exodus of an injured race, and it would be like Himself if, in our day, while statesmen and armies contend in the senate and the battle-field, He should permit women who remain at home to deal the blow which decides the victory, and distribute the resulting spoil. He sits King upon the floods.' 'All are His servants.' 'Stand still and see the salvation of God.'" Such has ever been the way in which God has made it apparent that "the counsel of the wicked shall not stand." He may work by feeble means, as though He would shew the abundance of His power, but His way must stand. He who opposes the will of God does but hasten his own overthrow (Jer. xiii. 24, 25). In this, as in many things besides, the volume of Divine revelation and that of human history are one. OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VERSES. Verse 1.-INHERITING THE PROMISED into nothing worth holding, saving as we POSSESSION. I. The promised possession in its reality. "Which the children of Israel inherited." The promise given to Abram, and repeated through several generations, was not merely a promise. The time for actual inheritance had come at last. God's promises all end in an estate. II. The promised possession in its need of faith and patience. The inheritance had been a long time coming. More than four hundred and fifty years had passed since the Lord called Abram out of Ur of the Chaldees to go into the land, and look upon it as the future home of his people. Canaan was for so long "The Promised Land," that it got to bear that name, a fact not a little significant, intimating, perhaps, something of the long struggle between human hope and human impatience. He who "waits on the Lord may well wait in confidence. "The vision is yet for an appointed time.” III. The promised possession in relation to the grace and power of God. Now that the people had t last come to the inheritance, what a picture was presented in the path behind them of the longsuffering and help of Jehovah. Egypt, the Exodus, the Wilderness, the crossing of the Jordan, the fall of Jericho, and the various victories which followed, were all eloquent of the power of the Divine arm and the love of the Divine heart. What had the people done apart from God? We come reach it by the same might and the same love. "Not by might, nor by power," etc. As when we look back from each valuable estate in life, we have to feel that God hath wrought all, so when we look forward to blessings for which we wait, let us be willing to accept the Lord's words, "Without Me ye can do nothing." IV. The promised possession on earth a possession in which rest is only partial. The land which Israel was about to divide, could only be entered upon with much care and much conflict. Faith, patience, wisdom, and work were dom, and work were still largely needed. It is ever thus with all estates on earth, not excepting our more spiritual possessions. Rest is broken, not only by toil, but by conflict. We never get an inheritance here in which there are not left some foes to dispute the possession with us. V. The promised possession in heaven a possession in which rest is perfect. "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." It is only at the point of death that we come to the last of our foes, but after that the inheritance is undisputed for ever. We must not think, however, that the rest is free from work. It has no toil, yet it is full of activity. As has been remarked, while Scripture teaches that heaven is perfect rest, it also says of some there, "They rest not day nor night." Inaction must be worse than toil. How blessed must be the activity which is all prompted by love, which knows no conflict, and which feels no care! Verse 2.-THE INHERITANCE DIVIDED BY LOT. I. The lot of God in its silent and invisible working. The unseen chariot of Providence is drawn by invisible steeds, and the wheels thereof run noiselessly. II. The lot of God in its extensive range. It dealt with the whole country. Providence has no waste land. Every acre of the universe is under its inspection and cultivation. III. The lot of God in its mysterious complexity. Every single lot had its relation to every other lot, to every year in each succeeding century. of Israelitish history, to every inhabitant of the land through all that period, and thus to nations, far and near, outside of Canaan. IV. The lot of God in its irreversible issues. The lot once taken was not to be altered. The ways of Providence shew no hesitation, and suffer no readjustment by men. V. The lot of God in its witness to Divine wisdom and love. The wisdom is corroborated by the song of the generations following (Ps. xlvii.); the love is apparent in the condescension which shews such care at the time, and in the patience which helps and blesses for so long a period afterwards. God not only chooses the portions of His people, but gives them many an after-occasion to sing, "Thou maintainest my lot. The lines have fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage." "It is somewhat remarkable that the casting of the lots was stopped as soon as Judah and Joseph had received their shares. The command of God, that the whole land, even that which had not yet been conquered, should be portioned out amongst the nine tribes and a half (chap. xiii. 1-7), would lead us to expect that when once the casting of the lots had cemmenced, it would proceed uninterruptedly, until every tribe had received its share; and that it would only have to enter it in reliance upon the Divine promise, and exterminate, or at least subjugate, the Canaanites who still remained. But, instead of this, as soon as the shares had been allotted to two tribes and a half, the camp was removed from Gilgal to Shiloh (chap. xiv. 6, xviii. 