I. As A PENALTY. It undoubtedly was that; nothing can be clearer than that they were permitted to be "the prey to the teeth" of the enemy because of their sins. The very next verse (21) intimates that it was disobedience to the Law of God that resulted in the denudation of the land. And the truth that national calamity is the consequence of national transgression is "writ large' and plain on every page of this Book of Chronicles. He may run that reads it. Sin entails penalty. The truth is written on the pages of national and individual history as well as on those of the Word of God. Every nation and every man may make up its (his) mind that, sooner or later, sin will entail defeat, humiliation, bondage. The penalty may take various forms, but penalty will most surely come. It may be obviously physical, or it may be principally spiritual; it will almost certainly be both the one and the other. But no man can harden himself against the Holy One and prosper. Whoso sinneth against him "wrongeth his own soul;" he deprives himself of inestimable good, and he makes himself the victim of deep and lasting evil. The children of Judah in Babylon had often occasion to say, "We suffer because we sinned against the Lord." This is the explanation of the tribulation and distress, of the darkness and the death, of the human world.

II. AS A PURGATION. God meant that Babylonian captivity to be a fiery trial which should burn up the large measure of "wood, hay, and stubble" in the character of the Jews that needed to be consumed. Strange it may seem to us that they should learn purity of creed among the heathen; that, away from the city and the temple of God, they should acquire a taste and a love for his service and worship shown for many generations in their synagogues; that in the midst of many superstitions they should come to hate all idolatrous forms and tendencies with the utmost abhorrence. But so it was. In the land of the stranger they lost their inclination to apostatize from God; they were purged of their old folly and guilt. And what early instruction, what fuller privileges, what later experiences will not do, that Divine chastisement may accomplish. God passes us through the fiery trial to purge us of our dross, to consume our earthliness, our selfishness, our grossness, our unbelief. And in some "strange land," in some place of spiritual solitude, in conditions under which we are compelled to feel as we never felt before, to learn what we never knew before, to lay to heart what we never realized before, we leave many things behind us which are weights and hindrances, we move on to that which is before us.

III. AS A PICTURE. Of what is that exile a picture? Is it not of our spiritual distance from God? To be living in sin, in a state in which we are not reconciled unto God, - is not this the exile of the soul? For what does it mean?

1. It is distance from God. It is to be a long way, an increasing distance, from him, from his favour, from his likeness, from the desire to hold communion with him, and therefore from his felt presence.

2. It is captivity. It is to be in the hands of the enemy; it is to be where silken cords at first, and at last iron chains, of unholy habit hold us fast in a cruel and degrading bondage; where we are held fast to covetousness, or to vanity, or to procrastination, or even to some dishonouring vice.

3. It is unsatisfiedness or even misery of soul. In that "strange land" these exiles could not sing "the Lord's song;" they "wept when they remembered Zion" Spiritual exile is joylessness of soul; unreconciled to him, there can be no "joy and rejoicing in him' or in his holy service. But let us bless God that away in this saddest exile we have not to wait until an appointed term is fulfilled, or until some Cyrus issues a proclamation (ver. 22); we may hear, if we will listen, the voice of One who does indeed rule over "all the kingdoms of the earth" (ver. 23), who is ever saying to us, "Return unto me, and I will return unto you." We may hear the blessed words of him who never ceases to address the generations of men, saying, "Come unto me, and I will give you rest." We may ]earn of that Divine Teacher that whoever comes back from the "far country' of sin, and seeks the heavenly Father's mercy, shall find the most cordial welcome he could hope to meet, and be taken back at once to all the love and to all the freedom of the Father's home. - C.

1. That habits are easily commenced. There is little difficulty in forming' habits. They are not acquired by one mighty bound, but by a series of almost imperceptible steps.

2. That habits are readily strengthened. Every step that is taken is planted with firmer grip. With every ripple that flows the stream becomes wider and swifter, fed as it were with other streamlets on the way. Every time an action is repeated the easier it becomes, and the more deeply rooted in the soul.

3. That habits are seldom eradicated. Can the Ethiopian change his skin? Yea, easier than a man unassisted by Divine help can break away from evil habits. They become part of the nature of the man himself.

II. WE SEE THE PRESUMPTION OF CONTINUED REBELLION. We are constantly reminded of the fact that God is merciful. But there is a limit to the mercy and forbearance even of God. This is evident —

1. From the fact that it is impossible always to continue His warning and judgments on the impenitent. If the obstinacy of one person cannot be overcome it were unjust on that account to remove the chance of salvation from others.

2. From the inevitable progress of temporal affairs. Death comes on with his rapid step and cuts short the life and with it the opportunities of repentance from the obdurate spirit. Then the door of mercy must be shut for ever.

3. From the very nature of the refusal. Is it likely that He, the Lord of all, will continue offering heavenly treasures to human swine who only trample His gifts in the mire? Oh, it is a sad and an awful truth that man may presume too far even on infinite love!

III. WE SEE THE AWFUL END OF PRESUMPTUOUS SIN. The consequences are at the last utter destruction and irretrievable loss. This stands to reason if we remember —

1. That God must vindicate His character.

2. That an example must be set to the world at large.

3. That the sinful must be removed out of the way.

(Homilist.)