The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 1 — Section 332

Babylonian, Persian, and Greek-which commenced almost immediately after the date of the above prediction. In the district of Heliopolis, on the site of a ruined temple at Lcontopolis (twenty miles north-east of Memphis), the high priest Onias IV. built his temple, under a special lioenoe from Ptolemy Philometor (about n.o. 160)." 'l'he chapter deals with the corrective judgments which were to come upon Egypt, and gives this propl1ccy as the assurance that they will In me1LSure prove efficient; and Egypt in her distress will cry after the true God; and the presence of Jews in her midst would give direction to her cry. We only suggest the following topics for illustration :- I. Tmi: MISSION OP ALL NATIONAL DISTBEBB 18 OONVINOEHENT 01!' TRJ!I 0LAl]l(8 OP Goo. II. THE PRESSURE OF NATIONAL DISTRESS IS A PERSUASION TO OALL UPON GOD, ill. TBE ARRANGEME1''TS OF Goo's PBOVIDENOE ALWAYS HELP MEN'S DESIRE TO BEEK Goo. Illustrated in the fact that Jews were settled in Egypt, and witnessing for Jehovah, when tbe people's hearts were turning towards him. From this we may proceed to show how our establishing missions in various parts of heathendom proves to be pro,·idential help &ff'orded to peoples who have begun to cry after God. Our "altar" and our" pillar" are thus for" a sign and for a witness unto the Lord of hosts." -R. T. Ver. 22.-God both Smiter and Healer. "The meaning is not simply that the stroke should be followed by healing, nor is it simply that the stroke should possess a healing virtue ; but both ideas seem to be iocluded." The full thought is expressed by the Prophet Hosea (vi. 1, 2), "Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for be bath torn, and he will heal us; he bath smitten, and be will bind us up. After two days will he revive us : in the third day be will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight." Hen- derson says, "The doctrine here taught is, that when God has purposes of mercy towards a sinful people, he will continue to visit them with calamities till they are humbled, and thus brought into a fit state for appreoiating the value of his mercies." For illustrations of the same view of God's working, see Job .v. 17-19; eh. lvii. 16-19; Hos. v. 16. There are few conceptions of God which should seem so tender and so restfully satisfying &s this to conscious sinners who long to be freed from their sins. God will not leave us alone ; he will smite. God will watch the effects of his smiting, and take the first opportunity to heal. God never smites save with the prospect before him of healing, and with gracious intentions of making his healings an unspeakable blessing-" the intention of healing is predominant throughout" (comp. Zeph. iii. 8, 9; Jer. xii. 5-7). L THESE TWO TBDlGS-SMITIII'& AND HEALING-ABE OFTEN SEVERED IN MAN, 1. Some smite for others t.o heal. 2. Some smite in malice, and do not want us to be healed. 3. Some smite in wilfulness, and do not care whether we are healed. 4. Some pm.ite in kindness, but are unable to heal the wounds they make. And so often men do not know how to smite, though they mean well, and so the wounds they make are mischievous, and only wounds, not really corrective agencies. Man's bungling ways in smiting and healing, make us say, after David, "Let me fall into the hands of the Lord, and not into the hands of man." IL TBEsE TWO THINGS-SMITING AND HEALING - ABE ALWAYS UNITED IN Goo. 1. In God's thought. 2. In God's arrangement. 3. Given time enough, also in God's action. Because uf the union God's smiting& can always be severe enough to be efficient. He can venture to smite harder than any man can ever do. But· God's wounds never go beyond his healing power. The most striking illustration is perhaps that set before us in the story of Job. In dealing with him we know not which to admire most-God's wonderful smiting~, God's wonderful healings, or the gracious way in which the smiting& and the healings fitted in together.-R. T. Ver. 24.-Tlui God-fearing man a blessing wherever he is/()11,nd. Israel is the typo of the God-fearing man, and it 1s prophesied of Israel, as a nation, that when it is linked in friendly alliance with Egypt and Assyria, its testimony for the_ true God, aud ite example of noble living in the fear of God, would make it a. blessing in the lands. The prophecy was fulfilled in the time of the llasmone:i.n princes, Compare on. :xn:. 1-26.] 'l'HE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. 329