CRITICAL NOTES.--+2. For the transgression,+ etc. Or, _"In the
rebellion."_ "For this use of the word transgression in the sense of
_revolt,_ compare the verb employed in this sense in 2 Kings i. 1;
also Exod xxiii. 21, etc." _(Zöckler.)_ Zöckler translates the last
clause, _"through wise, prudent men, he_ (the prince) _continueth
long."_ Delitzsch reads, _"Through a man of wisdom, of knowledge,
authority continues."_ +5. Judgment,+ or "what is right"
_(Delitzsch)._ +6. Perverse,+ etc., literally "he who is crooked in
two ways." Delitzsch translates, _"a double-dealing deceiver."_
+8. Usury and unjust gain.+ Literally, _"Interest and usury."_ "These
are so distinguished according to Lev. xxv. 36, that the former
denotes the annual revenue of a sum of money loaned out, the latter
an exaction in other things, especially in natural products"
_(Zöckler)._ +12. Hidden.+ Or _"sought for."_ Delitzsch understands
this to mean "plundered," or _"subjected to espionage."_ +16.+ Ewald,
Zöckler, Delitzsch, and others read this verse, _"O prince devoid of
understanding, he that hateth unjust gain continueth long."_
+17.+ First clause. _"A man laden with the blood of a soul."_
+18. Perverse ways.+ Rather _"double ways."_ +21.+ Zöckler reads the
last clause, _"And_ (yet) _even for a piece of bread_ (many) _a man
will transgress."_ +22.+ Rather _"The man of an evil eye hasteth,"_
etc. +23.+ Delitzsch reads this verse, _"He that reproveth a man that
is going backwards,"_ etc.
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 1.
COWARDICE AND COURAGE.
+I. This act of a wicked man reveals an unnatural condition.+ The
sparrow flies to her nest when the hawk is on the wing, and the stag
flees before the hunter or hounds that are on his track. But neither
bird nor beast is ever found fleeing in terror when it is not
pursued. But bad men flee when they are not chased, and when there is
nothing following them more substantial than their own shadow.
+II. The cause of this unnatural action.+ There must be some
influence at work somewhere which strikes this terror into the human
spirit. There must be some hidden power which thus unnerves a man
when he is out of the reach of any visible avenger, and causes him to
tremble at the sound of his own footstep, or to see the reflection of
the face of the man he has wronged in every human countenance that he
meets. In the absence of all causes without we must look within, and
there we find the pursuer. It is conscience that thus makes every
wicked man a coward--that voice within him which thus bears witness
to the existence of a Divine law which he has broken, and to a Divine
Lawgiver to whom he must render an account whether he escape human
justice or not.
+III. The hopeless nature of the act.+ The man who flees when none
are pursuing reveals that he is engaged in an attempt to flee from
himself, and this is an endeavour that will ever be fruitless. A man
may quit the scene of his crime and go into a country where all
around him is entirely different, but he will be painfully conscious
that he is himself the same being--that although he has changed
everything outside himself he has preserved his identity. He can free
his soul from his body and so flee from the world, but he cannot free
himself from the consciousness of guilt and so break the tie that
binds him and his sin together. For this flight from self is but
another name for flight from God--from Him to whom alone the
Psalmist's words apply:--_"Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit? or
whither shall I flee from Thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven
thou art there; if I make my bed in hell, behold Thou art there; if I
take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the
sea; even there shall Thy hand lead me, and Thy right hand shall
uphold me"_ (Psa. cxxxix. 7-10).
+IV. The entirely contrary attitude of a righteous man reveals an
entirely opposite relation to conscience and to God.+ The natural
position of any creature in relation to the Creator is the position
which he held when he was originally created. Man was then on such
good terms with himself and in such conscious favour with God that he
had no sense of fear and no desire to flee from the Divine presence.
It was not until the first sin had been committed that Adam and his
wife hid themselves, and fled when no man pursued. But there are
descendants of Adam who, although they cannot pretend to sinlessness,
have no guilty fear of God, and consequently are not afraid of man.
The original and natural relation between them and their Father in
heaven has been re-established by their acceptance of His conditions
of reconciliation, and being now on the side of righteousness they
have no reason to flee even when many pursue them, much less when
they are alone with themselves and God. They can sing with the
Psalmist, _"The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? . . .
Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear;
though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident"_
(Psa. xxvii. 1, 3).
