Retribution.
"And it shall come to pass at that day, that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel." The word "Jezreel" means "God's seed," or "sowing." The tract of land called by this name was an extensive plain, computed by modern travelers to be about fifteen miles square, stretching south and south-west from Mount Tabor and Nazareth; the hills of Nazareth and those of Samaria on the south, those of Tabor and Hermon on the west, and Carmel to the south-west. It was called by the Greeks, Esdraelon: it had also a royal city, where the tidings of Saul's death in the battle of Gilboa was first announced. In this Ahab and Joram presided, and here Jehu slew both Jezebel and Joram. It was the scene of many battles: among them, those between Deborah and Bleak and Sisera the commander of the Syrians; one between Ahab and the Syrians, and one between Saul and the Philistines, and another between Gideon and the Midianites. Indeed, it seems to have been a chosen place for battles, from Barak to Bonaparte: Jews, Gentiles, Egyptians, Saracens, Christian Crusaders, and anti-Christian Frenchmen, Persians, Druses, Turks, and Arabs. Warriors out of every nation which is under the heaven have pitched their tents upon the plains of Esdraelon, and have beheld the various banners of their nation wet with the dews of Tabor and Hermon. The text leads us to make a few remarks concerning God's retribution. Here the Eternal threatens to break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel. The language suggests that—
I. GOD'S RETRIBUTION TAKES AWAY THE POWER OF ITS VICTIM. The bow of Israel is to be broken. The language means the utter destruction of all their military power. Israel fought many battles, won many victories, and trusted in its "bow"—military force—but now that very thing in which it trusted is to be destroyed. It is ever thus, when retributive justice comes to deal out suffering to the sinner, it strips him entirely of his power; it breaks his bow, and cuts his spear asunder. Thus he is left to the mercy of his enemies. What are the great enemies of the soul? Carnality, prejudice, selfishness, corrupt impulses, and habits. Retributive justice leaves the sinner at the mercy of these—breaks his bow, so that he cannot deliver himself. He becomes their utter and their hopeless victim, and their "bow" is gone. The Word of truth, the Spirit of God, and all the ministers of religion are taken from him, and he is left morally powerless. What "bow" have the victims of retribution in eternity by which to deliver themselves from their crushing tyrants? No bow at all—all redemptive instrumentalities are taken from them. Thank God, we have a bow now in our hands; the Bible, the Spirit, the ministry, are all with us.
II. GOD'S RETRIBUTION DESPISES THE PRESTIGE OF ITS VICTIM. The bow is to be broken in the valley of Jezreel. Perhaps re spot on earth did Israel think of so much as Jezreel. It was the scene of their grandest military exploits; the scene, too, where Jehu their king had slain all the worshippers of Ball. It was to Israel what Marathon is to Greece, what Waterloo is to England. In this very scene the punishment shall come; the place of their glory shall be the place of their ruin and shame. Thus it is ever; when retribution comes, it seems to despise the very things in which its victim gloried. A noble lineage, great wealth, patrimonial possessions, elevated positions, brilliant genius, and distinguished abilities,—these are the modern Jezreels of sinners. In these they boast. But what are these? God, when he comes to judgment, will strike them in those very places; he will break their bow in the valley of Jezreel.
III. GOD'S RETRIBUTION DEFIES THE OPPOSITION OF ITS VICTIMS. Jezreel was well fortified. Israel had great confidence in the protection which it had. When the prophets foretold the ruin of their kingdom they would think it perhaps impossible; they would think of the victories won in Jezreel and the protection offered there. But retribution will take the sinner in his strongest place, strike him down on the spot where he feels himself most fortified. Notwithstanding Jezreel, the kingdom of Israel was broken; the ten tribes were scattered upon the hills as sheep that had no shepherd. What defense has the sinner? "Though hand join hand, iniquity shall not go unpunished."
