NOTES
_on the book of_
DEUTERONOMY
_Volume II_
C. H. MACKINTOSH
"_Forever, O Lord, Thy Word is settled in heaven._"
"_Thy Word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin
against Thee._"
LOIZEAUX BROTHERS
New York
FIRST EDITION 1880
TWENTY-FIFTH PRINTING 1954
LOIZEAUX BROTHERS, Inc., PUBLISHERS
_A Nonprofit Organization, Devoted to the Lord's Work
and to the Spread of His Truth_
19 WEST 21ST STREET, NEW YORK 10, N. Y.
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
PREFATORY NOTE
TO THE AMERICAN EDITION
As several persons in America have, without any authority whatever
from me, undertaken to publish my four[1] volumes of "Notes," I deem
it my duty to inform the reader that I have given full permission to
Messrs. LOIZEAUX BROTHERS to publish an edition of those books in such
form as they shall consider most suitable.
C. H. MACKINTOSH.
_6 West Park Terrace, Scarborough,
May 1st, 1879._
[1] Now six.
CONTENTS
_Page._
Chapter VII, 1
" VIII, 33
" IX, 64
" X, 77
" XI, 99
" XII, 121
" XIII, 138
" XIV, 174
" XV, 204
" XVI, 219
" XVII, 253
" XVIII, 280
" XIX, 302
" XX, 315
" XXI, 329
" XXII.-XXV, 339
" XXVI, 352
" XXVII, 365
" XXVIII, 370
" XXIX, 388
" XXX, 408
" XXXI, 419
" XXXII, 431
" XXXIII, 454
" XXXIV, 468
NOTES
ON
THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY
CHAPTER VII.
"When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou
goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, ...
seven nations greater and mightier than thou, and when the Lord thy
God shall deliver them before thee, thou shalt smite them, and utterly
destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy
unto them."
In reading the record of God's dealings with the nations, in
connection with His people Israel, we are reminded of the opening
words of Psalm ci.--"I will sing of mercy and of judgment." We see the
display of mercy to His people, in pursuance of His covenant with
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and we see also the execution of judgment
upon the nations, in consequence of their evil ways. In the former, we
see divine sovereignty; in the latter, divine justice; in both, divine
glory shines out. All the ways of God, whether in mercy or in
judgment, speak His praise, and shall call forth the homage of His
people forever. "Great and marvelous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty;
just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of nations.[2] Who shall not
fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy name? for Thou art holy; for all
nations shall come and worship before Thee; for Thy judgments are made
manifest." (Rev. xv. 3, 4.)
[2] "Nations" is read by most editors: Christ is not called the "King
of saints."
This is the true spirit in which to contemplate the ways of God in
government. Some persons, allowing themselves to be influenced by a
morbid feeling and false sentimentality, rather than by an enlightened
judgment, find difficulty in the directions given to Israel in
reference to the Canaanites, in the opening of our chapter. It seems
to them inconsistent with a benevolent Being to command His people to
smite their fellow-creatures, and to show them no mercy. They cannot
understand how a merciful God could commission His people to slay
women and children with the edge of the sword.
It is very plain that such persons could not adopt the language of
Revelation xv. 3, 4. They are not prepared to say, "Just and true are
Thy ways, Thou King of nations." They cannot justify God in _all_ His
ways; nay, they are actually sitting in judgment upon Him. They
presume to measure the actings of divine government by the standard of
their own shallow thoughts--to scan the infinite by the finite; in
short, they measure God by themselves.
This is a fatal mistake. We are not competent to form a judgment upon
the ways of God, and hence it is the very height of presumption for
poor, ignorant, short-sighted mortals to attempt to do so. We read in
the seventh chapter of Luke that "Wisdom is justified of _all_ her
children." Let us remember this, and hush all our sinful reasonings.
"Let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, 'That Thou
mightest be justified in Thy sayings, and mightest overcome when Thou
art judged.'"
Is the reader at all troubled with difficulties on this subject? If
so, we should much like to quote a very fine passage which may help
him. "O give thanks unto the Lord; for He is good; for His mercy
endureth forever.... To Him _that smote Egypt in their first-born_;
for His mercy endureth forever; and brought out Israel from among
them; for His mercy endureth forever; with a strong hand, and with a
stretched-out arm; for His mercy endureth forever. To Him which
divided the Red Sea into parts; for His mercy endureth forever; and
made Israel to pass through the midst of it; for His mercy endureth
forever; but _overthrew Pharaoh and his host_ in the Red Sea; for His
mercy endureth forever. To Him which _smote great kings_; for His
mercy endureth forever; and _slew famous kings_; for His mercy
endureth forever; Sihon, king of the Amorites; for His mercy endureth
forever; and Og, the king of Bashan; for His mercy endureth forever;
and gave their land for a heritage; for His mercy endureth forever;
even a heritage unto Israel His servant; for His mercy endureth
forever." (Ps. cxxxvi.)
