Judges 1:19

Hormah--destroyed in fulfilment of an early vow of the Israelites (see on Nu 21:2). The confederate tribes, pursuing their incursions in that quarter, came successively to Gaza, Askelon, and Ekron, which they took.

WE frequently use Canaan as a type of Heaven, and the Jordan, through which Israel passed, as a symbol of death. Dr. Watts has taught us to sing— "Sweet fields beyond the swelling flood Stand dressed in living green; So to the Jews old Canaan stood, While Jordan rolled between. Could we but climb where Moses stood, And view the landscape o'er, Not Jordan's stream, nor death's cold flood, Should fright us from the shore!"

WE frequently use Canaan as a type of Heaven, and the Jordan, through which Israel passed, as a symbol of death. Dr. Watts has taught us to sing— "Sweet fields beyond the swelling flood Stand dressed in living green; So to the Jews old Canaan stood, While Jordan rolled between. Could we but climb where Moses stood, And view the landscape o'er, Not Jordan's stream, nor death's cold flood, Should fright us from the shore!" This is thoroughly poetical and may be made exceedingly instructive, but it is not quite accurate if we undertake a careful consideration of the whole matter. If the New Testament is to expound the Old, then there is another lesson to be learned from the land which flowed with milk and honey. "We that have believed do enter into rest," that is to say, all believers in Christ have crossed the Jordan and have come into the promised rest. The Covenant is already fulfilled to them in a great measure—they are living under Messiah's sway within the bounds of His Kingdom—and every precious thing which God promised them is theirs. They dwell in the "land which the Lord thinks upon." "Your land, O Immanuel!" The type, therefore, may best set forth the case of the instructed and advanced Believer who has passed through the first, or wilderness stage, of his life, and has now come into a higher condition, actually enjoying spiritual privileges and sitting together with Christ in the heavenly places. To him, however, this condition of exalted privilege is not a state of undisturbed repose—on the contrary, he wars a constant warfare, wrestling with spiritual wickedness. The Canaanite is in possession and the Canaanite is to be driven out.