&c. or 3803. or 1608. AM. 2553, his answer might be, "that the league should be ratified." Of this indeed we have no nt. Chris express mention in Scripture; but in so short a history of such a variety of transac1451, &c. tions as that of Joshua is, we may well imagine that several circumstances may be omitted. For that some such ratification of this treaty was determined by God, we bave great presumption to believe, (a) from the severe punishment which he afterwards inflicted upon the Israelites and the posterity of Saul, for his having slain some of the descendants of these Gibeonites, (not improbably (b) at the sacking of the town of Nob). For though this action of Saul's was cruel and inhumane, because the decree for the extirpation of the Canaanites was now extinct; yet, what made it more heinous and provoking to God, was the infraction of the treaty, which had subsisted about four ages, and which cost the lives of seven of that bloody prince's sons and grandsons to atone. The heathens, it must be owned, had no small respect and veneration for oaths; whenever they took one, it was in the most solemn and religious manner. (c) They looked upon the gods as inspectors and witnesses of what they said, more especially at such a time as this. They believed that the furies were appointed to be avengers of all perjury; and that as (d) disgrace attended it in this world, so destruction would pursue it in the next. And as this was the general notion of most heathen nations, so the Gibeonites, who had hitherto conceived a good opinion of the God of Israel, would have been strangely scandalised, † had they found his people prevaricating with their oaths, even though they were made upon a false supposition For fear, therefore, lest any dishonour should fall ultimately upon that Divine Majesty whose servants they were, the princes of the congregation unanimously agree, (and there seems to be something of a Divine inspiration in this their unanimity), and declare it as their joint opinion, (e) "We have sworn unto them by the Lord God of Israel," and therefore, without breaking our oath, or forfeiting his favour," we may not touch them." It was the same commendable zeal for the honour of God, that made the Israelites, on one side of Jordan, conceive such angry resentments against their brethren on the other, upon suspicion that they had apostatised from his worship into the idolatry of the nations that were round about them. The two tribes and an half, upon their return from the wars, erected an altar, in memory of their relation to the tribes and ta bernacle which they had left behind them (f). This altar, it seems, was of an heightsomewhat extraordinary; and as it was the custom for heathens to worship their gods (which were generally celestial bodies) upon high places, as presuming that thereby they made nearer approaches to them, their brethren on the west side of the river, conjectured from thence, that this was an altar raised for the worship of the sun, or some other planetary god. But if even they were mistaken in that conjecture, sufficient reason they had to suspect, that it was intended for no good purpose, since God had expressly forbidden them to offer their sacrifices at any other place but the tabernacle, or upon any other altar but that which was built by his appointment: For these are directions which Moses gives them; (g) " Ye are not yet come to the rest, and to the inhe ritance which the Lord your God giveth you :" But when ye shall be put in possession of it," ye shall not do after all these things, that we do here this day, every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes; but in the place which the Lord shall chuse, in one of 66 (b) 1 Sam. xxii. 19. † St Ambrose, treating of this story, speaks of it in thy tribes, there shalt thou offer thy burnt-offerings; thither shalt thou come, and there From Josh. i. shalt thou do all that I command thee." Now when they had sufficient reason, as they thought, to suspect their brethren of a defection into idolatry, what should they do? Why, herein they punctually follow the rules which God himself had prescribed them in such a case. (a)" If thou shalt hear say, in one of thy cities which the Lord thy God hath given thee to dwell there, saying, certain men, the children of Belial, are gone out from among you, and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city, saying, let us go, and serve other gods, (which ye have not known), then shalt thou enquire, and make search, and ask diligently; and behold, if it be truth, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought among you, thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword; destroying it utterly, and all that is therein, and the cattle thereof, with the edge of the sword; and thou shalt gather all the spoil of it into the midst of the street thereof, and shalt burn with fire the city and all the spoil thereof every whit, for the Lord thy God; and it shall be an heap for ever, it shall not be built again." And if the