The Pulpit Commentary — Judges — Section 178

Vers. 23, 2~.-4. The ifl,ola~'s di:stress. ~icah h_as ~t one fell swoop lost gods and ephod and pnest. As his chief gams and his fancied importance were derived from this source, he was desolate. I. THOSE WlIOSE TRUST IS IN OUTWARD THINGS, AND WHOSE HEART IS BOUND UP IN THEM, ARE EXPOSED TO GRAVE DANGERS AND DISADVANTAGES. The losses of life. the anxieties and dreads ; bereavement. The religion of external details how easily disarranged I The whole "establishment" may be swept away I ' ll. THE SPIBITUALLY-MINDED ARE FREED FROM THESE CARES, AND ALTHOUGH BUF- FERING SIMILAR DEPRIVATIONS AND L0E'SES, ARE NOT WITHOUT· COMFORT. "God is a spirit, and they that worship him," &c. The heart that rests on Christ is secure against all outward perils. Forms, externals, &c. are not essential to true religion. The " means of grace " are not to become an end in themselves, and where the end is reached otherwise they can be dispensed with.-M. Ver. 5.-The religion of convenience. I. MEN WHO ARE UNWILLING TO DO THE WILL OF Goo ARE SOMETIMES ANXIOUS TO SECURE BIS HELP. These Danites are little better than freebooters; they are determined to go their own way ; they have no wish to be guided by God ; they siniply wish to be assured of success. So there are many who have snfficient religious faith to desire the blessing of God on their life, but not sufficient to submit to his guidance and authority. True loyalty to God will make us not merely consult hini as to the success of our work, but as to its rightness, and not merely inquire whether the way in which we are determined to go shall prosper, but ask what way God would have us take. IL THE PRAYER FOR PROSPERITY UNACCOMPANIED BY SUBMISSION TO Goo's WILL DOES NOT JUSTIFY THE COURSE 011' ACTION TO WHICH IT RELATES. We have superstitions about prayer. We are too ready to imagine that ~II is well if we hav:e sought God's blessing upon our work. But we have only a nght to ask for this when we are doing right. Prayer cannot sanctify a bad action. The Danites were !lot justified in their marauding expedition because they first consulted a supposed Divine oracle. Men seek God's blessing on their business while they conduct it dishonestly, on their country while they favour aggressive wars and nat~onal injustice, on their private lives while they pursue a worldly, perhaps even an immoral, course. Such conduct rather aggravates than mitigates guilt, because it betrays blindness of conscieuce in the searching light of God's presence. III. AN ASSURANCE OF SUCCESS IS NO PROOF OJI' THE FAVOUR OJ' Goo. We are too ready to worship su~cess as th~ugh it were a justification of t~e'means by which it was attained. In thIB world, VJewed from a human standpoint, goodness often fails and wickedness often succeeds. Our own feeling of assurance is no ground of reasonable confidence. They who are on the best of terms with themselves are not therefore on the best of terms with God. The timid, diffident, despondent ~oul may be reall.) regarded with favour by God, while the vain, self-elated soul may be Ii ving OH, XVIII, 1-31.] THE BOOK OF JUDGES. 191