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Isaiah Chapter
Three
Isaiah 3
Chapter Contents
The calamities about to come upon the land. (1-9) The
wickedness of the people. (10-15) The distress of the proud, luxurious women of
Zion. (16-26)
Commentary on Isaiah 3:1-9
(Read Isaiah 3:1-9)
God was about to deprive Judah of every stay and support.
The city and the land were to be made desolate, because their words and works
had been rebellious against the Lord; even at his holy temple. If men do not
stay themselves upon God, he will soon remove all other supports, and then they
must sink. Christ is the Bread of life and the Water of life; if he be our
Stay, we shall find that is a good part not to be taken away, John 6:27. Here note, 1. That the condition of
sinners is exceedingly woful. 2. It is the soul that is damaged by sin. 3.
Whatever evil befals sinners, be sure that they bring it on themselves.
Commentary on Isaiah 3:10-15
(Read Isaiah 3:10-15)
The rule was certain; however there might be national
prosperity or trouble, it would be well with the righteous and ill with the
wicked. Blessed be God, there is abundant encouragement to the righteous to
trust in him, and for sinners to repent and return to him. It was time for the
Lord to show his might. He will call men to a strict account for all the wealth
and power intrusted to and abused by them. If it is sinful to disregard the
necessities of the poor, how odious and wicked a part do they act, who bring
men into poverty, and then oppress them!
Commentary on Isaiah 3:16-26
(Read Isaiah 3:16-26)
The prophet reproves and warns the daughters of Zion of
the sufferings coming upon them. Let them know that God notices the folly and
vanity of proud women, even of their dress. The punishments threatened answered
the sin. Loathsome diseases often are the just punishment of pride. It is not
material to ask what sort of ornaments they wore; many of these things, if they
had not been in fashion, would have been ridiculed then as now. Their fashions
differed much from those of our times, but human nature is the same. Wasting
time and money, to the neglect of piety, charity, and even of justice, displease
the Lord. Many professors at the present day, seem to think there is no harm in
worldly finery; but were it not a great evil, would the Holy Spirit have taught
the prophet to expose it so fully? The Jews being overcome, Jerusalem would be
levelled with the ground; which is represented under the idea of a desolate
female seated upon the earth. And when the Romans had destroyed Jerusalem, they
struck a medal, on which was represented a woman sitting on the ground in a
posture of grief. If sin be harboured within the walls, lamentation and
mourning are near the gates.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Isaiah》
Isaiah 3
Verse 2
[2] The mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the
prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient,
The judge — The civil magistrates.
The ancient — Whose wisdom was increased by
long experience.
Verse 5
[5] And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another,
and every one by his neighbour: the child shall behave himself proudly against
the ancient, and the base against the honourable.
Oppressed — By thy command or permission of
such childish rulers.
Verse 6
[6] When a man shall take hold of his brother of the house
of his father, saying, Thou hast clothing, be thou our ruler, and let this ruin
be under thy hand:
Thou hast — We are utterly undone, and have
neither food nor raiment; but thou hast something left to support the dignity
which we offer to thee.
Under thine hand — To heal it.
Verse 7
[7] In that day shall he swear, saying, I will not be an
healer; for in my house is neither bread nor clothing: make me not a ruler of
the people.
An healer — A repairer of the ruins of the
state.
Verse 9
[9] The shew of their countenance doth witness against them;
and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for
they have rewarded evil unto themselves.
The shew — Their pride, and wantonness, and impiety m manifestly
shews itself in their very looks.
They declare — They act it publickly, casting
off all fear of God and reverence to men.
Rewarded — Procured a fit recompense for their wickedness, even
utter ruin.
Verse 10
[10] Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him:
for they shall eat the fruit of their doings.
Say ye — O ye priests and Levites, that God will be their
safeguard and portion.
Verse 12
[12] As for my people, children are their oppressors, and
women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and
destroy the way of thy paths.
Women — Weak and effeminate rulers.
They — Thy rulers civil and ecclesiastical.
Verse 13
[13] The LORD standeth up to plead, and standeth to judge the
people.
Standeth — He will shortly and certainly stand up as a judge, to
enquire into the cause, and to give sentence.
To judge — To defend and deliver them.
Verse 14
[14] The LORD will enter into judgment with the ancients of
his people, and the princes thereof: for ye have eaten up the vineyard; the
spoil of the poor is in your houses.
Ancients — The princes or rulers; such were commonly chosen out
of those who were in ripe years.
Eaten — Destroyed instead of preserving the church and
commonwealth of Israel.
Spoil — The goods which you have violently taken away from the
poor.
Verse 16
[16] Moreover the LORD saith, Because the daughters of Zion
are haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and
mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet:
The daughters — The women; (hitherto he reproved
the men).
A tinkling — By some ornaments which they wore
upon their shoes.
Verse 17
[17] Therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of
the head of the daughters of Zion, and the LORD will discover their secret
parts.
Secret paths — By giving her into the power of
those enemies that shall strip her of all her raiment.
Verse 18
[18] In that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their
tinkling ornaments about their feet, and their cauls, and their round tires
like the moon,
Cauls — It is agreed by all, that this and several words that
follow, were ornaments used in those times. And it is of no concern, exactly to
understand the nature and differences of them.
The moon — There were in ancient times, and at this day there are
some ornaments worn, which carry a manifest resemblance to the moon or half
moon.
Verse 20
[20] The bonnets, and the ornaments of the legs, and the
headbands, and the tablets, and the earrings,
Tablets — He seems to mean boxes of perfumes.
Verse 21
[21] The rings, and nose jewels,
Nose-jewels — Which were fastened to the head,
and hung down upon the forehead to the beginning of the nose.
Verse 22
[22] The changeable suits of apparel, and the mantles, and
the wimples, and the crisping pins,
Pins — Of silver or gold, either used to curl the hair, or
fastened and worn in the hair.
Verse 23
[23] The glasses, and the fine linen, and the hoods, and the
vails.
Glasses — The looking-glasses, as we call them, tho' in truth
they were not made of glass, but of bright and burnished brass.
Verse 24
[24] And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet smell
there shall be stink; and instead of a girdle a rent; and instead of well set
hair baldness; and instead of a stomacher a girding of sackcloth; and burning
instead of beauty.
Girdle — Which were fine and costly, and useful to gird their
garments about them.
A rent — Torn and tattered garments.
Burning — By the heat of the sun, to which they are now commonly
exposed, from which they used formerly to guard themselves with the utmost
care.
Verse 26
[26] And her gates shall lament and mourn; and she being
desolate shall sit upon the ground.
Gates — The gates of Zion or Jerusalem, which, by a figure,
are said to lament, to imply the great desolation of the place; that there
would be no people to go out and come in by the gates, as they used to do.
Shall sit — Like a mournful woman bewailing
the loss of her husband and children.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Isaiah》
03 Chapter 3
Verses 1-26
Verses 1-3
For behold the Lord . . . doth take away . . . the mighty man.
-
National leaders removed
The Jewish nation, at this time, may be considered as represented
by an old building, ready to fall into ruin, to prevent which many props had
been added. These supports, on which it leaned, that were derived the
authority, the prudence and fortitude of its leading men, God threatens to
remove; in consequence of which the State should as certainly become ruinous as
a decayed building, when the props on which it rested are taken away. (R.
Macculloch.)
The death of the renowned
There is a tendency to trust in the arm of flesh. It would be most
wicked if we were ungrateful for our great deliverers, raised up by that God to
whom the shield of the earth belongeth; but, at the same time, it must be
sinful to trust in them as if they were the authors of all, and, therefore,
deserved all the glory.
