The Pulpit Commentary — Joshua — Section 298

•_source of His people's streng~h. for th_at in ~e,rd battle ,which e,ll must fight. (3) By the grace of Chnst the Christ1e,n will ultrme,tely enJoy '' rest from war." This is promise (a) for the individual Christian in heaven (Heb. iv. 9), (b) for the whole human family at the time of the complete triumph of Christ (Isa. ii. 4).-W. F. A. V_e~. 1.-Peaswnt proprietorship. The land of Canae,n. is divided not amongst nobiMy and gentry, but amongst the people. Each family has its little farm- probably averaging about ten acres. Divided equally amongst the people, the Mosaic law expressly forbade its alienation in perpetuity from any family. The jubilee year was ordained in orcler that twice in a century any too great inequalities of condition which had crept in might be reclressed; that every family which, through misfortune or even fault, had fallen out of property, might regain their land, and with it the means of maintenaµce for their families. In that jubilee year his freedom reverted to the slave, and his family heritage to him who had fallen into poverty. There was no injustice, for the value of the lancl was assessecl in the casa of every sale as that of a leaseholcl having so many years to run. Every l ; ancl every religious charge upon the land similarly varied, according as the jubi.:s~ year was near or distant. None hurt by t_his system; numerous and incalculable advan- tages aro9e from it. It prevented the rise of a feudal aristocracy, "With the ine,itable ·degradation of the poor. It put Israel in the best of all conditions for developing self-respect in the individual. Its equality was a school for liberty. It averted many of the most prolific causes of poverty. It diffused a homely comfort through- out all the land. It made the well-being of the State a matter of vital interest to every citizen, giving each able-bodied man a" stake in the country." It made Israel a model commonwealth, where the land was the home of all, and all classes without envy and without an-ogance enjoyed the gifts of God in fairly even distribu- tion. Observe- I. THE GROUNDS OF SUCH A PLAN OF DISTRIBUTION. The first "idea,, lying at the root of this distribution of land is, that land is, unlike all other property, not proper to be the possession in perpetuity of any holder. The land is like the air of heaven, like the rain and the sunshine, like the fisheries of the sea, meant to be a common blessing for all, rather than the private good of any. •Its productive- ness is due to Nature's chemistry as much as to man's art. What man has no part in producing, he has no title to possess, and therefore no man can legitimately posses11 himself, to the exclusion of others, of that Divine pa.rt of the earth's fruit- fulness. Accordingly, the theory of Moses is, that God is the great and only landlord; none having more than life interests in the land. Every fifty years it all was to fall into His hands age.in. Under God the land belonged to the nation, and the jubilee year permitted it to be so dividecl that all the families of the nation would enjoy it with a rough equality. A seoond idea lying at the base of this legis- lation was, that great wealth and great poverty were both of them great evils, to be prevented at any cost. The evils of poverty are obvious. Insufficient food, physical degeneracy, the development of a servile and dependent spirit; or of a reckless, turbulent spirit, that in its haste to relieve its hunger is apt to overthrow the State. Strife of classes inevitably springs from it. There is a poverty the result of indolence, which the lltw wisely would not attempt to prevent; ancl one the result of accidents, which it was impossible to foresee, and so provide against. But every State should direct its first and most patient attention to poverty produced by law; for that is generally the worst kind of all, as well as being a very general kind. And wealth co1Tupts equally with poverty. Wealth is full of fears, and feru· begets tyranny and injustice. Too much is gootl for no one. The body is weakened by being pampered, the mincl by want of constant occupation, the characte1· by the softness that comes from the absence of struggle with difficulties. Ignorance of m11ny of the ills of life begets hartl-heartedness, an~ destro)'.s th~ fine~ sympathi~s. The presence of g1:eat wealth and great poYerty, side by side, mtensifies the mis- chiefs of each ancl becomes one of the greatest perils that any commtmity has to contend with.' The law of Moses, and the carrying out of it by Joshua, was thus directed to prevent the development of the two great evils of modern civilisation- 244 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [OH. XIV, 1-llfo