EXPOSITION
The anger of the Lord, etc. These verses contain an awful view of the wrath of God excited by wilful sin, and are a practical illustration of Exodus 20:5 : "I am a jealous God." Compare Psalms 79:5, which shows how closely allied the notions of anger and jealousy are in Hebrew. He sold them. A forcible expression, implying the handing over of the people into the hands of their enemies, as if God had no more any property in them or concern about them; as if he said, "Ye are not my people, and I am not your God;" as if he said to the heathen, "Take them, and do as you will with them; they are yours, not mine" (see Leviticus 26:1-3. and Deuteronomy 28:1-5.). As the Lord had sworn, etc; showing that God fulfilled his threatenings as well as his promises.
Raised up judges. Hence the name of this book, which recites the names and exploits of those whom God raised up to deliver them out of the hand of their enemies. The title Judges (Hebrew, shophetim) is, as is well known, identical with the Carthagenian suffetes. Mark the riches of God's mercy.
To walk therein. The Hebrew has in them. Probably for way we should read ways, as Deuteronomy 8:6; Deuteronomy 10:12, etc. This verse does not seem to be part of what the Lord said, but to be the comment of the writer. The A.V.—that through them I may prove—inserts an I which is not in the original. Deuteronomy 10:22 depends upon verse 23. The literal rendering is, For the sake of proving Israel, etc.... the Lord left those nations. The writer, after rehearsing the Lord's reason for not completing the extirpation of the nations after the death of Joshua, adds the further information why they had not been delivered into Joshua's hand in his lifetime (cf. Joshua 3:1, Joshua 3:4). In Exodus 23:29, Exodus 23:30; Deuteronomy 7:22, an additional reason is given for the gradual extirpation of the Canaanites—"lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee."
HOMILETICS
The goodness and severity of God.
To know God as he is relatively to man—not as the absolute, which is impossible to be known, but such as he is relatively to man—is the highest of all knowledge which man can attain, and the most important for him to possess. Accordingly, one main purpose of revelation is to give us such knowledge. And this is given in two ways. One is by descriptions of God's character, as, e.g; that in Exodus 34:6, Exodus 34:7 : "The Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children," etc. The other is by the authentic record of God's acts, specially in the gift of his only begotten Son to be the Saviour of the world, and in the Saviour's work as related in the Gospels, and also generally in his providential dealings with his people Israel, as set forth in the Old Testament. Of the latter method the Book of Judges, of which this section is an epitome, is a striking and instructive specimen. In it we have represented to us in vivid colours two characteristic features of the mind of God.
I. GOD'S HATRED OF SIN. With the usual anthropomorphism of Holy Scripture, we are told that when the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, they "provoked the Lord to anger." "The anger of the Lord was hot "against them," it is twice repeated, and "his hand was against them for evil." Here, then, we see God's hatred of sin. And if God is infinitely good and holy, and if he knows the full misery that sin has brought into his creation, with what other sentiment can he regard sin but with that of hatred and indignation? Sin excites a holy anger in his mind, and his hand must be stretched out to punish and to check. If we reflect calmly, we must see that both of these are inevitable. God must look upon sin with displeasure, and he must ACT upon that displeasure. Evil must excite displeasure in one that is perfectly good; and in the moral Governor of the universe such displeasure cannot be quiescent and impotent, it must be active and effective. Reason teaches us so, and revelation sanctions, enlarges, and enforces the lesson.
II. GOD'S EXCEEDING AND TENDER MERCY. TO use the same anthropomorphism as before, we see God ever relenting, ever yearning over the miseries of his people, ever repenting of the evil that he had brought upon them, when he heard their groanings, ever forgetting their provocations and offences, and stepping forward to deliver them. It is impossible to have mercy, forgiveness, benevolence, and love, depicted in more vivid colours. Anything more remote from the idea of a vindictive, hard, unforgiving nature it is impossible to conceive. And when we go on to inquire what are the conditions in man which, so to speak, draw out these not opposite, but different sides of the Divine character, we find that it is against persistent sin that the wrath of God burns, and upon which his heavy hand falls to smite; and that it is to the contrite and penitent who forsake their sins that his quick and willing mercy is extended. And then a little further reflection seems to show that just as in nature different forces are found ultimately to resolve themselves into one common force, so these two attributes of God, hatred of sin, and mercy, may really be expressed by one term—goodness, or love. Goodness or love relatively to persistent sin is righteous punishment; relatively to penitent sorrow it is mercy and forgiveness. And the reason of this is plain. Sin involves the misery of all who are subject to it, and of all God's creation, if it is suffered to continue and grow in it. It must therefore be the part of a good and loving God to extirpate sin, and that doubtless is the purpose of punishment, which is only another way of saying that punishment is remedial: remedial, if possible, to the being punished, that is, if it brings him to repentance; but anyhow remedial to creation, which in the continued punishment of the impenitent sees the evil of sin, and avoids it. The further doctrine of the ATONEMENT does not arise here, but it may just be observed how entirely it agrees with what we see here of God's character, since in it, as made by the death of the only begotten Son upon the cross, the two attributes of hatred of sin, and ineffable mercy, stand out with marvellous force and brightness. We conclude then that while mercy is goodness acting towards those who are not beyond the reach of goodness, severity is goodness acting with a view as far as possible to the happiness of the whole creation. And we see in the atonement a provision of infinite wisdom, by which the risk of injury to the many by mercy to the few is removed and done away with, and by which the severity and the mercy infinitely enhance and magnify each other. Sin when it is finished bringeth forth death. Other important lessons of the DEADLY FRUIT OF SIN, and of the INVETERATE PERVERSENESS OF MAN, recurring to sin again and again, in spite of bitter experience, like a moth flying into the candle, and of the BARRIERS which man's stubborn disobedience sets up against the coming in of all the good things which God's love had prepared for him, flow spontaneously from the narrative in this section. So also does the lesson of the use of trouble as THE TRIAL OF FAITH (1 Peter 1:7) and the test of obedience. In fact it opens a large and comprehensive chapter on the providential government of the Church and of the world.
