xxv. 6-8. _And in this mountain, &c._
The blessings of the Gospel are, with wise adaptation to our views
and feelings, often compared to the objects in which man naturally
take most delight; and here, as in other places, they are compared to
a costly entertainment bestowed by the Sovereign of the universe on
the children of His love. It was the custom of Oriental monarchs on
great occasions to make rich feasts on a scale of magnificence, of
which we in the West can form scarcely any idea (Esther i. 3-7).[1]
At these entertainments wise men were often assembled, and important
questions in morals and literature were discussed: hence the benefits
of knowledge and wisdom were often exhibited under the image of a
great feast (Prov. ix. 1-5). The prophet, as our Lord Himself
afterwards (Matt. xxii. 1-3; Luke xiv. 16-24), speaks in accordance
with the habits of thinking common in his time, when he sets forth
the blessings of the Gospel under the image of a great feast.
I. A BANQUET OF GRACE AND SALVATION SPREAD FOR THE NEEDY (ver. 6).
1. _It is a feast worthy of the Founder_ (Esther i. 7). He who
studies it most closely, will be most struck by the vastness of the
resources and the magnificence of the generosity of Him who spread
it. 2. _It is eminently a feast of reconciliation and restored
friendship._ The feasts of the ancients were often connected with
sacrificial rites, were employed to confirm covenants, and to
celebrate the reconciliation of those who had been estranged and at
enmity with each other. We have an interesting illustration of all
this in what we are told of Jacob and Laban (Gen. xxxi. 43-55). When
Joseph was about to reveal himself in love to his brethren, and to
unite them all in a new bond of peace, he made a feast for them (Gen.
xliii. 31-34). So did the father of the prodigal, to testify the
perfectness of his reconciliation to his guilty but penitent child
(Luke xv. 23). The feast of which our text speaks, is a feast founded
upon a sacrifice; it is a feast of reconciliation effected by means
of sacrifice; it is the sublime and glorious realisation of the
ancient symbol of the feast that followed upon the presentation of
the peace-offering (Lev. vii. 11-16). It is the fact that it is a
feast of reconciliation that gives sweetness and preciousness to all
the sweet and precious things of which it is composed, just as it was
the fact that they symbolised his restoration to his place in his
father's home and heart that made the ring, and the robe, and all the
choice viands before him, delightful to the pardoned prodigal (chap.
xii. 1; Rom. v. 1, 2, 11). 3. _Its magnificence and its
delightfulness are heightened by the number of those who partake of
it._ The rich provisions of the Gospel are as widely spread as they
are widely needed. This is a joy to the Christian, for to a noble
mind happiness multiplied is happiness heightened.
II. ILLUMINATION FOR THE IGNORANT (ver. 7). There was a symbolical
fulfilment of this prophecy in the hour of our Saviour's death (Matt.
xxvii. 51); that which had hidden the Holy of Holies from the sight
of men was rent in twain. A spiritual fulfilment of it is the need of
the world and of each individual: by a veil of ignorance and
prejudice the truths which it would be to their highest interest to
see clearly. This is declared concerning the Jews (2 Cor. iii. 15),
but it is just as true of the majority of the Gentiles: they also see
no desirableness in Christ, no preciousness in the salvation He
offers them. But this destructive veil has been taken away from the
hearts of millions, and shall yet be removed from the heart of a
vaster multitude--by the diffusion of God's Word, the preaching of
the Gospel, and the accompanying agency of the Holy Spirit. The
preliminary fulfilment of this prophecy at the day of Pentecost (Acts
ii. 5, 41) shall have still more glorious counterparts in the not
distant future.