Here we see that the smiting of Egypt's first-born and the deliverance
of Israel, the passage through the Red Sea and the utter destruction
of Pharaoh's host, the slaughter of the Canaanites and giving their
lands to Israel--all alike illustrated the everlasting mercy of
Jehovah.[3] Thus it was, thus it is, and thus it shall be. All must
redound to the glory of God. Let us remember this, and fling to the
winds all our silly reasonings and ignorant arguments. It is our
privilege to justify God in all His ways, to bow our heads in holy
worship, in view of His unsearchable judgments, and rest in the calm
assurance that all God's ways are right. We do not understand them
all; this would be impossible. The finite cannot grasp the infinite.
This is where so many go wrong. They reason upon the actings of God's
government, not considering that those actings lie as far beyond the
range of human reason as the Creator is beyond the creature. What
human mind can unravel the profound mysteries of divine providence?
Can we account for the fact of a city full of human beings--men,
women, and children, in one hour, plunged beneath a tide of burning
lava? Utterly impossible; and yet this is but one fact of thousands
that stand recorded on the page of human history, all lying far beyond
the grasp of the most gigantic intellect. Go through the lanes,
alleys, wynds, closes, and court-yards of our cities and towns; see
the thousands of human beings that throng these places, living in
squalid misery, poverty, wretchedness, and moral degradation. Can we
account for all this? can we tell why God permits it? are we called
upon to do so? Is it not perfectly plain to the reader that it is no
part of our business to discuss such questions? and if we, in our
ignorance and stupid folly, set about reasoning and speculating upon
the inscrutable mysteries of the divine government, what can we expect
but utter bewilderment, if not positive infidelity?
[3] Very many Christians find considerable difficulty in interpreting
and applying the language of a large number of the psalms which call
for judgment upon the wicked. Such language would, of course, be quite
unsuitable for Christians now, inasmuch as we are taught to love our
enemies, to do good to them that hate us, and to pray for them that
despitefully use us and persecute us.
But we must remember that what would be wholly out of place for the
Church of God, a heavenly people, under grace, was, and will yet be,
perfectly consistent for Israel, an earthly people, under government.
No intelligent Christian could think for a moment of calling down
vengeance upon his enemies or upon the wicked. It would be grossly
inconsistent. We are called to be the living exponents of the grace of
God to the world--to walk in the footsteps of the meek and lowly
Jesus--to suffer for righteousness--not to resist evil. God is now
dealing in long-suffering mercy with the world. "He maketh His sun to
rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on
the unjust." This is to be our model. We are, in this, to be "perfect,
even as our Father which is in heaven is perfect." For a Christian to
deal with the world on the principle of righteous judgment, would be
to misrepresent his heavenly Father and falsify his profession.
But by and by, when the Church shall have left the scene, God will
deal with the world in righteousness; He will judge the nations for
their treatment of His people Israel.
We do not attempt to quote passages, but merely call the reader's
attention to the principle, in order to enable him to understand the
just application of the prophetic psalms.
The foregoing line of thought will enable the reader to understand the
opening lines of our chapter. The Canaanites were to receive no mercy
at the hands of Israel. Their iniquities had reached the culminating
point, and nothing remained but the stern execution of divine
judgment. "Thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt
make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them; neither shalt
thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto
his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. For they will
turn away thy son from following Me, that they may serve other gods;
so will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and destroy thee
suddenly. But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their
altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and
burn their graven images with fire."
Such were the instructions given by Jehovah to His people. They were
clear and explicit. No mercy for the Canaanites, no covenant with
them, no union, no fellowship of any kind, unsparing judgment, intense
separation.
We know, alas! how soon and how completely Israel failed to carry out
these instructions. Hardly had they planted their foot upon the land
of Canaan ere they made a covenant with the Gibeonites. Even Joshua
himself fell into the snare. The tattered garments and mouldy bread of
those wily people beguiled the princes of the congregation, and caused
them to act in direct opposition to the plain commandment of God. Had
they been governed by the authority of the Word, they would have been
preserved from the grave error of making a league with people who
ought to have been utterly destroyed; but they judged by the sight of
their eyes, and had to reap the consequences.[4]
[4] It is at once instructive and admonitory to see that the garments,
the mouldy bread, and the plausible words of the Gibeonites did what
the walls of Jericho could not do. Satan's _wiles_ are more to be
dreaded than his _power_. "Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may
be able to stand against the _wiles_ of the devil." The more deeply we
ponder the various parts of the whole armor of God, the more clearly
we shall see that they are ranged under these two heads,--obedience
and dependence. The soul that is really governed by the authority of
the Word, and wholly dependent upon the power of the Spirit, is fully
equipped for the conflict. It was thus the Man Christ Jesus vanquished
the enemy. The devil could do nothing with a man who was perfectly
obedient and perfectly dependent. May we study, in this, as in all
beside, our great Exemplar.
Implicit obedience is the grand moral safeguard against the wiles of
the enemy. No doubt the story of the Gibeonites was very plausible,
and their whole appearance gave a show of truth to their statements;
but none of these things should have had the slightest moral weight
with Joshua and the princes; nor would they, if they had but
remembered the word of the Lord. But they failed in this. They
reasoned on what they saw, instead of obeying what they had heard.
Reason is no guide for the people of God; we must be, absolutely and
completely, guided and governed by the Word of God.
