The Pulpit Commentary — Deuteronomy — Section 328

clcnr, that the man who was fleeing for his life might have his fair chance of escape. And what agony must have been experienced along that way! The possibility of being overtaken, and having the life taken away; must have made the race to the city a desperate ordeal. And then the imprisonment there till the death of the high priest must have made the manslayer walk very softly all those days. When at last the high priest died, he was free I Now all this, we believe, is typical of the gospel. The soul is, like the manslayer, guilty of shedding innocent blood. Doubtless not intentionally, but much evil is wrought by want of thought, as well as by want of heart. We are all guilty. •But a way has been provided for our safety. It is a way of anxiety, of solemn thought, and eventually of peace through the death of him who is our High Priest. Safety in the city of refuge is the symbol of safety in Jesus Christ; while he is also the High Priest whose death delivers and restores the exile. It takes the two things, the city of refu2:e and the death of the high priest, to bring out all that Jesus is to sinful men. Ill. THERE WAS UNPADDONABLE SIN UNDER THE LAW, AS THEDE IS ID<"DER TRE GOSPEL. The murderer was not protected in a city of refuge, but delivered up to execution. Murder was one of the sins which the Law deemed unpardonable. We mean, of course, unpardonable so far as this life and world are concerned. Now what we have to notice is that, under the gospel, there is an unpardonable sin (Matt. xii. 31; Mark iii. 28, 29). And about this sin our Lord is very explicit. It is unforgivingness, the perpetuation of the murderous spirit in impenitent mood. We do not hold that the blood of Jesus Christ is insufficient to cleanse away all sin (l John i. 6, 7)-the very opposite. But so long as a soul regards others with an unforgiving temper, it is manifest that the Divine grace has been kept at bay. God will not for- give those who are not forgiving. Forgivingness and forgiveness are twin sisters, and they visit the soul together. If God has really forgiven us, we shall find ourselves in a forgiving mood, the least we could do in the circumstances; but conversely, if we continue in hard, unforgiving mood, it is proof positive that we have not yet e~- perienced God's forgiveness. How deeply the gospel probes our carnal nature, and conquers it! IV. VENGEANCE CANNOT BE DISPENSED WITH IN Goo's GOVERNME~"'T, AJID WE NEED NOT 0AL0ULATE UPON SUCH A DISPENSATION. The avenger of blood was the officer for the time being of public justice. It was a public duty he was called to discharge. And public justice still has its revenges, and will, as long as criminals continue. It is the same with God. "Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." The weapon is a dangerous one for us to handle, but God will take charge of it, and will use it as the interests of good and all-wise government require.-R. M. E. Vers. 14-21.-The law of retaliation. When we consider "retaliation," we find that it is the converse of the "golden rule." In fact, it is giving back to a person his breach of that rule to see how he likes it. It is just a rough method of teaching rude, selfish souls that there is retribution in all selfish practices; the gun may be fired maliciously, but it sooner or later lays the sportsman in the dust. Now, it is mor:i.lly right that those who do to others as they do not wish others to do to them should have precisely their own paid back to them. It is simple justice. I. PuBLIO JUSTICE MAKES rnoVISION FOR THIS IN EVERY CIVILIZED COUNTRY. When Jesus directed his disciples not to retaliate, but to cultivate the spirit of non- resistance to evil (Matt. v. 38-42), he did not wish them to take the law into their own hands, but to leave to public justice what in the olden time had to be settled privately. He certaiuly did not mean that his disciples should screen men from the processes of public law, when they had made themselves amenable thereto. His advice regarded the edifice of public justice as raised by advancing civilization, and taking up consequently many matters which private parties in a ruder age had to deal with.1 II. RETALIATION WAB IN THE EARLY TIM..E A DUTY WHICH INDIVIDUALS OWED TO 1 Cf. Mozley'■ • Ruling Ideas in Early A(les,' p. 184, eto. 826 THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY [oH, :1.Ilt. l-21,