God's judgments against his people are to be published abroad. 1 Hear this word that the LORD hath spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying,

2 You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.

3 Can two walk together, except they be agreed?

4 Will a lion roar in the forest, when he hath no prey? will a young lion cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing?

5 Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where no gin is for him? shall one take up a snare from the earth, and have taken nothing at all?

6 Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?

7 Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.

8 The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord GOD hath spoken, who can but prophesy?

Assemble yourselves upon the mountains of Samaria, and behold the great tumults in the midst thereof, and the oppressed in the midst thereof.

10 For they know not to do right, saith the LORD, who store up violence and robbery in their palaces.

11 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; An adversary there shall be even round about the land; and he shall bring down thy strength from thee, and thy palaces shall be spoiled.

12 Thus saith the LORD; As the shepherd taketh out of the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear; so shall the children of Israel be taken out that dwell in Samaria in the corner of a bed, and in Damascus in a couch.

13 Hear ye, and testify in the house of Jacob, saith the Lord GOD, the God of hosts,

14 That in the day that I shall visit the transgressions of Israel upon him I will also visit the altars of Beth-el: and the horns of the altar shall be cut off, and fall to the ground.

15 And I will smite the winter house with the summer house; and the houses of ivory shall perish, and the great houses shall have an end, saith the LORD. LECTURE 1409.

9 Publish in the palaces at Ashdod, and in the palaces in the land of Egypt, and say,

God's dealings with his people justified before all men. The whole family of Israel are here once more reminded of their redemption out of Egypt, and of their election as God's people; and they are told, that for this very reason God would surely punish all their sins. The more He had done in their behalf, they seem to have presumed all the more upon impunity. But as He here demands of them, "Can two walk together, except they be agreed?" Can a holy God be the God of a wicked people? Can a wicked people be the people of a holy

God? Or did they think that He spake thus unto them, without meaning to act accordingly? Then let them remember, that it is when his prey is secured that the lion roars, it is when the bird is caught that the snare is taken up. Let them be assured that this is now their case. Let them be alarmed when the trumpet is thus blown by the warrant of the Lord. Let them know that whatsoever they had to suffer would be of his inflicting, done by Him to chastise them for their sins, and revealed by Him to his servants the prophets, to alarm them in their impenitence. Strange that they could hear and not fear! Strange that almost any man would tremble at the voice of a lion roaring nigh at hand as about to seize on his prey, and that yet so many shew no sign of fear, when He who made the lion's strength, and arrayed him with his terrors, He who made all animals, all men, all worlds, declares that He is about to visit those whom He has both made and instructed in his will, to visit the disobedient in his wrath!

Whether the Israelites would hear or not, the prophets could not but prophesy. The Holy Spirit constrained them to give utterance beforehand to all the chief events that were to befal the chosen people of God. This was doubtless the means of leading some to repent, and it served for a testimony against the rest. And it redounded to the praise of the glory of God, both at the time, and ever after in the church. Nay, and amongst the heathen also God directs that these prophecies should be published; as if to justify his ways unto all the world, and to shew that his chosen people were not exempted by his choice from incurring his displeasure, if they disobeyed his will. For their, trangressions they must be given to the spoiler, and only a remnant escape, as an evidence of the calamity inflicted on the rest, like fragments taken from a lion's jaws. See Exod. 22. 13. Their forbidden altars must be cast down. Their sumptuous palaces must be smitten to the ground; raised as they had been, and furnished, and stored, by violence, and robbery, and wrong. And all this God would have published "in the palaces at Ashdod, and in the palaces in the land of Egypt." Man's sense of shame inclines us in such a case to say, "Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon; lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph." 2 Sam. 1. 20. But with God there is no such fear of man's opinion. His doings never shun the light of day. His judgments defy the adverse scrutiny of the unbelieving and ungodly. The sufferings of his people redound to their own disgrace, but cannot impeach the truth, faithfulness, and honour of the Lord. He nowhere pledges Himself to bear them harmless in iniquity. Rather it concerns his glory to demonstrate, that however undeservedly He may love them, and vouchsafe to be honoured by their dutiful obedience, He will not fail, if they prove thankless and rebellious, to punish them after their deserts.

Israel is shewn to be incorrigible by chastisement.

1 Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, which oppress the poor, which crush the needy, which say to their masters, Bring, and let us drink.

2 The Lord GOD hath sworn by his holiness, that, lo, the days shall come upon you, that he will take you away with hooks, and your posterity with fishhooks.

3 And ye shall go out at the breaches, every cow at that which is before her; and ye shall cast them into the palace, saith the LORD.

4 Come to Beth-el, and transgress; at Gilgal multiply transgression; and bring your sacrifices every morning, and your tithes after three years:

5 And offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, and proclaim and publish the free offerings: for this liketh you, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord GOD.

6 And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. 7 And also I have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered.

8 So two or three cities wandered unto one city, to drink water; but they were not satisfied: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.

9 I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the palmerworm devoured them: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.

10 I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, and have taken away your horses; and I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. 11 I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. 12 Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.

13 For, lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, The LORD, the God of hosts, is his name.

LECTURE 1410.

Of preparing to meet our God.

Oppression of the poor and luxuriousness of living are the things here first laid to the charge of them that dwelt in Bashan and Samaria. And the judgment denounced is, that they shall be

caught by their enemies as with fish hooks, and shall be glad to escape, if they can, at any breach in the toils spread around them, and shall cast away as worthless the treasures of their palaces; (see Margin;) the fruit of their extortion, the means of their luxurious enjoyment. They are told in derision to persist in their idol sacrifices; as if it were too late for them to repent and to be forgiven. And by way of proof that it was so, the Lord recites the many terrible chastisements which He had heretofore inflicted in vain. "Cleanness of teeth" is a figurative way of expressing that which is afterwards specified, namely, "want of bread" to eat. This was one sore chastisement, that had been inflicted in vain: "yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord." The withholding of rain at an unseasonable time was another chastisement which God had inflicted, and to make it the more striking, He had limited it to fixed places, sending rain in abundance at the same time to others: " yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord." Blasting, and mildew, and blight, pestilence, even "after the manner of Egypt," death in the field of battle and in the camp, an overthrow like that of Sodom and Gomorrah, only partial instead of total; all these things also had God inflicted on this hardened people; and still He had to say to them after all: "yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord."

"Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel." God says not what, but leaves it to the consciences of the guilty to imagine, or to their memory to suggest what He had previously threatened. And He straightway adds: " because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel." And He then concludes with declaring what manner of a Being He is, by way of a terror to those evil doers: "lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth; The LORD, the God of hosts, is his name." What an awful God is this for guilty man to meet! How should we be able to bear to meet Him, with all our sins upon our heads! How much must it add to our horror at the thought of his dread presence, if He have summoned us by many a chastisement to repent and to amend, and we have not turned unto Him! But meet Him we must, however reluctantly; meet Him we must, and that, not long hence. Oh let us then without delay prepare. Let us prepare to stand face to face in the presence of an almighty and heart searching God. The best of preparation is to draw nigh unto Him now by faith in his blessed Son, to approach unto Him through our Saviour, to become one with Him already by being one with Christ, and to have our fear cast out by love.

The Lord exhorteth Israel to seek Him.

1 Hear ye this word which I take up against you, even a lamentation, O house of Israel. 2 The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; there is none to raise her up.

3 For thus saith the Lord GOD; The city that went out by a thousand shall leave an hundred, and that which went forth by an hundred shall leave ten, to the house of Israel.