This is a privilege of the very highest order, and it lies within the
reach of the simplest and most unlettered child of God. The Father's
word, the Father's voice, the Father's eye, can guide the youngest,
feeblest child in His family. All we need is the lowly and obedient
heart. It does not demand great intellectual power or cleverness; if
it did, what would become of the vast majority of Christians? If it
were only the educated, the deep-thinking, and the far-seeing that
were capable of meeting the wiles of the adversary, then verily most
of us might give up in despair.
But, thanks be to God, it is not so; indeed, on the contrary, we find,
in looking through the history of the people of God in all ages, that
human wisdom, human learning, human cleverness, if not kept in their
right place, have proved a positive snare, and rendered their
possessors only the more efficient tools in the enemy's hand. By whom
have most, if not all, of the heresies been introduced which have
disturbed the Church of God from age to age? Not by the simple and the
unlearned, but by the educated and the intellectual. And in the
passage to which we have just referred, in the book of Joshua, who was
it that made a covenant with the Gibeonites? The common people? Nay;
but the princes of the congregation. No doubt all were involved in the
mischief, but it was the princes that led the way. The heads and
leaders of the assembly fell into the snare of the devil through
neglect of the plain word of God.
"Thou shalt make no covenant with them." Could aught be plainer than
this? Could tattered garments, old shoes, and mouldy bread alter the
meaning of the divine command, or do away with the urgent necessity
for strict obedience on the part of the congregation? Assuredly not.
Nothing can ever afford a warrant for lowering, the breadth of a
hair, the standard of obedience to the Word of God. If there are
difficulties in the way, if perplexing circumstances come before us,
if things crop up for which we are not prepared, and as to which we
are unable to form a judgment, what are we to do? Reason? Jump to
conclusions? Act on our own or on any human judgment? Most certainly
not. What then? Wait on God; wait patiently, humbly, believingly, and
He will assuredly counsel and guide. "The meek will He guide in
judgment; and the meek will He teach His way." Had Joshua and the
princes acted thus, they never would have made a league with the
Gibeonites; and if the reader acts thus, he will be delivered from
every evil work and preserved unto the everlasting kingdom of our Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ.
In verse six of our chapter, Moses sets before the people the moral
ground of the line of action which they were to adopt in reference to
the Canaanites--the rigid separation and the unsparing judgment.
"_For_ thou art _a holy people unto the Lord thy God_; the Lord thy
God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto Himself, above all
people that are upon the face of the earth."
The principle here laid down is of the very weightiest character. Why
were the people to maintain the most marked separation from the
Canaanites? Why were they to refuse, with firm decision, to make any
covenant, or form any matrimonial alliance with them? Why were they to
demolish their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves?
Simply because they were a holy people. And who had constituted them a
holy people? Jehovah. He had chosen them and set His love upon them;
He had redeemed them, and separated them to Himself; and hence it was
His province and prerogative to prescribe what they were to be, and
how they were to act. "Be ye holy, for I am holy."
It was not by any means on the principle of "Stand by thyself, I am
holier than thou." This is manifest from what follows. "The Lord did
not set His love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in
number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people; but
because the Lord loved you, and because He would keep the oath which
He had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a
mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the
hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt." (Ver. 7, 8.)
Seasonable words these for Israel!--most healthful and needful! They
were to remember that they owed all their dignity, all their
privileges, all their blessings, not to aught in themselves--their own
goodness or their own greatness, but simply to the fact of Jehovah's
having identified Himself with them, in His infinite goodness and
sovereign grace, and in virtue of His covenant with their fathers--"a
covenant ordered in all things and sure." This, while it furnished a
divine antidote against self-complacency and self-confidence, formed
the solid basis of their happiness and their moral security. All
rested upon the eternal stability of the grace of God, and therefore
human boasting was excluded. "My soul shall make her boast in the
Lord; the humble shall hear thereof and be glad."
It is the settled purpose of God that "no flesh shall glory in His
presence." All human pretension must be set aside. He will hide pride
from man. Israel had to be taught to remember their origin and their
true condition--"bondmen in Egypt"--"fewest of all people." No room
for pride or boasting. They were in no wise better than the nations
around them; and therefore, if called to account for their high
elevation and moral greatness, they had simply to trace it all up to
the free love of God and His faithfulness to His oath. "Not unto us, O
Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name give glory, for Thy mercy and for
Thy truth's sake." (Ps. cxv. 1.)
"Know therefore that the Lord thy God, He is God, the faithful God,
which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love Him and keep His
commandments, to a thousand generations; and repayeth them that hate
Him to their face, to destroy them: He will not be slack to him that
hateth Him, He will repay him to his face." (Ver. 9, 10.)
We have two weighty facts set before us here,--one, full of rich
consolation and comfort to every true lover of God; the other, fraught
with deep solemnity to every hater of God. All who really love God and
keep His commandments may count on His infallible faithfulness and
tender mercy at all times and under all circumstances. "_All things_
work _together_ for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to His purpose." If, through infinite grace, we have
the love of God in our hearts, and His fear before our eyes, we may
move on with good courage and joyful confidence, assured that all
shall be well--must be well. "Beloved, if our heart condemn us not,
then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive
of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things that are
pleasing in His sight."
This is a grand, eternal truth--a truth for Israel, a truth for the
Church. Dispensations make no difference as to this. Whether we study
the seventh of Deuteronomy or the third chapter of 1 John, we learn
the same great practical truth, that God delights in those who fear
Him and love Him and keep His commandments.
Is there aught of the legal element in this? Not a tinge. Love and
legality have nothing in common; they are as far removed as the poles.
"This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His
commandments are not grievous." The spirit and genius, the ground and
character of our obedience all go to prove it the very reverse of
legality. It is our deep and settled conviction that those persons who
are ever ready to cry out, "Legal! Legal!" whenever obedience is
pressed upon them, are sadly and grossly mistaken. If indeed it were
taught that we must earn by our obedience the high position and
relationship of children of God, then verily the solemn charge of
legality might justly be urged; but to bestow such an epithet on
Christian obedience, is, we repeat, a serious moral mistake. Obedience
could never precede sonship, but sonship should ever be followed by
obedience.
And while we are on this subject, we must call the attention of the
reader to a passage or two of New-Testament scripture as to which
there is a want of clearness in many minds. In the fifth chapter of
Matthew, we read, "Ye have heard that it hath been said, 'Thou shalt
love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy;' but _I_ say unto you, Love
your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate
you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you;
that ye may be the sons [υἱοί] of your Father which is in
heaven; for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and
sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.... Be ye therefore
perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." (Ver.
43-48.)
This passage might, in the judgment of some, seem to teach that the
relationship of children can be attained by a certain line of action;
but it is not so. It is a question of moral conformity or suitability
to the character and ways of our Father. We sometimes hear, in
every-day life, the saying, "You would not be your father's son if you
were to act in such a way." It is as though our Lord had said, If you
want to be the sons of your heavenly Father, you must act in grace to
all; for that is what He is doing.
Again, in 2 Corinthians vi. we read, "Wherefore come out from among
them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean;
and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be
My sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." Here, it is not a
question of the secret relationship of children, formed by a divine
operation, but the public acknowledgment of the position of sons
[υἱούς] as the result of our separation from evil.[5]
[5] Speaking in a general way, the word τέκνον, child, is a
term of endearment; υἱός, son, of moral dignity.
παῖς is either a child or a servant: νήπιος, a babe.
It will be well for the reader to seize this important distinction; it
is of great practical value. We do not become children by separation
from the world, "for ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ
Jesus." "As many as received Him, to them gave He power [or authority,
ἐξουσίαν] to become children [τέκνα] of God, to them
that believe on His name; which were born, not of blood, nor of the
will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." (Gal. iii. 26;
John i. 12, 13.) "Of His own will begat He us by the word of truth."
(James i. 18.) We become children by new birth, which, thanks be to
God, is a divine operation from first to last. What had we to do with
our natural birth? Nothing. And what have we to do with our spiritual
birth? Clearly nothing.
But then we must remember that God can only identify Himself with, and
publicly acknowledge those who, through grace, seek to walk in a way
worthy of Him--a way befitting the sons and daughters of the Lord
Almighty. If our ways are unlike Him, if we are mixed up with all
sorts of wrong things, if we are unequally yoked together with
unbelievers, how can we expect God to own us as His sons? We read, in
Hebrews xi, of those who "confessed that they were strangers and
pilgrims on the earth," and who "declared plainly that they sought a
country;" and of them we are told that "_God was not ashamed_ to be
called their God." He could publicly identify Himself with them, and
acknowledge them; He could own them as His.
Reader, let us seriously apply our hearts to the consideration of this
great practical question. Let us look, seriously and honestly, to our
ways. Let us, in truthfulness and uprightness of heart, inquire
whether we are "unequally yoked together with unbelievers," on any
ground, or for any object whatsoever. If so, let us give earnest heed
to the words, "Come out from among them, and be ye separate, and touch
not the unclean thing." It may be that the carrying out of this holy
commandment will expose us to the charge of bigotry, narrowness, and
intolerance; it may wear the aspect of pharisaic pride and
self-complacency. We may be told, we are not to judge, or set
ourselves up to be holier or better than other people.
To all this line of argument we have the one simple, conclusive
answer, namely, God's plain command. He tells us to be separate, to
come out, to touch not the unclean; and all this in order to His
receiving us, and acknowledging us as His sons and daughters. This
ought to be quite sufficient for us. Let people think or say what they
will of us,--let them call us what they please; God will settle the
matter with them, sooner or later; our duty is to separate ourselves
from unbelievers, if we would be received and owned of God. If
believers are mixed up with unbelievers, how are they to be known or
distinguished as the sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty?
But we may perhaps be asked, How are we to know who are unbelievers?
All profess to be Christians--all take the ground of belonging to
Christ: we are not surrounded by ignorant heathen, or unbelieving
Jews; how then are we to judge? It was plain enough in the early days
of Christianity, when the apostle wrote his epistle to the assembly at
Corinth--then the line of demarkation was as clear as a sunbeam; there
were the three distinct classes--"the Jew, the Gentile, and the Church
of God;" but now all is changed,--we live in a Christian land, under a
Christian government, we are surrounded on all hands by Christians,
and therefore 2 Corinthians vi. cannot apply to us; it was all very
well when the Church was in its infancy, having just emerged from
Judaism on the one hand and heathenism on the other, but to think of
applying such a principle at this advanced stage of the Church's
history, is wholly out of the question.
To all who take this ground, we would put a very plain question,--Is
it true that the Church has reached a stage of her history in which
the New Testament is no longer her guide and authority? Have we got
beyond the range of holy Scripture? If so, what are we to do? whither
are we to turn for guidance? If we admit for a moment that 2
Corinthians vi. does not apply to Christians now, what warrant have we
for appropriating to ourselves any portion of the New Testament?
The fact is, Scripture is designed for the Church of God as a whole,
and for each member of that Church in particular; and hence, as long
as the Church is on earth, so long will the Scripture apply. To
question this is to offer a flat contradiction to the words of the
inspired apostle when he tells us that the holy Scriptures are able to
make us "_wise unto salvation_"--that is, "wise" right onward to the
day of glory, for such is the blessed force of the word "salvation" in
2 Timothy iii. 15.
We want no new light--no fresh revelation; we have "_all truth_"
within the covers of our precious Bible. Thank God for it! We do not
want science or philosophy to make us wise. All true science and all
sound philosophy will leave untouched the testimony of holy Scripture;
they cannot add to it, but they will not contradict it. When infidels
talk to us about "progress," "development," "the light of science," we
fall back, in holy confidence and tranquillity, upon those precious
words, "all truth," "wise unto salvation." It is blessedly impossible
to get beyond these. What can be added to "all truth"? What more do we
or can we want than to be made wise right onward to the coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ?
And further, let us remember that there is no change whatever in the
relative position of the Church and the world. It is as true to-day as
it was eighteen hundred and fifty years ago, when our Lord uttered the
words, that His people are not of the world, even as He Himself is not
of the world. (John xvii.) The world is the world still. It may, in
some places, have changed its dress, but not its true character,
spirit, and principles. Hence, therefore, it is as wrong to-day for
Christians to be "unequally yoked together with unbelievers" as it was
when Paul penned his epistle to the Church at Corinth. We cannot get
over this; we cannot set aside our responsibility in this matter. It
will not, by any means, meet the case to say, "We must not judge." We
are bound to judge. If we refuse to judge, we refuse to obey, and what
is this but positive rebellion? God says, "Come out from among them
and be ye separate;" if we reply, We cannot judge, where are we? The
fact is, we are absolutely commanded to judge. "Do not ye judge them
that are _within_? but them that are _without_ God judgeth." (1 Cor.
v. 12, 13.)
But we shall not pursue this line of argument any further. We trust
the reader is one who fully owns the direct application to himself of
the passage which we have just quoted. It is as plain as it is
pointed; it calls upon all God's people to come out and be separate,
and touch not the unclean thing. This is what God requires of His
people, in order to His owning them as His; and surely it ought to be
the deep and earnest desire of our hearts to respond to His gracious
will in this matter, utterly regardless of the world's thoughts
respecting us. Some of us are very much afraid of being thought narrow
and bigoted; but, oh, how little it imports to a truly devoted heart
what men think of us! Human thoughts perish in an hour. When we are
manifested before the judgment-seat of Christ, when we stand in the
full blaze of the glory, what will it matter to us whether men
considered us narrow or broad, bigoted or liberal? and what should it
matter to us now? Not the weight of a feather. Our one grand object
should be, so to act--so to carry ourselves as to be "acceptable" to
Him who has made us "accepted." May it be so with the writer and the
reader, and with every member of the body of Christ?
Let us now turn, for a moment, to the weighty and very solemn truth
presented to us in verse 10 of our chapter. "He will not be slack to
him that hateth Him, He will repay him to his face." If the lovers of
God are comforted in verse 9, and most blessedly encouraged to keep
His commandments, the haters of God are called to hearken to a warning
note in verse 10.
There is a time coming when God will deal personally, face to face,
with His enemies. How awful the thought that any one should be _a
hater of God_--a hater of that One who is said to be and who is
"Light" and "Love;" the very fountain of goodness, the Author and
Giver of every good and perfect gift, the Father of lights; the One
whose liberal hand supplies the need of every living thing, who hears
the cry of the young ravens, and quenches the thirst of the wild ass;
the infinitely good, the only wise, the perfectly holy God, the Lord
of all power and might, the creator of the ends of the earth, and the
One who has power to destroy both soul and body in hell!
Only think, reader, of any one being a hater of such a One as God; and
we know that all who are not lovers must be haters. People may not see
this; very few would be disposed to own themselves to be absolute
haters of God, but there is no neutral ground in this great question;
we must either be for or against; and in point of fact, people are not
slow in showing their colors. It often happens that the heart's
deep-seated enmity to God comes out in hatred to His people, to His
Word, His worship, His service. How frequently do we hear such
expressions as, "I hate religious people," "I hate all cant," "I hate
preachers"! The truth is, it is God Himself that is hated. "The carnal
mind is enmity against God; it is not subject to the law of God,
neither indeed can be;" and this enmity comes out in reference to
every one and every thing connected with God. There lies deep down in
every unconverted heart the most positive enmity to God. Every man in
his natural state hates God.
Now, God declares, in Deuteronomy vii. 10, that "He will not be slack
to him that hateth Him; He will repay him to his face." This is a
most solemn truth, and one which ought to be more pressed upon the
attention of all whom it may concern. Men do not like to hear it; many
affect and profess not to believe it. They would fain persuade
themselves and persuade others also that God is too good, too kind,
too merciful, too benevolent, to deal in stern judgment with His
creatures. They forget that God's ways in government are as perfect as
His ways in grace. They imagine that the government of God will pass
over or deal lightly with evil and evil-doers.
