The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 1 — Section 173

Ver. 14.-God's twofold relations with men. 'l'o some, a "Sanctuary;!" to others, a "Rock of offence." lt'or the Christian form of the 'SMlle truth, comp. 2 Cor. ii, l,' 6, "To the one we are the savour of death untodeAth, and to the other -the savour of lift! llnto life. And who ia sufficient for these things?" God is to men as meu nre to nim (st'e Ps. xviii. 25, 26). But is this saying anything strange? Surely it is the secret of good motherhood and fatherhood. They who order their households well are wisely responsive to the various states of the children, adapting and adjusting conduct to the dispositions and circumst.ances of ea.eh member of the home. No skiltul parent treats a.I.I the children alike, and differing modes of treatment are no indications of varying degrees of lo\'e. He who loves us all must deal with eaoh upon his perfect understanding of each one. He must be, he had better be, a "Rock of offence" to some. To the trustful child he can be a "Sanctuary;" but to the wilful child he must be a Severity. His dealings will, at first, cause offence. There is a very deep and searching truth indicated here, which may be illustrat.ed from God's dealings with his people, and with individuals from among his people, through all the ages. It is that a man may compel God to be otherwise towards him than he would be. . The passa.ge which clearly stat.es this, and will be a key t:-0 many other passages and illustrations, is the following: "Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord God" (Ezek, rnii. 23). It is difficult to real~ze, but it is not beyond belief, tlia.t the same infinite goodness makes God both a "Sanctuary" and a "Rock of offence.'! In very grave· measures-sometimes we feel in -Overwhelming measures-the responsibilities of our' life-issues, and -even the cbaract.er of Divine. relations with-us; ·restsrupon ·-oTirselvcs.' After the wilful ones, :hurrying to their doom, God, hastening, pleads •thus: "Why- wjll ye die? 0 honse of Israel, why will ye die? "_;.R, T. , , ·' '' Ver. 17.-The hi,d,ing of G.oil'sfare. Jehovah 'is here spoken of as" the Lord, that' hideth his face from the house of Jacob;" and Jeremiah uses a similar figure in one of his prayers: " Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through" (Lem. .iii. 44). Aside from the historical associations of the text,"-the expres- sion itself is a suggestive one, and may be made the basis of meditation. Whatever may be the fact concerning God, this at least is the fact of the pious man's experienoe, -it feels t,o him as if God had hidden his face and covered himself with·a cloud. Two thoughts are .suggested by the figure. • , ' • • l. THE TWILIGHT GLOOll OF TSE CHRISTIAN OFTEN ABISEB FROM THE BENSE OF' CHAN8E IN RDISELF. There are more twilight-times than night-tiiriiis in the circle of the year, and in the circle of a religious life. Isaac Taylor 1~minds us that, in a Wh_?le year, tbere are .only uvo or three absolutely dark nights. :. Nature gets a, great blesslD!f out of those two or three, but could not bear mor-e. And in a religious life there ·are many things large enough to dim the rays of hope, and cast· long and dark :shado'w~ over the spirit, but very few thiugs sti·ong enough to blot out the nUn and stars; _'&ml' make a midnight for the S011l. Now, we need to see clearly that the gloom of spirit we_ feel usually comes from changes in ourselves. We are so ready to settle our twilight glooms upon God, as though in his sovereignty he bad thus dealt with us;, and then we fail to see our own mistakes, and we make no efforts to remedy the evils which arn the immediate occasion of our fears. 1. Much inward trouble ·comes from the state of our bodiet;. The action and reaction of body and mind a.re exceedingly subtle. : 2; Much .of our inwani distress .comes from unwatchfulness. We may, eaei'ly pas~ through most important changes of circumstances uuheedingly. We often are in: new circww,tances before we are at all prepared for them, and then their influence ';D&Y prove depre&11ing or overwhelmiag. Life is to, be for. us all a succession of, surpr1Ses, a.nd y_et we are never to be ta.ken unawares. Our bodily weakness; our·unwatchful-· ~,. our indulgeoce i-n sin, hides Ged'e face from us by putting a cloud across i~•. It 1s hidden, but we must see that we ourselves a.re the occ!',oion and ca.uso of the h1d1ng. It .lies with ua 1o get the cloud a.way, • ort. 'vm. 1-22.] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. 163