nor burdened 
 with the anxieties of gi-eat earthly pos- 
 sessions. Living to serve their fellows, 
 they were to be maintained by their 
 fellows. " They were to have no terri' 
 torial possessions. In place of them 
 they were to receive from the others 
 the tithes of the produce of the land, 
 from which they, in their turn, ofi'ered 
 a tithe to the priests, as a recognition of 
 their higher consecration (Numb, xviii. 
 21—26 ; Neh. x. 37)." [Smith's Bib. 
 I>ict.] Is this system of tithes obli- 
 gatory now ? The chief answer to this 
 question must be derived from Scripture 
 itself. There is nothing whatever in the 
 New Testament to perpetuate the prac- 
 tice. It is recognised as binding down to 
 the very time of the last of the prophets 
 (Mai. iii. 10), and then all mention of 
 it, as a duty, suddenly ceases. Not a 
 word urging it is said either by Christ 
 or His apostles. The continuance of 
 the system of tithing by some churches 
 might form, from an ecclesiastical point 
 of view, a singular and interesting study 
 en the recent doctrine of " the survival 
 of the fittest." The Saviour's abolition 
 of the Levitical ceremonial is distinctly 
 recognised, but with a theological dis- 
 cernment which says much for their 
 ingenuity, many ecclesiastics who make 
 no question about the abohtion of the 
 Levitical service, have no doubt at all of 
 the continued obligation of the Levitical 
 dues. They have no thought of the 
 whole service of the Church being con- 
 fined to a single family, nor of " the 
 priesthood " being limited to a particular 
 branch of that family ; the old law of 
 hereditary succession is abrogated, the 
 ancient service itself has expired, only 
 the payments have survived. Among 
 several grave reasons against the con- 
 tinuance of a system which God evi- 
 dently designed to be limited to the Old 
 Testament dispensation, only one other 
 need be mentioned here. The Jewish 
 theocracy contemplated the unquestion- 
 ing submission of every Israelite to the 
 law of Moses. No room was left for 
 dissent or diflerence, as the fate of 
 Korah and his companions so terribly 
 
 245 
 
HOMILETIG COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 CHAP. xin. 
 
 attested. The very idea of a theocracy- 
 was essentially an idea of uniformity. 
 The personal and almost immediate rule 
 of God, to whose actual presence with 
 the people mighty works were continually 
 hearing witness, necessarily supposed a 
 universal and uniform ohedieuce. The 
 Gospel comes to men with all the old 
 responsihilities touching ohedience, but 
 with a vastly enlarged measure of liberty. 
 Christianity is emphatically a choice, not 
 a compulsion. Christ stands by even 
 His twelve apostles, and, while others 
 are actually departing, says to them too, 
 " Will ye also go away ? " They could 
 if they would. The sharply defined 
 commands of the law of Moses stand 
 out in strange contrast to the tender 
 pleadings and tears of Jesus, and the 
 very pathos of the Saviour's entreaties 
 supposes the misused liberty of those 
 who so long rejected them. Under the 
 Old Testament, and to the extent of 
 those limits covered by the theocracy, 
 the Church was the world ; under the 
 Gospel, the Church is in the world. In 
 a word, under the Old Testament system, 
 which regarded every Israelite as bound 
 under severe penalties to serve God, the 
 tithing of all Israel was logical and na- 
 tural ; under the Gospel, which appeals 
 to men for voluntary discipleshi]i, the 
 compulsory and indiscriminate tithing 
 of men, irrespective of the fact that 
 many of them may reject the Gospel, 
 carries an untruth i;pon its very face. 
 It is, virtually, making Christ to say, " I 
 give you liberty to accept the Gospel, or 
 not ; I give you no liberty whatever in 
 the matter of paying for its support ; " 
 a position which would degrade the 
 Saviour by the suggestion that His 
 mercenary concern about human gifts 
 was so much in excess of His spiritual 
 concern for the souls for which He died. 
 While, however, the method of sup- 
 porting those who minister in religious 
 service essentially difi'ers under the two 
 dispensations, the principle laid down 
 here is not lost sight of in the New 
 Testament. "Even so hath the Lord 
 ordained that they which preach the 
 Gospel should live of the Gospel." 
 Those who devote their lives to the 
 spiritual welfare of their fellows are, no 
 less than the Levites of old, to be set 
 246 
 
 as free as possible from the anxieties of 
 procuring the necessaries of life. 
 
 II. Men with special religious 
 necessities and peculiar spiritual 
 privileges. 1. The Lord God is the 
 inheritance of all icho serve God. Every 
 true Israelite had a portion in the Lord, 
 (a) Men may participate in this iuheri- 
 tauce irrespective of family. Judah, 
 Simeon, Ephraim, Levi, or either of the 
 other tribes — it mattered not which — 
 all might seek and find a possession in 
 God. This most glorious of all estates 
 came through no particular parentage, 
 as such, [b) Men may participate in 
 this inheritance, notwithstanding past 
 history. The degradation of Egypt. 
 The sins of the wilderness. Grace 
 hides the past., blotting out even the 
 worst ti'ansgressions. (c) Men cannot 
 participate in this inheritance without 
 regard to the present. Only a godly 
 heart and a godly life can inherit God. 
 When Israel forsook the Lord, the fact 
 that the}' were known as God's people 
 did not secure them an inheritance in 
 Him. This estate cannot be " con- 
 veyed " to a heart without love, or to a 
 life devoid of holiness. 2. This Dicine 
 inheritance is ever adapted to the variety 
 and stress of human ivant. The Levites 
 were calked to serve their brethren in a 
 most responsible work, and God pro- 
 mised Himself to them for a peculiar 
 possession. With God for an inheri- 
 tance, and a heart right towards Him, 
 great spiritual wants do but make way 
 for a large measure of Divine mercy and 
 help. 3. Thus he vho has (rod for his 
 inheritance may icell feel satisfied, thoiiyh 
 all else see7)is to fail liim. It was out of 
 the cave, when hunted by Saul, that 
 David cried unto the Lord : " Thou art 
 my refuge and my portion in the land 
 of the living." (Cf. also Ps. xvi. 5, 6 ; 
 Ixxiii. 20.) Still more remarkable is the 
 similar expression of faith by Jeremiah 
 in Lam. iii. 24. In his case we see au 
 aged man with nothing else left, after 
 forty years of ajiparently fruitless labour, 
 and as many of pious experience, with 
 no strength or opportunity to begin his 
 work over again, still rejoicing in God. 
 Sitting in the streets of desolate Jeru- 
 salem, when all her inhabitants had been 
 carried away captive, tlie aged prophet. 
 
CHAP. XIV. KOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 with a sorrow beautiful in its humanness ford speaks to us from one of his letters : 
 
 and a faith magnificent in its trust, cries " I know not what you have if you want 
 
 out in one and the same song of grief : Christ ; I know not what you want if 
 
 "Mine eye runneth down with rivers of you have Christ." The Levites were at 
 
 water for the destruction of the daughter once the poorest and the richest tribe of 
 
 of my people ; " " The Lord is my por- Israel. They had no earthly estate in 
 
 f ion saith my soul, therefore will I hope the land ; they had a peculiar portion 
 
 in Him." Thus, like stars on the dark in God, who provided for their temporal 
 
 face of the night, does God shew us the wants, and who stood ready to give 
 
 jewels of His people's faith shining forth Himself to them specially in those 
 
 from the setting of broken earthly hopes necessities created by their religious 
 
 and utter destitution. So good liuther- service for their brethren. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 DIVISION OF THE LAND WEST OF JORDAN.— THE INHERITANCE 
 
 OF CALEB. 
 
 Critical Notes. — The section of the history which is introduced in the first five verses of 
 this chapter terminates with chap. xix.. and deals with the division of the land lyinf; between 
 the Jordan aud the Mediterranean, amon<r the nine and a half tribes. 1. Eleazar the priest] 
 lie was solemnly set apart to this office in Mount Hor, just before the death of his father. As 
 the distribution of the land was to be by lot, Eleazar the priest is named before Joshua. This, 
 too. is the order in which the names occur in Numb, xxxiv. 17. As Keil points out : " In 
 every other respect, even in the distribution of the land, Joshua was at the head of the com- 
 mission appointed for that purpose, as we may clearly see from ver. 6, chap. xvii. 1-1, xviii. 3." 
 The high priest only had precedence in things purely sacred. To consult Gud was the first 
 step in dividing the land, and this was to be iloiie liy God's high priest. Heads of the fathers 
 of the tribes] Called •■ princes" in Numb, xxxiv. ]!S. following which the ten names of the 
 representatives are given. 4. The children of Joseph were two tribes] Levi not being counted. 
 Tiiis is stated to show how the number of finlrc tribes was nevertheless preserved in the 
 territorial division. Cities . . . with their suburbs] The extent of these suburbs was to 
 be one thousand cubits beyond the city wall, in each direction (Numb. xxxv. 4, 5). The 
 ilillii-ulty of the verses in Numbers is well explained by Keil. Therefore they gave] IIcb.= 
 " And they gave." It is not said that this was the reason why the Levites had no portion of 
 territory. 6. Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite] •• A very interesting question arises 
 as to the birth .iiid parentage of Calel). He is, as we have seen, styled ' the son of Jephunneh 
 the Kenezite,' and his younger brother Olhniel, aftcrwai'ds the first Judge, is also called ' the 
 son of Kenaz' (Josh. xv. 17 ; Judges i. 13. iii. 9, 11). On the other hand, the genealogy in 
 1 Chron. ii. makes no mention whatever of either Jephunneh or Kenaz, but represents Caleb, 
 though obscurely, as being a descendant of Hezmn and a son of Hur (see, too, chap. iv.). 
 Again, in Josh. xv. 13. we have this singular expression, ' Unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh 
 he gave a part ainon;/ tlie r/iildnn of Ji/fhih ;' and in xiv. 14, the no less signifiiant one, 
 ' Hel)ron became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite, because that he 
 wholly followed Jehovah O'vd of Israel.' It becomes therefore quiie possible that Caleb was 
 a foreigner by birth, a proselyte incorporated into the tribe of Judah." [Smith's liih. Diet.} 
 See also Crosliy's remarks, in loc., on the similar conjecture of Lord Hervej". The thing that 
 the Lord said unto Moses] Comparing Numb. xiii. 22, xiv. 24: Deut. i. 36, with ibis plea 
 offered by Caleb, it ^cems sufiicicntly clear that God had promised Hebron to Caleb for a 
 possession. 7. As it was in mine heart] " The expression evidently denotes sincerity, the 
 heart being thus opposed to deceitful word.s. He acted honestly according to the command 
 given him, without gloss or dissimulation." [Calvin.] 9. Surely the land, ctc.'\ Although 
 Hebron is not named in any of the verses in the Pentateuch which refer to the mission of the 
 spies, it .seems to have been mentioned to Caleb in the promise of Moses, the written history 
 being only an epitome of that which actually took place. 10. These forty and five years] 
 Thirty-eight of these were spent in the wilderness, and the remaining seven hail lieen occupied 
 in the conquest of the kuul. This is the most important of the chronological data afforded by 
 the book. 12. This mountain, whereof the Lord spake in that day] Shewing, as suggested 
 under verses, (i. '.'.that I bl in m and its neighbourhood had been mentioned by name in the Divine 
 promise. 14. Unto this day] '' The book of Joshua was therefore written while Caleb still 
 lived." [Crtmhi/.] This, however, is by no means certain ; for there is, at least, the possibility 
 
 247 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. chap. xiv. 
 
 of correctness in Keil's remark : " In verses 14. l.o, the author appends to some observations 
 of his own. the narrative, which he has co]ne(l verbatim from the original documents." 
 15, The name of Hebron before was Kirjath Arba] >• City of Arba." Hen(rstenberg contends 
 that the ori;j.inal name was Hebron, that Arba, with the Anakim, did not found the city, but 
 conquered it, and that not till after the time of Al)raham's residence there (cf. Gen. xxiii. 2 ; 
 Numb. xiii. 22). The land had rest from war] This is repeated fj-om chap. xi. 23, shewing 
 that the further division of the land was unaccompanied with any gew.ral conflict with the 
 Canaanites who remained unsubdued. 
 
 MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Verses 1—5. 
 
 God's Choice of His People's Inheritance. 
 
 The principal topic of these verses is the division by lot of the inheritance of 
 the nine and a half tribes. The lot was of the Lord ; the details of the method in 
 which it was obtained are not stated. Probably the process was carried on at the 
 door of the tabernacle, and presided over by Eleazar, the high priest. Further 
 than this we know little. The Rabbins think that two urns were used, one con- 
 taining the names of the districts to be chosen, and the other the names of the 
 tribes, a simultaneous selection being made from each urn. The employment of 
 two urns, however, is a mere speculation. The operation would have been equally 
 definite had the representative of each tribe drawn for his people the name of the 
 district from one urn. However the process may have been conducted, the issue 
 was directed by Jehovah. " The lot was cast into the lap " (lit., " bosom," perhaps 
 meaning that of the vessel or garment employed) ; " but the whole disposing thereof 
 was of tlie Lord." 
 
 Looking in a general way at the subject of the verses, the following thoughts are 
 suggested : — 
 
 1. An insig^iiificant lot, feeble creatures to occupy it, and the lot, never- 
 theless, chosen by God. The Jews fully believed in the Divine guidance in 
 this form. In the solemn judgment of Achau, the question, to them, must have 
 been placed altogether beyond doubt. Scripture continually teaches that God 
 directly affords His guidance to men, and that in other matters than on occasions 
 like this. " In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths." 
 1. GoiVs choice of our tuts in this life is no fiction, but an evident rculiUj. It is 
 not manifest and visible ; it is nevertheless placed beyond doubt. No eye could 
 see the hand of God within the urn from which the princes made their selection ; 
 that hand was there notwithstanding. It is thus always. We can never pronounce 
 upon this as we look at the process ; we can often speak confidently as we mark 
 the results. Taking this case, for instance, of the dividing of the land, compare 
 the prophetic blessings of Jacob and Moses with the issues of the lot. " The 
 portion, says Masius," as reported by Dr. Clarke, " fell to each tribe just as Jacob 
 had declared two hundred and fifty years before, in the last moments of his life, 
 and Moses immediately before his death ; for to the tribe of Judali fell a country 
 abounding in vineyards and pastures ; to Zebulon and Issachar, sea coasts ; in that 
 of Ashcr was plenty of oil, wheat, and metals ; that of Benjamin, near to the 
 temple, was, in a manner, between the shoulders of the Deity ; Ephraim and 
 Manasseh were distinguished with a territory blessed in a peculiar manner by 
 heaven ; the land of Naphtali extended from the west to the south of the tribe 
 of Judah " (cf. chap. xix. 34). While there is some difficulty as to the case o\ 
 Naphtali, the general correctness of this description of agreement is imquestionable. 
 In the same way who can fail to see God's guidance and choice in the lot ot 
 Abraham, of Joseph, of Moses, or of Cyrus. Similarly Christ marked out the 
 future of some of His apostles. He said of John words which seemed to intimate 
 a long life ; to Peter, " Thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird 
 248 
 
CHAP. XIV. IIOMILETIC GOBIMENTABY: JOSHUA. 
 
 thee ; " ;ind, not least noteworthy, of Paul, " I will shew him how groat things he 
 must sufier for my name's sake." No loss does God choose the lot of His servants 
 now. The unseen process. The reality of the fact. 2. This concern of God in 
 the lot which men shall occitpij in life is veri/ wonderful in its condescension. How 
 glorious is the universe over which Jehovah rules ! How insignificant must any 
 one of these little divisions of Canaan have appeared to Him ! How frail, physi- 
 cally and religiously, were the creatures who were to occupy these littla lots ! 
 For what a mere point of time, to Him who is the Eternal, could they hold them ! 
 How very wonderful does Divine condescension appear as we see the Divine 
 attention seemingly concentrated for century after century on these few lots of 
 land in Palestine, which pass successively towards, into, and through the hands of 
 so many occupants ! What a mere morsel of a lot each individual life is concerned 
 Avith, and for what a mere moment of time is the lot held hy any particular life ! 
 Yet all this is but a picture, taken from the gallery of Providence by the hand of 
 Revelation, and held out to the gaze of men. It is only a section, and that given 
 but in outlines, of a long panoramic view of God's care of human lives, which 
 began with Adam, which has never ceased with any one of his descendants, which 
 is being extended to-day, and in which, it may be, the redeemed shall presently, 
 through the ages of eternity, examine with wonder, awe, and admiration, the 
 wisdom, patience, and love displayed in God's marvellous care for His creatures. 
 II. Many lots, and many would-be choosers, but the choice of the Lord the 
 only choice worth following. Meu see about them in lite an endless variety of 
 conditions, and not a few think the lot of their neighbour better than their own. 
 Men and women cry out not only for a " changed cross," but for a changed lot. 
 Contrary to what they feel to be the leadings of Providence, not a few try to force 
 their way through life in some other direction. They have no care to study the 
 will of God, and not unfrequently try to avoid it. Either here or hereafter, the 
 sorrowful issues of a course like this cannot but disclose its folly. The following 
 things should be borne in mind touching the choice of God : — 1. It is the choice 
 of one who knows us perj'ectlt/. We know little of ourselves. Every day's experience 
 proves this. The very proverbs which have obtained an abiding place in our 
 literature prove it : " Man, know thyself ; " "The greatest study of mankind is 
 man," etc. God knows how much we can bear ; how much prosperity, how much 
 adversity, how much change, how much monotony. He knows us altogether. 
 2. It is the choice of one ivlio sees our lot as perfectly as He knows ourselves. We 
 can see no distance before us. We cannot take into the account what our great 
 poet calls the " millioued accidents " which intervene between our plans and theii 
 results, and " blunt the sharpest intents." All these, even as we ourselves, are 
 " naked and open to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do." 3. It is the 
 clioice of one who prepares our lot beforehand. The lot of our lives is no hap- 
 hazard thing. God had been four hundred and thirty years preparing these lots 
 for the Israelites. From the call of Abraham onward, a hundred events shew the 
 careful preparation of the Lord. 4. It is the choice of one who ever holds our lot 
 well within His own control. Nothing surprises Him. Nothing defeats His purpose. 
 Nothing escapes without the boundless circle of His management. Nothing changes 
 His benevolent designs. "He is in one mind, who can turn Him ?" Only we 
 ourselves, by persistent sin, can break away from His gracious intentions. 5. It 
 is the choice <f one who eijucdly controls all surroumlin;/ lots. All the lots which 
 lie around our own, all events of others which touch upon the events of our 
 own lives, are also at His bidding. And " All things work together for good to 
 them," etc. 
 
 These are but items in the list which, could we read it fully, would tell us of 
 His infinite fitness to undertake for us. Let the song of the after ages, from the 
 lips of the descendants of Israel, bear its witness to the blessedness of the choice 
 of the Lord (cf. Ps. xlvii. 1 — 4). The children of these very people, centuries 
 later, learned to cry out in a great and irrepressible joy : " clap your hands all 
 
 249 
 
ROMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. chap. xiv. 
 
 ye people ; shout uuto God with the voice of triumph. .^ . . He shall choose our 
 inheritance for us, the excellency of Jacob whom He loved." III. The Divine 
 choice of human lots acquiesced in by men, or resisted by men, and God's 
 will alike prevalent in either case. 1. Think of GocVs choice in its intcr- 
 irarkinij irith the icilliiKj ej/hrts of Ills own people. The land was to be divided by 
 lot, but the lot could only point out the district ; the extent of its boundaries had to 
 be decided by the leaders of the people. A large tribe was to have much territory ; 
 a small tribe was to have little. That was the general rule for the distribution 
 (Numb. xxvi. 51 — 56 ; xxxiii. 54). " The lot," says Clericus, " appears to have 
 determined only the situation, but not the size of the fields." So Calviu, Masius, 
 and Keil also expound. God determined the situation, and, saving regulations to 
 guide them, He left men to determine the extent. It is much the same in our 
 lives now. God interworks with the man who follows His will, and while He 
 shapes the life in its main features. He leaves very much to ourselves. He leaves 
 much to our faithfulness in conflicts which yet remain. He leaves much to our 
 energy and industry in daily toil. He leaves much to our judgment, asking us in 
 all difficulties to refer back to Him for further guidance. Thus, Providence is no 
 mere machine which forces us into life, through liftf, and then presently forces us 
 out of life. We are purposely left to determine much ourselves, thus forming and 
 cultivating and proving our own character. " We are workers together with 
 God." 2. Consider God's choice in its tnumph over those who oj^pose His uill 
 and oppose His people. Ultimately, as many instances bear testimony. His way 
 prevails. It was thus with Joseph's brethren, with Pharaoh, with Haman, and 
 with others of those who set themselves against the Lord, and against the people 
 whom He called His own. (a) It is useless to resist God in His plans for our 
 personal life. 
 
 " There's a Divinity that shapes our ends, 
 Eough-hew them how we will." — Hamlet. 
 
 He who wants his own way in life without hindrance, must begin by choosing 
 submission to the way of the Lord. 
 
 " Our wills are ours, we know not how ; 
 Our wills arc ours to make thcui Thine." — In Mcmoriavi. 
 
 (/') It is equally useless to resist God in His plans for others. One of the greatest 
 instances of this has recently entered upon the pages of history. In order to 
 prevent the escape of their slaves, the American Senate enacted the Fugitive Slave 
 Law, which required, under severe penalties, that no one should harbour the fugitive 
 who was fleeing from bondage, or in any way assist his cscane. But God's time 
 for the end of American slavery had come, and the eflort to retain it in greater 
 strength did but hasten its overthrow. The operation of the Act is thus described 
 by the late \Vm. Arnott : " The stroke which was intended to rivet the fetters of 
 the slave more firml}', guided in its descent by an unseen hand, fell upon a brittle 
 link, and broke it through. The newspapers announced that the cruel device had 
 been enacted into a law. The intelligence fell like a spark on the deep compassion 
 that lay pent up in a woman's heart, and kindled it into a flame. The outburst 
 took the form of a book, the instrument of power usually employed in these later 
 ages of the world. It is certainly true, and is widely known, that the enactment of 
 the Fugitive Slave Law produced the book, and that the book caused a panorama 
 of slavery to pass before the eyes of millions in America and Europe, inexpressibly 
 augmenting the public opinion of the civilised world against the whole system, 
 root and branch. Let no one imagine that we are elevating little things into an 
 undue imjiortance ; we speak of Jehovah's counsel, and how it stands erect and 
 triumphant over all the devices of men. He is wont to employ weak things to 
 confound the mighty. Long ago He employed the tears of a helpless child and 
 the strong compassion of a woman (Exod. ii. 6) as essential instruments in the 
 250 
 
CHAP. XIV. 
 
 HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 exodus of an injured race, and it would be like Himself if, in our day, while 
 statesmen and armies contend in the senate and the battle -field, He should permit 
 women who remain at home to deal the blow which decides the victory, and 
 distribute the resulting spoil. ' He sits King upon the floods.' ' All are His 
 servants.' ' Stand still and see the salvation of God.' " 
 
 Such has ever been the way in which God has made it apparent that " the 
 counsel of the wicked shall not stand." He may work by feeble means, as though 
 He would shew the abundance of His power, but His way must stand. He who 
 opposes the will of God does but hasten his own overthrow (Jer. xiii. 24, 25). In 
 this, as in many things besides, the volume of Divine revelation and that of human 
 history are one. 
 
 OUTLINES AND C03IMENTS ON THE VERSES. 
 
 /erse 1. — Inheriting the Promised 
 Possession. 
 
 I. The promised possession in its 
 reality. '• Which the children of Israel 
 inherited." The promise given toAbram, 
 and repeated through several genera- 
 tions, was not merely a promise. The 
 time for actual inheritance had come at 
 last. God's promises all end in an 
 estate. 
 
 II. The promised possession in its 
 need of faith and patience. The in- 
 heritance had been a long time coming. 
 More than four hundred and fifty years 
 had passed since the Lord called Abram 
 out of Ur of the Chaldees to go into 
 the land, and look upon it as the future 
 home of his people. Canaan was for so 
 long " The Promised Land," that it got 
 to bear that name, a fact not a little 
 significant, intimating, perhaps, some- 
 thing of the long struggle between human 
 hope and human impatience. He who 
 " waits on the Lord " may well wait in 
 confidence. " The vision is yet for an 
 apjiointed time." 
 
 III. The promised possession in 
 relation to the grace and power of 
 God. Now that the people had t 
 last come to the inheritance, what a 
 picture was presented in the path be- 
 hind them of the longsuflfering and help 
 of Jehovah. Egypt, the Exodus, the 
 Wilderness, the crossing of the Jordan, 
 the fall of Jericho, and the various vic- 
 tories which followed, were all eloquent 
 of the power of the Divine arm and the 
 love of the Divine heart. What had the 
 people done apart from God ? We come 
 
 into nothing worth holding, saving as we 
 reach it by the same might and the same 
 love. " Not by might, nor by power," 
 etc. As when we look back from each 
 valuable estate in life, we have to feel 
 that God hath wrought all, so when we 
 look forward to blessings for which we 
 wait, let us be willing to accept the 
 Lord's words, " Without Me ye can do 
 nothing." 
 
 IV. The promised possession on 
 earth a possession in which rest is 
 only partial. The land which Israel 
 was about to divide, could only be 
 entered upon with much care and 
 much conflict. Faith, patience, wis- 
 dom, and work were still largely 
 needed. It is ever thus with all estates 
 on earth, not excepting our more spi- 
 ritual possessions. Rest is broken, not 
 only by toil, but by conflict. We never 
 get an inheritance here in which there 
 are not left some foes to dispute the 
 possession with us. 
 
 V, The promised possession in 
 heaven a possession in which rest 
 is perfect. " The last enemy that shall 
 be destroyed is death." It is only at 
 the point of death that we come to the 
 last of our foes, but after that the in- 
 heritance is undisputed for ever. We 
 must not til ink, however, that the rest 
 is free from work. It has no toil, yet 
 it is full of activity. As has been re- 
 marked, while Scripture teaches that 
 heaven is perfect rest, it also says of 
 some there, " They rest not day nor 
 night." Inaction must be worse than 
 toil. How blessed must be the activity 
 
 251 
 
HOMILETIG COMMENTABl : JOSHUA. 
 
 CHAP. XIV. 
 
 which is all prompted by love, which 
 knows no contlict, and which feels no 
 care! 
 
 Verse 2. — The Ixhekitance divided 
 BY Lot. 
 
 I. The lot of God in its silent and 
 invisible working. The unseen cha- 
 riot of Providence is drawn by invisible 
 steeds, and the wheels thereof run 
 noiselessly. 
 
 II. The lot of God in its extensive 
 range. It dealt with the whole 
 country. Providence has no waste 
 land. Every acre of the universe is 
 under its inspection and cultivation. 
 
 III. I he lot of God in its mys- 
 terious complexity. Every single lot 
 had its relation to every other lot, to 
 every year in each succeeding century 
 of Israelitish history, to every inhabit- 
 ant of the laud through all that period, 
 and thus to nations, far and near, out- 
 side of Canaan. 
 
 IV. The lot of God in its irreversible 
 issues. The lot once taken was not to 
 be altered. The ways of Providence 
 shew no hesitation, and suffer no re- 
 adjustment by men. 
 
 V. The lot of God in its witness 
 to Divine wisdom and love. The wis- 
 dom is corroborated by the song of the 
 gcnerationsfollo\ving(Ps. xlvii.); the love 
 is apparent in the condescension which 
 shews such care at the time, and in the 
 patience which helps and blesses for so 
 long a period afterwards. God not only 
 chooses the poi'tious of His people, but 
 gives them many an after- occasion to 
 sing, " Thou maintninest my lot. The 
 lines have fallen unto me in pleasant 
 places ; yea, I have a goodly heritage." 
 
 The Lots not all drawn at the 
 same time. 
 
 " It is somewhat remarkable that the cast- 
 ing of the lots was stopped as soon as .Judah 
 and Joseph had received their shares. The 
 commaml of God, that the whole land, even 
 that which had not yet been conciuuietl, 
 sill mid be portioned out amongst the nine 
 tribes and a half (chap. xiii. 1 — 7), would 
 le.ad us to expect that when once the casting 
 f)f the lots had ccmnienced, it would proceed 
 unintcrru|)tcdly, until every tribe had re- 
 ceived its share ; and that it would only have 
 to enter it in reliance ui)on the Divine 
 promise, and extcniiinate, or at least sui)ju- 
 gatc, the Canaanites who still remained. But, 
 252 
 
 instead of this, as soon as the shares had been 
 alhjtted to two tribes and a half, the camp 
 was removed from Gilgal to Shiloh (chap, 
 xiv. 6, xviii. 1, 9). and the tabernai^lc set up 
 there ; and the other tribes manifested so 
 little anxiety to receive their inheritance, that 
 Joshua had to say to them, ' How long are 
 ye slack to go to possess the land which the 
 Lord God of your fathers hath given you I ' 
 He then appointed a commission, consisting 
 of twenty-one men, three from each tribe, and 
 sent them out to survey the country, and 
 bring home a description of it, and to divide 
 it into seven parts. And it was not till after 
 the description of the country, thus arranged 
 according to its cities, had been received, 
 that he was able to proceed with the lot, and 
 distribute to each tribe its appointed share. 
 The reason for this interruption is not stated. 
 Masius (on chap, xv.l — 4) thinks it necessary 
 to assume, that after the defeat of the 
 Canaanites in the south and the north, the 
 division of the conquered laud was com- 
 menced by the territory which fell to the 
 tribes of Judah and Joseph being awarded by 
 lot, without any accurate measurement, .and 
 that only the two tribes mentioned, as being 
 the most powerful, were allowed to draw lots 
 for it. By the appropriation of the southern 
 district of Palestine to these triljcs. the camp 
 at Gilgal was well guarded from any sudden 
 attack on the ])art of the enemy ; an important 
 precaution, as the other tribes had shewn so 
 little desire to take possession of the inherit- 
 ance which was hereafter to be assigned to 
 them. The exact distribution of the land 
 was therefore postponed until messengers had 
 been despatched in every direction to make a 
 survey of the country, and to bring back an 
 accurate description. This view is generally 
 approached by Rosenmuller. De Wette, and 
 Lengerke." [Ac (7, pp. 346-7.] To this 
 assumption of Masius, however. Keil very pro- 
 perly objects that '• it is at variance with the 
 Divine command to divide the whole country 
 by lot amongst the nine tribes and a half, 
 the unronquered as well as the conquered 
 portions, and almost destroys the value and 
 defeats the purpo.se of the lot." Probably, as 
 with the seven tribes later on, the lot merely 
 decided the general position to be occupied 
 by Judah, Ephraim, and the half-tribe of 
 Manasseh, leaving the more exact adjustment 
 of territory to be made after the general 
 survey had taken place. This accords best 
 with the sub.sequent settlement of Simeon 
 within the lot roughly given at first to Judah, 
 and with the subsequent cession of towns and 
 territory made by Judah and Ephraim to the 
 smaller tribe of Dan. 
 
 Verses 3, 4. — Levi, Manasseh, and 
 Ephraim. 
 
 •' It is here repeated for the third time, with 
 regard to the Levites, that they were not 
 included in the number, so as to have the 
 poitiiin of a tribe as'^igned to them ; but it is 
 mentioned for a ditlVrcMt purpose, for it is 
 immediately after added that the .sons of 
 
CHAP. XIV. HOMILETIC C0M3IENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 Joseph were divided into two tribes, and of Josei>li to the others. God therefore 
 
 were thus privileged to obtain a double por- assumed the Levites to Himself as a pecuhai 
 
 tion. Thus had Jacob ])rophesied (Gen. inheritance, and in their stead substituted 
 
 xlix.). or rather, like an arbiter appointed by one of the two families of Joseph."— [Ca/i-i/t.] 
 God, he had in this matter preferred the sons 
 
 MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Verses 6—15. 
 The Fidelity of Caleb, and its Reward. 
 
 Whether Caleb was a native of Israel or a foreign proselyte (cf. Crit. Notes?, 
 V. 6), he was reckoned among the tribe of Judah. He was one of the foremost 
 men in the tribe, and while his exaltation may have been greatly owing to his 
 faithfulness as one of the spies sent out by Moses, there must have been a pre- 
 eminence of some kind even to account for his selection on that important occasion. 
 Perhaps he had already shewn some of those traits of the noble character which 
 so conspicuously adorned his after-life. As Caleb belonged to the tribe of Judah, 
 the men of Judah came to support him in his request to Joshua. His privileges 
 and honour would be their honour also. As the representative of Judah in the 
 distribution of the land (cf. Numb, xxxiv, 19), it was the more desirable that 
 Caleb's grant of Hebron should not seem to be in any measure the outcome of his 
 official position. In Caleb's petition and its reception we may notice the following 
 things : — 
 
 I. Earnest piety linked with a remembrance of God's gracious words. 
 *' Thou knowest the thing that the Lord said." These two features are each 
 contributivc to the other : the man who is truly pious will love to dwell on the 
 words of the Lord, and the man whose memory cherishes Divine words will find 
 them helpful to his piety. 1. God both suffers and encouraries us to find a stimulus 
 in the tJiouijht of jiersonal reward. For forty-five years Caleb had dwelt with 
 pleasure on " this thing that the Lord said." The name and the thought of 
 Hebron had become part of his very life. He could never foi'get these gracious 
 words of the Lord. The wilderness could not hide them. The tei'rible plagues 
 and judgments could not obliterate them. Every one of his companions above 
 the age of twenty, excepting Joshua, had died since this " thing that the Lord 
 had said " was spoken ; let what w'ould die, that lived on fresh as ever. And it 
 is not wrong to dwell with joy on the rewards which God promises to us per- 
 sonally. This may not be the highest motive in service, but men are very 
 human, and God's kindness meets them where they are. The noble hymn of 
 Francis Xavier is inspiring in its loftiness, but the key in which it is set is not 
 within the reach of every voice, and probably of no voice at all times. It does 
 us good to hear the holy strain : 
 
 " My God. I love Thee ; not because 
 
 1 hope for heaven thereby, 
 Nor yet because who love Thee not 
 
 Must burn eternally. 
 Then why. blessed Jesu Christ, 
 
 Should I not love Thee well / 
 Nut for the hope of winning; heaven. 
 
 Nor of escaping hell ; 
 Not with the hope of gaining aught, 
 
 Not seeking a reward ; 
 But as Thyself hast loved me, 
 
 ever- loving Lord." 
 
 Some have urged that this is the spirit in which we should alwaya serve the Lord. 
 Perhaps we should ; but God is kinder than to reject our work when it proceeds 
 from less exalted motives. " He kuoweth our frame." He makes us great by 
 
 253 
 
HOMILETIG COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. chap. xtv. 
 
 gentleness. The Saviour even urges us to serve in view of the crown which Ho 
 promises : " Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." 
 That was a very noble life from which proceeded the utterance, " The love of 
 Christ constraineth me ;" but it was the same life which at another time urged 
 men on with the cry — " So run that ye may obtain." Caleb did no wrong to 
 treasure up " the thing that the Lord said " touching Hebron ; even so the 
 Saviour has no reproach for us when we find ourselves stimulated to service by 
 the thought of the rewards which await us. So far from reproaching us, when 
 Christ is about to depart from among men. He graciously puts among His last 
 words these : "In my Father's house are many mansions ; I go to prepare a place 
 for you." That is the picture upon which the absent Saviour would have His 
 apostles steadfastly look. This humanness of the Lord is very beautiful. 2. The 
 vian ivho is tndi/ pious ivill equally remember the thimjs which God saijs touching 
 duties which are to be jjerformed. Caleb had shewed himself ready to remember 
 commands as well as promises. When he rendered such faithful obedience as 
 one of the spies, his obedience was not merely to Moses, but to God who spake 
 through Moses. He " followed the Lord fully." To the memory of a man really 
 pious, a command is as sacred as a promise. There is a sense in which God's 
 commands to serve Him are far more precious than even promises. They tell ot 
 complete forgiveness in a way in which it can be told by no assurance of pardon 
 and by no promise of reward. When God condescends to give us something to 
 do for Himself, we may well feel that He has quite blotted out our iniquity. 
 Suppose Jonah had only been assured of forgiveness for his sin of fleeing to 
 Tarshish, or that a promise of final salvation had been added to such an assurance. 
 No gracious words in this direction could ever have told of complete pardon as it 
 was told by the mercy which condescended to employ him again. What if 
 another prophet had been sent in Jonah's place ? In that case, it seems to us, 
 that Jonah's sense of forgiveness could never have been quite satisfactory. The 
 beauty of pardon is seen, not in any promise, but in the commandment which is 
 written in the history: " A.nd the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second 
 time, saying. Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great citjs and preach unto it the 
 preaching that I bid thee." So Peter may have felt a sweet sense of joy as he 
 received that special message to himself to meet the Saviour in Galilee ; but 
 Peter's sense of perfect pardon probably came, ultimately, far more through the 
 commandment in which he was again bidden to do the work of his Master. It 
 was in once more feeding Christ's sheep and lambs that the sense of complete 
 forgiveness would have entered into the apostle's life. No mere assurance of 
 pardon could have ever supplied the comfort that must have come through this 
 re-employment. We have only to think of Peter with nothing more to do for 
 Christ, to realize, as far as any one but himself could realize, liis utter and life- 
 long misery. He who neglects precepts for promises is not wise. Caleb shews 
 us how to remember both. " In keeping of Thy commandments there is great 
 reward." 3. The pious man will treasure uj), vo less, the counnendations of the Lord. 
 These words about " following the Lord fully," or "wholly," had also clung to 
 Caleb (ver. 9). For forty-five years his memorj' had cherished them as too 
 precious to be forgotten. Those who think that, in uttering on this occasion such 
 words to Joshua, Caleb "talked of his own virtue in rather loftier terms than 
 becomes a pious and modest man," uttcrlj' overlook the true aspect of the words. 
 God had said them (Numb. xiv. 24) ; that was what made them so dear to Caleb. 
 His artless reiteration of them, taken in this light, so far from being immodest, is 
 simple and beautiful. It is the language of the commended child, recounting 
 gratefully from his heart his Father's words of praise. How long will the 
 children above remember the heavenly greeting — " Well done, good and faithful 
 servant " ! II. The consciousness of personal faithfulness associated with trust 
 in precious promises. Caleb walked before God with a deep concern to honour 
 God. He had "stilled the people" in their rebellion, as far as possible; and 
 254 
 
CHAP. xiv. HOMILETIG C03IMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 when he could prevail no longer with them, he and Joshua had rent their clothes. 
 He was faithful to the trust which had heeu reposed in him. 1. The faithful life 
 has the f/rcdtest desire for the thi)ii/s which (rod provtiscs. The life of an upright 
 man will have its tastes in harmony with the things which God has to give. 
 
 2. The faithful life best Jaiows the value of God's promises. The man to whom truth 
 and integrity are dear will know that these are much more sacred to Jehovah. 
 
 3. Thus the faithful life will most fuJli/ trust the j^romises. They will be deemed 
 worth remembering not only for forty-five years, but throughout all the years in 
 which such a life is spared. " The thing which the Lord hath said" will seem 
 to be " ordered in all things, and sure." It will be regarded as sui'e in days of 
 adversity, no less than in days of prosperity and victory. III. Godly manliness 
 going with unselfishness and dependence. Caleb's words have in tlicm a frank- 
 ness and outspokenness which make them attractive. He did not aflect to hide 
 the sin of his brethren ; on the other hand, he called it by no harsh name. Here 
 is none of the simpering of a false modesty, neither is there anything of the spirit 
 of fault-finding. And as his words touching his brethren, so are his words 
 concerning himself. He frankly said that he " w'holly followed the Lord God " 
 (ver. 8). The W'ords are too brief and too matter-of-fact for egotism. A vain man 
 would have made a sermon of what Caleb put into a sentence. Caleb felt that he 
 had honestly sought God's glory and Israel's good on the occasion in question, 
 and with a mauly freedom from affectation he did not attempt to conceal that. 
 We love him both for that which he said and for that which he did not say. We 
 feel, as we read, that we are reading the speech of a man. The language of 
 Caleb is further relieved from any appearance of a vain and weak egotism, if we 
 remember that he was merely reiterating " the thing that the Lord said." These 
 words about following the Lord wholly are not Caleb's words at all, but the 
 words of Jehovah, which had been so thankfully cherished for so long a time. 
 It might have seemed vain to utter thus merely his own judgment ; it was but a 
 grateful love to God, and a manly consciousness that this thing was true, which 
 led Caleb thus to repeat the w^ords of God. Over against all this strong and 
 transparent manliness, it is very beautiful to observe Caleb's unselfishness and 
 childlike dependence. These giant Anakim he was perfectly willing to confront. 
 He did not want a lot where there w-ere no foes. Let others seek such an 
 inheritance if they chose ; this was a brave man, and he could fight ; this was 
 an uusellish man, and w'hile his brethren fought with men, he, although eighty- 
 five years of age, would fight wdth giants. So manly was this aged Caleb, and so 
 unselfish. And yet this brave and strong man felt as dependent on his God as a 
 little child on its father. He said : "If so be the Lord will be with me, then 
 shall I be able to drive them out, as the Lord said." Manly piety is great in its 
 freedom from paltry affectation, great in its unselfishness, but greatest of all in 
 its dependence upon God. Paul said : " When I am weak, then am I strong; " 
 tlie converse is no less true — when w^e arc strong, then we are weak. It is 
 manhood in its noblest form that leans hardest upon God ; and he who leans very 
 much upon God is usually strong in a manhood altogether in advance of the 
 manliness of him who is self-reliant. IV. Gratitude connected with fidelity and 
 trust (verses 10, 11). This man, who had been so strong to follow God, and 
 who was so hale at the age of fourscore and five years, thaukfull}' acknowledged 
 that his vigour had been all of Jehovah. The Lord had kept him alive. His 
 brethren had died in the wilderness ; it was of the Lord that he had not died. 
 His brethren had died for sin ; Caleb seemed to recoguije that it was of the Lord 
 also that he had not sinned as they had done. True greatness and warm gratitude 
 generally go together. It was the " great apostle of the Gentiles " who said so 
 ardently, " By the grace of God I am what I am." Y. A sense of personal 
 fitness united with hope. Caleb's trust was wholly in the Lord, and yet he 
 well knew that the Lord's way was to work naturally. It needed a strong man 
 to encounter such foes as these Anakim, and Caleb felt that he was strong, and 
 
 255 
 
HOMILETIC C0M3IENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 CHAP. XIV. 
 
 hoped accordingly. However much faith may rely upon God as the only efficient 
 worker, godly wisdom ever recognises this need of heing in harmony with God's 
 methods. Had Caleh been intirm and feeble, probably not even his faith would 
 have dared to hope for victory over these descendants of giants. While God 
 must be " all in all," there must also be a consciousness that we are what God 
 can bless. It is thus that a man living in sin cannot dare to hope for salvation. 
 The conscience knows better than to allow that God's method is to save a man 
 who is deliberately opposing such salvation. There is an unfitness of things 
 •which smothers hope at the birth. VI. Personal worth crowned with per- 
 manent rewards. 1. Men reward personal worth. " Joshua blessed him." 
 Sooner or later, true merit is acknowledged everywhere. 2. God rewards personal 
 worth. As among men, God recognises and honours fidelity and obedience. The 
 Bible is full of such instances. 3. The (jreat reward of the soiiTs salvation is ever 
 and only because of the merits of Christ. " My goodness extendeth not to Thee," 
 said the Psalmist. Our best deeds have much of impurity. In this matter we 
 can rely only on Him " who did no sin." 
 
 OUTLINES AND C03IMENTS ON THE VERSES. 
 
 Verses 6, 7. The Pleasant Memo- 
 ries OF THE Man who has been faith- 
 ful TO HIS God. 
 
 I. To remember the past is the 
 lot of every man, irrespective of the 
 man's personal character. From the 
 narrow margin of the time which is 
 present, every man has two broad views 
 Avhich are continually inviting his con- 
 templation. The one lies stretched out 
 before him, the other behind him ; one 
 deals with the future, the other with 
 the past. The view before us is made 
 up to a very small extent by penetration 
 based on experience. For the irreligious 
 man it is composed very much more by 
 desire, fancy, and imagination ; while 
 for the man who believes in the word 
 of God it is wrought principally by 
 faith. The view behind us is, for the 
 most part, dim and obscure ; but here 
 and there, in every life that has reached 
 maturity, there stand up in the distance 
 behind it, clear and well defined as the 
 rugged outline of the mountain, which, 
 though past long since, shews no sign of 
 vanisliing, memories which are never 
 forgotten. 
 
 And these memories of past life are 
 independent of character. They are 
 involuntary : they come whether men 
 will or will not. Not only does faithful 
 CaVh dwell upon the past, but the 
 ur.fait iful man must think upon it also. 
 
 II. The remembrances of the 
 rigliteous, while o:;tei supplying rea- 
 sons for shame, al ord, nevertheless, 
 
 260 
 
 occasions for thankfulness and joy. 
 A poet has written to us of " The Plea- 
 sures of Hope ;" to the man who has 
 been faithful to his God, there come no 
 less powerfully the pleasures of memory. 
 Not only all thint/s, but all time "works 
 together for good " to the man who 
 loves God. Time to come is made 
 bright Avith hope of grace yet to be 
 given, and time past is illuminated with 
 the light of victories won through mercy 
 already bestowed. How thankfully 
 would Joseph and Daniel and the 
 three Hebrew youths each look back to 
 the place of temptation where God had 
 helped them to come off " more than 
 conquerors." 1. The remembrances of 
 the rif/JiteoKS are some sorrowful and some 
 (/laddeninf/. Caleb had this great triumph 
 in which he had "wholly followed the 
 Lord ;" doubtless he had also to think 
 upon many defeats which had to be con- 
 templated with shame. It is thus with 
 the best of men : they have here and 
 there a victory of which to sing, and 
 many failures and overthrows which 
 they are compelled to mourn. 2. 2'he 
 remend>rances of the riijhteous which are 
 cncouraijinu ever stand connected ivitli the 
 name and (jrace of God. " The Lord 
 sent me " (ver. 7). Thus, too, in the 
 next verse, Caleb intimates that the 
 Lord had gone before him, and that ho 
 had but "followed" where Jehovah 
 Himself had led. 3. The helpful remem- 
 brances of the righteous are made still 
 hajipier by fraternal fellowship with 
 
CHAP. XIV. 
 
 HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 others tcho have also been faithful. It 
 did not detract from Caleb's joy to re- 
 member that Joshua had been faithful 
 too, and that he had also been com- 
 mended by God. It added to the plea- 
 sure of this good man to be able to say, 
 *' Thou knowest the thing that the Lord 
 said unto Moses the man of God con- 
 cerning me and thee." The joy of the 
 pious man is not solitary and selfish. 
 The angels sing together. The godly 
 "rejoice with them that do rejoice." 
 4. These hajqner remembrances of the 
 r'ujhteous aim-ays stand well in accord 
 with a good conscience. " I brought him 
 word again, as it teas in mine heart." 
 When Caleb came back to Moses, he 
 spoke in integrity, and as he felt that 
 he ought to speak. The shout of lictory 
 ever goes with the voice of God, and 
 the voice of God goes no less with the 
 teaching of conscience. True, men 
 sometimes sin in ignorance and in un- 
 belief, but, even then, darkness may be 
 only the consequence of a previous 
 abuse of light. He who always follows 
 God with a good conscience, as the 
 word of God is in his heart, will not 
 often stray. 5. The remembrances of the 
 righteous man sometimes contradict inter- 
 vening seasons of depression. There may 
 have been times when Caleb doubted if 
 be should ever enter upon the promised 
 inheritance. Job was accused of saying, 
 " It profiteth a man nothing that he 
 should dehght himself with God." To 
 not a few of the godly Jews of Old 
 Testament times, as the Psalms re- 
 peatedly bear witness, it seemed a 
 standing problem of difficulty that the 
 ungodly should flourish, while the 
 righteous should be driven to say, 
 " Verily, I have cleansed my heart in 
 vain." Elijah thought that he had 
 served God almost fruitlessly, and that 
 he only was left of those who had not 
 bowed the knee to Baal, It may be 
 that since his fidelity at Kadesh-barnea, 
 some such moments of depression as 
 these had come upon Caleb. If so, how 
 completely would they have stood con-_ 
 tradicted now, as he was about to enter 
 upon his long-promised possession. 
 There are hours and days with most of 
 us when our faithful service seems a 
 thing of nought. We are like children 
 
 upon the sands at the sea-side, building 
 here " a castle " and there " a fort," 
 which the next tide washes out alto- 
 gether ; so the tides of time wash over 
 our feeble work for men and for God, 
 and seem to obliterate the very marks 
 of our building. We are driven to 
 think our labour as having been " in 
 vain," and as having no more endurance 
 than the house built upon the sand. 
 But he who works for God, builds on a 
 rock which cannot be shaken. To every 
 faithful heart the day will come when 
 happy memories will contradict entirely 
 the depression sometimes sufl'ered in 
 seasons of adversity. 
 
 III. The remembrances of the un- 
 godly will presently serve to make 
 the retrospect of time as saddening 
 as the prospect of eternity. In the 
 pious man, both time and eternity will 
 serve to provoke gladness, while to the 
 wicked, neither the one nor the other 
 can bring any heritage but pain. To 
 such, the past must ever be full of 
 shame and anguish, and the future dark 
 with fear and despair. 
 
 Verse 8. " Caleb the Man fob the 
 Times." 
 
 It is a rough name that — " Caleb." 
 Most translators say it signifies "a dog.'^ 
 But what mattereth a man's name ? 
 Possibly the man himself was somewhat 
 rough : many of the heartiest of men 
 are so. As the unpolished oyster yet 
 beareth within itself the priceless pearl, 
 so ofttimes ruggedness of exterior 
 covereth worth. A dog, moreover, is 
 not all badness, though " icithout are 
 dogs and sorcerers." It hath this 
 virtue, that it followeth its master ; and 
 therein this Caleb was well named ; for 
 never dog so followed his master as 
 Caleb followed his God. . . . The 
 name, however, has another significa- 
 tion, and we like it rather better; it 
 means " all heart." Here was a fitting 
 surname for the man whose whole heart 
 followed his God. He says of himself 
 that he brought a report of the land 
 according to all that was in his heart. 
 
 I. Caleb's faithful following of Ms 
 God. He never went before his God. 
 That is presumption. The highest point 
 to which the true believer ever comes is 
 to walk with God, but never to walk 
 
 257 
 
IIOMILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 CHAP. XIV, 
 
 before Him. Caleb followed tbe Lord; 
 many others do the same, but then they 
 could not win that adverb which is 
 Caleb's golden medal. He followed the 
 Lord " fully," says one text ; " wholly," 
 says another. Some of us follow the 
 Lord, but it is a great way off, like 
 Peter, or now and then, as did Saul the 
 king. In explaining this word " wholly," 
 I shall follow the explanation of good 
 Matthew Henry. 1. Caleb followed the 
 Lord universalhj, icithout dividing. What- 
 ever his Master told him to do, he did. 
 2. Caleb followed the Lord fully, that is, 
 sincerelij, without dissembling. He was 
 no hypocrite : lie followed the Lord 
 •with his whole heart. 3. Cali'h followed 
 the Lord wholly, that is, cheerfully, without 
 disputing. Those who serve God with 
 a sad countenance, because they do 
 that which is unpleasant to them, are 
 not His servants at all. 4. Caleb fol- 
 lowed the Lord constantly, without de- 
 clining. He persevered during the forty 
 days of his spyship, and brought back 
 a true report. Forty-five years he lived 
 in the camp of Israel, but all that time 
 he followed the Lord, and never once 
 consorted with murmuring rebels ; and 
 when his time came to claim his heritage, 
 at the age of eighty-five, the good old 
 man was following the Lord fully. 
 
 II. Caleb's favoured portion. His 
 life was j^reserved in the hour of judgment. 
 The ten fell, smitten with the plague, 
 but Caleb lived. There be many who 
 seek their life that lose it ; and there 
 be some who lose it for Christ's sake, 
 that find it to life eternal. Caleb was 
 also comforted tvith a long life of vigour. 
 At eighty-five he was as strong as at 
 forty, and still able to face the giants. 
 Caleb received as his reward great honour 
 among his brethren. He was at least 
 twenty years older than any other man 
 in the camp, except Joshua. Caleb had 
 the distinguished reward of being put 
 upon the hardest service. That is always 
 the lot of the most faithful servant of 
 God. Caleb had the honour (f enjoying 
 what he hud once seen. He had only 
 Been the land when he said, "We 
 are able to take it." He lived not only 
 to take it, but to enjoy it for himself. 
 Caleb left a Messing to /lis children. He 
 had many sons, but he fought for them, 
 258 
 
 and carved out a portion for them all. 
 If there is any man who shall be able 
 to leave his children the blessing of the 
 upper and nether springs, it is the man 
 Avho follows the Lord fully. If I might 
 envy any man, it would be the believer 
 who from his youth up has walked, 
 through Divine grace, according to his 
 Lord's commandments, and who is able, 
 when his day comes, to scatter bene- 
 dictions upon his rising sons and daugh- 
 ters, and leave them with godliness, 
 which hath the blessing of this life and 
 that which is to come. 
 
 III. Caleb's secret character. The 
 Lord said of him, "Because he hath 
 another spirit with him." He had 
 another spirit — not only a bold, gene- 
 rous, courageous, noble, and heroic 
 spirit, but the spirit and influence of 
 God, which thus raised him above 
 human inquietudes and earthly fears. 
 Therefore he followed the Lord fully. 
 . . • The real way to make a new life 
 is to receive a new spirit. There must 
 be given us, if we would follow the 
 Lord fully, a new heart, and that new 
 heart must be found at the foot of the 
 cross, where the Holy Spu-it works 
 through the bleeding wounds of Jesus. 
 We need the spirit of faith ; that spirit 
 which takes God at His word, reads 
 His promise, and knows it to be true. 
 Then a faithful spirit always begets a 
 meek spirit, and a meek spirit always 
 begets a brave spirit. It is said of the 
 wood of the elder tree, that none is 
 softer, but yet it is recorded of old that 
 Venice was built upon piles of the elder 
 tree, because it will never rot ; and so 
 the meek-spirited man, who is gentle 
 and patient, lasts on bravely, holdiug 
 his own against all the attacks of the 
 destroying adversary. The true be- 
 liever has also a loving spirit, as the 
 result of Jesus' grace. He has next 
 a zealous spirit, and so he spends and 
 is spent for God ; and this begets in 
 him a heavenly sju'rit, and so he tries to 
 live in heaven, and make earth a heaven 
 to his follow-men, believing that ho 
 shall soon have a heaven for himself 
 and for them too on the other side of 
 the stream. Oh that the Holy Si)irit 
 would lead us to go to Jesus just as we 
 are, and look up to Him and beseech 
 
CHAP. XiIV. 
 
 IIOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 Him to fulfil that great covenant pro- 
 mise : "A new heart also will I give 
 them, a right spirit will I put within 
 them." [Met. Tab. PttJpit.] 
 
 Verse 9. — " The Promise is unto 
 
 YOU AND TO YOUR CHILDREN." 
 
 I. The inhsritatice those who 
 follow God is the inheritance of 
 promise. 
 
 II. The inheritance is promised to 
 the man who is faithful, and yet is 
 always by the grace of God. 
 
 III. The inheritance is not merely 
 to the faithful follower, but to his 
 children also. 
 
 IV. The inheritance, although it 
 may be announced by His servants, 
 is promised by Jehovah Himself, and 
 is thus certain, however long it may 
 be deferred. 
 
 Verses 10 — 12. — Gracious Keeping 
 
 GRATEFULLY ACKNOWLEDGED. 
 
 I. They who live, live by the 
 keeping of God. " None can keep 
 alive his own soul." " He holdeth our 
 soul in life." Caleb had been pre- 
 served under circumstances common to 
 men in general, and under such as were 
 unusual. 1. He ivas kept alive, notwith- 
 standing natural liability to decay and 
 death. His physical strength may have 
 been above the average ; that strength 
 was the gift of God. He was probably 
 a man whose life owed much to disci- 
 pline and regular habits ; this dispo- 
 sition to a healthy mode of life had 
 been cultivated by his godliness. 2. Ca- 
 leb had been kept alive through the 
 dangers of the desert and of the tear. 
 The danger of famine God had met by 
 the manna and the quails. When thirst 
 threatened to destroy, the Lord had 
 given streams from the rocks. In the 
 various conflicts in the wilderness, Je- 
 hovah had shielded this brave soldier, 
 so that " not a single shaft could hit ; " 
 and in the battles in the land of Canaan 
 itself, mighty mu-acles had constantly 
 testified to the care and keeping of God. 
 3. Caleb had been kept alive ivhen all 
 saving Joshua and hiiuself had died. 
 Every other member of the host who 
 was over the age of twenty at the time 
 when Moses sent out the spies, had 
 
 passed away in the wilderness. Each 
 of these had died, according to the word 
 of Jehovah. Well might Caleb say, 
 *' The Lord hath kept me alive." 
 
 II. They who are kept by God are 
 kept of God's purpose, and well kept. 
 
 1. God does not keep men alive thought- 
 lessly and in imconcern. "The Lord 
 hath kept me alive, as He said." He 
 purposes to preserve. Every living 
 sparrow represents something which 
 He has not yet suffered to " fall on the 
 ground," and which He has not " for- 
 gotten." Every hair of every living 
 head is something which He has " num- 
 bered," and which still has its place in 
 the count of God. But of those whom 
 He protects as fearing and loving Him, 
 it stands specially recorded, " He that 
 toucheth you toucheth the apple of His 
 eye." Thus, too, it had been already 
 said of Caleb as one of the host of 
 Israel (Deut. xxxii. 10). 2. Those 
 whom God keeps are kept perfectly. The 
 wilderness not only fails to consume ; 
 it does not even weaken. Many years are 
 equally impotent to work harm. "As 
 I was in the day that Moses sent me," 
 etc. The dangers of the battle-field 
 had also failed to reach him who was 
 borne in the arms which had made him 
 (cf. Isa. xlvi. 4). God had carried His 
 servant even to old age, and nothing 
 had impaired his strength. 
 
 III. They who are thus kept by 
 God should reiterate it to the praise 
 of God. " Behold, the Lord hath kept," 
 etc. Caleb was a monument reared 
 and sustained by the hand of God, and 
 in all that he was at that day, he wished 
 men to read the Divine name and Di- 
 vine mercy. 1. Caleb illuKtrates the 
 beauty of gratitude. It is pleasant and 
 comely to see this good man tracing the 
 streams of life, health, and strength to 
 their som-co. 2. Caleb reminds us of 
 the frequency of ingratitude. It is to be 
 feared that this spirit of thanksgiving is 
 rather exceptional than common. True, 
 there are many hearts which ascribe 
 praise unto God for all which they have 
 received, but what are these among the 
 multitudes who render no thanksgiving 
 whatever? After all, there is only here 
 and there a star in the heavens re- 
 flecting back the light given of God;. 
 
 259 
 
IIOMILETIC COMMEXTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 CHAP, xrv. 
 
 tlie firmament is mostly made up of 
 cloufls and darkness and night. 
 
 IV. They who have been long kept 
 by God may well undertake great 
 works in the name of God (verso 12). 
 Gratitude is little without trust. He 
 who thanks sincerely for the past will 
 trust reverently and unquestioningly for 
 the future. 1. Faith has no hcsitativn 
 because of the maijnitude of work which is 
 to be done in the name of God. Giants 
 and walled cities need make no difier- 
 ence to the man who hopes that the 
 Lord will be with him. 2. Faith is as 
 confident in the hninediate prospect of 
 such ivork as in the distant prospect. 
 Compare Caleb's language in Numb.xiii. 
 30, xiv. 6 — 9, with the spirit manifested 
 now that the task seemed directly before 
 him. The language of true faith is not 
 merely words ; the whole history of the 
 Church of God is thick with the names 
 of men who have also been bold to 
 act. 
 
 Verses 10 — 14. — Latts Deo. 
 
 I. Many years of keeping by God, 
 and ardent words of praise to God. 
 
 II. Ardent words of praise for the 
 past, and great confidence in view of 
 the difficult future. 
 
 III. Great confidence in God for 
 the future, and the future works of 
 faith fully equal to the present words 
 of faith. (Compare verse 12 with chap. 
 XV. 14; Judges i. 9—20.) 
 
 IV. Confident faith in God, and 
 gracious rewards from God (verses 
 18, 14. 1. The recognition of Caleb's 
 piety by Joshua. 2. The possession of 
 Hebron. 
 
 Verse 12. — Pksirixg and Possessing. 
 
 I. He who seeks should feel able to 
 possess, and strong to occupy. Many 
 covet lots in life which they can never 
 take, which if they took they would be 
 unable to hold, and which if they suc- 
 ceeded in holding they would never 
 occupy usefully. 
 
 II. Ability to possess and occupy 
 is not in itself a sufficient testimony 
 that such occupation would be right. 
 There are many who find their title 
 only in their own power. With them, 
 " right " and " might " are synonymous. 
 They take, as Wordsworth says, 
 
 200 
 
 " For why ? Because the good old rule 
 Sufficeth them ; the simple plan, 
 That they should take who have the power. 
 And they should keep who can." 
 
 Caleb pleads his ability to occupy, but 
 finds, nevertheless, a far higher title 
 than this ere he seeks to do so. 
 
 III. He cannot be wrong in his 
 seeking, who is guided by God, nor 
 fail in possessing when he depends 
 upon God. Caleb found his true title 
 to Hebron in the fact that " the Lord 
 spake of it in that day " as his. He 
 found his power to conquer the Anakim 
 in the assurance that the Lord would 
 be with him. He who is thus guided, 
 and thus helped, may well look to come 
 into and occupy wisely a right and good 
 inheritance. 
 
 The Origin of the Projhse to Caleb. 
 
 Probably the fears of the ten spies 
 were occasioned more by what they 
 saw at Hebron, than by anything which 
 they witnessed elsewhere in Canaan. 
 In Numb. xiii. 22, we are told that they 
 came unto Hebron, and a few verses 
 farther on in the same chapter we have 
 the record of their murmuring, in which, 
 as the burden of their complaint, they 
 are seen crying out about the walled 
 cities and the Anakim. As Hebron is 
 specially mentioned as the abode of the 
 Anakim, the conjecture of Matthew Henry 
 is not unnatural. He says : " We may 
 suppose that Caleb, observing what 
 stress they laid upon the difficulty of 
 conquering Hebron, a city garrisoned 
 by the giants, and how from thence 
 they inferred that the conquest of the 
 whole land was utterly impracticable ; 
 in opposition to their suggestions, and 
 to convince the people that he spake as 
 he thought, he bravely desired to have 
 that city, which they called invincible, 
 assigned to himself for his own portion : 
 ' I will undertake to deal with that ; 
 and if I cannot get it for my inherit- 
 ance, I will be without it.' ' Well,' 
 saith IMoses, ' it shall be thine own 
 then ; win and wear it.' " 
 
 If the promise of Mosc-s was elicited 
 under some such circumstances as these, 
 wc may reasonably suppose that the 
 oath of Moses was confirmed by Je- 
 hovah in the conversation which fol- 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA, 
 
 lowed, and which is partly recorded in 
 Numb. xiv. The allusion to Caleb 
 in verse 24 of that chapter might well 
 be the occasion when the thing which 
 " Moses sware " became also " the thing 
 that the Lord said." 
 
 The Approach to Hebkon fkom Engedi. 
 
 *' With Ziph the more desolate region 
 ended. The valleys now began, at least in 
 our eyes, almost literally to laugh and sing. 
 Greener and greener did they grow — the 
 shrubs, too, shot up above that stunted growth. 
 At last, on the summits of further hills, lines 
 of spreading trees appeared against the sky. 
 Then came ploughed tields and oxen. Lastly, 
 a deep and wide recess opened in the hills — 
 towers and minarets appeared through the 
 gap, which gradually unfolded into the city 
 of ' the Friend of God ' — this is its Arabic 
 name (El Khalil) : far up on the right ran a 
 wide and beautiful upland valley, all par- 
 titioned into gardens and fields, green fig- 
 trees, and cherry-trees, and the vineyards — 
 famous through all ages ; and far off, grey 
 and beautiful as those of Tivoli, swept down 
 the western slope the olive groves of Hebron. 
 Most startling of all was the hum through 
 the air — hitherto ' that silent air ' which I 
 
 described during our first encampment, but 
 which had grown familiar as the sounds 
 of London to those who live constantly 
 within their range — the hum, at first, of iso- 
 lated human voices and the lowing of the 
 cattle, rising up from these various orchards 
 and cornfields, and then a sound, which, to 
 our ears, seemed like that of a mighty multi- 
 tude, but which was only the united murmur 
 of the population of the little town, which we 
 now entered at its southern end. They had 
 come out to look at some troops which were 
 going off to capture a refractory chief. . . . 
 High above us on the eastern height of the 
 town — which lies nestled, Italian-like, on the 
 slope of a ravine — rose the long black walls 
 and two stately minarets of that illustrious 
 mosque, one of the four sanctuaries of the 
 Mahometan world, sacred in the eyes of all 
 the world besides, which covers the Cave of 
 Machpelah, the last resting-place of Abraham, 
 Isaac, and Jacob. We passed on by one of 
 those two ancient reservoirs, where King 
 David hanged the murderers of his rival (2 
 Sam. iv. 12), up a slope of green grass, broken 
 only by tombs and flocks of sheep, to the high 
 gates of the Quarantine, which closed upon us, 
 and where we are now imprisoned for the 
 next three days, but with that glorious view 
 of Hebron before us day and night." [Stati' 
 lei/s Sinai and Palestine.] 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE INHERITANCE OF JUDAH. 
 
 Critical ITotes. — 1. This verse states the position of the lot of Judah in relation to th 
 whole of Canaan ; it was in the extreme south of the land. In verses 2—4 we have given the 
 particulars of the southern border of the southern lot. 2. Their south border] Compare 
 Numb, xxxiv. 3—5. The bay that looketh southward] Marg. = " the tongue." " This tongue 
 is the southernmost portion of the Dead 8ca,'reaching from the peninsula, which runs out a great 
 distance into the sea on the west of Kerek (Robinson ii. 216, sqq.), to the south point of the sea 
 by the so-called Salt-hill and Salt-marsh. At this point the boundary of Judah commenced." 
 [A'6'(7.] 3. To Maaleh-Acrabbim] Lit., " The acclivity of scorpions ;" marg., " The going up 
 to Acrabbim." Kobinson concluded that the range'of cliffs, a few miles south of the Dead 
 Sea, was the place indicated. The remaining places named in this verse are unknown, 
 though Hezron is mentioned in verse 25, as being the same as Hazor. 4. A? a on] Unknown : 
 the name occirrs also in Numb, xxxiv. 4, 5. The " river " or " torrent of Egypt " is 
 thought to be the Wady el Arish. At the Sea] The Mediterranean Sea ; the southern border 
 thus extending from the " tongue " of the Dead Sea to the Wady el Arish, on the coast of 
 the Mediterranean. Robinson says that ruins of cities are still to be found as far south as 
 is indicated by this line of boundary, in what was subsequently known as part of the 
 desert. 5. The Salt Sea, unto the end of Jordan] That is, the eastern boundary extended 
 from the southernmost point of the Dead Sea, to the mouth of the Jordan. Their border in 
 the north] This was from near the mouth of the Jordan, on the north-east, to Jabneel, not 
 far from the coast of the Mediterranean, and thence to the sea itself. The particulars of this 
 boundary line extend to the close of verse 11, and are given with more fulness of detail than 
 those of even the southern l)ound.nry. This was the more necessary on account of adjoining 
 tribes on this border. 6. Up to Beth-Hogla] Discovered by Robinson, near to Gilgal, about 
 two miles westward from tlie Jordan, anil about four miles north of the Dead Sea. It is now 
 called Ain Iladjla. Though a frontier town, it belonged to the lot of Benjamin (chap, xviii. 
 19, 21). By the north of Beth-Arabah] By this it would seem that this place was at first 
 allotted to Judah. This, in verse t!l, is said to have been the case. Yet, in chap, xviii. 22, we 
 learn that it was subsequently given to the tribe of Benjamin. The stone of Bohan] Thought 
 to have stood upon the side of the mountains. It was so called after a Rcubenite, who 
 possibly may have distinguished himself in some manner in this neighbourhood soon after 
 
 261 
 
HOMILETIC C0M3IENTARY: JOSTIlA. chap. xv. 
 
 the crossing of the Jordan. 7. Debir] There were two other places of this name ; Dehir, 
 near Hebron, also called Kirjath-Sephcr. and a Debir on the east of Jordan, near Mahanaim 
 (chap. xiii. 26). Gilgal that is before the going up to Adummim] " The valley of Achor must 
 be the Wachj Kelt. Up that wady the line ran toward Debir (somewhere near the Khan 
 HudiTir, near which is Wachj Dabor). Then it turned northward to Gilgal (' Geliloth ' in 
 chap, xviii. 17), which is opposite the going up to Adummim. This latter place is identified 
 with Kalaat ed-Dem on the north of the Jerusalem and Jericho road, where the soil is red. 
 Adummim signifies red. This Gilgal (or Geliloth), therefore, is a place near this spot, and not 
 the Gilgal where Israel encamped down in the Arabah or Ghor." [Croslnj.'] With this also 
 agrees Keil, but Von Raumer, Fay, and others, think the Gilgal to be the place of the first 
 encampment. The river, or " torrent," is, of course, not the Jordan, but the Wady Kelt, or, 
 as in chap. xvi. 1, " the w.ater of Jericho." En-Sheinesh] = " The spring," or " fountain, of the 
 sun ;" below Bethany, on the road to Jericho. En-Kogel] Of. chap, xviii. 16 ; 2 Sam. xvii. 17; 
 1 Kings i. 9. " In more modern times, a tradition, apparently first recorded by Brocardus, 
 would make En-Rogel the well of Job or Nehemiah (Bir Eyub), below the junction of the 
 valleys of Kedi-on and Hinnom, and south of the pool of Siloam. Against this general belief 
 some strong arguments are urged by Dr. Bonar, in favour of identifying En-Rogel with the 
 'fountain of the Virgin,' 'Ain TJmm ed-Daraj — the perennial source from which the pool of 
 Siloam is supplied." ^Smith's Bib. Bic.^. 8. The valley of the son of Hinnom] This is the 
 fii'st mention in Scripture of the valley which afterwards became so notorious as the scene of 
 a most revolting form of idolatry (cf. 2 Chron. xxviii. .8, xxxiii. 6, etc.). and which came to 
 be known as a symbol of hell. Valley of the Giants] Lit.=" of the Rephaira." This vaUey lies 
 on the south-west of Jerusalem. 9. The water of Nephtoah] Now Liftah. '' Liftah numbers 
 its fighting men by hundreds, and provides Jerusalem, among other things, with water from 
 its copious fountains." [ Valentlncr.] Mount Ephron] Only mentioned here. Thought to be 
 the high ridge between Liftah and Kuryet cl-Enab, the modern name of Baalah, or Kirjath- 
 jearim, next mentioned. This latter place was one of the cities formerly belonging to Gibeon 
 (chap. ix. 17). 10. Mount Seir . . . Mount Jearim, etc. " Mount Seir is the high ridge on 
 •which is Saris. Mount Jearim, or Chesalon (on Mount Jearim), is now Kesla, on the lofty 
 summit between Wadi/ (Ihurah and Wady Ismain. Beth-Shemesh is now Ain Shsms. 
 Timnath, ccmspicuous in Samson's history, is Tibneh, where one looks out on the Philistine 
 plain." {Cro.Hhy.'] H. Ekron] Cf. on chap. xiii. 3. Nothing is known of Shicron. Mount 
 Baalah] A short ridge of hills on the west of Ekron, noticed by Robinson. Jabneel] Else- 
 where= Jabneh (2 Chron. xxvi. 6), and frequently alluded to in Maccabees. Robinson supposed 
 that from Jabneel the boundary proceeded in a direct line to the sea, others think that it may 
 have followed the course of the adjacent valley. 12. The west border] This, like the opposite 
 boundary on the east, being formed throughout by sea-coast, is thus I iriefly indicated. 13 — 16. 
 And unto Caleb, etc.'] Cf. on chap. xiv. 6 — 15. Compare, also,.Judges i. 10 — 20. Keil con- 
 tends that neither of these passages is copied from the other, but that both were compiled 
 from a common document of an earlier date. 17. Othniel the son of Kenaz, the brother of 
 Caleb] " The Masorites, by their pointing (both here and in Judges i. 1.8. iii. 9), make Othniel 
 the brother of Caleb. This would make Achsah marry her uncle, which Keil asserts was not 
 forbidden in the law. It seems, however, to be against the spirit of Lev. xviii. 14. Moreover, 
 it is unlikely that Caleb would have a brother so young as to be a judge of Israel for forty 
 years after Joshua's death (Judges iii. 11). I prefer, therefore, to take the word ' brother ' to 
 refer to Kenaz, the younger brother of Caleb, whose son was Othniel. Kenaz would be a 
 family name repeated in Othnicl's lather." \_Ci'osby.'] 20. This is the inheritance] Keil and 
 Fay make this verse to be the concluding formula to the first division of the chapter, but 
 it .seems mr)re nidnral to read it as introductory to the catalogue of cities which follows. 
 21 — 32. The cities of the Negeb, or south] Thirty-six names are given, and in verse 32 the 
 number of the cities is said to be twenty-nine. It has been contended by some, that several of 
 the names are double ; by others, that additional names are added to the list by some later 
 writer, who omitted altering the number given as the total ; while others have sought to 
 reconcile the discrepancy by suggestions still more remote and unlikely. In the utter absence 
 of po.sitivc evidence of alteration by any later writer, the tendency of the German critics to 
 imagine an additional author cannot but be regretted. Such a view ought to be more than a 
 speculation. Till reaatjns be given for some other course, the opinion th.at the number 
 " twenty-nine" is a transcriber's error is as good as any other, while it is less cumbrous, and 
 thus more natural. 21 — 23. Kabzeel . . . Dimonahj Kabzeel m.ay be the Jekabzeel of 
 Neh. xi. 2.5 ; cf., also, 2 Sam. x.xiii. 2. Dimonah is thought to be the s.ame as Dilxm of Noh. xi. 2.5. 
 Of tlie I'em.aining cities of this group, nothing is known. 24. 25. Ziph, and Telem, and 
 Bealoth] These are unknown. Hazor-Hadattah=" New Hazor." Kiaioth-He/.ron is also to 
 be read as a compound name. The sites are not known. 26 — 28. Amam, etc] Amam is 
 unknown. Shema, said by Capcllus and Reland to be the Sheha of chap. xix. 2, where it is 
 again mentioned with Moladah. Moladah was afterwards assigned to Simeon (cf., also, 
 Neh. xi. 26). It is thought to be the modern cl-Milh. about four miles from Hi Arad. .and 
 nine cast of Becrshcba. The places named in verse 27 are unknown. The same remark 
 applies to Hazar-Shual, and IJizjothj.ah. Bcer-sheba=" wv/Zr/s^'ivrt," or " well of the oatk," 
 referring to the oath of Abr.aham on setting apart the seven lambs for Abimelech (Gen. xxi. 
 28 — 32. Compare, also. Gen. xxvi. 26 — 33). The modern name is Jiir es-Seba. 29—32. 
 262 
 
HOMILETIC C031MENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 Baalah, lim, etc.'] Little, or nothing, is known of the first five places named in this group 
 Baalah, however, must be distinguished from Kirjath-jearim as named in verses 9 and 10 of 
 this chapter. Hormah ; cf. on chap. xii. 14. Ziklag became famous as the residence of 
 David, to whom it was given by Achish. Notwithstanding so many notices of this place, 
 the site is uncertain. AVith the exception of being mentioned elsewhere, and perhaps in 
 some cases under other names, these remaining cities of the south are unknown. 33 — 47; 
 The cities of the Shephelah, or lowlands] Several of these have been noticed under other 
 chapters, and others which are unknown may be passed over. As several cities in the Negeb 
 were afterwards allotted to Simeon (chap. xix. 1 — 9), so some in this district were sub- 
 sequently assigned to Dan (chap. xix. 40—48). 33. Eshtaol and Zoreali] Generally men- 
 tioned together. Memorable in connection with the life of Samson, and as the burial-place on 
 himself and his father. By a comparison of chaps, xiii. 25, xviii. 12, both places were 
 evidently near to each other and to Kirjath-jearim. 34. Zanoah] Robinson places it on 
 the eastern side of the ruins of Zoreah, identifying it vdth the modern Zannah. 35, Jarmnth, 
 etc.1 Cf. on chaps, s. 3, 10. xii. 1.5. Socoh] Identified by Robinson in Shu7vel'keh. Near 
 to Azekah (1 Sam. xvii. 1), fortified by Rehoboam (2 Chron. xi. 7), and taken by the Philistines 
 in the time of Ahaz. There was another place of this name in the mountains, which is 
 also called Shvn-cilteJi {ct. ver. 48). 36. Gederah and Gederothaim] 3Iarff.='' or" Gedero- 
 thaim. The LXX. omit the latter name, with whom agree Winer and Knobel, thus making the 
 number of cities in this group to be " fourteen." 37. Zenan] Thought to be the Zaanan of 
 Micahi. 11. 38. Mizpeh] There were several places bearing this descriptive name (cf. on 
 chap. xi. 3). 39. Lachish . . . Eglon] Cf. on chap. x. 3. " Bozkath, the birth-place of the 
 mother of Josiah (2 Kings xxii. 1). stood somewhere near to these two cities." [A>77.] 42. 
 Makkedah] Cf. on chap. s. 10. 43. Nezib] Thought by Robinson to be Beit Kvsib, in the 
 Wady Sur. 44. Keilah, etc.'\ Famous in the life of David (1 Sam. xxiii.) ; menticmed also 
 in Neh. iii. 17, 18. " Achzib, mentioned here and Micah i. 14, was probably identical with 
 Chezib, Gen. xxxviii. 5 . . . Mareshah was fortified by Rehoboam (2 Chron. xi. 8 ; cf., also, 
 Micah i. L5 ; 2 Chron. xiv. 9, xx. 37), and is frequently mentioned in later times." [A>i7.] 
 45 — 47. Ekron, etc.] Cf. under chaps, xiii. 3, xi. 22. 48 — 60. The cities in the mountains] 
 Many of these also are either little known, or have not been identified. 48. Jattir] Now 
 'Attir, about ten miles south of Hebron. Afterwards given to the priests (chap. xxi. 13). It 
 was one of the cities to whose ciders David made presents, when he resided in Ziklag (1 Sam. 
 XXX. 27). 49. Kirjath-Sannah] Cf. on chaps, x. 38. xv. 7. 50. Anab, ctc^ A former abode 
 of the Anakim. Robinson speaks of it as still retaining its name, and as among the hills near 
 to Shoco and Eshtemoah, about ten miles S.S.W. of Hebron. 52 — 54. Arab, and Dnmah, 
 etc.] These cities, forming the second group of this division, were all to the north of those 
 named in the four verses preceding. Aphekah, it is thought by some, is not the same as the 
 Aphek of chap. xii. 18, on which see note. 55 — 57. Maon, Carmel, etc.] Maon=Jl!/'«t«, on a 
 conical hill, about seven miles S.S.E. of Hebron. Cf., for associations, 1 Sam. xxiii. 24, 25; 
 XXV. 2. Carmel (now Xvrmul), close to Maon, on the north. Cf. 1 Sam. xv. 12, xxvii. 8, 
 This must have been the place made famous by Uzziah's husbandry and vines (2 Chi-on. 
 xxvi. 10). Ziph is now Tel Z'lf. It was famous as a refuge of David (1 Sam. xxiii. 14, 15, 
 xxvi. 2). Juttah, which still bears its ancient name, is between Ziph and Carmel. Jezreel 
 only occurs again in 1 Sam. xxv. 43. Of the remaining cities of this group, little or nothing 
 is known. 58, 59. Halhul, Bethzur, etc7[ These six cities were still more to the north. The 
 three mentioned first, retain their former names. Following verse 59, a group of eleven cities 
 is given by the LXX., which, it is supposed, have been accidentally omitted from the Hebrew 
 text. 61,62. The cities in the wilderness] By " the wilderness " is meant "the eastern 
 slope of the mountain region, which is bare and rugged to the Dead Sea, and including so 
 much of the Jordan plain as appertained to .Judah. It was all a barren region, except in 
 small oases by fountains." ^Crosby.] 61. Beth-Arabah] Cf. verse 6. The three places which 
 follow are not mentioned elsewhere, and are unknown. 62. The City of Salt] Robinson 
 concluded that this stood in the Salt Valley at the southern end of the Dead Sea. Engedi] 
 = Goat-fountain ; now Aim Jidy, originally Ilazazon-Tamar (Gen. xiv. 7 ; 2 Chron. xx. 2). so 
 called, Josephus thought, on account of its palm groves. Its neighbourhood is celebrated 
 as a refuge of David (1 Sam. xxiv. 1 — 3), and as remarkable for its vineyards (Cant, i, 14). 
 63. The children of Judah at Jerusalem] For remarks on this, as indicating the time at 
 •which the book of Joshua was written, see below. 
 
 OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE PARAGRAPHS. 
 
 Verses 1 — 12. — The Gexekal Position of the Tribe of Judah in the Land. 
 
 " It is to be observed that the lot of the tribe of Judah not only falls on elevated 
 ground, the very elevation of the territory indicating the dignity of the future 
 kingdom, but a similar presage is given by its being the first lot that turns up. 
 Judah is preferred to all others. Who does not see that it is raised to the highest 
 
 263 
 
HOMILETIC C03tMENTAItr: JOSHUA. 
 
 rank, in order that the prophecy of Jacob may be fulfilled ? Then, within the 
 limits here laid down, it is well known that there were rich pastures, and vine- 
 yards celebrated for their productiveness and the excellence of their wines. In 
 this Avay, while the lot corresponds with the prophecy of Jacob, it is perfectly 
 clear that it did not so happen by chance ; the holy patriarch had ouly uttered 
 •what was dictated by the Spirit." [Calcin.] 
 
 Verses 13, 14. — Divine PROivnsES in relation to Human Effort and Human 
 Steadfastness. 
 
 These verses, with the four that follow, were probably inserted by the author 
 of this book to give unity and completeness to the narrative respecting Caleb. 
 As we learn by Judges i. 1 — 16, the taking of Hebron was not till "after the 
 death of Joshua." In order that it might be seen that Caleb's valour was no 
 mere boast, and that the promise of Jehovah was sure to the man who trusted it, 
 the fall of the city is related here. 
 
 I. God's promises are given to the man who has a heart to use them. The 
 *' thing that the Lord said unto Moses" (chap. xiv. G) is here said to have become 
 also "the commandment of the Lord to Joshua." No such promise was given 
 to the ten spies. It was to the man who believed that the walled city and the 
 giant garrison were as nothing before the word of Jehovah, that the word of 
 Jehovah came. The promises are always in the Scriptures ; no man ever makes 
 one of them his promise, who does not read with faith. 
 
 II. God's promises are not given to promote our rest, but to provoke us to 
 conflict. They are not to supersede oiu- elibrts, but to shew us the necessity of 
 eflbrt. They are not spoken to induce slothfulness, but to stir us to action. 
 Joshua seems to have lived for about seventeen years after the time of conceding 
 Caleb's request, as narrated in the previous chapter. We must not suppose that 
 during this time Caleb was idle, or that he feared the encounter to which he stood 
 pledged. His whole life forbids that. It is rather to be concluded that with his 
 usual magnanimity he gave his continued services to assist Joshua in bringing 
 others into their inheritance before he sternly set himself to seek an entrance into 
 his own. 
 
 III. God's usual way in His promises is not to make our difliculties less, 
 hut our strength more. When Caleb advanced to Hebron, the Auakim were still 
 there. Men crj'' to the Lord, " Lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies," 
 and that prayer, doubtless, has been often answered. But the method of the 
 Lord is usually not to diminish enemies, but to increase faith and strength. Ho 
 rephes : " As thy day is, so shall thy strength be; " and not, " As thy strength is, 
 BO shall thy day be." To the great man who wanted less of the thorn and 
 more of peace, the Divine voice merely answered, " My grace is sufficient for 
 thee." Hence the Bible is not a continued panorama of green pastures and still 
 waters, but often shews stern battle-fields and glorious victories. 
 
 IV. God's promises are worthy of our trust, not only in the day of peace, 
 but in the time of actual conflict. Caleb had said the tiling which was in his 
 heart when he made his report to Moses, and exclaimed of Canaan, "We are well 
 able to overcome it ; " forty-five years later, when he made his request to Joshua, 
 his faith was still firm (chap. xiv. 12) ; but no less did this good man believe in 
 his God in the day when ho led his brethren to attack the fastness of Hebron, 
 and slew the sons of Anak. God's promises are not merely something to make 
 the day of peace more peaceful, but stars, which no cloud of unbelief should be 
 suffered to liide, intended to shine out upon us and guide us to victory in the 
 otherwise dark night of actual conflict. " The last enemy that shall be destroyed 
 is death." In view of that stern foe, while it is somewhere in the distance. Cod's 
 promise brings peace ; the noble host of the believing dead bear witness, with 
 no conspicuous exception, that " the things which the Lord hatli said " arc 
 equally sufficient when death actually comes. In the days of his health and 
 
 2G1 
 
CHAP. XV. EOMILETIC C03IMENTARY : JOSHUJ. 
 
 strength, David sang with a svyeetness that has thrilled through all the generations 
 since, " Though I vpalk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no 
 evil, for Thou art with me : " in the days when he stood in the actual presence 
 of the last enemy, the aged hand had not lost its former cunning with the harp, 
 the sweet singer of Israel had forfeited nothing of his old sweetness, and the 
 believing heart had been robbed by the veritable presence of its foe of none of its 
 younger faith : " These be the last words of David. . . . Although my house be 
 not so with God, yet He hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in 
 all things, and sure ; for this is all my salvation and all my desire, although Ho 
 make it not to grow." The promise which is sufficient to the believing man in 
 the day of his strength and peace, is equally sufficient in the day of his weakness 
 and death. 
 
 Verses 15 — 19. — Othneel's Conquest of Debie. 
 
 Debir, or Kirjath-Sepher, has already been briefly noticed under chap. x. 38. 
 Why it was called "the city of the oracle," or " the city of the book," is unknown. 
 Nor has the site of the city been yet determined. Borne have identified it with 
 DcH'tr-han, on the hills which stand on the north side of the Wadi/ Nunhi'tr, about 
 three miles west of Hebron. In this direction, according to Schwarz, there is 
 also a Wady Dihir. Van de Velde, however, placed Debir at Dilhch, about six 
 miles south-west of Hebron, which seems more in harmony with the order of 
 arrangement in verses 48 — 60. In any case Debir must be held to have been 
 sufficiently near to Hebron to have made its possession by an enemy uncomfortable 
 to Caleb. Hence the attack, which is proposed as soon as Hebron is taken. 
 
 The narrative of the taking of Debir is scarcely suitable for the purposes of a 
 public discourse, at least not on ordinary occasions, nor by sentimental preachers. 
 Nor can the verses be pleaded as having any authority beyond that which may 
 be found in the conduct of an honourable man like Caleb. The following analysis 
 is given principally as marking certain traits of character in those concerned, 
 which should nevertheless be estimated in view of the then existing opinions as to 
 a father's rights in giving his daughter in marriage. 
 
 I. The spirit which influenced Caleb in the disposal of Achsah. He sought 
 to unite her to a man (1) hunour able fur his zeal and ene)yi/, (2) conspicuous for 
 his bravery, (3) and williny to use his strenyth ifi tJie icay of the Lord's connnand- 
 vients. (4) It seems likely also that Caleb sought to unite his daughter to one 
 who tvas in a social station akin to her own. The promise was not to the man who 
 should first enter Kirjath-Sepher. This may have been the nature of the similar 
 promise at the siege of Jerusalem, under David, although it seems by no means 
 certain that, even in this instance, David did not refer to the captain who should 
 first bring his company into Jebus, and smite the garrison. He should be chief 
 captain. (Cf. 2 Sam. v. 8 ; 1 Chron. xi. 6.) However this may have been, 
 Caleb's promise I'an, " He that siniteth Kiijath-Sepher, and taketh it, to him," etc. 
 No man single-handed could "smite and take" a fortified city; and thus the 
 promise probably refers to the leaders of the army who were under Caleb. This 
 view has also the advantage that it does not exhibit to us an honourable man like 
 Caleb putting up his daughter as the object of a wretched scramble, where a mere 
 accident of a stumble or a wound might decide whose she should be. Possibly 
 there were but few of the commanders under Caleb officially qualified to lead one 
 or moi'e divisions of the army against Debir ; and, of these, Othuiel might first 
 have volunteered, or he only might have volunteered to lead the attack. Any 
 way, out of regard for Achsah, Othuiel was one who oil'ered to conduct the assault, 
 and he succeeded. It is simply hideous to think of a good man like Caleb putting 
 up his child, with all her future happiness at stake, as a reward to any man who, 
 in the degrading and miserable scramble of an army, miglit first enter the city. 
 The case so generally quoted, 1 Sam. xvii, 25, is not parallel to this supposition, 
 and even if it were, Caleb was not Saul. 
 
 265 
 
BOMILETIC C0M3IENTARY: JOSHUA. chap. xv. 
 
 II. The harmony between the father and the daughter. 1. Achsah accorded 
 with her father's will and with the custom of the aije. There can be no doubt but 
 that, at this period, a father was held to have an absolute right to the disposal of his 
 daughter's hand (cf. Gen. xxix. 18 — 28; Exod. xxi. 7 — 11; 1 Sam. xvii. 25, etc.) ; 
 it does not follow, however, that a father would not consult his daughter's wishes. 
 2. She had confidence in her father s love, notwithstanding her recoi/nition of his 
 authority. She asked for a larger dowry (ver. 19). On leaving her father, to 
 cleave to her husband, we thus find her seeking her husband's interest. 3. Her 
 father cheerfully responded to her request. The confidence which was bold to ask, 
 was met by an aQ"ection which was pleased to bestow. 
 
 III. The honourable character in which this brief history introduces 
 Othniel. He comes before us as a man of courage, willing to risk his life for the 
 woman he loved. He is seen to perhaps even more advantage in not preferring 
 the request which Achsah prompted him to make. He may have refused to 
 comply with his wife's wishes. The history does not actually say this ; it merely 
 shews that Achsah made her request herself. Othniel was bold enough to fight ; 
 he seems to have been too manly to have allowed himself to ask for this addition 
 to what was, probably, already a just and good inheritance. He was brave enough 
 to do battle against Debir ; he was not mean enough to beg. If Achsah needed a 
 larger dowry, such a request would come better from herself. These features are 
 well in harmony with the dignity to which Othniel afterwards rose, and with the 
 way in which he seems to have acquitted himself as the first of the judges of 
 Israel. 
 
 Verse 63. — The Date at which the Book of Joshua was written. 
 
 On this verse Keil remarks as follows : — " The author closes the catalogue of 
 the cities with the historical announcement, that the children of Judah could not 
 drive the Jebusites out of Jerusalem, and that the Jebusites dwell with the children 
 of Judah at Jerusalem unto this day. This statement applies to the interval 
 between Joshua and David, to the period after the death of Joshua, when the 
 children of Judah had already once taken and burnt this city, which stood upon 
 the borders of their territory (Judges i. 8), but were still unabl* to maintain it, 
 and were therefore obliged, as were also the children of Benjamin, to whom 
 Jerusalem Avas allotted, to occupy it in common with the Jebusites, whom they 
 could not expel. The statement undoubtedly presupposes the period after Joshua, 
 but it does not involve a contradiction either to chap, xviii. 28, or Judges i. 21 ; 
 for it is not said here that Jerusalem belonged to the tribe of Judah, or that the 
 children of Judah alone had set up a claim to it, to the exclusion of Benjamin." 
 
 Although the verse seems undoubtedly to require a time after the death of 
 Joshua for its insertion here, it still more emphatically claims to have been 
 written prior to the time when David overcame the Jebusites, and henceforth 
 reigned in Jerusalem. After that event, this verse could certainly not have been 
 written. Fay, who more or less fully adopts the view of Knobel (who places the 
 " Jehovist" author of this book as late as " the last years of Hezekiah"), studiously 
 avoids saying anything about the verse, excepting that it is " important for deter- 
 mining the date of the composition of the book." He refers his readers to his 
 "Introduction, § 2," where the only notice taken of the passage is in half a line 
 quoted from Keil, and he further says, under this verse, " See more on xviii. 28," 
 where he says about it nothing whatever. It is much to be regretted that when 
 the importance of the verse had been admitted, the direction in which its importanJ 
 testimony bears was not also acknowledged. 
 
 The Inability of Judah to Dria^ out the Jebusites. 
 
 I. The inability which conies through unbelief Why could not Judah drive 
 out the Jebusites ? Had not God promised to bo with the Israelites in their 
 conflicts ? Was the Lord's arm shortened, that it could not save ? We cannot 
 266 
 
CHAP. XVI. HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 think this for a moment. God had repeatedly spoken to His people as though 
 they were not only responsible for giving battle, but also responsible for getting 
 the victory (Exod. xxiii. 27 — 83, xxxiv. 11, 12; Deut. vii, 17—24, etc.). Only 
 unbelief, coming from conscious sin, or as a weak distrust of God, could have 
 made Judah feel that they were unequal to this task. Is not our unbelief equally 
 manifest now, when we decline work to which God has bidden us, on the ground 
 that we are unable to perform it ? 
 
 II. Unbelief working^ fear and inaction. The men of Judah had already been 
 victorious in part. They had overcome and destroyed at least the lower half of 
 the city (Judges i. 8). It needed only that they should continue their struggle, 
 and, according to the Divine promise, they must have taken the upper city also. 
 They could not, however, bring themselves to believe that God would give the 
 fortress of the Jebusites into their hands. When God fails our hearts, our hearts 
 may well fail before our enemies. When faith departs, fear necessarily enters in 
 its place. Thus zeal departs also, and inaction and indifference follow. 
 
 III. Fear and inaction resulting in continued shame and suffering-. The 
 Israelites had to suffer nearly four centuries of insult and humiliation from the 
 Jebusites. As a crowning exhibition of their scorn, they manned the walls with 
 the lame and the blind, and bade David dispossess them if he could (2 Sam. v. 6). 
 The work which the men of Benjamin and Judah failed to do at first, had to be 
 done, after all. It is ever thus ; unbelief delivers us from little of our work 
 ultimately, and so long as it delays our work, is continually fruitful both of shame 
 and pain. It is he who hearkens to his Lord's commandments, and obeys, who 
 finds that his peace flows like a river. 
 
 CHAPTERS XVI., XVII. 
 
 THE INHERITANCE OF THE CHILDREN OF JOSEPH. 
 
 Critical Notes. — Chapter xvi. 1 — 4. The lot of the children of Joseph] Although Jacob 
 had adopted the sons of Joseph to be as his own children (Gen. xlvui. 5). and prophesied concern- 
 ing them as the heads of two distinct tribes in Israel, yet in the chapter of tribal blessings he had 
 spoken of them under the one name of Joseph (Gen. xlix. 22 — 26). Moses, also, though recog- 
 nising the division into the two tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, had likewise given them a single 
 blessing in the name of their common father (Deut. xxsiii. 13 — 17). Thus the one lot for the 
 two tribes was almost anticipated by these prophecies. As Cahan suggested, '' the admirable 
 counsel of God arranged that the brothers should be neighbours to each other." As the situation 
 of the two tribes was designated by a common lot, and an mtermingling of territory is spoken of 
 in ver. 9, it seems more convenient that these two chapters should be treated as one. 1. Fell] 
 Lit., "came forth ;" i.e., '"came out of the urn. or chest," says Clericus, whom Keil follows, 
 in opposition to the opinion of Kosenmiillor, that the reference is to the land, which "came 
 put from Jordan." etc. The water of Jericho] The fountain now known as Ain es-Sultan, to the 
 ovei'flowing of which the neighbouring plain owes so much of its ferility. Here Eli.sha wrought 
 his miracle of "healing the waters" (2 Kings ii. 19—22). Dr. Robinson pl;u;ed the site of 
 the first Jericho by this fountain of Elisha, and that of the late Jericho by the opening of 
 the Wady Kelt. The wilderness that goeth up from Jericho] This is the wilderness of 
 Bethaven (chap. vii. 2 ; x\-iii. 12). 2. From Bethel to Luz] Knobel. and others, rendering the 
 words as a compo.site noun, read '" from liethel-Luzah." Keil understands the sense to be, '• from 
 the niovntains of Bethel, from which the boundary-line proceeded to the city of Luz. i.e., to 
 Bethel itself." Undoubtedly, from the way ia which they are invariably mentioned as one place, 
 Luz should not be put, as by Crosby, " three and a half miles west of Bethel." But cf. below, 
 Dr. Cassel's remarks on Judges i. 22. The borders of Archi to Ataroth] '■ The border of the 
 Archite." The Archites or Erechites, in Can;van, may have been descended from some settlers 
 from the Erech of Nimrod (Gen. x. 10). in the Land of Babylonia. " Da\-id's friend." or ''com- 
 panion," Ilushai the Archite. is the subject of the only further reference which is made to this 
 name (2 Sam. xv. 32, xvi. 16 ; 1 Clu-on. xxvii. 33). Ataroth, according to Robinson, is the 
 modern Atara, about four miles south of Jiljilia, and must be distinguished from tlie ruins of 
 Atiira. near to er Ram. The latter is mentioned in verse 7, while the former is named again as 
 Ataroth-addar in verse 5 and in chap. x\'iii. 13. 3. Beth-horon the nether] The lower Beth-horon is 
 now Bcit-Hr, et Tachta, In common with Gezer (cf. on chap. x. 33) it was afterwards given to 
 
 2G7 
 
HOMILETIG COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. chap. xvn. 
 
 the Kohathites (chap. xxi. 21 , 22). 4. So the children of Joseph, etc.'] Thus the southern boundary 
 only is given, " which, in chap, xviii. 12. 13. is repeated as the northern border of Benjamin. 
 5 — 8. The border of the children of Ephraim, etc.'] These verses contain a description which 
 seems involved in inextricable confusion. This is. perhaps, principally owing to three things : 
 the places named are few, and thus far apart, marking, probably, some of the extreme positions ; 
 the sites of the places are nearly all unknown ; and further, the inter-tribal line between these 
 brother tribes seems to have been very complex, and, owing to the intermingling named in 
 verse 9, may have been, at places, hardly capable of clear description in a brief record. Added 
 to this, it is possible that some attempts may have been made by copyists to make the text 
 clearer, these resulting eventually in greater obscurity than ever. Some such process may 
 account for the utterly incomprehensible opening clause of verse 6 ; or, as between verses 59, 60, 
 a passage may have been left out between ver.ses 5, Gj^rendering what follows unintelligible. 9. The 
 separate cities] These were possibly so a.ssigned, in order that by the intermingling of the two 
 tribes the bond of brotherhood might be perpetuated. 
 
 Chapter xvu. — 1. A lot for the tribe of Manasseh] The families of the tribe as a whole 
 are here taken into account, the notice of them extending to the close of the sixth verse. 
 Machir] Cf. on chap. xiii. 31. The father of Gilead] '■ The ruler or possessor of the land of 
 GUead." " This is apparent from the fact that ' Machir ' does not stand for any individual in 
 this passage, but for an entire family, and also from the use of the article before • Gilead,' which 
 always denotes the province (cf. Numb, xxxii. 40 ; Deut. iii. 10. sqq. ; Josh. xiii. 11, 31; xvii. 
 1, 5) ; whereas Machir's son or grandson of that name is invariably called ' Gilead' (without the 
 article), as in Numb. xxvi. 29 ; Joshua xvii. 3 ; 1 Chron. vii. 17." [A'e/Z.] 2. The rest of the 
 children of Manasseh] Cf . passages indicated in margin. 3. No sons, but daughters] The case 
 of the daughters of Zelophehad not only caused this provision to be made for them, but supplied 
 an opportunity for special regulations for all similar cases (cf . Numb, xxvii. 1 — 11, xxxvi.). ^^ 6. Ten 
 portions, itc^ On account of the daughters of Zelophehad inheritmg their father's estate, the lot of 
 the half -tribe of Manasseh. west of the Jordan, had first to be divided into six portions, according 
 to the number of the families. Then the Hepherite inheritance for the five daughters had again 
 to be divided into five portions, one for each daughter, thus making ten portions. 7 — 10. From 
 Asher to Michmethah, cic.'] It is generally agreed that " Asher" must be read as the name 
 of a town, and not as indicating the territory of the tribe of that name, but so little is known of 
 the places mentioned in this and the following verses, that it has been found impossible to trace 
 the border with any assurance of correctness. 10. They met together in Asher] Heb., "they 
 touched upon Asher," etc. The pi. pronoun, of course, refers to the children of Manasseh, and 
 not to the two tribes previously named ; i.e., " the Manassites touched upon Asher," the people 
 being put for their territory. H. Manasseh had in Issachar and in Asher, etcl To which the 
 clause of verse 10, just noticed, refers. As the children of Eplu-aim had separate cities in the 
 lot of Manasseh (chap. xvi. 9), so the children of Manasseh had separate cities within the borders 
 of Issachar and Asher. Bethshean] Also " Bethshean " in Judges i. 27 ; but later on, oftener 
 Bethshan (1 Sam. xxxi. 10 ; 2 Sam. xxi. 12). It is frequently named in connection with the 
 Maccabees, where it is also called Scythopolis (2 Mace. xii. 29). It is now Beisun, lying in the 
 Jordan valley between the river and Mount Gilboa. Ibleam] Where Ahaziah was mortally 
 ■wounded, and near " the ascent to Gur " (2 Kings ix. 27). Dor] Now TantHra. It was formerly 
 a royal city of the Canaanites (chap. xi. 2, xii. 23), and was subsequently the local centre where, 
 as one of his twelve officers, or purveyors, Solomon stationed his son-in-law Abinadab (1 Kings 
 iv. 11). In the time of the Maccabees, Dor was besieged by Antiochus Sidetes (1 M.acc. xv. 
 11 — 14). Endor] Lit., Ain-Dor, the "eye" or "spring of Dor," but in no way connected with 
 the Dor just noticed. Eusebius placed it four miles south of Tabor. It was long famous as the 
 Bcene of the victory over Sisera and Jabin (Ps. Ixxxiii. 10), and for Saul's interview with "the 
 •witch" (1 Sam. xxviii. 7). Taanach . . . Megiddo] Cf. on chap. xii. 21. Three countries] Beb., 
 " three heights." " What is intended is the three cities lying on hills : Endor, Taanach, and 
 Megiddo, a Tripolis of mountain cities, in distinction from the places on the plain : Bethshean, 
 Ibleam, and Dor." [Fai/.] 14. One lot and one portion] As stated also in chap. xvi. 1, on which 
 see note. The single drawing, however, did not necessarily limit the portion. Refen-ing to their 
 conduct as stated in Judges viii. 1, xii. 1, Crosby reuiarks that "the Ephraimites wore probably 
 the principal complainers." This is the more likely when we remember that they may have pre- 
 sumed on their relation to Joshua, who wa-s of their tribe (Numb. xiii. 8). The complainers did 
 not come to PHeazar, like the daughters of Zelophehad (verse 4), although the high priest stood 
 first in the matter of darecting the lots (cf. chap. xiv. 1) ; but, as though thej' counted on his 
 interest, they brought their case, craftily st;vted, to Joshua. 15. The wood country] Ifcb., 
 "forest." " The mountain range (verse 18), then covered with timber trees, to which .Foshua 
 (like the prophet Amos, ii. 9), compares the tall Canaanites. This view seems more probable 
 than that of Stanley {:Sinai and Pal., p. 518) and others, who locate this forest on the other side 
 of Jordan, and make it identical with ' the wood of l']phraim,' where Absalom met his fate (2 
 Sam. xviii. 6). It is true that the Rephaim. or giants, were once in that locality, but they were 
 settled in many other places, antl we do not read of Peri/.zites east of Jordan." [(rro-icr.] Keil's 
 remark, however, on the places named in the next verse, disposes of any doubt which might 
 remain : "This clearly proves that ' hui/t/aur ' (' the forest ') refers to the mountains of tJilboa, 
 which were bounded on the east by Bethahean, and on the west by the plain of Jezreel." 16. The 
 
 208 
 
CHAP. XVI. HOMILETIC C03fMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 hill is not enough] Or, " the mountain," as it is agai n called in verse 18. Probably the children 
 of Joseph alluded to the hill-land generally, including the Gilboa region, or forest-land which 
 Joshua had just offered them. Chariots of iron] Cf. on chap. xi. 4. 17- And Joshua spake, 
 etc."] He repeated, still in u'onical reproof of their covetousness and fear, what he had previously 
 said. He uses their own talk about their gi-eatness as the greatest possible argument against the 
 spirit which they manifest. 
 
 OUTLINES AXD COMMENTS ON THE PARAGBAPHS 
 
 Chapter XVI. — Verse 1. — The Precedence of Ephraim. 
 
 As between these " children of Joseph," Ephraim takes precedence of Manasseh. 
 Though, as the elder son, Manasseh is named first in verse 4, yet the lot of 
 Ephraim stands first in the record, and occupies the more important position in 
 the land. This is as Jacob had prophesied it should be (Gen. xlviii. 13 — 20). 
 The ancient scene of the blessing of Joseph's children, when compared with their 
 inheritance as shewn here, is instructive. Joseph had opposed Jacob, but Jacob 
 was right and Joseph wrong. Putting together the circumstances of Jacob's 
 prophecy, and the sequel which the history here begins to reveal, the following 
 thoughts are suggested : 
 
 I. God's special presence and guidance sometimes vouchsafed to the dying, 
 not imaginary, but real. It does not appear that dying Jacob had received any 
 particular promise that God would especially direct him in giving his prophetic 
 blessings. Jacob assumed that it was so. The dying do not care for proofs and 
 arguments. They simply believe, and thus speak. Jacob did not trouble himself 
 with any explanation. He did not even claim God's special teaching. He merely 
 answered to Joseph's objection, " I know it, my son, I know it;" and then, in 
 the calmness of a man fully assured, went on with his blessing. Jacob believed 
 that God was directing him. " By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed 
 both the sons of Joseph" (Heb. xi. 21). Jacob had no great precedent for conduct 
 like this. Dying Moses could look back and see how God had honoured Jacob's 
 trust, but Jacob could look back on nothing similar. He simply felt that God 
 was with him, and was guiding him so unerringly, that the knowledge of his pious 
 son Joseph must not be sufiered, for a moment, to break in upon his own confi- 
 dence. Jacob was not deceived. The history which begins in this appointment 
 of the lots, goes on to assert through many generations that it was indeed God 
 who had set Ephraim before Manasseh, though the elder son " also should be 
 great." Is not God thus present with His dying servants now, if not for 
 prophecy, yet for support ? He Himself has said, " When thou passest through 
 the waters, I will be with thee." 
 
 II. God's special guidance of His servants in death sufficiently realized to 
 enable their faith to overcome all obstacles. Take into consideration the cir- 
 cumstances by which Jacob was surrounded, and it will be seen that it was no 
 light matter for him to persist in his trust. 1. There wan the diificulti/ of (/ettinfj 
 mvay from Eijypt. Would that be suffered by the Egyptians ? Would the 
 Israelites, settled in the fat land of Goshen, unanimously care to leave ? 
 2. There n-as the task of overcoming the Canaanites. Jacob had lived among them 
 during great part of his life, and must have well known of those cities " walled up 
 to heaven," and inhabited here by the Rephaim, there by the Anakim. 3. There 
 icas the division of the tribe of Joseph into two tribes. How was that to be brought 
 about ? Was Israel to have thirteen tribes ? If not, which son was to give place ? 
 and how was he to be induced to give place ? 4. Then there teas the supremacy of 
 Ephraim. Would not this be contested, even as Jacob's own supremacy over Esau ? 
 Thus, in addition to the opposition of Joseph, and the weakness imposed by the 
 presence of death, these things stood confronting the aged patriarch's faith. He 
 
 2G9 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. ciikv. xvi. 
 
 did not so much as speak of them as maklug the issue doubtful. He felt God to 
 be so manifestly with him, that no amount of obstacles could present any measure 
 of difficulty. So sufficient is God's presence in the hour of His people's need. 
 
 III. The special guidance of God in even the weak and dying, transcending 
 physical strength and mental vigour. Joseph was strong, and Jacob was weak ; 
 the son could see, but the father's eyes were dim with age ; the younger man's 
 faculties and powers of mental perception were in the very pride of maturity, 
 while the elder man was feeling throughout his entire frame the decay w^hich 
 precedes dissolution ; yet Jacob was right, and Joseph was in error. The guidance 
 of God in the feeblest is better than human perception at its best. Even the 
 blind err not when the Lord leads them. The cultivated intellect of Joseph fails 
 to discern the future of his children ; the divinely taught, though decaying mind 
 of Jacob, not only reads the centuries to come, but does not so much as think of 
 the possibility of any mistake. 
 
 IV. The special guidance of God surpassing the ordinary spiritual appre- 
 hensions of an unusually faithful and pious life. Jacob's life had been one full 
 of grave mistakes. He had obtained the birthright of his brother through deep 
 craft and oft-repeated lies. He may fairly be regarded as the prototype of com- 
 mercial sharpness and cunning. He bargained with men, and even bargained 
 with God. He assumed a demeanour of great moderation with Laban, depending 
 on trickery to make the seeming moderation far more profitable than any open 
 arrangement. His life was a long negotiation in the interest of himself. It had 
 been eminently a life of self-seeking. Yet with all these " evil days," as he 
 himself terms them, Jacob had believed unquestioningly in God. God had ever 
 been his refuge in his times of distress, and, apparently, never forgotten in his 
 times of prosperity. Nevertheless, the life of Jacob stands out in dark and painful 
 contrast to the life of Joseph. Joseph had shewn the same ardent belief in God, 
 and had testified to the beauty of his faith by the excellence of his fidelity. The 
 story of Jacob's life is stained throughout, while that of Joseph comes down to us 
 in an almost unsulHed purity. For all this, in the instance before us, Jacob is 
 unerringly right, and Joseph is wrong. " The secret of the Lord is with them 
 that fear him." " The pure in heart see God." This is the ordinary rule of life, 
 and it is in no way shaken by this exception. God seems to teach us again, here, 
 that no man must relij on his purity. Fidelity is one thing, infallibility another. 
 God sometimes corrects the judgment of His most faithful servants through those 
 whose lives are far inferior. This also is well, lest pride become the heritage of 
 piety. Again, it should be remembered that the special teaching of God through 
 the weak is far more unerriDg than the discernment of the most spiritual of minds 
 momentarily left to themselves. 
 
 V. The superior wisdom of God's guidance waiting for the vindication of 
 time. If not vindicated at the time, it was vindicated by time. Joseph quietly 
 submitted to his father's strong assurance. He otl'ered no further remonstrance. 
 Joseph may even have believed that it would bo as his father had declared. Of 
 this, nothing is said. When nearly two hundred and fifty years had passed, God 
 began to confirm the words of Jacob by providing in another manner for the tribe 
 of Levi, and in these appointments of the lots of Joseph's children. The vision 
 which God gives may tarry, yet it is for " an appointed time." Divine proofs are 
 never hastened, and ultimately they never fail. 
 
 Verse 2. — The Distinction bet'wteen Bethel and Luz. 
 The following excellent note by Dr. Cassel deals with three passages which 
 have often been found difficult to harmonise with the statement, " Bethel, which 
 is Luz," frequently occurring elsewhere : (1) with the obscure phrase " from 
 Bethel to Luz," in this verso ; (2) with the difficulty in chapter xviii. 13, 22, 
 where, while Bethel is said to belong to Benjamin, the border of that tribe is 
 stated to be south of Luz ; (3) and finally, with the representation in Judges i. 
 
CHAP. XVII. HO^IILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSIIVA. 
 
 22—25, in which the children of Joseph are seen taking and occupying what 
 might appear to be a city of Benjamin. 
 
 " As Jebus and Jerusalem are always identified, so it is everywhere remarked 
 of Bethel, that it was formerly Luz ; and as Jebus indicated particularly the 
 fortress, Jerusalem the city, — although the latter name embraced both, — so a 
 similar relation must be assumed to have existed between Bethel and Luz. 
 Otherwise the border of Benjamin could not have run south of Luz (Josh, xviii. 
 13), while nevertheless Bethel was reckoned among the cities of Benjamin (Josh, 
 xviii. 22). This assumption, moreover, explains the peculiar phraseology of 
 Josh, xviii. 13: 'And the border went over from thence toward Luz' (after 
 which we expect the usual addition, ' which is Bethel ; ' but that which does 
 follow is,) ' on the south side of Luz, which is Bethel.' It explains likewise the 
 mention (Josh. xvi. 2) of the border ' from Bethel to Luz,' i.e., hetweeu Bethel and 
 Luz. The latter was evidently a fortress, high and strong, whose city descended 
 along the mountain slope. When Jacob erected his altar, it must have been on 
 this slope or in the valley. One name designated both fortress and city, but this 
 does not militate against their being distinguished from each other. Bethel 
 belonged to two tribes in a similar manner as Jerusalem. The capture of Luz 
 by Joseph would not have been told in a passage which treats of the conflicts of 
 the individual tribes in their own territories, if that fortress had not belonged to 
 the tribes of Joseph. By the conquest of Luz, Joseph secured the possession af 
 Bethel, since both went by that name, just as David, when he had taken the 
 fortress of the Jebusites, was for the first time master of Jerusalem. This deed 
 is related as contrasting with the conduct of Benjamin (Judg. i. 21). Benjamin 
 did nothing to take the fortress of Zion : Joseph went up to Luz, and God was 
 with him (Judg. i. 22). This remark had been impossible, if, as has been fre- 
 quently assumed, the tribe of Joseph had arbitrarily appropriated to itself the 
 city which had been promised to Benjamin. The view of ancient Jewish ex- 
 positors, who assume a Bethel in the valley and one on the mountain, does not 
 difi'er from that here suggested. Robinson seems to have established the position 
 of the ancient Bethel near the present Beitin, where scattered ruins occupy the 
 surface of a hill-point. A few minutes to the north-east, on the highest spot 
 of ground in the vicinity, are other ruins, erroneously supposed to be Ai by the 
 natives : these also, perhaps, belonged to Bethel. It cannot, however, be said 
 that until Robinson this position was entirely unknown. Esbtori ha-Parchi, who 
 in his time found it called Bethai, the /. having fallen away, was evidently ac- 
 quainted with it. In another work of the fourteenth century, the then current 
 name of Bethel is said to be Bethin." \_Cassel, Lamje's Com.'] 
 
 Verse 10. — The Weakness and Inconsistency of Unbelief. 
 
 I. A stronghold thought by God's people to be too strong for them to 
 subdue, notwithstanding Divine promises to the contrary. 
 
 II. A stronghold which, it is pretended, cannot be overcome, and yet is 
 put under tribute. 
 
 III. A stronghold too strong for unbelieving men who might have had the 
 help of omnipotence, and presently taken by foreign idolaters, and given to 
 the nation. (Cf. 1 Kings ix. 16.) 
 
 Chapter x\-n. Verses 3, 4. — The Inheritance of the Daughters of Zelo- 
 puehad. 
 
 " Men are so much devoted to their own interests, that it seldom occurs to 
 them to give others their due. The daughters of Zelophehad had obtained a 
 portion by a heavenly decree, nor had any one dared to utter a word against it ; 
 and yet, if they had remained silent, no regard would have been paid to them. 
 Therefore, lest the delay should prove injurious to them, they apply to Joshua 
 and Eleazar, and insist that they shall not be deprived of their legitimate suc- 
 
 271 
 
E03nLETIC C03IMENTARY: JOSUUA. chap. xvii. 
 
 cession. No delay is interposed by Joshua to prevent their immediately obtain- 
 ing what is just, nor is there any murmuring on the part of the people. Hence 
 we infer that all were disposed to act equitably ; but every one was occupied by 
 his own interest, and too apt carelessly to overlook that of others." [Calvin.^ 
 
 The Influence of Self in our Foegetfulness or Remembrance of the 
 Divine Commandments. 
 
 The remarks quoted above, coupled wdth the history in Numbers xxvii. 1 — 7, 
 suggest some important considerations on the way in which men read the Scrip- 
 tures. Men insensibly teach the Bible from their own standpoint. Self is a 
 much more important factor in the practical results of our reading the Bible than 
 most of us are aware of, or would be ready to admit. What seems not to bless 
 us we are continually overlooking ; that which promises us something we see 
 very readily indeed ; and that which is obscure, and can be construed to our 
 personal advantage, seldom finds us troubled with the obscurity or in the least 
 doubtful about the meaning. 
 
 I. The words of the Lord utterly forgotten thi'ough self-seeking. The 
 Israelites seem to have been caring each for the things that were his own. God's 
 words, apparently, had simply passed out of mind. Some of the people may 
 have been guilty intentionally, but probably most of them transgressed uncon- 
 sciously. There is a great deal of the book of God forgotten like this every day 
 now. Many who learned whole chapters under their mothers' teaching, or in 
 Sunday-schools, have been so eagerly pursuing their own things in the world, 
 that they have not remembered for years any single verse which would tend to 
 diminish their inheritance and increase that of their neighbours. Many have 
 remembered such woi'ds, but they have kept them secret. They have hidden them 
 even from their own hearts. 
 
 II. The words of the Lord neglected under the pressure of temporal cares. 
 Many good men, who would have reminded the leaders of Israel of this promise, 
 bad been so busy that it had not occurred to them. Eleazar had forgotten the 
 words, and Joshua had forgotten them : Caleb, whose v/ay it had been for many 
 years to follow the Lord fully, had thought of his own inheritance a great deal, 
 but not anything about the inheritance of these fatherless and brotherless women. 
 The whole tribe of the disinterested Levites appear to have forgotten the words 
 also. Just then, life was so hurried ; there had been so much for men to 
 think about, and so much to do. How much Bible is there forgotten in our 
 great cities every day from like causes ? How much is forgotten " on 'Change " ? 
 How much in merchants' offices, in busy manufactories, in shops, and in homes ? 
 How much Scripture is forgotten, under pressure of work, by the farmer in his 
 fields ? how much by the laliourer who toils for him ? 
 
 III. The words of the Lord remembered and pleaded under the influence of 
 personal interest. Although the Israelites, by hundreds of thousands, had for- 
 gotten the command of God, these daughters of Zelophehad had not forgotten. 
 How readily we all remember such words of Scripture as tend to our personal 
 benefit ! Men remember words which support their individual claims. They 
 remember words which seem to exonerate themselves. They remember words 
 which reflect on others. What is remembered through personal interest is gen- 
 erally pleaded with readiness and urgency. Our very faculties tend to partiality. 
 Memory and eloquence are quickened by nothing so much as by individual 
 interest. Only let there be something to inherit, and forthwith the meanest 
 capabihties become efficient. 
 
 Verses 12, 13. — Little Will, and thus no Way. 
 
 I. Inability in its relation to unbelief. The promises of God had been 
 many, and the warnings uigent (Exod. xxxiv. 10 — 17 ; Numb, xxxiii.. 50 — 56, 
 etc.). They who begin by disbelieving God may well fear to encounter powerful 
 enemies. 
 
 272 
 
CHAP. XVII. BOMILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 II. Inability in its relation to indisposition. The indisposition that comes 
 (1) through fear of men, (2) through love of ease, (3) through undervaluing the 
 importance of God's command. 
 
 III. The inability of God-aided men presently shewn to be a mere pretence 
 and a poor excuse. 1. The revelation which comes throiu/h transgressors themselves. 
 " When the children of Israel were waxen strong, they put the Canaanites to 
 tribute." " Could not " is here seen to be " would not." That " tribute " told 
 the entire story in its true colours. It was a history in a word. Tribute goes 
 on telling secrets still. Probably nothing else in this world tells so many. The 
 tribute of Judas burned into his very soul, till he threw the thirty pieces on the 
 temple floor, and cried over them in agony, " I have betrayed innocent blood." 
 The tribute of the young ruler's great possessions became a text from which 
 Christ preached, " How hardly shall they that have riches," etc. The tribute 
 of the craft by which Demetrius had his wealth, let out the secret reason 
 of his great love for the despised Diana (Acts xix. 24 — 27). The tribute of the 
 world betrayed the reason why Demas forsook Paul. It is ever thus. Th9 
 robber's biggest trouble is with his spoil. The ambitious man mounts the 
 pedestal which he has long been striving to climb, and then tells his secret on 
 the top. The dishonest merchant cannot keep his gains from preaching. Trans- 
 gressors win their way to success unobserved, and then betray themselves with 
 the very gains they have won. 2. The revelation which comes through those who 
 succeed transgressors. Out of this very section of the tribe of Manasseh arose 
 Gideon, of the family of the Abi-ezrites (cf. ver. 2). On this very ground of the 
 half-tribe of Manasseh was fought the great battle which delivered Israel from 
 the Midianites. And how was it fought ? By an army from which more than 
 thirty thousand had been sent to their homes ; by a small force of three hundred 
 men, who merely brake their pitchers, and held their torches on high, shedding 
 light on a truth afterwards embodied in one of the famous sayings of Israel, " The 
 battle is the Lord's." It was as though God was purposely reproving the faint- 
 heartedness and idleness of these men who had lived in the days of Joshua. He 
 who says to us by His apostle, "Prove all things," will not fail to estabhsh the 
 truth of His own word. It was not God's promises which had proved weak when 
 " the children of Manasseh could not conquer those cities " in their new lot ; it 
 was the children of Manasseh themselves who were weak. God revealed this in 
 the taking of the tribute, and still more fully in the victoiy of the reduced army 
 which only began to fight when the battle was won. Probably the future will 
 declare, no less fully, that all our failures have been in no measure God's, but 
 entirely ours. 
 
 Verses 14 — 18. — Divine Methods of Inheriting. 
 
 The tribe of Ephraim and the half-tribe of Manasseh appear to have had the 
 position of their inheritances indicated by a single lot. According to the principles 
 regulating the division of the laud, this would in no measure have restricted the 
 extent of their possessions (cf. Numb. xxvi. 54). Thus this tribe and a hall 
 of the descendants of Joseph, in saying, " "Why hast thou given us but one lot ? " 
 were endeavouring to make capital by an equivocal representation. In view ot 
 that wrong spirit, Joshua answered them. He treated their request with the 
 rejection which it deserved. In taking this course we feel at once that Joshua 
 followed the mind and will of God. 
 
 I. In the Divine plan there is little room for inheriting by what men 
 suppose to be their own inherent merits. "I am a great people.' Many 
 people feel that they are the same. They thhik that their greatness oug ht to be 
 recognised both by Providence and by men. They are quite sure that they ought 
 to stand higher up in life. If a man had his deserts, there would be few above 
 him ! God's answer, through His servants, and through all the insphed voices 
 of life, is: "Prove your greatness. Do something with it. Level the woods; 
 
 T 273 
 
UOMILETIC COMMENT AJiY : JOSHUA. chap. xvrr. 
 
 clear the mountains ; make the giants give place before you ; thus you will assert 
 your greatness in a way beyond contradiction, and men will recognise it." Our 
 greatness is not to consist in pride. It is not to be established by advertise- 
 ments. No tongue is eloquent enough to proclaim its owner's worth. In the 
 advocacy of our personal merits only actions can be allowed to speak. The 
 tongue has never been elected to this parliament. 
 
 II. In the Divine plan of inheriting, past blessing gives no immunity from 
 present or future labours. " The Lord hath blessed me hitherto." True ; God 
 had blessed Joseph through his father, Jacob, through Moses, and through the 
 actual multiplication of his children. And the good people found this kind of 
 thing very comfortable. It was very nice to be blessed. Why should they not be 
 blessed always ? Because an opportunity had now come for work ; and if they 
 wanted to utilise even past blessings, they must do so through work. Some 
 people are always remembering how they used to be favoured. God blesses us 
 gratis when we are children. God blesses us for nothing when we are in the 
 desert, and have little opportunity for service. When the field for service is 
 before us, then, lest our very blessings should turn into curses, the Lord ever 
 says by some voice or other : " If you would be blessed any more, you must 
 work. Henceforth your labour shall be the channel through which my mercies 
 shall run to refresh your life." If we stop up the channel, we must not wonder 
 if the streams of Divine favour are turned in some other direction. No man can 
 afford to live on his past. 
 
 III. In the Divine plan there is no room for selfishness, and no place for 
 unfair patronage. "And Joshua answered," etc. They had come, not to 
 Eleazar, like the daughters of Zelophehad (ver. 3, 4), but to Joshua, who was 
 their relative (Numb. xiii. 8), thinkmg, probably, that the leader of Israel would 
 be disposed to favour his own tribe. To increase the greatness of Ephraim would 
 be to act kindly by his own people ; to increase the greatness of Ephraim would 
 be to add to his own greatness. Put plainly, that seems to have been their 
 real argument. Joshua rejects the pleadings, both the manifest pleadings and 
 the hidden. The recognition of adventitious circumstances is not God's way 
 of inheriting. A man's greatness must be within him, not upon him. 
 
 IV. In the Divine plan the way to a larger inheritance is ever through 
 the expulsion of enemies. " If thou be a great people, then," etc. (verses 15 — 
 18). 1. Oar imrcctse of inheritance is not to come through robbing our brethren 
 of some of theirs. To straiten the lot of Benjamin and Issachar, in order to 
 increase the territor;, of Ephraim and Manasseh, is not the way of the God of 
 Israel. It is not by robbing another that a man can increase his own. The 
 robber always loses more manhood than he gets land. 2. Our increase of inhe- 
 ritance is to be through conjlict uith the foes of God and truth. The relation of 
 Israel to the Canaanites was special, and the like can never occur between man 
 and man now. But we have spiritual foes against whom we are each bidden to 
 contend (cf. Eph. vi. 10 — 18). We have error to oppose, and now territory to 
 win for the occupation of truth. 
 
 V. The Divine plan may have many difficulties, but it also reveals great 
 encouragements. "Thou shalt drive out the Canuanites, though they have 
 iron chariots, and though they be strong." 1. Error viag be tenacious, but so is 
 truth. The idolatry of the land of Canaan could only be removed by the removal 
 of the idolaters. Error holds as strongly to the human heart as ever. But truth 
 is not less strong. Every man who fairly lodges a new and holy truth in the 
 heart of his fellow has planted what can never be wholly removed again. He who 
 has sown new truths abroad in the world has sown for immortality. " Every 
 plant which your heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up," said 
 the Saviour. Surely what He has planted cannot bo uprooted. Some one has 
 said : 
 
 274 
 
CHAP. XVII. HOJriLETIC C03niENTAIiY: JOSHUA. 
 
 '• The truth once uttered, and 'tis like 
 A star new-born, that drops into its place, 
 And which once circling in its placid round, 
 Not all the tumult of the earth can shake." 
 
 The labour of getting truth to take the place of error is arduous, but the results 
 are abiding, 2. Enemies may be stron;/, but God is greater than them all. These 
 men of Ephraim and Manasseh were alarmed at the Perizzites and the Rephaim ; 
 but Joshua, who knew the sufficiency of the help of the Lord, could say unhesita- 
 tingly, " Thou shalt drive them out." The Christian man who has only learned 
 the strength of his enemies may well be sad ; he who has proved the arm of 
 Jehovah will need to contemplate nothing but victory. 
 
 Discontentment. 
 
 I. The easy way to discontentment. Anybody can complain. Everybody is 
 tempted to complain. Most of those who murmur think that they can shew 
 good cause for their complaints. No man is rich enough to be out of the reach 
 of discontent. No man is poor enough to be below the possibility of happiness. 
 " Poor and content is rich, and rich enough." It was from a life very great 
 in its experience of suffering that there came forth to the world that ever 
 memorable utterance, " I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be 
 content." 
 
 II. The unfailing testimony of discontentment. 1. Complaints furnish no 
 trustwurthi/ evidence about a man's tot. How can they, when so many murmur in 
 every kind of lot which the world knows ? 2. Complaints bear unfaiUmj uitness 
 atjainst the murmurer himself. Scripture often condemns the man who complains, 
 apart from considering the cause of complaining. The words " murmur," " im- 
 patience," " covetous," " envy," are always treated as so many synonyms for 
 sin, quite irrespective of the circumstances which men treat as justifying such 
 states of mind. Shakspeare wrote : 
 
 " My crown is in my heart, not on my head ; 
 Not decked with cliamonds and Indian stones. 
 Nor to be seen : my crown is called content ; 
 A crown it is that seldom kings enjoy." 
 
 The o^vner of the humblest inheritance may say that ; every Christian should say 
 it. It was He who said, " The Son of man hath not where to lay His head," who 
 presently added, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you." This 
 world's great legacy of joy came to it from the Man of sorrows. 
 
 III. The true answer to discontentment. 1. Joshua was too tcise to dispute 
 the assumption of greatness (verses 15, 17). He who tries to argue a discontented 
 man out of his favourite assumptions does but waste breath. 2. Joshua turned 
 the plea of i/reatness back on those who used it ; " If thou be a great people, then " 
 — work, light. 3. Joshua sought to cure the murmuring of the heart through the 
 diligence of the hand. The energy which is absorbed in gloomy thoughts, and 
 poured oat in bitter complaints, w'ould generally double the small inheritance, if 
 it war e rightly directed. Apart from this, industry and courage ever tend to 
 happiness. 4. Joshua encouraged these miirmurers to think that to the people of 
 Gud no di(ficulties were insuj^erable. He would have them think of the invincible 
 might which had promised to support their faithful efforts (cf. Deut. xx. 1 — 4), 
 and make them victorious. 
 
 The after history shews us that a discontented spirit is not easily cured. These 
 people shewed the same haughty dissatisfaction again and again after the death of 
 Joshua (cf. Judges viii. 1 — 3 ; xii. 1 — 6). He who has cultivated contentment 
 through faith in God is not readily disturbed ; while the man who has learned, in 
 whatsoever state he is, to find some fault with his fellows, has given room in his 
 heart for a demon that is not oaaily expelled. *' This kind goeLh not out but by 
 prayer and fasting." 
 
 275 
 
IJOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. chap, xviii. 
 
 Idleness, Co^-etousness, etc. "So it goes also with many an insincere combatant 
 in the kingdom of God, that they would fain have many spiritual gifts, but without 
 a strife." \Langc.'\ 
 
 " Many wish for larger possessions, who do not cultivate and make the best of 
 what they have. They think they should have more talents given them, and do 
 not trade with those with which they are intrusted. Most people's poverty 
 is the eflfect of their idleness ; would they dig, they need not beg." [ii/fHn/.] 
 
 " That is the way with the covetous man, that the more he has, the more 
 he desires to have, and cannot but grudge his neighbour what belongs to him. 
 One should be content with that which God gives. Those who are appointed 
 to the duty of distributing goods and lands, however faithfully they may perform 
 the service, yet commonly get no great thanks therefor." \Starke.'\ 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 TEE ENCAMPMENT AT SHI LOB, AND A FURTHER DIVISION OF 
 
 THE LAND. 
 
 Critical Notes. — 1. Shiloh]=" Place of rest," or of " tranquilUti/ ; " the word apparently 
 pointing to the fulfilment of the promise in Deut. xii. 5, 9 — 11. Shiloh is now called SeilAn. 
 In Judg. xxi. 19, it is placed on the north side of Bethel, east of the road from Bethel to Shechem, 
 and south of Lebonah. The tabernacle of the congregation] Luther = '• tent of the covenant ;" 
 Calvin = " tabernacle of convention.^' Prof. Plumtre, remarking that the primary force of yd'ad 
 is ''to meet by appointment," says that ohel mo'cd means "a place of or fw a fixed meeting." 
 He would therefore translate, " tent of meeting ; " to which Crosby adds the idea, "where the 
 meeting is that of God and men, rather than of men together." as in the word for congregation 
 used in the beginning of this verse. With the view of expressing somewhat more fully the idea 
 of meeting to commune with men, made emphatic in such passages as Exod. xxv. 22, Ewald sug- 
 gested the phrase, " tent of revelation." And the land was subdued before them] That is, 
 there was nothing to hinder the setting up of the tabernacle, the surrounding district being 
 entirely subjugated. Crosby strangely imagines, from this remark, " that there had been some 
 formidable insurrection of the Canaanites that broke ofi'the division at Gilgal." Possibly there 
 may have been, but it is not mentioned. 4- Three men for each tribe] Probably meaning 
 three men for each of the seven tribes whose inheritance had not yet been apportioned, but 
 possibly including, also, representatives from Judah, Ephraim. and Manasseh. According to 
 the inheritance of them] "The phrase, ViM nachWutham h thus explained by Clericus and 
 llosenmiiller, ' according to the size of the tribes, each family of which was to receive an inherit- 
 ance.' To this Masius has jn-operly objected, ' How could the surveyors make such and such a 
 province great or small in proportion to the size of such and such a tribe, when it had still to be 
 decided by the lot, where each tribe was to be located ? ' Z/'p/ii naclialdlhdm can only mean 
 having regard to the fact that they were to receive it as an inheritance, or. as it is explained in 
 ver. 5, 6, with reference to its being divided into seven parts, which coidd be allotted as an 
 inheritance to the .seven tribes." [A"c/Z.] 5- Judah shall abide, etc.'\ The three tribes here 
 named were to remain in the positions already clmst u for them by the lot. But this did not 
 prevent the subsequent revision of the extent of the lots, which, after the survey, was found to 
 be necessary, when Judah had to make room for both Dan and Simeon. 6. Before the Lord 
 our God] Before the door of the tabernacle, as explained in chap. xix. 51. 9. Described it by 
 cities into seven parts in a book] There is no evidence here, as many have supposed, for a careful 
 survey of the country liy actual mea,surement. Seeing that the Canaanites still held a consider- 
 able portion of the land (cf. chap. xiii. 1 — 6, etc.), such a survey seems highly improbable, if not 
 impossible. Most likely the surveyors merely made catalogues of the cities, arranging them into 
 seven groups, and making such notes of their size, and of the characteristic features and extent 
 of the surrounding country as they were able. In any case, there is nothing in these verses to 
 warrant elaborate speculations about maps, mensuration, and the ancient art of laud-surveying. 
 Looking at the usual method of describing the territory of the tribes, first by boundaries or 
 borders, and then by an eiunneration of the cities contained within such bordei--line8, we have in 
 this alone some indication of the character of the work done by these surveyors. On the other 
 li.uid, there is .ilisolutely no tiaee of mensuration — no allusion whatever to quantities or size. 
 10. There Joshua divided the land, etc.} This was in addition to the Gvsting of the lots, men- 
 tioned in the first part of this verse. That is to say, .Joshua first c;ist lots to determine which 
 of the seven groups of cities, with their surrounding territory, shoidd go to each of the seven 
 tribes ; he then " divided the land " by readjusting the gi'oups of cities themselves, according to 
 the size of the tribe to which any particular group had fallen. A small tribe would have its lot 
 27G 
 
CHAP. XVIII. HOMILETIC C0M3IENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 made smaller, while a numerous tribe would have its lot increased by the cities and lands thus 
 taken from the tribe of fewer people. This would be according to the law of division which God 
 gave through Moses (Numb, xxxiii. 54). H — 20. The lot of the tribe of Benjamin] This, it 
 is said, " came up " and " came forth ; " both expressions allude to the drawing up or forth from 
 the urn. The borders of Benjamin, described in these verses, have already been partly given in 
 defining the southern border of Ei»hraim, on the north, and the northern border of Judah, on 
 the south of this tribe. 12, 13. Their border on the north side] Cf. on chap. xvi. 1 — 3, as far 
 as to the lower Beth-horon. 14. Compassed the corner of the sea southward] Heh.^"' turned 
 round on the west side toward the south," or "on the sea side," i.e., on that side of the tribe 
 which lay seaward. In the close of this verse, the word yam is rendered "west ;" and as the 
 territory of Benjamin did not go near the sea, the word should oljviously have the same meaning 
 here. In Exod. xxvii. 12, xxxviii. 12, where path-yam is used in relation to the court of the 
 tabernacle, it is necessarily translated " on the west side." The sea being on the west of Pales- 
 tine, yam (=" the sea ") seems frequently to have been used much in the same way that the 
 phrase, " toward the sun-rising." was employed to denote the east. Kirjath-jearim] One of the 
 four cities of the Gibeonites (chap. ix. 17), situated on the northern boundary of Judah (chap. 
 XV. 9), and belonging to that tribe (chap. xv. 60), as stated also in this verse. It afterwards 
 became notable in connection with the Danite encampment, and as the residence for twenty 
 years of the ark of the Lord. 15 — 19- The south quarter] This corresponds with the north 
 border of Judah, as given in chap. xv. 5 — 9, excepting that it is here taken from west to east. 
 
 21. The cities of the tribe] These are divided into two groups, the first containing twelve cities, 
 and the second fourteen. Some of them have already been noticed. The valley of Keziz] This 
 is said to have been "a city," and should therefore be read Emek Keziz. The LXX.^A/ue/cao-is. 
 Fay notices that Van de Velde and Knobel refer to "a Wady el-Kaziz, east of Jerusalem." 
 
 22. Zemaraim] "Earlier witers suppose that it stood upon Mount Zemaraim, one of the moun- 
 tains of Ephraim, where Abijah besieged Jeroboam (2 Chron. xiii. 4). In that case it must be 
 looked for in the mountains to the south of Bethel." [Keil.] " The Zemarites, once mentioned 
 as a Canaanite tribe (Gen. x. 18), reappear in the local name of Mount Zemaraim in Benjamin, 
 2 Chron. xiii. 4, and Josh, xviii. 22." [Dean Stanley.~\ 23. Avim] '' Since Avim here follows 
 directly after Bethel, while Ai, wliich stood near Bethel, is not mentioned, it is natural with 
 Knobel to regard Avim as identical with Ai, which is also called Aiah (Neh. xiii. 11), and Aiath 
 (Isa. X. 23). The signification of all these names is essentially the same : ruins, heaps, stone- 
 heaps (Mic. i. 6 ; see Gesen.)" [Fay.] Parah] Thought to be Fdrah, on the Wady Fdrah, to 
 the west of Jericho. Ophrah] Perhaps the same as Ophrah in 1 Sam. xiii. 17, Ephraim in 
 2 Chron. xiii. 19, John xi. 54, and now known as Taiyiheh. It must not be confused with Ophrah 
 of the Abi-ezrites, which was probably in Manasseh. 24. Chephar-haammonai and Ophni] 
 Both unknown, and not mentioned elsewhere. Gaba] Elsewhere, Geba, " which," says Keil, 
 " we must distinguish from Gibeah, or the Gibeah of Saul, which is also sometimes called Geba." 
 (Compare Isa. x. 29, 1 Kings xv. 22, Josh. xxi. 17.) In Ezra ii. 26, Neh. vii. 30, it is again 
 called Gaba. 25. Kamah]:^" a ^o/<(/ ^/ace." Now er-i?a/?i. It is frequently mentioned, and its 
 position is clearly indicated by Judges iv. 5, xix. 13, 1 Kings xv. 22. It should be carefully 
 distinguished from Ramah, the birthplace of Samuel, in " Mount Ephraim." Mizpeh] Not the 
 same with the Mizpeh of chap. xv. 38, which stood in the Shephelah. There was also a Mizpeh 
 in Moab (1 Sam. xxii. 3), one in Gad (Judg. xi. 29), and a valley of the same name in the moun- 
 tains of Lebanon (cf. Gesen., Mizpeh and Mizpah). Mizpeh of Benjamin is where Samuel judged 
 the people (1 Sam. vii. 5, 6, 16), and where Saul was chosen king (1 Sam. x. 17). It is almost 
 certainly the present Nehy Samwil. Chephirah] Cf. chap. vs.. 3. The four cities which follow 
 are unknown, and are only named in this place. 28. Zelah] Mentioned in 2 Sam. xxi. 14 as 
 containing the sepulchre of Kish, where the remains of Saul and Jonathan were ultimately 
 buried. Gibeath] " The Gibea of Benjamin or Saul, so frequently referred to, which is still to 
 be seen in the village of /e6a, between the Wady es-Suweinit and the Wady Fdrah" [A'e/Z.] 
 Kirjath] Rosenmiiller and Maurer, according to Keil, identified this place with Kirjath-jearim. 
 Smith's Dictionary also adopts this view to the extent of saying that " there seems a strong 
 probability that the latter part of the name has been omitted by copyists at some very early 
 period." KeU's remark, however, seems decisive : " Von Rjiunier has properly opposed this 
 conclusion, since Kirjath-jearim is not merely reckoned as one of the cities of Judah in chap. 
 XV. 60, but in chap, xviii. 14 is expressly called the city of the children of Judah." Knobel 
 supposes that Kirjath may be Kerteh, west of Jerusalem, while Crosby mentions Khirbet el-Kuta, 
 near Gibeah. 
 
 OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE PARAGRAPHS. 
 
 Verse 1. — The Aek finding a Eesting-place est " the Place of Rest." 
 
 There can be little doubt but that the instruction to set up the tabernacle at 
 Shiloh came from Jehovah Himself. This might be sufficiently clear from Deut. 
 xii. 5 and xxvi. 2, but it is made still more plain by the same words in Josh. ix. 27. 
 Not only Moses, but Joshua also, recognised it as the Divine will that the Lord 
 
 277 
 
BOMILETIC C03IMENTARY : JOSHhA. chav. xviii. 
 
 Himself slioukl choose the place in which He would put His name. God would 
 have the tabernacle more permanently erected before the division of the land was 
 completed ; He would also have it set up at Sliiloh, and thus make His resting- 
 place, and the place where Israel should find rest spu'itually, in a city whose very 
 Dame was "rest" or "tranquillity." 
 
 I. The time of setting up the ark. 1. Tt was after a lonfi jicriod of wan- 
 dering. The stay in Egypt had been only " a sojourn." To that long sojourn 
 bad succeeded the forty years' wandering in the wilderness. Finally, to the 
 wanderings in the wilderness there had been added seven years of marching and 
 counter-marching over the land of Canaan itself. How grateful to many must 
 have been this act of setting up the tabernacle at Shiloh ! It was the initial step 
 towards having a fixed home for themselves. 2. It iras after srccre and jirolonycd 
 confiict. The strife which began at the overthrow of Sihon and Og, which took 
 on new features at the fall of Jericho, and which, for the time being, was con- 
 summated in the destruction of the hosts of Jabin and the cities of northern 
 Canaan, had been an arduous and bitter work. Many of the Israelites themselves 
 may have fallen, although the history is singularly silent on this point, excepting 
 that we are told, in connection with the defeat before Ai, that " the men of Ai smote 
 of them about thirty and six men." Any way, the setting up of the tabernacle 
 must have been looked upon as indicating a blessed rest from the terrible conflicts 
 of the past. The rest was not final and permanent, for there remained yet very 
 Diuch land to be possessed ; yet, in the main, Canaan was won when the ark was 
 thus set up at Shiloh. Such is the sense of rest when Christ is enthroned in the 
 hearts of men individually. The peace which He gives stands in sweet contrast 
 to the strife of the conscience with sin and unbelief. To believe in Him is not 
 utter cessation from conflict, but it is the beginning of such a cessation to every 
 man who is found faithful. 3. It was as the Israelites were about to eitter upon 
 their otvn persojud inheritance. Ere most of them found a home, they set up 
 together tlae tabernacle of the Lord. The way with many is to arrange business 
 and domestic matters first, and to take afterwards, as they may find it, the rehgious 
 provision of the neighbourhood in which they may have determined to settle. 
 When starting, or starting afresh in life, they give no place whatever to religious 
 considerations. Many ignore their spiritual wants altogether, even when they 
 find nigh at hand facilities for the worship and service of God. There are not a 
 few who might learn much from this ancient example. 
 
 II. The place of setting up the ark. 1. It was nearly in the centre of the 
 land. It was as though Divine forethought would place the means of worship 
 within reach of all the people, and render the service of the Lord as little burden- 
 some as possible. Of Isi'ael it should be said, " God is in the midst of her ; she 
 shall not be moved." 2. It was in one of the safest parts of the land. "And," 
 or " For the land was subdued before them." Calvin remarks that the ark was 
 stationed at Shiloh " because it was a completely subjugated place, and safe from 
 all external violence and injury. For it behoved to be the special care of the 
 Israelites to prevent its exposure to sudden assault. No doubt the hand of God 
 would have been stretched out to ward olf attacks of the enemy from any quarter ; 
 still, however, though God dwelt among them, they were to be regarded as its 
 guardians and attendants." As God kept the ark, so does He keep His truth and 
 the honour of His name among men now. He means us to feel them to be our 
 trust. As with the ark, God keeps the truth, but He keeps it by men. We are 
 to feel responsible for making it as secure as possible. We are " put in trust with 
 the gospel." 3. It was in what also became the jdace of judipnent. Here the 
 claims of the wronged were heard. They can be heard nowhere so well as in the 
 presence of the God of compassion and truth. Of the place Avhcre the Lord dwells, 
 it should ever be said, " There are set thrones of judgment." (Cf. also Deut. xvii. 9 ; 
 2 Chron. xix. 8.) 
 
 III. The time and place of setting up the ark, in their joint significance. 
 278 
 
CHAP . XVIII. nOMI LETIC COMMENT A R Y : JOSHUA. 
 
 After a long period of wandering and warfare, the ark was set up in a place, the 
 very name of which pointed to tranquillity and rest. As this is the first time that 
 Shiloh is mentioned in the Scriptures as the name of a city, i'; is possible that the 
 name may have been given to tlie place on this occasion. This makes no difference 
 to the significance of erecting the ark of rest in the city of rest. If the place was 
 selected because it had previously borne this name, the circumstance is full of 
 meaning ; if, on the other hand, when it was determined to set up the tabernacle 
 in this place, some old name was exchanged for the word " Shiloh," the significance 
 of such a conjunction is, perhaps, still more emphatic. 1. God dwells only where 
 vien rest. He makes His abode where men are at peace with H'mself and at peace 
 with each other. Where men rest in Him, there He tabernacles. 2. Men rest 
 only where God dwells. There was only one Shiloh in Israel, and that was found 
 in the place where Jehovah sat between the cherubim. With us, the accidents of 
 description are changed, but the facts remain. Peace is only found through Him 
 who said, " My peace I leave with you ; " and where Christ dwells, surrounding 
 enemies are not able to break the peace of His people. It is said that in the 
 catacombs of Rome, one of the epitaphs very frequently met with is this, " In 
 Christo, in 2)ace." Notwithstanding all the horrors of the Roman persecution, it 
 remained true — " in Christ, in peace." It has always been thus : God dwells 
 where men rest, and men rest where God dwells. "In Salera" (= "peace") 
 *' is His tabernacle ;" and it is there that His people learn to sing, " Oh, rest in 
 the Lord, and wait patiently for Him." 
 
 IV. The period of the ark's continuance at Shiloh, and the cause of its 
 removal. The ark probably remained at Shiloh for rather more than three 
 hundred years. At the end of this period the place was so polluted by the sins 
 of Eli's sons, that the Lord forsook it for ever. Though not in name, yet no less 
 actually, Shiloh passed into Ichabod. Dean Stanley remarks : " Shiloh is so 
 utterly featureless, that, had it not been for the preservation of its name {Seili'm)^ 
 and for the extreme precision with which its situation is described in the book ot 
 Judges (chap. xxi. 19), the spot could never have been identified ; and, indeed, 
 from the time of Jerome till the year 1888, its real site was completely forgotten, 
 and its name was transferred to that commanding height of Gibeon, which a later 
 age naturally conceived to be a more congenial spot for the sacred place, where 
 for 60 many centuries was ' the tent which He had pitched among men,'— 
 
 ' Our living Dread, who dwells 
 In Silo, His bright sanctuary.' " 
 
 So complete was the desolation which God wrought, when Israel abandoned those 
 essential conditions of piety which were necessary for His dwelling-place. Only 
 they who walk with God in spirit, find God abiding with them. Sin, of any kind, 
 is the sign for His departure. It may be sin of irreverence, impurity, and covetous 
 injustice, as at Shiloh ; or, as at Jerusalem in after generations, men may stand 
 in haughty ecclesiastical pride, and cry, "The temple of the Lord, the temple of 
 the Lord are these ;" finding presently that they have only the temple, and no 
 Lord at all, excepting one who jealously responds, " Go ye now unto my place 
 which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for 
 the wickedness of my people Israel. . . . Therefore will I do to this house as I 
 have done to Shiloh " (cf. Jer. vii.). Only they who keep the words of the Father, 
 know the abiding presence of the Father (John xiv. 23). All others He forsakes. 
 Even many years of past mercy and manifested glory fail to secure His continued 
 stay. When His people ignore His commandments, where Ho once wrote " Shiloh," 
 He henceforth writes " Ichabod." 
 
 Verse 1, with Numb. x. 33, and Josh, vi; 6—7. — " The Ark : God our 
 Guide, Defence, and Rest." 
 I. " Is human life a journey ? Place it under the guidance of God. Let ' the 
 
 279 
 
TTOMTLETTC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. chap, xviii. 
 
 Lord God go before you to search you out a place to pitch your tents in.' That 
 is the sifiniticance of the scene at Sinai. 
 
 II. " Is human life a conflict ? Let the Loid God be your sword and shield. 
 He hath provided an armour all coraplcte, from head to foot, and offers Himself 
 to you as the ' Captain of your salvation.' That is the significance of the scene 
 at Jericho. 
 
 III. " Is human life a sojourn? Let the Lord God prescribe where it shall be 
 spent, and let His rest give the appointed home all purity and peace. That 
 is the significance of the scene at Shiloh. 
 
 " How holy must that house be which the Lord hath chosen for me ! As I 
 cross its threshold, nothing unclean is to enter; as I depart from it for duty, 
 nothing sinful is to fill my spirit. That house that is purchased by the price of 
 iniquity is not allotted by the Lord. That house that is the scene of lust, of 
 selfishness, of unkindness, is held by a man who has clean forgotten whose tenant 
 he is. That house that is the abode of disorder and strife violates all the 
 covenants on which it is held. But that house that has its altar and its Bible, by 
 which each inmate is ever reminded of the Lord before whom its lot of assign- 
 ment was taken, is a house that will ever derive peace, rest, and strength from the 
 tabernacle of the Lord at Shiloh. These houses are hard by each other ; their 
 inmates are no strangers to each other. Man goes to the Lord's house, and the 
 Lord goes to man's house : man with his homage, and penitence, and trust, and 
 prayer, the Lord with His benediction in all manifold grace." [G. B. Johnson-f 
 £clijbasto7i.] 
 
 Verse 3. — Man's Slowness in Possessing God's Gifts. 
 
 1. God's commandments as a rich inheritance. The Israelites had been 
 solemnly charged to go up and possess the land, and to drive out the Canaanites 
 utterly. Both Moses and Joshua had repeatedly urged this as the commandment 
 of the Lord. Thus, in this case, to obey the Divine precepts was also to enter 
 upon a rich inheritance. It is ever the same with all who are faithful to the 
 words of God. To obey is to inherit. To obey continually is to inherit largely. 
 Some of the commandments of God are of a negative character, while others are 
 positive ; some tell us of things which we must not do, and others of things 
 which we are to do. Look at the efi'ect of obedience in each case. 1. Such com- 
 mandments as forhid sins tend to preserve ns from moral and spiritual destitution. 
 He who does the things which he ought not to do hastens to spiritual bankruptcy 
 at a pace proportionate to the rapidity of his transgressions. Take, for instance, 
 the ten commandments of the moral law, which are mostly negative. To have 
 many gods is to be without God altogether. To worship graven images is 
 to find them only graven, and only images, in the hour of real necessity. To take 
 the name of the Lord thoughtlessly upon our lips, is to find that its sacred and 
 mysterious power has fled from our hearts. To violate the day of rest is to need 
 rest all the week. To dishonour parents is to become insolvent in manhood and 
 womanhood. To kill is to die, and that before Ave so much as lift a hand to slay; 
 for he that hateth is a murderer, and no murderer hath life. To commit adultery 
 is to wrong ourselves even more than others. To steal is to lose more within 
 than we can get without. To slander others is to lose self-respect even more than 
 wo shew disrespect. Finally, to covet what is another's is to forfeit the 
 generosity and kindness and peace which might still have remained our own. 
 The man who docs that which God forbids is continually forfeiting the very 
 capital which God would have him use so as to gain a larger inheritance. He is 
 living on his principal. He is spending himself. 2. Such comnutndments as enjoin 
 duties always tend to an increase of possessions. The inheritance which comes from 
 obeying (a) God's commandments to believe ; (/*) His commandments to be holy ; 
 (c) His commandments to worship ; (</) His commandments to work (cf. remarks 
 on page 254). 
 2H0 
 
CHAP. XVIII. HOMILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 II. Man's slowness in possessing this inheritance. "How long are ye slack?" 
 etc. We see here : — 1. Men o)t w/iuac bcJialf God had Ion;/ ivroiu/ht by wonderful 
 miracles, slothfalhj u-aitiufj when the miracles ceased. For forty-seven or eight years 
 God bad been working miraculously for the Israelites. From the time of the ten 
 plagues in Egypt to the battle in which the day had been so wonderfully prolonged, 
 God had wrought great wonders for His people. He had brought them into the land 
 with " a high hand and an outstretched arm." It is not a little significant, when 
 we see this indolence and inactivity following such marvellous interposition. There 
 is a place in the minds of men where miracles exhaust themselves. They no 
 longer work faith, but inaction. Those who are continually seeking for the 
 manifest interposition of God should remember that nothing which men have 
 ever witnessed seems so conspicuously to have failed as the evidently super- 
 natural. It was the men for whom the waters of the earth had parted, for whom 
 the skies for many years had rained daily bread, before whom solid walls had 
 fallen down, and on whose behalf the sun had stayed his setting, who were so 
 slack to go up and possess the land to which these and many other Avonders had 
 led them. It was after witnessing for three years and a half the gracious 
 miracles of Christ, that the multitudes at Jerusalem were turned by their 
 exasperated leaders into a raging mob, hoarsely shouting to the Roman Governor 
 concerning that same Jesus, " Crucify Him ; Crucify Him." 2, Men indolently 
 and sinfulhj failing to use God's great mercies, through treating them as tiresome 
 duties to be done. They thought of the work which yet remained as a task, and 
 regarding it in that light, found little heart to undertake it. They needed love, 
 and thus wanted also the alacrity of love. Christ says to us each, " Occupy till 
 I come." He who does not think highly of Christ's gift, and who does not loVe 
 to occupy for Christ's sake, will weary himself with his Lord's commandment, 
 instead of finding it a joyful possession. He who thought his Lord an austere 
 man, and hid his talent in the earth, was afraid notwithstanding that it was hidden, 
 and presently passed from fear to judgment. 
 
 III. Man's inheritance curtailed through his inactivity. The slothfulness 
 of the Israelites was ultimately the cause of many sorrows. 1. Much of the land 
 was never possessed at all. When we miss the opportunities which God makes 
 for us, it is not an easy work to make fresh opportunities ourselves. 2. llie 
 land which xcas inJierited. was made insecure bij that which teas left in the possession 
 of enemies. The Philistines, especially, became grievous oppressors of the 
 Israelites for many years. As God had forewarned His people, the enemies 
 whom they spared became as " thorns in their sides" (Numb, xxxiii. 55). The 
 soldier who leaves unreduced a strong fortress in his I'ear, exposes himself to 
 danger. The Christian who deliberately passes by an imperative commandment 
 of God is still more unwise. A large inheritance and great safety go only with 
 full and loving obedience. 
 
 Verses 1 — 3. — Israel at Shiloh. 
 
 "1. God brings men to Shiloh that He may set them to work. When the 
 sinner comes to Christ, he enters into ' peace ' and ' rest,' and yet he is not 
 suffered to remain idle. We are saved by grace, without works ; but we are also 
 saved by grace to work, and the great work set before us is the sanctillcation of our 
 souls and the service of our generation. Only through the doing of this work 
 shall we enter upon our inheritance. 
 
 ♦' 2. Nothing is so displeasing to God as slackness on our part to go up and 
 possess His gifts." [Dr. Win. Taylor.] 
 
 Verses 5 — 7. — The Lot of God, and the Sur'S'ey of Men. 
 
 I. The choice of God cannot be corrected by the survey of men. Judah, 
 Manasseh, and Ephraim were still to abide in the position already indicated by 
 the lots previously drawn. It is true that great alterations were to be mada 
 
 281 
 
JIOMILx:TIC COSniENTARY: JOSHUA. CHAP, xviii. 
 
 in the extent of some of these lots, but no alteration was to be made in the 
 general situation. The work of men in respect to these three tribes had to bo 
 corrected by the survey ; the arrangera«nt, so far as it was God's, was to remain 
 untouched (cf. remarks on chap. xiv. 2, pp. 250, 252). God makes no mistakes. 
 He had surveyed the land long before these representatives of the tribes undertook 
 the work. Our most minute investigations can correct no determination which 
 is of the Lord. 
 
 II. The choice of God cannot be omitted because of the survey of men. 
 After the work of the surveyors was completed, they were to bring the descrip- 
 tion to Joshua, that he might "cast lots for them before the Lord" (ver. 6). 
 Josephus (A)it. V. 1. 21) speaks of the men sent out as " geometricians who could 
 not easily fail of knowing the truth, on account of their skill," and further says, 
 they returned to Joshua " in the seventh month." Even if they were as skilled 
 as some think, and if they took upwards of six months for their task, the appeal 
 to the Lord for His guidance was as necessary as ever. Our utmost care can 
 never render us independent of prayer. 
 
 III. The choice of God and the survey of men work together. 1. Divine 
 guiddiice is independent of tlie investiijation uf men. God did not need the survey 
 to help Him in determining on His selection. We cannot do without His work, but 
 He does not rest on ours. 2. Divine guidance does not clash ivith the investigation 
 of men. God ever leaves something for us to do. A loving father does the diffi- 
 cult part of a work for his child. It would be less trouble to the father to com- 
 plete it entirely. The easy parts left to the child would take the father but a few 
 moments to do, whereas the child requires watching and helping for hours, and 
 even then goes far to spoil what has been done for him. For all that, a wise and 
 patient father says. Though this detains me, it is good for my child. God leaves 
 us something to do, much in this spirit. It is not that we can improve or even 
 supplement His work ; it is through the kindness that would not have us children 
 always that we are found "labourers together with God." Our investigation 
 does not suppose so much to be subtracted from omniscience ; our labour is 
 never a fraction which is necessary to make omnipotence perfect. 3. Divine 
 guidance its made known tltrouijh the investigation of men. It is as we inspect, and 
 measure, and plan, that the Lord's selection for us becomes comprehensible and 
 plain. Before the survey, the lot notv.'ithstanding, Judah had regarded as its own 
 the whole inheritance of Simeon. It is just where our most careful labours end 
 that we best begin to understand what is the meaning of God. 
 
 IV. The choice of God is never needed to correct or to supplement His 
 own previous arrangements. Verse 7. The Levites were still to hud their 
 inheritance in the Lord God of Israel. The two and a half tribes east of Jordan 
 were to continue in their lots, according to God's former arrangement through 
 Moses. Judah and the children of Joseph were also in their right place. The 
 casting of lots at Shiloh was no amended edition of God's previous selection. 
 ♦' God is not a man, that He should repent." Few things are more imposing 
 than this unbending and unhesitating purpose of God. Creation is one, and has 
 no contradictions. Nature lies in a straight line, broken nowhere by halting pur- 
 poses, and free everywhere from disfiguring patches. In the kingdom of grace 
 it is emphatically the same. From the offerings of Abel and the altars of Abra- 
 ham to the cross of Calvary, there is but one voice from heaven crying out to the 
 Bons of men, and that is ever saying, " Without the shedding of blood there is 
 no remission of sins." God's walk through the universe, during all the ages, is 
 a straight path. The only lane in this world which "has no turning " is the 
 way trodden by the feet of the God of infinite wisdom and justice and love. 
 
 Verses 8 — 10. — Dangerous Work and Divine Protection. 
 I. Men sent on a dangerous service for the people of God, and protected 
 by God. 
 
 282 
 
CHAP. XVIII. BOMILETIC C03IMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 II. Men prospered by God, and successfully aceomplisliing their work. 
 
 III. Men doing their utmost to shed light on a difficult task, and needing 
 the guidance of God notwithstanding. 
 
 The Danger to which the Surveyors were Exposed. — " Nothing seems 
 more incongruous than to send twenty-one men, who were not only to pass 
 dh-ectly through a hostile country, but to trace it through all its various wind- 
 ings and turnings, so as not to leave a single corner unexamined, to calculate its 
 length and breadth, and even make due allowance for its inequalities. Every 
 person whom they happened to meet must readily have suspected who they were, 
 and for what reason they had been employed on this expedition. In short, no 
 return lay open for them except through a thousand deaths. Assuredly they 
 would not have encountered so much danger from blind and irrational impulse, 
 nor would Joshua have exposed them to such manifest danger had they not been 
 aware that all those nations, struck with terror from heaven, desired nothing so 
 much as peace. For although they hated the children of Israel, still, having 
 been subdued by so many overthrows, they did not dare to move a finger against 
 them, and thus the surveyors proceeded in safety as through a peaceful territory, 
 either under the pretext of trading, or as harmless strangers passing on their 
 way. It is also possible that they arranged themselves in ditlereut parties, and 
 thus made the journey more secretly. It is certain, indeed, that there was only 
 one source from which they could have derived all this courage and confidence, 
 from trusting under the shadow of the wings of the Almighty, and thus having 
 no fear of blind and stupid men. Hence the praise here bestowed on their ready 
 will." [Calvin. "] 
 
 Verses 9, 10. — The Description of our Heavenly Inheritance. — " The 
 heavenly Canaan is described to us in a book, the book of the Scriptures, and 
 there is in it a record of mansions and portions sufficient for all God's spiritual 
 Israel. Christ is our Joshua that divides it to us ; on Him we must attend, and 
 *'to Him we must apply ourselves for an inheritance with the saints in light (cf. 
 John xiv. 2 — 6)." \J\Iatt. Henry. ^ 
 
 Verses 11 — 28.' — The Situation of the Tribe of Benjamin. 
 
 In the matter of numbers, the tribe of Benjamin was amongst the smallest in 
 Israel. As concerning the order of birth, Benjamin was the youngest of the 
 twelve sons of Jacob. These two things, the latter of them especially, may go 
 far to account for the considerate sympathy which was repeatedly shewn towards 
 "little Benjamin," who, after the slaughter recorded in Judges xxi., became 
 known as the " smallest of the tribes of Israel " (1 Sam. ix. 21 ; Ps. Ixviii. 27). 
 Whether the name Benjamin be taken into account, or the gentle sympathy with 
 which the tribe was often regarded be thought of, the Scripture history repeatedly 
 leaves the impression that they were a favoured people in Israel. Even in the 
 dark page of sin and slaughter already referred to there are traces of the same 
 feeling : it is shewn, on the one hand, in the haughty demeanour of the " spoiled 
 children" who alone recklessly set themselves in array against the overwhelming 
 thousands of the kingdom ; and, on the other hand, in the tearful inquiry of the 
 other tribes before the Lord, in the half-hearted character of the earlier attacks, 
 as though the avengers were at first too pitiful to smite firmly, and in the way in 
 which the people after the victory " repented them for Benjamin their brother, 
 and said. There is one tribe cut off from Israel this day." This feeling of affec- 
 tionate interest in the children of Jacob's youngest son is not only shewn towards 
 them by their brethren, but is conspicuously marked in the inspired blessing of 
 ]\Ioses the man of God, "Of Benjamin he said, Tlie beloved of the Lord shall 
 dwell in safety by him ; and the Lord shall cover him all the day long, and he 
 shall dwell between His shoulders." 
 
 283 
 
EOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUa. chap. xix. 
 
 The following interesting features, according so well with the spirit and language 
 of this blessing, may be noticed in regard to the situation of the territory of the 
 tribe : — 
 
 1. The people had their inheritance near to the place where Benjamin, their 
 father, was born, and where his mother Rachel died and was buried. The 
 southern boundary of the tribe could not, at most, have been more than five or 
 six miles from the spot (Gen. xxxv. IG, 19), and probably included the actual 
 site of Rachel's tomb (cf. ver. 25 ; 1 Sam. x. 2). 2. The inheritance of the tribo 
 was next to that of the house of Joseph, Benjamin's " own and only brother." 
 3. From the powerful and dreaded Philistines, and other enemies, it had the 
 strong tribe of Judah to defend it on the south, and the warlike Danites to 
 shield it on the west. 4. It was situated in a district having very great advan- 
 tages for the purposes of defensive warfare (cf. Stanley's Sinai and Palestine, on 
 " The Heights and the Passes of Benjamin," pp. 199 — 214). 5. It was immediately 
 south of Shiloh, where, during those earlier centuries of the national history, God 
 tabernacled with His people, and immediately north of Jerusalem, which was 
 given to the Benjamites as a part of their possession. Thus this highly favoured 
 tribe " dwelt safely by Jehovah," and the Lord " covered him all the day long," 
 and he " dwelt between the shoulders " of Deity. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 THE INHERITANCE OF THE REMAINING TRIBES. 
 
 Critical Notes. — 1 — 9. The Inheritance op Simeon. — The cities of this tribe have 
 already been noticed under chap. xv. 26 — 32, 42. With the exception of Ether and Ashan, 
 which were in the Shephelah, they were all situated in the south land of Judah, though it is 
 not certain that even the larger group formed a continuous district. This accords with the 
 prophecy of Jacob (Gen. xlix. 7). Another list of the cities of Simeon is given in 1 Chron. 
 iv. 28 — 32. There Sheba seems merged in Beer-sheba, making the number of cities thirteen, 
 as stated in ver. 6. In the days of Hezekiah, Simeon annexed more territory to the south 
 (1 Chron. iv. 30 — 43). 1. The second lot] i.e., the second lot taken after the removal to 
 Shiloh. 4. Bethul] Called " Bcthuel " in the list in Chronicles, and probably the same as 
 " Chesil," in chap. xv. 30. 5. Bethmarcaboth and Hazar-susah] These arc thought to be 
 the same as " Madmannah and Sausannah," in chap. xv. 31. 6. Thirteen cities] Fourteen 
 are named here, but only tliirteen in the verses in Chronicles. See the remark above. 
 8. Ramath of the south] Called " Ramoth " in 1 Sam. xxx. 27. The j^i- form employed in 
 the latter passage seems to indicate at least two or three of these lofty places, thus called 
 " heights of the Ncgci" or " heights of the south," of which Baalath-beer ( = " ha ring a rvell ") 
 may have been one. In 1 Chron. iv. 33, Ram.ath is not named, and from the way in which it 
 is mentioned here, without the conjunction, both names may have belonged to the same place, 
 which was possibly the principal of these Ramoth, or heights, of th<3 Negeb. The " Bealoth." 
 in chap. xv. 24, suggests that the name Baal was also used sometimes for this small group of 
 two or three cities or villages on these hills of the south land. 
 
 10 — 16. The Inheritance of Zebulun.— Jacob and Moses had spoken of Zebulun as 
 dwelling " at the haven of the sea," and as being enriched by " the abundance of the seas, 
 and of treasures hid in the sand." Josephus {Ant. v. 1 — 22) says that " Zebulun's lot included 
 the land which lay as far as the Lake of Gencsareth, and that which belonged to Carmel and 
 the sea." If the territory of the Manassites touchetl upon that of the tribe of Asher (cf. on 
 chap. xvii. 10), unless in some detached way, the land of Zebulun could not have extended 
 continuously to the Mediterranean. It is possible that there may have been a portion of the 
 sea-coast south of Ca{)e Carmel possessed by Zebulun, although slightly disconnected from 
 the main territory of the tribe by some narrow tongue of land near to Jokncam, where the 
 inheritance of Manasseh " met together in Asher on the north." The prophecies of Jacob and 
 Moses, however, may not have been fulfilled till .some hater period. 10. Sarid] "All that 
 can be gathered of its position is that it lay to the west of Chisloth-Tabor (ver. 12)." [Smith's 
 Hib. Diet.] 11. Maralah, rfc] " Maralah and Dabbesheth must both have been upon the 
 east or south-east of Jokncam. Dabbesheth signifies a camel's hump (Isa. xxx. 6), and Masius 
 conjectures, with great probability, that the city received its name ipso Carmeli gibbo, like 
 the town of Gamala, which, according to Josephus, was so called from the resemblance borne 
 by the hill, upon which it stood, to a camel." \_Keil.'\ 12. Chisloth-tabor] = " The Hanks of 
 284 
 
CHAP. XIX. HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA 
 
 Tabor." It is supposed to be now identified in Iksdl, about two and a half miles to the west 
 of Mount Tabor. Daberath] Called Dabareh in chap. i. 28, and belonging to Issacbar. the 
 frontier line leaving it just within the territory of that tribe. It is now Bchin-ic/i. Japhia] 
 Thought to be the modern Jdfa, about two miles to the south of Nazareth. 13. Gittah- 
 hepher] Otherwise written Gath-hepher. This was the birthplace of Jonah (2 Kings xiv. 2.5), 
 and is supposed to be the present el-Meshad. five miles N.E. of Nazareth. Goeth out to 
 Remmon-metlioar to Neah] Heb. = "goeth out to Rinimon n-hich i> assigned (lit., marked 
 olf) to Ncah." Robinson finds Rimmon in Jiirvimanneh, about seven miles north of Nazareth. 
 Neah has not been identified. 14. Compassed it on the north side to Hannathon] Meaning 
 that the border thus turned round Neah on the north side, and went thence to Hannathon, 
 now Xana el-Jelil, about nine miles north of Nazareth, and, according to Dr. Robinson, pro- 
 bably the Cana of our Lord's first miracle. Jiphthah-el] = •' God opetis." Dr. Robinson 
 suggested that J\plitliah-el is identical with Jotapata. now Jefat, a village in the mountains 
 of Galilee, the valley being the Wady Abilin. 15. And Kattath, etc.'] This verse is evidently 
 incomplete. The fourteenth verse closes the definition of the boundaries ; the next proceeds 
 with the names of the cities, and irrelevantly begins with the copulative. The cities are said 
 to be twelve in number, whereas only five are mentioned. Keil's argument for the omission 
 of seven names of cities between vers. 14, 15, seems conclusive. Kattath is not known. 
 Nahallal is differently spelt in chap, xxi. 35, and again in Judges i. 30. For Shimron, cf. on 
 chap. xi. 1. Idalah is unknown. Bethlehem has been identified in Peit-lahm, about six 
 miles to the west of Nazareth. Some think that Ibzan was a native of this place, rather than 
 of Bethlehem of Judah (cf. Judg. xii. 8, viarg.). 
 
 17—23. The Inheritance of Issachar. — " The borders of the tribe of Issacbar are not 
 particularly noted by the author, having been given by him in connection with the other 
 tribes, except the eastern part of the north border and the east border (ver. 22)." \^Pay.'\ 
 iSeveral of the cities within the territory of Issachar were given to the half -tribe of Manasseh. 
 18. Jezreel] Famous in connection with Ahab and Naboth. Now Zerin. Chesulloth] = 
 '•The flanks," or "loins." Though this name is almost identical ^vith the '• Chisloth" of 
 ver. 12, it seems hasty to conclude with Gesensius and others that they were the same place. 
 The very character of the name suggests the probability of its reduphcation, as even the same 
 mountain might have " flanks " on either side, and more than one place on the same side 
 which might appropriately bear the appellation. As Chesulloth is wanted to complete these 
 sixteen cities of Issachar, it must be held, though unknowai, to have been distinct from 
 Chisloth-tabor, which was on the border of Zebulun. and probably belonged to that tribe. 
 Chesulloth, on the other hand, is mentioned between Jezreel and Shunem, and should proba- 
 bly be sought six or seven miles south of Mount Tabor. Shunem] Mentioned by Eusebius 
 and Jerome as SuleTii, five miles south of Tabor ; now Solam, " a village on the IS.W. flank of 
 Jrbel Duhy, three miles north of Jezreel" [cf. Smith's Bib. Diet.] 19. Haphraim] Possibly 
 el- Afuleh, about two miles west of Solam. Little or nothing is known of the remaining 
 places in this and the two following verses, excepting En-gannim, which is probably the 
 modern Jenin, and which was given to the Gershonite Levites (chap. xxi. 29). 22. The 
 coast reacheth to Tabor] " The border struck Tabor," etc. " In this the eastern part of the 
 north border is given. The western point of beginning was Tabor, here probably not the 
 mountain of this name, but a city lying on this mountain (Knobel and Keil), which was 
 given to the Levites (1 Chron. vi, 62)." \_Fay.'] Of the remaining two of these sixteen cities 
 little is known, but Beth-shemesh is thought to be Bcssum. 
 
 21 — 31. The Inheritance of Asher. — It was said of Asher, " His bread shall be fat, 
 and he shall yield royal dainties " (Gen. xlix. 20) ; and again, " Let him dip his foot in oil " 
 (Dcut. xxxiLi. 21). In fulfilment of these predictions the tribe received its portion in the rich 
 territory bordering on the Mediterranean, in the N.W. of Palestine. Furrer, as quoted by 
 Fay, says, " Even yet there are in that region ancient olive trees, large gardens with all kinds 
 of southern fi'uit trees, and green corn fields. From the Franciscan cloister at Accho, the eye 
 sweeps eastward over the wide, fertile, grassy plains up to tbe mountains of Galilee." 
 25. Helkath, etc.] Of the two cities first named nothing is known. Beten is said by 
 Eusebius to have been eight miles east of Ptolemais, and to have been called, in his time, 
 Bchctcn. 26. Alammelech, etc.] " The name is preserved in the Wady el-Malck. which 
 empties itself into the Kishon from the north-east." \_Fay.'] Shihor-libnathJ "According to 
 the opinion of J. D. Michaelis, -the river of glass J i.e.. Belus, t\\m\ the sand of which glass 
 was first made by the Phoenicians." [ Gesemm.] 27. Beth-dagon, etc.'] Little or nothing is 
 known of the places named in this verse, excepting Cabul. which is still called Kabul, and, 
 according to Robinson, lies eight or nine miles east of Ahka. If the twenty cities which 
 Solomon gave to Hiram (1 Kings ix. 11 — 13) lay in this neighbourhood, and included this 
 city, Hiram would have found his contemptuous name ready-made, and likewise an apparent 
 reason for applying it to the district, other than one of mamfest and direct offence. The 
 contempt would be half-concealed and half-exposed, as he probably wished it to be. This 
 seems borne out by 1 Kings ix. 14, and by Hiram's continued transactions with Solomon. 
 28. Hebron, etc.] Hebron is otherwise spelt than the Hebron given to Caleb, and is thought 
 to be the .same as " Abdcn" in chap. xxi. 30 and 1 Chron. vi. 74. Its site has not been found. 
 Another Rehob is named in ver. 30. but both are unknown, though they must be distinguished 
 fi'om the Rehob to which the spies came, which was " as men come to Hamath " (Numl>. xiii. 21), 
 
 285 
 
IIOJIILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. chap. xix. 
 
 near Laish, and "far from Zitlon" (Judges xviii. 27, 28). Kanali] This seems by the text 
 to have been next to Zidon, and, if so, must be Ain Kana, about eight miles to the ri.E. of 
 Zidoii, rather than the modern Kdna, about the same distance S.K. of Tyre. Unto great 
 Zidon] This, though allotted to Asher, was not taken (Judg. i. 31). 29. RamahJ •• Two 
 places of this name have been discovered in the district allotted to Asher ; the one about 
 three miles to the east, and the other about ten miles south-east of Tyre." \_SmitKs Bib. Diet.'] 
 Tyre has been briefly noticed under chap. xi. 8. Hosah and Ummah, in the next verse, are 
 ni't kno\\^l. Achzib] This is now es-Zib ; it is about nine miles to the north of Ptolemais. 
 Aphek] Formerly supposed to be Afka, but since disputed by Reland, Keil, and others, as 
 too far to the north. 
 
 32 — 39. The Inheritance of Naphtali. — Tliis tribe had its portion almost side by side 
 with Asher in the northern part of the land. The river Jordan formed its boundary on the 
 west. 33. Heleph, etc.'\ All the places in this verse are unknown, saving that Zaanannim 
 was neai' to Kedesh (cf. Judg. iv. 11). AUouto Zaanannim] Ileb. = •• the oak by Zaanann'nn." 
 Adami, Nekeb] This should be read, Adami-nekeb = "Adami of the hollon-" or "of the 
 2>as.s.'' 34. Aznoth-tabor] This city and Hukkok are also unknown. Judah upon Jordan] 
 As there was a town of Asher in Manasseh (cf. on chap. xvii. 7), and possibly, some have 
 thought, (?) a town of Zebulon in the tribe of Asher (ver. 27), so there seems to have been a 
 town of Judah in the territory of Naphtali. It is possible that this name may have origi- 
 nated from Jaii-'s connection with the tribe of Judah (cf. 1 Chron. ii. .5, 21 — 23), as supposed 
 by von Raumer and others ; but this can be regarded as little more than a guess. The name 
 may have equally well arisen from any other similar or different association. 35, Ziddim, 
 Zer] Neither place is known. Hammath] = " Warm baths." The Talmud places it one 
 mile from Tiberias. Josephus (Wars of the Jews, iv. 1 — 3) calls it Emmaus. which he inter- 
 prets as meaning " a warm bath." Probably Hammoth-dor (chap. xxi. 32), and Hanim(m 
 (1 Chron. vi. 76), are the same place; but Hammath must not be confounded with Hamnth 
 in the Orontes valley. Rakkath] = " J shore." According to the Rabbins, the site on which 
 Herod built Tiberias, on the coast of the sea of that name. Chinnereth] This place, also, 
 gave its name, in earlier limes, to the Lake of Gennesarcth (cf. on chap. xi. 2). but the site 
 of it is not known. It was doubtless situated on the shore of the inland sea named after it. 
 Adamah, etc.l Adamah is not known. Ramah was thought by Dr. Robinson to be Bamrh, 
 between Akka and the northern extremity of the lake. Hazor has been noticed under 
 chap. xi. 1. It was, most likely, situated on "'the high rocky slopes" near Lake Mcrom. 
 " Hard by this height of Hazar, but commanding a nearer view of the plain, is the castle of 
 Shubeibch.the largest of its kind in the East, and equal in extent even to the pride of European 
 castles at Heidelberg ; built, as it would appear, in part by the Herodian princes, in part l)y 
 Saracenic chiefs." \_Stanlci/s Sinai and I'alestitie.] 37. Kedesh, etc.^ Kedesh has been 
 identified by Dr. Robinson A\-ith Kades, ten miles north of Safed. Barak's residence was in 
 this place (Judg. iv. 6). Little or nothing is known of the remaining places in this verse, oi 
 of those in the verse following. 
 
 40 — 48. The Inheritance of Dan. — The boundaries of this tribe, having already been 
 defined in those of the neighbouring tribes of Ephraim, Benjamin, and Judah, are not again 
 particularly stated. 41. Zorah, Eshtaol, and Ir-shemesh] The lirst two of these cities are 
 named in chap. xv. 33, as having been originally allotted to Judah, as was also the case with 
 lr-sheni(;sh. otherwise called Beth-shemesh (cf. chap. xv. 10, xxi. 16), according to Kcil. 
 42. Shaalabbin] Called Shaalbim in Judg. i. 35. It is now Selbit. Ajalon] (Spelt some- 
 times, in A. v., Aijalon (chap. xxi. 2-1), and sometimes as here, but \\dthout any corresponding 
 variation in the Heb. text. Now YCdo. Jethlah] "According to Knobcl, contained in the 
 Waily Atallah west of Yalo." {Fay.] It is not mentioned elsewhere. 43. Elon] Unknown. 
 ThimnathahJ = Timnah, for which, with Ekron, see on chap. xv. 10. 44. Eltekeh and 
 Gibbe-thon] These cities were subsequently given to the Levites (chap. xxi. 23). The sites 
 have not been identified. Baalath] This " is to be distinguished from Baala or Kirjath- 
 jearim (chap. xv. 9). It was built l^y Solomon (1 Kings ix. 18). and, according to Josephus 
 (^I«i. viii. G. 1), who writes it Ba\^(?, stood near to Gezer," [AW/.] 45. Jehud, <'^(\] Jehud 
 is thought to l)ethe present cl-Yclntdtych. seven miles east of Jajf'a ; while Bcnc-herak is said 
 to be Jbn Abrtik. about half-way between Jaffa and the village first named. The site of Gath- 
 rinniinn is unknown, as is also the case with Me-jarkon and Rakkon, in tlie verse following. 
 46. The border before Japho] Meaning the sea coast over against Japho. or Joppa.the modern 
 name of whieh is still Yilfi. The name is conspicuous in the books of Maccabees and in the 
 Aet.s. 47. And the coast of the children of Dan went out too little for them] " And the 
 border of the children of Dan went out from thrm, i.e., beyond them, or beyontl the inheritance 
 allotted to them. Masius has correctly explaineil this somewhat unusual expression as 
 follows: 'The Danites emigrated beyond themselres. i.e., beyond the inheritance in which 
 they were first placed V)y the Divine lot, and set out in search of other possessions.' " [AV(7.] 
 Leshem] Otherwise Laish, and subsequently the Dan forming the proverbial northern ex- 
 tremity of the kingdom. It is named again as Laish in Isa. x. 30. This verse gives another 
 indication that the book of Joshua was not written till some years after Joshua's death. 
 50. Timnath-serah in Mount Ephraim] Called in Judg. ii. 9, " Tinniath-heres," and said to 
 be" on the north side of Mount Gaash." Dr. Eli Smith has propo.sed to iilentify Timnaih 
 with Tibneh, the ruins of which he has placed about six miles fi'om Jifiui on the way to 
 2bU 
 
CHAP. XIX. ROMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 Mpjdel-Yaha. Joshua's inheritance must of course be distinsruislied from the Timnath (nr 
 Thimnatha, ver. 43) of Samson. 51. These are the inheritances, ffe] This concludes the 
 account of the division of the land. As in chap. xiv. 1, at the beunnning, so here, at the close 
 of this work, the name of Eleazar takes precedence of that of Joshua. 
 
 OUTLINES AND C03IMENTS ON THE PARAGBAPIIS. 
 
 Verses 49, 50. — The Peesonal Inheritance of Joshua. 
 The inheritance of Joshua may be regarded as — 
 
 I. The reward of the leader of the people, and yet the reward which was 
 last given. Not till the inheritance of each tribe was apportioned, did Joshua 
 receive his. It should be ever thus. The tribe must take precedence of the man. 
 The nation is to be considered before its rulers. The family is of more conse- 
 quence than any one of its members. A man who is really a leader does not 
 need to be told this. He who is foremost, indeed, knows how to be last of all. 
 Ahab, who brings his people to ruin, turns his face to the wall, like a sulky child, 
 and will eat no bread, because he cannot get Naboth's vineyard ; Joshua, Avho 
 brings the whole nation to rich possessions, waits, in the spirit of a true man, 
 till others are satisfied, ere he thinks to ask even a home for himself. 
 
 II. The reward of the greatest of the Israelites, and yet a small reward. 
 Timnath seems to have been an obscure place. It was not a famous city liko 
 Hebron, which fell to Caleb. When Joshua took it, Timnath even needed build- 
 ing ; and, after Joshua's death, the city was famous only in its connection with 
 him. He had founded it, and in its outskirts was his grave (chap. xxiv. 30) ; 
 this alone gave the city its prominence in the history of the nation. The principal 
 reward of true greatness is within, not without. Bricks and acres and wealth 
 would be poor pay to a noble nature. Joshua's great reward was in the con- 
 sciousness that he had spent his life in helping his fellow-men, that he had striven, 
 to glorify God, and that God had graciously accepted his work. Timnath was a 
 necessity, and Joshua asked for it ; his brethren gave it, and he gladly took it as 
 an expression of their gratitude ; but his real reward lay in the smile of God, in 
 the approval of his own conscience, and in the visible joy which his labours had 
 brought to others. Surely it will be thus even in heaven. The highest angel is 
 not some winged creature with a taller crown, a bigger harp, and a few more 
 outward decorations than his fellows ; he is highest, who has best learned to serve 
 others in self-denying lowliness. The Lord of heaven is He who is still like unto 
 *' a lamb as it had been slain." The acreage of Joshua's estate was far from 
 being contained in Timnath. Much of his inheritance was in the approval of his 
 own heart ; still more in the approval of God. It is the man who thus lays up 
 treasure in his heart towards God, who has learned to hide his riches "where 
 thieves break not through nor steal." If heaven's wealth were like earth's, 
 peradventure there would be thieves there also. Where the spoil is only a 
 carcase, there will always be eagles. 
 
 III. The reward asked by a good man, and thus a reward according to the 
 word of the Lord. " According to the word of the Lord, they gave him the city 
 which he asked." Keil says : " We do not find any Divine injunction in the 
 Pentateuch, to the efi"ect that Joshua was to receive a particular share in the land 
 of Canaan, as his own inheritance. Therefore many expositors suppose that the 
 words, ' at the command of the Lord,' refer to an oracle of God, delivered through 
 the high priest. But as Caleb had received a definite promise of this kind, which 
 is not to be met with in a literal form in the Pentateuch (cf. chap. xiv. 9), we 
 may properly assume that Joshua received a similar promise." Whether Joshua 
 asked for Timnath, knowing God's mind before he asked, or whether God approved 
 of Joshua's request after it was made, Joshua's heart was well iu accord with the 
 Divine will. He had not served for himself, but because he loved to serve. Such 
 
 ii87 
 
EOMILETIC C03IMENTARY : JOSHUA. chap. xi3. 
 
 a spirit ever makes beautiful the life which it animates. Thus when Bossuet 
 quarrelled with Fenelon because the latter had advocated in his writings the doc- 
 trine of disinterested love to God ; and when, through his great influence at the 
 court of France and at Rome, Bossuet succeeded in getting his opponent's book 
 condemned by the pope, the beautiful spirit shewn by Fenelon made it clear, to 
 friends and foes alike, that he was a servant of God for something higher than 
 the rewards of men. Declaring his submission to the papal decree, he at once 
 wrote : " We shall find consolation, my dearest brethren, in what humbles us, 
 provided that the ministry of the word, which we have received for your sanctifi- 
 cation, be not enfeebled, and that, notwithstanding the humiliation of the pastor, 
 the flock shall increase in grace before God." Perhaps it is hardly to be won- 
 dered at, that, impressed by the loftiness of the man whom influential persons 
 induced him to condemn, the pope should have remarked to some immediately 
 about him : " Fenelon is in fault for too great love of God ; and his enemies are 
 in fault for too little love of their neighbour." He who serves for the love of 
 God, and in the joy of holy labour for men, has still a large estate left, even when 
 his fellows are ungrateful. 
 
 IV. The reward given to an aged and failing man, and yet a reward pro- 
 voking new industry, " And he built the city, and dwelt therein." Joshua 
 was " old and stricken in years " (chap. xiii. 1) before the work of distribution 
 began, yet this gift of his brethren did but serve to stimulate him to fresh zeal in 
 this new direction. The man who had spent his life iu building a nation, appro- 
 priately sets himself to terminate it in the work of building a city. The real 
 worker must work till the end. The body may decay, but the spirit seems to 
 tell of its own immortal youth tp the very last. The great German dramatist 
 said; 
 
 " The world's unwithered countenance 
 Is bright as on creation's day." 
 
 So the soul of a true man proclaims, as audibly as possible, its own immortal 
 energy. He to whom a life of work has been a joy, has joy in work down to 
 life's very close. The sight of the aged gets feeble, but not his faith ; the hands 
 and feet fail, but not the will ; the power to help others decays, but love has no 
 grey hairs, and knows no infirmity. 
 
 Verse 51, last clause. — The Inheritance of God's People sure, though 
 
 DELAYED. 
 
 Very much later, doubtless, than some of the people had expected, but at last, 
 nevertheless, it could be written : " So they made an end of dividing the coun- 
 try." These words form an appropriate standpoint for wise and thoughtful 
 retrospect. An immense interval of time, and a long succession of exciting and 
 apparently conflicting events, lie stretched out between the time of God's covenant 
 to give this land to the seed of Abraham (Gen. xv.), and its actual inheritance, 
 the accomplishment of which is here for the first time proclaimed. This period 
 of human sin and Divine mercy and patience is made the theme of song in 
 Psalms cv. — cvii. Through what process, between the time of promise and 
 the time of possession, was the inheritance brought about ? The history shews 
 us the following leading features : — 
 
 I. Inheritance is not through human merit, but through Gods grace and 
 covenant. 1. 'J he corcnant did not orininatr i)i Alircilunii's persdiial irurthiiii'ss. 
 God called him out of Haran (Gen. xii. 1 — 4), where he was probably an idolater 
 (Josh. xxiv. 14). After Abraham had obeyed God's call, he was guilty of distrust 
 of God, and of untruthfulness to men (Gen. xii. 10 — 20). It was " after these 
 things the word of the Lord came unto Abram " (Gen. xv. 1). Moreover, we are 
 distinctly told, even at this early stage, that God had respect, not to Abraham's 
 personal holiness, but to his faith : " He believed in the Lord, and He counted it 
 to him for righteousness." Oui' worthiness is not the ground on which God's 
 288 
 
CHAP. XIX. nOMILETIG COMMENT AR t : JOSHUA. 
 
 promises originate. It is only through our faith in Christ that we are qualified to 
 receive either the new covenant or the possessions which it guarantees. 2. God's 
 reason for maldvg His covenant of inheritance is in no ic ay founded on any appear- 
 ances u'hich might seem to indicate its fulfihncnt. God said to the children of Abra- 
 ham, Isaac, and Jacob : "Unto thee will I give the land cf Canaan, the lot of your 
 inheritance, when they were but a few men in number, yea, very few, and strangers 
 in it ; when they went from one nation to another, and from one kingdom to 
 another people" (Ps. cv. 8 — 13). 3. God's reason for caming His people to inhent 
 can be discovered onlg in His own love and grace and truth. Throughout these inter- 
 vening centuries the Israelites are continually seen sinning, and God forgiving. 
 They forget the promise. He remembers it ; they transgress. He pardons ; they 
 hanker after "the flesh-pots of Egypt," He entices them with words about the land 
 overflowing with milk and honey ; they often murmur. He is ever patient. The 
 whole of the way, from Abraham to the completed division of the land, is a way 
 of great grace. Such are the reasons for the inheritance of all whom God causes 
 to possess. The old covenant or the new covenant, Canaan or heaven, it matters 
 not which ; the reasons of possession are in Him, not in us. 
 
 II. The way to possession is through loss. 1. The Israelites came into their 
 inheritance through losing it. After receiving the promise that his seed should 
 inherit Canaan, Abraham was driven down into Egypt by famine. The necessity 
 thus laid upon the father proved to be a foreshadowing of God's way with the 
 children. Joseph was sold into Egypt, and later on, compelled still by famine, 
 Jacob and his remaining sons were driven thither also. The sojourn there pre- 
 sently became a bondage, lasting upwards of two hundred years. Thus, God's 
 way of leading His people to inherit the land was by leading them out of the 
 land altogether. Possession was to be through utter loss. Nor is this seemingly 
 strange method to be looked upon as an accident. God purposed it, from the 
 first (Gen. xv. 18). This method is full of deep design. God's way was a 
 necessity. The only possible way for the Israelites to inherit the lapd was, ap- 
 parently, by their being driven out of the land. Had they remained in Canaan, 
 they would in all probability have intermarried with the Canaanites. It is no less 
 likely that they would have been seduced to the then fast spreading idolatry, which 
 ere they came back from Egypt, had so firmly established itself in the land. Had 
 they remained in Palestine, and fallen into either of these snares, their subsequent 
 inheritance of the territory, as a nation, would have been impossible. It may 
 be said. There was idolatry in Egypt : would not that tempt them there as much 
 as idolatry in Canaan ? From this God graciously guard '^d them by their very 
 condition in Egypt. They were made slaves. They were bitterly oppressed. 
 The common aftiiction would bind them in a common sympathy. In their keen 
 euff'ering, through hard service and the slaying of their male children, they would 
 learn to hate the Egyptians and their gods together. Antipathies would be raised 
 in them against idolatry generally. A common patriotism, in these children of 
 the Promised Land, would be provoked by a common suflering. This, doubtless, 
 was exactly what Divine wisdom intended. One of the strongest possible forces 
 was at work, tending, in many ways, to bind them to each other and into the 
 great clan of God, presently to be compassed on every hand by the surrounding 
 nations of the heathen. The common dclivovance at the Red Sea would only 
 serve to deepen this carefully formed feeling, bursting out as it does in a common 
 joy in the wonderful song of Moses. The mighty outpouring of passion there, 
 with each other, for God, and against the heathen, is the vehement and first real 
 expression of that Hebrew nationalism which God had been so carefully and 
 surely creating, and which to this day still throbs so strongly in the Hebrew 
 heart. The forty years' discipline in the wilderness would serve to bind the 
 Israelites still clo«cr, uniting them in a common fear of God, and in a general 
 assurance that He could be trusted in all kinds of want and extremity. Thus 
 they crossed the Jordan, bound together in spirit as one man, and strong in that 
 
 u 289 
 
II OMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. chap, xix. 
 
 union both to conquer an idolatrous nation and abhor its idolatry. Humanly 
 speaking no such feelings as these could have animated the young nation, had tbey 
 remained in Canaan. God led them into their inheritance by causing them to for- 
 sake it utterly. The way into the promised possession was through the bitter 
 bondage of Egypt and many years of sorrow in the wilderness. 2. Gud's vay to 
 possession is still throH(jh loss, (a) The way to peace with God is through fleeing 
 from the conteniment "of carelessness. " The fear of the Lord is the beginning of 
 wisdom." Men start for heaven by going into the sharp conviction that it may never 
 be theirs. We journey towards the full assurance of God's forgiveness by giving 
 up, in alarm, those easy assumptions of it, in which we once found rest through 
 general and vague thoughts of Divine mercy. (/;) The way to righteousness is 
 through a rejection of our righteousness. To be holy indeed, we must enter into 
 the awful knowledge of our own sinfialness. He who thought that he was, 
 " touching the law, blameless," could hold the clothes of Stephen while others 
 murdered him ; the same man, counting all his good doings as dung, pressed 
 indeed towards the mark of the heavenly calling. When Paul counted his gain 
 loss, then, and not till then, he won the righteousness of his Saviour, (c) The 
 way to hfe in Christ is by dying with Christ. It is he who cries, " I am crucified 
 with Christ," who immediately adds, " Nevertheless I live." To be " born 
 again " is to die. The way to our inheritance is by a cross, which seems to 
 stand at the very beginning of our pilgrimage as the significant symbol of a 
 journey of contradictions. The very Saviour of our life stands and cries to us, 
 " He that findeth his life shall lose it, and he that loseth his life for my sake shall 
 find it." 
 
 III. The way from loss to secure inheritance is by the power and patience 
 and love of God. 1. The way from the hondaije of Kinjitt tu this division of the 
 land II fords one long view of Jehovah's muihty works. The miracles which made 
 Pharaoh let the people go never ceased till the people were ready to enter into 
 the rest of possession. 2. This way to inheritance was no less marked by Divine 
 patience. While God wrought mightily, the people murmured continually. On 
 their part, the one thing which rose prominent above every other was sin ; on 
 His part was mercy which ever covered their transgressions. 3. The ivonders of 
 Divine jjower, and the heaiity of Divine patience, are alike seeyi as the outcome of 
 Divine love. God's love to the men — those men, and the men who should follow 
 them, was the motive which underlay all. The miracles were not merely for a 
 new nation to be called Israelites. The patience was not so much care over a 
 pet scheme of Deity. God was loving men— loving all men, and seeking to save 
 the world that was, and the world that would be, from the sin and ruin of 
 idolatry. 
 
 IV. Alternations from seeming possession to loss, and from loss to permanent 
 inheritance, are God's way of leading men into habitual obedience and per- 
 petual praise. It was out of the magnitude of the Israelites' diflicalties that they 
 came to their wonderful deliverances, and it was in their great deliverances that 
 they found the glowing fervour of those choice songs which tbey have left as such 
 a noble legacy to the world. Their deferred hopes, their long-tried patience, 
 their adverse journeyings, their mighty battles : all these led to ardent praise, and 
 praise, in its turn, gave new strength. Battles are not pleasant, but we can have 
 no victories without them. The smooth straight path may bo trodden more easily 
 and more quickly than the way which is rough, and steep, and winding ; yet, 
 after all, it is where the tourist is turned from a direct line of travel by high 
 mountains, and wearied in his way by steep hills, that the landscape most 
 dfliglits him. The plain is easier for travelling, but it provokes little ardour. 
 Otherwise tban through the sense of their strength, " the mountains shall bring 
 peace." The Christian pilgrim who travels rough places and rugged steeps may 
 have more weariness than be who walks in " plain paths ; " generally he also 
 knows more of jov, and feels more of thankfulness and praise. 
 
 290 
 
CHAP. XX. HOMILETIC C03IMENTAEY: JOSHUA. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 THE CITIES OF REFUGE. 
 
 Critical Notes. — 2. Appoint out for you cities of refuge] Hcb. " Appoint," or " Give 
 for you the cities of refuge." The article, which is omitted in A.V., points to the fact that 
 God had already commanded these cities to be set apart, as the verse itself proceeds to state. 
 Since the intimation in Exod. xxi. 13, and the instructions inaSTumb, xxxv., these cities were a 
 well-recognised part of the constitution. The word rendered " refuge " is from the root 
 kdlat, " to contract," "to draw together;'''' hence, " to receive a fugitive to oneself." [^Gesen.'] 
 3. TJnawares and unwittingly] i.e.,"in i/jnorancc'^ by mistake ; "iiiadvertenthj,'" hj a.cci- 
 dent, vdthout intention ; perhaps, also, " snddcnly" " impnUively " and thus without the 
 " knowledge " which would have come had time been taken for thought. The repeated notion 
 in the Hebrew words is very emphatic, coming to much the same thing as the negative of our 
 English form, " with malice aforethought." This idea is fully expressed in Deut. iv. 42, 
 " and hated him not in times past" (cf. Deut. xix. 4, 6, marg.). A man might be slain by 
 mere accident, by carelessness, by the " mistake " of an avenger pursuing the wrong person, 
 and thus committing murder " in ignorance ; " or death might ensue from a sudden assault, 
 in passion, when there was no intention to slay. For all, who might so take life, these cities 
 were to be a refuge. But they were to afford no permanent refuge for the "wilful murderer ;" 
 he was to be taken even from the altar of sanctuary, and put to death (Exod. xxi. 14 ; 1 Kings 
 ii. 28 — 34; 2 Kings xi. 15). 4. Shall stand at the entering of the gate, eto.'\ "This is not to 
 be understood, as it is by Michaelis, as implying that the man was to stand outside the city 
 gate, and there relate his cause to the ciders, and that he was not to enter the city till they had 
 declared him not guilty of premeditated murder ; but the gate of the city means the forum, the 
 public place of judgment in the city, where the elders were to hear and examine his statement." 
 [Keil.^ " The open space at the gate of Eastern cities was like the Greek agora and the 
 'B.ovaan formn, the usual place of public resort ; hence the well-known phrase ' judges within 
 thy gates ' " [Grose7-\ 6. Until the death of the high priest] It is added in Numb. xxxv. 2.5, 
 " which was anointed with the holy oil." Thus, as Keil points out, the liberation was made 
 to be dependent on the death of the anointed " mediator and representative of the people in 
 the presence of God." The stress laid on the official position of the high priest by this 
 reference to the anointing oil seems clearly intended to prefigure the corresponding " de- 
 liverance of the captives," which is effected by the death of the anointed Saviour. 7. And 
 they appointed] Marg., " sanctified." These cities were consecrated, as holy, to the sacred 
 work of preserving life. Hence, only Levitical cities were chosen. Life was to be thus 
 preserved in connection with religion Whether fleeing to the altar of sanctuary or the city 
 of sanctuary, the Israelites were to learn to cry, " God is a refuge for us." Kadesh] " Sanc- 
 tuary," a deriv. from the same root as the word just noticed. Kedesh is to be distinguished 
 from the city of this name in the south of Judah (chap. xv. 23). and likewise from tlie Kedesh 
 of the Gershonite Levites, in Issachar (cf. 1 Chron. vi.72, 7fi). thrmrrh this Kedesh of Naplitali 
 was given to the same Levitical family. Shechem . . . and Hebron] It will be seen that 
 the three cities of refuge on the west of Jordan, thus chosen, were as (;onveniently placed as 
 possible. Kedesh was not in the extreme north, nor Hebron in the extreme south, while 
 Shechem was in the very midst of the land ; each city, also, lay in a good central position as 
 between the line of the Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea. 8. On the other side Jordan] 
 Moses had already appointed the three cities for the eastern territory (Deut. iv. 41 — 43). 
 Bezer] called by the LXX. and Vulg. " Bosor" From 1 Chron. vi. 78, we learn th.at it was 
 given to the Merarites, and that it was opposite to Jericho. Ramoth in GHead] So also in 
 Deut. iv. 43; 1 Kings xxii. 3; elsewhere Ramoth-Gilead, Pmbably identical with the 
 Ramath-Mizpeh of chap. xiii. 26. Golan] = " exile." According to Josephus, as quoted by 
 Gesenius, it was near to the sea of G.ililoe, and gave its name to the region afterwards known 
 as Gaulanitis, now Jaulan. 9. Until lie stood before the congregation] No homicide who 
 could reach one of these cities was to be delivered up till he had obtained a hearing ; those 
 innocent of wilful murder were to be afforded an asylum in the city, till the death of the high 
 priest rendered them free to depart ; but those who were guilty of taking life deliberately, 
 after tliis had been so decided, were given over to the avenger of blood. 
 
 MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE FARAGRAPH.— Verses 1—6. 
 
 The Custom of Blood-Revenge. 
 
 Tlie custom of blood-revengo is undoubtedly very ancient among other nations 
 than that of the Jews. The Arabs, the Persians, the Druses of Syria, the Abys- 
 siniaus, the Circassians, and others, have long recognised this " law of blood," 
 which is said to remain in force even to the present day in certain parts of the 
 
 291 
 
EOMILETIG COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 East. Mahomet legislated concerning it in the Koran, and there is ample evidence 
 of its existence previous to his time. The Afiijla of the ancient Greeks and Romans 
 present both an extension and a modification of the practice ; shewing its appli- 
 cation to other matters than blood, and limiting its duration otherwise than by the 
 measure of a life, as known among the Jews. Thus it is said : " The temple of 
 Diana, at Ephesus, was a refuge for debtors, and the tomb of Theseus for slaves. 
 In order to people Rome, a celebrated asylum was opened by Romulus, between 
 the mounts Palatine and Capitoline, for all sorts of persons indiscriminately, fugi- 
 tive slaves, debtors, and criminals of every kind. It had a temple dedicated to the 
 god Asylajus. It was by this means, and with such inhabitants, that Thebes, 
 Athens, and Rome were first stocked. We even read of Asyla at Lyons and 
 Vienne, among the ancient Gauls ; and some of the cities in Germany have pre- 
 served this right to the present century. On the medals of several ancient cities, 
 particularly in Syria, we meet with the inscription A2YA0I, to which is added 
 lEFAV— [Lund. Encijc. (1829), ''Asyla."] 
 
 Arguing from the ancient and widely spread character of this practice of establish- 
 ing cities of refuge, many theological writers have assumed that Moses found the 
 custom already existing among surrounding nations, and that, because it was so 
 deeply rooted in society, God instructed Moses to regulate it rather than to suddenly 
 attempt its abolition. Thus it is frequently regarded as something which God 
 found existing and tolerated, rather than something solemnly chosen and delibe- 
 rately enforced. It has even been placed on a level with polygamy, which God 
 long suffered, but never approved. Such a view strangely overlooks the real 
 origin of " blood-revenge." Instead of viewing it as a custom which the Jews 
 adopted from barbarous nations around them, it is rather to be regarded as a 
 practice which barbarous nations adopted from the Jews, and presently perverted. 
 The real origin of the custom is as far back as in Gen. ix. 5, 6 ; and, rightly con- 
 templated, is a solemn vindication of the sacredness of human life. It is by no 
 means a cultivation of the spirit of a heathenish vengeance. Given that God's 
 law said, "Whoso sheddcth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed," howAvas 
 that law to be cai'ried out ? At the time when it was given, there were no set 
 places of judgment, and no selected judges ; for men were not grouped in nations. 
 There was no central authority around which the ever-dispersing tribes of Noah's 
 house could gather. Then, the family was the nation, and the head of the family 
 the ruler. The patriarchs were their own family priests, and their own family 
 judges. If this law were to be carried out at all, it must be carried out by the 
 family itself. An aged and infirm man would not be fit for the task of pursuing 
 and doing justice on a murderer; hence the solemn task fell, in more general terms, 
 on some one suitable among " the next of kin." The internal evidence of Scrip- 
 ture itself is altogether opposed to the superficial view of Divine toleration. Both 
 among the Romans and Arabs the practice of ransoming even a wilful murderer 
 was common. In the Koran special provision is made for thus settling such blood- 
 feuds with " the price of blood." So far from tolerating the avenging of blood, 
 God expressly enjoined by Moses that the wilful murderer was on no account to 
 bo suffered to escape. He was to be taken even from God's altar to be slain 
 (Exod. xxi. 14), and ransom was strictly forbidden (Numb. xxxv. 81, 33). The 
 remark made on this passage in the Spealcer's Coinnieiitanj justly estimates the 
 superior morality of the Mosaic regulations : " The permission to make compen- 
 sation for murders undoubtedly mitigates, in practice, the system of private 
 retaliation ; but it does so by sacrificing the principle which is the basis of that 
 retaliation itself. Resting ultimately upon the law of God, that ' Whosoever 
 Bheddcth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed,' it bids men rest content 
 with a convenient evasion of that law, and converts the authority given to men to 
 act as God's ministers, in taking life for life, inti) a warrant for enabling the 
 kinsman of a murdered man to make gain out of his murder." Rightly inter- 
 preted, this custom of thus vindicating the blood of men wilfully slain was the 
 292 
 
CHAP. XX. HOMILETIC C03IMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 expression of God's justice, and no less an expression of the mercy which, using 
 the best social machinery of the time, thus hastened to prevent the guilt of many 
 would-be murderers, and to spare the lives of those who would have become their 
 victims. 
 
 The Sacredness of Human Life. 
 
 I. The lord's care for human life. When we think of even a few of the things 
 represented in the life of any individual man, we need not wonder that its Divine 
 Maker has fenced it about with so jealous a care. 1. It is life fashioned in the 
 likeness of God. He has made it " in His own image." The life of man stands 
 alone in the earth. There is nothing near to it. There is nothing which approaches 
 it. In communion with myriads of its kind, human life is a bearable and thus a 
 grand solitude ; isolate it horn, such communion, and though it might be surrounded 
 by a very ark of other life — "two of every kind" — the solitude would be awful. 
 Science, so called, may prattle as it will about " development ;" it is enough that 
 in his heart no man believes the small poetical story. Given that man is banished 
 from his fellows, there is no " next-of-kin" whom he can take into his confidence. 
 Darwin himself would pine away and die. In all terrestrial creation there is not a 
 soul outside his own family to whom a man can talk, unless it be in some such 
 imaginary intercourse as that in which a child holds fellowship with its doll. Put a 
 man out from his own kind, and let him surround himself with Avhat other life he 
 may, he has to be talker and listener too. There is no other earthly life to which 
 he can tell his secrets, or from which, in his keenest sorrows, he can beg a single 
 tear of sympathy. But man can have fellowship with God. Every generation of 
 men has found some men putting this to practical proof. Let scepticism sneer 
 at prayer as it will, prayer has supported its millions. Men have turned to the 
 great "likeness" of themselves above, and in their deepest sufierings thoj^ have 
 " endured as seeing Him who is invisible." Man is made in the image of God: 
 man feels it is so ; God says it is so. What wonder can it be that God guards 
 such a life so sacredly? To slay life such as this, is to insult it in its Divine repre- 
 sentative above. To take the life of a man is to ofler scorn to that life in God (Gen, 
 ix. 6). Even the man-slaying beast was to be put to death when it thus, though 
 unknowingly, did violence to life fashioned in the likeness of life's infinite Author 
 (Gen. ix. 5 ; Exod. xxi. 28, 29). This was not a blind vengeance on the poor 
 beast, but a lesson of such significance and worth for man, that, properly learned, 
 it alone was of more value than the life of the heedless brute which had oftended. 
 2. It is life the taking of ivhieh is connected ivith much sufferimi. The more exalted 
 life is, the more it sufiers in death. Intelligent life suffers more than brute life ; 
 it can think on the unkindness and hate which propose to slay it, and thus, even 
 in a few moments of dying by violence, it can suffer murder in the sensitive mind 
 as well as in the sensitive body. Thus the slain man sufiers. The surviving 
 relatives sufier proportionately. It is not merely the death but the murder of their 
 loved one which such survivors mourn. God is very pitiful : He would spare men 
 such woe. 3. It is life capable of vast progress. Being man, man can " develope." 
 Give him time and tutors and discipline, there is no knowing whereunto his life 
 may grow. The limit of what a man may become has not yet been discovered. 
 There are such vast possibilities of penitence for the wicked, of generosity for the 
 selfish, of knowledge for the ignorant, of usefulness for the useless, that he who 
 would slay a fellow-man may well be held to be a foe to the universe. Only God 
 knows what a life may become, and whether it is best that any particular life 
 should be spared or taken. Who knows ? the murderers that have been may have 
 robbed the world of great philosophers, wise statesmen, generous philanthropists, 
 useful writers, or saintly Christians. If the lives of men like John Howard, 
 John Bunyan, John Milton, Isaac Newton, and William Wilberforce, had been 
 taken just before the great works in which their names stand famous, how much 
 the world would have lost ! and how ignorant of the measure of that loss the 
 
 293 
 
IIOMILETIC C03IMENTARY: JOSHUA. chap. xx. 
 
 world would have been ! 4. Human life is life which has on earth only its beginning. 
 A man's life is only the portico to his individual eternity. If he be slain ere his 
 life be given to God through Christ in penitence and faith, his eternity must bo 
 one of " destruction from the presence of the Lord." If the murderer had let the 
 life alone, the great Husbandman might soon have made it fruitful unto life ever- 
 lasting. To cut a man off in his sins is an act of awful iresponsibility. He who 
 murders may murder not only a body, but a human soul. 
 
 II. The merciful considerateness of the Lord for the man who might slay 
 his fellow unintentionally. Manslaughter may be through carelessness, more 
 or less culpable, or through a passionate assault in which there is no design to 
 slay. The cities of refuge were, apparently, intended to afford security even to 
 those guilty of homicide in the more aggravated form. 1. I'he unintentional 
 manslayer teas 7iot to be put to death. His carelessness might have been gross, or 
 his passion very blameworthy indeed ; but God graciously discerned between 
 euch and those who intended to kill. Only the wilful murderer was to be 
 delivered up to deaths 2. The unintentional manslayer u-as to be imprisoned under 
 pain of death. For the guilt of his carelessness, or the sin of his passion, he 
 might be deprived of his liberty for many years. He could only regain his 
 freedom at the death of the high priest. Thus manslaughter was severely punished. 
 8. It is possible that some intermediate penalty may have been inflicted in cases where 
 the judges might deem it necessary. These laws are possibly not the full law given 
 to Moses. They deal with the main features of the questions which they touch, 
 but not with all the details which might arise. Probably much was purposely 
 left to the discretion of the judges. Hence criminal neglect or passion might be 
 met with a punishment short of death, and yet the refugees thus guilty might be 
 more severely dealt with than others. 
 
 III. The purpose of the Lord that even the murderer should have a hearing. 
 The facilities otiered for the permanent escape of the unintentional homicide were 
 equally available for the temporary security of the man who had committed 
 murder wilfully. 1. llie delay would afford the murderer time for repentance. 
 Though human life must be protected, and those who take it must die, God has 
 no pleasure in the death of the wicked. 2. The delay would tend to exercise a 
 aalutary injluence on the avenger. Instead of slaying the murderer in the heat of 
 passion> the goel would have time to think, and time to understand that God 
 imposed upon him this dreadful task to teach a lesson, and not to license rage. 
 The goel was to be " the redeemer of blood," rather than one revenging it in a 
 fury almost as horrible as the murder itself. The redeemer of blood was to rescue 
 it from contempt before men. His solemn act, based as it was upon justice, was 
 to reinstate the blood and the life of man, as deservedly priceless, in the estimation 
 of society. God did not teach the " avenger " to play echo to murder. 8. The 
 delay tvould thus be beneficial to all the nation. Men would have time to read 
 the true character of justice, discerning in it the firmness of a mercy which could 
 not spare, rather than a hungry appetite which would not be satisfied without its 
 meal. Justice is the awful side of Love, and not the best side of hatred ; it is 
 Love looking out upon the multitude, weeping while she rightfully destroys the 
 one in order to keep the many from destroying each other and themselves. 
 
 IV. The command given by the Lord, that the wilful murderer should be 
 put to death. There was to be no place of refuge for those found thus guilty. 
 These cities of refuge supply an efi'cctive answer to the occasional demand made 
 by some for the abolition of capital punishment. The passage in Genesis, though 
 Bufliciently plain to most people, has been thought by some open to argument. 
 Thus l)r. Kalisch, after assuming that Gen. ix. 6, 6, is a prehistoric invention oj 
 ]\loses rathcT than a command of God, and after representing Moses as '* unques- 
 tionably and strongly averse to the barbarous custom of revenge of blood " (an 
 aversion of which ho does not oven attempt to supply any evidence), proceeds to 
 question whether the Mosaic law is decisive for or against " capital punishment." 
 
 294 
 
CHAP. XX. IIOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 On philological grounds, though he leaves the translation substantially unaltered, 
 he says of the fifth verse : " Therefore the words, ' I shall demand the soul of 
 man from the brother of every one,' do not allude to the custom of revenge of 
 blood, according to which the nearest relative was bound to pursue the murderer, 
 but to the Ufial punisluncnt inflicted hij the ordinary authorities." That is simply 
 saying that this law, thus formally promulgated so soon after the deluge, alludes to 
 the law, or, in other words, to itself; and as Dr. Kalisch does not tell us who 
 "the ordinary authorities" for the execution of the murderer were, he at least 
 leaves room for the conclusion that they may have been the avengers, or re- 
 deemers of blood, themselves. With one family alivt on the earth when this 
 " legal punishment " was commanded to Xuah, who else could these " ordinary 
 authorities" have been? But these laboured exegetical eflbrts in the discussion 
 of two verses in Genesis leave the cities of refuge still untouched. In those six 
 cities we see God commanding that shelter shall be deliberately prepared for the 
 unintentional manslayer ; we see also that the wilful murderer, after being pro- 
 nounced to be such, was just as deliberately excluded from any shelter whatever. 
 He was beyond the reach of ransom. No price was allowed to be taken for the 
 blood of his victim. Thus, whatever discussion may be raised on the meaning of 
 a few words in a verse, these six cities calmly and sadly deny that exegesis of the 
 heart which is offered by an unthoughtful mercy. The wisdom of mercy has so 
 much regard for the multitude, that, though it gladly gives in the delay required 
 for judgment an opportunity for the repentance of the one, it cannot spare him. 
 It is just that he should die ; it would be an injustice to living men, and unmer- 
 ciful to them, if he did not die. The Scripture answer and the moral answer 
 made to the demand for the abolition of capital punishment is very like that of 
 the modern Italian statesman, " Let the assassins begin." 
 
 V. The instruction of the Lord that the refuge afforded to the manslayer 
 should be a refuge in the name of the Lord. The manslayer was undoubtedly 
 held to have been guilty, though acquitted of murder. Even carelessness might 
 be so culpable as to be judged worthy of punishment by death (Exod. xxi. 29). 
 It is a mistake to suppose that " the stay in those cities was not deemed igno- 
 minious, but the effect of an inscrutable Divine decree." Even the man who had 
 taken life unwittingly had sinned more or less grievously, as each case itself 
 would determine. For that sin the manslayer was for a short time exposed to 
 death. Rescuing him from such exposure, God Himself would be the sanctuary. 
 The Israelites should find safety alone in Jehovah. It was religion that was 
 seen stretching forth her hands to protect the endangered life. This was the case 
 before these cities were appointed. The manslayer fled for refuge to the altar of 
 God (Exod. xxi. 13, 14). So these cities of refuge are all Levitical cities. They 
 were chosen without exception from the cities given as places of residence to the 
 consecrated tribe. It was only in the mercy of Jehovah that there should be 
 found a covert from human sin. Already the Lord was teaching His children the 
 song: "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." The 
 name of the Lord was the strong tower into which the righteous and the sinner 
 must alike run for safety. 
 
 OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VERSES. 
 
 Verses 1 — 3. — God a Refuge for III. The cities of refuge as a 
 
 Man, and for all the Man. symbol of God's provision for our 
 
 I. The cities of refuge as a mani- spiritual salvation, 
 festation of God's care for our physical 
 
 life. Ver. 3. — " The A%Ti:NGER of Blood." 
 
 II. The cities of refuge as an ex- " The blood of a human being cries 
 pression of God's concern for the for revenge to heaven (Gen. iv. 10 ; 
 education of our moral feelings, Heb. xii. 24). 
 
 295 
 
n03IILETIC C03I3IENTAEY: JOSHUA. 
 
 CHAP. XX. 
 
 " The soul of the slain raises its 
 voice (Job xxiv. 12 ; Rev. vi. 9). 
 
 " The blood of the innocent victims 
 hangs at the skirts of the murderer's 
 garments (Jer. ii. B4). 
 
 " The blood is identical with the 
 life of the individual (Ps. xciv. 21 ; 
 Matt, xxiii. 35). 
 
 " This latter view was not unfamiliar 
 to other ancient nations ; for, in the 
 Egyptian hieroglyphics, the hawk, which 
 was believed to feed upon blood alone, 
 l:«presents the human soul (Horapollo 
 i. 7) ; Aristotle considered the blood as 
 the seat of the soul (l>e Anim. i. 2) ; 
 whilst Empedocles limited it to the 
 blood of the heart ; Yirgil speaks of an 
 eilusion of the ' purple soul ' (^En. ix. 
 349) ; it was the doctrine of Critias 
 that blood is the soul ; and of Pytha- 
 goras, that the soul is nourished by the 
 blood. The vital principle, or the soul 
 {^ ncphesh'), lies in an unsubstantial 
 breath ; it is invisible, and removes the 
 organism after laws which will eternally 
 remain a secret, known to the Creator 
 alone : but as its visible representative 
 the blood was considered, in which the 
 physical power is concentrated ; for a 
 diminution of blood is attended with a 
 decrease of the vital powers, and at last 
 with dissolution and death. The breath 
 is purely spiritual, and comes from God; 
 the blood is a physical element, of 
 earthly material ; the former is inde- 
 structible, and escapes when the latter 
 is shed ; but as it has once been the 
 medium through which the vigour of the 
 soul manifested itself, it is an object of 
 feacredness, and is, not inappropriately, 
 itself called the soul (Lev. xvii. 11). 
 But it is remarkable that the Bible 
 never attributes to the blood a higher 
 mental power, nor docs it ever iden- 
 tify the blood with the spirit ('ruach'), 
 but invariably represtnts it as the 
 principle of physical life (' vqihcsh '). 
 Blood would defile the earth, if it 
 remained unpunished." — [3/. M. Ka- 
 lisch.] 
 
 Verses 2 — 4. !Prepaiiation for Mercy 
 AND Judgment. 
 
 I. The Lord contemplating His 
 people's future. " Whereof I spake 
 unto yuu by the hand of Moses." This 
 29G 
 
 provision of the cities of refuge had 
 long been thought of and purposed by 
 God. 1. Divine outlook. 2. Divine 
 jjrcpa ration. 3. Divine patience. 
 
 II. The Lord judging men, not hy 
 the deed of the hand, but by the 
 thought of the heart. " Unawares 
 and unwittingly." Men are too apt to 
 look only on the acts which their 
 fellows have done. God would have 
 men ask how the acts were committed, 
 and why. 
 
 III. The Lord committing His own 
 judgment to the execution of men. 
 " He shall declare his cause in the ears 
 of the elders of that city ; and they 
 shall take," etc. 1. God could have 
 aveiKjed the slain Himself. Had He been 
 so minded, He could have carried out 
 His own judgments. He would but 
 have had to will, and the guilty would 
 have suffered, or died, and the innocent 
 would have been delivered. 2. Ood 
 prvfenrd that His people should execute 
 His judgments. [a) Direct judgment 
 would have made virtue mechanical. 
 (b) If men executed the Lord's deci- 
 sions, they would better learn to approve 
 them and sympathise with them. 
 
 IV. The Lord saving men in connec- 
 tion with the urgent efforts of the men 
 themselves. Those who would beuetit 
 by the gracious provision of God must 
 "y/(Y' unto one of those cities." "With 
 the avenger of blood behind him, the 
 pursued man might have to flee with 
 all his powers. " Salvation is of tlie 
 Lord," but the Lord does not save the 
 man who does not concern himself to 
 be saved. 
 
 Verse 6. — Liberty through tue 
 Death of the High Priest. 
 
 I. Condemnation coming through 
 offence against God's law. The con- 
 demnation was (1) for an actual and 
 great offence; (2) it was after delibcrato 
 investigation and judgment; (3) and it 
 remained in force till release came after 
 the manner of Divine appointment. 
 
 II. Pardon given through the death 
 of God's anointed High Priest. 1. 
 Jielease came onlij throut/h the death uf 
 the people's attainted mediator. No other 
 death would suffice. The death of tlio 
 high priest was held to be efficacious, 
 
CHAP. XX. 
 
 HOMILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 because he had been " anointed with 
 the holy oil" (Numb. xxxv. 25). 2. The 
 death of one might thus become the release 
 of many. Every refugee in each of the 
 six cities would at once obtain his 
 liberty. 
 
 III. Liberty that follows God's 
 pardon, and as such, liberty as full 
 and complete as that enjoyed before 
 the offence. Each offender would be 
 as free to return, and as free in his 
 home and in the city where it was 
 situated, as if he had never trans- 
 gressed. Thus does God look forward 
 and prepare a way by which He may 
 pass over our ofiences. He never 
 passes over our better deeds. The 
 service rendered by Nebuchadrezzar 
 was not forgotten (Ezek. xxix. 18 — 20). 
 Even the cup of cold water is not to 
 lose its reward. God concerns Himself 
 to remember our services, but to blot 
 out our sins. As in the ancient festival 
 of the exodus, as in this liberation of 
 these captives on the death of the high 
 priest, and as in the glorious work of 
 Calvary, the passovers of God never 
 have to do with our services, often have 
 to do with our sins, and always with 
 our deliverance from suffering and 
 danger. 
 
 The Cities op Refuge as an Illus- 
 tration OP THE Work op Christ. 
 
 " I. There were several cities of refuge, 
 and they were so appointed in several parts 
 of the country, that the manslayer, wherever 
 he dwelt in the land of Israel, might, in half 
 a day, reach one or other of them^ so, though 
 there is but one Christ appointed for our 
 refuge, yet, wherever we are, He is a refuge 
 at hand, a very present help ; for the word is 
 nigh us, and Ohi'ist in the word. 
 
 '• II. The manslayer was safe in any of 
 these cities ; so in Christ, believers that flee 
 to Him, and rest in Him, are protected from 
 the wrath of God and the curse of the law. 
 ' There is no condemnation to them that are 
 in Christ Jesus.' 
 
 " III. They were all Levites' cities. It was 
 kindness to the poor prisoner, that, though he 
 might not go up to the place where the ark 
 was, yet he was in the midst of Levites who 
 "would teach him the good knowledge of the 
 Lord. So it is the work of ministers of the 
 gospel to bid sinners welcome to Christ, and to 
 assist and counsel those who, through Christ, 
 aie in Him. 
 
 •' IV. Even strangers and sojourners, though 
 they were not native Israelites, might take 
 the benefit of these cities of refuge. So in 
 Christ Jesus no difference is made between 
 
 Greek and Jew. Even the sons of the stranger 
 that by faith flee to Christ shaU be safe ia 
 Him. 
 
 " V. Even the suburbs or borders of the 
 city were a sufficient security to the offender. 
 So there is virtue even in the hem of Christ's 
 garment for the healing and saving of poor 
 sinners. If we cannot reach to a full assu* 
 ranee, we may comfort oui'selves in a good 
 hope through grace. 
 
 " VI. The protection which the manslayer 
 found in the city of refuge was not owing to 
 the strength of its walls, or gates, or bars, 
 but purely to the Divine appointment. So it 
 is the word of the gospel that gives souls 
 safety in Christ ; ' for Him hath God the 
 Father sealed.' 
 
 " VII. If the offender were ever caught 
 straggling without the borders of his city of 
 refuge, or stealing home to his own house 
 again, he lost the benefit of his protection, 
 and lay exposed to the avenger of blood. 
 So those that are in Christ must abide in 
 Christ ; for it is at their peril if they forsake 
 Him and wander from Him. Drawing back 
 is to perdition." — \_Matt. Henry.'] 
 
 The Moral Influence of Acceptino 
 Pecuniary Ransom for a Murderer. 
 
 '• The punishment of murder by a pecuniary 
 fine, which is admitted by the Mohammedan 
 law, would not only be revolting to all feelings 
 of justice, but it would be extremely dangerous 
 for the safety of society ; it would destroy the 
 equality of the rich and the poor before the 
 Iflw, and would necessarily lead to a fatal 
 deterioration of public morality." — [AaZwc/t.] 
 
 The Law op Retaliation. 
 
 " It will be evident that what some have so 
 highly extolled for its equity, the lex talionis, 
 or law of retaliation, can never be, in all cases, 
 an adequate or permanent rule of punishment. 
 In some cases, iiideed, it seems to be dictated 
 by natural reason ; as in the cases of con- 
 spiracies to do an injury, or false accusations 
 of the innocent ; to which we may add the 
 law of the Jews and Egyptians mentioned by 
 Josephus and Diodorus Siculus, that whoever, 
 without sufl[icient cause, was found with any 
 mortal poison in his possession, should him- 
 self be obliged to take it. But in general 
 the difference of persons, place, time, provo- 
 cation, or other circumstances, may enhance 
 or mitigate the offence ; and in such cases 
 retaliation can never be a proper measure of 
 justice. . . . There are very many crimes that 
 will in no shape admit of these penalties, 
 without manifest absurdity and wickedness. 
 Theft cannot be punished by theft, defama- 
 tion by defamation, forgery by forgery, and 
 the like ; and we may add that those instances 
 wherein retaliation appears to be used, even 
 by the Divine authority, do not really proceed 
 upon the rule of exact retribution, by doing 
 to the criminal the same hurt he has done to 
 his neighbour, and no more ; but this corre- 
 spondence between the crime and punishment 
 is a consequence from some other principle. 
 Death is punished with death as the appro- 
 
 297 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 CHAP. XXI. 
 
 priate manner of visiting an offence of the 
 highest enormity, but not as an equivalent, 
 for that would be expiation, and not punish- 
 ment. Nor is death always an equivalent for 
 death ; the execution of a needy, decrepit 
 assassin is a poor satisfaction for the murder 
 of a nobleman in the bloom of bis youth, and 
 fall enjoyment of his friends, his honours, 
 and his fortune. But the reason on which 
 this sentence is grounded seems to be that 
 this is the highest penalty that man can 
 inflict, and tends most to the security of 
 mankind, by removing one murderer from 
 the earth, and setting a dreadful example to 
 deter others : so that even this grand instance 
 proceeds upon other principles than those of 
 retaliation. 
 
 " We may remark that it was once attempted 
 to introduce into England the law of retalia- 
 tion as a punishment for such only as preferred 
 malicious accusations against others ; it being 
 enacted by Stat. 37, Edw. III., c. 18. that 
 such as preferred any suggestions to the king's 
 great council should put in sureties of talia- 
 tion ; that is. to incur the same pain that the 
 other should have had, in case the suggestions 
 were found untrue. But, after one year's 
 experience, this punishment of taliation was 
 rejected, and imprisonment adopted in its 
 stead." — [Stephen's C'omi)ientaries on the 
 Lares of England.J 
 
 The Supposed Peominence of the 
 Cities op Refuge. 
 
 " I somewhere read, when young, that these 
 cities were situated on commanding heights, 
 so as to be visible at a great distance ; but 
 this one (Kedesh-Naphtali). at least, is hid 
 away under the mountain, and cannot be seen 
 until one is close upon it. The idea, though 
 common and even ancient, is certainly a mis- 
 take. Nablfis and Hebron, the other two 
 cities west of the Jordan, lie in low valleys, 
 and it is evident that the selection was made 
 without reference to elevation."— [y-^f Land 
 and the Book.'] 
 
 Was it not well that these cities should be 
 placed upon the plain, or in the valley, rather 
 than upon a hill 1 The roads to these cities 
 were ordered to be kept with special care, 
 and the direction in which they lay is said to 
 have been indicated by guide-posts. Each 
 Israelite would thus have no difficulty in 
 finding his adjacent sanctuary. ITie breath 
 and strength of the runner are to be considered, 
 as well as his knowledge. Pursued by the 
 impassioned avenger, and dispirited by fear, 
 it might be all important to the manslayei 
 that in the last mile of his flight, when 
 exhausted and spent, he should not find the 
 city set upon a hill, up which, even in that 
 condition, he must still flee for safety. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 tBE CITIES FOR THE PRIESTS AND LEVITES. 
 
 Critical Notks. — 1. The heads of the fathers] On this phrase, of. note on chap. xiv. 1. 
 T'he fathers of the tribe of Levi were Gershon, Kohath, and Merari (Gen. xlvi. 11 ; Exod. vi. 16). 
 From the Kohathites sprang the priestly family of Aaron. Hence the order of precedence was 
 not the apparent order of birth. In the duties of the Levitical service the Kohathites stood first, 
 the Gershonites next, and the Merarites last. This is also the order in which the lots wore 
 drawn for the three branches of the tribe. 4—8. And the lot came out for the families, etc.'] 
 These five verse.? give a short summary of the distribution, shewing the tribes among which each 
 branch of the Levites settled, and the number of the cities apportioned to each. The Aaronites 
 had thirteen cities, the rest of the Kohathites ten cities, the Genshonites thirteen cities, and the 
 Merarites twelve cities. The remainder of the chapter records the details of the distribution. 
 Most of the cities given to the Levites have already been noticed in the dLstribution made of 
 them to the tribes. 5. The rest of the children of Kohath] These were the descendants of 
 Amram through Moses, and the entire i)n.stt;rity of Izehar, Hebron, and Uzziel (Exod. vi. 18 ; 
 Numb. iii. 19). 12. Gave they to Caleb] " If the fields, belonging to the Levites, were thus 
 left in the hands of the tribe, by whom the city had been given up, the Levites cannot have 
 been the sole inhabitants of these cities. For, if they were, where can the Israelites have lived, 
 by whom the laud was cultivated ? We must certainly assume that the Levites only received as 
 many houses in the cities assigned them, as their numerical strength required, and that it was 
 these which remained in their hands as an inalienable pi)s.sessiou. At least, there were in the 
 cities ae many other inhabitants as were necessarj' to cultivate the soil. Moreover, the law 
 (Lev. xxv. 3'2— 34) which prohibited the perpetual alienation of the houses of the Levites, and 
 the sale of the pasture land belonging to their cities, in addition to its provision that, if sold, 
 the houses should revert to the Levites iu the year of Jubilee, presupposed that there would 
 be other Israelites besides the Levites li\'ing in the Levitical cities. At the same time it proves 
 that the Levites held the houses allotted to them, not merely as usufructuarii, but as owners and 
 landlords in full possession." [Knl] 15. Holon] In 1 Chron. vi. 58, called Hilen. It h.is not 
 been identified. 16. Ain] Given as "Ashan" in the list of priests' cities iu 1 Chron. vi. 59. 
 Keil thinks that the latter pass;ige probably contains the correct reading. This seems very 
 doubtful. Just as the Holon of Josh. xv. 51, xxi. 15, is in the text in Chronicles altered to 
 Hilen, so Ain appears to have been changed to Ashan. Ain and Ashan are more than once 
 mentioned in the same verse as distinct and separate cities (chap. xix. 7; 1 Chron. iv. 32), 
 
 2U8 
 
CHAP. XXI. ITOMILETIG COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 situated near to each other, and belonging to Simeon. 18, Anathoth] Conspicuous in later 
 history as the birthplace of Jeremiah (Jer. i. 1, etc.). It was also the native town of Abiezer, 
 one of David's captains (2 Sam. xxiii. 27). It was to Anathoth that Solomon banished Abiathar 
 the priest, after the death of David (1 Kings ii. 26). Robinson identified it with Andta, a small 
 village about four miles N.N.E. of Jerusalem. Almon] In 1 Chron. vi. 60, called Alemeth. 
 Thought by Robinson to be Almit, near Anathoth, on the north-east. 22. Kibzaim] Called also 
 Jokmeam in 1 Chron. vi. 68. The very similar meaning of the words Kibzaim and Jokmeam 
 favours the idea that they were two names for the .same place. 24. Aijalon] The Ajalon of 
 chap. X. 12 ; xix. it. 25. Tanach] Called Taanach in chap. xii. 21, xvii. 11. Gath-Bimmon] 
 "Instead of Gath-Rimmoii, we find, in 1 Chron. vi. 70, Bileam, another form of Jibleam (chap, 
 xvii. 11). This reading in the Chronicles is evidently the correct one, and Gath-llimmon has 
 most probably crept into the text here, through an oversight, out of the preceding verse, although, 
 from the frequent occurrence of this name in connection with different places, it is certainly 
 possible that Gath-Rimmon in the half-tribe of Mauasseh may have been another name for the 
 city of Jibleam." [Keil.] 27. Beesh-terah] Meanings ''the house" or "temple of Astarte," 
 and heuce, in 1 Chron. vi. 70, called by the name of Ashtaroth. The name Ashtaroth is also 
 given in chap. xii. 4, where the city is spoken of as containing a residence of Og, King of Bashan. 
 Cf. also chap. xiii. 12, Gen. xiv. 5. 28. Dabareh] In chap. xix. 12, Daberath. 29. Jarmuth] 
 In chap. xix. 21, Remeth. 30. Abdon] Probably the place called Hebron in chap. xix. 28. 
 "The name Abdon is found in twenty MSS., Josh. xix. 28, insteiwi of the common reading 
 Hebron." [Gesen.] 32. Kartan] According to Keil, the word is a contraction of Kirjathaim, 
 named in 1 Chron. vi. 76. Kartan is not mentioned among the cities of Naphtali, chap. xix. 
 35—38. 34, 35. Kartah . , . Dimnah] Neither is known, and the names do not occur else- 
 where, unless the former be the Kattath of chap. xix. 15. 36, 37. And out of the tribe of 
 Beuben, etc.] These tv?o venses, at one time omitted on the authority of the Masora, are now 
 almost universally received as genuine, and as necessary to the harmony of the text with itself. 
 42. With their suburbs round about them] An allusion to the pasture laud set apart for the 
 maintenance of the cattle of the Levites (Numb. xxxv. 2^5). At the close of this verse, a 
 clause of fourteen lines is added by the LXX., taken partly from chap. xix. 49, 50, and partly, 
 Says Keil, from a Jewish legend. 
 
 OUTLmES AND COMMENTS ON THE PAltA&RAPHS. 
 
 Verses 1 — 8. — The Inheritance of the Priests and Levites. 
 
 This plea of the Levitical families was necessarily deferred till the tribes had 
 received their respective lots. The estate of each tribe had to be determined 
 before these assignments from each estate could be made* No tribe could 
 give cities to the Levites till they knew what cities they had to give. The 
 plea of the Levites was founded on the command of the Lord. There are no 
 people in the whole community who may not find some good words of God to 
 turn into prayer. God has words for all people. He overlooks none. None is 
 so poor that he may not find some promise to render into a petition. 
 
 I. The Lord's confirmation of words that were past. Nearly two centuries 
 and a half before this, a dying patriarch had prophesied of Simeon and Levi : "I 
 will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel " (Gen. xlix. 7). To some 
 extent this prediction had already been fulfilled in respect to Simeon ; they were 
 divided in the territory of Judah. Here, Levi is scattered throughout the entire 
 land. God fulfils His words (1) imperceptibly, (2) patiently, (3) surely. Possibly 
 ere ever the people had thought on what was being done, the ancient utterance 
 of Jacob had become an accomplished fact. 
 
 II. The Lord's anticipation of wants that were to come. "The children of 
 Aaron the priest had by lot out of the tribe of Judah, and out of the tribe of 
 Simeon, and out of the tribe of Benjamin, thirteen cities." Jerusalem, or Jebus, 
 was at this time in the hands of the Canaanites. The ark was at Shiloh. But 
 Jerusalem was to be the place of the future temple. It was at Jerusalem that the 
 great religious centre of the land was presently to be founded, though as yet no 
 sign of this had been gi%'en. How important that the priests should be near 
 Jerusalem ! God anticipates this, and so orders the lots that the priests' cities 
 are immediately around the future citj' of the Lord ; while the Kohathites, whose 
 duties were next in importance to those of the priests, are placed next to the 
 
 299 
 
HOMILETIC C0M3IENTARr: JOSHUA. chap. xxl. 
 
 priests geographically. Who can refuse to see the discerning eye and provident 
 hand of Jehovah in this significant arrangement ? 
 
 III. The Lord's cultivation of the spiritual through the secular. Here are 
 geography and religion hand in hand. The spiritual teachers of the people are 
 scattered among the people. The chief religious authorities are grouped around 
 the future centre of religion. Nothing is too lowly for the care of God. Every- 
 thing that tends to the welfare of a human soul takes on in that measure so much 
 of the soul's own importance. Men label things secular, and then treat them as 
 spiritually insignificant; God looks at the very placing of a man's dwelling in the 
 light of so much help or hindrance to the finding of his eternal home. 
 
 Verses 13 — 19. — The Number of Cities Assigned to the Priests. 
 
 "Bertholdt and Maurer suppose this chapter to be a distinct document, drawn 
 up at a later period. Their arguments are founded partly upon a fancied, but not 
 actual, discrepancy between ver. 11 seq. and chap. xiv. 13 seq, (compared with 
 chap. XV. 13), partly upon the assumption that Caleb did not receive his inherit- 
 ance till after the death of Joshua, and in part on the impossibility of the increase 
 in the posterity of Aaron's two sons having been sufficiently large for them to 
 fill two cities during the lifetime of Joshua, to say nothing of thirteen (1 Cbron. 
 xxiv. 2). But this supposes the distributors to have been so shortsighted, that 
 they only selected dwelling-places to meet the wants of the priestly families at 
 that time, and made no allowance for subsequent increase. Moreover, the size of 
 the cities is exaggerated, and the estimate of the number of the priests much too 
 low. It is true that the number is not stated anywhere ; but if we take into 
 account that, on the departure of the Israelites from Egypt, Aaron was eighty^ 
 three years old, for he died in the fortieth year of the journey, and his age was 
 then 123 (Numb, xxxiii. 38), we shall see that the fifth generation of his descend- 
 ants might have been living at the time when the land was distributed, which 
 was seven years after his death. Moreover, his two sons had together twenty-four 
 male children, who were the ancestors of the twenty-four priestly ranks organised 
 by David (1 Chron. xxiv.), and if we suppose each of these to have been the father 
 of only six sons, in the third generation the sons of Aaron would have amounted 
 to 144. On the same scale there would be 8G4 male descendants in the fourth 
 generation, and in the fifth 5184. And even if the fifth generation still consisted 
 of infants, there might easily be 975 families in existence, and thus in every city 
 there could well be seventy-five families of priestly rank, or about 750 inhabitants, 
 since the majority of the third, and even a small portion of the second, generation 
 would be still alive, as well as the fourth and their children ; for Eleazar, the 
 head of the first, was not yet dead. And besides this, very few of the cities of 
 Canaan can have been at that time of any magnitude, as we may infer from the 
 fact that there were so many of them ; and therefore, as the Lcvites were not the 
 only inhabitants of their cities, but were associated with such of the other tribes 
 as owned the land in the neighbourhood (cf. ver. 12), the number of cities assigned 
 to the priests does not appear too great ; much less will it appear so, when wo 
 remember that from the very first, several of these cities remained in the posses- 
 sion of the Canaanites, and were only wrested from them after a severe struggle, 
 at a subsequent period. From all this, then, it is evident that there is no ground 
 for disputing the antiquity of this account ; which, in fact, cannot belong to a later 
 period ; for if it did, Xt)h would not bo omitted, as that was a Levitical city in the 
 reign of Saul (1 Sam. xxii. 19)." — \_Keil.] 
 
 Verses 43 — 45. — The Good Things which the Lord h.vtii Spoken. 
 
 I. The good things of the Lord spoken unto the fathers. The completed 
 
 works of God are not aimless works, finished as best they can be. Every body 
 
 that the Lord makes is a clothed skeleton. The features are wonderful, and tho 
 
 visible form beautiful ; but the hidden plan and structure of the body, with all its 
 
 300 
 
CHAP. XXI. HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSffUJ. 
 
 •tendons and muscles, and nerves and arteries, is more wonderful and beautiful 
 still. The words which had been spoken to the fathers were God's outlined plan 
 ^of the body which He intended to create. 1. The unrds of the Lord ivere iiords 
 of long staudinr/. They had been spoken long before (Gen. xii. 7). God's way 
 is one of patience. God's words to men, He works out through men. God 
 works out His words by natural processes. Such processes are much slower than 
 many would fain believe. It is only children who would look for seed-time and 
 harvest in the same week, and Jehovah would train, not children, but men. 
 2. The ii'ords of the Lord were never forgotten. The years were very many, but 
 Divine regard to the things which had been said was very constant (cf Gen. xv. 
 18; xxvi. 4; Exod. xxiii. 31, etc.). Either by direct or indirect words, God was 
 continually reminding His people throughout these intervening centuries that His 
 good words were ever in His remembrance. Divine patience has nothing of heed- 
 lessness. 3. TJie tvords of the Lord were very comprehennve, and yet full of detail. 
 There were absolute words, promising the land, as a whole, in strong and 
 unhesitating terms. There were also words which indicated the very position 
 that the tribes were to occupy, and which described the character of their 
 inheritance. The word of the Lord is very bold. God shews men things to 
 come with as much exactness as men can shew things that have been. God's 
 prophecies are among the world's most truthful histories. 
 
 II. The good things of the Lord fulfilled unto the children. 1. Tlw. fulfilment 
 was delayed through .sin. The forty years in the wilderness. Even these may 
 be only a part of the delay which God saw to be necessary on account of human 
 weakness and wickedness. 2. The fulfilment was accomplished notwithstanding 
 sin. God absolutely performed His good words. " There stood not a man of all 
 their enemies before them." None of the Canaanites dared to meet the Israelites 
 in arms. God overcomes even our iniquities. 3. Sin made the fulfUment less 
 perfect than it might have been. Many of the cities were still held by the 
 Canaanites. This was because of the fear and unbelief and slothfuluess of the 
 Israehtes (cf. on chap. xvi. 10 ; xvii. 12, 13 ; xviii. 3). For all this, no good 
 word of God had failed. The promise was that the Canaanites should be driven 
 out gradually (Exod. xxiii. 30), and that if the Israehtes did not persist in driving 
 them out, till all were gone, those that remained should be as " pricks in their 
 eyes, and thorns in their sides" (Numb, xxxiii. 55). These conditions had not 
 been forgotten (chap, xxiii. 11 — 14). Thus, this is no heedless exaggeration, as 
 Maurer recklessly asserted. On God's part, every good thing had been made to 
 come to pass. 
 
 III. The good things of the Lord fulfilled to some men, and thus becoming 
 the heritage of all men. The moral effect of these predictions, and their 
 scrupulous fulfilment, no one can calculate. Sceptical critics have spent their 
 small animosities on the records in vain. The influence on contemporary nations 
 must have been great. The influence on the generations of men who followed 
 is past finding out. It is to-day as marvellous as ever. An old couplet ascribed 
 to James I. tells us — 
 
 " Crowns have their compnss. length of days their date, 
 Triumphs their tomb, felicities their fate." 
 
 So all the outward circumstances of this ancient heritage have changed. The 
 pageantry of the old Judrean royalty was limited ; the days of the national glory 
 have spent themselves, long since ; every victory won on these ancient battle- 
 fields has found its grave ; and the joy and glory of this ancient people have 
 alike passed away. On all that is outward, the "Ichabod," expressive of the 
 national decadence, has long been wi'itten. But the good things of the Lord, 
 thus fulfilled to this departed people, are as good as ever. The real inheritance 
 of God's fulfilled word came not so much to a few Israelites as to men ; it was 
 not nearly so much a thing of acres and cities and houses, as of reverence and 
 
 301 
 
HO^IILETIC G0M3IENTARY: JOSHUA. chap. xxii. 
 
 faith and prayer and love, through many generations. This part of the 
 inheritance, also, was one of the good things of which the Lord had spoken 
 when He said repeatedly, "In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be 
 blessed." 
 
 Verse 44. — God's Great Gift of Rest. 
 
 I. Rest as the necessity of men. 
 
 II. Rest as the gift of the Lord. 
 
 III. Rest as beeomiiig complete only through faith and labour. 
 
 Verse 45. — The Unfailing Words of the Lord. 
 
 I. The unfailing words of the Lord in contrast with the failing words of 
 men. Man's words fail (1) because of thoughtlessness in utterance, (2) by reason 
 of fickleness of regard, (3) and through feebleness in execution. The Lord's 
 words are ever glorious, like the unfading stars of the firmament: "For that 
 He is strong in power, not one faileth." Man's words are in many ways, and for 
 various reasons, a fruitful source of shame. 
 
 II. The words of the Lord on " good things" in contrast with the Lord's 
 words on " evil things." Divine words not only stand in contrast with words 
 that are human, but with themselves. God never allows words to fail which tell 
 of blessing and prosperity ; it is only of things which bring to men sufi'ering and 
 loss that we ever find it written, "God repented of the evil that He said He 
 would do unto them, and He did it not " (Jonah iii. 10 ; cf. also Deut, xxxii. 36; 
 Jer. xviii. 10 ; Amos vii. 3, G). Words like these are never written of God's 
 "good things." He who speaks to men from above is slow to auger and swift 
 to bless. 
 
 Verse 45. — Retrospect. 
 
 I. The retrospect of the godly. 1. ProvoJnn^ admiration of God. (a) Great 
 purposes, (i) Glorious promises, (r) Patient working. 2. Airalawng jiraise to 
 God. Admiration should not be silent. It should resolve itself into speech. 
 The rapt admiration of the silent beholder is good for the individual ; the praise 
 when spoken, or written, helps men. 
 
 II. The retrospect of the ungodly. "^Tiile the Israelites were looking back 
 on the way in which Jehovah had led them, the Canaauites must have been very 
 similarly engaged. The God of the Israelites, who had warned them through 
 Ham and Canaan, their fathers, who had punished them at Sodom, and given 
 them occasion for repentance in many solemn rumours of their coming overthrow, 
 had spoken to these idolaters also. And here, too, not one thing had failed. A 
 few short years before, and the Canaanites were in untroubled possession of the 
 land. Now a few survivors looked out with awe from some of the fortified cities 
 upon the graves of their comrades and tlic ruins of their nation. How did the 
 retrospect afi'cct these ? It seems to have brought no penitence, and thus could 
 work no praise. The surviving idolaters presently tempted the Israelites to 
 idolatry. The retrospect of the godless man can only lead to true happiness 
 and praise as it begins in sincere repentance. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 THE GOING HOME OF THE EASTERN TRIBES. 
 
 Critical Notes. — 1. Then Joshua called] " As the return of the armed men belonging 
 to the two tribes and a half is only described in general terms, by ' dz,' as cKcurring some- 
 where about the same time as the events related before, it would not be at all at variance with 
 the text to suppose that they were dismissed immediately after the conclusion of the wars, 
 302 
 
CHAP. XXII. HOMILETIO C03IMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 But such an assumption is disproved by ver. 9, where they are said to have been dismissed 
 from Shiloh, to which the Israelites only proceeded during the distribution of the land (chap, 
 xviii. 1), by ver. 12, and also by the fact that their presence was necessaiy when the Levitical 
 cities were selected, for this concerned them as much as the other tribes." \^Knl.'] 4. Get 
 you unto your tents] It is not necessary to suppose that the cities of Eastern Palestine 
 needed rebuilding before the two and a half tribes could exchange their tents for houses. 
 The people had been so long used to dwelling in tents, that very many years elapsed before 
 this phrase was entirely discarded (1 Kings viii. 66, xii. 16, etc.). The families of these 
 40,000 men, we are specially told in Numb, xxxii. 10, were to retire to the fenced cities. 
 5. The commandment and the law] =" The mltsi-ah and the toi-ah." Probably the former 
 referred to special commandments given through Moses, Joshua, and other individual teachers ; 
 the latter, to the written law, given for their ordinary religious guidance. 8. Divide the spoil 
 of your enemies with your brethren] Those who had remained in Eastern Palestine were to 
 share in these riches. This was as God had already ordained (Numb. xxxi. 27). and as David 
 again instructed the people in after years (1 Sam. xxx. 24). 9. The land of Canaan . . . the 
 country of Gilead] Canaan is here put for Canaan proper, in npjiDsition to Gilead, which 
 stands for Gilead and Bashan, inclusively. 10. The borders of Jordan] Lit.— "the circles 
 of the Jordan." So, in chap. xiii. 2, we have " the circles of the Philistines." The immediate 
 neighbourhood of the Jordan, the Ghor. is meant, possibly with some reference to the windings 
 of the river. That are in the land of Canaan] After the immediately preceding definition 
 of Canaan as being limited to the land on the western side of the river (ver. 9), it does not 
 seem likely that in this verse " Canaan" can be meant to include any part of the land on the 
 eastern side. The phrase "over against," in verse 11, must not be pressed too severely. 
 Gesenius renders 'el-mill by "i7i the face or front of.''' Even if the words "over against the 
 land of Canaan " be allowed to stand, the speakers on the western side of the river, mentally 
 putting themselves in the position of the eastern tribes, of whom they were complaining, 
 might naturally say of an altar built on the western bank, " They have built an altar over 
 agaimt the land of Canaan." Dr. Clarke says : " It could not be a place for the purpose of 
 public worship to their own people, if built on the opposite side of Jordan," To this it is 
 enough to reply that the eastern tribes did not build it for public worship. It was exactly 
 that which they utterly disclaimed. As to the contention of Dr. Bliss, that " the altar could 
 not bear witness for them," if built on the western side of the river, that was the very side on 
 which they wished it to bear witness. The fact that the elders of the tribes took this erection 
 to be an altar for sacriiice, seems to indicate that the deputation, in their indignation, did not 
 stay to visit the altar, but, acting on the report which had reached them, crossed the Jordan 
 at some point more to the north than '• at the passage of the children of Israel." The phrase, 
 " in the land of Canaan," when compared with the very same words as they occur In verse 9, 
 must be held to contain the absolute statement that the altar was built on the western side of 
 the river. Since writing this note, the following remarks have been met with in Mr. Groser'a 
 excellent work on this book : " The site of this most interesting memorial has been recently 
 discovered by the officers of the survey of Palestine. It is an almost inaccessible mountain, 
 except from the north, where the ascent is called Tal'at abu ' Ayd, ' the going up to Ed.' It 
 projects like a white bastion towards the river, and on its summit are the remains of a huge 
 monument of masonry, bearing traces of fire on its upper surface. It is mentioned in the 
 Jewish Talmud under the name of Surtaheh, and is said to have been a beacon station. The 
 view from the height is magnificent." To this, in answer to a private inquiry, Mr. Groser 
 adds : " The site is certainly on the western side of the Jordan, as you conclude." 12. The 
 whole congregation] The excitement and indignation against an act which seemed in direct 
 opposition to the law were general. Moses had strictly forbidden sacrifice, under pain of 
 death, saving at the door of the tabernacle (Lev. xvii. 3 — 9 ; Deut. xii. 2 — 14). Yet, while the 
 eastern tribes were \\Tong not to have communicated with Joshua and the high priest about 
 an act so liable to be misunderstood, the western tribes also erred through hastiness. Had 
 their hasty assumption been right, the contempl.ated war would have been not only just, but 
 necessary (cf. Deut. xiii.). 16. What trespass is this that ye have committed 1] The deep 
 nature of the indignation is seen in these grave charges, continued through five verses. Not 
 even the journey had sufficed to give place to calm thought. Let the eastern tribes have been 
 ever so wrong, justice required that they should be examined before being condemned. Instead 
 of examination, here are direct assertiuus of guilt, which arc prescntlj' changed into pleasure 
 at the thing which had been done (ver. 30, 33). 17. From which we are not cleansed until 
 this day] Perhaps Phinehas and the elders concluded that this very act gave witness to the 
 spirit of disobedience not yet put away, or it may be that the thought of the lingering taint 
 had reference to the former impurity itself, which some still secretly cherished (chap. xxiv. 
 20 — 23). 19. Pass ye over, etc.'] A noble generosity and a sincere love arc seen mingling 
 throughout with this hasty indignation. 22. The Lord God of gods, etc.'] The terrible 
 accusation naturally awakens a similar earnestness in denial, shewing itself in "the broken 
 speech of suddenly acciised innocence." The abrupt energy of wounded love is seen throughout 
 the entire defence. Save us not this day] A parenthetical adjuration addressed to Jehovah. 
 In the strong consciousness of innocence, the speaker suddenly breaks aw.ay from the explana- 
 tion just commenced, and appeals to God Himself. 24, And if we have not rather done it 
 ■for fear, etc.'] "And if we have not done it rather from anxiety, for a reason, for ivc said, 
 
 803 
 
EOMILETIU COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. chat. xxii. 
 
 To-morrow.'' etc. [-&cj7.] What is meant is, that they had acted from a laudable anxiety, and 
 for a good purpose. In spirit, it is like the appeal of David, who. also, when suffering from 
 an unjust reproach, said, " Is there not a cause 1 " Cf. 1 Sam. xvii. 29, where the same word, 
 ddvdr — " a thing'' " a cause," is also used. 25. I'or the Lord hath made Jordan a border, 
 etc.'] " The anxiety was not unfounded, in so far as in the promises only Canaan was spoken 
 of, therefore only the land west of the Jordan, according to the clear signification of ver. 10. 
 Comp. Gen. xii. 7, xiii. l.o, xv. 18, xvii. 8, and in particular. Numb, xxxiv. 1 — 12." [i'T;^.] 
 27- That we might do the service of the Lord before Him] •• Before His face." [A>(7.] 
 The reference is, of course, to the Lord's presence at Shiloh. 28. Behold the pattern of the 
 altar of the Lord] They had built their altar in the likeness of the altar at the tabernacle, 
 in order that the significance of their memorial might be well understood. At the place of 
 " the passage of the children of Israel " (ver. 11), where all the people had passed over, they 
 erected, on the west side of the river, a copy of the altar of the Lord. Its likeness to the altar, 
 and its position in Canaan, and by the ancient ford, would seem to say, " All Israelites not in 
 Canaan must cross into Canaan to offer any sacrifice to Jehovah." It was a significant finger- 
 post, eloquent in its very dumbness, declaring the one way of acceptable worship. 30. It 
 pleased them] Marg. = " it was good in their eyes." The thing about which they had been 
 BO prematurely violent only needed explanation. The two and a half tribes certainly ought 
 to have given the explanation before they began to build ; the remaining tribes as certainly 
 ought to have asked it before mustering the army for war. However, the wrath of man was 
 full of praise to God. Most noble traits are manifested, both by the hasty accusers and by the 
 too thoughtless offenders. 34. Called the altar Ed] " Luther gave the sense correctly : 
 'And the children of Reuben and Gad named the altar, that it may be a witness between us,' 
 etc. Hence the words Ki 'ed hit benothcnn contain both the name and the explanation." 
 [Keil.'] It is not said whether or not this name was given to the altar before the deputatioa 
 of princes made their remonstrance. 
 
 MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH. ^Verses 1—9. 
 
 The Faithful Past and the Ijipoetunate Future. 
 
 The war being substantially over, Joshua proceeded to dismiss the two and a 
 half tribes to their homes. The exact time of this dismissal is not recorded, 
 but it was evidently after the setting up of the tabernacle at Shiloh (cf. ver. 9, 
 chap, xviii. 1). Although the Canaanites were subdued, so that they could not 
 stand before the children of Israel, yet they were not conquered entirely. The 
 two and a half tribes had promised Moses that they would not return to their 
 homes on the east of Jordan until their brethren had received '* every man his 
 inheritance." If this promise had not been completely fulfilled, that was not the 
 fault of the eastern tribes, but of their brethren, who were " slack to go to 
 possess the laud," Thus, considering that they had honourably discharged their 
 engagement through Moses, Joshua freely dismissed these forty thousand men to 
 their own inheritance, 
 
 This passage brings under our notice the following points of interest ;■ — 
 I. Arduous service faithfully rendered. These men had striven year after 
 year, keeping " all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded them." 
 1. Faithful service (/iven, irrespective of either sphere or time. The sphere was the 
 field of battle. The labour was the toil of war. It was amid perils and carnage 
 and blood that these men continued true. They knew not when they might be 
 free to meet again their fathers and mothers, their wives and children. Campaign 
 followed campaign, and still the grim strife went on. None knew when it would 
 be finished. All of them must often have been weary. Notwithstanding things 
 like these, no one is said to have deserted. Each waited till he was discharged. 
 Men often excuse themselves from the service of the Lord, who might find a 
 rebuke in the conduct of these faithful soldiers. " There be many servants nowa- 
 days that break away every man from his Master." The taunt of Nabal, unde- 
 served by David, is often merited by others. Men get disappointed with their 
 sphere. It is not what they expected. They forget that they too stand pledged 
 to a battle-field. Men get wearied with the long term of their service. They 
 think it is high time that their place in the ranks should be filled by others. For 
 304 
 
CHAP. XXII. HOMILETIC C03IMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 such it is written, " Be thou faithful unto death." 2. Faiihful service maintained 
 in view of that ichich u-asfair and right. The western trib es had helped to win 
 the inheritance of the eastern tribes (cf. Numb. xxi. 21 — 35). Thus this service 
 which the eastern tribes had been rendering to their brethren of the west was the 
 discharge of a debt. The debt was fairly due ; it was just and right that it should 
 be paid. How much do we owe to others ? How much of the estate which we 
 enjoy to-day has been won for us by men who have gone before us, and by men 
 who are about us now ? (a) Think of our inheritance of property and position. 
 Much of that which most men possess has come from others. The position ia 
 which men are able to earn their livelihood is generally owing very much to the 
 labour and endurance of predecessors. No man has any right to spend all his 
 money on himself. Much is owing to men. (b) Think of our inheritame as 
 citizens. Our hberties are born of the labours, and imprisonments, and bereave- 
 ments, and death of many who have gone before. Others are toiling now, that we 
 may inherit and enjoy our privileges as citizens. Some Christian people look ou 
 political activity as almost sinful. The true state of the case is exactly the oppo- 
 site ; it is sinful not to render such political service as we can. It is a debt we 
 owe. God has given us no more right to be selfish and idle here than elsewhere, 
 (c) Think of our inheritance in social life. Our family mercies, and our pi'ivileges 
 in our own circle of friends are, in many instances, so much that has been won 
 for us and preserved to us by our fellows. Something is owing to men here. 
 {d) Think of our inheritance in the world of literature and science and art. " Other 
 men have laboured," etc. Our joy in this great realm represents so much toil 
 and brain, so much weariness and pain and disease in the lives of our brethren. 
 Something is owing from us to those who are ignorant. Where we can pay a 
 little of this great debt back, there our service is due. ((■) Think, above all, of our 
 inheritance in the realm of religion. Every conscientious man should sometimes 
 have visions of the sufiering servants of Christ who have preceded him in the 
 conflicts of this glorious kingdom. What a panorama of smitten and wounded 
 men might well pass before us all ! Bunyan in his prison ; Milton deprived of 
 ofiice and comforts ; Knox confronting his sovereign ; Luther journeying wearily, 
 but with tremendous energy, to Worms ; the generations of ardent workers and 
 patient sufferers ; the imprisoned fugitives of the catacombs ; the gory forms, torn 
 of beasts, or smitten with swords, bleeding for us in the amphitheatre ; the noble 
 army of martyrs, fighting for our inheritance ; and then, back of all this, the 
 cross of Jesus. " Lord God, truly I am Thy servant ! " " We are not our 
 own ; we are bought with a price." The two and a half tribes fought to pay a 
 debt ; our debt is far greater than theirs. 3. Faithful service continued in vieto 
 of a promise which had been (jiven. These men had pledged themselves to this 
 conflict (Numb, xxxii. 16— lb, 25—27). That pledge they had faithfully kept. 
 *' Ye have not left your brethren these many days unto this da3\" Time should 
 make no difterence to promises. Unexpected toil should make no difi'erence. 
 Neither many years nor sore conflicts should ever wear our promises threadbare. 
 4. Faithful service rendered not for personal gain, but for the welfare of brethren. 
 The inheritance of the two and a half tribes was won already, at the time of 
 crossing the Jordan. Every march they made was for the inheritance of others. 
 Every blow they struck was for a brother. Every victory they helped to win 
 was a victory to add to the possessions of some one else. There is no more 
 honourable service in the whole record of the seven years' war in Canaan, than 
 this which speaks of the steady faithfulness of these eastern tribes. Our conflicts 
 for our own inheritance are necessary ; it is our strife for the inheritance of our 
 brethren which is noble. 5. Faithful service given in view of what was expected by 
 God. It was not simply that they had promised Moses, or that duty to their 
 brethren imposed upon them this arduous task. God also required of these men 
 that they should be found faithful. Not to help their brethren would be sinful. " If 
 ye will not do so, behold ye have sinned against the Lord ; and be sure your sin 
 
 X 305 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. cuap. xxii. 
 
 •will find you out " (Numb, xxxii, 23). Thus did these forty thousand helpers of 
 the brethren go on with their patient task. Not only did men deserve this service ; 
 God expected it. Gratitude to Him would allow of nothing less. How much do 
 we owe to God ? What is God expecting from us ? How far, in the past, have 
 we fallen short of that which God required at our hands ? II. Faithful service 
 gratefully acknowledged. \Yhen men serve their fellows, they not seldom are 
 left to reflect on the unthankfulness of their fellows ; when men serve God, they 
 are never left to feel that they have served in vain. The true servant of God 
 manifests the spirit of God. 1. Jushua acknoidechjcs the services of these men in icords 
 of sincere commendaiion. He praised them for having obeyed Moses, obeyed him- 
 self, for having been steadfast to their brethren, and for having kept faithfully the 
 commandments of the Lord (ver. 2, 3). 2. Joshua acknowledt/es their services hy 
 gcTierous gifts (ver. 8). The two and a half tribes seem to have had allotted to 
 them a fair share of the spoil. It was so abundant that even these forty thousand 
 warriors might share it with their brethren. They who serve the Lord's true 
 servants will not be suffered to serve in vain ; much more will they who serve the 
 Lord Himself be abundantly repaid. Even the cup of cold water, given in the 
 name of Christ, shall " in no wise lose its reward." " God is not unrighteous to 
 forget your work and labour of love." III. Indebtedness to the future arisin°^ 
 out of the faithful past. 1. The past gave neu- ubligations to watchfulness. " Take 
 diligent heed " (ver. 5). They who had been so careful not to iail were to feel 
 more constrained to watchfulness than ever. 2. The past gave new obligations to 
 obedience. " Take heed to do the commandment," etc. No child of God is 
 allowed to take relaxation in sin. He who has been faithful for long must never 
 say, " I will now rest awhile." A good past must never be a motive to an indif- 
 ferent present. Instead of this, it is ever written, in some way or other, " Hold 
 fast that which thou hast." 3. The past gave new obligations to love God. " Love 
 the Lord your God." Love never remits any of her claims. If we have loved 
 God, His love can suffer no diminution in ours. True love has an infinity of room 
 for increase, but no mind for decrease. God desires that we love Him more ; He 
 is never willing that we should love Him to-day any less than we loved Him 
 yesterday. 4. The past gave new obligations to be generous to men (ver. 9). 
 "Divide the spoil of your enemies with your brethren." The men who had 
 given generous service were to go on and crown the edifice of an exalted 
 character by bestowing generous gifts. 
 
 The man who has a good past stands committed to goodness through all 
 eternity. Every good day of life makes the obligations of to-morrow so mui-h 
 more onerous. Character is so much moral stock, and he who recklessly throws 
 away a fortune is poor indeed. Spiritual life is so much spiritual property, and 
 he who rushes from such riches to bankruptcy must know an agony of loss, of 
 which a poorer man could have no conception. The gipsy might burn his ragged 
 tent, and walk on, thinking himself not much the poorer ; the owner of a mansion, 
 with many perishable treasures within, could not leave the ruins of his similarly 
 destroyed abode saving with a heavy heart. The thief of many years commits 
 one more theft, and seems to add but little to his pain ; but woe to the man con- 
 victed of stealing, who has behind him a long and honest life. It goes hard with 
 obedient Moses when he once turns rebel, and the ardent and loving Peter 
 cannot deny Christ with as little cost in tears and anguish as can Caiaphas or 
 Herod. God proposes to forget our sins. He never proposes to forget our 
 faithfulness and love, and we never can forget them cither. Wo may get cold for 
 a season, forgetting the claims of bygone prayers and ardont worship, of former 
 earnest service and fervent love. No man can do that wiih impunity. He who 
 has been true will presently discover that his falseness is so much terrible sorrow. 
 He too will find himself saying: 
 
 " Where is the blessedness I knew 
 When first I saw the Lord ? " 
 30G 
 
CHAP. XXII. H03IILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 He who begins to serve his brethren is beginning that which, while strength and 
 opportunities continue, he can never leave off. The man who begins to serve 
 God is beginning that which in eternity itself he can never lay aside. This is no 
 bondage, saving the bondage of love. The path of the just " shineth more and 
 more unto the perfect day." He who fights the battles of the Lord can know 
 nothing of retreats. He may change the field ; he must go on with the conflict. 
 Canaan or Giload, it matters not which ; the very faithfulness that has been calls 
 urgently, "Be diligent." The noble past ever cries importunately for a still 
 nobler future. 
 
 OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VERSES. 
 
 Verse 2. — Obedience an Opportunity 
 FOR Triumph. Our conflicts with the 
 enemies of our life are God's oppor- 
 tunities, in which He would see us 
 triumph over ourselves. 
 
 God's Liberal Construction of our 
 Obedience. He who says of our sin, 
 " He that offendeth in one point is 
 guilty of all," says no less of even our 
 feeble and broken services, when they 
 are rendered from loving and true 
 hearts, " Ye have kept all that was 
 commanded you." 
 
 Obedience as a Duty. — " Brethren, 
 what eber de good God tell me in dis 
 blessed book to do, dat I'm gwine to 
 do. If I see in it dat I must jump 
 troo a stone wall, I'm gwine to jump 
 at it. Goin' troo it belongs to God, 
 jumpin' at it belongs to me." — [Xeyro 
 Preacher.^ 
 
 Obedience in All Things. — " To 
 obey God in some things of religion, 
 and not in others, shews an unsound 
 heart. Childlike obedience moves to- 
 wards every command of God, as the 
 needle points in that dii'cction from 
 which the loadstone draws." — [TF(7f,so».] 
 
 " A soul sincerely obedient will not 
 pick and choose what commands to 
 obey, and what to reject, as hypocrites 
 do. An obedient soul is like a crystal 
 glass with a light in the midst, which 
 shines forth through every part thereof. 
 A man sincerely obedient lays such a 
 charge upon his whole man as Mary 
 the mother of Christ did upon all the 
 servants at the feast in Cana : ' What- 
 soever He saith unto you, do it.' " — 
 \_Bvooks.'\ 
 
 The Benefits of Obedience. — "In 
 evil times it fares best with them who 
 are most careful about duty, and least 
 about safety. — [Hammond.^ 
 
 Verse 3. — Fidelity and its Besults. 
 
 I. Fidelity to brethren provokirg 
 the gratitude of brethren. 
 
 II. Fidelity to God eliciting the 
 commendation of God's servant. 
 
 III. Fidelity to men and God the 
 only true fidelity to self. 
 
 Verse 4, — Entering into Best. 
 
 I. Rest according to the purpose 
 and promise of God. " The Lord your 
 God hath given rest unto your brethren, 
 as He promised them." This is ever 
 the secret of all true rest. Best begins 
 in God. Best is wrought out by God. 
 Best is completed and given by God. 
 Our efforts are but the channels through 
 which His purposes and promises run 
 into the ocean of accomplishment. The 
 fighting of all the thousands of Israel 
 had still left the land to be obviously 
 and most manifestly a Divine gift. The 
 seven years' toil of men could hardly 
 so much as begin to obscure the cen- 
 turies of the mercy of Jehovah. Many 
 promises, steady persistence, and 
 mighty miracles on the part of God, 
 had left no room for a single Israelite 
 to be tempted to say, " We won the 
 land by our gigantic efforts and brilliant 
 strategy and persevering toil," Pro- 
 bably there was not an Israelite who 
 did not see that this " rest " had in it 
 far more of God's giving than of man's 
 getting. It is not less so in that higher 
 rest towards which God's children aro 
 pressing now. The Lord may do His 
 part of the work more hiddenly than 
 of old ; His working is none the loss 
 actual. The centuries of His preparing 
 mercy can never be shorn of their glory 
 by the few years of our feeble and 
 broken struggles. The secret of true 
 rest is ever in God's gift. 
 
 307 
 
HOIIILETIG COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. chap. xxii. 
 
 II. Rest through the service of our 
 
 fellow-men. " Now therefore return 
 ye." That is to say, though the rest 
 was God's gift, He had bestowed it 
 through men. 1. The gift of God 
 comes throurili human efforts. These 
 forty thousand men had been some 
 of His instruments. Now that the 
 rest was won, they might go home. 
 God left room for these eastern tribes 
 to feel that they had helped to bring 
 about this good issue. God gave 
 occasion for the western tribes to feel 
 that, in part, they were indebted for 
 rest to their brethren. As a father, 
 leaning over the shoulder of his little 
 child, leaves the child some ground to 
 suppose that it is carrying the heavy 
 burden, which is really borne by the 
 strength of the parent ; so, in bearing 
 the burdens of life, God leaves us room 
 to suppose that we are doing much 
 ourselves, and that we can do much 
 to help each other. However much we 
 may seem to be lifting, and however 
 many of our fellows may grasp the 
 burden to help us, God's hand ever 
 reaches over from behind us, and bears 
 the bulk of the load. The child of God 
 who is spiritually sagacious, will some- 
 times, at least, glance upward, and 
 detecting the heavenly Father's hand, 
 feel glad to sing, " Blessed is the man 
 whose strength is in Thee." 2. The 
 efforts of others are made a necessary help 
 to our oioi. Who can look on the 
 dividing of the Jordan, the overthrow 
 of Jericho, or the miracle at Beth-horon, 
 and not feel how readily God could 
 have dispensed with any services which 
 could bo rendered by these eastern 
 soldiers ? Yet God would have them 
 to help also. It is God's way : He 
 loves to make us feel that we can aid 
 our brother : He loves to make our 
 brethren feel that they cannot do with- 
 out our assistance. 
 
 " Needful auxiliars arc our friends, to give 
 To social man true knowledge of himself. 
 Full on ourselves, descending in a line. 
 Pleasure's bright beam is feeble in delight : 
 Delight intense is taken by rebound ; 
 Reverberated pleasures fire the breast." 
 
 Young. 
 
 Thus does God work out our rest by 
 His personal love and might, command 
 8U8 
 
 our own patient and energetic efforts ere 
 we can enter in, and make us no less 
 dependent on the service of our brethren 
 for a really glad inheritance. 
 
 Ill . Rest won for others, and there- 
 by obtained and established for our- 
 selves. " Therefore now return ye, 
 and get you unto your tents, and 
 unto the land of your possession." 
 And these men of the eastern tribes 
 would go home all the more gladly 
 because of the help which they had 
 been able to give to their brethren. 1. 
 Their inheritance ivoidd be richer. They 
 would have the joy of a good conscience 
 superadded to the possession of a rich 
 estate. 2. Their inheritance would be 
 more secure. If the western land had 
 not been as fully conquered as it was, 
 the eastern possessions could not have 
 been so safe. In helping to drive out 
 Canaanites from the land west of the 
 Jordan, they had been freeing the 
 eastern territory from powerful foes. 
 3. Their inheritance icould be more com- 
 plete. The tabernacle was in the west- 
 ern land. The only place of worship 
 was there. Without a well-conquered 
 west, no full religious service could be 
 enjoyed by the east. The eastern con- 
 tingent had been making provision for 
 the richest portion of their estate. 
 They, too, wanted a "part in Jehovah" 
 (cf. verses 24, 25, 27). Thus the rest 
 which these men had helped to win for 
 others was so much moi'C rest added 
 to themselves. By serving others, they 
 had secured an estate in safety, an 
 estate in a good conscience, and an 
 estate in the worship of Jehovah. God 
 ever makes us thus dependent on 
 others. To help others is a necessity 
 to ourselves. No man can aliord to 
 live without helping some one else. 
 Even of the realm of thought and 
 mental activity, Emerson wrote : " Wo 
 have social strengths. Our affection 
 towards others creates a sort of vantage 
 or purchase which nothing will supply. 
 I can do that by another, which I can- 
 not do alone. I can say to you what 
 I cannot first say to myself. Other 
 men are lenses through which we read 
 our own minds." It is ever " more 
 blessed to give than to receive." IIo 
 who imparts possesses. He who helps 
 
CHAP. XXII, 
 
 nOMILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 others mucli continually enriches bis 
 own inheritance. Nowhere is this so 
 true as in spiritual service. To lead 
 many into the rest of Christ, is to be 
 very rich in the peace which passeth 
 all understanding. 
 
 Living for Others. 
 Life is nowhere so beautiful as where 
 it is unselfish. The fairest thing in the 
 world is that which is all and altogether 
 for others, — the cross of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ. In one sense it is true that 
 " No man liveth unto himself ; " in another 
 aspect, men are often profoundly selfish. 
 These men, who formed what has been 
 called " the auxiliary force " in this war, 
 spent seven years of their lives for their 
 brethren. They were in the army on 
 behalf of their brethren, and instead of 
 their brethren. They may represent to 
 us several phases of vicarious life. 
 
 I. Vicarious conflicts. They were 
 fighting in the place of their brethren 
 left on the east of Jordan. They were 
 fighting on behalf of all Israel. Life 
 has many vicarious conflicts. Every 
 soldier who fights for his country, fights 
 in the stead of others. Every true 
 soldier of Jesus is fighting the Lord's 
 battles against sin on behalf of all man- 
 kind. 
 
 II. Vicarious service. All the work 
 of these men was not on the battle-field. 
 Incidentally, during those seven years, 
 they would have helped their brethren 
 in many other ways. In addition to 
 outward services, they were cheering 
 their brethren by their assistance, and 
 setting an example of self-denial to all. 
 And these were the men whose service 
 stands commended as among the noblest 
 ofi'ered during the war. He who lives 
 for others now, will find his name no 
 less honourably commended by Jesus 
 Christ. To him, also, it shall presently 
 be said : " "Well done, good and faithful 
 servant." 
 
 III. Vicarious suffering. These 
 forty thousand men were suficring 
 self-denial. They were kept from their 
 wives and families. They had to sutler 
 the weariness of arduous marchings 
 and countermarchings. They had to 
 undergo all the privations common to 
 an army actively engaged. They had 
 
 to risk the dangers of battle, and pro- 
 bably to suffer the pain of wounds, and 
 of disease brought on by exposure. 
 Partly by their suiferings Israel entered 
 into rest. He who sufiers for others 
 enters into the peace of Him " who 
 loved us and gave Himself for us." 
 The Saviour gives us His own glory 
 most fully, when we most completely 
 follow His own example (cf. John xvii. 
 22). Not as an arbitrary arrangement, 
 but as the outcome of a spiritual law, 
 he who humbly and patiently bears a 
 heavy cross presently possesses a glo- 
 rious crown. 
 
 War Exchanged for Peace. — There 
 can be nothing more sad than to 
 thoughtfully contemplate an army newly 
 mobilised for war. It is terrible to 
 think of strong men, trained to this 
 grim business, coming together with the 
 deliberate intention of killing as many 
 as they can of other strong men. It ia 
 proportionately beautiful to think of an 
 army being disbanded ; — thousands of 
 men, marching every one to his home, 
 to keep, and to cultivate, and to enjoy 
 God's good gift of peace. Among the 
 finest fancies of Nathaniel Hawthorne, 
 none is more beautiful than that rich 
 conception of peace which he has em- 
 bodied in half a line : " Cannon trans^ 
 formed into church bells." One is led 
 to think of the very metal, so lately 
 bellowing thunder and pouring death, 
 as taking an almost sentient share in 
 the holy gladness of peace. 
 
 Yerse 5. — Reasonable Service. 
 
 This verse may have special reference 
 to what is known as the " Second Law," 
 beginning in Deut. v. It succinctly re- 
 peats some of the very phrases of Moses. 
 
 God had long fought for the Israelites, 
 and had now given them peace. Joshua 
 pleads with them, very much as Paul 
 pleads with us : "I beseech you there- 
 fore, brethren, by the mercies of God, 
 that ye present your bodies a living 
 sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, 
 which is your reasonable service." 
 God's gift of rest was to be answered 
 by their tribute of obedience. 
 '^I. The duty to be done. "Do the 
 commandment and the law." *' Walk in 
 His ways." 
 
 309 
 
IIOMILETIC COMMENT AllY : JOSHUA. 
 
 CHAP. XXII. 
 
 II. The concern to be manifested. 
 " Take diligent heed to do," etc. 1. 
 Anxious watchfulness. 2. Hithj activity. 
 
 III. The spirit and power of per- 
 formance. " Love the Lord your God." 
 Love would help them to discern the 
 lav^r. Love would quicken their acti- 
 vity in doing the law. Love would 
 make them delight in the law. 
 
 IV. The disposition to be culti- 
 vated. 1. Dependence and constaiicij. 
 " Cleave unto Him." Keeping very 
 near to Him, you will less wish to de- 
 part from Him. The force of attraction 
 diminishes with the distance of separa- 
 tion. 2. Huinilitij andjidelity. " Herve 
 Him." Do not object to serve. Serve 
 Him only. 
 
 V. The honour to be rendered. 1. 
 Service irith inulivided affection. " Serve 
 Hiiu with all your heart." Love was 
 to render an allegiance wanting nothing 
 in delight and joy. 2. Service ivith all 
 the strength of the life. " And with all 
 your soul." (The word used is nephesh, 
 " the breath," " that by which the body 
 lives;" also, "the mind." Compare 
 Gr. ypv)(ri as opposed to ttvcu/ao.) Life 
 was to render an allegiance wanting 
 nothing in mind, nothing in will, and 
 nothing in energy. 
 
 More Liberty, and Fresh Obliga- 
 tions TO Service. — " Joshua thus re- 
 leases and frees them from temporary 
 service, that he may bind them for ever 
 to the authority of the one true God. 
 He therefore permits them to return 
 home, but on the condition that wher- 
 ever they may be they are to be the 
 soldiers of Jehovah ; and he at the same 
 time prescribes the mode, namely, the 
 observance of His law." — \_('alvin.'\ 
 
 Verse G. — Blessing a ]\[ultitude. 
 
 I. In this life men are often blessed 
 in the mass, and seemingly are all 
 blessed alike. Some of these soldiers 
 merited every good word that was 
 spoken. Probably some deserved no 
 blessing at all. There may have been 
 those in the host who were idle, and 
 careless, and cowardly ; who, although 
 they were formally present, sought not 
 to serve men nor to glorify God. It is 
 not possible that equal merit should 
 310 
 
 have prevailed throughout the multi- 
 tude. Yet all these men were blessed 
 with the same words. The indifferent 
 were blessed in the same words as the 
 earnest ; the brave, in the same words 
 as the cowardly. Blessing mu=.t needs 
 be unevenly administered in this life. 
 Men cannot judge each other accurately, 
 noradminister favours impartially. Even 
 God blesses men in this same manner. 
 Were everybody to be blessed according 
 to a set scale of merit, goodness would 
 become artificial. 1. God blesses ail 
 men, omittinij none. Over all the vast 
 multitude of the sons of men does He 
 pour the mercies of the day, the mercies 
 of the seasons, and the mercies of re- 
 volving years. 
 
 " Yon sun. 
 Lights it the great alone ? Yon silver beams. 
 Sleep they less sweetly on the cottage thatch 
 Than on the dome of kings .' Is mother earth 
 A step-dame to her numerous sons, who earn 
 Her unshared gifts with unremitting toil ; 
 A mother only to those puling babes 
 Who, nursed in ease and luxury, make men 
 The playthings of their babyhood, and mar, 
 In self-important childishness, that peace 
 Which men alone appreciate ? 
 Spirit of Nature ! No." 
 
 Such, too, is the teaching of the holy 
 Saviour, who tells us of the Father : 
 *' He maketh His sun to rise on the evil 
 and on the good, and sendeth rain on the 
 just and on the unjust." 2. In blessin;/ the 
 multitude, God cliooses to bless the wicked 
 man too much rather than thefaithful man 
 too little. The words of verses 2, 3, 
 may have been far above the meed of 
 many individual men of these forty 
 thousand. Joshua, however, does not 
 stint the praise of the deserving, lest he 
 should say too much of the undeserving. 
 He blesses the bad bountifully, rather 
 than the good sparingly. God blesses 
 bad men, and good also, far beyond 
 their merits. God never suffers His 
 words of love, or His works of good- 
 ness, to fall below our deserts. He 
 ever deals with us in excess of all that 
 we could cxjK'ct. 
 
 II. The blessings of life, which seem 
 uneven in their distribution, regulate 
 themselves in the act of appropriation. 
 He who had served with sloth and 
 cowardice would not be able to take 
 into his heart the gladness of Joshua's 
 
CHAP. XXII. 
 
 HOMILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 Ti'orcls. Only lie who had been faithful 
 would much care for these words of 
 praise ; only he would be well able to 
 appropriate them. Here, again, it is 
 only the pure in heart who are blessed; 
 only they see God. The sun may rise 
 on the evil and the good, but the good 
 find most gladness in its light. The 
 stars mean more to the godly man than 
 to the " undevout astronomer." The 
 fruitful fields of the wicked never yield 
 so much as even the thinly cropped 
 acres of the righteous. The poverty of 
 God's true servants has more wealth 
 than the riches of the ungodly. A 
 spiritual mind will find more joy in 
 sickness than a sinful man can ever 
 know in health. " Things are not what 
 they seem," God's blessings, scatter 
 them how He will, have a way of 
 righting themselves. It is only by the 
 pious man that they can ever be really 
 gathered. 
 
 Verse 7. — The Divergent Ways of 
 Life. 
 
 I. Life's separations. 1. An a 
 
 matter of history. Here was one half 
 of the children of Manasseh going east 
 of the Jordan, and one half staying 
 west. Part of the people were hence- 
 forth to be in one country, and part in 
 another. Life is full of similar exam- 
 ples, {a) Separated tribes. (/>) Sepa- 
 rated families, (c) Separated brethren 
 and companions. 2. As a matter of 
 necessity. Numerous families must be 
 forced asunder. The penalty of multi- 
 plication is division. Sooner or later, 
 to be many is to be scattered. This is 
 well. Men need that old views and 
 habits should be crossed. New neces- 
 sities make new minds. New compa- 
 nions form new men. New countries 
 beget new races. The world that makes 
 all her various childi-en needs them all. 
 Li their variety they can better help 
 each other. 
 
 II. Life's separations arising im- 
 perceptibly. Where did this division 
 in the family of Manasseh begin ? What 
 determined it ? On what day was it 
 first noted down, that the one family 
 was henceforth to be known in the 
 nation as consisting of these two halves ? 
 What was the first diverting cause ? Was 
 
 it a difference of tastes, as between 
 shepherd life and military life ? or what 
 was it which began to turn half the 
 family life in one direction and half in 
 another ? Between what members of 
 the family was the line of separation 
 drawn ? and what determined the pre- 
 cise bearings through the family in 
 which that line was eventually laid 
 down ? All these things are more or 
 less hidden. The things which divide 
 famiUes spring up secretly, and work 
 secretly. Peculiar tastes, particular 
 temptations, distinctive habits, strong 
 prejudices ; these, and many other 
 things, are causes of separation. The 
 persecution of the Puritans accounts 
 largely for the America of to-day. The 
 persecution of the French Huguenots 
 has been an immense factor in deter- 
 mining the industrial occupation of 
 Englishmen, and the commercial value 
 of their manufactures. The roving 
 habits of the earlier races that settled 
 in Britain, and the ambition of a Nor- 
 man duke, laid the foundations of our 
 national life and history. 
 
 III. Life's separations in their im- 
 portance. If small causes are influen- 
 tial in determining the separation of 
 families, the separation itself is often 
 of more consequence still. Thus these 
 eastern Manassites prospered and mul- 
 tiplied exceedingly, and, having turned 
 to idolatry, were, with Pieuben and 
 Gad, the first to sufler the penalty of 
 captivity (1 Chron. v. 18 — 20). How 
 responsible is life everywhere ! The 
 small thing may be pregnant with 
 mighty issues. He resolves wisely who 
 cries, " Thou shalt guide me with Thy 
 counsel." "In all thy ways acknow- 
 ledge Him, and He shall direct thy 
 paths." 
 
 IV. Life's separations in relation to 
 life's blessings. Only the western half 
 of the family dwelt in the Land of 
 Promise. Yet is it written of the 
 eastern half: " When Joshua sent them 
 away also to their tents, then he blessed 
 them." The blessing was not limited 
 by the river. God's blessing is not a 
 mere matter of geography. The mem- 
 bers of the family that go, and those 
 that stay, may alike live beneath His 
 smile. There is no place where the 
 
 311 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. chap. xxii. 
 
 Scriptures may not be the power of 
 God unto salvation. There is no 
 country where ' ' the same Lord is not 
 rich unto all that call upon Him." 
 There is no land yet discovered where 
 believing men may not adoringly say, 
 " The precious blood of Jesus Christ, 
 His Son, cleanseth us from all sin." 
 
 Verse 8, — The Distribution of 
 Life's Gains. 
 
 I. The firstfruits of the war com- 
 manded to be offered to the Lord. 
 This was made imperative at the fall 
 of Jericho (chap. vi. 17—19). God 
 says, " My soul desired the first ripe 
 fruit " (cf. Mic. vii. 1 ; Exod. xxii. 29 ; 
 Deut. xviii. 4, etc.). This requisition 
 of the Lord is not to enrich Him, but 
 us. He would increase the wealth of 
 our reverence and love and joy in 
 Himself. 
 
 II. The chief spoils of the war 
 permitted to be kept by the people. 
 Since the fall of Jericho, and the devot- 
 ing of its spoil, the Israelites had been 
 allowed to retain that which they took. 
 Even the share of these eastern soldiers 
 enabled them to return with much 
 riches, with very much cattle, with 
 silver, and with gold, and with brass, 
 and with iron, and with very much 
 raiment." God has joy in all the pos- 
 Bessions that we can hold rightly. He 
 does but demand a little in order to 
 teach us how to retain the abundance 
 which He loves to leave in our posses- 
 sion. 
 
 III. The spoils kept by men to be 
 used in cultivating a spirit well pleas- 
 ing to God. " Divide the spoil of your 
 enemies with your brethren." 1. A spirit 
 of self -sacrifice. 2. A sjnrit of (/enci'osity. 
 8. A spirit of pleasure 171 the joij of others. 
 
 Life's gains should be made up of spi- 
 ritual gettings, spiritual possessions, and 
 spiritual disbursements. The man who 
 so lives can enjoy his capital, not only 
 when he has it, but before it is realized, 
 'and after it is paid away. 
 
 The Ethics of War-Spoil. — " As it 
 was formerly seen that the greater part 
 of the two tribes were left in their ter- 
 ritories beyond Jordan, when the others 
 passed over to carry on the war, it was 
 fair that, as they had lived in ease with 
 their families, or been only occupied 
 with domestic concerns, they should be 
 contented with their own livelihood and 
 the produce of their own labour. And 
 they certainly could not, without dis- 
 honesty, have demanded that any part 
 of the booty and spoil should be dis- 
 tributed among them, when they had 
 taken no share in all the toil and the 
 danger. Joshua, however, does not 
 insist on the strictly legal view, but 
 exhorts the soldiers to deal liberally 
 with their countrymen by sharing the 
 prey with them. Here some one may 
 unseasonably raise the question, Whether 
 or not the booty was common ? For 
 Joshua does not decide absolutely that 
 it is their duty to do as he enjoins ; he 
 admonishes them that, after they have 
 been enriched by the Divine blessing, it 
 would betray a want of proper feeling 
 not to be liberal and kind towards their 
 brethren, especially as it was not their 
 fault that they did not take part in the 
 same expedition. Moreover, when he 
 bids them divide, he does not demand 
 an equal partition, such as that which 
 is usual among partners and equals, but 
 only to bestow something that may 
 suffice to remove all cause of envy and 
 hatred. ' ' — [C ale in .] 
 
 MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Verses 9—84. 
 
 The remainder of this chapter forms a narrative too closely connected to be 
 altogether broken up in order to meet an arbitrary arrangement, and too long 
 for continuous treatment in a single discourse. The four main themes will there- 
 fore bo taken first, as indicated below, and the verses afterwards. 
 
 I. THE BUILDING OF THE KUIXK— Verses 9, 10. 
 
 Putting God First. 
 
 As has already been intimated, the two and a half tribes erred in not com- 
 812 
 
CHAP. xxn. EOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 municating with Eleazar and Joshua before erecting this altar. Had they done 
 this, some difficulties would have been avoided, and some pain would have been 
 prevented ; but much that is beautiful would thereby have been lost to men 
 and to this history. God gives us a good inheritance even in our mistakes, so 
 long as a holy mind underlies those mistakes. Caution may help to make life 
 untroubled ; holy zeal and godly patience ever make it rich. Where cold and 
 watchful propriety makes a smooth road, love, in more erratic and impulsive 
 ways, presently prepares for herself green pastures. Did our mistakes invariably 
 take their rise in love for God and His truth, and were they met in a right spirit, 
 they would, at least sometimes, furnish matter for joy as well as for pain. 
 
 On their way back to their homes, these forty thousand men stayed to build 
 this altar. It was a highly religious act. Many considerations might urge them 
 to defer the work. Some other time might be equally suitable for the purposes 
 which they had in view. Pressing reasons might suggest that they should send 
 a body of representative men to build the altar at some future period. But these 
 people resolved on doing the work then and there. Let us see how the case 
 probably presented itself to their minds. Consider : I. The religious meaning 
 of this act, and the decision which it proclaimed. What did the two and a half 
 tribes intend to indicate by this altar ? What feelings of their own did they wish 
 the altar to express ? What influence did they desire the altar to exert upon 
 others ? 1. They meant the altar to hear ivitness that, in (Jjoing out of Israel, they 
 did not give tip Israel's God. Their future home was to be out of Canaan proper. 
 Some of the Divine promises pertained to the land itself (Gen. xii. 7; xiii. 14, 17} 
 XV. 7). It is true that the grant had been afterwards given in a more extended 
 form, embracing this eastern land also (Gen. xv. 18 — 21), yet it was natural to 
 regard the western territory, above all other, as " the place which the Lord had 
 promised." Dwelling already in the eastern possession, Moses reckoned that, 
 failing in being permitted to cross the Jordan before his death, he had fallen 
 short of coming into the actual inheritance (Deut. iv. 22, xxxiv. 4) ; and this, 
 notwithstanding that God had shewed him " all the land of Gilead unto Dan '* 
 (Deut. xxxiv. 1), as being part of the land promised. Thus, it was to avow then? 
 determination to keep up their interest in the land where God dwelt between the 
 cherubim, that the eastern tribes set up this altar. They could not give up their 
 part in Jehovah. Building the altar was another way of saying : "We too would 
 continue to sacrifice to the Lord, but we must cross this Jordan ere our sacrifices 
 can be accepted." There are times when young men are called to find homes 
 amid new surroundings. Children of Christian parents are called to settle in life 
 where God is not much known, and where little of worsbip is oflered to His 
 name. Such may find a useful lesson in this altar. Such should say of their 
 fathers' God : " This God is our God for ever and ever." 2. The two and a half 
 tribes meant this altar to serve as a reli'iiious security for their children (ver. 24, 25). 
 They were taking care of their children's religious privileges. Many would call 
 it inhuman not to provide for their children's future in this life. The same 
 people, in many cases, freely confess that the life to come is far more important ; 
 and yet for their children's spiritual future they make no provision whatever. 
 3. The huilding of this altar teas, 2}i'(ictically, putting God first. It was the voice 
 of a whole people saying : " Before we do anything else, we will provide for 
 drawing near unto the Lord." The altar was a national anticipation of Ps. xlii. 
 To us it should be a reiteration of the Saviour's word : " Seek ye first the 
 kingdom of God, and His righteousness," etc. II. The attractions that lay in 
 the direction of the earthly and temporal. 1. A desire for rest must hace been 
 prurnpti)ig thon to hasten to their homes. Home is sweet to the labourer, to the 
 merchant, to the statesman. It is the place where the weary worker retires for 
 rest. It is associated with grateful memories of rest that has been ; and the 
 memories inspire hopes. If home be sweet to the man engaged in the ordinary 
 industries of life, sweeter still must it be to the returning soldier. Yet these men 
 
 818 
 
nOMILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. chap. xxir. 
 
 had higher thoughts than those of mere rest. Their long campaign might have 
 left them weary; their weariness did not prevent them from staying to erect this 
 altar in the interests of their spiritual welfare. The work seems to have been 
 one of considerable extent. It was " a great altar to see to." The Vulgate says, 
 " They built hard by Jordan an altar of vast size." If the conjecture of Lieut. 
 Conder is correct, the remains of this great work are still to be seen. The men 
 might be weary, yet the work was not left for some future time, nor was it 
 hurried over. The claims of the worship of God were pleading within them 
 more urgently than the claims of rest. How often, in our day, worship is made 
 to give place to weariness. 2. The interest awakened by their new possessions tnust 
 hare acted as an enticement towards home. There was an estate waiting for them 
 each, and they had not yet even surveyed it. Yet they waited to build this 
 stupendous altar. Chalmers spoke of " the expulsive power of a new affection." 
 Many have found that interest in a new estate has preponderated over interest in 
 religion. When they have bought a piece of ground, they forthwith say, "I must 
 needs go and see it." The newly purchased oxen have to be "proved." "With 
 such, affection for earthly things expels regard for spiritual things. With these 
 returning soldiers, the love of God was expelling the love of things. Every stone 
 that they laid was a spiritual prediction of the coming song : " How amiable are 
 Thy tabernacles, Lord of hosts ! " 3. Social feelings were bidding them hasten 
 homewards. The love of wife and children not greeted for years,*of parents long 
 unseen, of brothers and sisters whose faces must have grown almost strange, was 
 yearning within them for satisfaction. Still, they stayed to build this immense 
 altar. The very love of their children's spiritual welfare bade them stay. The 
 time might come when some might say to these children of theirs, " What have 
 ye to do with the Lord God of Israel ? " (ver. 24.) Thus, longing for their 
 children all the while, they tarried on the way to care for their children's religious 
 welfare. Nothing should come between us and God : that is what the altar says 
 to us. Nothing should put the worship of God into any second place. Longings 
 for rest, or for business prosperity ; longings for home, or for loved ones there, 
 should all give place to our longings after God (cf. Ps. xlii.). III. The attractions 
 that lay in the direction of the spiritual. These men put religious interests 
 before their secular interests. To them, spiritual life was higher and more 
 precious than even social life. What led them to act as they did ? What were 
 the forces at work within them to determine them to this conduct ? 1. Tlieij were 
 moved with gratitude for God's past help. Jehovah had been so good ! Peradven- 
 turo they thought on their way home of His many marvellous works. By Him had 
 they gotten all those victories. What has God done for us ? 2. They felt a deep 
 enthusiasm towards God. The gods of their enemies had not been as their God, 
 the enemies themselves being judges. The altar was the outcome of euthusiasm 
 ('ev ©cos). They were dwelHng, as it were, in God, by reason of very delight. 
 God had wrought for them right gloriously. The Hed Sea ; the wilderness ; 
 Jordan ; Jericho, etc. How could they suffer any possibility of losing their 
 "part in Jehovah"? That fertile land on the east of the Jordan, so very 
 suitable for their flocks, would be dearly bought indeed if they should lose their 
 hold on God ! That being so, weariness must be forgotten for a season ; the new 
 estate must remain untcndcd a little longer ; wife must wait, and children must 
 ■wait, and their own longing hearts must wait. At all costs, they must keep up 
 their "part in Jehovah." What is God to us ? 3. They had, it may be, grr-at 
 hopes about the worship of God. They did not know much about it yet. Many 
 of their services in the lonely solitudes of the wilderness had been beautiful. 
 They had served to whet their desire for more. Since crossing the Jordan these 
 forty thousand men had learned to know God better. All Israel had come to 
 know God better. The worship of the future should be more adequate to His 
 great deservings. So these men prepare already to join in it, — prepare both for 
 themselves and for their children. What are our anticipations of God's house ? 
 314 
 
CHAP. xxii. nOMlLETIC C03rMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 4. These men felt a genuine desire to put their present mid their future well under 
 the care of God. God had helped them so gloriously ia war ; what could they 
 do better than have Him for their helper in a time of peace ? Would it not be 
 well to have a peace-part in Him, as well as a war-part ? Jehovah of Israel must 
 be glorious elsewhere than on battle-fields ! Could they not, in some way, 
 put the new homes and estates in trust to Him ? Was it not possible in some 
 manner to consecrate all the new things and the new prospects to the Lord ? 
 So they halted there by the river's banks, and " they built there an altar by 
 Jordan, a great altar to see to." What consecration have we made of our present 
 belongings unto God ? What preparation have we made for our future part in 
 Him ? IV. The peculiar expression here given to spiritual feeling. The 
 Bpiritual had triumphed over the eai'thly ; how could the prominent feeling be 
 best expressed? They built an altar. They did not erect a memorial of their 
 own past prowess. They did not even build a memorial merely in thankfulness 
 to God. They did that, and more. They copied the altar at Shiloh, which 
 represented to them the presence and face of God. They set up that altar within 
 the land of Canaan itself: God could only be approached there. Thoy set it up 
 by " the passage of the children of Israel," and at a convenient ford for crossing 
 towards Shiloh. It was another way of saying, " God can only be approached 
 through sacrifice, and sacrifice can only be offered at His appointed altar " (Deut. 
 xii. 5 — 14). It is always beautiful to see true love formulating her symbols. 
 How shall love express herself ? That depends on the dispensation, on the time, 
 on the surroundings, of him who loves. But love that is true never makes 
 mistakes. It always expresses itself appropriately and significantly. The ex- 
 pression of true love, let it take what form it may, is always beautiful. Cain's 
 sacrifice spoke heterodoxy ; not so Abel's. Abraham, after the pattern shewed 
 to him, told his love by lifting the sacrificial knife over his son. Hannah gave 
 her son to the Lord in a life-long service. David told his memory of former 
 deliverances, by using, to meet Goliath, the old sling of his shepherd days. The 
 woman who was a sinner told her love by tears which Jesus said were for the 
 washing of His feet, and by ointment in which Christ saw a beautiful contrast to 
 the cold thoughtlessness of Simon. Mary of Bethany also brought ointment ; the 
 Saviour said, " She hath come beforehand to anoint my body to the burying." 
 Mary of Magdala came with her tears to her Lord's gi-ave, and angels were 
 visibly present, as if to acknowledge the fitness of her gift. So the two and a 
 half tribes impulsively erected their altar ; and when they had found out its 
 meaning, the children of Israel, with the zealous Phinehas included, were all well 
 pleased (ver. 30, 33). It is our coldness that is awkward and inappropriate. 
 He who loves much generally serves in a way glorifying to his Lord, and in- 
 structive to his fellow-men. 
 
 II. THE MISJUDGMENT OF THE ALTAR.— Ferst* 11—20. 
 
 Zeax, without Knowledge. 
 
 Most commentators on this passage assume that the two and a half tribes were 
 very much to blame, and though some allow that the western tribes were a little 
 too hasty, a general praise is awarded them for what is freely called their " holy 
 wrath." This appears to be an unfair verdict. Doubtless the Reubenites and 
 their brethren would have done well to have communicated with Eleazar before 
 doing an act so open to misconstruction. Yet their error was merely one of over- 
 sight. The very fact that they did not think to consult the high priest, suggests 
 that it did not even occur to them that they wore doing a wrong thing. As to 
 the work itself, all Israel came presently to be pleased with the thing done, even 
 the zealot Phinehas being no exception. Had the eastern tribes been proved 
 guilty of erecting an altar for sacrifice, it might have been proper to have spoken 
 of the zeal of their western brethren as displaying " holy wrath; " as the record 
 
 815 
 
BOMILETIG COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. chap. xxii. 
 
 stands, the wrath appears to have had in it somewhat more of sin than holiness. 
 It was wrong to assume guilt on a mere report, and then rapidly muster for war ; 
 it was wrong also for the deputation of princes to make grave charges of terrible 
 sin, when they ought to have made enquiries first, and, if necessary, have pro- 
 ceeded to give reproof afterwards. The eastern tribes erred in a negative form, 
 omitting to do something of which, in the innocence of their hearts, they seem 
 not even to have thought ; the western tribes committed a positive sin, judging 
 their brethren with no proof of their guilt, and thus judging them in a matter 
 which was thought to require a wholesale infliction of the penalty of death 
 (cf. ver. 12 ; Lev. xvii. 8, 9 ; Deut. xii. 13, 14). It is insufficient to say that the 
 vprath of the nine and a half tribes would have been " holy," had their brethren 
 been really guilty ; that is merely saying that the wrath would have been right 
 had certain things happened which never took place. 
 
 We see here illustrations of the following things : — 
 
 I. Good men very easily betrayed into hasty and wrong judgments. "Israel 
 heard say, Behold the children of Keuben," etc. It was a report, and the report 
 said, They have built an altar. 1. Herds jiuhjment based me rchj upon appearances, 
 and thus wroiig judgment. Rumour generally deals with things from without. It 
 often freely attributes motives ; it seldom takes pains to understand them. 
 Appearances were much against the eastern tribes. They had built an altar. 
 For what could an altar be erected, if not for sacrifice? To what other use could 
 an altar possibly be put ? It was very easy to assume that the ordinary use of an 
 altar was the use intended in this instance. Yet this assumption was wrong. 
 The outward seemings of human acts are not a safe guide for judgment* 
 
 " What we oft do best 
 By sick interpreters, once weak ones, is 
 Not ours, or not allowed ; what worst, as oft, 
 Hitting a grosser quality, is cried up 
 For our best act." — Shakespeare. 
 
 ^Through judging by the outward, men have often been extolled where base, and 
 condemned where best. The outward appearance is not only insufficient for 
 righteous judgment, but may be altogether opposed to righteous judgment. The 
 Saviour Himself was continually misjudged by men who had their eyes fastened 
 on things outward. It was when He had once put the Sabbath to the lofty use 
 of healing a man who had been impotent for many years, that the Jews went 
 about to kill Him, and Christ answered them : " Judge not according to the 
 appearance, but judge righteous judgment." On this, the late F. D. Maurice 
 remarks of the Saviour : " He was giving a lesson to all ages and to all teachers 
 respecting the duty and the method of piercing through the outward shell of an 
 institution into the principle which is embodied in it — respecting the danger of 
 omitting to do this through any aifected reverence for the institution itself." The 
 act of the Saviour seemed contrary to the law of the Sabbath ; so the act of these 
 trans-Jordanic tribes appeared to bo contrary to the unity of worship ; yet, in 
 either case, the judgment which condemned these acts was faulty. 2. Here is 
 wrong jvdfpiient, when once formed, actually promoted by supposed zeal for God. 
 Having started falsely, the very jealousy which these men had for truth impelled 
 them farther astray. The force of zeal is a good force when it is made to act in 
 a right direction. But zeal is not the most clear-sighted of the Christian graces. 
 There is but a step between human zeal and human passion, and men have often 
 crossed the narrow boundary unknown to themselves. History has too often 
 shown anger against men hiding itself under the plea of love to God. Men who 
 give way to " holy wrath " have much need to accompany it ^Yith humble prayer^ 
 Had Eleazar asked counsel of God, the Israelites would not have been so readily 
 betrayed into a passion against their brethren. We read here of no such prayer 
 and humiliation as that recorded in chap. vii. 6 — 9. Thus, this " holy wrath " 
 presently turns out to be founded in delusion. The men who so readily deter- 
 81G 
 
CHAP. XXII. H03IILETIC C03I3IENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 mined that their brethren had sinned, came soon to discover that the error was 
 nearer home. They who knew others so easily, had to find out that they were 
 ignorant of themselves. Greville wrote : " He that sees ever so accurately, ever 
 so finely into the motives of other people's acting, may possibly be entirely ignorant 
 as to his own. It is with the mental as with the corporeal eye, the object may be 
 placed too near the sight to be seen truly, as well as too far ofi" ; nay, too near to 
 be seen at all." II. Wrong judgments speedily leading to false accusations 
 (ver, 15 — 20). 1. Here are mistaken jiuhjments passinij 07it of the minds and 
 hearts that formed them into words and acts. "They came." "They spake." 
 Men seldom keep long to themselves the opinions in which they condemn others. 
 As in thjs instance, there are some cases in which it would be wrong to do so. 
 Had the eastern tribes really been guilty of building a second altar for sacrifice, 
 it would have been wrong for their brethren not to have confronted them with 
 their sin. Even when remonstrance is not deemed necessary, men who conclude 
 some evil against a fellow seldom keep their conclusion to themselves. The 
 judgmejits that are formed in a man's heart cannot be kept there. Men's opinions 
 of some evil in their brethren are expressed in many ways — now by looks, now 
 by a significant silence, now by words, and at other times by deeds. No man 
 should recklessly allow, even to his own heart, that his brother is guilty. Such 
 conclusions are difiicult to keep, and he worst keeps them who most readily 
 entertains them. 2. Here are opinions hastily adopted, and just as hadhj com- 
 municated. We see in Phinehas and the ten princes the following mistakes : — 
 {a) Accusation instead of enquinj, They call this building of the altar " a 
 trespass," " a turning away from following the Lord," and " a rebellion." [h) 
 Painful compiarisons instead of an opportunit)/ for e.rpilanation. It was not enough 
 for Phinehas to begin his address with such hard words ; in his vehemence, he 
 gives no room for any answer till he has compared these brave men, so lately sent 
 away with words of high praise from Joshua, to the vilest of the sinners known 
 in the history of the people. They are put side by side with the transgressors of 
 Peor, among whom Phinehas himself had so boldly vindicated the honour of his 
 God. They are named, also, with Achan, who had so selfishly and grievously 
 transgressed, (c) A contemplation of the jiuhjments of God as likehj to he provoked 
 by the si)is of others, and no thonr/ht of them in connection irith their own si)is (ver. 
 18, 20). Good men are very ready to fear that the sins of some one else are 
 likely to provoke the displeasure of the Lord. The best of men are too apt to 
 forget to ask themselves how God may be regarding their own lives. 3. Here 
 are the bad jiuhjments of <jood men having about them same anisjiicuous redeeming 
 features (ver. 19). The proposition that the eastern tribes should pass over and 
 inherit among their brethren west of Jordan very beautifully softens the otherwise 
 harsh character of these proceedings. It shews that the western tribes did not 
 contemplate war as an absolute necessity, even if their brethren had sinned, but 
 only if they should prove obdurate. It shews in light at once clear and beautiful, 
 that the moving spirit of this remonstrance was to be found in love to God, and 
 in jealousy for His commandment. It shews that the western tribes were unselfish, 
 and, indeed, very generous — ready both to undertake the wearisome task of a 
 fresh division of the land, and to suflcr, for the sake of their brethren and God's 
 truth, that their own inheritances should bo very materially diminished. No 
 man's godliness is seen everywhere. Our very love to God has its defects. All 
 true godliness will shew itself somewhere. Let a Christian man commit an error 
 ever so great, yet, if he be really a Christian, his love to God and holiness will 
 find places in which it is constrained to assert itself, the error notwithstanding. 
 III. The mistakes of zeal threatening to become far more disastrous than the 
 mistakes of love. The error of the eastern tribes had in it nothing of that energy 
 of mischief which was so prominent in the zeal of the Israelites of the west. The 
 love of the one people was impulsive in its ardour towards God, and thus too 
 thoughtless for the feelings of men, but it did not intend harm to any one ; the 
 
 317 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. chap. xxir. 
 
 zeal of the other people began by proposing a war. It is ever thus. The wrorgs 
 to men arising from ardent love to God have never been comparable to the injury 
 wrought by zeal for God's truth. Love usually wrtngs herself quite as much as 
 she harms men generally ; while zeal for purity of doctrine systematically and 
 continuously directs her energy against others. Peter cried, "That be far frcm 
 Thee, Lord," and brought down upon himself his Lord's sore rebuke. James 
 and John vehemently asked, " "Wilt Thou not that we call down fire from heaven?" 
 proposing to vindicate the Saviour's honour in the ashes of a village, and in the 
 dying groans of burning men and women and little children. The love of men 
 to God has often found them making serious mistakes, and inadvertently causing 
 much suffering ; the zeal of zealots has baptized the path of the Church with 
 blood through all generations. 
 
 III. THE VINDICATION OF THE ALTAR.— T7w.? 21—29. 
 The Self-defence of the Innocent. 
 
 It has been said that " a man's character is like his shadow, which sometimes 
 follows, and sometimes precedes him, and which is occasionally longer, occasion- 
 ally shorter than he is." Thus, too, is it with the character of these Israelites. 
 A short time before, Joshua had spoken to them words of commendation ; per- 
 haps of higher commendation, in some instances, than was deserved. Here the 
 estimation of character errs on the other side. These men are accused where 
 they are not guilty. Let us see how they bear the accusation thus brought 
 against the m. I. Innocent men shewing extreme sensitiveness under a charge 
 of great sin. They speak as men deeply wounded. The language is broken, 
 abrupt, and fervent (cf. Crit. Notes). is it natural for innocent mm to shew suck 
 sensitiveness xmder false chanjes? Undoubtedly it is. Some people assume that 
 the natural bearing of innocence is calmness. They are ready to conclude that a 
 man is most likely guilty if he is very sensitive, and probably innocent if he is 
 undisturbed. Much must depend on the temperament of the person accused. 
 Coolness may be only the measure of hypocrisy, and sensitiveness may be only 
 til© natural expression of horror at the thought of guilt. Shakespeare wrote : 
 
 " The purest treasure mortal times afford 
 Is spotless reputation ; that away, 
 Jlen aie but gilded loam or painted clay." 
 
 When so much is at stake, it is not wonderful if those who fear to lose should 
 make that concern very manifest. Is it riijht for innocent men to shew snch sensitire- 
 vess under false charges ? Undoubtedly, it is not only natural, but right also. 
 Not long since, a prcminent German politician, replying to the slanders of the 
 press directed against public characters, and answering those who told him that 
 ministers ought not to mind the calumnies spoken against them, was warmly 
 cheered as he exclaimed in the German Parliament: " God keep us from a breed 
 of statesmen with hearts of lead and hides of leather. Let us have men whose 
 blood moves to their checks when lies are flung in their faces ; for it is no ideal of 
 mine to become acclimatised to liars." AYhatever may be thought of the strength 
 of the language thus used, no one can deny the correctness of the sentiment 
 which the language contains, Patience should have " her perfect work " every- 
 where ; but patience was never intended to iind its consummation in a dull 
 phlegmatic mood, which should he equally insensible to praise or blame. A 
 Christian man is especially called to be patient, even under false accusations, but 
 he also has especial reasons for deep and sensitive concern. The honour of his 
 Lord is aflected by his disgrace. A Christian man charged with grievous sin is 
 charged with bringing shame upon a name far higher than his own. These 
 falsely accused Israelites seem to have keenly felt the unjust words of their 
 brethrrT^ in this light. He whose life is a striving against sin, cannot but feel 
 818 
 
ciiAP. XXII. HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 acutely when he is unjustly accused of having forfeited his good name, wronged 
 his brethren, and dishonoured his God. II. Innocent men energetically de- 
 fending themselves from this false charge. It has been said that reputation is 
 often " got without merit, and lost without deserving." Few men, however 
 their reputation may have been won, consent to part with it without some effort 
 in its defence. There may be times when it may be well to remember that " no 
 man is ever written down but by himself." A few of our fellows may be 
 privileged to take the lofty stand of an aged man, who, when asked to answer somo 
 attack upon his character, replied : " For many years my character has taken 
 care of itself, and I am not goiug to begin to defend it now." Most men, how- 
 ever, will at times be driven to feel that such defence of their reputation is both 
 legitimate and necessary. It was thus with these Israelites. The leaders of these 
 forty thousand men felt that their repudiation of this charge was due to them- 
 selves, due to all the host with them, and duo to their brethren whom they had 
 I'ust rejoined in their new inheritance. 1. Their defence contained seirral abrupt 
 aj>]}eals to God. There was an appeal to God's knowledge. The mighty God, 
 the God, Jehovah ; the mighty God, the God, Jehovah, He knoweth." They 
 made their appeal to Him who was the " strong God," and could punish them ; to 
 Him who was the God, and whose majesty placed Him high above all the pre- 
 tended gods of the surrounding nations ; and, not least, to Him who was Jehovah 
 of Israel, and knew all things. There were, also, appeals to God's judgment : 
 ** Save us not this day; " " Let the Lord Himself require it." No one should 
 lightly invoke God. It should be remembered that the charge here was a very 
 solemn one, and that it amounted to an accusation of having renounced God. It 
 was under these circumstances that these men boldly said, in effect : If we have 
 departed from Jehovah, let not Jehovah save us. 2. Their defence supjdied a 
 sufficient reason for the thinrf u-hich they had done (verses 2-4 — 28). They had 
 built the altar for reasons very opposite to those laid to their charge ; it was not 
 to depart from God, but to enable them to cleave to God. They had built it, 
 not only to keep a part in God secure for themselves, but to secure a heritage 
 for their children. Thus they not only deny the attributed motive, but supply 
 the real one. 3. Their defence sheus them cheri.shinii no bitterness, and refrainiwf 
 from all recrimination. It is well that they say not too little ; it is better still 
 that they refrain from saying too much. They might justly have rebuked their 
 accusers for undue haste, and for unkind and harsh charges of terrible sin. But 
 not a single word of the kind falls from their lips. Their words, it is true, aro 
 the words of men deeply wounded, but there is nothing which betrays anger or 
 bitterness towards their unjust brethren. Apart from the patient silence of the 
 Saviour Himself, perhaps there is no instance in the entire Scriptures which more 
 beautifully shews how wounded innocence may defend itself without transgres- 
 sion. Acute feeHng and warmth of expression are not necessarily sinful. It is 
 when warmth passes into indignation against others, leading us to cherish bitter 
 thoughts towards them, that we sin against that love of God which requires that 
 we never forget to love our brethren. 
 
 IV. THE GENERAL ACCEPTANCE OF THE AJ.TAK— Verses 30—34. 
 
 Fear Giving Place to Joy. 
 
 We have already had occasion to remark upon the honourable spirit displayed, 
 in one thing, by the deputation from the ten tribes. If their brethren felt their 
 inheritance to be " unclean," they cheerfully offered to make room for them on 
 the other side of Jordan. Hardly less praiseworthy is the readiness in which 
 they cheerfully accepted the explanation offered by the eastern tribes. It would 
 have been grateful to have found them actually acknowledging their undue haste ; 
 on the other hand, no words of reproach are recorded as having been uttend 
 against the two and a half tribes for their undoubted fault of not communicating 
 
 319 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. chap. xxii. 
 
 with Eleazar before building the altar. The princes, moreover, do not wait till 
 they have referred this new explanation to the authorities at Shiloh. They 
 accept on the spot the motive for building the altar : " it pleased them " (ver. 10). 
 Later on, all the people join in this verdict: " the thing pleased the children of 
 Israel ; and the children of Israel blessed God " (ver. 33). 
 
 Thus the guiltless, sooner or later, are ever vindicated. A patient explanation, 
 without bitterness, would go far to reconcile half the enmities of life in the very 
 hour of provocation. If not then, the innocent only require time for their 
 righteousness to be brought forth as the light. False accusations, to mailed 
 innocence, are like tragedy daggers ; they may be driven home with a force 
 which, apparently, cannot be resisted, but, sheathing themselves backwards in 
 their own handles, they leave those who are attacked unharmed. 
 
 The pleasure which was so readily expressed by the ten tribes and their repre- 
 sentatives forcibly illustrates the following points of interest : — I. Joy in the 
 exculpation of accused brethren. The princes and the people were glad to 
 know that their brethren were found guiltless. This pleasure in the innocence of 
 their brethren goes far to redeem their former hastiness from reproach. It shews 
 an entire absence of malice, and of any desire to find an occasion against the eastern 
 tribes. It shews an unmistakable zeal for God, albeit the zeal had manifested it- 
 self in an intemperate and reckless manner. 1. God is the true bond of brotherhood, 
 and therefore God is more than our brethren. The distance to which a man gets 
 from God is so much distance from his fellows. To the man who lives in God, all 
 men become brethren ; to the man who ignores God, even his nearest kin are but 
 aliens, who are tolerated because of the necessities of life, or because they may 
 minister to his own selfish enjoyment. Brutality is only another name for being far 
 from God ; brotherhood is a synonym for nearness to God. This is so even among 
 men who have never heard of God by name ; it becomes so, manifestly and appre- 
 ciably, among those to whom God has been made known. Thus to the ten tribes 
 God was mprp than their brethren. It was He who had caused the brotherhood. 
 So even the western half of the tribe of Manasseh were prepared to cast off 
 their own family ; yea, if necessary under the peculiar conditions of that ancient 
 theocracy, they were prepared to assist in slaying their brethren, rather than 
 suffer them to initiate a movement which might soon lead all Israel to reject 
 Jehovah. God is the fount from which all true brotherhood springs. The foun- 
 tain may be hidden among the eternal hills, as God, even by name, is hidden from 
 the heathen, but the refreshing waters of brotherly feeling are from Him, not- 
 withstanding. The law in the heart is from Him, whether it has been published 
 and formulated into a system, or not. (jod is the centre around whom all 
 brotherly feelings revolve, and He is the influence by which they are so moved 
 and so sustained. God, then, is more than our brethren. If wc are really 
 called to choose between Him and a brother, the very spirit of brotherhood itself 
 bids us to reject any man for the love of Him by whom all men become brethren 
 indeed. 2. If we are true brethren, our brother's shame and pain irill be ours 
 also. The reaction of feeling described in these verses shews that the ten tribes 
 were moved by grief, and not animated by malice. Had the trans-Jordanic tribes 
 been guilty, and obstinate in their guilt, and had they been exterminated by their 
 brethren, men would have pointed to this as a dark and more than suspicious 
 page in this history. Thousands would never have cared to understand that it 
 was possible for half a nation to be full of sorrow and sympathy while smiting 
 the other half unto death. But this sudden burst of joy is like the outshining of 
 a great light ; it discovers, unmistakably, a pre-existing sorrow, which, while 
 held in restraint by zeal for God, was as great as the after gladness. The 
 measure of the joy seen here is the fair measure of the sorrow felt before. It is 
 the true measure of that sorrow ; for these spontaneous outbursts of feeling from 
 thousands of men at once are things beyond the reach of hypocrisy. Thus we 
 are taught to sorrow for pain which it may bo necessary to inflict. True brother- 
 320 
 
CHAP. XXII. IIOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 hood may not be able to spare the cause for tears, yet it ever weeps with those 
 who weep. 3. If ive are true brethren, the re-e.stahlished innocence of those sHspectcd 
 of guilt will ivork in ^ls a gladness both hearty and unfeiyned. Like the shepherd 
 with the one sheep, the woman with the piece of silver, and the father with the 
 prodigal, we shall rejoice over that which was apparently lost, and is again found, 
 even more than over that which had manifestly been kept. II. Joy in the 
 knowledge that sin has not been committed. 1. Hin should be hated for Us own 
 sake. It is a bitterness which nothing can sweeten. Faber well wrote : " It is 
 a great thing gradually to grow into the conviction that there is no real sorrow in 
 the world but sin ; that we have no real enemy but 'sin, in others as well as in 
 ourselves, in prayer as well as in action. This is just the one work we have to 
 do, and is just the one work which is worth doing." We have most of us need 
 to get more into the spirit of Chrysostom, who when angrily threatened with 
 banishment by the wife of Thcodosius II., calmly said to her messenger : " Go and 
 tell the empress I fear nothing but sin." Did we but know sin as it is, we should 
 hate it with undying hatred. 2. Sin should be hated because it robs men of vast 
 hlessiiuis. The Israelites feared that it would rob them even of God. Sin 
 poisons all the soul's joys, and feeds upon the soul's very life. Sin is stolen life 
 in corruption. Sin is death. Men shun the disease which leaves them a dead 
 body in the place of a living friend, and they say of the body itself, Let me bury 
 my dead out of my sight ; yet men too often welcome the sin which leaves 
 them with a dead soul, and act as though they felt little the poorer for having a 
 soul so lifeless. 3. Sin should be hated because it is displeasiug to God. The 
 Israelites were so jealous because of what God might think of this altar, which 
 they concluded had been built for sacrifice. God had so manj' claims on them. 
 God had loved them so much, and done such great things for them, that they 
 were glad in His pleasure, and sorrowful in His displeasure. The cross stands 
 for more than the wilderness, and our pain in grieving God might well exceed 
 that of these Israelites. 4. He who hates sin must be careful not to hate the 
 sinner. Though utterly mistaken about the meaning of the altar, and using words 
 of sharp reproof to the men whom they took to be so guilty, the princes manifest 
 throughout a warm concern for their brethren's welfare. Actual sin must be often 
 sternly reproved, and, it may be, severely punished in the person of the trans- 
 gressor, but nothing can ever justify us in hating men. There is not a single 
 man whom we have any authority to hate. Every one of our fellows is a being 
 made in Gods image. There is no one who, by God's grace, may not yet become 
 an angel of light. Even with Judas the Saviour pleaded tenderly to the last. 
 III. Joy in freedom from sin as supplying an indication of the Lord's presence. 
 " This day we perceive that the Lord is among us, because ye have not com- 
 mitted this trespass against the Lord." In the absence of sin tl.ey found an 
 argument for the presence of God. 1. When sin is freehj indulged in, men mag 
 safeig assume that God is not with t/irm. Both the Father and the Son abide only 
 with those who keep the Divine words (John xiv. 23). Sooner or later, every 
 Saul who persists in disobedience has to say, " The Lord is departed from mo, 
 and answereth me no more." 2. The rerg fact that sin is absent, t'lls nf a present 
 God. The yearning heart that walks in the light, and longs for more light, need 
 not ask for mighty signs of the Lord's presence ; He is never far witlidrawn from 
 such. The sun even in the time of summer may be hidden behind the clouds, 
 but the mildness of the atmosphere and the fruitfulness of the earth alike agree 
 in betraying the season. So the ardour of warm love, the simplicity of un- 
 questioning faith, the gladness of holy joy, the spirit of urgent pray<r, and all 
 forms of hunger and thirst after righteousness, tell of the neaniess of (lod. God 
 may not be seen in marvellous and exciting signs, but these quieter things are no 
 less signs, and signs which may be equally trusted. When spiritual life is full 
 and fruitful, we may ever be sure that it has not boon severed from its ciunection 
 with Him who is the great source of that life. IV. Joy in averted ju Igment. 
 
 Y 321 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 CHAP. XXII, 
 
 The ten tribes were glad together that God was not angry with their brethren. 
 They were also glad that they were not called to execute against a part of the 
 nation the solemn commandment of Jehovah (Lev. xvii. 3, 4 ; Deut. xiii. 6 — 18). 
 This is nothing less than joy in the deliverance of men who had seemed in great 
 peril. It is akin to the joy of salvation, of the expression of which the Scriptures 
 are so full. Angels rejoice when judgment is averted by a sinner's conversion. 
 Here the joy of the ten tribes was full, because what had appeared to be a neces- 
 sary judgment was found not to have been deserved. There are no songs so 
 exalted in their gladness as those which express delight in men delivered from 
 death. The new song befote the throne is also a song of salvation. Joy in its 
 relation to men can be set to no higher theme than the deliverance of men 
 from sin and suffering and death. 
 
 OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VERSES. 
 
 Verse 9.- — The Delayed Inhekitance. 
 
 I. An inheritance completely won, 
 but nevertheless long delayed. The 
 land of Gilead and Bashan had been 
 conquered for several years (cf. Numb. 
 xxi. 21 — 35), No enemies remained to 
 prevent possession. 
 
 II. An inheritance promised by 
 God, but to be possessed through the 
 faithful obedience of men. "Accord- 
 ing to the word of the Lord." Though 
 the Lord had promised this land, the 
 two and a half tribes had promised faith- 
 ful service (Numb, xxxii. 16—83). The 
 service rendered had nothing to do with 
 actually winning their own inheritance. 
 That was won already. 
 
 III. An inheritance patiently waited 
 for, through years of faithful service, 
 and thus more fully enjoyed at last. 
 They returned to possess it, enjoying 
 the praise of Joshua, and glad in the 
 consciousness that they had ardently 
 striven to do the will of the Lord. 
 
 Terse 10. — Things to i;e done fok God. 
 
 I. Things to be done for God are 
 things to be done first. Nothing should 
 take precedence of that which we owe 
 to the Lord. There can be no duty 
 even to wife or children of sufficient 
 importance to come between us and 
 Him to whom we owe both our life 
 and theirs. 
 
 II. Things to be done for God are 
 things to be done unanimously. " The 
 children of lleubcn, and the children of 
 Gad, and the half-trilie of Manasseh," 
 each joined in the work. The accord 
 was unbroken. No single dissentient 
 voice rises to break in upon the perfect 
 
 322 
 
 harmony of the history. Nothing is 
 more incongruous than strife in the 
 expression of praise and thankfulness 
 to God ; and yet, on the question of 
 how it shall be rendered, have arisen 
 the bitterest and bloodiest strifes of 
 men. 
 
 III. Things to be done for God are 
 things to be done with all our hearts. 
 They built " a great altar to see to." 
 A small and insignificant work would 
 not serve to express their ardent feel- 
 ing. The only contention which we 
 can imagine in this work is one against 
 limiting too closely the area on which 
 the altar should be built ; or the children 
 of the tribes might enter into a holy 
 rivalry in the rapidity of their toil, and 
 contend, if at all, which of them should 
 lay the last stone. The whole work 
 seems to have been an ardent labour 
 of grateful love. 
 
 IV. Things to be done for God are 
 things to be done with prudence. 
 Ardour is not enough. Fervour should 
 be combined with wisdom. What Ave 
 intend by our works is important ; how 
 others may interpret them is of great 
 consequence also. 
 
 Verses 9, 10. — Cleaving unto the 
 Lord. 
 
 Moses had repeatedly charged the 
 children of Israel to cleave unto the 
 Lord their God (Deut. iv. 4, x. 20, 
 xi. 22, xiii, 4, xxx, 20). The two 
 and a half tribes are here seen faith- 
 fully obeying this commandment. We 
 see in these verses : — 
 
 I. Men leaving much, but still pos- 
 sessing God. 1. Leaving i/uir brcthmi. 
 
CHAP, XXII. 
 
 HOMILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 2. Leaving thej)lace inhere they had helped 
 to icin many victories. 3. Leavim/ a 
 land where they had been blessed with 
 much of Jehovah's gracious aid. 4. 
 Leavinq the place of God's more mani- 
 fest abode (Shiloh). With all this left 
 behiDd, they still retained their pos- 
 session in the Lord Himself. What- 
 ever we are called to forsake, we need 
 not leave Him. 
 
 II. Men possessing God, and es- 
 teeming- their inheritance in Him 
 above all else that they had. 1. Above 
 home cowforts. 2. Above their dearest 
 relatives. 3. Above their earthly estate. 
 4. Above the estate which had been given 
 them by God Hitmelf. Some extol God 
 merely with the praise of the lips. 
 That is true worship, in which men 
 extol Him in the deeds of their daily 
 lives. Many worship far more devoutly 
 in the market and the shop than others 
 do in the temple. 
 
 III. Men possessing God for them- 
 selves, and anxious to secure for their 
 children the same exalted inheritance. 
 The altar was not merely a memorial 
 of the past, but still more a witness 
 for the futui'e. It was partly an ex- 
 pression of the spiritual life of the men 
 that built it ; it was still more for their 
 children (ver. 24 — 27). He who de- 
 lights much in the Lord will desire 
 that others, and especially his own 
 children, may be sharers in his joy. 
 
 Verses 11, 12. — The Misunderstood 
 
 AND MiSREPORTED DeEDS OF MeN. 
 
 I. A good work misapprehended and 
 presently misreported. 1. The worh- was 
 htisitnderstood. Some one saw the two 
 and a half tribes erecting this pile. 
 Probably he heard the word " altar " 
 repeatedly used. The " altar " was 
 ever so unlike the altar at Shiloh, it 
 is true : that was made of brass, this 
 of earth and stones ; that was com- 
 paratively small, while this was very 
 large indeed. But then the builders 
 .themselves called it "an altar," and 
 forthwith the observer concluded it 
 was for the purpose of offering sacri- 
 fices. Many good deeds of good men 
 have fared no better at the hands of 
 their fellows. Thousands of noble acts 
 have been and still are being mis- 
 
 interpreted. The world is full of 
 monuments which have never been 
 understood, and the very inscriptions 
 on which have been perpetually mis- 
 read. The motives of the human mind 
 are often written in symbols as puzzling 
 as the old cuneiform records, but the 
 pedantry of the ignorant pronounces 
 the vision to be quite "plain upon the 
 tables," and forthwith the so-called 
 readers "run" to make their report. 
 The fine art galleries, in which are 
 hung up the more highly wrought deeds 
 of life's noblest thinkers and workers, 
 are continually frequented by very pro- 
 nounced judges who, in this depart- 
 ment, hardly know a group in a church 
 from a landscape in Babylon itself. 
 They " see men as trees walking." 
 Even when the Lord Himself is 
 anointed, and is well-pleased with the 
 spiritual beauty of the deed, some in- 
 dignant murmurcr is pretty certain to 
 be standing by, who, as though there 
 could be no room for a second opinion, 
 will unhesitatingly look upon the ex- 
 pended ointment, and call it " this 
 waste." Men are continually finding 
 spiritual palaces in what are only moral 
 ruins, and regarding as mere debris 
 humble and holy deeds, in which 
 devouter eyes discern a temple to the 
 Lord. While men are so misappre- 
 hended by their fellows, let none be 
 discouraged. It is written of Him who 
 shall judge them finally, "He knew 
 what was in man." CJu'ist reads the 
 work in the light of the worker. 2. 
 Ill is misunderstood work was promptly 
 caluDtmaied. Befoi'e the two and a 
 half tribes had well done building their 
 altar, " the children of Israel heard 
 say" what the altar meant. Evil 
 tidings spread apace. Those who bear 
 them are like Ahimaaz and Cushi, who 
 both ran their very fastest. It is still 
 worse to have to remember that the 
 " good man " sometimes distances the 
 bad, not merely as a courier of mis- 
 fortune, but as one who carelessly, or 
 otherwise, perverts the truth. "Calumny 
 is like the Greek fire used in ancient 
 warfare, which burnt unquenched be- 
 neath the water, or like the weeds 
 which when 5'ou have extirpated them 
 in one place are sprouting forth vigor- 
 
 323 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 CHAP. XXII. 
 
 ously in another spot, at the distance 
 of many hundred yards ; or, to use the 
 metaphor of St. James, it is like the 
 wlieel which catches fire as it goes, 
 and hums with a fiercer conflagration 
 as its own speed increases ; ' it sets on 
 fire the whole course of nature ' (lite- 
 rally, the Avheel of nature). You may 
 tame the wild beast, the conflagration 
 of the American forest will cease when 
 all the timber and the dry underwood 
 is consumed ; but you cannot arrest 
 the progress of that cruel word which 
 you uttered carelessly yesterday or this 
 morning,— which you will utter perhaps 
 before you have passed from this church 
 one hundred yards : that will go on 
 slaying, poisoning, burniug l)eyoiid your 
 own control, now and for ever." [F. W. 
 liohertson.'] It should be remembered 
 that not only the altars which men 
 build, but also the idle words which 
 men speak, are presently to be matters 
 for an irreversible judgment. 
 
 II. Judgment founded on appear- 
 ances and on rumour, instead of after 
 enquiry. (Cf. p. ;515.) " J''.])lieiiioroii, 
 that insect of a daj', related to its 
 youthful kindred in its expiring voice 
 how it had seen the coeval sun arise in 
 early youth, climbing up the east, but 
 now that that sun was surely sinking 
 in the western sky, an awful catastrophe 
 or a final night might be safely pre- 
 dicted. The ephemeron expired ; but 
 the next day the sun arose in the east 
 as brilliantly as over ; before sundown, 
 however, there were other expiring ephe- 
 mera predicting, as before, his final ex- 
 tinction." Thus, like the fabled insect 
 of a day, do men judge from ajipearaiices, 
 while they see but a small part of the 
 things on which they so confidently 
 pronounce. 
 
 III. War threatened hastily, and 
 without sufficient occasion. 'J'lie accu- 
 Bation was incorrect, and had ultimately 
 to be abandoned. 1. A war lliirntrnni 
 in the name of relif/ion. The object of 
 preventing idolatry was good ; the 
 measures set on foot for the purpose 
 were very terrible. Whatever might 
 be said to justify the ten tribes, the 
 Baviour has unhesitatingly pronounced 
 against any attempt to uphold Tlis 
 k' gdom by the sword. 2. A icca- 
 
 324 
 
 threatened for uant of a ri{iht uord. 
 The two and a half tribes had them- 
 selves called their memorial " an altar " 
 (ver. 26, nnzhcach) ; afterwards, though 
 still regarding it as an altar, they termed 
 it "a witness" (a/). Had the later 
 name been given to it at the first, no 
 misunderstanding might have arisen, 
 and no war might have been threatened. 
 Not a few of the conflicts of life spring 
 from first impressions ; and these, in 
 their turn, from names. Small things 
 lead to great issues. 3. A war averted 
 h)/ patient imrds of explanation. The 
 manner in Avhich grave charges are met 
 is of even more consequence than the 
 charges themselves. 
 
 Verses 16 — 19. — Narrow-minded 
 
 JUDG.AIENT AND LaRGE-UEARTED LoVE. 
 
 I. The onesidedness of human judg- 
 ment. The view taken both by the ten 
 tribes and their delegates was partial 
 and narrow. 1. The act iras jiuhjed 
 ajiartfroni its motive. The judges looked 
 wholly at the altar, and not at all at the 
 heart. 2. The many u-ere led hi/ the 
 opinion of the few. The leaders seem 
 to have made up their minds, and they 
 were blindly followed by the nation. 
 •' Thus saith the whole congregation." 
 The power of one man to influence a 
 multitude. 3. Fast sin was remembered, 
 in one aspect, only to rush into an oppo- 
 site extreme in another direction. " Is the 
 iniquity of Peor too little for us ? " At 
 Peer there was too great laxity. For a 
 time, no man reproved his brother, and 
 no man sought to stay manifest and 
 abounding iniquity. Here half a nation 
 hastens to accuse the other half for a 
 sin which had not been committed. 
 
 II. The vehemence of religious zeal. 
 ]\[en never call nanu's so firmly and un- 
 hesitatingly as when they upbraid their 
 fellows for a departure from the truth. 
 These brave soldiers, who for seven years 
 had been proving their faithfulness to 
 Joshua, to Israel, and to God, are in 
 one short half-hour termed trespassers, 
 and rebels, and provokers of Divine 
 wrath. IMany commentators commend 
 the ten tribes for their wisdom and pru- 
 dence in sending this deputation before 
 entering on a religious war. As if this 
 uar of words and these terrible accusa- 
 
CHAP. XXIt. 
 
 HOMILETIG COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 tions of sin were free from guilt. The 
 ten tribes could hardly do less than en- 
 quire before drawing the sword. They 
 had been solemnly commanded to do 
 that (Deut. xiii. 14). Instead of doing 
 the bidding of Moses to " enquire, and 
 make search, and ask diligenth'," Phi- 
 nehas and his followers accuse most 
 harshly. 
 
 III. The comprehensiveness and 
 beauty of love. The narrow mind may 
 go with a large heart. They who charged 
 their brethren so recklessly, were willing 
 to deny themselves to provide their 
 brethren a home (ver. 19). With their 
 minds these men could only view the 
 conduct of their brethren from one side. 
 With their hearts the outlook was far 
 broader. We see here: 1. The beauty 
 of hve to God. 2. The beaut y of love 
 for truth. 3. The beautij of love towards 
 those %vho ivere sincerely thouyht to be 
 offendiny brethren. He who loves much 
 will often find his heart giving good 
 help where his understanding fails. 
 
 "Precipitate bloodthirstiness is not 
 consistent with true religion ; for how 
 can He who Himself would not break 
 the bruised reed, allow us either to bruise 
 that which is whole, or break that which 
 is bruised, or burn up the broken ? " 
 (Isa. xliii. 3.) 
 
 " In cases which are ambiguous and 
 uncertain, it is better to let the judg- 
 ment stand suspended than to act con- 
 trarytolove"(lCor.xiii.7. — \^[iedi)iiier.^ 
 
 "It is a foolish and dangerous thing 
 for people to think their former sins 
 little — too little for them, as those do 
 who add sin to sin, and so ' treasure up 
 wrath against the day of wrath.' Let 
 therefore the time past suffice." — '[Matt. 
 Henry.] 
 
 "Verse 20. — One Sinner and Many 
 Sufferers. 
 
 I. Sin punished in the person of the 
 offender. "That man perished." 1. 
 ISi)i iror/iH death in the sinner. Every 
 wound or disease in the body is so 
 much weakening of the physical life. 
 Every sin is so much taken away 
 from spiritual life. Few things im- 
 pair spiritual life more completely 
 than covetousn,ess, the sin of which 
 
 Achan was guilty. Scripture gives us 
 not a few instances of its fatal power. 
 " ' Take heed, and beware of covetous- 
 ness.' Manifestly this was ' the error 
 of Balaam.' He looked at Balak's bribe 
 till it fascinated him. The ' love of 
 money ' besieged and corrupted his 
 affections. Mammon threw his golden 
 toils around him. And how baleful 
 and disastrous was the working of the 
 spell, the story reveals. What a thing 
 of discord and contradictions his heart 
 became! how false and inconsistent 
 was the part he played ! and how un- 
 speakably awful were the final issues of 
 his avarice ! Standing therefore over 
 Balaam's blighted character ; standing 
 over the corses of the four-and-twenty 
 thousand that were smitten with the 
 plague at Baal-puor ; and standing, 
 finally, over the dead body of the pro- 
 phet, as its oozing blood reddens the 
 battle-field of Midian, we read this 
 lesson, vivid as an electric flash, ' Take 
 heed, and beware of covetousness.' " 
 [T. Akroyd.] Gehazi, Judas, Achan, 
 and others, teach us no less terribly how 
 all the higher feelings of the heart fade 
 away and perish under this love of gain. 
 2. Sin hrliujs death to the sinner. God 
 often takes away the life that is wedded 
 to wickedness, in order to quicken in a 
 final penitence that higher life which 
 sin has well-nigh extinguished. 
 
 II. Sin punished, and the innocent 
 involved with the g-uilty. " That man 
 perished »'// alunernhxn iniquity." The 
 Lord was wroth with all the congi-ega- 
 tion, and thirty-six of the people were 
 slain before Ai, because of Achan's sin. 
 The argument of Phinehas deals with 
 facts of history, and is not to be read 
 as a mere expression of his own personal 
 opinion. 1. Scripture sheirs us many 
 other cases in uhich the innocent ar.' 
 involved with the yuilty. A notable in- 
 stance is that in which seventy thousand 
 men were slain on the occasion of 
 David's !>in in numbering the people. 
 David himself was oppressed by the 
 thought, and cried out: " Lo, I have 
 sinned, and I have done wickedly ; but 
 these sheep, what have they done?" 
 Almost every case of sin of which the 
 Scriptures give any record shews, how- 
 ever, that the sufieriug wrought by sia 
 
 325 
 
BOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 CHAP, XXIX. 
 
 reaches out far beyond the sinner. 
 Joseph's brethren well-nigh break the 
 heart of Jacob. The sons of Eli and 
 Samuel bring judgment upon all the 
 land. Saul sins, and the kingdom suf- 
 fers throughout. The sin of Eden 
 involves the world. 2. Like thimjs cnn- 
 tinnalh) happen in daily life now. The 
 murderer gives way to passion, and not 
 only is the victim made to suifer, but 
 the families of both victim and murderer 
 also. The sin of carelessness in a miner, 
 a chemist, an engineer, or a railway 
 signalman may place an entire neigh- 
 bourhood in mourning. In this life, 
 the drunkard and the thief often bring 
 more woe to their families than even to 
 themselves. The ambition of rulers 
 has strewn miles of battle-ground with 
 the dead of their own and other nations. 
 This is no mere question of theology, 
 confined to the Bible, on which scep- 
 tics, with a mercy improvised for the 
 occasion, may come and pour forth their 
 scorn. All history, all life, and the very 
 recognition of anything which we can 
 term law, join to tell us that " No man 
 liveth unto himself." Peradventure 
 this is the one appropriate inscription 
 which could stand over the tomb of 
 every conspicuous sinner: " That man 
 perished not alone in his iniquity." 
 
 "Each creature holds an insular point in 
 space : 
 
 Yet what man stirs a finger, breathes a 
 sound. 
 
 But all the multitudinous beincs round, 
 
 In all the countless worlds, with time and 
 place 
 
 For their conditions, down to the central 
 base. 
 
 Thrill, haply, in vibration and rebound, 
 
 Life answering life across the vast pro- 
 found. 
 
 In full antiphony." — £J. B. Bromnin/i. 
 
 This is not a question of theology ; it is 
 simply a question of men standing very 
 close together. God has bound us to 
 each other in so many sensitive and 
 close interests, that the otlcnce of one 
 man is ever the wound of many of his 
 fellows. 
 
 III. Sin committed, and the inno- 
 cent contaminated and punished also. 
 Aehan's sons and daughters w^n'c pro- 
 bably stoned and burned with him. As 
 Keil has pointed out, concerning chap, 
 vii. 25, 20: "It docs not necessarily 
 320 
 
 follow from the use of the singular suf- 
 fixes that only Achan was stoned, and 
 not his children ; on the contraiy, the 
 singular is used interchangeably with 
 the plural because Achan was the person 
 most prominent in the punishment, and 
 therefore he is repeatedly mentioned 
 alone." It is at least possible that the 
 children of Achan may have been awai'e 
 of their father's sin, and that they thus 
 became accessories after the fact. Siu 
 not only brings punishment to the in- 
 nocent, it often tempts them, and pre- 
 sently makes them as guilty as the 
 original offender. 
 
 " 'Tis not their own crimes only, men commit: 
 They harrow them into another's breast, 
 And he, too, reaps the growth with bitter 
 pain." 
 
 It is of no avail for the guilty to say : 
 "Others should not be influenced." 
 Tempting, as well as sinning, is the 
 work of the devil. 
 
 1. The sins we have cuminitted are still 
 at work. Nothing is lost in the world of 
 nature. Nothing is lost in the world of 
 morals. Sin will work on after he who 
 committed it is dead. It needs eternity 
 to spend itself. 2. Erenj man's past 
 life calls for deep humiliation. " If we 
 say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, 
 and the truth is not in us." Our sins 
 may have had to do with the ci'iminal 
 who was executed yesterday, and with 
 the culprit who has been con\'icted to- 
 day. Some of the dead around us all 
 may be of our own killing. He who 
 will think that out fairly for himself can 
 have few reasons for pride and conceit. 
 Before men, and before God, the bearing 
 of us each might well be very humble. 
 8. The claims of life are not sn un/ent in 
 the direction of regrets about the past, as 
 in that of earnest service for the future. 
 The guilt of the past should be present 
 enough to make us humble, but he will 
 use it unwisely who finds in it only a 
 call to shame and tears. It should move 
 us to holy work, "if by any means we 
 may save some. ' ' If the past is working 
 death, the future should be spent as a 
 holy counteractive, leading men by the 
 grace of God to eternal life. 
 
 Verses 22, 28. — Righteousness 
 
 WAITING rOR TUE LiGHT. 
 
CHAP. XXII. 
 
 HOMILETIO COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 I. The devout heart rejoicing in the 
 consciousness that it is known of God. 
 " The Lord God of gods, He knoweth." 
 The guilty shrink from God. When 
 Adam has sinned, he hides. " Every 
 one that doeth evil hateth the light " 
 (John iii. 20). He who knows that he 
 is innocent, waits for the light with joy " 
 (Ps. xxxvii. 6). 
 
 II. The devout heart confident that 
 it will presently be j udged aright by 
 men. " And Israel he shall know." 
 *' From over the gateway of a conti- 
 nental city some plaster had broken 
 away, revealing an inscription cut in the 
 solid stone. In the days when popery 
 was prevalent, the inscription had been 
 covered over ; many years afterwards, 
 the plaster falling down, men drew near 
 and read in the words which it had 
 hidden, ' The blood of Jesus Christ His 
 Son cleanseth us from all sin.' Time 
 is on the side of truth." [C. Stamlfunl.] 
 Time is no less on the side of truth in 
 relation to character. When the plaster 
 of prejudice or of unwise haste has fallen 
 away, the fellow of the innocent " he 
 also shall know." 
 
 III. The devout heart boldly and 
 reverently appealing to God for its 
 vindication. " Save us not this day." 
 " Let the Lord Himself require it." 
 Thus Job waited for the vindication of 
 God (Job xix. 25, 20). Seneca said, 
 " Some men, like pictures, arc fitter for 
 a corner than a full light." A wiser 
 than Seneca said of others, " He that 
 doeth truth cometh to the light." 
 
 Verses 24 — 27. — Parental Fore- 
 cast. 
 
 I. Parents anticipating their chil- 
 dren's future temptations. 
 
 II. Parents endeavouring to pro- 
 vide for their children's part in God. 
 
 III. Parents unconsciously making 
 their own piety a monument and a 
 witness against their childi'en's sin. 
 
 Verses 27 — 29. — Monumental Ke- 
 
 CORDS. 
 
 I. The work of a man's life is a 
 monument reared aloft in the world. 
 
 The variety of this world's monuments : 
 as seen in our city squares ; as seen in 
 our records of history ; as seen in human 
 
 lives now suiTOunding us. Some are 
 building with gold, silver, precious 
 stones ; some with wood, hay, stubble. 
 The monument which transcends all 
 others in its loftiness, purity, and 
 beauty, is the life of Christ. 
 
 II. The monument of every man's 
 life is a witness. 1. It in a witness 
 of his personal relation to God. These 
 men did not erect their pile to the 
 praise and glory of their own brave 
 work in the war. In this light, so far 
 as the altar witnessed of its builders, it 
 told of their admiration of God and 
 gratitude to God. 2. It is a tvitness 
 of his relation to Ms family. The life 
 will tell of wise care or sinful careless- 
 ness for the spiritual welfare of the 
 household. 3. It is a witness of his 
 relation to his fellow-citizens. He has 
 worked with the nobler of them for the 
 common good, or he has stood apart 
 with the idle and the worthless. 
 
 III. The monument of a good 
 mans life speaks eloquently. 1. 
 This momunent embodied old ijearidngs. 
 It was so much consolidated passion. 
 It was religious love, and fervour, and 
 sympathy, and longing, perpetuated in 
 stone. 2. Tliis nionwrnent represented 
 Ion;/ and severe toil. It was the out- 
 come of work there upon the spot. It 
 was built, as it were, upon the pedestal 
 of all the previous toil in the seven 
 years' war. It was also expressive of 
 the determination of the builders to 
 take future journeys to Shiloh for the 
 worship of the Lord. 3. This monu- 
 )nent tcould (jo on speakini/ after the 
 Imihlers ivere dead. Such also is the 
 life-work of every true man. He being 
 dead, it yet spcaketh. 
 
 IV. These monuments which men 
 thus build may, for a time, be mis- 
 interpreted. The interpretation of the 
 " witness " is not wholly with the 
 builders. It depends no less on the 
 men who behold the monument. They 
 may *' hear say " a great deal that the 
 builders never so much as thought of. 
 They may utterly fail to interpret the 
 love and yearning and holy gratitude 
 which the monument embodies. The 
 eyes that read may be too dim to see 
 the things that ai'e written. The minds 
 and hearts that criticise may be too dull 
 
 327 
 
IIOMILETIC COIIMEXTARY : JOSHUA. chap. xxii. 
 
 and cold to interpret the eloquent tones 
 Avhicli nobler hearts Avould hear distinctly 
 and appreciate warmly. If Pharisees 
 he the interpreters, then, though it be 
 the life of the Son of God Himself on 
 which the)' look, they will merely say, 
 " He is a Samaritan, and hath a devil." 
 The monument of a life is what that 
 life is before God ; the monument of a 
 life to any individual beholder is only 
 what the beholder can make of it. A 
 dull reader never finds more than a dull 
 monument. Phinchas will detect the 
 passion and fervour of the monument, 
 but, in his rash haste and false zeal, he 
 will be in danger, for a time, of calling 
 it idolatrous. Many interpret only by 
 the interpretation of others. Looking 
 at the lives of their fellows, men are 
 very like young people in a picture 
 gallery ; they see what the leading 
 critics have seen, and reiterate, with 
 due technical precision, what the lead- 
 ing critics have said. Thousands have 
 got no farther than this in their inter- 
 pretation of the lives of men like Henry 
 Martyn, John Howard, David Living- 
 stone, and others. Tens of thousands 
 have got no farther than this in reading 
 the life of Jesus Christ. They see what 
 their chosen critics see, and say what 
 their critics say. The monumental re- 
 cords of this life are to be misunderstood 
 only for a time. All wrong readings will 
 be corrected presently. 
 
 Public Worship. 
 
 " The first care of true Israelites must 
 be the safety of religion. 
 
 " He never knew God aright that can 
 abide any competition with his Maker." 
 —[Bp. Hall.] 
 
 " They that are cut off from public 
 ordinances are likely to lose all religion, 
 and will, by degrees, cease from fearing 
 the Lord. 
 
 " Though the form and profession of 
 godliness is kept up by many without 
 the life and power of it, yet the life and 
 power of it will not be long kept up 
 without the form and profession. You 
 take away grace, if you take away the 
 means of grace." — [Matt, llciir;/.] 
 
 Verse 30. — The Acknowledgment of 
 A Wrong Judgment of I'iiethren. 
 I. Men getting rid of a strong 
 
 328 
 
 prejudice. The tenacity of prejudices. 
 Compare the warmth of the former 
 charges with the statement, " It pleased 
 them." 
 
 II. Men promptly conceding that 
 they had been mistaken. Phinehas 
 at once owned that the sin had not 
 been committed. The explanation of 
 the two and a half tribes was freely 
 accepted. Phinehas does not seem even 
 to have blamed them for their fault of 
 not conferring with the elders at Shiloh. 
 The conduct of the deputation was 
 generous, manly, and full of true piety. 
 
 III. Men well pleased with the 
 work of their brethren. So far from 
 retaining any of their former prejudice, 
 they were pleased with the godly in- 
 genuity of the memorial. They quickly 
 mastered the high lesson of looking also 
 " on the things of others." 
 
 Verse 31. — The Lord's Presence 
 with His People. 
 
 I. The Lord's withdrawal the fore- 
 runner of His chastisement. " Now 
 ye have delivered the children of Israel 
 out of the hand of the Lord." 
 
 II. The Lord's presence perceived 
 in the fact that His people have 
 been kept from sin. " Because ye 
 have not committed this ti'espass." 
 
 III. The Lord's presence recognised 
 with gladness and thanksgiving. It 
 is not a little significant that this should 
 have been the form of their first ex- 
 pression after the discovery of their 
 mistake. 
 
 Verse 33. — Anxiety gi\tng place to 
 Joy. 
 
 I. The joy of a whole nation. The 
 
 people who hud gathered at Shiloh, 
 anxiously fearing that they might have 
 to make war on their brethren, suddenly 
 find their anxiety turned into gladness. 
 The heart of the people must huve been 
 " as the heart of one man." 
 
 II. The joy of a whole nation in 
 averted judgment. The people might 
 have feared God's judgments on them- 
 selves. It seemed almost certain that 
 judgment must fall on their brethren. 
 The songs of this day must have been 
 far more grateful to the ears of heaven 
 than any pai-an of national victory. 
 
 III. The joy of a whole nation in 
 
CHAP, xxiii. HOMILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 the Lord. " The chiklren of Israel 
 blessed God." "He who keepeth 
 Israel " had not slumbered. The mercy 
 was regarded as oue of heaven's own 
 sending. 
 
 IV. The joy of a whole nation, 
 the outcome of a nation's faith. As 
 in the words of the penitent thief — 
 " Lord, remember me when Thou comest 
 into Thy kingdom " — there was mar- 
 vellous faith shown in Christ, so thei'e 
 must have been great faith underlying 
 this national emotion. The people must 
 have believed very fully (1) in the sin of 
 disobei/inf/ GncVs commanth, (2) in God's 
 jmnishmi'nt of sin, (3) in tlip. presence of 
 God to behold sin, (4) in God's discern- 
 ment of men's heart>i, as well as of their 
 acts, (5) and, })roba!ih/, like Phinehas 
 and his brethren, in the Dicine keeping 
 of the hearts of men. 
 
 Verse 34. — The Altar of Witness. 
 
 "From the incidents above related 
 we may gather : 
 
 1. " That the best meant things may 
 afford cause of suspicion. 
 
 2. "It caa do our brethren no injury 
 to be jealous over tbem with a godly 
 jealousy, even when we may be mistaken 
 in our fears. 
 
 3. " Nothing will so soon kindle the 
 zeal of a faithful and devoted spirit as 
 the symptoms of apostacy from God in 
 others, because to such nothing is so 
 dear as His glory. 
 
 4. " Rising corruptions and dangerous 
 errors should, in the spirit of meekness, 
 be resisted as soon as broached, lest the 
 evil leaven, being permitted to spread, 
 should leaven the whole mass. 
 
 5. " The testimony of a good con- 
 science is the most effectual support 
 against the heaviest accusation." — • 
 [Bush.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 JOSHUA'S FIRST FAREWELL ADDRESS. 
 
