The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 2 — Section 55

HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vers. 1-7.-Malignity. The prophet, having been enjoined to silence for a season with regard to Israel, turns to the several heathen nations by which his countrymen were encompassed. His mission to them must have been one very painful to dis• charge; for he was called upon to rebuke their sins and to denounce against them the anger of an omniscient and righteous Ruler. Between Ammon and Israel there was ancient fend. But the day of Ammon's judgment was now o.t hand. I. THE NA.TUBE OF MALIGNITY. The children of Ammon are charged with male- volence and malignity. They wished harm to their neighbours, the children of Israel; and, when evil came upon them, they rejoiced in their neighbours' calamities. When Judah's sanctuary was profaned, when the land was laid waste and desolate, when J udah's sons were carried captive, they said, "Aha!" they clapped their hands, they stamped with their feet, and rejoiced with all the despite of their soul. All these actions were manifestations of a vile disposition and habit of mind leading to satisfac- tion in the ills and adversity befalling others. The reality of such a vice as malignity cannot be questioned. II. THE BASENESS OF MALIGNITY, There are sins into which men fall through the pressure of temptation arising from their natural constitution, and through the cir• cumstances of life providentially permitted. We recognize in such sins signs of the frailty of human nature, and we make allowances for the strength of the temptation to which the sinner has yielded. But the sin of which the Ammonites were guilty was of a different kind. What were called by Lord Shaftesbury, the author of the • Characteristics,' the" unsocial passions," are of all the most blamable and inexcusable. They are those habitnal emotions known as malice, envy, jealousy, malignity. It is wrong to seek our own pleasures overmuch; but it is worse to seek and to delight in the suffering and the ruin of our fellow-creatures. Inasmuch as we are members of one race, of one body, and partakers of one natnre, we are peculiarly bound to sym- pathy, benevolence, and mutual helpfulness. The Christian law is one of great beauty both in substance and in expression, "Rejoice with them that do rejoice, weep with them that weep." The malignity displayed by the children of Ammon was not only ne;;lect and violation of the natural law of sympathy, it was in exact opposition to that law. This is a sin not even now extinct; traces of its presence may be found even in Christian communities, though decency may compel those who are guilty of it to conceal it with a thin disguise. But it is a sin which every conscience must condemn, and in defence or even extenuation of which no word can be uttered. III. THE EXPLANATION OF MALIGNITY. This habit of mind may have originated in a state of tociety in which every rnan'11 hand was against his neighbour, in which, consequently, suspicion and distrust were prevalent. In such a state of social life (if it may so be called) the strength of a neighbour was a source of danger and fear to a people conscious of their own weakness; and any calamity which diminished a formidable neighbour's power to harm would awaken satisfaction and rejoicing, as pre- saging peace and the opportunity of progress and prosperity. The emotion may survive tile circumstances in which it arose. But this can be no excuse for the cherishing of malevolence and malignity in ordinary states of society, in which it is an unjusti- fiable expression of the worst tendencies of human nature. IV. THE CONDEMNATION A.ND PUNISHMENT OF MALIGNITY. The sentence is~ued against Ammon is one of awful severity; the sin must have been inexcusable and even horrible to call for such a punishment as is here published. They were to be con- quered and spoiled; strangers were to possess their land and enjoy its p:oduce; and n~ a people they were to be blotted out from amongst the nations, and to be no more. 'l'ii.e displeasure of the Eternal could not be more powerfully exhibited. And there oti. xxv.1-17.] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. 6'7