The Pulpit Commentary — Numbers — Section 430

II, THAT THESE TWO TRIBES WERE UNDOUBTEDLY INTENDED, LIKE THE RBBT 1 TO FIND THEIR INHERITANCE IN CANAAN PROPER. For this and not the land beyond Jordan, was the land which the Lord had sworn to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob ; this was the land of the seven nations, the promised land, of which the land of Jaazer and Gilead formed no integral part, but only as it were a vestibule, an outlier, an annexe. These did indeed belong to the Holy Land, but were distinctly less holy than the rest. Even so it is the will of God that all Christiane should press on unto perfec- tion, i. e. to the perfect life of faith and duty spoken of in the New Testament. This is distinctly what God bath called them to, for it is to this that he bath attached his blessings and promises. N everthelese there is in practice a vast tract of Christian living which is as clearly distinct from this as it is inferior to it; which lies outside of it in the strict sense, but yet in a wide sense is certainly united to it. III. THA'l' NATURE ITSELF JUSTIFIED THE DIVINE WISDOM IN CALLING THE PEOPLE INTO CANAAN PROPER. For this Holy Land is separated from all other lands by re- markable geographical features, especially by the deep cleft of Jordan from the children of the east; whereas the trane-Jordanic territory was wholly exposed to a multitude of heathen and hostile neighbours towards the east, and south, and north. Even so it is a matter which needs no discussion that a strict Christian life is by the very laws of human nature fenced from innumerable dangers and assaults to which a half-and-half religion lies completely open. Nothing indeed is more practically helpless, or at least more utterly unsafe, than the Christian life of a half-converted man. IV. THAT THE HISTORY orr lsBAEL SUPPLIES A MELANCHOLY COMMENTARY ON THE UNWISDOM Oll' THEIR CHOICE. The very places mentioned as the first settlements of Reuben all fell into the hands of the Moe.bites, with some of those of Gad. .Amidst the uncertainties whfoh overhang their history we can make out that these regions were a continual battle-field, never attained a settled prosperity, and were finally conquered before the rest. Even so all experience sets forth the sad results of such a life as is a compromise between the claims of religion and of the world. It is always and of necessity the first to go; the powers of evil strike upon it first, and with the greatest strength, In the day of temptation, when those who live most near to God can hardly stand, what chance is there (humanly speaking) for the half- hearted and half-converted? V. THAT THE CHOICE OF REUDEN AND GAD WAS AFTER ALL VERY NATURAL. Un- questionably the open lands which they had seen were then (as they are now) much more fertile and pleasant than the stony limestone ridges of Southern Palestine ; and the deep, sullen stream of Jordan was a formidable obstacle. Even so there is to the natural man something very attractive about the comparative freedom of a life which claims the promises of Christ, and yet is not altogether constrained by his demands. To cross the gloomy-looking gulf of an entire conversion, and to be cooped within the apparently uninviting limits of a consecrated life, is repugno.nt to much that exists in all of us, and that reigns supreme in many of us. VI. THAT TilEIR CHOICE REALLY SHOWED A WANT OF FAITH. For they knew that God had attached hie promises to the land beyond Jordan, and they knew that the ark of God was going across, and tbat the chosen site of God's presence would be on the other side, yet they deliberately risked the danger of being (to some real extent) sepo.rated from the presence and promises and protection of their Holy One. Even so when men settle down in a half-and-half Christianity, it is because they have no strong faith in the promises, and no great longing for the presence of God ; they do not disbelieve or despise these, but they are in practice lees con- cerned about them than about temporal advantages. VII. THAT THEIR CHOICE ALSO SHOWED A BLINDNESS TO THEIR ACTUAL DANGERS, Had they foreseen the swarms of enemies to whose assaults they would remain exposed, and realised their comparatively defenceless position, they would surely have petitioned to go over Jordan too, }Jven so men remain half converted with a light heart because they under-estimate their danger, and over-estimate their strength. Conscious that they intend what is right, they are content to abide far from the suc- cours of Divine grace, at once more exposed to temptation and less able to resist it tbau more earnest Christians. NUUDEBB, EE 4.18 THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. [en. xxxu. 1-42.