The Pulpit Commentary — Micah — Section 31

willingly." He presides over hie own laws and executes his threat,q; but it is Hin, not God, who ie the great destroyer, "Evil shall slay the wicked" (Ps. xxxiv. 21). II, M1moY IS Gon's DELIGHT, "Do not my words do good," etc. ? 'fhe special reference seems to be to God's words through his prophets, so that it was a glaring sin as well as folly to try to silence God's prophets (ver. 6), whose words were so whole- some (Jer. xv.16), because they revealed God's Name, and therefore the path of peace and safety (Ps. ix, 10). The prophets would have grievously misre_P.resented God's Name if they had spoken comfort to the wicked in their wickedness (Isa. iii. 10, 11). Contrast Zedekiah with Micaia.h and Elijah in their conduct towarus Ahab; and cf. Ezek. xiii, with Ps. xviii. 25, 26; xxxiv. 15, 16. To us God's worcls do good still more abundantly. The psalmist's words, "Thou hast magnified thy word above all thy Name," are true of the revelation of God in "the word of the truth of the gospel." Yet even the gospel, though offering mercy to the vilest, can do good only to those who deal truly with it and thus walk uprightly. The perversion of the greatest blessing may be the most fatal curse. The word of life will be the word of judgmen t (John xii. 48) ; ministers may become a "savour of death,'' and Christ a stone that shall grind to powder. "When the gospel becomes deadly to a man, it is a terrible thing; to die of a gospel plague is a terrible way of dying" (John Howe). The revelation of God's delight in mercy by Christ's sacrifice for sinners makes it possible for the vilest to walk uprightly. But salvation is from sin itself. Character is essential to heaven, or even God oould not make it heaven to us.-E. S. P. Ver. 10.-Sin, the great disturber. It has been so from the beginning; it will be so to the very end. I. SIN WAS THE DISTUBBEB OF THE EABLmST EARTHLY PARADISE. It was not the serpent or the temptation, but Adam's sin, that destroyed our first parents' rest. They might have known of the presence of the tempter, have seen his trail, heard his hiss, and been conscious of his solicitations, and yet have conti[lned in the rest of unbroken confidence in God. But when sin entered their hearts, rest fled, and guilt, shame, and fear took its place. If allowed to remain in the garden, it would no longer have been an Eden, a Paradise to them. The groans of creation begin to mingle with the reproaches of their own hearts. But the voice is heard, " Arise, and depart," elc. (Gen. iii. 22-24). II. SIN EJECTED THE FIBST INHABITANTS OF CANAAN. Even then it was "the glory of all lands," a splendid inheritance (Gen. xiii. 10; Numb. xiv. 7, 8; Deut. viii. 7-9). But sin of the foulest kind was there. Vice and crime rendered real rest impossible. The land is represented as stained, saturated witli sin, no lol'-ger able to tolere.t.e any further iniquity ( cf. Gen. xv. 16) ; but ready to "spue out " i ta inhabitants (Lev. xviii. 24-28 ; xx. 22, 23). 'l'he swnmons went forth-Arise, and depart, yet not to exile, but to utter destruction. Ill. SIN CHANGED TilE BEST OF CANAAN INTO A LAND OF UNREST TO THE CHOSEN NATION, Canaan was promised as one of God's rests-not the highest, but none tbe less real (Deut. xii. 9; Ps. xcv. 11). What a rest it might have been, enriched with its natural resources, blessed with peace and brotherhood among the tribes, and crowued with the assurance of Divine protection (Ex:od. xxxiv. 2i; Deut. xii. 10). .A dim vision of the fulness of rest they might have enjoyed was seen in the reign of Solomon the peaceful (1 Kings iv. 25). But throughout their whole history they allowed sin to mar their inheritance and break in upon their rest. There were periods of special demoralization, as in the days of the judges and of the later kings. They cast on t the fatherless and the widow (ver. 9), they plundered the peaceable (ver. 8), they indul~ed in some of the abominations of the old Canaanites (1 Kings xxii. 46; 2 Kings xxiii. 7). They could therefore have no rest themselves, but were doomed to exile (Rev, xiii. 10). The land is represented as once more taking sides with God and turning against those who abused his goodness. The false report of the spies (Numb. xiii. 3~) received a fulfilment, as Moses foretold (Lev. xxvi. 18-35) and Ezekiel described (xxxvi. 13-19), as though an earthquake or a flood drove the sinners far away (Amos viii. 8). lllust.: Pompeii. So has it been in the history of nations ever since (wars, slavery, despotism, revoluti.ons, etc.). Illustrate from the Indian chief with hie tribe fleeing from his foes, till, 011 the banks of a splendid river, ha 30 THE BOOK OF MIOAH. [OR, D, 1-18,