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Exodus Chapter
Twenty-three
Exodus 23
Chapter Contents
Laws against falsehood and injustice. (1-9) The year of
rest, The sabbath, The three festivals. (10-19) God promises to conduct the
Israelites to Canaan. (20-33)
Commentary on Exodus 23:1-9
(Read Exodus 23:1-9)
In the law of Moses are very plain marks of sound moral
feeling, and of true political wisdom. Every thing in it is suited to the
desired and avowed object, the worship of one only God, and the separation of
Israel from the pagan world. Neither parties, friends, witnesses, nor common
opinions, must move us to lessen great faults, to aggravate small ones, excuse
offenders, accuse the innocent, or misrepresent any thing.
Commentary on Exodus 23:10-19
(Read Exodus 23:10-19)
Every seventh year the land was to rest. They must not
plough or sow it; what the earth produced of itself, should be eaten, and not
laid up. This law seems to have been intended to teach dependence on
Providence, and God's faithfulness in sending the larger increase while they kept
his appointments. It was also typical of the heavenly rest, when all earthly
labours, cares, and interests shall cease for ever. All respect to the gods of
the heathen is strictly forbidden. Since idolatry was a sin to which the
Israelites leaned, they must blot out the remembrance of the gods of the
heathen. Solemn religious attendance on God, in the place which he should
choose, is strictly required. They must come together before the Lord. What a
good Master do we serve, who has made it our duty to rejoice before him! Let us
devote with pleasure to the service of God that portion of our time which he
requires, and count his sabbaths and ordinances to be a feast unto our souls.
They were not to come empty-handed; so now, we must not come to worship God
empty-hearted; our souls must be filled with holy desires toward him, and
dedications of ourselves to him; for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
Commentary on Exodus 23:20-33
(Read Exodus 23:20-33)
It is here promised that they should be guided and kept
in their way through the wilderness to the land of promise, Behold, I send an
angel before thee, mine angel. The precept joined with this promise is, that
they be obedient to this angel whom God would send before them. Christ is the
Angel of Jehovah; this is plainly taught by St. Paul, 1 Corinthians 10:9. They should have a
comfortable settlement in the land of Canaan. How reasonable are the conditions
of this promise; that they should serve the only true God; not the gods of the
nations, which are no gods at all. How rich are the particulars of this
promise! The comfort of their food, the continuance of their health, the
increase of their wealth, the prolonging their lives to old age. Thus hath
godliness the promise of the life that now is. It is promised that they should
subdue their enemies. Hosts of hornets made way for the hosts of Israel; such
mean creatures can God use for chastising his people's enemies. In real
kindness to the church, its enemies are subdued by little and little; thus we
are kept on our guard, and in continual dependence on God. Corruptions are
driven out of the hearts of God's people, not all at once, but by little and
little. The precept with this promise is, that they should not make friendship
with idolaters. Those that would keep from bad courses, must keep from bad
company. It is dangerous to live in a bad neighbourhood; others' sins will be
our snares. Our greatest danger is from those who would make us sin against
God.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Exodus》
Exodus 23
Verse 1
[1] Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand
with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.
Thou shalt not raise, the margin reads, Thou shalt not
receive a false report, for sometimes the receiver in this case is as bad as
the thief; and a backbiting tongue would not do so much mischief, if it were
not countenanced. Sometimes we cannot avoid hearing a false report, but we must
not receive it, we must not hear it with pleasure, nor easily give credit to
it.
Verse 2
[2] Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither
shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment:
Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil — General usage will
never excuse us in any ill practice; nor is the broad way ever the safer for
its being crowded. We must inquire what we ought to do, not what the most do;
because we must be judged by our master, not our fellow servants; and it is too
great a compliment, to be willing to go to hell for company.
Verse 7
[7] Keep thee far from a false matter; and the innocent and
righteous slay thou not: for I will not justify the wicked.
Keep thee far from a false matter — From assisting or
abetting an ill thing. Yea, keep thee far from it, dread it as a dangerous
snare. I will not justify the wicked - That is, I will condemn him that
unjustly condemns others.
Verse 9
[9] Also thou shalt not oppress a stranger: for ye know the
heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.
Thou shalt not oppress the stranger — Though aliens might
not inherit lands among them; yet they must have justice done them. It was an
instance of the equity of our law, that if an alien be tried for any crime
except treason, the one half of his jury, if he desire it, shall be foreigners;
a kind provision that strangers may not be oppressed.
For ye know the heart of a stranger — You know something of
the griefs and fears of a stranger by sad experience.
Verse 10
[10] And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather
in the fruits thereof:
The institution of the sabbatical year was designed, 1.
To shew what a plentiful land that was, into which God was bringing them, that
so numerous a people could have rich maintenance out of the products of so
small a country, without foreign trade, and yet could spare the increase of
every seventh year. 2. To teach them a confidence in the Divine Providence,
while they did their duty, That as the sixth day's manna served for two days
meat, so the sixth year's increase should serve for two years subsistence.
Verse 13
[13] And in all things that I have said unto you be
circumspect: and make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be
heard out of thy mouth.
In all things that I have said unto you be circumspect — We are in danger of
missing our way on the right hand and on the left, and it is at our peril if we
do, therefore we have need to look about us. A man may ruin himself through
mere carelessness, but he cannot save himself without great care and circumspection;
particularly since idolatry was a sin they were much addicted to, and would be
greatly tempted to, they must endeavour to blot out the remembrance of the gods
of the heathen, and must disuse all their superstitious forms of speech, and
never mention them but with detestation. In Christian schools and academies
(for it is in vain to think of re-forming the play-houses) it were to be wished
that the names and stories of the heathen deities or demons rather were not so
commonly and familiarly used.
Verse 14
[14] Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year.
The Passover, Pentecost, and feast of Tabernacles, in
spring, summer, and autumn, were the three times appointed for their
attendance; not in winter, because travelling was then uncomfortable; nor in
the midst of their harvest.
Verse 17
[17] Three times in the year all thy males shall appear
before the Lord GOD.
All thy males — All that were of competent years,
and health and strength, and at their own disposal. 'Tis probable, servants were
exempt: for none was to appear without an offering: but most of these had
nothing to offer.
Verse 19
[19] The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt
bring into the house of the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his
mother's milk.
Some of the Gentiles, at the end of their harvest,
seethed a kid in it's dam's milk, and sprinkled that milk-pottage in a magical
way upon their gardens and fields, to make them fruitful. But Israel must abhor
such foolish customs. Is not this rather forbidden, as having some appearance
of cruelty?
Verse 20
[20] Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the
way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared.
Behold, I send an angel before thee — The angel of the
covenant: Accordingly the Israelites in the wilderness are said to tempt
Christ. It is promised that this blessed anger should keep them in the way,
though it lay through a wilderness first, and afterwards through their enemies
country; and thus Christ has prepared a place for his followers.
Verse 21
[21] Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for
he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him.
Beware of him, and obey his voice; provoke him not — It is at your peril
if you do; for my name - My nature, my authority is in him.
Verse 25
[25] And ye shall serve the LORD your God, and he shall bless
thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.
He shall bless thy bread and thy water — And God's blessing
will make bread and water more refreshing and nourishing, than a feast of fat
things, and wines on the lees, without that blessing.
And I will take sickness away — Either prevent it or
remove it. Thy land shall not be visited with epidemical diseases, which are
very dreadful, and sometimes have laid countries waste.
Verse 26
[26] There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren, in
thy land: the number of thy days I will fulfil.
The number of thy days I will fulfill — And they shall not be
cut off in the midst by untimely deaths. Thus hath godliness the promise of the
life that now is.
Verse 27
[27] I will send my fear before thee, and will destroy all
the people to whom thou shalt come, and I will make all thine enemies turn
their backs unto thee.
I will send my fear before thee — And they that fear
will soon flee. Hosts of hornets also made way for the hosts of Israel; such
mean creatures can God make use of for the chastising of his people's enemies.
──
John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Exodus》
23 Chapter 23
Verse 1
Thou shalt not raise a false report.
Slander characterized, prohibited, and punished
I. Slander is
characterized.
1. Originating a false report. It may be from--
2. Listening to false reports.
3. Circulating a false report.
II. Slander is
prohibited.
1. Affecting antecedents.
2. Affecting character.
3. Affecting family or social relations.
4. Affecting goods.
III. Slander is
punished. The slanderer is--
1. Excluded from religious fellowship (Psalms 15:3).
2. Exposed to contempt of mankind (Proverbs 10:18).
3. Object of Divine vengeance (Psalms 10:5).
4. Excluded from kingdom of heaven (Revelation 22:15). (J. W. Burn.)
Description of slander
The tongue of the slanderer is a devouring fire, which tarnishes
whatever it touches; which exercises its fury on the good grain equally as on
the chaff, on the profane as on the sacred: which, wherever it passes, leaves
only desolation and ruin; digs even into the bowels of the earth, and fixes
itself on things the most hidden; turns into vile ashes what only a moment
before had appeared to us so precious and brilliant; acts with more violence
and danger than ever in the time when it was apparently smothered up and almost
extinct; which blackens what it cannot consume, and sometimes sparkles and
delights before it destroys. (Massillon.)
Envious slander
The worthiest persons are frequently attacked by slanders, as we
generally find that to be the best fruit which the birds have been pecking at.
(Bacon.)