1. We need the admonition which precedes this text--“Cease ye from
man (whether prince or senator, soldier or orator, counsellor or captain),
whoso breath (whatever his strength or genius, talent or fame) is in his
nostrils.”
2. There is no such thing as chance; whether it be a hair which falls
to the ground, or a sparrow that drops in its weary way across the field, or a
prince smitten from his throne, or a dynasty broken--God is in them, giving,
permitting, overruling, and sanctifying; it is not the shot or shell, the wave
or wind, incident or accident, but God that “takes away,” and those things
which we suppose to have played the principal part, are merely servants sent
out by God to lead the soldier from his duty in the field, to receive the crown
of glory and war no more.
3. But not only is it the Lord, but He has right and jurisdiction to
do so. He not only reigns, but He rules. Unsanctified interpositions of God are
the darkest judgments; whilst therefore, we recognise His hand in giving, let
us recognise His hand in taking away. A father and his child walk. They pick up
a stone with a green substance, which appears worthless, and fit only to be
cast away; but they apply the microscope, and this green substance on the stone
he finds to be a magnificent though tiny forest. So it is with any fact that
occurs. Man looks at it with his own eyes, sees it uninstructive; but when seen
in the light of God’s truth, he finds in it what is instructive and suggestive.
4. When God removes from a nation its props, pillars, and supports,
He does so to lead that nation to see Himself more clearly and to lean on Him
more entirely.
5. The Lord thus “takes away” in order to teach men impressively this
lesson which man is very slow to learn--that death must come upon all. Death
enters the cabinets of princes and statesmen, the camp of the hero, and the hut
of the peasant, without paying the least respect to rank or royalty. (J.
Cumming, D. D.)
The death of statesmen
I. Learn from the
death of a great statesman THE WEIGHT OF GOVERNMENT IN A FALLEN WORLD. For when
we see the mightiest minds that our country has produced, a Fox, a Pitt, a
Liverpool, a Canning, one after another taking the weight of government upon
them, and dropping under its weight into the arms of death--can we avoid
thinking of the mighty mass of care that has pressed them down?
II. We are taught
THE WEAKNESS OF THE SHOULDERS OF MORTAL MEN. However mighty his shoulders may
be, he must be a bold man that would venture to take up a burden that has
crushed so many: and yet there are many that will venture on it; for there are
those who delight in danger, who sport with difficulties, and who delight in
doing what no one else can do. And it is well for society that there are men of
moral courage. If all preferred the comfort and quiet of domestic life, how
could the affairs of government go on? Yet there are some burdens, the weight
of which will crush any mind, for the sons of Anak are not omnipotent. And how
knows any man how near he is to this point, when he shall be overwhelmed with
his own duties, distracted with his own cares, become a prey to the very thing
in which he delighted?
III. THE UNCERTAINTY
OF ALL HUMAN AFFAIRS. We need to be taught this with a strong hand, for this
warm piece of moving clay that is bustling about the earth, ready to drop to
pieces every moment, is so swollen with vanity that it would fain fancy it is
made of adamant. Therefore God supplies us with strong reasons, at certain
seasons, to teach us the contrary.
IV. OUR ABSOLUTE
DEPENDENCE ON THE SUPREME GOVERNOR. When we behold the profound counsellor and
the mighty orator, and are entranced with their talents and execution, we grow
idolatrous, and think these men are more than mortal, and that society could
not go on without them; little thinking that He who made them as they are, to
be employed as He pleases, and to be laid aside when He pleases, can raise
others equally fitted as they are. (Exodus 4:11.)
V. Another lesson
which we should learn is, THE SACRED DUTY OF PRAYER FOR KINGS AND ALL IN
AUTHORITY OVER US. We should make our supplications that councils may be
assisted, that the cares of government may not overwhelm and destroy, that
there may be a reasonable spirit prevalent in the public, so that it may be
rendered less oppressive.
VI. IN YOUR
SUPPLICATIONS ESPECIALLY REMEMBER ZION, THE CHURCH OF THE LIVING GOD. The
Church has been compared to a building, and the world to a scaffold placed
around it in order to assist in rearing the edifice.
VII. LEARN TO PREPARE FOR OUR OWN DEATH. (J. Bennett, D. D.)
The death of the renowned excites special attention and interest
In the humble cottage on some mountain slope, in some shaded
valley or distant forest, or in the living wilderness of some great city, are
the young and the old, the brave and the fair, passing away in unbroken
procession to the dust of the sepulchre, and to the destinies of the life to
come But the great world without does not regard it. Like the leaves of autumn
that strew our pathway, they sink into the grave, and their death is crowded
from recollection by the never-ending succession of new events. But when the
tall and graceful trees of the forest--the monarchs whose heads towered above
the general altitude--are brought down by some resistless blow, their fall is
attended with a louder crash, and the earth itself trembles beneath the shock:
so, when the men who walk upon the loftier heights of place and power, when
those whose intellectual stature as they move along the paths of science, of
history, of literature, and of art, renders them preeminent above the general
mass, are laid prostrate by the stroke of death, the event impresses itself
more vividly upon the minds of men, and calls out from its hidden springs in
the heart a profounder sentiment of sorrow. (J. A. Todd.)
The perils of greatness
Every state is set in the midst of danger, as all trees are set in
the wind; but the tallest endure the greatest violence of the tempest. (Bishop
J. Taylor, D. D.)
Verses 4-8
I will give children to be their princes
Puerile government
Probably an abstract term used for a concrete--puerilities or
childishnesses for childish persons.
(J. A. Alexander.)
Juvenile government a curse
If it is in itself generally a misfortune when the king of a
country is a lad (Ecclesiastes 10:16), it is doubly so when
the princes or magnates surrounding end advising him are also youths or
youngsters in the bad sense of the term . . . Varying humour, utterly
unregulated and unrestrained, rules supreme. (F. Delitzsch.)
A foolish ruler: Justinian II (of Constantinople)
The name of a triumphant lawgiver was dishonoured by the vices of
a boy, who imitated his namesake only in the expensive luxury of building. His
passions were strong; his understanding was feeble; and he was intoxicated with
a foolish pride that his birth had given him the command of millions, of whom
the smallest community would not have chosen him for their local magistrate.
His favourite ministers were two beings the least susceptible of human
sympathy, a eunuch and a monk; the one he abandoned the palace, to the other
the finances; the former corrected the emperor’s mother with a scourge, the
latter suspended the insolvent tributaries, with their heads downward, over a
slow and smoky fire. (Gibbon’s Rome.)
Verse 5
And the people shall be oppressed
Tyranny
The dissolution of good order and political confusion.
Oppression and pride everywhere prevail. (R. Macculloch.)
State chaos
There is a natural relation of classes. Whilst all that is purely
mechanical and arbitrary is to be viewed with suspicion, yet there is a natural
sequence in things; there is, indeed, what is called a fitness or harmony of
things; and when society is rightly inspired the base man knows that he is
base, and his baseness is his weakness, and his weakness defines his position;
and the child knows himself to be but a child, and therefore he behaves himself
with discretion, and is limited by circumstances which he cannot control. Once
let the moral centre be lost, and then you have lost all arithmetical counting,
all geometrical relationship, all figure and form and mechanism and security,
and the foursquare is thrown out of its parallel, and that which was right is
numbered with that which is forbidden, (J. Parker, D. D.)
An evil spirit in the nation
It is here threatened that God would send an evil spirit among
them ( 9:23), which would make them--
1. Injurious and unneighbourly one towards another. “The people shall
be oppressed everyone by his neighbour,” and their princes, being children,
take no care to restrain the oppressors, or relieve the oppressed. Nor is it to
any purpose to appeal to them.
