The Pulpit Commentary — Judges — Section 199

Yem. 2-4.-Sorrow for others. I. IT IS NATURAL TO BE DISTRESSED AT THm i·noUDLES OF OTHERS. 1. It is natural on personal grounds. '\Ve are members one of another, so that if one member suffer, all suffer. The Israelites felt that it would be a common calamity to the whole nation for one tribe to be blotted out. It would not ollly be a judgment on that tribe, it would be "a breach in the tribes of Israel." England suffers through the wars and famines and storms which devastate even remote countries. If adversity falls upon one great town, one trade, one class, the whole co_mmunity feels t~e effect of i~. It is foolish, on selfish considerations alone, for the nch and happy to ignore the distresses of the poor and wretched. 2. But it is natural to be distressed at the troubles of others on unselfish grounds. When we are not hardened by sin we must naturally feeNiympathy. The law of Christ requires us to bear one another's burdens (Gal. vi. 2). If Jews of old felt for their brethren in their tr'?uble, how ?an Christians, who owe _all their best_ blessings to the compassion and sufiermg of Chnst for them, harden theu hearts agamst the cries of the world's ~ise~y, when _they in turn are expected to show the spirit of Christ in sympathy and v1canous sacrifice? II. IF WE ARE CALLED TO PUNISH MEN FOR THEIR SIN, WE SHOULD ALSO PITY THEM FOR THEIR DISTRESS. Israel had punished the tribe of Benjamin, but the sight of the ruin thus wrought filled all the people with grief. It is right and necessary to be firm in repressing wickedness; yet this should not be done in hot hatred, in callous sternness, nor in complacent self-satisfaction, but with grief, mourning for the distress, and more for the sin occasioning it. So does God chastise, in grief, like a father loving his child, and therefore the more ha.ting the iniquity which produces all the trouble. III. DISTRESS FOR THE TROUBLES OF OTHERS SHOULD LEAD us TO GOD ON THEIR BEHALF. The people came to the hoUBe of God, and wept there before God. We should bring all our trouble before God, and, when we know not what to ask for, confide in him and relieve our souls by leaving the burden with him. If we are really and deeply grieved for others, we sha.11 be constrained to do the ea.me with the sorrow of sympathy. All Christians are called to be priests, intercessors for others. We should pray most earnestly for those who will not pray for thel!leelves. We should humble ourselves for their sin, since the oneness of the human family brings i;hame upon all when any go astray. Such sorrow before God will incline us to fresh acts of self-sacrifice and dedication. As the Israelites offered burnt offerings, we shall consecrate ourselves to God, that we may be more capo.hie of relieving those for whom we grieve.-A. Ver. 5.-The penalty of desertion. It was quite in accord a.nee with the rude and cruel age of the judges that a whole town should be visited with the death-penalty for deserting the tribes in the assembly of war. The punishment was not so un- reasonable as it might appear at first sight, though there are circumstances in the whole transaction which reflect discredit on the Israelites. I. DESERTION IS A GREAT CRIME. In war-time, even among civilised nations, desertion is punished with death. 1. Negative wickedness may be as bad as positive sin. If we know that an equally injurious result will follow inaction, this is equally guilty with an active offence. Thus the refusa.l of a ship's master to eave a drown- ing man is morally equal to the guilt of murdering him. 2. We must not measure the value of our actions by their individual effects, but by the effects of the principles they express. One act of desertion may have no perceptible effect. But if one is justifiable, many are and thUB the principle of freedom to desert allows of total deser- tion resulting in total ruin. Desertion from the cause of Christ is a great sin. To refrain from obeying hie call to action is as guilty as to actively disobey him. 3. The crime which is heinoUB when committed by one man ~e equally bad when committed by a whole community. We should not think of destroying a town for the crime for which we should execute an individual; but this is because of our horror of wholesale slaughter, &c., and not because evil desert is lessened when it is shared by a number. II. CB.ABITY IB NO EXCUSE FOB THE NEGLECT OF DUTY, That was a terrible work to which the tribes were summoned-the slaughter of the Benjamites. Yet if they felt 1t to be·a necessary act of justice sanctioned by God, as they evidently -iid fed it 01. ll'lO. 1-25.J 'rtIE BOOK OF Jt1DG:ll!S. 213