These verses record the pursuit and overthrow of Ishmael. He had sold himself to work all manner of wickedness. What had he not been guilty of? And now we hear the last of him. He is seen in flight to Ammon, whence he came out, escaping with his life, but stripped of all his captives and his plunder. He had taken a world of trouble, incurred a load of guilt, filled his soul with evil, dishonoured his name forever. And this was what came of it all. Every one of his purposes, plans, hopes, all his toil and villainy, all his apparent success, utterly lost and gone. He is one out of many more proofs of the miserable wages of sin. Now -

I. IT IS EVER SO. Men may go on in sin for a long time, and be undisturbed save by conscience; may find their sin very pleasant and very gainful, and they may seem to escape with utter impunity; but the visitation of God comes upon them, sometimes here in this life, certainly, if not here, hereafter. The Bible history, the world, are full of proofs of this.

II. BUT MEN CANNOT BE GOT TO BELIEVE THIS. Else why do they persist in evil ways?

III. WHY IS IT THAT THEY WILL NOT BELIEVE? They do not wish to believe. Sentence against evil work is not executed speedily, sometimes not at all here in this world in any visible way.

IV. WHY, THEN, DOES NOT GOD DEAL DIFFERENTLY WITH SIN? Because his purpose is to foster trust and love, neither of which could find place in a system of prompt and visible punishments such as some would desire.

V. DOES GOD, THEN, DO NOTHING TO CHECK THE SINNER AND TO ENCOURAGE THE OBEDIENT? Yes; much.

1. He causes the way of transgressors to be hard. Loss of peace, of hope, of Divine favour, of purity, of strength, of sympathy with and from the good, often of present and visible good; conscience is deadened, and the soul perishes. Besides this, there are frequent direct judgments sent.

2. On the other hand, he orders that in keeping of his commandments there is great reward. "His ways are ways of pleasantness, and all his paths are peace." It is related how an aged couple in the vicinity of London, who in the early part of life were poor, but who by the blessing of God upon their industry enjoyed a comfortable independency in their old age, were called upon by a Christian minister, who solicited their contributions to a charity. The old lady was disposed to make out some excuse, and to answer in the negative, both for her husband and for herself, and therefore replied, "Why, sir, we have lost a deal by religion since we began; my husband knows that very well." And being wishful to obtain her husband's consent to the assertion, she said, "Have we not, Thomas?" Thomas, after a long and solemn pause, replied, "Yes, Mary, we have lost a deal by our religion! I have lost a deal by my religion. Before I got religion, Mary, I had got a water pail in which I carried water; and that, you know, I lost many years ago. And then I had an old slouched hat, a patched old coat, and mended shoes and stockings; but I have lost them also long ago. And, Mary, you know that, poor as I was, I had a habit of getting drunk and quarrelling with you; and that, you know, I have lost. And then I had a burdened conscience and a wicked heart, and then I had ten thousand guilty feelings and fears; but all are lost, completely lost, and like a millstone east into the deep sea. Before we got religion, Mary; you had a washing tray, in which you washed for hire, and God Almighty blessed your industry; but since we got religion you have lost your washing tray. And you had a gown and bonnet much the worse for wear, though they were all you had to wear; but you have lost them long ago. And you had many an aching heart concerning me at times; but those you happily have lost. And I could even wish that you had lost as much as I have lost, and even more; for what we lose by our religion will be our eternal gain." We need not add that the preacher did not go away without substantial proof of the sincerity of what had been said in his hearing. And to all those who like the rich man in the parable (Luke 16.), who asked that one from the dead might be sent to warn his five brethren, the same answer may be given, "They have Moses and the prophets," and we may add, in our day, far more than these; "if they hear not them, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead." - C.

1. If ever there was such a one, this Ishmael was of whom these verses tell. His atrocities remind us of the Indian Mutiny, its leader, and the well at Cawnpore (cf. ver. 9). Treachery, ingratitude, murder, massacre, greed, cowardice, — all are gathered in this detestable character (cf. Mr. Grove's article "Ishmael," Smith's Dictionary of the Bible)

2. And such men are permitted to be. So clearly seen is this, that every drama has its villain; they are recognised as having definite place and function in this poor life of ours.

3. Can we explain this permission? Wherefore are such men created and preserved? It is s part of the great question of moral evil, for the full solution of which we must wait. But the existence of such men as this Ishmael is but one out of the many terrible facts in God's providence, such as plague, famine, earthquake, &c.In regard to such men, we can see some purposes that they subserve.

1. They make evident the hideous capacities of evil which are in our nature, and the need, therefore, for God's restraining grace.

2. They are warnings to increased watchfulness on the part of those in whom the tendencies to like evil exist.

3. They are God's scourges for men's sin (cf. Attila, the Scourge of God).

4. They weld together the people they oppress in one common league against them, and thus out of scattered tribes a nation is formed.

5. They clear out much that is evil (cf. French Revolution; Napoleon). But, sometimes as here, we cannot see what good they do; and then we can only wait.

(W. Clarkson, B. A.)