The Pulpit Commentary — Obadiah — Section 22

blight and ruin so common in the land? 0 my soul, come not thou into the secret I Ee11u'e cruelty and blood-guiltiness were never so bad as the crimes, unpunished and undetected, of our own day. And shall not God search them out? "Verily there is a God that judgeth the earth." Let us for ourselves pray t.o be kept from the beginnings of all hatred, malice, and uncharitableneee. God is love. Ma.y we have hie mind I May we show ourselves the children of him who maketh his sun to shine on the just and on the unjust I "For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? . . . Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."-A. 0. T. Ver. 7.-Unholy alliamcea. ".All the men of thy confederacy have brought thee even to the border: the men that were at peace with thee have deceived thee, and prevailed against thee; they that eat thy bread have laid a wound under thee." Companionship is of Divine appointment. Tbe Lord God chose it in his wisdom for himself, and so created angels and men. He might have lived in majestic solitude, in all the sublimity of hie one eternal presence; but no, he created angels that excel in strength, hearkening to the voice of hie word, and he macle man in his own likeness. Companionship, then, is after the Divine mind. Of the first Adam God said, " It is not good for man to be alone." Of the second Adam it is written, "Of him the whole family in heaven and earth is named." Bo with wideness of meaning the psalmist declares that" he setteth the solitary in families." We know the value of association. Individuals make up households, households linked together make up kingdoms, and kingdoms united are a bulwark of society. Bnt there are two kinds of companionship. " He that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed." Our text tells us of Edom's unholy alliance, which was probably with Arabian tribes. "The men that were at peace with thee have deceived thee ; . . . they that eat thy bread have le.id a wound under thee." The marginal reading is more exact," the men of thy peace ... the men of thy bread." Here, then, was a con- federacy ruinous to Edom. "All the men of thy confederacy have brought thee even to the border: the men of thy peace have deceived thee; the men of thy bread have laid a wound under thee." Edom in extremity expected help, but, instead of that, the allies send hie ambassadors back to the frontier, as much as to say, "Shift for yourselves. We are not going to :help you. Look within your own borders." And thus, too late, Edom sees the folly of confederacy with Arab tribes. Now he is held up to us as a beacon of warning, assuring us of the disappointing character of worldly confederacy. "CurHed is the man that trusteth in man, 'ind maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord" (Jer. xvii. 6). Esau had been like a weak clematis clinging to a broken reed. In the time of the storm the feebleness of the support was manifest. They only a.re safe who can say," The Lord is my Stay." Esau had rejected the Lord, and therefore, although exalted amongst the stars, was brought down to the ground. The men of his peace had deceived him. The men of his bread had laid a. wound under him. Would that nations and iP.dividuals acknowledged in life and practice that salvation is of the Lord! .All human alliances are poor and inadequate. In the time of our greatest need this will most be seen. Recall the dying words of Julius Clllsar to Brutus, whose wound had been the worst of all. Recall the Earl of Strafford's words, when he found the king (after many assurances that he would never do so) had signed his death-warrant," Put not your trust in princes, nor in any of the s,,ns of men." Recall Cardinal Wolsey's last words," Had I but served God as faithfully as I have served my king, he would not, in mine old age, have abandoned me to my enemies," "The men of thy peace," says the prophet, "have deceived thee; the men of thy bread have laid a wound under thee." Men who refuse the help and succour of the everlasting arms, of everlasting Love, and everlasting Strength, will find that wherein they trusted a festering wound, bringing pain, and anguish, ue dishonour, and shame. True union is strength, but it must be with right characters and on right principles. The ungodly are described in Prov. i. 14 as saying, "Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse." 'l"'.h.ey allure to a false confederacy. Better have no purse at all than be allied to the ungodly. Look at the lonely Elijah. How sternly, how heroically, isolated I He refuses to share in the one purse of evil- doers. He will trust God for food. He who f011da the ravens can ruali;e even the OBADIAH, 0 18 THE BOOK OF OBADIAH. [1---21.