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2 Kings Chapter
Seventeen
2 Kings 17
Chapter Contents
Reign of Hoshea in Israel, The israelites carried
captives by the Assyrians. (1-6) Captivity of the Israelites. (7-23) The
nations placed in the land of Israel. (24-41)
Commentary on 2 Kings 17:1-6
(Read 2 Kings 17:1-6)
When the measure of sin is filled up, the Lord will forbear
no longer. The inhabitants of Samaria must have endured great affliction. Some
of the poor Israelites were left in the land. Those who were carried captives
to a great distance, were mostly lost among the nations.
Commentary on 2 Kings 17:7-23
(Read 2 Kings 17:7-23)
Though the destruction of the kingdom of the ten tribes
was but briefly related, it is in these verses largely commented upon, and the
reasons of it given. It was destruction from the Almighty: the Assyrian was but
the rod of his anger, Isaiah 10:5. Those that bring sin into a country
or family, bring a plague into it, and will have to answer for all the mischief
that follows. And vast as the outward wickedness of the world is, the secret
sins, evil thoughts, desires, and purposes of mankind are much greater. There
are outward sins which are marked by infamy; but ingratitude, neglect, and
enmity to God, and the idolatry and impiety which proceed therefrom, are far
more malignant. Without turning from every evil way, and keeping God's
statutes, there can be no true godliness; but this must spring from belief of
his testimony, as to wrath against all ungodliness and unrighteousness, and his
mercy in Christ Jesus.
Commentary on 2 Kings 17:24-41
(Read 2 Kings 17:24-41)
The terror of the Almighty will sometimes produce a
forced or feigned submission in unconverted men; like those brought from
different countries to inhabit Israel. But such will form unworthy thoughts of
God, will expect to please him by outward forms, and will vainly try to
reconcile his service with the love of the world and the indulgence of their
lusts. May that fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom, possess our
hearts, and influence our conduct, that we may be ready for every change.
Wordly settlements are uncertain; we know not whither we may be driven before
we die, and we must soon leave the world; but the righteous hath chosen that
good part which shall not be taken from him.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on 2 Kings》
2 Kings 17
Verse 1
[1] In
the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah began Hoshea the son of Elah to reign in
Samaria over Israel nine years.
To reign — He
usurped the kingdom in Ahaz's fourth year; but either was not owned as king, by
the generality of the people; or was not accepted and established in his
kingdom, 'till Ahaz's twelfth year.
Nine —
After his confirmation and peaceable possession of his kingdom: for in all, he
reigned seventeen, or eighteen years; twelve with Ahaz, who reigned sixteen
years, and six with Hezekiah.
Verse 2
[2] And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, but not as the
kings of Israel that were before him.
But not, … —
For he neither worshipped Baal, as many of his predecessors did; nor compelled
the people to worship the calves; (one of them, that of Dan, being destroyed,
or carried away before, as the Hebrew writers affirm;) nor, as some add,
hindered those by force, who were minded to go to Jerusalem to worship. And
yet, the measure of the Israelites sins, being now full, vengeance comes upon
them without remedy.
Verse 3
[3]
Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria; and Hoshea became his servant,
and gave him presents.
Shalmaneser —
The son, or successor of Tiglath-pileser. The ancient Hebrew writers made him
the same with Sennacherib, who eight years after this time, invaded the kingdom
of Judah; it being very frequent in the Eastern parts, for one man to be called
by several names. Josephus affirms, that he met with his name in the annals of
the Tyrians, which were extant in his days. He came against him, either because
he denied the tribute which he had promised to pay; or that he might make him
tributary.
Verse 6
[6] In
the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel
away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan,
and in the cities of the Medes.
Carried Israel away, … — There, we have reason to think, after some time, they were so mingled
with the nations, that they were lost, and the name of Israel was no more in
remembrance. They that forgot God, were themselves forgotten, and they that
studied to be like the nations, were buried among them. Thus ended Israel as a
nation. When we read their entry into Canaan, under Hoshea the son of Nun, who
would have thought, that such would be their exit, under Hoshea, the son of Elah?
Yet we find St. James writing to the twelve tribes scattered abroad. So that
tho' we never read of the return of those that were carried captive, nor have
any ground to believe, that they still remain a distinct body in some remote
corner of the world, yet a remnant of them did escape, and will remain 'till
all Israel shall be saved.
Verse 9
[9] And the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right
against the LORD their God, and they built them high places in all their
cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city.
Did secretly —
This belongs, either, 1. To their gross idolatries, and other abominable
practices, which they were ashamed to own before others; or, 2. to the worship
of calves: and so the words are otherwise rendered; they covered things that
were not right towards the Lord: they covered their idolatrous worship of the
calves, with fair pretences of necessity, the two kingdoms being now divided,
and at enmity; and of their honest intention of serving the true God, and
retaining the substance of the Jewish religion.
City — In
all parts and places, both in cities, and in the country; yea, in the most
uninhabited parts, where few or none dwell, beside the watchmen, who are left
there in towers, to preserve the cattle and fruits of the earth, or to give
notice of the approach of enemies.
Verse 13
[13] Yet
the LORD testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and
by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments
and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and
which I sent to you by my servants the prophets.
Seers — To
whom he declared his mind, by revelations and visions, and by whom he published
it, bearing witness, from heaven to their doctrine by eminent and glorious
miracles.
Verse 14
[14]
Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck
of their fathers, that did not believe in the LORD their God.
Hardened, … —
Refused to submit their neck to the yoke of God's precepts. A metaphor from
stubborn oxen, that will not bow to the yoke.
Verse 15
[15] And
they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers,
and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity,
and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them,
concerning whom the LORD had charged them, that they should not do like them.
Vanity —
Idols; so called because of their nothingness, impotency, and unprofitableness;
and by the long worship of idols, they were made like them, vain, sottish, and
senseless creatures.
Verse 16
[16] And
they left all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made them molten
images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of
heaven, and served Baal.
Left all —
They grew worse and worse; from a partial disobedience to some of God's laws,
they fell by degrees to a total apostacy from all.
The host —
The stars, as Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus.
Verse 18
[18]
Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his
sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only.
Judah only —
And the greatest part of the tribe of Benjamin, with those of the tribes of
Simeon and Levi who were incorporated with them.
Verse 19
[19] Also
Judah kept not the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the
statutes of Israel which they made.
Judah kept not —
Judah's idolatry and wickedness are here remembered, as an aggravation of the
sin of the Israelites, which was not only evil in itself, but mischievous to
their neighbour, who by their examples were instructed in their wicked arts,
and provoked to an imitation of them.
Verse 20
[20] And
the LORD rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered
them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight.
All Israel —
All the tribes of Israel: first, one part of them, and now the rest. But this
extends not to every individual person of these tribes; for many of them
removed into the kingdom of Judah, and were associated with them.
Verse 21
[21] For
he rent Israel from the house of David; and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat
king: and Jeroboam drave Israel from following the LORD, and made them sin a
great sin.
They made —
Which action is here ascribed to the people, because they would not tarry 'till
God by his providence, had invested Jeroboam with the kingdom which he had
promised him; but rashly, and rebelliously, rose up against the house of David,
to which they had so great obligations; and set him upon the throne without
God's leave or advice.
Drave — He
not only dissuaded, but kept then, by force from God's worship at Jerusalem,
the only place appointed for it.
A great sin — So
the worship of the calves is called, to meet with that idle conceit of the
Israelites, who esteemed it a small sin, especially when they were forced to it
by severe penalties; which yet he shews did not excuse it from being a sin, and
a great sin too.
Verse 25
[25] And
so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not the
LORD: therefore the LORD sent lions among them, which slew some of them.
Therefore —
For their gross neglect, and contempt of God, which was contrary to the
principles and practices of the Heathens, who used to worship the gods of the nations
where they lived, and gave that honour to their false Gods, which here they
denied to the true. Hereby also God asserted his own sovereignty over that
land, and made them to understand, that neither the Israelites were cast out,
nor they brought in by their valour, or strength, but by God's providence, who
as he had cast the Israelites out for their neglect of God's service; so both
could, and would in his due time, turn them out also, if they were guilty of
the same sins.
Verse 28
[28] Then
one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in
Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the LORD.
Taught them —
The manner of God's worship, as it was practised in Israel; as may be gathered
both from the quality of this person, who was an Israelitish priest; and from
the place of his residence, Beth-el, a place infamous for the worship of the
calves, and from the manner of their making priests by this man's direction.
Verse 32
[32] So
they feared the LORD, and made unto themselves of the lowest of them priests of
the high places, which sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places.
Sacrificed —
Unto the true God: for as to the worship of their own gods, they needed no
instruction, and would not permit a person of another religion to minister
therein.
Verse 33
[33] They
feared the LORD, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations
whom they carried away from thence.
They feared —
They worshipped God externally in that way which the Israelites used. But every
nation made gods of their own besides.
Verse 34
[34] Unto
this day they do after the former manners: they fear not the LORD, neither do
they after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law and
commandment which the LORD commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named
Israel;
Unto this day —
That is, till the time when this book was written, above three hundred years in
all, till the time of Alexander the Great, when they were prevailed upon to
call away their idols.
Former manners — As
the Israelites before their captivity, gave these nations an ill example, in
serving the Lord, and Baal together; so, or after their former manner, they do
unto this day, in the land of their captivity.
They fear not —
Though they pretended to fear, and serve both the Lord and idols, yet in truth
they did not, and do not fear or worship the Lord, but their own calves, or
other vain inventions: and God will not accept that mongrel and false worship,
which they pretend to give to the true God.
