Abrah8m, wh8t to lB68c, what to Jacob. And if we C8n see these three cases to be, in II comprehensive sense, typical C88es, we shall have a general sense of God's relation ■ with men when we call him "the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." But the life of Abraham presented no particular likeness to the circumst1mces of Hezekiah. To Abraham God was the gracious Guide, the near Friend. To Jacob's troubled, anxious life the king turned, and found similar experiences to his own. God's ways with Jacob were those of the Redeemer and Deliverer. This probably was more especially in the m_ind of Hezekiah. Jacob was a man grievously wronged-,vronged by Laban, and fearmg wrong at the hands of Esau. And God had stood by the wronged man, saw him through, and saw him righted. That came I\S a Divine comforting to Hezekiah. He too was wron~ed ; he too was misunderstood ; he too was in peril. But the God of Jacob was his God. The" God of Jacob" is God the Judge. 'l'his may be shown to include three things. I. Gon IS THE ESTIMATOR OF CIIABAOTEB. It is plain that a man's character can never be safely estimated by a consideration of his circumstances. Job's could not. Jacob's could not. David's could not. Try to read Hezekiah's character in those times of strain and stress. Ask Shebna's party their opinion of the king. It is full of com- forting to us that we can be sure God is not deceived by circumstances, but knows us altogetber. We may be absolutely content with the Divine appraisement. Road Jacob's life in man's light, then try to read it in God's light. II. Gon IS THE Vn.'DICATOB OF THE GOOD. This is absolutely and entirely true of every good man, in what is called the" long run." As in Jacob's case, Job's case, and David's case, the vindication may be delayed for purposes of Divine training and sanctifying. God never has finally left his faithful servants unvindicated. His witness rested on Hezekiah: the Divine deliverance from Sennacherib proved a Divine witness on behalf of the faithful king. III. Gon IS THE PumsHEB OF THE WICKED. And the severest punishment to them is the humbling failnre of their seemingly well-devised echemes.-R. T. Ver. 10.-Horns cut off. "All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off." A lifted horn well represents the insolent boasting of Rabshakeh, the Assyrian officer (see ls&. x.xxvi.). The Divine answer was the cutting off of Rabshakeh's uplifted horn. God dealt in this way with proud Rabshakeh: " Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land " (Isa. x.xxvii. 7). Or, if Sennacherib be chiefly in mind, we ipay see that his vain confidences of capturing Jerusalem were destroyed, his "purposes were broken off," his bom was brought low. "So Sennacherib returned," a humiliated and disgraced man ; "and it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword" (Isa. x.11:vii 37, 38). Some think that .A.ntiochllB Epiphanes is in the mind of the psalmist; and, certainly, farther illustration may be taken from his case (Dan. viii. 9). The confidence Hezekiah has in God's deliverance enables him to declare that he shall humble the pride of his foes. And God's intervention would confirm the king in his regular work of humbling the wicked and exalting the righteous, ill the exercise of his authority. L Gon's HUMBLING OF THE WICKED. The wicked here are more especially those who scorn his claims and insult his majesty, as did the Assyrian general, saying, "Let not thy God in whom thon trustest deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the King of .Assyria." God is "jealous" of the honour of his Name. "The lofty looks of man must be bowed down, and the Lord alone exalted." Show what state of mind and heart is indicated by the offering of such insult to Jehovah. That state of mind and heart is ruin to any man. II. Gon'e HUMBLING, ENCOURAGING Gon's PEOPLE TO HUMBLE THE WIOXED. Hezekiah will do it, in his official position, because God does it. Apply to all positions of authority. But there is no more difficult duty committed to us than this humbling the proud. It has to be done. It is both right and kind to do it. But we may harden, not humble. We may act in passion rather than in the calmness of holy love. We should humble because God does. But we must only humble as God does; woundJng in the hope of healing.-R. T. PI!, LXXVI, 1-12.] THE BOOK OF PSALMS. 101
Vere. 1-10.-17ie righteous .fudgment of God. This psalm celebrates in prophetic stro.in the righteous judgment of God. The voice of God himself declares from heaven his righteousness; that he is not, as human impertinence has been wont to think, regardless of wrong and suffering, but only we.its for the moment which to hie infinite wisdom seems best. I. GoD't! RIGHTEOUS OOVERNMENT OF THE WORLD. 1. God's wonderful work in history atteats it. (Ver 1.) "What nation ie there that hath God so near unto them?" (Deut. iv, 7). He ie not separated by distance from the world. His Name, his nature, is near to us, 2. God's times of jud,gment are wisely and divinely chosen. (Ver. 2, "When the set time is come, I, even I, will judge uprightly.") He executes his sentence not according to man's impatient expectations, but at the time which he himself has chosen. :I. Wl1en the moral order Qf the world seems near diSBOlution, GorI's power is the security for its continuance. (Ver. 3.) The natural and the moral framework of the world are here identified. He sustains the world by the pillars which he has set up. 4. God is the real Source of every righteom revolution in the world. (Vers. 6, 7.) "Glory and power come not from any earthly source, though a man should seek it in every quarter of the globe, but only from God, who lifteth up and casteth down according to his own righteous sentence." II. THE ADMONITION WHICH THESE TBUTHB ADMINISTER TO THE WICKED. (Vers. 4, 5.) 1. It is madness to resist God. (Ver. 4.) 2. No arrogant self-erwltation will avail against God'sjudgments, (Vers. 5, 8.) The poet speaks here as a prophet. That which God threatens he accomplishes by the hands of his sernnts. " Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not go UDpunished,"-S.