of Isrnel nnd the records of modem warfare supply numerous examples, 3. Dis- astrous and ter1·ible are tlie usual concomitanta of war. Not that God does not frequently overrule the hostilities of contending nations, and evolve from the mur- derous designs of monnrchs results the moat beneficial, making war the pioneer of civilisation, and even of religion ; but th'l immediate effects of international strife are ever ruinous and appalling-fruitful fields devastated, fair cities sacked, valuable property destroyed, lives of men wasted, a nation's blood and treasure poured 011t like water, lamentation, mourning, and woe commissioned to many home,i, and a hurden of care and sorrow laid on all. All this WIIB exemplified in the present instance. 4. IV/ten wa.1· arises tlte innocent largely suffer with the guilty. Harl the campaign against the kings of the Pentapolis not been prepared, it is probable that tbe Rephaims, Zuzima, Emims, 1-Iorites, Amalekites, and Amorites would not hani suffered at the hands of Chedorlaomer, and it is certain that Lot would not have hePn made a prisoner by the victorious monarch. Now, so far as the primal reason of this invasion was concerned, all these were innJcent of any offence against the Asiatic king, and yet they were amongst the victims of his wrath against the rebels of the Jordan circle. II. AN INSTANCE OJ! DIVINE RETRIIlUTIO:)(. 1. Deserved. Although Lot was a righteous man, he had egregiously sinned, (I) in choosing the Jordan circle as his portion, (2) in making his abode in Sodom, (3) in continuing amongst the inhabitant~ when he ascertained their ungodly charactu. Consequently God avenged himself upon his erring servant by allowing him to lose bis property, and to come near the losing of his' life as well in the sacking of foe city. So " the face of the Lord is set against them that do evil." 2. Unexpected probably as to its cause, Lot thinking he had committed nothing worthy of chasti,Jement, for sin has a strange po"·er of obscuring the moral vision and deadening the voice of conscience; almost certainly as to its time, God's judgments for the m,,st part taking rncn unawares (cf. Ps. lx::riii. 18, 19), and evil-doers being commonly snared in an evil time, like the fishes of the sea (Eccles. ix. 12), walking like blind men because they have sinned against the Lord (Zepk i. 17) ; and more than likely as to its form, those who anticipate the outpouring of Divine indignation being seldom able to discern beforehand the special character it will assume. 3. .Appropriate~ Lot bad chosen the Jordan circle as the most advantageous locality for thriving in his flocks and herds, and Chedorlaomer's armies swept his folds and stalls entirely clean. He had elected to live among tho filthy Sodomites, and so be is compelled to ·fare as they. G_od's recompenses to evil-doers (whether saints or sinners) are never unsuitable, though man's often are. 4. Merciful. He might have lost his life in the general massacre of the city's inha- bitants, but be only lost his property, or rather it was not yet lost, although, doubtless, Lot imagined that it was; only pillaged and carried off along with himself, his wife, and daughters. So God ever mingles mercy with judgment when dealing with his people. 5. Premonitory. Though all retribution is not designed to admonish anrl reprove, this was. The vengeance taken on the wicked at the day of judgment will be purely punitive; that which fa.Us upon transgressors while on earth is aim£'d nt their amendment. Unhappily, however, as in the case of Lot, it is sometimes in- efficacious. Instead of taking warning at what might have proved his rnin, Lot was no sooner rescued than he returned to Sodom. So great providential jt1d,;mcnts and great providential mercies are often equally despised.
HOMILIES BY VAHIOUS AUTHORS. Ch. xiv.-The kingdom of God in its relation to the contending powers of tl.i,s world. I. Goo's JUDGMENTS ARE ALREADY BEGINNIN"Cl TO JJ'ALL. War is made by con- federate kings or princes against the people of the wicked cities of the plain, who by their propinquity would naturally be leagued together, but by their common rebel- lion ogainst Chedorlaomer were involved in a common danger. Notice the indica- tion of the futme judgment E;iven in the course of the narrati,e-" the vale of Siddim woe full of slime-pita. ' God's ,·engeance underlies the wicked, ready to pnrst forth on them in due time. u. THE UNl'AlTIIl'UL LOT IS INV('L\'KI) IN THE JUDGllENT. lie I\Dd his good~ o.re 206 THE BOOK OF GENESIS. [on. XIV. 13-lG.
taken. For whilo before it is said he pitched his tent near to Sodom, now we find that he is in Sodom. • III. The MEDIATION OF ABRAM, representattve of that of God's people in the world,' pr0cures the deliverance of the backsliding. He has already succeeded in drawing strength to himself ; and doubtless Abram the Hebrew represented a nuoleus of higher life even in that land of the idolatrous and degenerate which was recognised 11s in some sense & refuge to which men could appeal. IV. The VICTORY OF THE CIIILD OF Goo, with his small company, over the great army of heathen is typical. It represents, like the victory of Dnvid over Goliath, &c., the supe1ior might of the spiritual world (cf. 1 Cor. i. 27-31). V. The HOMAGE PAID To ABRAM as the conqueror both by the heathen king of Sodom and the priest-king of Salem is typical of the superior position of the cove- nant people. Abram gnve tithes to Melchizedek (cf. Heb. vii. 1-7) as an acknow- lcdgment of the superiority of the position of Melchizedek, but Melchizedek blessed Abram as the possessor of ihe promise. The idea is that Mclcbizedek was the priest of a departing dispensation, .Abram the recipient of the old and the beginning of the new. VI. .ABRA~I's STRICT SEPAUTJON from the worldly power, which he rested on mi oath of faithfulness to God, shows that he is decidedly advancing in spiritunl charac- ter. The contrast is very striking between his conduct and that of Lot. He. at the same time does not attempt to enforce his own high principle upon others .. The Church of God has suffered much from its attempts to apply its own high rules to the world instead of leaving the world to find out for itself their superiority and adopt them.-R.