The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 2 — Section 92

e.s much the suggestion of the shepherd-figure as the previous ideas of rulo and gentle- ness; but it is not so often dwelt on or realized. He who rolls over us the" tribulum" of discipline and trouble, to separate the chaff from the wheat, finds the rollino- to be hard and trying work. . Our Shep]1erd sul!'ers in his care for the. sheep, and it ke~ps our hearts tender to be remmded of his sufferings for us. Illustratm" this we may recall 0 the Eastern ,hepherd, who, especially in the early months of the year,'" has much to endure. Snow falls and frosts set in, which kill many of the lambs, althouo-h he seeks to save all he can by carrying them under bis cloak, and 'in his bosom.' This period tries bis own powers of endurance, for it is the rainy season. He cuts small branches of tr~es, and lays them in a pile, to avcid the consequences of standino- in the wet. The only sleep he can secure is by lying on such a pile of branches or fagots, enveloped in his heavy cloak, or crouching in a sitting posture, with its stiff heavy folds set up over him like a tent." We of:eu think of our good Shepherd's care, but too seldom we remember, lovingly and tbaukfully, how much it costs him.-R. 'l'. Ver. IB.-Wanted, a liA-eness for God. "What similitude can ye place beside him?" This and similar appeals in the later portion of Isaiah bear directly upon the idolatries with which Israel was surrounded in Babylon, and exerted a most important influence on the delivery of Israel, once and for ever, from idolatrous sentiments and sympathies. Isaiah's pica is," How should the image-deities of icolatrous Babylon be compared to the almighty and unsearchable God of Israel?" The incomp~rableness and uniqueness of God are in the prophet's mind; and his plea may be compared with the argument of the Apostle Paul at Athens (Acts xvii. 29, "Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device"). The Babylonian gods were ulso the gods of Assyria, and they were, for the most part, of Accaclian or pre-Semitic origin. "The Babylonian lived in perpetual dread of the evil spirits which thronged about him ; almost every moment had its religious ceremony, almost every action its religious complement. In Babylon we find the relilftins of scarcely any great buildings except temples." During the Captivity, God's people were closely as:;ociated with a most elaborate idolatrous system, and the appeal is therefore most effective. "Look around you. Notice all the forms in which deity is represented. See all the thought-figures of God which men can fashion, and say, is there any one of them to which you can liken your God?" We may let the appeal take its widest forms. I. CAN YOU FIND A LIKENESS FOR 0-0D m HIS CREATION? His works are a revelation of himself, but no one of them is a picture of his form. They are no more like him than the machine which a man makes is like the man. The machine reveals the man, tells us of his skill, his thought, his patience. And so God's handiwork reveals the attributes of God; but if men try to find a likeness for God in the material creation, they will do, as the Egyptians did-begin with the sun and end with the slimy reptiles of the Nile-banks. II. CAN YOU FIND A LIKENESS FOR GOD IN MAN'S CREATIONS? They may vary, from the mere upright block rudely carved to represent a face, to the splendid Jupitel" fashioned by the highest genius of the Greek. .Art may paint exquisitely; but no brush, no cbioel, no graving tool, in civilized or uncivilized lands, ever fashioned anything worthy to be likeucd to God. Illustrate from the unsatisfactoriness of the best faces of the manifebted G-Od Christ Jesus; and by the painfulness of all attempts to paint God the Father. III. CAN YOU FIND A LIKENESS FOR GoD IN MAN'S MENTAL CREATIONS? For he thinks figures of God, v.ben he does not make statues. Philosophy has its conceptions, and now men say law is such a name as may heuceforth stand for God. But the images of men's thoughts are no better than the idols of men's hands. Thus we are brought to face the question-How can God be known? 'fhe answer is this-He cannot be known in himself; but be can be known in his relations to us, and that is the know le<lge wherein is "eternal life."-R. T. Ver. 27.-Darkness brwl,ing doubt. Here is a question which is full of surprise. "How, then, can Jacob and Israel be faint-hearted, or despair of their restoration, when this llilmatcbable, all-powerful, unwearying God is their God?" Yet there is almost an C:11, XL, 1-31.] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. 95