(Joshua, chap. 9)

"What communion hath light with darkness ? " (2 Cor. 6:14)

A great combination of the people of Canaan followed upon the overthrow of Jericho and Ai and the establishment of the law of Jehovah in the center of the land. The nations, whether of hills, valleys, or the seaboard, gathered themselves together to fight against Joshua and Israel. They recognized the necessity of sinking their differences, and of uniting together to gain their great end- the overthrow of Jehovah's army.

Amongst these combined peoples were the Hivites' four cities-Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kirjath-jearim. The heads of these cities took counsel together, and, while others of their nation sought the sword, they resorted to stratagem in order to gain their end-"they did work wildly."

The open hostility of the enemy is easier to meet than his devices. When the powers of the world array themselves against the poor saints of God, the latter have to conquer or to die. The early Christians, who had to stand before the great and the mighty of their day, out of weakness gained victories of which we Christians reap the fruit to this hour. At the time of the Reformation also, the few poor men who would obey God rather than man, discomfited kings, emperors, and popes. God was with them and for them, and by His might the victory was won. To their faith and courage Protestants owe their present freedom.

But when the Enemy comes guised as an angel of light, speaks smooth and flattering words, and argues religiously, let Christians beware. Satan has gained more successes by his wiles, and sowing his tares while men sleep, than by all his strength arrayed to crush God's people. When he fails to crush, he tries to corrupt:such are his devices.

The command of the Lord bidding Israel to abstain from all union with their enemies, and to which they had said Amen, was frustrated when the ambassadors from Gibeon presented themselves in the camp at Gilgal. These ambassadors had a fair appearance to the elders of Israel. They bore upon them the signs of having come from far, and their credentials looked antique. Thus they obtained a hearing which, had they been better known, would have been denied. The strange fascination that pertains to apparent antiquity for antiquity's sake, is patent to all. It does not occur to many to ask, "Are they genuine in the light of God's word?" nor even to enquire what the venerable things were when new !

Let the saints beware of "dry and moldy" bread, for stale fare is not of God's providing for His children. Rent wine-skins, with the wine run out, are like teaching and preaching which retain but the remembrance of the glad past-the joy in the Holy Ghost being gone. Patched-up garments do but indicate that they have served their day, and may be discarded. God's true messengers have their feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, and the longest journey never wears them out. " By their fruits ye shall know them," is the Master's word concerning false teachers and guides. Alas, for the infatuation of tradition instead of Thus says the Word. Let the saints beware of traditions of days long since past; it is a common device of the Enemy to lead them to set aside the living word of God for tradition!

The "old sacks, old wine bottles, old shoes, and old garments" of these "ambassadors" commanded the respect of Israel's princes. The elders took of their victuals, trusted to their own eyes, and sought not wisdom from God. When ambassadors present themselves to us as did the Hivites to Israel, we may safely assume that their wine was grown in the enemy's land, for God's ambassadors carry with them the living energy and unction of His Holy Spirit.

Satan is wily and masterful in his way of dressing up his ambassadors, and coloring their credentials. Where he cannot ruin God's people by open war, he will squeeze himself in amongst them and corrupt the soldiers of Christ. In our own day he is terribly successful with his wiles, and will succeed where men, instead of asking counsel of the Lord, or humbly following His word, betake themselves to the wisdom of their own hearts.

Israel's camp was at Gilgal, where God had rolled off the reproach of Egypt from them, where they had been nationally separated to Himself, and whence they had issued to war against the powers of the land of promise; and to Gilgal, in their daring deception, the Hivites came. And Satan, this day, comes as an angel of light on to the very ground that Christians occupy, and by flattery and deception succeeds in effecting an alliance with them in the camp itself. He corrupts the most sacred truths by introducing error into them, and spoils heavenly realities by the leaven of evil doctrine.

The place that Israel occupied gave them no sufficient power against the Enemy-a lesson for us Christians! A correct position and orthodoxy are no sufficient barrier to keep out the Enemy. Our resource is, to which, alas, we so slowly resort, "the mouth of the Lord." Christians have no Urim and Thummim as had Israel, but they have the word of God which liveth and abideth for ever. " Peradventure ye dwell among us, and how shall we make a league with you ? " said Joshua to these ambassadors. "We are thy servants," they softly replied. "Who are ye, and from whence come ye?" Joshua further enquired. Then they talked of old times, and spoke of work and warfare in years gone by ; they were eloquent upon Jehovah's wonders in Egypt forty years previously, and of victories away from their homes on the other side of Jordan, and so disarmed him of suspicion. But not a word had they to say of the work of God at their very doors at Jericho and Ai; not a sentence had they to utter of God's command to Israel and their assent to the word of Jehovah -that must be excluded.

So also is it now; the facts of God's work in bygone days have become, in our own times, history of which the world is willing to speak ; but the effects of God's truth upon us, its present victories, its demands for present obedience-these are not to be mentioned. Anyone may speak of victories over pagan Rome, or papal Rome, of centuries ago; but the victories of the gospel in the world, upon ourselves, and the Word's authority over the children of God at the present moment, must not be mentioned-as Jericho, Ai and Ebal were carefully ignored by the Hivites. Satan has consummate art in mingling lies with truth, to parry off the edge of the Word.

Flattery overcomes more saints than does the sword. When fierce opposition prevails over its tens, unctuous words overcome thousands. The princes of Israel accepted the testimony of the victuals; they trusted their own wisdom, and asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord; and so the Hivites gained the day.
Perhaps because the ambassadors presented themselves to the princes, they gained their way the easier. Many a man of position in the things of God, many "a prince in Israel," falls through flattery. Flattering words blind the soul to the reality of things. The truly dependent spirit is often more rare in the "prince" than in the rank and file of God's army. Achan, a prince, brought the accursed thing into the camp, and the error of the princes of Israel is placed before us in a marked way by the Holy Ghost in the book before us.

"To the law and the testimony" must ever be the Christian's test. He must ask counsel at the mouth of the Lord, gain the true wisdom from God's word by the Holy Spirit, and obey the Scriptures.

The truth came out at last. What appeared to come from a venerable distance was a next-door neighbor. At the end of three days the error was discovered, but the princes had committed the people to the alliance; they had opened the way into Israel's bosom for the pretenders, and their oath had to be respected. And God would not allow the deception to excuse His people for the evil brought in through their neglect in asking counsel at the mouth of the Lord. Gained by deceit, the covenant nevertheless must stand ; for had Israel been with God, no deceit could have prevailed. Thus with Christians also, yokes, unequal yokes are entered into – yokes of marriage, yokes in business relations, which faithfulness to others bind upon us. In a limited way, too, the same truth applies where God's command has been neglected in spiritual things ; conditions have been brought in among God's people from which we cannot escape. The book of Joshua leaves us with such things upon Israel, and the book of Judges opens with Israel at Bochim – weeping. H. F. W.