Ver. 8.-Divine antagonism. That is a lawless state of society in which every man's hand is against his neighbour. Yet no observer of human life is insensible to th€1 prevalence of enmity, rivalry, opposition of various kinds, among all communities of men. "There are many adversaries" is a complaint which every man has made in his time. Men become accustomed to this, and regard it as a natural accompaniment of social life. But it is something very different when the almighty and righteou~ Lord addresses a man or a community, and says, "Behold I, even I, am against thee." I. THE STRANGENESS AND WONDER OF THIS ATTITUDE. That the heathen, who construct the character of their gods upon the lines of their own character, should depict them as hostile, seems natural enough. But that enlightened theists should be surprised at such a representation as that of the text, is a consequence of the con- ceptions which reason and revelation alike have taught them to form of God. Is not God on our side? Does he not represent himself as favourable to the sons of men- using his power for their protection, their deliverance, their aid? How, then, can a merciful and benevolent God be in any sense against us? II. THE EXPLANATION AND REASONABLENESS OF THIS ATTITUDE. It is clear that the Creator and Lord of all cannot be expected to alter the principles of his govern- ment in order to accommodate himself to the follies and the caprices of his creatures. If a man throws himself into mid-ocean, or into the crater of a burning volcano, nature is against him, and he must perish. If a man by his own action contracts disease, he must suffer. Gravitation is not to be suspended because a foolhardy fanatic flings himself from a tower. Nor are chemical laws to be abolished because one ignorantly swallows poison, In all such cases, we may say with reverence, "God is against those who act in such and such a manner." Similarly in the moral realm. The spiritual universe is so constituted that men cannot violate moral law without sufferinii;, cannot defy God with impunity. Those who sin must sooner or later learn the fact, which no reasoning of theirs can affect, that God is against them. III. THE IMMEDIATE PURPOSE OF THIS ATTITUDE. It is evident that, if all thing■ were made easy and pleasant for the sinner, if there ,vere no check and no chastisement for his sin, such an arrangement would not be for the sinner's real good. On the contrary, he would be encouraged to persevere in his evil courses. But the sinner, :finding that God is against him, is in many cases by this very fact led to consider his ways. His experience "gives him pause." There follows from this consciousness of punishment the state of mind known as "conviction of sin," and conviction of sin may lead to repentance and to submission. Finding that, by setting himself against God, the sinner sets God against him, he may be led to submission; he may ask himself, "Why should I not have God with me instead of against me?" The beginning of the process may partake of a selfish regard for his own interests, but he may be led on to see something better than this-to discern the justice, the propriety, the moral excellence of subjection to and harmony with the will which ever accords with perfect righteousness, wisdom, and love. IV. THE ULTIMATE CONSEQUENCE AND RESULT OF THIS ATTITUDE, No one who reflects upon the character of the God of infinite justice and benevolence can suppose that he can take a pleasure in a posture of antagonism and hostility against anything that he has made, far less against man, whom he created in his own likeness, to show forth his own glory. His aim is ever to bring his intelligent and voluntary creatures into harmony with his own nature; to recover and restore, not to overwhelm with destruction; to bring his children to exclaim, "If God be for us, who can be against us?"-T.
Vera. 14, 15.-A reproach and a lesson. The symbolical prediction recorded in this c;:iapter was evidently intended to convey to the minds of the Jews the Divine purpose that their city should be destroyed, and their nation dispersed and politically extin- guished. A third part should perish by pestilence and famine, a third part should be slain, and the remaining third part should be scattered throughout the earth. So far, all seems vengeance. There appears, for the present, no ray of light to irradiate the gloom, i.e. eo far as the once favoured and now depressed and threatened Hebrew people are concerned. But, however calamity may affect the Jews, the prophet was 11,11sured that it should not btl in vai11 with respect to neighbouring nations. The1 94 THE BOOK OF TIIE PROPHET EZEKIEL. [on. v. 1-17.
should learn the lesson, whether the scourged and scattered seed of Jacob would hear or forbear. This purpose, at least, the fate of Jerusalem aud the calamities of tho Je11·s in their exile and dispersion should not fail to accomplish; a. lesson should be taught to the nations of the earth concerning the sinfulness of sin and the justice and truth of God, which should not be forgotten down to the end of time. J. THE DESOLATION OF JERUSALEM WAS DRSIGNED TO BE A REPROACit AND A TAUNT, AND THUS AN EXITTBITION TO ALL THE NATIONS OF THE DIVINE JUS'l'ICE. The attribute of justice has its punitive side; and this was displayed in the fate of the proud and once highly favoured city. If this purpose was answered by the fall of Jerusalem and the cahmities which followed, it may surely be acknowled<>ed that the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, which followed upon the rejectio; of the Divine Messiah, and the dispersion of the Jews during the followiu" centuries of history, have constituted a lesson of similar import for the warning of m~nkind. JI. THE SAME EVEN'!' WAS AN INS'l'RUCTION AND AN AS'l'ONISHMEN'I', AND THUS AN INCULCATION UPON THE NATIONS OF THE DIVINE LAW AND AUTIIORITY. Justice has its distributive as well as its corrective side. Not only is Law to be vindicated by the sanction of penalty inflicted upon the disobedient; the excellence and ofory of the Law has to be displayed as the proper rule for the moral guidance and gov:rnment of man- kind. Thus the nations were not only to wonder and to tremble, when they beheld the just indignation of outraged Divine authority manifest itself in a. city's siege, capturo, and subjection; they were to learn to inquire into the Law which had been broken, the authority which had been defied. There is an aspect of construction, as well as an aspect of destruction, in the government of the world. It is the part of wisdom, not merely to recognize the power which avenges infraction of Divine decrees, but to admire the holy Law, to submit to the righteous Lawgiver, to forsake evil, and to do good.-T.