The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 1 — Section 34

Bo both shall irretrievably be consumed. What are the" terebinth trees and pleasant gardens" of our idolatry? Ee.eh me.n's soul must answer. Any and every plee.sure ia good under right conditions; pernicious else. Everything that is naturally precious to the human heart should be precious to each one of us. In the soul lies the only test. In the way the.t objects react upon our finest feeling we know whether they e.re objects for our personal pursuit or no: idols that must degrade us to their level, or symbole and se.cre.ments of God. It is in the life of imagination e.nd association that we differ. Any scene supposed to be holy may become an idolatrous pleasure-garden to the ill- ordered fe.ncy; and the soul that lives in God, seeking ever the true amidst the false, will ever convert the terebinth tree of ill repute into an altar of pure religion. The world is to us whe.t our will permits it to seem. Wedded to the sensual, we must perish from the spiritual; united to the spiritual, the 1181lBue.l becomes transformed and acquires new e.eeocie.tions.-J. Ver. 4.-" Children that are corru,pters." Here we have e. broad light on the mission of Isaiah the prophet. The holy nation had become evil. Plants are more poison- spreading in their corruption than forest trees. It is an old proverb, "The corruption of the best is the worst." " Children that are corrupt." How solemn the e:mphasis of the prophet's adjuration I "Hear, 0 heavens, and give ear, 0 earth: for the Lord hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me." I. TIIE MEASURE OF LIFE IS THE MEASURE OF CORRUPTION. Even physically it is BO. The horse does not breed such corruption e.s man. The body, God's most perfect work, must in its corpse state be buried quickly. Israel was a privileged people. They had the Law and the prophets and the glory ; but their rottenness was complete : " From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it ; but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores" (ver. 6). Such, then, is the revealed philosophy concerning evil -the richer the life the more rotten the corruption. II. THE MEASURE OF OPPORTUNITY IS THE MEASURE OF RESPONSIBILITY. "The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint." But in head and heart they had been "nourished and brought up as children." And as children their character ought to have reflected the Father's image. "Ye are my witnesses," saith the Lord. But Israel had become vain, proud, carnal, self-seeking, idolatrous. They ima,,<Tllled themselves elected to the enjoyment of privilege instead of to the use and responsibility of privilege. Hence they sought to become e." vortex" instead of e." fountain." And evil had spread through them. Their lofty position had made the leaven of their influence wider. Alas ! the "children" were " corrupters "!-W. M. S. Ver. 9.-The faithful remnant. "Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us e. very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah." This is as music of hope amid a strain of grief. And it is the first note of an evangelic prophecy, which is to merge into the" Comfort ye, comfort ye my people," of e. later chapter. Where there is life there is hope in ne.tiono.l calamity o.s well as in personal sickness. "A cottage in a vineyard" is a cottage that speaks of home (ver. 6), "e. lodge in e. garden of cucumbers" is a centre of care and toil; and e. very small remnant may be a branch of healing to save e. nation. I. THE SMALL REMNANT BELONGS TO THE LORD OF HOSTS. Therefore power is on their side. What o. contrast!-" host" and "remna,it." Even so. God can multiply the loaves and fishes. God can put such power in\> the remnant that they may be able to say, " Greater is he that is for us than o.11 that can be against us." We must r.ot judge by numbers or statistics, nor by quantity, but by quality. Whose e.re these? Decide that; and then " This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith," for that faith centres in God. II. THE SHALL REMNANT IS ANTISEPTIC, It can arrest disease. It can heal. 'l'ake a few grains of some chemical substance, and they will colour and cleanse an entire stream. "We should have been as Sod,Jm is." Yes; God's judgments on e. nation, as in our own at the time when profligate plays had undermined the moral life, have so.ve<l. the nation. For when men laugh at sin, well-nigh the deepest depth has been reached ; but godly souls are then used as leaven to purify tho body politic. Judah and Jerusalem were almost gone, but the Lord bad mercy on them, mAIAU, 0 18 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHE1' ISAIAH. [cu. r. 1-31.