_Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice _ GOD’S CONTROVERSY WITH ISRAEL In this text we have God offering to plead before the sinner. The parties, who are they? On the one part, the Lord of universal nature. On the other part, man, Israel, the Church. The manne... [ Continue Reading ]
_For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of servants; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam _ REASONS FOR GRATITUDE Ingratitude often meets with, what it always deserves, the most grievous punishment. The highest aggravation of this ingratitude... [ Continue Reading ]
_O My people, remember now _ A DIVINE READING This chapter is a pathetical expostulation of God with His chosen people, the Jews, for their ungracious demeanour and miscarriage towards Him. This expostulation is carried in a gracious manner. God pleads the justice and equity of His cause by a thr... [ Continue Reading ]
_Wherewith shall I come before the Lord _ PLEASING GOD This is a momentous question, which the world has ever been asking--“How shall we approach God? ” For men feel that they are separated from Him,--that there is something which prevents access, and they have sought how to remove the obstacles... [ Continue Reading ]
_But he hath shewed thee, o man, what is good _ PIETY AND TRUE RELIGION I. What is good? You may conceive of true piety as of a tree of life planted in the midst of Paradise, in the midst of the Church, spreading as it were its branches; whereof these three in the text are the fairest. Justice and... [ Continue Reading ]
_The lord’s voice crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name, hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it _ THE VOICE OF GOD IN HIS JUDGMENTS I. This text announces that there is a message sent from God, The voice of the Lord, as the written Word, is the ordinary, the appointed m... [ Continue Reading ]
_The scant measure which is abomination _ CIVIC SINS In these verses we have a sample of the crimes which abound in the city, and which would bring on the threatened judgment. I. Their variety. 1. Here is fraud. Fraud is one of the most prevalent crimes in all cities. 2. Here is violence. “The... [ Continue Reading ]
_For the rich men thereof are full of violence _ TRYING THE IMPOSSIBLE The folly of expecting real prosperity by committing acts of injustice, or pursuing courses of sin, is here forcibly represented by comparing it to the absurdity of attempting to run horses upon a rock, or to plough the rock wi... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap _ USELESS LABOUR Mark the vexation of it--sowing and not reaping; sowing, and somebody else reaping. Here is the uncontrollable element in life. A man says, I certainly did tread out the olives, and I have not a small vessel full of oil with which to anoint... [ Continue Reading ]
_And the statutes of Omri are kept _ OMRI AND AHAB: LESSONS WORTH STUDY On the long dark roll of human infamy there are but few darker names than those of Omri and Ahab. Learn-- I. The religious sentiment in man is often terribly perverted. Omri and Ahab were not idolaters themselves, but they e... [ Continue Reading ]