How to avoid slander
The celebrated Boerhaave, who had many enemies, used to say that
he never thought it necessary to repeat their calumnies. “They are sparks,”
said he, “which, if you do not blow them, will go out of themselves. The surest
method against scandal is to live it down by perseverance in well-doing, and by
prayer to God, that He would cure the distempered minds of those who traduce
and injure us.” It was a good remark of another, that “the malice of ill
tongues cast upon a good man is only like a mouthful of smoke blown upon a
diamond, which, though it clouds its beauty for the present, yet it is easily
rubbed off, and the gem restored, with little trouble to its owner.”
Slander reproved
When any one was speaking ill of another in the presence of Peter
the Great, he would shortly interrupt him, and say, “Well now; but has he not a
bright side? Come, tell me what have you noticed as excellent in him! It is
easy to splash mud; but I would rather help a man to keep his coat clean.”
Listening to slander
Calumny would soon starve and die of itself, if nobody took it in,
and gave it lodging. (Leighton.)
There would not be so many open mouths if there were not so many
open ears. (Bishop Hall.)
The progress of slander
It is AElian’s observation, how that men being in danger to be
stung by scorpions, use to place their beds in water, yet the politic serpents
have a device to reach them: they get up to the top of the house, where one
takes hold, the next hangs at the end of him, a third upon the second, a fourth
upon the third, and so making a kind of serpentine rope, they at last wound the
man. And thus it is, that amongst scandalizers and slanderers, one begins to
whisper, another makes it a report, a third enlargeth it to a dangerous
calumny, a fourth divulgeth it for a truth. So the innocent man’s good name,
which, like a merchant’s wealth, got in many years, and lost in an hour, is
maimed, and so secretly traduced, that it is somewhat hard to find out the
villain that did it. (J. Spencer.)
False reports
The Rev. C.H. Spurgeon has given publicity to the following
letter: “Dear Mr. Spurgeon,--As I see that you are still occasionally put to
the trouble of answering inquiries as to the truth of various anecdotes, etc.,
concerning yourself, I thought the following brief statement might interest
you, or some of your numerous readers, if you think it well to publish it.
About seventeen years ago I was for some time at a well-known health resort on
the south coast. At the table d’hote I sat next to a young married lady,
who was, alas! consumptive, and of that temperament which is so common in such
cases, tres spirituelle, and very learned and accomplished. You may be
sure she never lacked auditors for her lively conversation. At dessert one day
she was ‘telling stories’ (in the literal and juvenile sense of the phrase)
about yourself. I let her go on for some time, until I thought the fun was
getting a little too fast; and then I said, ‘I hope Mrs., you do not believe
the stories you are detailing, because I assure you, I heard nearly all of them
in my boyhood, before Mr. Spurgeon was born, and that most of them were then
attributed to Rowland Hill--doubtless with equal lack of authenticity.’ She
looked me calmly in the face, with a comical expression, and replied, ‘Oh, Mr.
, we never ask whether such stories are true; it is quite
sufficient if we find them amusing.’ ‘Well,’ I said, ‘so long as that is
understood all round, by all means keep on.’ The poor, brilliant, thoughtless
woman and her husband also have many years since passed away; but she has many,
many successors, who are without her wit, and not quite so goodhumouredly
candid as to their practice. If only you can get it ‘understood all round ‘ that
such folk really do not consider whether their ‘anecdotes‘ are true or not, it
might save you some trouble. Yours faithfully.” Mr. Spurgeon himself adds:
“This is quite true, but it is a pity that people should lie in jest. The lady
was let off very easily. Our friend has touched the root of the matter, It is
not malice, but the passion for amusement, which creates the trade in
falsehood, which never seems to decline.”
Description of calumny
Apelles painted her thus: There sits a man with great and open
ears, inviting Calumny, with his hand held out, to come to him; and two women,
Ignorance and Suspicion, stand near him. Calumny breaks out in a fury; her
countenance is comely and beautiful, her eyes sparkle like fire, and her face
is inflamed with anger; she holds a lighted torch in her left hand, and with
her right twists a young man’s neck, who holds up his hands in prayer to the
gods. Before her goes Envy, pale and nasty; on her side are Fraud and
Conspiracy; behind her follows Repentance, clad in mourning, and her clothes
torn, with her head turned backwards, as if she looked for Truth, who comes
slowly after. (A. Tooke.)
False insinuations
Often are the most painful wrongs inflicted through the
medium of covert inuendoes and malignant insinuations. Half of a fact is a
whole falsehood. He who gives the truth a false colouring by a false manner of
telling it is the worst of liars. Such was Doeg in his testimony against the
priests. He stated the facts in the case, but gave them such an artful interpretation
as to impart to them the aspect and influence of the most flagrant falsehoods.
It was through the same mode of procedure that our Lord was condemned.
An unrighteous witness.--
The duties of witnesses
I. Not to
co-operate in an unrighteous cause (verse 1). This “commandment is exceeding
broad,” and conveys a lesson--
1. To judicial witnesses.
2. To all partisans, controversialists, politicians.
3. To trades unionists, etc.
II. Not to
co-operate in any unrighteous cause because it is popular (verse 2).
1. Because majorities are no test of truth. Multitudes may be roused
by passion, prejudice, or self-interest.
2. Because men should be weighed as well as counted.
3. Because righteousness, from the constitution of human nature, is
often unpopular and in the minority.
III. Not to
co-operate in an unrighteous cause Because it is apparently benevolent (verse
3; Leviticus 19:15).
1. Because we may be putting a premium on vice which is the source of
all misery.
2. Because justice is above mere sentiment, and for the well-being of
the whole community, and not for the exclusive benefit of a class.
3. Because of its influence on the object himself. Let a man feel
that you do this or that for him simply because he is poor, and he will see no
advantage in helping himself.
Learn then--
1. To entertain none but righteous considerations.
2. To pursue them at all cost. (J. W. Burn.)
Verse 2
Thou shalt not fellow a multitude to do evil.
Following the multitude prohibited
I. Explain the
nature of this precept.
1. It is here assumed that the multitude do evil. This may be
inferred--
2. Secondly, the precept in the text supposes that we are in danger
of copying the example of the multitude. We may infer this--
3. From a variety of melancholy facts. The multitude who now do evil
were not always such adepts in depravity; when they first entered into the
broad way their feet were not swift to do evil; they proceeded with hesitating
steps, but by practice became hardened in crime.
II. Urge reasons to
induce us to observe it. The multitude doing evil should not be imitated,
because they are--
1. Unlawful and unconstituted guides.
2. Bad guides.
3. Dishonourable guides.
4. Unprofitable guides.
5. Dangerous guides.
III. Impart advice
for the direction of those who wish to escape the ensnaring wiles of the
multitude.
1. Get your minds deeply and thoroughly impressed with the awfulness
of your situation. Dangers unseen will be unavoided.
2. Seek the regenerating grace of God.
3. Be on your guard against the seductive wiles and insinuating
influence of the multitude. Sinners will entice you; but come out from among
them; have no communion with the unfruitful works of darkness (Psalms 1:1).
4. Follow the happy few who strive to do good. Show that you are with
Christ by being with His people. Oh, say, “This people shall be my people, and
their God my God.” Inferences--
Individual responsibility
There is, I suppose, no doctrine more clearly set forth in
Scripture than the doctrine of personal responsibility. There is no doctrine
more readily owned, no doctrine more insisted upon by men. Yet I think I can
show you that, in its application to a great number of particular cases, you
would not only act as though you disbelieved it, but you would unconsciously
maintain in words doctrines directly opposed to it. The words which I have just
read to you suggest one of the most universally employed modes of denying this
universally received doctrine of individual responsibility. “Thou shalt not
follow a multitude to do evil,” was said long ago by the Jewish law. I think
you will find that the present condition of things, in whatever place or class
we are thinking of, grew up from something very small, and that by degrees the
sin acquired strength from the power and position, and then from the mere
number of its perpetrators, until in time it acquired positive dignity and
became correct, or according to the absurd modern phraseology, became “good
form,” from the multitude of transgressors. I will begin with the sex which
since the creation of the world has almost uniformly carried its point against
the opposite sex, and which, nevertheless, is still facetiously called the
weaker. They will, I believe, if you ask them, readily own themselves
responsible for their use of time and of money. Well, they certainly spend an
excessive amount of the latter, money, as I daresay their husbands know, in
purchasing; and of the former, time, as everybody knows, in adjusting those
ever-changing and most cumbrous absurdities which they pile upon themselves,
and with which they surround themselves to the general inconvenience of
everybody and everywhere. They do this until I should think they must feel
uncomfortable, and I know that they look deformed. Why do they do it? Ask any
one, and you will hear it all condemned at once, solemnly, perhaps piously condemned
at once, the responsibility being shifted immediately from the individual to
fashion, and that is to everybody. What does all that mean? Their conscience is
relieved by the multitude whom they follow. Let us go a little further and take
another view of the matter. Public bodies, I believe, parliaments, ministries,
corporations, town commissioners, Poor Law guardians, boards of all kinds, and
committees of all kinds, are known--every one of you knows it as well as I
do--to be guilty of neglect of duties and violations of honour of which none of
their members singly, in private transactions, would for one moment be capable.
Take another set of instances. Look at the recognized dishonesties of different
trades and businesses. The man who keeps light weights for selling, and heavy
weights for buying, as I once knew a most “pious” man do; the man who
adulterates food; the man who puts bad work or bad material where it is not to
be detected; the servant who robs his master “in the usual way”; “the workman who
to no greater extent than others of his craft plunders his employer”; none of
these desire by any means, I fancy, to have their children taught at school
that the Eighth Commandment has no meaning. They like to hear it every Sunday.
