The Pulpit Commentary — Joshua — Section 12

nation was rapidly changing from the pastoral to the e.gricnltural state; an advance wiUiout which the future development of the nation would have been impossible. (3) Both inside and outside Palestine the Israelites were abe.ndoning a condition of isolation for one of contact and intercourse with a variety of natione.lities, in culture superior, in religion and morality vastly inferior, to themselves; a cho.nge pro- ductive of calamitous results, but not unmixed evil. (4) The external pressure of a commoii and imminent danger being removed, and the bulk of the territory being conquered, the tribes were falling apart from one another, each following its own selfish interest. A common danger at times reunited those who felt its pressure ; huL generally there was a tendency to separate into loosely connected groups. The wo1-ship of Jehovah was to a large extent deserted for Canaanitish idolatries, e.nd thus tl.ie highest of all bonds of union was lost. Hence (5) their various enemies gained strength and subjugated large portions of the country from time to time. Had their enemies been united among themselves, and ho.d the suffering which they inflicted failed to check the canker of political and religious disintegration which was ruining Israel, the land would probably have relapsed into the hands of its former o=ers, and the Israelites would have been reconquered and e.bsorbed. But the sharp medicine administered again and again at last did its work : and after a long and uneven struggle the purer religion and the nobler race prevailed. But mean wile the purer religion was almost lost. In the wilderness the Israelites had lh-ed, as it were, in a religious hothouse. They had been kept apart from the common atmosphere, and had lived in a world of their own. In this way they had been brought up to a spiritual elevation, which was partly supernatural and partly artificial. The supernatural influences of perceptible communication with Jehovah had ceased; the artificial restraint of complete isolation had been thrown aside ; and they appeared to be left to do "what seemed good in their eyes." The result Rhowed that they were qnite unequal to so severe a trial. Those who lived at a distance from the tabernacle at Shiloh at most went up to it only once a year, probably for the most attractive and joyous of the feasts, that of Tabernacles. What was out of sight soon went out of mind, and the ordinances of religion were one hy one forgotten. With no one to read the Law to them, with no religious ceremonial to teach them by the eye, large numbers grew up in the grossest ignorance as regards creed and worship. Superstitions observances grew up under trees and in high places. Jehovah was represented by images. This soon led to a still grncr profanation. The image of Jehovah became only one of many, and His worship was mingled with that of heathen deities. In many cases the last and final step was taken, and the worship of the one true God was entirely abandoned for that of Baal and Ashtoretb. Thus the belief of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the unity of God, the creed which bad ennobled and sustained Israel through so many generations, was tampered with, and corrupted, and in many cases lost. Such was the price which Israel paid for premature intercourse with higher civilisations. And tb.us, as in the case of Paradise, the Divine ideal bad been frustrated by the free-will and self-v;:ill of man. Had God's commands been obeyed, the polluting influence of the Canaanites would have been expelled or extinguished, and His people would have been free to receive and cherish and develop, in His own good ti.tne, the revelation which He had partly given and partly had still in store for them. Secure from seductions and hindrances from without, bound together by their rn=on privileges within, they would not only have preserved their old level of sp,riLual enlightenment, but would have risen steadily to a still higher one. But,  JOSHUA TO NEHEMIAH. xv