Vers. 1, 2.-Parable of the rain. I. MAN'S GREAT NEED. Without rain the ground is impoverished and dead. So is the soul without God. No good fruit. 11. MAN'S GREAT RESOURCE. Not idols or enchantments, not hum.an devices or philosophies, but appeal to God. He will withhold no good from them that walk uprightly. • III. MAN'S GREAT CONSOLATION. 1. Sweet. (Cf. Deut. xxxii. 2.) 2. Timely. God· does not give in an arbitrary way, but according to his own wise and holy laws. When rain· is most needed, it is most appreciated. So in spiritual things (cf. P,. xliv. 3). 8. .Abwndant. "Showers." Rains sometimes slight, partial, or temporary. Here promise of "abundance of rain" (1 Kings xviii. 41), meeting the needs of aU, reaching to the furthest limits of the parched land. 4. Invigorating and fertilizing. "To every one grass in the field." Calls for thankfulness and joy.-F.
Ver. 8.-God's visits to his people. Indicate- I. HIS CONCERN FOR THEIR WELFARE. II. HIS ·PURPOSE TO DO THEM GOOD, III. His DELIGHT IN THEIR HEALTH AND PROSPERITY. Wordsworth gave as a motto for a dial, "Light, come, visit me." So we should lay open our souls to the coming of God, and welcome his visils.-F.
Vers. 4, 6.-The strength of states. I. CAPABLE RULERS. "Corner-stone," on which the fabric rests. The stability of the whole depends on the foundation. II. JusT ADMINISTRA'l'ION. "Nail "-what binds and fixes. The laws must not only be just, but justly applied. Forms of government vary according to the circum- stances and neods of the people. There is much truth in Pope's saying, " Whate'er is best ndministered is best." Ill. AMPLE RESOURCES. "Battle bow" may stand for implements of war. l\Ieans of defence. The weapons are nothing compared to the men who wield them. True citizens, devoted to the right, giving themselves and their all for the defence of truth and liberty, and for the advancement of the general jl;Ood. 112 THE BOOK OF ZECHARIAH. [on. x.1-12
IV. NATIONAL INTIEPENDRN0E. Enlightenment. Love of l'recdom and justice, Purity of domestic life. Superiority to passion and vain-glory. Courage in duty. Power not only to hold their own, but to ben.r themselves generously towards the Yanquished, and to overcome evil with good. "What constitutes e. state? Not high-raised battlements or laboured mound, Thiok we.Us or moated gate; Not oities proud, with spire and turret crowned, Nor bays, nor broad arm'd ports, Where, laughing at the storm, rich navies ride; Bnt men, high-minded Christian men." F. ,ers. 6-12.-Redemption. I. CONFLICT RESULTING IN VIOTORY. II. 'VICTORY RESULTING IN lTh'"ION. This does not always happen. There have been wars that have bred more wars, and victories that have left strong hates and bitter memories prolon.~ed for generations. Besides, union may be based on defeat in the in tercst of the conqueror and not of the conquered; more formal than real, more a thing of covenants and legal fictions than the free choice of the people. But here it is real and true. The middle wall of partition has been ta~en away. Enmity has given place to love. Jealousy and strife, to brotherhood and peace. IIL U !.,oN RESULTING IN HAPPD."ESS. There have been. examples of union with 't"arious results. The union of England and Scotland has been productive of the highest good to both countries. The union with Ireland has not been so happy. We see a beautiful example of prosperity under just covenants and laws in the United States of America.. Here the highest and best results are foreshadowed. 1. Increase of strength. 2. Genera.I freedom. 3. Abounding prosperity.-F. Ver. 9.-The hand of God in Jewish history. I. IN TBEm LONG DESCENT. Origin of nations is generally obscure. As difficult to find as the source of the Nile. The Jews are like their own Jordan. They are the only people that can trace their descent.· " Children of Abraham." Two friends were visiting the museum at Berlin. ' One said how strange it was to look at the intellectual features of Julius Cresar, and to think of his triumphal march northward when the Britons were but roving barbarians. "Speak for your own ancestors," answered the other, who was a Jew; "as for mine, they were singing the psalms of David., and worshipping God as members of his true Church on earth, centuries before Julius Cresar was born!" IL IN THE VICIBSITUDES OF THEIR HISTORY. "As the modern traveller surveys the remains of the arch of Titus at Rome, he feels bewildered in endeavouring to realize the distant date of its erection ; and yet it commemorates only the last of a long series of Jewish dispersions. Yon read of the fragments of antiquity dug up from the ruins of Babylon, and your mind is carried still further back than by the Roman arch; but the Jew possibly formed that Babylonian brick, and imprinted on it those arrow-headed characters. The pyramids of Egypt take your imagination still further back; the Jew not improbably helped to build the oldest of them. Time was young when God said to Abram, 'I will make of thee a great nation'" (Dr. Harris). In the various dispersions we see the fulfilment of Scripture (Deut. x.xviii. 64-67) and the preparation for the gospel of Christ (Acts ii. 5, 9-11). Ill. IN THE PERMANENCY OF TREIB CHARACTER, From Jacob down to our own day we see the same prevailing elements of character. Their very physiognomy is that painted on the walls of Thebes. They are still a separate people. Their purity of blood, their education and training throughout the ages, have raised them high physically and intellectually. In the struggle for existence, they seem an instance of the survival of the fittest. IV. IN THE GREATNESS OF THEIR DESTINY, Preserved-but why? Surely for some great purpose. Witnesses for God.. Servants of righteousneSB. Ministers of the cross (Rom. xi. 1-27).-F. Ym. 10-12.-T/ie great exodus. From Egypt-the type (cf. Isa. xi. 11-16). OH, X, 1-12.] THE BOOK OF ZECHARIAil. 113