The Pulpit Commentary — Joshua — Section 145

de.n was crossed, they had not ta.ken forme.l cumcised already, and that therefore such possession of their own land. As soon e.s, an operation as this could ho performed nuder l,hc DiYine protection, they had with the utmost easo in a very short time. crossed the Jord1m, the long-delayed pro- The word 'P is used here ago.in, since the mise ,rns fulfilled. God's covenant with people were still Gentiles until the rite of Abralrnm was nccomplished, e.nd now they, circumcision was performed. in their turn, had to place themselves once Ver. 9.-The reproach of Egypt. Either more in the position ol God's covenant (1) the reproach which comes from the people, bound to serl'e Him with tbeirwhole Egyptians, or (2) the reproach of having heart. For n fuller discussion of this ques- sojourned in Egypt. Keil incorrectly states tion sec F:eil's Commentary, and Hengsten- that" the genitive always denotes the person bcrg in t,he passa,ge cited above. We may from whom the reproach comes" (see Isa. obsenc that God fulfils His pa.rt of the liv. 4, "the rep1·oach of thy widowhood," coYelllUJt first, and then it is man's duty to i.e., the reproach which is cast upon thee fulfil his. God, under the Christian dis- for being e. widow ; Ezekiel xxxvi. 30, pensation, first places us in the state of "reproach of famine," i.e., the reproach salrntion. Then it becomes our duty to which comes from being doomed to suffer make that salYation sure by overcoming famine). If we accept (1) we must refer the God's enemies, by the help which He never phrase to the reproach cast upon the Israel- fails to afford. Give us. This introduction ites by the Egyptians, that all their vain- of the lirst person into the middle of tj,.e glerious boasts were worthless, and that sentence is unexpected. Some MSS. and they were never destined to occupy the land editors read "to them" (see note on ver. wh.ich they declared God bad given to them. 1, and Psa. l:ni. 6, where there is e. similar Hengstenberg (' Geschichte des Reiches change of person). A Ja.nd that 11.oweth with Gottes,' p. 207) regards it strangely as the milk a.nd honey. Th.is, says Keil, "is e. stand- reproach the Egyptians cast upon them that ing expression in the Pentateuch to express they were rejected of God. If (2) it must be the great fertility of the land of Cane.an. regarded as equivalent to the reproach that Milk and honey are produced by e. land rich they were e. nation of slaves, e. reproach that in grass and flowers, which were both of them was rolled a.way by the fact of their standing plentiful in Canaan ·(see Isa. vii. 15, 22). as freemen on the soil which had been pro- Milk, not only of cows, but of sheep and goats mised to their fathers. But Knobel supposes also (Dent. uxii. 14), and eaten sometimes (3) that it was their down-trodden miserable sweet,at other times th.ickor cnrdled(i11:tOM), condition in Egypt, e. condition which was was a leading article of food amongst the only partially ameliorated during their wan- ancient Hebrews, as it is in the present day derings in the wilderness, in the co_urse of in most Ee.stern countries, and Palestine was which, accustomed to e. settled e:ustence, peculiarly fitted for the rearing of cattle. thev mnst have had much to endure. Honey also, especially that of wild bees, was "With the arrival in Canaan," he adds, found in large quantities (Judg. xiv. 8, sqq.; "all this ea.me to an end. All those who 1 Sam. xiv. 26; Matt. iii. 4), and is still bad deserved punishment were dead, all the found, notITTthstanding its present d_esola.te uncircumcised were circumcised, reproach couilition." Some have thought ~~"! to and misery were put aside, and Israel, as mean the newly expressed juice of grapes, the worthy community of God, entered o'!- a which, under the Arabic na.me of dibs, is new life." This interpretation, more precise largely used at present in Palestine, and is and clear than (2), best satisfies all the re- even exported to other countries. But in quirements of the passage. Some have Deut. xxxii. 13, Ps. l.x.xxi. 16, wild honey 1·egarded their uncircumcised state as the is clearly meant, wh.ich is to this day depo- " reproach of Egypt." But this, as Heng- sited by bees, in the clefts of the rock, stenberg remarks, could hardly b_e, for 1;1one whence it often overflows and is received but the Egyptian priests were cucumc1sed. into vessels placed beneath (see Prov. v. 3; Origen{Hom. 4, 'Lib.Jean Ne.ve')tee.chesthe Cant. iv. 11; Jahn, 'Biblical Archmology;' following lesson from t~is_p~ssage: '.' Fmmu_s and Smith's Dictionary of the Bible.) enim nos alique.ndo ms1p1entes, mcredu~, errantes servientes desideriis et volupte.t1- Ver. 8.-Tlll they were whole. Literally, bus variis in malitiam, et invidio., odibilos, till they revi-ced, as in Gen. x.x. 7 ; 2 Kings odientes i~vicem. Non tibi videntur hmo i. 2 ; v,ii. 8. Objections have been raised opprobia esse, et opprobie.. lEgyJ?ti? Sed ex (see Keil and Delitzsch in foe.) to the possi- quo venit Christus, et ded1~ nob1s secunde.m bility of this circumcision ta.king place in one circumcisionem per be.ptismum regen_er~- day. But it has been shown by calculation tionis, et purgavit e.nimas ll:ostras, 9:bJec1- that between one-third and one-fourth of mus hmc omnia." And agam, speaking of the people who remained had been cir- the spiritual circumcision Christians have  CH, V, 1-0.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 81