HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. VerB. 12-14.-Continued and repeated offence entails more signal punishment. Jehovah is spoken of here as if he natl become the God of heathen nations. He takes the side of the enemies of Israel, and stnngthens them for the subjugation of his own people. J. 'fHE INSTRUMENT OF CHASTISEMENT IS SPECIALLY PREPARED BY GOD. !I. A VISIBLE SIGN OF DISGilACE EXISTED IN THE CONQUEST OF JERICHO. Ill THE PERIOD OF OPPRESSION WAS MORE THAN DOUBLED.-M. Vere. 15-26.-Ehud. There is no grandeur of ch1J.racter about Ehud, nor can he boast of an illustrious descent ; yet he is sufficient for the purpose of delivering Israel. The defectiveness of the instrument makes the Divine agent the more cone spicuous. We see here:- I. GOD'S USE OF OBSCURE AGENTS AND INSTRUMENTALITIES. He was of the less important tribe ; personally obscure ; physically defective. So God uses the weak things of this world to confound the mighty, &c., that the praise may be given to the true source of power and wisdom. On the present occasion the choice was sin- gularly felicitous, as it emphasised both subjection and deliverance as Divine. The left-handedness of Ehud also becomes curiously and instructively prominent. His very defect proved his fitness-for the special task he had to accomplish. Is his power but a one-sided one, and hardly avnilable for regular service? I£ he be in earnest an opportunity will be given for its effective use. It is exacted by God's servants that they do what they can ; the rest is to be left with himself. II. DEFECTIVE POWERS AND CHARACTER RESTRICTED TO THEIR PROPER SPHERE, We can see from the history that the moral character of Ehud is not high. His success, humanly speaking, depended on duplicity, boldness, sleight of hand. He has decision enough to improve upon the advantage which he has thus obtained, and to weaken the enemy by a terrible blow. But there is no sign of the judicial faculty, nor even of great military skill. He rendered a signal service, and then apparently retired into obscurity. He held no high office, or great public responsibility.-M. Ver. 31.-Shamgar. .A long interval has elapsed. The moral effect of Ehud's feat is beginning to lessen. Another warning is required. It is given from the opposite side of Israel in the incursion of six hundred Philistines. These are not many, but they may be spies, pickets, the vanguard of great armies. If any effect is to be produced upon those who are behind them it must be by a sudden and decisive blow. The example of Ehud is a precedent. Another hero rises to deliver Israel at a stroke. And by a rude and apparently ill-adapted weapon. Shamgar illustrates:- 1. THE INFLUENCE OF EXAMPLE. "After him "-an Ehud inspires a Shamgar. II. OF THE GREAT EFl'ECTS WHICH MAY DE PRODUCED DY IMPERFECT MEANS WHEN ZEALOUSLY AND SEASONABLY USED. The slaying of the six hundred deterred perhaps e. whole series of invasions. It lent itself easily to poetic treatment, and appealed 38 THE BOOK OF JUDGES. [CR. III. 12-31.
to popular imagination. The inspiration of the deed was unmistakable. A com- mon man, a rude implement used by Jehovah at a set time for the deliverance of his people. III. OF TRE SIGNIFICANCE AND VALUE OF A SINGLE GREAT DEED. We hear nothing of Shamgar before or after. 1. Its greatness lay in the agent rather than the mea'Tls. Pre,ious preparation _o~ character was _required. 2. Tlw moral effect was ~udden, wui.e-S'pread, and dec=ve. . Go_d used 1t "[-or a greater purpose than was unmedrntely contemplated. 3. But i~ i!,id not _qualify for perm(!,nent ojficial useful- ,u,ss. It was followed up by no sp1ntual witness, or succession of services. It might be that_ Shamgar outlived his fame, _or ?~scured it br unworthy life, &c. The constant sernce ought to supplement the md1v1dual explo1t.-M.