The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 1 — Section 271

L As NEIGIIBOUBmG NATION&, THEIR PROPHESIED DESOLATION BECAME A l'OWl!:B ON THB Jsw. At the time that Isaiah wrote his :first prophecy the nation of Israel was ia a perilous and painful position. 'l'he consequences of prolonged national. self- will and idolatry were pressing heavily upon it. The great .Asialic nation, which was to be the Divine agent in their punishment, was coming nearer and nearer to them, swallowing up, in it~ irresistible progress, the intervening kingdoms. 'l'he northern portion, that called Israel in distinction from Judah, was about this time subdued by :-lbalme.neser, King of Assyria, and its people were carried away captive. The kings of Judah only secured a temporary respite by paying a heavy tribute, and the one or two good kings of the period, such as Hezekiah and Josiah, did but, ns it were, make the dying taper flare up for a while ere it suddenly went out in darkness. It must have l 1een a hard thing for a godly man to live in such a time, and in the midst of such ~nrroundings. We can imagine the pious Jew in such an age saying," .Arc we not the covenant people of God? Have we not been, through long years, the special objects of his guide.nee, defence, and care? Yet it seems now as if God had forgotten us. These surrounding nations are in the height of pro..«perity. See Babylon the magni- ficent! See Damascus the wealthy! See Tyre the commercial I" To such as these, in Jerusalem and in Judma, the prophecies of Isaiah, charged with the "burdens" of these prosperous nations, would come as a Divine consolation, and would say to them, " Do not con£.ne your thoughts to that only which you can at present see; take in the future; view things in the larger light of him who has all men and nations in his control, and the long ages in which to work his purposes." Isaiah shows them that sin is sin everywhere, it carries its tremendous consequences everywhere. Delays are, everywhere, but the long-suffering patience of God that loudly calls to repentance. For the unrepentant everywhere--call him Gentile or call him Jew, be he covenanted or be he uncovenanted-there, is only a " fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries." But these prophecies were intended to be a power upon the many as well as upon the few. The many were heedless and blind, puffed up with their apparent security. For long years the warnings of their earlier national history had been neglected. In their self-security they had even ceased to fc ar the "Judge of all the earth." To them there came the voice as of a man rapt rn sublime vision: "I see the burden of Babylon. Exalted to heaven in privilege; thrust down to hell in disgrace, I see the place of Babylon. Behold, it is not: the hand of the Lord hath swept it away." "Howl ye, for the day of the Lord is at hand: it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty." II. .As GREAT A~"!> PBO]llll>"ENT NATIONS, Goo's DEALINGS WITH THEM CARRY LESSONS FOB ALL AFTER GENERATIONS. In order to reach us with helpful moral influences, God finds it necessary to set the little matters concerning the progress of our little life in large before us in the histories of nations. A nation is, as it were, a man whose entire life-course can be watched through from childhood to decay. The invisible things of morals may be made manifest in the visible scenes of history. An old divine has the following remark: "God can punish nations in this world, but for the punishment of individuals he wants both this world and the next." We live such brief lives here on earth that we cannot get extensive and worthy ideas of the issues of sin from studying merely our own experiences. Nor can we, even from the most striking cases of iudividual suffering, as a result of sin, discern the full majesty of the Divine indignation. But the life of a nation can be set forth in its completeness; it is a finished whole. We can read the story of Babylon and Tyre, from cradle to grave. The life of a nation is long enough for us to trace in its history its growth, its sin, its fall, and its woe. And the calamities that come at last upon sinful nations are figured in such aspects of terror as to create the profoundest impression on us. 'l'his may be illustrated by the Persian overthrow of Babylon, or the Roman siege of Jerusalem, or the manifest decay of the Turkish empire in our own time~. 1. From this subject we learn to have faith in God about the nations of the earth. God has set England in tLe very midst of the world-kingdoms, very much as he set old Canaan in the centre of the great ancient empires, on purpose that we might be a. gracioUB power on them, and learn wise lessons from them. God is painting truth for us in his dealings with them. And God's ways, whether in the small for individuals, or in the large for 11.ations, are ways of chastisement, are instinct with love; are intended to do them good cm. XIV, 1-32.] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. 265