HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vera. 1-7.-The embassy to Egypt. The embassy to Egypt has been sent, and the prophet's object is to show that the policy of it is false, as all policy must be false which does not rest upon religion. I. THE POLIOY CHARACTERIZED. It is that of "unruly sons," and they "carry out a purpose which is not from Jehovah." So in Hosea we read," They have set up kings, but not by me; they have made princes, and I knew it not D (viii. 4). They "weave a net" or "plait alliances" without his Spirit-, aud add sin to sin. They go down into Egypt without having inquired of Jehovah's mouth, and flee to the fortress of Pharaoh, to take refuge in the shadow of Egypt. I. The Divine leading and inspiration make men humble, while self-will and self-reliance are stubborn, obstinate. 2. Where the first step has been wrong, every subsequent step aggravates the error. 3. The root of a mistaken policy is a false reliance, dependence on an "arm of flesh." 'l'here is a. true and a false self-reliance: that which forgets God is ignorant and impious; that which recognizes him as the Source of all true intelligence is genuine. To the external observer the difference between acting from the self-centre and the God-centre, between "going in one's own strength" and " going in the streugth of the Lord of hosts," may not be perceptible. It must be known in the feeling of the actor, and in the results of his action. n THE RESULTS OF THE POLIOY. The fortress of Pharaoh will become a shame to them, and the refqge in igypt's shadow co1lf11sio11. " Sh~8 ~d confusion of face i " l84lMt, 2 ~ 498 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. [on. n L 1-8&
great Scripture words, most expressive of the resulta of false principles, false polioy obstinate error. 1. It is the very bitterness of ill success to feel that it is the harvest of our own faults; while misfortune is sweetened at its bitterest by the consciousness of having followed the light t.o the best of one's ability. The prophet follows in imngina- tion this mistaken embassy into the heart of Egypt. They will come to Zonn (or Tanis) and to Hanes (or Herncleopolis), but will be abashed to find that in the expected !'aviours and helpers no salvation is to be found. 2. That bitterness is Rggravated by the sense of the great toil and suffering which has only kd to failure. How different the journey from Egypt and that to Egypt! Then men were led through "that great and terrible wilderness," full of the fiery serpents and scorpions and lions, the land of drought, ~nd there were fed with manna (Deut. viii. Hi; Jer. ii. 6). .And now, after encountenng all these ~11.nge~ the~ are to find, after all, that there is no help in Egypt., though they have earned thither nch presents on asses and on camels. Emphatic is the prophet, " Yea, the Egyptians; in vain, and empty is their help, therefore I proclaim concerning it, Rahab, they are utter indolence." There is a play on the name here which cannot well be rendered in English. But Egypt may stand as a tYI:e of th~ "world,'' the absence of true principle, or the principle of policy as opposed to reliance on God. And then the lesson will be the inherent weakness of all worldly policy as compared with simple trust in God and obedience to his dictates.-J. • • •,
Vers. 8-18.-"A testimony for ever." The prophet pauses. Perhaps be hears an.inner voice bidding him to write down a few words, snch as the last significant Rahab. .As in eh. viii. 1, the inscription is to be on a_large tablet, set up in a conspicuous place, so that he who runs may read. Then he is to inscribe the prophecy more fully on a scroll. Litera scripta manet. The oracle, the oral utterance, transferred to parchment, becomes a K'M/µ,& .is 4E~ a "possession for ever." 'l'he perpetuity of his protest and warning must be secured. The word rendered "inscribe" is more literally rendered " carve." Every earnest man has surely something worth thns carving, inscribing, engraving, some- where, on some material-tablet, book, or " fleshy table of the heart; " the condensa- tion of a life-experience, the sum of life-truths, the whole self-revelation, which is at the same time God's revelation to his sonl of what is substantial and eternal. I. THE :NEED FOB sucH INSCRIPTION. The people refuse to listen to any but :flat- tering prophecies. They are disobedient and untruthful at heart. They refuse to listen to the prophet's message; then they must be made to look upon it in a permanent form. None are so blind as those who will not see, unless it be those who will not let others see. Light, more light, is our constant need: what shall be said of those who would stay the hand that is drawing up the blinds from the windows of the soul? What more precions than insight 1 How should we cherish the_ man who sees deeper into the heart of things, or gathers up the scattered fragments of truth into one inspiring unity of representation; the mind gifted with the power to shed luminous effects upon what were otherwise gloomy in life's outlook! How all-precious is that purer eloquence, not of ephemeral and party passion, but of the truth which is of:no party nor time! How shall these elements of indispensable worth be preserved? Can we trust them to the popular memory and heart? Alas! no, or not entirely.· In the hour of excitement and passion all will be forgotten. "You shall not prophesy unto us right things," has been, in effect, the cry of the multitude again and again at such hours. The Jewish prophets themselves felt these things keenly. '.' Don't preach I" fs, in effect, the c_ry by which they are met. Or, " Preach to us of wme and strong drrnk "-any doctrine of indulgence, is the demand (Micah ii. 6, 11 ; cf. Amos ii. 12). If tho prophet sternly resisted this temper of the peo1•le, and told the homely truth that God had forsaken them becanse they had forsaken him, a shower of stones was likely to be the dreadful answer, as in the case of the martyr Zechariah (2 Chron. xxiv. 20, 21). Greedy is the appetite for "smooth things" and "illusions," and never wanting a. supply of such flattering prophets who will run, though Jehovah has not sent them, and utter what he has not said (Jer. xxiil. 21). There is a demand for those who will make flexible what be has made inflexible, mark out a deviating path from that which he ha.s traced titraight and plain. Nay, some would be glad to efface the thought of God from their minds, because thus they would efface the sense of responsibility," Abolish out of our &ig;ht the Holy O11e of lsrael I " For then there will be free course for all lice11ca. on. xxx.1-83.) THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. 49!)