to shew its operative and transforming power: by both of them is she united with the patriarch Abraham himself : and by one she is said to be justified by this work of hers, as Abraham was justified by offering up his son Isaac on the altar. The boon she desired was, temporal life; and behold, here was given to her spiritual and eternal life. How loudly did this proclaim to Israel the determination of God to incorporate with them in due time the Gentile world ! And how strongly does it declare to us, that " where sin has abounded, grace shall much more abound!" Methinks, as Paid says of himself, that "for this cause he obtained mercy, that in him the chief of sinners God might shew forth all long-suffering for a pattern to them that shall hereafter believe on him to life everlasting," so we may say of this woman. O that all the harlots in the world covdd hear of the mercy shewed to this notorious prostitute ! Despised as they are and abandoned by their fellow-creatures, O that they knew what compassion for them exists in the bosom of their God ! They usually persist in their wickedness, through an utter despair of obtaining the mercy and grace which they stand in need of: but here they might see, that the vilest of sinners may become the most eminent of saints. Our Lord indeed tells us, that publicans and harlots are often more willing to seek for mercy than proud self-complacent moralists e: O that the instance before us might lead many to repentance, and that, like another of whom we read, " having had much forgiven, they may love much!"]
3. She was made an ancestor of the Messiah him- self—
[Mysterious truth ! A Gentile, belonging to an accursed nation, and to a place peculiarly obnoxious to the wrath of God ; and she too, an harlot of peculiar notoriety ; to be chosen of God, not only to become an eminent saint, but an instru- ment of continuing the line of his elect, and ultimately of bringing into the world his only-begotten Sonf! What shall we say to this ? The truth of it cannot be doubted; for she is expressly mentioned in the genealogy of Christ g. How infi- nitely did this honour surpass all that she could ever have imagined ! What a reward was here for protecting the spies ! But verily we never can entertain too exalted thoughts of God's love and mercy : the riches of his grace are altogether unsearchable, and the extent of his love, incomprehensible.
e Matt. xxi. 31. f Matt. i. 5.
s If Salmon, who married her, was, as is by no means improbable, one of the two spies, what beautiful considerations would arise out of that circumstance ! But, where there is so much known, it is not desirable, unnecessarily, to introduce conjecture.