Why? Because they have an unwritten tradition in the craft or trade, by which
it is dispensed with. But I am going into more dangerous ground now. In the
present day, the multitude has come to be considered something more than an
excuser of deviations from strict principles in the ordinary affairs of life.
It is beginning to assume the functions of the highest authority on religious
matters. To call in question its decision, or refuse submission to its
commands, no matter how uninstructed it may be, is coming to be viewed in the
light of standing up against an inspired prophet. It does not occur to the
thoughtless throng, who will rush anywhere to hear anybody, or to see anything,
that when the multitude appears to have taken a “pious” turn it can be wrong to
follow it whithersoever it leads. It does not seem to occur to them that when
the multitude is longing to take Jesus by force and make Him a king, it may
have just as little perception of His mission as when it clamorously demands
His crucifixion. No, they are afraid to gainsay what the multitude asserts;
they are afraid to do anything but echo its assertions, and thus each one among
a multitude perpetuates the delusion of the others as to his real opinion, by
being afraid to say it out, and act in conformity with it. This is the very
spirit by which multitudes are created, by which they are enabled to assume
formidable proportions, to become powerful for evil. The silence of cowardice
is regarded as satisfactory consent, and everybody’s echo of what everybody
else says is vaunted as the concurrence of numerous independent testimonies.
Persons of this kind are the genuine followers of the multitude who are
condemned in the text. (J. C. Coghlan, D. D.)
The sin of following the multitude to do evil
I. It implies that
the majority or great mass of mankind are uniformly and constantly engaged in
doing evil.
II. The prohibition
which we are considering implies that every person is naturally disposed to
follow a multitude to do evil.
III. The prohibition
in the text implies that those are altogether criminal who, follow the evil
examples of evil-doers, though they are the great majority of mankind. For--
1. They are free and voluntary in following the examples of those who
do evil.
2. Every person acts contrary to his reason and conscience in
following a multitude to do evil, which renders him altogether criminal and
inexcusable.
Conclusion:
1. If men are apt to follow bad examples, as has been said, then
there is reason to think that bad examples are the great source of moral
corruption in every part of the world.
2. If men are naturally disposed to follow the multitude to do evil,
then the truly godly have much more concern in spreading moral corruption, and
obstructing the cause of religion than they are apt to imagine.
3. Since men are naturally disposed to follow the bad examples of the
multitude, it is easy to see why a people, declining in religion, are so apt to
be insensible of their religious declensions. The minority are blended with the
majority, and they are all imperceptibly declining together.
4. If all men are naturally disposed to follow the multitude to do
evil, then the rising generation are always in a peculiarly dangerous
situation.
5. If it be criminal to follow bad examples, it must be far more
criminal to set bad examples.
6. If men are naturally disposed to follow the multitude to do evil,
then every one in a state of nature has a great reason to fear that he shall
live and die in his present unsanctified and impenitent state. Your belonging
to the majority will not help you to turn about, but powerfully tend to hinder
you. What will you say when He punishes you? (N. Emmons, D. D.)
Multirude no prevailing argument
The Lord that made us knoweth our mould and how easily we are
persuaded to taste of the forbidden fruit, and how prone to be carried headlong
to error, and therefore gives us a caveat, and sets a bar and stop in
our way, that we run not to evil because we see others run or lead the way
before us. And we shall do well by the way to take notice of our own corruption,
as the Lord doth, that in the same we may see the necessity of this precept;
for first, nature corrupt is as attractive of evil as the adamant naturally
draws iron; just as a spark to tinder or gunpowder. Secondly, evil is diffusive
of itself, and such an acquaintance there is between it and us, as the plague
cannot so easily infect our bodies as sin doth poison and suddenly infect our
souls. Thirdly, our nature is social, and not as the brutes; we readily thrust
into company, and therefore being naturally enemies to solitariness, we are
ready to follow if any one lead us the way; but if many or a multitude (as
here) then we run, and for haste never stay to reason the case, neither in what
way nor upon what errand. And, therefore, the Lord would have His people to
fence themselves with a rule of prudence, that they be not misled by the
crooked steps of others and their own perverse inclinations.
1. One reason is in the text: because a multitude may err and run to
evil, and may decline to overthrow truth.
2. Multitudes cannot make that to be good which is evil in itself,
neither in doctrine nor manners; well they may make an evil worse, but none
better.
3. Multitudes cannot keep off the revenge of evil; one evil mate may
help his fellow into sin, but cannot help him out of punishment,
4. Multitudes and most men are commonly the worst. The way to hell is
broad and the gate wide that leads to destruction, and many go in thereat (Matthew 7:13). “Hell enlargeth itself (Isaiah 5:14).” Tophet is large and wide (Exodus 30:33). And therefore it cannot be
the safest way which the most walk in. Contrarily, the fewest are commonly the
best; pearls are rare; many hundred false prophets to one poor Micaiah; God’s
part in the world was ever but a gleaning and a small remnant; and the apostle
(1 John 5:19) pronounceth in the name
of believers, “We know we are of God, and the whole world lieth in
unrighteousness.”
5. It is better to walk the right way alone than to wander out of the
way with company; better go to heaven alone, or with a few, than with
multitudes to hell.
Come we now to application of this point.
1. If it be so dangerous to follow a multitude to evil, what a
fearful thing it is to lead a multitude to evil! as the magistrate that enacts
and commands evil; like Jeroboam that made all Israel to sin. Or the minister
that shall be weak as another man by whose example many are corrupted, through
loose speeches, unseemly behaviours, libertine courses, fellowship with the
abject, opposing the persons and strict courses of such as fear God.
2. See how desperately many men frame their courses while they live
as if to do as the most do, were a good and warrantable plea. Because the most
are irreligious, without the fear of God, and without conscience: so are they.
The most scorn to attend God’s ordinance: so do they. Commit a felony, riot,
robbery, or rebellion with a multitude, and try if in thy trial before the
judge it will be a good plea to say, “I was led, and followed the multitude.”
What then would you have us to do? In matters of faith build upon a surer
foundation than upon numbers and multitudes, whom it was never safe to follow;
nor was it ever a good argument either of the truth or true Church. In Christ’s
time the multitude followed the Scribes and Pharisees, but not Christ nor His
apostles; and all the multitude cried, “Crucify Him.” And how uncertain a rule
this is the father tells us who observed, that in synods and councils the
greater side doth oftentimes overcome the better; and another who saith, that
in all Divine cases we must not number voices, but weigh them. What sure ground
can be expected from the rude multitude, than which nothing is more fickle and
uncertain? But we have a surer word, “Being built upon the foundation of the
apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner-stone” (Ephesians 2:20; 1 Corinthians 3:11). And we say as
Hushai to Absolom (2 Samuel 16:18) “Nay, but whom the
Lord and this people, and all the men of Israel chose, his will I be, and with
him will I abide.” (T. Taylor, D. D.)
Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil
I. Imitation is
one of the great characteristics of the human species. The same passion that
impels us to society, impels us to take part with our companions in their
interests and inclinations. Insensibly and without thought we fall into their
customs and their manners; we adopt their sentiments, their passions, and even
their foibles, and follow the same course as if we were actuated by the same
spirit.
II. By what means
we are to keep ourselves from following a multitude to do evil.
1. Let us be early and firmly established in the principles of an
holy faith. It is education chiefly that forms the human character; and it is a
virtuous and religious education that forms the character.
2. Let us beware with what company we associate.
3. Let us acquire firmness and fortitude of mind. (James Logan.)
The multitude an unsafe guide
It is said of the roes and hinds that they are most tender
and fearful of all beasts, affrighted with any noise, checked with the least
foil, turned out of course with the snapping of a stick, presently make head
another way, and when they are once out of their wonted walk they run they know
not whither, even to their own death. Such is the natural disposition of the
multitude or common people, soon stirred up, quickly awry, sometimes running
full head one way, on a sudden turned as much another, easily set agog,
delighted with novelties. (J. Spencer.)
The multitude not to be followed
Said Horace Bushnell to his younger brother, who had been to a
cheap show and came home crestfallen, “The next time that you see the whole
world doing something, be sure not to go with them unless you have some better
reason.” That was the germ of manly independence out of which the sturdy manhood
of that remarkable thinker grew. The sooner a young man learns that there are
in this world more silly people than wise, more weak than strong, the better
his chances of being a man.
Custom not the standard of right
“Know that the Lord has set apart him that is godly for Himself.”
Therefore it is no excuse for him to say, “I do but as others do.” He is to
reckon his hours by the sun, not the town clock; to take God’s direction, not
the vice of the multitudes, as one of their stamp and at liberty to comply with
their fashions. (T. Mantan, D. D.)
Verse 4-5
Thine enemy’s ox.
On duties to enemies
I. That duties to
enemies are enjoined (Proverbs 24:17; 1 Thessalonians 5:15).
1. It is our duty to protect the interests of our enemy.
2. It is our duty to help the difficulties of our enemy.
II. That duties to
enemies are difficult: “and wouldest forbear to help him.”
1. Such duties are against the grain of human nature.
2. Such duties are apparently against self-interest.
3. Such duties require self-denials and sacrifices.
III. That duties to
enemies are rewarded (Proverbs 25:21-22; Matthew 5:44-45; Romans 12:20).
IV. That neglect of
duties to enemies is punished (Job 31:29; Proverbs 24:18). In conclusion--
1. Our text applies to all enmity, whether polemical, political, or
national.
2. Its precepts should be obeyed, because we may be in the wrong and
our enemy in the right.
3. Because God has Himself set us the sublime example. “When we were
enemies, we were reconciled by the death of His Son.” (J. W. Burn.)
