HOMILETICS. Vers. 8-20.-Faith. The principal incident in this section is the conquest of Hebron by Caleb (see note, ver. 20), and in it we have a most striking illustration (L) of the nature of faith, (2) of the triumph of faith, (3) of the faithfulness of God's promises, and (4) of the extension of God's covenant to men of every nation and kindred. I. THE NATURE OF FAITH. When the Israelites were in Kadesh Bamea, near the borders of Canaan, in the second year of the exodus, it was determined on their own suggestion, with the full approval of Moses, to send spies_ to search o_u~ the land, and to bring back word what road they ought to take, and mto what c1t1es they would come. Thus far there had been only a due exercise of human wisdom and caution. But when the spies returned after forty days they brought back a mixed report. On the one hand they reported that it was indeed a goodly Ian~. Its fertile soil, its genial climate, its beauty and its richness, were attested by its abundant produce. As they held up the heavy bunch of the grapes of Eshcol, a burden for two men to carry upon a staff, as they showed them the lusci~us figs and th~ juicy }?O~egranates, who could doubt that it was a land worth possessmg? It was nch too m its pastures and in its cattle, and its wild-flowers were as good as the thyme of Hymettus for the bees that swarmed amongst them. It was a land flowing with milk and honey. But here their good report stopped. This good land was guarded, they said, by a mighty people. It was a gigantic race that possessed it, and they dwelt in fenced cities with Cyclopean walls rising up to heaven. How c?uld the ?hildren of Israel hope !t1 wrest their land from them? It would be a vam enterpnse, and could only end 1D their own discomfiture and death. Those men of great stature would crush them like grasshoppers under their feet. At these unbelieving words the hearts of the whole congregation melted within them, and anger against Moses filled every breast. TLe suggestion ran from mouth to mouth to choose a captain and return to· Egypt, The promises of God were all forgotten. The mighty wonders at the Red Sea, at en. 1. 8-20.J THE BOOK OF JUDGES. 11
Sinai, in the wilderness, were lost sight of, and their henrts snnk through unbelief. Then Cnlcb's faith shone out, and spoke out before the people. " Let us go up ,,t once nnd possess the land, for we are well able to overcome it." "Fear not the peoplo of the land ; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them and the Lord is with us : fear them not." "I£ the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this lrmd and give it us." That was faith, laying hold of God's pro- mises and God's almighty power, and making no account of apparent difficulties or of human weakness. Just such was Abraham's faith, who "staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but ~as strong in faith, giving glory to God, and fully persuaded that what he had promised he was able also to perform" (Rom. iv. 20, 21 ). Such has been the faith of saints at all times, piercing through the mists and clouds of the present, and seeing the bright sun of the future; despising the visible because, like Elisha in Dothan, it sees the invisible (2 Kings vi. 13-17) ; ca.1- culating truly, because it takes into account the power and faithfulness of God which are left out of the calculations of the unbelieving. II. THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH. And we see here the triumph of faith. The whole congregation of the unbelieving, of those who in_ their_hearts t?rned back to Egypt, and dared not face the sons of Anak, had all penshed m the wilderness. They died and were buried, and never saw the land of promise. But Caleb was alive, and in the full vigour of his strength he marched against the stronghold of the Anakim, and took it, and slew the sons of Anak in spite of their great stature, and took possession of their city in spite of its lofty walls, and it became his possession for ever. That was the triumph of faith, that faith which disappoints not, and maketh not ashamed. III. THE FAITHFUL PROMISES. We have here too an eminent illustration of the faithfulness of God's promises. Caleb's triumphant possession of Hebron chimes in in exact harmony with all the records of God's performances as compared with his promises. " He bath holpen his servant Israel as he promised to our forefathers " (Luke i. 54). IC He bath remembered his mercy and truth toward the house of Israel" (Ps. xcviii. 3). "He bath visited and redeemed his people, as he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, . . . to perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; to perform the oath which he aware to our forefather Abraham" (Luke i. 68-73, Pr. B. Version). "He is faithful that promised' (Heh. x. 23). "Blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord" (Luke i 45). "There failed not aught of any good thing which the Lord had spoken unto the house of Israel ; all came to pass" (Josh. xxi. 45). A thorough appreciation of faithfulness to his Word as one of the prominent attributes of God is the inevitable result of a full knowledge of the Scriptures, as it is most conducive to the stability of the Christiu.n character. " For ever, 0 Lord, thy word is settled in heaven ; thy faithfulness is unto all generu.- tions" (Ps. cxix. 89, 90). IV. A GLIMPSE OF THE MYSTERY. But we must also notice the illustration here given of God's purpose to extend his covenant to men of all nations. Caleb was not an Israelite by birth. He was a Kenezite, i. e. a descendant of Kenaz, ,vhose name is a clear proof of Edomite origin (Gen. xxxvi. 15, 42). And accordingly we are told, IC Unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh he gave a part among the children of Judah" (Josh. xv. 13); and u.gain, "Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite, because that he wholly followed the Lord God of Israel" (Josh. xiv. 14), language clearly pointing to Caleb's foreign origin. We have here then the breadth of God's grace and love breaking out in the narrowness cf the Jewish dispensation; we have a glimpse of the mystery, which St. Pu.ul spoke of so rapturously, that it was God's good pleasure in the dispensation of the fulness of times to gather together into one all things in Christ, and that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the ~ospel (Ephes. i. 9, 10; iii. 6). Caleb, possessing his inheritance in the midst of Judah because he wholly followed the Lord the God of Israel, was the forerunner of that grent multitude of all nations and kindreds and peoples and tongues who shnll stand before the Lamb clothed in white robes and palms in their hands, and shall sit down with Abraham, !sane, and Jacob, in the kingdom of Goel. 12 THE DOOK OF JUDGES. [CH, 1, 8-20,