key of the house of David plu.ced upon his shoulder, becomes his king's most trusty counsellor and representative, ie a glory and a support to his father's house, and retains his position, if not till hie death, at any rate for a long period. In estimating the extent to which God's moral government is carried on in this world, such instances as those of Haman and Mordecai, Shebna and Eliakim, should by no means be omitted from our calculation. History contains very many such cases. Vere. 15-24.-Shebna and Eliakim: an allegO'f'1J, Shebna, set over the house of the king by the king himself, but unfaithful in his office, worldly, carnal, fond of grandeur and display, typifies the old covenant, and the priesthood to which it was committed-a priesthood which looked more to the enrichment of the treasury than to the pure service of God (Mark vii. 11), and which was not above the weakness of raising up grand sepulchres for its members in a conspicuous place (1 Mace. xiii. 27-30). 'l'his priesthood, found wanting, had to be cast away, and a better priest- hood, after a di1ferent order, to be instituted. Eliakim typifies this new priesthood- a priesthood "made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life" (Heb. vii. 16). Primarily, he typifies Christ himself, the true "Servant of the Lord" (eh. :xlii. 1-4; xliii. 10; xlix. 3, 6; Iii. 13, etc.), the perpetual High Priest of his Church, the eternal Possessor of "the key of David, who openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth" (Rev. iii. 7), who "bath the keys of hell and of death" (Rev. i. 18). Eliakim was "a father" to Judah and Jerusalem; among Christ's names is that of "Everlasting Father" (eh. ix. 6). Eliakim was "as a nail fastened in a sure place;" Christ is gone up where he "for ever sitteth on the right hand of God " (Heb. x. 12). Eliakim had a " glorious throne; " Cbriat's throne is that "great white" one, which is set in heaven (Rev. xx. 11), out of which "come lightnings, and thunderings, and voices" (Rev. iv. 5). On Eliakim hung all the members of his father's house; on Christ depends, for pardon, for peace, for life, for glory, every true Christian. Secondarily, Eliakim may be regarded as typifying the faithful minister of Christ, to whom the power of the keys ie communicated in a certain modified sense (Matt. xvi. 19), who, binding and loosing according to Christ's ortl.inance, binds and looses effectively, so that none can undo his work, and, as a faithful steward in the household of Christ, dispenses the good things committed to his charge by his King and Master. The faithful minister will not blench before the powers of evil, any more than Eliakim did before Rabshakeh (eh. xxxvi. 11, 21); he will be" a fathern to the people of God, i.e. a protector, a guide, a friend; and with those who" hang upon him" he will always be ready to share both his material and his spiritual blessings. Ver. 25.-Messiah's burden and Messiah's death. How Christ's death atones for sin we know not, and need not too curiously inquire. But, if plain words have a plain meaning, it is impossible to doubt that this is the teaching of Scripture. "By his stripes we are healed" (eh. liii. 5); "He is the Propitiation for our sins n (1 John ii. 2); "One died for all" (2 Cor. v. 14). It is quite possible that there is something in the nature of things, which we cannot fathom, that made it impossible for man's sins to be forgiven unless God died for them. Our wisdom is to avoid curious speculation, and to view the mo.tter on its practical side. Thus viewed, it manifestly calls on us for three things. I. INTENSE HATRED OF SIN, ON ACCOUNT OF ITS HAVING CAUSED MESSIAH'S DEATH. If an animate, or even an inauimate, thing has caused the death of one we loved, how bitterly we detest it I Often we co.nnot bear to look upon it, nay, even to see a thing of the same kind. How, then, should we hate sin-hateful in itself, hateful in its effects, hateful in its origin, most hatel'ul in that it caused the death of the one Man who alone of all tho.t have ever lived did not deserve to die I And be, moreover, One who dearly loved us, who came down from heaven for us, lived a life of privation and suffering for us, at last died for our sakes. II. INTENSE LOVE OF CHRIST, ON ACCOUNT OF ms HAVING DIED FOR us. " Greater love bath no man than this, that a man lay do\vn his life fur his friends." But Christ died for his enemies. Sin is an iusuperable barrier between God and man, sets them at variance, makes them adversaries. And till Christ died ruau could not be forgiven. 358 THE DOOK OF ~HE: PROPHE~' ,_ISALA.H, [011. xxu.1-25.
So he died_ for those with whom he was at enmity I And died, _by. what .a death I 1. More parnful probably th1m any other. 2. Considered at tho time more disgraceful. :,. Aggnwated by the insults o( lookers-on. 4. Regarded as bringing a man under a c11rsc. III. h"TENSE LOVE OF Goo THE FATHER, ON ACCOUNT, OF ms GIVING ms SoN TO DIE FOR u~ We cannot realize the love of the Father for the Son; but we cannot' doubt that 1t transcends any love known on earth. Yet he gave him to suffer all· that he 8uffered-and why 1 For us. Decau~e he loved us. As ~ur Lord himself says, '.' God ~o l~ved the world, tbat he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoflver ~elu1velh 10 h1'?1 should. not p:,!ish, bnt have evcrlastin" life" (John iii. lG). If. the k11-owlC1dge of this fact fail to stir up love towards the Father in our soul~ 1 we must be "past feeling" (Eph. b·. 19), utterly dead to any high motive, scarcely better than "brute beasts" (Jude 10). •• •• •