Neighbourly conduct
The horse of a pious man living in Massachusetts, North
America, happening to stray into the road, a neighbour of the man who owned the
horse put him into the pound. Meeting the owner soon after, he told him what he
had done; “And if I catch him in the road again,” said he, “I’ll do it again.”
“Neighbour,” replied the other, “not long since I looked out of my window in
the night and saw your cattle in my meadow, and I drove them out and shut them
in your yard; and I’ll do it again.” Struck with the reply, the man liberated
the horse from the pound, and paid the charges himself. “A soft answer turneth
away wrath.”
A humane disposition
In one of my temperance pilgrimages through Illinois I met a
gentleman who was the companion of a dreary ride which Mr. Lincoln made in a
light waggon, going the rounds of a circuit court where he had clients to look
after. The weather was rainy, the road “heavy” with mud. Lincoln enlivened the
way with anecdotes and recital, for few indeed were the incidents that relieved
the tedium of the trip. At last, in wallowing through a slough, they came upon
a poor hog, which was literally fast in the mud. The lawyers commented on the
poor creature’s pitiful condition and drove on. About half a mile was
laboriously gone over, when Lincoln suddenly exclaimed, “I don’t know how you
feel about it, but I’ve got to go back and pull that pig out of the slough.”
His comrade laughed, thinking it merely a joke; but what was his surprise when
Lincoln dismounted, left him to his reflections, and striding slowly back, like
a man on stilts picking his way as his long walking implements permitted, he
grappled with the drowning swine, dragged him out of the ditch, left him on its
edge to recover his strength, slowly measured off the distance back to his
waggon, and the two men drove on as if nothing had happened. The grand and
brotherly nature which could not consent to see the lowest of animals suffer
without coming to its rescue at great personal discomfort was nurtured by years
of self-abnegation for the great struggle, when he should be strong enough to
“put a shoulder to the wheel,” that should lift the chariot of State out of the
mire and set a subject race upon its feet. (Frances E. Willard.)
Verses 6-8
Thou shalt not wrest the judgment.
Duties of judges
I. That judges
should be impartial.
1. In particular towards the poor (Exodus 23:6).
2. In general towards the right (Exodus 23:7, first clause). Not to aid or
abet a wrong cause.
II. That judges
should be cautious, particularly with regard to matters relating to capital
punishment. “The innocent and righteous slay thou not.”
1. The case must be clearly proved.
2. The accused to have the benefit of the doubt.
3. Because justice would be done. If the criminal escaped an earthly
doom, God would “not justify the wicked” (Proverbs 11:21).
III. That judges
should be incorrupt (Exodus 23:8), either in the shape of
direct bribe or indirect present.
1. Because the bribe may blind him to the true merit of the case;
and--
2. Because the bribe may weigh down and pervert his judgment on the
wrong side.
IV. That judges
should be considerate (Exodus 23:9), particularly in regard to
foreigners. Because--
1. They had been foreigners themselves, and had suffered for the want
of consideration.
2. They therefore knew something of the sufferings of foreigners.
The administration of justice
There was a close connection between the civil and the
military constitution of the Hebrews. The same men who were captains of
thousands and captains of hundreds in war were magistrates in time of peace. In
every Oriental state the point of greatest weakness is the administration of
justice. Those who have lived long in the East testify that there is no such
thing as justice; that no cadi, sitting in the place of judgment, ever pretends
to such exceptional virtue as to be above receiving bribes. The utmost that can
be expected is the hypocrisy which is the homage of vice to virtue; and even
this is seldom rendered, for where bribery is universal no one is constrained
by shame to conceal it. Against this terrible demoralization no rock can stand
but that of the Divine authority. In the administration of justice a theocracy
is an ideal government, for it is Divinity enthroned on earth as in heaven; and
no other form of government enforces justice in a manner so absolute and
peremptory. In the eyes of the Hebrew lawgiver, the civil tribunal was as
sacred as the Holy of Holies. The office of the judge was as truly authorized
and his duty as solemnly enjoined as that of the priest. “The judgment is
God’s,” said Moses; and he who gave a false judgment disregarded the authority
of Him whose nature is justice and truth. The judgment-seat was a holy place,
which no private malice might profane. Evidence was received with religious
care. Oaths were administered to give solemnity to the testimony (Leviticus 5:1). Then the judge, standing
in the place of God, was to pronounce equitably, whatever might be the rank of
the contending parties (Deuteronomy 1:17). He recognized no
distinctions; all were alike to him. The judge was to know no difference. He
was not to be biased even by sympathy for the poor (Exodus 23:3; Leviticus 19:15). Magistrates were not
allowed to accept a gift, for fear of bribery. (H. M. Field, D. D.)
Bribery resisted
Persuaded that Marvell would be theirs (the
Administration’s) for properly asking, they sent his old schoolfellow, the Lord
Treasurer Danby, to renew acquaintance with him in his garret. At parting, the
Lord Treasurer, out of pure affection, slipped into his hand an order upon the
Treasury for £1,000, and then went to his chariot. Marvell, looking at the
paper, called after the Treasurer, “My lord, I request another moment.” They
went up again to the garret, and Jack, the servant-boy, was called. “Jack,
child, what had I for dinner yesterday?” “Don’t you remember, sir? You had the
little shoulder of mutton that you ordered me to bring from the woman in the
market.” “Very right, child. What have I for dinner to-day?” “Don’t you know,
sir, that you bade me lay by the blade-bone to broil?” “’Tis so; very right,
child; go away. My lord, do you hear that? Andrew Marvell’s dinner is provided.
There’s your piece of paper--I want it not. I know the sort of kindness you
intended. I live here to serve my constituents. The Ministry may seek men for
their purpose. I am not one.” (Coleridge.)
Bribes declined
“Why,” asked one of the English Tortes of the Tory Governor of
Massachusetts--“why hath not Mr. Adams been taken off from his opposition by an
office?” To which the Governor replied, “Such is the obstinacy and inflexible
disposition of the man, that he never would be conciliated by any office
whatever.” His daughter used to say that her father refused a pension from the
British Government of f2,000 a year. Once, when a secret messenger from General
Gage threatened him with a trial for treason if he persisted in his opposition
to the Government and promised him honours and wealth if he would desist, Adams
rose to his feet and replied, “Sir, I trust I have long since made my peace
with the King of kings. No personal consideration shall induce me to abandon
the righteous cause of my country.”
A judge to refuse bribes
I dare say many of you may have heard of the celebrated Sir
Matthew Hale, that he was in the habit of receiving a present from a person
annually; and it happened once, that about the usual time when this friend made
him the present, that he was accused of some offence, and was to appear as an
accused person before Sir Matthew Hale. On this occasion Sir Matthew Hale
returned him the present, lest it should afford even the shadow of a suspicion
that the purity of judicial impartiality should be disturbed, or seem to be
disturbed, by a gift from one who was to appear before the court accused of an
offence, and demanding a fair trial. And I believe still it would be thought
the most scandalous outrage upon our constitution, and every judge would
repudiate it with scorn and disdain, were any one, expecting to have his cause
tried by that judge, to attempt to propitiate his favour by gifts. Now, this
beautiful rule--so just, so reasonable, so proper--was anticipated and was
known, you observe, three thousand years ago, and was first revealed by Him who
is the Fountain of all wisdom and justice. (J. Cumming, D. D.)
Bribery resisted
A speculator heard that an amalgamation between two
joint-stock companies was projected, which would afford an opportunity to make
a large sum of money by prompt purchases of shares. He was acquainted with an
official holding a subordinate and poorly paid position in one of the
companies, and went to him to obtain reliable information. But the official was
a Christian and a man of honour, and knowing the information would operate to
the disadvantage of his employers, refused to say whether the amalgamation was
contemplated or not. “I can make £60,000 by my speculation if you will tell
me,” said the tempter, “and I will give you half.” “I cannot betray my trust,”
was the reply. “You need not speak,” said the speculator; “just wink your eye
and I shall know, and you shall have £30,000.” The temptation was fierce, but
the Christian conquered it. A few days afterwards, when the amalgamation was
completed, the speculator reproached his acquaintance for not giving the
information, but he was told that an approving conscience was above price. It
is satisfactory to learn that the faithful official prospered in his subsequent
career, and is now receiving a salary of £5,000 a year.
Verse 9
Thou shalt not oppress a stranger, for ye knew the heart of a
stranger.
The logic of law
The argument is that our conduct is to spring out of our
experience; we are to go back upon our own history and consciousness for the
law that shall guide us in the treatment of our fellow-men. Why, could we do
so, no more should we hear the rasping voice of rancour, hostile criticism,
mean remark, or severe demand.
1. Thou shalt not oppress the struggling man, for thou thyself hast
had thy struggle. Do not be hard upon those who are going up-hill.
2. Thou shall not oppress a doubting man, for thou thyself hast had
thy doubts, if thou art more than half a man.
3. The text has a meaning in reference to ourselves, as well as to
others. Thou shalt not renew old fears, for all thy fears have been round,
black, blatant liars. Six fears have been with you, have lied to you, have made
you play the fool in all the higher relations and issues of life, and yet I
detect you this morning talking in the corner to a member of the same false
family! Why do you not throw it from you, or order it behind you, or mock it
with the jibing of perfect rest in God!
4. “Thou shalt not--, because--.” That is the logic of the text. Now,
what must He be who gave such laws? In the character of the laws, find the
character of the legislator. God must be tender; He takes care of strangers.