2. Insolent and disorderly towards their superiors. It is as ill an
omen to a people as can be, when the rising generation among them is generally
untractable, rude, and ungovernable, when “the child behaves himself proudly against
the ancient”; whereas he should “rise up before the hoary head, and honour the
face of the old man” (Leviticus 19:32). When young people are
conceited and pert, and carry it scornfully towards their superiors, it is not
only a reproach to themselves, but of ill consequence to the public; it
slackens the reins of government, and weakens the hands that hold them. It is
likewise ill with a people when persons of honour cannot support their
authority, but are affronted by the base and beggarly; when judges are insulted
by the mob, and their power set at defiance. (M. Henry.)
A lamentable state of society
Homo homini lupus--man becomes a wolf to man;
jusque datum sceleri--wickedness receives the stamp of law;
nec hospes ab hospite tutus--the guest and the host
are in danger from each other. (M. Henry.)
Verse 6-7
A man shall take hold of his brother
Seeking to transfer rulership
Here we have the law of primogeniture.
By the law of the State it was right that the eldest son should take a certain
definite and ruling position. But he was naked; he had not one rag with which
to cover his nudity; and seeing one of his younger brethren with a coat on,
with a garment on, he sprang upon him and said, By that coat I ask thee to take
my place: thou hast at least so much, and I have nothing; come, be head of the
family and be prince of the tribe. But the younger son scorned the proffered
dignity. The moral base had gone, and therefore the mechanical dignity was of
no account; the pedestal of righteousness had been struck away, and the statue
of nominal dignity fell into the dust. (J. Parker, D. D.)
“Let this ruin be under thy hand”
Or, according to a various reading, making a very good sense,
“Take into thy hand our ruinous state.” Endeavour, if possible, to retrieve our
affairs, now in sad disorder, prognosticating our destruction as a people:
deliver, if possible, from injustice and oppression, from foreign enemies and
domestic troubles; and, in the prosecution of these great and important
purposes, we will act as thy dutiful subjects. (R. Macculloch.)
Government going a-begging
Here--
1. It is taken for granted that there is no way of redressing all
these grievances and bringing things into order again, but by good magistrates,
that shall be invested with power by common consent, and shall exert that power
for the good of the community. And it is probable this was in many places the
true origin of government. Men found it necessary to unite in a subjection to
one who was thought fit for such a trust, in order to the welfare and safety of
them all, being aware that they must be either ruled or ruined.
2. The case is represented as very deplorable, and things come to a
sad pass; for--
3. It will be looked upon as ground sufficient for the preferring a
man to be a ruler, that he hath clothing better than his neighbours; a very
poor qualification to recommend a man to a place of trust in the government. It
was a sign the country was much impoverished, when it was a rare thing to find
a man that had good clothes, or that could afford to buy himself an alderman’s
gown, or a judge’s robes; and that the people were very unthinking, when they
had so much respect to a man in gay clothing with a gold ring (James 2:2-3), that for the sake thereof
they would make him their ruler. It had been some sense to have said, Thou hast
wisdom, integrity, experience, be thou our ruler; but it was a jest to say,
Thou hast clothing, be thou our ruler. A poor, wise man, though in vile
raiment, delivered a city (Ecclesiastes 9:15). (Matthew Henry.)
“I will not be an healer”
“I do not want to be a surgeon”--he does not like to be a binder,
namely, of the broken arms and legs and ribs of the ruined State (Isaiah 30:26; Isaiah 1:6; Isaiah 61:1). (F. Delitzsch.)
A reason for refusing rulership
“In my house is neither bread nor clothing.” If he saith true, it
was a sign men’s estates were sadly ruined; if he do not speak truth, it was a
sign men’s consciences were sadly debauched, when, to avoid the expense of an
office, they would load themselves with the guilt of perjury. (M. Henry.)
Clothing in the East
It was customary in Eastern countries, where fashions did not vary
as among us, to collect immense quantities of clothes and provisions, not only
for the person’s own use, and that of his family, but for presents upon proper
occasions. This appears plainly, from the sacred writings, to have been the
practice among the Jews. This, as a celebrated writer observes, explains the
meaning of the excuse made by him that is desired to undertake the government.
He alleges he hath not wherewithal to support the dignity of that station by
such acts of liberality and hospitality as the law and custom required of
persons in high rank. (R. Macculloch.)
Verse 8
For Jerusalem is ruined
“Jerusalem is ruined!”--forfeited privilege
What a verse is the eighth! We cannot even now read it without
quailing under the awful representation--“For Jerusalem is ruined.
” We thought Jerusalem never could be ruined: the mountains were round about
her, and to the old psalmists those mountains signified the security of the
righteous. Is beauty no protection? is ancient history of no account? will not
the dead kings of Judah speak for her in the time of her trial? We cannot live
upon our past, upon our forefathers, upon our vanished glories; morality must
be as fresh as the dew of the morning; our righteousness must be as clear,
personal, and definite as the action which we perform at the living moment. A
man cannot lay up a character and fall back upon it if his present conduct is
out of keeping with it; he himself takes the juice and sap out of the character
which he once lived. (J. Parker, D. D.)
“The eyes of His glory”
The glory of God is that eternal manifestation of His holy nature
in its splendour which man pictures to himself anthropomorphically, because he
cannot conceive of anything more sublime than the human form. It is in this
glorious form that Jehovah looks upon His people. In this is mirrored His
condescending yet jealous love, His holy love, which breaks forth into wrath
against all who requite His love with hate. (F. Delitzsch.)
The fall of the Campanile at St. Mark’s, Venice
Latterly it had been ignobly used as an office for the State
lotteries which are demoralising Italy. In cutting the wall for the purposes of
that office, the whole building had been weakened. The event spoke as a parable
whose meaning could not be missed. That great, stately tower, with its history
of a thousand years, fell, because of the little lottery office which cut into
it and weakened it. There is an application of the parable to our own national
life. Is it possible that a great empire like ours can fall through the
gambling habit--the lowest and meanest of the vices--insidiously spreading
through all classes of the community? Is it possible to conceive that such a
vice should so undermine the character of the people, that the stately
structure, built by heroic men in the past, shall crash down in swift ruin at
the end? (R. F. Horton, D. D.)
Ruinous effect of sin
Its is just like what happens sometimes in a forest. In a calm
day, when all else is silent, something crashes heavily through the branches,
and we know a tree has fallen, No axe was lifted, no white lightning streamed,
there was only a passing breeze. The wind that did but gently sway the little
flower, shook down that towering tree, because long before the catastrophe, its
vital progress had been disturbed, and millions of foul insects had entered it,
which, leaving its bark untouched, and its boughs unshorn of their glory, had
slowly, silently, withered its strong fibres and hollowed its core. (C.
Stanford.)
Verse 9
The shew of their countenance doth witness against them
Character revealed in the countenance
What is meant is the insolent look which their sinfulness is
stamping upon their faces, without the self-condemnation which in others takes
the form of dread to commit sin.
(F. Delitzsch.)
“Woe unto their soul”!
1. The condition of sinners is woeful and very deplorable.
2. It is the soul that is damaged and endangered by sin. Sinners may
prosper in their outward estates, and yet there may be a woe to their souls.
3. Whatever evil befalls sinners, it is of their own procuring (Jeremiah 2:19). (M. Henry.)
Verse 10-11
Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him
Retribution of the righteous and the wicked
In this passage the Sovereign of the universe proclaims to all the
subjects of His moral government the great sanctions of His law.
Two powerful principles of action in our nature are addressed, namely, hope and
fear. By the one we are allured to love and pursue that which is right; by the
other, we are restrained from that which is wrong. The combined influence of
both of these principles is, in most cases, necessary to the production and
security of human virtue. God has established a natural and intimate connection
between virtue and happiness, and between sin and misery, and in consequence of
this connection, it must necessarily happen that it will be, on the whole, well
with the righteous and ill with the wicked.
