The Pulpit Commentary — Joshua — Section 282

knows thrtt His threitt~nings, like His promises, cannot fail. Of this we ho.ve o. striking proof, both in the punishment which came upon Balaam, during the war fo1· the conquest of Ca1rnan, and in the blessing of Caleb. I. For nrn,ny years Balaam had been untrue to his own conscience, in going back to the idolatries of Canaan, after having been made for one day the organ of the most glorious oracles of the true God, He is thus an illustration of the truth that the baser passions of the heart, if not subdued, will always quench the clearest light of the intellect. Bala,a,m choR<) wittingly the evil part. He plunged again into the corrnpt practices of the heathen. For a long time it seemed to the eyes of men, who judge only by the appearance, that he had made the right choice. Was it not better to sit under his own ,·i.11e and fig tree, and enjoy the riches heaped upon him hy Balak, than to join the Israelites in their dreary desert pilgrimage, benenth n blazing sky, and over the burning sand? Had not Balaam acted wisely? Unquestionably he had if the rule of true philosophy be, " Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die;" that is to say, if God does not reign in righteousness for ever ancl. ewr. But when the old soothsayer fell beneath the sword of those IsraelitAs whose warfare he had not been willing to share, he understood too late that it was these despised people who had alone been wise, and that, in spite of all the light he hacl. receirnd, he had li,ed and acted like o. fool. How many are there now living who recognise with their minds the truth of the gospel, but who a.re unwilling to g:i Ye up their sinful indulgences, until there risP.s upon them the terrible day of the Lord. Happy those for whom this day of awakening comes beforo death, so that they do not go down to the grave with their hearts made gross by merely material prosperity, only to be aroused by the stroke of Divine retribution. Let us remember the punishment of Balao.m, which came surely, though it seemed to tarry, when the prosperity of the wicked seems to as a stumbling-block. II. The promises of God's love are not less faithful and sure than His threaten- ings, though they also may seem slow of fulfilment. This is illustrated in the his- tory of Caleb, who courageously served his people through a long lifetime, bringing back a good report of the land garrisoned by the enemy, which Moses sent him to explore. "Therefore Moses sware on that day, saying, Surely the land whereon thy feet have trodden shall be thine inheritance and thy children's for ever, because thou hast wholly followed the Lord thy God'' (ver. 9). This promise was not for- gotten. Caleb recei,ved, as an inheritance, that hill of Hebron which was assured to him in the name of the God whom he served. Thus the promises of God are yea and amen.-E. DE P. Yer. 22.-Balaani. A study of pathetic interest; one of the great "might-have- beens " of the world. One capable of winning an immortal fame, but actually ~nding only an immortal info.my. The Judas of the Old Testament: one travelling on the right road till within sight of heaven, and then turning aside to perdition. Consider- I. THE GREATNESS OF THE MAN. Evidently his· position is one of great dignity and influence. He has raised himself to priest-kingship among the Midianitish tribes. He is considered to have such power in divination and forecast that he is brought all the way from a city in Mesopotamia to the borders ?f Canaan to " curse Israel." This reputation would lead you to expect to find hun at ~east a man possessed of great spiritual insight; able at least to guess well concemmg all moral probabilities. He has, morec,ver, reached a clear knowledge of God; has not becorue entangled by any service of the lower deities whose degrading worship was so pre"alent; showing that he was a spiritually minded man, who had gone on and un following the light which reached him, until that light exceeded that of any c,ne else awong his people. His divination is no black art-carried on by app;,als to demuns-but by pure s11crifices offered to the supreme God. He had evid;,ntly l,een accustomed to utter exactly what God imparted. Pleasant or painful, what Goel sent him he said. And his honesty and courage a.re con- 01,icuous in his actual declarations concerning Israel. When we have put together tl,ese qualities : spirituo.lity sufficient to discover and serve the true God; greo.t •OH, XIII, 1-38.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 227