Ver. 23.-Tlie curse of Meroz. I. THE CURSE WAS FOR INACTIVITY. Meroz had committed no offence, but is solely to blame for failing in action. Innocence of positive guilt is not enough to secure us from condemnation in the judgment of God. We shall be judged by what we have left undone as well as by what we have done. In Christ's vision of judgment, those who are made to stand on the left of the throne and are then condemned to outer darkness are not offenders against the moral law, but simply persons who have neglected the active duties of charity (Matt. x_xv. 45 ). It io a very common error for people to suppose that they are blameless so Ion~ •\q tlu,y keep themselves unspotted from the world, forgetting that the first duty of 56 TH~ BOOK OF JUDGES. [crt. V. 1-31.
religion is the energetic exercise of charity ( James i. 27). Better to have some faults ahd much useful service than to be faultless and useless. 'l.'he soldier who returns from wRr with scRrred face and stained garments is nobler than he who fears to ente1 the bnttle lest he ~hall soil his miment or mar his countenance. 11. THE CURSE WAS FOR INACTIVITY IN REGARD TO PUBLIC DUTY. Meroz was Un• patriotic. Possibly the men on whom the curse fell were diligent farmers and kind and careful parents. But they neglected their duty to their country. \Ve must be~rnre of the narrowness of the parochial mind. The cong·regation which studies its own edification alone, and has no care for the evangelising of the nation and for mission work among the heathen, brings itself under the curse of Meroz. In the fait_hfol payrr~ent of ~axes, in the conscientious use of the franchise, in the right use of rnfluence m pu_bhc matters men have a constant ca!I to ~atriotic duty. But we have all larger duties to men as men, and so long as misery, ignorance and wicked- ness prevail none of us can escape condemnation until we have don~ our part to remo,·e those evils. III. THE CURSE WAS FOR INACTIVITY IN A TIME OF WAR. 1. It was the time of the na~io1;'s greate.:st need anq, da1l{Jer when M~roz 'Yas discovered to be indolently unpatriotic. Great emergencies reveal the evil which has existed unobserved in quie~er tim_es. If w~ ai:e not faithful in t~at w~1ich is least we shall be proved unfaithful m that which 1s greatest. The evil ,vluch may be fatal to our nation in times of danger may be lurking among us unseen in these more quiet times. There- fore the shamf'ful failings of those who are held up tC' the reprobation of history may be no worse than the mean selfishness which pervades the lives of multitudes who meet with no blame, simply because the day of trial has not yet made their character apparent to the world. 2. The danger in which the unfaithfulness of Meroz was revealed brought a call to aggre.:ssive actwn. Meroz was found wanting in a time of war. We are called to resist evil. If we permit others to be oppressed by injustice and cruelty when we might deliver them by any sacrifice and toil of our own, we bring ourselves under the curse of Meroz. Christianity is aggressive. It is the duty of Christians not merely to promote purity, and charity, and truth, &c., but to ex:pose and attack the vices and wrongs of the world.-A. Ver. 31.-The triumph of the Cliurch. The triumph of Israel after the overthrow of the Canaanites is a.n illustration of the ultimate triumph of the Church. I. THE FACT OF THIS TRIUMPH. We have encouragements to think that the Church will not only be saved, but will be saved with honour-will triumph. 1. This implies the destructwn of her enemie.:s. We need not look for that in violence, after the manners of the Crusades or of the Inquisition. (1) S:pjritual foes, such as sin, temptation, death, will cease to exist. (2) Human foes will cease to be foes by the turning of enmity into submission to Christ. 2. It implies the bestowal of lwnour on the Church. She shall shine like the sun, no longer despised. 3. It implies the enjoyment of great lwppine.:ss. Darkness represents sorrow; sunlight represents joy. 4. It implies the gift of power. No influence on earth is so powerful as that of the sun. The people of God will have opportunity for noble service and for the exercise of large faculties. 5. It implies the exercise of benevolence. The sun scatters light, warmth, life. He brings new life out of the death of winter, and spreads beauty and glory over the face of the earth. The triumph of the Church will not be like that of old tyrannies, marked by bloodshed and misery, but a source of life and joy and glory to all within its reach. There is healing in the wings of the Sun of righteousness. II. THE SOURCE OF THIS TRIUMPH. 1. It is accorded by God. Deborah speaks of it in prayer. It was not the courage of the warrior, but the unsee~ help _of God th~t secured the victory to Israel. We grow fearful as we see the ragmg might ~f e~1l, and compare this with the trembling weakness of our own hearts. But God 1s with us· l,e makes the cause of the Church his own. Chiist has already conquered, and no~ be calls us only to meet defeated foes. 2. It is secured through devc,tion ~o God. The enemies of God perish. These are not men whom God treats as enemies, but suc:I, as set themselves in enmity against him. They who triumph are the lovers of Gou. 'l.'he essence of religion is love to God, and this is here the ground of the OBSurance of victory given by hiio. 3. It is attained by si/,ent and urndiial meana... OR. VI. 1--10.] 'fHE BOOK OF JUDGES. 57
'l'h0 sun docs not burst out suddenly, he makes no noise to announce the coming duy. So the triumph of the Church is gradual as the growing dawn, silent as the spreading light. Yet, like the light, it will be recognised by its visible presence and its bountiful fruits.-A
EXPOSITION.