I. THE CONDITION OF THE NATION DESCRIBED. Not its physical or material, but its moral or religious, condition. The former prosperous and fitted to inspire vain thoughts of stability and permanence. Its upper classes devoted to money making and pleasure seeking (Zephaniah 1:8, 12; cf. Jeremiah 4:30); its lower orders, here not the victims of oppression (Zephaniah 1:9; Zephaniah 3:1; cf. Jeremiah 5:27, 28; Jeremiah 6:6), well fed and comfortable (Jeremiah 5:7, 17). The latter degenerate and deserving of severe reprehension.

1. Irreligious. According to the marginal rendering of both the Authorized and Revised Versions, the nation was "not desirous," i.e. possessed no longing after Jehovah, his Law, or worship, but had forsaken him, and sworn by them that are no gods (Jeremiah 5:7), offering up sacrifices and pouring out drink offerings unto other divinities in the open streets, and even setting up their abominations in the temple (Jeremiah 7:17, 18, 80). For a nation no more than for an individual is it possible to remain in a state of irreligious neutrality or indifference. The people whose aspirations go not forth after him who is the King of nations as well as King of saints will sooner or later find themselves trusting in "lying vanities," or creating divinities out of their own foolish imaginations (Romans 1:23). Between theism and polytheism is no permanent half way house for either humanity as a whole or man as an individual.

2. Shameless. This translation (Grotius, Gesenius, Ewald, Keil and Detitzsch, Cheyne, and there) depicts the moral and spiritual hardening which results from sin long continued, passionately loved, and openly gloried in, as Judah's apostasy had been (Zephaniah 3:5). A whole diameter of moral and spiritual being lies between the shamelessness of innocence (Genesis 2:25) and the shamelessness of sin (Philippians 3:19). The former is beautiful and excites admiration; the latter is loathsome and evokes reprehension and pity. "A generation," says Pressense, "which can no longer blush is in open insurrection against the first principles of universal morality" ('The Early Years of Christianity,' 4:892).

3. Hateful. So the Authorized Version, followed by Pusey. The degenerate nation, addicted to idolatry and sunk in immorality, was not desired or loved by God; but, on account of its wickedness, was an object of aversion to God. No contradiction to the truth elsewhere stated that God still loved the people and desired their reformation (Jeremiah 2:2; Jeremiah 3:14); neither is it inconsistent to preach that "God is angry with the wicked every day" (Psalm 7:11); and that, nevertheless, "he wilteth not that any should perish, but that all should turn to him and live" (2 Peter 3:9).

II. THE DUTY OF THE NATION DEFINED. To "gather themselves together." The figure, derived from the gathering together or collecting of stubble or dry sticks, "which are picked up one by one, with search and care" (Pusey), points to that work of self-examination which, in nations as in individuals, must precede conversion, and must be conducted:

1. With resoluteness. Being a work to which their hearts were naturally not disposed, it could not be entered upon and far less carried through without deliberate and determined personal effort. Hence the prophet's reduplication of his exhortation. To make one's self the subject of serious introspection, never easy, is specially difficult when the object is to detect one's faults and pronounce judgment on one's deeds.

2. With inwardness. A merely superficial survey would not suffice. An action outwardly correct may be intrinsically wrong, Hence the individual that would conduct a real work of self-examination must withdraw himself as much as possible from things eternal, take his seat on the interior tribunal of conscience, and gather round him all that forms a part of his being, in addition to his spoken words and finished deeds, the feelings out of which these have sprung, the motives by which they have been directed, the ends at which they have aimed, and subject the whole to a calm and impartial review.

3. With minuteness. The things to be reviewed must be taken one by one, and not merely in the mass. Words and deeds, motives and feelings, when only glanced at in the heap, seldom reveal their true characters; to be known in their very selves they must be looked at, considered, questioned, weighed separately. All about them must be brought to light and placed beneath the microscope of conscientious investigation.

4. With thoroughness. As each word, act, feeling. motive, so all must be taken. None must be exempted from scrutiny. Nor will it suffice that they be passed through the ordeal of examination once; the process must be repeated and re-repeated till the exact truth is known. "For a first search, however diligent, never thoroughly reaches the whole deep disease of the whole man; the most grievous sins hide other grievous sins, though lighter. Some sins flash on the conscience at one time, some at another; so that few, even upon a diligent search, come at once to the knowledge of all their heaviest sins" (Pusey).

III. THE DANGER OF THE NATION DECLARED. Unless the duty recommended and prescribed were immediately and heartily entered upon and carried through, the judgment already lying in the womb of God's decree would come to the birth, and the day of his fierce anger would overtake them.

1. The event was near. Should Judah continue unrepentant, the hour of doom would be on her before she was aware. It was rapidly approaching, like chaff driven before the wind. So will the day of the Lord come upon the wicked unawares (Luke 16:35).

2. The issue was certain. Like chaff before the wind, too, her people would be driven away to pitiless destruction. The like fate is reserved for ungodly men generally (Psalm 1:4; Job 21:18). Nothing can avert the final overthrow of the unbelieving and impenitent, whether nation or individual, but repentance and reformation, not outward but inward, not seeming but real, not temporary but permanent. Learn:

1. The reality of national no less than of individual wickedness.

2. The responsibility that attaches to nations as well as men.

3. The necessity of self-examination for communities as well as for private persons. - T.W.

I. SIN EXPOSES MAN TO RUIN. It was sin, in the form of idolatry and gross immorality, that exposed the Jewish people to the terrible doom that was now hanging over them. Sin is evermore the cause of all human suffering. Corporeal sin brings corporeal suffering; moral sin brings moral suffering; national sin brings national suffering. "Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death."

1. The suffering that follows sin is sometimes very terrible. It was so now. Sin brings upon a people famines, pestilences, wars, perdition.

