The Pulpit Commentary — Joshua — Section 218

was fulfilled; those men were II cursed" (ver. 23), and became a II servant of Rerv11nts" unto the Israelites. • 'l'his incident reminds us of- THE SAFETY OF RELIANCE UPO!f THE WORD OF GoD. "He is not a man that he should lie." He cannot contradict Himself. If He does seem to "repent," it is because His promise w11B conditional; and if we seek His favour and do His will, His " repenting" will be only for our good, it will mean the removal of some threatened punishment. On the other hand, if we observe not the terms of the covenant, we cannot complain if God withdraws His promised blessings. God has confirmed His word to His people with an oath. " The Lord bath sworn, and will not repent." This indicates that what is said is irrevocable. Note the argument in Heb. vi. 17-19, and tlie rock-grasping anchor which makes stable the Christian's hope among all the waves and winds of life's stormiest sea. He is acquaiuted with all the circumstances of the case ; He cannot be deceived. To Him the dateless past and the endless future are an ever-present now. He bids us receive in Christ life for evermore. Who would not build on this unshakable foundation, the "word and oath" of the living God ?-A. Vere. 15-23.-The Gibeonites. The manner in which Joshua dealt with the Gibeonites shows how inflexible is the respect God requires for truth. That respect is exemplified in two ways in this narrative. First, in the fulfilment of the oath made to the Gibeonites, that their lives should be saved; and second, in the punish- ment with which they are visited for their falsehood. They deceived Joshua by their miserable subterfuge of mouldy bread and way-worn garments, and thus passed themselves off as the inhabitants of some distant region instead of a neigh- bouring city. Ther~fore, while their lives were spared, they were reduced to a state of slavery (ver. 23). I. NOTHING IS MORE HATEFUL TO THE HOLY GOD THA..'I A LIE. He is in His very essence light (1 John i. 5). Falsehood and cunning pervert all the relation- ships of life. Lying breaks the social bond, since a man's word is the only medium of moral exchange between men ; and when mutual confidence is lost, the founda- tions of the social edifice are undermined. Therefore St. Paul says, " Lie not one to another . . . for ye are members one of another." In the direct education which God gave to His people Israel, He has given unmistakable demonstration of His horror of all deceit. Hence the punishment of the Gibeonites. II. THE PUNISHMENT which these unhappy men brought upon themselves rested not only upon them as individuals, but upon their whole nation. God thus showed that evil is not transformed into good by being made to subserve a public cause. There are not two codes of morality-one for private and another for nation11,l life. Politics ought to be as scrupulously governed by the law of God as the life of the individual. Although since the abolition of the theocracy, the sphere of re- ligion and of the civil power ought to be kept altogether distinct, it is no less in- 1umbent on the State to adhere to the plain principles of morality. In spite of a.11 that may seem to argue the contrary, every violation of these principles brings its own punishment. History is in its essence one long judgment of God. III. By not allowing the Israelites to break their oath to the Gibeonites, even though they had been deceived by them, GoD TEACHES us THAT WRONG DONE BY OUR NEIGHBOUR DOES NOT AT ALL VINDICATE US IN BEING GUILTY OF A LIKE WRONG. One sin never justifies another. We are to " overcome evil with good," and it is this which distinguishes the people of God from all other people. It is by not being conformed to this world we triumph over it. If the people of God were to act in the same way as the Can11anites, there would be no reason for giviug them the ascendancy. When the Chm-eh becomes worlclly it falls under the condemnation of the world. Let us be, then, everywhere and always men the rule of whose liie is the law of God. The only r6taliation we must ever allow ourselves is rendering good for evil. "Be not overcome of evil," says St. Paul," but overcome evil with good" (Rom. xii. 21).-E. PE f, 158 THE BOOK OF J"OSHUA. [CH, IX, 1-27.