Statutes —
God's law delivered to their fathers, and to them, as their inheritance, Psalms 119:111. This is alleged as an evidence,
that they did not fear the Lord, whatsoever they pretended, because they lived
in the constant breach of his statutes.
Israel — A
name, signifying his special interest in God, and power with him, which was
given to him, not only for himself, but for his posterity also, whom God
frequently honours with that name. And by this great favour he aggravates their
sin.
Verse 41
[41] So
these nations feared the LORD, and served their graven images, both their
children, and their children's children: as did their fathers, so do they unto
this day.
So — In like manner, and
after their example.
These —
Who came in their stead.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on 2 Kings》
"THE SAMARITANS' RELIGION"
2 Kings 17:24-41
INTRODUCTION
1. Following the conquest by the nation of Assyria, most of the people
of Israel were deported to Assyria
2. In their place, Assyria imported captives from other countries to
live in Samaria, the main province of Israel at that time - 2 Ki 17:
24
3. In our text, the religion of those who were imported is described at
length - 2 Ki 17:24-41
a. There are several characteristics of their religion we would do
well to take note of, so let's begin reading the passage itself
(READ)
b. With this passage fresh in our minds, how might "The Samaritans'
Religion" compare with our service to God today?
[In some cases, the comparisons may be a little too close for comfort!
To begin with, note that their religion was...]
I. A RELIGION OF "FEAR"
A. THIS IS EVIDENT BY THE FOLLOWING STATEMENTS...
1. "So they feared the Lord..." - 2 Ki 17:32
2. "They feared the Lord, yet served their own gods..." - 2 Ki
17:33
3. "So these nations feared the Lord, yet served their carved
images..." - 2 Ki 17:41
4. But that they had the wrong kind of fear is implied in verse
34: "...they do not fear the Lord..."
-- Is this a contradiction? No, for remember that...
B. THERE IS A PROPER FEAR OF THE LORD...
1. As taught by Jesus and His apostles - Mt 10:28; Ac 10:34-35;
Ph 2:12
2. As taught by Solomon in the Old Testament - Pr 1:7; 14:26-27;
Ecc 8:12-13; 12:13-14
3. This "fear of the Lord"...
a. Is the kind of awesome reverence towards God that motivates
us to turn away from evil and serve God faithfully at all
times
b. Is NOT the kind that never thinks of God when things are
going well, and then trembles at the prospect of facing God
C. SO THE SAMARITANS HAD THE WRONG KIND OF "FEAR"...
1. They would have never thought of God, had it not been for the
lions - 2 Ki 17:25-26
2. When they did think of Him, it was only to tremble before Him
3. This is like so many people today
a. Who think of God only...
1) When they are ill, forgetting Him when they are well
2) During their calamities, but not during their joys
3) When faced with problems, but not when enjoying
prosperity
b. Like some sailors...
1) Who in a storm pray fervently to God for deliverance,
making promises
2) But then get drunk or engage in immorality as soon as
they get to land
[If we turn to God only when things go wrong, our religion is no
different than the Samaritans'!
But with the proper kind of fear (awesome reverence), we will draw
close to God through obedience; and when we do so, we will find Him to
be so gracious and loving that we will serve Him out of love and not
just a fear of judgment - cf. 1 Jn 4:16-18
We also notice that "The Samaritans' Religion" was...]
II. A RELIGION OF "FORM"
A. THEIR HEARTS WERE NOT IN THEIR SERVICE TO THE LORD...
1. As evident by the fact they continued to serve their "carved
images" - 2 Ki 17:33-34
2. What service they rendered to the Lord possessed "form", but
not "substance"
B. SUCH WORSHIP IS OFTEN COMMON TODAY...
1. Where there is "form", but not "substance"
2. Now, there is a need for "form" in religion...
a. Possessing both a physical and spiritual nature, man needs
physical ways to express his spiritual devotion
b. Thus God has provided physical expressions even in New
Testament worship, even though it is much more spiritual
than that found in the Old Testament
c. The Lord's Supper, singing, prayer, giving, etc., they all
have "form"
3. But to go through the "form" without the "substance" (i.e.,
the right spirit, attitude) is "hypocritical" - cf. Mt 15:7-8
4. Christians are guilty of such worship if they...
a. Sing "Give Me The Bible", but they never read it
b. Sing "Here Am I, Send Me", but are not willing to go or do
c. Sing "Wonderful Story Of Love" with bored expressions on
their faces (cf. Pr 15:13)
5. Worship that is both "form" and "substance" will emulate the
example of David...
a. "I will praise You with my whole heart..." - Ps 138:1
b. "Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul! While I
live I will praise the Lord; I will sing praises to my God
while I have my being." - Ps 146:1-2
c. "Praise the Lord! For it is good to sing praises to our
God; For it is pleasant and praise is beautiful." - Ps
147:1
[Is our religion one of simply going through the "form"? Or does it
have "substance" as well? If not, then our religion is no more
pleasing to God than that of the Samaritans!
One final point to be made about their religion, it was...]
III. A RELIGION OF "COMPROMISE"
A. IN THE CASE OF THE SAMARITANS...
1. They had God and they had "gods"; they liked the latter best
- 2 Ki 17:41a
2. They gave God lip service, but they gave the "gods" their true
service
B. SUCH CAN HAPPEN TO CHRISTIANS TODAY...
1. When they seek to serve God, while also try to serve the world
2. But this is impossible according to Jesus - cf. Mt 6:24
3. When people try to serve both, the world always wins...
a. It shows up in how their jobs, their recreation, etc.,
takes precedence over their service to God
b. It shows up in how they seek to rationalize their conduct
C. BUT GOD CANNOT TOLERATE "COMPROMISE"....
1. He requires total commitment to Him, no matter the price
a. As taught in the Old Testament - De 6:5,14-15
b. As taught by Jesus Himself - Lk 14:26,33
2. To compromise with the world is to commit "spiritual
adultery"! - Ja 4:4
3. Thus we need to heed Jesus' admonition: "Seek first the
kingdom of God and His righteousness..." - Mt 6:33
CONCLUSION
1. I believe it is easy to see the error of "The Samaritans' Religion"...
a. They had a religion of "fear, form, and compromise"
b. But unless we are careful, our religion can easily become like
theirs!
2. If with honest introspection we must confess that our religion is
closer to the Samaritans' than it should be...
a. Let Elijah challenge us to give up "a religion of compromise"
- cf. 1 Ki 18:21
b. Let Paul challenge us to give up "a religion of form" - cf. Ro
2:28-29
c. Let John challenge us to give up "a religion of fear" - cf. 1 Jn
3:18-19
Have you accepted the Savior's tender invitation (Mt 11:28-30), which
is received today by obedience to His gospel? - cf. Mk 16:15-16; Ac 2:
36-39
－－《Executable
Outlines》
17 Chapter 17
Verses 1-41
Verses 1-8
2 Kings 17:1-8
In the twelfth year of Ahaz King of Judah began Hoshea.
Aspects of a corrupt nation
Hoshea, the king here mentioned, was the nineteenth and last king
of Israel. He lived about 720 years or more b.c. After a reign of nine years
his subjects were carded away captive to Assyria, and the kingdom of Israel
came to an end.
I. As an
unfortunate inheritor of wrong.
Upon Hoshea and his age there came down the corrupting influence
of no less than nineteen princes, all of whom were steeped in wickedness and
fanatical idolatry. The whole nation had become completely immoral and
idolatrous. It is one of not only the commonest but the most perplexing facts in
history that one generation comes to inherit, to a great extent, the character
of its predecessor. Though the bodies of our predecessors are mouldering in the
dust they are still here in their thought and influences. This is an undoubted
fact. It serves to explain three things--
1. The vital connection between all the members of the race. Though
men are countless in number, and ever multiplying, humanity is one.
2. The immense difficulty in improving the moral condition of the
race. There have been men in every age and land who have “striven even unto
blood” to improve the race. Those of us who have lived longest in the world,
looked deepest into its moral heart, and laboured most zealously and
persistently for its improvement, feel like Sisyphus, in ancient fable,
struggling to roll a large stone to the top of a mountain, which, as soon as we
think some progress has been made, rolls back to its old position, and that
with greater impetuosity.
3. The absolute need of superhuman agency spiritually to redeem the
race. Philosophy shows that a bad world cannot improve itself, cannot make
itself good. Bad men can neither hell? themselves, merely, or help others. If
the world is to be improved, thoughts and influences from superhuman regions
must be injected into its heart.
II. As a guilty
worker of wrong.--Hoshea and his people were not only the inheritors of the
corruptions of past generations, but they themselves became agents in
propagating and perpetuating the wickedness. So that while they were the
inheritors of a corrupt past, they were at the same time guilty agents in a
wicked present. Strong as is the influence of the past upon us, it is not
strong enough to coerce us into wrong.
III. As a terrible
victim of wrong. What was the judicial outcome of all this wickedness?
Retribution came, stern, rigorous, and crushing. (David Thomas, D.
D.)
Verses 6-8
2 Kings 17:6-8
In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria.
