HlMILETICS. Vere, 26-28.-77,e puniBhment of idolatry. God did not long allow the sin a,c,ainst hie majesty to remain unpunished. He d~clared his will to MoMes (ver. 27)-""Thus BBith the Lord God of lsra.el"-a.nd Moses, with his usun.l dutifulness, wa..~ prompt to execute his will. Having obtained the necessary force, he lost no time in in.flictin"0 the punishment. Of the punishment itself, we eha.11 do well to note- I. ITs SEVERITY. Men talk and think very slightingly in these days of sins against God's majesty. They profess scepticism, a.gnosticism, atheism," with a light heart." 'l'he idea does not occur to them that their conduct is likely to bring upon them a.ny punishment. But" God's thoughts a.re not 88 man's thought8"-God visits such sins with death. Three thousand a.re slain with the sword on one day because of a. few hours of idol-worship. Such is God's a.ward. And the record of it has been " written for our learning, upon whom the ends of the world a.re come." It is intended to teach us that God will visit for these things; and, if not in this world, then assuredly in the next. II. ITS JUSTICE. Idolatry is apostasy. It is a" casting of God behind the ba.ck"- a turning away from him, and a deliberate preference to him of something which is not he, and which cannot therefore but be infinitely inferior. The heart witnesses age.inst idolatry ; it tells us that we are bound, being God's creatures, to devote our whole existence to him. Idolatry might well be punished with death, if it had never been positively forbidden. But the Israelites had heard it forbidden amid the thunders of Sinai (eh. x.x. 4, 5). They had a law against it in "the Book of the Covenant" (eh. x.x. 23). They had pledged themselves to obey this law (eh. x.xiv. 3). They could not therefore now complain. If all who had taken part in the calf-worship had perished., no injustice would have been done. But God tempers justice with mercy. There were well-nigh six. hundred thousand sinners; but the lives of three thousand only were taken. III. THE METHOD WHEREBY IT WAS ESCAFED. Those escaped who put away their sin as, 1. The Levites, who hastened to repent, and placed themselves on the Lord's side at the first summons made by Moses. This was the best course, and the only safe one. '!'his was " turning to the Lord with all the heart ;" and. though no atonement for past sin, was accepted by God through the ( coming) atonement of his Son, and obtained from him, not only forgiveness, but a blessing (ver. 29). 2. Those escaped who desisted either when Moses made his first appeal, or even when they saw the swords drawn, and vengeance about to be taken. To draw back from sin is the only way to escape its worst consequences. Even then, all its consequences are not escaped. Their iniquity was still "visited" on those who were now allowed to escape with their lives-" the Lord plagued the people because they made the calf" (ver. 35) at a. later date.
HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vers. 25--30.-77ie zeal of Lf/Vi. Panic was in ilie camp. The idolaters stood as they had been taken in their guilty revels. Their sin had been of too heinous a nature to admit of its being passed over without severe punishment. Law must be vindicated. Vengeance must be taken for the injury offered to the majesty of Jehovah. Stern as the duty is, the mediator does not shrink from immediately addressing himself to the execution of jud,,"lllent. I. THE SUMMONS. He stood in the gate of the camp and said. "Who is on the Lord's side? Let him come unto me" (ver. 26). This must be taken to mean, not, " Who is willing to be on the Lord's side now?" but " Who has shown himself on the Lord's side during the recent apostasy?" Note-the Lord's side, though for a. time the unpopular one, proves in the end to be the side of honour, of safety, and of C?mfort. Fidelity has its ultimate reward. Wisdom is justified of her children. (Matt. xi. 19.) II. THE RESFONSE. "All the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him " (ver. 26). The Levites, as a tribe, would thus appear to have been less implicate,! i.n the idolatry than the rest of the people. " Faithful found AmoDg the faithless, faithful Ollll he" 342 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [en. xu.11. 30-36.