Israelites on the west of Jordan, having this cause of suspicion, pursued these orders to a title, who shall say that they did amiss, or that their zeal for God's glory was rash and precipitate? They took the properest method (which was sending an embassy) for the discovery of the truth; and if, upon enquiry, their fears were found to be groundless, yet it seems to be an error on the better side (as we commonly say), and an instance of no contemptible prudence, in matters of so dangerous a consequence, always to suspect the worst. ་ It may be doubted perhaps, whether the Israelites were a people of the greatest bravery in the world, but it may truly be said, that there was no necessity for their being so; because upon all occasions they had the Lord of Hosts to protect them, and to fight their battles for them. Supported by his aid, (b) "how did one of them chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their rock had sold them, and the Lord had shut them up?" But when this was the case, no wonder at all that (c) “ the hearts of the people melted away, and became like water." 66 The short of the story was this:-They had all along hitherto been victorious; had subdued a country beyond Jordan; passed that river, and conquered the capital of the adjacent province by miracle: And now having sent out a party to summon a small place to surrender, upon the first sally that the inhabitants make, they are all on a sudden seized with a panic, forget their courage, and flee, without so much as striking a stroke. This they could not but perceive was the effect of God's displeasure; and therefore, considering themselves in an enemy's country, they had just reason to dread, that if God should desert them in this situation of their affairs, the people of the land, hearing the report of their defeat, would come, and (as Joshua expresses it) (d) "environ them round, and cut off their name from the earth." Good reason therefore had the Israelites to be disconsolate, when they found that God, to whom they owed all their valour and victories, had forsaken them. But in the mean time, how did they behave upon this occasion? Why," they fell to the earth upon their knees," in humble supplication to God for mercy; they continued all the day long in fasting and praying, and expressed their sorrow, and the sense of their unworthiness with the usual tokens of grief; and was not this better, than to become obdurate under God's afflicting hand, as were the Egyptians? Nay, was not this the very behaviour by which the Ninevites afterwards moved the Divine mercy to reverse the sentence of excision that had gone out against them? So that all things considered, the Israelites in this regard are not to be blamed; since they who had lost the "rock of their might, (a) Deut. xiii. 12, 13, &c. (d) Ibid. vii. 9. (b) Chap. xxxii. 30. (c) Josh. vii. 5. to the end. A. M. 2553, and had the terrors of the Lord set in array against them, were far from fearing where &c. or 3803. no fear was." Ant. Chris. 1451, &c. or 1609. And in like manner, if to the reasons we have already alleged for their conduct at Jericho, we add this one consideration, viz. that they were just now entering upon their conquests; that this was the first city they had taken on the west side of Jordan; and that the people they had to contend with, were to be terrified into submission rather than entreated; we cannot but be of this opinion, that an example or two of high seve rity, at the first setting out, was no less than necessary to reduce the country more speedily, and with a less effusion of blood, as well as to verify the promise of him who appointed them: (a)" This day will I begin to put the dread of thee, and the fear of thee, upon the nations that are under the whole heaven, who shall hear report of thee, and shall tremble, and be in anguish because of thee.” Without entering therefore into any farther vindication of the Jewish nation, we may safely say, that in the cases we have had under consideration, they were neither zealous, nor timorous, nor cruel without a cause; that in the first of these cases, they expressed their concern for God's honour; in the second, their dread of his departing from them; and in the third, their obedience to his command. It is a law of God's own enacting, that (b) "the fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers, but every man shall be put to death for his own sin." But then we are to consider, that this law was given to man and not to God, who has certainly a more absolute right and sovereignty over men than one man has over another. That as the Israelites at this time lived under a theocracy, and in a proper sense had God for their civil governor, every wilful transgression (such as Achan's was) must have been deemed not only a violation of the Divine command, but a crime of lese majesty likewise; and that, in crimes of this kind, the practice of all governments, ancient as well as modern, has been to make children suffer for the iniquity of the parent (as in cases of