The third verse is an illustration. It shows the ignorance of the children in contrast to the knowledge of the domestic animals.
L
The Knowledge of the Domestic Animals.
" The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib." 1. It is knowledge of their 02vner. They both know and acknowledge him. He on his part not only owns but takes care
4 THE GREAV TEXTS OF THE BIBLE
of them. He rears them, tames them, houses them, and heals them. In return they serve him.
IT True to the life, no sooner had the drove got within the walls than it began to disperse. Every ox knew perfectly well his owner, and the way to his house ; nor did it get bewildered for a moment in the mazes of the narrow and crooked alleys. As for the ass, he walked straight to the door, and up to " his master's crib," without turning to bid good-night to his companions of the field. I followed some into their habitation, and saw each take his appropriate manger, and begin his evening meal of dry tibn.^
2. Their service brings them into fellowship — such fellow- ship as is possible between man and the lower animals. There is some sense of mutual dependence. There is affection and sometimes self-sacrifice. The prophet speaks of the domestic animals of his own people. We should see his point more clearly if we thought of the horse and the dog.
IF It is not an uncommon thing in the Argentine pampas — I have on two occasions witnessed it myself — for a riding horse to come home to die. I am speaking of horses that live out in the open, and have to be hunted to the corral or enclosure, or roughly captured with a lasso as they run, when they are required. On going out one summer evening — I was only a boy at the time — I saw one of the horses of the establishment standing unsaddled and unbridled leaning his head over the gate. Going to the spot I stroked his nose, and turning to an old native who happened to be standing near, asked him what could be the meaning of such a thing. " I think he is going to die," he answered ; " horses often come to the house to die." And next morning the poor beast was found lying dead not twenty yards from the gate.
I now believe that the sensations of sickness and approaching death in the riding horse of the pampas resemble or simulate the pains, so often experienced, of hunger, thirst, and fatigue, com- bined together with the oppressive sensations caused by the ponderous native saddle, with its huge surcingle of raw hide, drawn up so tightly as to hinder free respiration. The suffering animal remembers how at the last relief invariably came when the twelve or fifteen hours' torture was over, and when the great iron bridle and ponderous gear were removed, and he had freedom and food and drink and rest. At the gate or at the door of his master's house the sudden relief had always come to him, and there does he go in his sickness to find it again.^
^ Thomson, The Land and the Book, iL 387. " W. H. Hudson, The Naturalist in La Plata.
ISAIAH 5
IL
The Ignorance of the Children.
" Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider." God has been as a Father to Israel. Now, a father has the right to obedience, service, and especially affection. But Israel had come short. Of the two great commandments of the Law they failed especially in the second. So was it with Israel always. The first commandment is, " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart," and there was at least much outward appearance of devotion to God. But the second com- mandment is, " Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." The failure was here. " Of what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me . . . Believe the oppressed, judge the father- less, plead for the widow." The scrilDe who came to Jesus had no doubt of his duty to God. But, willing to justify himself, he asked, " Who is my neighbour ? "
I. Their ignorance consisted in not knowing what God had done for them — " Israel doth not know." What bad He done ?
1. He calls heaven and earth to witness. For He had created them and preserved them, and been their bountiful benefactor. They were not ignorant of the wonders of their world. The psalmists were accustomed to consider the heavens (Ps. viii. 3). And they found that the heavens declared the glory of God (Ps. xix. 1).
2. But God had chosen Israel to be His peculiar people. He had been as a Father to them and had done great things for them, as Samuel reminded them that day upon which He con- sented to give them a king. It was even a commonplace among the heathen. " Then said they among the nations, the Lord hath done great things for them." And they admitted it when they considered — "The Lord hath done great things for us" (Ps. cxxvi. 2, 3).
3. Above all, God had shown them the care involved in training them to become a blessing to all the nations of the earth. " Thou shalt consider in thine heart," said Moses, " that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth