I. WoE, DEOAUBE GOD HAS SAID IT, He is wiee, and knows the end from the b'1ginning. We are dazzled with the show of power. The neighing of the war-horse and the glitter of the golden chariot and the flashing steel of the warriors, all look Ii ke strength. But God ee.ys to Israel, "This is not your strength. This may succeed for a time, but it is an empire held by the throat, not by the heart." II. WoE, DEOAUBE WE HAVE BEEN IT. The.facts of history are on our side. When Israel was pure and pious she prospered. Deliverance from Egypt was wrought out in the face of superior force; and an undisciplined band of slaves were too mighty for the cohorts of Pharaoh. So have we seen in history ever since. In the encl it is "righteousness that exaltclh a nation;" but shame, reproach, and defeat come to those who forsake God. Woo! Yes; the fires of London had to burn out its profligacies. The plague followed its debaucheries. III. WOE, BECAUSE DIVINE LAWS ARE IMMUTABLE. It is not oc.ly said and Slln, it is sure. For to find true help in Egypt would be like reversing the law of gravita- tion, or making the stars change their courses, or water forsake its level. " God is not a man, that he should'lie, neither the son of man that he should repent." There are many Egypts-,-force, fashion, fraud; these have empire at times ; but woe to those who, forsaking the simplicities and spiritualities of the gospel, seek "help" therefrom 1-W. M. B. Vers. 1-5.-The arm offlesh. How important is this subject we may gather from the fact that the prophet is inspired to return to it, and to reiterate his condemnation (see eh. xxx. I). The disposition to lean on the arm of flesh instead of trusting in the living God is, not Jewish, but human ; not peculiar to any age or dispensation, but is an abiding spiritual peril. We learn· here- I. 'IRE FALLACY WHir.II IT INVOLVES. 1. The Jews were trusting in numbers. Looking to the horses and chariots of Egypt, "because they were many" (ver. 1). We are apt to be imposed upon by numbers, to think there is safety and even salvation in them, to indulge the notion that, because w.e are among a great crowd or a.re supported by a very large majority, we are all on the side of truth and victory. Yet nothing is more uncertain ; often the vast hosts have been overthrown in conflict by the devoted and d~termined few; often the small section," everywhere spoken against" and despised, has been proved to be in the right· and has ultimately prevailed. If God be on one side and the mightiest multitude on the other, we may be sure that the fact that " the chariots and horses are many" will be of no account at ell. Di vine providence is not by any means necessarily or constantly " on the side of the strongest battalions." 2. They trusted in apparent human strength. "In horsemen, because they are very strong." Mo.ny regiments of cavalry have a very imposing aspect to the eye which looks upon and judges by the surface of things; they seem invincible, overwhelming, an invaluable ally when the· enemy is. approaching. And not only the well-equipped cavalry in time of war; but, in time of peace and in the ordinary life of men, the srigacious counsellor, the wealthy merchant, the influential statesman or courtier, the eloquent and admired speaker or pleader,-these men seem to ho.ve in them a source of strength on which we may build, or to which in the time of peril we may repair. But "the Egyptians were men, and not God," etc. (ver. 3); their promised word might be broken, their overtures might tnrn out to be selfishly me.de and to be unscrupulously withdrawn; their cavalry might be ridden down by troops still stronger ihan they. Being but men and but horses, they might prove-as they would prove-nothing better than a brok~n reed, which would pierce the hand that leaned on it (eh. xxxvi. 6). And the human strength on which we a.re all so inclinetl to lean will very likely prove to be nothing more or .better. How often the sagacity of the prudent, the riches of the wealthy, the influence of the great, the eloquence of the orator, fail us at our hour of need, and we" go down to mu- house" bitterly disappointed, or perhaps stricken, stripped, ruined! " The ru;m ·of flesh will fail you." II. 'l'HE FR!JIT WHICH BJ:LONGS TO IT. "God will not call back his words" of condemnation (ver. 2; sec eh. xxx. 1-13).. He is grieved and offended that bis word has been disobeyed, and himself distrusted and deserted. (See homily in loc.) • Ill. 'l'HE PENAUrY WRIOII WILL FOLLOW IT. God will arise age.inst both those th&t eeek ond ·.those that offer help; at the ■tretching out Gf his hand they will both fall 516 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH, [011, x.x:u.1-9,
together (vers. 2, 8). They who, dietrust.ing God, put their trust In man will fall under God's high displeasure, and, according to their circumstances and the charactor of their error, will fall into discomfiture, into disrepute, into disappointment, into shame. IV. THE REBOUROE WHIOR IT OVERLOOKS. All the while that Judah was leaning on "that broken reed, Egypt," it had at hand a sure Support, an almighty Deliverer, One that would be as & lion for fearlessness and irresistible strength, One that would be as a mother- bird for swiftness and tenderness (vers. 4-, 6), to whom it might have looked, and by whom it would have been graciously received and effectually succoured. By our side, in our time of trouble and of peril, is an almighty Friend, whose delivering hand no army can resist, who will come at the right time to redeem us, who will treat us with more than parental tenderness and care. Shall we not go unto him, and say," My soul trusteth in thee, yea., in the shadow of thy wings will I make my reruge, until these calamities be overpast" (Ps. !vii. 1) ?--0.