This is a most miserable and fatal mistake, and men will find it to be
so to their heavy and eternal cost. True it is, blessed be God, He
can, in His rich sovereign grace and mercy, forgive us our sins, blot
out our transgressions, cancel our guilt, justify us perfectly, and
fill our hearts with the spirit of adoption; but this is another thing
altogether. This is grace reigning through righteousness unto eternal
life by Jesus Christ our Lord. It is God, in His wondrous love,
providing righteousness for the poor, guilty, hell-deserving sinner
who knows and feels and owns that he has no righteousness of his own,
and never could have it. God, in the marvelous love of His heart, has
provided a means whereby He can be just and the justifier of every
poor broken-hearted, bankrupt sinner that simply believes in Jesus.
But how, we may ask, was all this done? Was it by passing over sin, as
though it were nothing? was it by relaxing the claims of the divine
government, lowering the standard of divine holiness, or touching, in
the most remote way, the dignity, stringency, and majesty of the law?
No; thanks and praise to redeeming love, it was the very reverse.
Never was there or could there be a more terrible expression of God's
eternal hatred of sin, or of His unflinching purpose to condemn it
utterly and punish it eternally; never was there or could there be a
more glorious vindication of the divine government, a more perfect
maintenance of the standard of divine holiness, truth, and
righteousness; never was the law more gloriously vindicated or more
thoroughly established than by that most glorious scheme of
redemption, planned, executed, and revealed by the Eternal Three in
One,--planned by the Father, executed by the Son, and revealed by the
Holy Ghost.
If we would have a just sense of the awful reality of the government
of God, His wrath against sin, and the true character of His holiness,
we must gaze at the cross; we must hearken to that bitter cry that
issued from the heart of the Son of God and broke through the dark
shadows of Calvary, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" Never
had such a question been asked before, never has such a question been
asked since, and never shall--never can such a question be asked
again. Whether we consider the One who asked it, the One of whom it
was asked, or the answer, we must see that the question stands
absolutely alone in the annals of eternity. The cross is the measure
of God's hatred of sin, as it is the measure of His love to the
sinner. It is the imperishable foundation of the throne of grace, the
divinely righteous ground on which God can pardon our sins and
constitute us perfectly righteous in a risen and glorified Christ.
But then if men despise all this, and persist in their hatred of God,
and yet talk of His being too good and too kind to punish evil-doers,
how will it be with them? "He that obeyeth not [ἀπειθῶν] the
Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth upon him." (John
iii. 36.)[6] Can it be possible--can we believe for a moment that a
just God should exercise judgment upon His only begotten Son, His
well-beloved, His eternal delight, because He was bearing our sins in
His own body on the tree, and yet allow impenitent sinners to escape?
Had Jesus, the spotless, holy, perfect Man--the only perfect Man that
ever trod this earth--had He to suffer for sins, the just for the
unjust, and shall evil-doers, unbelievers, and haters of God be saved
and blessed and taken to heaven? and all this, forsooth, because God
is too kind and too good to punish sinners in hell forever! Did it
cost God the giving up, the forsaking, and the bruising of His beloved
Son in order to save His people _from their sins_, and shall ungodly
sinners, despisers, and rebels be saved _in their sins_? Did the Lord
Jesus Christ die for nothing? did Jehovah put Him to grief and hide
His face from Him when there was no necessity? Why the awful horrors
of Calvary? why the three hours' darkness? why that bitter cry, "My
God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?"--why all this if sinners can
get to heaven without it? Why all this inconceivable sorrow and
suffering for our blessed Lord if God is too kind and too gracious and
too tender to send sinners to hell?
[6] John iii. 36 is a passage of immense weight and importance. It not
only sets forth the great truth that all who believe in the Son of God
are the privileged possessors of eternal life, but it also cuts up by
the roots two leading heresies of the day, namely, universalism and
annihilationism. The universalist professes to believe that,
ultimately, all shall be restored and blessed. Not so, says our
passage; for those who obey not the Son "shall not see life."
The annihilationist professes to believe that all who are out of
Christ shall perish like the beasts. Not so, for "the wrath of God
_abideth_" upon the disobedient. Abiding wrath and annihilation are
wholly incompatible. It is utterly impossible to reconcile them.
It is interesting and instructive to notice the difference between
the words ὁ πιστεύων--"he that believeth"--and ὁ
ἀπειθῶν--"he that obeyeth not." They give us the two sides
of the subject of faith.
What egregious folly! What will not men believe, provided it be not
the truth of God? The poor dark human mind will affect to believe the
most monstrous absurdity in order to get a plea for rejecting the
plain teaching of holy Scripture. The very thing which men would never
think of attributing to a good human government they do not hesitate
to attribute to the government of the only wise, the only true, the
only just God. What should we think of a government that could not or
would not punish evil-doers? Would we like to live under it? What
should we think of the government of England if, because her majesty
is so kind, so gracious, so tender-hearted, she could not allow
criminals to be punished as the law directs? Who would care to live in
England?
