Vers.10-14.-.An old sin. "For thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever. In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the strangers CRrried away captive his forces, and foreigners entered into his gates, 1md cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them" etc. 'l'hese words present to us an old sin in one or two aspects. ' I. HEHE IS AK OLD SIN WORKING lN THE HISTORY OF POSTERITY. "For thy violence against thy brother Jacob," etc. What was the sin? "And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him: and Esau said in his heart The days of mourning for my father a.re at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob,: (Gen. xxvii. 41). Envy W&S the sin; and this envy towards Jacob, or Israel was transmitted from generation to generation. The spirit of envy that was kindled i~ the heart of Esau towards bis brother Jacob glowed and fl.&med with more or less intensity for ages in the soul of Edom towards the descendants of Jaoob. Edom continued to be the inveterate foe of Israel. Neither a man's sinful passion nor his deed stops with himself. ~ike a spring fro~ the ~ountain, i~ ruus down posteritf, often g~thering volume as 1t. proceeds. No smner liveth to hunself. One man's sme may vibrate in the soul of another a thousand nges on. This is shown in almost every chapter of the history of nations. The fire of vengeance which the cruelty of one nation kindles in its victim will not expire at the conquest. It will burn on until it breaks out in fury, and wreaks vengeance upon its own conqueror. Hence he that taketh the sword always perishes by the sword. Thie fact should: 1. Impress w with the awfulness of our e:nstence. It is true that in one sense we are little beings, occupying but a small space in the universe, and soon pass away and are forgotten; still there goes forth from us an influence that shall never end. We throw seed into the mind of the world that will germinate, grow, and multiply indefinitely, and yield harvests of misery or joy. 2. ImpreSB us with the duty of every lover of the universe to protest against sin in individuals. A man may say, " What does it matter to you that I sin?" My reply is, "It does matter to me as a benevolent citizen of the universe. If your sin merely damned yourself, it is sad enough; but it does not end there; its pernicious influence on the universe is inconceivably great and calamitous." II. HERE IS AN OLD SIN REPROBATED BY Goo IN THE HISTORY OF POSTERITY. God's eye traced it from Esau down. How does he treat it? He reprobates it. "For thy violence age.inst thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou ehalt be cut off for ever. In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerw;alem, even thou wast as one of them. But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of brother," etc. Delitzsch renders the words," Look not at the day of thy brother," and regards vers.12-14 as a prohibition; others do not acknowledge the authority for that rendering. These Edomites, it would seem from the words, did stand on the other side wiLhout rendering help in the day when the stranger entered Jerusalem; they did "rejoice" over the children of Judah at that period; they did " speak proudly " in the day of distress; they did" enter into the gate" of God's people in the" day of calamity;" they did " lay hands on their substance" on that day; they did stand in the " cross- way" and "cut" those off" that did escape." The omniscient eye saw all this. The ,Tews appeal to him to recompense the cruelty of these Edomitee, "Remember, 0 Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof J " (Ps. cx.x.xvii 7). For all this God says shame should come 1n them, and shame did come. They a.re blotted from the history of the living. Ged condemns sin wherever it is, however it comes, and whatever its pedigree. It may be uked-lf it were the envy of Esau that thus came down from age to age in his posterity, and worked these deeds of crime, where is the justice of God in reprobating them? They only inherit the iniquities of their fathers. We answer: 1. Sin is essentially abhom,nt to Jehovah. It is the "abominable thing" which he hates: 2. The very 1-21,] THE BOOK OF OilADIAH. 37
el!88noe of sin is He freeness. Bin le not a forced act; no deed performed by a mn n against his will hae any moral charact.er, or can in a moral sense be either good or bnrl. The posterity of Esau were not compelled to cherish and develop the envy of their great progenitor. Each one could have quenched it. Each, no doubt, felt it to be contrary to hJs moral nature, and that it ought to be expelled. The Almighty knew that each man was free; hence hie reprobation of sin wherever found.-D. T.