I. DEPARTURE FROM GOD. In the case of Israel, departure from the Lord their God meant either

(1) the formal substitution of another deity for Jehovah, or

(2) widespread disobedience to his Law, moral or ceremonial, or both. With ourselves it signifies one or more of three things.

1. A growing disregard, ending in an absolute indifference, or even denial, of God's claims.

2. A serious and, in the end, a shameful violation of his moral Law; doing that which is grievous in his sight and injurious to ourselves and our neighbours.

3. Gradual but growing declension after acquaintance with God; the heart allowing itself to become loosened from sacred ties and attaching itself to other objects - separating itself from him and quitting his service.

I. ITS PENALTY.

1. Divine displeasure. "Thou be angry with them." A moss serious and most deplorable thing it is to abide beneath the displeasure of our heavenly Father. The anger of love, the righteous anger of holy love, is ill to bear, indeed; it is a heavy weight upon the heart; it is a darkening of the life of man.

2. The triumph of our enemy. "And deliver them over before their enemies," etc. A sad thing it is for the human soul to be at the mercy of its enemy. Sin is a cruel enemy, and exacts a full penalty.

(1) How it robs us of our true treasure - of our joy in God, of our gladness in his service, of our likeness to him, of the friendship of Jesus Christ, of the hope of eternal life!

(2) How it smites us - with inward compunction, with a sense of our guiltiness and folly, with humiliation at our low estate 1

(3) How it degrades us - bringing us down into captivity, so that we are no longer masters of ourselves, but are at the mercy of any tyrannous habit we may have contracted! We are in the land of the enemy; his bonds are upon our soul.

III. OUR REPENTANCE AND RETURN.

1. Distress leads to thoughtfulness. "They bethink themselves." We "come to ourselves" (Luke 15:17), as those who were created to consider and act reasonably; we weigh our condition and our prospects.

2. Thoughtfulness leads to self-rebuke. We reprove ourselves for our folly. We compare or contrast the present with the past, the land whither we have been "carried away captive" with the home of freedom and of sacred joy. We reproach ourselves with our guilt. We are pained and ashamed that we have left him, who is worthy of the riches of our strength, for all that is unworthy; him, to whom we owe everything, for that or for those to whom we owe nothing. We repent of our decision and our deed.

3. Repentance leads to return. We return unto God "with all our heart and with all our soul." We come with confession; we say freely and sincerely, "We have sinned" (ver. 38). We come with consecration; we offer ourselves, our hearts and lives, unto God, that henceforth we may walk in his ways with a perfect heart. We come in faith; we have hope in his mercy, for we know what will be -

IV. HIS RECEPTION OF US. He will "forgive his people that have sinned against him" (ver. 39). He will cordially welcome; he will immediately and magnanimously restore (see Luke 15:20-24). - C.

I. THAT HERE IS COUCHED A SUPPOSITION, THAT UPON JUST GROUNDS AND LAWFUL CAUSES ANY NATION MAY DECLARE AND MAKE WAR UPON ANOTHER, implied in the expression, "If they go out to war against their enemies, by the way that God should send them." The just grounds of war according to the Laws of Nations and Arms are —

1. Those that concern the maintaining the public faith.

2. Those that respect the vindication of the honour of the Crown.

3. Those that relate to the prevention of the great and apparent dangers that threaten the general peace.

II. THE POSITIVE DUTY AND OBLIGATION THAT ALL NATIONS LIE UNDER, IN CASE OF THE DECLARATION OF SUCH A WAR, TO SEEK GOD WITH A SOLEMN HUMILIATION AND REPENTANCE, FOR HIS ASSISTANCE AND SUCCOUR TO MAINTAIN THEIR CAUSE OR RIGHT.

1. Because war is an appeal to God for the justice of a national cause.

2. Because of the great dangers and uncertainties that attend war. How many armies have their designs and themselves ruined by the little advantage of ground, the pass of a river, a sudden surprise, an undermining stratagem, the alteration of the weather, the fall of snow or rain, the misunderstanding of a word given, the spreading a false rumour or alarm; nay, the start of a horse, the mere error of the eye, or the information of a deserter! Which has overturned all policy, made power impotent, and victory unexpected. How many fleets have been dissipated with a mist, broken and sunk with a storm, and blown up with a spark of fire! (Ecclesiastes 9:11; chap, 14:11; Leviticus 26:8).

3. Because it will engage God to be on our side, and to vindicate our cause.

4. Because this solemn invocation of the Divine assistance, joined with a public humiliation and repentance, will be a means to avert those judgments that were otherwise due to our sins, and which we should have reason to fear might prevent the success of our arms, and provoke God to give us up to the will of our enemies.

5. Because prayer is an absolutely necessary and conditional means to success in war.

(Henry Sacheverell, D. D.)