Not only so; He must be aware of human history in all its changes and
processes. He knows about the strangers who were in the land of Egypt; He knows
about their deliverance; He knows that strangers are a tribe that must be on
the earth from age to age; He knows us altogether. He speaks a word for the
stranger. Oh, man, friendless, lonely man, you should love God. Oh, woman,
mother, sister, sinning woman, you should love Christ. Oh, little children,
frail flowers that may wither in a moment, you should put out your little
hands, if in but dumb prayer, and long to touch the Son of God. Oh, working man,
led away by the demagogue, made to scoff where you ought to pray, the Bible has
done more for you than any other book ever attempted to do; this is a human
book, a book for the nursery, the family, the market-place, the parliament, the
universe! (J. Parker, D. D.)
Kindly qualities developed by adversity
I suppose it is adversity that develops the kindly
qualities of our nature. I believe the sense of common degradation has a
tendency to make the degraded amiable--at least among themselves. I am told it
is found so in the plantations in slave-gangs. (Lord Beaconsfield.)
Verse 10-11
The seventh year thou shalt let it rest.
The Sabbatic year
This law was intended--
1. To show the fertility of the land of promise. Every seventh year,
without skill or toil, the land would produce of itself sufficient for the poor
and the beasts of the field.
2. To encourage habits of thrift and forethought, so that they might
provide for the year of rest.
3. To test
I. That periods
may arrive by the order or permission of God when work must re laid aside.
Commercial depression, sickness, old age.
II. That the
prospect of such periods should lead us to provide for them. We are not like “fowls
of the air,” or “grass of the field,” which have to be literally fed and
clothed by the providence of God, and are utterly unable to forecast and
provide for contingencies.
III. That the
prospect of such periods should teach us resignation to the will of God and
faith in His goodness (Matthew 6:25-34).
1. There remaineth “a rest” for the people of God.
2. Prepare for that rest by faith and obedience. (J. W. Burn.)
Verse 12
On the seventh day thou shalt rest.
Labour and rest
I. That rest is
needful--“May be refreshed.”
1. Rest is needful that the exhausted faculties may repose after past
work.
2. Rest is needful that those faculties may be invigorated for future
service.
3. Rest is needful that work may not become irksome; for if so
4. Rest is needful that work may be free and joyous.
II. That rest is
mercifully provided.
1. This rest is provided by God, lest man should overlook its
necessity.
2. This rest is provided by God lest the servant, the foreigner, or
the beast should be defrauded of their right to it.
III. That rest
should be diligently earned. “Six days shalt thou do thy work.”
1. Not lounge over it;
2. Not neglect it; but
3. Do it earnestly, conscientiously, and well.
Application:
1. A lesson to employers. God has provided this rest; beware how you
steal what God has given to man.
2. A lesson to working-men. This rest is yours by right. Then
3. A lesson to the world at large. Sabbath-breaking is the direct
cause of
Need of rest
We know well enough that if trains are run at fifty miles an hour
over roads built to endure only a speed of thirty miles an hour, everything in
a short time begins to give way, and to wear out, and the whole road and all
the rolling stock gets into a dangerous condition. Every rail, every tie, every
joint, every nail, every wheel and bit of machinery feels the strain and wear.
The human mechanism is not less sensitive than are railroads and locomotives.
The tendency of the time is to increase the speed of individual movement and
progress. The over-driven human being needs constant rest and repairs, as do
railroads and locomotives, and a thousand-fold more, for his mechanism is
infinitely more complicated and delicate. Instead of adding more fuel to a
disordered engine to make it go, we would send it to the repair shop, and let
it be restored by skilled workmen to soundness. So when the mind and body are
worn and weary, send them to the repair shop for rest. Sleep, quiet, nutritious
food, the absence of all stimulants and whips, and goads--these skilled
positive and negative workmen of nature will restore (if anything can) the
wasted vitality, and bring back health and strength and soundness. (Christian
Advocate.)
Verse 13
Be circumspect.
Circumspection
I. In general. “In
all things.” Moses is drawing to the close of these precepts, and looking back
upon them, he says--“Be circumspect.” The original suggests--
1. That we should be fully awake to the importance of the Divine
commands.
2. That we should be on our guard against temptations to break the
Divine commands. Temptations are
3. That we should be careful “to remember His commandments to do
them.”
II. In particular,
“make no mention,” etc. Because--
1. That would be uncircumspect in the first and greatest commandment.
2. That would be to forfeit the help promised to the circumspect.
3. That would be to yield to a tendency to be uncircumspect in
everything. Christians--
1. “Watch and pray, lest ye enter rote, temptation.”
2. Live so as “to adorn the doctrine of God your Saviour m all
things. (J. W. Burn.)
Circumspection needed
The mysterious perturbation of a ship’s compass is reported in a
scientific journal. It appears that the compass of the ship Penguin, recently
anchored off Australia, was deflected fifty-five degrees, and had a dip of
eighty-three degrees. After the ship left the anchorage and proceeded on her
voyage the disturbance ceased. At two miles from the point the variation was
quite normal. The captain spent a day in investigating the phenomenon. He
passed two or three times over the point where he had anchored, and found that
whenever the ship crossed it, the compass was disturbed as before, and
recovered when at a distance of two miles in any direction. This satisfied him
that the centre of the submarine disturbance was limited to a circle of less
than two miles magnetic minerals at the sea bottom. The journal reporting his
observation says: “Great as is the gain to the navigator to be thus warned of a
formidable danger in certain places, it lays upon him the imperative duty of
being always on his guard against such sources of disaster elsewhere, and of
promptly reporting any new magnetic disturbance, as he would a rock or shoal.!”
Similar vigilance is necessary on the part of every voyager through life.
Verse 16
The feast of harvest.
The feast of harvest
I. The instruction
it communicates
1. It exhibits the wonderful power of God.
2. We have an establishment of the faithfulness and truth of God.
3. We have a manifestation of the goodness and bounty of God.
4. It displays the mercy and forbearance of God.
5. It shows us the connection between means and the end.
II. What feelings
it should produce. It should produce feelings--
1. Of deep humiliation.
2. Of heartfelt gratitude.
3. Our constant dependence upon God.
4. A constant desire to please Him.
III. What practical
influence the subject should exert upon us.
1. To labour for the provision suited to our souls.
2. To do good in our respective spheres and stations in life.
3. Prepare for the final harvest.
Application:
1. Let us gratefully enjoy the bounties of Providence. Many are
abusing, many forgetting, etc.
2. Let us be especially anxious about the blessings of eternal life.
3. Let us always act in reference to the final harvest of the world.
(J. Burns, D. D.)
Pilgrimage feasts
I. Religious
feasts are memorials.
1. Of God’s past dealings.
2. Of our dependence on God’s care.
3. Of our present condition. Pilgrims. This earth is not our rest.
II. Religious
feasts are not to interfere with the duties of life.
III. stated
religious feasts are helpful to a religious spirit.
IV. Religious
feasts must promote the social and benevolent instincts of our nature.
V. The offerings
at religious feasts must be--
1. Pure,
2. Of the best. (W. Burrows, B. A.)
The feast of harvest
This was their Pentecost; so called from a Greek word signifying
“fifty”--because it occurred on the fiftieth day from the feast of unleavened
bread. It was, properly, a harvest festival, in which the Jew offered
thanksgiving unto God for the ripened fruits of the earth. To understand the
peculiar interest the Jew took in this holiday, you must remember that the
Israelites, after their establishment in Canaan, were almost entirely a nation
of farmers. The peasant and the noble, in their respective spheres, were alike
husbandmen. And the whole land of Israel was in the highest state of
cultivation. Now, to such a people, inhabiting such a country, the feast of
harvest was necessarily a grand festival.
1. We, too, want great national and religious holidays, to keep in
mind great national providences.
2. We need them, moreover, as verily as the Jews, for their
conservative political influence--to counteract the sectional and unsocial
tendencies of our great tribal divisions. If we could come up nationally to
such Pentecosts, then no living man would ever again dare breathe of discord
and disunion--for chords, tender as our loves and stronger than our lives woven
of religion and holy with old memories, as the memorial festivals uniting Judah
and Ephraim, would bind us together and bind us to God!
3. Meanwhile we need such pentecostal holidays for those personal
advantages which they brought to the Hebrews. They furnish that harmless
relaxation so constitutionally necessary to our highest well-being. Real
pleasure, as well physical as moral, is always the true law of life. True
virtue is genial and joyous, walking earth in bright raiment, and with bounding
footsteps. And the nervous, restless, unreposing, devouring intensity of purpose
wherewith our men follow their business, is as disastrous to the nobler moral
bloom and aroma of the heart, as a roaring hurricane to a garden of roses.
Above all, our religious nature needs them. The true joy of the Lord is the
Christian’s strength. Cheerfulness is a very element of godliness.
4. This is our Pentecost--our feast of harvest. And even in its
lowest aspect, as a grateful acknowledgment of God’s goodness, in preserving
for our use the kindly fruits of the earth, it is a fitting occasion of thankfulness.
It is scarcely possible to over-estimate the importance of agriculture. It
surpasses commerce and manufacture, as a cause is superior to its effects--as
an inner life is of more moment than its various outward functions. Meanwhile,
the reflex influences of industrial agriculture on our physical and social
well-being are as well incalculable. After all, the finest products of our
farm-lands are found in our farm-houses. Things better than corn and cabbages
are grown on plough-ground--bone, muscle, sinew, nerve, brain, heart; these all
thrive and strengthen by agriculture. The specimens of strong, hale,
common-sense manhood seen at our annual fairs are a finer show than all the fat
cattle and sheep, and noble horses, and the brave array of farm-fruits and
implements. Agriculture purifies morals, chastens taste, deepens the religious
element, develops the individual man.