Captivity of Israel
The seeds of Israel’s captivity were sown by Solomon. The
introduction of foreign wives into the royal family was the first step toward
Israel’s fall. Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, cuts the die that stamps the face of
all the subsequent religious history of Israel With the fourth dynasty, that of
Omri, a new religious period begins. Omri’s greatness and foreign popularity
secured for his son Ahab alliance with the royal house of Zidon. With all the
energy and fire of her strong character, Jezebel persecuted and destroyed the
prophets of Jehovah, and transplanted into Israel the sensual worship of Baal
and the Asherah. But the rise of the dynasty of Jehu was the fall not only of
Omri’s house, but of Phoenician Baal-worship also. From a political point of view,
Israel had seen some prosperous times. Omri had secured a large domain, and
probably a rich revenue. Ahab was less fortunate in his political relations. An
invasion of the great Assyrian army forced a coalition of all the petty western
nations for self-defence. In an inscription of Shalmanezer
II. is an account
of a battle between him and these peoples, which took place near the ancient
city of Karkar. Among the enemies vanquished we find “twelve hundred chariots,
twelve hundred horsemen, twenty thousand men of Hadadezer of Damascus; two
thousand chariots, iron thousand men, of Ahab of Israel.” In another
inscription of the same monarch there is mention of “Jehu, the son of Omri!” as
one of his tributaries. Here Omri appears as the ancestor of Jehu. The anarchy
that cursed Israel during its later history seems to have been instigated
largely by the monarchs of the East. In one of Tiglath-pileser’s inscriptions,
where he gives an account of his subjection of the land of Omri, he says:
“Pekah their king I put to death, and I appointed Hoshea to the sovereignty
over them.” The Bible record, 2 Kings 15:30, simply mentions the
conspirator, murderer, and successor. The inscriptions tell us who stood
behind, shifted the scenes, and directed the actors. Tiglath-pileser was
absolute ruler of Palestine. Israel’s power was broken, its army reduced, its
land partially depopulated.
I. The capture of
Samaria. Hoshea seems to have been faithful to his Assyrian lord as long as the
latter lived. But at the death of Tiglath-pileser and the accession of his
successor, Shalmanezer IV., there was probably, as whenever rulers changed at
Nineveh, a widespread revolt among their tributaries in the distant provinces.
Hoshea, though religiously superior to his predecessors, despairs of the
situation under the tyrants of the East, and appeals to So (Sabako), of Egypt,
for relief. He withholds his accustomed tribute, thus openly defying the armies
of the great king. His appeal to Egypt seems to have won for him only the
enmity of the new king of Assyria. Shalmanezer then “came up throughout all the
land, and went up to Samaria and besieged it three years.” He threshed the land
right and left, taking captive and devastating, until he had driven the
unsubmissive within the walls of Samaria.
II. Causes of the
captivity of Israel. After narrating the catastrophe of Samaria and the
disposition of its population, the writer enumerates the causes of the same.
The Israelites practised secretly the idolatry of their neighbours, building
high places throughout the land, upon which they burnt incense to Canaanitish
deities. Obelisks of Baal and the Asherim were set on every high hill and under
every green tree. These Phoenician deities were symbols of the generative
powers of Nature. They were the objects of the most degrading and licentious
forms of worship. They appealed directly to the sensual impulses, and thus
easily corrupted and led astray Israel.
III. Significance of
the captivity. The ten tribes revolted against Solomon’s successor in order to
avoid political oppression. But their anarchistic method of choosing rulers
made them for a hundred and fifty years the victims of the most arbitrary
kings. By their disregard of political obligations and treachery toward their
conquerors, these self-willed monarchs ultimately brought upon their people the
just rewards of national rebellion--captivity and servitude. Jehovah had
permitted them to exist as a part of his chosen people, but they were under the
same conditions as Judah; their continuance depended on their faithfulness to
his commands. When all law and testimony were ignored, and Jehovah was insulted
and defied, then mercy gave place to justice, prosperity to disaster, blessings
to cursings, and peace to captivity. This catastrophe is the strongest kind of
corroboration to the truth of the warnings of the prophets. They besought and
entreated Israel to turn from all evil ways. They warned and threatened, they
accused and condemned them by the word of Jehovah. The threatened fate at
length came to pass. With steadfast purpose, Jehovah brought upon his enemies
the just fruits of their evil deeds. God is the same yesterday, to-day, and for
ever. Disregard of His words, commands, warnings, and threats is just as
blameworthy in His sight to-day as two thousand five hundred years ago. Godless
living is still the bane of national life. Let each one of us, by the grace of
God, so live that the golden text of the lesson may never be true of
us,--“Because you have
forsaken Jehovah, He hath also forsaken you.” (Ira M. Price.)
Verses 7-25
2 Kings 17:7-25
For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned.
A great privilege, wickedness, and ruin
I. A great
national privilege. We learn herefrom that the Infinite Governor of the world
had given them at least three great advantages, political freedom, right to the
]and, and the highest spiritual teaching. He had given them,
1. Political freedom. For ages they had been in political bondage, the mere slaves of
despots; but here we are told that God had “brought them out of the land of
Egypt.” Political freedom is the inalienable right of all men, is one of the
greatest blessings of a people, but one which in every age has been outraged by
despots. The millions are groaning in every land still under political
disabilities. He had given them--
2. A right to the land. Canaan was the common right of all; true, it
was divided amongst the ten tribes, but this not for the private interests of
shy, but for the good of all.
3. The highest spiritual teaching.
II. A great
national wickedness. Possessing all these privileges, how acted these
people--not merely the people of Israel, but the people of Judah as well? Was
the sentiment of worship and justice regnant within them? Were they loyal to
all that is beautiful, true, and good? Nay.
1. They rejected God.
2. They adopted idols, Mark
III. Great national
ruin.
1. Their ruin involved the entire loss of their country (verse 23).
2. Their ruin involved the loss of their national existence (verse
18). The ten tribes are gone, and no one knows whether they are now worth
looking after, for they were a miserable type of humanity.
3. Their ruin involved the retributive agency of Heaven. (David
Thomas, D. D.)
The need of obedience to God’s laws
Charles M. Sheldon says he was once called upon unexpectedly to
preach at an insane asylum. Be asked the superintendent what subject he would
advise him to take. “Preach on the great need of obedience,” was the prompt
reply. After the service, in response to Mr. Sheldon’s inquiry as to how much
of the sermon was probably understood, the superintendent said: “They
understood nearly all of it. Besides, you must remember that there were more
than fifty of us, counting doctors and attendants, who are sane, and I don’t
know but what we need the doctrine of obedience preached into us just as much
as the other people. I know that disobedience to God’s laws has brought most of
these people into this asylum, and the rest of us are in danger of the same end
if we do not learn to obey the commands of God.”
Following others in sin
Mr. Romanes, who has specially studied the minds of animals, says
that we may infer intelligence in an animal whenever we see it able to profit
by its own experience. But is it not the sign of a higher intelligence, that we
are able to profit by the experience of others. This is the reason why history
is written with so much elaboration, and studied with so much solicitude. But
men, on a wide scale, disregard this history and refuse the solemn lessons. Men
follow one another in sin as they do in nothing else. Baxter tells how he once
saw a man driving a flock of lambs, and something meeting and hindering them,
one of the lambs leaped on the wall of a bridge and fell over into the river;
whereupon the rest of the flock, one by one leaped after it, and were nearly
all drowned. Thus we men often act, blindly, madly, smitten by a profound infatuation
we wildly follow one another,
leaping into the gulf. (W. L. Watkinson.)
Confirmed sinners learn not from the past
“The burnt child dreads the fire;” it boldly trifles with sticks
and papers until it is burnt or scalded, and henceforth keeps a respectful
distance from the bars. This is equally true of men in their business life. Let
a man speculate in some concern or other that turns out badly, people say, “Ah!
he has burnt his fingers.” Now, when a man has done that, beware how you
approach him with your rosy prospectuses. He has lost his money with a farm, or
a bank, or a mine, or a mill; do not go to him with a farm, even were it in the
land of Goshen, or a mill, even were it the mint, or a bank even were it the
Bank of England. He will
show you his blisters, and send you away with scant courtesy. As the Oriental
says, “He who has suffered from a fire-brand is afraid of a firefly;” “He who
has been bitten by a serpent is afraid of a rope,” a victim is afraid of
anything that bears the most distant likeness to that from which he has
suffered. This is rational--if a man acts otherwise it is because he is a fool
But men are not thus cautious in regard to the moral life. (W. L.
Watkinson.)
Verse 9
2 Kings 17:9
And the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not
right.
Infatuation of sin
Again we come upon this report which we have had as it were a
thousand times in identical terms. What is the wonderful charm of evil? Surely
the philosophers have not answered that inquiry completely. There must be some
peculiar inexpressible charm in evil, or men would no do it, and do it with
both hands earnestly, and live in the doing of it, and reap in its execution
some kind of harvest of contentment and gladness. What is this charm? Men
repeat the evil even whilst denominating it iniquity and marking it as vile. In
this matter we are curiously and wondrously made. We go back to the evil. The
devil seems to be more attractive than God. One would have thought that one
vision of truth, beauty, heaven’s own light, would have for ever fascinated us,
and made us incapable of meanness, wrong-doing, untruthfulness, or any form or
colour of iniquity. But it is not so. The devil is most charmful! We know he
tells lies, but he tolls them eloquently. We are aware that he cannot keep any
promise that he ever made, yet when he puts out his black hand to us we grope
for it in the dark, and think the fellowship not without advantage! Who can
explain this? Is the explanation in the heart? “The heart is deceitful above
all things, and desperately wicked,” (J. Parker, D. D.)
Verse 15
2 Kings 17:15
They followed vanity and became vain.
Vanity a deadly sin
May I begin by explaining that these words are used as a summary
of the reason why the people of Israel were broken to pieces by the attacks of
Shalmaneser, the King of Assyria, and how it came to pass that their glory was
destroyed, their prestige was shattered, and they were humbled to a life of
captivity and slavery. As a nation they became vain, they followed vanity. That
is all the explanation that he offers. Vanity led on to a number of idolatries,
and the empty inflated life which, when it was pricked by the sword of
Shalmaneser, proved to be a mere bubble; and because there was no enduring
foundation the whole edifice crumbled and decayed. Because a nation is
prosperous, because its life is inflated, because it is pursuing a vainglorious
course, it does not follow that the blessing of God is upon it, and it does
follow that if that is its life, when first the keen, sharp edge of trial Comes
it will be shown to be what it is. And what applies to nations applies with
equal power to individuals. There are some people who quarrel with my title.
