Vers, 1, 2. — A usurper in the inheritance. I. Actual possessiok is not the only THING TO BE CONSIDERED. Ammou is the actual present possessor of the territory of Gad. But every paisessor must be ready upon occasion to show his title. With respect to the most trifling article the possessor must be able to make clear that it is his own, that he bought it, or inherited it, or had it given to him ; in short, that it came to him in some entirely lawful way. Ammou hal taken Gad by force, probably a very easy- thing to do in the depres-ed condition of Israel's fortunes. And if it be said in reply that Israel had originally taken this very territory of Gad by force, such a statement is, of course, quite correct. But then we have to keep in mind the typical character of Israel. Everything depends on the point of view from which we look. Certain rules of legal ownership are an indispensable necessity of present social order, but at intervals in the course of the woi Id revolutions come more or less "JLtensive, and existing legal
266 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH, [oh. xlix. 1— Sa
ownerships get utterly swept away. The Maker of the world, who is also ihe Bringer- forth of the aLiuniiancs of the soil, is to be lookeil to as the real Disposer of what he had made. And therefore, with respect to every actual possession of man, we have the question to ask — Is it as the jiussession of Ammon, or as the possession of Israel ? And chiefly we should ask the question with respect to ourselves. Whatever it be, external goods, or office, or reputation, have we got it, proceeling on the very highest principles of action, those which God himself would liave us to eiuploy ?
II. Abiding possession, and how it is to be gained. Ammon now holds Gad, as it seems, very firnjly. Whut can Israel now do to get the territory back ? That question Jehovah will answer in his own time, and Ammon will have to suffer for violently layiug hold of what was not its own. And yet, bear in mind that this very action came through Ammon's alienation from the true Lord and Guide of men. That alienation may manifest itself in different ways, but all siu and all chastisement of sin are traceable back to the alienation. Ammon was really trying to gratify a right desire in a wrong way. The desire for possession and for increase of possession, continuous and ever-expanding, is a rijiht desire. But it must be a possession assimilated to all that is best, all that is most enduring in our nature. Legal ownership is often in inverse proportion to actual enjoyment. The spiritual Israelite, the genuine, devout, habitual believer in Jesus Christ, is to be heir of all things. The things unseen and eternal are his, and they are his because a correspondence has been divinely produced between him and them (1 Cor. vi. 9 — 11 ; xv. 63). Inheritances gained after the natural fashion very soon turn out delusive. — Y.
Ver. 16. — The pride of apparent security. I. Thb real extent of the sbodbitt. Not without some cause did Edom pride itself on its position. Security is a relative word. Mountain fastnesses are a sufEcicnt defence against such attacks as Edom can measure and understand. Mountain fastnesses have done much for the cause of national liberty and independence. They ought not to be the shelter and home of brigands ; but it is right to notice their glorious place in history as the shelter and home of struggling freemen. God would not have us undervalue any security so far as it is a real security. The mistake is when we live as if all precious things could be preserved by securities wliich Providence has only given for the preservation of certain outward things. So far from our overvaluing securities coming from our own strength and external resources, it may truly he said that we rather undervalue them. If we could only use them in the right way, with insight and without prejudice, we should find many dangers of the present life gieatly dimini.'^hed.
II. The way in which a security may become a peril. Edom lives as it likes among its -great natural strongholds. Long experience has taught it exactly how to d' al with every attacking force, and it sees no danger with which it cannot effectually deal. Thus the dangers and deliverances which come out of the unseen alike escape attention. Men are protected outwardly ; they have all that heart can wish ; but mean- while the heart is left exposed to every tem| tntion. The tewer dangers there are outwardly, the more dangers there are inwardly ; and the more dangers there are outwardly, the fewer there may be inwardly. For when men live amid dangers and inconveniences to the outward life, then their eyes are open to the comparative super- ficiality of such dangers. They see how the deepest treasures of life, the most abiding ones, may remain perfectly safe while outward things are going to pieces. Better would it have been for Edom to live in the ex[)0sed plain, if thereby it had been brought t«> trust and know that God who is the only true Refuge.
III. The fallacy of seeking security in a higher deqrbib of thb essentially INSEOURE. The eagle dwells iu inaccessible heights, and thus it may be reckoned a symbol of the greatest security attainable here below. But after all, the word " inaccessible" is only a synonym for what is exceedingly difficult of attainment Courage, patience, and perseverance may do much to blot out the word " inaccessible." And if this be so from the human point of view, how much plainer is it that all human securities, however high the degree they attain in our estimate, are in the sight of Gk>d as nothing I The great thing that sends us wrong in trying to make life rwlly secure is that, instead ol fixing our thoughts on an entirely different kind of danger, we allow ourselves to act as if the only thing needful was to guard against a higher degree of the danger already
OH. xux, 1— 39.] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH. 26'(
perceived. To God dealing with the ungodly and the unrighteous, mountain and plaii^ are alike. — Y.