The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Chronicles — Section 115

make the aid and arm of man seem but feebleness and cast us back on God. Then we bide in him ; then we find that he is the Refuge and the Strength of his people, the true Dwelling-place of the human soul in all generations. In great and deep affliction, as at no other time, we (1) see the meaning and feel the force of sacred truths ; (2) come into close fellowship with the Father, the Friend, the Comforter of the human spirit ; (3) realize the littleness of earthly life and the preciousness of the herita"e 0 which i~ beyond. Bereft of human wealth, we are " rich towards God."-C. Ver. 21.-Joshua and Jesus: resemblance and contrast. The identity of the names- the one being the Greek form of the other-has led the Church to look on the Hebrew captain as a type of the Saviour of the world. (For confirmation, see Heb. iv. 8.) There are certain resemblances, though the contrasts are as striking if not as numerous. I. RESEMBLANCES BETWEEN JOSHUA AND JESUS, 1. 'l'hey both bore the same name. 2. They both brought to the people of God deliverance from the enemies of God. 3. They were both obedient to "him that sent them," and wrought out the work which he gave them to do. 4. They both led (or, lead) the people of God into the promised land. 5. They both began their earthly life in obscurity, and rose (or, have risen) to the highest point of human honour. !I. CONTRASTS BETWEEN THE HUMAN OAPTAIN AND THE DIVINE DELIVERER, 1. Joshua was engaged in the work of his life for (at least) thirty years; tho Lord for (at most) three. 2. Joshua fought with carnal weapons, and won victories with swor,l of steel; Christ fought only with spiritual weapons, and his conquest is the triumph of truth and grace. 3. Joshua had good reason to fear that by his death his life-work would be undone; the Saviour had the best reason to know that by his death his life- work would be sealed and crowned. 4. Joshua led a nation into a land which would prove a temporary inheritance; the redeeming Lord leads the human race" into ever- lasting habitations," into the one city which is eternal. Better the humblest post amongst the followers of Jesus than the proudest place in the ranks of Joshua.-C. Ch. vii., viii,-Genea.logies: Issa.char, Naphtali, Ephraim, Asher, Benjamin. Two conspicuous features are presented in these chapters-genealogy and warfare. Only those are numbered who were found in the registers, and these are all soldiers and "mighty men of valour." They are described in the seventh chapter ~vers. 11-40) as "fit to go out for war" aud "apt to the war." Thus it is with all Gods people. They are of the genealogy. They are "born again," "not of flesh, nor of blood, nor of the will of man, but of God." Their names are in the register, too, not in the earthly book -the baptismal register only, of which these earthly registers of Israel may be con- sidered as figures-but in the" Lamb's book of life." They know their genealogy, they can trace their pedigree. Tbey are "sons and daughters of the Lord Gou Almighty." Christ is their elder Brother. And they are all "soldiers." They were redeemed for this end, that they should be "good soldiers of Jesus Christ," and "war a good warfare." But how are they to become "valiant," "apt," "fit"? By the disci- pline of the Holy Spirit, by the afflictions and trials and sufferings of the way, which often make the heart to bleed and the eye to weep. We oro told that Solomon had "eighteen thousand stone-squarers" in preparing the stones in Lebo.non for the templo on Zion. God has many more than these in preparing his "living stones" in this Lebanon-world for the glorious temple on Mount Zion. We have an instance of this spiritual discipline in this chapter (vii. 21-23). It seems to have been an episode in Egypt before Israel had left it. The patriarch Ephraim was then alive, and at a very advanced age. 'l'ho men of Gath came suddenly down upon the family of Ephraim (for they, not Ephraim, were the aggressors, if we substitute the word "when" in vor. 21 for "because," the correct rendering) for the purpose of plundering their flocks. Ephraim's sons were slain. The aged father was deeply afflicted. In accordance with Eastern custom (see Job ii. 11; John xi. 19), distant relatives came to offer their con- dolences. So deeply did the bereavement weigh upon the aged father that he per- petuated the memory of his sorrow by calling his next son "Beriah, bec:.uso it went evil with his house." So suddenly do calamities ovcrtako us here I \Vo know not w_hat a day may brillg forth. The postman's knock may dash the fairest schcmts to pieces and drape our landscape in gloom. Oh, what is there sure here 1 Nothing but 106 THE FIRST BOOK OF 'l'HE CHRONICLES. [011, vn. 1-40.