The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 1 — Section 562

nese and disloyalty in tho ChrieUan life. But men's hearts ore hard, their understanding is veiled so that they do not see. 1. They delude themselves with the thought that, though other men suffer the penalty of their sin or folly, they will, in some way, escape. 2. Or they deceive themselves by holding up before their minds oue-half only of the truth ; they dwell on the graciousness and mercy of God, and act as if he were not as righteous as he is tender, as pure as he is pitiful. 3. Or they misrepresent the character of their misdeeds to their own minds, persuading themsel vea that they are slight and venial, however serious they may be in the sight of God. It is a melancholy fact, calling for utmost vigilance, that the frequent repetition of sin and ultimate familiarity with it reduce its apparont guiltiness to the smallest fraction. II. THE PROPHETIC ABBURANOE. The prophet says, "Compare what is written in the 'book of the Lord' with the facts, and they shall tally with one another-not one shall fail; for the command shall go from heaven, and these wild beasts, whose presence bas been threatened as a dire scourge and as the mark of saddest degeneracy, shall possess the holy land, and 'from generation to gr.neration shall dwell therein;' the very worst that has been foretold shall happen, and what the Di vine Word has predicted shall be endured in its most grievous form." They who now speak for God have to gi vc similar assurance: they have to wam men that the worst must be expected if they remain impenitent and disobedient; they have to insist upon it, sorrowfully but emphatically, that everything threatened in the" book of the Lord" will compare with the experiences of the persistently obdurate and disloyal. It is their duty to show: 1. That, sooner or later, men may expect the righteous retribution of God to overtake them; "the sword of heaven is not in haste to smite, nor yet doth linger;" that, though God keeps silence long, he will repmve men, and set their sins itl order before their eyes (Ps. 1. 21). 2. That, if not here, yet hereafter, the judgments of God will reach the guilty, and then, if not now, "every one will receive the things done in his body, according to that he bath done, whether it be good or bad." 3. 'l'bat Divine retribution will take some other form if it come not in the one men have expected. There are other" wild beasts," and worse, than those which are here referred to (vers. 14, 15). There are other evils, and worse, than the poverty, the diseases, the mortality, from which sinners shrink and from which they may long escape. There are evils which haunt the heart, calamities which afflict thti soul, ruin which reaches the character, death which overtakes the man himseif,-judgments which God in righteousness "bath commanded," and which more than fulfil the saddest and strongest word he has instructed his spokesmen to employ.-C. Ver. 1.-Gotl's dealing with one nation/or the sake of many. "Let the earth hear." This chapter, with the following one, constitutes a distinct prophecy, and forms the completion of the first part of Isaiah's work. This chapter further illustrates the point which ha8 been again and again enforced, that" no man liveth unto himself;" a man's successes, achievements, failures, losses, troubles, are all for the sake of others. Every man's life is really vicarious, and this truth is pictured for us in the history and rela- tions of nations. It is plain that no nation liveth unto itself; it is inspiration or warning to other nations around. A man's experience, and a nation's experience, can only to a very limited extent help the man or the nation; but it can most materially help other men and other nations. Therefore "let the earth hear" what God will do unto Edom. For Edom is principally referred to here, as the peculiarly inveterate and malignant enemy of ancient Israel. As we know that Edom submitted to Assyria, it is quite possible that they played a part in Sennacherib's invasion of Judah, in his attack on Jerusalem; so the prophet foresees Divine judgments foiling on Edom as soon as Sen- nacherib is removed. 'l'he historical relations of Edom and Israel should be carefully studied. It is thought that from the historical reference to one nation the prophetic vision advances to the end of the world aud the final judgment. We may keep to the lessons which arise out of the purely historical association. Dealing with one or with a few,/or the sake of the many, has been God's universal law of relationship with men. It is the law of elect-ions, or rather selections, the calling out of specially fitted ones to be workers for, or examples to, a.II. We readily recognize this law, as the responsibility of talents, positions, or opportunities; but it is less usual to see that it equally applies to dieabiliUes, failures, a.nd judgments. Men work for others, and men suffer for others.  li66 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISA.IAH. [en. XXXIV, 1-17,