intimate and cordial relations which it both expressed and fostered. It was a sin against both vows and close relations, and put on thus an aspect of double criminality. 3. The covenant had even a religious aspect. Hiram grounds the good will and help, extended to Solomon, on the facts that the people he ruled and the house he was going to build were God's, as well as on the fact that he had a special gift of wisdom from above (2 Chron. ii. 11, 12). His covenant was thus made with Israel as God's people, and in testimony of his belief in Jehovah as the true God, and his desire to advance his glory. This fact adds much to the significance and solemnity of the covenant, and so of the breach of it. What is done in God's name and as an act of homage to him is done under the highest sanctions possible. The commonest act is glorified, the smallest act becomes great in the greatness of its underlying principle. And as is the doing so is the undoing. The higher the promiser has risen, the lower has the violator fallen. Tyre's sin implied and sealed a large amount of previous deterioration, and so the more emphatically sealed her doom.

Vers. 11, 12.-The woe against Edom. We have here an inspired description of an ideal hate. It is loaded with every quality, and emphasized by every circumstance, and stained by every act, which could conspire to establish for it an "unbeaten record" in the emulation of evil passions.

I. IT RESTS ON A BROTHER. Over and above the brotherhood arising out of their common humanity (Acts xvii. 26; Gen. ix. 5), Israel and Edom were bound by the nearer tie of descent from the twin sons of their common ancestor Isaac. And on the basis of this relation they are spoken of as brothers in a special sense (Deut. xxiii. 7). To the relation of brotherhood belongs the duty of love (1 John ii. 10), which must be distinctive in proportion as the relation is close (1 Pet. ii. 17). And the breach of this law of love is great in proportion to its normal strength. It is bad to hate an enemy, but it is worse to hate a friend, and worse still to hate a brother. It is against nature, for "no man hateth his own flesh" (Eph. v. 29). It is against our innate tendency to love them that love us. And it is against the popular sentiment which expects us to "love as brethren." Hatred of a brother is the grossest hate there is.

II. IT IS AGGRESSIVE. "He pursues his brother with the sword." It is hard for hatred to be still. It is a restless devil in the heart. It wants to inflict injury. It actually inflicts it the first opportunity. If opportunity does not come, it seeks it and makes it. In the presence of the hated one it can no more be quiescent than fire in contact with fuel. Edom's hatred of Israel did not fail thus to express its intensity. On every opportunity it broke out into offensive and cruel action (2 Chron. xxviii. 17; Ps. cxxxvii. 7; Ezek. xxv. 12). Rapine, outrage, and murder, and the incitement of others to these, are fitting credentials to an ideal hate.

III. IT IS MURDEROUS. "Tears in pieces." It inflicts not injury only, but deadly injury. It must have blood. And it not only kills, but murders. Unable to fight Israel in battle, Edom always played the part of "wrecker," and spoiled the dead, and murdered the wounded, after some stronger enemy had defeated them (Ps. cxxxvii. 7). Then it murdered with an excess of truculence and savage cruelty that were natural to weakness rather than to strength. Hatred is a passion "blood alone can quell.” "Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer; a murderer in fact if opportunity offers, in any case a murderer in heart. Let hatred enter your heart, and from the moment it settles you wear the brand of Cain.

IV. IT IS PITILESS. "Did cast off all pity." No special occasion or act is mentioned, because the thing was habitual. A traditional and inordinate hate of Israel was fostered till it became a first principle of the Edomite's creed, and was gratified till it ate all his humanity out." Too weak to be a soldier, he became a murderous looter, and when the Assyrian or Philistine had vanquished Israel in battle, the Edomite came vulture-like on the scene to butcher the living, and pillage and mangle the dead (Obad. 10-14). There is a pity proper to the human heart on the platform of mere nature. Of the "flowers of Eden we still inherit” is a ruth that shrinks from murder in cold blood. Where the crime is committed, this feeling has previously been choked out. The power to do this, to harden and deaden his own nature, is one of man's most fatal gifts. He disregards the voice of pity till it becomes dumb. He fights against the movings of passion till at last they are felt no more.

