The cff'eet mny be owing to tho judicial but he is n~med here as the founder of thnt i;terility of the wil, but more likely to the evil dynnsty which gave Ahnb to 1srael, aml in<"nTI!ions of the enemy. Trochon quotes the murderess Athnliah (who is oalled in Virgil, • Eel.,' i. 70- 2 Kings viii. 26, " the daughter ot Omri "} " Impins luec tam oulta novalia miles babe- to Judah. The people keep his atntutca in- bit? stead of the Lord's (Lev. xx. 22). The works Barbe.rue has segetca? en, qno discor<lia of the house of Ahab are their crimes and cives sins, especially the idolRtrous praotioes ob- Produxit miseros I his noe oonsevimns served by that family, suoh as the worship· agrosl" of Baal, which beoome the nntionnl reli,..ion (I Kings xvi. 81, eto.). Suoh aposto.sy l1ad Tread the olives. Oli'res were usually "· disnslrous effect upon the n~ighbonring pressed or crushed in a mill, in order to ~mgd?m of JudRh (2 Kings viii. 18). Walk extm<"t the oil; the process of treading was in their counsels. Take your tone and policy probably adopted by the poor. Gethsemane from them. Tha.t I should make thee. •• The took its name from the oil·presses there. punishment was ea oertainly .connected with 'l'he oil was applied to the person for com- the sin, in the purpose of God, as if it!l- fort, luxury, a.nd oeremony, and was almost infilction had been the end at wbioh they indispensable in a hot country. Sweet wine. aimed" (Henderson). The prophet here Thou shalt tread the new wine of the vintage, threatens a threefold penalty, ae he ha.d but sha.lt have to leave it for the enemy mentioned a threefold guiltiness, A desola- (comp . .Amos v. 11). The Septuagint has tion; rl4>civ,crµ.&11 (Septuagint): terditionem here an interpolation, Kcil it.4>11v,cr8~cr,.,.11, (Vulgate). According to Keil, an object voµ.,µ.a. >..11Dii µ.ou, "And the ordinances ofmy of horror," as Dent. xxviiL 87; Jer. u:v. people shall vanish away," which has 9. Micah addresses Jerusalem itself in the arisen partly from a oonfnsion between first cla.use, its inhabitants in the seoond, Omri, the proper name in the next verse, and the whole nation in the last An 1md am.mi," my people." hiasing; i.e. an objeot of derision, as Jer. Yer. 16.-The threatening is closed by xix. 8; xxv. 18, eto. Therefore (and) ye repeating its caUBe: the punishment is the sha.11 bear the reproach of my people. Ye just reward of ungodly conduct. The first shall have to hear yourselves reproaohed at part of the verse corresponds to vers. 10-12, the mouth of the heathen, in that, though the second part to vers. lS-15. The statutes ye were the Lord's peculiar • people, ye of Omri. The st.lLtntes are the roles of were cast out nnd given into the hands worship prescribed by him of whom it is of yonr enemies. The Septuagint, from 11, said (I Kings xvi 25) that be "wrought different reading, renders, Kcil 311dli71 >..ciGw evil in the eyes of the Lord, and did worse 11.~1/,•cr8,, •• Ye shall receive the reproaches than all that were before him." No special of nntions,'' which is like Ezek. xx.xiv. 29; "statutes" of his e.re anywhere mentioned; :u:xvi. 6, 15. •
HOMILETICS. Vera. 1-5.-.77ie memories of the way. Truly affecting are those portions of Scripture in which God is represented as expostulating and pleading with erring men (Hos. vi. 4; xi. 8; Isa. i. 16-20; Jer. ii. 1-14). The opening verses of this chapter are of the same character. God testifies, and in so doing calls upon the mountains and hil11! and strong foundations of the earth which have stood from age to age to bear him witness and confirm his testimony (ver. 2). "0 my people," he cries, "what have I done unto thee," etc.? What sadness, what piercing grief. what ineffable sorrow, is implied in these words! Truly God grieves over sinning men. He is not impassive, bnt is infinitely sensible to the sins and sorrows of men, and every trans- gression strikes a. pang into the heart of the Divine Father. Surely this sorrow of Divine love over the evil1! inflicted by man upon himself through sin should lead us back to God in humility, in penitence, and in submission to his authority and will. How remarkable is the faculty of memory, strengthening the affections, aiding progrl's.•, increasing enjoyment, and alleviating sorrow I Well may the poet sing of" the morn- 11:." star of memory." The prophet desired bis people to review the past of their rmtione.l history, that by these "memories of the way" they might be impelled to "return unto the Lord." Concerning these memories, note- • I. TREIB BEMA.RKABLE VARIETY. There were memories of: 1. Wondrous deliver- a.nces. From Egyptian bondage (ver. 3); from the curse pronounced by Bala.nm (ver, '"'· VI. 1-lG.] TIIE DOOK OF MICAII. 01