HOMILIES BY A.F. MUIR
Mercy is the midst of judgment.
As the sin of Israel continues and multiplies, the anger of the Lord waxes hot. As the misery of his people deepens, his compassions fail not. There is no contradiction in this. The mercy of God is not a weakness, it is the minister and honourer of his law. The judges, who represented the mercy of God, by whom they were raised up in faithless times, were also witnesses of his righteousness, and living embodiments of his kingdom amongst men.
I. THE MERCY OF GOD DOES NOT CONSIST IN ALTERING THE LAWS OF HIS KINGDOM, BUT IN LEADING MEN TO CONFORM MORE PERFECTLY TO THEM. The covenant is still felt as a living power even when it is ignored. The evils foretold come to pass, and in ever-increasing force. But God pursues a plan of restoration. This plan is never one of destruction or reversal. Not one jot or tittle of the law has to pass in order that the gospel may have effect. God seeks to change the hearts of his erring children, and by the punitive operation of the laws of his kingdom to make them loyal subjects. The law that curses will also, when obeyed, be found to bless. The judges were a continuous witness to righteousness and protest against sin, and by the prestige of their mighty acts and the constant influence of their lives they led men back again to God and goodness. They were the embodiments of his mercy.
II. THE VICTORIES OF SIN ARE NEVER CONSIDERED BY HIM AS IRREVERSIBLE. It was said in praise of English soldiers that they did rot know when they were beaten. How much truer is this of God and his people! The most appalling apostasy has not daunted our Heavenly Father, or driven him utterly away from his world. "Where sin abounded, there did grace much more abound." Some of the best of men and most comforting of doctrines were born in ages of spiritual darkness. He has never left himself without a witness. The course of revelation is never stopped. The succession of prophets, apostles, and martyrs is never interrupted. The servants of God in Old Testament times might be driven away or destroyed, but they, being dead, yet speak, and in the fulness of time he sends his Son; he, too, may be crucified, but nevertheless the Father will send the Comforter in his name. And so in the individual life this law will be found to operate. The darkest conscience has not been without its light.
III. ON THE WHOLE THE SPIRITUAL GAINS OVER THE CARNAL IN THE PROGRESS OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD AMONGST MEN. One judge passes away and another rises. The apostasies which they have to correct may become darker and more terrible; but greater deeds are forthcoming. The testimony is more and more emphatic. The principles of God's kingdom are illustrated and honoured, and Israel gradually emancipated from its ignorance and inexperience.—M.
HOMILIES BY W.F. ADENEY
Tested by temptation.
The pagan nations of Canaan were a.constant source of temptation to idolatry and immorality. If they were left in the land, the fidelity of Israel would be tried by the way in which this temptation was met.
I. TEMPTATION IS NOT IMMEDIATELY SENT BY GOD, Israel had been commanded to expel the Canaanites; it was owing to the indolence and weakness of the invaders that their work was not completed. Having failed on their side, they now find that God will no longer secure them victory over their enemies. The temptation which thus resulted from the presence of the heathen in their midst grew out of their own conduct. God never tempts us (James 1:13). Temptation often arises out of negligence, indolence, needless pleasure, wilful presumption. It is vain to pray, "Lead us not into temptation," while we are creating temptations for ourselves.
II. TEMPTATION MUST OFTEN BE REGARDED IN THE LIGHT OF A PUNISHMENT.
1. It frequently comes as the consequence of former sin. The memory of sin, the contracted habit of sin, the associations of sin, and the weakness resulting from sin are all sources of new temptation.
2. Temptation is one of the most painful consequences of sin. If we have any love for goodness, one of the saddest results of our sin must be the consciousness of new temptations to which it renders us liable. For a good man to suffer temptation is to suffer pain.
3. We must therefore con-elude that all the temptations we meet with are not unavoidable and necessary. We bring them on ourselves; we might have escaped them; they are dangerous calamities which we must deplore. We need not wish to be tried. If temptation is often a punishment, it is better to rest humbly ignorant of our own weakness than to court trial which will reveal the extent of it.
III. TEMPTATION IS USED BY GOD AS A TEST OF FIDELITY. The people of Israel would be proved by the temptation arising out of the presence of immoral idolaters in the midst of them.
1. Fidelity consists
(1) in care and firmness,—"to keep the way of the Lord,"—and
(2) in diligence and progressive activity—"to walk therein."
2. This fidelity is tested by the attractions of evil ways. We cannot be said to keep the way simply because we are found in it. But when the way is contested, or a more pleasing path opens out near to it, the strength of our fidelity will be put to the test. Some men need the test of temptation more than others. If they have already shown weakness, the punishment which comes in the form of a temptation may be a useful means of self-revelation. This need of proof, however, is a humiliation. It is better to be so clearly true as neither to invoke the punishment of temptation nor require the test it affords.—A.