I. Let us inquire
what confirmation this doctrine receives from what we know of the present
constitution of things, and from what we find to be THE USUAL COURSE OF GOD’S
MORAL GOVERNMENT OF THE WORLD, If we consult the structure and operations of
our own souls, we shall find many striking intimations of this doctrine there.
The Author of our nature has made us rational, free, moral, and accountable
beings. For the direction and government of our conduct, He has implanted
within us a principle, which we call conscience, which distinguishes actions as
good or bad, and which always urges us to perform the one and to avoid the
other. He has, moreover, enforced the authority of this principle, by annexing
present pleasure to obedience to its dictates, and present pain to a violation
of them. The passions of hope and fear ever attend on conscience; the one to
encourage and reward faithful adherence to its commands; the other to restrain and
punish a wilful transgression of them. Now, all this takes place in consequence
of that moral constitution which God has given us, and of that intimate
connection which He Himself has established between virtue and happiness and
between sin and misery. So long, therefore, as the moral constitution of our
nature continues the same, and so long as God continues to be the same
infinitely wise, holy, and good Being, so long must it necessarily happen that,
on the whole, it will be well with the righteous and ill with the wicked.
II. This doctrine
receives additional confirmation from THE UNIVERSAL CONSENT OF MANKIND. In
consequence of that moral nature which God has given us, by which we cannot but
approve that which we know to be right, and condemn that which we know to be
wrong, all men are agreed that vice (as far as they know it to be such) should
be restrained and punished, and that virtue should be encouraged and rewarded.
Hence, in all governments, laws are enacted against wickedness and for the protection
and encouragement of the righteous.
III. A further
confirmation of this doctrine is derived from what appear to be THE PRINCIPLES
UPON WHICH GOD’S PRESENT MORAL GOVERNMENT OF THE WORLD IS CONDUCTED. We find
that, in most cases, present good is connected by Him with virtuous
dispositions and habits; and present evil, with sinful tempers and practices.
And although this connection is not always so intimate and inseparable, as that
punishment immediately follows transgression, and reward instantly attends
obedience, yet the natural retributions or effects of virtue and vice are
exhibited with sufficient frequency, to show us in what light God regards them.
With certain vices, we find that God has connected terrible physical evils, as
their proper consequences. Intemperance, in most instances, induces disease,
excruciating pains and premature death. It impairs the mind, and is generally
attended with the loss of property, and invariably with the loss of reputation.
With some other of the vices of sensuality are connected the most loathsome and
destructive maladies, in the endurance of which the victim suffers a dreadful
retribution. And with regard to other vices, it not unfrequently happens that
the events of providence are so ordered in reference to the perpetrators of
them that the wicked man becomes miserable, notwithstanding all his worldly
possessions and honours, and all that he has can give him neither joy not
quietude. On the contrary, God has connected with temperance and industry,
health, cheerfulness, and competency. To the godly there is the promise of the
life that now is, as well as of that which is to come. This promise we see
fulfilled, in part, in the general esteem and love in which the virtuous are
held, and in the usual prosperity of their affairs. If they have not abundance,
they have a competency; or, if they are abridged in that respect, they have
friends and a contented mind. Besides, the events of providence are, in
general, so ordered with regard to them, that they find “all things working
together for their good.” Upon these principles does the course of God’s moral
government of mankind appear now to be conducted. And from what is now known of
the principles of His government, we may confidently infer that, during the
whole of man’s continuance in being, it will always be well with the righteous
and ill with the wicked. (J. Bartlett.)
Objections to God’s moral government
1. “Good and evil are often so promiscuously distributed in the
present life, that we cannot with certainty infer what are the principles upon
which God’s government of mankind is conducted. The fraudulent and wicked are
frequently prosperous and rich and flattered, while the righteous are often
poor, neglected, oppressed, and despised.” This is frequently the fact, and
were the present the only state in which mankind were to exist, and were
worldly riches and honours the only and the proper reward of virtue, and were
they, in themselves, that real good which mankind fancy them to be, then, this
fact alone would render this whole doctrine suspicious, and the arguments
adduced in support of it inconclusive. But it must first be proved that the
present is the only state in which mankind are to exist; a position, which few
will pretend to sustain, and against which innumerable arguments array
themselves, suggested by the structure and operations of our own minds; the
desires and hopes which are ever springing up within us; by our capacity of
knowledge, goodness, and happiness, which here are only imperfectly attained,
and also by that very unequal distribution of good and evil, in the present
life, which has been objected to.
2. It is objected that “the miseries attending upon wickedness in
this world are punishment enough for the vicious, and therefore they will be
exempted from further suffering hereafter.” It is true that, in the present
life, there is much misery attending upon wickedness; but this furnishes not
the least ground for the supposition that misery will ever cease to be
connected with sin, as its natural and necessary consequence. On the contrary,
it affords a very strong proof that this connection will ever exist, and that
so long as men are wicked, so long will they be miserable. It is agreeable to
the nature of things that it should be so. In the natural world, we find that
fruit corresponds to the nature of the tree that bears it; the grain that is
reaped to the seed that was sown.
3. It is inconsistent with the Divine mercy that the wicked should
ever experience any more suffering than what they endure in this world.” It
savours not a little of presumption for creatures of such limited, weak, and
erring minds as ours to undertake to decide, with regard to the various
measures of the Divine government, what is and what is not consistent with
God’s mercy. No one thinks to arraign the Divine government for connecting with
sin, in the present life, distress of mind, disgrace, and suffering. And were
our stay on earth prolonged to millions of years it would still be thought just
and right, and entirely consistent with the mercy of God, that the same evils
should attend the wicked, and the same good should attend the righteous. It is
an error, common to many, that they look upon the evils which attend upon sin
in this life, as a punishment vindictively appointed by God, to be endured by
the transgressor, as a penalty for having violated His law, and that after he
has endured it, he has paid the price of his transgression; the sin for which
he has suffered is expiated and therefore he thinks it would be unjust that he
should be subjected to any more suffering, although his disposition be not
changed in the least. There is hardly a sentiment that can be named, more
injurious in its influence than this, where it is fully entertained. This error
proceeds from misapprehension of the design of God in connecting evil with sin.
The miseries which are consequent upon sin are not appointed vindictively, as a
punishment; but benevolently, as preventives of it. Our Maker has kindly placed
at the entrance of every path of vice, pain, disgrace, and suffering, to deter
us from entering therein; or if we have entered, to make us retrace our steps.
Every onward step we take in a sinful course, these evils assail us. (J.
Bartlett.)
The righteous and the wicked, their reward and their woe
“Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any
people.” Plainly do we see this exemplified in the history of God’s once
favoured people, the Jews.
I. THE REWARD OF
THE RIGHTEOUS.
1. We must, before we contemplate their reward, inquire who are meant
by the righteous. The Bible elsewhere tells us, “There is none righteous, no,
not one.” All our powers and faculties are represented as disordered and
depraved. After the Holy Spirit has convinced anyone of sin, humbled his heart,
and won his affections to Christ, that man is “accounted
righteous”--“righteousness is imputed unto him also,” as it was unto
faithfulAbraham. And “as a refiner’s fire” will the Holy Spirit gradually
purify all those powers and faculties of the now justified sinner that were
once prostituted to the debasing service of the flesh, the world, and Satan.
2. And now we are prepared to notice his reward. We cannot, indeed,
imagine that an infinitely glorious Creator can ever become obligated to reward
a creature’s faith and service: nevertheless, there is a “reward of grace.”
II. THE WOE OF THE
WICKED.
