"unfo.ithfulacas" iu its widest sense, extending far beyond the aiu of unchastity. We note- ' J. UNFAITHFULNESS TO Goo 18 THE ROOT-SIN OF ALL OTHEil FORMS OF INFIDELITY. 'l'he sins denounced in the earlier verses of this bOQk are quite sufficient to account for the, criminality here exposed, Those who profane the "covenant" and the "holiness" of God .in their heacts, and who do not seek "to give glory" to his Name (ver. 2), are easily betrayed into glaring acts of wrong against the nearest and dearest on earth. "The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways," and those ways are all downward ways. The first sin of Adam and Eve led to mutual recrimination. Dis- obedience towards the heavenly Father paves the way for discord in the earthly home. "Therefore take heed to your spirit" (ver. 16). II. THIS INFIDELITY SHOWED ITSELF IN TWO FORMS. 1. In unlawful marriages. (Ver. 11.) This was a proof of unfaithfulness both to the national covenant (Ezra ix. 10-12) and to God's purpose in marriage. Similar unfaithfulness shows itself nuder the Christian covenant when such precepts as 1 Cor. vii. 39 (" only in the Lord") and 2 Cor. vi. 14-;18 are set at naught. For a Christian to marry an enemy of Christ, "a covetous person who is an idolater," or a slave of "the god of this world," is a breach of the sanctity of marriage. It tends to degrade it into a carnal union; it certainly grossly_neglects its object as a spiritual bond, in which a)l material considerations are to be held as subordinate to that" great mystery," typical of the Divine union of Christ and his Church. By such sin a professed disciple of Christ virtually cuts himself off from the commonwealth of the saiats, that he may join the congregation of the aliens. He thus exposes himself to the judgment of God, who will be impartial in his treatment of all classes, of those that .lead into sin and those that are led (ver. 12; Job xii. 16), and who will accept no "offering," no outward service, that might be regarded as a blind to the eyes of the Judge, presented by a man who sought thus to compound for his sin (Prov. xxi. 27; :xxviii. 9; Isa. i.1_3-17; Amos v. 21-24). 2. In ill treatment of their lawful wives. This is the second form of unfaithfulness, and reminds us that " the way of siri"is downhill, and one violation of the covenant is an inlet to another " (M. Henry) .. Urifaithfulaess to the marriage vow in any form (=kindness or neglect, as well as adultery· or divorce) is here condemned by the following cons:derations. (1) Religious services are marred by moral delinquencies (ver. 13). It is a terrible thing to. send any ~oul weeping in its prayer to God, and really, if _not intentionally, ·appealing to him for avengement. How much worse if that soul should be the partner of thy life I God seeks songs, not groans, in our services. He desires unity in the home, "that your prayers be not hindered''. (1 Pet. iii. 7). How, then, must he regard _the prayers of a wife deprecating the unkindness of her husband! (2) God was a witness of every word and vow at the marriage ceremony. Through the following years be notes how those promises are kept. He is still a witness of every act of wrong on the part of either husband or wife. And he is "the avenger of a.II such" (1 'l'hess. iv. 6). (3) The tender relations cruelly violated. Aggravations oi this sin are.suggested by each of the terms," companion," "wife of thy youth," "wife of thy covenant." (4) God's design in marriage (ver.15). Polygamy is fatal to godly family life ,and trainin:t, and discorcj. most perilous to.it. (5) The infectious infl.ueace of sins. ·If we 'dear treacherously against our "brother" (ver. 10), we tempt him to act iu a _similar way, .This is applicable to the influence of an unfaithful husband on his wife, or on other, husbands or on the unmarried whom by his example he may debauch and 'destroy ... ';rhe ma.st~t and the scholar, the blind leader of the blind,-all shall fall into the ditch. (6) The Divine hatred which such sins iac"4r (ver. 16). There are several things which we a~e expressly told in Scripture God hates (cf. Deut. xii. 31; xvi. 22; Pcov. vi. 16-19; viii. 13; Isa. lxi. 8; Jer. xliv. 4). Among these things divorce and every other form of conjugal treachery and unfaithfulness are included. Men may make light of many of these sins, may patronize the criminals, and deride their censors. But see Luke xvi. 14, 15, and the lesson it suggests. What God hates may we dread, and seek never to be najust in the least, lest we be unjust also in much!
Ver. 10.-The bro'therhood of men. "Liberty, equality, fraternity," are Divine ideas, though men have sometimes striven to embody them in crude or even repulsive • and b~utal forms. Men are equals, inasmuch as they are all the creatures of the one TRE BOOK OF MAtAOltt. tos. n. 1-11.