2. The suffering expresses God's antagonism to sin. "The fierce anger of the Lord," or, as Henderson has it, "the burning anger of Jehovah." God's anger is not a passion, but a principle; and the principle is antagonism, not to the happiness of his creatures, but to their sin and their wickedness. The connection between sin and misery is a beneficent arrangement. It is well that misery should pursue wrong.

II. THAT REPENTANCE DELIVERS MAN FROM RUIN. To prepare for the coming doom, the men of Judah are called upon to repent. "Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired," which may mean, "not worthy of the grace or favour of God." Some translate it, "not waxing pale," meaning, "being dead to a sense of shame." Others regard the expression as meaning, "not desiring to repent."

1. The preparation for repentance. "Gather yourselves together," etc. "Gather yourselves together" in connection; deliberate together as to the best way of securing the friendship and protection of God. "Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders" (Joel 2:16). It is well for sinners, in the prospect of their doom, to meet and confer concerning their relations to Almighty God.

2. The nature of repentance. It is here represented as seeking the Lord. "Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth;" or, as Henderson renders it, "Seek ye Jehovah, all ye humble of the earth." There are two seekings here.

(1) The seeking of God. Which is to be understood in a moral sense, seeking his friendship; for in a natural sense he is "not far from every one of us." But we are all away from him in sympathy.

(2) The seeking of meekness. "Seek righteousness, seek meekness," etc. Indeed, to seek moral excellence is to seek God; and to seek moral excellence is repentance; it is a turning away from the creature to the Creator, from the wrong to the right. "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near."

3. The urgency of repentance. Do it now. "Before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you, before the day of the Lord's anger come upon you." It wilt be too late to repent when the judgment comes. "They shall call upon me, and I will not answer;" "Many shall say to me at that day," etc. (Matthew 7:22). CONCLUSION. As sin is in the world, judgments are in the world. Retribution, like an invading army, is always marching toward the victim. Repentance is the only means of deliverance. "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." - D.T.

I. A CHEERING TESTIMONY.

1. To the existence of a believing remnant. Dark as the outlook for Judah was, degenerate as the mass of her people had become, there were yet those belonging to her community who either had not apostatized from Jehovah or had reverted to their allegiance (see 2 Kings 22., 23.; 2 Chronicles 34., 35.). Since "the days that were before the Flood" (Genesis 6:5-7, 12, 13), God has never wanted a seed to serve him, though oftentimes it has been small, and as in the days of Elijah (1 Kings 19:10, 18) scarcely perceptible, at least by man. Compare the times after the exile (Malachi 3:16) and those preceding the birth of Christ (Luke 2:25). "Even so at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace" (Romans 11:5). However discouraging in some respects the present aspect of Society may be - what with infidelity in the upper and learned classes, indifference towards religion among the masses, and lukewarmness on the one hand with fanaticism on the other in the Church itself - there are, nevertheless, those who fear God and think upon his Name, who believe in Christ and seek to follow in his steps, who sigh and cry for the irreligion of the age, mourn over the deadness and divisions of the Church, and pray for the coming of that happy era when "the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord," etc. (Isaiah 11:9).

2. To the beauty of their characters, Designated "the meek of the earth." Indicating

(1) their patience in enduring the disesteem, scorn, ridicule, and perhaps also oppression, spoliation, and persecution heaped upon them for their nonconformity to general custom in the matter of religion, and for venturing to dissent from common practice in serving Baal; and

(2) their humility in maintaining intercourse with others, but especially in communing with God. Such virtues of patience and humility lie at the root of all religion (Matthew 5:3, 5), were exemplified by Jesus Christ (Matthew 11:29; Matthew 27:12; 2 Corinthians 10:1; 1 Peter 2:23), and are demanded of all his followers (Ephesians 4:2; Colossians 3:12; 1 Peter 2:21).

3. To the piety of their lives. They had "wrought Jehovah's judgment," i.e. had honestly endeavoured to carry out what Jehovah had prescribed as the right thing to do in the matter of worship and duty. This, after all, the ultimate test of sincerity in religion, which signifies not the mere acceptance of certain propositions relating to God, his worship, and his commandment, but the carrying out of God's will in respect of both. Compare what Samuel said to Saul (1 Samuel 15:22), what Christ explained to his followers (John 14:15; John 15:14), and what Paul wrote to the Corinthians (2 Corinthians 10:5).

II. AN URGENT ADMONITION.

1. Its import. Explained by two clauses: "Seek righteousness, seek meekness." Only in these ways could Jehovah be sought - neither by coveting the material and temporal tokens of his favour, such as health, comfort, protection, prosperity, nor by maintaining the external forms of his worship, however elaborate or costly, but by aspiring after inward and outward, spiritual and moral conformity to his Law (righteousness) and character (meekness). The same sense attaches to the phrase when addressed to Christians, who are exhorted to follow after righteousness and meekness (1 Timothy 6:11), and to seek both in Christ (Matthew 11:29; Romans 10:4).

2. Its incidence. Declared by the words, "all ye meek." Addressed to the humble hearted, first in Judah, and then in the whole world. The obligation to seek Jehovah grounded for both on

(1) their relations to Jehovah as his creatures and servants;

(2) their own free choice of him as their Lord and King;

(3) the nature of religion, which is not an act to be performed once for all, but a habit of soul to be maintained throughout life; and

(4) the necessity of attending to their own safety, which could not otherwise be secured than by patient continuance in well doing (Matthew 24:13; Romans 2:7; Revelation 2:10).

3. Its urgency. Proclaimed by the threefold "seek." The like diligence demanded of all in the matter of religion.

(1) Because of the majesty of him whose service it is (2 Chronicles 2:5; 1 Timothy 6:15).

(2) Because of its intrinsic excellence as a purely spiritual service (John 4:24; Romans 12:1).

(3) Because of the momentous issues involved in it according as it is sincere or insincere (Job 8:13; Proverbs 10:28).

(4) Because of the shortness and uncertainty of man's opportunity on earth to make his calling and election sure (Ecclesiastes 9:10; Ephesians 5:16; Philippians 4:5).