I. And, as before
we inquired, Who were meant by the righteous? so here we must ask, Whom are we
to understand by the wicked? Although, in a general way, people allow themselves
to be sinners, yet even whilst making this admission, there is evidently no
consciousness of sin, no apprehension of its adequate desert, no sorrow for it,
no hatred to it.
2. Their woe. Here the woe of the wicked is called their “reward”;
and a reward it is: for while “eternal life” is bestowed as a “gift through
Jesus Christ,” upon the righteous, the “woe” of the wicked is paid to them as
“wages” earned.
Cheering words and solemn warnings
The Book of God speaks but little of upper and lower classes; it
says but little concerning the various ranks into which civil and political
institutions have divided the race of man; but from its first page to its last
it is taken up with this grand division, the righteous and the wicked. The line
of nature and the line of grace run on the same as ever; the seed of the woman
and the seed of the serpent contend with each other still. A crimson line runs
between the righteous and the wicked, the line of atoning sacrifice; faith
crosses that line, but nothing else can. There is a sharp line of division
between the righteous and the wicked, as clear as that which divides death from
life. There are no “betweenites”; no amphibious dwellers in grace and out of
grace; no monstrous nondescripts, who are neither sinners nor saints.
I. THE WELL-BEING
OF THE RIGHTEOUS.
1. Observe the fact mentioned. “It shall be well with him”; that is
the whole of the declaration; but the very fewness of the words reveals a depth
of meaning.
2. The ground upon which it is well with the righteous. “They shall
eat the fruit of their doings.” That is the only terms upon which the old
covenant can promise that it shall be well with us; but this is not the ground
upon which you and I stand under the Gospel dispensation. Absolutely to eat the
fruit of all our doings would be even to us, if judgment were brought to the
line and righteousness to the plummet, a very dreadful thing. Yet there is a
limited sense in which the righteous man will do this. I prefer, however, to
remark that there is One whose doings for us are the grounds of our dependence,
and, blessed be God, we shall eat the fruit of His doings. He, the Lord Jesus,
stood for us, and you know what a harvest of joy He sowed for us in His life
and death.
II. THE MISERY OF
THE WICKED. “Woe,” etc. You have only to negative all that I have already said
about the righteous. But why is it ill with the wicked? It must be ill with
him; he is out of joint with all the world. The man has an enemy who is
omnipotent, whose power cannot be resisted; an enemy who is all goodness, and
yet this man opposes Him. How can it be well with the stubble that fighteth
with the flame, or with the wax that striveth with the fire? An insect fighting
with a giant, how should it overcome? And thou, poor nothingness, contending
with the everlasting God, how can it be anything But ill with thee? It is ill
with thee, sinner, because thy joys all hang upon a thread. It is ill with you,
because when these joys are over you have no more to come. It shall be ill with
the wicked, and let no present appearance lead you to doubt it. (C.
H.Spurgeon.)
The happiness of the righteous in all circumstances illustrated
I. WHO ARE THE
RIGHTEOUS AND IN WHAT SENSE IT SHALL BE WELL WITH THEM.
1. In this mixed state, when men are neither perfectly good nor bad,
the exact boundaries are not so easily fixed, especially when an application is
made of these characters to particular persons, and we judge concerning
ourselves, in which case prejudice and self-partiality often mislead men; and
superstition, a very prevailing error among mankind, contributes to these
errors by leading them to imagine that there is righteousness and religion in
those things which have really nothing to do with it. In general the righteous
is he in whose heart the morally good or pious, virtuous and pure affections
rule, and whose practice is habitually conducted by their direction; the man
who loves God above all things; not the person who is altogether free from any
infirmities, which, strictly speaking, may be called sinful, and who never,
through the whole course of his life, has by ignorance or surprise been drawn
into those indeliberate actions, which upon a review he cannot justify. If this
were the sense of righteousness, who could pretend to it?
2. In what sense it shall be well with him. The meaning certainly is
not that he shall possess all external advantages in this world, whereby his
condition shall be rendered more easy and prosperous than that of the wicked.
That is contrary to fact and experience, as well as to many plain declarations
of Scripture. The stable uniform desire of the good man, is, that God may “lift
on him the light of His countenance,” or grant him His “favour, which is better
than life.” Nor is it to be thought that Divine providence will always
interpose to rescue the righteous from those calamities that come upon the
world of the ungodly in which they live; it was not the intention of the
prophet to assure them, that they should be preserved from the ruin of
Jerusalem, and the common fall of Judah, which was to be expected because of
their crying national sins, in which the righteous had no share; but that in
all events they should be happy, even though they were involved in the common
desolation, and perished with the multitude of sinners. We must, therefore, in
order to understand fully how it shall be well with the righteous, enlarge our
notion of the state of man; we must consider him in the whole of his being, his
soul as well as his body and in every condition and period of his existence. It
is thus we judge concerning our state within the compass of the present life,
and its affairs. A man may be easy and prosperous in the main, when his
principal interests are flourishing, although he meets with various
disappointments in things which are of lesser moment. In like manner we may
justly say, it is well with good men when their souls prosper; they enjoy
inward peace and satisfaction, and their future happiness is secured, though
they are liable to sufferings in this present time.
II. UPON WHAT
EVIDENCE THE PROPHET’S ASSERTION RESTS, or how it appears that there is a
connection between righteousness and felicity.
1. Consider the state and constitution of human nature as in fact we
find it, abstracting from any inquiry concerning the Author of it and His
designs and conduct towards us. Scarcely is there any man not conscious, in
some measure, of the satisfaction which arises from morally good dispositions;
and that this is stronger and more intense than the enjoyments which any
sensible object can yield appears from this consideration, that the latter are
frequently sacrificed to the other. Who doth not know, on the other hand, the
pains of a self-accusing heart?
2. Consider righteousness not merely as the glory of the human mind,
and the naturally felicitating exercise and attainment of its powers, but
further, as it is approved and recommended to mankind by the Deity, their
rightful and supreme Ruler. We have the clearest evidence that He approves the
good actions of men, and disapproves the bad; whence we infer that one part of
His own character is moral rectitude, which is a perfection that necessarily
appears to our minds amiable, and every way worthy of the most excellent
nature; and since He is our natural Governor, by whose will we exist, are
preserved, and all the circumstances of our condition are determined, here is a
sufficient intimation of the rule, according to which He doth, and will always
proceed, in His dispensations towards us, making us happy or unhappy. (J.
Abernethy, M. A.)
All well with the righteous
I. WHO THESE
RIGHTEOUS ARE.
1. A “righteous” man before God is made so by the imputation of
Christ’s holy obedience, put to his account.
2. He has a righteous kingdom implanted and set up in his soul. A
righteous man has proof of his being such.
3. He can feed upon nothing but God’s righteous provision. He cannot
feed upon his own obedience, or upon the mere letter of the word, or upon his
mere judgment. He must have “precious faith” to “eat the flesh and drink the
blood of the Son of Man.”
4. He loves righteous fruits--a holy walk in all godliness and fear.
II. THE VERY
ENCOURAGING LANGUAGE SPOKEN RESPECTING THEM. It shall be well with them.
1. In providence.
2. In spiritual things. All thy temptations, all thy darkness, all
thy perplexities, all thy disquietudes, all thy wanderings, God will overrule.
There shall never be a night, but morning shall come; never a day of adversity,
but a day of prosperity shall follow; never an emptying, but there shall be a
filling; never a bringing down, but He will raise thee up again. (J.
Warburton.)
The happiness of the righteous
I. WHO ARE THE
RIGHTEOUS?
1. Negatively.
2. Positively. This leads to a very affecting truth, namely, that all
by sin are unrighteous. Observe--
II. WHAT IS THEIR
HAPPINESS? “It shall be well with him.”
1. Their present state of justification, etc., already described,
proves this: they are free from guilt and condemnation. “Blessed is the man
whose transgression is forgiven,” etc. This freedom gives hope and is the
precursor of blessedness to come.
2. They have a good conscience (Hebrews 9:14; Hebrews 10:21-22; 2 Corinthians 1:12).
3. They enjoy all the pleasures of true religion, arising from the
possession of Christian graces--the enjoyment of Christian privileges--and the
performance of Christian duties.
4. It shall be well with them in all adverse circumstances.
5. In death, the period when the presence of God is most needed.
6. At the resurrection. “They that have done good shall come forth to
the resurrection of life.”
7. At the judgment day (Malachi 3:17).
8. For ever in heaven. They shall be “with Christ.” (Homilist.)
It is well with the righteous
I. IN EVERY PERIOD
OF LIFE.
II. IN EVERY
RELATION IN LIFE.
III. IN EVERY
CONDITION OF LIFE.
IV. IN DEATH.
V. IN ETERNITY. (H.
Woodcock.)
The end of Christian life
“God hangs great weights on slender wires.” Thus He has made
Eternity to depend on Time, and our state in heaven or in hell to be decided by
our character on earth. Our whole history, in like manner, often hangs upon a
trifle; and that which moulds our character, upon an incident which we hardly
notice. Hence even the least actions in themselves and in their connection with
others, in leading to results, forming habits and moulding character, are of
the highest importance to us, and demand our most thoughtful reflection.
I. THEIR
CONNECTION WITH ONE ANOTHER. No action stands alone; each is a link in a chain
stretching out to eternity. Take the case of an intemperate and unchaste man;
his habits are neither without a cause preceding nor an effect to follow. It is
quite possible that several generations backward, some ancestor of his, through
some so-called trivial accident, some casual meeting, first gave way to
drunkenness. Now look onwards a few steps; we will suppose ourselves in a
hospital a generation or two hence: as we pass from ward to ward we come to a
descendant of the man before us--a poor creature, more miserable than any we
have seen dying of some miserable disease. The cause of his suffering is to be
found in the intemperance and incontinency of those who have gone before him.
Step by step it may be traced back to the trifle which led his forefather to
his first night of revelling and drunkenness. Take an instance on the brighter
side--the thought which first hit on the art of printing. This too arose from
some so-called trivial accident. We do not know what preceded it; but we may be
sure it did not come without some connection in its author’s mind. Every great
result strikes its roots deep into the past. But what has followed? has it
stood alone, unconnected, the act of one isolated mind? is not the world rather
full of its consequences, one of which, perhaps the most blessed, is that men of
all kindreds and nations may now read in their own tongues the wonderful works
of God? Both good and evil actions fructify, and reproduce themselves in
various forms. Whither their roots shall extend, and when shoot up again,
whither their seed may be carried, where it may fall, and what it shall
produce, who can tell? Sometimes the least promising seed will produce the most
abundant return of fruit. So that we may not pronounce upon the importance of
an action, for we do not see its connection; neither may we think any action
trivial, for it may, I had almost said it must, lead to consequences of
importance throughout eternity.
II. THE EFFECT OF
OUR ACTIONS ON OURSELVES AND ON OTHERS.
1. On ourselves. Every step we take not only brings us forward, but
leaves a footprint behind. Every thought, word, action, all we suffer and all
we do, not only has its own importance, and leads us forward in the march of
life, but also leaves its impression, its foot print upon us, and tends to
form, confirm, or change our character. There is a memorable instance in point,
illustrating both the weakness of yielding and the nobleness of holding fast to
one’s convictions, in the visit of Henry III of France to Bernard de Palissy in
the dungeons of the Bastille. The King desired to give the celebrated potter
his liberty, asking as, the price of his pardon the easy condition of giving up
his Protestant faith; My worthy friend, said the monarch, “you have now been
forty-five years in the service of my mother and myself; we have suffered you
to retain your religion amidst fire and slaughter; I am now so pressed by the
Guises and my people, that I find myself compelled to deliver you into the
hands of your enemies, and tomorrow you will be burnt unless you are
converted.” The old man bowed, touched by the goodness of the King, humbled by
his weakness, but inflexible in the faith of his fathers. “Sire,” he answered,
“I am ready to give up the remainder of my life for the honour of God; you have
told me several times that you pity me, and now in my turn I pity you, who have
used the words ‘I am compelled’; it was not spoken like a king, Sire, and they
are words which neither you, nor the Guises, nor the people shall ever make me
utter: Sire, I can die.” By continually yielding, the monarch had become a
slave; by continually acting up to his convictions, the potter had become more
than a king. “He that ruleth his spirit is better than he that taketh a city.”
2. Look next at the effect of our actions upon others. Not only our
children, friends, servants, but all we have any intercourse with, are more or
less affected by us. Everyone knows the force of example, the impulse we have
to imitate. Everyone musk have noticed the contagion, as it were, of opinion,
which from house to house influences a whole circle of acquaintanceship. How
often have you felt the devotion or the carelessness of the person kneeling by
your side in church! How frequently must you have noticed the way in which you
catch the habits and manners of those you live with; the way in which you too
are watched, and observed, and copied by others. So that, if you did nothing
directly to influence others, the effect of your indirect influence is yet
incalculable. But you have direct influence also to exercise and give account of.
Everyone does act directly upon others. Everyone does hinder or encourage, lead
into sin, sin with, or lead away from sin, and walk godly with, others. And
where is this to stop? You ruin or, under God, save others. This goes on; their
influence ruins or saves others, and so on and on forever. Solemn, indeed, are
the words of our Saviour on this subject. (Luke 17:1-2.) On the other hand,
it is equally encouraging to know that no virtuous effort is ever lost. It has
been said that every pulsation made in the air by the feeblest human effort
produces a change in the whole atmosphere; so that the air is one vast library,
on whose pages are forever written all that man has ever said or woman uttered.
Is it not equally true, that the feeblest effort made for God has an influence
on some heart, and that on others onwards and onwards throughout all
generations? that, as the air is one vast library of whatever has moved it from
eternity, so the hearts and consciences of men are a vast register of every
effort made, every word spoken, every influence exerted upon them for God and
for His Christ from the beginning to the end of time; a register to be read out
on the last great day. (F. Morse, M. A.)
An old man’s hallelujah
When Dr. Adam Clarke was an old man he wrote: I have enjoyed the
spring of life; I have enjoyed the toils of its summer; I have culled the
fruits of its autumn; I am now passing through the rigours of its winter, and I
am neither forsaken of God nor abandoned by man. I see at no great distance the
dawn of a new day, the first of a spring which shall be eternal. It is
advancing to meet me! I run to embrace it! Welcome, eternal spring!
Hallelujah!”
A Christian gardener’s hope
An old gardener said, “I trust I cannot be wrong in believing that
year by year, as I grow older, I draw nearer to a garden of perfect beauty and
eternal rest,--a garden more glorious than that which Adam lost, the Eden and
the paradise of God.” (Gates of Imagery.)
Heaven, the outcome of godly living
When John Bunyan was once asked about heaven, and the glories of
heaven, he answered: “If you want to know more about it, you must live a godly
life, and go and see for yourselves.” (D. J. S. Hunt.)
Verse 11
Woe unto the wicked!--
All things conspire for evil to the sinner
As all events are to be made public under God’s moral government,
it is for His own interest, as well as for the interest of His creatures, that
He should apprise them fully of His character and of the principles of His
government.
As all events are to be made known, both for the vindication of God’s character
and for the instruction of all moral agents, it follows that the destruction of
the wicked will be aggravated by every accession of light to their minds. Every
new revelation of God’s works or ways which is made to them must conspire,
1. Men will be held responsible for mercies abused. Hence those
things which most please sinners, and which they call their good things, are
charged to their account, and they must be held to the strictest accountability
for their use or abuse of all their good things.
