Psalm 83:3, 5 They have taken crafty counsel against your people, and consulted against your hidden ones.… They have taken crafty counsel against thy people. "They have consulted together with one consent." Prayer book Version reads, "cast their heads together." The Prophet Micah has a striking expression for this confederacy in evil - "And so they wrap it up" (Micah 7:3). Cases of confederacy against God's people, that may be used as illustrations, are such as the following: Chedorlaomer's confederacy against Canaan, which swept away Lot. Combinations of northern nations against Joshua and Israel. Confederacies in times of the Judges; against Asa; and against Jehoshaphat. Schemes of Samaritan parties against rebuilding walls of Jerusalem, in the time of Nehemiah. A combination of surrounding nations, in the time of the Maccabees, when the Jerks restored the altar which Antiochus had polluted. See also Ephesians 6:12 for the combinations against spiritual religion; the confederacy of chief priest, scribe, Pharisee, Sadducee, and traitorous disciple, against Christ; and the gathering together of the enemies of Christ and his Church in the last days (Revelation 20:8, 9). Other and striking illustrations may be taken from Bunyan's 'Holy War,' which pictures various forms of confederacy against Emmanuel and his "Mansoul." The point suggested is, that neither man, nor any combinations of men, can ever get beyond God. Opening this, we may inquire - I. HAS GOD PROVED HIMSELF ABLE TO DEAL WITH CASES OF CONFEDERACY? All the above instances may be reviewed in order to answer this question; and to them may be added cases from Church history, and from personal experience. Luther's life provides some good examples. Take the principle involved in the saying that "no chain is stronger than its weakest link," and show how God has ever broken up confederations for evil by the simplest agencies. He holds control of the forces that bind men in a common purpose, and can loosen his hand when he pleases. There is no plotting for evil that is beyond Divine permissions. It is strange that we should fear combinations of evil more than individual foes. We need to learn God's superiority to them. II. ARE CONFEDERATIONS FOR EVIL REALLY AS STRONG AS THEY SEEM TO BE? There is an element of weakness in all human combinations. They are attempts to unite varying wills and dispositions. This weakness is specially felt when combinations of bad men are attempted, to secure bad ends. Self-willed and wrong purposing men find it hard to agree together. Jealousies are sure to arise. Self-interests overmaster the common interests. Elements of confusion are easily introduced. The confederates turn their swords against each other, as the mixed host of Midian did in the days of Gideon. Neither "craftiness" nor "confederacy" is out of the Divine control. - R.T. Parallel Verses KJV: They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones.WEB: They conspire with cunning against your people. They plot against your cherished ones. |
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