V. IT IS INSATIABLE. "His anger endures for ever." The persistence of Edom's hate was matter of contemporary notoriety (Ezek. xxxv. 5), and it was precisely what one might expect. There is an infinity that belongs to the human soul, and which imparts itself to all its affections. Love is not exhausted by indulgence, but strengthened. It goes on and grows for ever, and so with hate. One who knew well has said

"Now hatred is by far the longest pleasure;
Men love in haste, but they detest at leisure."

(Byron.)

Hate is fed by indulgence as a fire is fed by fuel. Do not think your hatred will be appeased when you have got what you consider a just revenge. It will only then begin to burn with normal fierceness. Such feelings grow by what they feed on. The only way to banish them is to cut off the supplies. Starve a hungry hate, by giving it neither outlet nor audience, and it will soon atrophy and die.

VI. IT IS ALL ON ONE SIDE. Israel's relation to Edom as friendly, considerate, and disinterested, was laid down in explicit terms (Deut. xxiii. 7; ii. 4, 5), whilst the brotherhood of the two nations was emphasized (Numb. xx. 14; Deut. ii. 8). Cruel things were done in spite of this (1 Sam. xiv. 47; 2 Sam. viii. 14; 1 Kings xi. 15, 16), but they were done in defensive wars, and after Edom's enmity had proved itself incurable. It is a robust and thoroughly malignant hate that beats down and burns in spite of others' friendly attitude and feeling. Such hate belongs to a nature utterly inverted, and no longer human but devilish. And in proportion as it is such it becomes impossible of cure. The fire that burns without fuel, and in spite of water, has the elements of perpetuity in it. It is the beginning of the fire that shall never be quenched.

Vers. 13-15.-The woe against Ammon: brutality in its element. There is a climax in these woes as we advance. Each seems to outdo in horror the one before. This one in which Ammon figures has circumstances of wanton atrocity and senseless savagery in it unparalleled in any other.

I. UNNATURAL CONNECTIONS MAY BE EXPECTED TO BREED UNNATURAL MONSTERS. Ammon and Moab were the children of unnatural and shameful lust (Gen. xix. 30 -38). Begotten in drunkenness, and conceived in a paroxysm of lewdness, their chance of inheriting a healthy physical, mental, or 'moral organization was very small. The almost inevitable moral twist with which they entered the world, their education by dissolute mothers would only strengthen and confirm. And the passionate and sensual nature he inherited, Ammon transmitted to the nation of which he became the father. An illustration of this inherited coarse corruption in the Ammonites was their gross and indecent treatment of David's servants, sent on a friendly errand (2 Sam. x. 4,5). The other occasion, recorded in our text, is an example of savage and senseless atrocity unparalleled in the annals of human violence. As to the women, it was from their number that Solomon's harem was largely recruited (1 Kings xi. 1, 7), and they took to harlotry as easily as their ancestress herself (Numb. xxv. 1; xxxi. 16). Our besetting sins are likely to be those of our forefathers, and therefore against these we should be specially on our guard. They are likely also to beset our children after us, and should be all the more vigorously rooted out, lest we transmit to posterity the heritage of our sin and shame. That the thing can be done, let the virtuous simplicity of Ruth the Moabitess prove. Trained and moulded in a godly Hebrew family, she responds to religious influence, and exhibits a character that has been the admiration of all the ages.

II. OTHER THINGS BEING EQUAL, THAT IS THE GREATEST SIN FOR WHICH THERE IS THE LEAST OCCASION. "He who has committed injustice for a less advantage has done it under the impulse of a less temptation. . . . The more paltry it is in respect of profit, the more profane it may be in respect of principle" (Chalmers). In the case of Ammon there was the extreme of disproportion between the crime and the incentive to it. The object was to enlarge their border, an object (1) unnecessary, (2) under the circumstances unjust, (3) in itself supplying no occasion for the horrid outrage, and (4) to the attainment of which the atrocity was in no wise essential. The act was simply

one of stolid barbarism, unsoftened by any extenuating circumstance, and unaccounted for by any consideration of need or fitness.