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
Moses "feared not the wrath of the king." Caleb and Joshua stood firm
against the current of rebellion. Elijah dared Ahab's anger to his
face. Nehemiah, in a time of peril, exclaimed--"Should such a man as
I flee?" The three confessors stood undaunted before the furious
autocrat of Babylon. The Apostles' _boldness_ astonished their
enemies. Paul before the Roman governor, and even before Nero
himself, witnessed a good confession. Athanasius before the Imperial
Council of Heresy; Luther at the Diet of Worms, finely exemplified
this lion-like boldness.--_Bridges._
The _wicked_ is a very coward, and is afraid of everything; of God,
because He is his enemy; of Satan, because he is his tormentor; of
God's creatures, because they, joining with their Maker, fight
against him; of himself, because he bears about with him his own
accuser and executioner. The godly man contrarily is afraid of
nothing; not of God, because he knows Him his best friend, and will
not hurt him; not of Satan, because he cannot hurt him; not of
afflictions, because he knows they come from a loving God, and end in
his good; not of the creatures, since, "the very stones in the field
are in league with Him;" not of himself, since his conscience is at
peace.--_Bp. Hall._
Conscience within a man is one extremity of an electric wire, whose
other extremity is fastened to the judgment-seat. . . . A man may be
saved from death by seeing the reflection of his danger in a mirror,
when the danger itself could not be directly seen. The executioner,
with his weapon, is stealthily approaching through a corridor of the
castle to the spot where the devoted invalid reclines. In his musings
the captive has turned his vacant eye towards a mirror on the wall,
and the faithful witness reveals the impending stroke in time to
secure the escape of the victim. It is thus that the mirror in a
man's breast has become in a sense the man's saviour, by revealing
the wrath to come before its coming.--_Arnot._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 2.
THE PENALTY OF REVOLT.
As will be seen by a reference to the Critical Notes, the word
_transgression_ would be better translated _rebellion._ The proverb
then sets forth,
+I. The disadvantages attendant on revolt against the existing
government.+ Whether the rebellion be a lawful one or not--whether
the ruler that is dethroned be a tyrant or a wise and just monarch,
the result is very much the same. There will be many claimants to the
vacant place, and many to support the claims of each aspirant. This
is an effect which is almost certain to follow any uprooting of the
existing order of things, whether the order be good or bad. If the
crew of a vessel put their officers in irons, the difficulty will
immediately arise as to who is to guide the vessel. If this is not
speedily settled, the ship will be in danger of running upon the
rocks while she is drifting on without a guide. It is the same with
the vessel of the State. Many justifiable efforts to better the
government of a country have broken down at this point--although
there has been entire unity of feeling in favour of a change, there
has been a great diversity of opinion as to who should inaugurate it
and succeed those who have been deprived of authority. The confusion
and insecurity which such a division has caused, has often made way
for a return to the old condition of things, and the last state of
the land has been worse than the first. But this can hardly be used
as an argument against all revolt against existing abuses, but only
as a strong incentive to try every other means before resorting to
this last extremity.
+II. That which makes revolt unnecessary, and consequently conduces
to the peace of the commonwealth.+ Wisdom and prudence on the part of
the monarch and his ministers (for the words may be referred to
either) will avert such a calamity. That kingdom is highly blest in
which the throne is filled with a worthy occupant, and surrounded by
men of intellectual ability and moral worth, and therein lies its
only real security. For every reasonable man knows that the reins of
government must be held by some one, and there is generally a
sufficient number of reasonable citizens in a nation to uphold an
enlightened administrator of righteous laws, and to keep in check
those turbulent spirits to be found everywhere, who, under the name
of patriots, only advocate change to serve their own selfish ends.
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
"Let the children of Zion be joyful in _their_ King." The kingdom to
which they belong has _one_ King; and a king whose reign is permanent
as well as unparticipated. There are no _rival powers_ there. If the
princes of this world, in the plenitude of their presumption, take
upon them to intrude themselves within the precincts of His sole
jurisdiction, and to intermeddle with what does not belong to them,
the subjects of the King of Zion must stand by His prerogative,
resist the encroachment, and, at all risks as to this world, refuse
obedience. In the spiritual kingdom of which they are subjects,
Christ is the only Head; and His Word the only authoritative rule.
And there is _no succession_ here. He reigns over the house of Jacob
for ever; "and of His kingdom there is no end." Blessed be God for
this! The sceptre of our King can never, even to the end, be wrested
out of his hands; and He _never dies._ He must reign, till all His
people are saved with an everlasting salvation, and all His enemies
are put under His feet.--_Wardlaw._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 3.
THE MOST INEXCUSABLE OPPRESSION.
+I. Oppression from an unexpected quarter.+ Although poverty
sometimes has a very hardening influence upon men, we do not often
find it takes the form of oppression of their fellow-sufferers in
poverty. On the contrary, the sympathy of one poor man for another is
often the brightest spot in his character. But the ability to oppress
implies some elevation of the oppressor over the oppressed, and
therefore leads us rather to look for the heartless tyrant among
those who have known poverty, but who are now in some degree raised
above it. And even here we should hardly expect to find an oppressor
of the poor. Such a man cannot plead ignorance of the miseries of
poverty. We might expect that he would be full of sympathy for those
into whose trials his own experience has so fitted him to enter. If
we wanted a tender nurse for a wounded man we should expect to find
one in him who has himself been wounded, and who knows what bodily
pain is, and in a man who has himself been poor we ought to find the
most patient and generous ruler and judge of the poor. Oppression
from such a quarter is a painful surprise.
+II. Oppression to an extreme degree.+ The oppressor of the proverb
is one who has sinned against the knowledge furnished by his own
experience, and is therefore a greater transgressor than one who sins
without such experimental knowledge. If this barrier is not strong
enough to restrain him, he is not likely to be hindered by any less
powerful ones, and will therefore allow his cruel and unnatural
passions to have full dominion over his conduct. And so it will come
to pass that a man, who has been poor if he become an oppressor, will
be a more terrible one than he who has always been rich and powerful.
It may be regarded as a rule with few exceptions, that he who breaks
through the most restraints in order to sin will go to the greatest
lengths in it.
_ILLUSTRATION._
This illustrative comparison is here most impressive. It is founded
upon a phenomenon which I have frequently seen, and sometimes felt. A
small black cloud traverses the sky in the latter part of summer or
beginning of autumn, and pours down a flood of rain that sweeps all
before it. The Arabs call it _sale;_ we, a water-spout, or the
bursting of a cloud. In the neighbourhood of Hermon I have witnessed
it repeatedly, and was caught in one last year, which in five minutes
flooded the whole mountain side, washed away the fallen olives--the
food of the poor--overthrew stone walls, etc. Every summer
threshing-floor along the line of its march was swept bare of all
precious food. . . . And such is the oppression of a poor man that
oppresseth the poor. These landlords, and sheiks, and emirs are
generally poor, hungry, greedy, remorseless, and they come in
successive swarms, each more ravenous than his predecessor. On a
gigantic scale, every hungry pasha from the capital is such a _sale,_
sweeping over the distant provinces of the empire. Vast regions,
formerly covered with golden harvests in their season, and swarming
with people full of food and gladness, are now reduced to frightful
deserts by their rapacity.--_Thomson's "The Land and the Book."_
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
Woeful is the condition when necessity and imbecility meet together
and encounter. For necessity hath no mercy, imbecility hath no help.
When poverty oppresseth anyone, there is no measure in his oppressing
another that is poor. He spares not to strip him naked who hath
already no clothes on. He fears not to be a spoiler whom spoiling
hath left nothing. For there is nothing that doth so harden the hart
of man as his own need; and he hath little or no feeling of another's
misery, who feels the biting of his own. As the rain falls, so the
earth bears it; and as oppression dealeth, so must the poor suffer
it; for as the earth lieth under all, so doth he. The rich man is a
_dashing_ rain upon him, and when he pleaseth, washeth away his means
and succour from him . . but there is no such _sweeping_ rain unto
him as when the oppressor is oppressed by poverty. . . . For he
having nothing, takes all that he can get, and the hunger of his own
distress so devoureth all, as that he leaveth no food.--_Jermin._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSES_ 4 _and_ 5.
LAWKEEPERS AND LAWBREAKERS.
+I. A quick understanding in Divine things springs only from sympathy
with Divine precepts.+ Spiritual truth can only be apprehended by a
soul in love with what is good and true. A mere intellectual assent
to certain moral propositions will not bring men to a real and
intimate acquaintance with Divine realities, for the revelation of
God is not a mathematical problem which appeals only to the
intellect, but a message to the consciences and affections of men.
_"The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him"_ (Psa. xxv. 14).
There must be spiritual sympathy before there can be spiritual
perception, for sin puts out the eyes of the soul, and renders a man
incapable of apprehending spiritual realities, as physical blindness
makes him unable of seeing material objects. Hence our Lord made
_willingness to do His Will_ the one essential condition to knowledge
concerning His teaching (John vii. 17).
+II. Those who love and obey the Divine precepts contend with the
wicked by their obedience.+ Love to God and obedience to Him are
inseparable. The one is the necessary outcome of the other, so that
"seekers after God" described in verse 5, and the "keepers of the
law" mentioned in verse 4, are the same persons. The lives of such
people are a more powerful reproof to the godless and wicked than any
words which they can utter. The feathers of the arrow have their
place and value in helping the arrow find its destination, but it is
the steel point that penetrates the breast. So words of admonition
fitly spoken have their worth, and are of some weight in contending
with the wicked, but a constant life of obedience to God is more
convincing and penetrating. So that ever true servant of God is
fighting against the servants of sin by simply seeking to bring his
life into conformity with His Master's Will.
+III. All neglect of God's law is a commendation of sin.+ There are
many men who would be ashamed openly to praise a wicked action who
yet by their disregard of the Divine requirements encourage open
transgressors. For there is no middle way here. Every man is on one
side or the other, and all who are not contending with the wicked by
obedience are countenancing their evil courses by their own forsaking
of the law of God.
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
Verse 4. "Forsaking;" simply evading or avoiding it, no matter on
what pretence. Solomon strikes for the result. He scoffs at all
apology. Do you, or do you not, obey direction? If you do not, the
fact that you do not is all that is needed to mislead the looker-on,
for, seizing upon that most villainous of all things, _praising the
wicked_--a thing that scarce ruffians do, a thing that obscene
seducers scarcely venture--he says, All disobedience does it. . . .
But the lonely widow, going quietly to heaven, who has asked
carefully the road, and has moved on as she was directed, the text
suddenly arms with a sword and spear! She is a warrior! In her quiet
walk she is smiting down the rivals of her King. And Solomon
literally means it. The most effective army of the saints is the
quiet group that dream of nothing but obedience.--_Miller._
Verse 5. The natural man perceiveth not the things that belong to
God, but the spiritual man discerneth all things. Albeit there is
some light in the wicked man which is sufficient to make him
inexcusable, yet he is always so blinded by natural ignorance and
malice that both Christ and the Law to him are a mystery. Hence it
cometh to pass that he neither fully seeth what is to be believed nor
yet what is to be done, either generally in all sorts of actions, or
particularly in the course of his calling or office.--_Muffet._
Origen saith, "Of them who do not see, some are blind, and do not see
because of their blindness; others are in darkness, and therefore do
not see; but others do not see because they shut their eyes." And
this is which many times makes the evil man not understand
judgment--he will not do judgment, and therefore will not understand
it. But true also it is that wickedness is a great blinding of the
understanding. For it turns away the eyes from the Son of
Righteousness, and casteth also a black shadow before it. . . . But
what do they not understand, that understand Him that understandeth
all things? In all things that are required of them, they understand
what is to be done by them; in all things that are taught them, they
understand the truth of them. . . . They understand the judgment that
shall be upon the wicked; they understand the reward that shall be to
themselves; they understand in all things to do judgment to others;
they are general scholars in their duties both to God and
man.--_Jermin._
He who makes wickedness his element, falls into the confusion of the
moral conception; but he whose end is the one living God gains from
that, in every situation of life, even amid the greatest
difficulties, the sense of what is morally right. Similarly the
apostle John (1 John ii. 20): _"Ye have an unction from the Holy One,
and ye know all things:" i.e.,_ ye need to seek that knowledge which
ye require, and which ye long after not without yourselves, but in
the new Divine foundation of your personal life; from thence all that
ye need for the growth of your spiritual life, and for the turning
away from you of hostile influences, will come into your
consciences.--_Delitzsch._
For Homiletics on verse 6, see on chap. xix. 1, page 561; on verse 7,
chap. x. 1, page 137; on verse 8, see the last remarks on chap.
xiii. 22, page 331. On the subject of verse 9, see on chap. xv. 8 and
9, pages 407 and 408, and on verse 10, see on chap. xxvi. 27, page
721, etc.
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 11.
WISDOM IS WEALTH AND POVERTY.
+I. Riches tend to produce self-deception.+ The power of riches to
give external position and influence is almost unlimited. Wealth can
bring its owners into the palaces of princes, and place them on an
equal footing with men of talent and rank. It can surround a man with
servants who will obey his nod, and with friends who will flatter him
to his heart's content. By means of riches a man can make his name
famous in both hemispheres while he lives, and cause it to be
remembered after he is dead. It is not therefore surprising that many
men who possess this potent means of influence should be so dazzled
by it as to be unable to see themselves apart from it, and should
credit themselves with _being_ more than ordinary men, while the only
difference is that they _have_ more. A rich man is always in danger
of mistaking his wealth, which is but an appendage to his
personality, for the wealth of wisdom, which is a part of oneself,
and so of being the subject of the worst of all deception, viz.,
_self_-deception.
+II. But the possessor of riches does not often deceive other people
as to his real worth.+ Men around him may flatter him and treat him
as if they thought him very wise and clever, but they are often
despising him all the time, and oftentimes there are those about him
who, although they are beneath him in rank and wealth, are far above
him in sagacity and penetration, and can read his character and
motives far better than he can himself. Wealth can do much for a man,
but it cannot purchase for him the respect and esteem of even the
poor man who "hath understanding," and poverty has many drawbacks,
but it is free from this one--it does not minister to human vanity.
+III. A poor man who has moral and mental wealth is a greater
blessing to the world than even a rich man who is wise and good.+ He
can show the world that there are some things better than wealth, and
that these better things are in no sense connected with it or
dependent upon it. He can convince men that God is but a shadow and
that riches of heart and mind are the substance, and he can
demonstrate how much more lasting and satisfying is the influence
gained by wisdom than that which is born of wealth.
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
The phrase _"searches him out,"_ may be variously understood. He
discerns his true character. He sees that wisdom and wealth do not
always go together; that a full purse is quite compatible with an
empty head. He sees, too, that a man's wisdom is not to be estimated
by his opinion of himself. He sees shallowness where the man himself
fancies depth, and folly in what elates him with a vain consciousness
of his own wisdom. He sees abundant reason for not making the rich
man his oracle, or setting him up as his idol, or making his example
the pattern for his imitation, merely for the number of his acres, or
for the gold and silver in his coffers. He sees how prone men in
general are to allow weight to counsel in proportion to the wealth of
the counsellor. But the "understanding" which God has given him shows
him the absurdity of this. He "searches out" the fallacy, and directs
and exposes the imprudence and folly of sentiments and proposals,
that are propounded and recommended by the wealthiest of the wealthy.
And still further, taking "understanding" in its higher sense, as it
is used in this Book as including a mind Divinely enlightened and
under the influence of the fear of God and all the principles of true
religion:--the poor man who has this, sees and knows that "a little
with the fear of the Lord is better than the riches of many
wicked;"--that "a good understanding have all they who do his
commandments;"--that no folly can be more palpable and flagrant than
the folly of "trusting in uncertain riches,"--"setting the eyes upon
that which is not," and neglecting provision for the soul and for
eternity,--forfeiting the "unsearchable riches" provided by the mercy
of God for sinners,--all the blessings, unspeakably precious, summed
up in "life everlasting;"--spurning away the counsel that would put
these in possession;--greedily coveting the treasures of the world
that perish in the using, and rejecting the Divine offer of the
treasures of immortality. The poor man who hath understanding--I can
hardly say _"searches out"_ the folly of this,--he discerns it by a
kind of spiritual intuition.--_Wardlaw._
The thought in verse 12 is the same as in chap. xi. 10. See
Homiletics on page 206.
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 13.
CONFESSION AND FORGIVENESS.
+I. Sin tends to produce shame.+ Even a child often tries to hide an
act of disobedience to a good mother's law, and this not from fear of
punishment merely, but from an undefined sense of shame. And this
feeling clings to all men through life who are not entirely hardened
in iniquity. So long as the conscience is not entirely stifled, men
try to hide their wrong actions from their fellow-men even when no
human punishment would follow the discovery, and they even try to
cover them from themselves by inventing excuses for them. They often
endeavour to cloak their sin before their fellow-creatures by putting
on the garb of special sanctity, and so add hypocrisy to their other
transgressions, and they will try to palliate their guilt at the bar
of their own conscience by lowering the standard of morality which
God has set up within them, or by persuading themselves that He is a
hard taskmaster, requiring them to render Him an unreasonable and a
burdensome service. There are other motives which induce men to cover
their sins besides this one of shame, and other methods by which they
try to do it, but whatever impels them, and whatever means they use,
the truth taught in the proverb is always verified, viz., that all
such makeshifts are worse than useless.
+II. The only prosperous method of dealing with sin.+ This method
consists of two acts which God has joined together, and which man may
not put asunder, because neither of the two by itself would give
evidence that the sinner was fit to receive full absolution. If a man
_confesses_ his sin without _forsaking_ it, he seems almost to
aggravate his transgression, for he acknowledges that he sins knowing
that it is sin, and that it is useless to pardon him to-day, because
he will do the same thing to-morrow. And if he _forsakes_ his sin
without _confessing_ his guilt he shows that he does it from some
other motive than abhorrence of evil. Certain sins are sometimes
forsaken from expediency, or from self-righteous motives, but in such
cases there is no guarantee that there will not be a return to them.
Our Lord describes such when he speaks of the unclean spirit going
out of a man, but returning to find an empty house--a soul with none
of the newborn hopes and desires and aims which always come with true
repentance--and of such He says that _"the last estate of that man is
worse than the first"_ (Luke xi. 26). But when hearty and sincere
acknowledgement of sin is joined with earnest endeavour to forsake
it, God sees a soul which will know how to value His pardon, and will
find strength in it to fight against evil and finally to overcome it.
And to such a soul it is given to know the _"blessedness of the man
whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered, unto whom the
Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile"_
(Psa. xxxii. 1, 2).
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
There are various ways of endeavouring to cover sins. By _denying_
them. A lie is a cover which men put over their sins to conceal them
from others. They sin and deny the fact, they wrap up their crimes in
falsehood. Thus Cain, Rachel, Joseph's brethren, Peter, Ananias and
Sapphira, endeavoured to hide their sins. By _extenuating_ them. Men
plead excuses. The influence of others, the power of circumstances,
the moral weakness of the constitution. Extenuation is a common
cover. By _forgetting_ them. They endeavour to sweep them from the
memory by revelry and mirth, by sensuality, worldliness, and
intemperance.--_Dr. David Thomas._
A child of God will confess sin in particular; an unsound Christian
will confess sin by wholesale; he will acknowledge he is a sinner in
general, whereas David doth, as it were, point with his finger to the
sore: _"I have done this evil"_ (Psa. li. 4); he doth not say I have
done evil, but _this evil._ He points at his
blood-guiltiness.--_Watson._
Confession of sin will work a holy contrition and a godly sorrow in
the heart (Psalm xxxviii. 18). Declaration doth breed compunction.
Confession of sin is but the causing of sin to recoil on the
conscience, which causeth blushing, and shame of face, and grief of
heart. . . . Secret confession gives a great deal of glory to God. It
gives glory to God's justice. I do confess sin, and do confess God in
justice may damn me for my sin. It gives glory to God's mercy. I
confess sin, yet mercy may save me. It gives glory to God's
omnisciency. In confessing sin I do confess that God knoweth my
sin.--_Christopher Love._
It is fearful for a man to bind two sins together when he is not able
to bear the load of one. To act wickedness and then to cloak it, is
for a man to wound himself and then go to the devil for a plaster.