 Critical Notes. — 1. A long time after that the Lord had given rest] Probably the 
 beginning of this period is to be reckoned from the time indicated in chap. xxi. 44, to the 
 similar phrase of which the historian looks back. The " long time," after the second division 
 of the land, appears to have been about sixteen years (cf. on chap. xiii. 1). 2. Called for all 
 Israel and for, etc.^ Omit ^•and." The gathering was a representative one, and the four 
 clauses which follow are meant to stand in explanation of the words " all Israel." Joshua 
 called all Israel, ?■.<^, their elders, their heads, efr. 3. Because of you] //f^5.. mipp'neychcni 
 =from before yon. It is not said that God slew the C'anaanites because of the Israelites, but 
 before their •' faces," i.e.. before the Israelites in battle. The figurative meaning, on account 
 of, though frequently admissible, would here obviously alter the sense of the passage. Calvin 
 translates by in cnn.spectu ve-stro. but Tremellius and Junius ha.vep7-optcr vos. The same form 
 in verse .5 is rendered, //y/w before ijou. with which in both places, agree the LXX. 7- That 
 ye come not among these nations] They were not to form with the Canaanites any civil or 
 sdcial allianres. The word rendered " come " indicates close and familiar intercourse. 
 Neither make mention, cte.'\ " P^our different expressions are used to describe idolatry. 
 (1.) Jliz'kir r'»hem clohim,to make mention of the name of their gods, in such a manner that 
 he who mentions them gives himself up to them, approaches them %vith love, i.e.. to mention 
 them with admiration. Hiz'ktr does not mean to praise, as is evident from Ex. xxiii. 13 ; see 
 also Ps. XX. 8 (ver. 7, E.V.), and Hengstenberg's notes on that passage. (2.) Lo tha.sh'biu, 
 not to cansc to smear by the gods of the Canaanites. Swearing and causing to swear by a 
 god were in ordinary life the most frequent evidence of belief in that god, and therefore the 
 l;iw was enforced, that the name of Jehovah was to be the only one by which they swore 
 (Deut. vi. 13, X. 20). (3.) ' Avad, to .serve them, colere ; and (4.) hi.ih'taeh'reh, to n-orshij), 
 are distinguished from each other in this way : the former expresses rather the external 
 worship by sacrifice ; the latter, calling upon God from the heart. The two words are fre- 
 quently connected together. They are so in the original passage, Ex. xx. ."> : see also Ex. 
 xxiii. 24: Deut. iv, 19, v. 9, viii. 19, xxx. 17, etc." [^Keil.^ 11. Take good heed therefore 
 unto yourselves] Marg.. -'unto your souls." '"Take heed with all your soul;" so Winer 
 and Ges., quoted by Kcil, who adds, The form is used '' for the sake of emphasis, to denote 
 that inward vigilance which comes from the soul." 12. Make marriages with them] The 
 same sense is conveyed by the Ileb. in ver. 7. 13. Snares . . . traps . . . scourges . . . thorns] 
 cf. passages in margin. The threatenings have a kinil of cumulative force. The energy of the 
 warnings here is the measure of the pathos in the entreaty of ver. 8 — 11. 14. Behold, this 
 day] A similar use of hayyom, " this day," occurs in Deut. ix. 1, where the phrase is also em- 
 ployed to denote, not this day actually, but an early day or time. 
 
 329 
 
SO^IILEIW COMMEIvTARY: JOSHUA. chap, xxiii. 
 
 MAIN IIOMILETICS OF THE PARAGEAPH.— Verses 1—5. 
 The Dominating Interest of a Godly Man in his Last Days. 
 
 Almost everything about a man gets " old and stricken in age," saving the desii'es 
 of the godly towai'ds God and godly things. The body decays, let it have been 
 ever so vigorous. Appetites fail, one by one, till the choicest dainties and even 
 necessary food no longer tempt. Beauty wanes and vanishes. The problems which 
 have kept a mind active for half a century presently fail to command more than 
 a passing thought. The love of pleasure and wickedness is no exception to the 
 general rule. The things which once so seductively won and delighted the life that 
 chose to revel in them, sooner or later, not only fail to please, but ai-e found abso- 
 lutely nauseous. Many other preachers than Solomon, whether publicly or only to 
 themselves, eventually cry, " Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." It says something, 
 at least, for the spiritual mind, that as long as other minds can watch it, it shews 
 no sign of decay. When everything else gets stricken with many days, the love of 
 the heart towards God and goodness is strong as ever. Nay, this is the time when 
 it renews its youth. (Cf. Ps. Ixxiii. 26.) Infidelity finds its strongest foe in the 
 life most stricken with weakness. The roughest camping ground for unbelief is on 
 the margui of the grave. It is there, more than anywhere else, that faith is unen- 
 cumbered by doubt. It does us good to see this venerable servant of God so 
 stricken without, and yet so strong within. The ruling desire of the failing veteran 
 was to see idolatry banished, Israel holy and happy, and Jehovah glorified. 
 
 I. Here is an aged man diligently setting himself to complete the work of 
 his life. Hoping that Israel would feel the appeal that came from one whose life 
 had been given to them in so simple and thorough a manner, Joshua tried to say 
 words that might make his past service an abiding help to his people. 1. Many 
 useful lives are left to drift down to posteriti/ as best titci/ can. Our aged men ai'e 
 too prone to retire. Then, what they have done well through many years is apt 
 to retire from the public mind also. A few broken words from an aged man with 
 a great life behind him, are words which no one else can speak. Such a man 
 should try and say them. They are very beautiful from such lips. Power goeth 
 forth from them. Many lives are like nails well driven home, but miclenched. 
 There are aged men just gone from us, and some among us now, whose broken 
 words of weakness compel om* faith and fervour as did none of the more eloquent 
 utterances of their younger days. 2. A life which has been for others all through, can 
 only end nobly as it continues for others to the lust. Joshua did not call the elders 
 to get them to aid him in perpetuating his own fame. Not a word falls from the 
 deal' old man which takes the slightest tinge of self- admiration or self-concern. 
 The pain of the bodily efi'ort was all for the people. Love for them and love for 
 God was moving the aged man to this effort. It was not self-love. Joshua does 
 not even impress us with the feeling that he was trying to prepare to die well. All 
 that had been settled long ago. He was working with his last strength to try and 
 get others to live well. A godly life has no room for selfishness even on the borders 
 of the gi"ave. 3. However nobly a life may continue ami end, only one life is com- 
 plete — the life of Jesus Christ. Joshua was but the supplement of Moses. The 
 purposes of Moses, like those of Job, were " broken off." He died looking into 
 the land which he failed to reach. And even Joshua had left many Cauaanites 
 still unconquered. There remained, still, very much land to be possessed. The 
 best lives are only a segment. We are all only arcs, some longer and some shorter, 
 in the circle of God's plan. Only the life of Jesus represents a completed idea. 
 Probably His were the only lips which ever tried to frame for their dying utterance 
 the. august words, " It is finished." Paul said, "I have finished my course," but 
 he had no such fulness of meaning in his mind as He who decliu-ed, "I have 
 finished the Avork which Thou gavest me to do." The Lord, who was so separafo 
 from sinners in His life, is no less alone in His death. II. An aged man hiding 
 330 
 
CHAP, xxiii. HOMILETIG COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 the work of a great life behind the greater work of God. "Ye have seen all 
 that the Lord hath done .... for the Lord your God is He that hath fought for 
 you." To the people, Joshua had seemed to have done much. They probably 
 both honoured and loved him. It would have been easy for Joshua to have magni- 
 fied his own work. Instead of this, and with a beautiful freedom from aflectation 
 in his humility, the veteran soldier treats himself as a mere subordinate, and extols 
 God as the real leader of the army. John the Baptist was willing that his own 
 light should wane before the greater brightness of the Rising Sun of Righteousness. 
 Thus, also, Joshua conceals his own fame by bidding the people gaze on the incom- 
 parable glory of Jehovah. 1. To extol God is due to truth, (a) God had wonderfully 
 and visibly interposed in times of Israel's greatest difficulties. The dividing of the 
 Jordan. The fall of the walls of Jericho. The hailstorm at Beth-horon, and the 
 phenomenal staying of the sun and moon, [b) God had guided Joshua. The 
 plans of battle had been from the Captain of the Lord's host (chap. v. 13 — 15, vi. 
 1 — 5). (e) God had encouraged Joshua in almost every battle where his own 
 heart might have failed him. The gracious " fear not " of Jehovah was continually 
 anticipating Joshua's trembling and depression (chap. iii. 7, 8 ; vi. 2 ; viii. 1, 18 ; x. 
 8 ; xi. 6). {d) When God had once withdrawn from His servant, then Joshua had 
 been utterly defeated (ehap. vii. 1 — 12). [e) God had maintained, every day, 
 Joshua's health and strength. It would have been false to truth if Joshua had 
 exalted himself. Every triumph of om's might be as truly traced to the help of the 
 Lord. 2. To extol God is due to (rod. If His own "right hand and His holy arm 
 hath gotten Him the victory," shall a man rob God of the glory due unto His 
 name '? Let us rather imitate Joshua here, and sing with the pious Israelite of a 
 later generation about these same triumphs : "In God we boast all the day long " 
 (cf. Psalm xliv. 1 — 8), 3. To extol God is due to men. Those about us should 
 not be drawn from God by our own personal vanity, but rather be led to God by 
 our adoring praise. Wlien the king passes by, he is but a mean citizen who tries 
 to attract attention to himself. 4. To extol God is due toourselces. The man who 
 seeks to appropriate the glory due to Jehovah does but rob himself. He gains 
 nothing, and loses all the joy of fealty and childhood. III. An aged man re- 
 viewing God's goodness in the past, and finding therein an assurance of Gods 
 help in difiiculties yet to come. " The Lord your God, He shall expel them 
 from before you," etc. Many years of experience had taught Joshua that he might 
 unquestionably trust in Jehovah. Looking into the future of the Israelites, no 
 doubt troubled his clear faith on that side of things which related to God. Of the 
 people, Joshua had many doubts ; of God, none whatever. He was far from 
 assuming that Divine help had been given on his own account. He saw that 
 hitherto Divine help had been given because of Divine love to the nation, and that 
 if the people continued faithful, God would continue to bless them. The aged 
 warrior felt that he was fast going the way of all the earth ; he did not therefore 
 think that victory must fail the people. He could no longer lead them to the 
 battle ; God would be as able and as willing to cause them to triumph notwith- 
 standing. With such a life of prowess behind him, it is very beautiful that 
 Joshua in no way considered himself essential to victory. The thought of his own 
 absence did not so much as begin to obscure his faith in the sufficiency of God's 
 presence. The triumphs of the Church in our day have all been of the Lord. No 
 individual servant of God is a necessity. True faith dwells altogether above men, 
 resting only in God. 
 
 OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VERSES. 
 
 Verse 1. — The Lord's Gift of Rest, the confronting sea; the swellings of 
 
 I. The Lord's gift of rest in spite Jordan ; the enemies within the land 
 
 of great difficulties. The bondage in itself: under Divine leading, and before 
 
 Egypt ; the pursuing Egyptians, and Divine power, all these hindrances were 
 
 331 
 
IIOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. chap. xxin. 
 
 as nothing. So far from preventing 
 the gift of rest, they only exalted it. 
 They became, as it were, the emphasis 
 of the rest. Witness the after songs of 
 peace which these conflicts only served 
 to provoke. " If God be for us, who 
 can be against us ?" 
 
 II. The Lord's gift of rest, notwith- 
 standing many sins. Sin in Egypt, in 
 the wilderness, and in Canaan. Bin in 
 the leaders of Israel, as by Moses and 
 Aaron. Sin among the people : pro- 
 minent sins, as at the return of the 
 spies, as by Korah, Zimri, and Achan ; 
 secret and unrecorded sins. " Where 
 sin abounded, grace did much more 
 abound." 
 
 III. The Lord's gift of rest unto 
 Israel. 1. llcut (jiien to the cldJJrcn of 
 manij pruiiim's. See the covenants with 
 Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 2. Rest 
 yiven to a peojyle ivhom Ijod somjht to 
 make a praise in the earth. The Lord 
 was preparing them to sing, " Thy 
 gentleness hath made me great." 3. 
 Ilest given to the people of God as a 
 vitness aijainst idolatry. The penalties 
 of sin are to forfeit everything worth 
 keeping, and to inherit only desolation 
 and pain. The reward of serving God 
 is to be made heirs of God. 4. liest 
 yiven to the people of (Jod, but yiven only 
 in instahnents. All the enemies were 
 not yet subdued ; if Israel only kept 
 the faith, they would be. If the people 
 served Jehovah truly on earth, Canaan 
 would be merely the portico to heaven. 
 He who serves the Lord faithfully may 
 always say, "There reDiainetli therefore 
 a rest to the people of God." The chil- 
 dren of the King of kings ever have 
 some estate in possession, and much in 
 reversion. 
 
 IV. The Lord's gift of rest to Israel 
 the prediction and beginning of a 
 higher rest to be offered to all the 
 world. God began to teach the world 
 in one place. Israel was only a con- 
 centrated view of mercy which God 
 was ready to offer to all men. Canaan 
 was never intended to be other than 
 God's preface to a Christian world. 
 Local blessing stands here as a preamble 
 to the epistle of God's universal love. 
 Canaan was God's preparation for Cal- 
 vary, and Israel did but make way for 
 
 S32 
 
 the fulness of the Gentiles. The rest 
 of God was never meant to rest. 
 
 Verse 2. — The Providence of a Fa- 
 therly Spirit. 
 
 " The pious solicitude of Joshua is 
 here set forth, for the imitation of all 
 who are in authority. For as the father 
 of a family will not be considered suffi- 
 ciently provident if he thinks of his 
 children only till the end of his own 
 life, and docs not extend his care farther, 
 studying as much as in him lies to do 
 them good even when he is dead ; so 
 good magistrates and rulers ought care- 
 fully to provide that the well-arranged 
 condition of atlairs, as the}' leave them, 
 be confirmed and pi'olonged to a distant 
 period. For this reason Peter writes 
 (2 Pet. i. 25), that he will endeavour 
 after he has departed out of the world 
 to keep the Church in remembrance 
 of his admonitions, and able to derive 
 benefit from them." — [C'rt/rtu.] 
 
 Verse 3. — The Sword of the Lord 
 AND OF Men. 
 
 I. Men may seem to hold the sword, 
 but it is ever God who fights against 
 the enemies of truth. The Israelites 
 were simply instruments in the Divine 
 chastisement of idolaters. This is con- 
 tinuously insisted on throughout the 
 book. It is the same in many other 
 instances. The overthrow of Tyre, 
 Nineveh, Jerusalem, and other places, 
 let the instruments vary as they may, 
 is spoken of as God's punishment of 
 transgression. Thus also a godly man 
 of the last generation said of his trials, 
 " My sins are reappearing to me in the 
 form of men." 
 
 II. Men may seem to win prowess, 
 but in all true victories the battle is 
 the Lord's. 1. The Lord is He nho 
 reiilhj liyhts. " The Lord your God is 
 He that hath fought." 2. The Lord's 
 fiyhtiny is for His people. " He hath 
 fought for you." 3. The Lord's fiyhtiny 
 is for the truth, that throuyh it many 
 iiKiy heeome His jieoplc indeed. 
 
 III. Men may seek praise for them- 
 selves, or give glory to the Lord, but 
 only he who honours God is really 
 exalted. Joshua lias come to far mt)re 
 exaltation through his humility than 
 
CHAP. XXIII. IIOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 could ever have been possible through I. The Lord's work affording' a 
 
 a foolish vanity. It is ever thus. " He glorious retrospect. What has been 
 
 that humbleth himself shall be exalted." done, He has done. " Ye have seen 
 
 If that is God's word, it is also man's all," etc. (vor. 3). 
 
 resolute dogma. Many men are weak II. The Lord's work the foundation 
 
 enough to be vain; no man will tolerate of all that seems done by men. "I 
 
 foolish conceit outside of his own heart, have not fought, hut IL'." "I have 
 
 This history shews us that : 1. Tempta- divided unto you, but I have done even 
 
 tioits to st'lf'ijlori/hiif are numerous. 2. that //// tJie (uddance of the Lord's lot." 
 
 Inducements to praise God are more God had been both power and light. 
 
 numerous. 3. To (jive glory sincerely III. The Lord's work the only hope 
 
 to the Lord, is to receive lastimj honour for the future. 1. In the castinij out 
 
 from. men. of enrmii's. "He shall expel them." 
 
 2. Li the j)()ss(ssii))} of an undisturhed 
 
 Verses 3 — -5. — The Lord's Wokk iuhrritam-e. " As the Lord your God 
 
 AND Man's Work. hath promised you." 
 
 MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Verses 6—10. 
 From Courage, through Holiness, to Victory. 
 
 Joshua, who had so often personally led the Israelites to victory, here shews them 
 how they may attain like triumphs after he is gone. The aged general, who is 
 about to go the way of all the earth, tells out the secret of his many triumphs ere 
 he departs. This secret of victory holds good on every field where men can be 
 found fighting for truth and for God. 
 
 Taking Joshua's words in the order given, the leading thoughts which they 
 contain may be thus stated : 
 
 I. There can he no holiness without courage. " Be ye therefore very coura- 
 geous to keep and to do all that is written.'' Unless they were courageous they 
 would fail both in keeping and in doing. Nor would an ordinary courage suffice ; 
 they must be venj courageous. 1. Men need to be venj courageous to coiistantlif 
 resist temptation. A little courage will do to keep some of the things that are 
 written. Ordinary fortitude will do for easy occasions. There are multitudes 
 who can keep ever so many things on Sunda}', when in God's house, and among 
 God's people ; and yet, at other times, they utterly fail. 2. Men need to he very 
 courageous to steadily confess their love to God. Some people treat confession as a 
 thing to be attended to once in a lifetime. They confess their love to Christ 
 when they join His Church, and then they seem to suppose that they have done 
 with this matter of confession altogether. Some think confession a matter for the 
 grand occasions of life. They admire the firmness which led Daniel to the lions' 
 den, and readily applaud the fidelity of the three Hebrews on the plain of Dura. 
 They believe thoroughl}' in the heroism recorded in the history of the martyrs. 
 And yet these same admirers of the martyrs fail to be faithful in the small matters 
 of their own daily temptations. We are not to think such men hypocritical and 
 dishonest. Probably many of them would have had courage enougli for martyr- 
 dom themselves. The simple truth is this : for many temperaments, it needs a 
 better courage to acknowledge Christ daily, than to die for Christ in martyrdom. 
 3. Men need to be very courageous to do the things of God uith an even and a holy 
 )ninil. Many persons are spasmodic in their zeal. At times they have all the 
 boldness of Peter before the Sanhedrim ; at other times they are as weak as Peter 
 before the servants of the high priest. What God asks of us is a boldness which 
 is calm enough to ignore parade and to forget shame. 4. Did men but see things 
 as they are, it would need far more courage to sin than to be holy. These words do 
 but address themselves to the common feeling of men. It is the transgressor who 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTART: JOSHUA. chap, xxiii. 
 
 most needs to be very courageous. Holiness is man's act of sheltering himself 
 behind an arm which can never fail ; sin is man's act of fleeing before the scofl' of 
 his weak fellow to defy the Omnipotent. II. There can be no cleaving to God 
 without holiness. " Turn not aside .... come not among these nations .... 
 but cleave unto the Lord j'our God." A man cannot turn aside and at the same 
 time cleave to God. No man can commune with his idols and also with Jehovah. 
 It is said of some that " they fccnrd the Lord and served their own gods ;" that 
 is possible, but it is not possible for any one to cleave to the Lord and serve his 
 own gods. There is all the difference in the world between that " fearing" and 
 this " cleaving." 1. Krery man maj/ cleave to God. These are words addressed 
 to all Israel. There was no man in the host who might not have this high honour 
 and this perpetual joy. It is very marvellous to read in the Gospels of the Son 
 of God, "And He took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town." 
 What a picture is that ! It is omnipotence leading infirmity! It is perfect purity 
 conducting embodied sin ! It is God in His veiled glor)', hand in hand with man 
 in his manifest wretchedness ! That is no exceptional representation of Divine 
 condescension. Here are words which are addressed to a nation, and through 
 that nation to a world in all its succeeding generations, and these words put before 
 us all the possibility of this exalted union. They say to every man, You too 
 may cleave unto the Lord your God. 2. No man can cleave unto God and aha 
 unto sin. When Jesus leads the blind, it is that they may be blind no longer. 
 When God bids us cleave unto Himself, it is that we may let go all things which 
 are not according to His will. 8. He who icould cleave unto God well, should think 
 mncho7i God's abundant mercy and help (ver. 9). The faithful man always has a 
 faithful God. Joshua was able to commend the people in their past relation to 
 God (ver. 8) ; that being so, it followed, as a matter of course, that he could speak 
 with joy of God's past relation to His people. He who has endeavoured faithfully 
 to do his little things for God will never want occasion to sing, " The Lord hath 
 done great things for me, whereof I am glad." And then, God's gracious past 
 helps the faithful man's future. " Because Thou hast been my help, therefore 
 under the shadow of Thy wings will I rejoice." A holy life ever becomes full of 
 encouragements to holiness. It is sin that makes such facilities for sinning. The 
 iniquity of a man's heels ' ' compasses him about ; " the piety of a man compasses him 
 about no less. III. There can be no victory without cleaving to God. " One 
 man of you shall chase; a thousand ; for the liord your God, He it is that fighteth 
 for you, as He hath promised you." The help of God is for the man who cleaves 
 to God. Without God, no man can prevail. His very victories become defeats. 
 No matter how few or weak the foes, or what may be the field, he who lights 
 Avithout God must fail. With God one man ma}- chase a thousand. Elisha led 
 the army of the king of Syria whithersoever he would (2 Kings vi. 8 — 23). Peter, 
 with God's angel to help, was more than the four quarternions of soldiers who 
 sought to keep him. Paul and Silas, with their feet made fast in the stocks, sang 
 till their bondage melted into liberty, and they presently found their oppressors 
 tiu'ncd into suppliants. " If God be for us, who can be against us '? " 
 
 OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VEHSES. 
 
 Verse 6. — Man's Relation to that 1. The Serijitures are the yreatesl moral 
 
 WHICH IS Wkittkn. and social force that the world has ever 
 
 I. Every man should be acquainted Inown. 2. llie injJuence c^ the Scrip- 
 
 with that which is written. The tures, tvhile so miyhty, has ever been for 
 
 Pible claims the attention of every yood. 3. The intri)mc character of the 
 
 living man who has heard of it. Any Serijitures is another claim on our atten- 
 
 man who wilfully neglects to make tion tvhieh should not be resisted. For 
 
 himself acquainted with it is entitled these and other reasons of a similar 
 
 to small respect from his fcUow-mcu. character, every one should at least 
 334 
 
CHAP. XXIII. 
 
 HOMILETIG COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 acquaint himself thoroughly with the 
 Bible. Some of the most notorious 
 infidels of the last generation acknow- 
 ledge that they had hardly read the 
 Bible at all. A man's self-respect has 
 its claims, and this acquaintance with 
 the Scriptures is a very important claim, 
 even in this direction. 
 
 II. No man should act partially 
 with that which is written. Men 
 stand in an important relation to all 
 that is written in the book. Many 
 people deal with the Bible as they 
 would with the multiplied dishes of a 
 sumptuous dinner ; they choose what 
 they prefer, and leave the rest. They 
 think themselves under no kind of ob- 
 ligation to take aught but what is agree- 
 able. 1. Men choose j^i'omues, and leave 
 the jyrecepts. 2. Men choose among the 
 jrrecepts themselves. 3. Men choose as 
 to the traits of the revealed character of 
 God. 4. Men choose ainon;/ Scri/diire 
 doctrines. The Bible stands or falls as 
 a whole. No man can pick and choose 
 among the laws of his country. No 
 man has liberty to leave some laws un- 
 kept, and to say : "I make au excep- 
 tion in the matter of theft, in the matter 
 of impurity, or on the question of mur- 
 der." A man must be either a citizen 
 or an outlaw. Law is binding all 
 ound. He who looks for law to keep 
 liimself and his family is a debtor to do 
 the whole law of his country. So the 
 things written in the book of the law of 
 God are all obligatory. Heaven is very 
 merciful to pardon sin, but not to per- 
 mit determinate rebellion in anything. 
 Heaven also says : " You must be out- 
 law or citizen." 
 
 III. All men need courage before 
 that which is written. 1. It )iccds 
 courafic to keep that which is written. 
 Courage before scoffers. Courage as to 
 conventional proprieties and customs. 
 Courage under disappointments. 2. It 
 oict'ds courage to do tliat ic/rich is written. 
 Courage to be faithful in times of great 
 importance. Courage to be faithful in 
 that which is least. 3. It needs courage 
 to keep straight on. We are to turn 
 neither to the right hand nor to the 
 left. The things which are written ask 
 for progress. They ask, also, for un- 
 deviating progress. 4. It needs most 
 
 courage of all to reject that ichich is 
 written. Men are only able to reject 
 what is written by ceasing to think on 
 the things with which the writings deal. 
 Few people would be able to sin much 
 and at the same time think carefully. 
 A man who turns from God has need 
 to make himself both blind and deaf to 
 some things. 
 
 Verse 7. — Fellowship with the Un- 
 godly, 
 
 " Have no civil or social contracts 
 with them (see ver. 12), as these will 
 infallibly lead to spiritual affinities, in 
 consequence of which ye will make 
 honourable mention of the name of their 
 gods, swear by them as the judges of 
 your motives and actions, serve them in 
 their abominable rites, and bow your- 
 selves unto them as yom* creators and 
 preservers ; thus giving the whole 
 worship of God to idols : and all this 
 will follow from simply coming among 
 them. He who walks in the counsel of 
 the ungodhj will soon stand in the way 
 of sinners, and shortly sit in the seat of 
 the scornful. ' No man rises to the 
 highest stages of iniquity but by de- 
 grees.' Nero himself, under the in- 
 structions of Seneca was a promising 
 youth."— [.4. Clarke, LL.D.'] 
 
 " Bad men will be as the heathen 
 were for the Israelites, a trap and a 
 snare, and a scourge in the sides, and 
 thorns in the eyes for those who live iu 
 intercourse with them." — [Fag.^ 
 
 Verses 8 — -10. — Reasons foe Cleav- 
 ing UNTO God. 
 
 I. Cleave unto God because you 
 have long done so already (ver. 8). 
 1. llie obligation arising from known 
 liherty and possibility. All the past 
 says that you may so cleave. The 
 past says that you can cleave to God. 
 It is no speculation. There is no ex- 
 cuse on the side of fear as to acceptance. 
 There is no excuse in the direction of 
 insufficient strength. 2. The obligation 
 of continued necessity. All the old rea- 
 sons for cleaving to Him are still in 
 force. New reasons have been con- 
 tinually added. 3. The obligation of 
 consistency. No man should lightly 
 make his life into a series of grave 
 
 335 
 
HOMILETIC COIUIUNTAIiY: JOSHUA. chap, xxiii. 
 
 contradictions. 4. The ohli;iatinn of 
 vot hindnimi others. The past clays of 
 cleaving to God may have led others 
 to God. Turning back would hinder 
 them. 
 
 II. Cleave unto God because you 
 have not cleaved to Him in vain ( ver. 
 9), 1. God has (firen His help irres/m- 
 tive of personal merit. " The Lord hath 
 driven out from before you." You 
 who sinned so often in the wilderness. 
 You who had an Achan among you. 
 You who have been so slow to go up 
 and possess the land. 2. God has 
 helped votirithstandiuf/ wi/ihti/ enemies. 
 He hath driven out from before you 
 " great nations and strong.'' 3. God's 
 help has never yet jailed yon. " No man 
 hath been able to stand before you unto 
 this day." 
 
 III. Cleave unto God because you 
 
 will yet need God. 1. A mans ene- 
 mies may yet he ayainst him as a thou- 
 sand to one. No man can predict his 
 future. No man knows the relation of 
 others to him in the future. 2. God's 
 lielp is e(jual to any cmeryencies. If 
 necessary, cleaving to Him, " one man 
 shall chase a thousand." We do not 
 know the future ; let it be enough that 
 we know the power and love of God. 
 3. God's help is promised. There is no 
 question about the sufficiency of that 
 help ; neither is there any question 
 about its being given to the man who 
 cleaves unto the Lord. History gua- 
 rantees the sufficiency of Divine power ; 
 the everlasting covenant, added to his- 
 tory, pledges the constancy of Divine 
 love. 
 
 MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Verses 11—16. 
 Forces of Preservation and Destruction. 
 
 Life, look upon it in what sphere we may, seems to have conflict for its in- 
 evitable condition. Sometimes life in one form preys upon life in another form. 
 Everywhere, life has some foes that wait around it to work it harm — some 
 influences by which it is ever being drawn unto death. There are also sustaining 
 and restoring forces which are placed around life in every sphere. These verses 
 present us with a picture of human life as it stands in contact with things that 
 tend both to its preservation and destruction. Suciall}', nationally, and spiritually, 
 human life is here shewn in possible contact with things which help it, and with 
 things which destroy it. 
 
 I. The restraining- power of love to God (ver. 11). Love to God keeps men 
 from " going back" to the influences which work death. The way of love to God 
 is the way of life in God. 1. Lm'e to God places a man hiylier in life than any 
 other influence. He who lives in the love of God, lives far above all his fellows 
 who want this love, let them dwell where they may. Love to God leads a man 
 into a healthy region where life is ever strong, and where it takes on its noblest 
 forms. The ideal of the ancient Romans was power. To them, to be mighty 
 was to live. The ideal of the Greeks was beauty and wisdom. The Greek 
 thought he lived most nobly when he dAvclt amidst the most beautiful things 
 which art could devise, and there talked philosojihy. The modern Knglish ideal 
 seems to be riches. "Give me wealth," says the Englishman ; " it has a vast 
 pui-chasing power over almost everything : to be rich is to live indeed." The 
 Bible ideal of life is love. Power may be pleasant, w'isdom and l)eauty may be 
 fascinating, and riches may help the soul, even within a few hours of death, to 
 say, "Take thine ease; thou hast much goods laid up for many years;" yet life 
 is not in these. A greater than these is love. 2. Lore to (lod is life in a jiositire 
 form, while mere (dicdience to God is hardhj more than kcejnny from tliinys which 
 vork death. Obedience submits to the voice which cries, "Thou shalt have no 
 other gods before me ; " Love responds, " O Lord our Lord, how excellent is Thy 
 name in all the earth!" Before the proclamation, "Thou shalt not make unto 
 336 
 
CHAP, xxiii. IIOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 theo any graven image," Obedience just refrains from sculpture; but Love 
 rejoins, "Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none upon earth that 
 I desire beside Thee." Obedience declines to take the name of the Lord God in 
 vain ; Love exclaims, " The desire of our soul is to Thy name ;" " There is none 
 other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we may be saved." 
 Obedience refuses to break the Sabbath; Love says, "I call the Sabbath a 
 delight, the holy day of the Lord, honourable." Thus it is with the whole of the 
 law. Love is the very soul of the commandments : it is the life thereof. Kept 
 in the letter, they are mere tables of stone — cold, frigid, and unseemly; kept in 
 love, they are a living power, tilled with the beauty of the love which animates 
 them. 3. Love to God leads to God icho is the source of life. Love of country, 
 even in the traveller, presently turns his steps towards his native land. Love of 
 father and mother quickens the steps of the schoolboy on his way towards home. 
 The man who loves God will seek to come to God. 4. Love to God makes him 
 irho loves like God, The man who loves letters gets presently a literary look. 
 The farmer gets an agricultural appearance. Family likeness may be sometimes 
 partly owing to family love. So they who gaze admiringly on God are " changed 
 into Ilis image." When inspired Jude would have his brethren be found separate 
 from evil-doers, he said, " Keep yourselves in the love of God." So when Joshua 
 would restrain his people from fellowship with idolaters, he says, similarly, "Take 
 good heed therefore unto j^ourselves, that ye love the Lord your God." II. The 
 destroying power of corrupt society (vcr. 12, 18). If the Israelites entered into 
 close intercourse with the wicked, the wicked would vex them with many forms 
 of pain, and ultimately cause them to perish from oiF the good land which the 
 Lord their God had given them. 1. Corrupt society is insidious in its attractions. 
 It has "snares and traps." True, it has also "scourges" for the sides, and 
 " thorns" for the eyes; but as the significant order of the text, so is the ingenious 
 cruelty of the process : the snares and traps are placed first, and not till the 
 victim is secure come the scourges and the thorns. Corrupt men lead the pure 
 away stealthily ; they instinctively conceal their worst things, reveal their best, 
 and thus draw their prey onward. The very virtues of the pure sometimes help 
 in the work of destruction. " Charity thinketh no evil," and the innocent man is 
 tempted to say of his seducers, "These men have been Unfairly spoken of; they 
 are better than report stated." Time, too, is on the side of decay. 2. ('orrupt 
 sncieti/ has, for many, afascinatitu/ influence. It plies them in their weakest places. 
 It consults their peculiar appetites. In its various and bountiful cruelty it holds 
 the cup of water to the thirsty, gives bread to the hungry, has wine for the 
 intemperate, and a feast of fat things for the glutton. With its thousand influences 
 of seductive battery it plies hard every gate of the senses. 3. Corrupt society is 
 hard to escape from. Its "snares" draw very closely into fast knots, and its 
 "traps" lock upon their prey as the jaws spring together. 4. Corrupt society 
 works corruption, and death throuyh corruption. In some forms of disease, the 
 body seems mercifully to die first, and afterwards to decay. In other diseases 
 corruption is a part of the process of dying. The latter is ever the dreadful form 
 in which the soul goes down to its grave. Woful indeed is the cry, " wretched 
 man that I am ! who shall deliver me from the body of this death ?" Happy is 
 he who can add, " I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord." Sometimes, 
 even amid the wretchedness of this spiritual decay, a man flatters himself that ho 
 is still vigorous and healthy. The secret of the mistake may be found in the 
 appropriately loathsome image of Burke, " Corruption breeds new forms of life." 
 There is in every realm of creation a life that worketh death, and such too is the 
 life in which the corrupt mind finds enough to satisfy it that it is " not dead yet." 
 III. The stimulating power of grateful recollections (vcr. 14). 1. Tlie Israelites 
 u-rre to remember the yood example of a faithful man. Joshua had led them in 
 patience, and wisdom, and courage, and holiness. He was now going the way of 
 all the earth ; but he, being dead, might yet be found speaking helpfully. 2. They 
 
 z 337 
 
HOMILETIG COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. chap. xxm. 
 
 icere to rememlier that God. had fuljilled everij rjood word of His promises. Not one 
 promise had failed. They knew that in their own souls ; they might know it also 
 in their many possessions. God ever encourages His people by the faithfulness of 
 some of their fellows, and always by His own faithfulness. IV. The fatal power 
 of Divine anger (ver. KJ). ]>efore that, said Joshua, "Ye shall perish quickly." 
 As the boauiy of (Jod's love, so is the tcrribleness of God's anger. 1. The ane/er 
 of (lod in no iraij rejhrts iijtoji I lis holiness. All government supposes the punish- 
 ment of evil-doers. Divine anger is not an impulsive passion, but the calm 
 exercise of justice upon transgressors for the sake of all men. 2. The amjer of 
 God is not inconsistint irith J lis nureij. There are instances in which righteous- 
 ness demands anger. Thus it is said that " one of the late Dr. Spencer's 
 parishioners in Brooklyn met him hurriedly urging his way down the street one 
 day ; his lip was set, and there was something strange in that gray eye. * How 
 are you to-day, doctor?' asked the parishioner, pleasantly. He waked as from a 
 dream, and replied soberly, 'I am mad!' It was a new word for a mild, true- 
 hearted Christian ; but he waited, and with a deep earnest voice went on, ' I found 
 a widow standing by her goods which were thrown into the street ; she could not pay 
 the month's rent ; the landlord turned her out ; and one of her children is going to 
 die ; and that man is a member of the Church. I told her to take her things back 
 again. lam on my way to see him.'" So mercy and anger dwelt together in 
 the heart of Him who drove the traders out of the temple with a scourge of small 
 cords, and Avept over the city in its guilt and coming doom. 3. The amjer of God 
 is neeessanj to His viercy. If the anger could not be righteous, the mercy could 
 not be real. If God's anger towards the wicked were not right, He would bo 
 bound to pardon everybody. When pardon is compulsory, it is no longer mercy. 
 If the idea of mercy is true, the possibility of anger must be true also. Mercy is 
 a beautiful flower growing up from the very soil of righteous anger, and you 
 cannot take away the ground in which the flower grows without removing the 
 flower too. ]\Iercy is a glorious picture, painted by the love of Christ upon the 
 groundwork of justice in the punishment of sin, and he Avho destroys the canvas 
 must not murmur when he finds that the picture has vanished. 4. The amjer of 
 God is real, and terrible in its results. When it is kindled against men, they quickly 
 perish from oif the good land where mercy loved to see them dwell. That is 
 alwaj's the spirit of the Scripture representation. 
 
 OUTLINES AND C03I3IENTS ON THE VERSES. 
 
 Verse 11. — A Man's Command of nis himself from all love that is wrong, will 
 OWN Heaet. find little difficulty in obeying the Scrip- 
 Some persons regard love as entirely ture admonition to love that which is 
 spontaneous. Admitting that a wrong right. This verse suggests the follow- 
 afi'ection may be held in check, they ing considerations : — 
 assume also that love cannot be created, I. Men are commanded to watch 
 and that it is free from the control of their affections. ' Take good heed,' etc. 
 the will. If that were true, while it II. Men are commanded to control 
 might be sinful to love wrong objects, it their affections. They are to set them 
 would no longer be sinful to fail to love on right objects. 
 
 right objects. This is not the teaching III. Men are commanded to Set their 
 of the Bible : that not only says, ' Lovo affections upon God. ' Love the Lord 
 not the world ;' it also bids us love God your God.' These commands are given 
 with all our hearts, love one another, in view of the fact that God ever helps 
 and further says to us, ' Set your aflec- the man who sincerely seeks the way 
 tions on things above.' Any metaphy- of righteousness, 
 sical difliculty in obeying these com- 
 mands will ever disappear before prac- Verses 12, 13. — The Power of Evil 
 tical and earnest piety. He who guards Assocutions. 
 338 
 
CHAP. XXIII. HOMILBTIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 Every healthy mind seeks other minds 
 with which it can have fellowship. It 
 is only the morbid disposition that cries 
 often for ' a lodge in some vast wilder- 
 ness.' Companions are a necessity. 
 God's word recognises the necessity, 
 but bids us choose our associates care- 
 fully. 
 
 I. Wicked companions make a man 
 satisfied with a heart of unbelief. It 
 would be very difficult for any Israelite 
 to worship idols, if every one around 
 him worshipped God. It would be 
 very hard work for any wicked man to 
 continue an unbeliever in Jesus Christ 
 now, if he were the only unbeliever. 
 A man should sometimes ask himself, 
 ' ' How should I feel if I were the only 
 unbeliever in my family ? — in my town 
 or parish ? — in England ? — in the world ?" 
 Kobinson Crusoe's lot provokes pity. 
 This spiritual isolation would be far 
 more pitiable, and far more unendurable. 
 There are probably few, even of the 
 boldest infidels, who could bear to be 
 the only infidel in the world. Yet it is 
 not difficult to think of a man as able 
 to endure the thought of cleaving to 
 Christ with a holy joy, even though 
 every one else rejected Christ. Every 
 unbelieving man is responsible for the 
 countenance which his example is giving 
 to others. The fellowship of holy men 
 is a great power for good ; the fellow- 
 ship of the wicked is no less a power 
 for evil. 
 
 II. Wicked companions make others 
 partakers of their wickedness. Idol- 
 atrous Canaanites would make idolatrous 
 Israelites. 1. Their is the lair of asshiii- 
 lation. Where life is the stronger force, 
 it builds itself up into yet more strength 
 by feeding on surrounding matter, and 
 by making that a part of itself. ])ut 
 often disease and decay overcome life, 
 and assimilate it to their condition. 
 Infection and contagion are parts of 
 the process of assimilation. So a man 
 becomes like his companions, the 
 weaker man succumbing to the stronger. 
 ' ' He that walketh with wise men shall 
 be wise, but the companion of fools 
 shall be destroyed." A man may say, 
 "I do not believe that it will be so in 
 my case." But his belief does not 
 matter ; the operation of the law is no 
 
 more aiTected by the man's opinion of 
 the law, than yeast is affected by a 
 man's faith or unbelief in its power to 
 leaven the whole lump into which it is 
 put. This law works on silently and 
 slowly, but surely; and, like other laws, 
 it takes small heed of a man's opinion 
 about its power. With fools, means 
 like fools, whether a man believes it or 
 not. With idolaters, means idolatry. 
 2. There is also to be taken into account 
 the habit of imitation. Men everywher-e 
 practise it unconsciously. More than 
 this ; such imitators usually copy the 
 worst features most strongly. "Paint 
 me as I am, blotches and all," said 
 Oliver Cromwell to his artist. Thus, 
 in unconscious imitation, men con- 
 tinually reproduce others, and, so far 
 from omitting the blotches, they usually 
 magnify them in the process. 3. The 
 injiucnce of food should not be forgotten 
 in its bearing upon this subject. In a 
 measure, a man's physical nature is 
 made by what he eats and drinks. 
 Companions are the food of a man's 
 social nature, and, to some extent, here 
 also, as the food so the man. In his 
 book on " The Origin of Civilisation and 
 the Primitive Condition of Mankind," 
 Sir John Lubbock gives several curious 
 illustrations of the ludicrous beliefs 
 which the natives of some countries 
 have in respect to food. " The Malays 
 at Singapore give a large price for the 
 flesh of a tiger, not because they like 
 it, but because they believe that the 
 man who eats tiger acquires the saga- 
 city as well as the courage of that 
 animal." Thus, too, the Dyaks of 
 Borneo are said to shun the flesh of 
 the deer, lest they should become 
 timid ; the Caribs reject the flesh of 
 pigs and tortoises, that they may not 
 have small eyes ; and the Arabs ascribe 
 the passionate and revengeful character 
 of their countrymen to the use of camel's 
 flesh. It is further said that " the New 
 Zealanders, after baptizing an infant, 
 used to make it swallow pebbles, so that 
 its heart might be hard and iucapabie 
 of pity." All this proceeds on the as- 
 sumption that a man's physical food 
 afi'ects his moral qualities, which, while 
 true in some aspects, is absurd in the 
 manner stated. A man's moral food, 
 
 339 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. chap, xxiii. 
 
 however, will certainly affect his moral 
 nature. He who socially feeds ou 
 idolatry will become an idolater. He 
 who walks in the counsels of the un- 
 godly will presently occupy the seat of 
 the scorner, as one belonging to him- 
 self. 4. All histori/ confinns the truth 
 of these observations. Different nations 
 arc marked by distinct traits of charac- 
 ter. The names of Greece and Eome 
 represent literature. Turks are known 
 as idle and cruel, Russians as ambitious 
 and cruel, the Spanish as proud, the 
 French as polite, and the Scotch as 
 patriotic. One man in a nation has 
 influenced another, some features have 
 become predominant, and thus a dis- 
 tinctive character has been given to the 
 world's separated tribes and peoples. 
 Thus, too, there have been distinctive 
 ages : an age of painting, an age of 
 letters, an age of religious persecution, 
 and ages when these things were out 
 of fashion, and something else was 
 more popular. It is worth while, also, 
 to note how many Calvinists have 
 Calvinistic children, and how many 
 Arminians find their offspring holding 
 Arminian views. The children of Epis- 
 copalians attach themselves, for the 
 most part, to the Church of their 
 fathers ; while in the families of Wes- 
 leyans. Baptists, Presbyterians, and the 
 like, the sect also descends from the 
 father to the child. Creeds are here- 
 ditary, not so much because of the cha- 
 racter of the creed, but because a man 
 becomes like those who are about him 
 to form his character. With so much 
 history to teach him, no man can afford 
 to neglect the warning given in these 
 verses. He who would not become an 
 idolater must shun idolaters. 
 
 III. Wicked companions destroy all 
 that remains of a man's better feel- 
 ings and desires. 1. Good thiiujs are 
 nri/hrtnl, (tiiil >iei/lect trnrks death. A 
 limb unused would soon become use- 
 less. An unexercised faculty dies out. 
 So it ia in a man's soul: "From him 
 that hath not, shall be taken away even 
 that which he hath." 2. Men tjet nsed 
 to evil things, and the evil things destroi/ 
 the good. It is said that a prisoner 
 wlio had been confined for many years 
 in the iJastilc, when liberated, cried 
 840 
 
 like a child to be taken back again to 
 the old solitude and darkness with 
 which he had become familiar. Men 
 may get used to strange things. Tlie 
 idolater presently finds his idolatry far 
 more agreeable than the worship of 
 God. A man may get used to no 
 prayer, no Bible, no story of the cross, 
 and no Saviour. It is terrible to think 
 that it is possible to be " without hope 
 and without God in the world," and to 
 be so reconciled to that dreadful con- 
 dition as to wish for no alteration. 
 
 Verse 14rt. — The Way of all the 
 Earth. 
 
 I. Death in its certainty. This is 
 a universal way. The exceptions of 
 Enoch and Elijah do but lay emphasis 
 on the rule. 
 
 II. Death in its variety. Death has 
 many ministers and forms. It is met 
 in various moods. It has vastly dif- 
 ferent issiu3s. 
 
 III. Death in its conscious near- 
 ness. " This day I am going," etc. 
 That is to say, "I am going soon: I 
 feel it." The hour of departure is often 
 known to be at hand. 
 
 Verse 1-ih. — The Unfailing Words 
 OF THE Lord. 
 
 I. The words of the Lord are good 
 words. " All the good things which the 
 Lord your God spake." 
 
 II. The words of the Lord are 
 wrought out gradually. The war it- 
 self had taken several years. Many 
 years had elapsed since the first promises 
 were made to Abraham. 
 
 III. The words of the Lord are 
 every one fulfilled. •' Not one thing 
 hath failed of all the good things." 
 
 IV. The words of the Lord are ful- 
 filled to the satisfying of the heart 
 and soul. '* Ye know in all your hearts," 
 ete. It is much to satisfy a man's mind, 
 and to prevent all occasion of actual 
 complaint. It is far more to satisfy the 
 heart. The heart in its sanguine hope- 
 fulness ever puts large meanhigs to 
 words of iwomise. God meets our 
 highest hopes. Ho not only silences 
 objections; "He satisficth the longing 
 soul, and filleth the hungry soul witli 
 goodness." 
 
CHAP, xxiii. HOMILETIC C03i?IENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 Verse 15. — God's Fulfilment of His 
 Promises a Guarantee of His Fulfil- 
 ment OF His ThreatexixctS. 
 
 I. The certainty of Divine promises 
 is to be taken as an assurance of the 
 certainty of Divine tlireatenings. The 
 argumeat is : "As all good things, so 
 all evil things." 1. Fidclitij to words 
 sDiiietlmcs fails from want of pou-cr to 
 fiil/il. words. Men promise to-day, and 
 to-moiTow their power to discharge their 
 ])romisc is taken from them by unfore- 
 seen circumstances. Men threaten, it 
 may be quite righteously, but become 
 unable to fulfil their threat. This can- 
 not be so with God. 2. Fidclitij to 
 words sometimes fails because (f sJiort- 
 sii/Iitcdness in the use of words. Men use 
 words of which they do not see all the 
 meanings. This can never be so with 
 God. 3. Fidelitji to tvords sometimes 
 fails fro)ii a conscientious chanije of mind. 
 What Saul might have promised the 
 high priest when he desired of him 
 letters to Damascus, he might have felt 
 it wicked to fulfil after that eventful 
 journey had been taken. God can 
 never change His mind about the right- 
 eousness of either His threats or His 
 promises. 4. Absolute Jidelitij to irorcls 
 is irrespective qf the nature of the words. 
 Man's Aveakncss, or short-sightedness, 
 or his changed views, might afford him 
 some excuse for not keeping his words ; 
 but. for all that, an unkept word is a 
 broken word. It is no part of the 
 question of fidelity that Avords be about 
 *' good things " or " evil things'" — that 
 they be promises or threatenings. 
 Hence this same argument is sometimes 
 used iu an inverted form (cf. Jer. xxxi. 
 28, xxxii. 42). God may choose to 
 pardou, if He will, just as any father 
 might withdraw his word and forgive 
 an oiroiuling child ; but, as a rule, it is 
 here asserted that as God is true to His 
 promises of good things, so He is true 
 in His promises of evil things. 
 
 II. The bearing of this truth on 
 our relig'ious faith and life. 1. Ko 
 jircscnt itnispcritij should be taken as an 
 essential earnest of jurunntent jirosjcritij. 
 God tries men with His good things to 
 see how they will use them. If they 
 are abused, He will take them away. 
 The riches of Dives here, can give no 
 
 security against the poverty of Dives 
 hereafter. Purple and fine linen may 
 be only for a time. Sumptuous fare 
 to-day is no pledge that there may not 
 be agony for a drop of water presently. 
 
 2. The dark side of the Bible is as true 
 as the bri(jht side. The faith of many 
 people has in it real promises and 
 empty threatenings, a real heaven and 
 a fabulous hell, real redeemed and scare- 
 crow lost, real angels and more than 
 spectral fiends, a real Christ and a 
 mythical devil. God Himself is held 
 to be real on the side of mercy and 
 gentleness and love, and unreal on the 
 side of every sterner quality. If all 
 this be so indeed, the half of the Bible 
 that is untrue renders the half that is 
 true too poor for either resixsct or hope. 
 
 3. Flcenj fulfdled proml'ie qf God should 
 become to us a warninci. The good 
 things in Avhich He has faithfully kept 
 His word should preach to us of the 
 evil things in which He will also be 
 true. These are very gentle lips v/hich 
 thus solemnly proclaim " wrath to 
 come " against the ungodly. The very 
 tenderness of the tones ought to have, 
 to every unbelieving man, the solemn 
 emphasis of truth. When a mother 
 threatens a child sotto voce, while tears 
 of love stream down her face, it is time 
 for the child to repent. So when God 
 sets mercy to preach wrath, and bids 
 His "good things" assure the wicked 
 of His " evil things," it is time to 
 believe indeed. 4. The measure of man's 
 hope sJtould become, also, the measure of 
 his fear. There are many who are not 
 Christians who admire the faith and 
 enthusiasm of the Church. The hymns 
 of the Church are not seldom the 
 admiration of many who make no claim 
 whatever of belonging unto Christ. All 
 the joy in which men legitimately hope 
 for heaven as the home of the righteous 
 is preachuig the certainty of the sorrow 
 which awaits the ungodly. 
 
 Verses 14 — IG. — Childhood through 
 Fatherhood. 
 
 God was seeking to make the Israelites 
 into a nation which should be separate 
 from all the nations of the earth. He 
 would fashion these children of Abraham 
 into children of God. Mark the process. 
 
 341 
 
nOMlLETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. chap. xxiv. 
 
 God assumes that His people will be I. God proposes to make men His 
 
 faithful. He does not prove them be- children by treating them as His 
 
 fore He blesses them. He treats them children, 
 
 as a peculiar people ali^ady, in order to jj ^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^^ .^^^ ^^ ^^^^ 
 
 make them peculiar. He foresees their abundantly in the present, that He 
 
 commg unfaithfulness, but Ho <,o^s ,^^ ^^^^ ^P ^^^ ^^.^^ 
 
 even on that account witlihold His good ^oJe abmidant mercy of the future, 
 gilts. He still gives the good land, with '' 
 all its accompanying mercies, and does III. To repudiate God's father- 
 but Avarn His people that the gifts are hood, and to ignore the purpose of 
 conditional. In view of this spirit, the His fatherly gifts, is to be cut off 
 following thoughts may be expanded from the joys of childhood alto- 
 aud illustrated : gether. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 JOSHUA'S FINAL ADDRESS: HIS DEATH AXD BUBIAL. 
 
 Critical Notes. — 1. To Shechem] This gathering was apparent! j' held a few weeks or months 
 after that named in the pievious chapter. There was great appropriateness in the selection of 
 Shechem. Here the covenant was first given to Abram (Gen. xii. 6, 7) ; in the immediate neigh- 
 bourhood Jacob seems to have renewed it (Gen. xxxiii. 19, 20), and under an oak at Shechem he 
 had "put away the strange gods" of his family (Gen. xxxv. 2 — 4), as Joshua now reminded the 
 Israelites (ver. 23) ; here, also, the covenant had been renewed after the fall of Ai (chaj). viii. 
 30 — 35). No place could he more fit than Shechem for Joshua's parting words, in which the 
 coven.ant was once more solemnly established with the i)eople. All the tribes] The assemljly 
 named in chap, xxiii. was one of the elders only ; this was a gathering once moie to Ebal of all 
 the men of Israel. They presented themselves before God] '• It is possible, as some have sup- 
 l)osed, that the tabernacle and the ark were biought hither from SliQoh on this occasion ; but the 
 phrase ' before God ' (lit. 'before Llohim') doc^ not neces.sarily imply this ; nor does even the 
 phrase 'before the Lord' (lit. 'before Jehovah') always do so (cf., e.g., Judges xi. 11), though 
 used sometimes with refei-ence to the tabei'uacle. as in Jcjshua xviii. 6." [Speaker s Com.] 2. On 
 the other side of the flood] " Nahdr," here used with the article, would be better rendered "the 
 river," a term specially applied to the Eui)hrates, which is indicated. Dean Stanley points out 
 that " the words so often occiirring in Ezra, ' lieyond the ri\'er,' and ' on this side the river,' though 
 without the article, refer to the Euphrates." They served other gods] It is not said whether or 
 not Abram joined in this idolatry. Some think these e/o/(m of Terah and Naliov to have lieen 
 the same as the terajAim of Laban named in Gen. xxxi. 19, 34. H. The men of Jericho] " The 
 lihrnt^o bacilay y'richo in noteworthy. It means, api)arently. the owners or burghers of Jericho 
 (of. Judges ix. 6 ; 2 Sam. xxi. 12)." [Sjfeaker' s Com.] 12. And I sent the hornet before you] 
 This is evidently a figurative expression for teri-or or fear. Tlie raeaning seems to be identical 
 with that in Ex. xxiii. 27 : "I will send my fear before thee," a similar reference to hornets 
 following in the succeeding verse in that i)lacc. The same association of the liornet and the 
 terror of God is found in Deut. vii. 20. 21 . 14. Now therefore fear the Lord] " The marvellous 
 history .so clearly and succinctly recounted was the natural iireface for the exhortation which here 
 begins." [Crosb//.] Put away the gods which your fathers served] That is, Put away all gods 
 made by men. Probably Joshua did not allude to cxartli/ the same kind of gods as those wor- 
 shipped by Terah, as Crosby suggests, who thinks that the Israelites may have kept some of the 
 actual teraphim, named in Gen. xxxi. 34, as heirlooms among their families. His other sugges- 
 tion, that some of the idols of the subdued Canaauites had been preserved as curiosities, and were 
 in danger 6f being ])resently regai'ded with reverence, is far more natural and likely. We cannot 
 actually decide whether Joshua alluded to gods cherished "in heart," or to image.s preserved in 
 the tents of the peo])le. It should not, however, be forgotten that even in the wilderness the 
 Israelites are said to have shown manifest tendencies to idolatry (cf. Ex. xxxii. ; Amos v. 2"), 2(i ; 
 Acts vii. 39—43), as nundiers of them had previ(jusly done in Egypt (Ezek. xx. G— 24). 19, Ye 
 cannot serve Jehovah] Joshua here bids the people count the cost of the deci.sion expressed in 
 verse 1 (i. 'J'liey cimld notserve Jehovah in the indilleieiit spirit of idolatry; for He wa.s altogether 
 unlike the gods which W(!i-e no gods, and which therefoie could not jiunisli faithles.sncss. Jehovah 
 was li.ith holy anil jealous, and Joshu.i would have the people weigh carefully their word,sof fealty. 
 The idol gods which were no gods might be served godlessly, but .Ichovah ( Jod must be worshipi)ed 
 with the wliole heart l>y all who profes.sed to l)e lli.s servant.^' 21. Nay, but we will serve Jehovah] 
 This second answer of the jieople shows that they understood Jo.-hua's words in the sense of Ihe 
 foregoing remarks. Though it was so difficult and so fearful a thing to follow Jehovah, yet Him 
 only would they serve, a determination which is once more expressed in the verse that follows. 
 312 
 
CHAP. XXIV. HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 22. Fut away the strange gods] Cf. on verse 14. The reiteration here seems to favour the 
 idea that some of the ]ieople had idols actually in their possession. 25. Joshua made a covenant] 
 Lit., " cut a covenant," from Kdrath, "to cut," " to cut off." " Knrath VrUh, to make a covenant, 
 so used from slaying and dividing the victims, as was customary in making a covenant (cf. Gen. 
 XV. 18 ; Jer. xxxiv. 8, 18)." [Gesen.'] 26. TJnder an oak that was by the sanctuary of the Lord. 
 Hch., " under the oak which was in the. sanctuary of Jchoaih," alluding, not to the tabernacle, but 
 to the holy place of historj^ which God had consecrated by appearing there to Abrarn (Gen. xii. 
 6), and which Jacob had further made sacred by jiuttiug away the strange gods of his household 
 (Gen. XXXV. 4), including, most likely, the teraphim of Laban stolen by Rachel. 27. It hath 
 heard all the words] " (Compare, for this bold figure, Hab. ii. 11, and our Saviour's own words, 
 Luke xix. 40." [Crosh//.] 30. Timnath-serah] For the site of this place, see note on chap. xix. 
 50. 32. The bones of Joseph, etc.l " It does not follow from the position of this statement at 
 the end of the book, that the bones were not buried till after the death of Joshua." [Keil.] The 
 statement, however, is inserted to show that the oath which their fathers had given to Joseph 
 had not been forgotten or neglected by the Israelites. ^Moses, in his turn, had been mindful of 
 the trust (Ex. xiii. 19). 33. A hill that pertained to Phinehas] IIeb.=" the hill of Phinehas," 
 or " Gibeah of Phinehas," in the same manner as we afterwards hear of " Gibeah of Saul." The 
 word Gibeah is in the construct state. If a proper name, which .seems unlikely, it should be 
 read " Gibeath-Phinehas." 
 
 MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Verses 1—13. 
 REVIE^\^NG THE Past. 
 
 " This chapter brings before us another representative assembly — at Shechem 
 this time, and not at Shiloh — in which Joshua renews the covenant between the 
 people and God, as he had done nearly thirty years before in the same place 
 (chap. viii. 30 — 35). The former address of Joshua seems to have been delivered 
 in the belief that he was soon to leave this world, and was prompted by his 
 ardent desire for the purity of the people, who would, he knew, be sorely tempted 
 away from God by* the idolatrous population among them. This address, how- 
 ever, and the assembly at which it was delivered, were appointed by Divine 
 direction, as we see by the phrase 'before God,' in ver. 1, and by the formula, 
 ' Thus saith Jehovah, God of Israel,' in ver. 2. The former occasion was, so to 
 speak, a private conference of Joshua with Israel. This occasion was an official 
 conference, in which Joshua acted as the Divine legate." — [('roshi/.] 
 
 In the opening paragraph of this chapter we see the following things : — I. Men 
 called to remember their lowly origin. The forefathers of these Israelites 
 were idolaters (ver. 3). Joshua bade them remember that. He bade them 
 remember it by the word of the Lord. The people had been exterminating 
 idolaters. They had entered into the inheritance of idolaters. Yet, but for the 
 grace of God, these Israelites had been idolaters also. Terah was an idolater, 
 and perhaps Abraham also. In eflect, Joshua says to these Israelites, as Isaiah 
 seven centuries later said to their children, "Look unto the rock whence ye are 
 hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged." 1. A (ircat people should 
 rcmemhcr that they were not always great. Somewhere in the distance backward, 
 things were very lowly with every nation, and with every family. 2. A reliejious 
 people should remeiiiher that they trere not always reliyious. A religious nation 
 should remember it collectively. The men of such a nation should remember it 
 individually. Paul drew a dreadful picture of men who could not inherit the 
 kingdom of God, and then said to the Corinthians, " And such were some of 
 you." 3. ^1 yreat or a I'l'liyioiis iinoi sJiajild he huiidde in view of his uriyin. The 
 '' bar-sinister " on the escutcheon should also be taken into the account. "Water 
 will not rise beyond the level of its source. In outward things, men may rise far 
 above their origin ; but a wise man will say to his spirit, " There are possibilities 
 of weakness and sin in my nature as bad as that worst place back there in the 
 past ; and let my circumstances rise as they ma}-^, my pride shall rise no higher 
 than the poor low level of my own or my fathers' shame. AVhat has been may be 
 again." II. Men told to consider Gods more quiet providences. 1. In raisivy 
 
 313 
 
EOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. chap. xxiv. 
 
 up the chief of their national 2)redecessors. Israel had been blessed by God with 
 men of power (ver. 4, 5). Humanly, they were what they were through their 
 leaders. God had given them an ancestor in Abraham to shew the power of 
 obedience and faith. God had given them " a plain man" of meditative mood, 
 and had shewn in Isaac that even such a mind, if pious, might occupy a con- 
 spicuous place in a nation's history. God had given to them Jacob, a man of 
 great industry and power to accumulate wealth ; and then, as the getting of the 
 wealth had been associated with Jacob's sin, sweeping all of it away, and leaving 
 the man to die a dependant in Egypt, God had shewn that through an ardent 
 religious faith there may come to posterity a nobler legacy than riches could ever 
 bestow. God had given to them Moses, through whom lie had founded civil 
 liberty, and also Aaron, through whom He had established spiritual worship. A 
 man can be nothing without a nation ; a nation can be nothing without leaders ; 
 leaders can be nothing without God to raise them up and to cause them to be 
 strong. In the battles of Homer and Virgil, it is the leaders who are made to do 
 all the efiective fighting. That is a true picture of life in one sense, and in 
 another sense it is very untrue. No nation can come to the greatness of many 
 triumphs where the people do not bear the brunt of the battle ; but then, no 
 people ever did strive on to continuous victory, to whom God had not given 
 strong leaders to guide and control their energy. The people are the force ; 
 true leaders are its right application. In these gifts of leading men to a nation, 
 we sec what have been termed God's more quiet providences. They, also, are a 
 gift of power. Here we sec nothing of force as symbolised in the strong wind, 
 the thunder, and the earthquake ; but rather of force as seen in the dew, the air, 
 the light, and the still small voices of nature. In some gifts God displays power ; 
 in others He prepares power. Such a preparation and treasuring of power is iu 
 God's gift of real men to form the mind of a nation. 2. In choosin;/ or rejecting! 
 the families ivhich annposed their nation. "And I gave unto Isaac Jacob and 
 Esau." Yet Jacob alone became the father of Israel, and Esau was portioned olf 
 with Mount Seir, If Esau's family had blended with that of Jacob, probably 
 Israel would never have had even the measure of religious life which it eventually 
 possessed. At so early a stage in the national history, the more open and reck- 
 less character of Esau, with his lack of reverence for the godly traditions of his 
 lathers, could not but have exercised a bad influence. In matters like these we 
 can see but little ; we can see but little more than this, God makes of whom He 
 will the nation and the people whom He would call His own. III. Men asked 
 to reflect on God's mighty triumphs. 1. In iJelicerin;/ tJiem from lunuhn/e. "I 
 have lu-ought your fathers out of Egypt." God loves to deliver men from the toil 
 of bondage ; from the shame and pain of bondage ; from the social wrongs of 
 bondage. 2, In the overthrow of poiverful enemies. The Egyptians, by the 
 miracle at the lied Sea (ver. 6, 7). The Amorites, by ordinary warfare and 
 the supernatural imposition of fear (ver. 8, 12). Balak and Balaam, by wonder- 
 ful and various instruments : now a voice, and then a vision ; here an angel, there 
 an ass (ver. 9, 10). The tribes of the assembled Canaanites, by the overthrow 
 of the walls of Jericho. God had done great things for the people, whereof 
 Joshua would see them glad. God would have us to sing of His triumphs for 
 us, in order that the joy of the Lord ma}' be our strength for yet more triumphs. 
 IV. Men bidden to contemplate Gods gracious gifts (ver. 13). They had a 
 land for almost no labour, cities Avithout building, and vineyards and oliveyards 
 which others had planted. 1. No man is so j/oor but he has some if (rod's (/i/ts on 
 irhich his ej/e maij rest erery day. 2. 'J'he yifts which a man has in siiiht are the 
 fruit (f many other yifts of God uhich are no lonyer risible. Our daily bread is 
 Avith us, but not the rain and the genial influences of light and heat by which God 
 produced the harvest, llaiment is ours, but a thousand good and too often for- 
 gotten things lie unseen behind every garment which Ave Avear. It is so Avith 
 health, Avith capital, and Avith the social possessions in a man's household. There 
 314 
 
CHAP. XXIV. 
 
 HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 is a crown laid up in heaven, but it is because of the cross on Calvary. There is 
 a good hope of eternal life, and that, too, is "through grace" which was long 
 poured out, ere such hope entered into the heart by which it is cherished. 
 
 OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VERSES. 
 
 Verse 1. — The Assembly at Shechebi. 
 
 Calvin and a few others have thought 
 that this meeting at Shechem was part 
 of the same gathering as that of which 
 we have a record in the preceding chap- 
 ter. On this the English editor of 
 Calvin remarks: "It may be that the 
 two chapters refer only to one meeting ; 
 but certainly the impression produced 
 by a simple perusal of them is, that they 
 refer to two distinct meetings, between 
 which some interval of time must have 
 elapsed. It is only by means of laboured 
 criticism, accompanied with a degree of 
 straining, that some expositors have ar- 
 rived at a different conclusion. But 
 why should it be deemed necessary to 
 employ criticism for such a purpose ? 
 There is surely no antecedent improba- 
 l)ility that Joshua, after all the turmoils 
 uf war were over, should have more 
 than once come forth from his retirement 
 and called the heads of the people, or 
 even the whole body of them, together, 
 to receive his counsels, when he felt that 
 the time of his departure was at hand. 
 Observe, moreover, that each meeting 
 is ushered in by its own appropriate 
 preamble, and has its own special busi- 
 ness. In the one, Joshua speaks in his 
 own name, and delivers his own message; 
 in the other, all the tribes are regularly 
 assembled, and are said to have ' pre- 
 sented themselves before God,' because, 
 although Joshua was still to be the 
 speaker, he was no longer to speak in 
 his own name, but with the authority 
 uf a divine messenger, and in the very 
 terms which had been put into his mouth. 
 Accordingly, the first words he utters 
 are, ' Thus saith the Lord God of Israel.' 
 The message thus formally and solemnly 
 announced in chap. xxiv. 2, is continued 
 verbatim and without interruption to 
 the end of verse 18." 
 
 Verses 2, 3. — The God of Abraham. 
 
 In these verses, which speak of God's 
 dealings with Abraham, three things 
 may be noticed : 
 
 I. Thememory of theLord. 1. The 
 
 Lord rciiieinberii irho our fathers were. 
 Terah is spoken of as the father of 
 Abraham and Nachor, and Abraham as 
 the father of Israel. God remembers 
 our early training, with all its faults, 
 and with all its advantages. 2. llie 
 Lord r('me)iibers wJterc our fathers dwelt. 
 " From the other side of the flood." 
 He not only knows what our home was, 
 but what our country was. 3. The 
 Lord reuie)nbcrs icJiat our fathers uwr- 
 shljipcd. " They served other gods." 
 
 II. The grace of the Lord. "I took 
 your father Abraham . " 1 . Th is was the 
 choice of one possibbj an idolater. How- 
 ever that may have been, God chose the 
 child of an idolater, out of whom to raise 
 up to Himself a separated nation and a 
 peculiar people. God loves to give us 
 examples of what His grace can do with 
 men at their worst. 2. TJie man so 
 iiracioushj chosen was most juitioilh/ led. 
 " I led him throughout all the land of 
 Canaan." 
 
 III. The goodness of the Lord. 
 " And multiplied his seed, and gave him 
 Isaac." Whom God calls, them He 
 also leads ; and whom He thus leads 
 about from place to place, He neither 
 forsakes nor forgets. He bestows upon 
 them precious gifts. When He gathers 
 them home to Himself, He perpetuates 
 their name on earth in their children. 
 God shews Himself interested, not only 
 in good men, but in their children ; He 
 thinks of them as the descendants of 
 those who lovingly obeyed His call. 
 
 Verses 4 — 7. — The Mysteries of 
 Divine Providence. 
 
 I. God not only provides for His 
 people, but prevents by His goodness 
 those who might hinder them. ' * 1 gave 
 unto ]-'.sau mount Heir, to possess it." ' 
 
 II. God not seldom provides for His 
 people by taking from them all which 
 they possess. '• Jacob and his children 
 went down into Egypt." (Cf. pp. 289, 
 290.) 
 
 345 
 
IIOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. chap. xxiv. 
 
 III. God who provides for His peo- 
 ple loss and captivity, provides for 
 them, also, a way back into liberty. 
 " I sent Moses also, and Aaron ... I 
 plagued Egypt ... I brought your 
 fathers out of Egypt," etc. 
 
 IV. The liberty which God provides 
 for His people may be only the liberty 
 of a wilderness, but, even there, His 
 hand effectually sustains them. " Ye 
 dwelt in the Avilderness a long season." 
 He can look even upon our desolate 
 places, and say, "The desert shall re- 
 joice and blossom as the rose " (cf. Isa. 
 xH. 17—19). 
 
 Verses 3 — 5. — The Godly Man's 
 Silence about Hbiself. 
 
 Joshua, speaking here for God, re- 
 counts the names of all his great prede- 
 cessors, but says nothing whatever of 
 his own. The Lord, speaking through 
 His servant, has somewhat to say of 
 Abraham, of Isaac, of Jacob, of Moses, 
 and of Aaron, but nothing of Joshua. 
 God's way is not for any man to extol 
 himself. 
 
 Verse 7. — Man's Poor Prayer, and 
 God's Great Answer. 
 
 I. Ignorant prayers graciously 
 answered. ' ' They cried unto the Lord." 
 From the history in Exodus this prayer 
 was evidently little more than the prayer 
 of fear. It was an outcry in extremity 
 (Ex. xiv. 10). It was the prayer of 
 people who knew little of God. 
 
 II. Protection from danger by mi- 
 raculous hiding. " He put darkness 
 between you aud the Egyptians." God's 
 way of defence is sometimes by openly 
 confronting His people's enemies, and 
 sometimes by concealing His people. 
 Elijah was bidden to hide by the brook 
 Cheritb. 
 
 III. Relentless enemies suddenly 
 destroyed. " He brought the sea upon 
 tbem, aud covered them." IMany plagues 
 and warnings had failed to stay the 
 Egyptians in their determination to 
 oppress the Israelites. The unheeded 
 reproofs of God arc as so many mile- 
 stones on the Avay to destruction, and 
 the last is generally passed even more 
 hecdk'ssly aud quickly than the first. 
 God seldom advertises His last reproof 
 
 340 
 
 as the last. The end comes suddenly 
 (cf. Prov. xxix. 1). It is "a covering" 
 of the oflender hy inrushing waters. 
 
 IV. A barren wilderness yielding 
 abundance. "Ye dwelt in the wilder- 
 ness a long season." When God saves 
 a man. His purpose is to bless that man. 
 The man may defeat that purpose by 
 his sins, but blessing was intended 
 nevertheless. God hears prayer in 
 order that men may often pray again. 
 God delivers in order to keep. He 
 whom God would keep will find enough 
 for a long season, even in a wilderness. 
 
 Verses 9. 10. — God's Eule over the 
 Spirits of Men. 
 
 •' The turning of Balaam's tongue to bless 
 Israel, when he intended to cui'se them, is 
 often mentioned as an instance of the Divine 
 power put forth in Israel's favour, as remark- 
 able as any other, because in it God proved 
 His dominion over the powers of dariaicss, 
 and over the spirits of men." — [3/. Henvy.'] 
 
 Verse 12. — The Hornets and the Amo- 
 rites. 
 
 " The words, ' I sent hornets before you. 
 and thou didst di'ive out (the Canaanites and) 
 the two kings of the Amorites, not by thy 
 sword nor by thy bow,' point out the Divine 
 promise : ' I will send hornets before thee, 
 th.at they may drive out before thee the 
 11 ivites, the Canaanites. and the Hittitcs' 
 (Ex. xxiii. 28 ; Deut. vii. 20), as now i'ullilled, 
 and must be explained in agreement with 
 those passages. Tn'irdh is the hornet, the 
 largest specimen of wasp. The .article denotes 
 a species, namely, the hornets, as a peculiar 
 species of animals. Most of the earlier expo- 
 sitors understood these words in their literal 
 signitication ; and Bochart, whose extensive 
 leading is well known, has cited from I'lia}', 
 Justin, .and Aelian, various accounts of the 
 ancients, which tell of whole tribes th.at were 
 driven from their po.ssessions l)y frogs, mice, 
 wasps, and other small animals. But the 
 arguments by which Boscnmiiller still de- 
 fends the literal interpretation of the verse 
 l)cfore us are not convincing. The decision 
 (if this point does not dejiend upon the ques- 
 tion whether hornets could become a plague 
 snfliciently fearful to compel a whole pnpula- 
 liiiu to leave their abodes, nor, on the other 
 liand, upon the absence of .inj^ account of 
 tlic Canaanites having been thus expelled by 
 luii'ncts (fi)r we willingly grant th.at the Old 
 Testament docs not contain a record of rvrnj 
 single event), Imt upon the question whether 
 wc. are at liberty to refer these woi'ds to a 
 jiarticular plague with which God alllictcd 
 the ( !an;i.anites. This must have been the 
 case if wc are to take the words literally; for 
 wc tinuKit possibly sup])ose. as C. a liapiile 
 does, that God alwaj's sent hornets before the 
 Israelites on both sides of the Jordan, which 
 
CHAP, XXIV. HOMILETIC COM^IENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 so plagued the Amorites and Canaanites, that tribes of Canaan on this side of the Jordan, 
 
 ' the Hebrews, who followed, easily slew them but the two kings of the Amorites on the 
 
 with their swords and defeated them with other side, were diiven out by hornets, A 
 
 their arrows.' So universal a plague would figurative interpretation is thei'efore evidently 
 
 certainly have been recorded in the history necessary, and the only one whiclx is admis- 
 
 of the conquest of Canaan. But to refer the sible." — \^Kcil.'] 
 words to one single plague would be opposed 
 
 to the context, not only in the passage before " NOT WITH THY SwORD, NOR WITH thy 
 
 us, but also in Ex. xxiii. 28, and Deut. vii. 20. Bow." The sword may bo man's, but God 
 
 In these two passages the hornets are described nerves the arm which wields it. The bow 
 
 as the means by which God would drive out may be in human hands, but God guides the 
 
 before Israel, not only one Canaanitish tribe arrow. God is both the courage of the pur- 
 
 in particular, but all the Canaanites ; for the suing conqueror, and the terror of the fleeing 
 
 three tribes, the Hivitcs, Hittites, and Canaan- foe. Thus, the battle is ever the Lord's. (Cf . 
 
 ites, stand for the whole. And, according Ps. xliv, 3.) 
 to the verse before us, not merely the seven 
 
 MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH. —Verses 14—18. 
 
 Choosing Gods, 
 
 Every man needs a god. The consciousness of this need is not to be lightly 
 shaken ofl\ A man's god is his individual choice, and tells us, not merely what 
 he does worship, but what he would worship. Thus every man's religion is 
 an expression of the desires of his own soul. The chosen religion of a human 
 heart is a confession, in all the details of its faith and worship, of that heart's 
 yearnings. The particular god whom wo may choose is the delineation of our 
 own conclusions about what is most desirable and most important in life, A man 
 may alter his views of his god, and to that extent he alters his confession, A 
 man may give up one god and choose another. Thus Jehovah called aloud to His 
 people, through Jeremiah : " Pass over the isles of Chittim, and sec ; and send 
 unto Kedar, and consider diligently, and see if there be such a thing. Hath a 
 nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods ? but my people have changed 
 their glory for that which doth not profit," 
 
 In Joshua's appeal to the Israelites to choose Jehovah for their God, and in 
 their response, we have the following points for consideration : — 
 
 I, The choice of God for our God is a matter of liberty, and not of compulsion. 
 "Choose you this day whom ye will serve," After bringing the Israelites into this 
 good land with a high hand and an outstretched arm, God speaks to them through the 
 man whom He had raised up to lead them to so many victories, and gives them 
 absolute freedom of choice. All this was in a solemn meeting, convened before 
 God for this very purpose. The Lord gives us all equal liberty under the gospel. 
 He will have no service which is not of the heart's own choosing. 1, Think of the 
 choice of (jods in the lii/ht of conscience. What says our sense of right ? If it 
 " seem evil" to a man to serve the Lord, the verdict of conscience should have 
 weight. The word of God comes to us full of conscious purity. Whether it 
 speaks to us in the Old Testament, or in the New, or in the person of Jesus Christ, 
 it seems ever full of the feeling, "Which of you convinceth me of sin? " 2. Think 
 of the choice ofi/ods in the lit/ht of reason. What says the mind on this great question ? 
 Men are to weigh the evidences ; they are to consider how things "seem" on cither 
 hand, and then choose. The Bible never plays the ecclesiastic with us. It never 
 says, "Do not read for yourself; do not think for yourself; submit yourself to 
 the authority of the Church," On the contrary, the Scriptures bid every man to see 
 for himself, to think for himself, to decide for himself. When the blind come to 
 Christ, be the blindness physical or religious, He ever loves to begin with them by 
 opening then- eyes, God never shrinks from the enquiry of the intelligence which 
 He has created in us. Whoever else may be nervous before the intense question- 
 ings of man's investigation, the voice of the Bible betrays no trembling, 3, Think 
 of the choice of (/ods in the (ii/ht of lore. Wliat answer docs the heart make on this 
 
 347 
 
HOMILETIC C03I3IENTARY .- JOSHUA. chap. xxiv. 
 
 matter ? This is a far more important item in our decision than the verdict of the 
 understanding. After all, it is " wiih the heart man believeth." If the heart be 
 set on pleasure, the mind will decide against Christ's self-denial. If the heart be 
 ambitious, it will ignore the Saviour's meekness and lowliness. If the heart be 
 selfish, it will conclude that the self-sacrifice of the cross has " no form nor come- 
 liness " sufficient to make it desirable. 4. Think of the choice of (joih in the lifiht 
 of example. What says our neighbour ? What say our best neighbours ? What 
 do the greatest benefactors of their fellow-men sa}' "? If men who by their own 
 merits have risen to a chief place among their fellows, if the Joshuas of history 
 are found crying, " As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord," that should 
 have some weight in our decision. Good citizens have sometimes been found 
 with little religion ; but, if history be fairly read, the best helpers of men are found 
 on the side of the Bible. 
 
 Thus, the word of God appeals to the whole of a man's being, and to all life. 
 Conscience, reason, love, or history, it matters not which is consulted ; and if all 
 are consulted, so much the better. They who thus enquire will be among the 
 first to cry, " This God is our God for ever and ever." II. Seeing that God is 
 what He is, the very liberty which God gives becomes a compulsion. 1. Tlie 
 irurfiS of (i())l for )jun are an loiinistalioble inaiiifestation of llin ih(ii lave. The 
 Israelites could not but have felt the reality of Divine love, as displayed in the 
 mighty works of which the}^ had just been reminded. God had done great things 
 for them ; they might well feel glad, even in thinking on His mighty acts. God has 
 done for us all, in Christ, far more than He did for these Israelites. His very 
 deeds for us are such a revelation of His heart as might well compel us to choose 
 Him for ever. Emerson has written, in half a dozen subtle lines, this : 
 
 ■' Natui-c centres into balls ; 
 And her proud cphcmerals, 
 Fast to surface and outside, 
 Scan the proflle of the sphere ; 
 Knew Ihey what that signified, 
 A new genesis were here." 
 
 So it is. Nature is all rolled into balls. The earth is a ball. The sun is a ball. 
 The moon and stars are balls. And we, proud, ephemeral creatures, stuck fast to 
 the outside of one of the balls, which we call earth, scan the profile of this ball, 
 or of one of those other balls up in the heavens, and know almost nothing of what 
 Ave so readily conclude we have seen. 
 
 " Knew we ■what that signified, 
 A new genesis were here." 
 
 The very fulness of wisdom and power and love displayed in the creation of a 
 single world, could we understand all, might perhaps be AvcU-nigh enough to 
 generate us into ucav creatures towards the Creator. But in Jesus Christ we look 
 upon the profile of God Himself; and every feature in the life of the Saviour tells 
 of the love of God. 2. 11 '<7// all tliiufnlnefi.s of /ore, (!od leaves crerij iiuoihis liheiii/. 
 He says, " Choose whom ye will serve." Love and liberty, together, tend to hold 
 the heart as nothing else can. Force forges no links so stout as those of freedom. 
 Might has no ties so matchlessly strong as those of love. God loves as no mother 
 ever did love, and then asks if we choose to leave Him ? The very question 
 might well bring us into a life-long bondage. Mahomet said : " Paradise is under 
 the shadow of swords." So it may be, as to our poor little political man-mado 
 heavens. Men, in their earthly kingdoms, can only keep up any semblance of 
 heaven by holding over their petty paradises the sign of blood and pain and 
 death. Peace, born of the blades of war ; that is the peace which communities of 
 men manage to get into. Sword-made heavens are ours here ; sword-made, and 
 sword-kept. So far the Gospel according to Mahomet — "Paradise is under the 
 shadow of swords." No one is much temi)ted to sing, " And must I leave thee, 
 paradise ?" about that kind of thing. Then God shews us His way of making para- 
 348 
 
CHAP. XXIV. HOMILETIC C03niENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 dise. He shews us power enough to crush, easily, all opposition to His will. He 
 leads His people up from bondage with a strong hand, and with a tender heart. 
 The sea is nothing to Him ; the wilderness is nothing ; Jordan is nothing; fortified 
 cities are nothing. God leads His people where He will ; He keeps them as the 
 apple of His eye. He does this year after year ; and then, as their great earthly 
 leader is about to die, God musters the hosts for whom He has so long and so 
 blessedly cared, and says, " Choose you this day whom ye will serve." There is 
 only one thing to say before love like that : " God forbid that we should forsake 
 Jehovah to serve other gods." Before a similar experience of mercy and love, and 
 in answer to the Saviour's similar question, Peter, of necessity, similarly answered, 
 "Lord, to whom shall we go"? Thou hast the words of eternal life.' III. He 
 who thinks fairly on God's claims finds the compulsion to choose a-nd serve 
 God irresistible. Brought face to face with what God had done for them, and 
 thinking on the gracious way in which God appealed to them, the people could 
 only declare themselves on the Lord's side. He who will only think of God, and 
 keep thinking, must follow God. 1. Here is the cowpuhion of admiration. The 
 people dwelt on Jehovah's works as though they would say, " Who is a god like 
 unto our God ? " 2. Here is the compulsion of gratitude. God had done so much 
 for them, that they felt they were not their own. Really reflecting on the love 
 and grace of Jehovah, they acknowledged themselves drawn irresistibly to Him. 
 Mr. Cooke, in his recent lectures in Boston, has thus retold an ancient classical 
 story : " AVhen Ulysses sailed past the isle of the Sirens, who had the power of 
 charming by their songs all who listened to them, he heard the sorcerers' music 
 on the shore, and, to prevent himself and crew from landing, he filled their ears 
 with wax, and bound himself to the mast with knotted thongs. Thus, according 
 to the subtile Grecian story, he passed safely the fatal strand. But when Orpheus, 
 in search of the Golden Fleece, went by this island, he — being, as you remember, 
 a great musician — set up better music than that of the Sirens, enchanted his crew 
 with a melody superior to the alluring song of the sea nymphs, and so, without 
 needing to fill the Argonauts' ears with wax, or to bind himself to the mast with 
 knotted thongs, he passed the sorcerous shore not only safely, but with disdain." 
 God does not keep us from hearing all that can be said of other gods, which are 
 no gods; God does not bind us by force, so that we cannot seek and follow them; 
 He does but make " better music," and ask us to choose for ourselves. If men 
 do not choose to serve Him, it is because they have closed their eyes to His won- 
 derful works, and stopped their ears against His gracious words. 
 
 OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VEBSES. 
 
 Verses 14, 15. — The Pleadings of love. He who ignores force does not 
 
 Holy Love. necessarily undervalue persuasion. He 
 
 I. Joshua's recognition of every who refuses to coerce is in a better 
 man's spiritual liberty. He saw that position to persuade. 2. All religious 
 every man could choose, would choose, jiersecutioa has been a mistake from the 
 and must choose for himself. 1. Men heginnin;/. Even the days before " the 
 compelled to serve, would be only slaves, dark ages " were far too bright to suffer 
 and God seeks sons. 2. Men compelled an error like this. By His example, 
 to serve, would render only the obedience God has said from the beginning : "Put 
 of the hands, and God is satisfied with up thy sword into its sheath;" "My 
 nothing less than the love of the heart, kingdom is not of this world." All the 
 3. Men compelled to serve, would he time spiritual liberty is inherent and 
 vtterly miserable, and God's great desire essential, " rehgious persecution " is a 
 is to make them supre))iely happy. solecism of speech, and a contradiction 
 
 II. Joshua'surg'ency to bring every of human life. The whole thing is self- 
 man into subjection to God. 1. Tlte condemned, even before we come in 
 absence (f force is no si(in of want of sight of the principles of Christianity. 
 
 349 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. chap. xxiv. 
 
 III. Joshuas qualifications for plead- 
 ing with his fellow-men. We have in 
 these words — 1. The cipi)cal of a man 
 ItariiKj much knoH'h'ihje of the hioiian 
 heart. Joshua saw that the people were 
 faithful and earnest now. He would 
 make them still stronger in all that was 
 good. He knew how fickle men are. 
 He also knew that men were open to 
 abiding impressions from the appeals of 
 truth and manliness. 2. The appeal of 
 a man irith deep and firm conrictions 
 ahout God. He was convinced of God's 
 claims ; of God's supreme and incom- 
 parable glory; that the highest inter- 
 ests both of individual men and of the 
 nation lay in serving Him. 3. Tlie 
 appeal of a man with much personal 
 ftnessfor the work. Joshua's advanced 
 age ; his large experience in God's ser- 
 vice ; his high authority with the people ; 
 his choice of the time ; the tact and 
 wisdom of his words. 4. The appeal 
 of a man ivhose own life was a noble 
 e.vamjjle. Joshua had been remarkably 
 true to God all his life long. He had 
 been " faithful among the faithless," 
 even when Moses and Aaron had more 
 or less gone astray. Joshua was equally 
 resolved to be faithful to the last. Let 
 others choose as they might, he and his 
 would serve the Lord to the end. The 
 plea of the aged man's words was noble ; 
 the plea from his beautiful life was 
 nobler still. 
 
 Verse 14. — The Obligations apjsing 
 FROM God's Goodness. 
 
 I. Gods works for men should im- 
 pose fear. " Now therefore fear the 
 Lord." 
 
 II. Gods works for men should 
 provoke service. "And serve Him." 
 
 III. God's works for men should 
 induce realness. " Serve Him in sin- 
 cerity and in truth." 
 
 IV. Gods works for men should 
 lead to sanctification. " Put away the 
 gods wliich your fathers served on the 
 other side of the flood, and in Egypt." 
 
 Verso 15, last clause. — Personal 
 Decision for God, 
 
 I. Joshua decided for himself, even 
 though he should be left by himself 
 "As for me and ujy hcusc, we will 
 850 
 
 serve the Lord." Whatever help and 
 encouragement may be derived from 
 fellowship with others in things general, 
 there are great aspects of life in which 
 the soul is isolated and alone. 1. The 
 indiridualitii of the souVs want. All our 
 spiritual bread is eaten in secret. 2. The 
 siditude of the sovTs life. "The heart 
 knoweth its own bitterness." There 
 are other things, also, with which " a 
 stranger doth not intermeddle." 3. The 
 loneliness of the soul in death. Not only 
 in some places in life, but at the end of 
 life, men stand where their fellows can- 
 not reach them. " We must die alone." 
 It is well that we should choose for our 
 God one on whom we can rely when 
 we are placed where no one of our 
 fellows can reach us. Joshua felt so 
 confident in Jehovah, that, let others do 
 as they might, he would serve the Lord. 
 His household were of the same mind 
 with himself. It is not necessary to 
 think that Joshua really decided for his 
 house, as some suggest, excepting to 
 determine that no other gods should 
 be worshipped in the place where his 
 authority imposed upon him so much 
 of responsibility. 
 
