The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 1 — Section 29

Not & whisper of the etern11,l reward-the blessedness reserved for me.n in h!\aven, the bliss which "eye hath not seen, nor ear hea.rd, neither hath it entered into the hoort of man to conceive." Probably the Israelites of Isaiah's day were too gross and sensual, too much wrn.pt up in material things, to have been stirred to action by anything so distant and intangible as the heavenly life, even if they coul,i have formed the faintest C'.onception of it. Here, again, "God has provided better things for us" (Ileb. x. 40), and given us a motive for exertion far beyond any that we.1 presented to his ancient people. Vers. 21-23.-The ~OUS'f1ess qfthe sin of O'flpression in Gorrs sight. The Israelites of Isaia.h'e time were guilty of many heinous sins, as we see by later chapters. They were idolaters (eh. ii. 8), haughty (eh. ii.11, 17), wanton (eh. iii.16), covetous (eh. v, 8), drunken (eh. v. 11), perverse (eh. v. 20), vain (eh. v. 21). But of all their sins, none seems to have so much offended God as their oppression of the poor and weak. The prophet refers to it over and over a.gain (eh. i. 15, 21, 23; iii. 5, 12, 14:, 15; v. 7, 23, etc.), He denounces it in the strongest terms (eh. i. 15, 23). He represents it as an especial offence to Jehovah (eh. iii. 15; Y. 7). 'l'he reasons would seem to be- I. BECAUSE OPPRESSION IS A BREACH OF TRUST. To oppress another we must have authority over him, and all authority is committed to man by God, as a trust. "'l'hou couldest have no power at all against me except it were given thee from above" (John xix. 11). God entrusts us with power over others for their benefit and for our own moral training. He puts us in his place, to a.et for him, to be his instruments : " By me kings reign, and princes decree justice" (Prov. viii. 15). Abuse of our position is breach of trust; it is to use the power God has committed to us for a purpose the very opposite to that which he intended. It is flagrant rebellion against him. ll. BECAUSE D' IS CRUEL AND INHUMAN. "'Tis excellent t.o have a giant's strength, Bat tyrannons t.o nse it like a giant." W ea.kness naturally makes an appeal to our emotions of pity and compassion. To injure the defenceless, to hurt, crush, ruin the poor and the weak, instead of being their champion, is to be wanting altogether in manhood. It is to be at once unjust and cowardly. Oppressors have always been the objects of general hatred and con- demnation. Re.meses IL, Nebuchadnezzar, Tarquin, Nero, Bajazet, have left an evil memory behind them, which will continue while the world endures. Oppressors are of variow, kinds. Some are emperors or kings, some princes, some judges, and other public personages. But there is far more oppression in private life than in public. Slave-owners, and still more, slave-drivers, are apt to be fearful oppressors, making the lives of hundreds a burden to them. Even employers of free labour are often oppresBOrs, when they take advantage of competition to beat down wages below the rate at which life can be sustained in decent comfort. Masters often act oppressively towards their servants, heads of schools towards their pupils, even parents towards their children. Of all the eyils " done under the sun," there is none more widespread than oppression (Eccles. iv. 1), and none more hateful. III. BECAUSE IT OUTRAGES Goo's ATTBIDUTE OF JUBTIOE. To be just is of the very essence of God's nature. "1:ihall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" (Gen. xviii. 25). Exact justice is what he deals out even to the feeblest, the weakest, the most con- temptible of his creatures. And he" has made man upright" (Eccles. vii. 29). He has implanted in man a sense of justice, the reflex of his own attribute, and made him to be self-condemned if he transgresses it. God's law of conduct, " Do unto others as thou wouldst have them do to thee," is a law of strict, equal justice, and if carried out would put an end to all oppression and wrong. Thus, when men oppress their fellow-men, they disobey both God's inward and his outward law; nay, more, they outrage him by Ehowing contempt for one of his highest attributes. Ver. 25.-The purifying power of punishment. Grca.t national judgments, such as that which Isaiah was sent to announce, have a purifying effect in three ways. J. 'l'HEY ALARM A CERTAIN NUMBER OF PEBSONB1 AND INDUCE THEM TO QUIT THE!li BINB. The careless and indifferent have their attention excited and their fcara Oli, I, 1-31.] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH.