"Not this man, but Barabbas."
There are many gradations of the truth stated in 1 Samuel 21:7, "The Lord sooth not as man seeth," and the corresponding truth, "That which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God." But both passages mark distinctly how often the judgment of man diverges from the judgment of God, or in other words, how far men often are from "judging righteous judgment" concerning persons and things which come under their notice. This false or erroneous judgment proceeds from two causes. The first is the comparative ignorance of man. He forms his judgment oftentimes on insufficient grounds. His mental vision only takes in a portion, sometimes a very small portion, of the materials upon which a sound judgment should be based. In the instances to which 1 Samuel 16:7 refers, Samuel, judging by the fair looks and commanding stature of Eliab, thought he must be fit to be the ruler of Israel. His eye could not discern the heart, the hidden character of the man. And so it continually happens. We base our judgments on insufficient premises, being ignorant of those things which, if known, would influence them m an opposite direction. The practical lesson to be drawn from this view of the erroneous judgments of men is threefold.
1. To be diligent in adding to our knowledge whenever we are called upon to form a judgment.
2. To be always diffident and modest in regard to our own conclusions.
3. Whenever our judgments do not agree with those of Holy Scripture, to be sure that the disagreement arises from our own ignorance, and to submit ourselves accordingly. But the second cause of men's erroneous judgments is not mere ignorance, but injustice and unfairness of mind. Men misjudge others because they are influenced by hatred, prejudice, self-interest, and other corrupt motives. They are like the unjust judges spoken of by Isaiah (v. 23), "who justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him." A large part of the favorable and unfavorable judgments of the world are of this character. We have a typical example of this in the chapter before us. Here are two men standing on the stage of observation. One is Felix. We know him as a cruel, licentious, unrighteous man, steeped in blood, rich by oppression, profligate in conduct. We know him as one the meanness of whose servile origin broke through the crust of the splendor of his official greatness. We know him as a man raised to power by the most corrupt and shameful influences which have ever prevailed in national affairs, and abusing that power to the utmost under the screen of an infamous security. By his side stands another man, certainly one of the greatest figures among the great men of the world, and one of the very best among the very good of the children of men. It is the Apostle Paul. For his mighty victories in the world of mind and spirit he might have borne surnames from provinces of the Fast and of the West, more glorious than those of the Africani and Germanici of the Roman commonwealth. For energy of action, for dauntless courage, for inexhaustible resource, for masterful vigor of character, for lofty eloquence, for influence over the minds of other men, he stands abreast with the greatest of the earth's heroes. For absolute disinterestedness, for unsullied purity, for overflowing benevolence, for ardent and glowing kindness, for self-sacrifice, for self-restraint, for uprightness, for truth, for generosity, for laborious well-doing, for consistency of life, for perseverance through every hindrance and contradiction in a sublime and noble purpose, for tenderness and faithfulness to friends, and for ungrudging service to his Divine Master, where shall we find his equal? What, then, was the judgment passed on these men respectively—this Felix and this Paul? Felix is thanked and belauded for his "very worthy deeds;" Paul is "a pestilent fellow;" "Away with him from the earth: it is not fit that he should live!" And so we are reminded of another judgment, the unanimous judgment of a great multitude: "Not this man, but Barabbas!" and we are rut upon our guard against the judgments of men.
HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON