CHAPTER XXIX. CRITICAL NOTES.-4. He that receiveth gifts. Zöckler translates this, "a man of taxes." 7. Considereth. Literally knoweth. Zöckler and Delitzsch translate the latter clause, "the godless discern, or understand not, knowledge." 8. Bring a city, etc., literally, "set a city on fire." 9. The second clause should rather be "he rageth and laugheth (i.e,, the fool), and there is no rest." 19. Delitzsch translates this verse: - 66 Men of blood hate the guiltless and the upright; they seek his soul." 11. His mind. Rather his wrath. Keepeth it till afterward. Rather restraineth it, keeps it in the background. 13. The deceitful. Rather "the usurer." A man of usury is only a more concrete expression for a rich man, and this is the corresponding term in chap. xxii. 2 (Zöckler). 18. Vision. Rather" Revelation." "The word denotes prophetic prediction, the revelation of God by His seers (1 Sam. ix. 9); the chief function of these consisted in their watching over the vigorous fulfilling of the law, or in the enforcement of the claims of the law (Zöckler). 19. Doth not answer. Rather "there is not an answer," that is in action, by obedience. Delitzsch translates "does not conform thereto." 21. A son, etc. There are many different translations of this verse, but the general verdict of scholars seems to favour the English rendering. Luther translates the verse," If a servant is tenderly treated from youth up, he will accordingly become a squire." 24. He heareth cursing. Rather the curse, i.e., according to Zöckler, "the curse which according to the law (Lev. v. i. sq.) marks a theft as an offence demanding a heavy penalty." Delitzsch translates "he heareth the oath," and explains it "as that of the judge who adjures the partner of the thief by God to tell the truth." (See also Lev. v. 1). MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE 1. REPROOF AND DESTRUCTION. grown as a I. An act of benevolence which is often resented. When a child is reproved, and if need be chastised, for playing with the fire or neglecting its lessons, all reasonable people see that it is a kind act, and the child itself, when it has wiser, acknowledges that the reproof, even if it took the form of punishment, was an act of true benevolence, for it has saved him from bodily suffering or from intellectual loss. But it is probable that at the time the reproof was administered it was received with resentment, and the parent or friend who administered it was looked upon as an enemy. And it is so generally with men in relation to the reproofs of God, whether they come direct in the shape of providential chastisements or indirectly in the rebukes of His servants. God can have but one aim in reproving His creatures, and that is to save them from the pain which follows sin, and to increase their capabilities of happiness by bringing them under His Divine training. But this effort of God is often resisted, and man in the act of resistance is here and elsewhere likened to the ox which refuses to obey his master. He "hardens his neck" against the yoke of Divine reproof. Repentant Ephraim acknowledges that under Divine chastisement he was bullock unaccustomed to the yoke" (Jer. xxxi. 18); he resisted the efforts of his God to bring him into subjection to His wise rule, and into harmony with His benevolent purposes concerning him. The ox who does nothing but browse is living the lowest form of life which a brute can live-he eats, and sleeps, and fattens for the knife. But if his master leads him from his pasture, and harnesses him to the plough, he thereby makes him a co-worker with himself; the beast now helps to raise the corn which not only feeds himself, but feeds men also, and thus, by coming under the yoke, he becomes a more useful and valuable creature. But as he is only a brute, he is not to be blamed if he prefers the lower life to the higher. As it is with the ox and his master, so it is with the sinner and God. The godless man is content to live upon a level with the lowest level of brute life-to satisfy his bodily appetites, to eat and drink, and die and leave undeveloped all his capacities for spiritual growth and blessedness. But God would make him a co-worker with Himself in lifting him to a higher level and in making him a more useful and blessed creature. But men often resist this benevolent intention, and resent this check upon their self-will II. The resistance to many acts of benevolence bringing one act of judgment. It must at last be decided whose will is to be the law of the universe-that of rebellious men or that of the Holy God; and though the Divine longsuffering is so exceedingly great, He must, in the interests of His creatures, assert His right to their obedience. This He did in the case of His chosen people-after centuries of resisted reproof sudden and irremediable destruction came upon the nation, and those who, like the Jews, will not come under the yoke of God, must sooner or later feel His rod. If they will not be His children they must be treated as rebellious subjects. On this subject see also on chap. vi. 15, page 82. OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS. Such was the destruction of the old world, and of the cities of the plain, long hardened against the forbearance of God. Pharaoh grew more stubborn under the rod, and rushed madly upon his sudden ruin. Eli's sons "hearkened not unto the voice of their father, and in one day died both of them." Ahab, often reproved by the godly prophet, hardened his neck, and "the bow, drawn at a venture," received its commission. How must Judas have steeled his heart against his Master's reproof! Onward he rushed, "that he might go to his own place."