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Copy I
THE GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE
EDITED BY THE REV. V'
JAMES HASTINGS, D.D.
EDITOR OF "THE EXPOSITORY TIMES" "THE DICTIONARY OF THE BIBLE'
"THE DICTIONARY OF CHRIST AND THE GOSPELS" AND
"THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGION AND ETHICS "
ISAIAH
NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
EDINBURGH : T. & T. CLARK
1910
First Impression .... November i()io Second Impression . . . November igio Third Impression .... February igii
PREFACE
The purpose of these volumes is to direct attention to the value for the pulpit of the great texts of the Bible, and to offer a full exposition of these texts, illustrated throughout.
There is, first, a short introduction to each text, bringing it into relation -with its context, and giving the circumstances which led to its utterance. Its contents are, next, arranged in order, so that the leading thought or thoughts may be made prominent, and each subordinate topic may receive its proper place and value. Then comes an exposition of the contents of the text, expressed in good modern English, and illustrated throughout.
Thus the preacher is not supplied with a ready-made sermon, but with materials for a sermon. And in some cases the exposition and illustration of the text will furnish materials for more sermons than one. This is what we need. " The first qualification for writing a sermon," says Bishop Boyd Carpenter, " is that you should have something to say. For this purpose," he adds, " a man must have material at command. It is better to realise this necessity, even though it should lead you to discover how small your stock of material is, than that you should indulge in indolent self-complacency, and should attempt to spin something out of nothing."
The illustrations are new. That is to say, none of them have been taken from any existing store or collection of illus- trations. Some of them have never before been in print. They have been sent to the Editor by friends and correspondents
vi PREFACE
all over the world out of their own experience. If they should be considered too numerous, let it be remembered that the preacher is certainly not expected to use them all, but to make his choice among them. Their number will encourage or even compel him to make every sermon his own.
Nothing in the world is easier than to gather illustrations of a kind and dot the sermon with them. Nothing is more difficult than to find the illustration that really illustrates and to bring it in pointedly at the very place where it is required. The attempt has been made to render that service in these volumes.
It is proposed to cover the whole Bible in five years, issuing four volumes annually. The volumes for 1910—1911 will be Isaiah, St. Mark, Genesis to Numbers, and Eomans (First Part).
CONTENTS
TOPICS. The Unnatubal Children
^EARNING TO DO WeLL
^basoning with god
The Transformation of the Sword
The Making of a Missionary .
The Gift of a Son
The Child as Leader . .
The Wells op Salvation .
What of the Night ? . .
In the Desert
The King and the Country
The Forerunner .
God's Waiting Ones
The Bruised Reed and the Smoking Flax
A Man of Sorrows
Vicarious Healing
Our Sin-bearer /i'HE Poor Man's Market .
Abundant Pardon
The Highest is the Most Forgiving
God's Double Dwelling-Place .
Arise ! Shine ! . .
The Lord's Sermon
The Lord's Remembrancers
The Angel of His Presence
PAas 1
9 19 61 65 127 137 145 155 169 191 213 231 259 275 301 323 349 371 387 411 431 445 461 487
Tii
Vlll
CONTENTS
TEXTS.
Isaiah.
I. I. I. II. VI. IX. XI. XII. XXI. XXXII XXXIII. XL." XL. XLII. LIII. LIII. LIII. LV. LV. LV. LVII. LX. LXI. LXII. LXIIL
17
18
4
1-8
6
6
3
11, 12
2
17
3
31
2,3
3
5
6
1,2
7
8,9
15
1
1
6,7
9
11 21 63
er
129 139 147 157
171 193 215 233 261 277 303 325 351 373 389 413 433 447 463 489
The Unnatural Children.
Literature.
Davies (D.), Talks with Men, Women, and Children, 5th Ser., 493.
Maclaren (A.), Ex-positions, Isaiah i.-xlviii. 7.
Macmillan (H.), The Gate Beautiful, 155.
Momerie (A. W.), Inspiration, 211.
Spurgeon (C. H.), Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, xviii. No. 1059.
Christian World Pulpit, xxxv. 58 (Rogers).
Church Pulpit Year Book, ii. (1905) 44.
Expository Times, iv. 432 (Robertson).
The Unnatural Children.
The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib : but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.— i. 3.
The first chapter of Isaiah has been called by Ewald the great arraignment. It contains four leading ideas. They are the ideas, says Skinner, which run through the whole of Isaiah's teaching, and through the teaching of all the pre-Exilic prophets. These ideas are — (1) the breach between Jehovah and Israel; (2) the inefficiency of mere ritual ; (3) the call to national repentance ; (4) the certainty of a sweeping judgment.
Ewald's title suggests a court of justice ; and it has often been pointed out that God is both Judge and Plaintiff, Israel the defendant, heaven and earth the jury, while the prophet is both principal witness and prosecuting attorney. But all this is apt to withdraw the attention from the real pathos of the scene. No doubt there is a judge, and judgment is pronounced. But the Judge is a Father, The paraphernalia of the court-room pass into insignificance when there is heard the exceeding bitter cry, " I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me."