III. AN ENCOURAGING CONSOLATION.

1. A promise of salty for the righteous. Not a doubtful promise, though introduced by "it may be." From this phrase it cannot be inferred that the prophet was uncertain whether the meek in the laud would be protected in the day when Jehovah poured out his wrath upon Judah and Jerusalem; or whether the meek generally would be sheltered in the day of judgment. Merely he intimated that the hiding would be difficult; not the hiding of them by Jehovah, with whom nothing could be hard or easy, but the supplying by them of the moral and spiritual conditions without which God's hiding of them could not come to pass. The ultimate salvation of the meek is guaranteed (Psalm 149:4; Matthew 5:5); but the actual process, in time, of saving them is attended by so many difficulties that throe is need for constant watchfulness against the danger of coming short.

2. A threatening of doom for the ungodly. If the difficulty of saving the righteous be so great, what possible loophole of escape can there be for the ungodly (Luke 23:31; 1 Peter 4:17, 18)? The overthrow of the wicked an additional security to the salvation of the righteous. - T.W.

I. WHY OUGHT MEN, IN VIEW OF SUCH A JUDGMENT, TO SEEK THE LORD?

1. Because the judgment is universal. It is not merely a local visitation on the land of Israel, in which it alone is to suffer at the hands of some powerful and successful invader. In that case prudence might dictate the propriety of seeking escape by allying themselves with the conquering power, or taking refuge in some other land not exposed to its invasion. It might even be suggested by the idolatrous superstition of those days, that: the cause of the triumph or safety of other nations was the power of their gods, and that this might be a reason for worshipping or fearing them. But the judgment is to be from the Lord, the only living and true God, the Creator of heaven and earth, and it is to show itself as such in this that it shall include all nations in its sweep; it is to be on the countries round about, as well as on Judah. The most prominent of the neighbouring nations are mentioned as involved in the calamity - the cities of the Philistines on the seacoast to the southwest (vers. 4-7), Moab and Ammon on the southeast (vers. 8-10). These had been old hereditary enemies of Israel, and were inclined to rejoice in her calamity, and boast themselves as if their old hatred was now to be gratified. But this very jealousy and pride offend the Lord and bring down his judgment on them too. Then even the more distant nations of the Ethiopians far to the southwest, beyond Egypt, and Assyria in the remote northeast, with the great luxurious and proud city of Nineveh, were to be visited too; so that there would be no quarter of the earth to which Israel could turn for safety (vers. 12-15). So it ever is when God visits men; he makes it to be felt that vain is the help of man, and that there are no devices of human power, or riches, or wisdom, by which his hand can be escaped. It does not always need universal and sweeping judgments to show this; and it is our wisdom to learn the lemons even from single and separate manifestations of the power of God's wrath; or from the records and threatenings of these old judgments and their lessons.

2. But this is only a negative motive; it shows us in what quarters we are not to turn - that we can find no help in man. But the prophet gives also positively a reason why we should seek the Lord, and that is because his judgments are sent with a view to mercy. This is pointed out both In regard to Judah (ver. 7) and in regard to the Gentiles (ver. 11); for not only is the captivity of Judah to be turned back, but all the isles of the heathen are to worship the Lord. Such is ever the design of God's judgments against sin in this world. They are, indeed, expressions of his wrath and foretastes of his curse against sin, and as such they are fitted and intended to produce fear, and to lead men to hold their peace at the presence of the Lord God, and to humble themselves under his mighty hand. But the design of them never is simply to destroy. It may be needful ultimately, for the glory of the Lord, that the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and that the wicked be no more; and that utter destruction shall surely overtake the impenitent, when the Lord shall destroy the stumbling blocks with the wicked, when "the Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire" (Matthew 13:41, 42). That is the doom solemnly denounced against the impenitent. But is not the very denunciation of it, stern as it is, an act of mercy? It is a warning graciously sent in time, lest that doom should come upon them unforetold and unexpected - a call to them to flee from the wrath to come, a signal of danger ahead, that may lead sinners to arrest their onward and downward course. Now, if the warning in words is thus manifestly merciful, so also are these foretastes of judgment that are but warnings in deed given when those in words have been disregarded. Had Israel listened to the words of the prophets, and turned from their evil ways, it might not have been necessary that God should send on them the judgment of the Captivity; but when they would not take warning from the solemn words of the Lord denouncing judgment, it was needful that they should be made to feel that these were not mere words, and be taught by actual inflictions in deed. But these were also sent in mercy, like the famine that came on the prodigal son in the far land to which he had wandered and wherein he wasted his substance in riotous living. Suffering may pierce the heart which the mere threat of suffering, however solemn and earnest, had failed to touch; and in that case the suffering, as well as the warning of it, has a gracious end. Even to the heathen nations, the judgment is with a view to mercy. Had Israel been faithful to their God and their calling, they would have been a kingdom of priests to spread the knowledge of the true God and of his grace and mercy among the Gentile nations around. But since they would not do this willingly, in the way of faithfully walking in the covenant of their God, he shall bring it to pass that by the judgments they undergo they shall be the means of making known his way in the earth, and his salvation among all nations. The heathen shall learn in the ruin of Israel to recognize the justice of the Lord, and the very nations that destroyed Israel shall be taught that the hand of God is on them too, and that they cannot escape his righteous judgments. "The Lord will be terrible to them; for he will famish all the gods of the earth." When he sent a grievous famine on the far country where the prodigal was, this might lead some of the citizens of that country, as well as the prodigal himself, to see how vain and perishing was the abundance in which they bad been trusting, and might constrain him to look to that father's house from which he had gone away; when the heathen mariners in the ship in which Jonah was fleeing from the Lord found that none of their gods could save them from the great storm sent by the Lord against his disobedient servant, they cried to the Lord, and they "feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord, and made vows." So when the heathen nations shall find that the judgments of God against his people for their sin come upon themselves also, and that none of their gods can save them, they too, says the prophet, "shall worship him, every one from his place, even all the isles of the heathen." Thus the judgment, even as regards them, is with a view to mercy; and this is the strong positive reason that all have to seek the Lord. Are you suffering calamity or trouble of any kind, and does conscience tell you that this affliction is not undeserved, nay, that it is the natural consequence and the just punishment of your sin? Then do not on any account let this drive you to despair; do not think that there is no hope for you; do not give way to mere idle grief or vain regret of the past that cannot be recalled; believe and be assured that the suffering has been sent in mercy as well as judgment, that it is a proof that God has not yet pronounced against you that most awful of all sentences, "Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone" (Hosea 4:17); and instead of hardening your heart in disobedience, or wringing your hands in despair, let God's judgments move you to "seek the Lord while he may be found, and to call upon him while he is near."

