(.utcs :C for :l, i.e., 11s soon as it was dawn. against the Cauaanites. Property, how- Li tern.II)·, •· as the dawn went up." After ever, sa,e in the case of Jericho, seems to this manner. Literally, a.ccording to this h_~ve becu exempted from the bo.n (see oh. judgment, "sicut dispositum erat" (Vulg.). vm. 2). Even o.t Jericho the silver and the For a similar use of t:l!;);;it;i see Gen, xl. 13, gold, the brass and the irou, were plo.ced in and_ compare the proYerb ,nos pro lege. the treasury of the Lord (v. 19, 24). "Why," 'er. 16.-When the priests. There is no sitys Theodoret, •' was the city thus devoted P '·when" in the original, nor is it needed It was devoted on the same principle which (see Keil). offered the first fruits to God, since it we.a Yer. i 7. -Accursed. Rather, devotea, the first fruits of their conquests." Because a,,afi,µa LXX. The original meaning of she hid. See for the peculiar form of this tb1s word 1s dern'ed from i:lii1 to " shut word as though it came from o. quadriliteral up." Hence it originally means " a net." i11Cli1 Wit-h this we may compare the well-known Ver. 1,~--Accursed thing. Better," thing Enstern word harem, meOJ1ing the enclosed devoted, e.s this keeps up the idea of some- apartments resen-ed for the women of the thing solemnly set apart to God, to be dee.It famil)·. Hence it comes to me8Jl under a ban, with as He thinks fit. Lest ye ma.ke your- derated, generally to utter destruction under selves accursed when ye take of the the pressure of a vow to God, as in Num. xxi. accursed thing. Rother, with Keil and 2, o~· in consequence of His comm8Jld (see Jtosenmiiller, lest ye devote the city to Lent. xxrn. 29 ; Deut. xiii. 15 (Hebrew 16); destruction, and then take of what has been 1 Kmgs xx. 42, "the mau of my devoting," tints devoted. And ma.ke the camp or Israel 'P)!), &c). But in Lent. xxvii. 21; Num. a curse. Literally, and put the camp of Ismel in the position of a thing devoted. xnii. 14, the i.:,;n as devoted to the Lord And trouble it (cf. oh. vii. 25, 26; also became the prn·p~rty of the priest. This ha~ Geu. xxxiv. 30). was the most solemn and tremendous reli- Ver. 19.-Consecrated unto the Lord. gious sentence, the absolute and final excom- Literally, as margin, holiness unto the Lord munication of the old law, The sin of Saul (cf. Exod. xxviii. 36 ; xxxix. 30; Levit. xxvii. (1 Sam. n.) was the sparing of anything 14, 21; Jer. ii. 3). An expression used of whate,er in the city which had been laid OJ1ytbing specially devoted to God. under the ban-a ban which Saul ho.d been specially commanded to execute (1 Sam. xv. Ver. 20.-So the people shouted when 3) according to the principles la.id down in the priests blew with the trumpets, and it Dent. xiii. When Keil, however, states came to pass. Literally, and the people that the ban " could never be pronounced shouted, and they blew with the trumpets, upon things and property alone, but only and it came to pass as soon as the people upon open idolaters, either with or without heard the sound of the trumpet. The latter their possessions," he appears to have over- part of this sentence is a more full and looked Lent. xxni. 16-21, where a man accurate repetition of what is stated in the ruay dernte irredeemably to God property of former. The shouting and the blowing his 01m ( cf. Yer. 28 of the same chapter). In with the trumpets were all but simultaneous, his subsequent work, however, Keil qualifies but the latter was in reality the signal for this assertion by a consideration of this the former-a signal which was immediately very passage. Idolatrous worship was the OJ1d triumphantly responded to. one thing which justified the Israelites in Ver. 21.-And they utterly destroyed all laying one of their own cities under the ban that was 1n the city. For a discussion of (see Dent. xiii. 12-18, above cited). But the difficulties arising from this fulfilment (Deut. vii. 2) it he.d been pronounced of a stern decree, see Introduction.
HOMILETICS. Vers. 1-21.-We come now to the command that wae laid on Joshua. And here we may observe three points. I. SUCCESS WAS CERTAIN IF GoD's COMMANDS WERE OBEYED. God doee not say, "I will give," but," I have given" Jericho into thine hand.· Not only hae the fiat gone forth, lmt the work is done, when the soldier of the Lord has made up hie mind to obey the Lord's commands. Thus, whatever be the work to which we set our hands, be it public or private, in the world or in our own hearts, so that it be for God, and it is our duty to do it, we inuat regard our success as assured. Moses dli. vl. 1-21.J THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 101