The Pulpit Commentary — Numbers — Section 454

C&nnanitea unexpelled, nnd the end will be the expulsion of Jara.el. "To him that knoweth to do good, &nd doeth it not, to him it ia sin" (James iv. 17). In the light of this threatening, how clearly it is seen that what made the Canaanitea ao offensive in the sight of God was their idolatry l For centuries they had been pursuing their hideous practices in that very land where ll holy and righteous God had revealed himself to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And if tbe Israelites by a disobedient leni- ency fell into idolatry, their state would he even sadder and more dishonourable than that of Canaan, because the fall would be from such privileges. Note that God placed this expulsion of the Canaanites as a work of obedience for the people to perform. If they failed in obedience he would not by some miracle expel the Canaanites himself. " .As I thought to do unto them.' The land in itself was no more than any other land on the face of the earth. It was the people-the holy people of God-who sanctified the land, and not the land the people. And if they disobeyed God in the presence of all these idols, with their associated abominations, then the holy became unholy, and the Canaanites might as well stay there as remove anywhere else (Prov. viii. 20, 21 ; xx. 21; Eccles. vii. 11; Rev. xxi. 7).-Y. Vers. 1-15.-The Lord appoints boundaries/or the promised land. L CONSIDER THESE BOUNDARIES ACCORDING TO THE EXTENT OF WHAT THEY INCLUDED. The territory was a very limited one, geographically speaking. The promised land, in- tended to typify the large privileges of the believer, and the heavenly and everlasting inheritance, was not a continent, nor even a considerable part of a continent. The Lord would teach Israel, and through them all his people, the difference between bigness and greatness, between quantity and quality, between mere superficia.l extent and the inexhaustible wealth that comes out of a really good ground. A square mile in the land that the Lord bath blessed is better than all the sands of Sahara. There was no legitimate room in Israel for men of Alexander's spirit, weeping because there were no more worlds to conquer. The scene that God thus mapped out was large enough to give impressive and beautiful illustrations of his ways, and to bring peace, prosperity, and happiness worthy of bearing such names to all who received his will in the fulness of it. Though only a limited territory, it was for that reason all the more compact; and at a very short notice the whole nation could gather to any point for purposes of worship or defence. Outsiders, who did not know how blessed was the nation whose God was the Lord, might count the land only a little one among the thousands of the whole earth. All depends on what we mean when we speak of the lives of certain people as limited, poor, narrow, &nd unprivileged. Such words may only reveal our ignorance, our erroneous principles of judgment, nnd not the real state of affairs, It should ever be pnrt of the brightest radiance of God's glory in the eyes of his people that he can welcome the poor and the lowly to his choicest blessings nnd to the sweetest pleosures he can confer upon the human heart. Their poverty nnd lowliness do not unfit them for these things. Pnul, who had to work with his own hands, and who said that having food nnd raiment he was therewith content, wns also nble to say, "0 the depth of the riches both of the wisdom nnd knowledge of God l" (Rom. xi. 33). No lord of hro11d ncres ne, no partaker of luxurious repose among intellectual pleasures, but still he knew of the pence thnt passeth nil understanding, the joy that is unspeakable and full of glory, and something of the breadth, and length, nnd depth, nnd height of that love of Christ which passeth knowledge. We bad mied be very sure of our competency before we begin to pronounce judgment on the compass and depth of n true believer's life. II. CONSIDER THE EXACTNESS OF THESE DOUNDARil!:S, The country was carefully defined. and could give no occasion for boundary disputes. And all Christians have a carefully-defined life marked out for them. Even external circumstances are more under our control than at first seems to be the case. Manv such circumstances indeed we cannot control, but m1my also depend on the spirit in which we regard the will of God. For instance, it could hardly be said that God marke<l out their territory for Heuben nnd Gad. For his own wise purposes be allowed their choice, but it was no true choice of his. If wo have only a thoroughly trustful spirit, n epirit of stewardship towards God, we mny nil have the profit and comfort of feeling  Til® BOOK OF NU:MBiRS. [clI. :mm. &O-xn:1v. 29,