Reader, do you not see how that one verse which is now before us
demolishes completely all the theories and arguments which men, in
their folly and ignorance, have advanced on the subject of the divine
government? "The Lord thy God, He is God, the faithful God, which ...
repayeth them that hate Him to their face, to destroy them; He will
not be slack to him that hateth Him, He will repay him to his face."
Oh that men would hearken to the Word of God! that they would be
warned by its clear, emphatic, and solemn statements as to coming
wrath, judgment, and eternal punishment! that, instead of seeking to
persuade themselves and others that there is no hell, no deathless
worm and unquenchable fire, no eternal torment, they would listen to
the warning voice, and, ere it be too late, flee for refuge to the
hope set before them in the gospel! Truly this would be their wisdom.
God declares that He will repay those that hate Him. How awful the
thought of this repayment! Who can meet it? The government of God is
perfect, and because it is so, it is utterly impossible that it can
allow evil to pass unjudged. Nothing can be plainer than this. All
Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, sets it forth in terms so clear
and forcible as to render it the very height of folly for men to argue
against it. How much better and wiser and safer to flee from the wrath
to come than to deny that it is coming, and that when it does come, it
will be eternal in its duration. It is utterly vain for any one to
attempt to reason in opposition to the truth of God. Every word of
God shall stand forever. We see the actings of His government in
reference to His people Israel, and in reference to Christians now.
Did He pass over evil in His people of old? Nay; on the contrary, He
visited them continually with His chastening rod, and this, too, just
because they were His people, as He said to them by His prophet
Amos--"Hear this word which the Lord hath spoken against you, O
children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from
the land of Egypt, saying, 'You only have I known of all the families
of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.'"
(Amos iii. 1, 2.)
We have the same weighty principle set forth in the first epistle of
Peter, in its application to Christians now.--"For the time is come
that _judgment must begin_ at the house of God; and if it first begin
at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and
the sinner appear?" (Chap. iv. 17, 18.)
God chastens His own just because they are His own, and that they may
not be condemned with the world. (1 Cor. xi.) The children of this
world are allowed to go on their way; but their day is coming--a dark
and heavy day--a day of judgment and unmitigated wrath. Men may
question and argue and reason, but Scripture is distinct and emphatic.
"God hath appointed a day in which He will judge the world in
righteousness, by that Man whom He hath ordained." The great day of
reckoning is at hand, when God will repay every man to his face.
It is truly edifying to mark the way in which Moses, that beloved and
honored servant of God, led assuredly by the Spirit of God, pressed
the grand and solemn realities of the divine government upon the
conscience of the congregation. Hear how he pleads and exhorts: "Thou
shalt _therefore_ keep the commandments, and the statutes, and the
judgments, which I command thee this day, _to do them_. Wherefore it
shall come to pass, if ye _hearken_ to these judgments, and _keep_ and
_do_ them, that the Lord thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and
the mercy which He sware unto thy fathers. And He will _love_ thee,
and _bless_ thee, and _multiply_ thee; He will also bless the fruit of
thy womb, and the fruit of thy land, thy corn, and thy wine, and thine
oil, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep, in the
land which He sware unto thy fathers to give thee. Thou shalt be
blessed above all people; there shall not be male nor female barren
among you or among your cattle. And the Lord will take away from thee
all sickness, and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which
thou knowest, upon thee; but will lay them upon all them that hate
thee. And thou shalt consume all the people which the Lord thy God
shall deliver thee; thine eye shall have no pity upon them; neither
shalt thou serve their gods; for that will be a snare unto thee."
(Ver. 11-16.)
What a powerful appeal! how affecting! Mark the two groups of words.
Israel was to "hearken," "keep," and "do." Jehovah was to "love,"
"bless," and "multiply." Alas! alas! Israel failed--sadly, shamefully
failed, under law and under government; and hence, instead of the love
and the blessing and the multiplying, there has been judgment, curse,
barrenness, dispersion, desolation.
But, blessed be the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, if Israel has failed under _law_ and
_government_, He has not failed in His rich and precious sovereign
_grace_ and _mercy_. He will keep the covenant and the mercy which He
sware unto their fathers. Not one jot or tittle of His covenant-promise
shall ever fail. He will make all good by and by. He will fulfill, to
the very letter, all His gracious promises. Though He cannot do this
on the ground of Israel's obedience, He can and will do it through the
blood of the everlasting covenant, the precious blood of Jesus, His
eternal Son--all homage to His peerless name!
Yes, reader, the God of Israel cannot suffer one of His precious
promises to fall to the ground. What would become of us if He could?
What security, what rest, what peace could we have, if Jehovah's
covenant with Abraham were to fail in any single point? True it is
that Israel has forfeited all claim. If it be a question of fleshly
descent, Ishmael and Esau have a prior claim: if it be a question of
legal obedience, the golden calf and the broken tables tell their
melancholy tale: if it be a question of government on the ground of
the Moab covenant, they have not a single plea to urge.
