L THE FAVOUR 'l'O BE SHOWN TO 181!.AEL I8 IN CONTRAST TO THE FATE OF OTHER NATIONS. Tyre should perish from off the earth ; Egypt should be trodden underfoot, and should be degraded in the soale of nations; but Israel should dwell in their own land with confidence. JI. THE FAVOUR SHOWN TO lsBAEL IS OONSEQUENT UPON lsRAEL'B DEPRESSION, CONQUEST, AND CAPTIVITY, It is not to be supposed that Israel, because the chosen nation, was exempt from calamity and discipline, On the contrary, it was because, to some extent, the discipline was answering its intended purpose, that brightness followed the storm, that the winter of Israel's discontent was succeeded by the genial and happy spring- time. ill. THE FAVOUR SHOWN 'l'O ISRAEL WAS, HOWEVER, UNDESERVED BY ISRAEL'S OWN CHARACTER AND A0TION, So it had been from the beginning. Israel was a rebellious and stiff-necked people, lapsing now into idolatry and again into murmuring or licentiousness. God had a purpose in Israel's election, and that purpose must needs be carried out, But in any case, it was no virtue, excellence, or merit in Israel that accounted for the forbearance continually and repeatedly extended towards th8 people of the covenant. IV. THE FAVOUR SHOWN TO ISRAEL WAS OWING TO THE 0LEMENCY OF THE DIVINE RULER. Why such clemency was extended to Israel, and was withheld from Tyre, it may not be possible for us to explain. But there is no caprice in the government of God; justice and mercy are his attributes, and it would be folly in man to impugn them. Who is there who is not indebted to Divine long-suffering and loving-kindness? What nation has not been spared and delivered from its enemies, once and again in the course of its history? Certainly, the mercy of the God of Abraham towards the people that sprang from the father of the faithful was great and marvellous. V. THE FAVOUR SHOWN TO ISRAEL WAS lll.ANIFEST IN THE DELIVERANCE OF THE PEOPLE FROM CAPTIVITY A.ND EXILE. They were " gathered from the people among whom they were scattered." Instead of being reduced to perpetual bondage or absorbed by their conquerors, the Hebrew people, though appointed to exile, were in due time redeemed from their subjection, dependence, and expatriation. VJ. THE FAVOUR SHOWN TO ISRAEL WAS MANIFEST IN THEIR PEACEFUL BE-ES· TABLISHMENT IN THEIR OWN LA:tID. It was the land given by Jehovah to his servant Ja.cob, the land of promise, the land of the covenant. God had his own wis~ purposes to work out by this replanting and resettling of the people of Israel upon the sacred soil. There it was appointed for them to dwell in safety and confidence, to build their houses and to plant their vineyards, and above all to worship the God of their fathers in his chosen sanctuary. VII. THE FAVOUR SHOWN TO IsRAEL WAS INTENDED TO AWAKEN THE ACKNOWLEDCl- MEJITS OF GRATEFUL PIBTY. The services and their motives may not always have been spiritual and pure, free from every taint of selfishness and self-satisfaction. The Israelites, thinking of the judgments God had executed upon all tho~e who had despised them round about them, congratulating themselves that, whilst their foes had been humiliated or destroyed, they had been spared, restored, and blessed, may, perhaps, have allowed some feelings of self-righteousness to take possession of their hearts. Yet they could not fail to acknowledge Jehovah as their true Friend and mighty Deliverer; they could not but offer grateful sacrifices of adoring praise to him who had remembered them in their low estate; for his mercy endureth for ever. They could not but know and confess him as the Lord their God.-'l'.
Vers.1-10.-Pride's terriolefall. .A real king incorporates in himself all that is best and mightiest in the people. The aims, and enterprises, and ambitions, and spirit of the nation should find a place in his breast. He is a mirror, in which the life of the empire is reflected. Whether he leads or whether he follows the bent of the nation's will (and, in part, he will do both), he becomes the visible exponent of the nation's life. All that is good in the empire, and all that is evil, blossoms in him, Hence this message. I. SUPERIOR WIBDOM LEADS TO SUCCESS IN COMMERCE, " With thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches." So far, no sin was com• m.itted. lt is God's will that the rocks of earth ehoul<l disclcse their treasures of silve.r OB. x.xvm. 1-26.] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. 113