“Vanity,” they say, by all means, but not “a deadly sin.” Vanity is one of the
most harmless of our amusements. Vanity is the kind of thing that the schoolboy
talks genially about as “side,” and that the man in the street refers to
equally genially as “swelled head.” Nobody thinks very much about it, and in
point of fact a sort of superficial vanity often covers, as we know,
substantial and admirable qualities of character. I do not want in denouncing
one vice to fall into another, and be guilty of intolerance. I do not want to
speak of it in any other way than I think God Himself speaks of it in the pages
of Revelation. Everybody knows that this is a vice that has perhaps been more
successful than any other in making its way into sacred places. “Cromwell, I
charge thee, fling away ambition; by that sin fell the angels,” was what
Shakespeare said, anticipating that argument of Milton that pride wrought
division, havoc, and ruin even in a celestial world. You know as well as I do
that this has been the vice of the ecclesiastic in all ages, the vice of
arrogance, the vice of vanity, the vice of pride. All the resolutions of
Convocation, all the seals of your bishops and archbishops can do nothing
against this sin. Therefore, if any one here rises up to say this is not a
deadly sin I quarrel with him on that ground, that it has attacked what has
been most sacred, and ought to be most influential for righteousness in the
world. Vanity is the vice of the minister in all ages and in all forms. He need
not clothe himself in a mitre with all the pomp and circumstance of ritual, he
need not sit upon a throne. Vanity has invaded the Free Church pulpit just as
much as it has invaded the home of the higher ecclesiasticism. And when I have
said that about the ministry and the temptations inevitable to the ministry, I
want to say that so far as I am aware it is also a sin to which young
Christians are more particularly susceptible. I say that that affectation of
religious superiority is something that makes the sinner outside to scoff, and
the saint inside to shudder. And now let me turn from the Church to the outside
world. Let me put my question straightly to those who perhaps pride themselves
on having nothing to do with the churches. Do you mean that any of you would
rise up and tell me that in speaking of the sin of vanity I am not indicating
one of the sins of the present day? I do not like to rail against my rage, but
is there any one who will not say that I am strictly within the truth when I
speak of our present age as pushing, an advertising age, a forward age. Is it
or is it not a fact that life all through is being made vicious by this
particular sin, that we are victims to-day of the man who is self-opinionated
and self-assured, that the man with the loudest tongue and the most brazen
front is the man who seems to have the most and the best chances of making his
way successfully in the world? Is it or is it not a fact that it is an external
age, an age when the outside show counts for more than the internal worth? And
is it not a fact that this all springs from certain venomous roots of vanity,
that in attacking the immodesty of the age we are putting our finger upon one
of its chiefest faults, that this desire for external and outside show is more
than something that can be treated as artificial and casual and transient and
that will pass away? Now, if I were to say, as I should not hesitate to do,
that the greatest of all the apostles felt the insidious character of this vice
the most, I believe I should be saying, nothing that Paul himself would not
have consented to. Read his
letters; see how there he implores himself and others never to think of
themselves more highly than they ought to think; how he applies the cross of
Jesus Christ to
his own life; how he presents himself to people, lest they should begin to
flatter him, as the chief of sinners. And if I found there were any of you
here, as I should not imagine you would be, adamantine against the reproaches
and warnings of the Apostle Paul, then I should say to you there are two other
literatures into which I ask you to look. I ask you to take down from your
shelves your Pilgrim’s Progress, to read over line by line that
magnificent description, unparalleled in literature, the description of Vanity
Fair, and there let Bunyan tell you the truth. The truth about his age is the
truth about yours--Vanity Fair, the place where all merchandise was sold:
places, honours, preferments, titles, countries, kingdoms, husbands, wives,
lives, blood, bodies, souls--all marketable in Vanity Fair. If you could resist
that and say, “these religious books do not appeal to me,” then I should have
to ask you to take your Thackeray and read his description of Vanity Fair, and
when you had read that, if you had read it in the right spirit, you would know
that every word that Bunyan said was true, and you would know that every word
that Paul said was true. And the spirit of that, modern Vanity Fair which
Thackeray drew is the spirit of the Vanity Fair that prevails to-day. You can
keep your decalogue and be a proud man, but you cannot begin to be a Christian
and be a proud man. And do you know why? Do you know why Jesus Christ put
humility as the foundation of all the virtues? Because, unless it is there, you
will not keep any of the virtues. Let me put it to you as strongly as that,
virtue cannot embrace vanity and remain virtue. There is nothing of which
people so easily become vain as their virtues. I want to put it to you that in
the thought of Christ a proud man is further from God, may be further from God,
shall I say, than the thief, than the man who has broken the Ten Commandments.
Now let me be a little more practical and personal by way of the application of
what I am trying to say. I suppose we shall all agree that modern life is the
opportunity of the vain man, the democratic life lends itself so easily to
positions of prominence. Your modest, retiring man is a man very difficult to
persuade to occupy a public position, and indeed only a stern sense of duty, as
a rule, will drive him there. But there is the place--places that are
multiplied to-day--beckoning and calling to the vain man, the man who believes
in himself and always lets you know it. It succeeds, it gets to the top, it
occupies the conspicuous position, and therefore I find that young men and
young women are quite willing to overlook the voice as being superficial, and
to credit virtue which very often does not exist. And even when these ambitions
are humbled in our midst, I do not find that with the vain man the humbling
goes very deep, because he has always got his vanity to fall back upon. He
always says virtue must always suffer. Is there anything more, perhaps,
offensive to most people than the intellectually superior person, the person
who prides himself upon his intellectual powers? It is so easy to-day to get a
reputation of this kind, because this is the day of the little knowledge, and
the day of little knowledge is always the day of vanity. Let me take just one
further illustration of the pernicious character of this vice in the age in
which we live. Some people say that a vain woman is a sad spectacle, but that a
vain man is a sadder. I think they are right, but I think also that, perhaps, a
vain child is the saddest spectacle of all. And yet how often we find parents
misguided enough to encourage and cultivate in their children this particular
vice. They repeat the clever and charming sayings of their children before
their children’s faces, until in a very little while their children come to
hold by the creed that probably they are the cleverest children that the world
contains. I should like to put in tonight a very simple, humble plea for the
encouragement of the simplicity and humility of childhood. It was not for
nothing, surely, that our Lord took a little child, and set him in the midst of
his quarrelsome, ambitious, avaricious disciples. I have got to pray you, that
you will accompany me and let me take you to where Paul went that he might get
back to the foundation of Christian virtue, and I have got to ask you whether
you dwell enough in the presence of that cross of Jesus Christ. For mark--if
that doesn’t break your pride nothing will. If you can turn your back upon that
cross, and go away a vain man, the disease is incurable. God set that cross in
the centre of the universe to humble men. Oh, men and women, to whom the world
appeals in its worldly way to-day, in its loud, aggressive, self-assertive
spirit, to join its side, and to take up the spirit of vanity, and to resolve
that you will make your way as other people do by self-assertion, I want to
plead with you. I know the temptation may be a strong one, but I want to ask
you to believe with me that the Lord Christ knows better, and that that which
is worth while is the humble and the contrite heart. (C. S. Horne, M. A.)
Verse 21
2 Kings 17:21
And Jeroboam drave Israel from following the Lord.
Jeroboam
I. The character
of Jeroboam before he was king. He early discovered some of those
distinguishing natural and moral qualities, which formed him for the
extraordinary part which he finally acted on the stage of life. His natural
genius was sprightly, bold, and enterprising, which he evidently cultivated,
notwithstanding the peculiar disadvantages and embarrassments which attended
his education. Though he lost his father in his youth, and was left to the care
of his mother, who was a widow, yet by the mere dint of his brilliant talents
and close application, he recommended himself to the notice and patronage of
his wise and sagacious sovereign, We read, “Jeroboam was the son of Nebat, an
Ephrathite of Zereda, Solomon’s servant, whose mother’s name was Zeruiah, a
widow woman. And the man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valour: and Solomon
seeing the young man that he was industrious, he made him ruler over all the
charge of the house of Joseph.” His appointment to such an office, by such a
penetrating prince, is an infallible evidence of his popular talents and
pleasing address. These excellent and amiable accomplishments, had they been
properly directed to the public good, would have rendered him a great blessing
to the nation. But it appears from his history that a base, turbulent,
ambitious spirit led him to prostitute his fine abilities to the vilest
purposes.
II. To represent
the state of the nation, when a base and unprincipled majority raised him to a
supreme power. His two immediate predecessors were great and illustrious
princes, who reigned long and prosperously.
III. How it came to
pass that ten tribes out of twelve should raise such an impious and dangerous
man to royal dignity. Jeroboam had not the least claim to the crown, either by
birth or by merit. How then should it ever enter the minds of the nation to
make choice of the son of Solomon’s servant to reign over them? The answer to
this is easy. Jeroboam the son of Nebat had long been a man of intrigue. He had
secretly employed every artifice to prejudice the people against the former
administration of government, and had openly presumed to lift up his hand
against the king. All this he had done before he fled into Egypt; and it is
extremely probable that during his residence there he kept up a secret and traitorous correspondence
with the disaffected in Israel, and only waited for the death of Solomon to
return and seize his throne. It is certain, however, that as soon as Solomon
expired, his disaffected subjects immediately sent to Egypt for Jeroboam the
son of Nabat, and set him up as the rival of Rehoboam, the proper heir to the
crown.
IV. What methods
Jeroboam the son of Nebat employed to corrupt and destroy the people who had
given him his power. It is a melancholy truth that he did “drive Israel from
following the Lord,” and involve them in a series of calamities, until they
were dispersed and lost among the nations of the earth. There is something so
extraordinary and so instructive in this part of Jeroboam’s conduct, that it
deserves the deep attention of both rulers and subjects. The question now is,
what methods did he employ to “drive Israel from following the Lord”? His
character and conduct before he came to the throne will not admit of the
supposition of his acting ignorantly or inadvertently. And it appears from his
history that he exerted all his talents to devise the most effectual means of
extinguishing every spark of true religion and virtue in the minds of his
subjects. Here, then, it may be observed--
1. That he prohibited the worship of the true God, by substituting in
the place of it the worship of graven images. The inspired historian gives us a
particular account of this bold and impious method to banish all true religion
and morality from his kingdom.
2. He appointed new times as well as new places of public worship.
These two measures were intimately connected, and calculated to render each
other the more effectual. To change the day as well as the places of religious
worship, had a direct tendency to distinguish Israel from Judah, and to draw a lasting
line of separation between the two kingdoms. His policy clearly appears in what
the sacred historian says concerning his appointment of new holy days.
3. To make new appointments to office. As his darling object was to
corrupt and destroy the true religion, so he discarded the regular and faithful
priests of the Lord, and appointed others to supply their place who were
attached to his person and cause, though of the vilest character and of the
meanest condition.
4. That he enforced these measures by all the weight and influence of
his own example. It appears from his character and conduct in early life that
he possessed, in a high degree, the art of captivating and corrupting all sorts
of people with whom he conversed. And when he was clothed with the ensigns of
royalty his power and opportunity of corrupting his subjects greatly increased.
He became the standard of taste, and the model of imitation. His sentiments and
manners became a living law to his subjects. In his familiar intercourse with
all around him he undoubtedly seized those soft moments, which were the most
favourable to his malignant design of seduction. This he could do without
departing from the dignity of his station; but it appears that he did more than
this, and even stooped to mingle with the priests, and “to burn incense upon
the altars of the golden gods of his own making.” Improvement:
People who discourage others
It was a current saying concerning Lord Eldon that “he prevented
more good than any other man ever did.” God save us from being mere
obstructives, wet blankets, dampers, and discouragers! If we cannot help, may
we never hinder!
Hindering and helping
We were struck by a thought of Elihu Burritt’s, that thousands of
our fellow-creatures will yearly enter eternity with characters differing from
those they might have carried thither had we never lived. “The sunlight of the
world,” says he, “will reveal my finger-marks in their primary formations, and
in their successive strata of life and thought.” A party of seamen believed they
had gained sixty miles in one clay in their course, but it was proved by
observation they had lost more than thirty; the ship had been urged forward by
the wind, but driven back by an undercurrent. How many undercurrents of trivial
actions, or even looks and manners, influences scarcely heeded, may be
hindering the Christian progress of others! But, on the other hand, how many an
example that deems itself unnoticed has been honoured by the Master as the
means of doing immortal work for Him! Our concern must be constant fidelity to
God, leaving all consequences with Him.
Causing others to sin
They tell me there is a public-house in Glasgow where there is a
showcase that is a great cause of sport and laughter and joking to the tipplers
who frequent the place. In the case there is a shelf, and on the shelf a heap
of blue ribbons. Some of them are faded and have been worn a considerable time;
some of them, alas, are glistening new--they tell that a few days was all the
length of time they were worn. There are remnants of the old Blue Ribbon
temperance crusade in this city, when the blue ribbon was put upon the breasts
of thousands in the enthusiasm of temperance reform. And this publican boasts
of how many trophies he has in that case. He gets his blear-eyed customers to
look there. “There are the blue ribbons: that is what I do with them.” He looks
at them the same way as an Indian would look at his horrible scalps that he has
plucked from his victims. To tempt a weak soul, to set himself with all the
infernal machinery of the devil to drag poor souls down, what else can be his
fate? The tempter will be judged by God the most severely. (J. Robertson.)
Verses
24-41
2 Kings 17:24-41
And the King of Assyria brought men from Babylon.
Subjects worth thinking about
This fragment of Israelitish history brings under our notice four
subjects which run through all human history, and which find their illustration
in the events of modern as well as ancient life.
I. The tyranny of
man. Here we find the Assyrians committing two great enormities on the men of
Israel, driving them out of their own land into Assyria, and taking possession
of their own country and home.
II. The
retributions of life. Probably the lions had been in the land of Samaria before
the settlement of the Assyrian colonists, but after their settlement these
furious beasts of prey seem to have multiplied. The law of retribution is ever
at work in human history, not only in the lives of nations but in the lives of
individuals. No man can do a wrong thing without suffering for it in some form
or other. Nemesis surely, though silently, treads on the heels of wrong. The
lions of retribution track our steps as sinners; stealthily, and are ready to
spring at any moment. We are far enough from saying that retribution here is
adequate and complete, hence there is within all a “fearful looking for” of
some future judgment.
III. The
prostitution of religion. The Assyrian king, it would seem, in answer to the alarm which his
people, whom he had settled in Samaria, felt concerning the lions, conceived
the plan of adopting religion as the remedy. Here you have one of the million
examples of that religion of policy that has abounded in all lands and times.
In every page in history, nay, in every scene of life, we find religion taken
up as a means to an end, rather than as the grand end of being.
IV. The theistic
hunger of souls. All these men, both the colonists and the Israelites, would
have their gods; a god seemed to them as necessary almost as their life. (David
Thomas, D. D.)
Christians condemned by men of the world
The King of Assyria intended here is not Shalmaneser or
Esar-haddon, as is generally supposed, but Sargon. It is not doubted that Esar-haddon
sent colonists into the country, from whom the new Samaritans were, at least in
part, descended. It is believed that there was a previous colonisation by the
conqueror of the country. We must regard these men as strangers; and so
regarding them, their judgment upon the religious condition of the people is
the more remarkable. They noticed, for example, that at the beginning of their
dwelling in the country, the people “feared not the Lord.” It should be a rule
with us in life to know that even those who do not share our own religious
sentiments may yet be observing how those sentiments affect our personal
conduct. Probably there is hardly a deeper humiliation than that the people of
God, at least nominally so regarded, should have been judged as impious by men
who came from a far-off land and who professed only a heathenish religion. It
is noticeable that one of the very first things observed by the Assyrians was
that the people were not faithful to their religion. There is evidently
something deeper than a mere form of religious faith; otherwise the Assyrians
could not have noticed a discrepancy between doctrine and practice; the nominal
people of God had so far descended into corruption and licentiousness as to
care absolutely nothing for the opinion of heathen critics. Their piety had
been displaced not only by impiety, as representing a negative condition of
mind, but by absolute contempt and defiance. It is not to be supposed because
our life-work lies amongst men who do not profess religion, that therefore we
can afford to dispense with our own religion and not incur the disapprobation
of observers. There is an honesty even apart from spiritual religion; that is
to say, there is a spirit in man which instinctively revolts at inconsistency,
treachery, and all forms of practical lying in reference to high religious
obligations. This should be noticed by men who enjoy spiritual emoluments and
advantages which they have not earned by merit or by honest labour. All kinds
of religious promotion should be jealously regarded as being under the
criticism of men of the world. We might so far become victims of infatuation as
to suppose that men of the world would rather applaud us for so using
ecclesiastical position and privilege as to consolidate our financial and
social position. Men of the world, however, do nothing of the kind; although
they do not profess to be pious, they yet have clear ideas as to honesty and
integrity. To be condemned by men of the world for want of faithfulness to our
religious convictions is one of the severest judgments which can befall our
religious life. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Verse 33
2 Kings 17:33
They feared the Lord, and served their own gods
The inconsistent worship
I.
The
first thought which I think suggests itself to our mind, is of the curious
inconsistency of their conduct. They worshipped the true God; and, along with
Him, they worshipped various false gods. Now, this seems strange to us. We
cannot imagine a man being at once a Christian, a Mohammedan, a Jew, a heathen,
and an atheist. You must make your choice what religion you will profess: you
cannot profess several inconsistent religions together. But it is just because
Christianity has so thoroughly leavened our ways of thinking, that there
appears to us anything strange in the conduct of these inhabitants of Samaria.
For Christianity, we all know, is an exclusive religion. It not merely calls
men to believe in itself, but to reject every other faith. It not merely claims
to be right and true: but it boldly says that every other faith is wrong and
false. The God of the Bible not merely commands us to worship Him: He commands
us to worship no one else. This is their great characteristic as compared with
all other religions. Christianity is a faith which admits no rivals, no
competitors: it demands to stand alone. And the true God is not the God of this
land or that land: He is the God of all the earth: He tolerates no brother near
His throne. But it was not so at all with the gods of false religions: with the
gods whom these poor Samaritans worshipped; no, nor with the gods and goddesses
who were worshipped by the polished nations of Greece and Rome. It did not
follow that because you held Jupiter to be a true god, you held Mercury or
Apollo to be false gods. It did not follow because you worshipped Dagon, that
you failed to worship Moloch. It did not follow that Beelzebub would feel
himself slighted, because you offered a sacrifice to Rimmon. Each false god had
his own province, and he held by that. And so you can see that these ignorant
Samaritans, when they “feared the Lord, and served their own gods,” had no
sense at all of the inconsistency,--of the self-contradiction,--of what they
did, such as that which we might feel.
II. A second thing
worthy of notice in their conduct is this: the motive which led them to offer
worship to the true God. You observe, that motive was pure and simple fear.
They worshipped God, because they were afraid of Him. They worshipped Him,
because they thought He had done them much mischief already; and because they
thought that unless they did something to conciliate Him, He might do them more
mischief yet. Good might have come, in any measure; and they would never have seen
God in that. But when evil befell them, such was their conception of the Divine
nature, they said, Now, here is the finger of God. The lions came prowling
about their fields and dwellings; and this neighbour and the other was devoured by them:
and then at once their thoughts ran up to a God as the sender of mischief: that
was all they knew about Him: and they determined to worship Him, not because He
was good and kind and deserving of all worship; but because, unless they
affected some measure of regard and respect for Him, He might send them
something worse than even the lions who had already come.
III. It is evident
from the entire account of them, that the worship which they paid to the true
God, was not really so hearty and real a thing as that which they paid to their
old idols. “They feared the Lord”: they stood in a vague terror of Him, which
prompted them to offer Him a sacrifice now and then; to meet for His worship
now and then: but “they served their own gods”:--they lived day by day in mind
of them: they were not merely the worshippers, at long intervals, of these
false gods: they were the servants of these false gods,--obeying them, working
for them, from hour to hour. When the two things came together: the worship of
a Being from whom they simply feared evil, and the worship of beings from whom
they expected good: you can easily see which of the two would have the
predominance. There is many a man who has that degree of superstitious fear of
what God may do to him, that he dare not cast off God’s fear altogether; while
yet the love of money, or the love of pleasure, or the love of eminence and
honour, really sits upon the throne of his heart! He “fears the Lord”: and at
the same time he thinks to “serve his own gods,”--wealth, pleasure, or ambition.
The fraudulent trader who adulterates his wares, and yet is never out of church
on a Sunday: the greedy farmer, who will tell many lies to get a sound price
for lame horse, yet who would not on any consideration be absent from a
sacrament: and I say it with sorrow, brethren, I have known several such: what
are such men doing but what the Samaritans did: “fearing the Lord, and serving
their own gods!”(A. K. H. Boyd.)
On indecision of character
The first source of obligation under which man is laid to constant
obedience, is the absolute supremacy and dominion of God. Because He is the
author of all things, therefore is He the end of all things. We can assign no reason
for the creation of the world, but the pleasure of its Creator: and can
conceive of no motive to prompt Him to create, but the display of His own
glory. As the glory of God is His object, so it ought to be the aim of every
intelligent creature. The moment that man departs from the service of God, he
becomes a rebel against his rightful Sovereign; nor can he possibly be restored
to the Divine favour, till, feeling his guilt, and acknowledging the rights of
the Divine government, he submits all his powers to the governance of God.
There is something like a consciousness of this implanted in the mind of man,
which forces him to pay some kind of regard to the commands of God, from a
slavish fear of His anger, or a desire to be on good terms with so powerful a
Being. A striking instance of this is now before us. The people whom the King
of Assyria had removed to the land of the Israelites, being plagued by lions,
looked upon it as a judgment for not worshipping “the God of the land”; which
they could not do, because they knew not how (2 Kings 17:27-28). The King of
Assyria took care to have them instructed in the worship of this powerful God,
not from any
regard to Him, but to save the people from destruction. So a priest came among
them, and taught them how they should fear the Lord: and now they unite the
worship of Jehovah with that of their own idols. These they loved, but Him they
feared. Affection bound them to the service of their gods, while a dread of the
God of Israel constrained them to pay some attention to His worship. Now,
allowing for the different state of society, how many may be found among us
influenced by the same sprat, and adopting, the same conduct as these
Assyrians: “they fear the Lord, but serve their own gods.” They attend the
house of God, and hear with some degree of pleasure the preaching of His Word;
they are to a certain extent religious; but they are far from serving God with
their whole heart. Their religion amounts to a general commendation of what is
excellent; and a compliance with those precepts of God’s Word which cost them little trouble
and self-denial.
I. The unhappiness
of such a state of indecision. While you thus endeavour to unite the service of
God with the service of the world, there are two forces, of directly opposite
tendency, operating upon you, so that the effect of each is obstructed, and you
are perpetually disquieted, and receive no real pleasure from anything you do.
What can be more wretched than to have a conscience disapproving your conduct,
and admonishing you to duties for which you have no inclination? Instead of
cheering you with the assurance that the God whom you serve win always be your
defence and comfort, it upbraids you with your duplicity and indecision. It
speaks so that you would rather stifle, than hear, its voice; and rather run
the dreadful risk of eternal misery, than look into your real condition, and
enter upon serious reflection concerning your final state. Nor is such a state
less unfruitful than it is unpleasant. What advancement in religion do those make
who are unfaithful to the light which has been communicated to them? Let me
appeal to such. Is it not true, that there has been no improvement, perhaps for
years together? What progress have you made in your religious course? Is it not
true, that even the light which you once had is darkened? the feelings which
were excited, benumbed? and the religion of Christ stripped of much of that
glory in which it at first appeared to you? The Gospel, where it is truly
received, purifies, but you remain the same: it consoles, but you know nothing
of its comfort and joy. Do you ask, What you are to do? If you would enjoy the
pleasures of the world as others do, you must serve their gods entirely, and
cast off all fear of God, and all thoughts of eternity. If you would be happy
in the favour of God, and the enjoyment of true religion, you must serve Him
alone, and put away your own gods; for as He is worthy of the whole heart, He
will not dwell in any heart that is divided with mammon. And now make the
choice; but be determined to count the costs.
II. Such a state of
indecision is a state of inconceivable danger. It strengthens the sinful
propensities of the heart;--it deprives the means of grace of their proper
efficacy;--and it restrains, and if persisted in, banishes, the Holy Spirit’s
influences.
1. Be decided. While you halt between two opinions you have the
disgrace and disadvantages of both; the supports and joys of neither.
2. Be consistent. Let your conduct prove that your whole soul is
engaged in the service of God. Thus will your course through this world be most
productive of glory to God, comfort to yourself, and benefit to your
fellow-creatures.
3. Be active. Our whole life is but one short day; and too much of
that davy has been spent in vanity and sin. Let not the zeal with which we now
serve God be surpassed by the ardour with which we have served the world. (Essex
Remembrancer.)
Double-dealing
The people who inhabited Israel were double-minded. They felt it
was right to worship the Lord God, because if they did not they feared He would
send lions amongst them; had there been no lions, they would not have troubled
themselves about Him. They feared the Lord, but served, that is loved, their
own gods: Is this not the case with many of us at the present day? You know the
picture of the old cavalier sitting on a bench between two ladies, and sighing,
How happy could I be with either,
Were t’other sweet charmer away.
It is so with many men and women. They say, “How truly could I
serve God, if there were no sin”; adding, “and how delighted I should be to
sin, if I knew there were no God.” I feel persuaded you can see the
inconsistency of having two conflicting opinions which divide your heart, and
make your life an unstable as water. Let us, therefore, pray the Lord to give
us grace to be decided-for Him; that we may take His principles for better or
for worse, in sickness or health; and whatever may happen, to be the Lord’s
faithful people. Let us pray that we may have grace to resolve thus, and power
to carry the resolution out, so that when we have lived our allotted time and
finished our work, the Lord shall be able to say, “After all, I did not create
that soul in vain.” May I give you one or two reasons why there is so much
double-dealing? I mean, that while men feel persuaded it is right to worship
the Lord and do His will, yet they devote the chief portion of their lives to
the service of their own gods.
I. One reason is
that we get into the way of presuming on the loving-kindness of God. Some of
the preaching of the last hundred years has done harm. While I hold as firmly
as any man can the doctrine of the power of the atonement of Jesus, yet, at the
same time, I also hold that the atonement of Jesus is a means to an end; that
is to say, Jesus laid down His life for the purpose of making us pure and
unselfish. If a man says he believes in Christ, and yet does not act rightly,
he does not liver the truth, whether he knows it or not; he is no more a
Christian than he was before he joined the church. “Conversion” is repentance,
that is, giving up things: that are bad, and doing only those which are good.
Unless our faith lead us to, act rightly, and to deny ourselves for the benefit
of others, we do not know Christianity, nor have we rightly read the life of
Christ. Christianity is, acting purely in every action and at all times, and
denying ourselves for the benefit of mankind. A higher religion than this it is
impossible to conceive; one more powerful to bless the world cannot be
imagined. But it is needful for us to understand it truly. If we say we believe
and yet we do not act cheerfully, purely, and honestly, depend upon it we are
mistaken. Believing in Christ is trying with our whole heart and mind and
strength to do the will of our Heavenly Father as revealed in the spirit of the
Gospel. What is “conversion”? Some people imagine that conversion is like a
fortune being left us--that we have no more work to do, and have only to enjoy
ourselves with the money. But conversion is like being an apprentice on board a
ship, where one has to bear hardship and work for many weary years. Conversion
is beginning an apprenticeship to eternal life, and serving our time on earth
for the enjoyment and employment of angelhood in heaven. Conversion means
literally “turning round,” changing from a wicked to a holy life; and such a
change cannot be effected instantaneously. Of course there is a moment when the
turning-point begins, but it takes a long, long time for the conversion to be
completed. The work of conversion goes on every hour and minute of our waking
life. It is a battle with unseen foes--a man’s worst foes being those of his
own house, that is, his own nature. The life of every Christian is one long
battle, and as a “devout soldier,” the qualities he will need in his spiritual
warfare are those which elicit our admiration in a British soldier, namely,
order, serf-sacrifice, and obedience.