II. But the prophet not only sets forth the strong motives which the impending judgment affords to seek the Lord; he also INDICATES THE WAY IN WHICH THIS IS TO BE DONE. More especially there are two parts of this duty that he emphasizes, the one religious and the other moral, both of which must be combined.

1. The more directly religious duty is humiliation and prayer to God (vers. 1-3a). The somewhat obscure language of ver. 1, in the exact rendering of which scholars differ, seems to indicate, in the way of general humiliation before God, either a public gathering for a day of fasting, such as that described by Joel (Joel 2:15-17), or more directly the feeling of shame and humiliation arising in the hearts of those who had before been strangers to it. Then the very expression, "Seek the Lord" (ver. 3), describes religious exercises of prayer and worship. If the judgment threatened against Israel, or any Divine judgment, is to have its right and designed effect, there must be a recognition of a personal God and of our personal relation to him. Seek righteousness, seek meekness. There is something more implied here than merely "a power not ourselves that makes for righteousness." Could we be called to seek such a power in any other way than by seeking righteous. hess? Yet seeking the Lord is here spoken of as something distinct, though not to be separated, from seeking righteousness; and the anger of the Lord, so repeatedly and emphatically mentioned in vers. 2 and 3, is not to be explained away as a mere figure for the infliction of punishment. The "power that makes for righteousness" is a Person in whose favour lies our only true happiness. Were it not so, the evils that follow on sin would be no call to humiliation or to shame, for they would be the result of a mere law or tendency. But since we have to do with a living Person, who not only punishes but is grieved and displeased at our sins, we have reason not only to fear but to be humbled and ashamed before him. Such feelings are essential to true repentance; they find expression in that confession of sin which everywhere in Scripture is made a requisite for its forgiveness. A true confession implies grief and shame for sin, and an acknowledgment of it, and expression of these feelings to God; and without this, even though the judgments that follow on sin could be removed, God's displeasure and wrath would not be turned away - there would be no reconciliation, and the offender would be no nearer to God than before. But where there is this humiliation before God as the living God with whom we and in a personal relation, then there can be also prayer to him, and this also is implied in the call to seek the Lord. We are not only to turn to him for refuge, as a Power that will save us; we are to speak to him as a Person, and ask him first and chiefly to forgive us for our past sins, and then, if it is his will, to save us from the judgments that they deserve. Such is the religious duty to which the prophet here calls Israel, and this movement of heart religion must ever enter into the exercises of soul to which we are impelled by God's judgments, if these are to have a salutary effect.

2. But this religious exercise must never be separated from the moral duty here enjoined along with it. Humiliation, confession, and prayer can never be sincere if they remain alone, or if the sense of sin prompts to nothing more than these; for the religious element of repentance, however important it is, cannot be made to supersede the moral. There must be a grief for sin, not only because it has offended God personally, but because of its intrinsic evil; for the offence that it gives to God does not spring from any mere arbitrary command on his part, but from his own eesential nature as the perfectly and unchangeably Holy One. Therefore that is no real approach to him that does not imply a hatred of and turning from sin and a seeking after righteousness. Hence the command, "Seek the Lord," is closely connected with "Seek righteousness, seek meekness;" only in this way can the God of Israel, who is essentially holy, be really sought. Righteousness and meekness are the virtues here specially mentioned, for these contain the sum of moral duty, and are opposed to the violence and deceit, the avarice and oppression, that had been depicted in ch. 1. as the evils which brought down the judgment of the Lord on Judah and Jerusalem. If we would truly seek the Lord, we must turn from the sins of which we have been guilty, and set about those duties that we have been neglecting. This may be no easy task. It may imply a seeking, a searching of heart with great diligence to detect the hidden roots of evil, a pursuit of holiness with labour and perseverance in order to overcome inbred habits of sin, and to acquire habits of goodness. The character is not to be renewed or changed by a single effort or in one day; it requires a lifelong effort to "put off the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and put on the new man, which after God hath been created in righteousness and holiness of truth." But the work can and ought robe begun at once, and will be so begun if we really seek the Lord. If we know the Lord as the Holy One, and feel the evil of sin as it is in his sight, then our turning to him in repentance really implies a turning from all sin and a seeking righteousness and meekness. This too must be prompt and immediate. There is no time to be lost; the day of the Lord is at hand, his judgment is announced, his wrath has almost begun to burn, the dark thunder clouds are as it were big with the approaching storm. Therefore let there be no delay; make haste, and tarry not, before the decree brings forth its terrible execution. Judgment is still, as it were, in the womb of the Divine law and order, but ere long it must break forth, and the day of the Lord's wrath will sweep away all the wicked of the earth as chaff. Before that day comes, yet there is time, time enough to seek the Lord, but no time to waste in dallying with sin or halting between two opinions. Finally, be it remembered that this call is addressed to all alike, to the godly as well as to sinners. It is especially addressed to all the meek of the earth, who have wrought God's judgment, as well as to those who have still to seek righteousness and meekness. For, indeed, those who have most earnestly repented will most feel their need of the ever fresh and repeated call. That repentance is not genuine which is not virtually continued and actually repeated even to the very end of life, is a principle of Protestant theology, and most important for practical religion. We must not be content in this matter with any past experience or exercises of soul; as long as we have in us or about us anything of the sins that provoke God's anger, our repentance must be continual The whole of a Christian's life should be a turning from sin to God. In view of the sin that dwells in us, and our continual shortcomings of the righteousness and meekness required by God's Law, we must be constantly humbling ourselves before God and asking his forgiveness; and we must also be striving against sin, making it our earnest effort to abandon all practices and habits that are wrong, to eradicate passions and tempers of mind at variance with God's holy Law, and to acquire and cultivate the qualities required by it. We are to be putting off the old man and putting on the new, constantly day by day. Alas! how often do we forget this! How many days do we spend without conscious striving against sin or effort after holiness! Can we wonder that we should need rebuke and chastening from the Lord if we are thus neglecting what is an essential element of Christian life? Again, this repentance needs not only to be constantly going on as to the principle or power of it, but there are occasions when it needs to be actually renewed. One such occasion is when a believer falls into any grievous sin, such as wounds his conscience and destroys his peace. Then he must not be satisfied with a mere general acknowledgment of sinfulness; he must come once more, as he came at first, to God through Christ and anew, as at first, with the returning prodigal say, "Father, I have sinned," etc.; anew, as at first, turn from his sin to God with full purpose of heart and endeavour after new obedience No fresh burden of guilt is to be got rid of in any other way than that, and in that way all may be removed. Another occasion when we ought actually to renew our repentance is when we seek to enter into spiritual communion with God. Israel of old was commanded to keep a solemn day of fast and humiliation for sins just before the joyful Feast of Tabernacles, and in regard to the New Testament feast of the Lord's Supper it is said, "Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup." There cannot be faithful self-examination without a remembering and bringing to light of much sin, and that must needs call for humiliation and prayer for forgiveness, and renewed efforts after holiness. But if, thus searching and trying our ways, we turn unto the Lord, and lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens, we shall assuredly find him; we shall experience that mercy which he shows to those who confess their sins, and we shall be made more and more partakers of his holiness. Thus we shall be hid in the day of the Lord's anger, for we shall be able to say to him, "Thou art my Hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance." - C.

