The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 2 — Section 175

or the mighty in the land of the living;" "With their terror, they are [now] ashamed l>f their might." After all, what a frail reed is the mightiest sceptre or the most Jnartial arm! What real weakness is at the heart of him who brandishes the gory ~word! Like the frog who attempted to inflate himself to the magnitude of an ox, so the p~ltry man who assays to play t~e tyrant soon collapses. One sharp prick, and the wmrlbag soon collapses. As a child feels overwhelmed with shame when he sees in the clear light of morning the tree or the gate-post that terrified him in the darkness • so men at length discover the emptiness of the monarch, whose frown was for a moment their terror. All pretence to power and authority shall presently be hurl~d to the ground, ay, cast into the pit of oblivion. All real power shall abide, VII. Goo's TERROR IS SUPREME OVER MAN's. " I have caused my terror in the land of the living." There is such a thing as power in the universe-an bi finite power- before which it becomes every man to tremble; but this power is in the hand of God. "Jehovah reigneth, therefore let the people tremble." '' Before him the inhabitants of the earth are as grasshoppers; they are like the small uust of the balance." His power is real, all-pervading, all-enduring. No being in the universe can diminish it nor resist it. Being a real power, it is becoming that it should inspire us with awe. 'l'he terror which tyrants and warriors awaken is only for a moment. The sham soon gets exposed. But presently the Kin:i; of kings will make even tyrants shake and the hearts of warriors melt. "Vengeance is mine," saith God; "I will rer,ay." When Jehovah ap~ars, tyrants hide themselves" in dons and caves of the earth.' "Fear him, ye saints, and ye will then Have nothing else to fear," D. Vere. 1-10.-God's teaching in history. As the prophet continues his utterance in the same strain, our thought is directed to the same class of truths, and we lea.m- l THAT GREAT SINNERS ABE GREAT TROUDLERS. Egypt was a young lion among the nations, fierce, dsngerous, dreaded ~ver. 2). It was a crocodile in the river, "breaking forth,"" troubling the waters,' and" fouling" them (ver. 2). Great cities like Rome and Sparta, powerful kingdoms like Assyria and Egypt, strong men like Scylla and Napoleon, have been sad troublers of their time. They have been invaders of territory, destroyers of institutions, disturbers of domestic life. And whenever strength is found dissociated from Christian principle and the Christian spirit, there must always be gro.ve danger of trouble. To propound their own notions, to contrive their own comfort, to extend their own influence, unprincipled or selfish men will use their strength to disturb their neighbours' peace, reckless of the good they are undoing and of the misery and mischief they are causing. II. THAT THEY FIND THEMSELVES DEFEATED IN THE END. God spreads out his net (ver. 3), and the raging animal, the powerful fish, is taken in it. In the height of their power great nations and strong men imagine themselves to be absolutely secure, and they laugh at the designs of their enemies. But they do not know what forces are at work either within or around them; and they do not calculate that there is One who is working above them and against them. And as surely as the night follows the day, the hour of darkness will come to those who use the light of hco.ven to abuse their privileges and to wrong their fellow-men, Defeat and calamity await them. And i;ometimes it will be found- III. TB.AT PALPABLE DIBCOMFITURE SUCCEEDS DEFEAT. This great dragon of the deep could not be buried out of sight; its carcase was "upon the green field," "laid upon the mountains," and "filling the valleys," even" watering the land with its blood" (vers. 4-6). It could not be hidden; the ruin of the once proud kingdom should be " Gross as a mountain, open, palpable." Every eye should see it, every tongue should talk about it. Let men who are now prominent in power take heed lest they should become conspicuous for shame and for 1\estitution, lest the name that is now on the lip of praise should be branded with dishonour. Unrighteousness, impurity, and selfish cruelty, when they bo.ve run their /\"illy and wretched course, will be held up before the eyes of men to receivll thG • xecration they deserve. 'l'he false divinity of lo-day will be the fiend of to-morrow. Otr. xxxn. 1-32.J THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. 181