The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 2 — Section 222

the succeeding brightness of Isratl's restoration. This looks like an after-thought of judgrnent. It is as though Edam, the nation typified by Mount Seir, had been for- gotten until suddenly, by an unlucky chance, she came into mind, and then without drlay the thread of joyous prophecy is broken and her doom is ruthlessly pronounced. At all events, the solitary and peculiar position of the prophecy against Edam gives to it a striking significance. 1. No impenitent sinners can be always overlooked. There. are no exceptions to the law of retribution. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he- also reap," _is a principle of universal application. No single soul can by any rare good fortune ultimately escape from it. 2. God's forbearance does not destroy his justice_ He may wait long. But if the soul is finally impenitent, he will surely smite. 3. The goodness of God does not abolish his wrath against sin. Even when the mercy is most fully displayed, this wrath is also seen. IT. THE DOOM OF THOSE WHO ABE NOT FAR FBOM THE KINGDOM, There was one reason why Edom should receive exceptional treatment. She was not only a near neighbour to Israel, she was a blood-relation, Her people were the descendants of Esau, the brother of Jacob. Though a foreign nation, her cousinly relationship with Israel was like that of America with England. She could reckon two-the two best- of the patriarchs as her ancestors. Like Israel, she was descended from Abraham and Isaac. Might not she, then, expect the blessings of the patriarchs? Esau had begged for a blessing with bitter tears, and he had received one, but not the best blessing (Gen. xxvii. 38----40). The young man whom Christ loved was "not far from the kingdom of God" (Mark xii, 34). Yet for all we know, he did not enter it. The members of Christians families are favoured with great religious privileges. It is much to be able to claim godly ancestors. But these advantages will not serve as substitutes for personal piety. Nay, they will make the guilt of godlessness the greater. We may be like Edom, very near to Israel, yet like Edam we may be cast aside and lost, if we have not really entered ourselves into the Divine covenant. III. THE PUNISHMENT OF HATRED. Edom was accused of "perpetual hatred" (ver. 5}-a hatred which perhaps sprang from original jealousy, still one that had been Jong cherished. As love is the fulfilling of the Law, so hatred is the most effectual breaking of it. It is hatred that brings war and misery on mankind. This is con- stituted ont of the very venoru of hell. It cannot be o.llowed to remain unchecked. If it is not abandoned and repented of, its curses must come home to roost, and they who harbour it must suffer its doom. So long as a man cherishes hatred in his heart towards a single fellow-creature, he cannot be accepted by God (1 John iv, 20). Ver. 5.-The end of iniquity. I. OOQUITY MUST HAVE AN END. God will not permit it to run on for ever unchecked and unpunished. The sinner has a long leash, but it is not interminable. God steps in at length:" and puts a stop to the awful suc- cession of wicked deeds. Wicked cities and nations have ho.d their end. So must it be with sinful lives. II. 'l'HE NATURAL END OF INIQUITY IS DEATH. Sin is the great destroyer. It is n raging fire which will ultimately fade away into dull ashes by consuming all the fuel on which it feeds, The sinner is a suicide. His evil is a slow but sure poison, that eats out the very fibre of his soul. 'l'his awful fate does not come on with a. sudden shock so that men can be roused by its approach. It is like a creeping paralysis, and its insidious advent is lea.et readily recognized by the very persons in whose experience: it is taking place. III. INIQUITY MAY HAVE AN END IN REPENTANCE. There is an alternative. We nre not bound to let the sin run through all its fatal course to the fino.l silence and <lesolation. We must end the sin or it will end us; but the former may be done. The warnings of the fatal consequences of sin are set before us for the express purpose of ur!'ing us to cast off the deadly thing before it has completed its awful work, JV. CHRIST HAS COME TO PUT AN END TO INIQUITY. He works in common with· the funclamental moral law in regard to the ending of sin. No lawgiver could be mortr skrn in the denunciation of sin than the gracious Saviour. He gave it no quarter, :From the first he declared himself its deadly enemy. He came "to destroy the works of the devil" (1 John iii. 8). 'l'bere is no shadow of e.xcuse for the notion that we ca.n find in Christ a shelter from the rigorous requirements of morality, so that we- <1B. xxxv. 1-15.J THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. 229