obtained a promise that if only ten could be found, the rest should be spared for their sake. What an astonishing idea does this give us of God's regard
Let us observe, I. How dear to Him are their persons!
We forbear to notice the honourable appellations which he gives them (as his jewels, his peculiar trea- sure, &c.) or the great and precious promises made to them, or the blessings of grace bestowed upon them: we shall confine our attention solely to the interpositions of his providence in their behalf: be- cause it is in that view only that they are noticed in the text. But in marking God's kindness to them, we shall notice it as manifested,
1. To them personally —
[We cannot conceive any thing so great, but God has actually done it for his people.
He has controlled the elements. The earth has opened at his command to maintain the authority of his chosen prophet, and to swallow up his insolent competitors8. The air has raised itself into tempests, and shot forth its lightnings, and shaken the foundations of the earth, with its thunders, in order to punish the enemies, of his people h, or vindicate their injured honour1. Fire also has suspended its destructive energies, in order to defeat the persecuting rage of a tyrant, and rescue from his hands the children of oppression k. Nor has the ivater been backward to obey his will, when any signal benefit was to be conveyed to his favourite people. It has repeatedly stood as a wall, to open an avenue for them through the rivers1, and through the seam.
God has compelled all classes of the brute creation also to consult their benefit. The birds, though of the most voracious kind, have served up the stated meals of bread and meat to his prophet in a time of dearth and necessity". The beasts, though fierce and hunger-bitten, have shut their mouths before the saint, whom they were invited to destroy0. The fishes have swallowed up a drowning prophet, to discharge him again in safety upon the dry landp; or taken into their mouth a bait
s Numb. xvi. 32. >' Exod. ix. 23 — 25.
1 1 Sam. xii. 10— 18. k Dan. iii. 27.
1 Josh. iii. 15, 16. 2 Kings ii. 8, 14. m Exod. xiv. 21, 22.
n 1 Kings xvii. 0. " Dan. vi. 22. P Jonahii. 17.andiii.10.
30. J Abraham's intercession for sodom. 153
unsuited to their appetite, that the Saviour in his humiliation might be enabled to pay his taxq. The insects too have united their irresistible efforts to punish a proud and cru'el nation, and to assert the liberties of God's oppressed people1.
We may add also, that even the heavenly bodies have been overruled by God for the purpose of aiding, or comforting, or honouring those who were dear to him. The sun and moon stood still for the space of a whole day, to witness the triumphs of his chosen servants s. " The stars in their courses fought against SiseraV And the shadow on the sun-dial of Ahaz returned ten degrees, that a pious and afflicted monarch might be assured of the deliverance which his soul desired".
How dear to God must they be to whom the whole creation is thus made subservient, and for whose benefit the govern- ment of the universe is administered !]
2. To others for their sake —
[For their sakes blessings have been imparted to the unde- serving, and judgments averted from the wicked. For Jacob's sake God multiplied the flocks of Labanx; and from respect to Joseph he prospered the house of Potiphar^. If ten righteous could have been found in Sodom, the impending destruction would have been turned from all the cities of the plain z : and notwithstanding the extreme wickedness of its inhabitants, the city of Zoar was exempted from the common fate, at the intercession of Lot3; nor could the storm be poured out upon Sodom, till Lot was placed beyond its reach b. The mercy shewn to a whole ship's company on account of Paul, deserves peculiar notice. There were 276 souls on board : the storm was so violent that there was no hope left for their preservation ; they were just ready to be swallowed up in the tempestuous waves. But there was one saint on board ; a saint, hated of men, but beloved of God : and for his sake the whole were preserved from death, and not a hair of their heads suffered to perish c. When God was about to send the Jews into captivity, he told them, that if they could find one righteous man in Jerusalem, he would spare them all d : and after he had inflicted his judgments upon them, he assigned as his reason for it, that not one had been found to stand in the gap, and to intercede for them e. After the murder of the Messiah, the Jewish nation was devoted to utter destruction : but when the days of vengeance came, " they were shortened for