 II. Joshua decided for God after a 
 long trial of God. He had tasted and 
 handled and felt, for many years, the 
 joy of the great name which he here 
 commended to others. There had been 
 in his experience — 1. Trials in heacij 
 responsihilities. Such burdens his posi- 
 tion had put upon him daily. 2. Trials 
 in (jreat emenjencies. As, for instance, 
 in the crossing of the Jordan and the 
 overthrow of Jericho. 3. Trials in 
 ijreat hattles in the open field. Such 
 were the conflicts at Beth-horon and 
 the waters of Merom. 4. Trials in 
 jiainful defeats. He could remember 
 how God failed him not at Ai. Besides 
 all this, there were the (5.) Trials of his 
 own spiritual life. These, amidst such 
 great daily cares and temptations, could 
 hardly have been small. Joshua looked 
 back on what God had been to him in 
 all this, and said, "I will serve the 
 Lord." 
 
 III. What Joshua decided indi- 
 vidually, that he avowed openly. 
 1. The servant of God can a ford to 
 confess God. This is a name that brings 
 
eHAP. XXIV. 
 
 H031ILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 much glory, and no real shame. 2. Tlie 
 confession of the faitliful man tends to 
 strengthen faithfulness still more. To 
 confess God is to stand openly com- 
 mitted to serve God, and the very 
 decision gives strength. Caosar medi- 
 tating at the Rubicon was Cfcsar in his 
 weakness ; after the words, " the die is 
 cast," he seemed almost another man. 
 3. To confess our love to God is due, not 
 nnhj to ourselves, hut to others. They 
 too may be made strong by our firm- 
 ness. What Joshua so firmly says, the 
 people, at once, firmly echo. 4. To 
 confess ourselves on the Lord's side is due, 
 most of all, to the Lord Himself. He 
 by whom we are all that we are, may 
 well be acknowledged, even though we 
 should have to stand quite by ourselves. 
 As Henry well says, " Those that are 
 bound for heaven must be willing to 
 swim against the stream, and must not 
 do as the most do, but as the best do." 
 
 Verse 15. — "I will Serve the 
 Lord." 
 
 "'As for me and my house,' said 
 Joshua, ' we will serve the Lord ; ' and 
 doubtless he would have said, 'If my 
 house will not, still, as for me, I will.' 
 
 " lu response to Joshua's appeal, say 
 ye after this fashion : — 
 
 "L Some of my friends have made 
 up their minds for wealth; I will 
 serve God, and live for Him. 
 
 " II. Some of my friends have gone 
 in for pleasure; as for me, I will 
 serve God, and live for Him. The 
 paraphrase which Doddridge wrote on 
 his family motto — ' While we live, let 
 us live ' — shall be my motto : 
 
 " ' Live while you live, the epicure would say, 
 And seize the pleasures of the present day. 
 Live while you live, the sacred preacher 
 
 cries, 
 And give to God each moment as it flies. 
 Lord, in my view let both united be ; 
 I live in pleasure when I live in Thee.' 
 
 " III. Some of my friends have gone 
 in for doubt ; as for me, I will serve 
 the Lord. 
 
 "In doing this, I shall be in good 
 company, in fellowship with the greatest 
 and best of all ages. 
 
 " This is a resolution which will stand 
 trial by fire. 
 
 " The resolution thus to serve God 
 will stand the test of conscience. 
 
 " The resolve to serve God will stand 
 the test of a deathbed. Wealth will 
 not. Earthly dignities and honours 
 will not. Pleasure will not. Unbelief 
 will not. 
 
 " The service of God through Christ 
 will stand the test of the judgment-day. 
 
 " Come then, young and old, let us 
 enrol ourselves on the Lord's side." — 
 \_I)r. Kennedij.^ 
 
 "It is not enough to have made a 
 good beginning, but he who perseveres 
 to the end shall be saved. (Matt, 
 xxiv. 13.) 
 
 "God can put up with no mixed 
 religion ; with Him it is ' all mine, or 
 let it alone altogether.' (Matt. iv. 10.)" 
 ■ — [Osiander.l^ 
 
 Verse 15. — The Two Services. 
 
 I. " The service of sin is essentially 
 wrong, and the service of God is 
 essentially right. 
 
 II. " The service of sin is essentially 
 degrading, and the service of God is 
 essentially exalting. 
 
 III. "The service of sin is essentially 
 painful, and the service of God is 
 essentially happy. 
 
 IV. "The service of sin is essentially 
 destructive, and the service of God is 
 essentially saving.' — [James Parsons.] 
 
 Man's Power of Choosing Evil. 
 " That men would be better than 
 they are if they always chose good 
 instead of evil, is evident. But that 
 they would be better, or indeed, could 
 have a rational existence, if they had 
 not the power of choosing evil instead 
 of good, is the most foolish and pre- 
 sumptuous of fancies." — [Sterliut/.l 
 
 Verses IG — 18. — Good Words rightly 
 Spoken. 
 
 I. The influence of good words 
 spoken in a right way. 
 
 II. The influence of good words 
 spoken at a fit time. 
 
 III. The influence of one mans 
 confession upon others, 
 
 351 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARF: JOSHUA. ctiap. xxiv. 
 
 Verses 16 — 18. — Forsaking the Lord is one thing to resolve not to forsake God, 
 
 God. and another to adore and love Him. 
 
 I. Devout horror at the thought of 2. Where God is sincerely loved. His 
 forsaking' God. 1. The recoil of lovinij tender mercies are f/ratefully remembered. 
 h( tats /rum the sriggestion of apostasy. 3. They who love God much, so far fnnn 
 "God forbid that wc should forsake fearing His j^ower, make it their delight 
 the Lord." 2. The contempt of the and confidence. " Therefore will we 
 truJy pious for idolatry. " That wc also servo the Lord." 4. They who 
 should forsake Jehovah to serve other love and serve God sincerely, ever find 
 gods." a jwssession in God. *' For Ho is our 
 
 II. Holy admiration of God. 1. It God." 
 
 MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Verses 19—28. 
 God Trying and Taking Pledges of His People's Love. 
 
 It should uot be forgotten that in these further words of Joshua he is still to 
 be regarded as the mouthpiece of Jehovah. While Joshua no longer speaks as 
 in the person of the Lord, the meeting itself becomes more grave in every verse 
 of the record ; and so far from thinking of Jehovah, at this stage, as having in 
 some measure withdrawn from the meeting, leaving it to be concluded by His 
 servant, we are rather to think of God as so manifestly present in the increased 
 solemnity of the words, that it is no longer necessary that His presence should be 
 outwardly and formally asserted in the mere style of the address. "While it might 
 seem to us that Joshua is speaking, we are told, by the very form of the language, 
 that it is Jehovah ; when the increased solemnity of the meeting proclaims 
 indisputably the continued voice of the Lord, it is no longer thought necessaiy 
 to assure us formally that the words are far more than the mere words of Joshua. 
 It is, verily, for the then present God of Israel that Joshua proceeds to say, " Ye 
 cannot serve Jehovah." 
 
 I. Here is a life-long service freely offered by men, and that service appa- 
 rently discouraged by God. After noticing a superficial attempt to read, '• Ye 
 shall not cease to servo," for " Ye cannot serve the Lord," Dr. Clarke remarks : 
 "If the common reading be preferred, the meaning of the place must be, 'Ye 
 cannot serve the Lord, for He is holy and jealous, nnless ye put away the gods 
 which 3'our fathers served beyond the flood ; for He is a jealous God, and will not 
 give to nor divide His glory with any other.'" Undoubtedly the meaning includes 
 this ; with almost equal certainty it comprises far more than this. Joshua is not 
 merely saying. You cannot serve Jehovah ifitli other (jods ; he is also asserting, 
 You cannot serve Jehovah at all in your own strength ; or. You cannot servo 
 Jehovah at all if you set about it in a thoughtless spirit. God Himself was 
 uttering, through Joshua, for secret purposes of His own, these words of severe 
 rebuli' and painl'ub discouragement. Here, then, were people wanting to come to 
 God. The sincerity which they manifested by their subsequent life (cf. ver. 81) 
 Avas fully known to God when they made this earnest avowal of their choice. 
 Yet here is the voice of the Lord saying, " Ye cannot serve me ; my service is all 
 too bard for your endeavours." When a man comes to his fellow, feeling that his 
 fellow can counsel and help him — trusting his wisdom, and pleading his direction 
 — that is the kind oi" suppliant from whom a true man does not turn away. Wo 
 had thought that this v/as the spirit of the Bible also. Does not God say, "I lovo 
 them that love me, and they that seek me early shall find me '"? Why, then, are 
 these seekers repelled '? Docs not the Saviour cry in His earthly ministry, 
 "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you 
 rest" ? Why, then, are these who come so earnestly turned away so severely'? 
 Does not Christ call to men out of heaven itself, saying, •' Behold, I stand at tlie 
 352 
 
CHAP. XXIV. IIOMILETIG COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 door, and knock ; if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to 
 him " ? Why, then, arc these who open their hearts to the Lord discouraged by 
 words in which the Lord seems to turn utterly and hopelessly aAvay ? Why, 
 when they had been told to choose gods, and had chosen Jehovah with irre- 
 pressible ardour, are they thus rejected? Payson remarked: "The man who 
 wants me is the man I want; " in these words, God seems to turn from men 
 just according to the fervour in which they seek His face. As has been pointed 
 out by Dr. Ker, this is no exceptional instance. The " father of the faithful" is 
 the man who is told to ofler up his son in sacrifice ; and earnest Moses is con- 
 fronted by the fire and thunder of Sinai, till he exceedingly fears and quakes. 
 David enthusiastically serves his God, and is forthwith driven to ask, "Why do 
 the wicked prosper ? " Elijah is faithful when, to him, all seem so faithless that 
 he exclaims, "I only am left;" and yet he is seen fleeing here and there before 
 what appears to be an adverse Providence, till he cries in very despair, "0 
 Lord, take away my life ; I am not bettei- than my fathers." This trial of 
 earnestness is no less frequent in the New Testament than in the Old. The 
 Saviour talks to the ardent Syropho:nician woman about dogs to whom it is not 
 meet to give the children's bread. To the eager Magdalene, who seeks to embrace 
 Him, He calmly replies, " Touch me not." The young lawyer whom Jesus loved 
 was told to sell all that he had, and give it to the poor ; and the scribe who pro- 
 claimed his desire to follow Christ evei-ywhcrc was checked by the assurance that 
 he was seeking to follow one who had "not where to lay His head." Similarly, 
 when Saul cried, " Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do ? " Jesus answered 
 back, through Ananias, " I will shew him how great things he must suffer." We 
 look at all this, and there remains, among others, this one conclusion : Trial is no 
 sign that God does not love us. Even the discouragements of men, which seem 
 to come direct from heaven, are only another phase of Divine aft'ection. Emerson 
 says, " A lady with whom I was riding in the forest said to me that the woods 
 always seemed to her to irait, as if the genii who inhabited them suspended their 
 deeds until the wayfarer has passed onward, a thought which poetry has celebrated 
 in the dance of the fairies, which breaks off on the approach of human feet." 
 When walking in the woods in earlier days, I have often felt the same. I have 
 looked into the quiet shadow-arches made by masses of overhanging foliage, and 
 have felt, in the intense stillness, as if everything were vcdtinr/ till I had gone. 
 The silence has seemed so unusual — a great suspense, rather than a normal condi- 
 tion. So when the silence of God seems emphasized in some great trial or 
 dis-couragemcnt, the believing man may have his fancies, which are more than 
 fancies. He may say, " This is not the usual mind of God. He often breaks in 
 upon this silence. Of that I am sure. I have heard His voice, and the tones are 
 the tones of love. He is only waiting till I have passed. For the time, and foi' 
 some reason. Ho knows it is best that I should not sec Him, and that I should 
 hear from Him no voice of encouragement whatever." The silence is not the real 
 mind of God. It is a Divine feint. It is as when Jesus " made as if He would go 
 further," and did not go. It is as when He said, "I go not up yet imto the 
 feast," but went very shortly after. God conceals His real movements, now in 
 silence, now in actions which mislead, or now, as here, in words which seem full of 
 rebuff, but which, no less for their seeming. He would have us read as an entice- 
 ment. II. Here are loving hearts discouraged by God, and yet clinging to God 
 even more lovingly and persistently than before. "Nay; but we will serve 
 the Lord." Joshua was feigning to break them off from their choice, and they 
 asserted their determination more ardently than ever. It is as though a mother 
 should feign to shut the door against her little child, and he, refusing to read his 
 mother's heart thus, should become all the more earnest because the door seemed 
 about to be closed, well knowing all the time that his little strength was no match for 
 hers. God gives these contrary voices to provoke our zeal. He hides His heart, 
 that we may the more anxiously search out His real feeling. H« turns us back, 
 
 A A 853 
 
EOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. chap. xxiv. 
 
 that out of oiu' alarm and resistance we may press forward indeed. He seems to 
 shut the door against us, that in our zeal to re-open it we may quicken our own 
 energies, and so attract the attention of those about us, that they may say, " That 
 man is a Christian ; " and thus, ere ever we are aware, God would have us find 
 ourselves committed to His service before all men. The Saviour does but call 
 the Gentile woman a dog, that she may both know and shew that she is a child, 
 and that He may quicken her appetite for the children's bread. Said Martin 
 Luther's wife to him on one occasion : "Doctor, how is it that while subject to 
 the papacy we prayed so often and so earnestly, while now we pray with the 
 utmost coldness, and very seldom?" Few of us can be good disciples of the 
 Crucified when we ourselves have no cross. It is not so much of the Lord's 
 desire as of our own necessity that " through much tribulation we )iin)it enter 
 into the kingdom." It is exactly when in the hearing of voices which cry, " Ye 
 cannot serve God,"' that we find our hoHcst firmness to reply, "Nay; but we 
 will." III. Here is persistent love accepted by God, on the understanding 
 that men offer their love to no other gods. " Now therefore put away the 
 strange gods. Jehovah is a jealous God." 1. The Lord is jcaloKf for His own 
 (jlorij. 2. The Lord is jealous for the siqnTmacij of truth. 3. The Lord is jealous 
 for the good of the u-orshippers, 4. The Lord is jealous for beholders, uhom the 
 icorshippers eontinualhj injiuence. When cherishing our idols of the heart, we 
 shall do well to remember that all around us there are places where some of our 
 fathers have put away gods that were false and strange. The oak of Jacob, at 
 Shechem (Gen. xxxv. 4), seemed in itself to admonish Jacob's childen (ver. 20). 
 IV. Here is accepted love recklessly witnessing against its own future 
 inconstancy, and pledging itself to love and serve God for ever. "Ye are 
 witnesses against yourselves." " We are witnesses." True love makes no 
 provision for infidelity. It provides no way of retreat. It " burns the bridges" 
 by which otherwise it might be tempted to go back. 1. 2[en who turn from 
 God should remember that there are many voices witnessinr/ arfainst them, among 
 U'hicli no voice speaks so loudlg as their own. 2. When human voices seem to the back- 
 slider to hold their peace, the verij stones nevertheless erg out against him (ver. 27). 
 Such witness would be borne by the stone now set up by Joshua. 3. Those who 
 reallg lore God rather rejoice in such testimong than view it uith fear. Love enters 
 into solemn covenant ; it delights to know that the covenant is recorded, and that 
 the record is made in an enduring form. Even the witness of the imperishable 
 stone is regarded with no disfavour. 
 
 OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VEBSES. 
 
 Verse 19. — "God Declining First the very entrance. Buu5-an's Pliable and 
 
 Offers of Service." Christian at the Slough of Despond. . . . 
 
 " This procedure, on the part of II. " It leads the true seeker to 
 
 God," may arise from the following examine himself more thoroughly, 
 
 reasons : If a man is accepted, or thinks he is 
 
 I. "It sifts the true from the false accepted, at once, he takes many things 
 
 seeker. The gospel comes into the for granted which it would be well for 
 
 world to be a touchstone of human him to enquire into. Very specially is 
 
 nature — to be Ithuriel's spear among this the case in regard to the nature of 
 
 men. There is enough in it to attract sin, and the light in which God regards 
 
 and convince every man who has a it. Almost all the errors of our time, 
 
 sense of spiritual need and a desire of or of any time, have then* root here, 
 
 spiritual deliverance, but it is presented and it would be well for many to be 
 
 in such a form as to try whether the soul sent back for reflection with the words 
 
 really possesses this, and therefore we of Joshua — ' He is an holy God, He is a 
 
 may have obstacles of various kinds at jealous God ; He will not fwgivc your 
 354 
 
CHAP. XXIV. HOMILETIO COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 transgressions nor your sins.' Not tliat 
 Joshua would lead them to doubt God's 
 mercy, but he would have them to see 
 that it is a more difficult question than 
 men in general fancy. The easy com- 
 placency with which some talk of pardon, 
 and their assurance of it, springs more 
 from dulness of conscience than strength 
 of faith. . . . 
 
 III. " It binds a man to his profes- 
 sion by a stronger sense of consistency. 
 There is a paper of obligations put into 
 our hands to sign, and when we take 
 the pen, we are bidden to read it over 
 again and ponder it, that we may sub- 
 scribe with clear consciousness of the 
 contents. God will beguile no man into 
 His service by false pretences. He stops 
 us when we would rush into it thought- 
 lessly, tells us the nature of the work, 
 what His own character gives Him a 
 right to expect of us, and then, if we 
 will still go forward, He can say, ' Ye 
 are witnesses against yourselves, that 
 ye have chosen you the Lord to serve 
 Him,' and we are compelled to own, 
 * We are witnesses.' . . . 
 
 IV. " It educates us to a higher 
 growth and greater capacity of hap- 
 piness. When we see the wind shaking 
 a young tree, and bending it to the very 
 earth, it may seem to be retarding its 
 rise, but it is furthering it. It is making 
 it strike its roots deeper into the ground, 
 that its stem may rise higher and stronger, 
 till it can struggle with tempests, and 
 spread its green leaves to a thousand 
 summers. . . . In the intellectual world, 
 a strong mind thrives on difficulties. 
 There is no falser method of education 
 than to make all smooth and easy, and 
 remove every stone before the foot 
 touches it. ... ' The kingdom of 
 heaven,' as Christ has declared, ' sufler- 
 eth violence, and the violent take it by 
 force,' that the man may prove himself 
 the better soldier, and receive of God at 
 last a brighter crown."' — [Dr. Kcr.'j 
 
 Verse 19. —God's Holiness, Jealousy, 
 
 AND FoKGIVENESS. 
 
 I. The relation of God's holiness to 
 
 His forgiveness. •' For He is an holy 
 God: He will not forgive." He is too 
 holy to forgive lightly. As surely as a 
 man's righteousness has its inalienable 
 
 rights, so certainly a man's sin has its 
 just deserts, and the demerit of trans- 
 gression cannot lightly be passed over 
 without a corresponding depreciation in 
 the value of rectitude and piety. 
 
 II. The relation of God's jealousy 
 to His forgiveness. " He is a jealous 
 God : He will not forgive." God is 
 very jealous for His good name. He 
 would ever keep it as " a strong tower," 
 into Avhich the righteous know that they 
 may run with safet3\ The name of a 
 wicked ruler aflbrds no security to his 
 faithful subjects. Many kings have been 
 a terror to good and a shelter to evil 
 doers. For the sake of men, and of 
 truth, God is too jealous of His name 
 ever to let the wicked say : " We may 
 sin as we like ; we are certain to be 
 forgiven." 
 
 III. The influence of God's forgive- 
 ness upon man's religious service. 
 ' ' Ye cannot serve the Lord : He will 
 not forgive." The uuforgiven have no 
 heart to serve. " We are saved by 
 hope." "Salvation will God appoint 
 for walls and bulwarks." " The joy of 
 the Lord is our strength " for the service 
 of the Lord. Who can labour for God, 
 knowing that God holds him under 
 condemnation ! 
 
 The Necessity of Peeserving 
 Holiness. 
 
 " Without holiness there can be no 
 such heaven as the New Testament 
 reveals. There may be scenery of sur- 
 passing grandeur — mountains, woods, 
 rivers, and skies most charming ; but 
 they do not make a heaven, else a 
 heaven might be found in Wales or 
 Cumberlanil. There may be a capital 
 full of palaces and temples ; but they 
 do not make a heaven, else a heaven 
 might have been found in Delhi. There 
 may be buildings of marble and precious 
 stones ; but they do not make a heaven, 
 else a heaven might have been found in 
 Home or Venice. There may be health, 
 and ease, and luxury, and festivities j 
 but they do not make a heaven, else 
 one Avould have been met with in 
 Lelshazzar's halls. There may be 
 education, philosophy, poetry, litera- 
 ture, art ; but that will not make a 
 heaven, else the Greeks v/ould hav« 
 
II02IILETIC COMMENTAHY : JOSHUA. chap. xxiV 
 
 had one in Athens, in the grove and in 
 the porch. Holiness is that -without 
 which no heaven could exist."' — \pr. 
 Stoughton.J 
 
 The Lokd Impressing His Holiness 
 UPON THE Minds of the Israelites. 
 
 " In the Temple, even every ' little ' 
 ornament of the mighty structure that 
 crowned the clifis of Zion was ' holy ' to 
 the Lord. Not the great coi;rts and 
 inner shrines and pillared halls merely, 
 but all. Not a carven pomegranate, 
 not a bell, silver or golden, but was 
 ' holy.' The table and its lamps, with 
 flowers of silver light, tent and staves, 
 fluttering curtain and ascending incense, 
 altar and sacrifice, breastplate and ephod, 
 mitre and gem-clasped girdle, wreathen 
 chains and jewelled hangings — over all 
 was inscribed Holy, while within, in 
 the innermost shrine, where God mani- 
 fested Himself above the mercy-seat, 
 was The Houkst. Thus the utter 
 holiness of that God with whom they 
 had to do Avas by every detail impressed 
 upon the heart and conscience of ancient 
 Israel."" — [Orosart.] 
 
 Verse 20. — Foekaking God. 
 
 I. To forsake the true God is ever 
 to serve strange gods. 
 
 II. To forsake God is to be forsaken 
 by God. 
 
 III. To be forsaken by God is to 
 be presently hurt and consumed by 
 God. 
 
 Verse 21. — The Interpreting and 
 Determining Power of a Loving 
 Heart. 
 
 I. Pious love instinctively inter- 
 preting the trying words of God. 
 Joshua had said, " Yo cannot serve 
 Jehovah." The people immediately 
 answered back, "Nay; but we Avill 
 serve Jehovah."' They never for a 
 moment understood that such service 
 was absolutely impossible. Loving 
 God indeed, their hearts read, even 
 througli the contrary words, the love 
 that was in the heart of God. 
 
 II. Pious love firmly determining 
 to adhere to God. AVhether they could 
 serve or not, they would. The heart 
 that loves the holy and merciful God 
 
 85Q 
 
 cannot take " No " for an answer. 
 Love says : " If I perish, I will pray ; 
 if I get no rcAvard, I will nevertheless 
 serve." And such love ever triumphs, 
 when it pleads resolutely with God. 
 However readily the wicked may spurn 
 a loving heart away, the kingdom of 
 heaven always " suffcrctli violence, and 
 the violent take it by force." " Love 
 never faileth," when it contends with 
 God. Thus, the people who say, 
 " TFc xcill serve," are ever taken then 
 and there into covenant. 
 
 Verses 22 — 25. — Entering into 
 
 COA'ENANT with GoD. 
 
 I. No reservation must be made in 
 the direction of sin. Men must be 
 prepared even to witness against them- 
 selves. They must come to enter into 
 covenant with God with a mind which 
 contemplates no excuse for sin. 
 
 II. Sin itself must be first put away. 
 "Put away the strange gods which are 
 among you." God will enter into no 
 covenant with those who deliberately 
 cherish sin. 
 
 III. God Himself must be unhesi- 
 tatingly and persistently chosen. 1. 
 He viust he chosen in the heart. " Incline 
 your heart unto the Lord God of 
 Israel." 2. He must he chosen openJij. 
 The declaration was made by the people 
 before each other. 3. He must he chosen 
 vith no faltrriiiii jmrpose. " The Lord 
 our God will we serve." Though the 
 service be fairly stated as severe and 
 difficult, there must be no hesitation. 
 4. He viust be chosen with a submissive 
 sjiirit. " And His voice will avc obey." 
 
 IV. The covenant thus made with 
 God must be made thi'ough a mediator. 
 The covenant is made with the medi- 
 ator on behalf of the people. The 
 covenant is recorded by the mediator 
 for the joy of all who are faithful, and 
 for a witness against all transgressors. 
 Jesus, the Mediator of the new cove- 
 nant, also makes record of every mau's 
 utterance who says, " The Lord God 
 will I serve." The names of those who 
 have truly confessed Jesus arc written 
 " in the Lamb's book of life." 
 
 V. The covenant is preliminary to 
 rest in the life which now is, and for 
 that also which is to come. "When 
 
cfjAP. xxiv. H02ULETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA, 
 
 the covenant was made, then, and not 
 till then, the people departed "every 
 man unto his own inheritance." No 
 man can truly enter into rest, excepting 
 through Jesus. "Being justified by 
 faith, we have peace with God, through 
 our Lord Jesus Christ." Till a man is 
 at peace with God, he can have little 
 real joy in his own inheritance. He 
 only is wise, who, before setting himself 
 to enjoy his earthly estate, accepts the 
 invitation of Jesus: "Come unto mc. . . 
 I will give you rest." 
 
 Verses 22, 27. — God's Witnesses 
 
 AGAINST THE SiNNER. 
 
 I. The witness whicli a man bears 
 against his own sin. "Ye are wit- 
 nesses against yourselves." "We are 
 witnesses." How many insincere wor- 
 shippers are daily witnessing against 
 themselves. In their attendance in 
 God's house. In the songs of the 
 sanctuary. In the religious, instruction 
 which they impart, or cause to be im- 
 parted, to theu" children, etc. Surely 
 the Judge may say again presently, 
 "Out of thine own mouth will I con- 
 demn thee, thou wicked servant !" 
 
 II. The witness borne against a 
 sinful man by his fellows. Joshua 
 was a witness of the people's choice. 
 Every man was a witness against every 
 otiier. " We also are compassed about 
 with a great cloud of witnesses." They 
 are not mere spectators of our course, 
 but testifiers (/xap-n'pes). Like the 
 martyrs and others spoken of in Heb. xi, 
 they bear witness to the blessedness of 
 faith and faithful service ; they testify, 
 in like manner, against all who " refuse 
 Him that speaketh." 
 
 III. The witness borne against a 
 sinful man by the ordinary records of 
 life. " Behold, this stone shall bo a 
 witness unto us, for it hath heard," etc. 
 Among the Israelites, this was an ordi- 
 nary method of providing testimony. 
 Not only this stone, set up by Joshua 
 at Shechem, would bear witness against 
 Israel's unfaithfulness ; other monu- 
 ments, similarly erected, would bear 
 their testimony also. There were the 
 altars of Abraham (Gen xii. 7, xiii. 4), 
 and Isaac (Gen. xxvi. 25). There was 
 the stone of Bethel, set up by Jacob 
 
 (Gen. xxviii. 18—22). There were the 
 memorials erected by these Israelites 
 themselves (chap. iv. 4—9, viii. 30 — 32, 
 xxii. 10). These and other monuments 
 had been raised by themselves and their 
 fathers, and represented so much faith 
 and fervour in bygone days. In any 
 relapse into idolatry, or even careless- 
 ness, these memorials would testify 
 against all backsliders. It is ever thus 
 in our days also : every man's past ser- 
 vice for God and truth is an almost 
 vocal remonstrance against his future 
 worldHness. "He that hath ears to 
 hear, lot him hear." 
 
 Verse 23. — Jehovah God, and 
 Sthange Gods. 
 
 I. God and strange gods cannot be 
 worshipped together. 
 
 II. Strange gods can be and are to 
 be put away. 
 
 III. To worship no strange gods is 
 not enough; he who would worship 
 acceptably must incline his heart 
 towards the true God. 
 
 Verse 24.— The Freedom of the Will. 
 
 I. " God of His pleasure leaves us free to 
 do wrong as well as right. D()nl)t]c-;s Cod 
 c'uukl iiavc LTcitetl iniiu without ^ii;ivin>4 liim 
 liberty of will. lie niirrht have formed him 
 merely capable of wishing to do what i.s 
 right. There is nothing in the soul th.at 
 shews this freedom to bo a part of its nature. 
 We can only believe that it is the wll and 
 pleasure of God to create us fi-ee from all 
 necessity. 
 
 II. '■ Conscience urges and our hearts tell 
 us that we have this free power of will. Our 
 inner feelings continually tell us we are free 
 agents. It is of no avail that we argue down 
 our clearer convictions. Our convictions still 
 tell us that we do wrong, that we are to 
 blame when we do wrong, that we have the 
 power of avoiding our faults. Nature within 
 us utters this truth. All men understand 
 this truth. From the cradle of the child 
 to the study of the philosopher, this truth 
 is everywhere uncontradicted. The r.ace of 
 man over .all the earth l)clieves itself free. 
 
 III. " Our daily life assures us that we 
 have this power over our wills. The same 
 consi'iuusness that assiu-es us we exist, with 
 equal authority tells us that we are free. We 
 may argue, and shutlle our words, we may 
 deceive ourselves, but in actual life we still 
 take this freedom for granted, and move our 
 limljs in the belief that we move them at our 
 own pleasure. Reason as we wll, we are yet 
 obliged to follow this persuasion that we are 
 free. The belief that we have power over our 
 
 357 
 
HOMILETIO COMMENTARY'. JOSHUA, ohap. xxiv. 
 
 ■will<5, and the daily exercise of this power, 
 are argviments so iiuauswcrable that no man 
 who is not in a dream can deny them. In all 
 the common actions of life it is impossible 
 for a man seriously to question his power to 
 follow his I'ialit rca'5on. 
 
 IV. Without freedom to do wrong there 
 could be no virtue. Could we take away 
 this free will from man. the whole of human 
 life would bo overthrown. If men are not 
 free in what they do of good and evil, good 
 is not good, and evil is not evil. If an un- 
 avoidable necessity oblige us to wish what we 
 wish, human responsibility is gone ; there is 
 no more virtue or vice, praise or blame. There 
 is no religion left uj^jn earth. 
 
 V. *• God is with us, helping us to use this 
 power aright. When God made man free, 
 He did not thereby leave him to himself. He 
 gave him reason to be a light to him. ITc is 
 Himself with him, to inspire him \\ith good- 
 ness, to rejjrove him for his smallest faults, 
 to lead him on by promises, to hold him back 
 by threats, to melt him by His love. He 
 forgives us, He avenges us, He waits for us. 
 He bears with our neglect, and invites us 
 even to the last. Our life is full of His grace. 
 
 " It were terrible to 1)clieve that, without 
 any power of his own to do right, mail is 
 required hy his Maker to attain a virtue quite 
 beyond his reach. No, indeed ! man suffers 
 no evil but what he makes for himself. He 
 is able to procure for himself the greatest 
 blessings'. 
 
 VI. '• In this freedom of will God has given 
 us a part of His own nature. By making 
 man free, God has given him a strong feature 
 of likeness to Himself. ]Man's em})ire over 
 his own will has in it something divine. 
 Master of his own inner movements, he turns 
 to whatever seems to him good. God gave 
 to man a noble power when He made him 
 capable of deserving praise and approbation. 
 What is higher or grander than to deserve ? 
 It is the ])ower of rising to a rank and order 
 above our present state. V>j deserving, man 
 improves and exalts himself, goes forward 
 step by step, .and wins his reward. What 
 richer crown of ornament could God put upon 
 His work ?" — [^Fcnclun.'\ 
 
 Verse 25.— The Covenant at Shechem. 
 " Seven things are to be considered in this 
 renewal of tlu; covenant : — 
 
 I. '• The dignity of the mediator. Take a 
 viewof liis iiaiiu^s, ilosea and Jchoshua. God 
 will save : He will save. The iirst is like a 
 promise ; the second, the fulfdment of that 
 l)romise. God will save some time or other : 
 this is the very person by whom He w\\\ 
 accora))lish His promise. Take a view of 
 Joshua's life : his faith, courage, constancy, 
 heroism, and success. A remarkable tvpe of 
 Christ. CSec 11 cb. iv. S.) 
 
 II. "The freedom of those who contracted, 
 ' Take away the gods which your fathers 
 served beyond the flood, and in Egyjit.' etc. 
 (ver. 14). Consider the liberty of choice which 
 every man has, and which God, in matters of 
 religion, calls into action. 
 
 858 
 
 III. "The necessity of the choice. To be 
 
 A\"ithout religion is to be mthout happiness 
 here, and without any title to the kingdom of 
 God. To have a false religion is the broad 
 road to perdition ; and to have the true 
 religion, and live agreeably to it, is the high 
 road to heaven. Life is jirecarious, death is 
 .at the door ; the Judge calls ; much is to bo 
 done, and perhaps there is but little time to 
 do it in. Choose: choose speedily and de- 
 termin.ately. 
 
 IV. ' ' The extent of the'conditions. ' Fear the 
 Lord, and serve Him in truth and righteous- 
 ness.' Consider His being. His power, holi- 
 ness, justice, etc. Heligion itself consists of 
 two parts. I. Truth. («) In opposition to 
 the idolatry of the surroTinding nations, {h) 
 In reference to that revelation which God 
 gave of Himself, (c) In reference to that 
 peace and comfort which false religions may 
 pi'omisc, but cannot .give, and which the true 
 religion communicates to all who properly 
 embrace it. 2. UprUjhtncss or infcf/riti/, in 
 opposition to those abominable vices by which 
 themselves and the neighbouring nations had 
 been defiled. («) The major part of men 
 have one religion for youth, and another for 
 old age. He who serves God with integrity 
 serves Ilim wiih all his heart in every part of 
 life, (h) Most men have a religion of times, 
 l)laces, and circumstances. Integrity takes 
 in every time, every place, and every circum- 
 stance ; God's law ever being kept before 
 the eyes, and His love in the heart, dictating 
 purity and perfection to every thought, word, 
 and work, (c) Many content themselves 
 with abstaining from vice, and think them- 
 selves sure of the kingdom of God because 
 they do not sin as others. But he who serves 
 God in integrity, not only abstains from the 
 act and appearance of evil, but steadily jior- 
 forms every moral good. 
 
 V. " The peril of the engagement. This 
 covenant had in it the nature, of an oath ; for 
 so much the i)hrase ' before the Lord ' implies. 
 .... Joshua allows there is a great danger 
 in m.aking this coven.ant. 'Ye cannot serve 
 the Lord,' etc. But this only supposes that 
 notliing could be done right but by His Spirit, 
 and in His strength. Tlae energy of the Holy 
 Spirit is equal to every requisition of God's 
 holy law, as far as it regards the moral 
 conduct of a liclievcr in Christ. 
 
 VI. "The solemnity of the acceptance. Not- 
 withstanding .loshua faithfidly laid down the 
 dreaiiful evils which those might expect who 
 should abandon the Lord, yet the jieople 
 entered s<demnly into the covenant. ' God 
 forbid that we should forsake the Lord.' ' We 
 will serve the Lord.' They seemed to think 
 tliat not to covenant in this case was to reject. 
 
 VII. "The nearness of the consequence. 
 There were false gods among them, .and these 
 nuist be innnediately put away (ver. 21?). 
 The moment the covenant is made, that same 
 moment the conditions of it come into force. 
 He who makes this covenant with God should 
 immediately break off from every evil design, 
 comjianion, word, and work," — [^Dr. A, 
 ClarJtCyfrom M, tS(iuri/i.2 
 
CHAP, XXI Y, 
 
 HOMILETIC COMMENTAEY: JOSHUA. 
 
 " The Repeated Profession op the 
 People that they will Serve the Lord. 
 
 I. " The profession in reference to its im- 
 port. 
 
 II. "The profession in reference to the 
 responsibilities which the people thus took 
 upon them. 
 
 '• It is easily said. I will serve the Lord 
 and oljey His voice ; but actually to keep the 
 promise when the world alhuvs to its altars 
 is another thing. 
 
 •• Israel's resolution to serve the Lord was 
 wholly voluntary. So should it be also with 
 us. There should be no compulsion." — [Mii/.] 
 
 Verses 20, 27. — " The Keligious Use op 
 Memorials. 
 
 " This action of Joshua seems a strange 
 importance to be conferred on a piece of 
 insensible matter, on a mere block of stone, 
 unnoticed, perhaps, for a thousand years. 
 'It hath heard,'' is an excessively strong 
 figure ; but it is quite in the Eastern stylo to 
 give things the attributes of persons. 
 
 1. " How little it can be foreseen or con- 
 jectured to what use numberless things in 
 the creation, apparently insignificant, are 
 destined by Divine appointment to be applied. 
 They maj'' be entirely unnoticed while waiting 
 that use. with no marks upon them to dis- 
 tinguish them from the most ordinary things 
 of the same kind. The trees for Noah"s ark. 
 The rod of Moses. The stones which were 
 . to be the tables of the Law, and which were 
 to be ^\Titteu upon by the Almighty. The 
 rams' borns used at the siege of Jericho. 
 The materials destined to the most awful 
 use of all — The Cross. There is, as to most 
 of us, now existing, somewhere, the very 
 wood which will form our coflins. Some of 
 us may have ])assed near the very trees, or 
 the wood no longer in the state of trees. 
 The material bears no mark what it is for ; 
 but God has on it His secret mark of its 
 destination. If it were visible, what a read- 
 ing wc should have of inscriptions ! — toml) 
 inscriptions, seen beforehand ! 
 
 2. '■ The sovereign Lord has some .ap- 
 pointed use for everything in creation. The 
 uses of .an infinite number of things «t shall 
 never know ; but He can have made nothing 
 but for an use — to that it will come. What 
 a view h.as He on .all things as bearing His 
 destination ! Wh.at a stupendous prospective 
 vision, if we may express it so, before His 
 mind ! 
 
 3. " Wise and good men can find for 
 many things many uses, for instruction and 
 piety, which do not occur to other men. If 
 such a man, towards the close of life, could 
 make out an account of the things that have 
 served him to such a purpose, how many 
 things, seeming not in themselves qualified 
 to instruct him, would he h.avc to recount as 
 having been the occasions of his receiving 
 instruction or salutary impressions ! . . . 
 
 4. " The great leaders of Isr.ael, Moses 
 and Joshua, were solicitous to employ every 
 expedient to secure an eternal remembrance 
 of God in the people's minds. ... It was 
 not enough that hmnan and even angelic 
 
 monitors should be speaking. They ]^erceived 
 how constantly the ])opular mind was with- 
 drawing and escaping from under the im- 
 pressive sense of an invisible Being : how 
 easily the delusions of the surrounding idolatry 
 stole on their senses and their imagination, 
 to beguile their hearts and their very reason 
 away ; how imperfectly the grand scene of 
 nature, of the creation, preserved, in any 
 active force, the thought of the Creator ; 
 how apt to grow feeble and faint was their 
 memory of even the miraculous events which 
 themselves had beheld. Accordingly they 
 marked places and times with monuments, 
 built altars, raised heaps of stones, etc. 
 
 •'Now can .all this be turned to no good 
 account for us / Have we less of this un- 
 hap})y tendency to forget things which ought 
 to st.and conspicuous in our memory, relative 
 to our concerns mth God ? What kind of 
 memory have we, for exami)le, of the mercies 
 of God / 
 
 " We then, as much as the Israelites, need 
 all manner of aids to revive the memory of 
 them. V.aluable advantage may be taken of 
 p.articular circumstances, .aiding us to I'ecall 
 them. ' This' stone shall he a n-itness to vs.' 
 Everything that can be made a trit/iess and 
 reraemljrancer to us is worth being made so. 
 We should not despise its assistance. The 
 place where we were delivered fi-om an acci- 
 dent should be a witness to us. The apart- 
 ment where an oppressive sickness had 
 brought its victim just to the gate of death ; 
 the place in which a person was saved from 
 f.alling into some great sin ; the house, book, 
 letter, in or through which some important 
 lesson of instruction was given at an oppoi'- 
 tune .and critical moment : these, .and similar 
 things, should be memorials and witnesses to 
 men. . . . 
 
 "A m.an should take like methods to re- 
 member his sins. A man m.ay happen to 
 meet, now sinking in age, .a ]ierson who once 
 remonstr.ated against his sinl'ul w.ays : or he 
 m.ay pass I)y the grave of one who was once 
 an associ.ate in evil. Let him stand by it 
 and reflect. Or, not to sui)pose heinous sins, 
 there may be presented to a man various 
 things which will remind him of a careless, 
 irreligious season of his life ; a Uible that he 
 careil not to read ; articles used for mere vain 
 .amusement and waste of time. Now, such 
 mnnument.al witnesses should suggest to a 
 man to think of guilt, repentance, and p.ardon. 
 He might fix his eyes on those objects while 
 on his bended knees. 
 
 •' There are men in whose memories arc 
 reposited times and places when and where 
 they trembled under • the terrors of the 
 Lord.' . . . 
 
 " It is wise to seize upon all means of 
 turning the past into lessons of solemn ad- 
 monition ; it is, as it were, bringing it back 
 to be jtrcfcnt, that we may have it over 
 .again. With the instructing, sanctifying in- 
 fluence of the Divine Spirit, we m.ay thus 
 pass ag.ain, in thought, over the scenes of oiu" 
 life, and reap certain benefit non; even in 
 those where we reaped none thcri.''' — [Frojti 
 John Iiister'i Lectures.] 
 
 359 
 
nOMJLBTir COMMENTARY: JOSHUA, chap. xxiv. 
 
 ^■■■' ■ _ - -— ■ — ,. ■ - ■ ■— .. ,, ^ — , „ ■ - , , , . — ■-■ 
 
 MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Verses 29—31. 
 The Character and Influence of Joshua. 
 
 Many of the noblest lives have an obscure origin and a lowly beginning. Joshua 
 was born a slave. He was born about the time that Moses fled out of Egypt to 
 Jethro. His name first occurs in the history when he was upwards of forty 
 3'ears of age (Exod. xvii. 9). Eminent or obscure, every life must come to an 
 end. No amount of greatness can confer ph3'sical immortality, and no depth of 
 obscurity is sufficient to hide from infirmity, disease, and death. The pages of 
 the Bible are portioned out in sections ; on a few of those pages we meet with the 
 name of Noah; on a few, that of Abraham, Moses, -Joshua, or some other prominent 
 man ; then, when we have passed its section, the particular name, for the most part, 
 occurs no more. Only the name of the Eternal belongs to the Bible throughout. 
 The noblest of men appear only for a time, and then pass away, to make room for 
 others. The Bible is a portrait of human life, and this featui'e of brevity is also 
 a part of the picture. At this point of the great Scripture story, the name of 
 Joshua begins to give place to those of the succeeding Judges. 
 
 I. Joshua's great life and character. 1. His life was full of trying events. 
 Moses selected him to lead the Israelites to their first battle. He was chosen, as 
 a strong and wise and good man, to fill one of the most important positions among 
 his people, and from the time of that choice to this time of his death the events 
 of the national life were severely testing the manhood of the man, the capacity of 
 the wanior and the statesman, and the piety of the servant of the Lord. After 
 the trial on the battle-field of Piephidim, Joshua was proved in the matter of 
 patience. For nearly six weeks he seems to have waited in a mysterious soli- 
 tude, while Moses was upon the mount with God (cf. Exod. xxiv. 13, xxxii. 17). 
 During that period the patience of Aaron and Hm- and the elders had failed ; 
 they turned to idolatry, and the people Avith them. Yet Joshua took no part in 
 the sin of the people, and was oven ignorant that the calf had been made, attribut- 
 ing the idolatrous shouts of the multitude to " a noise of war in the camp." God 
 had tried the bravery of the soldier ; He would no less severely prove the faith 
 and patience of the servant. After the trial in solitude, Joshua was tempted in 
 company. Ten of the spies became so many tempters of the remaining two to 
 murmuring and unbelief. The hosts of Israel joined in the temptation. The loud 
 ro.r popidi was urgent and almost unanimous against the silent vo.v Dei which 
 Joshua heard by faith in his own heart. ]3ut Joshua and Caleb were firm ; they 
 rent their clothes, and remonstrated together against the rebellious multitude. 
 After the death of Moses, the life of this great man was simply full of events cal- 
 culated to tax his faith and patience to the utmost. Jordan, Jericho, Ai, Beth- 
 horon, and Merom are but a few of the more prominent names representing, not 
 oidy Joshua's conflicts with great difficulties and strong enemies, but, probably, 
 severe conflicts with himself. Every crisis in the history of the invasion, every 
 battle-field, every day in the long and arduous work of dividing the land, must 
 have brought to Joshua strong temptations in, in some way, forget or dishonour 
 God. Joshua's life was a prolonged excitement in the midst of great events, and 
 each event was a new ordeal. 2. His cJiaractcr was as i/reat as his life was nrnt- 
 ful. If every day dawned ushering in for Joshua, in his personal life, some new 
 battle, every night S(;ems to have brought him some fresh victory. No word of 
 direct blame is recorded against him throughout his whole history. Only once — ■ 
 when the elders took of the victuals of the (ribeonitcs, " and asked not counsel at 
 the mouth of the Lord," and " Joshua made peace" with these deceivers — does 
 there seem to be even a reflection iipon his pious faithfulness to God. Among 
 many other things in wliich this Josluia of the Old Testament seems to prefigure 
 the greater Joshua of the New, so far as a sinful man could do so at all, his life 
 beautifully points us to llim "who did no sin, neither was guile found in His 
 800 
 
CHAP. XXIV. HOMILETIC CQMMENTAJir: JOSHUA, 
 
 mouth." Even the beautiful life of Moses is grievously darkened by two trans- 
 gressions — his murder of the Egyptian, and his unfaithfulness at Meribah; but no 
 similar cloud throws its shadows over the character of Joshua. For absence of 
 self-seekiug, and love of his people ; for bravery beautified by tenderness ; for a 
 strength of will so powerful to control the multitude, and yet a will so docile 
 before the known will and mind of God ; for unquestioning obedience in the 
 execution of Divine commands, naturally and severely trying to his humanity and 
 kindness ; for a calm and even mind amidst great daily provocations and induce- 
 ments to go astray ; for purity of thought and feeling ; for self-continence in the 
 hours of great victories, and in the months and years that followed them ; for 
 quiet and continuous zeal for God's glory and his country's good ; for real great- 
 ness in its union with deep and true humility : for all these things, and others, 
 taken as a combination dwelling in a single character, the world has known few 
 lives so noble as this life, perhaps none nobler, excepting the all-transcending 
 life of Christ. So far as the History of his life is recorded, there seems 
 nothing in which Joshua is open to the blame of men, and nothing in which he 
 becomes subject to the reproof of God. II. Joshua's honourable death and 
 burial. 1. Jmt Airfare Ms death we come to ichat apjuar tu Intcc been the intoise.st 
 moments of his whole life. Nothing can be more earnest and beautiful than his 
 appeal to the elders, recorded in chapter xxiii., and the wonderful mingling of 
 dignity, intensity, and love shewn in this chapter, in his pleading with the people. 
 The two addresses shew us conclusively, that Joshua's "long time " of compara- 
 tive rest in his old age (chap, xxiii. 1) had in no way served to diminish, but 
 rather to increase, his pious concern for himself and his people before God. The 
 two addresses shew that, right up to the end, his life was a growth, not a decay. 
 The death of such a man must of necessity be honourable and beautiful. Our 
 life should be a growth as long as it lasts. There are too many who grow old and 
 cold at the same time. 2. Joshua s hnrial has a brief record, hut one that hefts his 
 life (ver. 2d). There is about it nothing ostentatious — nothing pretentious. 
 " Thei/ buried him," says the historian. Who are meant by this word ''the;/''? 
 The quiet pronoun reads as though it might stand for half the nation: like Joshua 
 himself, it says so little, and yet seems to represent so much. " They buried him 
 in the border of his inheritance." That inheritance itself was one of Joshua's 
 noblest tributes. This dead man had become great in winning so much, and 
 greater still in taking so little. It was meet that the great dead conqueror should 
 be buried in the borders of his own meagre inheritance. Joshua could have no 
 nobler memorial than to be buried in the borders of that comparatively poor estate 
 in Timnath-Serah. Many men defeat their own greatest victories by their manner 
 of disposing of the spoil. To thousands of " Christians," every new conquest 
 and every fresh success in life means as much more estate for themselves as is 
 possible, and as much from their neiglibour's as can be conveniently added to their 
 own. III. Joshuas holy and abiding influence. " And Israel served the Lord 
 all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that overlived Joshua." 
 Being dead, Joshua yet spake. His unselfish and holy life became an abiding 
 power to hold all who had known him steadfast in the faith. The Hindoos have 
 a beautiful epigram, which runs on this wise : 
 
 •' Naked on jiarent's knees, a new-born child 
 Thou sat'st and wopt, while all caround thee sniilcd : 
 So live, that sinking to thy last long slfcp, 
 Thou then may'st smile, while all around thee weep." 
 
 To Joshua himself, his end was, doubtless, peace; to all Israel, it must have been 
 a season of deep and sincere sorrow. And yet, to the mighty host who had 
 known this great man as their leader, these days of gloom and heaviness had a 
 brightness that was slow to fade away. In the eloquent word>s of the late Bishop 
 Wilberforce, " As on the dark sky, when some flashing meteor has swept across 
 it with a path of fire, there remains still after that glory has departed, a lingering 
 
 361 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. chap. xxiv. 
 
 line of light ; so was it with this mighty man, glorious in lil'o, and leaving even 
 after he was gone the record of his abundant faithfulness still to hold for a season 
 heavenward the too wandering ej'es of Israel." Thus ever does a good and 
 holy man outlive himself. 
 
 OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VEESES. 
 
 Verses 29, 80. — *' Sunset on Mount 
 Ephraim." 
 
 " Here is a glorious orb in the old 
 world sinking peacefully to rest behind 
 the pastoral hills of Ephraim. Joshua 
 was in every sense of the word a great 
 character, a saintly hero, — the man not 
 only of his age, Init of many ages. If 
 his name does not shine so conspicuously 
 amid the galaxy of patriarchs and ancient 
 worthies, it is very much because, as 
 has been said of him, 'the man himself 
 is eclipsed by the brilliancy of his 
 deeds : ' like the sun in a gorgeous 
 western sky, when the pile of amber 
 clouds — the golden linings and drapery 
 with which he is surrounded — pale the 
 lustre of the great luminary. 
 
 "' Four elements of strength appear 
 to stand out conspicuously in Joshua's 
 character, and which distinguish him 
 pre-eminently in the Old Testament as 
 ' the warrior saint.' 
 
 " I. Zeal for God's honour. This 
 seemed to have been his paramount 
 aim and motive through life. Examples : 
 It was so at the passage of the Jordan ; 
 in the interview with the Captain of the 
 Lord's host ; in the rearing of the altar 
 at Ebal ; in the addresses at Hliiloh and 
 Shechem. 
 
 " II. Deference to God's law. Like 
 every true and loyal soldier, ho acted 
 up to the orders of his superior : the 
 reading of the Law at Ebal ; the com- 
 memorative ' altar of whole stones ; ' 
 the counsel oflered in chap, xxiii. 0, 
 and the urgent words in chap. xxiv. 27. 
 . . . Amid the duties and dilliculties, the 
 cares and perplexities of life, how many 
 a pang and tear would it save us if wo 
 went with chastened and inquiring 
 spirits to these sacred oracles ! This 
 antiquated volume is still the ' liook of 
 books,' the oracle of oracles, the beacon 
 of beacons ; the poor man's treasury ; 
 the child's companion ; the sick man's 
 health ; the dying man's life ; shallows 
 for the infant to walk in ; depths for 
 giant intellect to explore and adore. 
 802 
 
 "III. Dependence on God's strength. 
 ' Certainly I will be with thee,' was the 
 guarantee with which he accepted his 
 onerous responsibilities as leader of the 
 many thousands of Israel. In this 
 spirit Joshua cast himself upon God at 
 the time of his defeat at Ai, and in the 
 battle with the five kings of the South 
 at Beth-horon — the Marathon of ancient 
 Canaan. 
 
 " IV. Trust in God's faithfulness. 
 When Joshua first undertook to lead 
 the armies of Israel, this was the warrant 
 and encouragement on which he set 
 out : ' I the Lord am with thee whither- 
 soever thou goest.' . . . "When the 
 land had been partitioned to the various 
 tribes, Joshua records this emphatic 
 attestation, ' There failed not aught of 
 any good thing which the Lord had 
 spoken unto the house of Israel : all 
 came to pass' (chap. xxi. 45). ... As 
 surely as Joshua's zeal and trust and 
 fortitude crowned his arms with victory, 
 so surely, if we, iu the noble gospel 
 sense, 'quit us like men, and be strong,' 
 God will give us the rest lie promises — 
 the rest which remains for His people." 
 
 —[J. n. Mar ]jii//:] 
 
 Joshua's Humility and Sklf-For- 
 gktfulnkss. 
 
 "Two things are very characteristic 
 of Joshua's great virtue of modesty : 
 
 "1. His liuvnliti/ and imscljishncss 
 in rci/aril to amj posxt'ssiuns or adrantaties 
 for hitiisc/f or kin J'aiiiih/. He appro- 
 priated nothing forcibly as his own. 
 No claim is i)ut forward to any reward 
 for his long and faithful service. No 
 boastful allusion is made cither to his 
 courage or to his patience. 
 
 " 2. I lis rcmarhahlr fon/itfiibiess of 
 .silf in his most solnnn eonchuUn;/ ad- 
 dresses to the assonliled jxnjde. It is 
 very striking to observe bow his own 
 ci'cdit is not accounted of at all. It 
 is still, in fact, as if even now ho were 
 standing before Moses, as his minister 
 and servant." — [Dean Ilouson.] 
 
OHAP. XXIV. 
 
 HOMILETia COMMENTARY : JOSHUA. 
 
 The Effect op Joshua's Victories. 
 
 " We who live in these later days can 
 see that the whole history of man hung 
 upon the issue of those battles in the 
 plain of Jericho and on the hills of 
 Beth-horon. AVhat other conflicts have 
 ever decided so much for humanity ? 
 Joshua stood on those flelds of blood 
 the very Avorld-hero, bearing with him 
 all its destinies. If Israel had been 
 subdued by the Canaanites, if the sepa- 
 rated seed had been mingled with the 
 heathen, if it had learned their ways, if 
 the worship of Moab and Chcmosh 
 and Moloch and Astarte had super- 
 seded the worship of Jehovah, how 
 had all the grand designs of redemp- 
 tion been frustrated in their develop- 
 ment ! The cry of Joshua after the 
 flight at Ai would have been the de- 
 spairing utterance of the race of men : 
 ' And what wilt Thou do unto Thy 
 great name ?' " 
 
 *' More almost in Joshua's histor)- 
 than anywhere besides may the trou- 
 bled soul — perplexed and harassed by 
 the sight, on this sin-defiled earth, of 
 wars, battles, slaughters, pestilences, 
 earthquakes, miseries, and treasons — 
 rest itself, though it be with the deep 
 sob of a present broken-heartedness, in 
 the conviction that God has a plan for 
 this world ; that in the end it does 
 prevail ; that the Baalim of heathen 
 power must fall before Him, and that 
 His kingdom shall stand for ever and 
 ever in its truth and righteousness and 
 love." — 'iBp. Wilhcrjun-c.'] 
 
 Joshua a Type of Christ. 
 
 " In more various points, and with a 
 closer similarity of outline than belongs, 
 perhaps, to any other figure in the Old 
 Testament, is Joshua the type of Christ. 
 His very name begins the great intima- 
 tion. Changed by Moses — doubtless 
 at the mouth of the Lord — from Oshea, 
 ' welfare,' to Jehoshua, or Jesus, ' God 
 the Saviour; ' it pointed him out as the 
 figure in the earthly of the heavenly 
 deliverer. Joshua is pre-eminently one 
 of the people whom he delivers ; he 
 has worked with them in the brick-kilns 
 of Egypt, he knoAvs their hearts ; in all 
 their afilictions he has been afilicted. 
 
 " When Joshua has entered ou his 
 
 leadership, prophetic acts, full of typical 
 significance, begin with a wonderful 
 minuteness to repeat themselves. He, 
 and not the great lawgiver, is to bring 
 the people into Canaan : Moses must 
 depart to secure his every word of 
 promise being fulfilled to Israel, as the 
 law must pass away and be fulfilled 
 before the spiritual Israel could enter 
 on that kingdom. At the river Jordan 
 Joshua is shewn by God to Israel as 
 their appointed leader ; there God 
 began to magnify him. As Jesus comes 
 up from the river Jordan, the heavens 
 open, the Holy Ghost descends, and 
 the voice of God declares, ' This is 
 my beloved Son, in whom I am well 
 pleased.' From Jordan's bod Joshua 
 took twelve stones to be for evermore 
 a witness to the people of their great 
 deliverance ; from His baptism in Jordan 
 Jesus began to call His twelve apostles, 
 the foundation stones of that church 
 which witnesses to every generation of 
 the redemption of the sons of Abraham 
 by Christ. Twelve stones Joshua 
 buried under the returning waters of 
 Jordan; and over the first twelve Jesus 
 let the stream of death flow as over 
 others. . . . 
 
 "Before Joshua departed, he called 
 to him on that mountain of Timnath- 
 Serah, which ho was about to leave, all 
 the heads of the tribes, and with the 
 chant of a prophetic voice set before 
 them all the grand future, which, if 
 they clave steadfastly to God, should 
 certainly be theirs ; and so before He 
 ascended into .the heavens did the great 
 Captain of God's spiritual army appoint 
 to meet upon a mountain top in Galileo 
 the heads of all the tribes into which 
 His church should multiply ; and there, 
 looking with them over the far out- 
 stretched dominions of the earth, utter 
 to them, Joshua -like, the words of 
 wonder which rang for ever in their 
 ears, ' All power is given unto me in 
 heaven and on earth : go ye therefore, 
 and evangelize all nations.' 
 
 " Yea, and yet again, after a higher 
 sort than belongs to this present world, 
 was Joshua but the type of Jesus. For 
 it is He who, for each one who follows 
 Him, the true High Priest, divides the 
 cold waters of death, setting against 
 
 303 
 
IIOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. chap. xxiv. 
 
 their utmost flood, even when that the walls of Babylon shall fall. It is 
 
 Jordan overfloweth his banks, as he He who gocth forth conquering and to 
 
 doth all the harvest time, the ark of the conquer, until all His enemies are put 
 
 body which He took of us, and in which under His feet ; and so the last tjq^e of 
 
 God dwelleth evermore ; so making a this life of wonders shall be fulfilled, 
 
 way for His ransomed to pass over, and the true Joshua, from the exceeding 
 
 It is He who hath gone before to pre- high mountain of His Timnath-Serah, 
 
 pare amongst the many mansions of shall look around Him on the tribes of 
 
 His Father's house the place which the God, and see them all at peace ; the 
 
 golden lot marks out for us. It is He prayer-promise which was breathed in 
 
 Avho hath trodden down all our enemies, time fulfilled in eternity : ' Father, I Avill 
 
 It is He who hath built the golden city that those whom Thou hast given me 
 
 upon the 'twelve foundation-stones be with me where I am, that they may 
 
 which bear the names of the twelve behold my glory which I had with 
 
 apostles of the Lamb.' It is He at Thee before the world was.'" — [Bji. 
 
 whose trumpet sound, when the seven Wilbcrfurcc] 
 days of the groat week are accomplished. 
 
 MAIX IWMILETICS OF THE PARAGnAPIL— Vases 29—33. 
 
 The Soldier, the Sekvant, and the Pkiest. 
 
 I. The faithful warrior. Joshua comes before us as the leader of the militant 
 host of God. The first we see of him is on the battle-field at llephidiiu. 
 Throughout almost his whole life he is seen in connection with war. During the 
 closing years of his life, though no longer fighting, we think of him as the con- 
 queror at peace. As has been suggested, the lines from the " Ode to the Duke 
 of Wellington" maybe taken as not inaptly describing some of the strongly 
 marked features of this great ancient captain's life : — 
 
 " The m.an of long-enduring l)lood, 
 TliG stntosman-warrior, moderate, resolute, 
 Whole in himself, a common good. 
 . . . . The man of .amplest iniiuenec. 
 Yet clearest of ambitious crime ; 
 The greatest, yet with least pretence : 
 Great in council .and great in w.ar. 
 Foremost captain of his time, 
 Rich in saving common sense. 
 And, as the greatest only .are. 
 In his simplicity sublime. 
 good gray head whicli .all men knew, 
 O voice from which their omens all men drew, 
 O iron nerve to true occasion true. 
 () fall'n at length that tower of strength 
 "Which stood four-sipiarc to all the winds that blow !" — Ttunysou. 
 
 Whatever else ho may have been, in Joshua we have the man who, above all 
 others in history, may be emphatically called "the soldier of God." And the 
 great warrior was faithful : Scripture has against him no complaint whatever. 
 II. The faithful son and servant. "And the bones of Joseph," ,tr. What 
 Joshua was in the field, that was Joseph in the family. Singularly enough, they 
 both died at exactly the same age (cf. Gen. 1. 2G). As with Joshua, Joseph's life, 
 two liundred years before, was full of temptation. The dying words of Jacob 
 fitly tell us, "The archers sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him." 
 But Joseph, no less than Joshua, was faithful : " His bow abode in strength, and 
 the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty tiod of 
 Jucdb." Scripture makes no complaint, either, .against Joseph. III. The faithful 
 priest. " And Eleazar the son of Aaron died." With a similar faithfulness 
 30-i 
 
(JHAt. XXIV. 
 
 BOMILETIC COMMENTABY : JOSHUA. 
 
 Eleazar also appears to have served both his generation and his God. We do 
 not know the exact time of either his birth or death. 
 
 These three blameless Hves, resting here together at their close, in the records 
 of Old Testament history, seem half to shadow forth the threefold work of the 
 coming Saviour. Joseph is the faithful prophet, whose dreams foretell his life, 
 and whose life begins both to foretell and to inaugurate the coming fulfilment of 
 God's covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob ; Eleazar is the faithful priest, 
 whose very name — " the help of God," or " one whom God helps " — is strangely 
 akin to that of Joshua ; while Joshua himself, as the ruler of the host of Israel, 
 serves to conclude the number of the sacred trio which, whether intentionally or 
 not, points with much suggestiveness to Jesus the Saviour, who is, in His own 
 person, at once Prophet, Priest, and King. 
 
 OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VEBSES. 
 
 Verso 30. — The Geaves of Moses 
 AND Joshua. 
 
 1. The grave of the one great vuin 
 was perfecthj well known, and accurateJg 
 marked, while that of the other was alto- 
 gether unknown. The monument has 
 little to do with the man. 2. One uian 
 was buried Jig his J ell ores, the other hg his 
 God. Who shall say which was the 
 more loved by God ? God's various 
 treatment of His servants docs not arise 
 from His varying love, but from their 
 ditiering wants. Probably the Israelites 
 of the days of Moses could not have 
 borne to know where Moses lay. 
 
 The Tomb op Joshua. 
 " Lieut. Conder says of the tomb of 
 Joshua : * This is certainly the most 
 striking monument in the country, and 
 strongly recommends itself to the mind 
 as an authentic site. That it is the 
 sepulchre of a man of distinction is 
 manifest from the great number of lamp 
 niches Avhich cover the walls of the 
 porch : they are over two hundred, 
 arranged in vertical rows, and all smoke- 
 blacked. One can well imagine the 
 wild and picturesque appearance pre- 
 sented at any time when the votive 
 lamps were all in place, and the blaze 
 of light shone out of the wild hill-side, 
 casting long shadows from the central 
 columns. The present appearance of 
 the porch is also very picturesque, with 
 the dark shadows and bright light, and 
 the trailing boughs Avhich droop from 
 above.' The tomb is a square chamber, 
 with five excavations on three of its 
 sides, the central one forming a passage 
 leading into a second chamber beyond. 
 
 Here is a single cavity, with a niche for 
 a lamp ; and here, there is good reason 
 to beUeve, is the resting-place of the 
 warrior chief of Israel. It is curious 
 that when so large a number of travel- 
 lers come annually to Palestine, so few 
 visit a spot of such transcendent in- 
 terest." — [8. 8. Teacher.] 
 
 Verse 81.— The Holy Influences 
 OF A Holy Life. 
 
 I. The fruits of a mans life are of 
 the sq,me kind as the seed. "Israel 
 served the Lord." They did not servo 
 the devil. They did not serve idols. 
 They did not even servo themselves. 
 Joshua served Jehovah — that was the 
 
 seed; Israel, too, " served Jehovah " 
 
 that was the fruit. As the seed, so the 
 harvest. " AVhatsoever a man soweth, 
 that shall ho also reap." 
 
 II. The fruits of a life that is really 
 holy are both abundant and abiding. 
 1. " Jsrael served the Lord." Not here 
 and there an Israelite, but Israel gene- 
 rally. God's fields yield better than 
 many think they do. 2. " Israel served 
 the Lord all the dags of Joshua, and all 
 the dags," etc. Joshua's kflnence was 
 greatest on those who knew him best. 
 "The elders" were so filled with his 
 spirit, that, even when he Avas taken 
 from them, they continued to lead the 
 people Godward. Those who had seen 
 most of Joshua became new centres of 
 power to convey his pious spirit to 
 others. The influence of many, for 
 good, diminishes as others come near 
 to them. That life must be blessed 
 indeed that so holds all who are round 
 about it in the service of God, that 
 
 3Go 
 
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY: JOHUXJA. 
 
 CHAP. XXIV. 
 
 when the life itself is removed, they 
 Avho hiivc seen it continually perpetuate 
 it in others. 
 
 III. The good fruits of a holy life 
 are through a natural growth, but 
 by the grace of God. 1. There is 
 (jruicth throuti/i irroccsncs that are natu- 
 ral. The effect of example. Men's 
 love of rcalness. The influence of a 
 strong will, made strong by the sense 
 of right, on men of less faith and fer- 
 vour. 2. TItc f/rcat cause af (jrowth is 
 in the (jrace of God. The rfien were 
 influenced, not merely by what Joshua 
 was, but by " all the works of the 
 Lord "' which Joshua had done. 
 Joshua's holy life would have done 
 little, but for the memory of God's pre- 
 sence, as at Jordan, and Jericho, and 
 Ai, and Beth-horon. 
 
 See how much human reasoning and 
 human creeds are at the mercy of a 
 good and God-honoured life. There 
 must have been in Israel many men 
 quite as able as those who in the fol- 
 lowing generation professed to doubt 
 God, and turned to idols. The lives of 
 men like Whitfield, the Wesleys, Henry 
 Martyn, Bishop Pattcsou, or even the 
 lives of pious soldiers like Col. Gardiner, 
 Hedley Vicars, and Henry Havelock, 
 are sufficient to upset the reasonings of 
 hosts of men who, but for such lives, 
 Avould presently say that Scripture 
 *' evidences " were not good enough to 
 satisfy what they would then call their 
 "intelligence." There is no argument 
 against goodness and unselfishness and 
 love, such as were seen in Joshua. 
 
 Verse 32. — The Honour which God 
 PUTS upon Faith. 
 
 In order to gather the true force of 
 its teaching, this verse must be read in 
 its connection with the dying utterances 
 of Joseph (Gen. 1. 24, 25). Taken in 
 this connection, it suggests the follow- 
 ing considerations : — 
 
 I. The faith of a man who had very 
 little help from sight. ^Vhen Joseph 
 said, " God will surely bring you out 
 of this land," thex'e was very little in 
 the appearances of things to encourage 
 his trust. 1. Faith that has once taken 
 hold on the livintj God can bear venj 
 much thuartinij in thinijs a-hich arc visible. 
 3t)G 
 
 (rt) Joseph had believed iu God when 
 a mere lad. His two dreams. These 
 were told in such simple trust, that even 
 his fond father was offended. His 
 brethren saw that he believed, and they 
 called him "this dreamer." (/') But 
 Joseph's early faith had a severe shock. 
 How about his trust in God when his 
 brethren gathered to kill him ? How 
 did he feel about the truth of his dreams 
 when he was in the pit ? How did his 
 faith hold out when ho found himself 
 sold now to the Ishmeelitcs, and now 
 to the Egyptian captain, as a slave ? 
 How about his faith in the benefits of 
 integrity, when for being true to himself, 
 true to his master, and true to his God, 
 he was cast into prison ? What had 
 become of his di'eams, when for the 
 space of two years, or, as some think, 
 seven or eight, he lay in custody, 
 burdened with his bondage, and troubled 
 still more with conflicting thoughts ? 
 " Until the time that his Avord came, 
 the word of the Lord tried him." How 
 could he believe this other promise, and 
 give "commandment concerning his 
 bones," when there seemed so little 
 prospect of its fulfilment ? Just because, 
 all his life long, God had been training 
 His servant to trust, " not in the things 
 which are seen, but in the things which 
 arc not seen." Joseph had lived to see 
 his dreams come true. His father and 
 his brethren had bowed down to him, 
 though it had often seemed that he could 
 never look upon them again. God had 
 trained His servant to trust, not because 
 of appearances, but in spite of them. 
 2. True faith rontenqdates life and death 
 uith equal ealinness. Joseph said, " I 
 die ; " and the knowledge of approaching 
 death brought no b'ouble, and wrought 
 no disturbance to his faith. 3. Faith 
 reelions the proiiiise of God to be of 
 injiniteli/ more value than earthly ^jossca- 
 sio)is. Joseph had said, " Ye shall 
 carry up my bones from hence." He 
 shews us in that single commandment 
 what he really thought of all his glory 
 in Egypt. Ho had won his honours in 
 Egypt. His grave would be revered 
 there. His children, apparently, might 
 look for good positions in the land for 
 which their father had wrought so nmch. 
 All this, compared with God's promise 
 
CHAP. XXIV, 
 
 H03IILETIC COMMENTARY: JOSHUA. 
 
 of Canaan, was nothing to Joseph. He 
 persisted in feeling only a stranger and 
 a sojourner in the land, Nothing therein 
 he "called is own." His great heritage 
 was in God's covenant. " Carry up my 
 bones," said the dying man ; Carry 
 them up to the place where God will 
 dwell with His people. 1. Firm faith 
 in ilcath is the outcoiiic of a true heart in 
 life. Joseph had been faithful, and held 
 fast his integrity. Joseph had shewn a 
 spirit of gracious forgiveness towards 
 his brethren. This was the man who 
 could trust God in death. 5. Such faith 
 t/atliers somcthiiuf of its strentjth froiii the 
 faithful irho have (ju)ie he/ore. The trust 
 of dying Joseph was very like the trust 
 of dying Jacob. Joseph's father had 
 preceded him in this very matter in 
 which the son afterwards followed. The 
 faith of the son reads almost like a 
 reflection of the bright faith of the father 
 (cf. Gen. xlvii. 29, 30; xlviii. 21, 22; 
 xlix. ; 1. 24, 25). We who believe now, 
 owe much to the faith of those who 
 believed before us. As is the faith of 
 the fathers, so, at least sometimes, is 
 the faith of the children. 
 
 II. The faith of a man who honoured 
 God honoured by God. "And the 
 bones of Joseph, which the children of 
 Israel brought up out of Egypt, buried 
 they in Shechem." In the very place 
 where Jacob had bought ground of the 
 children of Hamor, and where he had 
 built an altar, calling it, " God, the God 
 of Israel," there did God enable Joseph's 
 descendants to lay their believing an- 
 cestor's bones. 1. Our fait/i should rest, 
 not in appearances, but i)i the lirinij God. 
 He endures well who endures " as 
 seeing Him who is invisible." And 
 such faith God ever honours. The 
 honour may be long in coming. It was 
 two hundred years after Joseph had so 
 believed, that God thus magnified his 
 trust. But the recognition came at last. 
 God's "visions," given to a believing 
 soul, are all " for an appointed time." 
 2. We should he more ready to look on 
 the fulfil iiients of the Divine u-ord titan on, 
 tvhat seem its failures. Wo kuoiv when 
 God's word does come to pass ; we only 
 thi)ik when we conclude it has failed. 
 The promise of Canaan was given first 
 to Abraham. But Stephen tells us, 
 
 " God gave him none inheritance in it, 
 no, no not so much as to set his foot on " 
 (Acts vii. 5). To Isaac and Jacob and 
 Joseph, also, the promise may at times 
 have seemed to have failed. Yet, here 
 it is, all fulfilled. We know little about 
 failures. We only see a little way. All 
 time is God's. What men hastily deem 
 God's failures to fulfil His promise, are 
 often the very hcyinninys of its fulfilment, 
 (a) It had been so in Joseph's life. It 
 was at tlie pit of Dothan that God began 
 to fulfil Joseph's dream that his father 
 and brethren should render him obei- 
 sance. Precisely at the point where 
 Joseph might have been tempted to say, 
 " ]My dream has all come to nought," 
 there God began to fulfil the dream. It 
 was by the prison that so " tried " 
 Joseph, that God put His servant close 
 to the throne of Pharaoh. Just where 
 Joseph would be most cast down, God 
 was lifting him up. Every step of his 
 life which might tempt him to think of 
 failure, was one more advance of God 
 towards fulfilment, (b) It was no less 
 so in Joseph's death. The Pharaoh 
 " who knew not Joseph " could not 
 arise till Joseph was gone. Then the 
 oppression made way for the liberation. 
 The " bitter bondage " was God's path- 
 way to full liberty. When we say, with 
 Tennyson, 
 
 " What am I ? 
 An infant crying in the night, 
 An infant crying for the light, 
 And Avith no language but a cry," 
 
 we too often forget that the very night 
 out of which we cry is necessary to the 
 morning. God ever makes His darkness 
 precede His light. Not the morning 
 and evening, but " the evening and the 
 morning were the first day; " and such 
 has it been with all days since. 
 
 III. The honour which God puts 
 upon the faith of the dead, an en- 
 couragement gladly noted by the 
 faithful living. Believing chroniclers 
 saw that their forefathers had believed 
 not ill vain, and so they wrote down 
 here this record of the burial of Joseph's 
 bones. The believing love not only to 
 say, " He that beheveth shall not be 
 confounded," but presently to bear their 
 testimony that such have not been con- 
 founded. To mark God's fulfilment of 
 
 i}(i7 
 
IIOMILETIC COmiEKTARY: JOSHUA. cHaI'. xxiV. 
 
 His faithful word, strengthens our own 
 faith ; it strengthens, no less, the faith 
 of others. 
 
 The Time of the BunuL or Joseph's 
 Bones. 
 
 " This burying of the bones of Joseph 
 probably took place when the conquest 
 of the land was completed, and each 
 tribe had received its inheritance ; for 
 it is not likely that this was deferred 
 till after the death of Joshua." — [Lh-. 
 A. Clarke.] 
 
 Verse 32. — Three Gekeeatioxs of 
 High Priests. 
 
 " After the fathers shall come up the 
 children ; so, after the fathers do the 
 children go down also to the grave. 
 The men who had seen God's mighty 
 works in the wilderness gave place to 
 
 men who would have to walk more by 
 faith, and less by sight. 
 
 At the very close of these records of 
 Joshua — one of the persons who most 
 significantly, of all the Old Testament 
 characters, prefigures the coming Christ 
 — we have this statement, in a single 
 and final verse, about three genera- 
 tions of high priests. Two of these 
 generations had already passed away ; 
 the remaining one waited for a season to 
 usher in yet other successors. These 
 also, though by contrast, tell us of Him 
 who is a priest for ever, after the order 
 of Melchisedec ; who is made, not after 
 the law of a carnal commandment, but 
 after the power of an endless life." 
 " For the law raaketh men high priests 
 which have infirmity ; but the word 
 of the oath which was since the law 
 maketh the Son high priest, who is 
 consecrated for evermore." 
 
 868 
 
HOMILETICAL INDEX. 
 
 PACiE 
 A 
 
 Absence of God, man's unconscious- 
 ness uf. 
 3Ien seen working together — 
 
 1 . For God, but not ^^^th God ; 
 
 2. With God, and ignorant of His de- 
 
 parture ; 
 
 3. x\nd detecting God's absence through 
 
 defeat, etc 133, l.S-t 
 
 Achan'ssin 129—108 
 
 Achor, the judgment in the valley of : 
 
 1. The deccitfuhiess of sin ; 
 
 2. „ certainty of its exposure ; 
 
 3. „ awfulness of its reward ... 157 
 
 Acknowledging errors of judgment. 
 Men seen — • 
 
 1. Getting rid of strong prejudice ; 
 
 2. Promptly owning a mistake ; 
 
 3. AVell pleased with a work they had 
 
 condemned ... ... ... 328 
 
 Alliance, the threefold : 
 
 God, Law, Man 10, 11 
 
 Altar of the Eeubeuites : 
 
 1. The building of , ... 312— 31. > 
 
 2. „ misjudgraent of... ... 31ij — 318 
 
 3. „ vindication of 318, 319 
 
 4. ,. general acceptance of ... 319 — 322 
 
 Altar of whole stones, the : 
 
 1. The materials prepai'ed by God ; 
 
 2. The work not to be beautified by 
 
 men ; 
 
 3. Jealously guarded to preserve a pure 
 
 conception of worship ... 171 — 170 
 Altar of witness, the 329 
 
 Altar on Mount Ebal, the : 
 
 1. The time of building ; 
 
 2. „ situation ; 
 
 3. „ materials ; 
 
 4. ,, offerings 171 — 174 
 
 Anakim, overthrow of the : 
 
 1. The An.akim an old occasion of un- 
 
 belief ; 
 
 2. Past unbelief t\irned into victory ; 
 
 3. Victory, only by the grace of God 226 
 
 Anxiety gi^^g place to joy : 
 
 1. Joy of a whole nation ; 
 
 2. ,, in averted judgment ; 
 
 3. „ in the Lord : 
 
 4. „ the outcome of faith ... 328.329 
 
 PAG? 
 
 Appearances of Cluisl to His people : 
 
 1 . Where they want Him ; 
 
 2. "When th ey are called to great works ; 
 
 3. In the character representing their 
 
 need 97, 9S 
 
 Ark ; setting up of the, at Shiloh. 
 
 1. The time : 
 
 (1) After prolonged wandering; 
 
 (2) .. ,, confiict ; 
 
 (3) Before entering on personal in- 
 
 heritance. 
 
 2. The place : In — 
 
 (1) The centre of the land ; 
 
 (2) A safe position : 
 
 (3) What became the place of jmlg- 
 
 ment. 
 
 3. The time and place in tlieir joint 
 
 significance : 
 
 (1) God dwells where men rest; 
 
 (2) Men rest only where God dwells. 
 
 4. The period of continuance at Shiloh: 
 
 Only while God was served ; 
 God abides with those who abide 
 in Him 277—279 
 
 Ark, the : 
 
 God our guide, defence, and rest. 
 
 1. Life a journey ; God the guide. • • 
 
 2. ., a conflict; God the sword and 
 
 shield. 
 
 3. ., a sojourn; God its purity and 
 
 pJacc 279. 280 
 
 Asking Counsel of the Lord. 
 
 1. Necessary: 
 
 (1) Although the way seem plain: 
 
 (2) Most necessary in times of 
 
 triumph. 
 
 2. Successful: 
 
 (1) Israel encouraged ; 
 
 (2) We. even more. 
 
 3. Suflicirncy <.f Divine guidance 192, 193 
 
 Associations. Evil. 
 
 The power of wicked companions to — 
 
 1. Make men satisfied with imbelief ; 
 
 2. Make others partakers of their sin : 
 
 (1) liUw of assimilation ; 
 
 (2) Habit of imitation ; 
 
 (3) Influence of food ; 
 
 (4) Confirmations of hi.story. 
 
 3. Destroy men's better feelings : 
 
 (1) Neglect of good; 
 
 (2) Familiarity with evil ... 338—340 
 Avenger of blood, the 295, '29(» 
 
 B 3G9 
 
HOMILETICAL INDEX, 
 
 PAGE 
 
 B 
 
 Balaam : shews us — 
 
 1 . A weak man tempted whore weakest. 
 
 Temjitation 
 
 (1) Comes where men can least re- 
 
 sist, anti 
 
 (2) Is according to the state of the 
 
 heart. 
 
 (3) No man stronger than his 
 
 weakest place. 
 
 2. A tempted man restrained by God. 
 God restrained Kaalam by — 
 
 (1) The power of conscience ; 
 
 (2) Actual words ; 
 
 (3) Marvellons interi)osition: 
 
 (4) An influence all-powerful to a 
 
 certain point. 
 
 3. A restrained man sinning while ap- 
 
 pearing to obey : 
 
 (1) Religion that is only negative; 
 
 (2) Piety that only fears pain ; 
 
 (3) Feelings of duty, instead of love ; 
 (■i) Fearing God, with no care for 
 
 His glory. 
 
 4. A man sinning while simulating 
 
 obedience, and the sin working 
 death ; 
 
 (1) yin in the heart will come out in 
 
 the life. 
 
 (2) God will not always warn 241 — 2 LI 
 
 Battle, the Symbolical. 
 
 Ijife's conflicts : 
 
 1. Man's province and part in require — 
 
 (1) Diligent labour; 
 
 (2) Keverent obedience ; 
 
 (3) Patient waiting. 
 
 2. The sphere of religion in. Religion 
 
 should be — 
 
 (1) Prominent before our minds; 
 
 (2) Our one \\o\>q. ; 
 
 (3) So regarded as to extol God. 
 
 3. God's help in : 
 
 (1) All real power is in Him; 
 
 (2) Victory is a ([uostion of time; 
 
 (3) To Him belongs praise ... 102 — 105 
 
 Belief: 
 
 1. In the sin of disobedience; 
 
 2. „ sin's punishment ; 
 
 3. „ God's punishment of sin; 
 
 4. „ „ discernment of the heart; 
 
 5. „ „ keeping of the heart ... 329 
 Benjamin, situation of the tribe of 283, 2S4 
 Bloodthirstiness inconsistent with religion 325 
 
 Caleb; his piety ami litlelity. 
 
 1. Piety linked with remembrance of 
 
 God's gracious words : 
 
 ( 1 ) Pi(jus men may look for rewards ; 
 
 (2) ,, ., mustnotforgetduties; 
 (:{) ,. „ will treasure Cfod's 
 
 commendations. 
 
 2. Personal faithfulness associated with 
 
 trust in promises. 
 Promises : the faithful life — 
 ( 1 ) Most desires them ; 
 
 ;-57() 
 
 PAGE 
 
 (2) Can best value them ; 
 
 (3) Most trusts them. 
 
 3. Manliness going with unselfishness 
 
 and dejicndence. 
 
 4. Gratitude connected with fidelity. 
 
 5. A sense of fitness united with hope. 
 
 6. Personal worth crowned with re- 
 
 wards : 
 
 (1) Men reward worth ; 
 
 (2) God rewards worth ; 
 
 (3) The great reward is through 
 
 Christ's merits only ... 253 — 256 
 
 Caleb, the niati f oi- the times. His — 
 
 1. Faithful following of God: 
 
 (1) Universally; 
 
 (2) Sinccrelv; 
 
 (3) Cheerfully; 
 
 (4) Constantly. 
 
 2. Favoured portion. He had a life — 
 
 (1) Preserved in the hour of judg- 
 
 ment : 
 
 (2) Long and vigorous; 
 
 (3) Of honour among brethren ; 
 
 (4) Distinguished by hard service; 
 
 (5) Joyful in its possessions; 
 
 (()) Full of blessing to his children. 
 
 3. Secret character 257, 2.58 
 
 Campaign, the true. It — 
 
 1. Brings a great work ; 
 
 2. Has a great leader : 
 
 3. Requires a great spirit ... 100, 101 
 Canaanites ; extirpation of the ... ... 224 
 
 Canaanites ; the destruction of the. 
 
 1. The grounds of this : 
 
 (1) God's right to human life: 
 
 (2) Provocations by the peojjle; 
 
 (3) The purpose to remove idolatry ; 
 
 (4) Divine longsuffering. 
 
 2. The lesson. God shews — 
 
 (1) His determination to punish sin; 
 
 (2) His hatred of idol.atry; 
 
 (3) That His anger is real; 
 
 (4) That His warnings are to be 
 
 heeded. 
 
 (5) The awful meaning of His own 
 
 silence 120—122 
 
 Changelessness of God, ami muta- 
 bility of men, the. 
 
 1. Api)arent changes in God : 
 
 (1) Because we have got where we 
 
 ojipose Him. 
 
 (2) Where God seems against men, 
 
 He is really for them. 
 
 2. Mutability of human life : 
 Prospects of a man's life may be 
 
 suildenly altered — 
 
 (1) By himself; 
 
 (2) By others. 
 
 3. Unswerving influence of sin : 
 
 (1) Sin ever tends towards defeat : 
 
 (2) Defeat invariably works fear 131, 135 
 Childhood through fatherhood 342 
 
 Children taught of the Lord. 
 
 1. (iod's method of teaching; 
 
 2. The subjects He selects; 
 
 3. The ends which He would secure Gl"). 67 
 
HOMILJETICAL nWEA'. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Children, teaching of. 
 
 1. Some mist.ikcs that wc make — 
 
 (1) In assuming they will be con- 
 
 verted ; 
 
 (2) In expecting conversion only in 
 
 maturity ; 
 
 (3) In teaching things because they 
 
 are interesting. 
 
 2. Some encouragements that wc for- 
 
 get: 
 
 (1) God's gracious commands; 
 
 (2) ,, sufficient promises; 
 
 (3) .. glorious rewards ... 59 — 61 
 
 Choice of men's lots in litV, (xod's. 
 
 1. Not fictitious; 
 
 2. Wonderful in condescension. 
 The choice of one who — 
 
 1. Knows us perfectly; 
 
 2. As perfectly knows our lot : 
 
 3. Prepares our lot beforehand, 
 
 4. Holding it Avell within His control, 
 [). And surrounding lots also. 
 
 Gal's choice in — 
 
 1. Its interworking with His people's 
 
 efforts ; 
 
 2. Its triumph over the choice of op- 
 
 ponents 248— 2ijl 
 
 Choosing gods. 
 
 1. A matter of liberty. The choice in 
 
 the light of— 
 
 (1) Conscience; 
 
 (2) Reason; 
 (8) Love; 
 
 (4) Example. 
 
 2. The liberty a compulsion. Con- 
 
 straint from — 
 
 (1) God's love; 
 
 (2) Liberty. 
 
 3. The compulsion irresistible to the 
 
 man who thinks : 
 
 (1) Admiration ; 
 
 (2) Gratitude 347—349 
 
 Christian warfare, first principles of 21.5, 21C> 
 Circumcision at Gilgal; reasons for ... 87 
 Cities of Refuge, the ; illustrating the 
 
 work of Christ 297 
 
 Claims of the Lord, the : 
 
 1 . To all which is His due ; 
 
 2. On man's holiness; 
 
 3. From interest in man 119 
 
 Cleaving unto God ; reasons for. 
 Because — 
 
 1 . You have long done so. The obliga- 
 
 tion of — 
 
 ( 1 ) Known liberty and possibility ; 
 
 (2) Present necessity ; 
 
 (3) Consistency; 
 
 (4) Not hindering others. 
 
 2. You have not done so in vain : God 
 
 has helped — 
 
 (1) Irrespective of personal merit ; 
 
 (2) Notwithstanding enemies ; 
 
 (3) So as never to fail you. 
 
 3. You will always need Him ... 335, 336 
 
 Cleaving unto the Lord. Men — 
 
 1. Leaving much, but possessing God, 
 
 PAGE 
 
 (1) Leaving brethren ; 
 
 (2) The place of many victorie? ; 
 
 (3) A land where God had much 
 
 helped them. 
 
 2. Esteeming God to be above all else 
 
 they had : 
 
 (1) Above home comforts ; 
 
 (2) .. dearest relatives ; 
 
 (3) „ earthly estate ; 
 
 (4) .. God's gifts. 
 
 3. Anxious to secure this exalted pos- 
 
 session for their children ... 322, 323 
 
 Commandments, Divine ; a rich in- 
 heritance : 
 
 1. Commands that forbid sins ; 
 
 2, „ ,, enjoin duties; such 
 as — 
 
 (1) Faith; 
 
 (2) Holiness ; 
 
 (3) Worship ; 
 
 (4) Work ' 280 
 
 Confession of Sin, Achan's : 
 
 1. A revelation of human weakness. 
 
 Man too weak — 
 
 (1) To ook upon the beautiful ; 
 
 (2) To behold the means of easily 
 
 obtaining life's comforts ; 
 
 (3) To be grateful to God ; 
 
 (4) To cherish faith in God's word ; 
 
 (5) To remember that the future will 
 
 soon be the present. 
 
 2. Reiterating a needful warning : 
 
 (1) To .avoid temptation ; 
 
 (2) To resist the beginnings of evil ; 
 
 (3) Not to defer repentance ; 
 
 (4) That late confession is better 
 
 than none. 
 