I. THE NATIONS SPECIFIED.

1. Philistia in the west.

(1) Its situation. "The seacoast," "the region of the sea," or "the track by the sea." Extending along the Mediterranean, from Gaza in the south to Jaffa in the north, and reaching back to the hill country of Judah in the west, it consisted of two parallel strips of land; one "of undulating plains, about twelve miles in breadth, bordering on the seacoast, elevated from fifty to a hundred feet above the sealevel, without distinctive features, and composed of the richest alluvial deposit;" and another "twelve to fifteen miles wide, consisting of a series of hills and spurs from five hundred to eight hundred feet above the sealevel, and broken through by broad valleys" ('Picturesque Palestine,' 3:151).

(2) Its names. "The land of the Philistines," "of the Cherethites," "of Canaan." Of these the first describes it as a land whose inhabitants bad been originally "immigrants," Philistia - in Hebrew Pelesheth, in the Assyrian inscriptions Pilastu, Pilasta, and Palastav - being derived from a root signifying "to wander about." The second depicts these inhabitants from a tribe settled in the southwest of the country, the Cherethites, a race of "Cutters," or "Executioners," who had achieved their settlements by means of the sword (Amos 9:7). Whether they came originally from Crete (Gesenius, Hitzig, Baur in Riehm's 'Handworterbuch'), which must then be identified with Caphtor (Deuteronomy 2:23; Jeremiah 47:5), settling down first on the Egyptian coast (Genesis 10:14), and gradually creeping north towards the Palestinian coast, though extremely probable, is still a matter of debate. The names of Philistine kings preserved in Assyrian inscriptions and bearing a more or less Semitic character suggest that the people must have been of Semitic origin (Schrader, 'Die Keilinschriften,' 2 auf. 167). The third name, Canaan, "Lowland," was probably given to it because that had been its primitive designation, although the appellation afterwards was transferred to the whole country, just as Philistia or Palestine was.

(3) Its chief cities. Four mentioned - Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, and Ekron - in the Assyrian inscriptions Haziti, Iskaluna, Asdudu, and Amkaruna. Their early histories may be learnt from Scripture. Gaza, the modern Guzzeh, originally inhabited by the Avim (Deuteronomy 2:23), and, prior to the conquest of Palestine, by the Caphtorim or Philistines, and a remnant of the Anakim (Joshua 11:22), was the scene of Samson's feats of strength, imprisonment, and destruction, and the site of a temple of Dagon (Judges 16:1-8, 21-30). Ashkelon, situated on the sea (Joshua 13:3), had also been the scene of one of Samson's feats (Judges 14:19). Ashdod possessed a temple of Dagon, in which the captured ark was placed (1 Samuel 5.) Ekron, the most northern of the five chief cities, with a temple of Beelzebub (2 Kings 1:2), was the city from which the ark was sent back to Israel (1 Samuel 5:10).

2. Moab and Ammon in the east. In the Assyrian inscriptions Ma'-ab, Ma'aab, Muaba, and Bit Amman. Here conjoined probably because

(1) of their blood relationship, the Moabites having been descended from Lot's son Moab (Genesis 19:37), and the Ammonites from the same patriarch's son Ben-Ammi (Genesis 19:38);

(2) of their geographical contiguity, their territories lying east of the Jordan, - that of Moab south of the Arnon, and stretching from the Dead Sea to the Syrian desert, and that of the Ammonites a little to the northcast, "in a mountainous district not annexed by Israel" (Conder); and

(3) of their mutual hostility to Israel, having more than once joined forces in an attack upon the latter (Judges 3:13; 2 Chronicles 20:1).

