The Pulpit Commentary — Micah — Section 60

in the nation, and the gospel of God is seen to have prepared the way for the reign of God. II. THE BEIClN OF Gon WILL BE A REIGN OF PEAOE, war is a terrible defiance of God and of his authority, and yet it is one of the most popular forms of wickedness. Tbe press, the clubs, "the forces," often make it hard even for a government co.lling itself Christian to resist the gusts of popular passion which sweep nations into war. Even as late 1\5 1882 we were told that on board the ironclads off Alexandria the countenances of the officers fell as the sight of a flag of truce made it possible that after all their new guns might not be tested by a bombard:nent. Yet even this unclean spirit will be exorcised by the power of the gospel of Christ, which has already been at work in many ways; e.g. "the truce of God" in the Middle Ages, providing for the suspension of hostilities during Advent, Lent, and other seasons; the sparing of the lives of prisoners; the care and kindness shown towards the wounded; the power of the public opinion, even of a minority, to restrain governments from hastily rushing into war; the introduction of arbitration, in which the British Government set so honourable sn example at Geneva in 1872. In such cases it may be said that God, through the judgments of upright men, is called to "judge between many peoples," and "reprove" even strong nations when they wronged their neighbours. Thus gradually war will be banished, even as duelling and other abominations have been. "Fraternity~ will be one of the watchwords of the future, and war will be regarded as fratricide, Lucian says of Christians, "Their first Lawgiver persuaded them that they are all brethren." Christianity is working towards the restoration of that ideal. Then Solomon's days shall be reproduced in more than their ancient glory. New princes of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts at the court of the Prince of Peace, whose subjects shall" dwell safely, and be quiet from fear of evil." The glorious visions of Ps. lxxii.; Isa. Ix., etc., shall be fulfilled," for the mouth of the Lord of hosts bath spoken it." Learn: 1. That the only hope of true national righteousness is in the reign of Christ. 2. That the Christian who witnesses for unpopular truths is the noblest among patriots. 3. That the sanctification of individual souls through the power of the gospel is the surest method of securing the ultimate and universal reign of Christ on earth.-E. S. P. Vers. 6, 7.-The restoration of brael. It is the Gentile nations for whom the blessings of "the last days" have just been predicted (vers. 2-4). The new Mount Zion of the Messiah's days will have a mag □ etic power on "the East and the West" (Matt. viii. 11; John :x.iL 32). But Israel, through whom these blessings reach the nations, shall not be excluded from a share in them. Yet the form of the prediction reminds w, of the abject condition of God's ancient people and of the gradual extension of the glories of Messiah's reign over them. I. TREIB ABJECT CONDITION. They are described as: 1. HaUing. This was the result of internal infirmity or of injury from without, or of both. The Jewish people. at the advent were suffering both from ecclesiastical and moral corruptions, which made them figurativt:ly like the folk at Bethesda, "halt, withered, impotent." 2. "Driven out." Multitudes had been driven oat of their heritage in Palestine by the decrees of conquerors or the oppressions of foreign tyrants. Centuries before, Jeremiah had declared.. "Israel is a scattered sheep; the lions have driven him away: first the King of Assyria. bath devoured him; and last this Ne!'uch_ad~ezzar ~i1;1~ of Babylon ~ath broken his bones" (1. 17). In subsequent centunes s1m1lar capt1v1t1es or oppress10ns were endured at the hands of the Ptolemies, the Seleucidre, the ldumeans, and the Romans. Those who remained were as strangers in their own fatherland. And soon a far more fearful catastrophe scattered them from one end of the heavens to the other, after the destrur:tion of their city by the Romans. "But we must wander witheringly In other lands to die ; .And where our fathers' e,shes be Our own must never lie : Oar temple bath not left a stone, .And Mockery sits on Salem's throne." (Byron.) OH, IV, 1-13.] THE BOOK OF MICAH. 61