The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Kings — Section 308

th<'m also of the consequences of disobedience (ver. 23). Thus it was shown that God has no pleasure in the death of him that dieth (Ezek. xviii. 32). The faot of warnin" being giv~n is R great aggravation of guilt if sin is persisted in. It leaves the trans~ gressor without exc1;1se.. In our own land warnings alound. The Bible is widely cir- culated, the gospel 1s faithfully preached; there is no lack of voices proclaiming the need and duty of repentance. If men perish, it is not in ignorance. They sin against light, and their blood is on their own heads. 2. Their testimony refected. 'l'he efforts of the_prophe~ to bring the people back to God proved unavailing. No heed was paid to their warmngs; rather the people grew bolder and more daring in sin. If faithful counsel <loes not soften, it hardens. Judged by outward results, no class of preachers ever had less success than the Hebrew prophets. Their exhortations seemed as water spilt upon the grounn. Yet through them was preserved and kept alive in the nation a remnant according to grace (Rom. xi. 5), and to it belonged the great future of God's prnmises. The stubbornness of the Jewish character was proverbial-they were, and had ever been, a stiff-necked people. The root of their evil was they "did not believe in the Lord their God." When they did believe, the same basis of character dis- covers itself in their unyielding tenacity and perseverance in serving God and obeying the dictates of their conscience (cf. Dan. iii.). 3. -A.ggravated wickedness. The people latterly threw off all restraint in the practice of their evil. It was no longer "secretly," but openly, that they rejected the statutes of the Lord their God and his covenant, and the testimonies which he testified against them. It but aggravated the evil that in name they still claimed him as their God, and professed to do him honour, while in reality they had "left all his commandments," and had changed the whole substance of his religion. The form is nothing if the heart is wanting (Matt. xv. 7-9); but the Israelites cha.nged even the form. They went after vanity, and became vain, imitating the heathen who were round about them, and unblushingly introducing the worst heathen abominations into their own worship. (1) They changed the fundamental law of Israel in makiag molten images-intended to represent Jehovah, no doubt, but still idols-Baalim. (2) They imported the Phcenician Baal-worship, with its pillars aad asberas, and its licentious rites-another direct violation of fundamental laws. (3) They went further afield, and imported from Babylonia or Assyria the worship of" the host of heaven "-another thing directly forbidden on pain of death (Deut. xvii. 2-7). (4) Still unsatisfied, they abandoned themselves to the horrid rites of Moloch, and to the practice of every kmd of divination and enchantment-the last and lowest stage in u people's religious degradation. This also was most emphatically forbidden to the Israelites nnder the most severe penalties (Lev. xx. 1-6). Thus they literally "sold" themselves to do evil, throwing off all shame or pretence of regard for God's authority, and became confumed and wedded to their evil ways. Jn heart and outward conduct they had absolutely and utterly apostatized from God, and seemed bent only on pro- voking him to anger. Instead of marvelling at their final rejection, one wonders how a holy God should have borne with them so long. But is not God's patience with sinners and peoples still just as wonderful? Their iniquities literally go up to heaven before be cuts them off. III. JusTicE NO LONGER TARRYING. If the Lord's justice tarries, it does not sleep. And when the blow does fall, it is all the more severe that it has been so long delayed. 1. brae/, rejeded. This pt:lOple had rejected God, and God now rejected them, 88 he had from the first threatened he would do (Lev. xxvi. 14-29). He did not cast them off withont the warning afforded by many premonitory judgments. But when neither jud,,ament nor mercy was regarded, and the cup of their transgression was bri=ing over, he gave them up, and "cast them out of his sight." They were carried away out of their own land to Assyria, and never, as a nation, returned. 2. Judah not taking warning. The sad thing was that Judah also, which bad begun to walk in the samo paths, did not take warning by the fall of the sister kingdom. "The princes of Judah were like them that remove the bound" (Hos. v. 10), and many warnings directed to Juda!, miagle with the prophetic denunciations of Israel. Yet, notwithstanding partial reformations, the people did not repent. The sight is not unparalleled. If wicked men could be deterred from sin, or led to repentance, by warnings, these arc never wanting. H.i.Btory and experience bear uniform testimony that it is well with the righteoU81ill with the wicnd ; men have daily e:uu1ples of the ruinous effects of vice oa. xvn, 1-41,) THE RECOND BOOK OF THE KINGS. 865