3. Ethiopia in the south. The land of Cush, in Assyrian Kusu, the furthest south territory known to the Hebrews, was probably regarded as embracing Nabian Ethiopia and Arabia (Genesis 2:13; 2 Chronicles 21:16; Esther 1:1; Isaiah 18:1; Ezekiel 29:10; Ezekiel 30:5). Its inhabitants, dark-skinned (Jeremiah 13:23), were of a warlike character (Jeremiah 46:9). Ethiopians composed part of Shishak's army (2 Chronicles 12:3). Zerah their king was defeated by Asa (2 Chronicles 14:9-15; 2 Chronicles 16:8). "They were a race cognate with the Egyptians, but darker in complexion and coarser in feature." (Rawlinson's 'Egypt: Story of the Nations,' p. 315).

4. Assyria in the north. Founded by Asshur (Genesis 10:11), who appears to have given his name first to the city he founded, and then to the empire it began, Assyria had as its capital Nineveh, the modern Koujunjik. (On the history of Nineveh as detailed by the cuneiform inscriptions, see Layard's 'Nineveh;' Sayce's 'Assyria, its Princes, Priests, and People;' and Schroder's 'Keilinschriften'). "The Assyrians were allied in blood and language to the Hebrews, the Aramaeans, and the Arabs;" "were a military people, caring for little else save war and trade;" and "if less luxurious than their Babylonian neighbours, were also less humane" (Sayce). Israel's contact with Assyria began in B.C. 853, with Ahab's contribution of ten thousand infantry and two thousand chariots to assist Benhadad II. of Damascus against Shalmaneser II. of Assyria ('Records of the Past,' 3:99), and ended, with the tall of Nineveh in B.C. 606.

II. THEIR SINS RECORDED.

1. Idolatry. All alike guilty of worshipping false gods - the Philistines of doing homage to Ashtaroth, Dagon, and Beelzebub; the Moabites, to Baalpeor and Chemosh; and the Ammonites, to Moloch; the Ethiopians, most likely to the gods of Egypt, Amen-Ra, Ptah, Osiris, Anubis, Thoth, Isis, Hathor, etc.; and the Assyrians, to the old Babylonian divinities, Bel, Anu, and Ea. Idolatry regarded as a sin not in Israel alone (Exodus 20:3-5), but in heathen peoples as well (Psalm 97:7; Romans 1:25).

2. Enmity against Israel. In this also all had been partakers - the Philistines from the days of the judges (Judges 10:7); the Moabites and Ammonites from the same period (Judges 3:13); the Ethiopians in the times of Rehoboam and Asa (2 Chronicles 12:3; 2 Chronicles 14:9); and the Assyrians under Tiglath-Pileser II., who first invaded the northern kingdom in the reign of Menahem (2 Kings 4:19). In particular the Philistines of Gaza, in the days of Jeroboam II., had sold captive Israelites to Edom (Amos 1:6); the Moabites under Mesha the sheepmaster, in the days of Jehoram, son of Ahab, not only revolted against Israel (2 Kings 3:5), but carried the torch of war into Israelitish territory, defeating the Israelitish king and making many prisoners ('Records of the Past,' 2nd series, 2:200); while the Assyrians invaded Judah so late as the days of Manasseh, and even deported that king to Babylon (2 Chronicles 33:11).

3. Pride. This more especially the sin of Moab (ver. 10) and of Assyria (ver. 15), of whom the former despised and magnified herself against Israel, and the latter exulted in her own fancied security and superlative greatness.

III. THEIR JUDGMENTS PRONOUNCED.

1. In character equally severe.

(1) Deportation of their inhabitants. The Philistine cities will be overtaken by this late (ver. 4). Moab and Ammon shall be involved in a like doom. The former "shall be as Sodom," and the latter "as Gomorrah" (ver. 9). Ethiopia shall not escape, but her people shall be "slain by Jehovah's sword" (ver. 12). Assyria shall suffer similar calamity. Nineveh will become a desolation, etc. (vers. 13, 14).

(2) Desolation of their lands. The land of the Philistines, the tract by the sea, shall be pastures with caves for shepherds' huts, and folds for flocks (ver. 6). The territories of Moab and Ammon shall become a possession of nettles and salt pits and a perpetual desolation (ver. 9). Nineveh will become dry like a wilderness (ver. 13), and desolation shall be in her thresholds (ver. 14).

(3) Occupation of their deserted lands by Israel. "The Philistine coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah" (ver. 7). Of Moab and Ammon it is written, "The remnant of my nation shall inherit them" (ver. 9).

2. In incidence equally certain. All rested on a common ground, and were pronounced by a common voice, that of Jehovah. "The word of Jehovah was against the]and of the Philistines" (ver. 5). Unto Moab and Ammon Jehovah had undertaken to be terrible (ver. 11). Jehovah's sword was to slay the Ethiopians (ver. 12). He should also stretch out his hand against the north, and destroy Assyria (ver. 13). What God directly by his own voice, or indirectly through the voice of another, undertakes to do is as good as done.

3. In result equally good. In threatening to destroy the above-mentioned nations - from their number and situation obviously designed to represent the whole heathen world - Jehovah practically engaged that the issue of his judgments would be to famish all the gods of the earth (ver. 11), i.e. cut off their worshipper's, and so starve or make them lean, and in this way cause them to vanish from the face of the earth. Thus the ultimate result of his punishing the heathen would be

(1) to reveal the nothingness of idols, whose inability to protect their worshippers would thereby be revealed;

(2) to extinguish idolatry, since men would no longer serve divinities that were powerless to save them; and

(3) to hasten the conversion of the world, since "all the isles of the nations" would be induced by what they saw to worship Jehovah "every one from his place." Learn:

1. That God sees and notes the attitudes of nations towards himself and his kingdom.

2. That God is as much against nations that do wickedly as he is against individuals that sin.

3. That the strongest and most flourishing empires can be easily overthrown when God becomes their assailant.

4. That social and political convulsions are all hastening on the era when "the meek shall inherit the earth."

5. That national judgments are a prelude and premonition of the judgments of the great day When "before him shall be gathered all nations." - T.W.

