The Pulpit Commentary — Joshua — Section 96

means. To pray to God for special help or direction, without doing our best to use the means placed within Olli' reach, to exercise our reason, and to see His directing hand in the extemal circllinstances of Olli' lives, is mere fatn,lism. To expect to be freed from besetting sins, to trilm1ph over temptations without effort on Olli' own part, to lrnve victory without struggle, perfection without perseverance, is mere selfishness and indolence. 2. The 11se of ordina.ry means, whe1·e possible, is a law of God's kingdom. God might lrnve written His gospel in the skies. He might have proclai.mecl and might re-proclaim it in voices of thunder from he11ven. He might make it an irresistible influence from within. But He does not. He uses human means. Jesus Christ, like His prototype, sent His disciples two and two to go before Him. (Mark vi. 7; it is implied in Matt. x. 1; Luke x. 1). Human influence has ever since been the means of propagating Divine truth. And not only so, but to use exL-raordinary means when ordinary would suffice was a suggestion of the devil, peremptorily rejected twice by Jesus Christ (Matt. iv. 4, 7 ; Luke iv. 4, 12); and this, because this world is God's world as well as the other : reason and prudence, though subordinate in importance, yet are as much God's gifts as faith. II. THE CONDUCT OF THE SPIES. 1. They preferred duty to reputation. The only house they could enter without suspicion was a house whither, under ordinary circumstances, it would have been impossible for them to go. So Christ's disciples must not fear _the comments of the e,il-minded when duty calls upon them to incw· suspicion. To give needless cause for slander is a sin : to shrink from seeking the lost for fear of it is a greater. Compare Boaz (Ruth iii. 14) with the spies here, and both with Jesus Christ (Luke Yii. 37, 38). Ministers of religion, physicians, and the purest-minded Christian women do not fear to visit the lowest haunts of vice for the temporal or spiritual welfare of those who inhabit them. It is well that their garb should pro- claim the fact that they are on an errand of mercy. All needful precautions should be taken to preserve their reputation. But often they will have to put reputation and all in God's hands, when duty calls, and they may be sure that all is safe with Him. 2. They went unmurmuring on a task of the utmost peril. So must God's messengers now take their lives in their hands when they visit the sick, either to serve their bodies or their souls. The mission,ary confronts a similar risk when he carries to savage nations the good tidings of salvation by Christ. If He preserve them alive, they thank Him for His goodness ; if not, the blood of such martyrs is still the seed of the Church. Men do and dare all for the sake of the temporal reward of the Victoria Cross. The mew;engers of Jesus Christ ought not to be less willing to risk all that is worth having in this life for the Eternal Crown. How rare is this spiritual gallantry, as we may call it I Yet it is rare only because genuine faith is rare. We believe in rewards that we can se.e. The unfadiag crown excites few longings, because it is of faith, not sight. •. 3. They did not recklessly expose themselves to danger. • When Rahab bid them conceal themseh-es, they did so. They willingly accepted her aid in letting them down from the wall, and.her aclvice in concealing themselves in the caves of the mountains. In so doing they did but anticipate the command, " When they persecute you in one city, flee ye into another" (Matt. x. 23). Thus St. Peter con- cealed his residence from the disci pies ( Acts xii. 17) ; St. P11u1 was let down in a basket from the walls of Damascus (Acts ix. 25; 2 Car. xi. 33) ; St. Cyprian retired from his see for awhile that lie might still continue to guicle it while his guid11nce was needed. So now, to expose one's life unnecessarily is suicide, not sanctity. III. R,rnAB's CONDUCT. 1. Her faith. This is co=endecl in Heh. xi. 31. It was manifestecl by her conduct, as St. James tells us in eh. ii. 25. For (a) she incurred danger by acting as she did. This was a proof of the sincerity of her profession. For no one willingly incurs danger for what he does not believe. And (b) the' reason for her acting as she did was faith in God. It might not have been a strong faith. It was certainly a faith which had not had :tnany advantages. She could 4ave know" little OH, II, 1-12.] THE BOOK OF ,JOSHUA. 31