attaint of blood and confiscation of estate), and that with the reputation of the highest equity. Upon the supposition, then, that Achan's family were not accessary to their father's crime, yet God, who gave them life, had undoubtedly a full power to take it away, at what time or in what manner he thought fit; and if, in cases of high treason among men, it is thought reasonable to devolve some part of the parents penalty upon the children, there is this farther argument why Achan's family should be made to suffer with him, because God could not express his severity against sin, nor take their lives away, at a more convenient opportunity than in the beginning of a new empire, and when each man's right and property was going to be settled; that such a dreadful example of his indignation against stealth might deter others, if not for their own at least for their dear children's sake, to abstain from such dangerous and pernicious practices. (c) The Jews have a maxim, "that he who is an accomplice in any crime, is as culpable as the person who commits it;" and therefore, if we suppose that Achan's family was privy to what their father had done, and did conceal it, there could be no injustice in including them in the punish ment. It may be pretended, perhaps, that some of them were infants, and so must be deemed innocent; but the text says nothing of this: It only calls them (d) sons and daughters; and, considering that Achan in all probability was an old man, (e) as being (a) Deut. ii. 25. (b) Deut. xxiv. 16. Thus Cicero, to excuse the confiscations decreed against Lepidus, which affected his children, the nephews of Brutus, has these words-"Neque vero me fugit, quam sit acerbum, parentum scelera filiorum pœnis lui: Sed hoc præclare legibus comparatum est, ut charitas liberorum amiciores parentes reipublicæ redderet." Ad Brutum, liber. 1. epist. 12. And a- the fifth descendant from Judah, it seems most likely that his children (a) were grown From Josh. i. up, and so capable of knowing, and of either concealing or discovering the fact. But, after all, there is no occasion for our running ourselves into any difficulty. The text does not say, neither is it any way implied, that Achan's sons and daughters were executed with him. In the sentence denounced against him, we find no mention made of them; and why then should we suppose that they were partakers in his punishment, any otherwise than as they were brought out to be spectators of it *? And a piercing sight, no doubt, it was, for persons so nearly related to behold the sad fate of their chief, first stoned to death, and then, with all his goods and chattels, as well as those accursed things for which he was condemned, committed to the flames. His oxen, and asses, and sheep, are here taken notice of, to let us see that Achan was a wealthy man, and therefore inexcusable in committing this fact: And though they were not capable of sin, nor consequently of punishment, properly so called; yet, as they were made for man's use, they might fairly die for his instruction, viz. to convince him of the sad and contagious nature of sin, which even involves innocent creatures in its plagues; and emblematically to shew him how much sorer punishments are reserved for man, who, having a law given for the conduct of his life, and the gifts of reason and will to restrain him from the transgression of it, will adventure upon things forbidden, and thereby contract greater guilt, and draw upon himself severer expressions of the Divine wrath. God indeed styles himself "The Lord of Hosts," and had so immediate an hand in the conduct of Israel, that every military achievement of theirs might very properly be ascribed to him: But when he ordered "Joshua (b) to go up against Ai, and to lay an ambuscade behind it," he might, notwithstanding this, leave the whole glory of the invention and execution of it to him as an able and expert general; for if he had always wrought miracles in favour of his people, and left nothing for Joshua to perform, we cannot see how he could have merited the character of an extraordinary man. In other events, where the whole may be said to be under the guidance of God, he takes care to direct every particular of the transaction. In passing the river Jordan, and surrounding the walls of Jericho, he prescribes the form and order of the people's march, and how, upon every occasion, they were to behave; but here, in the affair of Ai, he contents himself with merely suggesting the means, as things that Joshua was no stranger to, and leaves to him the contrivance and application of them. This stratagem indeed is the first that we find any mention of in Scripture; but we must not from thence infer, that there was never any before put in execution. The art of war began very soon, and was carried on, no doubt, with great application. The whole excellence of its management consists in circumventing and doubling upon the enemy with dexterity; and therefore no question but that the wits of mankind were always employed in