Deut. xxxii. 39; Ps. cii. 28): "Thou art he, and thy years will not come to an end." Also Ps. xliv. 6. '"The nameless, he whose nod is Na.tare'& birth." II. THE ANXIETY OF THE PEOPLES. The decision of the question is postponed; but a scene of alarm among the peoples is depicted. They have heard the news of Cyrus's conquests; the world iY shuddering with apprehension. They huddle together like a frightened flock of sheep, trying to impart to one another a coura:.1e not really felt. The carpenter and the caster and the goldsmith are all busy among the Western nations, making" a particularly good and strong set of gods." A significant touch is the last-one is strengthening an idol with nails, for fear it should fall, which would be an omen full of dread, as the fall of Dagon of the Philistines may remind us. Ancl so, even as Elijah with the worshippers of Baal, the prophet employs that irony and ridicule which is the test of truth, against the idolaters. And the scene may be regarded as a standing satire against all weak, anxious, fussy resort to ht1man means and devices, and to idle superstitions, when the name of true religion has been para.- lyzed, when faith in the spiritual and eternal is extinct.-J. Vers. 8-13.-The blessed condition of Israel. I. IsRAEL IS THE SERVANT OF JimovAH. There can be no higher title of honour, privilege, affection, than son. Though the designation· reminds us of the infinite distance between God and man, in another way it reminds us of his nearness. The Master anrl Lord is here the loving and protecting Patron and Friend; the servant, one who reciprocates his affection. They are the descendants of Abraham, who "loved God." The title "reminds the Jews that they had come very far short of their ideal, but at the same time inspires a well- grounded hope that Abraham's" love" will call forth the Divine mercy towards his seed." rr: THE PEOPLE IS CHOSEN OF Goo. And the choice of God is irretractable (Rom. il. 29). And the election was made manifest in a wondrous history. They had been fetched from the ends of the earth. 'l'he patriarch from Ur of. the Chaldees in Meso- potamia; Israel from Egypt. And what are the consequences of this Di vine choice? All that is most dear and precious in the relation of marriage or in that of friendship may be called to mind. The nation is wedded to an all-powerful Husband, is linked to a faithful Protector and Friend. '!'hen she may enjoy fearless freedom from fear; the just hand will uphold her. And all her enemies will be thrown into shame and con- fosion; those that strove with her be brought to nought. Held fast in the right hand of God, Isrnel may ever hear the assuring word, "Fear not; I do help thee." He is One" who gives salvation to kings;" with one hand giving the Law, with the other defending the obedient. Omniscience watches over the chosen, and omnipotence sup- ports them. Among other" gifts and graces" let us recognize courage and resolution. Timidity, faint-heartedness, is a universal weakness, and the higher or sacred colll"age one of the rarest possessions of the soul. Perhaps, next to wisdom, it is Heaven's greatest gi[t. It "gives and obtains kingdoms, turns swords into sceptres, crowus the valiant with victory, and the victorious often with a diadem." Presence of mind: what can impart it like the feeling that God is ever with us, that our feeble hand is enclosed in his? "It is a. ldncl of ecstasy and inspiration, a. beam of Divine light darting in upon reason, and exalting it to ·a. pitch of operation beyond its natural and accustomed measures. Perhaps there was never any person in the world remarkably and heroically great, without some such kind of enthusiasm-a mighty principle which at certain times raised him up to strange, unaccountable heights of wisdom aud courage. He who in the strength of such a spirit can look the most menacing dangers in the face, and, when the state of all things about him seems despera.t~, can yet bear his great heart above despair-such a one for the most part makes fortune itself bend and fall down to him, difficulties vanish, and clangers fly before him; so much is victory the claim of the valiant, and success the birthright of the bold."-J.
Vera. 14-16.-Weakness made atrong. "A fine touch is lost in the English here. In the Hebrew, Israel 1s addressed in the feminine gender, as a weak and suffering woman. It is not so in the preceding verses, and in ver. 16 the prophet significantly reverts to the masculine" (Cheyne). 104 'l'HE BOOK OF THll: PROPHE'l' ISAIAH. [olI. xti. 1-29,
, ~- Hur.nLITY THE CONDITION ?F B1:RENGTH. Jacob is a worm, I!rael a "petty folk." 'lh1s was, we know, a clear h1stonc fact. It was not by armies or by navies by numerous, f~rt~0SS0;5 and ser:-,ied ranks, and an impregna~le land, that she was str~ng. She was ' d1mrnut1~c Israel, as the LXX. render. At this moment she might well be thought of a~ a poor, tre1!1blin~, defenceless "'.oman. In that one simple oracle," I will help thee, sa1th Jehovah, realized, lay her might; and all possible miO'ht was there. It is not in human nature to depend where it can stand alone. It is when we feel "what worthle85 worms are we," that the contrast ?f God's alwightiuess comes upo1r us, and the sense that we may connect ourselves with it. Thrown upon our own resources and finding them _at an end, we "catch at God's skirts, and pray." Then it is no longe; we, hut our enemies, who fear. We cnnnot have too low an opinion of ourselves nor too high an opinion of God. He is here described as the Goel, the Defender of the right, the Avenger of the wrongs of his people. He is the redeeming God (eh. xlvii. 3, 4; Jer. 1. 33, 34). The verbal root means to ransom by the payment of a price and to deliver from danger, distress, captivity. ' II. WEAK~Ess JlliDE STRONG. This petty nation shall become a power against which 11othing r.an stand. Israel becomes as a threshing-roller, sharp, new, and double-edO'ed 0 which shall crush the mount:iins, and make the bills as chaff; he shall winnow th~ nations, and they shall be scattered. With the two-ldged sword in their hand, they will execute vengeance on the heathen, and punishments on the people, binding their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron (Ps. cxlix.). Perhaps the allusion is to the Maccabean period, and to the glorious wars of the Jews under the priests Simon and Hyrcanus, against the kings of Syria. The oracle which begins by touching the chord of humility ends with the note of boasting: "Thou shalt exult in Jehovah, and in Israel's Holy One shalt make thy boast." Thus the spirit of the true Israel is the spirit of true religion, the spirit of Christ exemplified in St. Paul: "I will glory in infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me."-J.