III. MURDER AS AN ACT OF REPRISAL IS STILL MURDER. David had put the. inhabitants of Rabbah of the sons of Ammon to a death as dreadful as that inflicted on the women in Gilead (2 Sam. xii. 31). The present act of Ammon might look like a just retaliation. But, whatever may be thought of David's conduct, it is clear that sin does not justify more sin. Then David's siege and destruction of Rabbah was a natural and suitable act of defensive warfare against persistent attacks by Ammon in league with Syria. The aggressor in such a case is responsible for the bloodshed on both sides. Man has a natural right to kill in self-defence, and he whose action necessitates such bloodshed is the party on whose head the guilt of it must lie.

IV. GOD'S JUDGMENTS STRIKE THE DEVISERS OF WICKEDNESS AS WELL AS THE DOERSOF IT. "The king and his princes." These ancient kings were absolute monarchs. Every national act was an expression of their will. With them, therefore, the responsibility for it ultimately rested. It was done by their direction and under their superintendence, done often in part by their own hand, and so was in every case their own act. And the princes, as the king's advisers, were parties to it. Therefore kings and princes alike must suffer. To strike them was to strike the criminal on the head. Thus far and wide do the consequences of sin reach, devouring from every side. The committer of sin, the suggester of sin, the deviser of sin, the tempter to sin, the procurer of sin, the knowing occasion of sin, the person privy to sin, all are sinners, and as such are written down for the sword. Some are nearer the centre than others, but all are in the vortex, and all must be swallowed up together.

HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS.

Ver. 1.-Amos the herdsman. There must be some special reason why this prophet puts upon record the employments in which he spent his earlier years, and from which he was called to assume the office of the Lord's messenger to Israel. On the barren hills to the south of Bethlehem, where there is no tillage, and where the population must always have been scanty, Amos tended flocks of sheep or of goats, and at certain seasons of the year gathered the fruit from the wild sycamore trees.

I. RURAL AND MENIAL OCCUPATIONS WERE NO BARRIER TO THE ENJOYMENT OF DIVINE FAVOUR OR TO ELECTION TO SPECIAL AND HONOURABLE SERVICE. This lesson, taught by the career of Amos, was taught again by the election of the apostles of the Lord Christ. The great of this world are often apt to regard men of lowly station with disdain, but God takes no heed of social and artificial distinctions.

II. THE SECLUSION OF A PASTORAL LIFE WAS A SUITABLE TRAINING FOR THE PROPHETIC VOCATION. As David, when guarding the sheepfolds and leading the flocks to water, enjoyed many opportunities for solitary meditation and for devout communion with God, so Amos in the lonely pastures of Tekoah must have listened to the voice that speaks especially to the quiet and the contemplative, the voice of inspiration and of grace.

III. THE RURAL SURROUNDINGS OF THE PROPHET AFFORDED HIM MUCH APPROPRIATE AND STRIKING IMAGERY, The rain and the harvest, the sheep and the lion, the bird and the snare, the fish and the hook, the cart and the sheaf, the earthquake, the fire, and the flood, etc., are all pressed into the service of this poetic prophecy. God taught his servant lessons which stood him in good stead in after-years.

IV. BY RAISING AMOS FROM THE HERDSMAN'S TO THE PROPHET'S LIFE GOD MAGNIFIED HIS OWN GRACE. The cultivated and the polished are liable to take credit to themselves for the efficiency of their ministry. But when the comparatively untaught and those who have enjoyed but few advantages are raised to a position in which they do a great work for God, "the excellency of the power is seen to be of God himself."-T.

Ver. 2.-The voice of terror. This imagery is evidently derived from the prophet's own experience. In the south-east of Palestine the lion was a frequent and formidable visitor, which every herdsman had reason to dread. The majestic roar of the king of

beasts is here employed to denote the judgments of the Lord upon the disobedient and rebellious, especially of Israel.

