The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 1 — Section 267

Ilo ~ears their cry; he_ lletcrmines on tl~eir relief; at tho right moment he intervenee. "'!'ho ~t0ff of the wiclu\d'_fli })token." • 44 He who llmote" is smitten down, and " the whole oe.rth hi at r,ist.'; ' _ • • , ' _ ·, II. THA'l'. s1'N_ MAKE;S 'No TRuE''FtirEims.' A'clvereity is the test of faithf'ulneu. Until tho dark hqur comes we cannot be quite ~'ore whether our acquaintances are, or are not, our friends; thc'n we" kn'ow the proof" of them. In the hour of Babylon's discomfi~ ture there would be foup<l "non11 to h,inder" (ver. 6) her destruction. Her allies wouli fail her then;" her dependel)cies would make no effort to save her; she would be '' alone when she f~ll 0 (Ec~les. iv. '10). Tho ''friends'' whom sinners make are not" friends in deed,''. for thoy.:)'l'ill not, prove to be '' friends in need." If financial ruin, the loss of bis good.name, ove·rw}tclrnirig bereayement, protrac;ted sickness, the near prospect of death, should overtake a man, 1t is not to his ungodly companions he would resort, for to them he would look ii;i vain. _, The l!lan of God will not be. without those who will graciously and generously ~nlervene, tq •'.'li,inqer" ,the calamity which impends, to alleviate the sorrows which are wounding th'.e spirit. : Ill. TlU~ THE ntacji OF SIN, ~N ITS EFFECTS, 18,EXCEEDIN<lLY WIDE. (Ver. 8.) The trees of t'\1e II\O,t,111t~in forest rejqice in the downfall of Babylon. The requirements of that solfisli-'aiid '1:emo:rseless powcl"e'ttended even so far as to' the cedars of Leba119n. They felt the weight' of i_ts ,t,yranny, the edge o( its exactions. The evil consequences of the_ unlawful. exercise of pow:e(are n!lver_con,lined within a narrow compass; they spread far and wide;. ~hey reach place,s, people,· generations, which we might have supposed they would not touch.. Nci'man who uses his powers wrongfully can calculate how r11:r, t~e evH wil~ ',ex~end, or'how: ~any wi!l ~e gl~d "'Y~en there is "DO more st~ength in his nght hand.'' The most-str_1krng lessol!, m this vmd and eloquent passage IS-- IV .. 'l'HAT SIN CARRIES SAD il:tJMILIATIONS IN ITS EVIL TRAIN. (Vera. 9, 19.) The humiliation_ to whu:h the.proud monarch of.Babylon is subjected is painted in rich and glowiiig colours (see Exposition). 'From the loftiest height of hononr he is cast down to the lowest depth of sham.El;, v;om the softest bed of luxury to the "narrow hou~e of death," where ~he worm, will be his qouch and his coverlet ( ver. 11). God abases the sinner; to whatever height he, qlimbs, ,from that summit he must come down to the ground 1md suffer the painfl!l s,mart of humiliation. 1. It may be from the point of "impious assumption. (Vers. 13-15, 18, 19,; see Dan. v. 22, 23, 30; Acts xiL 21-23.) 2. .It may be..fn;,m the sui:nmit of human au,thority and po'wer. (Vers. 9-12, 16, 17.) 3. It may be frol)l the position of the common heritage of man., 'l'hey who have climbed the highest must. fa,11 the furthest,'but inasmuch as we have all sinned we must all pay one, .of the invariable pepe,lties of sin. We cannot continuously ascend, we cannot me.intain our' positio:r;i at a certain hf;light. The hour comes when we must decline. Eve_n if there be i:Jot for us a sudden and precipitous fall-as to most of the ~·a.in-glorious and oppressive there will be-there must come the gradual descent: the fading of faculty, the' diminution of htrength, the waning of influence, the advance of conscious feebleness, incr,easing dependence on others, the sick-chamber, death, and the dark, lonely gra,ye. Nothing can save us from this declension, thi8 dishonour. But there are in the gospel of Christ blessed and glorious compensations. Instead of death, is li,fe eti,rne.l; in~tead of humipation, everlasting glory.-C. VCT._ 20.-Tlie children of the ungodly; or, parental responsibility. "The seed of evil-doers shall never be renowned.'' We must not i11$ist on a literal fulfilment of these words. • It is not intended the.t there has never been an instance in which the children of wicked parents have nttained to celebrity. Here, e.s elsewhere, the spirit, not the letter,'' giveth life.'' The ill fortune _which attends the sons of the guilty may be regarded as- • I., A DISTINCT, DIVINELY ORDE)'IED PENALTY. Under the old dispensation it certainly was this. That was a dispensatioµ in which temporal rewards and punishments were almost everything; then the spiritual and the eternal were only faintly felt as motives to e.ction. A~d ono of the most potent considerations which could be brought to bear was the effe~t of a man's behaviour on !he fortunes of his children; conseq ucn tly we continually meet with the prospects of " thy seed," for good or for evil, e.s e. powerful incentive to righteousness, or dissuasion from sin. There can he.rdly be a stronger force ·_the.n this; where overything else would fail, this might succeed. There is nothing  THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. [on. nv.1-82.