1, 9), and the tabernacle set up there; and the other tribes manifested so little anxiety to receive their inheritance, that Joshua had to say to them, How long are ye slack to go to possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers hath given you?' He then appointed a commission, consisting of twenty-one men, three from each tribe, and sent them out to survey the country, and bring home a description of it, and to divide it into seven parts. And it was not till after the description of the country, thus arranged according to its cities, had been received, that he was able to proceed with the lot, and distribute to each tribe its appointed share. The reason for this interruption is not stated. Masius (on chap. xv.1-4) thinks it necessary to assume, that after the defeat of the Canaanites in the south and the north, the division of the conquered land was commenced by the territory which fell to the tribes of Judah and Joseph being awarded by lot, without any accurate measurement, and that only the two tribes mentioned, as being the most powerful, were allowed to draw lots for it. By the appropriation of the southern district of Palestine to these tribes, the camp at Gilgal was well guarded from any sudden attack on the part of the enemy; an important precaution, as the other tribes had shewn so little desire to take possession of the inheritance which was hereafter to be assigned to them. The exact distribution of the land was therefore postponed until messengers had been despatched in every direction to make a survey of the country, and to bring back an accurate description. This view is generally approached by Rosenmüller, De Wette, and Lengerke." [Keil, pp. 346-7.] To this assumption of Masius, however, Keil very properly objects that "it is at variance with the Divine command to divide the whole country by lot amongst the nine tribes and a half, the unconquered as well as the conquered portions, and almost destroys the value and defeats the purpose of the lot." Probably, as with the seven tribes later on, the lot merely decided the general position to be occupied by Judah, Ephraim, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, leaving the more exact adjustment of territory to be made after the general survey had taken place. This accords best with the subsequent settlement of Simeon within the lot roughly given at first to Judah, and with the subsequent cession of towns and territory made by Judah and Ephraim to the smaller tribe of Dan. Joseph were divided into two tribes, and were thus privileged to obtain a double portion. Thus had Jacob prophesied (Gen. xlix.), or rather, like an arbiter appointed by God, he had in this matter preferred the sons of Joseph to the others. God therefore assumed the Levites to Himself as a peculiar inheritance, and in their stead substituted one of the two families of Joseph."-[Calvin.] MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.-Verses 6—15. Whether Caleb was a native of Israel or a foreign proselyte (cf. Crit. Notes, v. 6), he was reckoned among the tribe of Judah. He was one of the foremost men in the tribe, and while his exaltation may have been greatly owing to his faithfulness as one of the spies sent out by Moses, there must have been a preeminence of some kind even to account for his selection on that important occasion. Perhaps he had already shewn some of those traits of the noble character which so conspicuously adorned his after-life. As Caleb belonged to the tribe of Judah, the men of Judah came to support him in his request to Joshua. His privileges and honour would be their honour also. As the representative of Judah in the distribution of the land (cf. Numb. xxxiv. 19), it was the more desirable that Caleb's grant of Hebron should not seem to be in any measure the outcome of his official position. In Caleb's petition and its reception we may notice the following things: I. Earnest piety linked with a remembrance of God's gracious words. "Thou knowest the thing that the Lord said." These two features are each contributive to the other: the man who is truly pious will love to dwell on the words of the Lord, and the man whose memory cherishes Divine words will find them helpful to his piety. 