II. Another reason
why we have this divided heart, which, while thinking it right to serve the
Lord, yet permits us to follow our own gods, is because we distrust God’s
loving care. It is a sin to presume on God’s love; but is it not also a sin to
despair of His care? So the troubles and buffetings of daily life, and the
turmoil and storm which assail us, will prove a blessing in the end. The
discipline is painful, as all chastisement is; but, my friend, these light
afflictions which oppress you to-day are working out for you a far more
exceeding and eternal weight of glory. We may be sure that what we have to
undergo is for our good.
III. Having shown
the reasons why we get into the way of serving our own gods, let me now urge
you to follow the steps of Jesus, and to make Christian principle your rule of
life. I have often wondered what made the Apostle John picture the streets of
the new Jerusalem as being made of pure gold, as if they were “transparent
glass.” I think it was because he had seen so much double-dealing that he, in
singleness of heart, felt that heaven must be so pure that the very floor is
transparent. You can actually see through its pavement; what on earth is dense
is in God s home clear as crystal And if the streets are like transparent
glass, what must the people be? The lesson is that we must get rid of our
double-dealing and duplicity here, for there is nothing but openness and
sincerity in heaven. If we are sincere, transparent Christians, our lives shall
glorify God, and men shall thereby be attracted to serve their Heavenly Father.
Do not feat to act on Christian principles. Perfect love to God casteth out
fear. Follow Christ, and give up your life rather than act contrary to the
spirit of the Gospel Dare even to die for Christ. Act up to your convictions.
Dare to act as Christ would act. Never mind though the entire world be against
you if God be with you. If Christ say “Amen” to your life, dare to live it,
whatever men may say. Lot your heart and mind be of one aim, that one aim being
to follow Christ. (W. Birch.)
True and false fear
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge”--“the fear of
the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” are two of Solomon’s most pregnant maxims
(Proverbs 1:7; Proverbs 9:10); or rather two forms of
the same, which is again repeated in the Book of Psalms (Psalms 111:10). The word “beginning” in
all these cases, may be strictly understood as having reference to time. This is
the point from which all successful students of true wisdom must set out. Their
first lesson is to fear the Lord. “The fear of the Lord,” which is thus both
the Alpha and Omega of the spiritual alphabet, may be taken either in a generic
or a specific sense. The former is, in fact, co-extensive with the general idea
of religion or true piety, including, either directly or by necessary
inference, every right disposition and affection on the part of man, as a
dependent and unworthy creature, towards the infinitely great and holy God. All
such affections may be readily deduced from fear, in its specific sense, as
signifying not a slavish but a filial feeling, not mere dread or terror, which,
from its very nature, must be always tinged with hate, or at least with
repugnance, but a reverence impregnated with love. This genuine and spurious
fear of God, unlike as they may seem, and as they are, have often been
confounded, on account of their having something really in common, to wit, a
sense of God’s power and an apprehension of His wrath as awaiting all
transgressors of His will. But this common element, which justifies the use of
the word fear in reference to both these dispositions, is blended in the one
case with a consciousness of alienation and hostility, while in the other it is
lost, as it were, in the feeling of attachment, confidence, and common
interest. The varying proportion, in which these distinctive qualities are
blended with the fundamental property of fear, determines the facility with
which a filial awe may be confounded with a slavish dread. To discriminate
between the two might sometimes be impossible, but for a practical criterion or
test which the Word of God has laid down, in accordance with our Saviour’s
fundamental rule of moral diagnosis, “By their fruits ye shall know them.” This
intimate connection between genuine fear and obedience is recognised in the law
itself, when Moses warns Israel “to do all the words of this law that are
written in this book, that thou mayest fear the glorious and fearful name, the
Lord thy God” (Deuteronomy 28:58). The negative aspect
of the same truth is exhibited by Job, when he winds up his sublime inquiry
after wisdom with the solemn declaration, “Behold, the fear of the Lord, that
is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding” (Job 28:28). Here, then, is the touchstone
of a genuine and a spurious fear of God. The one disposes us to do His will,
from a sincere complacency and acquiescence in it. The other prompts us rather
to resist it, except so far as our compliance may seem necessary to escape His
wrath, which is the only real object of this slavish dread. The one is a fear
of punishment as the consequence of sin; the other a fear of sin itself, as
intrinsically evil, or, which amounts to the same thing, as opposed to the will
of God, and to His very nature, which is thus assumed as the ultimate criterion
of right and wrong, of good and evil. Only a filial fear disposes men to serve
God. Selfish and slavish fear disposes them to flee from Him. This distinction,
however obvious as it is in Scripture and familiar in experience, is not
practically recognised by all men. There seems to be a natural propensity to
look upon fear, blank fear, as the essence of devotion, as the whole of what is
due to God, the rendering of which absolves from all obligation to believe, to
trust, to love, or to obey. Among the heathen this idea of religion is perhaps
predominant, or certainly far more prevalent than we frequently imagine. It may
well be questioned whether their deities are ever the objects of their love,
excepting in those cases where the god is but a personification of some darling
lust. Beyond this homage rendered to the unchecked sway of their own appetites
and passions, there is strong reason far believing that their devotion is nothing
but the tribute of their fears to a superior power which they hate, and which
they look upon as hating them. The service rendered under the influence of such
a motive is in no ease more than they regard as absolutely necessary to secure
them from the wrath of the offended godhead. But this universal and
unconquerable sense of guilt may co-exist with an indefinite variety of notions
as to the means of propitiation, and the extent to which those means must be
applied. Some men may feel it to be necessary to expend their whole time in
appeasing the Divine wrath; but by far the greater number, under every known
form of idolatry, consider less than this sufficient, and rejoice to
appropriate the residue to self-indulgence. They give no more than is extorted
by their fears, and have no conception of religious service as a voluntary,
cheerful, joyous consecration of the whole man to an object which he venerates
and loves, and in the doing of whose will he finds his highest happiness. The
only service of this free, spontaneous, and absorbing nature that the heathen
devotee pays, is the service rendered to himself, in the indulgence of his own
corrupt desires. He gives even to his chosen idol only what he is unable to
withhold, his fears; and by so doing proves himself a stranger to all genuine
religious fear, which cannot be divorced from the willing and devoted service
of its object. An apt illustration of this general truth is afforded by a
singular and interesting passage of the sacred history. The King of Assyria had
carried into exile the ten tribes of Israel, and supplied their” place with settlers
from his own dominions. These were heathen, and brought with them their own
idols and idolatrous rites. Having no knowledge of Jehovah, whom their
predecessors had professed to worship, even under the forbidden form of golden
calves, they had, of course, no fear of His displeasure, till He sent wild
beasts among them, and slew some of them. Regarding this correctly as a penal
visitation from the God of the land, they procured from their own sovereign the
assistance of an Israelitish priest to teach them how to worship Him. He
accordingly taught them, as the narrative expresses it, “how they should fear
the Lord,” and they acted promptly upon his instructions. They took care,
however, to provide gods of their own, each tribe or nation for itself, while at
the same time they offered to Jehovah a worship of fear prompted more by the
recollection of lions than by faith or reason. “So they feared the Lord, and
served their own gods.” How far the sacred writer was from recognising this as
any genuine religious fear at all, we learn from his saying, in the very next
sentence, “ unto this day they do after the former manners; they fear not the
Lord.” Why! Because “they feared the Lord, and served their own gods.” We may
be disposed to smile with some contempt at the absurd and inconsistent conduct
of these wretched pagans. But wherein did their folly and their sin consist?
Certainly not in being afraid of the displeasure of Jehovah and in seeking to
avert it; for in this they acted wisely. But it lay in their imagining that
forms of worship, extorted from them by their selfish fears, would be
sufficient to propitiate the Most High and secure them from His vengeance;
while their voluntary service, their cordial and habitual devotion, was
expended on His enemies and rivals. If this is the absurdity which we condemn,
our judgment is a just one; but let us impartially condemn it wherever we may
find it, whether in ancient or in modem times, whether in Eastern or in Western
climes, whether in heathendom or Christendom, whether in our neighbours or
ourselves. To make the transition easier from the heathen to the Christian
world, we may begin with our own heathen, the heathen at our own doors, in our
own streets; I mean those who approach nearest to the heathen both in the positive
and negative circumstances of their spiritual state, their ignorance of truth,
and their enslavement to sin. Look at the worst part of your population, as it
pours its turbid streams along in times of more than usual excitement; hear its
muttered or vociferated curses; mark the bestial character of its propensities
and habits. All this you have seen, and as you saw it, you have been disposed
perhaps to say that here, at least, there is no divided worship or allegiance;
here, at least, are men who serve their own gods, but who do not, even in
profession, fear the Lord. No, in profession, certainly not; in form, in
purpose, not at all; but do you think they never fear Him, that is, feel afraid
of Him? Be not precipitate in drawing such conclusions. In the vast mixed
multitude of those whom you regard as the most ignorant, and reckless, and
besotted of your countrymen, observe, on some occasion of extraordinary
concourse, how many haggard faces, and contracted brows, and strangely gleaming
eyes encounter yours. Do you believe all this expression of anxiety and dread
to be the fruit of poverty, or sickness, or domestic cares? If so, you are
mistaken; for the same expression may be seen in those who are not poor, who
are not sick, or outwardly distressed at all; and on the other hand, its
absence may be marked in thousands who are poorer, and who suffer more from
care and sickness than do any of those whom you are observing. There is
something back of all these causes to produce this uniformity of countenance,
and I will tell you what it is--it is fear. You fear the Lord; you are
unwilling to provoke His anger; you acknowledge your obligation to serve Him,
and you discharge that obligation by attending on His worship; but is He the
master that you daily serve? Where is your treasure and your heart? By whose
will do you regulate your life? A man may so far fear the Lord as to frequent
His house, and join in the external acts of worship there; but what if he has
other gods at home, and there bows down to Mammon or to Belial? What if the
world is in his heart, and the prince of this world on the throne of his
affections? Will the stain of these habitual idolatries be washed out by
patiently enduring the penance of a Sabbath service? Will the Lord, who is thus
feared with a slavish dread of His displeasure, be contented, for the sake of
this, to pass by all the rest--all that is done, or all that is not done, in
defiance of His absolute authority and positive command? The charge which is
here brought is not one of hypocrisy. It is one of delusion. I do not say that
those of whom I speak pretend to fear the Lord when they know they fear Him
not. I say that they believe they fear Him, when in fact they fear Him not. Or
rather, which is really the same thing in another form, they do fear Him; but
it is not with a fear which honours, or conciliates, or pleases Him, as they
imagine; and here, just here, is their delusion. They are sincere enough in
thinking that they fear God; but they are terribly mistaken in supposing that
they fear Him as they ought. This is a painful truth to those of us whom it
concerns; but it is one which, sooner or later, must be told. And it requires
not many words to tell it. It may be summed up in this short sentence: If you
do not serve the Lord, you do not fear Him. You may attend upon His worship,
you may respect religion, you may believe the Bible to be true, you may hope to be saved
through Christ, you may expect to die the death of the righteous. (F.