CONCLUSION. Retribution must always follow sin. It may move slowly and silently, but its pace is steady, resolute, and increasing. Swifter and swifter it moves towards the victim. Sooner or later it will reach him, break his "bow," and overwhelm him in shame and confusion. "Be sure your sin will find you out."—D.T.
God's mercy.
"For I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel; but I will utterly take them away. But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by the Lord their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen." This passage leads us to con template God's mercy. Mercy is a modification of goodness. God is good to all, but is only merciful to the suffering sinner. Mercy not only implies suffering, but suffering arising from s/n. If suffering were a necessity springing out of the constitution of things, its removal or mitigation would be an act of justice rather than mercy. Earth is a sphere where God shows his mercy, for here is suffering springing from sin. Here we have—
I. MERCY WITHHELD FROM SOME. "For I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel; but I will utterly take them away." "There are," says Burroughs," three estates of the people, signified by the three children of Hosea: First, their scattered estate, and that was signified by Jezreel, the first son, and the story of that you have in 2 Kings 15:9-19, where you may read their woeful seditions; for Zachariah reigned but six months, and then Shallum slew him, and reigned in his stead; and he reigned but one month, for Menahem came and smote Shallum and slew him, and reigned in his stead; so here were nothing but murders and seditions amongst them. A scattered people. The scattered state of the people of Israel was their weak condition signified by the daughter; and the history of that you have from 2 Kings 15:16 of that chapter onwards, where, when Pul, the King of Assyria, came against Israel, Menahem yielded to him his demand, gave him a thousand talents of silver to go from him, and laid a tax upon the people for it. Here they were brought into a very low and weak condition. And afterwards this King of Assyria came to them again, and carried part of them into captivity. The third child was Lo-ammi, and the history of the state of the people signified by what you have in 2 Kings 17:6, where they were fully carried away and wholly rejected for ever. And because they were a little before that time grown up to some strength more than formerly, therefore this last was a son." God now threatened to withhold mercy from Israel, and we know that when he did so the consequence was national ruin. Where mercy has been abused the time comes when it is withheld, and the subjects are left abandoned of God. When mercy is withheld from nations they perish, from Churches they decay, from families they sink to corruption, from individuals they are lost. "My Spirit shall not always strive with men;" "Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone."
II. MERCY BESTOWED UPON OTHERS. "I will have mercy upon the house of Judah." This mercy was signally shown to Judah. "When the Assyrian armies had destroyed Samaria, and carried the ten tribes away into captivity, they proceeded to besiege Jerusalem; but God had mercy on the house of Judah, and saved them; they were saved by the Lord their God immediately, and not by sword or ' bow.' When the ten tribes were carried into captivity, and their land was possessed by others, they being utterly taken away, God had mercy on the house of Judah and saved them, and after seventy years brought them back, not by might or power, but by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts." And truly most signal was the mercy shown to Judah, when in one night one hundred and eighty-five thousand of the Assyrian warriors were slain.
"The angel of death spread his wings on the blast,
And breath'd in the face of the foe as he pass'd;
And the eyes of the sleepers wax'd deadly and chill,
And their hearts but once heav'd and for ever grew still!
"And there lay the steed with his nostril all wide,
But through it there roll'd not the breath of his pride,
And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf,
And cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf.
"And there lay the rider distorted and pale,
With the dew on his brow and the rust on his mail;
And the tents were all silent, the banners alone,
The lances unlifted, the trumpet unblown."
Looking at the words in their spiritual application, they suggest two remarks in relation to man's deliverance.
1. It is of mercy. "I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by the Lord their God." The deliverance of man from the guilt, the power, and consequence of sin is entirely of God's mercy—free, sovereign, boundless mercy.
2. It is by moral means. "Will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen." No material force can deliver the soul from its spiritual difficulties and perils. Moral means alone can effect the object." Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord."
CONCLUSION. Use mercy rightly while you have it. Its grand design is to produce reformation of character and meetness for the high service and lofty fellowship with the great God, here and yonder, now and forever.—D.T.
The destiny of the race.
"Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God. Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land: for great shall he the day of Jezreel." Biblical critics of all schools use the natural Israel as the emblem of the spiritual. Paul does so, and therefore it is just and right. We shall take Israel for mankind, and use the text to illustrate the destiny of the race.
I. The race is destined to an INDEFINITE INCREASE in the number of good men. "The number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered or measured." The good, the spiritual Israel, have been comparatively few in all ages, though perhaps there is a larger number now than in any preceding period. But the time will come when they shall be innumerable. What mean such passages as these?—"He shall have dominion from sea to sea, from the river to the end of the earth." Again, "All kings shall fall down before him." Again, "The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ." Numerous as the sand on the sea-shore! A Jewish rabbi regards the good as the sand, not only in relation to number, but to usefulness. As the sand keeps the sea from breaking in and drowning the world, so the saints keep the world from being drowned by the waves of eternal retribution. This is true. Were it not for the good the world would not stand long. But it is to represent number, not protection, that the figure is employed. Who can count the sand which is upon the shore? Do you say that to all appearances such an increase is impossible? When God promised to Abraham that his seed should be as the stars of heaven and the sand upon the shore, what could seem more improbable than the fulfillment? It was twenty years after the promise that he had any child, and that only child he was commanded to destroy, and though Isaac was preserved, he had no offspring until twenty years after his marriage. How improbable the fulfillment of such a promise; but nevertheless it was fulfilled. How numerous the descendants of Abraham became! Do not judge from appearance. Trust God's Word; it will come to pass. There is a glorious future for the world.
II. The race is destined to a TRANSCENDENT PRIVILEGE. "And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God."
1. They are destined to a general conversion to God. From not being his people they are to become his people. The places el the earth now populated with the enemies of God will one day be crowded with his friends; places where idolatry, superstition, worldliness, and infidelity prevail shall in the bright future be consecrated to Heaven.
2. They are destined to a general adoption into the family of God. "Ye are the sons of the living God." They shall be endowed and animated with the true Spirit, the spirit of reverence and adoring love. They shall "worship the Father in spirit and in truth." "The living God." The world has abounded with dead gods; there is but one living God. He is the Living One. He is Life, the primal Fount of all existence. Christ calls him the living Father. "As the living Father sent me … I live in the Father, so he that eateth with me shall live by me."
III. The race is destined to a COMMON LEADERSHIP. "Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel."
1. This leadership shall unite the most hostile. "Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together." Great and long-enduring was the hostility existing between these people. The time will come when all antitathies existing amongst peoples shall be destroyed. "Ephraim shall not envy Judah: they shall be of one heart and one mind."
2. This leadership shall be by common appointment. They shall "appoint themselves one Head." Their Leader will not be forced upon them contrary to their consent, nor will he force himself. Who is the Leader? Christ. He is the Leader of the people. He is the Commander-in-chief, he is the Captain of our salvation. All shall unite in him. He is the Head of the Church.
3. This leadership will be glorious. "They shall come up out of the land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel." As Moses led the Jews out of the wilderness, as Cyrus delivered them from Babylon, Christ will lead them out of Egyptian darkness and Babylonian corruption. "Israel is here called Jezreel," says Matthew Henry, "the seed of God. This seed is now sown in the earth, and buried in the clods, but great shall be its day whoa the harvest comes."
"For I dipt into the future, far as human eye could see,
Saw the vision of the world, and all the wonders that would be;
Saw the heavens fill with commerce, argosies of magic sails,
Pilots of the purple twilight, drooping down with costly bales;
Heard the heavens fill with shouting, and there rained a ghastly dew
From the nations' airy navies grappling in the center blue;
Far along the world-wide whisper of the south wind rushing warm,
With the standards of the peoples plunging thro' the thunderstorm;
Till the war-drum throbb'd no longer, and the battle-flags were furl'd
In the parliament of man, the federation of the world.
There the common sense of most shall hold a fretful realm in awe,
And the kindly earth shall slumber, lapt in universal law."
(Tennyson)
D.T.
HOMILIES BY J. ORR