HOMILETICS. Vers. 12-24.-The oath of the spies, and thevr return to ,Toshua. This passage suggests considerations of various kinds, historical, practical, and allegorical. I. THE TRUSTWORTHINESS OF THE SPIES. They had, no doubt, been specially selected by Joshua for this purpose, and they show themselves worthy of his choice, (1) They are scrupulously honest. They enter into an engagement with Rahab, and that engagement is faithfully kept. They are anxious that the tenor of their engagement should be thoroughly understood on both sides, so that there may be no reproach cast upon them for not observing conditions which it would be impos· sible to fulfil. And they are also (2) men of foresight. They do not give their word rashly, without having considered to wl10,t they are pledging themselves. They see beforehand how impossible it would be, in the confusion attending tLe sa.ck of the city, to ensure the safety of those in whose welfare Rahab is interested. Thus they suggest the twofold precaution that Rahab's relatives should be collected together in Rah9cb's house, and that Rahab's house should be plainly indicated by the scarlet cord. And (3) they are grateful. They might have left matters as they 'were, and taken no trouble to point out to Rahab the risk she was running, in the absence of some definite agreement as to the way in wLich the promise should be carried out. They might have excused themselves afterwaril~ by saying that it was not their business, but RaLab's, to secure the identification of herself and her kinilred. But they took every care and trouble possible to show their sense of the obligation they were under to a, stranger who had thus generously interested her· self in their mfety. Such are the men who ought to be singled out for special work in God's Church, scmpulous, thoughtful, frank, generous, grateful men, wLo make it their first care to deal with others as they would desire to be dealt witL them- selves. • II. THE SCARLET CORD A TOKEN OF SALVATION THROUGH CHRIST. For scarlet, or rather crimson (see note), is the colow· of blood. The scarlet cord Lad been the sal- vation of the messengers. It was now to be the means of salvation to her who Lad received from them the assurance of deliverance from the wrath to come. Like the bloocl upon the door-post, it was to be the sign which the destroying messengers of God's vengeance were to respect and pass by. That scarlet cord alone coul,l ensure safety. Ancl it could ensure the safety only of those who trusted in it alone. It must be taken, therefore, as the type of salvation through the blood of Christ alone. III. EXTRA ECCLESIAM NULLA SALUS. Like St. Paul's "Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be savecl '' (Acts xxvii. 31), so the spies here declare that to abide in Rahab's house is a necessary condition of safety. The house here is a type of the Chw-ch of Christ, not necessarily of external communion with any particular branch of it, but of actual internal membership in the mystical body of Christ, of which, ordinarily speaking, Baptism and the reception of the Sucmrnent of the Lord's Supper are the outward tokens. "Holy Scripture,'' says the 18th Articlo of the Church of England, "doth set out to us only the name of Christ, whereby men must be saved." And wo must unite ourselves with Him by faith and obedience. ,ve must enter into the "House of God, which is the Church of the Living God, the pillar and ground of the trut.h" (1 Tim. iii. 15). We must keep up 42 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [en. m.1-6.
a " continual remembrance of tl1e sacrifice of the death of Chlist.'' Our scarlet cord must be bound prominently in the window. Those who wander reck- lessly from the fold, who are can-ied about to "erroneous and strange doctrines," who follow their own wills instead of abiding by the covei111nt of salvation in Christ, cannot eJ..11ect the deliYerance which comes only to those who confess Ohrist openly before men, and declare plainly their union with those who fight under His harmer. IY. THE SPIES WHO FAITHFULLY DISCHARGE THEIR DUTY HAVE THEIR REWARD IN BRINGING GOOD TIDINGS. "'e have seen. what the conduct of the spies has been, And now they return to reanimate their brethren. Their report is, that already their enemies are disheartened and dispirited at the thought of the Great Name nndei· the protection of which the Israelites fight. So does the faithful soldier of Christ ever become a source of encouragement to his brethren. He who trusts in the.Lord, and goes steadfastly about His work, never fails to find the enemies of the Lord "fainting because of" His soldiers. It is only the cowardly and distrust- fnl who find the " children of Anak," and "cities walled up to heaven" -that is, insuperable difficulties and tasks beyond their powers. They who set themselves in eamest to combat the enemies of God, and will neither make a compact with them, nor be "afraid of their faces,'' are sure of victory. Sometimes the walls of some fortress of sin will fall as if by miracle. Sometimes the enemy will only be discomfited after the prolonged and exhausting efforts of a battle of Beth-boron. But the serrants of God on the eve of a new conflict with the powers of evil may safely address their fellow-warriors in the words, "Truly the Lord bath delivered into our hands all the land.''