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Israel hath cast off the thing that is good. Two things are contained in these verses.

I. THE ABANDONMENT OF GOOD. "Israel hath rejected what is good" (Elzas). The good here undoubtedly refers to the true worship of the true God. Observe:

1. That true worship is the "good thing for man. It is good not only because God requires it, but because it is the necessary condition of spiritual life, growth, harmony, and blessedness. True worship is the soul's only heaven.

2. That this good thing" man sometimes abandons. Israel was once a true worshipper, but the true worship it had now "cast off." Fallen angels were once true worshippers, and many a human spirit once inspired with true devotion has fallen into worldliness and idolatry. Moral mind has the power of abandoning the highest good.

3. That the abandonment of this "good thing" imperils the soul. "The enemy shall pursue them." Moral good is the only effective safeguard of the spirit; when this is given up or "cast off," all the gates of the soul are thrown open to tormenting fiends. The walls of the vineyard axe broken down, and it lies exposed to the tread and ravages of every moral beast.

II. THE CONSEQUENT PURSUIT OF EVIL. "They have set up kings, but not by me," etc. The setting up of kings here refers to the founding of the kingdom by Jeroboam, and to the entire series of Israelitish kings. The kings of Israel were not according to Divine ordination (1 Kings 11:27-40). "Their silver and their gold have they made them idols, that they may be out off." From these kings of their own making came the setting up of the idolatrous calf-worship which was started by Jeroboam. Though silver was not used in the construction of the golden calves, it was employed to support the idolatrous worship. Thus, because they abandoned the "good thing," they went wrong in their politics and religion. They made their own kings and their own gods. When once men give up the right they rush into the wrong. Let a man go wrong in relation to God, and he will go wrong in all his relations, secular and spiritual.

CONCLUSION. There is nothing in connection with the human race of such transcendent importance as worship. The religious element is the strongest of all elements; and men must have a god of some sort or other, and their god will fashion their character and determine their destiny.

"And yet from him we turn away,
And fill our hearts with worthless things;
And fires of avarice melt the clay,
And forth the idol springs.
Ambition's flame and passion's heat.
By wondrous alchemy, transmute
Earth's dross, to raise some gilded brute
To fill Jehovah's seat."

(J. H. Clinch.)

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KJV: Israel hath cast off the thing that is good: the enemy shall pursue him.

WEB: Israel has cast off that which is good. The enemy will pursue him.