The Pulpit Commentary — Joshua — Section 308

HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vers. 16-19.-Fulness of blessing. Achsah had something of her father's spirit in her-ambitious, vigorous, resolute, quick to seize the present opportunity. Having so lately won his own suit Caleb could scarcely deny her her's. Through the simple, Oriental form of this narrative we see the working of deep and universal principles of human life. Let us regard it as suggestive of that restless craving of our nature which can find satisfaction only in the realisation of the higher good. I. NATURE'S CRAVING. Achsah covets a prize that is as yet beyond her reach. "Give me a blessing. Thou hast given me a south (dry, barren) land; give me also springs of water." How expressive is this of that yearning of the heart by virtue of which it cannot rest content with present possessions, but is ever reaching forth towards something more, a richer inheritance, a completer blessing, the perfect filling up of its capacity, the sense of absolute blessedness. 1. There is an appetite in the soul of man which is not only insatiable but often becomes more intense the more it is fed with finite gratifications. What is the meaning of life's restless toil and endeavour, and the perpetual craving for some new form of excitement in the giddy round and dance of pleasure? It simply shows what power there is in earthly good to awaken hopes and longings that it c!Lnnot gratify, to quicken an appetite that it cannot appease. It is not enlargement of possession, the conquering of fair kingdoms either of knowledge, or wealth, or soci!Ll distinction, or means of enjoyment, that can bring contentment to the soul. Thls will only feed its cliscon- tent unless other conditions are supplied. Man has that within him whlch spurns all his attempts to satisfy it thus. It is the mark of his essential greatness that he is conscious of a hunger which no earth-grown food can satisfy, a thirst which earthly streams cannot slake, " an aching void the world can never fill." Study the facts of your own consciousness. The day-dre11ms of your imagination and your heart have never been realised. Many a pleasant prospect has proYed like the mirage of the desert. Many a fondly-cherished purpose has been lilie a river that loses itself in the sand. Many a stay in which you trustecl has been but as a reed ihat breaks and wounds the hand that leans upon it. The worlcl has not satisfied you. Your fellow-creature_s hr1Ve not_ satisfied you. You_ have least of all been satisfied from yourself. AmHl the happiest arrangement of Circumstances you ,lream of one that is better. Rich as your e!Lrthly inheritance m!Ly be, there are times when it seems dry and barren to you, and, like Achsah, you cra\"e for something more, (2) When this appetite l_ift~ itself 1:P conscioitsly to t~~ hig!ier. level, fixes itself upon the spiritual good, it -is the evidence of a new Divine life in the soul. ,ve come here to an altogether peculiar antl distincti\·e element of feeling. The mere experience of the unsatisfactoriness of all other lunds of good does not of itself 254 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CH, XV. 1-68,