I. THAT THE CALAMITIES FALLING UPON ONE SINNER OFTEN INVOLVE OTHERS. It was so now. The ruin that was approaching the Hebrew nation would be most calamitous to the Philistine cities, and indeed to the neighbouring states. Gaza would be "forsaken," Ashkelon would be a "desolation," Ashdod would be "driven out," Ekron would be "rooted up," the inhabitants of the seashore, the Cherethites, the Canaanites, all would be involved. So vital, strong, and numerous are the ties that connect man with man in this world, that the condition of one must affect the condition of others. It is so:

1. With nations. At no period in the world's history was it more manifest than now. No one state or kingdom of Europe can be affected without influencing others. What was called "the Eastern question," in that terrible war between the sultan and the czar, affected every part of the civilized world.

2. With individuals. A man cannot fail in health, in business, or in character, without painfully affecting others in some way or other. What sufferings the failures of the Gurneys, the Petos, and the Grants have brought upon thousands in this country! This shows:

(1) The social connection between man and man. No man can live unto himself. Each man is a link in the great chain of human life; and he cannot move without influencing others. Each man is a]ink in the great human body; and, if one suffers, all suffer.

(2) The duty of each man to look well after his own conduct. A sinner has no right to say he will do what he likes, and that no one may properly interfere with him. If his actions terminated in himself, there might be some reason in such a claim; but as they cannot, and they must affect others, every man, all society, the whole human world, have a right to protest against the sinful conduct of any individual man.

II. THAT THE LOT OF MAN IS AT THE DISPOSAL OF ALMIGHTY GOD. "And the seacoast shall be dwellings and cottages for shepherds, and folds for flocks. And the coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah; they shall feed thereupon; in the houses of Ashkelon shall they He down in the evening: for the Lord their God shall visit them, and turn away their captivity." "And the line of the sea shall be pastures, with cisterns for shepherds and folds for sheep. Yea, the line shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah, thereupon shall they feed; in the houses of Ashkelon shall they lie down at even; for Jehovah their God shall visit them, and reverse their captivity" (Henderson). Here the Almighty is represented as arranging the future home and circumstances of "the remnant of the house of Judah." Paul at Athens said that God had "determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation" (Acts 17:26). Though we are free and conscious of our freedom, we are at the disposal of One above us. He has appointed:

1. Our place in the world. He has set bounds to our habitation "that we cannot pass."

2. Our period in the world. "My times are in thy hand." The periods of our birth and death are all arranged by him. "Man's days are determined; the number of his months is with thee" (Job 14:5). We are often tempted to imagine that chance rules us. We are struck with the apparent contingency when we look at men's circumstances in connection with their choice. None of us has any choice as to the condition, the place, the time, in which we are to be born or brought up. We are struck with the apparent contingency also when we look at men's circumstances in connection with their merits. How often do we find feeble-minded men in eminent positions, and men of talents and genius in obscurity! some, by what is called a hit, making fortunes and earning fame, whilst honest industry plods on with little or no success; vice in mansions, and virtue in the pauper's hut! Verily the race is not always to "the swift, nor the battle to the strong." But amidst all this feeling of contingency, and over all, there is the ruling plan of the beneficent God. - D.T.

I. THAT GOOD MEN ARE OFTEN SUBJECT TO ANNOYANCES FROM THE UNGODLY WORLD. "I have heard the reproach [abuse] of Moab, and the revilings of the children of Ammon, whereby they have reproached my people [abused my nation], and magnified themselves against their border." These people, the Moabites and the Ammonites, were constantly annoying and abusing the chosen people in the time of Moses. Balak, the King of the Moabites, sought to destroy the Israelites by means of Balaam's curses (Numbers 22.). And in the time of the judges, both peoples endeavoured to oppress Israel (Judges 3:12; Judges 10:7). The charge here probably refers to the hostile attitude assumed by both tribes at all times toward the people of God. Both Isaiah and Jeremiah accused them of annoying them (Isaiah 16:6; Jeremiah 48:29). The hostile conduct of Moab and Ammon towards Israel is only a specimen and an illustration of the antagonism of wicked men towards the truly pious. They "reproach" them; they charge them with superstition, fanaticism, cant, hypocrisy. Their revilings are often bitter and constant. "It has been," says an old writer, "the common lot of God's people in all ages to be reproached and reviled on one account or another." There is an eternal enmity between the two seeds - the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman. The conduct of a truly good man can scarcely fail to exasperate worldly and ungodly people. It condemns their selfishness, their greed, their falsehood, their pleasures. "If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before," etc.; "If they have called the Master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call those of the household!" "Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother; and wherefore slew he him? because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous." In corrupt society, we may lay it down as a truth that the better a man is, the more pure, honest, true, righteous, the more he will be hated and annoyed by his neighbours. The best men, the men of whom "the world is not worthy," are always persecuted.

II. THAT THESE ANNOYANCES ESCAPE NOT THE NOTICE OF GOD. "I have heard the reproach of Moab." I have heard the whole, all their calumnies, reproaches, revilings not a word has escaped me, not a syllable has been lost. Observe:

1. God's attention to the minute concerns of human life. He who is the Maker and Manager of the universe, to whom the creation is as nothing and less than nothing, is not indifferent to the utterances of little human creatures on this earth, which is itself a mere speck in space. "I have heard the reproaches." "He sees with equal eye, as God of all A hero perish, or a sparrow fall."

2. God's special interest in his people. Good men are his children, as dear to him as the apple of the eye; and whatever happens to them, even a reproachful word, affects him. It is truly consoling, it is energizing, to know that the great Father is interested in all that pertains to us. "Thine eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men: to give every one according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings" (Jeremiah 32:19).

III. THAT GOD WILL NOT FAIL TO CHASTISE THE AUTHORS OF SUCH ANNOYANCES. "Therefore as I live, saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Surely Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah, even the breeding of nettles, and salt pits, and a perpetual desolation: the residue of my people shall spoil them, and the remnant of my people shall possess them. This shall they have for their pride, because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of the Lord of hosts." Mark:

1. The doom of those reproachers. "They shall be as So, lore and Gomorrah." "This simile," says Keil, "was rendered a very natural one by the situation of the two lands in the neighbourhood of the Dead Sea. It affirms the utter destruction of the two tribes." Their land is to abound with "nettles and salt pits," the products and proofs of utter ruin.

