The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 1 — Section 280

terribly afflicted because it we.a guilty, because the nation had incurred the condem- nation of God. In the first instance, individual souls are responsible for their thoughts, words, liv~s. But responsibility does not end here; it extends to the family, to the Church, to the society, to the island population, to the great kingdom or empire. For the action which it takes, for the influence it exerts, for the principles on which it is shaping its course and living its life, God holds it responsible, and he will reward or punish it some day according to his judgment concerning it. There is no community too small to be disregarded by him ; none too large to be beyond the exercise of his righteous 11:overnment. III. AN INFERENCE AB TO PRIVILEGE AND GUILT. Moab stood outside the circle of sacred privilege. God had not been speaking daily, weekly, monthly, annually, by priest and rite, by prophet and prophecy, to her. Yet was she held responsible for her sin and punished for her transgressions. If the unprivileged Moab was thus accountable. how much more the people to whom were committed the oracles of God, and in the midst of whom dwelt the Most High himself? And bow much more yet those peoples of the earth to whom has been vouchsafed the gospel of the Son of God? "For if the word spoken by angels," etc. (Heb. ii. 2, 3); and "if he that despised Moses' Law," etc. (Heh. x. 28, 29). Moab "sinned without Law" and perished (Rom. ii 12). Israel "sinned in the Law" and "was judged by the Law," and was condemned (Rom. ii.12). If England sins under the gospel, she will be judged by the righteous principle, that " from them to whom much is given men expect the more," and from them God requires the more. It must be that the brighter the light of privilege and opportnnity, the deeper the shadow of disobedience and condemnation. 1. Realize the responsibility that devolves upon citizenship, upon membership of a society or of the Church, and use all the power that can be exercised upon the community to preserve it from wrong courses, to incite it to wise and worthy measures. 2. Remember that the larger and also the smaller commuuities rest upon the basis of the fami1y and, ultimately, the individual. Let every man see that God is honoured in his own home and in his own heart, and then will the rectitude and thus the yrosperity of the whole Church, of the entire kingdom, be assured.-0. Ver. 1.-Moab a national fype. Of late years attention has been directed to Moab, through the discovery of what is known as the Moabite Stone, which contains the earliest inscription we have wholly in alphabetical characters. This stone was found at Diban, about three miles north of the central part of the Amon. Its inscription remarkably confirms the Scripture record. The original territory of Moab seems to have been divided into three portions: 1. What was known as the" land of Moab "- the open rolling country north of the Amon, opposite Jericho, reaching to Gilead on the north. 2. The " field of Moab "-upland undulating plains, extending from the precipitous mountains overlooking the Are.bah and the Dead Sea on the west, to the Arabian desert on the east; from the deep chasm of the Arnon on the north, to Edom on the south. 3. The ".Arboth-Moab," or dry tropical regions in the A.rabah on the east of the Jordan. The peculiarity of Moab, so far as indicated, seems to have been that for many years it had been undisturbed and prosperous, not affected by invasions or famines ; and so, lacking experiences of calamity and suffering, social and moral ovils had so grown that at last terrible and almost overwhelming Divine chastise- ments seemed necessary ; and these would cause unusual grief and distress. The Prophet Jeremiah indicates the special characteristic of Moab in a very striking passage (xlviii. 11): "Moab bath been at ease from his youth, and he bath settled on his lees, and bath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither bath he gone into captivity : therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed." A contrast is suggested between the national experiences of Israel and of Moab. lsrael had known no easy restful periods in her history; she had been " shaken loose or unsettled every few years by some great change or adversity-by a state of slavery iu Egypt-, by a forty years' roving and fightmg in the wilderness, by a time of dreadfol anarchy under the judges, by a revolt and separation of the kingdom, and then by a captivity. Moab had been at ease from the first, shaken by no great overturnings or defeats, humblcll and broken by no captivities, ventilated by no surprising changes or adversities. He has livod on, from age to age, lU comparative security, settled on his lBAIAU T 274. THE BOOK OF Tim PROPHET ISAIAH, [ OH, XV, 1-9.