What man doth conceal God will not cancel. Iniquities strangled in
silence will strangle the soul in heaviness. There are three degrees
of felicity:--the first is, not to sin; the second, to know; the
third, to acknowledge our offences. Let us, then, honour Him by
confession whom we have dishonoured by presumption. . . . Sinfulness
is a sleep, confession a sign that we are waked. Men dream in their
sleeps, but tell their dreams waking. In our sleep of security we
lead a dreaming life, full of vile imaginations; but if we confess
and speak our sins to God's glory, and our own shame, it is a token
that God's Spirit hath wakened us. . . . This is true, though to
some a paradox; the way to cover our sins is to uncover them.--_T.
Adams._
Sin is in a man at once the most familiar inmate and the greatest
stranger. . . . Although he lives in it, because he lives in it, he
is ignorant of it. Nothing is more widely diffused or more constantly
near us than atmospheric air; yet few ever notice its existence and
fewer consider its nature. Dust, and chaff, and feather, that
sometimes float up and down in it, attract our regard more than the
air in which they float; yet these are trifles that scarcely concern
us, and in this we live, and move, and have our being. . . . Such, in
this respect, is sin. It pervades humanity, but, in proportion to its
profusion, men are blind to its presence. Because it is everywhere,
we do not notice it anywhere. . . . But the chief effort of the
alienated must ever be to cover his sins from the eye of God. . . .
All the wiles of the tempter, and all the faculties of his slave, are
devoted to the work of weaving a curtain thick enough to cover an
unclean conscience from the eye of God. Anything and everything may
go as a thread to the web; houses and lands, business and pleasure,
family and friends, virtues and vices, blessings and cursings--a
hideous miscellany of good and evil--constitute the material of the
curtain; and the woven web is walked over and over again with love
and hatred, joys and sorrows, hopes and fears, to thicken the wall
without, and to deepen the darkness within, that the fool may be
able, with some measure of comfort, to say "in his heart, No
God."--_Arnot._
Sin and shifting came into this world together. Sin and Satan are
alike in this, they cannot abide to appear in their own colour. . . .
We must see our sin to confession, or we shall see it to our
confusion. . . . No man was ever kept out of heaven for his confessed
badness; many are for their supposed goodness.--_Trapp._
St. Gregory speaketh, "He that covereth his sin, doth not hide
himself from the Lord, but hideth the Lord from himself, and that
which he doth, is that himself may not see God, who seeth all things,
not that he be not seen."--_Jermin._
For Homiletics on verse 14 see on chaps. xii. 15, and on xiv. 16,
pages 271 and 365.
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 15-17.
VICE AND VIRTUE IN HIGH PLACES.
+I. A cruel ruler is on a level with the most cruel of the brute
creation.+ The more power a man holds in his hand over the destinies
of his fellow-creatures the greater is his responsibility, and the
blacker is his crime if he abuses his opportunities of blessing them.
In proportion to the unlimited character of his authority ought to be
his care not to overstep the limits of the strictest justice, and he
is bound to lean rather to the side of mercy than to severity. The
less reason he has to fear any retaliation from those whom he rules,
the more is he bound to mingle much gentleness and forbearance with
his government, for it is the act of a coward to act towards the weak
and defenceless as we should fear to act towards one who is our equal
in strength. The man who can be capable of such cowardice no longer
deserves the name of a man, but puts himself on a level with those
beasts of prey from whom we shrink in terror, knowing that in them
there is no reason, or conscience, or pity to which we can appeal.
+II. Incapacity in a ruler may work almost as much misery as
cruelty.+ A mother may not be guilty of positive acts of cruelty
towards her children, and yet they may suffer very keenly and very
seriously from her unfitness to train their souls and her ignorance
as to how to take care of their bodies. Her neglect may in the end
bring consequences as fatal as the greatest severity would have done.
This rule holds good wherever one human creature has others dependent
upon him, and the more entire the dependence, the more miserable will
be the results of his or her incapacity. In countries where rulers do
not bear absolute sway, a _"prince who wanteth understanding"_ is not
so great a curse as where his will is the only or the supreme law,
but the history of our own country contains instances of monarchs
who, although they would have been harmless in private life, were,
from lack of capacity to rule, very great oppressors of the people.
+III. The curse which rests upon all such oppressors of their kind.+
Like Jehoram of old, they depart undesired (2 Chron. xxi. 20). The
blood of their brothers crieth out for vengeance upon their heads,
and no man puts forth a hand to arrest their doom. Even those who
pity as well as blame, if they wish well to the body politic, feel it
is a blessing when such tyrants are removed from the earth--when
their power of doing violence to the rights of their fellow-creatures
is at an end. _"Let no man stay him"_ for the sake of those whom he
leaves behind, and let no man hinder his departure for his own sake,
for his continuance in his place upon the earth would but give him
opportunity to add to his crimes, and thus increase the weight of his
punishment. (For illustrations of this subject and additional
Homiletics see on chap. xi. 17, page 220--also page 208.)
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
Verse 15. But these emblems were insufficient to represent the
monstrous barbarities that have been often exercised by those that
were at the head of the Roman empire in its pagan or antichristian
state; and, therefore, Daniel and John represent them under the
figure of monsters more dreadful than any that were ever beheld by
the eyes of man (Jer. xxxi. 18, Daniel vii. 10, Rev. xiii.). The
language of inspiration could not furnish out more terrible images
for the devil himself, than those which have been used to represent
the wickedness of tyrannical and persecuting powers. We ought to be
thankful for the wounds that have been given to the beast with seven
heads and two horns, and for the civil and religious liberties which
we enjoy.--_Lawson._
Verse 16. As want of understanding maketh a man an oppressor, so to
be an oppressor showeth a want of understanding in him. But the
special want at which the verse seems to aim is the greedy want of
covetousness. For as a covetous man wanteth understanding, because he
seeketh that so eagerly which he cannot keep, so a covetous prince
wanteth understanding, because he seeketh that so earnestly which he
hath already.--_Jermin._
Verse 17. God's jealous regard for the life of man was strongly
expressed at the second outset of our world's history; and expressed
in terms of evident allusion to the early and awful violation of its
sacredness in the antediluvian period:--"And surely your blood of
your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require
it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I
require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his
blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man" (Gen. ix. 5, 6).
For my own part, having examined the various principles of
interpretation by which those who are for doing away _all_ capital
punishments have explained these words, I have not been able to
satisfy myself with any one of them. They seem to be all forced and
unnatural, and, on different critical grounds, inadmissible. I cannot
but regard the language as bearing no fair and natural
interpretation, but that which makes it a Divine requisition, on the
part of man, of _blood for blood_--that is, of _life for life;_ and
as thus affording more than a _sanction,_ as laying down a
_requirement._ Though I am far from conceiving that we are bound by
Jewish criminal law, yet in the law regarding murder there is so
evident an allusion to this original and universal injunction, and
the language withal is so very pointed and emphatically reiterated,
that I cannot go the length of those who would include _murder_ among
crimes to be punished with infliction short of death. When set beside
the original and universal law it serves, by its very emphasis and
peremptoriness, to confirm the ordinary interpretation of that charge
to the second progenitors of our race as the just one, and to show,
therefore, the universality of its obligation.--_Wardlaw._
Even the heathen judged this awful transgressor to be under the
Divine vengeance (Acts xxviii. 4). The death therefore of the
murderer is an imperative obligation. It is miscalled philanthropy
that protests against all capital punishments. Shall man pretend to
be more merciful than God? Pity is misplaced here. The murderer
therefore of his brother is his own murderer.--_Bridges._
This is not directly an admonition against that which is immoral; it
may also be a declaration of that which is impossible.--_Delitzsch._
The subjects of the next six verses have all been treated before. For
Homiletics on verse 18, see on chaps. x. 9, and xi. 3, pages 153 and
195. Verse 19 is almost a verbal repetition of chap. xii. 11, see
page 266. On the main subject of verses 20 and 22, see on chaps.
xiii. 11 and xxi. 5, pages 306 and 609. On verse 21, see on chap.
xvii. 23, page 524, and on verse 23 chap. xxvii. 5 and 6, page 728.
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 24.
ROBBING PARENTS.
+I. A parent's sacred rights.+ A father and mother, if they are
worthy of the name, have a very strong claim upon their children's
consideration. Their children owe them obedience in their childhood,
and reverent and loving regard when they have reached manhood. If
their parents are _rich,_ their possessions are to be held as
peculiarly sacred. "A feeling," says Wardlaw, "should attach to it
somewhat like that which attaches to _holy things_--things pertaining
to God and His service. The violation of _their_ property should be
felt to be a description of _sacrilege._" On the other hand, if the
parents are _poor,_ their children are certainly bound to help to
support them, and so in some measure to repay to them the expense of
their own bringing up. Christ puts this duty to parents before that
of giving even to the support of Church ordinances, and severely
condemns the Pharisees and Scribes for inculcating opposite teaching
(Mark vii. 11).
+II. The character of the child who violates these rights.+ There
are, alas, many sons and daughters who, instead of rendering more
honour to their parents than to other people give them _less,_ and
instead of showing more regard to their parents' rights than to those
of a stranger, seem to ignore the fact that they owe anything to
them. In the matter of money, those who would not touch the
possession of any other person will sometimes appropriate what
belongs to their parents, and say, "It is no transgression;" or if
they do not go quite so far as this, do not hesitate to live upon
them when they ought to be earning their own living, or to incur
debts which they know their parents will discharge. He who is guilty
of any of these negative or positive transgressions "robs," his
father and his mother, and his character is given here. Although he
may not be openly a vicious man--although he may seem to be much less
blameworthy than the man who openly violates the law of the land, he
is here put on a level with him. The sin in the sight of God is as
great, and there is in such a man the capability of developing into
an open transgressor, for he who can violate such holy demands of
duty, and trample upon the rights of such a sacred relationship, only
wants the motive and opportunity to commit actions which would at
once class him among the criminals of society.