 3. Affording room for hope of his salva- 
 
 tion ... 152 — 154 
 
 Confession of sin ; glory of God in ... 1.52 
 ,, the truth ; its helpfidness 30 
 Confidence of men in us ; a trust to be 
 
 used 34, 35, 37 
 
 Conscience, the public ; its culture ... 32 
 
 Conviction : 
 
 1. Coming whenever God works mani- 
 
 festly ; 
 
 2. Invariably producing fear ... .. 79 
 
 Corporate responsibility : shew n 
 in — 
 
 1. The intercourse of nations ; 
 
 2. Family and social Ufe ; 
 
 3. Exhortations and reproofs to the 
 
 Chui'ch ; 
 
 4. The plan of redemption ... 131, 132 
 
 Courage, holiness, and victory. 
 
 There can be — 
 
 1. No holiness without courage. 
 
 Courage needed — 
 
 ( 1 ) To resist temptation ; 
 
 (2) To confess love to God ; 
 
 (3) To serve God ^\'ith an even 
 
 mind ; 
 
 (4) To sin .against God. 
 
 2. No cleaving to God without holi- 
 
 ness : 
 
 371 
 
JWMILETICAL INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 (1) Every man miiy cleave to God ; 
 
 (2) But not also to sin. 
 
 (3) If to (lod, must think on His 
 
 mercy. 
 •S. No victory without cleaving to 
 
 God :538. 334 
 
 Courage ; its honour, influence, 
 
 and source: 
 
 1. Honoured by tiod ; 
 
 2. Respected liy men ; 
 
 3. Finds strength in the Scriptures ... 10 
 
 Courage ; its s])hero and character : 
 
 1. It should animate us everywhere. 
 
 2. To be without it is to have no faith. 
 8. It does not exclude fear. 
 
 4. It should be for things right and 
 
 true ^ 8,9 
 
 Courage of those who fear God : 
 Eegarded in the light of — 
 
 1. History ; 
 
 (1) Martial courage ; 
 
 (2) Moral and spiritual courage ; 
 
 2. Their peculiar subjects of thought ; 
 
 3. Their spirit of humility and obedi- 
 
 ence !)S-100 
 
 Courtesies of life ; the alnisc of. 
 
 Courtesy as — 
 
 1. The expression of truth ; 
 
 2. Used to hide truth ; 
 
 3. A means to secure an end 191 
 
 Covenant, the ; broken by sin. 
 
 The covenant is — 
 
 1. Binding on all men : 
 
 2. Actually rejected by all who arc un- 
 
 godly. 
 
 3. This rejection is the most aggravated 
 
 form of sin... ... ... 144, 14") 
 
 Covenant, the; renewals of: 
 
 1. Varied in form ; 
 
 2. Sincerity always an essential ... 171 
 
 Covenant, the ; renewal of at 
 
 Mount Ebal 171—174 
 
 Covenant, the; renewal of at Gil- 
 
 gal. The rclaticin between — 
 
 1. God's covenant and His people's 
 
 sin : 
 
 (1) God"s thoughts of unreal ser- 
 
 vices ; 
 
 (2) God's thoughts of the sacred- 
 
 ness of His own ])romisos ; 
 
 (3) God's thoughts of His rejected 
 
 covenant ; 
 
 (4) Salvation, not in covenants, but 
 
 in God's grace. 
 
 2. A renewed covenant and fresh .acts 
 
 of faith : 
 Getting into union with God docs not 
 mean — 
 
 (1) Freedom from trial ; 
 
 (2) Liberty to do as we wish. 
 
 (3) Means that God is to Ijc first in 
 
 everything. 
 
 3. A restoi'od covenant and fitness for 
 
 conllict. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 (1) Without God's help there can be 
 
 no success ; 
 
 (2) Especially in the conflict with 
 
 sin. 
 4. An intact covenant and the remov.al 
 
 of repro.ach. 
 The Israelites had known reproach 
 
 in — 
 
 (1) Their long bondage in Egypt; 
 
 (2) Their desire to return to Eg^-pt : 
 
 (3) The uidjclicf of the Egyptians. 
 .",. God's recognised covenant and His 
 
 people's inheritance ... f^4 — SG 
 
 Covenant, the ; renewal of at She- 
 
 chem. The 
 
 1. Dignity of the mediator ; 
 
 2. Freedom of those contracting ; 
 
 3. Necessity of the choice ; 
 
 4. Extent of the conditions ; 
 
 5. Peril of the engagement ; 
 
 fi. Solemnity of the acceptance ; 
 
 7. Nearness of the consequence ... H.^JS 
 
 Crisis of the wicked, the. Thcv 
 
 will— 
 
 1. Sec earthly liopes destroyed ; 
 
 2. Have no strength to flee ; 
 
 3. Find no direction in which to flee 170 
 Cumulative evidence, the eflfect of ... 30 
 
 D 
 
 Dangerous work and Divine protection 2S2 
 
 Dead Canaanites, the : 
 
 1. Some counted and some not. Of 
 
 the dead, men count — 
 
 (1) The few, not the many ; 
 
 (2) The great, not the obscure ; 
 
 (3) Deaths that are sad, not the 
 
 ordinary ; 
 
 (4) The rich, not the poor. 
 
 (5) God counts every one. 
 
 2. All overtakeh by a common judg- 
 
 ment. In this life — 
 
 (1 ) Guilty and innocent seem judged 
 
 .alike. 
 
 (2) Judgments .are more equal than 
 
 they seem. 
 
 3. All overwritten bj' a common 
 
 epitai)h 230-232 
 
 Dealing of God, the : 
 
 1. AVith sin: 
 
 2. 
 3. 
 4. 
 
 n. 
 Death 
 
 ,, an individual sinner ; 
 
 ,. i\ sinner's f.amily ; 
 
 „ a simier's possessions ; 
 
 ,. .a community having a sinner 
 
 for one of its members ... ...II: 
 
 ]. Is like the.Tordau ; sometimes calm, 
 sometiuu's turbulent : 
 
 (1) Is always a trial ; is 
 
 (2) M.ade harder by jjliysical suffer- 
 
 ing and 
 
 (3) By social Connections. It finds 
 
 its 
 
 (4) Sh.arpest pain in the absence of 
 
 ho})c. 
 
HOMILETIGAL INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 2. The believer may pass tlirongh fear- 
 
 ing no evil. 
 
 (1) The natural riew of death : 
 
 judging by— 
 («) The world's literature ; 
 Ip) The -world's unwritten 
 thoughts. 
 
 (2) The view of faith. 
 
 3. Absenee of fear conies only from 
 
 the presence of God ... 45, -)(> 
 
 Death : 
 
 1. Its certainty ; 
 
 2. ., variety ; 
 
 0. .. conscious nearness 84U 
 
 Deception and its adjuncts. It 
 has — 
 
 1 . Things unreal and false : 
 
 (1) In dress; 
 
 (2) In other outward belongings. 
 (;5) Assumption of inward graces. 
 (4) All these shew a false heart. 
 
 2. JIany purposes, as well as various 
 
 guises. 
 
 3. Sin in the present, and a pledge to 
 
 sin in the future. 
 
 4. Only time for its sphere ... 180— I'Jl 
 
 Defeat in the Lord's battle. 
 
 1. The connection Ijetwecn defeat and 
 
 its confession : 
 
 (1) Defeat is from God ; 
 
 (2) .. shordd be carried to God. 
 
 2. The relation of defeat to humility. 
 
 3. The eflEeet of defeat upon faith 13(1, 137 
 
 Defeated and praying : the Lord's 
 
 servant seen — 
 
 1. Acknowledging defeat ; 
 
 2. Praying that it may be turned into 
 
 victory 13(i. 137 
 
 Desiring and possessing. Those 
 who would possess should be — 
 
 1. Able to occupy; 
 
 2. Careful not to occupy wrongfullv : 
 
 3. Guided by God 2(;0 
 
 Developments in Divine teaching : 
 
 1. A necessary outcome of human 
 
 growth ; 
 
 2. Are from the sensuous to the spi- 
 
 ritual ; 
 
 3. Need to be read carefully ... Trl. y^ 
 Devoted things ... ... ... ... Ho 
 
 Differing measures of life's inlluencc, 
 
 the 28 
 
 Difficulties, how to surmount 48 
 
 „ no degrees of with God ... ih. 
 
 Difficulty, the way of : 
 
 1. JIade ea*y by remembering God. 
 
 2. God's regard to oiu* smaller wants. 
 
 3. The Bible a guide for cveij per- 
 
 plexity. 
 
 4. The lead of God supposes that we 
 
 follow. 
 b, God who goes before is needed also 
 
 for our rearward .. . , 72 
 
 Discontentment : 
 
 1, Xlie easy way to it; 
 
 2. Its unfailing testimony ; 
 
 3. The true answer to it 
 
 Disqualification for ordinances : 
 
 1. Nnt in mere surroundings. 
 
 (1) None in slavery ; 
 
 (2) ,, poverty ; 
 
 (3) ., persecution and con- 
 
 tempt ; 
 
 (4) ,, mental degradati(jn : 
 
 (5) ,, ecclesiastical delicien- 
 
 cies. 
 
 2. Especially in unf or given sin. 
 
 (1) Disobedience is rebellion of the 
 
 heart ; 
 
 (2) Such a heart cannot worship ; 
 
 (3) Sin sometimes punished after 
 
 repentance. 
 :>. This histcny distinguishes between 
 judicial pardon and God's love 87- 
 
 PAGE 
 
 27.- 
 
 -89 
 
 Divine methods of inheriting; 
 
 JV3— i:75 
 
 Divine thoughts on human service : 
 
 1. God placing His ways above ours ; 
 
 2. ,, requiring His people's submis- 
 
 sion ; 
 
 3. ,. animating His peoi)le's hojies ; 
 
 4. ., requiring reconciliation before 
 
 service ... ... ... 87 
 
 Dominating interest, the, of a godly man 
 
 in his last days ... ... ... 330, 331 
 
 Dying, the ; God's special presence 
 w^th — 
 
 1. Not imaginary, but real; enabling 
 
 them to — 
 
 2. Overcome obstacles ; 
 
 3. Transcend natural j)ower ; 
 
 4. Surpass ordinary spiritual appre- 
 
 hensions ; 
 
 5. "W'ait for the vindication of time 
 
 ■2(39, 270 
 
 E 
 
 03 
 
 Emergencies in the life of piety 
 Emotions, repeated; their influence... 
 
 Encouragement. Divine : 
 
 1. tiiveu when unsolicited ; 
 
 2. ., „ succouring the weak ; 
 
 3. Pointing to complete vietorj' ; 
 
 4. The forerunner of omnipotent help 
 Encouragements given bj' God. not merely 
 
 for joy, but also to i)rovoke action 34, 37 
 
 Enemies, our : 
 
 1. Around us — men ; 
 
 2. Upon us — afflictions ; 
 
 3. Within us — sin and sinful disposi- 
 
 tions 92—94 
 
 Entering into covenant with God : 
 
 1. No i)rnvisi<in to be made for ex- 
 
 cusing sin ; 
 
 2. Sin to be put away; 
 
 3. God to be unhesitatingly chosen : 
 
 (1) In the heart ; 
 
 (2) Openly; 
 
 (3) AVith no faltering ; 
 
 (4) 'With submissioii, 
 
 873 
 
HOMILETICAL 12iDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 4. The covenant mndc tlu'ougira me- 
 diator ; 
 
 0. The covenant preliminary to rest 356. 357 
 
 Entrance into the Promised Land. 
 
 It is— 
 
 1. Fiy the glorions working of God ; 
 L*. 'J'hrough the faith of men. 
 
 3, It ilhistrates our entrance into 
 
 heaven ... ... ... 19 — ')'2 
 
 Evil-doers, the nmllitude of: 
 
 1. Unity not always strength. 
 
 2. The visible not always the actual. 
 
 3. Seeing and failing tn hear. 
 
 ■k. Strong in evil, and tremendous in 
 
 ruin 223 
 
 F 
 
 Faith : 
 
 1. Looking within : Has — 
 
 (1) Self -distrust; 
 
 (2) No rest out of the covenant ; 
 
 (3) Needs helj) from signs, 
 
 2. Looking around : 
 
 (1) Wants others to be in the co- 
 
 venant also ; 
 
 (2) Begins among its own kindred ; 
 
 (3) Places the life before things ; 
 
 (4) Expects concessions from others; 
 
 3. Looking on high : 
 
 (1) Adores God's power; 
 
 (2) Finds comfort therein ; 
 
 (3) Gets assurance from God"s name 30 
 
 Faith : 
 
 1. The first steps of, the most difficult ; 
 
 2. Is salvation even when it has fear ; 
 
 3. In one person, helped by the faith 
 
 of all ; 
 
 4. Often weak, but should be ever firm 51 
 Faith, essential accompaniments of. 
 
 He who would believe — 
 
 1. Well, must work well ; 
 
 2. In God's word, must be jealous of 
 
 his own ; 
 
 3. In Divine compassion, must be com- 
 
 passionate ; 
 
 4. In the overthrow of error, must luitc 
 
 error ; 
 
 5. That nothing is too hard for the 
 
 Lord, must walk witli the Lord... 213 
 
 Faith ; God putting lionoiu- upon it. 
 
 ]"'uith — 
 
 1. Having little help from sight : 
 
 (1) Tlnvarted in things visible ; 
 
 (2) ("Jalm in life and death ; 
 
 (3) Calm in death because true in 
 
 life; 
 
 (4) Gathering help from the faith 
 
 of others. 
 
 2. Honoured by God : 
 
 Divine fulfilment through what men 
 count failures. 
 
 3. Thus honoured, an encouragement 
 
 to others ;JGG, 307 
 
 Faith, i)lmses of : 
 
 1. Faith accompaidcd \\4tU fear ; 
 
 2. ,. mixed with siu t 
 
 874 
 
 PAGE 
 
 3. Faith in relation to works ; 
 
 4. .. surrounded by unbelief ; 
 
 5. ,. promoting compassion and 
 
 love ; 
 «. ,. only in God 25, 26 
 
 Faith of Rahab, the : shews that — 
 
 1. (iud may clioose the worst ; 
 
 2. The meanest fait h must have works ; 
 
 3. Those who work are monuments of 
 
 grace ; 
 
 4. Ordinary acts become gracious when 
 
 they spring from faith ; 
 
 5. Faith is tried by acts of self-denial ; 
 (!. Faith sometimes has notable defects; 
 7. God hides His eyes from the evil 
 
 mingling with oiu- good ... 30, 31 
 
 Faith, song of : 
 
 1. An old song, 
 
 2. With new meanings. 
 
 3. Which arc to become pait of our 
 
 life 21G 
 
 Faithful past and importunate 
 
 future, the. Arduous service : 
 
 1. Faithfully rendered; 
 
 2. Gratefully acknowledged ; 
 
 3. Bringing new obligations as to the 
 
 future .. " 304—307 
 
 Faithful service : given — 
 
 1. Irrespective of sphere or time : 
 
 2. In view of things fair and right ; 
 
 3. In discharge of a promise made ; 
 
 4. Not for gain, but for brethren ; 
 
 5. Because expected by God ... 301, 305 
 Fallen, raising up of the. 
 
 1. The completeness of Divine pardon : 
 
 (1) Repentance not to be postponed 
 
 on the ground of fear; 
 
 (2) If formal, brings no peace. 
 
 (3) Pardon, by God, is perfect. 
 
 2. The beauty of Divine gentleness: 
 
 considered 
 
 (1) In relation to Divine power; 
 
 (2) .. „ .. sscnsibility 
 to sin. 
 
 3. The fulness of Divine encourage- 
 
 ment. 
 God gives special promises : 
 
 (1) For peculiar discouragement; 
 
 (2) For correction of former mistakes ; 
 
 (3) In view of the nature of the de- 
 
 jection ; 
 (1) In a form already proved... 15'J — 102 
 
 Fame of God, the : 
 
 1. Its cause; 
 
 2. ., influence ; 
 
 3. „ issues ; 
 
 4. ., relation to God's people ... 11)2 
 
 Family history and family sin : 
 
 1, The iii--ulli(ii'iiry of f.-uuily name and 
 
 greatness lu keep men from sin ; 
 
 2, The connection between a bad life 
 
 and a bad antecedent history; 
 
 3, The wide .sjiace between consjjicuous 
 
 sins which mar the glory of a 
 family name 151, 152 
 
EOMILETICAL INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Fear, freedom from : 
 
 1. The necessity for : in order to — 
 
 (1) Active warfare ; 
 
 (2) Successful work ; 
 (8) Patient cudui'anee ; 
 (4) Spiritual growth. 
 
 2. The ground of : God. No other is — 
 
 (1) Sufficiently i)hilosophical ; 
 
 (2) „ attractive ; 
 (.3) „ precious ; 
 (4; „ attested. 
 
 3. The incentives to. There is — 
 
 (1) Error to be vanquished ; 
 
 (2) Honour to be Avon ; 
 
 (3) Reward to be gathered ... 1(;2, 1G3 
 
 Fear giving place to joy. Joy in — 
 
 1. Theexculpationof accused brethren : 
 
 (1) God the bond of brotherhood, 
 
 and more than brethren ; 
 
 (2) The shame of a brother to be 
 
 ours also ; 
 
 (3) The innocence of the suspected 
 
 to be our joy. 
 
 2. The knowledge that sin has not been 
 
 committed. tSin to be hated — 
 (1) For its own sake ; 
 ( 2) Because it robs men of vast bless- 
 ings ; 
 
 (3) Because displeasing to God. 
 
 (4) But not the sinner. 
 
 3. Freedom from sin, a sign of God's 
 
 presence : 
 
 (1) Sin freely present, and God ab- 
 
 sent. 
 
 (2) Absent sin telling of a present 
 
 God. 
 
 4. Joy in averted judgment. 
 
 (1) The joy of good men ; 
 
 (2) „ „ angels 319—322 
 
 Fear of the ungodly. 
 
 1. Conviction through God's manifest 
 
 working. 
 
 (1) Sin coming from low thoughts of 
 
 God ; 
 
 (2) God's works convicting the most 
 
 hardened ; 
 
 (3) The testimony to this given by 
 
 history. 
 
 2. Conviction invariably working fear. 
 
 (1) Fear through ignorance; 
 
 (2) „ intensifii'd by sin ; 
 
 (3) ,, God's own ordinance. 
 
 3. Fear leading men to speedy salva- 
 
 tion or to sudden destruction 7;t — 81 
 
 Fearing no evil 45 
 
 Feast on the battle-field .the 94 
 
 Fellowship with the ungodly 33."> 
 
 Fidelity : 
 
 1. Provoking the gratitude of men ; 
 
 2. Eliciting the praise of Joshua ; 
 
 3. To men and God. the only true fide- 
 
 lity to self 307 
 
 Fidelity to God's commands : 
 1. Has regard to Him who speaks ; 
 3. K thorough, is also fruitful ; 
 
 PAGE 
 3. The fruits to be gathered with pa- 
 tience 224 
 
 Fidelity t(.) truth : its importance ... 37 
 
 Following after God. AVe should — 
 
 1. Follow Him at all times, and every- 
 
 where. 
 
 (1) Men select the paths of life ; 
 
 (2) ,, „ principles which 
 
 direct life ; 
 
 (3) .. „ duties of life ; 
 
 (4) „ ., precepts of the 
 
 Bible. 
 
 2. Be prepared for much walking by 
 
 faith. 
 
 3. Be free from fears. 
 
 4. Be prepared to find ourselves in un- 
 
 known paths ... ... 38, 39 
 
 Forces of preservation and destruc- 
 tion. The— 
 
 1. liestraining power of the love of 
 
 God. This love — 
 
 (1) Places men in .an exalted posi- 
 
 tion ; 
 
 (2) Is life in a positive form ; 
 
 (3) Leads to the source of life ; 
 
 (4) Makes him who loves like God. 
 
 2. Destroying power of corrupt society: 
 
 (1) Deception; 
 
 (2) Fascination ; 
 
 (3) Bondage ; 
 
 (4) Corruption. 
 
 3. Stimulating power of grateful recol- 
 
 lections : 
 
 (1) Faithful men ; 
 
 (2) Fulfilled promises. 
 
 4. Fatal power of Divine anger. The 
 
 anger of God — 
 
 (1) No reflectio!! on His holiness ; 
 
 (2) Not inconsistent with mercy ; 
 
 (3) Necessary to mercy ; 
 
 (4) Terrible in its results ... 336—338 
 
 Forethought of the Lord, the. 
 
 Itivine — 
 
 1. Knowledge of the force of tempta- 
 
 tion : 
 
 2. Acquaintance with man's weakness ; 
 
 3. Anticipations of man's sin ; 
 
 4. Solicitude for man's salvation ... 119 
 
 Forsaken of God ; to be, implies — 
 
 1. Utter loneliness ; 
 
 2. ,, hel plessncss ; 
 
 3. ,, friendlessuess ; 
 
 4. ,, hopelessness ; 
 
 0. Unutterable agony 7 
 
 Forsaking God. 
 
 1. Dcviiut hoiror of : 
 
 (1) Iteeoil from apostasy; 
 
 (2) Contem))t for idolatry. 
 
 2. Holy admiration of God : 
 
 (1) Adoration and love; 
 
 (2) Grateful remembrance ; 
 
 (3) Delight in power ; 
 
 (4) Joy in pos,session ... ... 353 
 
 Forsaking God : is to— ■ 
 
 1, Serve strange gods ; 
 
 875 
 
IIOMILETICAL INDEX. 
 
 2. Be forsaken by God; 
 iS. ]j(' hurt and consumed 
 
 PAGE 
 
 356 
 
 lOG 
 
 357 
 
 Fortifications of men against God. 
 
 1. God designing the subjugation of 
 
 the reVjellious : 
 
 (1) Divine perception : 
 
 (2) „ warnings : 
 
 (3) „ longsuflfering ; 
 
 (4) „ revelation of coming pun- 
 
 ishment. 
 
 2. Men fortifj-ing themselves. 
 
 3. God overthrowing the rebellious : 
 
 (1) iSome that they may be saved ; 
 
 (2) Others in destruction. 
 
 4. God overthrowing men by men 10."), 
 
 Freedom of the will : attested I\v — 
 
 1 . Liberty ; 
 
 2. Conscience ; 
 
 3. Daily life; 
 
 4. The nature of virtue ; 
 
 0. Divine help in its use. 
 G. This freedom a part of God's own 
 
 nature 
 
 Fulfilled promises : 
 
 1. An assurance of the certainty of 
 
 Divine threatenings. 
 Among men, fidelity to words fails 
 from — 
 
 (1) Want of power to fulfil them ; 
 
 (2) Short-sightedness in their use ; 
 (8) A change of mind. 
 
 (4) Absolute fidelity is irrespective 
 of the words themselves. 
 
 2. The bearing of this truth on faith 
 
 and life. 
 
 (1) Present i)rospcrity an earnest 
 
 of permanent ; 
 
 (2) Dark side of the Bible true as 
 
 the bright ; 
 
 (3) Every fulfilled promise a warn- 
 
 ing ; 
 
 (4) The measure of hope the measure 
 
 of fear 341 
 
 G 
 Generous kindness towards olliors : 
 
 1. The best policy for ourselves ; 
 
 2. Invariably due to others; 
 
 3. Ever due to God IS 
 
 fiibion. a great day at ... ... ... 213 
 
 Gibeonites ; deliverance oi' tlie : 
 
 1. Though sentenced to death; 
 
 2. Though seeking mercy unworthily: 
 
 (1) At the eleventh hour ; 
 
 (2) By lying. 
 
 3. On an appeal to the covenant 202. 203 
 
 Gibeonites, the ; rescued : 
 
 1. Gibeon"s need ; 
 
 2. Joshua's faithfulness ; 
 
 3. God's help 203 
 
 Gibeonites, the; their eslimale of 
 
 tlie value of life : 
 1. Their conviction of sin and weak- 
 ness. 
 (1) Ciod's works bringing conviction. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 (2) Conviction in its relation to 
 weakness. 
 
 2. Their efforts to preserve life. 
 
 (1) Life's preciousness : 
 
 (2) Efforts to preserve it ; 
 
 (3) May be purchased too dearly. 
 
 3. The triumjih of their earnestness. 
 
 Earnestness important for — 
 
 (1) Our own safety ; 
 
 (2) That of others. 
 
 4. The low measure of then- faith 186—189 
 Gibeonites : treaty with, and its conse- 
 
 <|uenccs 193 
 
 Gifts of God, Ihe: 
 
 1. Are to be held with a wise regard 
 
 to life's surroundings ; 
 
 2. Those possessed should assure us as 
 
 to those needed ; 
 
 3. Many are for this life only. . . 12 — 15 
 Gifts of God, the : 
 
 1. Where ]iromised ; 
 
 2. ., to be realized : 
 
 3. ., nnt to be expected ... 13. 14 
 
 Glory of God's great Name, the. 
 
 God's delight in this : 
 
 1. Has nothing akin to love of self- 
 
 praise : 
 
 2. Is delight in glorious things : 
 
 3. Is a care that His name may be a 
 
 refu<;e ; 
 
 4. Is often most active where men feai- 
 
 1 Ic has forgotten 111,142 
 
 Glory of God, tiie. It— 
 
 1 . Knows no dimness whatever ; 
 
 2. Is never for mere display ; 
 
 3. Is the same, whether it encourages 
 
 His people or brings terror to the 
 wicked i\). 50 
 
 God and strange gods : 
 
 1 . Cannot be worshipped together : 
 
 2. Strange gods can and ought to be 
 
 put away : 
 
 3. To worship no strange gods, not 
 
 enough 357 
 
 God everything to His people ... 1*4, H5 
 God; how He is to be thought of ... 48 
 
 God of Abraham, the. 
 
 1. The memory of the Lord. He — 
 
 (1) Knows uur fathers; 
 
 (2) Where they dwelt; 
 
 (3) What they worshipped. 
 
 2. The grace of the Lord : seen in — 
 
 (1) The choice of an idolater; 
 
 (2) Patieiit leading. 
 
 3. The goodness of the Lord 345 
 
 Godly sorro'W : is — 
 
 1 . ]>( rp and unfeigned : 
 
 2. Not selfish, but sorrow with God ; 
 
 3. iSometimes impatient and uiu'casou- 
 
 al)le ; 
 
 4. God very tolerant of impatience 
 
 from pain 138, 139 
 
 Good things of the Lord. 
 
 1. spoken unto the fathers: 
 (1^ Words of long standing ; 
 
HOMILETICAL INVEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 (2) Words never forgotten ; 
 
 (3) ,, comprehensive, yet full 
 
 of detail. 
 
 2. Fullilletl unto the children. The 
 
 fulfilment — 
 
 (1) Delayed Ity sin : 
 
 (2) Accomplished notwithstanding 
 
 sin ; 
 
 (3) Less perfect because of sin. 
 
 3. Fulfilled to some men, .ind thus 
 
 becoming a rich heritage to all 
 300- 
 
 Gracious gifts of (Jod : 
 
 1. No man so poor liut he has some. 
 
 2. Gifts seen, the fruit of many in 
 
 visible 
 
 Graves of Moses and Jo.sliiui : 
 
 1. Grave of one known, of the other 
 
 unknown : 
 
 2. One buried by his fellows, the other 
 
 by God 
 Great men, influence of 
 
 Great people, a: should reiuember — 
 
 1 . They were not always great ; 
 
 2. ., ., not always religious ; 
 
 3. Their origin with humility 
 
 Greatness, the penalties of 
 
 Guilt, from, to jiidgiueut. Guilt — 
 
 1. In its relation to exposure : 
 
 2. In its connection with fear ; 
 
 3. Finding its worst fears realized lO.j, 
 
 -30-2 
 
 ?A\ 
 
 3(;.-> 
 
 202 
 
 343 
 37 
 
 1% 
 
 H 
 
 Hardened hearts : 
 
 1. Not hardened by God ; 
 
 2. Forsaken by God : 
 
 3. Given over by God ; 
 
 4. The lives of such shortened in mercy 
 
 25, 220 
 
 Haste, the : 
 
 1. Of fear: 
 
 2. Of diligence ; 
 
 3. Of reverent obedience ; 
 
 4. Of compassion ; 
 
 .■). Of unconscious influence 
 
 Hearing, taking heed in : 
 
 1. Hearing, and not hearing; 
 
 2. ., but in vain : 
 
 3. ., and hearing to ruin 
 
 High priest, liberty through death 
 of the : 
 
 1. Condemnation through God's law; 
 
 2. Pardon through death of the high 
 
 priest ; 
 
 3. Liberty made as complete as before 
 
 the offence 29(), 
 
 High i)ricsts. tlu'ee generations of 
 
 Holiness, jealousy, and forgiveness 
 
 of God : 
 L Kelation of holiness to forgiveness ; 
 
 2. ., jealousy to forgiveness ; 
 
 3. ., forgiveness to service... 
 Holiness, necessity of preserving 
 Holiness of God impressed on the Isi'ael- 
 
 iteij , 
 
 223 
 
 297 
 368 
 
 355 
 355 
 
 3oG 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Holiness : to be — 
 
 1. The rule in every-day life; 
 
 2. Renewed in special consecration ; 
 
 3. Necessary to "see the Lord" 30, 37 
 
 Honours, J)ivini' and Christian. 
 
 1. God l(jving tij honour His servants : 
 
 (1) Shewn through all history. 
 
 (2) Few can bear to be honoured. 
 
 (3) God honours the life which gives 
 
 itself for others. 
 
 2. The true servant delighting to honour 
 
 God : 
 
 (1) In ackn(_)wle(lging God's wcrds; 
 
 (2) In appreciation of God's words ; 
 
 (3) In his own incidental expres- 
 
 sions : 
 
 (4) In his estimate of the Lord's 
 
 power : 
 (.")) In his discerumeut of the Lord's 
 
 presence ... ... 41 — 43 
 
 Honours, Divine and worldly. Their 
 difference- — 
 \. In relation to the person chosen ; 
 
 2. In their tendencies to pride or hu- 
 
 mility : 
 
 3. In their influence as to selfishness ; 
 
 4. In the time for which they endure 43. 44 
 
 Hope, a door of : 
 
 1. Hope's unconscious beginnings, 
 
 2. ., silent growth, 
 
 3. „ gradual manifestation. 
 
 4. .. full assurance ... ... 157 
 
 Human faith and Livinc mercy, phases 
 
 of ... 24 
 
 Human life ; sacredness of. The 
 
 Lord's— 
 
 1. Care of : It is life— 
 
 (1) Fashioned in His own image; 
 
 (2) The taking of which works nmch 
 
 suffering : 
 
 (3) Capable of vast progress ; 
 
 (4) Which has on earth only its 
 
 beginning. 
 
 2. Considerate mercy for the uninten- 
 
 tional manslayer. He was — 
 
 (1) Not to be put to death ; 
 
 (2) To be imprisoned under pain of 
 
 death ; 
 
 (3) Perhaps dealt with at the discre- 
 
 tion of his judges. 
 
 3. Purpose to give even the nuuxlerer a 
 
 hearing : 
 
 (1) Affording time for repentance; 
 
 (2) The delay softening the avenger. 
 
 (3) The benefit to the nation. 
 
 4. Command that thcmiu'derer should 
 
 be put to death. 
 
 5. Instruction that refuge should be in 
 
 the name of the Lord. 
 The cities of refuge all Levitical ; 
 No real refuge except in religion 293 — 295 
 
 Human life : shewing — 
 1. The outlook of God on— 
 
 (1) Our infirmities; 
 
 (2) Our hopes and disappointments; 
 
 877 
 
HOMILETICAL INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 (3) His promises which insinred our 
 hopes. 
 
 2. God's contemplation of our life's 
 
 work. 
 
 ( 1 ) He is patient in our slowness ; 
 
 (2) ,, compassionate in our phy- 
 
 sical failure ; 
 
 (3) .. not willing to leave us 
 
 idle. 
 
 3. The stateliness of God's words and 
 
 purposes. God's lofty manner : 
 shewn in — 
 
 (1) His dealings with the Israelites ; 
 
 (2) The ministry of Christ : 
 (cf) Mu-aclcs : 
 
 (Jj) Promises and invitations : 
 
 (6') Doom of the wicked ... 234 — 230 
 
 Humility and self-forgetfulness of 
 
 Joshua 3(;2 
 
 Humility of the godlj' man 316 
 
 Impostors, their misery and mean- 
 ness : 
 
 1. Danger of detection ; 
 
 2. Temjjtation to fresh iniquity: 
 
 3. Sul)jection to new liumiliations ; 
 
 4. liialiility to suspicion ... ... I'Jl 
 
 Inability in its relation to — 
 
 1. Unbelief ; 
 
 2. Indisposition ; 
 
 3. The iiowcr of God ' 272,273 
 
 Inability of Judali : 
 
 1. Inability through unbelief ; 
 
 2. Unbelief working fear and inaction ; 
 
 3. Fear and inaction bringing shame 
 
 and suffering ... .".. ,. 2G6 
 
 Inequalities: in the matter of — 
 
 1. Uirth ; 
 
 2. Providence ; 
 
 3. Religious privileges 
 
 Inequalities of inheritance ; reasons for 
 
 Inequalities of life, the : 
 
 1 . The lots of men are unequal ; 
 
 2. Those who have inherited should 
 
 help those striving ; 
 
 3. The weak are to be cared for by tlie 
 
 strong ].",- 
 
 Influence : 
 
 1. The force of human ; 
 
 2. The philosophy of useful o5 
 
 Influence of good words : 
 
 1. spoken ill a I'iglit way; 
 
 2. ,, at a lit time ; 
 
 3. „ as a confession of God ... 351 
 
 Influences of a holy life. Tlie fruits 
 
 of a life are — 
 
 1. Of the same kind as the seed ; 
 
 2. If the life is holy, abundant and 
 
 lasting ; 
 
 3. If the life is holy, through natural 
 
 growth, but by grace ... 305, 36G 
 
 Inheritance : 
 
 1. t'uiiipletely won, but long delayed: 
 
 a7a 
 
 16 
 16 
 
 -17 
 
 PAGE 
 
 2. Promised by God. yet to be pos- 
 
 sessed through obedience ; 
 
 3. Patiently waited for, and more fully 
 
 enjoyed ... ' 322 
 
 Inheritance; God's choice of His 
 
 l)eoi)le's : 
 
 1. Made by God Himself ; 
 
 2. The only choice worth following ; 
 
 3. Prevails over the choice of men 218—251 
 
 Inheritance of God's people : 
 
 1. Througli (icjd's grace and covenant : 
 
 The origin of the covenant with 
 Abraham — 
 
 (1) Not in his personal worthiness : 
 
 (2) Not in view of probable fulfil- 
 
 ment ; 
 
 (3) But in God's love and grace. 
 
 2. The way to possession, through loss : 
 (!) So with the Israelites ; 
 
 (2) So in God's way with men now. 
 
 3. The way from loss to secure pos- 
 
 session, by God : 
 
 (1) Divine works ; 
 
 (2) „ patience ; 
 
 (3) .. love. 
 
 4. These alternations, God's method of 
 
 discipline 288 — 290 
 
 Inheritance of Levi, llie. Men 
 
 having — 
 
 1. Sjiecial work and peculiar exemp- 
 
 tions ; 
 
 2. Special needs and peculiar privi- 
 
 leges. 
 The inheritance of God is — 
 
 (1) For all who serve God ; 
 
 (2) Adapted to varietv of want ; 
 
 (3) Satisfying when atl else fails 21."i— 217 
 
 Inheritance of Priests and Levites, 
 
 the. The Lord's 
 
 1. Confirmation of past words ; 
 
 2. Anticipation of future wants ; 
 
 3. Cultivation of the spiritual through 
 
 the secular 2!)!». 300 
 
 Inheritance of the daughters of Zelo- 
 
 phehad 271 
 
 Inheritance of llu' two and a Iialf 
 tribes, the : 
 
 1, God's people, llis people every- 
 
 where ; 
 
 2, God's care, irrespective of place ; 
 
 3, God providing for His people's 
 
 peace with each other ... ... 215 
 
 Inheritance, llie ; divided hy lot. 
 
 The lot in its — 
 
 1. Silent and invisible w'orking; 
 
 2. Extensive range ; 
 
 3. Mysterious complexity,; 
 
 4. Irreversible issues; 
 
 5. Witness to Divine wisdom and love 252 
 
 Inheritance, the promised : 
 
 1. For those who follow God ; 
 
 2. Yet by grace ; 
 
 3. To such, and to their children ; 
 
 4. Certain, though deferred 259 
 
 Inheriting; the Divine plan of: 
 
 1. Isot by human merit; 
 
HOMILETICAL INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 2. Gives no immunity from labour ; 
 
 3. Has no place for selfishness or un- 
 
 fairness ; 
 
 4. Is through the expulsion of the 
 
 enemies of God and truth ; 
 
 5. Reveals many difficulties, but great 
 
 encouragements : 
 
 (1) Error is tenacious, so is truth ; 
 
 (2) Enemies may be strong, God is 
 
 stronger ... ... 273 — 27."i 
 
 Jericho, capture of. God's ])eo])l(' 
 
 to— 
 
 1. Work ; 
 
 2. Wait ; 
 
 3. Win 106 
 
 Jericho devoted : 
 
 1. In God's war the spoil is God's. 
 
 ]\Iau is — 
 
 (1) Not to serve for what he can get ; 
 
 (2) Not to claim the glory of victory. 
 
 2. God demands only the firstfruits. 
 
 3. Our offerings to God are to enrich 
 
 ourselves. 
 
 4. God claims devotion in men or of 
 
 men IIG— 118 
 
 Jericho ; the fall of : 
 
 1. The typical formalities : 
 
 (1) The number seven ; 
 
 (2) ,, prominent ark ; 
 
 (3) ,, silent march of men ; 
 
 (4) „ shout anticipating victory. 
 
 2. The severe discipline : 
 
 (1) Apparently unsuitable com- 
 
 mands. 
 
 (2) Trial needed to bear victory. 
 
 3. The splendour of Divine triumphs : 
 
 (1) The process of victory unseen ; 
 
 (2) „ time of victory preceded by 
 
 expectation ; 
 
 (3) „ victory itself beyond ques- 
 
 tion ; 
 
 (4) Each victory preliminary to one 
 
 final and universal ... 107— 109 
 
 Jericho not to be rebuilt; Hiel's 
 
 transgression : 
 
 1. The easy i)ath to unbelief ; 
 
 2. „ truthfulness of God's word ; 
 
 3. „ bad influences of unholy asso- 
 
 ciations ; 
 
 4. „ power of unbelief when once 
 
 entertained 125, 12(i 
 
 Jericho, passing the Jordan over against. . . ."> 4 
 Jericho ; plan of siege given — 
 
 1 . For encouragement ; 
 
 2. For direction ; 
 
 3. As an aid to faith in 1)att!cs yet to 
 
 come ; 
 
 4. As an outline of God's way for us in 
 
 warfare 102, 106 
 
 Jericho taken 114 
 
 Jericho ; the ruins of: a lasting 
 
 memorial of — 
 1. God's hatred of idolatry; 
 
 PAGE 
 
 2. God's miraculous help of His people; 
 
 3. ,, concern that His people should 
 not trust in an arm of flesh ... 124 
 
 Jordan, the priests in the midst of 54, 55 
 
 Joshua : 
 
 1. His great life and character : 
 
 (1) Life full of trying events ; 
 
 (2) Character sustained through 
 
 them .all. 
 
 2. His honourable death and burial : 
 
 (1) His earnestness to the last ; 
 
 (2) ., burial ; 
 
 (3) ., small inheritance. 
 
 .'). His holy .ind abiding influence 360 — 362 
 
 Joshua; a believing word of: 
 
 1. When spoken ; 
 
 2. How intended ; 
 
 3. How answered ... ... ... 213 
 
 Joshua a type of Christ 363,364 
 
 Joshua; personal inlieritance of: 
 
 1. The last given ; 
 
 2. A small reward ; 
 
 3. According to the word of the Lord ; 
 
 4. Given to an aged man, and provok- 
 
 ing now industry 287,288 
 
 Joshuas address to his soldiers : 
 
 Shews — 
 
 1. Obedience ; 
 
 2. Pinidence ; 
 
 3. Courage ; 
 
 4. Faith ; 
 
 5. Airthority ... ... ... IG.j, 166 
 
 Joshuas great concern in his last 
 
 days— 
 
 1. To complete the work of his life : 
 
 (1) Many good lives left to drift 
 
 dt)wn to posterity ; 
 
 (2) A good life cares for other lives 
 
 to the Last ; 
 
 (3) Only the life of Jesus was com- 
 
 plete. 
 
 2. To extol only the greater work of 
 
 God : this — 
 
 (1) Due to truth; 
 
 (2) .. God ; 
 
 (3) ,, men ; 
 
 (4) ,, ourselves. 
 
 3. To magnify God's past goodness 
 
 by faith in His future hcli) 330. 331 
 
 K 
 
 Keeping of a life, ilie. 
 
 1. They who live by the keeping of 
 
 God have — 
 
 (1) Liability to decay ; 
 
 (2) Peculiar dangers. 
 
 (3) Some are kept, while others die. 
 
 2. Whom God keeps are well kept : 
 
 (1) Not thoughtlessly and in uncon- 
 
 cern ; 
 
 (2) Perfectly. 
 
 3. They who are kept by God should 
 
 praise God. 
 
 (1) The beauty of gratitude ; 
 
 (2) The fretiueucy of ingratitude. 
 
 879 
 
UOMILETICAL INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 i. Tbey who have been long kept 
 should nobly serve. Faith has — 
 
 (1) No hesitation at the magnitude 
 
 of the work ; 
 
 (2) Confidence in the presence of its 
 
 task 2.VJ. 2(J0 
 
 Kings, confederacy of, tlie : 
 
 1. The influences by which it was pro- 
 
 voked : by 
 
 (1) The Israelites' victories; 
 
 (2) .Supernatural assistance ; 
 (8) The Israelites' defeat ; 
 
 (1) The religious service at Ebal. 
 
 2. The spirit in which it was pro- 
 
 moted : 
 
 (1) Rebellion against God ; 
 
 (2) Unanimity amongst themselves. 
 
 3. The instrumentality by which it 
 
 was weakened : 
 
 (1) The defection of the Gibeonites, 
 
 (2) Occupying an important posi- 
 
 tion, 
 
 (3) And seceding at a critical time. 
 
 4. The ease with which it was de- 
 
 stroyed : 
 
 (1) Number and jjower of enemies. 
 
 no discouragement ; 
 
 (2) He tights safely who fights with 
 
 God; 
 
 (3) Every conflict hastens Christ s 
 
 reign 183—185 
 
 Kings, defeat of the five. The — 
 
 1. Request of the Jebusites ; prompted 
 
 by- 
 
 (1) Fear, 
 
 (2) Revenge. 
 
 (3) Policy; which things work — 
 
 (4) Destruction. 
 
 2. Prayer of the Gibeonites : 
 
 (1) The jjrayer of fear, 
 
 (2) tShewing something of honour- 
 
 able trust. 
 
 3. Fidelity of the Israelites : A true 
 
 man feels obliged — 
 
 (1) To defend all belonging to liim. 
 
 (2) To fully honour his own words. 
 
 and — 
 
 (3) To use energy in the way of 
 
 right ; 
 
 (4) He is thus comforted by God. 
 
 4. Gracious co-operation of Jeliovah : 
 
 By- 
 
 (1) Helpful words ; 
 
 (2) (iracious works ; 
 
 (3) Aid where men have failed 200—202 
 
 L 
 Last hours, tlie witness of: 
 
 1. The huMied excitement of the sin- 
 
 ful ; 
 
 2. ., strong confidence of believers ; 
 
 3. ., majestic calmness of God ... 185 
 
 Leader of men, u : 
 
 1. God's judgmeut of his necessary 
 
 quali(icati(jns ; 
 
 2. God's provision for his wide influ- 
 
 ence 73 
 
 380 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Levites, the : 
 
 1. special service and peculiar exemp- 
 
 tions ; 
 
 2. Spiritual service to' be met l)y tem- 
 
 jjoral service 241 
 
 Liljerty, more, and increased obligation 
 
 to service 310 
 
 Life, divergent ways of. Life's 
 
 scparatiijns : 
 
 1. As a matter of 
 
 (1) History; 
 
 (2) Necessitj'. 
 
 2. Arising imperceptibly. 
 
 3. Their imi)ortance. 
 
 4. Their relation to life's blessings 311. 
 
 Life's gains, distribution of : 
 
 1. The first f nuts given to God ; 
 
 2. The bulk kept by men ; 
 
 3. Kept by those who have won them. 
 
 for distribution among those who 
 arc witliout them ... 
 
 Life's journey : 
 
 1. Its future difficulties ; 
 
 2. Its true guide ; 
 
 3. Our final deliverance in 
 Little will, and thus iiu way 
 
 Living for others : 
 
 1. Vicarious Cdnfiicts; 
 
 2. , . service ; 
 
 3. .. sufi:ering ... 
 
 Lord's people, the, defeated : 
 
 1. Their human weakness; 
 
 2. .. Divine jirerogative ; 
 
 3. .. pidus shame ... 
 
 Lot of God, and survey of men, 
 the. 
 The choice of God — 
 
 1. Cannot be corrected by the survey 
 
 of men ; 
 
 2. Cannot be omitted for the survey of 
 
 men ; 
 
 3. And man's survey work together. 
 
 Divine guidance is— 
 
 (1) Independent of human investi- 
 
 gation ; 
 
 (2) Does not clash with human in- 
 
 vestigation ; 
 
 (3) Made known througli hunuui in- 
 
 vestigation. 
 
 4. Is nevei' needed to correct His pre- 
 
 vious choice ... ... 2S1. 
 
 Love, its power of perception iind 
 determination : 
 
 1 . Interpiet ing tlie words of God ; 
 
 2. Determining to adhere to God 
 
 311 
 
 312 
 
 54 
 
 309 
 
 111 
 
 356 
 
 M 
 
 Manifestation, Divine ; times and 
 
 forms ijf : 
 The Saviour reveals Himself — 
 
 1 . To those who seek ; 
 
 2. To those in much need ; 
 
 3. As men need Him ; 
 
 4. That men may own Him as their 
 
 Lord 05—98 
 
IWMILETWAL INDEX. 
 
 PAGK 
 
 Man's oommand of his heart : told 
 to— 
 
 1. Watch his affections ; 
 
 2. Control them ; 
 
 3. SctthemnponGod ?>?>S 
 
 Man's relation to that which is 
 written. 
 
 1. He should be accjuainted with it. 
 
 The Scriptures — 
 
 (1) A misjhty force ; 
 
 (2) While potent, no less pure ; 
 
 (3) Of great intrinsic value. 
 
 2. He should deal with it ini])artially. 
 
 Men choose— 
 
 (1) Promises, and neglect lu-ecepts ; 
 
 (2) Among the precepts ; 
 
 (3) As to traits of the Divine cha- 
 
 racter ; 
 (•i) Among the doctrines. 
 
 3. He needs courage : 
 
 (1) To keep ; 
 
 (2) To do ; 
 
 (3) To go straight on ; 
 
 (4) Most of all. if he rejects .331, 33.-> 
 
 Memorial in Jordan, the : 
 
 1. 'i'lie value of corrobor.ative testi- 
 
 mony ; 
 
 2. The beauty of offerings prompted 
 
 by the heart ; 
 
 3. The pei'manent interest arising from 
 
 holy moods (jl). 70 
 
 Memorials, religions use of : 
 
 1. Fossil lie important uses for little 
 
 things ; 
 
 2. Some use, by God's appointment, for 
 
 everything ; 
 
 3. Such uses best found ])y the wise 
 
 and jiious ; 
 
 4. Little things used to secure remem- 
 
 brance of God .3.59, 3G0 
 
 Memories, pleasant, the, of the 
 
 faithful: 
 
 1. llememl)rancos of the past are irre- 
 
 spective of character ; 
 
 2. Uemerabrances of the righteous have 
 
 shame, yet thankful joy ; 
 
 3. Eememln'.ances of the righteous sad 
 
 Ijoth in retrospect and prospect 2 5 0, 2, "7 
 
 Memories, religious ; their use : 
 
 1 . Their help wanted ; 
 
 2. Their help valuable. 
 
 (1) Memory gives select teachings ; 
 
 (2) Memory gives helpful delinea- 
 
 tions of the Divine character ; 
 
 (3) Memory gives visions of the 
 
 jiast. bringing reproof in tlie 
 
 present 2!) 
 
 Men magnified by God ; of wliat kind .' 73 
 
 Mercy and judgment; preparation 
 
 fnr. The Lord seen — 
 1. Contemplating His people's future : 
 
 (1) Divine outlook ; 
 
 (2) „ preparation ; 
 
 (3) ,, patience. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 2. Judging men, not by the deed of 
 
 the hand, but by the thought of 
 the heart ; 
 
 3. Committing His judgment to man's 
 
 execution ; 
 
 4. Saving men in connection with their 
 
 own efforts 29G 
 
 Mercy of God ; some features of. 
 Ciod— 
 
 1. Delights to strengthen our faith ; 
 
 2. Is very pitiful in estimating our 
 
 surroundings ; 
 
 3. Gives exceptional faith conspicuous 
 
 honour ; 
 
 4. Saves all who believe 27 
 
 Merom, victory at the waters of. 
 
 1. The number of Joshua's enemies. 
 God leads His people to severer con- 
 flicts for — 
 
 (1) Better discipline ; 
 
 (2) Greater trust ; 
 
 (3) Higher victories. 
 
 2. The encouragement given by Jeho- 
 
 vah : 
 
 (1) Unsolicited; 
 
 (2) Meeting a new cause for fear; 
 
 (3) Definite and thus emphatic ; 
 
 (4) Pointing to help from God only ; 
 0")) Made stronger by the very place 
 
 of conflict. 
 
 3. The fulfilment of the Divine assur- 
 
 .ance : 
 
 (1) Coming conflicts shew our need 
 
 of God : 
 
 (2) Present necessities reveal the 
 
 promise of God ; 
 
 (3) Past victories manifest the hand 
 
 of God : 
 
 4. The deeper downfall of foes who 
 
 are highest 220,221 
 
 Mighty works and their great pur- 
 ]insfs. Ciod's works are — 
 
 1. Never meant to be self-contained. 
 
 2. Meant to te.ach us of C!od. 
 
 3. Eternally related to .all men 77, 78 
 
 Misunderstood and misreported 
 
 deeds: 
 
 1. Misapprehension .and calumnious 
 
 reports ; 
 
 2. .Judgment on rumour instead of 
 
 after enquiry; 
 
 3. War h.T-stilj' threatened on false 
 
 gromids : 
 
 (1) A war in the name of religion : 
 
 (2) ,, for want of a right word ; 
 
 (3) .. avertc<l by patient expla- 
 nation .., ... ... 323, 321 
 
 Monumental records. 
 
 1. Man's life-work n monument : 
 
 2. E.ach monument a witness : of a 
 
 man's relation to — 
 a) God; 
 
 (2) His family ; 
 
 (3) His fellow-citizens. 
 
 3. The monument of a good life speak- 
 
 ing eloquently : 
 
 381 
 
HOMILETICAL INDEX, 
 
 PAGE 
 
 (1) Embodying old yearnings ; 
 
 (2) Representing severe toil ; 
 
 (8) Speaking after the builder's 
 death. 
 4. Such monuments often misinter- 
 preted 327,328 
 
 Moral firmness : it is — 
 
 1. iiational in its foundation ; 
 
 2. Salutary in its influence ... 54, 55 
 Mount Ebal, solemn service on : 
 
 1. Tlie altar; 
 
 2. ,, writing ; 
 
 3. ,, proclamation ; 
 
 4. .. hearers ISO 
 
 Multitude, blessing a : 
 
 1. Men 'olcssed in the mass, and. seem- 
 
 ingly, all blessed alike ; 
 
 2. The fairness of the blessing regu- 
 
 lated by the heart which apvn-o- 
 priates"it 310, 311 
 
 N. 
 
 N.amcs 202 
 
 Narrow-minded judgment and 
 
 large-hearted love. 
 
 1. The one-sidedness of human jiulg- 
 
 ment : 
 
 (1) The act judged without the 
 
 motive ; 
 
 (2) The many led by the few ; 
 
 (3) One extreme avoided for .another. 
 
 2. The vehemence of religious zeal. 
 
 3. The beauty of true love : 
 
 (1) To God; 
 
 (2) Of truth: 
 
 (3) Of supposed offenders ... 324, .325 
 
 Nethenim, the. Life — 
 
 1. Forfeited by sin, but preserved by 
 
 grace ; 
 
 2. Preserved by grace, but preserved 
 
 for work ; 
 
 3. Preserved for work, and this work 
 
 for God ; 
 
 4. Devoted to God, and thus given to 
 
 men ".. ... 197 
 
 New experiences ; the need of new grace 
 
 in 48,41) 
 
 New year ; sermon for a 31), 40 
 
 0. 
 
 Obedience — 
 
 An opportunity for victory over self; 
 
 God's liberal construction of; 
 
 To all tiod's commandments ; 
 
 Benefits of 307 
 
 Obedience to God : 
 
 1. Should be prompt and complete. 
 
 Obedience — 
 
 (1) Keei)s all God's comm.andments ; 
 
 (2) Walks in all God's ways ; 
 
 (3) Refreshes itself with helpful 
 
 memories. 
 
 2. Goes with the spirit of prayer, and 
 
 of holy desire for God's people. 
 (1) This shewn in the life of Christ. 
 382 
 
 PAGE 
 
 (2) Obedience, an echo of the voice 
 of God. 
 3. Makes a severe estimate of penalties 
 
 due to sin 19 
 
 Obedient the; the rapid prowess of ... 218 
 Obligations arising from God's 
 
 goodness : 
 God's good works for men should — 
 
 1 . Impose fear ; 
 
 2. I'rovoke service ; 
 
 3. Induce realness ; 
 
 4. Load to sanctitication 3.")0 
 
 Obligations arising from our inhe- 
 ritance : 
 
 1. Of property and positiim; 
 
 2. As citizens ; 
 
 3. In social life ; 
 
 4. „ literature, .science, and art ; 
 
 5. ,. the realm of religion ... ... 305 
 
 Obligations arising out of a faitli- 
 ful i)ast : 
 
 1. To watchfulness ; 
 
 2. ., obedience ; 
 
 3. ., love God ; 
 
 4. ., be generous to men ... 30(!, 307 
 Observation and reflection ; the blessing 
 
 of 29, ;50 
 
 Old age in relation to work : 
 
 1. A good man subject to the laws of 
 
 decay ; 
 
 2. An old man t.aught to be diligent; 
 
 3. A diligent man ha\'ing to feel he 
 
 must leave much of his work to 
 others ; 
 
 4. A man with much of life's labour 
 
 unfinished resting in the love of 
 God ... 230—239 
 
 Opposition to leaders : 1 he — 
 
 1. ^lurnuning of the congregation ; 
 
 2. Faithfulness of the princes ... 196 
 
 Opposition to truth : 
 
 1. To be expected ; 
 
 2. Offered from various motives ; 
 
 3. Should be firmly met I'.U 
 
 Organization; the moral advantage.s 
 
 of a good : 
 
 1. Develoi)es individual t.alent ; 
 
 2. Consolidates each Christian society; 
 
 3. Presents a formidable front to 
 
 enemies : 
 
 4. Promotes healthful spiritual disci- 
 
 pline 20 
 
 P. 
 Parents : 
 
 1. Anticipating their children's temp- 
 
 t.ations ; 
 
 2. Endeavouring to provide for their 
 
 children's jiart in (iod; 
 
 3. Witnessing against their children's 
 
 Passover, the ; a ft'ast of — 
 
 1. Thankful remembrance; 
 
 2. Blessed hope ; 
 
 3. Gracious assurance 
 
 327 
 
 94 
 
HOMILETICAL INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Passover, the first in Canaan, 
 
 1. Tlu' time: 
 
 (1 ) After a renewal of the covenant ; 
 
 (2) After a long- interval of cessa- 
 
 tion ; 
 (il) When tlie exodus was complete ; 
 (4) Before fresh conflicts. 
 
 2. The place. * 
 
 3. The events by which it was followed : 
 
 (1) Eatin;4 corn of the land ; 
 
 (2) Cessation of the manna ... i)l, t»2 
 Passover, the : given in view of — 
 
 1. iSin's l)ondage and burden; 
 
 2. The sinner's gladness and purifica- 
 
 tion ; 
 8. Sin's judgment and penalty ... 94 
 
 Past, present, and future : 
 
 1 . Past fame has no guarantee against 
 
 future degradation ; 
 
 2. Present degradation is no reason for 
 
 despair ; 
 
 3. An honourable past should stir us 
 
 to redeem the present ; 
 
 4. The victory of to-day may bring no 
 
 ])eace to-morrow 217,218 
 
 Past, the ; some records of : 
 
 1. The labours of a good man ; 
 
 2. The mighty works of God ; who 
 
 gave — 
 
 (1) Heljjful encouragement ; 
 
 (2) Severe discipline : 
 
 (3) Great special mercies ; 
 
 (4) Distinct i)romises. 
 
 3. These briefly chronicled, ye.t taking 
 
 account of — 
 
 4. Faithfulness as weU as victory, and 
 
 furnishing — 
 '). Themes for future national songs 
 
 228—230 
 
 Patience : 
 
 1. Essential to faithfulness ; 
 
 2. Cultivates faithfulness ; 
 
 3. Necessary for prosi)erity ; 
 
 4. Pieaps no less for reaping slowly ... 224 
 Patience and persistence 224 
 
 Patience and mercy, DiA-ine. Tlie 
 
 Lord's — 
 
 1. Independence of particular men : 
 
 2. Steady persistence in His purposes 
 
 of love ; 
 
 3. Abundant patience ; 
 
 4. Merciful begiiming with indivi- 
 
 duals ? i)0 
 
 Patriotism and piety : their relation ... 23 
 
 Penalties as severe as threatenings : 
 
 1. Proved by tlie history of Divine 
 
 judgments ; 
 
 2. The bearing of this on the question 
 
 of final punishment ... ... 71 
 
 People, the, for whom God fights : 
 
 1 . Difficulties the measure of victories; 
 
 2. The most signal victories incom- 
 
 plete ; 
 '3. Triumphs the fruit of promises ; 
 4. The inheritance wou for all ; 
 
 PAGE 
 5. Rest here, foreshadowing rest here- 
 after 227 
 
 Personal decision : 
 
 1. Thougli alone. The — 
 
 (1) Individuality of the soul's want ; 
 
 (2) Solitude of the soul's life : 
 
 (3) Loneliness of the soul in death. 
 
 2. After a long trial of God in — 
 
 (1) Heavy responsibilities ; 
 
 (2) Great emergencies ; 
 
 (3) Severe conflicts ; 
 
 (4) I'ainful defeats ; 
 
 (0) Personal temptations. 
 
 3. Avowed openly. Confession by the 
 
 Lord's servants — 
 
 (1) Can be well afforded ; 
 
 (2) Tends to more faithfulness ; 
 
 (3) Is due to others ; 
 
 (4) Is due to the Lord ... 350,351 
 Piety, the self-producing power of : 
 
 1. Mercy begets mercy; 
 
 2. Faith stimulates faith ; 
 
 3. Kindness and truth reproduce them- 
 
 selves ... ... __ ._ 32 
 
 Plans and purposes of God, the : 
 
 1. Not dependent on men ; 
 
 2. Sometimes best advanced by remov- 
 
 ing useful men ; 
 
 3. Shewing the success of inferior 
 
 men ; 
 
 4. Human and natural in their develop- 
 
 ment ; 
 
 0. Related to men generally ... 3,4 
 Pleadings, the, of holy love. 
 
 Joshua's — 
 
 1. Recognition of man's liberty. Li- 
 
 berty necessary to — 
 
 (1) Sonship; 
 
 (2) Love; 
 
 (3) H.appiness. 
 
 2. Urgency to bring every man into 
 
 subjection to God : 
 
 (1) Absence offeree no sign of want 
 
 of love ; 
 
 (2) Persecution always a mistake ; 
 
 3. Qualifications for pleading. 
 
 Joshua's — 
 
 (1) Knowledge of the heart ; 
 
 (2) Firm convictions ; 
 
 (3) Personal fitness ; 
 
 (4) Noble example 340 3")0 
 
 Power of God, the : 
 
 1 . C( ivcriiig all human weaknesses ; 
 
 2. Meeting all man's difficulties G3. C4 
 Power of God. the : not less mighty when 
 
 less displayed -j-j 
 
 Praise to God for His keeping : 
 
 1. Should be ardent ; 
 
 2. „ lead to confidence ; 
 
 3. ,, i)romote abiding faith ; 
 
 4. Is followed by gracious rewards ... 2G0 
 
 Prayer : 
 
 1. May have much infirmity, and yet 
 
 be answered ; 
 
 2. Lays stress on the glory of the 
 
 Divine name 137 
 
 883 
 
HOMILETICAL INDEX. 
 
 HC 
 
 ■141 
 
 34r, 
 
 14S 
 48 
 
 53 
 
 Prayer and work, the relation )3e- 
 
 Iween : 
 
 1. The natural order is, first pray, then 
 
 A\'ork : Prayer — 
 
 (1) Throws liirbt on difficulties ; 
 
 (2) Secures Divine guidance ; 
 
 (3) Brings strength for work, 
 
 2. Work should not precede prayer ; 
 ;•]. ,, .. never be neglected for 
 
 prayer 
 
 Prayer, man's, and Gods silence : 
 
 1. Tlu' igudrance (if man in prayer; 
 
 2. The wisdom of God iu silence ; 
 
 3. Man's misinterpretation of God's 
 
 silence ... ... ... ISO- 
 Prayer, man's poor, and God's 
 gracious answer : 
 
 1. Ignorant prayers answered; 
 
 2. Protection hj hiding ; 
 
 3. Enemies destroyed : 
 
 4. A wilderness made fruitful 
 Prayer, repentance, andsanetification... 
 Presence of God ; how recognized 
 
 „ ., not less actual because 
 
 less manifest ... 
 
 Presence of God, the : 
 
 1. Ever gives victory ; 
 
 2. Is given irrespective of everything 
 
 but sin ; 
 
 3. Once given, is intended to be given 
 
 for ever 
 
 Presence of God with His people, 
 
 ihe: 
 
 1. The sign for their activity : 
 
 2. Leaves ample room for faith ; 
 
 3. Should provoke reverence and hu- 
 
 mility ; 
 
 4. Demands, also, holiness 
 
 Pretences and excuses : exposed by 
 I . Ti';iiisgressors themselves ; 
 L'. 'I'licir successors in work ... 
 
 Promise of God to Moses : 
 
 Confirmed to Joshua ; 
 Thus imposing f)l)]igati(ins upon 
 Jiisliua... 
 
 Promised help of God, the: sliouUl — 
 
 1 . Not make us idle : 
 
 2. Promote diligence to the utmost ; 
 
 3. Stimulate caution and prudence 21, 22 
 
 Promised possession, Ihr : 
 
 1. In its reality : 
 
 2. In its need of faith and patience ; 
 
 3. In relation to tlie iiuwor and grace 
 
 of God; 
 
 4. On earth, h.as a rest only partial : 
 
 5. In heaven, has a rest which is per- 
 
 fect 251 
 
 Promises, Gods sufficient. They — 
 
 1. Jicveal their vahu:; oidy as wc use 
 
 them ; 
 
 2. Have respect lo all preceding pro- 
 
 mises ; 
 
 3. Have regard to all which might 
 
 we.iken or limit them ; 
 884 
 
 36 
 
 273 
 
 IS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 4, Are not merely general, but per- 
 
 sonal ; 
 
 5, Arc as continuous as our want ; 
 fi. Are sometimes illustrated : 
 
 7. Have their foundation .and worth in 
 
 the Divine character 7 
 
 Promises of God : 
 
 1, Given to the man who will use 
 
 them ; 
 
 2, Not to promote rest, but to provoke 
 
 service ; 
 
 3. Fulfilled, not by giving less diffi- 
 
 culties, but more strength : 
 
 4. Worthy of trust v/hen in actual 
 
 conflict 204 
 
 Promises, once made, should be 
 kept : 
 
 1 . As sacredly as an oath ; 
 
 2. Even at great sacrifice ; 
 
 3. Though fraudulently obtained : 
 
 4. As we hope God to keep His pro- 
 
 mises to us .,. ,., .., 194 
 
 Providence, God's : 
 
 1, In raising uj) gre.at men : 
 
 2. In choosing or rejecting families 
 
 343, .344 
 
 Providence, mysteries of 245 
 
 Providence, the, of a f.atherly spirit .,, 3.32 
 
 Putting God first. The altar of the 
 Ileubenites : 
 
 1. The religious meaning of. They 
 
 were — 
 
 (1) Still cleaving to God ; 
 
 (2) Anxious for their children : 
 
 (3) Putting the heavenly ijiherit- 
 
 ance before the earthly. 
 
 2. Attractions in the direction of 
 
 things earthly : 
 
 (1) Desires for rest ; 
 
 (2) ., to see theii" new posses- 
 
 sions ; 
 
 (3) .. to be with their families. 
 
 3. Attractions in the direction of 
 
 tilings spiritual : 
 
 (1) Gratitude for jiast help ; 
 
 (2) Enthusi.asm kindled by Divine 
 
 works ; 
 
 (3) Hopes as to future worship ; 
 
 (4) Convictions as to safety under 
 
 God's care. 
 
 4. The expression given to spiritual 
 
 feeling. The altar was — 
 
 (1) Not a memorial of personal 
 
 ])rowess ; 
 
 (2) Not nun-cly a monument of 
 
 tliankfulness ; ^ 
 
 (3) A ropy of the altar where God 
 
 dwdt. 
 (rt) God nnist be approached through 
 
 sacrifice, 
 (J) Which was to be offered as He 
 
 had appointed .., 312—315 
 
 Q 
 Qualifications for leading men : 
 
 1. Natural capacity ; 
 
HOMILETIGAL INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 2. Absolute obedience ; 
 
 3. Lofty courage ; 
 
 4. Deep humility ; 
 
 5. Absence of self-seeking ; 
 
 6. Generous concern for others ... 7.S 
 
 R 
 Rahab, rescue of: in relation to — 
 
 1 . Her character ; 
 
 2. Joshua's conscientiousness ; 
 
 3. The salvation of the heatlien ... 124 
 
 Rahab, the deliverance of : 
 
 1. Hc[)rcsentative acts, as ])inding as 
 
 personal acts ; 
 
 2. Faith, salvation to the very sinful, 
 
 as well as to the less sinful ; 
 8. The salvation of the soul, com- 
 prising everj'thing else that is 
 necessary ; 
 
 4. One saved member of a family 
 
 leading to a saved household ; 
 ii. Salvation from outward danger 
 
 making way for the seeking of 
 
 inner life ; 
 G, God's salvation shewing, not onh- 
 
 forgiveness. but forgetfulness of 
 
 sin ... 122, 123 
 
 Reasonable service : 
 
 1. The duty to lie done ; 
 
 2. ,, concern to be manifested ; 
 
 3. ,, spirit and power of perform- 
 
 ance ; 
 
 4. „ disposition to be cultivated : 
 
 0. ,. honour to be rendered... 309, 310 
 
 Refuge for man, and all of man, 
 in God : God's care for our — 
 
 1. Physical life ; 
 
 2. Moral feelings ; 
 
 3. Spiritual salvation 29."> 
 
 Eefuge, the cities of 293—29.3 
 
 Religious conviction : 
 
 1. Its essence is in recognizing the pre- 
 
 sence of God : 
 
 (1) Sin felt indeed ; 
 
 (2) Forgiveness a necessity : 
 
 (3) God's presence necessary to those 
 
 forgiven. 
 
 2. Its medium is through God's work- 
 
 ing : 
 
 (1) The faculty of seeing God ; 
 
 (2) The difficulty of seeing God 81—83 
 
 Religious teaching : 
 
 1. Its insjnring topics ; 
 
 2. ,, unlimited aims; 
 
 3. ,, lofty and holy purposes ... 74, T-j 
 
 Remembrance of God through His 
 
 works : 
 
 1. Man's forgetfuhiess of God's works : 
 
 (1) The occasion, the pressiu'e of 
 
 earthly duties ; 
 
 (2) The real cause, ever in the heart ; 
 
 (3) Forgetfulness of God's works, a 
 
 sign that we have forgotten 
 Him. 
 
 2. God's interest in our remembrance 
 
 of His works : 
 
 PAGE 
 
 (1) Divine complaints ; 
 
 (2) Our remembrance, a small thing 
 
 to God ; 
 
 (3) God's M'orks an interpretation 
 
 of Himself. 
 3. The condescension of God in meet- 
 ing our infirmity : 
 
 (1) He helps our memory by things 
 
 visible ; 
 
 (2) He points out the helps most 
 
 suitable ; 
 
 (3) Thus He would te.ach a priaci- 
 
 ple and cultivate a habit "(G — [>9 
 
 Remembrance, the Lord's : 
 
 1. Of man's sin : 
 
 (1) In all forms: 
 
 (2) In all degrees: 
 
 (3) Till it is forgiven ; 
 
 (4) Not in vain. 
 
 2. Of His own j)romises ; 
 
 3. Of human faith and service 118, 119 
 
 Remembrances of the righteous : 
 
 1. Some sorrowful and scjiiie gladden- 
 
 ing: where glad, they — 
 
 2. Are so by God's grace ; 
 
 3. Arc made more glad by fellowship 
 
 with the faithful ; 
 
 4. Are in harmony with a good con- 
 
 science ; 
 .5. Contradict intervening seasons of 
 
 depression 256, 257 
 
 Repeated professions at Shechem : 
 
 1. Import of : 
 
 2. Kesponsibilities by 359 
 
 Reporting the goodness of the Lord ... 83 
 Representative labour, results, and honour 
 
 G8, G9 
 
 Reproach : 
 
 1. Its cause ; 
 
 2. ,, removal ; 
 
 3. ., „ leading to praise ... 90 
 Responsibility, the, of corporate bodies 
 
 130—1,32 
 
 Rest : 
 
 1 . After severe strife ; 
 
 2. Only tlu'ough faith and obedience ; 
 
 3. Still requiring that we watch and 
 
 pray ; 
 
 4. A prophecy of rest which is per- 
 
 fect 227 
 
 Rest : considered as — 
 
 1 . Plan's necessity ; 
 
 2. The Lord's gift. 
 
 3. Becoming complete through faith 
 
 and labour ... 302 
 
 Rest, entering into : 
 
 1. Rest according to God's purpose 
 
 and promise ; 
 
 2. Rest through the service of fellow- 
 
 men ; 
 
 3. Rest won for others, and thus, for 
 
 ourselves, made — 
 
 (1) Richer; 
 
 (2) Jlore .secure ; 
 
 (3) More complete 307—309 
 
 c 385 
 
HOMILETICAL INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Rest, the Lord's gift of: 
 
 1. In spite of great difficulties ; 
 
 2. Notwithstanding many sins ; 
 
 3. To His people Israel : 
 
 (1) The children of many promises ; 
 
 (2) Whom God sought to make a 
 
 praise in the earth ; 
 
 (3) And a \vitness against idolatry. 
 
 (4) The rest given only in instal- 
 
 ment;?. 
 
 4. The prediction and beginning of a 
 
 rest to be offered to all the world 
 
 :5r!l, B.S2 
 Retaliation, the law of 297 
 
 Retrospect, the : 
 
 1. Of the godly : 
 
 (1) Provoking admiration ; 
 
 (2) Awakening praise. 
 
 2. Of the ungodly : bringing — 
 
 (1) Awe without penitence, and thus 
 
 (2) No cessation from sin 802 
 
 Revelation, Christ s, of Himself : 
 
 1. Made to men who love Him ; 
 
 2. Less visible than of old, but not 
 
 less real ; 
 
 3. Highest forms of, not designed to 
 
 be perpetual 9o, 9C 
 
 Revelation, Divine, its relation to 
 
 courage. It — 
 
 1. Lies in the direction of the invi- 
 
 sible ; 
 
 2. Deals with sentiment and emotion ; 
 
 3. Is often a manifestation of super- 
 
 natural power 99 
 
 Reviewing the past. Meu called 
 
 to remember — 
 
 1. Their lowly origin ; 
 
 2. God's providences ; 
 
 3. „ mighty triumphs ; 
 
 4. ., gracious gifts 343, 344 
 
 Rewards of service, and penalties 
 
 of sin, the : 
 
 1. He who begins with God will need 
 
 God to the ('iid ; 
 
 2. He who is faithful will be re- 
 
 warded ; 
 
 3. He who honours God will be ho- 
 
 noured ; 
 
 4. He who waits in obedience will not 
 
 be forgotten ; 
 
 5. He who trusts God will find cause 
 
 to bless ; 
 C. He who rebels will find penalties 
 
 equal to Ihreatcnings ... 70, 71 
 
 Righteousness waiting for the 
 Ught: 
 
 The ilevout heart — 
 
 1. Ilejoicing that it is known of God ; 
 
 2. Confident in tlie ultimate judgment 
 
 of men ; 
 
 3. Boldly ajipoaling to God for vindi- 
 
 „ , <^''^tion 32G, 327 
 
 Kulo over the spirits of men. God's ;!4G 
 
 Rulers : their need of— 
 1. Training ; 
 
 PAGE 
 
 2. A spirit of obedience ; 
 
 3. A knowledge of the work of prede- 
 
 cessors 5 
 
 Safety under God's care 33 
 
 Salvation of men, the : 
 
 1. Shewing forth the glory of God ; 
 
 2. By overcoming difficulties, rather 
 
 than by removing them ... 49. 50 
 Sanctification; getting ready for 147, 148 
 
 Scriptures, the law of the : is in 
 
 harmony — 
 
 1. With j)hysical law ; 
 
 2. With the laws of conscience ; 
 
 3. Is the mind of God 10, 11 
 
 Secresy in service ... ... ... ... 24 
 
 Self ; influence of, in relation to God's 
 
 words 272 
 
 Self-defence of the innocent, the. 
 
 Innocent men — 
 
 1. Sensitive under a charge of sin : 
 
 (1) This, natural; 
 
 (2) This, right. 
 
 2. Defending themselves : 
 
 (1) By appeals to God ; 
 
 (2) With a reason for the thing 
 
 done ; 
 
 (3) In a spirit free from bitterness 
 
 318, 319 
 
 Servant, the, and his Lord : 
 
 1 . The IiOrd"s cl.iims : 
 
 (1) Absolute authority ; 
 
 (2) Profound reverence ; 
 
 (3) Holy awo of the place where 
 
 He is. 
 
 2. The servant's response : 
 
 (1) Humble; 
 
 (2) Adoring ; 
 
 (3) Inquiring ; 
 
 (4) Obedient 100 
 
 Servant, the true : 
 
 1. Gives reverent attention ; 
 
 2. Makes known His Lord's words : 
 
 (1) Not his own imaginings ; 
 
 (2) Has no apologies. 
 
 3. Ilenders prompt obedience himself 
 
 110—112 
 
 Servants helped by their Lord 
 
 will show — 
 
 1. Singiilar methods of .service; 
 
 2. Great triumphs; 
 
 3. Complete obedience ; 
 
 4. Mercy and integrity : 
 
 5. Consecration under temptation ; 
 
 (). Fame ciiualling their faithfulness... 128 
 Service and warning, the first day of 113, 114 
 
 Service; first offers of. declined 
 
 by (ind ; 
 
 1. To sift the true seeker from the 
 
 false ; 
 
 2. .. lead liim to self-e\aTnination ; 
 
 3. ., bind him to consistency : 
 
 4. .. educate him to a higher life 3i34, 3"jj 
 
 Service ; God's call of men to : 
 
 1. Calling in relation to qualifications; 
 
 2. Authority in relation to esteem ; 
 
JiOMILETICAL INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 3. Conflict in relation to victory : 
 
 4. Victory in relatioii to possession ... '> 
 
 Service ; God's choice of men for : 
 
 Has regard — 
 
 1. To temperament and disposition : 
 
 2. ,. previous training ; 
 
 3. ,, ))ast character ; 
 
 4. ,. the work to be accomplished ... 5 
 
 Services, the two. That of sin, 
 
 essentially — 
 
 1. Wrong: that of God, right; 
 
 2. Degrading; ., exalting; 
 .'5. Painful ; .. happy ; 
 
 4. Destructive: .. saving ... 3ol 
 
 Serving for others : 
 
 1 . Promising and {)erf orming ; 
 
 2. Inheriting, and desiring the same 
 
 for our fellows ; 
 
 3. Fitted to serve, and serving boldly; 
 
 4. Danger encountered for others, 
 
 bringing honour alike in victory 
 or defeat 72, 73 
 
 Serving the Lord. lu this service, 
 
 there is — 
 
 1. No honour without work ; 
 
 2. No work without encouragement ; 
 
 3. No encouragement apart from obe- 
 
 dience ; 
 
 4. No sufficient obedience without 
 
 meditation ; 
 
 5. No satisfactory meditation which 
 
 does not centre in God Himself 5, 6 
 
 Serving the Lord : though others — 
 
 1. 8eek wealth ; 
 
 2. Go after pleasure ; 
 
 3. Encourage doubt. This resolution 
 
 will stand the test of — 
 
 (1) Conscience ; 
 
 (2) Death ; 
 
 (3) Judgment 3.H 
 
 Silence of man, the, preceding the 
 working of God : 
 
 1. The silence of obedience; 
 
 2. „ „ patience ; 
 
 3. „ „ faith ; 
 
 4. .. „ expectation and awe 
 
 112. 113 
 
 Similarity of God's teachings : 
 
 1 . In nature ; 
 
 2. „ providence ; 
 
 3. „ history ; 
 
 4. ,, the heart and conscience ; 
 
 5. „ the Bible 28 
 
 Sin: 
 
 1. Punished in the person of the 
 
 offender : 
 
 (1) tSin works death in the sinner ; 
 
 (2) Sin brings death to the sinner. 
 
 2. Punished, and the innocent involved 
 
 with the guilty : 
 
 (1) Many such cases in Scripture ; 
 
 (2) Many such cases now. 
 
 3. Committed, and the innocent con- 
 
 taminated. 
 The sins we have committed — 
 
 PAGE 
 
 (1) Are still at work ; 
 
 (2) Call for deep humiliation ; 
 
 (3) Call for earnest service... 325, .326 
 Sin, Achan's ; God's punishment of. 
 
 1. An expression of God's deep abhor- 
 
 rence of sin ; 
 
 2. A vindication of God's law and 
 
 covenant ; 
 i. God's memorial for His people's 
 
 future guidance and helj)... 155 — 157 
 
 Sin, bringing defeat. 
 
 1 . sin's separating power. It divides — 
 
 (1) Between men. irrespective of 
 
 character ; 
 
 (2) „ good men and bad ; 
 
 (3) „ God and the wicked. 
 
 2. Sin's blinding influence : 
 
 (1) God withholds His light; 
 
 (2) Sin itself works blindness. 
 
 3. Sin causing weakness. 
 
 4. Sin producing suffering : 
 
 (1) Loss; 
 
 (2) Fear; 
 
 (3) Shame ; 
 
 (4) Death 13Q 
 
 Sinj; fruits of. Sin as — 
 
 1 . The cause of disappointments ; 
 
 2. The occasion of poverty ; 
 
 3. Bringing death; 
 
 it. Revealing Divine mercy 90 
 
 Sin of man, the, in relation to Divine 
 
 triumphs ... 23 
 
 Sin, progress of 154 
 
 Sin ; putting away of : 
 
 1. Man's jjreparation for; 
 
 2. Divine helj) for ; 
 
 3. Characteristic features in ... 147, 148 
 
 Sin, the curse of. 
 
 1. Its occasion : it comes — 
 
 (1) Only by man; 
 
 (2) After many warnings ; 
 
 (3) Is full of mercy. 
 
 2. Its fulfilment : is— 
 
 (1) Sometimes long delayed; 
 
 (2) Exceedingly bitter ; 
 
 (3) Representative as well as per- 
 
 sonal. 
 
 3. Its removal : i.s — 
 
 (1) Through Jesus Christ; 
 
 (2) As complete as thoiigh it had 
 
 never l)een : 
 
 (3) Followed 1)}' many and great 
 
 mercies 127 
 
 Sin, the nature and influence of: 
 
 1. Sin limits the influence of prayer. 
 
 The unforgiven — 
 
 (1 ) Are not refused a hearing; 
 
 (2) .\i-c only heard on the sin in 
 
 question ; 
 (a) Humiliation must be for the 
 
 sin committed ; 
 {h) Grief must be for the guilt ; 
 (c) The plea of consequences must 
 
 take account of the wrong 
 
 done to God. 
 
 2. Sin is full of injustice and wrong ; 
 
 387^ 
 
HOMILETTCAL INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 (1) Sill is generally theft ; 
 
 (2) „ „ deceit ; 
 
 (3) „ ., misuppropriation. 
 
 3, Sin is abreakinij of God's covenant. 
 
 4. Sin brings weakness, etc. 
 
 5, Sin is not only at the time of trans- 
 
 gression, but till the time of 
 repentance. 
 
 6. Sin requires some adequate acknow- 
 
 ledgment of its guilt ... 142—146 
 
 Sinfulness of sin, the : 
 
 1. Its successive stages; 
 
 2. „ aggravated guilt ; 
 
 3. „ wide-reaching evil; 
 
 4. Connection with unbelief ... ... 117 
 
 Sins, particular ; God discoveriug 
 
 them : 
 
 1. The God-directed search for sin ; 
 
 2. „ God-guided process of the lot ; 
 
 3. „ God-honouring result of dis- 
 
 covery 11'.) — l.',! 
 
 Slowness of God's methods, tlie : 
 
 1. Because of man's unreadiness ; 
 
 2. Not for lack of Divine pity... C4, 05 
 
 Slowness of man in possessing 
 
 God's gifts. 
 
 1. God commands a rich inheritance; 
 
 2. Man's slowness in possessing ; 
 
 3. The inheritance curtailed through 
 
 inactivity 280, 281 
 
 Social integrity, and its influence on 
 
 public faitii 81. 32 
 
 Soldier, servant, and priest, the : 
 
 1 . The faithful warrior ; 
 
 2. „ „ son and servant ; 
 
 3. „ ., priest 3G4, 'Mr> 
 
 Spear, Joshua's outstretched. The 
 
 Lord's — 
 
 1. Encouragements in necessity ; 
 
 2. Adoption of human method's ; 
 
 3. Former mercies a present help 1C8, 1G9 
 
 Success : 
 
 1. When given ; 
 
 2. Given through faith and laljour 11 1, ILi 
 
 Sunday-school instruction : 
 
 1. The duty of tliis work ; 
 
 2. ,, necessity of adaptation in it ; 
 
 3. „ nobility of it 7(J, 77 
 
 Sunset on Mount Ephraim. Joshua 
 
 shews — 
 
 1. Zeal for God's honour; 
 
 2. Deference to G(jd's law ; 
 
 3. Dependence on Ciod's strength; 
 
 4. Trust in (fod's faithfulness 302 
 
 Sword of the Lord and of men, the : 
 
 1. Men may seem to bol<l (he sword, 
 
 but G(jd fights ; 
 
 2. Men may seem to win prowess, but 
 
 the battle is the Lord's ; 
 
 3. Men may seek self-praise, but he 
 
 who honours God is exalted ; 
 
 (1) Temptations to self-glorying, 
 
 nuuicrous ; 
 
 (2) Inducements to praise God more 
 
 numerous. 
 
 :)88 
 
 PAGE 
 (3) To glorify God, indeed, is to 
 receive lasting honour from 
 men 332, .^33 
 
 Taught of the Lord Gd, r.7 
 
 Taught of the Lord: God's care in — 
 
 1. Teaching His people to rely on 
 
 unseen help ; 
 
 2. Regulating their temptations ; 
 
 3. Nourishing their faith; 
 
 4. Cultivating their dependence ... 222 
 
 Teaching : 
 
 1. Our (jwu children; 
 
 2. Neglected children ; 
 
 3. Neglected men and women ; 
 
 4. The generations to come ... ... 75 
 
 Teaching ; God's plan of : 
 
 1. Never shews over-teaching; 
 
 2. Disi)lays wonderful patience .o2, 53 
 
 Teaching ; Gods plan of. God — 
 
 1. Develops the spirit of in(|uiry ; 
 
 (1) In nature; 
 
 (2) ., providence ; 
 
 (3) „ the Scriptures. 
 
 2. Cultivates the powers of memory. 
 
 These arc — 
 
 (1) Naturally remarkable ; 
 
 (2) Often abused ; 
 
 (3) Assisted very naturally. 
 
 3. Provokes man"s praise and piety G5 
 
 Things to he done for God are — 
 
 1. Things to be done first; 
 
 2. ,, „ inianimously; 
 
 3. „ ,. withal! the heart; 
 •!• „ ,, with prudence ... 
 
 Threatenings, the : as sure as the' pro- 
 mises ... 
 
 Transgression, Achan's : 
 
 1. The wretched issue of dissembling ; 
 
 2. „ humiliating act of restitution ; 
 
 3. ,, inability of dealing with sin, 
 
 cxce](ting "Itefore the Lord" ... 
 
 Treaty with the Giheonites, the ; 
 
 its consc(iuences : 
 
 1. The sacredness which should attach 
 
 to promises; 
 
 2. The opposition found in the way of 
 
 truth ; 
 
 3. The penalties which ultimately 
 
 •attend fr.aud 11)3— 
 
 Trick of tiie Giheonites, the 
 
 Trial of love, God's : 
 
 1 . Service offered by men. discouraged 
 
 by God ; 
 
 2. Loving hearts discouraged by God, 
 
 and clinging more persistently: 
 
 3. Persistent love accepted by God, if 
 
 given to no other god . 
 The Lord jealous for — 
 
 (1) His own glory ; 
 
 (2) The sui)rem.acy of truth ; 
 
 (3) The GTood of the worshippers; 
 
 (4) All beholders. 
 
 , GG 
 
 322 
 00 
 
 l.->4 
 
 1!)5 
 191 
 
BaUlLETtCAL INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 4. Accepted love witnessing against 
 its own inconstancy : 
 
 (1) Such testimony the loudest ; 
 
 (2) The stones crying out ; 
 
 (3) The joy of love in its own 
 
 bondage 352 — 3')4 
 
 Triumjih; is it by man, or of God .' ... 74 
 
 Triumphs of God : 
 
 1. In delivering frum bondage; 
 
 2. In the overthrow of enemies ... 341 
 
 True men and false ; tlieir bearing. 
 
 1. The dignity of truthfulness : 
 
 (1) Has a noble demeanour; 
 
 (2) Can discuss its own overthrow ; 
 
 (3) Obtains the right of passing sen- 
 
 tence. 
 
 2. The servility of falsehood : 
 
 (1) Has self-interest ; 
 
 (2) Pleads fear as an cxctisc ; 
 
 (8) Accepts sentence without remon- 
 strance; 
 
 (4) Endeavours to profit by that 
 
 sense of right in others which 
 has been wanting in itself ... 1% 
 
 Truth and error, the conflict of. 
 
 In this conflict we need — 
 
 1. Something more than zeal ; 
 
 2. Something more than bravery ; 
 
 3. Something more than wise precau- 
 
 caution ; 
 
 4. Something more than general sup- 
 
 port ; 
 
 5. Something more than temporary 
 
 success ... ... ... I<i6 — 168 
 
 Truth, coming to a knowledge of ... 29 
 
 U 
 
 Unbelief, weakness and inconsistency of 271 
 Unfailing words of the Lord, the : 
 
 1. In contrast with the failing words 
 
 of men. 
 The words of men fail because of — 
 
 (1) Thoughtlessness in utterance : 
 
 (2) Fickleness in attention ; 
 
 (3) Feebleness in execution. 
 
 2. The Lord's words on ••good things'' 
 
 in contrast with His own words on 
 "evil things" 302 
 
 Unfinished labours : 
 
 1. The items counted by God ; 
 
 2. The whole, met by the promise of 
 
 God; 
 
 3. These promises fulfilled only to the 
 
 faithful ; 
 
 4. Such promises as are unfulfilled, 
 
 the ground on which come our 
 severest sufferings... ... ... 239 
 
 Unforgiven sin ; the consequences of ... 147 
 
 Using faith : 
 
 1. It gradually increases : 
 
 2. It silently Ijrings its own fulfilment 71 
 
 V 
 
 Vicaiious service and honour ... 08, G'J 
 Victory, after the : 
 1, Defeated idolaters hiding ; 
 
 PAGE 
 
 2. The servants of the Lord rejoicing 
 
 in the Lord ; 
 
 3. The servants of the Lord at peace 
 
 from their enemies ; 
 
 4. The prominent in sin made con- 
 
 spicuous in shame ; 
 
 5. The calm wrath of justice... 214, 215 
 
 Victory, God's ultimate : 
 
 1. The variable methods of God ; 
 
 2. ,, fatuity of the enemies of God ; 
 
 3. ,, ultimate triumph of God 163 — 165 
 
 Victory in the Lord's war : 
 
 1. The way. through persistent conflict ; 
 
 2. „ rewards, a Divine gift ; 
 
 3. ,, object, to blot out sin ; 
 
 4. „ doom of the vanquished, ac- 
 
 cording to desert ; 
 .'j. „ memorials suitable to the mer- 
 cies 170 
 
 Victory of faith, the. The life of 
 
 faith in — 
 
 1. The greatness of its emergencies. 
 
 Emergencies are — 
 
 (1) Common to believers ; 
 
 (2) Opportunities for f.aith ; 
 
 (3) Timed and measured by God. 
 
