The Pulpit Commentary — Joshua — Section 8

element is specially strong in the history of Samson, whose exploits have o, rollick- ing air about them, "'hich appeals at once to the spirit of adventure and mischief with which we all of us have more or less sympathy, Note especia,Jly the grim hnmom with which, in the last terrible scene, he prays to be avenged '' for one of my two eyes," according to the emended translation, It is not difficult to catch the narrator's own point of view. Four times in the cow-i:e of his narrative he reminds us that "iu those days there was no king in Israel" (eh. xvii, 6; xviii. 1; xix. 1; xxi. 25), and twice he 11,dds, 11,s the natural consequence of this, '' every man did that which was right in his own eyes." This is the refrain, the echo of which resounds throughout the whole book. And what was the result of every man doing that which w11,s right in his own eyes ? In 11, sentence of still more ominous frequency (ohs, ii, 11; iii. 7, 12; iv. 1; vi. 1; x. 6 ; xiii. 1 ), he tells us 11,gain and again that " the children of Israel did evil in the sig-ht of the Lord," " the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord.'' Thus we have a regular cycle of cause and effect-sin produces punishment, and punishment amendment, and =endment deliverance, and deliverance preswnption with fresh apostacy and sin, with which the cycle begins again. So long as Joshua and his contemporaries lived (eh. ii. 7, 10), the Israelites remained faithful to Jehovah; but after them a.rose a godless generation who fell into the snares of which Joshua had warned them (the seductive idolatries of the nations round about them), and served Baal and Ashtoreth. The period is one of transition; the old rulers, Moses and Joshua, have passed away and kings have not yet arisen, And now that the external pressure of common dangers is removed, 11,nother great bond of union is taken away, The nation is in danger of disintegra- tion almost before it is formed, and is falling apart into tribes, or at most groups of tribes, each with separate, and sometimes, conflicting interests. This is the peril from within. And there is peril also from without. The conquered popul11,tions are neither expelled, nor absorbed, nor perfectly subdued. Like the Britons under the Sa:i.ons, and the Saxons under the Danes and under the Normans, they still kept possession of large districts and important points. They were biding their time, and perhaps, like the Saxons in the case of the Danes, might still get the upper hand. Moreover, the nations outside Palestine were not friendly to the invaders, who might any day cross the border and tum against them. Thus a great deal of the work of Joshua had to be done over_again. Cities and districts had to be reconquered; and where the Israelites had fallen away into idolatry, there was reconquest on the side of the Canaanites. What with division and apostasy within, seduction and hostility without, it looked as if the possession of the Promised Land by the Israelites was destined to be very brief. Yetr although in certain respects the period under the Judges is retrograde, it is retrogression preliminary to and possibly necessary to further advance. The tide was advancing, though the waves frequently went back; and human progress is no river, but a tide that ebbs and flows and moves in circles fitfully. In two marked particulars this time of apparent disintegration and anarchy had gre11,t influence on the future development of the nation. First, the Israelites were passing through the all-important change from a nomad to a settled life ; they were ceasing to be mere herdsmen, and were becoming agriculturists. Secondly, the isolation of the wilderness was at an end; they were becoming rapidly acquainted, both for good and for evil, with other civilisations besides their own. The change from a wandering to a st,i,tionary life was not made suddenly.  JOSIIUA TO NEHEMIAH. xi