The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Kings — Section 304

Sn.m&ria in~ foreign regions. Had the exchange tAken plllce with the mutual consent ?f both parties, there would h!lve been no outrago on the rights of man, but it might, mdeed, have conduced to the mterests of both parties concerned. Men are constantly ~hanging their countries, especially in this age, when facilities for travelling are increas- mg every day, when the old countries are becoming over-populated, their resouroes rapidlJ: d~~ing, and new and fertile regions opening up tn every part of the globe. All this 1s nght enough, a.s well as often necessary and truly expedient. But to be forced away from home, this is tyranny, and such tyranny is not extinct even in our England. The tens of thousands that leave our shores every year for strange and diet.ant lands, for the most part do it by a terrible coercion. Not only is he a tyrant who inflicts positive injustice on another, but also he who withholds from another his duo, Tyranny is not confined to the throne of despots, but it sits in every heart where there is not a practical regard for the rights of others. It is in Belgravian mansions and ducal ca.«tles, where the groans of starving millions around a.re disregarded, as well as in the palace of the Czar of Russin, where the rights of millions are trodden underfoot. "Thinkest thou there is no tyranny but tho.t Of blood and chains? The despotism of vice, The weakness o.nd the wickedness of luxury, The negligence, the apathy, the evils Of sensual sloth-produce ten thousand tyrant.a, Whose delegated cruelty surpasses The worst acts of one energetic master, However harsh and h:i.rd in hia own bearing." (Byron.) II. THE RETRIBUTIONS OF LIFE. "And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not the Lord: therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which slew some of them. Wherefore they spake to the King of Assyria, saying, The nations which thou hast removed, and placed in the cities of Samaria, kn,,1{ not the manner of the God of the land: therefore he hath sent lions among them, and, behold, they slay them, because they know not the manner of the God of the land." Probably the lions had been in the land of Samaria. before the settlement of the Assyrian colonists, but after their settlement these furious beasts of prey seem to have been multiplied. Perhaps the colonists were too few in number to keep them down and to check their increase. Still, whatever the natural cause or causes of their increase, it was regarded by the new population as a retributive visitation. The statement of the courtiers to the king was, " The nations which thou hast removed, and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the manuer of the God of the land: therefore he hath sent lions among them," etc. The law of retribution is ever at work in human history, not only in the lives of nations, but in the Jives of individuals. No man can do a wrong thing without suffering for it in some form or other. Nemesis surely, though silently, treads on the heels of wrong. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." The lions of retribution track our steps a.s sinners stealthily, and are ready to spring on us at any moment. We are far enough from saying that retribution here is adequate and coblplete; hence th~re is within all a "fearful looking for" of some future judgment. We do not fully dis- charge the debt; as we go on it accumulates, and there is a balance to be settled in the great hereafter. Albeit the retribution here is a foretaste and pledge of a judgmen.t to come. "Nature has her laws, That will not brook infringement; in e.ll time, All circumstances, all state, in every clime She holds aloft the same avenging sword, And, sitting on her boundless throne sublime, The ,ia.18 of her wrath, with Justice stored, Shall in h61' own good hour ou all that's ill be poured.n (Percival.) III. Tim PROSTITUTION OF BELIGION. The Assyrian kin.g, it would seem, in answer to the alarm which was felt concerning the colonists whom he had settled in the cities of &maria, con.ceived the plan of adopting religion as the remedy. " '!'hen the King of (JI[. xvu. 1-11.] THE SECOND BOOK OF 'l'HE KINGS. 851