The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 1 — Section 200

HOMILETICS. Ver. 8.-God ie man'B only ssre Refuge in the day of ca14mity. "God is our Refu!rtl and Strength, a very present Help in trouble. Therefore will we not fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into th.J mi<lst of the eeli,: 1ho11g;h the waters thereof roar and be troubled, 1hough the mountaius shake with thd swelling thereof" (Ps. xlvi. 1-3). So sang the psalmist, and so Israel and Jt1dah felt, so lollj!: as they clung to the worship of Jehovah, and served him 1 and strove to keep his laws. As their fidelity wavered, and they grew cold iu his service, and allowed themselves to be attracted by the sensuous religions of the nations around them, their trust in Jehovah departe,l, and they could no longer look to him as a Refuge. Whither; then, should they look? Should it be to the gods of the nations? or to foreign alliances? or to their own i;trong arms and dauntless hearts? • I. FALSE GODS NO SURE REFUGE. Ahaz -at one time .. sacrificed to the. gods of Damascus which smote him" (2 Chron. xxviii. 23), thinking to obtain help from them; but" they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel." Other kings of Judah and·)srae'l trusted in Baal, or Chemosb, or Moloch, or Beltis, or Ashtorl)th. But .none· found any of them a" sure refuge." Indeed, how should false gods ·help, when they ·are either fictions of the imagination, mere nonentities, or else evil spirits, rebels ag&inst the Almi;.:bty, cast down by him from heal"en? If the former, they can have_no. power at all, for how should something come out of nothing? If the latter, they :i.re powerless, at any rate against God, who bas proved their inability to resist him, and could.at any: time annihilate them by a word. ., II. THE KIXGS OF THE EARTH NO SURE REFUGE. "Put not your trust in princes, nor in any child of man, for there is no help in them" (Ps. cxlvi. 3). Hoshea trusted: in Shebek of E~ypt (So), Hezekiah in Tirhakah, Zedekiah in Pharaoh-Hophra (Apries); but all were equally di~appointed. Even Ahaz obtained no· real advantage 'from his appeal to Tiglatb-Pileser, who "distressed him, but strengthened him not" (2 Chron. nviii. 20). Foreign aid is always a poor thing to trust to; for the foreignElt necessarily consults mainly his own interest, which be may find to conflict', with outs at any moment. Let all go well, and an obligation is i,ncurred, which it may cost us more than we bargained for to repay. Let things go ill, and we experience perhaps the J~te of the horse when he called in man's aid against the stag. 'In the best. case, foreign powers can help us only against man, not against God. They can never be a "s11re refuge." "Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?" (eh. ii. 22). III. MEN'S OWN STRONG ARMS AND STOUT HEARTS NO BURE REFUGl!:. •Better certainly to trust to these than to false gods or fickle princes. In many a strait, these will help us a long way. But 1et there_ come a time of serious trouble, of overpowering hostile force pressing upon a nation, or deep grief or dangerous· sickness upon e.n indi- vidual, and their weakness and insufficiency is at once shown. In the one case, the strong man has met with a stronger, and:.au his struggles do. but add to bis sufferings. In the other, the heart and hands fail when the call is made on them. The stalwart. frame i11 bowed down with grief or illness; the heart is "withered like. grass" {l's. cil. 4), or become" like wax that is melted" (Ps. xxii 14). Man discovers under these circum- stances that he has no strength in himself; and, unless he can find an external refuge, is lost absolutely. Happy they who at such times can feel with David, "The Lord ie my Rock, and my Fortress, and my Deliverer; my God, my Strength, in whom I will truet; my Buckler, and the Horn of my salvation, and my high 'J'ower" (Ps. xviii. 2). " The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waterti. He reRtoreth my soul: he leadeth rue in the paths of righteousness for his Name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will iear no evil : for tlwu art with me ; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me" (l's. xxili. 1-4). Vera. 5-19.-A.ssyria, a Mtabl~ ezample of pride and its pwn,ishment. History furnishes no better example of pride and its punishment than that of Assyria. 'l'he JJride of the Assyrians i~ equally apparent in Scnpture and on tl,e native monuments. OH, X, 1-34;] 'l'HE' BOOK OF THE 'PROPHET ISAIAH. 191