The Pulpit Commentary — Joshua — Section 174

2. A second lesson t.aught by this part of the nanativo is that salvation works res11,lls in tlinsc who a.i·c saved. I. HAITAIJ's FAITH WAS THE CAUSE OF '.!'HE SALVATION OF OTHERS. Hn.d sho not belicnd in Goc1, her relatives would havo shared tho fato of Jericho. So in n,]I other cases .. Fn._ith i~ n.n expansive principle. It is not content with doing good to its possessor ; it stirs !um up to benefit others. J esns sont forth thoso who believed in Him lo "preach the gospel to every creature." And all faithful Christians are their rnccessors. They must noeds "show forth the praises of him who called them out of darkness into his own marvellous light." They must strive to benefit others (rr) by trying to proclaim the gospel to the heathen abroad, or the worse than heathen llt home ; (b) by intercessory prayer for n.11 good works; and (c) by ncti,·e works of love to nil who are in any way within their reach. II. RAHAB, ONCE SAVED, WAS EXALTED TO GREAT HONOUR. She became a '' mother in Israel," nnd espoused. one of i~ princes. She attained in ages far remote the immortal honour of bemg mentioned as one of the progenitors of the King of kings. Thus we learn (a) that the "cup of cold water" does not lose its rewarrl. Every kind aclion done for the love of God and Christ shall be repaid a thousandfold. We are also taught (b) that no amount of previous sin shall be weighed in the balance against us when we have truly repented. Hahab's sin was thought no more of when she was saved from the slaughter of Jericho. And so God's forgiveness is foll and free, through Christ, when its condition, tl'Ue repentance, is attained. Though He may see fit to leave us to the discipline of the natural consequences of our sin awhile, it is for our good. He does not cast our past sins in onr teeth when we have returned to Him. He will not listen to our request to be as the least and lowest of His hi.red servants. He puts the best robe upon us, and rings on our fingers, in token of His joy at our return. When our heart is once more whole with Him, we are as truly His dear children as if we had never left Him, and may sun ourselves as fearlessly as they in the light of His mercy. Lastly (c), though we may not exactly go so far 11,s to say " the greater the sinner, the greater the saint," we may at least say that there is no reason why a great sinner may not become a great saint. We ought not to be deterred by our past sins, grievous and (but for God's mercy) unpardonable as they are, from pressing forward to the utmost heights of holiness that are within our reach. We are taught to forget those things that are behind, and reach forth unto the things that are before. The records of God's Church are foll of such histories. From Mary Magdalene, and after her St. Augustine, to our own day the examples of men steeped to the lips in sin, who have repented and advanced to great heights of holiness, are before us to teach the sinner not to despa,ir, but to trust in His loving- kindness who hath raised "the poor out of the mire, that he may set him with the princes, even with the princes of his people." ' 3. The third lesson this narrative contains is the exceeding svnfulness of svn. Jericho was a sinful city, an.d therefore it was a devoted city. God had plainly slated (Dent. ix. Ii) that the Israelites were the ministers of His vengeance age inst sin; that for no virtue of their own, but for the appalling crimes which had called down vengeance from on high upon the Phrenician nations, they had been selected to drive them out. Many interesting questions arise here, some regarding the idea. of God, some regarding the true nature of sin, indicated to us in this passage. I. Is Gen UNRIGHTEOUS THAT TAKETH VENGEANCE? As this question is fully discussed in the Introduction to this Book, a few hints will be all that is necessary here. We may observe (a) that whatever difficulties attach to the command given to Joshua, apply equally to every idea of God that we can form. He, the All-wise and All-good, has at least permitted these chastisements upon men for their sin. We might go further. We might say that He has enjoined them. Goll has clearly made it a law of our humanity that nations wallowing in the indulgence of sensual passion, permitting themselves to enjoy unchecked the pleasures of in- ju.stice, oppression, rapine, cruelty, have in the end been punished by bAing made the victims of similar cruelty. 