for 11~ by MeSBiRh; and Rhall have ite complete conaummaUon In the judgment of the grent dRy. II. DEl!TRUOTION OF THE ENEMIES OF Gon'e l'IIOPLE, 1. Slmultaneo-.ia with tho yenr of t.be redeemed shall be the year of recompense for tho controversy of Zion. 'l'ho 111\h'RI ion of God's people and the destruction of their enemies go h11.nd in h11.nd. together, '!'hey are frequently connooted In time, almost always in prediction; 2. 'l'ho piece as well RB the time is in,licatc>d, namely, the valley where Jehoshaphat gained hiR notable victory, and where the allies elew one another, as if a similar fate awaited nll the enemies of lsl'llel; or the valley 80 called ln the neighbourhood, and within view of J ~n~salem, that their destruction might be within view of the very people they eought to 1n1ure; or, as the name denotes, the "valley of judgment," for whatever be tho particular place intended, it will be a fla.ce of justice. 3. Tho destruction shall proceed =rding to strict justice. God wil plead the cauae of his people in proof that he' deals judicially, not capriciously, nor causele88ly, with their enemies. In this -way. their destruction shall be seen to be the result of a judici;,.I proc88B, and fully deserved. 4. 'l'here is an enumeration of the pleas advanced., and an example of the pleadin11; adopted. (1) Among ~he former are the dispersion of Israel among foreign and far-off, nationalities, the dins1on of their land, the distribution of the inhabitants, the con- tempt poured on them, the cruelty practised upon them, nnd the despoiling of their treasures, secular and sacred. (2) The method of pleading is expressive of deep and. deserved indignation. Identifying himself with hie people, he indignantly inquires- What have ye to do with me, that is, with my people? What injury have they done you? What provocation have they given you? Or, if we adopt the .alternative read- ing of" What are ye to me?" the gist of this indignant interrogatory is-What interest have ye in me? What claim have ye upon me? Of what value are ye to me, that I should overlook such unjust and unjustifiable conduct on your part? Further, he ~ks-Will ye requite some supposed injury I have done you, or some imaginary provocation I have given you? Will ye requite me by taking revenge on my people, with whom I am 80 closely identified? Or do you mean to wreak your gratuitous malice on my people, and, out of sheer malignity, inflict on them injuries altogether. unprovoked? Have you shut your eyes on the result of such conduct, which must be a ~wift and rudden recompense upon your own head? (3) The common maxim of "Ill-got, ill-gone," is exemplified in the conduct of these ~nemies of God and his people. What they got by one sin, they lavished on another. The Hebrew captives, whom .they had taken by violence, they kept in home servitude for domestic drudges to them- selves or others, or transported to a distant and foreign land, and sold into slavery, .vhile the proceeds of the barter in the one case, or of sale in ihe other, they expended ;1lu their lusts. The silver and the gold and goodly pleasant things which they plun,- dered from the people, or temple of the Lord, they squandered upon idolatry. It was a common custom among the ancients to hang up in temples spoils taken from the enemy, ll.1,d trophies of victory; thus the ark of God, when captured by the PhilistineR, was transferred to the temple of Dagon, the fish-god. With what a black catalogue of crimes these enemies of the people of God were chargeable I There were violence and rapine, slave-dealing, drunkenness and lust, and idolatry. (4) The law of retaliat~on also applies here. They had sold the children of Judah and Jerusale°:1 to the Gre?1~ns for expatriation to lands remote, where they would have no opportunity of comb1D1Dg for common safety, or whence they could never have the hope of returning to their ?ountry. Now in turn and as a just retributiuu, their children would be sold to the children of Judah and by them to the Sabealll!, a people fa.r off. Whether this was accomplished', as soO::e suppose, in the wars of the Maccabees, and their victories over the ·enemies of the Jews, or not, certain it is that the principle of retribution finds here a fitting place for its operation. The justice of this principle was acknowledged by Adoni-bezek, when he ~aid, " Threescore and ten kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gatbered their meat under my table : as I have done, BO God bath. requited me." ThiB principle is very widely prevalent in the affairs of men, not only by way of retri:- Lutic,n, but also in the matter of recompense. The evil that men do is returned on their own lH:ad; the good likewise has its reward.
Vere. g_ H.- PrCJVidenu, [HeJJUh'ation, and prevention. Circwnstances of great flit, tll. 1-21.] TIJF, BoOK or JO"E:t. 55