The Pulpit Commentary — Hebrews — Section 324

Vere. 30-38.-Exploits and endurances of faith. The last two specific exampl,·s ]1ere cited are connected with the entrance ot Israel into Canaan under Joshna. 1. Thef<lll of Jericho. (Ver. 30.) That stronghold was not reduced as the result of a. long siege. It was not successfully assaulted with engines of wnr. The only means employed were processions, trumpets, and shouts. But the Israelites did not doubt that the word of Jehovah would be fulfilled; and, as the Divine reward of their faith, which they bad shown in a sevenfold or perfect manner in "compassing Jericho about seven days," the wall fell down flat. 2. The safety of Rahab. (Ver. 31.) Rahab harl. been a heathen ,voman, and at one time a woman of abandoned character; but she is now known to the world only as a heroine of faith. The object of her faith was the God of Israel himself, and his purpose to procure Canaan for the chosen people. The ground of it was the miraculous passage of the Red Sea, and the overthrow of the .A:morites. Its fruit was seen in her determination at whatever risk to befriend the two scouts, as being Jehovah's servants. And the reward of Rahab's faith lay in her preservation amid the general destruction, and the honour which she received in becoming an ancestress of the Messiah.-In this chapter the author had be?:UD at the beginning of Genesis; and he has been turning over the Old 'l'estament Scriptures almost page by page, and finding everywhere noble specimen-deeds of faith. But the time would fail him were he to continue as he began. Although the galleries of Hebrew history are crowded with portraits of spiritual heroes, our inspired guide tells us that we may not linger any longer over individual pictures. He will permit us only a very hurried walk through the exhibition; for he is anxious to introduce us to the masterpiece of the whole-the portrait of "Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith" (eh. xii. 2). What a splendid sentence, or group of sentences, this in vers. 32-881 How rhetorically resonant, and how spiritually triumphant! These verses may be said themselves to form "one great, magnificent picture, full of figures individually striking, and admirably disposed with regard to one another" (Dr. Lindsay). I.· SUMMARY OF DEl!!DS DONE THROUGH FAITH. (Vera. 32-34.) The men of faith are all workers or soldiers. 1. Siz famous heroes are mentioned by name (ver. 3~). 'fhese e.re, four eminent judges; David, the illustrious king; and saintly Samuel, the first of "the prophets." 2. There follows a condensed and vivid descript ~Jn of the achievements of the heroes of faith (vers. 33, 34). The preacher may verify every one of these references from those great eras of Jewish history which extcn<led in succession from the time of Joshua. to the e.ge of the Maccabees. II. Sur.DIARY OF SUFFERINGS BORNE THROUGH FAITH. (Vers. 35-38.) For the workers and· soldiers of foith are also sufferers. Each expression in this eloquent epitome may be e.mply vindicated from the same eras of Hebrew history, a.nd especially from the later periods, the time of the prophets, of the Captivity, e.nd of the restoration. It -is evident that the apostle has here prominently in view the sufferings of Judas Maccabreue e.nd his brave compatriots in the days of that monster of cruelty, Antiochu!' Epiphanes. The parenthesis in ver. 38, while it is in itself a sweetly bP.autifu1 exclamation, also sums up the character of the men of faith in a weighty monograph. Their persecutors condemned them as unworthy of living iu t~e world; but, instead of the.t, the world was not worthy of them. The£e godly exiles and martyrs were "\hu t\lllt of the rnrth." 'fheir lives decked humanity, even iu it:, periods of gros:i  316 THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. [ou. llI, 1-40.