Ver. 21.-The honouring of God's Law. Cheyne translates, "It was Jehovah's plea.sure for his righteousness' aako to make the instruction great and glorious." The Revised Version gives this as a marginal reading. Only by a strainir,g of this passage can it be made to bear any relation to Christ's obedience and righteousnes.,. It is true, but it is not the truth presented or suggested here, that Christ "magnified the Law, and made it honourable." The poiut of the passage is well expressed by J. A. Alexander. "The people, being thus unfaithful to their trust, had no claim to be treated any longer as an object of Jehovah's favour; and yet he continues propitious, not on their account, but out of regard to his own engagements, and for the execution of his righteous purposes." God's Law, which he is here said to honour, is the "stream of self-consistent and inspired instruction which has run through all the a~es." It is the total inspirerl revelation of God's mind and will, regarded as the supreme authority for man, and therefore called God's Law. It may be illustrated by the elaborate Mosaic system, which both announced great controlling principles, and covered the whole lives and relations of men with detailed instructions. Of this we may be well assured, God's providences will always be in harmony with, and will support and honour, his revelations. Treating the subject in this larger sphere, we dwell on two points. I. GoD MAGNIFIES HIS LAW BY MAKING OBEDIENCE SECURE MAS'S GOOD. "Righteous- ness tendeth unto life." Men are dependent for forming right judgments upon sensible impressions. We apprehend moral good through the sensible figures of material good. Therefore God makes godliness carry "the promise of the life that now is." There may be things which, on occasion, break the connection between moral and material good, and then, like Asaph, we are in perplexity; but the generally working rule brings bless- ings round to the good man, and so honours God's provisions and laws and promises. I!. GOD MAGNIFIES HIS LAW BY FOLLOWING DISOBEDIENCE WITH MAN'S DISABILITY, "Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not go unpunished." It is often pointed out that sin is folly. The man who <loes wrong is false to his best interests; he wrongs himself. The link between sin and penalty is forgec\ tightly; sooner or later penalty is sure to follow sin. These two points are made evidently true in the history of ancient Israel; that people was under a distinct system of material rc,,.-:u<s and punishments. But they may still be illustrated in the large ~pheres of the world. Iniquity ne,er pays, even now. They may be illustrated in the case of in<lividuals, if moral and spiritual rewards and judgments be taken into due account.-R. T.
Vers. 24, 25.-Inejfective judgments. God bas even burned Israel, nod" yet he laid it not to heart." There is immediate reference to the sufferings of the people during the Captivity. It did seem strange that such manifest Divine judgments were not duly considered and properly effective in securing humiliation for national sin and penitential return to God. '!.'he secret of the failure of the Diviue juu.gmcnts theu is the great secret of failure still; it is this-when men fall into trouble they persist in looking onlv at the second causes, which are the mere occasions, and will not recognize the true and only came, or recognize God's hand iu them. It has beeu so in all ages. One of the most striking instances is that of the Homan siege of Jerusalem umler 'fitus, Distinctly foretold as a Divine judg:nent on the nation for its rejection of Messiah, the Jews to this day will not so regard it. 'l'o them it is still ouly a 1iatio1ul calamity, and so it has been hitherto ineffective in the production of a due sense ,,r national sin. So many sides and aspects of this subject have beeu treated, that we only give a brief outline of the topics which may be wisely and helpru!ly considered. I. ALL BUFFERING IS DIVINE JUDGMENT. ·whatever else may be said of it, its explanations arc never exhausted until the Divine purpose in it is explained. The connection of a particular judgment with a particular individuid it may be unwise for us to attempt to trncc. But we can always see the judgmeut nspect of race, national, or fnmily calamities; and we know that God can show the judgment eloment in each man's woe. II. ALL JUD0MENT IS CORRECTIVE. It is a Father's rou.. No father chastises saYC fo1· correction, and with a view to the profit of the corrected. 136 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISA[A.H. [en. xttu. 1-28.
ID. ALL JUDGMENTS ARE WITHIN STRICT LIMITATIONS. They are precise to individual c~es. Sometimes light, sometimes heavy. Sometimes brief, sometimes long-continued. Always in exact adaptation. There is never any exaggeration, any overcloing, in God's judgments. They are just adequate to the ends sought. They take due count of rrasona ble response from those to whom they are sent. n-. ALL DESPISED JUDGMENTB MUST BE RENEWED IN SEVERER FORMS. Because they create new and more serious conditions, and these mmt be adequately met. God con never permit effective and successful resistance and rebellion. If a man will not l,end, he must break. Heavier judgments must grind him to powder.-R. 'l'.