The preciousness of man.
Matthew Henry gives very clearly the first ideas and associations of the passage. "There shall be so great a slaughter as will produce a scarcity of men. You could not have a man to be employed in any of the affairs of state, not a man to be enlisted in the army, not a man to match a daughter to, for the building up of a family, if you would give any money for one." Such a comparison of man with gold would only be suggested to persons familiar with the sale and purchase of slaves. The irony, or satire, in the comparison lies in the over-estimate of gold in a luxurious age. It is a sad sign for any nation when its "gold of Ophir" is valued more than its men. The second clause having the more general term "human being," we are reminded that it is man as man, and not man in view of his learning, position, manners, or wealth, that the prophet regards as of incomparable value. The position of Ophir is disputed, but J. A. Alexander points out that "whether the place meant be Ceylon, or some part of continental India, or of Arabia, or of Africa, it is hen named simply as an Eldorado, as a place where gold abounded, either as a native product or an article of commerce." The older idea of the word rendered "precious" was making dear or costly; the modem idea is making rare or scarce. The expression may fittingly introduce the general topic of the value of men, for only in view of their value can their scarcity be treated as a matter of anxiety. That value may be set forth as to be recognized—
I. IN HIS MORAL NATURE. He differs essentially from the material and animal creations. Not in possession of mind, but in capacity to apprehend the distinction between right and wrong, and in power to will the right and refuse the wrong. This is what we mean by a moral nature. The animal may decide its action upon some sort of consideration of the consequences, pleasurable or painful, that may attend on its conduct. Man does not merely act in view of consequences; he estimates the character of the action, judging it in the light of what he apprehends of God, as, to him, the ideal of righteousness. As a moral being, then, man transcends all creatures, and there can be no possible comparison of him with any material thing, even the finest gold of Ophir. This moral nature belongs to all men everywhere, and cannot be overlaid, or crushed, wholly out, by any poverty, ignorance, or debasement of vice. The man is always a man, and to his moral nature God, and his fellow moral beings, may always hopefully appeal.
II. IN HIS POSSIBILITIES FOR GOOD OR EVIL. He must be a precious being who can rise to be as saintly as some have become, and can sink to be as Satanic as others have become. Dr. Horace Bushnell has a fine sermon in 'New Life,' p. 16, entitled, "The Dignity of Human Nature shown from its Ruins." After speaking of many who "magnify the dignity of human nature, by tracing its capabilities, and the tokens it reveals of a natural affinity with God and truth. They distinguish lovely instincts, powers, and properties allied to God, aspirations reaching after God," he undertakes to "show the essential greatness and dignity of man from the ruin itself which he becomes;" and then he says, "Nor is it anything new, or a turn morn ingenious than just, that we undertake to raise our conceptions of human nature in this manner, for it is in just this way that we are accustomed to get our measures and form our conceptions of many things; of the power, for example, of ancient dynasties, and the magnificence of ancient works and cities, such, for example, as Egypt, Rome, Thebes, Karnac, Luxor, or Nineveh. So it is with man. Our most veritable, though saddest, impressions of his greatness, as a creature, we shall derive from the magnificent ruin he displayed. In that ruin we shall distinguish fallen powers that lie as broken pillars on the ground; temples of beauty, whose scarred and shattered walls still indicate their ancient, original glory; summits covered with broken stones, infested by asps, where the palaces of high thought and great aspiration stood, and righteous courage went up to maintain the citadel of the mind—all a ruin now—archangel ruined." We estimate the value of raw material by "what can be made of it." On that condition man is seen to be more precious than aught else; he may be changed into the Divine image, from glory to glory.
III. IN HIS IMMORTALITY. Man's natural immortality is gravely disputed in these days, but an opinion on that difficult subject is not necessary in the treatment of this subject from our present point of view. It is possible for man to become immortal, and that stamps his incomparable value. Continuity is a common sign of value; but, further than that, the being who can be immortal must have capacity for immortal spheres. In conclusion, it may be shown that the preciousness of man, or the sanctity of human life, is the foundation of social order, and the inspiration of human brother hoed and self-denial.—R.T.