The Pulpit Commentary — Joshua — Section 105

Many MSS., however, read "ii tlwuutterest there were e. good many more than this, not.'' The scouts of the king of Jericho might be Ver. 15.-Tben she let them down. The excnsed a very diligent search, for we a.re conversaJion which is related afterwarcls, 110 told that the "foot-bold was hnzardous nnd doubt occurred afterwards, as is proved by the height dizzy." From the days of the the use of the perfect l~!'l''.1'}1:i iu ver. 18. spies till long after tlie Cbristio.n era, these There is no reason to suppose the window caves have been in existence. They ho.ve by which she kt them down to have been been tenanted by Greek, Syrian, nnd even so distant from the ground as to preclude Abyssinian monks, o.nd Cnnon Tristrnm a com·crsation. and it is quite possible found many Greek and Etbiopic inscriptions, that Rahab's house may have been in a as well e.s figures of our Lord and the saints. situation in which such a conversation The Abyssinian Christinns make a yearly could be carried on mthout interruption. pilgrimage there even now, The reason of There arc continental cities now surrounded the reverence in which the pince is held, is by walls, in which such a conversation the tradition (not, however, eight bnndred would im·olve no difficulty whate,•er, years old, see Ritter, iii. 37) that, as the especially if the house from which such a name Que.re.ntania implies, the forty days' com·ersation was carried on happened to fast of our Lord took place there. As a stand a little apart from other houses. And specimen of the mystical interpretations in though the spies sent by Moses described which the Fathers indulged, we find Origen the walls of the Pbcenician cities in byper- expounding the advice, " Get you to the bolical language, it is highly improbable mountains," as follows:" Humilin et dejecta that their fortifications were stronger than refugite, qum excelsa aunt et sublimia, those of medieval times. The little town of prredicate." .Ahrweiler, in the valley of the Ahr, near Ver. 17.-We wW be blameless. Per- Remagen, may serve as an instance in haps "we would be blameless," and there- point. It would once have been called a fore we make the conditions which follow, strongly fortified town, but the walls are of Something must be supplied to fill up the no great height, and the houses are built sense. The most ordinary rule would be upon them. The same may be seen at to translate " we are blameless,'' i.e., by Bacharach and Oberwesel, and other well- me.king these conditions. But the former known places where the fortifications have yields a better sense. not been modernised. With the escape of Ver. 18.-Tbis line of scarlet thread. the spies we may compare the escape of Rather, this rope, from :i1p to twist. It is St. Paul from Damascus, as recorded in described as me.de of se;ing-tbree.d (tiln), Acts ix. 25, and 2 Cor. :xi. 32, 33. because no doubt it was formed of several Ver. 16.--Get you to the mountains. No such threads twisted into a rope. The scarlet hint is given why the mountains were to be (•~r), or rather crimson, we.a produced from so safe a refuge. But a reference to the geography of tba district will supply the the dried bodies as well as the eggs of the rea.son. Any mountain district is usually cochineal insect, called in Arabic, kermes less accessible and less thickly inhabited (whence our word crimson, and the German than the plains. ·But within five miles of karmesin). This line of scarlet thread is ,Jericho lay the remarkable range called regarded by the Fathers genera.Uy, o.nd by Quarante.nia, or Kurontfil, which is literally our own divines, as Bishop Hall and Bishop honeycombed with caves, so that a man Wordsworth, as symbo!ice.l of the blood of might be concealed for months in the im- Christ (see Clement of Rome, 'Epistle to mediate neighbourhood of Jericho with a Corinthians,' 12; Justin Martyr, 'Dial. very slight risk of discovery. It is obvious Trypb.' 111; lren., 'Adv. Hmr.,' iv. 37; bow strongly this fact confirms the accuracy Orig., 'Hom. 2 on Joshua.' "Coccineum, of the narrative. An inventor would have quod sanguinis formam gerebe.t.'' See nlso been certain in some way or other to draw Bp. Hall, 'Contemplations,' Book viii. ; and attention to e. statement intended to give an Levit. xiv. 4, 6, 42, 51), air of probability to bis narrative. But Ver. 19.-His blood shall be upon his there is nothing of the kind here, and yet head (cf. Levit. xx. 9). "If we ..-:ill wander the narrative displays a thorough acquaint- out of the limits that God has set us, we ance with the geographical features of the caBt ourselves out of His protection." (Bp.. neighbourhood. Canon Tristram (' Land Hall). of Israel,' p. 207, sqq.) carefully explored Ver. 20.-Alld If thou utter this our the ea verns. On one face of the rock, business. This was an obvious condition. which is perpendicular, be found "some Rabab's betrayal of the spies could not thirty or forty habitable caveB," and on the save Jericho, but it would destroy them, or 110uthem face, towards J ericbo, he supposed at least expol!El them to imminent danger.· OlI, II. 12-25.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 41 She would, therefore, by mentioning the were no doubt unarmed (cf.1 Chron. xii. 15), matter, deprive herself of e.11 title to protec- That befel them. Literally, "that found tion. them." Ver. 21.-Alld ehe bound the scarlet cord Ver. 24.-For even all the Inhabitants of In the wlndow.-Not necessarily at once, the country do ra.t.nt because of us. "For but when the time for the precaution arrived. even" is literally "and also." As Keil Ver. 23.-Alld paeeed over. The sacred remarks, this information concerning the historian does not aay how. But it is im- feelings of the Canaanites was the one great probable (see ver. 7) tho.t they forded the thing they had been sent out to discover. river. They probably swam across, as they