-Bridges. Sins repeated and reiterated are much greater than sins once committed. . . As in numbers, one in the first place stands but for a single one, in the second place ten, in the third place for a hundred, so here, each repetition is a great aggravation. It is one thing to fall into the water, another thing to lie there; it is the latter that drowns men.-Swinnock. On the subject of verse 2, see on chap. xi. 10, page 206. On verse 3, see on chap. x. 1, page 137, and chap. v. 1-20, page 68. The subject of verse 4 has been treated on page 472, in the homiletics on chap. xvi. 10-15, and that of verse 5 in the homiletics on chap. xxvi. 23-28, page 721. MAIN HOMILETICS of VERSE 6. A SNARE AND A SONG. I. Sin deceives men. If a man digs a pit for the purpose of entrapping a victim, his great aim is to make the path over it as inviting as possible, and entirely to hide from sight the snare which he has laid, for, as Solomon tells us elsewhere, "Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird." (Chap. i. 17.) So when the great deceiver of men tries to lead them into sin, he makes the way of transgression look very inviting, and persuades his victim that some great gain is to be gotten by the sin. He hides from view the pit of misery which lies at the end of every path of disobedience to God. He did not let Adam and Eve see beforehand the bitter consequences of breaking the Divine. command or he would not have succeeded in accomplishing their downfall, And he does not let the young man whom he persuades to rob his master see the felon's cell beyond, or his persuasions would be ineffectual. His great aim is to make men believe there is security where there is danger-a solid rock where there is a yawning pit-probable gain where there is certain loss. Seeing that sin is against the sinner's own interests, and that there is in every man an instinct of self-preservation, we must conclude that if transgressors were not ensnared, Satan could take the captive in no other way. II. Righteousness gladdens men. God, who is the Fountain and Source of all the joy in the universe, made man for happiness. This is the portion which He intended all His creatures to possess, and which they forfeit by their own act and deed. Before sin entered our world, song was man's natural employment-it was as natural for him to rejoice in God's love as it was to breathe God's air. And in proportion as sin is banished from the human soul, and the right relation between it and God is re-established, joy and gladness re-enter the heart. The indissoluble connection which is found everywhere between righteousness of life and peace of mind is a revelation of the character of the Being who sits upon the throne of the universe, and although the song of the righteous in this world is not an unbroken one, and they have sorrow as well as joy, they are hastening to a world where "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away.' (Rev. xxi. 4.) OUTLINES and suggeSTIVE COMMENTS, Or, a cord, viz., to strangle his joy with-to check and choke all his comforts. In the midst of his mirth he hath many a secret gripe, and little knows the world where the shoe pinches him. Every fowl that hath a seemly feather hath not the sweetest flesh, nor doth every tree that bringeth a goodly leaf bear good fruit. Glass giveth a clearer sound than silver, and many things glitter besides gold. The wicked man's jollity may wet the mouth, but not warm the heart-smooth the brow, but not fill the breast. . . But though Saul could not be merry without a fiddler, Ahab without Naboth's vineyard, Haman without Mordecai's courtesy, yet a righteous man can be merry without all these.-Trapp. For Homiletics of verse 7 see on chap. xiv. 31, page 389, and chap. xxiv. 12, page 680. MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE 8. THE CITIZEN'S ENEMY AND THE CITIZEN'S FRIEND. I. A scornful man is a social calamity. A scorner is a man who has a great opinion of his own wisdom and ability, and a very low one of all who oppose him. From his self-constructed elevation he looks down upon those who refuse to obey him, and counts them his inferiors simply because they do so. This is a perilous course to pursue even when only individual interests are at stake, but when the scornful man holds the welfare of others in his hand, the disastrous effects of his conduct are more widely spread. When he is the only person who suffers from over estimating himself and underrating the strength of his opponents the issue is hardly to be regretted, but Solomon here has in his mind a public man who brings ruin upon many besides himself by his proud disdain of their foes, and by his refusal to recognise a common danger. Goliath was such a man. As the representative and champion of the Philistines he over-estimated the value of his physical strength, and set too low an estimate upon the unseen power arrayed against him, and his scorn of his enemies brought a great calamity upon his nation. A scornful man brings the heaviest calamity upon a people when he scoffs at the power of God and persuades his followers to set at nought His demands and threatenings. This was the great crime of many of Solomon's successors to the throne, and of the false prophets of Judah and Israel, and hence the sentence passed upon them and upon those who listened to them: "Wherefore hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem. Because ye have said, we have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we in agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us; for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves: Therefore thus saith the Lord God Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuges of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place," etc. (Isa. xxviii. 