2. The cause of their doom. "This shall they have for their pride." All the persecutors of the good will meet with a terrible chastisement. Sooner or later God will avenge his own elect. Hence let the godly victims of persecution, when they are "reviled, revile not again;" "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord;" "Blessed are they which and persecuted," etc. (Matthew 5:10). - D.T.

I. THE DESTRUCTION OF IDOLATRY. What is idolatry? It is the giving of our supreme affection to creature objects. It is not confined to the worship of heathen deities, which are for the most part the productions of human invention and art. The spirit of idolatry often exists where heathen idolatry is denounced. Whatever objects a man loves most is his god. In our England and throughout Christendom there are gods many, although they have no recognized temple. Wealth is a mighty god, power is a mighty idol, pleasure is a mighty idol, fame is a mighty idol. Before these idols the vast majority of the civilized world prostrate their souls in the ardour of devotion. The destruction of idolatry, therefore, does not mean the beating to dust or the consuming to ashes the idols that fill the temples of heathendom, but means the withdrawal of man's supreme love from every object short of God. You may bum up all heathen temples, and leave idolatry as rampant as ever. To "famish all the gods of the earth" is to draw man's supreme sympathy from all things except God. This is the great moral famine that is to be desired, to be prayed for and struggled after. The other good thing in the future of our world is -

II. THE ADVANCEMENT OF TRUE WORSHIP. "And men shall worship him, every one from his place, even all the isles of the heathen." Observe:

1. The object of true worship. "Men shall worship him," that is, Jehovah. Him, not it - not the universe, but the infinite Personality that created it, the Fountain of all existence, all energy, all love, all blessedness. Him - the Creator of the material, the Father of the spiritual.

2. The scene of true worship. "Every one from his place." Wherever he is. The worshipper need not go to any particular scene - no temple, chapel, or cathedral. "From his place." It may be in solitude or in society, on the mountain brow or the seashore. "Neither in this mountain" nor on that mountain, but everywhere, "God is a Spirit."

3. The extent of true worship. "Even all the isles of the heathen."

CONCLUSION. What a glorious future awaits the world! How blessed will those ages be when every man of every tribe and clime shall have his heart centred in supreme love upon the one great Father of all! - D.T.

"And he will stretch his hand over the north,
And destroy Assyria.
Idle will also make Nineveh waste,
An arid region like the desert.
And flocks shall lie down in the midst of her,
All the wild beasts of the nations:
Both the pelican and the porcupine
Shall take up their abode in her capitals:
A voice shall sing in the windows,
Desolation shall be in the thresholds,
For the cedar work is laid bare.
This is the exulting city which dwelt securely,
Which said in her heart,
I am, and beside me there is none.
How she is become desolate!
A resting place for wild beasts!
Every one that passeth by her shall hiss,
He shall shake his head." Two facts are suggested.

I. THAT MEN ARE OFTEN PRONE TO PRIDE THEMSELVES ON THE GREATNESS OF THEIR COUNTRY. The men of the city of Nineveh - the capital of Assyria - were proud of their nation. It is called the "rejoicing city," and represented as saying, "I am, and there is none beside me." This was the voice of the population. There was much in the city of Nineveh to account for, if not to justify, the exultant spirit of its population. It was the metropolis of a vast empire; it was a city sixty miles in compass, it had walls a hundred feet high, and so thick and strong that three chariots could be driven abreast on them; it had twelve hundred massive towers. The boasting spirit of the men of Nineveh concerning the grandeur of their country is by no means uncommon; it beats in the hearts of modern nations. Italy, Austria, Germany, America, England, each says in its spirit, "I am, and there is none beside me." Nations are egotistic, they exult in their own greatness, they sing their own praises. This spirit of national boasting is unjustifiable. There is nothing in a nation of which it should be proud, except moral excellence; and, alas! how little moral excellence there is in the most virtuous kingdom of the earth! On the contrary, how much ignorance, sensuality, worldliness, intolerance, impiety, that should humble us in the dust! It is, moreover, a foolish spirit. It is a check to true national progress, and its haughty swaggerings tend to irritate other countries.

II. THAT THE GREATEST COUNTRY MUST SOONER OR LATER FALL TO RUIN. "He will stretch out his hand against the north, and destroy Assyria," etc. This great city, peopled with pompous boasters, became a receptacle for beasts. "Flocks shall lie down in the midst of her," etc. "All the beasts of the nations: both the cormorant [the pelican] and the bittern [the porcupine] shall lodge in the upper lintels of it." The wild grim birds that haunt all ruins, Not only a receptacle for beasts, but a derision to travellers. "Every one that passeth by her shall hiss, and wag his hand." Such was the doom that came on this great city when Cyaxares and Nabopolassar, 600 years B.C., struck it down. This is the fate that awaits all the nations under heaven, even the greatest. Egypt, Syria, Babylon, Rome, Greece, have risen, prospered, and decayed. The symptoms of decay are manifest in many of the grandest nations of Europe. The more thoughtful amongst us discover those symptoms in the life of our England. England has nothing more to become, they say; the plum is overripe, and it must rot; the tree has exhausted all its latent vitality, and it must wither; the sun has passed the meridian, and it must go down. Thoughtful men point to the sad lack of capacity in our statesmen, the unscrupulous greed of our traders, the grumbling of our artisans, the weakness of our pulpits, the haughtiness of our ecclesiastics, the hollowness of our religion, the infidelities of our scientists, the diminution of our revenue and the increase of our pauperism, the arrogance of one class and the flunkeyism of another, pampered indolence here and starving toil there, jobbery in politics, swindling in commerce, cant in religion, and strikes in trade, - and say these are unmistakable marks of national corruption. - D.T.