Addison Alexander, D. D.)
Mongrel religion
“So do they unto this day:” said the writer of the Book of Kings,
who has long since passed away unto his fathers;. Were he alive now he might
say concerning the spiritual descendants of these Samaritans, “So do they unto
this day.” This base union of fearing God and serving other gods is by no means
obsolete. Alas, it is too common everywhere, and to be met with where you might
least expect it.
I. I shall first
call your attention to the nature of this mongrel religion. It had its good and
bad points, for it wore a double face.
1. These people were not infidels. Far from it: “they feared the
Lord.” They did not deny the existence, or the power, or the rights of the
great God of Israel, whose name is Jehovah. They had faith, though only enough
to produce fear. They knew that there was a God; they feared His wrath, and
they tried, to appease it. So far they were hopeful persons, and under the
influence of a feeling which has often led up to better things. It was better
to dread God than to despise Him; better slavishly to fear than stupidly to
forget.
2. Another good point about these mixed religionists was that they
were willing to be taught. As soon as they found that they were not acting
rightly towards the God of the land, they sent a petition to their supreme
ruler, the King of Assyria, setting forth their spiritual destitution. They
were quite willing to be taught the manner of the God of the land, and so they
installed this priest at Bethel, and gathered, about him to know what they
Should do. We have people around us unto this day who are glad to hear the
Gospel, and sit with pleasure under our ministry, and if the Word be faithfully
preached they commend the preacher and give a gratified attention to the things
that proceed out of his mouth; and yet they are living in known sin.
3. Though these strangers feared Jehovah, and were, willing to learn
the way of His worship, yet they stuck to their old gods. “Ah,” said the
Babylonian, “I listen respectfully to what you have to say of this God of the
land; but Succoth-benoth for me; when I go home I shall offer sacrifice to
him.” The men of Cuthah said, “Verily this is good doctrine concerning the God
of Israel; but the god of our fathers was Nergal, and to him will we cleave”;
and the Sepharvites, though they wished to hear of the pure and holy Jehovah,
and therefore learned from His law the command, “Thou shalt not kill,” yet still they passed
their children through the fire to Moloch, and did not cease from that most
cruel of all religious rites. Thus yon see that this mingle-mangle religion
left the people practically where they were: whatever their fear might be,
their customs and practices remained the same. Have you never met with persons
of the same mongrel kind? If you have never done so, your class of
acquaintances must be superior to mine. Persons are to be found, without a
lantern and candle, who earn their money by ministering at the altars of
Belial, and then offer a part of it to the Lord of hosts. Can they come from
the place of revelling to the chamber of communion?
II. Let us now
consider the manner of its growth. However came such a ‘monstrous compound into
this world? Here is the history of it.
1. These people came to live where the people of God had lived. The
Israelites were most unworthy worshippers of Jehovah; but, still, they were
known to others as His people, and their land was Jehovah’s land. If the
Sepharvites had stopped at Sepharvaim they would never have thought of fearing
Jehovah; if the men of Babylon had continued to live in Babylon they would have
been perfectly satisfied with Bel, or Succoth-benoth, or whatever the name of
their precious god might be: but when they were fetched out from their old
haunts, and brought into Canaan, they came under a different influence, and a
new order of things. Something else happened to these Assyrian immigrants which
had a stronger influence still.
2. At first they did not fear God, but the Lord sent lions among
them. Matthew Henry says, “God can serve His own purposes by which He pleaseth,
little or big, lice or lions.” By the smaller means he plagued the Egyptians,
and by the greater these invaders of His land.
3. But notice, that the root of this religion is fear. There is no
love on the right side; that affection is in the opposite scale. Their hearts
go after their idols, but to Jehovah they yield nothing but dread.
4. One reason why they dropped into this self-contradictory religion
was that they had a trimming teacher. The King of Assyria sent them a priest:
he could not have sent them a prophet, but that was what they really wanted. He
sent them a Bethelite, not a genuine servant of Jehovah, but one who worshipped
God by means of symbols; and this the Lord had expressly forbidden.
III. Thirdly, let us
estimate the value of this religion. What is it worth?
1. It must evidently be feeble on both sides, because the man who
serves Succoth-benoth cannot do it thoroughly if all the while he fears
Jehovah; and he who fears Jehovah cannot be sincere if he is worshipping
Moloch.
2. At first I should think that the mixture of the true with the
false at Samaria looked like an improvement.
3. These Samaritans in after years became the bitterest foes of God’s
people. Read the Book of Nehemiah, and you will see that the most bitter
opponents of that godly man were those mongrels.
4. How provoking this adulterated religion must be to God! It is even
provoking to God’s minister to be pestered with men whose hypocrisies weaken
the force of his testimony.
IV. The continuance
of this evil: for the text says, “As did their fathers, so do they, unto this
day.” I believe in the final perseverance of the saints: I am almost obliged to
believe in the final perseverance of hypocrites; for, really, when a man once
screws himself up to play the double, and both to fear God and serve other
gods, he is very apt to stick there. One reason why it can be said of most
men-so do they unto this day, is because it yields them a sort of comfort; at
any rate it keeps off the lions.
V. I shall now
close by saying a few words by way of cure of this dreadful evil of mongrelism;
this fearing the Lord, and serving other gods. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Alloy in the Church
In the days of Queen Mary and preceding sovereigns, a vast
quantity of coin had been forced into circulation in which there was far more
alloy than pure silver. Though it answered its purpose for a time, in the end
it disturbed the commerce of the whole country, and threatened to bring about
the ruin of all trade and business, until it was withdrawn in the days of
Elizabeth. There was increasing evil, ,and it was one of the wisest acts of her
reign to restore the currency to its former value. Ah, what vast quantities of
alloy are found in Christ’s Church! There are men of double mind--half for the
world and half for God. There are those who keep up the forms of religion, but
are total strangers to its power. (R. Venting.)
No possible compromise
Now, most people think, if they keep all the best rooms in their
hearts swept and garnished for Christ, that they may keep a little chamber in
their heart’s wall for Belial on his occasional visits; or a three-legged stool
for him in the heart’s counting-house; or a corner for him in the heart’s
scullery, where he may lick the dishes. It won’t do! You must cleanse the house
of him, as you
would of the plague, to the last spot. You must be resolved that as all you
have shall be God’s, so all you are shall be God’s. (John Ruskin.)
Inconsistency
Rev. C. H. Spurgeon in one of his works remarks: “The shops in the
square of San Marco were all religiously closed, for the day was a high
festival. We were much disappointed, for it was our last day, and we desired to
take away with us some souvenirs of lovely Venice; but our regret soon
vanished, for on looking at the shop we meant to patronise, we readily
discovered signs of traffic within. We stepped to the side door, and found when
one or two other customers had been served that we might purchase to our
heart’s content, saint or no saint. After this fashion too many keep the laws
of God to the eye, but violate them in the heart. The shutters are up as if the
man no more dealt with sin and Satan: but a brisk commerce is going on behind
the scenes. From such deceit may the Spirit of truth preserve us continually.”
An altar in reserve
When Redwald, King of Kent, embraced Christianity, he was not
fully persuaded that Christ would prove stronger than the heathen gods, so he
kept two altars in his temple, the larger one dedicated to Christ and the small
one in the corner dedicated to the heathen gods. He thought that if Christ
should ever be overthrown he might still claim the protection of the heathen
deity, because of his faithfulness. How many nominal Christians have an altar
in reserve!
Blest too is he who can divine
Where real right doth lie,
And dares to take the side that seems
Wrong to man’s blindfold eye.
Then learn to scorn the praise of men,
And learn to lose with God:
For Jesus won the world through shame,
And beckons thee His road.
Christ’s religion requires thoroughness
The Rev. J. Bachus writes from Ceylon: “One of our converts, who
was employed on an estate managed by a heathen, was known to be a Christian
among his comrades. When the manager insisted one day on his going, with other
coolies, to the neighbouring heathen temple, the poor man said, ‘No, sir, I
will not go to worship an idol. I am a Christian, and I worship the only true
God.’ When the manager threatened to turn him off the estate, he boldly said,
‘I would rather beg than worship idols. My bread is not in your hands, but in
the hands of Him whom I worship. Although you turn me out, He will never
forsake me.’ He was immediately turned out, and is now a small trader.”.
──《The Biblical Illustrator》