14-22.) II. A wise man is a social blessing. We have before seen (see on chap. xiv. 16, page 364) that it is one of the characteristics of a wise man that he recognises the presence of moral danger in relation to himself, and the same may be said concerning danger of every kind, not only as regards himself, but others also. The recognition of danger is quite distinct from the fear of it; indeed those who are most quick to discern it have generally the most courage to meet it and the most wisdom to avert it. Scornful men generally have nothing but scorn wherewith to meet a foe, but the man who is truly wise can afford to acknowledge the strength of his enemies because he is fully prepared to meet them. If he seek to turn away the wrath of man by persuasion, he will be able to back his persuasion by wise reasoning, and if he strive to avert the wrath of God he will endeavour to bring those for whom he intercedes to such a state of mind as will render them fit to appreciate Divine pardon. But if he cannot do this his own character will give effect to his prayers, and as in the case of Moses and the children of Israel, God will spare many sinners for the sake of one righteous man. OUTLINES and suggesSTIVE COMMENTS. Surely it was wisdom in the king and people of Nineveh, instead of bringing their city into a snare by scornful rebellion, to avert by timely humiliation the impending destruction. (Jonah iii. 5-10.) Let the people be gathered; let the ministers of the Lord gird themselves to their work of weeping and accepted pleaders for the land. (Joel ii. 17.) Surely "except the Lord of Hosts had left us a very small remnant" of these powerful intercessors, "we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah." (Isa. i. 9.) Praised be God! The voice is yet heard"Destroy it not, for a blessing is in it. (16. lxv. 8.) The salt of the earth xxxii. 10-14; Deut. ix. 8-20; Ps. cvi. For Homiletics on the subject of verse 9, see on chaps. xxiii. 9, and xxvi. 3-11, pages 665 and 716. MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE 10. SOUL-SEEKERS AND SOUL-HATERS. When we I. A proof of the unnatural condition of the human family. look at a human body we see that every limb and organism belonging to it ministers to the well-being of the whole frame, and thus to the comfort of the living soul that inhabits it. This we recognise to be a natural aud fitting state of things-just what we should have expected to find before experience. If in any human body we at any time see the hand inflicting injury upon the head, or any one member causing discomfort to another, we conclude, and with that some disturbance of the natural condition has taken place that there is physical disease in some bodily organism, or moral disease in the spirit that animates the body. So our human instincts and our reason force us to the conclusion that the natural relation of the members of the great body of humanity is one in which "each for all and all for each" should be the rule of action. That it is not so, can but strike all thinking men and women as a terrible incongruity. That most men not merely regard their human brethren with indifference, but that many actually hate and seek to injure their fellowcreatures is surely an evidence that some fatal moral distemper has laid hold of the race. And the evidence becomes stronger when we consider the truth of the first assertion in the proverb-that not only do bloodthirsty men seek to injure other men in general, but that the objects of their especial malignity are the upright-those who have given them no provocation, but whose desire and aim is to bless their human brothers and sisters. II. An example in renewed men of what human brotherhood ought to be. Notwithstanding the great amount of self-seeking and enmity that is found in the world, there always has been found a small minority who have been seekers of the good of others, and in whom love to their human brethren has been the keynote of existence. And this love has been felt, and this seeking has been active, in behalf of those who hated them, and sought to do them ill. All such members of the human family are doing their part towards restoring men to the condition of peace and goodwill in which their Creator intended them to live, and help us to form some idea of what earth would have been if sin had never entered it. It is true they would then have had no opportunity of loving their enemies, and of doing good to those who hate them, but the love which "seeketh not her own" would have found free scope for her activities in going out towards those animated by the same spirit of love and would never have had to sorrow over efforts to seek and save that have been apparently fruitless. All just men who are seekers of the well-being of others, and especially those who seek the good of their enemies, are followers of that Just One who was hated by the bloodthirsty of His day, and who sought their souls while they sought His life. The history of the martyr Church in all ages has been the history of the "bloodthirsty hating the upright," and of the just treading in the footsteps of their Divine Master, and "seeking the souls of their persecutors. OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS. These words may mean-and probably do mean-that the upright, in opposition to the blood-thirsty by whom the just is hated, "seek his soul," that is, the soul or life of the object of the hatred of the just or the upright. Of the Lord Himself it is said" He loveth the righteous." And in this all His people resemble Him. It is one of their characteristic distinctions. They pray for the upright, and endeavour, by all means in their power, to preserve them from the deadly machinations of their persecutors. The amount of love required of God's people towards God's people is that they be ready to "lay down their lives for the brethren." And if " for the brethren" how much more for THE JUST ONE. Wardlaw. The just seek his soul. As Paul did of his countrymen the Jews, of whom five times he received forty stripes save one (2 Cor. xi. 24); as the disciples |