5. Our thanksgiving is partly in view of the ripened fruits of the
earth; but mainly in view of other and higher blessings. And in this regard as
well, it is properly--a feast of harvest. In respect of all things--not merely
the natural fruits of the earth, but all great human interests, political,
intellectual, religious--we may be said to live in the world’s great harvest
time. We have reaped, and are reaping, the ripened and ripening fruits of all
earth’s past generations. Consider this a little.
6. In respects, then, like these, political, intellectual, religious,
we live in times of unexampled blessedness. We have come up to Zion from hills
purple with vintage, and valleys golden with corn, in the rapturous
harvest-home of the mortal! And it becomes us to keep festival before God as
the old Jew kept his Pentecost. As men, as patriots, as philanthropists, as
Christians, our cup of joy mantles brightly. What more could God have done for
us that He hath not done? What people can be happy before God, if we are not
happy? Living here, in this nineteenth century, free men--free Christians--we
seem to stand on the very mount of God, flung up in the waste of ages, for the
enthronement of His great man-child! We look backward, and lo! all the past has
been working together for our national and individual beatitude. Patriarchs,
prophets, bards, sages, mighty men, conquerors, have all been our servants.
Generation after generation, that have lived and died--great empires, that have
risen and flourished, and trod imperial paths, and passed away for ever--seem
to rise from their old death-dust, and march in vision before us, laying down
all their accumulated thoughts, and arts, and honours--all the trophies of
their mighty triumphs, in homage, at our feet! We look forward, and the eye is
dazzled with the vision of the glory about to be accorded to God’s kingly
creature, man! when standing upon this redeemed world, he shall assert his
birthright--a child of God here! an heir of God for ever! Verily, we have cause
for thanksgiving. “The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are
glad.” Let us give, then, free course to our grateful emotions! Thankful for
the present, trustful for the future, let us rejoice before God “with the joy
of harvest.” (C. Wadsworth.)
Verse 19
Thou shalt not seethe a kid.
Cherish the finer instinct
The prohibition suggests the duty of cherishing the finer
instincts of our nature. The act here forbidden could hardly be called cruelty,
the kid being dead, but it was unnatural. It is beautiful to see the ancient
Law inculcating this rare and delicate fineness of feeling. The lesson is that
everything is to be avoided which would tend to blunt our moral sensibilities.
(J. Orr.)
Verse 20
To bring thee into the place which I have prepared.
Life’s pilgrimage
The angel, the way, the prepared place. It is the Divine key to
the mystery of life. Life is emphatically a way. Not by the way of the sea--a
prompt and easy path--but by the way of the wilderness, of old God led His
pilgrims. The vision of the angel in the way lights up the wilderness. Consider
the suggestion of the text as to--
I. The pilgrim’s
condition. God’s children must be pilgrims, because this world is not good
enough, not bright enough, not capable of being blessed enough, for the pilgrim
in his home. For--
1. The instructed soul sees the touch of essential imperfection and
the bounds of close limitation in everything here.
2. There is a constant aching of the heart through memory and hope.
3. Life is a pilgrimage because it is far away from the Friend whom
we supremely love.
II. The pilgrim’s
guide.
1. God has sent His angel before us in the person of His Son.
2. He sends His angel with us in the person of the Holy Ghost.
III. The pilgrim’s
way to the pilgrim’s home.
1. It is a way of purposed toil and difficulty, of wilderness, peril,
and night. Suffer we must in the wilderness; the one question is, Shall it be
with or without the angel of the Lord?
2. It is a way of stern, uncompromising duty. God asks us now simply
to do and to bear, and to wait to see the whole reason and reap the whole fruit
on high. We must train ourselves to the habit of righteous action, and leave
the results to God and eternity.
3. It is a way of death. God promises to none of us an immunity from
death. The shadow hangs round life as a drear monitor to all of us. He only who
can eye it steadily and fix its form will see that it is angelic and lustrous
with the glory beyond. The grave is but the last step of the way by which the
angel leads us to the place which He has prepared. (J. B. Brown, B. A.)
Divine guidance
I. There is a
Divine way.
1. Through the wilderness.
2. Beset with enemies.
3. Many privations.
4. Contrary to mere human liking.
God’s way is not our way! Ours may be pleasant at first but bitter
at last, but God’s way is the reverse; and yet not exactly, for sweets are
graciously mingled with the bitters. There is hunger, but there is manna. There
is thirst, but there is clear water from the smitten rock. There is perplexity,
but there is an angel to guide and protect.
II. This way leads
to Divinely-prepared places. Heaven is a specially prepared place. “I go to
prepare a place for you.” A place in the best of all places. A home in the best
of homes. A dwelling-place where all the abodes are mansions. A seat where all
the seats are thrones. A city where all the citizens are kings. What matters it
though the way be long and sometimes dreary, so long as the place is so
attractive; and we cannot fail to reach it if we obey Divine directions.
III. The travellers
on this way are favoured with a Divine guide. Jesus Christ, the Angel of the
new covenant, is fully competent to direct and protect. He has trodden every
inch of the way.
IV. Divine promises
are contingent on the faithful pursuit of Divine methods (Exodus 23:21). The Divine methods
are--Caution, obedience, self-restraint, and the entire destruction of all that
has the remotest tendency to damage the moral nature. (W. Burrows, B. A.)
The angel of the covenant
I. His nature was
Divine.
1. Equal with God.
2. Distinct from the personality of the speaker, “I send,” so New
Testament, “The Father which sent Me.”
II. His office was
to conduct the covenant people to the fulfilment of God’s covenant engagement.
1. Providence. “To keep thee in the way.” So Christ “upholds all
things by the word of His power.” “In Him all things consist.” Generally and
particularly He preserves those who trust in Him (John 10:28).
2. Redemption. “To bring thee into the place which I have prepared.”
Israel’s redemption is only half accomplished as yet. So Christ’s eternal
redemption is not complete till the last enemy is destroyed (John 14:2-3).
III. The proper
attitude towards Him.
1. Fear. Carefulness not to displease Him. Christ is the Saviour of
those only who believe in Him. To others He is a “savour of death unto death.”
2. Obedience. “Obey His voice.” So says the Father in the New
Testament (Matthew 17:5); and Himself (Matthew 28:20). This implies
IV. The reward of
obedience to Him (Exodus 23:22-23).
1. Identification and sympathy with us in our cause. “I will be an
enemy,” etc.
2. Victory over our foes (1 Corinthians 15:57), world, flesh,
devil, death, etc.
3. Inheritance in the promised land.
Learn--
1. (2 Timothy 1:9), That God’s grace has
been manifested in Jesus Christ from the beginning of the world.
2. That God’s grace has been, through Jesus Christ, with His people
up to the present moment.
3. And will be till the end of the world. (J. W. Burn.)
Christ at the head of the column
It is said when the Duke of Wellington, on one occasion, rode up
to his retreating army, a soldier happened to see him first and cried out:
“Yonder is the Duke of Wellington; God bless him!” and the retreating army had
courage to nerve itself afresh and went forward and drove the enemy away. One
has said that the Duke of Wellington was worth more at any time than five
thousand men. So it would be if we had the Captain of our salvation in front,
we would go forward. How gloriously would this Church contend if Christ were
visibly in front of them! But the army was sometimes without the Duke of
Wellington. There was a place where he could not be. And if Christ were visibly
present, He would be present at the same time, only at one church in one
locality; it might be in Philadelphia, but what of the thousand other cities?
But an unseen Saviour is at the head of the column everywhere. We know He is
there. The Captain of our salvation is where two or three are gathered in His
Name to inspire us; and to-day, in every city on the face of this globe, where
the columns meet to march, His voice sounds “Onward!” in their ears. (M.
Simpson, D. D.)
The angel in life
Laws without angels would turn life into weary drudgery. Life has
never been left without some touch of the Divine presence and love. From the
very first this has been characteristic of our history. The solemn--the grand,
fact is, that in our life there is an angel, a spirit, a presence; a ministry
without definite name and altogether without measurableness! a gracious
ministry, a most tender and comforting service, always operating upon our
life’s necessity and our heart’s pain. Let us rest in that conviction for a
moment or two until we see how we can establish it by references to facts,
experiences, consciousness against which there can be no witness. See how our
life is redeemed from baseness by the assumption that an angel is leading it.
Who can believe that an angel has been appointed to conduct a life which must
end in the grave? The anticlimax is shocking; the suggestion is charged with
the very spirit of profanity. If an angel is leading, us, is he leading us to
the grave? What is it within us that detests the grave, that turns away from it
with aversion, that will not be sent into so low and mean a prison? It is “the
Divinity that stirs within us.” Then again, who could ask an angel to be a
guest in a heart given up to evil thoughts and purposes? Given the
consciousness that an angel is leading us, and instantly a series of
preparations must be set up corresponding with the quality and title of the
leading angel of our pilgrimage. We prepare for some guests. According to the
quality of the guest is the range and costliness of our preparation. Whom our
love expects our love provides for. When we are longing for the coming one,
saying, “The presence will make the house the sweeter and the brighter, and the
speech will fill our life with new poetry and new hope. Oh, why tarry the
chariot wheels?” then we make adequate--that is to say,
proportionate--preparation. The touch of love is dainty, the invention of love
is fertile, the expenditure of love is without a grudge or a murmur,--another
touch must be given to the most delicate arrangement; some addition must be
made to the most plentiful accommodation; love must run over the programme just
once more to see that every line is worthily written. Then the front door must
be opened widely, and the arms and the heart, and the whole being to receive
the guest of love. And that is so in the higher regions. If an angel is going
to lead me, the angel must have a chamber in my heart prepared worthy of
myself. Chamber!--nay, the whole heart must be the guest-room; he must occupy
every corner of it, and I must array it with robes of purity and brightness
that he may feel himself at home, even though he may have come from heaven to
do some service for my poor life. Any appeal that so works upon every kind of
faculty, upon imagination, conscience, will, force, must be an appeal that will
do the life good. It calls us to perfectness, to preparedness, to a nobility
corresponding in some degree with the nobility of the guest whom we entertain.
