i.10. _Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give
ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah._
The prophet being about to make a still more terrible announcement,
puts forth a renewed call for attention. It is well worthy of our
study. We find in it--
I. A STARTLING DESCRIPTION. "Rulers of Sodom, . . . people of
Gomorrah." What an astonishing declaration is this, that Sodom,
Gomorrah, and Jerusalem are synonymous terms! It reminds us--+1. That
man may be morally alike to those from whom they think themselves the
furthest removed.+ Many a Protestant who hates the very name of Rome
is himself a little Pope: he never doubts his own infallibility, and
is ready to anathematise all who dare to dissent from him. Many a man
who has never stood in the felon's dock is a thief at heart.[1] The
people of Jerusalem were ready to thank God that they were not as
Sodom and Gomorrah, whereas they really resembled the people they
despised. For, like the inhabitants of those guilty cities, they had
been living--(1) _In habitual self-indulgence._ Self-indulgence may
vary in its forms, but in its essential nature it is ever the same.
The inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah had pandered to the lusts of
the body, the inhabitants of Jerusalem to the lusts of the mind (see
vers. 17, 23; iii. 16, &c.) (2) _In habitual defiance of God._ The
sins of which they were guilty were as plainly condemned in God's
Word as were those by which the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah
polluted themselves. All sin is rebellion against God,[2] and the
manner in which we sin is comparatively unimportant (James ii. 10).
If we rebel against God, it does not matter much with what weapons we
fight against Him. +2. That men may be utterly unconscious of their
own real character.+ Self-delusion as to character is almost
universal. Man can live in the practice of gross sin without any
compunction of conscience. Laodicea and the foul criminal David are
at peace until the rebukes of God begin to crash like thunders over
their heads (Rev. iii. 17; 2 Sam. xii. 7). As such delusion is most
common, so also it is most disastrous. It renders reform impossible.
It sends men blindfolded into eternity to the most appalling
surprises.[3] The remedy for it is earnest, searching, prayerful
self-examination, conducted in the light of God's Word.[4] +3. That
God describes men according to their essential character.+ He does
not take men according to their own estimates of their character and
conduct, and ticked them accordingly. His description of man is often
precisely the opposite of that which they would give of themselves,
and even of what men would give of them. His neighbours as well as
himself would doubtless have described the prosperous farmer (Luke
xii. 16) as a shrewd and wise man, but God pronounced him to be a
fool. So here, these men who prided themselves that they were rulers
of Jerusalem, the holy city, were declared to be "rulers of Sodom,"
the vilest of cities. Are we quite sure that God describes _us_ as we
have been accustomed to describe ourselves?
II. A SOLEMN SUMMONS. "Hear the _word_ of the Lord; . . . give ear
unto the _law_ of our God." What is the law to which attention is
thus emphatically called? It is the great truth announced in the
following verses (11-15), that +worship offered by ungodly men is not
only without value, but is positively hateful in the sight of God.+
The most flaming zeal concerning the externals of religion is often
found in men of unholy life.[5] Judas was evidently so zealous in
such matters as completely to delude his fellow-disciples: even when
Christ announced that there was a traitor in their midst, no
suspicion turned towards him; the eleven were more ready to suspect
themselves than him (Matt. xxvi. 21). Attention to the externals of
religion is in itself a good thing; but unless it be conjoined with
integrity and benevolence, it will secure for us at the last not the
commendation but the condemnation of the Judge (Matt. xxiii. 23).