2. If these are facts, then sinners are getting deeply in debt.
Everything, therefore, that now pleases the sinner so much will swell the mass
of things that shall agonise him at the judgment day, and throughout his
eternal existence.
3. The same principle applies to the entire course of God’s
discipline towards you, embracing the various rebukes of His providence. All
these are measures taken for your good, but if you will not improve them, they
will only work out your deeper ruin. How marvellous that wicked men should
suppose that these light afflictions are the proper punishment of sin! No;
these are only God’s means of discipline, employed here in this life for the
good of men’s souls. Instead of being themselves the retribution due for sin,
they are only the guarantees sent on beforehand by the great King, involving
His pledge that He will punish sin unless He can secure repentance.
4. All your infirmities and all your sins; also the sins of those who
live near you so that you can see the course of God’s dealings with them;
indeed, the whole history of sin in the universe so far as known to you,--all
conspire to heighten your responsibility and aggravate the guilt of your sin.
For all these things serve to show you the real evil and wrong of sin; they
serve to reveal God’s hatred of sin, and to assure you that He must and will
punish it. Remarks:--
Lord knoweth them that are His, and they shall never lack His
constant care.
The wicked man digs his own hell
We must not think of hell as a Divine invention; may we not say it
reverently? it is an invention totally human. All evil digs and eats its own
perdition; all evil chokes its throat with brimstone of its own finding. (J.
Parker, D. D.)
Presumptuous disobedience
Steel-headed hammers are not allowed to be used inside powder
mills, copper ones being used instead, there being no fear of drawing fires
with them. Two carpenters, going into a powder mill to do some repairs, though
fully acquainted with the regulations, persisted in using a steel hammer, with
the result that a spark flew from the hammer head, and in a moment, with a
dull, heavy roar, the mill and the men were blown to atoms.
Verse 12
As for My people
A protest
A protest against the influence of women and children, concubines
and minions (what we should call the harem influence) in the king’s counsels.
(E. H.Plumptre, D. D.)
The rule of corrupt women
The celebrated Aspasia, first the mistress and afterward the wife
of Pericles, had from her extraordinary talents a great ascendency over his
mind, and was supposed frequently to have dictated his counsels in the most
important concerns of the State. She was believed to have formed a society of
courtesans, whose influence over their gallants, young men of consideration in the
republic, she thus rendered subservient to the political views of Pericles . .
. Such were the powers of her mind and the fascinating charms of her
conversation, that even before her marriage, and while exercising the trade of
a courtesan, her house was the frequent resort of the gravest and most
respectable of the Athenian citizens; among the rest, of the virtuous Socrates.
(Tytler’s History.)
O My people, they which
lead thee cause thee to err
The character of rulers to be proved from the principles they
inculcate and the policy they pursue
The Divine compassion is not only exercised towards men in
reference to the danger of their immortal souls; it is also most strikingly to
be witnessed with regard to their temporal miseries The Lord is lamenting, in
this chapter, the miseries which were coming upon His professed people as the
fruit of their doings; and as the consequence of that course of procedure which
He would be constrained to adopt as the only means, devised by infinite wisdom,
which could either work for their good, or be consistent with His character and
glory. That order of dealing would, in many respects, be exceedingly mortifying
and painful How lamentable must be the condition of any nation or people when
the words of the text are literally fulfilled in them!
I. IT IS OF THE
UTMOST IMPORTANCE THAT THEY WHO ARE ENTRUSTED WITH THE RULE AND GUIDANCE OF
OTHERS SHOULD THEMSELVES BE RULED AND GUIDED BY THE FEAR AND WORD OF THE LORD.
The text is not the only passage in which the Lord speaks of the misery and
ruin brought on the people by the errors, vices, and mismanagement of their
rulers (chap. 9). Here you see, not only who the leaders of this people are,
and how they are led astray by them, but what are the consequences of being
under such an erring influence. The leaders are the “head and the tail; the
ancient and honourable, he is the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he
is the tail.” Under this two-fold guidance, the people are led astray; and the
result is, “they that are led of them are destroyed.” Advert again to the case
before us. How came “the paths” of the people to be “destroyed” in the days of
the prophet? “They that led them, caused them to err.” Now, could this have
taken place if their lying prophets and wicked rulers themselves had been
governed in the fear, and guided by the Word, of God? Psalms 81:13-16.) Now, does not
the same truth apply with equal force to ourselves, to our own rulers and our own
people? Should anyone be disposed to object to this statement and say, May not
a line of policy be good although not founded upon this principle? or, May not
a man be a good ruler who follows no other guidance than his own wisdom or
will?--we deny the assertion altogether. We deem nothing to be good which is
not done in the fear, or according to the truth, of God. Now, can anyone rule
in that fear who does not live under its influence? Can anyone lead others in
the right way, who is not himself walking in it! Can anyone enforce on others
the maxims and precepts of the Divine Word--the only standard of truth and
error, and the only test of good and evil--unless that Word be made the light
of his own feet, and the lamp of his own path? Morally speaking, the thing is
impossible. Or, if he were to attempt to do so, would not indecision,
ignorance, uncertainty, and error characterise all his proceedings?
II. IT IS NO
DIFFICULT THING TO ASCERTAIN THE REAL CHARACTER OF SUCH PERSONS, ESPECIALLY IN
THEIR PUBLIC CAPACITY, WHETHER THEY ARE UNDER SUCH AN INFLUENCE OR GUIDED BY
SUCH A RULE, OR NOT. How are we to ascertain whether they who are entrusted
with the rule and guidance of others are men to be confided in, as being
themselves under the rule and guidance of the fear and Word of the Lord? We may
ask in return, By what means are we to ascertain the true character of any
other person or thing, so far as man is authorised and able to judge, which is
brought under our notice, and whose real state and condition it may be of
importance to determine? By whatever standard we are directed in the one case,
by the same should we be guided in the other. We must be guided in our decision
by the conduct and actions which are constantly exhibited before our eyes, and
not merely by any fair professions which are totally contradicted, or, at
least, exceedingly weakened, and continually to be called in question, by the
life and conversation.
III. THE MANNER IN
WHICH SUCH RULERS AND GUIDES GENERALLY MISLEAD OTHERS IS NOT ONLY PERNICIOUS IN
ITSELF, BUT IS OPEN AND MANIFEST TO ALL BEHOLDERS.
1. By the inculcation of dangerous and pernicious principles. A man
is what his principles are; and his actions and life will of necessity, be
according to the principles by which he is governed. But how are we to
ascertain the real character of principles? By the same test as we try men and
actions. “To the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this
Word, it is because there is no light in them.”
2. By the introduction of a crooked and perverse course of policy.
Principles and policy in the affairs of nations, like faith and works in the
things of God, will always go hand in hand together; or, at least, they will be
so intimately blended with each other that they can never remain far asunder,
because, in fact, as the one is the fruitful cause, so the other is the native
effect produced.
