The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 1 — Section 129

our text suggests that idolatry is a multitudinous sin. It comprises many" abomina- tions." In the worship of Peor the worshippers committed fornication ; antl in the worship of Moloch they committed homicide. In proportion as we participate in the spirit of Jesus Christ, we shall regard sin neither with levity, "Fools make a mock at sin;" nor with indifference; nor with extenuation of its guilt; but with deep grief. To the holy, sin must ever cause regret and pain of heart. Ezra. mourned over it bitterly (Ezra ix. 3-6); so did the psalmist (Ps. cxix. 136, 158), the Prophet Jeremiah (Jer. ix. 1; xiii. 17), the Apostle Paul (Rom. ix. 1-3), and our blessed Lord and Saviour (Mark iii. 5 ; Luke xiii. 34; xix. 41, 42). And in our text, grief for the sins of the people is expressed first, and for the miseries caused by their sins afterwards. There are many who mourn the losses and sufferings which result from sin, but com- paratively few who mourn because of the sins themselves; yet these should awaken our sharpest sorrow. Il. THE TRUE SERVANT OF GoD REGARDS THE JUDGMENTS WHICH COME UPON SINNERS WITH DEEP SORROW, "Alas·! , .. for they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence," "The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous alto- gether;" and therefore his people should at least heartily acquiesce in them. But while consenting unto them, and cordially approving their righteousness, the godly will look with sorrow upon the'woes which the wicked bring upon themselves by their sins. Nor is there anything wrong or unbecoming in this; for so our Lord viewed the miseries which he saw gathering over the guilty Jerusalem (Luke xix. 41-44), and so the pious and patriotic Jeremiah contemplated the captivity of the Lord's flock (Jer. xiii, 17). One cannot look upon calamity and suffering without sorrow, even when we know that these are the righteous retributions of sin. And if we could do so, there would not be anything either commendable or desirable in so doing. III. THE TRUE SERVANT OF GoD ENDEAVOURS TO IMPRESS OTHERS WITH THE WICKEDNESS OF SIN AND THE DREAD PENALTIES THEREOF. "Thus saith the Lord God; Smite with thine hand, and stamp with thy foot." These gestures indic,\te strong emotion, which may be of various kinds. Thus Balak "smote his hands together" in anger (Numb. xxiv. 10); the Ammonites are represented a.'! clapping their hands and stamping their ket in derision of the land of Israel ( eh. xxv. 6) ; and in the text these gestures are intended to express keen sorrow, as we see from the words with which they were-accompanied: "Alas for all the evil abominations of tbe honse of Israel!" Thus the prophet would denote his firm conviction of the certainty of the judgments which he announced, his earnest desire to impress the people with the reality and solemnity of these judgments, and his grief by reason of them. His entire being was, as it were, engaged in this expression of woe. "Words are transient," says Greenhill, "and leave little impression, but visible signs work more strongly, affect more deeply, and draw the spirits of beholders into a sympathy." And the servants of God in our own times cannot feel too deeply the wickedness of sin, or express their abhorrence thereof too strongly, if that abhorrence be genuine, or manifest too great a concern that sinners should flee from the wrath to come. If we realized the essential heinousness of sin, the unspeakable value of the soul, and the awful significance of its loss, we should deem no action unworthy, and no effort too great, if they were likely to lead sinners to turn from sin to the Saviour. "I know not," says Richard Baxter, "what others think of these concerns, but for my own part I am ashamed of my insensibility, and wonder at myself that I deal no more with my own and other men's souls, as becomes one who looks for the great day of the Lord. I seldom come out of the pulpit but my conscience smites me that I have not been more serious and fervent. It is no trifling matter to stand up in the face of e. congregation and deliver a message of salvation or damnation, as from the living God in the name of the Redeemer: it is no easy thing to speak so plainly that the most ignorant may understand; so seriously that the deadest may feel; and so concerningly that contradictory cavillers may be silenced and awakened."-W. J. -- ·  118 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. [on. VII. 1-27,