But God will be God, spite of Israel's lamentable unfaithfulness. "The
gifts and calling of God are without repentance," and hence "all
Israel shall be saved." God will most assuredly make good His oath to
Abraham, spite of all the wreck and ruin of Abraham's seed. We must
steadfastly hold to this, in the face of every opposing thought,
feeling, or opinion. Israel shall be restored and blessed and
multiplied in their own beloved and holy land. They shall take down
their harps from the willows and, beneath the peaceful shade of their
own vines and fig-trees, chant the high praises of their loving
Saviour and God, throughout that bright millennial Sabbath which lies
before them. Such is the unvarying testimony of Scripture, from
beginning to end, which must be maintained in its integrity, and made
good in every particular, to the glory of God, and on the ground of
His everlasting covenant.
But we must return to our chapter, the closing verses of which demand
our special attention. It is very touching and beautiful to mark the
way in which Moses seeks to encourage the heart of the people in
reference to the dreaded nations of Canaan. He enters into and
anticipates their very inmost thoughts and feelings.
"If thou shalt say _in thine heart_, These nations are more than I;
how can I dispossess them? Thou shalt not be afraid of them; but shalt
_well remember_ what the Lord thy God did unto Pharaoh, and unto all
Egypt; the great temptations which thine eyes saw, and the signs, and
the wonders, and the mighty hand, and the stretched-out arm, whereby
the Lord thy God brought thee out: _so_ shall the Lord thy God do unto
all the people of whom thou art afraid. Moreover, the Lord thy God
will send the hornet among them, until they that are left, and hide
themselves from thee, be destroyed. Thou shalt not be affrighted at
them; for _the Lord thy God is among you, a mighty God and terrible_.
And the Lord thy God will put out those nations before thee by little
and little; thou mayest not consume them at once, lest the beasts of
the field increase upon thee. But the Lord thy God shall deliver them
unto thee, and shall destroy them with a mighty destruction, until
they be destroyed. And He shall deliver their kings into thine hand,
and thou shalt destroy their name from under heaven; there shall no
man be able to stand before thee, until thou have destroyed them. The
graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire; thou shalt not
desire the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest
thou be snared therein; for it is an abomination to the Lord thy God.
Neither shalt thou bring _an abomination into thine house, lest thou
be a cursed thing like it_; but thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou
shalt utterly abhor it, for it is a cursed thing." (Ver. 17-26.)
The grand remedy for all unbelieving fears is, simply to fix the eye
upon the living God; thus the heart is raised above the difficulties,
whatever they may be. It is of no possible use to deny that there are
difficulties and opposing influences of all sorts. This will not
minister comfort and encouragement to the sinking heart. Some people
affect a certain style of speaking of trials and difficulties which
just goes to prove, not their practical knowledge of God, but their
profound ignorance of the stern realities of life. They would fain
persuade us that we ought not to feel the trials, sorrows, and
difficulties of the way. They might as well tell us that we ought not
to have a head on our shoulders or a heart in our bosom. Such persons
know not how to comfort those that are cast down. They are mere
visionary theorists, wholly unfit to deal with souls passing through
conflict or grappling with the actual facts of our daily history.
How did Moses seek to encourage the hearts of his brethren? "Be not
affrighted," he says; but why? Was it that there were no enemies, no
difficulties, no dangers? No; but "the Lord thy God is among you, a
mighty God and terrible." Here is the true comfort and encouragement.
The enemies were there, but God is the sure resource. Thus it was that
Jehoshaphat, in his time of trial and pressure, sought to encourage
himself and his brethren. "O our God, wilt Thou not judge them? For we
have no might against this great company that cometh against us,
neither know we what to do; but _our eyes are upon Thee_."
Here lies the precious secret. The eyes are upon God. His power is
brought in, and this settles every thing. "If God be for us, who can
be against us?" Moses meets, by his precious ministry, the rising
fears in the heart of Israel--"These nations are more than I." Yes,
but they are not more than the "mighty and terrible God." What nations
could stand before Him? He had a solemn controversy with those nations
because of their terrible sins; their iniquity was full; the
reckoning-time had come, and the God of Israel was going to drive them
out before His people.
Hence, therefore, Israel had no need to fear the _power_ of the enemy.
Jehovah would see to that. But there was something far more to be
dreaded than the enemy's power, and that was, the insnaring influence
of their idolatry. "The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with
fire." What! the heart might say, are we to destroy the gold and
silver that adorn these images? Might not that be turned to some good
account? Is it not a pity to destroy what is so very valuable in
itself? It is all right to burn the images, but why not spare the gold
and silver?
Ah, it is just thus the poor heart is prone to reason; thus ofttimes
we deceive ourselves when called to judge and abandon what is evil. We
persuade ourselves of the rightness of making some reserve; we imagine
we can pick and choose and make some distinction. We are prepared to
give up some of the evil, but not all. We are ready to burn the wood
of the idol, but spare the gold and silver.
Fatal delusion! "Thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on
them, nor take it unto thee, _lest thou be snared therein_; for it is
an abomination to the Lord thy God." All must be given up, all
destroyed. To retain an atom of the accursed thing is to fall into the
snare of the devil, and link ourselves with that which, however highly
esteemed among men, is an abomination in the sight of God.
And let us mark and ponder the closing verses of our chapter. To bring
an abomination into the house is to become like it! How very solemn!
Do we fully understand it? The man who brought an abomination into his
house became a cursed thing like it!
Reader, may the Lord keep our hearts separated from all evil, and true
and loyal to Himself.