EXPOSITION. CHAPTER VI. 22-27. in the midst of the turmoil and confusion attendant on the saok of the city (see a.hove, RAHAll' s DELIVllRANCE, THE CURSE ON eh. i. 11 ; ii. 1). Go Into the ha.riot's house. JEmcno".-Ver. 22.-Bad said. Hero we The preservation of R11h11b's house muat have au instance of the use of the perfect ss hnve been a part of the miracle, since it was a pluperfect. Wo can ha.1:dly suppose, as upon the city wall (cf. Heb. xi. 30,'31). Keil observes, that J oshus g11ve these orders Vei:. ,23.-Brought out. Therefore the 10S i'HE BOOK OF JOSHUA, [err. v1. 22-27,
mc,lire,al legends concerning R1thab's house by the death of his eldest aon, while the must be classed among superstitious fables. death of his youngest followed its comple- Re.bah and her family and relations were tion. It does not seem that it was forbidden saved, but her house shllrcd the destruction to build habitations on the spot, for Jericho which bcfol the rest of the city. Origen is frequently mentioned in the New Testa- cites in reference to the deliverance of ment, and the house of Zncchruus (Luke Rahab the harlot, 1 Car. Yi. 11, and Tit. iii. xix. 5) was there. What seems to have 8 (cf. also Epb. ii. 1-8; ,. 8; Col. iii. 7). been forbidden wes the erection of 11, fortified Without the camp of Israel Not in the city there (see Hengstenberg ' Geschichte camp of lsrarl outf:ide the city, as some des Reiches Gottes,' p. 214)'. The men- ba Ye rendered. The Hebrew distinctly tion of Jericho in eh. xviii. 21 does not connects the word j'lnt;, with the camp. ii:nply that it wa_s an inhabited city, but They were as yet, as Gentiles, unclean simply that the site of Jericho fell within (cl. Nnm. ,. 2; uxi. 19). the border of the tribe of Benjamin. For ,er. 25.-trntothisday. This may either Jerusalem is also mentioned, and we know be interpreted of herself, or, according to • that it did not become theirs until the time common Hebrew idiom, of her family (cf. of David. Whether the "city of palm- eh. nil. 14-18; xtiv. 17). For a fuller trees" (Judges ill. 18) is Jericho, may be discussion of the bearing of this passage on questioned. But in 2 Se.m. x. 5 and in the date of the Book of Joshua, see Intro- 2 Kings ii. 5 express mention is made of duction. There is no mention of Rahab's Jericho, the last time as the site of the maniage in the Old Testament. Lightfoot school of the prophets. Some commentators (' Hebrew and Talwudical Exercitations,' have endeavoured to restrict the sense of Matt. i. 5) mentions a tradition that she the word nJJ used here to the building of married Joshua! Dr. W. H. Mill, in his fortificatio,;-s: But this is unduly to re- trentise on the genealogies of our Lord, strict its meaning, for it is constantly used defends the tradition St. Matthew has also of houses and altars (see Gen. ii. 22; followed by showing that Salmon's agr at viii. 20 ; 1 Kings viii. 27)'. But the men- the time gives immense probability to the tion of gates clearly implies a fortified city. statement. Some (see the Bishop of Bath Commentators cite as parallel instances the and Wells' article in Smith's ' Dictionary curse of Agamemnon on Troy, of Crrnsus on of the Bible ') suppose that Salmon was Sidene (so Grotius from Strabo, lib. 13 de one of the spies. Ilia), and of Scipio upon Carthage, and it ,er. 26.-And Joshua. adjured them. is observed that when Augustus rebuilt Caused them to swear, i.e., bound them by Carthage he carefully avoided the old site. an oath, as the Hiphil implies here. This In his 11rst-born. .;I is often used of the was the strict meaning of "adjure" at the price paid for a thing, as in Gen. xxix. 18 ; time our version was made (cf. Matt. xxvi. Isa. vii. 23. And 1n his youngest son. 63). But it had also the less definite mean- The commentators have remarked on the ing which it now he.s, of solemnly warning rhythmical parallelism here, and Keil and a person to do something or to leave it others have supposed the passage to be an undone (see 1 Kings xxii. 16; Mark v. 7; extract from an old Hebrew song-book, such Acts xix. 13). The object of this solemn as that of Jasher (eh. ·x. 13). But this adjuration (see above) was to preserve parallelism is not only 11, characteristic of Jericho as a spot devoted to God for ever; poetry, but of all solemn and impassioned and !or this reason a curse was pronounced ntterances in the language. (See, for upon any one who should attempt to found iustance, 2 Sam. xviii. 32; 1 Kings xvii. 14; a city upon the devoted spot (cf. Deut. xiii. xxi. 19). Masius, Munsterus, and others 16, "It shall not be rebuilt.") This curse interpret the passage that the eldest son clied actually !ell on the reckless Hie! (1 Kings when the foundation was laid; all the rest, xvi. 34; cl. Josephus, 'Antiq.,' V. i. 8) ,and he but the youngest, in the interim ; the saw the Je.ying of its foundations marked youngest when the gates were set up.
HOMILETICS. Vers. 22-27.-1. The first lesson we lee,m from this portion of the ne,rre,tive is eal!Vation by faith. Had Re,hab not believed in God, she would not have se,ved the spies; and bad she not saved the spies, she would not have been saved herself. We have St. James's authority (eh. ii. 25) for citing this paese,ge o.s e,n illustre,tion of the connection between faith a.nd worb. OH. VI. 22-27.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 109