I. OBSERVE WHENCE THE VOICE OF THREATENING PROCEEDS. 1. It is the voice of the Lord that voice which assumes now the accents of compassion and mercy, and again the tones of wrath, but which is always authoritative. 2. It proceeds from the sacred city, which was the favoured abode of Jehovah.

II. AND WHITHER THE VOICE OF THREATENING PENETRATES. From the habitations of the shepherds in the south, to the flowery Carmel in the north, this roar makes itself heard. That is to say, it fills the land. Judah and Israel alike have by disobedience and rebellion incurred Divine displeasure, and against both alike the denunciations of the prophet go forth.

III. CONSIDER THE EFFECT WHICH THE VOICE OF THREATENING SHOULD PRODUCE. 1. Reverent attention. 2. Deep humiliation and contrition. 3. Repentance and prayer. 4. Such reformation as the heavenly summons imperatively demands.-T.

Vers. 3-5.-The judgment on Damascus. The beauty of Damascus has been the admiration of travellers and the praise of poets. It is a mournful reflection that a city so magnificently situated, and with associations so romantic, should so often have been the scene of human injustice, cruelty, and bloodshed. The "pearl girdled with emeralds "- —as Damascus was gracefully designated-is beautiful without, but, as the text reminds us, has often contained a lawless and godless population.

I. THE OFFENCE OF DAMASCUS. 1. In itself this consisted of atrocious cruelty. The records inform us that war frequently prevailed between Syria and Israel. By Gilead in this passage we understand the land possessed by the Israelites on the east side of Jordan. The inhabitants of this pastoral territory were treated by the Syrians in a way fitted to awaken the indignation even of those who lived in times when savage cruelty was but the too common accompaniment of war. The unfortunate Israelites who were conquered in war seem to have been literally torn to pieces and mangled by the threshing-implements fitted with wheels and armed with teeth of iron. Thus was God's image defaced and God's Law defied. 2. The offence was aggravated by repetition. Thrice, nay, four times, had the Damascenes offended the Divine Ruler of men by their violence and inhumanity. The sin was thus shown to be no mere outbreak of passion, but a habit, evincing a corrupt and degraded nature.

II. THE PUNISHMENT OF DAMASCUS. 1. Observe upon whom it came. (1) Upon the king, the rulers and princes of the land. These were the leaders in the nefarious practices here censured. Their ambition and unfeeling selfishness accounted for the sin; and upon them came down the righteous penalty. The annals of many a nation may prove to the reflective student of history that a righteous retribution visits those royal houses which have been infamous for selfish ambition, for perfidy, for tyranny, for self-indulgence. The King of kings asserts his authority, and brings down the lofty from the throne. (2) The people of Syria shared in the disaster, which thus became national. They may have been misled by their rulers, but it seems rather to have been the case that there was sympathy between kings and subjects, and that the soldiers in the Syrian army delighted in the opportunity of venting their evil passions upon their prostrate foes. 2. Observe in what the punishment consisted. (1) Destruction ("a fire") came upon the royal house. (2) The splendid and powerful city was laid open to the incursion of the enemy. The brazen "bar" which secured the city gate was broken. (3) The people were carried into captivity, the worst misfortune which could humiliate and distress a nation.-T.

Vers. 6-8.-The judgment on Philistia. The great religious truth which is conveyed in this prophetic warning addressed to Philistia is this-national retribution is inevitable. I. NATIONAL RETRIBUTION IS NOT AVERTED BY WEALTH AND PROSPERITY. Philistia was a fertile plain, abounding in all material riches. The people not only possessed the produce of a fruitful soil; they were versed in the arts of life, being famous as artificers and craftsmen; and they enjoyed the fruits of commerce both by sea and land. There is danger lest a prosperous nation should trust in its riches. Yet history tells us that the wealthiest communities have been overtaken by the righteous judgments of God.

AMOS.

