xxix. 1. _Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David
dwelt._
The word "Ariel" properly means "the Lion of God," and is elsewhere
used of the great brazen altar on which the sacred fire blazed, and
which might be said to devour as a lion the sacrifices presented on
it to God. In our text, however, "Ariel" is used as a name for
Jerusalem. The fact that David had dwelt in it is mentioned, not by
way of historical reference, but as aggravating the guiltiness of the
city, and as in some way proving that it might expect to be visited
with more than common vengeance. In what way is the fact that
Jerusalem could be described as "the city where David dwelt" a
justification of the woes which the prophet was about to denounce
against it? The answer is easy: _We are answerable to God for every
blessing received at His hands, so that we cannot possess a single
privilege which will not, if neglected or abused, be brought against
us as a charge and heighten our condemnation._ This is as true of
communities as of individuals: and the fact that Jerusalem had
profited so little, morally and spiritually, from David's residence
in it was a clear aggravation of its guilt.--1. +David had dwelt in
Jerusalem as a king.+ As such, his authority and his example might
have been expected to have made a deep impression on the religious
life of the people. Consider how powerful is the example of men in
exalted stations.--2. +David had dwelt in Jerusalem as a poet.+
Consider how powerful is the influence of song on national character,
and how truly David's psalms were national songs. As every English
child is taught loyalty by the notes of "God save the Queen," every
Jewish child was instructed in piety by the well-known strains of the
sweet singer of Israel. Surely if anything could have kept religion
alive in Jerusalem, it would have been this writing it into the
poetry this weaving it into the music of the nation. It was like
taking possession of the strings of a nation's heart, and providing
that their vibrations should respond only to truth.--3. +The memory
of David had long been a blessing to Jerusalem.+ For his sake evil
had been averted from it (2 Kings xix. 34). To pronounce a woe upon
the Jerusalem or the city where David had dwelt was to tell the Jews
that the conservative influence of that monarch's piety would no
longer be of any avail for them; that even as children, though long
spared in recompense by the righteousness of their fathers, may reach
a point at which they have filled the measure of their guilt, and at
which, therefore, they can receive no further favour as the offspring
of those whom God hath loved; so their iniquity had reached such a
height that forbearance, long manifested for the sake of the most
pious of kings, was at length wearied out, and there remained no
further place for intercession.
The principle involved in this passage is applicable alike to
_communities_ and _individuals._ 1. It is made the charge against
Jerusalem that it was the city where David had dwelt--the plain
inference from this being that it was a great aggravation of the
national wickedness that so righteous a prince, so zealous a
supporter of true religion as David, had sat for years upon the
throne of Judah. By parity of reasoning, if there have been raised up
in our own country men mighty in the exhibiting and establishing
truth, and if in the lapse of time we grow indifferent to the truth,
and perhaps even half inclined to the errors which were exposed and
expelled, will it not be made a matter of accusation against us that
ours is the land in which those worthies dwelt? Suppose, for example,
we were to undervalue the Reformation, suppose we were to think
lightly of the errors of Popery, then might our text be regarded as
denouncing special woe on ourselves--woe to England--to England, the
country where Wickliffe, and Cranmer, and Ridley dwelt! For is it not
to be questioned that we shall have much to answer for it, after God
had raised up Reformers, and they, with incalculable labour and at
incalculable cost, had cleansed our Church from the abominations of
Popery, we should in any measure let go the truth and make alliance
or truce with the tenets or practices of Rome. This same principle is
applicable 2. to many a parish in which some devoted minister of
Christ has laboured, and 3. to many a household in which the example
and teaching of godly parents have been set at naught.--_H. Melvill,
B.D.: Sermons Preached during the Latter Years of his Life,_ vol. i.
pp. 125-140.