The Divine presence in life, by whatever name we may distinguish it, is pledged
to two effects, supposing our spirit and our conduct to be right. God
undertakes our cause as against our enemies. Would we could leave our enemies
in His hands! I do not now speak altogether of merely human enemies--because
where there is enmity between man and man, though it never can be justified,
yet it admits of such modification in the system of words as to throw
responsibility upon both sides--but I speak of other enemies,--the enmity
expressed by evil desire, by the pressure of temptation, by all the array
against the soul’s health and weal of the principalities of the power of the
air, the princes of darkness, the spirits of evil. Send the angel to fight the
angel; let the angel of light fight the angel of darkness. The second effect to
which the Divine presence in our life is pledged is that we shall be blessed
with the contentment which is riches. Thus we have mysteries amongst us which
the common or carnal mind cannot understand. Men asking God’s blessing upon
what appears to be unblest poverty--men saying it is enough when we can
discover next to nothing in the hand uplifted in recognition of Divine
goodness. Thus we hear voices coming from the bed of affliction that have in
them the subdued tones of absolute triumph; thus the sick-chamber is turned
into the church of the house, and if we would recover from dejection, and
repining, and sorrow, we must go to the bedside of affliction and learn there
how wondrous is the ministry of God’s angel, how perfecting and ennobling the
influence of God’s grace. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Verse 30
By little and little I will drive them out before thee.
The gradual processes of God
It is important, not only to see, but to love, the gradual
processes of God. There is more love in doing the little thing than in doing
the great thing. A great mind is never so great as when it is throwing itself
into something exceedingly minute. The special subject to which the text
spiritually and allegorically refers is the conquest of sin. For such as the
old inhabitants of the land of Canaan were to Israel, such the old inhabitants
of our hearts are to us. But now here let me draw what appears to me to be a
very important distinction before I proceed. If the processes of sanctification
are exceedingly small, the work of justification is template--perfectly
complete--in its one defined isolated act. Never confound this--the advancement
of your holiness with the perfection of your pardon. There are no degrees of
pardon. Nevertheless, though, the Lord Jesus Christ being set up in his heart,
sin has gone down, and grace is in the ascendancy--the sin is there--and there
it is in tremendous rebellion and awful conflict. Make the distinction of the sin
dominant, and the sin subservient, but rebellious against the grace dominant.
Yet still, though the sin be thus so far subdued, it lives. Only “little by
little,” after it is put down from its throne, is it expelled. It goes on to
that expulsion--till at last, as the condemnation of sin was exchanged for the
rebellion of sin, the rebellion of sin is exchanged for the removal of the
presence of sin, and sin is no longer there. Now I want to lead you to see the
benefits of this “little by little.” It is in infinite mercy. It is the
discipline of life. And not only in the external event, but in the internal
experiences, to a believer, it is all discipline. And that very gradual
overcoming of sin is a great part of the discipline of life--to exercise many graces,
patience, faith, waiting upon God, prayer, humiliation. And not only so, but
remember in this discipline of life, God has His punishments. And do you know
what God’s heaviest punishment is? Sin. He makes sins scourge sins!--often a
sin we hate to scourge a sin we love--often a sin of action to chasten a sin of
feeling--often a sin of conscience to humble us in the dust and make us
discover a sin of emotion. Sins punish sins. Therefore, as the old Canaanites
were kept in the land of Canaan for this very end--that they might be thorns in
the side of the Israelites, and whenever the Israelites fell into idolatry--for
their grievous sin some were allowed to rise up and overcome them for awhile,
till God raised up some judge to overcome that nation, so it is in your heart.
And not only is it thus discipline and punishment--but remember it is for the
manifestation of the glory of the Holy Ghost who exhibits His power and grace
in the process of converting sinners into saints. Or look at it again thus. I
do not believe that we could bear now to be perfectly holy. That inward light,
if so unclouded, would be of such a brightness as would wither us and scorch
us. The body would not be capable of it--the mind would not be capable of it.
But when we have the disembodied spirit, or when we have the “spirit clothed
upon with the new body,” then, and then only, we shall be capable of perfect
saintliness. And till that, it must be “little by little,”--a gradual
approaching to that state which we could not bear if introduced to at once.
Now, just in conclusion, observe the expression “I will drive them out.” It is
one of God’s high works; it requires the power of Omnipotence to eradicate sin
from the human soul. (J. Vaughan M. A.)
The power of little things
I. It is through
little things that a man destroys his soul; he fails to take note of little
things, and they accumulate into great; he relaxes in little things, and thus
in time loosens every bond.
II. It is by little
and little that men become great in piety. We become great in holiness through
avoiding little faults, and being exact in little duties.
III. There is great
difficulty in little things. In daily dangers and duties, in the petty
anxieties of common life, in the exercise of righteous principles, in
trifles--in these we must seek and find the opportunity of ejecting “by little
and little” the foes we have sworn to expel from our hearts. (H. Melvill, B.
D.)
Little things
I. Great things
are made up of little things. Highest mountain of grains of dust. Atlantic of
drops of water. Year of 31,536,000 seconds. Deepest snow-fall came down one
flake at a time.
II. Great things
depend on little ones. Falling of apple from tree insignificant enough; yet led
to discovery of law of gravitation.
III. Great things
spring from little ones. Oak once an acorn. Greatest hero once an infant.
Explosion in coal-pit which destroyed life and property was caused by spark
from match. Tract sent by child to India fell into hands of a chief, who was
brought to Christ through reading it; missionary was sent out and hundreds
converted.
IV. Great works are
accomplished by little and little. Pyramids raised one stone at a time.
Greatest paintings done stroke by stroke. Michael Angelo, when pointing out
what progress he had made in a piece of sculpture on which he was engaged, was
met with the remark, “But these are trifles.” He replied, “Trifles make
perfection; but perfection is no trifle.”
V. Character is
formed by little and little. Good characters are built up of little acts of
kindness, industry, generosity, obedience, and integrity. One mean or dishonest
act may destroy a reputation which it has taken years to acquire. (W. H.
Booth.)
The power of moral forces
I. The strength of
moral forces.
II. The power of
little, backed by moral force.
III. Moral forces
move to the production of distant results.
IV. The movements
of moral forces are not hurried.
V. Moral forces
will continue to move until the purpose is finally accomplished.
VI. Moral forces
are ever on the side of right doers. (W. Burrows, B. A.)
The conquering life
The upward road to success must always be over difficulties, and
these are only overcome “little by little.” The man who would conquer must not
expect to do so at once, by one headlong charge. Yes, a man to succeed must be
self-reliant, he must trust to God and his own right arm. When Stephen Colonna
was taken prisoner by his enemies, and they sneeringly asked him, “Where is now
your stronghold?” he laid his hand upon his heart, and answered, “Here.” A man
must dare to stand alone. If Clive had leaned upon others instead of himself,
he would not have matched his few European and native troops against the
overwhelming masses of Bengal, and have won the Battle of Plassey. If Columbus
had been discouraged by delays, and obstacles and disappointments, he would
never have found America. We have seen, then, that success means the overcoming
of difficulties, by determination, by self-reliance, by patience, “little by
little.” This is equally true of the noblest of all pursuits, the pursuit of
holiness, of the grandest and purest work, work for God; of the hardest and
most splendid of victories, victory over self. The victories which have been
gained over ourselves will be remembered when the triumphs of Caesar and
Hannibal are uncared for. “He conquered himself” is a better epitaph than “He
conquered the world.” Well, then, in this daily life of ours we all have a
Canaan to conquer; and God promises that if we do our part, He will drive out
our foes “little by little.” No one becomes bad all at once, nor good all at
once. Our life, if it be the true life, will be a gradual growth in grace, a
daily dying to sin, and rising again unto righteousness, a daily mortifying of
our evil and corrupt affections, and a daily proceeding in all virtue and
godliness of living. (H. J. Wilmot-Buxton, M. A.)
Destructive power of “little” things
How does it commonly come to pass, that a man who had been
thoroughly alive to his moral responsibility, and who had acted under a
manifest consciousness of the account which must one day be rendered at the
judgment seat of Christ, falls away from the striving for salvation, and
mingles with the multitude that walks the broad road? Is it ordinarily through
one powerful and undisguised assault, that he is turned from the path--the
enemies of his soul combining their strength in one united attack, and coming
down on him with every weapon which their malice could suggest and their power
obtain? Nay, not so; it is invariably through “little” things, that such a man
destroys his soul. Like the heavenly bodies, the man of piety moves in a
resisting medium, as he revolves about the Sun of righteousness, which is, and
must be, the centre of our system. It may be only a very minute fraction of
velocity, that this resisting medium is able at any one time to destroy; but
its operation is constant, and therefore if the destroyed fraction remain
unobserved and unrepaired, the waste will go on, till the whole motion is lost,
and the star recedes from its pathway of light. As Christians we profess
ourselves strangers and pilgrims upon earth; we are not at home, and the
atmosphere of the earth is one which tends to retard our movements, and
diminish the speed with which we might otherwise run the race set before us;
and although, beyond doubt, the world may occasionally put huge impediments in
the way, which may tend to block up the path, and force us, on a sudden either
to stand still or turn aside, yet our chief danger lies in the almost
imperceptible influence exerted by the world, like that of the resisting medium
on the planets--a hindrance which offers no violent opposition to our
principles, but which, confining itself to trifles, is perhaps allowed to act
undisturbed, as though either there could be trifles when the soul’s good is in
debate, or as though, if there were, trifles upon trifles would not make up
large amounts. There is a sort of continued attraction, resulting from our
necessary intercourse with the world, which of itself deadens the attainments
of the soul. There is, moreover, a continued temptation to yield in little
points under the impression of conciliating, to indulge in little things, to
forego little strictnesses, to omit little duties, and all owing to the idea,
that what looks so slight cannot be of real moment. (H. Melvill, B.
