The Pulpit Commentary — Exodus — Volume 2 — Section 152

1 lm•u~b semli1Jg his children to school whilst taint.ed with it. 3. Inactive murde1·. Paraphrasing James iv. li, "He that knoweth to save life and doeth it not to him it i~ murder;·· e.g., a man who allows his neighbour to murder others deliberately c,r through carelessness. Like kinds of murder apply to the CBll88 of the mind and spirit. The slave-owner who forbnde his sla,•es to be educated, and who debarred them from rdigiou~ privileges; t,he pa.rent who stifles the spiritua.l development of his child through indifference. These a.nd like cases might be instanced. "Thou shalt do M murder," such is the command. To the question, "Am I my brother's keeper?" the answer is, "Undoubtedly you are." If you can save life of any kind, and fail to do so you must be classed with Cain. ' Il. In; BEARING ON THOUGHTS (Matt. v. 21; 1 John iii. 15). Really a special case of the t.enth commandment; or rather, this commandment is viewed in the light of the \Alnth. The unkind thought, fostered, soon becomes the malicious thought, and a malicious thought acts like leaven, resulting in a murderous heart. [lllmtration: cott.on wool, pure, soft, innoxious. Treat it with certain chemicals. It looks just the .iame; hut its charact.er is completely altered, it is transformed into an explosive, gun cotton. So, too, treat the human heart with the chemistry of envy, hatred, and malice and it too will become an explosive-murderous, and ready for murder.] From th~ murderous heart proceeds murder of the worst kinJ; but saturate the heart with indif- ference or carelessness, and you still make it an explosive. " Keep," i.e., guard "thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life," or death I Ill. A SPECIAL CASE. 8u1cmE. Self murder does not imply hatred or malice faill it is unlawful killing, and may be classed with extreme forms of manslaughter. It is however to be condemned on more general principles as against the spirit of the whole table of the law. It is cowardly. It is selfish. 1f :i. brother commit suicide, what aK your feelings? What then your brother's feelings if you destroy your life? Juries should give in such cases more stringent verdicts. A verdict of temporary insanity results from misplaced charity; it cannot do much to alleviate the distress of friends; it helps to facilit.a.te suicide, which would be fa.r less frequent if the verdict on it were usually more severe. Condusion.-The justification of this command.:nent is to be found in the sanctity of the life which it protects. Bear in mind that life is God's gift, an eman:ltion from the Deity. Keep the eyes open and keep the heart open, so will you soon find opportunities to preserve life and ward off death.-G. , er. 14.-A correspondence between the two tables: to worship a false god is to aim at the life of the true God. Idolatry is spiritual adult.ery. Besides this the sixth and seventh commandments are clearly related; the one guards the life of the individual, the other the life of the family, the sanctity of the home. Consider:- 1. Tm: SIN ITBELF. When a man by anticipation, or after marriage, breaks the marriage vow; when a woman acquiesces in the crime thus perpetrated, it is murder aimed at the collective life of the family. Madness for society to make light of such a crime, which, if permitted, must destroy society. For notice, the family, not the indi- vidual, is the ultimate social unit. [ lllmtraeion. Tree covered with foliage: individual leaves and blossoms are connected with twigs and boughs; you may kill a leaf without iujury to the bough, but kill the bough, and what about the leaves?] Individuals are leave.,, and blossoms on the tree of life; it is through the family that they belong to the tree at all. Adultery poisons the bough, and through that withers the leaves and blossoms. Further, the sin involves a spreading plague. It spreads ~ot ~erely far anc ~ide, but on and on through future generations. You may keep 1t hid, you cann~t keep it inactive. [lllUBtrate from case of David and Bathsheba; may we not trace hi.!' mother's influence in Solomon's sin? He goes after strange women, and then after strange gods. On David's side we have Amnon's sin directly connected with Absolom's rebellion, which again is connected indirectly with t~e s~ccessful re~llion _of Jeroboam and resulting idolatry of the northern kingdom. It 1s s_till the o~e sm w~1ch spreads; uutwards awl. onwards.] A pure home is a ~und spot m t~e social ?rga~1sm; corr_upt JL.• purity, and it becomes a centre of conupt10n. May notice also, lD this connection, t"a'" all ,ins of this claas fornication uncleanness, etc., do and must manifest themselves in lipite of u,11.ooalment. ' Other siW: (1 Cor. vi. 18) are" outside the body." 1'he118 a.re Cll. H. 14, lu.] THE BOOK OF EXODUfl. 1:;!1