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
"But if any widow have children or nephews, let them first learn to
shew piety at home, and to requite their parents" (1 Tim. v. 4). It
is observable, children's kindness to their parents is termed _piety_
or _godliness,_ because it is a part thereof, and very acceptable to
God. Besides, it is called a _requiting_ them, intimating that it is
not an act of _grace,_ but of _justice.--Swinnock._
To say that we did not look upon a thing to be a transgression will
be no just excuse for any piece of conduct that we might have known
to be criminal. It will only shew us to be so depraved that even our
minds and our consciences are defiled.--_Lawson._
For Homiletics on the first clause of verse 25, see on chap.
xiii. 10, page 305.
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 26, _AND LAST CLAUSE OF VERSE_ 25.
SELF-CONFIDENCE.
+I. He that trusts in his own heart is a fool, because he refused to
profit by the experience of others.+ If a man who has made a perilous
voyage declares at the end of it that he has found his compass
utterly untrustworthy, we should count him a madman who would set out
upon a similar expedition with the same faulty guide; and if he went
down in mid-ocean to rise no more, we should certainly say that it
was his own fault. To trust to a guide which another man has proved
to be unworthy of confidence when so much was at stake, would be
universally condemned as obstinate foolhardiness. Yet this is what
men do in the voyage of life. The testimony of most men who,
rejecting the guidance of a higher wisdom, have shaped their lives
according to their own ideas and inclinations, has been at the end
that they have trusted a guide that has misled them. Solomon himself
steered a good deal of his life by this deceiving compass, and at the
end confessed that he had acted foolishly in so doing (Eccles. i. 2).
It may be that the words of our text were the expression of his own
bitter experience on the subject, and that he is here counselling
others to avoid the error into which he had fallen.
+II. He is a wise man who seeks guidance from God because he trusts
in One who has proved Himself worthy of confidence.+ He who has
declared that the human heart _"is deceitful above all things and
desperately wicked"_ (Jer. xvii. 9) has offered Himself as the object
of man's trust and as His infallible guide. Millions of the human
family have assented to the truth of the Divine statement, and have
testified to the blessedness of submission to Divine guidance, and
have been manifestly delivered by their submission from the bondage
of evil, and elevated into a region of moral purity and freedom to
which other men are strangers. They are living proofs that He who
exhorts men to trust in Him is not a deceiver, but can justify the
demands He makes upon our confidence and submission. Human experience
has set its seal to the inspired word:--_"Blessed is the man that
trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. For He shall be as
a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the
river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be
green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall
cease from yielding fruit"_ (Jer. xvii. 7-8). Surely, then, he is a
wise man who makes the trial for himself.
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
The _heart,_ indeed, has instrumentality to save us. We must _trust_
everything to that. But it is the _heart_ dwelt in by Christ. He that
takes his heart and confides it to the Son of Man, receives for it an
altered life, and will be able to _trust_ that _heart_ thus _trusted_
to Christ as the instrument in the battle of deliverance.--_Miller._
Though the mariner sees not the pole-star, yet the needle of his
compass, which points to it, tells him which way he sails. Thus the
heart that is touched with the loadstone of Divine love, trembling
with godly fear, and yet still looking towards God with fixed
believing, interprets the fear by the love in the fear, and tells the
soul that its course is heavenward towards the haven of eternal
rest.--_Leighton._
Whoever trusts another for his guide must do it upon account of two
qualifications to be found in him:--1. That he is _able_ to direct
and lead him. 2. That he also _faithfully will_ give the best
directions. . . . There are two things which may make a trust
_foolish:_--1. The _value_ of the thing which we commit to a trust.
2. The _undue qualifications_ of the person to _whose trust_ we
commit it. In both respects the confidence reposed by men in their
own hearts is exceeding _foolish._ I. _The honour of God is
entrusted._ So far as the manifestation of God's honour depends upon
the homage of His obedient creatures, so far is it at the mercy of
our actions, which are at the command of the _heart,_ as the motion
of the wheels follows the disposition of the spring. God is never
disobeyed but He is also dishonoured. II. _Man trusts his heart with
his happiness in this world, and this is two-fold--spiritual and
temporal._ III. _He entrusts his heart with the eternal concernment
of his soul hereafter._ . . . The heart of man will also be found to
have eminently these two ill qualities utterly unfitted for such a
trust. I. _It is weak, and so cannot make good a trust._ Its weakness
is twofold. 1. In point of _apprehension_ it cannot perceive and
understand certainly what is good. 2. In point of _election,_ it
cannot _choose_ and _embrace_ it. II. _The heart is deceitful, and so
will not make good its trust._ . . . The delusions of the heart may
be reduced to three sorts. 1. Such as relate to the _commission of
sin._ 2. Such as relate to the _performance of duty._ 3. Such as
relate to a man's _conversion,_ or _change of his spiritual
estate._ . . . The heart if it does not find _sins small,_ has this
notable faculty, that it can make them so . . . and in duty is
willing to take up with the outside and superficies of things,
and . . . it will persuade him that he is converted from a state of
sin, when perhaps he is only converted from _one sin_ to _another;_
and that he has changed his _heart_ when he has only changed his
_vice.--South._
On the subject of verse 27, see on chap. xi. 24-26, page 234, and on
chap. xiv. 31, page 389. The subject of verse 28 has been treated in
chap. xi. 10, page 206.
* * * * * *