 2. The boldness of its requests. Faith, 
 
 like love — 
 
 (1) Cannt)t wait for precedents ; 
 
 (2) Cannot be limited by difficulties. 
 
 3. Its prevalence with God. Faith — 
 
 (1) Not confounded ; 
 
 (2) Not extravagant. 
 
 4. The thoroughness of its victories : 
 
 (1) Idolaters overthrown; 
 
 (2) Idols debased 211,212 
 
 Vows : 
 
 1. AVhich ought neither to be made, 
 
 nor kept, if made ; 
 
 2. "Which should be kej)! for con- 
 
 science' sake ; 
 
 3. Which, from their nature, are im- 
 
 peratively binding 18 
 
 W 
 
 "Wages of unrijjhtcousness, the ... 241 — 245 
 
 Waiting on the Lord. 
 
 1. The character and spirit of : 
 
 (1) Not a su.spcnsion of our own 
 
 efiEorts ; 
 
 (2) Yet a trust in God rather than 
 
 in our efforts. 
 
 2. The neces.sity for : 
 
 (1) In the ntvturc of the case itself ; 
 
 (2) In view of our own discipline ; 
 
 (3) In regard to the will of God. 
 
 3. Encouragements in : 
 
 (1) The very act of trast often 
 
 brings the very relief wantetl ; 
 
 (2) Where earthly things fail, hea- 
 
 venly things begin to abound; 
 
 (3) Promises of l)lessing; 
 
 (4) The liistory of such waiting 73, 74 
 Watching and working without Grod ... 33 
 
 War exchanged for peace 309 
 
 War spoil, the ethics of 312 
 
 Way of all the earth, the 34U 
 
 388 
 
HOMILETICAL INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Weak and untaught, the t 
 
 1. The tcstimouy they sometimes bear; 
 
 2. „ contidence they occasionally show; 
 
 3. „ encuuragement they can often 29 
 
 give 
 
 Weakness : 
 
 1. Its inability to render service ; 
 
 2. „ tendency to despond ; 
 
 3. „ disposition to reject the Savioitr 17 
 
 Wicked, the folly of : f^eeu in — 
 
 1. Their foolish ways ; 
 
 2. Their mistaken action 185 
 
 With and without God in the world ... 83 
 
 Witness iigainst the sinner : 
 
 1 . 15y himself : 
 
 2. ,, his fellows ; 
 
 3. ., life's ordinary records 357 
 
 Witnesses to God's works. They 
 
 are — 
 
 1. Carefully prepared beforehand ; 
 
 2. JSoas to merit the confidence of men ; 
 
 3. So that they can speak with autho- 
 
 rity ; 
 
 4. Those bearing witness now should 
 
 seek to make their testimony un- 
 impeachable 62, 03 
 
 Wonderful works of God, the; 
 
 their inlluence : 
 Their first effect, fear ; 
 Their influence in some, faith... 28, 29 
 
 Wonderful works of the Lord : 
 
 1. Demanding His people's sanctifica- 
 
 tion; 
 
 2. Demanding His people's devoutest 
 
 reverence lO, 41 
 
 Word of God ; its ijroclamation on 
 
 Ebal. 
 
 1. The altar and word of the Lord go 
 
 together : 
 
 (1) The cross insufficient without 
 
 the Scriptures ; 
 
 (2) The Scriptures, Avithout the cross; 
 
 (3) Together, they reveal salvation 
 
 clearly. 
 
 2. The word written plainly and du- 
 
 rably : 
 
 3. The word recorded, not only in 
 
 blessings, but in cursings ; 
 
 4. The word to ha impartially pro- 
 
 claimed ; 
 
 5. The word to be proclaimed to all 
 
 the people ; 
 C. The word witnessing against all 
 
 transgressors 177—180 
 
 Word of God. the faithful ... 125,126 
 Words; their v:ist importance 37 
 
 Words of the Lord, the : 
 
 1. Forgotten through solf-socking ; 
 
 2. Neglected under the pressure of 
 
 cares ; 
 8. Remembered and pleaded from per- 
 sonal JTitercst 272 
 
 Words of the Lord, the : ure— 
 
 1. Good words; 
 
 2. Wrought out gradually ; 
 
 890 
 
 PAGE 
 
 3. Every one fulfilled ; 
 
 4. Satisfying to the heart and soul ... 340 
 
 Words of the Lord, the incompara- 
 ble : 
 
 1 . Their claims ; 
 
 2. „ purity; 
 
 3. ,, distinctiveness ... 46, 47 
 
 Work, the Lord's : 
 
 1. Affording a glorious retrospect ; 
 
 2. The foundation of all done by men ; 
 
 3. The only hope for the future ... 333 
 
 Works of God : 
 
 1. All works declare the worker : 
 
 2. Even those done by aimless workers; 
 
 3. The design of work reveals cha- 
 
 racter ; 
 
 4. So does its execution 77 
 
 Works of God. and faith of men, the 49—52 
 Works of God ; their completeness 
 
 .and deliberateness : 
 
 1. The effectual working of Divine 
 
 power ; 
 
 2. The absolute sufficiency of Divine 
 
 mercy ; 
 
 3. The majestic deliberateness of Di- 
 
 vine methods 63, 04 
 
 Workers of iniquity hiding them- 
 selves : 
 
 1. In times of danger : 
 
 (1) By seclusion ; 
 
 (2) „ deceit ; 
 
 (3) „ false professions of religion; 
 
 (4) Such still need to hide, when 
 
 God moves to judgment. 
 
 2. Unsuccessfully. They seek to hide 
 
 in vain who — 
 
 (1) Try to hide from God ; 
 
 (2) Only begin to hide when God 
 
 begins to judge ; 
 (.S) They only hide safely who hide 
 
 in God 215 
 
 Worship, public 32y 
 
 Worship ; the spirit of true : 
 
 1. riaces God first; 
 
 2. Is a spirit of obedience ; 
 
 3. Has regard to the necessity of s.acri- 
 
 fice ; 
 
 4. Not only adores God. but trusts 
 
 Him 171, 172 
 
 Z 
 
 Zeal without knowledge, 
 
 1. Giiod men l^etrayed into wrong 
 
 judgments : 
 
 (1) Judgments based upon appear- 
 
 ances ; 
 
 (2) Judgments, even when AVi'ong, 
 
 promoted by zeal for God. 
 
 2. Wrong judgments leading to false 
 
 accusations : 
 
 (1) Judgments hastily l^ecoraing .acts ; 
 
 (2) ., badly communicated; 
 
 (3) ,, that are bad having 
 good featui'cs, 
 
 3. The mistakes of zeal worse than the 
 
 mistakes of love 315—318 
 
GENERAL INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 ... 300 
 
 ... 295 
 
 ... 24.-) 
 
 ... 34.-. 
 
 132, loC, 
 
 128, 12!) 
 150, 153 
 
 129, 136 
 ... 326 
 ... 75 
 
 160 
 265 
 323 
 109 
 242 
 
 129, 
 
 108, 
 
 ^lrt7*fl«V descendants 
 
 Ahd'iel, Milton's 
 
 Abolition of capital punisliment 
 
 „ Lcvitical law 
 
 Ahraham, possibly an idolater .. 
 Absence of God, the 
 
 ^c!/(!««, name of 
 
 ,, was be saved ? 
 
 ^c/<rt74.'*' family 
 
 „ punishment 
 
 Achilles 
 
 ^c/tor, the valley of 
 
 Achmh 
 
 Acts, misinterpreted 
 
 Adajjtation of means to ends 
 
 Addison, on the power of money 
 
 Adjacent lots of Ephraim and Manasseh 267 
 
 Ado7ii<edck 198 
 
 Affliction of God with the afflicted ... 127 
 
 Aged men, words of 330 
 
 ,, the, thinking of death 234 
 
 Ages, characteristics of different ... 340 
 
 Affvra nud I'hnim, the 291 
 
 Ahimaaz and CttsJti 323 
 
 ^1/, king of, hanged 159 
 
 ,. recalling a memory of Rephidim ... 169 
 
 Aimless work 77 
 
 Ah-oyd, 'J\, qMotcd 325 
 
 Alabama, catiti oi the 131 
 
 Alexander the Great at Gaza. 220 
 
 All sin a theft 143,144 
 
 Aljjs, views of, between clouds of mist ... 9f; 
 
 Altar of the eastern tribes, the ... 303, .304 
 
 Amatory phrases 172 
 
 Ambush before Ai 1.58, 16(! 
 
 " Amen," the force of 179 
 
 Amorites, the, and the liornets 346 
 
 ,, warlike character of 25 
 
 jl7iflc/Y'PM, lines from 238 
 
 Anakim, cities of the 226 
 
 tbc, at Hebron ... ... ... 260 
 
 Ancestry of individual consciences ... 38 
 
 Ancient Roman, anecdote of an 37 
 
 Angels, joy of 321 
 
 Anger, consistent with mercy 7 
 
 "„ of Chi'ist, the 176 
 
 „ of God, the 132, 1.56 
 
 „ „ not vindictive 90 
 
 Anne of Austria . vemax^ ot 154 
 
 Anniversaries as memorials ... ... 59 
 
 Antecedents, personal ; lessons from ... 343 
 
 Anthropomorphism 80 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Anticipating death, and dying 265 
 
 Antinomianism 102, 103 
 
 Apostles must suffer if imprudent ... 22 
 Appearances, judging from ... ... 324 
 
 Approach to Hebron, the ... ... 2(51 
 
 Arabs, why revengeful 339 
 
 Archhixhop Sharpe, saying of ... ... 61 
 
 ,, Trench, quoted ... ... G 
 
 Archer Butler, on fulfilled predictions 157 
 
 Argonauts, the 349 
 
 Ai'ithmetic no contradiction of poetry ... 164 
 
 Ark, the, at Shiloh 277 
 
 „ of the covenant, the 35, 36, 104, 108 
 Arm of the Lord revealed to Belshazzar 
 
 82, 83 
 
 Arnot, Wm,, on American slaveiy ... 250 
 
 ,, on covering sin ... ... 155 
 
 -ls/ffw<Y/i! degraded at Gibeon ... 210, 212 
 
 Assembly at Shechem, the 345 
 
 Assimilation, law of 339 
 
 Associations, unholy 126 
 
 Assumptions'as to remission of sins ... 88 
 Asyla, the, of the Greeks and Romans... 292 
 Atonement, commercial view of the ... 173 
 
 Aufjustine, remark of ... 132 
 
 Augustus. Octavius 115 
 
 Awe thi'ough power 28, 29 
 
 R 
 
 ^^/r?Z degi-aded at Gibeon ... 210,212 
 
 Ra.alism overawed by Divine works ... 80 
 
 Babies ; why do they die i' 65 
 
 l?aby's grave, a 65 
 
 Jiabylonish garment, the 119, 128 
 
 Balaam ... ... ... ... ... 241 
 
 „ and Joshua bowing to the earth 98 
 
 the error of 325 
 
 ., trying to curse 239 
 
 why mentioned in chap. xiii. 22 233 
 Baptism of Christ ; where / ... 44.49 
 
 i?rt/v7<;(", on the activity of .sin 158 
 
 Ba-ihan, kingdom of ... ... ... 25 
 
 Bast lie. a prisoner in the 340 
 
 Battlefield of Midian, tiie 325 
 
 Battles, the, of Homer and Virgil ... 344 
 
 the only way to victories ...290 
 
 Baxter, on dealing with sin 158 
 
 Bearing the burdens of others 17 
 
 Beauty of love's symbols, the 315 
 
 Beddoes. lines on hidden dangers ... 165 
 
 i/eet'/ur, on future punishment 157 
 
 „ on experience 73 
 
 .ffecr.sAfJfl, meaning of the word ...107 
 
 301 
 
GENEBAL INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Beliefs, hereditary Ift7 
 
 ., powerless to alter laws 339 
 
 Believing, some, and some not 29 
 
 „ to order ... ... ... 38 
 
 Bchliazzar seeing the hand that wrote ... 83 
 
 Iknjam'in, situation of the tribe ... 283 
 
 Best lives, the, nntinished ... ... 330 
 
 Bcili-horon and Psalm ii. ... ... 183 
 
 Bible ideal of life, the 336 
 
 „ scenery ... ... ... ... 181 
 
 ,, tendencies of the 47 
 
 „ the, deemed true where statements 
 
 are thought desirable ... 311 
 
 „ ,. has no ecclesiastical domination 347 
 
 „ „ invites investigation 347 
 
 „ ,. its claims on all men ... ... 334 
 
 „ .. light on God fi 
 
 „ ,. newly rendered by different lives 216 
 
 „ „ not a diary ... ... ... 171 
 
 „ ,, supported by the best of men 348 
 
 ^i«wey, y/(07««s, quoted 22 
 
 Buhop Hall, quoted 33. r>4, lOO, 122, 
 
 135, 147, 186, 192, 2U1. 203, 213, 328 
 
 ,. Wdhcrforcr, quoted 37, 361, 363 
 
 Bismarck, Prince, on calumny ... ... 318 
 
 '• Black Bartholomew " 23 
 
 Bhiltc; lines to a tiger ... ... ... 160 
 
 Blessing on sinners, a curse ... ... 96 
 
 Blessings, when gratis ... ... ... 274 
 
 Blind man, the, led by Christ 334 
 
 Blind, the, <iuick perception of 223 
 
 Blood-life and spirit-life 296 
 
 Blood revenge ... ... ... ... 291 
 
 i/f'/nart. the stone of ... ... ... 261 
 
 Bondage, the way to liberty 367 
 
 Book of books, the 362 
 
 BoHsuct and FincUni ... ... ... 288 
 
 Bridge in Austria, a ... ..'. ... 98 
 
 Bright, lit. Hon. John, on Sunday-school 
 
 teaching 76 
 
 Broken covenant, the. and no covenant 
 
 feast ... 91 
 
 BrooJifi, on obedience ... ... ... 307 
 
 Brotherhood — nearness to God ... ... 320 
 
 Broicninri, Mr.s. E. B., (juotcd ... ... 326 
 
 Brutality — distance from God 320 
 
 Burdens, our, borne by God ... ... 30S 
 
 Jhirkc, Edmniul. k;imile of ... ... 337 
 
 Bitrlcir/h. (r. S..]u)cs\iy ISO 
 
 Bush, 'j'rofrm'r. (|Uotcd 12, 48, ill, 106. 329 
 
 Bu.shncll. Br., (luotcd ... 38, 63. lOo 
 
 Business first, religion at convenience ... 278 
 
 Byron, on worldly gloiy... ... ... 44 
 
 „ on death 46 
 
 C 
 
 Vamr at the llulncon 
 
 ghost of, at I'hilippi 
 
 Caleb 
 
 „ parentage of 
 
 „ stilling the spies ... 
 Calmness in studying the unseen 
 Calumny like (iieek tire ... 
 Calcary no relation to numljers... 
 Calcin, quoted 158. 196, 240, 252, 2t 
 272, 283, 310, 31 
 Campbell, lines on silence 
 
 .. „ " coming events " 
 
 892 
 
 351 
 243 
 2.57 
 247 
 4 
 99 
 323 
 173 
 
 332 
 113 
 174 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Canaan, not merely for Israel, but for 
 
 men 4 
 
 Canaanites, the, provocations of ... 121 
 
 ,, put to tribute 273 
 
 ,, ,, spared, if they had re- 
 pented 195 
 
 „ „ taught and warned by 
 
 God 24, 79 
 
 Cannon transformed to church bells ... 309 
 C'«?/«f^' at the sea: imitating him ... 67 
 
 Capital punishment 295 
 
 Cardinal Biclicliru 154 
 
 Care of God for little things 300 
 
 Caribs, food of the 3.39 
 
 Carlylc. on ex})erience ... ... ... 73 
 
 Casluhim and Caphtorim. the 232 
 
 fi?.w7, Z)/'., quoted 270 
 
 Catacombs, epilajih in the 279 
 
 Catechisms or anecdotes ; which ? ... 61 
 
 Caution and zeal 313 
 
 Cave of Machpclah, VClq 218 
 
 Cecil, maxim of ... ... ... ... 33 
 
 Chalmers, Dr., quoted ... ... ... 314 
 
 Changes of God because of changes in us 53 
 Chai'acter, a great . . . ... ... 360, 361 
 
 „ of Christ, a strong tower ... 93 
 
 ,, our own, falsely estimated ... 242 
 
 ,, taking care of oui' ... ... 319 
 
 Characteristics, national and religious ... 340 
 t7if«77('.v 7/., on Milton's blindness ... 155 
 Cherem, the (sec '' Devoted things") 
 
 6'^o7ti/r, new plants near 242 
 
 Childhood through fatherhood ... ... 342 
 
 Chikken, all in the covenant 144 
 
 ,, the hope of God in the wilder- 
 ness 59 
 
 on the seashore 257 
 
 Child-feeUng, comes gradually 25 
 
 Child-life, purity of 161 
 
 Choice of servants, God's ... ... 5 
 
 Chbist, appearance of, in character 97, 98 
 „ Divine manner of, in work 235, 236 
 ,, most found where most wanted 97 
 Christian security through large posses- 
 sions ... ... ... ... ... 7 
 
 Chrysoitom, anecdote of 321 
 
 Cicero, (luoted ... ... ... ... 18 
 
 Circumcision, why neglected in the 
 wilderness ... ,. ... ... 84 
 
 Cii^eri\s picture of "The Entombment"' 69 
 
 Cities accursed 124 
 
 of refuge, the 291 
 
 Clans, formed from trivial beginnings ... 58 
 Clarhe, Br. A., (pu.ted, 87. 154, 335, 352, 368 
 Cleansing the temple ... ... ... ] 7(5 
 
 ^^•/•/<v^s■. on the choice l)y lot ... ...250 
 
 Climbing for wui'k, ncit rest ... ... 5 
 
 Clocks, provoking luonotony of ... ... 287 
 
 Clouds, what they cannot hide ... ... 32 
 
 " C/f'«!'r^/," signification of 182 
 
 Cochineal insect, the ... ... ... 21 
 
 Coin, a small, hiding the sun ... ... 152 
 
 CV'/^/vV/</(''.v '• Ancient Mariner" 102 
 
 Comfort, Divine 221 
 
 Commandments, <a {)roof of forgiveness 254 
 
 ,, penalty of breaking the 280 
 
 Communion, not merely for ecstasy ... Ill 
 
 Companions, a necessity ... ... ... 339 
 
 Concealing truth from oui'sclvcs ... 30 
 
GENERAL INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Conditions favourable to the growth of 
 sin 
 
 Confession not merely for grand occa- 
 sions 
 
 Confidence. Christian 
 
 Congregations moulding their ministers 
 Conscience, an outraged ... 
 
 „ etymology of 
 
 Contributions of ungodly men for reli- 
 gious jiurposes 
 
 Converted oddities paraded for inspection 
 Conviction through fear ... 
 
 tV'«//?;^Y//r, paraphrase of 
 
 Cooke. Joseph, qiioted 
 Corroborative testimonj' ... 
 Corruption, life V)y 
 
 Courage 
 
 Covenant at Shechcm, the 
 
 ,, broken, and manna falling .. 
 
 Covetousness 
 
 Coivprr, lines of, on Christian parentage 
 Cox, Sfimitcl, on the miracle at Gibeon 
 Cra7nt'r, quoted 
 
 Creation, oneness of 
 
 Creeds, a hindrance to the anxious 
 ,, at the mercy of lives 
 
 heartless. God's unconcern in 
 ., the necessary outcome of growth 
 
 25, 2G 
 their relation to cradles... 
 
 Cretans, the 
 
 C/*fl/««7'/Z and his artist ... 
 
 Crosby, quoted 
 
 Cross, the ; its bearing on the heart and 
 
 conscience 
 
 „ its triumj)hs not through 
 
 philosophy 
 
 ,, may be made a suj i i ,~tition 
 
 „ recognition of sin in 
 
 within reach of all 
 
 Crowns, where deserved, there worn ... 
 
 Cuneiform records 
 
 Curse on the builder of Jericho ... 101, 
 
 CiirUiiii, M., legend of 
 
 6'y/'w,s memory of 
 
 242 
 
 33.3 
 21i» 
 17y 
 243 
 81 
 
 241 
 
 (JO 
 
 79 
 
 , 128 
 
 , 34'.t 
 
 , 6it 
 
 , .337 
 
 8. 10 
 
 . 3.58 
 
 . 8.-. 
 
 . 270 
 
 62 
 
 206 
 
 .. 141 
 
 .. 282 
 
 25, 26 
 
 .. 866 
 
 .. 8. 9 
 
 ... 167 
 
 ... 31 
 
 ... 339 
 
 163, 343 
 
 109 
 
 111 
 (•) 
 ]4(; 
 173 
 231 
 323 
 102 
 115 
 6(1 
 
 D. 
 
 Dan, small inheritance of 
 
 Darkness precedes light 
 
 UavUVii anticipations of his own dei 
 
 2)aiwW, temptation (if 
 
 Scan JIoKnoii, quoted 
 
 Death, choosing 
 
 „ Christian view of 
 
 ,, the world's literature on ... 
 Debt to future society, our 
 
 Decay, beauty in 
 
 Deception 
 
 „ before God 
 
 Defeating our victories 
 
 Defence of our own character ... 
 
 Delight •• by rebound " 
 
 DeJphiiin, Oruclr, the 
 
 Determination to sin 
 
 De)if( ronomi/. continuation of ... 
 Developments in Divine teaching 
 
 Devoted things 
 
 Devotion of Jesus Christ, the 
 Difficulties, flood tide of 
 
 ith 
 
 ., 286 
 .. 367 
 265 
 .. 242 
 .. 362 
 .. 231 
 .. 46 
 45. 46 
 .. 75 
 .. 239 
 .. 189 
 .. 190 
 .. 361 
 .. 319 
 ., 308 
 .. 39 
 .. 243 
 .. 3 
 
 101, 115 
 ... 116 
 ... 54 
 
 PAGE 
 Diplomacy instead of statesmanship ... 31 
 Direct interposition of God ... ... 168 
 
 Discipline before Jericho 108,109 
 
 Discouragements given by God 352 
 
 Discovery of sin through God's presence 81 
 
 Di sorder, weakness from 20 
 
 Dispositions, teaching to be adapted to 76 
 Disqualification for ordinances ... ... 88 
 
 7^/ rM. riches of ... ... ... ... 341 
 
 Divine favouritism ... ... ... 110 
 
 „ feints 353 
 
 guidance and human investigation 282 
 slowness ... ... ... 64, 65 
 
 ,. sufhciency . . . ... ... ... 94 
 
 Division of unconqucrcd territory ... 240 
 
 Doctrine, speaking lightly of 177 
 
 Boddr'idiir. lines on his family motto ... 351 
 Doubt formulated into a religion ... 9 
 
 Dr. Dounr, on our consciousness that 
 
 God sees us 84 
 
 Dress, significance of ... ... ... 189 
 
 D n/fl en. on dcixth. ... ... ... ... 46 
 
 J) like of Weill ne/ton. Vmcs on ... ... 364 
 
 Duty as a motive in conflicts 244 
 
 ,, nfine can come between us and God 322 
 
 Dwelling-place of God, the 279 
 
 Dyaks, refusal of, to cat deer 339 
 
 Eagles of Rome. the. over Jerusalem ... 2.36 
 
 IJii?i of Ckatkcvn, artccdotc of 72 
 
 Earnestness 188 
 
 Eastern khans 25 
 
 Elxd and Gerklin 180 
 
 .. the march to... ... ... ... 170 
 
 Eeec Deii.i. quoted 138 
 
 Effect, the, of Joshua's victories ... 363 
 
 Efforts, our. channels for Gotl's purposes .307 
 Eqijpt. necessity of the bondage in ... 289 
 
 Elect babies 144 
 
 Election — God's mercy to the whole race 4 
 
 Electricity, application of 215 
 
 Elijah on C-Arrael 80 
 
 tempted by success 141 
 
 Elohistic documents 204 
 
 Embellished altars 175 
 
 Emergencies 21 
 
 i;/«rr«t>», on •' Great things" 229 
 
 „ individual deserts ... ... 231 
 
 ,, knowing Nature 348 
 
 ., '■ social strengths " 308 
 
 ,, the silence of the woods ...353 
 
 Engineer, anecdote of an... ... ... 137 
 
 Engineers, axiom of 243 
 
 Enjoying life's gains 312 
 
 Emjuiry promoted by God 347 
 
 '* Entering of the gate," at the 291 
 
 Enthusiasm 314 
 
 Ephemcron... ... ... ... ... 324 
 
 2,)>;wr«(Wr.y, on the Cretans 31 
 
 Epitaph for "the second death'' ... 2.32 
 
 Ethics of war-spoil 312 
 
 Evidence, cumulative 30 
 
 ., of love, the true 172 
 
 ,, of Scripture, withhi itself ... 63 
 
 Exceptional thanksgiving 259 
 
 Exclusion of Church members for covet- 
 ousness 38 
 
 •' Exorbitant miracles " 211 
 
 393 
 
GENERAL IMJE-^- 
 
 Experience a painter of portraits 
 
 Exposure of sin 
 
 Extent of the atonement 
 
 Expression of love, a beautiful ... ... 
 
 " Expulsive power of a new affection, 
 
 the 
 
 £■;?•«, noble shame of 
 
 F. 
 
 PAGE 
 . 73 
 .. U9 
 .. 173 
 .. 314 
 
 G. 
 
 311 
 33 
 
 Fabcr, F. W..hj\\\\\ol ... ... 
 
 on knowing God ... 
 '. on sorrow for sin... 
 
 Facts against doctrines 
 
 Faculties, all needed in knowing God . 
 
 Faith, a wife's 
 
 „ and works 
 
 „ David's and Peter"s 
 
 ,, first steps of difficult ... 
 
 in creeds, and not in God 
 .. influence on others 
 
 „ in unseen power 
 
 ,, not empirical 
 
 „ of the Israelites 
 
 „ of the very sinful, the ... 
 the reasonableness of 
 False accusations like tragedy daggers 
 
 Fame 
 
 love of 
 
 Family, only one saved in a ... •• 
 Father, a. bearing burdens for his child 
 Fatherly providence ... ••. 
 Fay, F. It., on the miracle at Gibeon 
 „ quoted 
 
 Fear and love 
 
 as a motive to holiness 
 
 '.' intensified by sin 
 
 „ waits on sin 
 
 „ working faith 
 
 Fearing sin 
 
 unfulfilled promises 
 Feasting in the presence of enemies 
 preparatory to fighting 
 
 i'Wf /(«»/, <luoted 
 
 Fcnrluii. quoted 
 
 his love to (iod... 
 Frriif, on the circumcision at Gilgal 
 
 Fighting for God, a faith 
 
 „ others 
 
 Figures of Hebrew poetry 
 
 Final perseverance 
 
 Fitness for bearing success 
 
 Five kings, the 21X) 
 
 Fleeting visions of God 
 
 Following God 
 
 Food, relation of to moral qualities 
 
 Forgetfulncss, man's, of God 
 
 Forgiveness, character of God s 
 
 41 
 
 PAGK 
 .. 161 
 .. 20 
 
 . 321 
 . 177 
 ,. 29 
 .. 137 
 .. 113 
 22 
 '.'. 51 
 
 .. 8. y 
 
 51. .5.") 
 .. 222 
 .. 212 
 .. 329 
 .. 119 
 54, .-).-) 
 .. 320 
 .. 192 
 ., 44 
 ... 123 
 308 
 332 
 205 
 213. 335 
 84 
 244 
 81 
 195 
 25 
 321 
 239 
 92 
 91 
 17 
 357 
 288 
 87 
 
 Gate of birth, leaving life by the... 
 Gates of Jericho, time of shutting 
 Gazing into the unseen ... ... ... 9y 
 
 Genealogy of personal faith, the ... 38 
 
 Generation, the next, where vulnerable... 75 
 
 Generous designs in work 77 
 
 Gentleness and sternness of Christ, the... 161 
 
 „ estimating the penalty of sin 19 
 
 G'mzm, worship at 173 
 
 Gerlach, quoted 191 
 
 Geshuritfs, the 240 
 
 Gibeonites, the, devoted 182 
 
 ., ,, case of encouraging ... 188 
 
 Gifts of God 12, 15 
 
 „ the unseen ... ... ... 344 
 
 Giltjal, idolatry nt 172, 173 
 
 207. 
 
 , withheld by a father 
 
 Form's, rightly chosen by the heart 
 
 Fossilised truths 
 
 Foster, Jo/m, qwoicd 
 
 Fren ch, saying (^f . . . 
 
 Freedom . bondage of 
 
 Friend, THE, seeming a foe 
 
 Fruitless labour 
 
 Fugitive slave law, the 
 
 394 
 
 95, 
 
 145 
 141 
 178 
 352 
 157 
 348 
 100 
 103 
 250 
 
 the march from to Ai ... ... 158 
 
 ,. renewal of the covenant at ... 84 
 Glory of God : In what does it consist ? 50 
 
 God blessing all men 310 
 
 ,, going with the coirrageous 10 
 
 ,, hiding His love 353 
 
 ,, lofty manner of in work 235 
 
 ., silence of 244 
 
 ,. the source of brotherhood 329 
 
 ,, with us. is salvation... ... ... 39 
 
 ,, works where we cannot ... ... 14 
 
 God's ancient acts, allegories 5 
 
 ., heart the enticement to faith ,.. 14 
 
 knowledge of transgressors ... 132 
 
 „ prophecy and history, both alike 89 
 
 words higher than man's reasonings 111 
 
 Goel, the 294 
 
 Goethe, quoted 288 
 
 Gold, the, stolen by Achan ... 128,129 
 
 Golden Fleece, the 348 
 
 Good name, a ... ... ... ... 202 
 
 Gospel of Kahab, no promise in 29 
 
 „ the, a choice 246 
 
 ,, for no caste 4 
 
 ,, ., in the Old Testament .,, 15 
 
 ,, „ lithographed.,. ... ... 178 
 
 Goyim, the, of Gilgal 228 
 
 Grace, daily need of 1 33 
 
 „ hiding past sins 246 
 
 Graces, best kept by having many ,,, 7 
 
 ,. the, born in purple 10 
 
 Graves in tiie wilderness, the 90 
 
 (graveyards, the testimony of 230 
 
 Great cluud of testifiers, Uic ,.. ... 357 
 
 men, the, i>f a nation ,,. ... 344 
 
 ,, things and small .,. ... ... 229 
 
 Greatest curse of sui,the, for it to remain 
 
 uncursed 127 
 
 Greek language, the, at the time of L'hri.st 178 
 Itoman, and English ideals ... 336 
 
 Grief of I'eter and Judas 138 
 
 6'j'o»'a''^ on our Lord's temptation ... 136 
 „ on the Divine representation of 
 
 holiness ... 356 
 
 ffroAcr, W. 11.; description of the altar 
 
 by Jordan 303 
 
 Growing old gr.acefully 234 
 
 Guilt, ever making for the light 195 
 
 H. 
 
 Habitation of the sun 
 Hailstones, great ... 
 
 209 
 199 
 
GENERAL INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Hailstorm at Bcth-lioron 208 
 
 llall^ Itohcrt, saying of 136 
 
 Hammond; on obedience i507 
 
 Hands, gtretcliing forth of 168 
 
 Hard lessons given to advanced learners liJ 
 
 Hardened hearts 225 
 
 7/tf?v;, on the intellect 193 
 
 "//tfjV7/t" derived from '' 6'/«tf;v'w" ... 115 
 
 Haste, from various motives 72 
 
 Hating, not the sinner, but sin 152 
 
 llareJocli, Sir Henry, prayerfulncss of... 57 
 llavrrnick. quoted ... ... ... 135 
 
 JIawthorju:, Nathatiicl, saying ot ... 239 
 
 Heart, the ; the importance of its verdict 348 
 Heaven impossible \vithout holiness ... 3.").') 
 
 „ inexpensive journey to 118 
 
 „ suffering violence 3.">6 
 
 Heavenly inheritance, the 283 
 
 Heaven's Lord '' like unto a lamb" ... 287 
 
 „ wealth no enticement to thieves 287 
 
 ^<??y/wt, associated with godly names ... 217 
 
 JIedinf/cr. quoted 32."> 
 
 Help of God, calls for man's work ... 21 
 Helping others, our o\\Ti necessity ... 308 
 Henri/ Mtirfi/n, iind Suncun ... ... l88 
 
 Henry, Matthew, quoted 5, 7, 163, 226, 
 
 229, 283, 325, 328, 34(! 
 
 Hereditary creeds 310 
 
 Hero, how to be a 101 
 
 Heroes of the Iluul and JbJne'ul 22 
 
 //^;W«f«.v, on solar traditions 209 
 
 Herbert, Geo rye. quoted 26 
 
 Hervey, T. K.\\mciihy 45 
 
 Hewers of wood, etc 198 
 
 Hiaivat?! a, song of 93 
 
 Hiding much with little 152 
 
 //?r/. the Bethclite 125,126 
 
 High priest, death of the 291 
 
 Hills, God helping IsraeMrom the ... t^6 
 ., valleys, coasts ... ... ... 182 
 
 Hindoo doctrine of trail ■.Migration ... 15 
 
 ., epigram ... 361 
 
 " His blood be upon us;" a common adju- 
 ration 21 
 
 History, a mere epitome 229 
 
 „ canonises only good men ... 11 
 
 „ on the side of faith 162 
 
 „ sarcasm of on creeds 167 
 
 Holier mood.'<, permanent influence of . . . 70 
 
 Holiness, a trouble to the sinful 81 
 
 "Holywrath" 316 
 
 Home, a Christian's first care 75 
 
 „ sweetness of 313 
 
 Homer, quotations from ... 26, 107, 209, 210 
 Honour, the, which God puts upon His 
 
 servants 42 
 
 Honoiu's, and no honour 41 
 
 Hope, an argument for fear 341 
 
 Hornet, the 342, 346 
 
 Horses, hoiighing 219 
 
 Human life ; God's right to recall it ... 120 
 Humility of Paul and Joshua ... 43. 44 
 
 I. 
 
 " I will fear no evil ;'' the watchword of 
 
 those who fear God 99 
 
 Idleness ... 276, 281 
 
 Imagination on the side of faith ... 126 
 Jmitation, unconscious 339 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Immortal faith and love 288 
 
 Immutability, essentially changing ... 134 
 
 Impetus of .success, the 141 
 
 Inalienable rights and deserts 355 
 
 Inconvenient commandments ... ... 38 
 
 Increasing difficulties ... ... ... 220 
 
 Indi.scretion, harmful even to apostles ... 22 
 Individuality. God's recognition of our... 169 
 Inequalities in nature ; beauty and use 
 
 of 16, 17 
 
 „ in birth, providence, and re- 
 ligion ... 16 
 
 Inheritance of the eastern tribes ; how 
 appointed ... ... ... ... 240 
 
 Innocent, the, suffering ... ... ... 326 
 
 Inquisition... 191 
 
 Integrity, necessary to faith 213 
 
 ., v.ilue of ... ... 11, 31 
 
 Intellectualism, mistakes of 109 
 
 Intcrjjrctiug the good deeds of others ... 327 
 
 Ivy, clinging of, in a storm 40 
 
 „ in America ; wanted to beautify 
 
 decay 239 
 
 Jacpfj, diiiith. ol 269 
 
 Juhin l'J8, 223 
 
 ^rt WAS- J., couplet by 301 
 
 Jasher, book of ... ... ... ... 204 
 
 /fly, IF//;., on Divine sufficiency... ... 94 
 
 ., on rendering good and evil... 18 
 " Jehovist documents " ... ... ... 204 
 
 e7^;rt'W(V///'.v portion 246 
 
 Jtvfc/(fl, the Saviour's miracles at ... 127 
 
 „ shut up 105. 106 
 
 „ strange manner of taking ... 27 
 
 Jb«« A, sent again to Nineveh 254 
 
 Jonson. Ben, memory of 66 
 
 ./c(/Y/fl«, overflowing of 34, 50 
 
 „ passage of 34 
 
 ,, place of crossing the ... 44, 54 
 ,. three great events on, opposite 
 
 Jericho 49 
 
 Jo.teph\<< hones ; when buried ... 343, 368 
 
 „ brethren 196 
 
 „ faith 366 
 
 ,, trial 366 
 
 Jbs/tKa, a type of Christ 363 
 
 „ book of ; when written 240. 247. 266 
 
 ,, inheritance of 287 
 
 Joskna's answer to the Ephraimites ... 273 
 ,, great life and character ... 360 
 
 Judah; position of the tribe 263 
 
 /■^f/^M at the table 226 
 
 Judging a watch by a wheel 163 
 
 Judgment of books, our 171 
 
 Judgments, as awful in fulfilment as in 
 
 threatening 71 
 
 Justice, passive in punishment ... 64, 145 
 Juvenal, (luotcd 17 
 
 Kalisch, Dr., quoted 351 
 
 „ on ransoming murderers... 297 
 
 Kchle, quotation from 36 
 
 Kcil, on the miracle at Gideon 208 
 
 ,, quotations from 12, 62, 146, 152, 
 
 252, 266, 300, 346 
 
 Kennedy, Dr.. iiMoiQd , 351 
 
 a9d 
 
GENERAL INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 A77;7<'r. on God's patience 61 
 
 Kir, Dr., quoted 35i 
 
 Kindness, a debt owintj .. 18 
 
 ,. of solemn words 17!) 
 
 K'nigaJoj, Canon, on the power of speech 37 
 A'/Y^o. 2>)-., remarks of ... 107,108.209 
 Knohcl, speculations of ... ... ... 204 
 
 Knowin;.; how to be old 234 
 
 Koran, the, on the price of blood ... 292 
 
 La liocJirfonc/niJd, saying oi ... ... 234 
 
 Labels do not altci' contents ... ... 31 
 
 Lamb and ticjer ; God of the IfiO 
 
 Land and the Uool{, fhr. quoted 1G6, 180, 198 
 Landvr. W. S., on s^uilty fears ... ... 196 
 
 Lanf/e, quoted 122, 132. 142, 163, 186, 203 
 Last reproof, the. not advertised as the 
 
 last ... 346 
 
 Late conversions, a premium on ... GO 
 
 iavflf^T, on words 37 
 
 Law. never sides with the sinner 10, 11 
 
 .. pitiless and inexorable 47 
 
 Laws, choosing which to keep 33o 
 
 Leaders (if men 19, 20 
 
 Leading of God 35 
 
 Learning through loving 66, 67 
 
 Legend of Bp. Ivo 117 
 
 „ M. Curtius 115 
 
 Zp?/(r, waters of 45 
 
 Lcvites, the 241,245,299 
 
 Liars — robbers of trust 194 
 
 Liberty of the Gospel 246 
 
 Lies overruled by God 23, 24 
 
 „ thatching 196 
 
 Lieut. Conder : Joshua's tomb 365 
 
 the altar by Jordan 303, 313 
 
 Life, love of 187 
 
 ,, of man, capable of vast progress... 293 
 ,, „ nothing on earth like it ... 293 
 
 .. underlying dangers of 165 
 
 Life's inilucnce 28,29 
 
 „ mercies best gathered by the pious 311 
 
 ,, monuments, variety of 327 
 
 ., separations, processes in 311 
 
 Light and darkness, Ciod forms both ... 120 
 
 from heaven 26 
 
 of the world, the ... ... ... 173 
 
 Lights, God's various, suited to our dark- 
 ness 6 
 
 Lines by " L. N.." on a baby's grave ... 65 
 Links in salvation ; each useful... 68, 69 
 
 Living unto ourselves, impossible ... 51 
 iuv'/(,c/.v/r»«r, letter of, on slave trade ... 17 
 Lonrifrlloir, on successive disasters ... 93 
 
 Longing for darkness 214 
 
 Lot, the; what it determined 250 
 
 Lots of men, small to God 249 
 
 „ the; wlicn drawn 252 
 
 Love, activity of in punishment ... 145 
 
 ., burning the bridges 354 
 
 „ of God, better than His pi'onuses 85 
 !, ,. read be.st with no light ... 14 
 
 „ persistence of 356 
 
 „ remits no claims 306 
 
 „ takes .sides with faith 162 
 
 „ transcends obedience 33<| 
 
 Loving God for what He is 253 
 
 y9G 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Z«//(^'r, on holiness 36 
 
 ,, his habit of prayer 57 
 
 ., his wife's question on prayer... 354 
 Lyra, remarks of on Jericho, rtc. 32, 33 
 
 II 
 
 Maachathites, the 240 
 
 il/rt (7/ «/<///. quoted... ... ... ... 218 
 
 J/rtr />«/. .7. i?., quoted 362 
 
 Mnchianl. influence of ... ... ... 31 
 
 J/rrr////". children of 233 
 
 J/tirki ntosli, C. JI.. iinoicd 112 
 
 J/c/rZ-rf;r«, on fear and love ... ... 84 
 
 „ on memory of sin 151 
 
 Madam/' dc Stdrl. saym'^ oi 234 
 
 J/«//r)wrf, on Paradise 348 
 
 Making paupers 160 
 
 Malays ; why they eat tigers' flesh ... 339 
 
 Mammon, the snares of 325 
 
 Man, a. writing himself down 3, 9 
 
 Manly piety 255 
 
 Manna, cessation of 92 
 
 ,. God has none for fat lands ... 13 
 
 only a cur.se in Canaan 14 
 
 " Manner of men." the 236 
 
 Man's finish, and God's 174 
 
 „ methods, (lod adopting 160 
 
 prayer and God's silence 140 
 
 JIanton, remarks on the faith of Rahab 
 
 30, 31 
 
 Mariners' compass, the 135 
 
 Masii/.\; ciuoted ... ... ... ... 248 
 
 Mason, quoted 43 
 
 3/a II r i cc, F. D., quoted 316 
 
 il/c/.c J/(V7/r?', on classification 26 
 
 Maj/rr. JJr 32,33,48 
 
 McChcyiic, saj'ing of 51 
 
 ,, his gentleness in preaching 
 
 wrath 19 
 
 Mcditls won in God's battles 163 
 
 Meditation, nature of ... ... ... 12 
 
 Memories, their resemblance to moun- 
 tains 256 
 
 Memory, God cultivating our 66 
 
 ., selections of 29 
 
 Men, all copyists 339 
 
 ., only as strong as where weakest ... 242 
 
 ., why magnified 73 
 
 .. witnessing again.st themselves ... 357 
 Mercies l)ehind our mercies, the ... 344 
 
 Mercy of God in accepting small faith... 27 
 
 ,, supi)oses anger 338 
 
 Metaphysical difficulties solved 338 
 
 Meteor, i)ath of a 361 
 
 Mczzdfanti, Cardinal, memory and learn- 
 ing of ... 57 
 
 J/(V/m«, battle-field of 244 
 
 Mighty works of God. the ... 77.78 
 
 „ their failing inthicncc ... 281 
 
 Milestones on the way to ruin 346 
 
 Milf. Jo/ni iShiarf. saying of ... ... 75 
 
 Milman. Dian, anecdote by ... ... 117 
 
 Mi ffiadi:i, giory of ... 18 
 
 ..V(7^<'«, blindness of ... loo 
 
 „ on love of life 187 
 
 ,. on .■serving by waiting 112 
 
 on the awe of goodness 81 
 
 Milton's Hatan ; sujjposed heroism of ... 9 
 Ministers, support of 2H 
 
GENERAL INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Miracle at Beth-horon, the 20:^> 
 
 „ of the passage of the Jordan ... (i.j 
 Miracles of the wilderness ; a sceptical 
 
 Israelite reviewiu'j; ... 4<), 47 
 
 „ seeds of great truths ... ... 77 
 
 ,, touch only what men cannot... 14 
 „ which most miraculous ? ... 211 
 
 Mistakes of love 313,318 
 
 ... lu(j 
 
 174 
 
 81 
 
 oG 
 
 212 
 
 11 
 
 4 
 
 3t;i 
 
 3 
 240 
 123 
 181 
 
 Modern monuments 
 
 " Modern Paintings," ciuotation from ... 
 
 Monta'itjnc, on fear 
 
 Monuments of London ... 
 
 Moon-f/(>(I(h:s)t, the, degraded ... 210, 
 
 Moral life, a light 
 
 Mo-ws and Joshua, work of compared ... 
 
 ,, character of darkened 
 
 „ the •' minister " of ... 
 
 .. " the servant of Jehovah " 
 
 Mother, love of a 
 
 Mountain vegetation 
 
 Movement of God's people, the sign for 
 
 the 3.-) 
 
 Music of the Sirens 348 
 
 N. 
 
 Naboth, unlike Joshua 2S7 
 
 Name of Christ, used as a mask ... 215 
 
 ,. God; how a tower 35;") 
 
 „ the 141 
 
 Napier, Sir IF., anecdote of 8."j 
 
 JVajHilcoii, saying of 13(! 
 
 J/ J., his fatalism 22 
 
 Nathanacl, the coming of to Christ ... 82 
 
 Xathanlcl Jfaivthoruc, fancy of, on peace 30!i 
 
 National anthem, the Christian ... 21tj 
 
 „ integrity, influenced by leading 
 
 men ... ... ... ... 31 
 
 ,, leaders 344 
 
 Nations before their rulers ... ... 287 
 
 „ faith of in representative trans- 
 gression _ ... 131 
 
 '• Natural selection " ... ... ... 38 
 
 Nature, our ignorance of 348 
 
 Nearness to God ... ... ... ... 321 
 
 „ death, lines on 105 
 
 ^' NvhusJitan" 
 
 iAW«;rt refusing to see a signal (J 
 
 signal of ... ... ... ... 244 
 
 iVcwr.s'/.s'. the true ... ... ... ... 231 
 
 ^' I\^ej)fir.ih" and '' ritach" 2i)() 
 
 Kcro, youth of ... ... ... ... 33.5 
 
 New afflictions ... ... ... ... 40 
 
 „ and old mercies ... ... ... 77 
 
 „ covenant, all men born under the 144 
 
 „ duties 40 
 
 „ experiences 39 
 
 ,, perplexities ... 3'J 
 
 „ privileges ... ... ... ... 40 
 
 „ temptations 40 
 
 „ Zealandcrs, infants of the ... 33!) 
 
 .A>«'Wi(?w, J. II.. on punishment ... 1.57 
 
 Ninevitcs. the ; case of ... ... ... 188 
 
 " No hands to flee " ... ... ... ].")!l 
 
 Number " seven," the lo7. 108 
 
 Oak of sanctuary, the 
 Oaths 
 
 0. 
 
 343 
 
 196 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Obedience a duty 307 
 
 ,, an opportunity for triumph 
 
 over self ... ... ••• ^^07 
 
 and love ... ... ••• 336 
 
 benefits of 307 
 
 ,, God's liberal view of our ... 307 
 
 „ in all things 307 
 
 „ of Christ a joy to Him ... 12 
 
 ,, the way to honour' 73 
 
 „ spirit of ... 19 
 
 Obedient, prowess of the 218 
 
 Obligation arising from a good past ... 306 
 
 .. liberty 310 
 
 Ocean, the, has no signs of decay ... 237 
 
 Offerings of unbel levers, not to be refused 241 
 
 Old age. thi-ec stages of 236 
 
 ., and new methods of robbery ... 92 
 
 Omnipotence, faith in 137 
 
 Omniscience detecting sin 148 
 
 '• On this side Jordan " ... ... ... 182 
 
 One man chasing a thousand 334 
 
 Onesidedness of history 156 
 
 Oracular utterances ... ... 39, 40 
 
 Ordinances of God's house, the 328 
 
 Organization 19. 20 
 
 " Origin of Civilization," The. quoted ... 339 
 
 Ormuzd and Ahriman ... 120 
 
 Ornate forms of worship ... ... 175 
 
 Oxifuidrr, quoted ... ... ... 351 
 
 6^/'//«/V'r.s' conquest of Debir 265 
 
 Our deeds prayers 180 
 
 Outlaw or citizen 335 
 
 Occrhcclt, picture of ... 76 
 
 t> /(•<;■«, saying of 196 
 
 r. 
 
 JPaciii'aw, devotion of to Augustus ... 115 
 Pageantry, all fading ... ... ... 301 
 
 Pain, capacity for 138 
 
 Papalism, limits to toleration of ... 23 
 
 Paradise, how made and kept ... ... 348 
 
 I'arcnts, to tell God's deeds ... ... 67 
 
 Par.wnii, Jamca. quoted ... ... ... 351 
 
 Passover, Christ our 94 
 
 God's 2!t7 
 
 the third 78 
 
 „ why not kept in the wilder- 
 ness 84, 85 
 
 Patience in service ... ... ... 112 
 
 ,, not insensibility ... ... 318 
 
 „ of God in His care of the 
 
 weak 63, 64 
 
 ,, of God's works ... 77, 78 
 
 Patterns of Divine forgiveness 94 
 
 Patriotism and piety 23 
 
 Peace l)orn of war ... ... ... 848 
 
 ,, in the presence of enemies ... 92 
 
 ., only in ChrLst 279 
 
 Pedantrj' in reading motives ... ... 323 
 
 Penalties of sin, not always put away 
 when men repent ... ... ... 89 
 
 Pentecost, those hardened by 41 
 
 Perception of things spiritual ... ... 83 
 
 Perishing, and not alone ... ... 326 
 
 Permanence of fleeting visions ... 96, 97 
 
 Pf^er, a question from his exjierience ... 186 
 
 ,, at the .sea of Tiberias ... 76, 254 
 
 „ his denial foretold 102 
 
 397 
 
GENERAL INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 i'ei'er, his growth in joy 25 
 
 ,. tempted where weak 242 
 
 J'/zwyv/fl/c hardening his heart 164 
 
 Phases of faith 24,27 
 
 Philip of Macrdon 3i>, 242 
 
 Philistines, the ; Who were they ? ... 2.S2 
 
 P//i«67/(7j(, tlie address of 317 
 
 Physical decay of good men 237 
 
 ., law working cood for the 
 
 righteous 7.. ... 10, 11 
 
 " Pious founder," the ; hindering good 
 
 men in the present 1.1 
 
 Plans of God 3. 4 
 
 Pleading jiromises never given ... ... 13 
 
 Pleasure by giving pleasure .308 
 
 Pleasures of hope and memory, the ... 256 
 
 PZ/«_y, saying of 192 
 
 Poetry as a help to praise 213 
 
 Pontifical crime, etc 23 
 
 Poor stars, the, of " the undevout astro- 
 nomer" 311 
 
 Po2)c Alc.ran<In\(\\ioi&d ... 37 
 
 „ Jr>///i A'AT.. death of 117 
 
 Popery promoting war and massacre ... 23 
 
 Possessing by giving 308,312 
 
 „ by losing ..289 
 
 Poverty and happiness 275 
 
 ,, of the bankrupt rich 306 
 
 Power blessing weakness ... ... 76 
 
 ,, found by doing 53, 54: 
 
 „ of choosing evil, the ... ... 351 
 
 „ of truth, the ; lines on 275 
 
 Praise, a theme needing the harmony of 
 
 labour 34 
 
 Praise, harmony in 322 
 
 ,, to God 105 
 
 Prayer cultivated by necessity 354 
 
 ,, not answeratl by machinery ... 160 
 
 Preaching a Ijont the Gospel Ill 
 
 Precedence 180 
 
 „ of high priest in things sacred 247 
 
 Prejudice ... 328 
 
 Presence, the Divine, irrespective of 
 temperament ... ... ... ... 7 
 
 Presence of God, how known 48 
 
 Pntiident Edwards, solemn sermon of 179 
 
 Pride 116, 117 
 
 Priestly interpretation of John xx, 23 ... 88 
 Priests' cities, the, near Jerusalem ... 299 
 
 ,, „ ,, number of 300 
 
 Prince de Conde, anecdote of 10 
 
 Prince, THE, of the Lord's host ... 95 
 
 Principles of the 0. T.. not abolished ... 148 
 
 /•/wifw, -^1. ^1.. lines by (i4 
 
 Profexsor M'ilkins, remark of 184 
 
 Promise to Moses, fulfilled to Joshua ... ]8 
 
 Promises, the — a boat to he rowed ... 22 
 
 „ good for all kinds of days ... 7 
 
 „ have no geographical limits 312 
 
 „ not arm-chairs 21 
 
 „ .sufficiency of 7 
 
 Projihecies of the lots of the tribes ... 248 
 Providence, extraordinary calls of ... 243 
 
 Prudence of Christ, the 22,23 
 
 ,, unbelief in by zealots 22 
 
 Public conscience, the 31,32 
 
 /V/.s/fj/'t/, on fearing death 61 
 
 „ on time and eternity 57 
 
 Punishment in the light of history ... 90 
 808 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Punishment, justice passive in, mercy 
 
 active 64 
 
 „ the recoil of crime ... 157,231 
 
 Q. 
 
 Qualifications for leading men 7.S 
 
 Questions, God provoking our 65 
 
 R. 
 
 Ikuhal, character of 24, 26 
 
 ., faith of 21. 23, 29—31 
 
 „ lie of 23,24,26 
 
 Ilaillery, exclusion from the church for 38 
 Pansoming murderers ... ... ... 292 
 
 Pical promises, and empty threatenings 341 
 
 „ rewards n(jt external 287 
 
 Realism of Christ, the 236 
 
 Rebellion, found in every wilful sin ... 89 
 
 Reduced miracles 211 
 
 Reflection, want of 29,30 
 
 Refuge, cities of, how situated 298 
 
 ,, only in God 295 
 
 Reign of Christ, the ultimate 236 
 
 Religion dying of equal mercies... 16, 17 
 
 „ our support in conflicts 104, 106 
 
 Religious meetings, excess of ... ... 75 
 
 ., persecution 349 
 
 Rimhrandt. picture of ... 76 
 
 Remission of sins by the apo.stles ... 88 
 
 Representative service, <■!"('. ... 68, 69 
 
 Reproach of Egypt, the 78 
 
 „ our, rolled away at Calvary ... 90 
 
 Reputation... 318 
 
 Research promoted by God . . . 65, 66 
 
 Rest begins and ends in God ... ... 307 
 
 ,, not freedom from Avork 251 
 
 ., only through Christ 357 
 
 Retaliation, law of 297 
 
 Retrospect <if the gcxUy and godless . . . 302 
 Revelation, given to provoke to ser- 
 vice ..r 110, 111 
 
 Rewards, serving for 253 
 
 Rivers finding the sea ... ... ... 224 
 
 Jlohcison, F.W.,<\\iQi&d. 112, 115, 138, 
 
 149. 219, 324 
 Roman Catholics, how far to be tolerated 23 
 ,. Greek, and English ideals ... 336 
 
 Romanism ; its mixture of jiolitics with 
 
 religion ... ... ... 23 
 
 ,. an i»ij)ei'iit>n in huperio ... 23 
 
 Routine charity 160 
 
 Potvliind J/iU. on earnestness 188 
 
 i/w-vX'/w. on '• finish"' ... ... ... 174 
 
 Jiui/ic/ford, rcnuirk ui 247 
 
 S. 
 
 S.ab]).ath day, the 
 
 Salvation '• appointed for bulwarks " 
 Sanctification 
 
 Satisfying the heart 
 
 (Si/ ?/r.« poor sense of sin 
 
 Saiirin, M., quoted 
 
 Scarlet thread, the 
 
 Sceptical Israelite, a 
 
 <S^r<'ra. the seven sons of 
 
 Schmidt. S.. on Ach.an's sin 
 Scientists, obscuring words of the 
 Scripture, a protection from the fires 
 
 104 
 
 355 
 123 
 ... 340 
 ... 149 
 ... 358 
 20. 21, 33 
 ... 47 
 ... 169 
 ... 147 
 79, SO 
 
 of 
 
 II 
 
GENEBAL INDEX, 
 
 Scripture precepts cover our whole life 72 
 ,, prophecies as good as history 301 
 „ warnin;j;s, an index to human 
 
 weaknesses 8 
 
 Scriptures, the. demand obedience from 
 
 dignitaries ... ... ... 12 
 
 „ transcendent blessedness of 47, 48 
 
 Sechir, ArchhinJiop, sixy'mg oi ... 110, 150 
 
 Seeds of temptation 242 
 
 Seeing: music, mathematics. God ... 83 
 Self-producing power of piety, the 32. 33 
 Sensuous teaching, reactionary ... ... 53 
 
 Separation by sin 129 
 
 Servant of the Lord, the li»7 
 
 Servants, three sorts of 11(> 
 
 Servants of God ; their choice and 
 
 training 
 
 Serving for rewards 
 
 ,, others, a perpetual work 
 
 Shakcsjiean; on crowns 
 
 „ death 
 
 „ experience 
 
 „ facial disguise 
 
 „ honour 
 
 „ men's acts 
 
 ,, men's lots in life 
 
 „ reputation 
 
 SJieUe I/, quoted 
 
 »S/((Yfiw, march from 
 
 Siege of Gaza 
 
 Sight injuring faith 
 
 Silence, Campbell on 
 
 „ Faber on ... 
 
 ,, in the spiritual world 
 
 ., of God, meaning of ... 122. 
 
 '„ of men ... ...108,109,112,113 
 
 „ of the woods, the 3o3 
 
 „ power of in the life of Christ 
 
 „ T. T. Lynch on 
 
 Sinmon of CumhrUhic 
 
 Simon M(i(jug 
 
 Sin a wrong and a loss ... 
 
 „ hatred of 
 
 ,, hiding behind holiness 
 
 lies on both sides of the way of truth 
 
 PAGE 
 
 ,. 297 
 
 .. 351 
 
 .. 78 
 
 .. 3.>5 
 
 .. 124 
 
 .. 12 
 
 5 
 
 117 
 
 :!07 
 
 275 
 
 46 
 
 73 
 
 190 
 
 41 
 
 316 
 
 250 
 
 318 
 
 310 
 
 3 
 
 220 
 
 223 
 
 113 
 
 113 
 
 244 
 
 140 
 
 14 
 
 Stephens, on the " lex falwnig" 
 
 .SYt'/'Z/*///, on choosing evil 
 
 Stone knives 
 
 Stoiir/Jiton, JDf., quoted 
 
 St mho, allusion of to accursed cities ... 
 
 Strength, encouragements to 
 
 Strong traits of character hiding our 
 
 weak 242 
 
 Success, anecdote of 114 
 
 „ want of 103 
 
 Successive sorrows ... ... ... 93 
 
 SufEering servants oi Clirist, the ... 305 
 
 Sufficiency of Divine help, the 33G 
 
 Sun and moon, " standing still " of the 203 
 
 ,, the, shining on all men 310 
 
 Sun of Highteousness, the; the 
 
 wicked ever opposite 6 
 
 ,SV///-/70^Z. f//*'. degraded 210,212 
 
 Supernatural things working conviction 82, 83 
 
 Superstition and materialism 43 
 
 Superstitions about sacred things ... 6 
 
 Surveyors, danger of the 283 
 
 „ work of the 276 
 
 " Survival of the fittest " commandments 38 
 
 Sword, the ; by whom wielded 347 
 
 Sword-made heavens 848 
 
 Slander 
 
 Slothfulness 
 
 Social contracts with the ungodly 
 
 '■ Social strengths " 
 
 Soe?'tites 
 
 Soldier, Christian, the code of the 
 
 Soldier-Christians 
 
 Soldiers of God tried by defeat ... 
 Song of faith, the, a fugue 
 „ from sufferers 
 
 Sorrowing for sin 
 
 Spectral fiends, and real angels ... 
 Spencer. Dr., anecdote of 
 Spirit, the, God's rule over 
 Spiritual isolation 
 
 ,, life and property 
 
 „ scenery 
 
 „ thing.s .seen by spiritual men 
 
 " Spiritualising '" texts 
 
 Spring does not get depressed . . . 
 
 Spimjeon, C. i/!, quoted luij, 257 
 
 Stalks of flax ', 20 
 
 Standford, C, quoted 327 
 
 Sfanfr;/. J>i-i/i. (inotcd lOS. 21^!. 22>!.2(",I. 279 
 
 112 
 
 113 
 
 188 
 
 1G9 
 
 149 
 
 321 
 
 216 
 
 12 
 
 518, 324 
 
 281 
 
 335 
 
 308 
 
 11 
 
 12 
 
 98 
 
 8 
 
 216 
 
 , 15 
 
 .. 321 
 
 .. 341 
 
 .. 338 
 
 .. 346 
 
 .. 339 
 
 .. .306 
 
 .. 181 
 
 .. 83 
 
 32, 33 
 
 . . 69 
 
 T 
 Ttiylor. Dr. 11'.. quoted ... 48. 94, 114. 
 
 Teaching, God's 52,53 
 
 ,. wise, begins by winning the 
 
 heart 
 
 Teachings of history 
 
 „ nat?i;re 
 
 „ providence 
 
 „ the conscience 
 
 ,, the Scriptures 
 Temptation, ascending scale in 
 
 ., conditions for the success of 
 
 Tempting others 
 
 Ten commandments, the .. . 
 
 Tenni/son. quoted ... 100, 250, 364, 
 
 Teraphim ... 
 
 Terebinth of Mamre, the 
 
 Themes, choice of ... 
 
 Ulicnustocles, anecdote oi 
 
 „ memory of... 
 
 Theocracy and uniformity 
 
 Theology lundering the anxious 
 
 T//r/'Mf7^///rr, fighting at ... 
 Thieves robbing themselves 
 Things subordinate to life 
 
 Thinking ; men lost for want of 
 
 on God : begins in many ways 
 Thoniatt. Dr., on " The True Campaign " 
 Threats of God never mere threats 
 •• Thrones of judgment" set near the ark 
 Tides of time, the. obliterating work ... 
 
 Time on the side of truth 
 
 .. ruthless procession of 
 
 Timorous priests making timorous people 
 
 Tithes, abolition of 
 
 Token, the, in llah.ab's covenant 
 
 Tongue, moving the 
 
 Topics for teachers 
 
 Tragedy daggers ... 
 
 Trans- Jordanic tribes, the 
 
 Trench, on conscience 
 
 ,, remark of, on Christ's teaching 
 399 
 
 281 
 
 , 87 
 
 66 
 
 28 
 
 28 
 
 28 
 
 28 
 
 28 
 
 136 
 
 242 
 
 326 
 
 280 
 
 367 
 
 342 
 
 217 
 
 178 
 
 18 
 
 66 
 
 245 
 
 26 
 
 14 
 
 118 
 
 30 
 
 100 
 
 71 
 278 
 257 
 327 
 237 
 
 51 
 245 
 
 20 
 199 
 
 74 
 320 
 245 
 
 81 
 6 
 
GENERAL INDEX. 
 
 TnncJi, versciihy 
 
 Tribes before individuals 
 
 Tribulation not aTbitrary 
 
 '• Tribute " revealing secrets 
 
 Triumphs turned into trust 
 
 Troi)ical calm, a 
 
 Trumpets of men all to l)e sounded round 
 
 God's ark 
 Trust deeds — the dictation of dead men 
 
 to living ... 
 Truth only seen in sections 
 Twilight in the East 
 
 PAGK 
 . 58 
 . 287 
 . 13!) 
 . 273 
 . 216 
 . IGO 
 
 104 
 
 ir, 
 
 1G4 
 
 20 
 
 Two sj>ies, the, mission of ... 20, 2 1 
 Types, use of 4.> 
 
 U 
 
 Unbelief does not exonerate from reli- 
 gious duties 2-il 
 
 Unchanging priesthood, the ... ... 3()8 
 
 Unctuous terms and tones 172 
 
 Undismaj'ed pilgrims, the 45 
 
 Unequal possessions ... ... 15 — 18 
 
 Unexercised faculties ... ... ... 310 
 
 Ungodly, the, flourishing 257 
 
 Unheeded reproofs ... ... ... 340 
 
 Unhewn stones 174, 175 
 
 Unimproved feelings ... ... ... 30 
 
 Unity of corporate bodies ... ... 130 
 
 Unreality of undesirable things, affected 341 
 
 Unused confidence 35 
 
 evidence of life, the ... ... 30 
 
 Urim and Thummin,i\x(i... ... ... 193 
 
 Urns for the lots 248 
 
 Using memorials 359 
 
 ., our faith 71 
 
 Vatican decrees 2 
 
 Tcwicr built on piles ... 258 
 
 Yesuv'tiis ... ... ... ... ... 244 
 
 Vicarious li v ing 309 
 
 Victories, God's, won silently 110 
 
 Victors looking back on temptations ... 25(5 
 
 Victory in relation to defeat ... 109, 110 
 
 „ over self 230 
 
 Visible gifts, how brought 344 
 
 „ signs, their departure because of 
 
 increased light... 13 
 
 Vision, the, plain uj)on the tables ... 177 
 
 Visions of God given only in man's nights 13 
 Vocal remission of sin, the. which was 
 
 previous to written remission... 88, 89 
 
 Voliuij, remarks of, on Eastern inns ... 25 
 
 Vows 18 
 
 Vox 2>oj)uliA]iQ 167 
 
 W 
 
 Waiting, spiritual stamina by 74 
 
 Wakened by a .-andle 83,84 
 
 War exchanged for peace 309 
 
 ,, of God with Israel rather than with 
 
 Canaan 109 
 
 114 
 
 War, a judicial spirit in ... 
 
 War-chariots 
 
 Warnings. Divine 
 
 Warriors of the eastern tribes, the 
 
 Wat.son, on obedience 
 
 M'attx, Dr.. lines of 
 
 Way of God, the, has no turning 
 
 ., incessant development 
 
 of 
 
 Way, our, committing it unto the Lord. . . 
 
 Weakness, God pitying our 
 
 „ tendency of to reject Christ 
 
 17 
 the, of strength ... 138, 
 
 Wealth controlled by the dead 
 
 ., for eternity 
 
 Weapons of the scorner. change in 
 WcHnj, John, at Lowestoft 
 
 What a man may get used to 
 
 Where the Lord is met ... 
 
 ir/i//wj>/v; views of the Alps 
 
 Wicked heart, a, like Vesuvius ... 
 the. live on .sufferance ... 
 Wildernesses fruitful in growing faith... 
 
 Will, freedom of the 
 
 Winter as successful as spring 
 
 Witchcraft, accusation of 
 
 Witnesses to God's works 
 Words, dignity and power of 
 
 ,, of the Lord, boldness of ... 
 Wordsn-orth, on the right of might 
 Work, as the, so the chosen servant 
 Works of God a joy or a terror ... 
 „ „ differently regarded 
 
 Worship, public 
 
 Wrath, Divine slowness to 
 ,, preached by mercy 
 ,. of God has a history 
 Writing of the law at Ebal, the... 
 ., upon stones 
 
 PAGH 
 .. .^20 
 219 
 119 
 
 307 
 110 
 
 282 
 
 39 
 39 
 
 235 
 
 18 
 139 
 ... 15 
 ... 238 
 ... 92 
 ... 238 
 ... 340 
 ... lOO 
 ... 96 
 ... 244 
 ,.. 165 
 .. 14 
 ,.. 357 
 .. 4 
 .. 3? 
 62. 6.S 
 37, 38 
 .. 301 
 .. 260 
 
 ... 50 
 
 ... 29 
 
 ... 328 
 
 ... 106 
 
 ... 341 
 
 ... 217 
 
 ... 177 
 
 159, 180 
 
 X 
 
 Xaricr, Francu, hymn of 
 
 253 
 
 17*?/«//, on conscience 81 
 
 „ on the jjlcasurc of giving pleasure 308 
 
 ., on the sight of a human heart ... 190 
 
 ,, on the worth of time ... ... 238 
 
 ,, on thinking of death ... ... 234 
 
 Young, the, God's provision for teaching 59 
 
 „ „ God's teaching of, a warning 59 
 ,, ,, mistakes in teaching 59. 60 
 
 Z 
 
 Zeal, ignorant 315 
 
 ,, mistakes of 318 
 
 „ no proof of love 166, 167 
 
 „ not very clear-sighted 316 
 
 ,, should go with prudence 22 
 
 „ spasmodic character of 333 
 
 Zemarites, the 277 
 
 400 
 
TOPOGRAPHICAL INDEX. 
 
 Abdon 
 
 Accho ... 
 
 Achor, valley of 
 
 Achshaph 
 
 Achzib [es-Zib) 
 
 Adam, city of 
 
 Adamah 
 
 Adami-nekeb 
 
 AduUam ... 
 
 Adummim 
 
 Afka 
 
 Ai 128, 
 
 Ain, or Ashan 
 
 Ain Hadjla 
 
 Ain Jldy 
 
 Ain Kana ... 
 
 Ain SJiems 
 
 Aiji Sultan 
 
 Ain Umm ed-Daraj 
 
 Ajalon (^Yalo) 
 
 Aklia 
 
 Akko 
 
 Akrabbim, " the ascent of " 
 Alammelech 
 
 Allon 
 
 Almon, or Alemeth 
 Almit 
 
 Amam 
 
 Anab 
 
 Anathoth (^»ate) 
 
 Anti-Lebanon 
 
 Antipatris ... 
 
 Aphek 
 
 Aphekah 
 
 Arab 
 
 Arabah, the 
 
 Arad 
 
 Ardk el-Mens?iiyeh 
 Archi 
 
 Arnon, the river 
 
 Aroer 
 
 Ascent to Gur, the 
 Ashdod, Azotus {As/uhid) 
 
 Ashdoth-pisgah 
 
 Asher 
 
 Asher, in Manasseh 
 
 Askelon 
 
 Ashtaroth ... 
 
 Ashteroth-Kamaim 
 
 Ataroth 
 
 Atti7' 
 
 Avim 
 
 Azzah 
 
 PAGE 
 
 ... 285, 299 
 
 285 
 
 ... 129, 262 
 
 219 
 
 ... 263, 286 
 
 34 
 
 286 
 
 286 
 
 228 
 
 262 
 
 286 
 
 158. l."<9, 166, 171 
 
 298 
 
 261 
 
 263 
 
 286 
 
 262 
 
 267 
 
 262 
 
 ... 286,299 
 
 285 
 
 219 
 
 220 
 
 285 
 
 286 
 
 299 
 
 299 
 
 262 
 
 ... 220,263 
 
 299 
 
 227 
 
 228 
 
 ... 228,286 
 ... 228,263 
 
 263 
 
 ... 227,262 
 
 228 
 
 199 
 
 267 
 
 227 
 
 ... 227,233 
 
 268 
 
 220 
 
 ... 227, 233 
 ... 268,285 
 
 286 
 
 232 
 
 228, 299 
 
 228 
 
 267 
 
 263 
 
 277 
 
 232 
 
 Azekah 
 Azmon 
 Aznoth-tabor 
 
 B 
 
 Baalah 
 
 Baalath 
 
 Baalath-beer 
 
 Baal-gad 
 Baal-meon ... 
 Bahr-el-IIuleh 
 
 Bamoth-baal 
 
 Banias 
 
 Btialoth 
 
 Beeroth 
 
 Beersheba (iyjr rs-&5a) ... 
 
 Beesh-terah 
 
 Bene-berak 
 
 Benjamin 
 
 Bessitm 
 
 Beten (Bebeten) ... 
 Beth-arabah 
 Beth-aram ... 
 
 Beth-aven 
 
 Beth' dagon 
 
 Beth-cl 
 
 Bethel and Luz 
 
 Beth-hogla 
 
 Beth-horon 
 
 Beth-jeshimoth 
 Beth-lehem. (Bcit-l{i7i7>i) ... 
 Beth-marcafeoth 
 
 Beth-nimrah 
 
 Beth-peor 
 
 Beth-shan [BiiJ^an) 
 Beth-shemesh 
 Beth-tappuah 
 Beth-ul, or Bethuel 
 
 Beth-zar 
 
 Betonim 
 
 Bezer, or Bosor 
 
 Bileam 
 
 Bizjothjah ... 
 
 " Black River," the 
 
 Brook Jabbok, the 
 
 C 
 
 Qnh\A[Kahul) 
 
 Cicsarca Philippi {Banms) 
 Carmel (Kiirmvl) ... 
 Castle of Shul)eibeh 
 
 Cave of Machpclah 
 
 Chephar-haammonai 
 Chephirah ... 
 Chesalon 
 
 PAOE 
 .. 199 
 .. 261 
 
 .. 286 
 
 ... 262, 263 
 
 286 
 
 284 
 
 ... 220, 228 
 
 233 
 
 219 
 
 233 
 
 220 
 
 ... 262.284 
 
 182 
 
 262 
 
 299 
 
 286 
 
 277 
 
 285 
 
 285 
 
 ... 261, 263 
 
 233 
 
 128 
 
 285 
 
 128 
 
 267 
 
 261 
 
 ... 200, 267 
 
 227 
 
 285 
 
 284 
 
 233 
 
 233 
 
 267 
 
 262, 285. 286 
 
 228 
 
 284 
 
 263 
 
 2.33 
 
 286 
 
 299 
 
 262 
 
 232 
 
 227 
 
 D D 
 
 401 
 
 ... 285 
 ... 220 
 ... 263 
 ... 286 
 
 198, 218 
 ... 277 
 
 182, 277 
 262 
 
ToroGiiA rniCA l index. 
 
 Chcsil 
 
 Chcsulloth 
 
 Chezib 
 
 Chinnereth 
 
 Chisloth 
 
 Chisloth-tabor 
 
 Cities, the, " in the mountains " 
 „ „ " in the wilderness " 
 „ „ of the Levites 
 „ „ " with their suburbs 
 
 City of Salt, the 
 
 D 
 
 Dabbcshcth 
 
 Daberath, or Dabareh 
 
 Dan, lot of 
 
 Dead Sea 
 
 Dcbir, or Kirjath-sepher ... 
 
 Debir 
 
 Dehnrieli ... 
 
 Dibon 
 
 Dimonah ... 
 T>ox {Tantura') 
 Dumah 
 
 E. 
 
 Ebal and Gerizim 
 
 p]drei 
 
 Eglon (Ajlaii) 
 
 Egypt, brook of 
 
 Ekron (AJur) 
 
 El-Arhh 
 
 El-Afulch 
 
 Eleuthcropolis 
 
 El-yhahad 
 
 M-Milh 
 
 El-Mughar 
 
 Elon 
 
 Eltekeh 
 
 El-Yehndhjch 
 
 Emek-Kcziz 
 
 En-dor 
 
 En-gannim 
 
 En-gedi 
 En-rogel 
 
 En-shemesh 
 
 Er-Kam 
 
 Esdraelon, plain of 
 Eshkalou ... 
 
 Eshtaol 
 
 Eshtcmoa ... 
 
 Es-Zih 
 
 Gaba, or Geba 
 Gamala 
 
 Gath 
 
 Gath-hophnr 
 Gath-rimmon 
 Gaza 
 Gaulanitis ... 
 
 Gebal 
 
 Gedcr 
 
 Gcderah 
 Gcdonjthaim 
 Gcnnosarcth, Lake of 
 Gerizim 
 
 Geshuri 
 
 Gezer, or Gazer ... 
 
 Gibbcthon 
 
 402 
 
 G. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 284 
 
 285 
 
 263 
 
 219, 233, 286 
 
 285 
 
 .. 284, 285 
 263 
 
 ... 263 
 300 
 
 ... 2-17 
 203 
 
 284 
 
 .. 285, 299 
 
 286 
 
 261 
 
 199 
 
 .. 233, 262 
 
 285 
 
 233 
 
 262 
 
 268 
 
 263 
 
 172, 176, 180 
 
 228 
 
 ... 198, 263 
 
 232 
 
 232, 262, 203 
 
 232 
 
 285 
 
 199 
 
 285 
 
 262 
 
 199 
 
 286 
 
 286 
 
 286 
 
 277 
 
 268 
 
 285 
 
 263 
 
 262 
 
 262 
 
 277 
 
 228 
 
 232 
 
 ... 203, 286 
 
 220 
 
 286 
 
 277 
 
 , 284 
 
 ... 220, 232 
 ... 228, 285 
 ... 286, 299 
 ,.. 220,2.32 
 
 291 
 
 232 
 
 228 
 
 ... 228, 203 
 
 203 
 
 219 
 
 172, 176, 180 
 
 232 
 
 199 
 
 286 
 
 Gibeath ... 
 
 Gibeath- Phinehas 
 
 Gibeon 
 
 Gilead 
 
 Gilgal 
 
 PAGE 
 
 277 
 
 343 
 
 .. 182, 197, 200, 277 
 227 
 
 ' before the going up to Adummim' ' 263 
 
 „ "nations of" 228 
 
 „ near Jericho 55,78 
 
 „ near Shechem ... 170,172,199 
 
 Golsxi {Jauldn) ... 291 
 
 Goshen, in Palestine 199 
 
 H. 
 
 Halak, Mount 220 
 
 "Half Gilead" 227 
 
 Hallml 263 
 
 Hamath, "the entering into" ... 233, 285 
 
 Hammath ... ... ... 286 
 
 Hammon 286 
 
 Hammoth-dor 286 
 
 Hannathon 285 
 
 Haphraim 228, 285 
 
 Havoth-Jair 2.33 
 
 Hazar-Shual 262 
 
 Hazar-Susah 284 
 
 Hazazon-Tamar 263 
 
 Hazor 219.286 
 
 Hazor-Hadattah 262 
 
 Hebron ... 198, 199, 217, 247, 248, 285, 291 
 ,, approach to from Engedi ... 261 
 
 Heleph 286 
 
 Helkath 285 
 
 Hepher 228 
 
 Heshbon 227 
 
 Hczron 201 
 
 HiU of Phinehas, the 343 
 
 " Hills, valleys, coasts " 182,199 
 
 Hinnom, valley of ... •-. ... 202 
 
 Holon, or Hilen 298 
 
 Hormah 228 
 
 Hukkok 286 
 
 Ibleam 268 
 
 Ibn Airak 286 
 
 Idalah 285 
 
 lim 263 
 
 Ir-Shemesh 286 
 
 Issachar, lot of 285 
 
 Jabncel, or Jabneh 
 
 Jahaza 
 
 Jair... 
 
 Japhia (y^((/rt) 
 
 Japho, or Joppa .. 
 
 Jarmuth 
 
 Jattir 
 
 Jouldii 
 
 Jazer 
 
 Joba 
 
 Jchcl Ihthy... 
 Jcht'l exh- Sheikh .. 
 Jchel lleisch 
 Jehud 
 
 Jckabzecl 
 
 Jcnln 
 Jothlah 
 Jericho 
 Jerusalem ... 
 
 ... 201,265 
 
 232 
 
 236 
 
 283 
 
 283 
 
 198, 263, 299 
 
 263 
 
 291 
 
 233 
 
 ... 277 
 
 285 
 
 219 
 
 219 
 
 286 
 
 262 
 
 285 
 
 ... 286 
 78. 101, 114 
 
 ... 193 
 
TOPOGIIAPIIICAL INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Jezreel (in Judah) 263 
 
 „ {Zerin) 285 
 
 Jiblcam 299 
 
 Jifna ... ... ... 286 
 
 Jiphthah-el 285 
 
 Jokmeam 228, 284, 299 
 
 Jordan, " and the border thereof " 233, 303 
 
 „ "on this side" 182 
 
 „ overflowing of the ... 34, 50, 55 
 
 „ plain of ... ... 263 
 
 Jotapata {Jefaf) ... ... ... ... 285 
 
 Judah upon Jordan 286 
 
 Juttah 263 
 
 K 
 
 Kabzcel 
 
 Kades 
 
 Kadesh-barnea 
 
 Kalaat ed-Bcm 
 
 Xana el-Jelil 
 
 Kanah 
 
 Kartah 
 
 Kartan 
 
 Kattath 
 
 Kedesh 
 
 Keilah 
 
 Kerek 
 
 Kerioth-Hezron 
 
 Kerteh 
 
 Kesla 
 
 Kiriet el-Knta 
 
 Kibzaim 
 
 Kirjath 
 
 Kirjathaim... 
 
 Kirjath- Arba 
 
 Kirjath-jearim 
 
 Kirjath-sepher 
 
 Xnnintvl ... 
 
 Kuryet el-Enah 
 
 Lachish ( Um Lalcis) 
 
 Laish, or Leshem . . . 
 
 Lake Ilulch 
 
 " Land of Canaan," the 
 
 Lasharon ... 
 
 Lebanon 
 
 Libnah 
 
 Liftah 
 
 262 
 
 286 
 
 199 
 
 262 
 
 285 
 
 286 
 
 299 
 
 299 
 
 ... 285, 299 
 228, 286, 291 
 
 263 
 
 2f)l 
 
 262 
 
 277 
 
 262 
 
 277 
 
 299 
 
 277 
 
 ... 233, 299 
 
 248 
 
 182, 262, 277 
 ... 199, 263 
 
 21 
 
 262 
 
 198, 263 
 
 ... 286 
 
 ... 219 
 
 ... 303 
 
 ... 228 
 
 .. 2.33 
 
 ... 199 
 
 ... 262 
 
 M 
 
 Maaleh-Acrabbim 261 
 
 Madmannah 284 
 
 Madon 219 
 
 Mahanaim ... ... ... ... ... 233 
 
 Makkedah 199, 263 
 
 Maon (.l/«i7i) 263 
 
 Maralah 284 
 
 Mareshah 263 
 
 Mearah 232 
 
 Medeba 233 
 
 Megiddo 228, 268 
 
 Me-jarkon 286 
 
 Mcjdel-Yaha ^ 287 
 
 Merom, waters of (i?a7tr eZ-.HMZtA) ... 219 
 
 Michmctha 268 
 
 Misrephothmaim 220 
 
 Mizpeh 263, 277 
 
 „ land of 219 
 
 Moladah 
 
 Mount Baalah 
 
 „ Ephron 
 
 „ Gaash 
 
 „ Gilboa 
 
 „ Hermon 
 
 „ Jearim 
 
 „ Seir 
 
 „ Zemaraim 
 
 Mountain north of Jericho 
 
 N 
 
 Nahallah 
 
 Naphoth-dor 
 
 Naphtali, lot of 
 
 „ mountains of ... 
 
 Nahr Hasbeya 
 
 Neah 
 
 Neapolis (iVrtZ>MZ?/s) 
 
 Neby-Samtftl 
 
 Negeb, the 
 
 „ cities of the 
 
 Nekeb 
 
 New Hazor 
 
 Nezib 
 
 Nob 
 
 
 
 Oak at Shechem, the 
 
 Og, coast of 
 
 Ophni 
 
 Ophra (^Taiyibch) ... 
 Orontes, valley of the 
 
 Parah 
 
 Philadelphia 
 
 Philistines, borders of the 
 PhiUstine plain, the 
 Pisgah 
 
 R. 
 
 Rabbah 
 
 Eabboth-Ammon ... 
 
 Rakkath 
 
 Rakkon 
 
 Ramah 
 
 Ramath of the South 
 Ramath-Mizpeh ... 
 Ramoth-Gilead 
 Rehob 
 
 Remeth 
 
 Remmon-methoar ... 
 
 Rhinocorura 
 
 Rimmon 
 
 " Royal cities" 
 
 Rummanneh 
 
 S. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 .. 262 
 
 .. 262 
 
 .. 262 
 
 .. 286 
 
 .. 268 
 
 .. 227 
 
 .. 262 
 
 .. 262 
 
 .. 277 
 
 .. 21 
 
 ... 285 
 ... 219 
 ... 286 
 
 219, 228 
 ... 219 
 ... 285 
 ... 176 
 ... 197 
 199 
 
 262] 263 
 ... 286 
 ... 262 
 ... 263 
 ... 300 
 
 342 
 227 
 277 
 277 
 233 
 
 277 
 233 
 232 
 199 
 227 
 
 ... 233 
 ... 233 
 
 ... 286 
 ... 286 
 
 277, 286 
 ... 284 
 
 233, 291 
 ... 291 
 ... 285 
 ... 299 
 ... 285 
 ... 232 
 ... 285 
 ... 198 
 ... 285 
 
 Salcah (fi'MZMaiZ) 228 
 
 Sarid 284 
 
 Saris 262 
 
 Sausannah ... ... ... ... ... 284 
 
 Scvthop..lis 267 
 
 Sh'aalabbin, or Shaalbim {Selhlt) ... 286 
 
 Sheba 262 
 
 Shebarim 128 
 
 Shechem {Nahulns) ... 176, 291, 342 
 
 Shema 262 
 
 Shephelah, the ..: ... ... 199, 219 
 
 403 
 
TOPOGRAPHICAL INDEX^ 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Shephelah, cities of the . . . 
 
 263 
 
 W. 
 
 
 Shicron 
 
 262 
 
 Wady Abilin 
 
 285 
 
 Shihor-libnath 
 
 285 
 
 „ Atallah 
 
 286 
 
 Shiloh (Scilun) 
 
 267 
 
 „ Bahor 
 
 ... 262 
 
 Shimron, or Shimron-Meron 
 
 ... 219, 285 
 
 „ el-Arish 
 
 ... 261 
 
 Shinar 
 
 128 
 
 „ el-Kaziz 
 
 ... 277 
 
 Shittim 
 
 3, 20 
 
 „ cl-Malek 
 
 ... 285 
 
 „ from, to Jordan ... 
 
 34 
 
 „ el-Modjeb 
 
 ... 227 
 
 Shoco (»S^«7i"e?AeA) 
 
 .. 220, 228 
 
 „ es-Suweinit 
 
 ... 277 
 
 Shunem (Sulem, Solam) 
 
 285 
 
 ,, Farah 
 
 ... 277 
 
 Sibmah 
 
 233 
 
 „ Ghurah 
 
 ... 262 
 
 Sidon, Great 
 
 ... 220, 286 
 
 „ Ismain 
 
 ... 262 
 
 Sihor, or Shichor 
 
 ... 2.32 
 
 „ Kelt 
 
 . 262, 267 
 
 Siloam, pool of 
 
 262 
 
 Water of Jericho, the 
 
 ... 267 
 
 Socoh {ShuiveiheJi) 
 
 263 
 
 „ of Nephtoah, the ... 
 
 ... 262 
 
 " Springs," the 
 
 11)9 
 
 Waters of Megiddo, the ... 
 
 ... 228 
 
 
 
 Wilderness, the, by Jericho 
 
 ... 267 
 
 T. 
 
 
 " Wood country," the 
 
 ... 268 
 
 Taanach 
 
 228, 268, 299 
 
 
 
 Tabor 
 
 .. 268, 285 
 
 Y. 
 
 
 Taiyihch 
 
 277 
 
 Yafa 
 
 ... 286 
 
 Tantura 
 
 268 
 
 Ydlo 
 
 ... 286 
 
 Tappuah 
 
 228 
 
 Yasur ... 
 
 ... 199 
 
 Tel-Arad 
 
 262 
 
 
 
 Telem 
 
 262 
 
 Z. 
 
 
 Tel-cs-Safieh 
 
 .. 199, 220 
 
 Zaanan 
 
 ... 263 
 
 Tel-Raimon 
 
 228 
 
 Zaanannim 
 
 ... 286 
 
 Tel-Z'if 
 
 263 
 
 Zanoah, or Zannah 
 
 ... 263 
 
 Thimnathah 
 
 .. 286,287 
 
 Zaphon 
 
 ... 233 
 
 Timnath (y-iJwcA) 
 
 262, 286, 343 
 
 Zareth — Shahar 
 
 ... 233 
 
 Tuzah {Tclhnah) 
 
 228 
 
 Zebulun, lot of 
 
 Zelah 
 
 ... 284 
 ... 277 
 
 
 
 Zemaraim ... 
 
 ... 277 
 
 U, 
 
 
 Zenan 
 
 ... 263 
 
 Urn Lakis 
 
 Ummah 
 
 198 
 
 286 
 
 Zephath 
 
 Zer 
 
 ... 228 
 ... 286 
 
 
 
 Zerin 
 
 ... 285 
 
 V. 
 
 
 Ziddim 
 
 ... 286 
 
 Valley, the 
 
 182, 199, 219 
 
 Zidon, Great 
 
 . 220, 286 
 
 ,, of Hinnom 
 
 262 
 
 ZiphCM^if) 
 
 . 262, 263 
 
 „ of Keziz 
 
 277 
 
 Zorah 
 
 ... 286 
 
 „ of the Rcphaim ... 
 
 262 
 
 Zoreah 
 
 ... 263 
 
 I'liiitod by Hazeli., Watson, and Yiney, Ixjudou and Aylesbury. 
 

 Date Due 
 
 
 ' s 43 
 
 
 
 
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 K 
 
 
 
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 HfM'W 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 9 
 
 
 
 
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BS1151.P922 6 
 
 Homiletlcal commentary on the book of 
 
 Princeton Theological Semmary-Speer Library 
 
 1 1012 00067 6751