Page:An Exposition of the Old and New Testament (1828) vol 2.djvu/21

Rh for them, and the favour they were afterward to show to her. She secures them on condition that they should secure her.

I. She gives them, and by them sends to Joshua and Israel, all the encouragement that could be desired to make their intended descent upon Canaan. This was what they came for, and it was worth coming for. Being got clear of the officers, she comes up to them to the roof of the house where they lay hid, finds them perhaps somewhat dismayed at the peril they apprehended themselves in from the officers, and scarcely recovered from the fright, but has that to say to them which will give them abundant satisfaction. 1. She lets them know that the report of the great things God had done for them, was come to Jericho, v. 10. not only that they had an account of their late victories obtained over the Amorites, in the neighbouring country, on the other side the river, but that their miraculous deliverance out of Egypt, and passage through the Red-sea, a great way off, and forty years ago, were remembered and talked of afresh in Jericho to the amazement of every body. Thus this Joshua and his fellows were men wondered at, Zech. 3. 8. See how God makes his wonderful works to be remembered, Ps. 111. 4. so that men shall speak of the might of his terrible acts, Ps. 145. 6. 2. She tells them what impressions the tidings of these things had_made upon the Canaanites, your terror has fallen upon us, v. 9. our hearts did melt, v. 11. If she kept a public house, that would give her an opportunity of understanding the sense of various companies, and of travellers from other parts of the country; so that they could not know this any way better than by her information; and it would be of great use to Joshua and Israel to know it, it would put courage into the most cowardly Israelite to hear how their enemies were dispirited; and it was easy to conclude, that they who now fainted before them, would infallibly fall before them: especially because it was the accomplishment of a promise God had made them, that he would lay the fear and dread of them upon all this land, Deut 11. 25. and so it would be an earnest of the accomplishment of all the other promises God had made them. Let not the stout man glory in his courage, any more than the strong man in his strength, for God can weaken both mind and body. Let not God's Israel be afraid of their most powerful enemies, for their God can, when he pleases, make their most powerful enemies afraid of them. Let none think to harden their hearts against God and prosper, for he that made man's soul, can at any time make the sword of his terrors approach to it. She hereupon makes the profession of her faith in God and his promise; and perhaps there was not found so great faith (all things considered,) no, not in Israel, as in this woman of Canaan. (1.) She believes God's power and dominion over all the world, v. 11. "Jehovah your God whom you worship and call upon, is so far above all gods, that he is the only true God; for he is God in heaven above and in earth beneath, and is served by all the hosts of both." A vast distance there is between heaven and earth, yet both are equally under the inspection and government of the great Jehovah. Heaven is not above his power, nor earth below his cognizance. (2.) She believes his promise to his people Israel, v. 9, I know that the Lord hath given you the land. The king of Jericho had heard as much as she had of the great things God had done for Israel, yet he cannot infer from thence that the Lord had given them this land, but resolves to hold it out against them to the last extremity: for the most powerful means of conviction will not of themselves attain the end without divine grace, and by that grace, Rahab the harlot, who had only heard of the wonders God had wrought, speaks with more assurance of the truth of the promise made to the fathers, than all the elders of Israel had done who were eye-witnesses of those wonders, many of whom perished through unbelief of this promise. Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed; so Rahab did; O woman, great is thy faith!

II. She engaged them to take her and her relations under their protection, that they might not perish in the destruction of Jericho, v. 12, 13. Now, 1. It was an evidence of the sincerity and strength of her faith concerning the approaching revolution in her country, that she was so solicitous to make an interest for herself with the Israelites, and courted their kindness. She foresaw the conquest of her country, and in the belief of that bespoke in time the favour of the conquerors. Thus Noah, being moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house, and the condemning of the world, Heb. 11. 7. They who truly believe the divine revelation, concerning the ruin of sinners, and the grant of the heavenly land to God's Israel, will give diligence to flee from the wrath to come, and to lay hold on eternal life, by joining themselves to God and to his people. 2. The provision she made for the safety of her relations, as well as for her own, is a laudable instance of natural affection, and an intimation to us in like manner to do all we can for the salvation of the souls of those that are dear to us, and, with ourselves, to bring them, if possible, into the bond of the covenant. No mention is made of her husband and children, but only her parents and brothers and sisters, whom, though she was herself a housekeeper, she retained a due concern for. 3. Her request that they would swear unto her by Jehovah, is an instance of her acquaintance with the only true God, and her faith in him, and devotion toward him, one act of which is religiously to swear by his name. 4. Her petition is very just and reasonable, that since she had protected them, they should protect her; and since her kindness to them extended to their people, for whom they were now negotiating, their kindness to her should take in all her's. It was the least they could do for one that had saved their lives with the hazard of her own. Note, Those that show mercy may expect to find mercy. Observe, She does not demand any preferment by way of reward for her kindness to them, though they lay so much at her mercy that she might have made her own terms, but only indents for her life, which in a general destruction would be a singular favour. Thus God promised Ebed-Melech in recompense for his kindness to Jeremiah, that in the worst of times he should have his life for a prey, Jer. 39. 18. Yet this Rahab was afterward advanced to be a princess in Israel, the wife of Salmon, and one of the ancestors of Christ, Matt. 1. 5. Those that faithfully serve Christ, and suffer for him, he will not only protect, but prefer, and will do for them more than they are able to ask or think.

III. They solemnly engaged for her preservation in the common destruction, v. 14, "Our life for yours. We will take as much care of your lives as of our own, and would as soon hurt ourselves as any of you." Nay, they imprecate God's judgments on themselves, if they should violate their promise to her. She had pawned her life for their's, and now they in requital pawn their lives for her's, and (as public persons) with them they pawn the public faith and the credit of their nation, for they plainly interest all Israel in the engagement of those words, When the Lord has given us the land, meaning not themselves only, but the people whose agents they were. No doubt, they knew themselves sufficiently authorised to treat with Rahab