'rhe Almighty Disposer of events has allowed man again and age.in to inflict cruelties as severe upon other nations, for their sine, as 011, VI, 22-27,] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 111 ---- - --------------------- Joshua. did upou the Canaanites. Thus whatever objections (see Butler's 'Analogy' here) me,y be raised to the possibility of God giving such e, commission to His servo.nt o.s tha.t na.rrated in this Book, apply with equal force to the facts of history. Either, therefore, there is no God at a.II, or He is not good, or He can, consistently with truth a.nd juatico, incite man to exerciRe His vengeance upon those who have sinned. We me,y further obs~rve (b) tha.t physice,l suffering does not seem so terril,le a, thing in God's eyes a.s it does in ours. Fa.mines, wars, pestilences, o.ccidents, shipwrecks, with a.II their attendant horrors and miseries, have happened, e,nd will still continue to happen. And God seems not to heecl. But is it not because He sees the whole, while we sec but a part of His doings? Were this the only world, we must come to the conclusion that God is not goodness, but cruelty; not justice, but the most gross and aggravated injnstice. "If in this life only we havo hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable." But granted that there is another world, in which all that goes amiss here will be set right, and these difficulties disappear. The sorrows of this life will seem but a momentary pang as we live through the ages of eternity. And in that good land we shall smile at the doubts of God's perfections which have caused us such uneasiness here. Again (c): we may note that history now shows that the Hittites were once a gi·eat and flourishing people. Yet until lately they had been so entirely forgotten that their very names were unknown. Why this complete obliteration, as it were, from the map of humanity? Why, but because they had sinned a.go.inst the LorJ, and He must destroy them? Israel was not the only instrument of His vengeance. Far to the northward of the Holy Land, where their empire flourished on the banks of the Orontes and in Asia Minor, He sent the Egyptians and Assyrians against them, till their name was blotted out from among the nations of the earth. And so will it be till time shall be no more. The nation which holds not Goel in remembrance shall be cut away from His hand. II. ToucH NOT THE UNCLEAN THING. This lesson will be yet farther enforced in the next chapter. Yet here we may note that the Christian is to have no cleulings whatever with ungodliness and its treasures. The good things of this life, save as things to be used for God, are to be 6teadfastly renounced. The desire of possessing them is not to be a motive for action. They who serve Goel for filthy lucre's sake are unsparingly condemned under the gospel. It is, of course, a difficult task to decide how far innocent pleasures may be enjoyed, or rewards, honours, wea.lth, accepted, when God seems to have put them in our way. All the cities were not devoted to God, but Jericho only. Yet it may safely be said that in these days of a widely-diffused profession of Christianity, the verdict of Christian society un these points is too lenient a one. The love of money and of the good things of this life is too freely admitted as a motive for action. The deliberate preference of a life of poverty and self-denial is too often looked clown upon with disdain, though it is reco=ended to us by the exe.mple of Christ. Nay, it may even be doubted how far St. Paul's rule of excommunication of the covetous man (1 Cor. v. 11) is carried out by the Christian Church, even when money has been made or honours attained by unfair means. The man who, as director of a public comp:i.ny, gives his sanction, by carelessness or wee,kness, to acts which, as a private indi- vidual, he would not have co=itted-the man who by bribery obtains a position among the law-makers of this great empire-the man who amasses a vast fortune by indirect means-is he courted or condemned by the collective Christian conscience in these days? It may be doubted whether, among all the advances we ha,e unquestionably made of late in Christian principle, the spirit of Achan, rather than J oslrua, does not predominate among us still. III. WHAT Goo HAS PROMISED WILL SURELY COME TO PASS. The ungodly often cry, "Tush, God hath forgotten ; he hideth his face and he will never see it." But it comes to pass just the same. The wicked Hie! lnughed Joshua's prophecy to scorn. Yet it came true. And so do many thoughtless persons now laugh to scorn the declarations of God's Word. They ridicule the idea of chastisement for nationnl sins ; they will not hear of ~ays _of humilia.tion for nation_oJ misfur~unes; they tell us all things are ordered by mve.r1able law. But Goel pumshed na.t1ons of 112 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [en. VI. 22-27,