II. NATIONAL RETRIBUTION IS NOT AVERTED BY UNION AND CONFEDERACY. The five cities of the Philistines were leagued together; each supported the other, and every one furnished a contingent to the national armies. Union is strength. But the united strength of the Philistines could not avail them in the day of the Lord. "Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished."

III. NATIONAL RETRIBUTION IS NOT AVERTED BY POWERFUL ALLIANCES. The Philistines on the west of Judah leagued with the Edomites on the east. And when the Philistines gained an advantage over the Jews, they delivered their foes into the hands of their allies of Mount Seir. But Edom was not able to deliver her confederate in the time of trial and of retribution.

IV. NATIONAL RETRIBUTION IS NOT AVERTED BY CRUELTY TO A FOE. Human policy sometimes urges that the complete destruction of an enemy by the sword or by captivity is the surest protection against revenge. But Divine government dominates human policy. The crafty and the cruel must submit to the decrees of the Judge of the whole earth.-T.

Vers. 9, 10.-The violation of a brotherly covenant. The reproach addressed to Tyre, on account of Tyre's league with Edom against the Israelites, is peculiarly severe. This is to be explained by the previous history of the two nations. Hiram, King of Tyre, had been a warm friend both of David and of Solomon. A close and intimate connection had thus been formed. And when Tyre made war upon the Jews and, like Philistia, gave Israel into the hands of Edom, the grievance was felt to be peculiarly distressing. In fact, it was recognized as such by the inspired prophet of Jehovah.

I. THE DEEPEST FOUNDATION FOR NATIONAL FRIENDSHIPS IS THEIR COMMON BROTHERHOOD IN THE FAMILY OF GOD. The Creator has made them of one blood, has appointed the bounds of their habitation, has given to each nation its own advantages, its own opportunities, its own responsibilities. Each has thus a service to render to the Lord and Father of all; and consequently each has a claim to the respect and good will of neighbouring nations.

II. NATIONAL FRIENDSHIP IS RECOMMENDED AND PROMOTED BY MUTUAL INTEREST. The exchange of commodities which had taken place between Tyre and Jerusalem may be regarded as an example of the use which one country may be to another-a use in some way or other always to be reciprocated. In peace every nation may supply the lack of others; whilst in war both nations so engaged inflict loss and injury. No doubt, when excited by passion, nations lose sight of their welfare; yet it is well to cultivate in men's minds the conviction that unity and concord are of the highest material as well as moral advantage.

III. NATIONAL FRIENDSHIP MAY BE CEMENTED BY SOLEMN COVENANTS AND ALLIANCES. Human nature is such that it is contributive to many desirable ends that men should enter into solemn compact and should ratify covenants with one another. When nations enter into friendly alliance, it is always regarded as peculiarly base when one nation, without overpowering reason for doing so, turns against the other, and betrays or attacks it. Such seems to have been the action of Tyre.

IV. BROTHERLY COVENANTS BETWEEN NATIONS CANNOT BE VIOLATED WITH IMPUNITY. Tyre was one of the great cities of antiquity, especially famous for maritime and commercial prosperity. Proud and confident in its greatness, Tyre little anticipated the fate which Providence had in reserve for it. Yet the inspired prophet foresaw the ruin of Tyre, and connected that ruin with the perfidy for which the city was in this passage so justly blamed. The Lord who rules in the whole earth is a Judge righteous and supreme, whose sentences will surely be executed.-T.

Vers. 11, 12.-A brother's faithlessness and injustice. If Tyre was doubly blamable because, being an ally, she turned against Israel, much more deserving of censure was Edom, inasmuch as Edom was near akin to Israel, and yet was guilty of the conduct described in this passage.

I. KINDRED INVOLVES SACRED OBLIGATIONS TO MUTUAL REGARD AND SUCCOUR. Moses had addressed Edom as a brother, and Israel had forborne to attack Edom, even when tempted to do so by most unneighbourly, unbrotherly conduct. The proper response to such conduct would have been something very different from what is here