Vers. 1-11.-A bulwark against C'Upidity. Material prosperity was the only form of blessing that had attractive charm for the Hebrews. Neither mind nor conscience was yet sufficiently developed to value higher good. • God had to raise them by slow and successive steps. Material prosperity had its dangerous side. It might foster pride, self-sufficiency, a sense of overweening superiority, and might lead to tyrannous treatment of others. Or, used in devout recognition of God, it might give scope for generous impulses, furnish leisure for intellectual pursuits, aid the culture of the msthetic arts, diffuse religious knowledge, and practically relieve human distress. The institution of tho year of release was designed to serve as a flood-gate, by which the tide of material wealth might be turned into the fittest channel. J. MATERIAL WEALTH, WITH ITS CONCURRENT POWER, WAS A FRUIT OF RELIGIOUS OBEDIENCE. (Vers. 4, 5.) 'Iho acquisition of wealth is the effect of law. It does not follow an erratic course. If we can see the operation of fixed law in nature and in human life, we are constrained to believe that law (whether discovered or undiscovered) operates in gettinu0 wealth. In the case of the Hebrews, the law of earthly success was clearly revealed. In return for loyal obedience to Divine command, the soil should be fertile; early and latter rain should descend; a. salutary awe should restrain the neighbouring tribes from predatory raids; the seasons should be auspicious; there should be plenty for man and for cattle. Still it is true that the "hand of the diligent ma.keth rich; " " them that honour me I will honour;" " godliness is profitable 268 THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY. [cR. XV. 1--28,
unto all tliings." Yet earthly prosperity is not the bado-e of piety. Many of God's ~nint.s arc in the ranks of the poor. Imprudent cour~es, though pursued by the righteous, end in disaster. Prudent courses in business, assiduously pursued, even by t lw profane, terminate in worldly success. Il. MATERIAL WEALTlI IS VERY UNEVENLY DISTRIBUTED AMONG MEN. Some men arc creditors; some are debtors. Some begin life in affluence; some begin in poverty. Such varieties of human circumstance are best. They teach that the same hand that has fashioned material nature has moulded the externals of human life. Such a plan affords variety of occupation and pursuit. The poor are benefited by the "learned leisure" of the rich; the rich are benefited by the industry of the poor. Men require quiet freedom from bodily toil to investigate and to invent; men require the stimulus of hunger to perform arduous labour. It is a mutual benefit; the rich are as much indebted to the poor, as the poor to the rich. We learn also that material wealth is not the highest good that God has to bestow, or he would put it within every man's reach. Jt is but a visible symbol of invisible treasure. III. MATERIAL WEALTH IS INTENDED FOR MUTUAL HELPFULNESS. It was never intended to be hoarded in caves or coffers. The possession of wealth carries an obligation to render high service to humanity. This very obligation to do good prevents an indiscriminate scattering of wealth. Simple communism would be an immeasurable curse. The industry and self-restraint which enable one nation to lend to another nation, give to the former immense influence and wholesome power. We are to distinguish between the objects of our help. We are not to treat brothers and fellow- citizens as we may _aliens and strangers. We may exact from foreigners what, for a time, we have lent; but towards a fellow-citizen we should be lenient and indulgent, remembering that all wealth belongs absolutely to God. 'fhere is a volume or instruc- tion in the fact that the Hebrews were restrained from parsimony by a Divine Law. Thus were they taught that" it is more blessed to give than to receive." Generosity &trengthens the sense of brotherhood. I\'. THE ~ALTlI THAT CLOSES THE HEART AGAINST CHARITY BECOMES AN ACTIVE CtTRSE. (Yer. 9.) It is possible to abuse the most beneficent law of God or man. This very provision or God that, at the end of the septennial period, release should be afforded to all debtorg, might become very prejudicial to the interests of the poor. '.!.'he approach of the sabbatic year might make the Hebrew capitalists parsimonious and close-fisted. "Beware of this!" saith God. "Such an act will.be an act of unfaithful- ness to me." Jehovah has constituted himself the Guardian of the poor. His eye is upon their straits; his ear is open to their cry. And if his stewards fail to fulfil their mission, to them it will be accounted sin. Thus we are taught to take large and extended views of human life. We are integral parts of a great system. Our concep- tions of life mnst stretch beyond the narrow confines of time. We should aspire to think and feel and act as God does. This is God's great ambition, and for this he is now training ns.-D. l"ers. 12-18.-Slaves to be regarded as· brethren. Quiet revolutions are the most permanent and the most successful. Sudden and violent assaults upon social institu- tions are sure to provoke reaction. All great changes must commence in the thought and feeling of the people. I. SOCIAL USAGES, THOUGH Evn., MUST BE TEMPORARILY TOLERATED. It is difficult to realize the conditions of human life in the earlier ages of the world. Many found a livelihood, by the use of the sword and by violent plunder. The honest poor found very precarious opportunities for labour. Coin was almost unknown, and therefore wages must be paid in the form of food and raiment. Amid these circumstances, personal servitude became almost a necessity. It was a social usage liable to great abuse, and gradually degenerated into a system of evil oppression. Yet, as God patiently tolerates on bis earth so many forms of evil, and quietly provides his remedy, so we should learn, not to connive at evil, but patiently to endure it, until e. real remedy can be set in motion. II. JEWISH SLAVERY WAS CURTAILED BY LIMITS OF TIME. In this way the back ,,f the burden was broken. The bondage, which must terminate within e. fixed period, ,, a, endurable. It inspired the oppressed with hope. It checked the violence of the CH, XV, 1-23.] THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY. 21)9