Ve\'"· 1-U.-We have soon the Henbenites ancl GacliteA generonRly taking their part m_ the W£Lr for the conquest_ of Canaan, though they hacl already come into possess10n themselves of their assigned share on the other sicle of .J orclan. In this way the aolid£Lrity of the nation was vinclicatecl. Joshua now sencls back these soldiers of their country to their own inheritance, ancl we see in the verses before us the reward of their fidelity to cluty. I. THEIR FIRST RECOMPENSE IS A MATER~L ONE. They carry away a goodly share of the booty which accrued to Israel from its successful warfare. 'l'he man of God cannot always count upon this temporal reward. It may never be his. And yet iL is certain that, as a general rule even in this life, the fulfilment of duty is a con<lition of prosperity. Evil gives only deceptive ancl evanescent joys; it is opposed to the Divine law, which must in the encl prevail. It entails also terrible consequences_. Is n?t 3:ll sensual indulgence a cleaclly ancl ruinous thing ? DMs not hatred kmdle with its accursed torch fire ancl war, only to be quenched with blood? Does not the wicked dig the pit into which he himself falls (Psa. vii. 15). Punishment may tarry. Penalty is slow-foote<l, as Homer says, but it is guicle<l by the unerring hand of Divine justice. The people who fear God ancl work righteous- ness are in the end always the blessed people, and the Psalmist rightly pronounces them happy. II. The highest recompense is not however this material prosperity, BcT THE AP- PROVAL OF GOD. "Ye have kept," says Joshua to the Reubenites and Gailites, "all that Moses the servant of the Lord co=anded you" (ver. 2). There can be no purer joy than to hear words like these from the Master's lips : " Well :lone, good and faithful servant, &c." (Matt. xxv. 21). They waken in the depths of our hearts the glad echo of an approving conscience. This is not the proud satisfaction of self-righteousness; it is the joy of having rejoiced the heart of God; of having done something for the Saviour ; of having in some measure responded to the love freely received. III. OBEDIENCE LEADS TO OBEDIENCE ; GOOD BEGETS GOOD, "The path of the just is as the shining light, shining more and more." So Joshua, in sending back these valiant soldiers of their country, gives them in parting some holy admonitions. We see that he judges them worthy to apprehend the law of Goel in its " true breadth and length," in the spirit and not in the letter. It is to be noted that ho sums up the whole in that co=andment which is ever new, ancl nernr to be abrogated, that which St. John calls the old and the new commandment (1 John ii. 7) : "Love the Lord your God, ancl walk in all his ways ; keep his com- mandments, and cleave unto him and serve him with all your hen.rt, ancl with all yom- soul" (ver. 5). Thus does each step or word in the Divine life prep;i,re the way for a yet further advance, and so we go from strength to strength, from grace to grace.-E: DE P. Vers. 9-21. The feeling excited in the people of Israel by the news that the Reubenites and Gadites had set up an altar beyond J ord;in is a proof that the religious condition of the nation after the great benefits received by it was very healthy, while the act of the Reubenites and Gaclites is no less an evidence of their gratitude to God. The indignation of the ten tribes is arousecl by their impression that the Reubenites and Gadites have co=itted an act of rebellion against the holy law of God, in seeking to offer sacrifices on any other than the national altar. They are filled with holy zeal for the name of God and jealousy for His glory. " Ye have turned away this day from following the Lord," say their messengers to the two tribes supposed to be thus rebellious. If we inquire into the causes of so keen 11 spiritunl life in this people usually so stiffnecked nnd prone to estrangement from Goel, we fincl that it can be accounted for in two ways. I, ISRAEL HAS VIVIDLY IN REMEMBRANCE THE CONSEQUENCES OF ANY VIOLATION OF THE LAW OF GoD. Did not Achan the son ·of Zernh commit a trespass in tlrn nccursed thing, and was not the anger of the Lorcl. ki~dled against all Israel ? . It was not Ach:,.n alone who perished be~ause of Ins sm; the wh_ole. congreg:1t1on 1mffere<l on his account (ver. 20). In this holy fear we see the nn<l1cat1on of tl,e THE l3l)OK OF .TOSHL\. [en. XXII. 1-34;
sl<>rn judgment. of God. "Whom he loveth he chasteneth, that they mo,y be made partakers of his holiness." 11. THE SECOND EXPLANATION OF THIS HEALTHY MORAL CONDITION IS GRATITUDE Fon llLESSINGS RECEIYED in the signal victory over the Co,naanites, which the p<>ople felt they could never ha,·e achieved in their own unaided strength. Thus we need the discipline both of adversity and of prosperity iu our spirituo,l educo,tion. Prosperity alone does but harden; adversity unrelieved would sink the soul in despair. God knows our proneness to wander, hence He chastises us to put us in mind of our sins and of His holiness. But He remembers that we are but dust. Hence He blends joy with sorrow in our ch11.ngeful lives, and the two together work out in us the gracious purposes of eternal love.-E. DE P.