1. God both suffers and encourages us to find a stimulus in the thought of personal reward. For forty-five years Caleb had dwelt with pleasure on "this thing that the Lord said." The name and the thought of Hebron had become part of his very life. He could never forget these gracious words of the Lord. The wilderness could not hide them. The terrible plagues and judgments could not obliterate them. Every one of his companions above the age of twenty, excepting Joshua, had died since this "thing that the Lord had said" was spoken; let what would die, that lived on fresh as ever. And it is not wrong to dwell with joy on the rewards which God promises to us personally. This may not be the highest motive in service, but men are very human, and God's kindness meets them where they are. The noble hymn of Francis Xavier is inspiring in its loftiness, but the key in which it is set is not within the reach of every voice, and probably of no voice at all times. It does us good to hear the holy strain : "My God, I love Thee; not because I hope for heaven thereby, Nor yet because who love Thee not Then why, O blessed Jesu Christ, Should I not love Thee well? Not for the hope of winning heaven, Nor of escaping hell; Not with the hope of gaining aught, Not seeking a reward; But as Thyself hast loved me, Some have urged that this is the spirit in which we should always serve the Lord. Perhaps we should; but God is kinder than to reject our work when it proceeds from less exalted motives. "He knoweth our frame." He makes us great by gentleness. The Saviour even urges us to serve in view of the crown which He promises : "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." That was a very noble life from which proceeded the utterance, "The love of Christ constraineth me;" but it was the same life which at another time urged men on with the cry-"So run that ye may obtain." Caleb did no wrong to treasure up the thing that the Lord said " touching Hebron; even so the Saviour has no reproach for us when we find ourselves stimulated to service by the thought of the rewards which await us. So far from reproaching us, when Christ is about to depart from among men, He graciously puts among His last words these "In my Father's house are many mansions; I go to prepare a place for you." That is the picture upon which the absent Saviour would have His apostles steadfastly look. This humanness of the Lord is very beautiful. 2. The man who is truly pious will equally remember the things which God says touching duties which are to be performed. Caleb had shewed himself ready to remember commands as well as promises. When he rendered such faithful obedience as one of the spies, his obedience was not merely to Moses, but to God who spake through Moses. He followed the Lord fully." To the memory of a man really pious, a command is as sacred as a promise. There is a sense in which God's commands to serve Him are far more precious than even promises. They tell of complete forgiveness in a way in which it can be told by no assurance of pardon and by no promise of reward. When God condescends to give us something to do for Himself, we may well feel that He has quite blotted out our iniquity. Suppose Jonah had only been assured of forgiveness for his sin of fleeing to Tarshish, or that a promise of final salvation had been added to such an assurance. No gracious words in this direction could ever have told of complete pardon as it was told by the mercy which condescended to employ him again. What if another prophet had been sent in Jonah's place? In that case, it seems to us, that Jonah's sense of forgiveness could never have been quite satisfactory. The beauty of pardon is seen, not in any promise, but in the commandment which is written in the history: "And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee." So Peter may have felt a sweet sense of joy as he received that special message to himself to meet the Saviour in Galilee; but Peter's sense of perfect pardon probably came, ultimately, far more through the commandment in which he was again bidden to do the work of his Master. It was in once more feeding Christ's sheep and lambs that the sense of complete forgiveness would have entered into the apostle's life. No mere assurance of pardon could have ever supplied the comfort that must have come through this re-employment. We have only to think of Peter with nothing more to do for Christ, to realize, as far as any one but himself could realize, his utter and lifelong misery. He who neglects precepts for promises is not wise. Caleb shews us how to remember both. "In keeping of Thy commandments there is great reward." 