The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 1 — Section 139

V. SINCERE MOURNING MAY LEAD TO TRUE REPENTANCE, AND MAY ISSUE DI NEWNESS! OF LIFE, There is a "godly sorrow which worketh repentance "-a. sorrow which is not only or chiefly because of the painful results of sin, but because of the very evil itself which is in sin, and because it is an offence against a forbearing and gracious God. Where such sorrow is, there can be no despair. The rainbow of hope spans the cloud, dark and heavy though it be.-T. Ver. 19.-The limitations to the power of wealth. 'fhe description of the text is remarkably picturesque. We seem to behold the panic-stricken remnant escaping from the city with trembling forms and anxious countenance,. Horror and shame impel their flight, as, girded in coarse sackcloth, they hurry a.way, barely hoping that they may save their lives. As they go, in their terror they cast a.way their silver and gold, the burden of which may impede their flight, and which have lost their interest in the all-absorbing endeavour to escape from the hands of the foe. The action thus graphically described is suggestive of a great principle. J. THE WEALTHY ARE USUALLY PRONE TO PLACE TOO GREAT RELIANCE UPON THEIR RICHES. Money can purchase many things, and it is not surprising that the rich should have a latent belief that it can procure for them everything that they may need. !I. THE VANITY OF SUCH RESOUROES BECOMES MANIFEST EVEN IN ORDINARY EARTHLY cALAMITms. In sickness, in sorrow of heart, in many calamities, especially in distressing bereavement, the powerlessness of wealth to deliver or to a.id is made pain- fully apparent. In how many circumstances are the rich and the poor almost upon a level I How often would the wealthy be glad to exchange their riches for the poor man's poverty, might they enjoy the poor man's health! Ill. SUCH POWERLESSNESS IS YET MORE EVIDENT IN THE PRESENCE OF SUCH CALAllllTIBS AS ARE THE SIGN OF DIVINE DISPLEASURE. Judah was fated to experience the cata- strophe designated by the prophet as "the day of the wrath of the Lord." This awful expression conveys a. distinct declaration concerning the Divine government, concern- ing human responsibility for rebellion and defection. From this wrath no worldly agency could possibly deliver. In the day when the Eternal enters into judgment with the sons of men, earth can offer no immunity, no protection. Release, exemption from righteous judgment can be purchased by no treasures, no gifts, no sacrifice. IV. WEALTH, WHEN ABUSED, MAY EVEN BE .A DIS.ADVANTAGE AND HINDRANOE TO ITS POSSESSOR, In a shipwreck, in a fire, in flight from a besieged or captured city, men have been known, by clutching their gold and burdening themselves with its weight, to lose their chance of escape, and consequently miserably to perish. Their wealth has been their stumbling-block. Such action and such a fate are a picture, a figure, of the conduct and the doom of not a few. They trust in uncertain riches instead of trusting in the living God. They make an idol of their possessions. That which they might have used for good ends they misuse to their own destruction. V, liENOE APPEARS THE REASONABLENESS, THE WISDOM, OF SEEKING BETTER RESOUROEB AND MAKING BETTER PROVISION FOB THE DAY OF TRIAL. Silver and gold must fail their possessor; the time must come when they will be cast aside. But there are true riches; there is a steadfast and unfailing prop; there are riches of Divine mercy and compassion. It is not what a man has, it is what a man is, which is of supreme concern. He who has repented of sin and forsaken sin, who has sought and obtained through Christ acceptance with God, whose attitude towards the great King is no longer an attitude of opposition and rebellion, but one of subjection and obedience, he only can look forward with calm confidence to the day of trio.I; for he knows whom he has trusted, and is persuaded that the Lord will keep that which he has committed to him against that day.-T. Ver. 22.-The averted/ace. In the figurative but natural and expressive languago of the Hebrews, the shining of God's countenance means his good pleasure and good will towards those whom he favours, and the hiding or averting of his countenance means his displeasure. Prayer often shaped itself into tho familiar expression, "The Lord cause his face to shine upon us;" and the displeasure of Heaven was deprecated in such terms as these: "Tum not thy face from thy servants." The child dis- tinguishes at once between the smile and the frown of the parent; the courtier is at EZEKIEL, K 130 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. [oH. vu. 1-27.