taking the advantage of each other, and in gaining a victory with the least expence of blood on their own side. (c) The Romans fell frequently into the snares which were laid for them, because their generals were men of no military skill; and therefore, to excuse their ignorance, they alleged, that they made war like honest men without deceit or artifice: And if Alexander disclaimed the use of stratagems, it was because he knew the cowardice of his enemies, and how easy a matter it was to gain a conquest in the fair and open field. For it is not to be doubted but that, had he been to attack any other nation except the effeminate Persians, he would have taken his friend Parmenio's advice, and (without blushing at a victory obtained by good management) fallen upon his enemy under the cover of the night. However this be, that stratagems are lawful in war, we have good presumption to to the end. Ant. Chris. or 1608. A. M. 2553. think, from God's directing Joshua to make use of one; and though he does not (as &c. or 3803. other warriors do) employ any of these at a pinch, or because he cannot accomplish his 1451, &c. designs without them; though he could, with one single act of his will, have destroyed the city of Ai and all the inhabitants thereof, and, without suffering his people to strike one blow, have put them in possession of the promised land; yet, choosing to act by secondary means, he proceeded in the ordinary way, and, leaving a good deal to Joshua's skill and management, assisted him only at some critical conjunctures, that, by a prolongation of the war, the reputation of his people might be raised, and more frequent opportunities occur for the display of his miraculous works. (a) Josephus indeed seems not to have consulted the honour of Joshua much, when he ascribes the delay of the conquest of Canaan to the weakness of his army, and the impregnable strength of the places he was to attack: But (b) some other Jews make the matter much worse, when they tell us, that he desired to prolong the war, not only to retain the office and dignity of being captain-general, but because he was informed by the oracle, that as soon as the conquest was finished he himself was to die. God however seems to have given us much better reasons for this retardation, when he acquaints Moses with his intention: (c) "I will not drive the Canaanites out from before thee in one year, lest the land become desolate, and the beasts of the field multiply against thee;" and when he complains of their sad defection after the death of Joshua, (d) "I will not henceforth drive out any from before them of the nations which Joshua left when he died, that through them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of the Lord, to walk therein, as their fathers did keep it, or no:" Whereupon the historian tells us, that God accordingly "did leave these nations without driving them out;" and adds another reason for their continuance in the country, viz. that the Israelites, by having an enemy to contend with, might be trained up in the art and mystery of war: For (e) "these are the nations, says he, which the Lord left to prove Israel, that by them they might teach those war who before knew nothing of it." So that here are three reasons given us why God delayed the entire subjection of Canaan; viz. because the children of Israel were as yet too few in number to replenish the whole country; because God, by keeping the Canaanites in being, was willing both to make trial of his people's obedience, and to train them and their posterity for some ages up in military discipline and exercise. 66 But there is another reason which Joshua, in his dying speech, assigns for their not enlarging their conquests to the utmost bounds which God had given them: (ƒ) “ Take good heed therefore, says he, unto yourselves, that ye love the Lord your God; else, if you do in any wise go back, and cleave unto the remnant of these nations, even these that remain among you, and shall make marriages with them, and go in unto them, and they to you; know for a certainty, that the Lord your God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you." So that the promise which God made to the Israelites was conditional; and as they manifestly falsified their part of the obligation, by engaging first in affinity, and then in idolatry, with the nations which they were bound to destroy; so God might very well think himself released from his, and under no farther concern for their success, or the enlargement of their conquest; (g) but as they had been the ministers of his vengeance, in punishing the disorders of the Canaanites, they, in their turn, were now made the instruments of his chastising the disobedience of his own people: (h) "They shall be snares and traps to you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from the good land which the Lord your God hath given you. (c) Exod. (f) Josh. xxiii. 11, &c. (a) Antiq. lib. v. c. i. (b) Vid. Schotan. Biblioth. Vet. et Nov. Test. vol. ii. p. 402. (h) Josh. xxi, 13. |