3. The pious man will treasure up, no less, the commendations of the Lord. These words about "following the Lord fully," or wholly," had also clung to Caleb (ver. 9). For forty-five years his memory had cherished them as too precious to be forgotten. Those who think that, in uttering on this occasion such words to Joshua, Caleb "talked of his own virtue in rather loftier terms than becomes a pious and modest man," utterly overlook the true aspect of the words. God had said them (Numb. xiv. 24); that was what made them so dear to Caleb. His artless reiteration of them, taken in this light, so far from being immodest, is simple and beautiful. It is the language of the commended child, recounting gratefully from his heart his Father's words of praise. How long will the children above remember the heavenly greeting-" Well done, good and faithful servant"! II. The consciousness of personal faithfulness associated with trust in precious promises. Caleb walked before God with a deep concern to honour He had "stilled the people" in their rebellion, as far as possible; and God. We when he could prevail no longer with them, he and Joshua had rent their clothes. He was faithful to the trust which had been reposed in him. 1. The faithful life has the greatest desire for the things which God promises. The life of an upright man will have its tastes in harmony with the things which God has to give. 2. The faithful life best knows the value of God's promises. The man to whom truth and integrity are dear will know that these are much more sacred to Jehovah. 3. Thus the faithful life will most fully trust the promises. They will be deemed worth remembering not only for forty-five years, but throughout all the years in which such a life is spared. "The thing which the Lord hath said" will seem to be "ordered in all things, and sure." It will be regarded as sure in days of adversity, no less than in days of prosperity and victory. III. Godly manliness going with unselfishness and dependence. Caleb's words have in them a frankness and outspokenness which make them attractive. He did not affect to hide the sin of his brethren; on the other hand, he called it by no harsh name. Here is none of the simpering of a false modesty, neither is there anything of the spirit of fault-finding. And as his words touching his brethren, so are his words concerning himself. He frankly said that he "wholly followed the Lord God" (ver. 8). The words are too brief and too matter-of-fact for egotism. A vain man would have made a sermon of what Caleb put into a sentence. Caleb felt that he had honestly sought God's glory and Israel's good on the occasion in question, and with a manly freedom from affectation he did not attempt to conceal that. We love him both for that which he said and for that which he did not say. feel, as we read, that we are reading the speech of a man. The language of Caleb is further relieved from any appearance of a vain and weak egotism, if we remember that he was merely reiterating "the thing that the Lord said." These words about following the Lord wholly are not Caleb's words at all, but the words of Jehovah, which had been so thankfully cherished for so long a time. It might have seemed vain to utter thus merely his own judgment; it was but a grateful love to God, and a manly consciousness that this thing was true, which led Caleb thus to repeat the words of God. Over against all this strong and transparent manliness, it is very beautiful to observe Caleb's unselfishness and childlike dependence. These giant Anakim he was perfectly willing to confront. He did not want a lot where there were no foes. Let others seek such an inheritance if they chose; this was a brave man, and he could fight; this was an unselfish man, and while his brethren fought with men, he, although eightyfive years of age, would fight with giants. So manly was this aged Caleb, and so unselfish. And yet this brave and strong man felt as dependent on his God as a little child on its father. He said: "If so be the Lord will be with me, then shall I be able to drive them out, as the Lord said." Manly piety is great in its freedom from paltry affectation, great in its unselfishness, but greatest of all in its dependence upon God. Paul said: "When I am weak, then am I strong;' the converse is no less true-when we are strong, then we are weak. It is manhood in its noblest form that leans hardest upon God; and he who leans very much upon God is usually strong in a manhood altogether in advance of the manliness of him who is self-reliant. IV. Gratitude connected with fidelity and trust (verses 10, 11). This man, who had been so strong to follow God, and who was so hale at the age of fourscore and five years, thankfully acknowledged that his vigour had been all of Jehovah. The Lord had kept him alive. His brethren had died in the wilderness; it was of the Lord that he had not died. His brethren had died for sin; Caleb seemed to recognise that it was of the Lord also that he had not sinned as they had done. True greatness and warm gratitude generally go together. It was the " great apostle of the Gentiles" who said so ardently, "By the grace of God I am what I am." V. A sense of personal fitness united with hope. Caleb's trust was wholly in the Lord, and yet he well knew that the Lord's way was to work naturally. It needed a strong man to encounter such foes as these Anakim, and Caleb felt that he was strong, and |