D.)
Gradual sanctification
We here have--
I. A gracious
promise, on God’s part, to those who are now His true Israel, and who look for
a better possession than the earthly Canaan.
II. An admirable
criterion by which to discover the sincerity of our Profession; and our
progress in it.
III. A warning that
the work of sanctification must be gradual. God does not give us a rapid
victory over our sins.
1. In order to keep us humble;
2. To incite us to prayer, watchfulness and exertion;
3. To increase our desires after that land where peace and purity
reign for ever.
IV. A guarantee of
future victory, though it may be progressive. (P. Maitland, B. A.)
The difficulty of little things
“By little and little.” My brethren, think often of the mode in which
God thus declares that He will drive out before Israel the Hivite, the
Perizzite, and the Jebusite: it is the very mode by which His grace will enable
you to drive out from your hearts those principles of evil which oppose the
complete setting up of the kingdom of His Son. The difficulty in religion is
the taking up the cross daily, rather than the taking it up on some set
occasion, and under extraordinary circumstances. The serving God in little
things, the carrying religious principle into all the minutiae of life, the
discipline of our tempers, the regulation of our speech, the domestic
Christianity, the momentary sacrifices, the secret and unobserved
self-denials--who that knows anything of the difficulties of piety does not
know that there is greater danger of his falling in these, than in trials which
apparently call for higher and sterner endurance? If on no other account than
from the very absence of what looks important, are trifles likely to throw him
off his guard, make him careless or confident, and thereby almost ensure
defeat. It is not comparatively hard to put the armour on, when the trumpet
sounds, but it is to keep the armour on when there is no alarm of battle; and
our warfare with our spiritual enemies is not warfare in a series of pitched
battles, with intervals for rest and recruiting--it is rather daily, hourly,
momentary fighting. This is the “driving out by little and little,” to which
the Almighty promises “the reward of the inheritance.” Understand, therefore,
and remember, that there is great difficulty in little things. Be assured that
daily dangers and duties, the little unevennesses which may ruffle the temper,
the petty anxieties of common life, the exercise of righteous principle in
trifles--in these must you seek, and in these will you find the opportunity of
ejecting “by little and little” the foes which you have sworn to expel from the
heart, but which still, like the Canaanites against Israel, dispute the
territory with the Lord God of hosts. And if the warfare be tedious, forget not
that you fight for an incorruptible crown. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
Importance of little things
Giotto, a distinguished Roman painter, was desired by one of the
Popes to paint a panel in the Vatican. Some doubt of his ability, however,
being entertained, the Pope’s messenger first asked him for an example of his
art. Giotto’s study was adorned with his paintings, but instead of offering any
of these, he took a sheet of white paper, and with a single stroke of his
pencil drew a perfect circle, and handed it to his visitor. The latter, in
surprise, reminded him that he had asked for a design. “Go,” said Giotto; “I
tell you, his Holiness asks nothing else of me.” He was right, for the evidence
of his command of the pencil was accepted as conclusive, and his eccentric
though reasonable reply gave rise to the proverb, “Round as Giotto’s O.” To do
a small thing well is the best proof of ability to do what is great.
Progressive sanctification
Those persons must have a very inadequate knowledge of the scheme
of salvation, who suppose that the work of sanctification is sudden and rapid
in its effects. And why? Because we find a consistency maintained between God’s
natural government of the world, and the plan of salvation as displayed in the
gospel. And hence we are led to argue, that both must proceed from the same
Divine hand. Now, when persons first resign this world as their portion, and
give themselves up to the service of God, they frequently set out with highly
raised expectations and, not fully conscious of the difficulties which lie in
their path, suppose that the victory over sin will be easily accomplished, and
a rapid progress made in the ways of godliness. It is with the inexperienced
Christian, as it is with the young in the spring-tide of their existence. Then
all is bright and glittering; and, exulting in the present, and buoyed up with
joyous hopes for the future, they know not of the cloud gathering in the
horizon. And this expectation is, in a measure, aided by the fact, that in the
earlier stages of a Christian course, a much more rapid advance is frequently
made than is found to be the case in after years. Moreover, the Christian, in
the earlier stages of his course, is not fully aware of the extent of obedience
which the law of God demands, and is not sufficiently conscious of the deep
depravity of his own heart. Hence the terms of the gospel, which demand an
irreconcileable war with every lust and passion, and call for a continued and
persevering struggle with every known sin, cannot be fully appreciated, because
these are not discovered. But it is the office of the Holy Spirit, gradually to
make this discovery to the mind of the Christian. But has God ever undertaken
that Satan and the world and the flesh shall at once be beaten down beneath your
feet? No! What says my text? “By little and little.” But, whilst it is only
right, Christians, that I should thus set before you the difficulties which
beset your path, at the same time that you take warning from the text not to
expect a more rapid victory over sin than God has prescribed, take also to
yourselves the encouragement which it affords. Here is the promise of Him who
cannot lie, that He will eventually make us more than conquerers, though it
will be by little and little, and not so rapidly as we could desire. “Being
confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you, will
perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ.” It will be gradual, but effectual--it
will be progressive, but abiding; if left to yourselves, indeed, your strength
must fail; and vain would be the attempt to contend successfully with your sins
and infirmities. “The Lord is my strength and my song, and is become my
salvation,” says the Psalmist; and what he here speaks of--God’s
loving-kindness--is only that which is the portion of every true believer. “He
giveth power to the faint,” says the prophet, “and to them that have no might
He increaseth strength.” How cheering are such assurances to those who feel the
burden of their sin, and how calculated to set at rest all doubts and
misgivings with respect to our future perseverance! But, for this, let it ever
be remembered that continued and fervent supplication must be made. “For all
these things” are the words of God, “will I be inquired of by the house of Israel,
to do it for them.” And never let us complain that our enemies are mighty, and
that we make so slow a progress against them, whilst we neglect to plead in
prayer with the Almighty for the fulfilment of His own promises. And here let
me turn to the well-tried Christian--to such as are firmly established and
grounded in the faith; and I would ask, whether you cannot bear testimony to
the faithfulness with which the promise of the text is verified? You, as well
as others, need the encouragement which it affords, because, the more you grow
in holiness, the more you will perceive how infinitely short you come of the
standard at which you aim. But have you not reason from the past, to trust God
for the future? With St. Paul, thank God, and take courage; and, whenever it
shall happen (as it sometimes will with the holiest and best of men) that you
entertain doubts and misgivings with respect to your ultimate safety, owing to
your unworthiness, recall to your minds the promise of my text, and others of a
similar character. Let these reassure and animate you: God is still the same
unfailing Protector of those who trust in Him as He ever was, and will never
forsake the true sheep of His pasture, but gradually drive out their enemies
from before them, until they are established in their promised possession. (P.
Maitland, B. A.)
Verses 31-33
They shall not dwell in thy land.
Lessons
1. God is the sovereign boundmaker to all nations on the earth.
2. Among all God hath promised to set the bounds of His Church on
earth.
3. God’s suppression of His adversaries is a token of His settling
His Church’s habitation (Exodus 23:31).
4. No covenant with idolatrous adversaries must be made by the Church
against God’s will.
5. No covenant can be made with idolaters, but it will be with their
idols, viz., devils (Exodus 23:32).
6. Converse with idolaters is very dangerous to make men such sinners
against God.
7. Such sinning with idolaters is a snare, which will keep souls to
destruction.
8. All such sins must be avoided, that God’s promise of good may be
obtained (Exodus 23:33). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Associating with the ungodly
Those who willingly associate with the sinful are like the river
Thames, which is a sweet and pretty river enough near its source; but in the
great metropolis it has kept company with drains and sewers under the belief
that its current was too powerful and too pure to be injured by them. It was
meant that the river should purify the sewer; but, instead of that, the sewer
has corrupted the river. (Union Magazine.)
The snare of worldliness
Serious people often complain of the snares they meet with from
worldly people, and yet they must mix with them to get a livelihood. I advise
them, if they can, to do their business with the world as they do it in the
rain. If their business calls them abroad, they will not leave it undone for
fear of being a little wet; but then, when it is done, they presently seek
shelter, and will not stand in the rain for pleasure. So, providential and
necessary calls of duty, that lead us into the world, will not hurt us, if we
find the spirit of the world unpleasant, and are glad to retire from it, and
keep out of it, as much as our relative duties will permit. That which is our
cross is not so likely to be our snare; but if that spirit which we should
always watch and pray against, infects and assimilates our minds to itself,
then we are sure to suffer loss, and act below the dignity of our profession. (Newton’s
Letters to a Nobleman.)
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