The Pulpit Commentary — Hebrews — Section 314

I Israel. In puraunnce of this course, it pnrsuecl in rletail, this beinr, sufficient to become necessary for him to lenve Egypt sn~gest it nil. Only, for o. special reason, for CL time, In this, aa well aa in atuying, the case of Itahab has attentinn drawn to it. there was danger; for the king might pur- Ver. 81. - By faith Rahab the harlot sue him: he might, perhaps, have aecurerl perished not with. them that wera discbedient, hie own safety by returning to the court when s~e ~ad received the spies with peace. and giving up his project; but he perse- Rahab 1a mstanced also by St. James (ii. 25) vered at all hazorda. And thus the appre- as having shown her faith by works. Such. hension of immediate dunger under which special notice of her is accounted for by her he flod the country with a view to final being so remarkable an instance of a, succeaa, was in no contradiction to hie heathen, o.n alien, one of the very doomed general feadessneas. Further, his being Canaanite race, being through faith. arlopted content to leave Egypt at all, 0T1d that for into the commonwealth of Israel, so as even so many years, and still never re11nquishing to become an ancestress of the Messiah his design, was an additional evidence of (Matt. i. 5). Faitl1 is thas exhibited as the faith, aa is expressed by the word bca.p-re- acceptable principle of religious action, not p11u•, "he endured." The vision through in Israel only, but in all races, as in all faith of the unseen heavenly King kept times. Rahab's faith was in the omnipo- alive hie hope through those long years of tence and supremacy of the God of Israel, exile : what waa any possible wrath even induced by evidence of which she could not of the terrible Pharaoh to one supported by resist the force (Josh. ii. 9-12). Her con- that continual vision ? sequent action was to protect the spies, of Vere. 28, 29.-By faith he kept (literally, course with great risk to herself, lest she hath kept, ,mro/711<e11, the perfect being used should oppose the Divine will ns she rather than the historical aorist, as denoting believed it. Her fellow-countrymen had an accomplished act, with continuing effect the same evitlence before them ; but it and significance (cif. .,..pounnfvoxev, ver. 17). caused them only to lose courage and faint, But .,..,.,..0/711<<11 does not mean, Bs some sup- not to act on faith e.t e.11, either in theix own pose, "bath instituted," .,..0,.,11 -ro nifuxcz gods or in the LOBD; hence they are here being the usual expression for the celebra- called "those who were disobedient (-ro,, tion) the Passover, and the sprinkling of ~.-,mO,fua.u,)," i.e. resisted God's will-the blood, lest he that destroyed the _11rstborn same expression as is used of the Israelites should touoh them. By faith they passed who fell in the wilderness ( eh. iii. 18), 11nd through the Red Sea, ae by dry land; whioh of the contemporaries of Noah (1 Pet. iii. the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned. 20; of. Acts xix. 9). That Rahab was, at The faith of Moses himself is still mainly the time when she thns evinced her faith, a intended here, though the conjunction of he.riot (such is certainly the meaning of .,../un, with IS1lfJ11ua.11 seems to imply faith .,..&p,,.,); that she lied to the King of in the people too. Nor is this inconsistent Jericho's messengers (Josh. ii 4, 5); and with the narrative; for, though they are that she treacherously aided the invaders represented aa having cried out in their of her country ;-have been felt as difficultie~ sore fear, and even reproached their leader with regard to the position assigned her for bringing them out of Egypt to die in e.mong the faithful. In reply to such as- the wilderness, yet on his exhortation, persions on her character, it is usual to " Fear ye not, stand still, and see the sal- llllege as follows : As to her harlotry, there vation of the LOBD," they may be supposed is no reason to suppose that her profession to have trusted him, and caught something was held in any disrepute among the .if the inspiration of his faith. Moses, Canae.nites, or that she was aware of there indeed, stands out as a prominent example being any harm in it; o.nd tliat, o.t any rate (and this is one point in the moral teaching after her conversion, she became the honour- of his history) of the strong faith of one able wife of a chief in Israel. As to her great man, not only availing in behalf of lying, strict truthfulness in oil circum- others, but also in some degree infecting e. stances was not likely to be known to her whole community, little disposed at first to as a necessary virtue; Miehe.I, not t,, make heroic ventures. mention others, lied to Saul's messenger3 Ver. 80.-By faith the walls of J'erioho in order to save Do.,id's life, and even soma fell down after they were oompaBBed about Christian co.suists allow falsehood in such seven days (see Josh. vi. 1-21). The coses. As to her treachery, what she held capture of Jeriobo may be selected for to be her religious duty properly took pre- mention, not only because of its extraordi- cedence of o.ny sentiment of hopeless pa- nary ohe.raoter, but also as being the be- triotism; and, after _all, what she did w1\s ginning of the campaign in Cana11n, the only to save the spies from >\ cruel deoth, first necessary conquest that opened the not to correspou<l with the enemy or open way to the rest. The history is not further the gates of her city to them. Such e:xcum; HEilllEWII. X :ios 'l'HE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. [cu. XI, 1-iO,