The Pulpit Commentary — Joshua — Section 267

beat.en general, of plans unwisely formed and forces unhappily employed. Those wb'? follow God's guidance in all the affairs of life are fighters in a, comba,t in which then· success confers blessmgs on themselves a.nd on society at large. All who refuse God's ~dance in their general affe.irs are fighters in a combat in which their 1mccess, 1f achieved, would damage others still more than their failure would hurt themselves. Those who choose wrongly thus find life a losing game, a disastrous battle. It would be well if all realised that not to win a victo1-y with life is to su.f(c1' a tcITibw defeat, is to be left with loss of power, and with infinite damage. In one or other list we all shall be. Crowned as victors, humiliated and discredited as failures. II. MOST OF THOSE IN THAT LIST NEVER EXPECTED TO. BE IN IT. Why should the~-? They had theories like -ours to-day of-the superiority of training in arms, of fort-ifications, of what they called their civilisation, to any rude force which nomadic hordes could bring. But they are bea.ten. Pride goeth before destruction. Many reliant in their strength of purpose are destroyed by temptations they despised. Youth dreams of only bright and golden issues to its life. Too often the only issues :ire deplornble. Do not assume y:our life is going to be a grand success. Victory is desert-not drift, achievement-not accident. Even to retain requires energy. These men could not transmit to others what had been transmitted to them. III. THEY WERE NOT SAVED BY PROFESSION OF SANCTITY. Some of the cities here ha,d !l.lready had a long reputation for sanctity. "Jerusalem" had been Melchizedek's seat ; " Bethel," the old no.me of the locality (though the city was Luz), means "the house of God.'' "Kedesh" means "a holy plaoe.'' These all seem to have been spots consecrated to the service of the true God. Consecrated peoples have God's protection ; consecrated places go without. "J ndgment'' does not spare, it "begins "ith the house of God." Later inhabitants of Jerusalem may say, "The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord e.re these." But the sanctity of the site increases, it does not avert the punishment of those profaning it. There is some- thing very solemn in this removal of the cawilesticks which had served the Pre- Abrahamic Church. England is to-day a great Bethel, a sublime Kedesh. May we have grace to act worthily of, and so retain, our eminence. IV. THE INDIVIDUAL SIU.RES THE FATE OF THE COMMUNITY, Some of these kings and their people, doubtless, were worthy of a better fate. But implicated in the fortnnes of the general community, lea.gning with it for its defence, they come in for its fate. It is strange how the individual has to share the jot of the community. The accident of our birth may determine our calling, our fortune, ernn our creed, and onr character. Advantages for which others have wrought, disabilities which others have transmitted, are inherited by us. "Other men have laboured, and we have entered into their labours." Sometimes other men have 6inned, and we have entered into their penalty. There is, indeed, an inner realm whose fortunes depend only on ourselves. But we are members one of. a,nother, and must participate the. general forttllle, We should therefore cherish more patriotism, more religious interest in our country'8 politics Q/11,d action. The welfare of those yet unborn depends on the wisdom of the generation to-da,y existent. Let us not leave to our successors a "heritage of woe," such as was left to these kings of Canaan. L.ook on them with pity, with modest humility, asking of your soul," Vi'ho maketh thee to differ?" It may be some Canaanitish ba,rd_lamented the dead at the waters of Merom, as the Scottish bard did those who fell 11t Flodden, and sang tenderly of" the flowers of the forest being a' wede a,way." Let us 1,e thankful that in the past we have been spared such a doom, and careful in tLe futui-e to avoid it.-G Vers. 7, 8.-Diversity of lots. The diversity of situation and character in the several lots of the tribes of Israel is illustrative of the similar diversity which is seen in all human experience. I. DIVERSITY OF LOTS IS A NECESSITY. If we could attain uniformity we could not retain it. (1) Diversity necessarily results from the inevit11ble differences in the arrangement of the physical world and the course of eJtternal events. The OH. XII, 1-24.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 211