xvii. 7, 8. _At that day shall a man look, &c._
In the prophecies of terror to guilty nations there is always some
provision of comfort for God's faithful and penitent people. His
prophets were commissioned to minister hope to His friends, while
they foretold misery to His enemies. In the text Isaiah, predicting
the overthrow of the ten tribes, furnishes consolation to the
faithful remnant who had not yielded to the prevalent idolatry (ver.
6), and declares that the judgments he announced would result in the
conversion of many who had been ensnared by it. We are thus led to
consider _the designs of God in the afflictions of His people._
+I. To recall their wandering hearts to Himself.+ _"At that day shall
a man look to his Maker"_ (H. E. I., 56-59, 66-70). This is the
result of sanctified affliction. Whenever it is seen, it shows that
the processes of grace have been combined with the trials of
providence, and that the health of the spirit has been restored by
the Physician of souls. Otherwise affliction hardens, and the man
goes back with greater eagerness to worldliness or iniquity, as the
retreating wave presently rolls back upon the beach with greater
velocity than before (H. E. I., 223-228). But not so if the healing
influence has been sought and found. Then "a man will look to his
maker"--1. With a _suppliant_ eye, to find in Him sources of
consolation and a rock of defence such as the world cannot furnish
(Ps. cxxiii. 1, 2; Jonah ii. 1). 2. With a _penitent_ eye (Luke
xxii. 62; Zech. xii. 10). 3. With a _confiding_ and _believing_ eye
(chap. viii. 17). 4. With a _rejoicing_ eye (Rom. v. 11; Hab.
iii. 18).
+II. To raise their estimate of the holiness of the Divine character
and the rectitude of the Divine dispensations.+ _"Shall have respect
unto the Holy One of Israel."_ Sin begins with a diminished sense of
God's holiness, and conversion is marked by a renewed impression of
it (Ps. li. 4).
+III. To separate them from all sinful and idolatrous dependencies.+
_"He shall not look,"_ &c. The sin of the ten tribes was idolatry
(2 Kings xvii. 16), but here it is foretold that it shall be brought
to an end. Those who had been guilty of this folly and this sin would
not even _look_ at the altars and the images they had fashioned with
such care. So God aims by his afflictive providences to separate His
people from everything in which they put an exaggerated and unworthy
trust (H. E. I., 110, 111).
+IV. To endear the mercy that mingles with the trials.+ This
appears--1. In the moderate degree in which God's people are
corrected, compared with the final and exterminating judgments which
fall upon the wicked. Damascus was to be utterly destroyed (ver. 1),
but a remnant was to be left to Israel (ver. 5; see also chap.
xxvii. 7-9). God's people always see that He has afflicted them less
than they deserve (Lam. iii. 22).[1] 2. In the alleviations of their
trials (H. E. I., 117-121). 3. In the triumphant issue of the whole.
They are delivered from the idolatry by which they were degraded
(H. E. I., 116).--_Samuel Thodey._