3. By the exhibition of a wicked and contagious example.
4. By an unwarrantable abuse of their power, and by the countenance
afforded to unworthy characters, and sanction given to wicked measures. Here,
then, is a loud call--
Ungodly national leaders to be deprecated
Surely it ought to be for a lamentation, when the present and
eternal interests of any nation or people are committed to persons who know not
the Lord, and are determined not to walk in His paths! If any spark of proper
feeling were in exercise, we should grieve over a family placed under the care
of such parents! we should mourn over a parish or diocese entrusted to the
hands of such a shepherd! we should lament the fate of the crew of that vessel,
which, instead of being steered amidst the perils of the storm, by an
experienced and careful pilot, into the harbour for safety, should by some rash
and unskilful hand be conducted into the quicksands or dashed upon the rock! We
should feel the risings of national indignation, if the admirals of our fleets,
or the commanders of our armies, instead of resisting an opposing foe, should
sully their character, disobey their orders, disregard their king and their
country, and, either from incompetency, or fear, or cowardice, or treason,
should play into the enemy’s hand, betray the honour of the nation, abuse the
confidence of their prince, and with reckless indifference sacrifice the lives
of their men! Everyone would cry out, and that justly, against them. What then
ought to be our feelings--how ought we to be affected--when such a dishonour is
cast upon the Majesty of heaven; when His fear is disregarded; when His Word is
set at nought; when His authority is despised; and the present and eternal
welfare of millions is sacrificed by the wickedness or weakness of those who
reject the only rule of all safe guidance--who lead a whole nation into sin,
and bring down the wrath of God upon a guilty land! (R. Shittler.)
Verses 13-15
The Lord standeth up to plead
God’s controversy
The management of this controversy.
I. GOD HIMSELF IS
THE PROSECUTOR.
II. THE INDICTMENT
IS PROVED BY THE NOTORIOUS EVIDENCE OF THE FACT (Isaiah 3:15).
III. THE CONTROVERSY
IS ALREADY BEGUN IN THE CHANGE OF THE MINISTRY. To punish those that had abused
their power to ill purposes, God sets those over them that had not sense to use
it to any good purposes (Isaiah 3:12). (M. Henry.)
Verse 14
The Lord will enter into judgment
God, the Friend of the poor
Whoever abandons the sanctuary, the poor should never go away;
whoever closes the Bible, the poor man should keep it lying widely open; he
should always have a Bible that opens easily, not stiffly, because it is well
handled, and is the continual defence of men who cannot defend themselves.
(J. Parker, D. D.)
Isaiah’s solemn reproof
Returning into the city he silently hovers in and out of the
courts of revelry and feasting that open on to the narrow thoroughfares,
watching the judges and honourable men of wealth, who had just come in from
their ceremonial worship at the temple, to eat, to drink, to talk lewdly, and
to amuse themselves with soothsayers and necromancers, and the haughty women,
with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, and gay and sumptuous dresses, paid
for with the money wrung from the impoverished tenantry of their spouses. As he
watches and muses, the fire within his bones flames up, and he reminds them as
he passes into the darkness, “the spoil of the poor is in your houses!” (F.
Sessions.)
Verses 16-24
The daughters of Zion are haughty
Wanton eyes
(“twinkling with the eyes”):--Compare the Talmudic witticism, “God
did not create the woman out of Adam’s ear, lest she might become an
eavesdropper; nor out of Adam’s eye, lest she might become a winker.
” (F. Delitzsch.)
The “wanton” eyes
The “wanton” eyes of A.V., or the “ogling” eyes of others,
introduces an idea foreign to the connection. There seems no reference to
immorality. It is the pride of beauty and attire, which has no mind for the
Ruler above, which is punished with all that makes loathsome. (A. B.
Davidson, LL. D.)
A mincing gait
The rendering should rather be “tripping”; for only such little
steps can they take, owing to their pace chains, which join together the costly
foot rings that were placed above the ankle. With these pace chains, which perhaps
even then as now, were sometimes provided with little bells, they make a
tinkling sound, clinking the ankle ornaments, by placing the feet in such a way
as to make these ankle rings strike one another. (F. Delitzsch.)
Pride of beauty and attire reproved
The prophet’s business was to show all sorts of people what they
had contributed to the national guilt, and what share they must expect in the
national judgments that were coming. Here he reproves and warns the daughters
of Zion, tells the ladies of their faults.
I. THE SIN CHARGED
UPON THE DAUGHTERS OF ZION. The prophet expressly voucheth God’s Authority for
what he said, lest it should be thought it was unbecoming him to take notice of
such things, and should be ill resented by the ladies. The Lord saith it.
Whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, let them know that God
takes notice of, and is much displeased with, the folly and vanity of proud
women; and His law takes cognisance even of their dress Such a nice affected
mien is not only a force upon that which is natural, and ridiculous before men
of sense, but, as it is an evidence of a vain mind, it is offensive to God. And
two things aggravated it here--
1. That these were the daughters of Zion--the holy mountain--who
should have carried themselves with the gravity that becomes women professing
godliness.
2. That it should seem by the connection they were the wives and
daughters of the princes who spoiled and oppressed the poor (Isaiah 3:14-15), that they might maintain
this pride and luxury of their families.
II. THE PUNISHMENTS
THREATENED FOR THIS SIN, and they answer the sin as face answers to face in a
glass (Isaiah 3:17-18).
1. They “walked with stretched forth necks.” But God “will smite with
a scab the crown of their head,” which shall lower their crests, and make them
ashamed to show their heads, being obliged by it to cut off their hair.
2. They cared not what they laid out in furnishing themselves with
great variety of fine clothes; but God will reduce them to such poverty and
distress that they should not have clothes sufficient to cover their nakedness.
3. They were extremely fond and proud of their ornaments; but God
will strip them of those ornaments, when their houses shall be plundered, their
treasures rifled, and they themselves led into captivity.
4. They were very nice and curious about their clothes, but God would
make those bodies of theirs a reproach and burden to them (Isaiah 3:24).
5. They designed by these ornaments to charm the gentlemen, and win
their affections, but there shall be none to be charmed by them (Isaiah 3:25). (Matthew Henry.)
A Jerusalem fashion plate
This is a Jerusalem fashion plate. (T. DeWitt Talmage, D. D.)
Comely clothing natural
That we should all be clad is proved by the opening of the first
wardrobe in Paradise, with its apparel of dark green. That we should all as far
as our means allow us be beautifully and gracefully apparelled is proved by the
fact that God never made a wave but He gilded it with golden sunbeams, or a
tree but He garlanded it with blossoms, or a sky but He studded it with stars,
or allowed even the smoke of a furnace to ascend but He columned, and turreted,
and doled, and scrolled it into outlines of indescribable gracefulness. When I
see the apple orchards of the spring, and the pageantry of the autumnal
forests, I come to the conclusion that if Nature ever does join the Church,
while she may be a Quaker in the silence of her worship, she never will be a
Quaker in the style of her dress. Why the notches of a fern ear or the stamen
of a water lily? Why, when the day departs, does it let the folding doors of
heaven stay open so long, when it might go in so quickly? (T. DeWitt
Talmage, D. D.)
Costume and morals
1. Much of the worldly costume of our time is the cause of the
temporal and eternal ruin of a multitude of men.
2. Extravagant costume is the foe of all Christian almsgiving.
3. Is distraction to public worship.
4. Belittles the intellect. Our minds are enlarged, or they dwindle
just in proportion to the importance of the subject on which they constantly
dwell.
5. It shuts a great multitude out of heaven. You will have to choose
between the goddess of fashion and the Christian God. (T. DeWitt Talmage, D.
D.)
God-defying extravagance of modern society
1. This wholesale extravagance accounts for a great deal of
depression in national finances. Aggregates are made up of units, and so long
as one-half of the people of this country are in debt to the other half, you
cannot have a healthy financial condition.
2. The widespread extravagance accounts for much of the crime. It is
the source of many abscondings, bankruptcies, defalcations, and knaveries.
3. It also accounts for much of the pauperism in the country. Who are
the individuals and the families who are thrown on your charity? Who has sinned
against them so that they suffer? It is often the case that their parents, or
their grandparents, had all luxuries, lived everything up, more than lived
everything up, and then died, leaving their families in want. (T. DeWitt
Talmage, D. D.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》