The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 2 — Section 412

"Man's inhumanity to man Makes countless ages mourn." I. ITS v Amous FORMS. These are: 1. Impressment. The children of Ismel were plainly and powerfully forewarned of this evil (1 Sam. viii. 11-17). 2. Taxation, It was not long before the land groaned beneath the weight of the sovereign's levies (2 Sam. x. 4). 3. Robbery of individual right, and invasion of individual liberty. It needs bat to mention the case of David's sad defection from right, and Ahab's senseless covetousness and weak yielding to his truculent queen, to be reminded how kings, even of Judah and Israel, defrauded men of their dearest rights. And if we extend the meaning of the word "prince" to any one in authority, or in power, or in possession, we think at once of the terrible oppressions, in this worst form, that have dishonoured the lands, darkened the homes, and blighted the lives of men under every sky and in every age of the world. 4. Violence. II. ITS ESSENTIAL Th'"IQUITY AND ENORMITY. For what is it, in truth? It is a shameful abuse of power. It is nothing less than a man taking from the hand of God the power or opportunity which he gave him in order that he might use for the good, the elevation, the happiness of his kind, and turning that power into an instrument of mischief and of sorrow. It is a heartless and shameless exaggeration by a man of his own personal importance, as if his comfort were everything, and an equally heart- less and shameless disregard of the wishes and the wants, the joys and the sorrows, the hearts and the homes of other people, It is a guilty perversion of the purpose and debasement of the gift of God. III. THE DEEP DIVINE DISAPPROVAL OF IT. How could the Divine Father of all human spirits see one of his children wronging, oppressing a number of his fellows, weighting them with grievous burdens or robbing them of the essential rights of their manhood or their womanhood, without deep, Divine indignation and sorrow (see Exod. iii. 7 ; 2 Kings xiii. 4 ; xiv. 26 ; Isa. i. 23, 24 ; xlix. 25 ; J er. xxii. 17 ; Hos. iv. 18; and eh. x.xii. 27)? IV. THE DIVINE PBOMIBE UNDER THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST. The time shall come when princes and powers "shall no more oppress." When Jesus Christ shall exercise his benignant sway over all nations, when his ~pirit of righteousness and of love shall lill the hearts and regulate the lives of men, then the hard hand of oppression will be taken off every shoulder ; the cruel ex.actions shall cease ; the spirit of the Christian poet will prevail, when he says- " I would rather be myself the slave And wear the bonds than fasten them on him ; " cruelty shall give place to kindness, and selfishness to considerateness; and instead of men asking-How much can I get out of the multitude to fill my purse and serve my purpose? they will ask-What can I do to enlighten, to enrich, to elevate, to bless?-C. Ver.10.-Piety and equity. "Ye shall have just balances." Devotion, when divorced from morality, is worth nothing in the sight of God. Men have thought and taught that the one thing that God (or the gods) required was to be reverently approached by his adlierents, and to receive their numerous offerings (see Micah vi. 6, 7). But bis disciples did not so learn Moses, and we have not so learned Christ. Under him we have come to understand that every good tree must bring forth good fruit, and that it is he who doeth righteousness that is righteous. In this great matter of equity between man and man it is difficult to over-estimate its religious importance. By error and failure therein we separate ourselves from God; by rectitude and fidelity therein we commend ourselves to his lovinJ favour. We take the injunction as covering more ground than the words themsdves express; and we look, therefore, at- I. THE RANGE OF ITS APPLICATION. "Ye shall have just balances" means, of course, ruore especially-Be fair in your dealings when you trade one with another; but it also means-Do what is just and upright in all your relations; do sound and thorough work at the carpenter's bench, and at the forge, when you build the house or dig the garden or plant the field; be true and faithful to your scholars, t.o your people, to your clients, to your constituents, in the schoolroom, or the pulpit, or the court, or the House of aJI. nv. 1-25.J 'fHE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. 427