, er. 6.-The destruction of the populations. The difficulty is often urged of the numerous cases of the destruction or entire populations recorded in Scripture, and said to be commanded by God. It is a difficulty which all have felt, and which deserves remark. It is not questioned that, as a matter of policy, it was wise to root out these 110pulations from the lands in which they dwelt; but the justice and humanity of the measure are thought to be moro doubtful. The believer, on the other hand, cannot take a condemnatory view of these transactions (so far as covered by express com- mand); but must treat them as he would treat similar difficulties in the ordinary pro,;idencc of God, as matters which appear to conflict with the Divine goodness and justice, while doubtless admitting of a perfect reconciliation with both. But it may be su~(Tested- "" l. THAT THE FTh"'EB METHODS OF l!ODERN WARFARE CANNOT REASONABLY BE LOOKED FOR IN RUDER AGES. War in any case is an evil of terrible magnitude. The suffer~ ings it inflicts, even when conducted most humanely, are incalculable. It is not the men in arms alone who suffer, but the populations whose villages are burned, whose fields are derastated, whose aged and sickly are driven ont to perish, whose wives and mothers mourn their dead thousands. Modern warfare has, however, its alleviations, the result of centuries of civilization and of the growth of Christian feeling. Thes11 did not, and could not, exist at the time of the conquest. It is not in analogy with God's method of operation to suppose that he should have miraculously anticipated the work of long ages of development, and grafted on these wars the military science of the nineteenth century-a science equally unsuited to the intelligence of the in- vader and to the tactics of the enemy. It would be as reasonable to allege that God should have anticipated the disco\·erics and methods of modern surgery, or armed the Israelites with nineteenth-century weapons. What may reasonably be expected is that, adopting as a basis the m~thods of warfare then customary, the evils of these should as far as possible be mitigated, and any improvements be introduced which the rudeness of the times admitted of. How far this was accomplished will appear to any one who studies the accounts of ancient warfare, with their shocking barbarities, mutilations, tortures; scarcely a trace of which is to be found in the wars of the Israelites, and none in the Law. II. THAT THE EXTERMINATION OF WHOLE POPULATIONS WAS NOT THE RULE OF JEWISH ~AilFAilE, DUT WAS INVARIABLY A PUNISHMENT INFLICTED FOB SIN. The proof of the former of these propositions will be found in eh. xx. 10-16 ; and examination of the :-;ps:cia! cases will show the correctness of the latter. TLe destruction of the Canaan- itish nations, in particular, is put expressly on the ground of their horrible and n:i,me- less iniquities (Lev. xviii. 24, 25). It was the execution of a long-delayed and richly deserved judicial sentence. The llfidianites and Amalekitcs incurred this doom through sins against Israel (Numb. xxxii. 16; Exod. xvii. 16); as also to some c.,xtent did Sihon 111.!d Og. But while we cannot speak absol11tely as to the moral state of tbo nations ~·lrt nooK OJ.i' DEUTEl10NOMY, 53
under these kings, it may be inferred Hult the cup of theil' iniquity had, in the Divine estimation, become full like the others. Do we condemn the sentence as too severe? Or roust we not leave the ju<lgment on a point like that to the J udgo of all the earth? 'l'ho cRscntial difficulty is not greater than in the ju<lgments of the Deluge or the destruction of Sudom and Gomorrah, in which God claimed a. like right to dispose of human life, and to vindicate his justice by the destruction of it. We ought rather to read in the severity of these punishments the awful lesson of sin's evil and enormity, and of the abhorrence in which it is held by the holy Lawgiver. The emphasizing of guilt and its deserts was a necessary preliminary to the introduction of the gospel. III. 'l'IIAT Goo 18 AS SEVERE IN HIS DEALINGS WITH SIN IN HIS OWN PEOPLE AS L'I ms ENEMIES. 'fbis is a point which is surely of great moment. If severe in punishing these wicked nations, God is not less sparing of Israel when it follows in their ways, and does what is wrong. We think here of the destruction of thousands of their number for the sin of the golden calf (Exo<l. xxxii. 28), and for the sin of Baal-peor (Numb. xxiii. 5); of the plagues, fiery serpents, etc., which chastised them for dis- obedience; of their defeat at Ai (Josh. vii. 4), and of the threatenings recorded aaainst them in this book (eh. xxviii.). We think of Moses himself excluded from the h~nd of promise. Nor is sin made less of in the New Testament than in the Old. In the Cl'OSS of Jesus, where the Holy One is made a curse for sinners, a far more affecting demonstration is given of the judicial sternness of God, than in the destruction of the nations of his foes. There is with God no respect of persons; and if one can believe in his love to Israel notwithstanding these inflictions, he may believe in his love and justice notwithstanding the punishments inflicted on the sinful nations around. As regards the Canaanitish nations, their rooting out, so just otherwise, was plainly necessary for the preservation of Israel's purity (eh. vii. 1-6).-J. 0.