The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 1 — Section 378

Ver, 3.-" The ha,·vesl Qf the l'ive,-," Egypt was the first or nations, and the masts of the wsscls stood like tall river-recd·s by her banks. How expressive the wot·ds arc I There is life where the river comes, life along the emerald banks to which the cattle C(lllle, aad on the fields where the waters overflow, ]. ALL LANDS HAVE THEIR RIVERS. Think of the Tiber, the Tigris, the Thames, the Rhone, the Rhine, the Nile, the Niger, Cities rise on their banks which arc, like Tyre, populous aad prosperous. The harvest is vast indeed, Ships which 111'8 freighted with necessaries and luxuries, with the works of art, the spoils of the sea, a.nd the prod11ce of far-away lands, all come up the river. What wonder t~at the river should become a type of the blessings of the gospel-that the prophot should tell us "living wat.c>rs shall flow out of Jerusalem" I , • ·., II. THE HA.RYl!:STS ARE MANIFOLD. ,ve are so accustomed to think of the gol(J:en sheaves of the corn-ficl•ls when we mention the rivers, that we arc liabl!l to forget how indebted we are to the broad estuaries which bear on their bosom the ~ealth of many nations. How manifold, too, arc onr harvests under the gospel I Where that copies philanthropy lives, aad social purity flows, and justice is sacred in its rivers of right~ous- ness, and salvation comes, delivering us from sensuality and sin, J:!:arve_sts? . SufC!lY the Christian should notice how wide and vast the gospel waters are. . . . , ; . . .·" III. 'l'HEIR DRHNG UP IS DEATH. We cannot live without ra.in and rivers. Cattle perish. Ver,.1ure witbers. Man liimself dies. No wealth can purchase what God gives so plentifully. "Rath tbe rain a Father?" Oh yes. Not a mere Creatoi:, l>ut :a Father; for it is rich in evidences of his universal care and love. God giyes "'the form.er and the latter rain," and all through the ages t~e rivers flow into the sea. So· God's truth remains! The living water flows, and the voice is 11till heard," Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the wat.ers."-W. M. S. • .: Vers. 1-15.-.Aspects of Divinejudgment. I. ITs CERTAINTY. 1. The duration ~I time is no guarantee against its coming; Tyre w_as,a "joyous city, whose antiquity was of ancient days" (ver. 7), but judgment would faU upon her in God's chosen time, Doth men and nations are apt to think that loQg continuance:in comfort is a sufficient pledge that it will never be disturbed; duration begets a false f!ense of security, _lf men could only see things as they arc, they would perceive that the true argument is exactly opposite to that in which they indulge; for the longer a man has been living in Ull'risited transgression, the longer has pennlty been due, and the soonc~ may, he confidently expect retribution to arrive. 2. Ordinary defenrAJs are of no avail. against it. 'l'be commerce and consequent wealth of Tyre (vers. 2, 3),her rcpleni_shmentsfrom Zidon, ancl her enrichments from Egypt would not save her; nor would tpe liigh statioQ to whlch she had mounted, nor the social position of her sons; it ~as nothi,ng •to, the righteous Lord that she was esteewed_a" crown~g city" (,:er. 8), and that her m_erchant~ were princes. No defences that we can raise will avert Go<j.'s J,ndgment when the ho.n.r is ripe for sentence to be executed. Wealth cannot buy off retribution, nor c11,n Jank interpose its influence i.o avert it; science ca,nnot teach us how to elude it; and the arm of affection i1 im1Jutent to shield us fro_m its blow. There is no..barrier. man can raise which is not swept down in a momeut whlln God arises to judgment. . IL !Ts FULNEBS AND EFFICACY. 1; It silences. (Ver. 2.) It brings the OUBeB, the clamours, the reviliugs, the slanderous accusations, the shameful innuendoes of 1U1god:-: liness and of malignity to a disgraceful end. "God strikes a silence through them all." 2. It scatters, it dissolves. (Vere. 6, 7, 10.) It sends the children of iniquity, of vice, of crime, to "the four corners of the earth;" it disperses them over sea and land. 'l'he bduds of sin are broken up, and its guilty members are scattered far ancl wide. 3. le l,umilw.tes. (Ver. 12.) 'l'he virgin-daughter of Zidon should be humbled; God'sjudg- meu.ts bring to the Just of humil.iation those who have held their head high and treated others witll indignity. 4. It J>Ursues. (Ver. 12.) "'l'herea)so shalt thou have no rest." 'l'Le penalty of a mau.'s sin fiod.s him out whithersoever he may go to escape it. Jonah " flees from the presence of the Lord; " but_ whither shall a man flee from his presence; or from the blow of his chastisements? No change of skies, of scenes, of society, of uccupations, will shut out accusing recollections from the s,oul, or shield from the nucuu,plcted corrections of the Divine hand. 'l'he scriou11 and repeated violation of the "grt:w"r commandments" of God is attended with peDalties which pursue the sou1 OH, xxm. 1-18.) THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAII. 379