sore (La.m. v. 22). Hie a.nger wa.s hot being Mmprlsed within the limits of "the ego.inst the sheep of hie peature (Pa. lxxiv. holy land" (Zech. ii. 12) and "the holy I). B11t they ha.d suffered, they had been border" (Pa. lxxviii. 54). Zion ... Jeru- efilictecl ma.ny yea.re. Might he not now salem (see the comment on eh. ]xii. I). relent, nnd remit somewhat from hie fierce Ver. 11.-0ur holy and our beautiful anger? Neither remember iniqnity (comp. house. This is the true meanin,'.. The Pe. lxxix. 8). God ha.d alrea.dy ma.de e. exiles have the tenderest and most vivid promise by the mouth of Iaaia.b, "I, even I, remembranr,e of the holiness and the beauty e.m be thu.t blotteth out thy tra.ngreaaione, (or glory) of that edifice, which harl formed and will 11ot remember thy sins" (eh. xliii. the centre of the national life for above four 25). The captives le.y hold, e.s it were, on centuries, and had been a marvel of richness this promise, o.nd entreat tbe.t their "ini- e.nd magnificence. Many of them had seen quity" mo.y be not only forgiven, but for- it with their own eyes (Ezra iii. 12), and gotten (Jer. xxxi. 34). We are a.II thy people. could never forget its splendours. Where A fresh o.rgument. "We a.re thy children," our fathers praised thee. Though in the individue.lly (ver. 8); "we a.re thy work, later times of the Captivity there were still thy creo.tures" (ver. 8), a.gain individWllly; some of the exiles who ha.d seen the temple, but o.lso, "we are o.11 of us (kullanu), collec- and probably worshipped in it, yet with the tively, thy people "-the people whom thou great majority it was otherwise. They ho.at chosen to thyself, o.nd over whom thou thought of the temple as the place where ho.et watched for so mo.ny centuries. Surely their "fathers" had worshipped. Burned this considero.tion, if no other, will induce up with fire (see 2 Kings xxv. 9; 2 Chron. thee to forego thy wre.th o.nd forgive our xxxvi. 19; Jer. Iii. 13). Our pleasant iniquity. things ; or, our delectable things-as in eh. Ver. 10.-Thyholy cities are a wilderness. xliv. 9 ; the courts, gardens, outbuildings of Commonly Jerusalem stanils alone as "the the temple, a.re probably meant. holy city" (eh. xlviii. 2; lvi. I; Dan. ix. 2-l:; Ver. 12.-Wilt thou refrain thyself for Neh. xi. I, 18); but here the epithet is these things? rather, at these things-see- o.pplied to the cities of J udo.h generally. ing tha.t these things a.re so. Will they not They were all in a carte.in sense "holy," as provoke thee to interfere 1
HOMILETICS. Vera. 8-12.-Pleasfor mercy. Israel had three ma.in grounds on which they could rely in pleading to God for mercy. I. Goo WAS THEIR MAKER. The framer of a work cannot see without dissatisfaction the destruction of his work, or its deterioration, or its depra.vation to purposes lower than those intended for it. This dissatisfaction is the greater, the more considerable the labour and the thought that has been expended upon the work, the greater the care that has been ta.ken of it, the longer that it has been watched over. Israel, as far as earth was concerned, was God's master-work, that in which God's creative efforts had culminated. He had cre:ited the world for mankind, and mankind (in a certain sense) for Israel. He had loved and cherished Israel, watched over his work, protected and guarded it, for well-nigh a millennium. Israel might well feel that it had a tower of strength in the plea," We are the work of thy hand" (ver. 8). II. Goo WAS THEIR ~'ATHER. God had condescended to reveal himself as their "Father" at the time of the Exodus (Deut. xxxii. 6); and ever since had constantly addressed them, through his prophets, as his" children" (Exod. iii. 22; Deut. xxxii. HJ, 20; Ps. lxxx. 15; lxxxii. 6; ciii. 13; Prov. iii. 12 ; viii. 32; eh. i. 2, 4; xxx. 1, 9; xliii. 6 ; xiv. 11; !xiii. 8; Hos, i.10; xi. l, etc.). Rebellious, backsliding children, indeed, had they been; yet still not wholly renounced, not wholly cast off, not deprived of the name or of the rights of children. Thus they could plead with God bis fatherhood (eh. !xiii. 16; !xiv. 8), and therewith claim his tender care, and kind consideration, and merciful forgiveness, and gracious protection, and powerful aid against the.ir enemies. A Father could not but pity his children, could not but be ready, on their turning to him with true penitence and humble confession of sin (vers. 6-7), to receive them and reinstate them in his favour. III. Goo WAB THEIR KING, The Israelites were not only God's" children "-they were" his people." He had acknowledged them as such from the days of Moses (Exod. iii. 7, 10; vii. 16; viii. 1, etc.). He had taken them t,) himself to be his "peculiar 462 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. [on. LXIV. 1-12
treasure-& kingdom of priests, and an holy nation " (Exod. xix. 5, 6). He had 11ctually directed the policy of their state, as king, for several centuriee (Judg. viii. 23; 1 Sam. viii. 7 ; x. 19 ; xii. 12). They had rejected him, when they insisted on having a king" like the nations n (1 Sam. viii. 5); but, with the Captivity, his !tingly right bad revived (llos. xiii. 10), and they could properly appeal to him as" his people" (ver. 9). The Christian Church, "Israel after the Spirit," is equally en~itled to make these pleas with "lsrael after the flesh." God is their Maker; God is their Father (Matt. v. 45, 48; vi. 1-9, etc.). Christ is their King (John xviii. 36). But they have also a further plea; Christ is their Redeemer; he has borne their sins-he has suffered in their stead-he has made atonement for them. In his Name they can "go boldly to the throne of grace" (Heb, iv. 16), secure that they will" obtain mercy, and fi.o.d grace to help in time of need."