SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
WITCHCRAFT.—Exodus 22:18
The term is here used to represent the whole class of wizards, necromancers, and diviners with which the world has been infested from a very early date, and is in one form or another infested still, who, when not gross impostors, appeal to a power not in subordination to Divine law, and are therefore guilty of, and punished for high treason against the government of God. The Bible regards it—
1. As a stern and diabolical reality (Leviticus 20:27; Deuteronomy 18:9).
2. As unlawful trafficking with the unseen world (Leviticus 19:31; Isaiah 8:19, “For the living to the dead,” i.e., on behalf of the living to the dead.)
3. As sometimes trickery and imposture (Isaiah 8:19), “that peep and mutter” (probably ventriloquise. See art. Pythoness, Smith’s Dic. Bible).
4. As filthy defilement (Leviticus 19:31).
5. As deserving death (Leviticus 20:6. cf. text).
6. As one of the crimes for which the Canaanites were destroyed.
7. As inconsistent with a trust in God (Isaiah 8:19).
8. As frustrated by God (Isaiah 44:25).
9. As a power from which the godly have nothing to fear, for there is no solitary prayer in the whole Bible to be protected from its enchantments, and no thanksgiving for deliverance from them.
The belief in witchcraft has prevailed in all ages, and been sanctioned by some of the most eminent men. Amongst the heathen, Pythagoras, Plutarch, Pompey, Crassus, Cæsar, were all under its spell. The progress of modern civilsation has not destroyed this upas blight, for it counts its devotees by the thousand to-day. But whether it comes in the form of astrology with its stargazing, palmistry with its hand-reading, or spiritualism with its media and trances and dark seances, it is the same foul abomination reprobated by the Word of God. In this country we only now meet with it in the latter form, and as such—
I. It is dangerous.
1. Because it destroys, all faith in the person and providence of God, and hence imperils the hopes, aspirations, and safety of the soul.
2. Because it tends to debase man’s moral standards, and to obliterate the fact of sin.
3. Because its direct aim is to subvert Christianity, and to abolish the Word of God.
4. Because it comes before the imagination and the affections with plausible appeals.
II. It shuns the light.
1. Its performances, like the old witchcraft, take place in the dark, and under circumstances the force of which requires the exertions of the strongest will. On the contrary, the grand facts of both Old and New Testaments were “not done in a corner,” but in the light of day.
2. It is chary of the open exhibition of its credentials to the critic and the unbeliever; this privilege is reserved for those who first believe in the magician and in his powers. The miracles and other credentials of the Bible—court scrutiny—were mainly for the convictions of those who disbelieved.
3. And why does it shun the light? For the old reason (John 3:19-21).
III. It is unlawful.
1. Because expressly forbidden in the Word of God. Christ and His apostles meet the spirits not in darkened cabinets but with open exorcism.
2. Because of its avowed mission to pry into and traffic with the unrevealed matters of the spirit-world. God has emphatically set His face against this (Deuteronomy 29:29).
3. Because it is “another gospel” (Galatians 1:8).
IV. It is partly gross imposture.
1. Spiritual realities are solemn and imposing, and worthy in every way of the high source from which they emanate, When God communicated to the prophets and apostles we do not hear that it was on dancing tables, illegible inscriptions on slates, or through books made luminous by phosphoric oil. We do not hear of angels or spirits, whether in Old Testament or New, pulling men’s hair, scattering sweetmeats, rapping on walls, hurling bed pillows, appearing in regimentals, or handling hot coals.
2. Spiritual realities in the Bible were never discovered to be small tricks. They were never found to be men and women ventriloquising, speaking through tubes, using electric batteries, or stuffed gloves; nor were the spirits, when suddenly embraced, found sufficiently substantial to be armed with fists and nails.
3. Spiritual realities in the Bible have never been explained by natural phenomena as have much of the legerdemain of modern magic.
V. It is uniformly useless.
1. For harm (Isaiah 8:19), when there is a firm trust in God.
2. For good (Luke 16:27-31), when there is no such trust.
Application.—i. It is at the Church’s peril that she ignores what is condemned in the Word of God, and what threatens the well-being of the world. ii. Or fails to expose, check, and destroy what threatens to be the most gigantic superstition of modern times (1 John 4:1).—J. W. Burn.
GOD’S EXCLUSIVE RIGHT TO MAN’S DEVOTION.—Exodus 22:20
We remark—
I. That this claim is founded on right. It is not an arbitrary fiat, but a reasonable demand. By creation, providence, and grace, all belongs to God. God, therefore, asks us but to sacrifice His own.
II. That no other power has the right to make this claim. The whole Bible goes upon the fact that “an idol is nothing in the world.” Sacrifice to them, therefore, can be but the outcome of superstition, and must end in disappointment.
III. That this claim involves self-denial. God demanded the best of the flocks and herds. He now demands our best faculties in their fullest vigour (Romans 12:1).
IV. That this claim is very widely disregarded. Man “robs” God (Malachi 3:8), and still sacrifices to idols. We set up pride, vanity, ambition, selfishness, pleasure, friendship, and desecrate the holiest qualities of our nature by offering them to other than the living God.
V. That the recognition of this claim can alone secure our highest well-being.
1. The literal punishment of death passed away with the theocracy, but the spirit of it lives on through the ages. As God is the only source of spiritual life, and the sacrifice of ourselves to Him through Christ the only means of securing that life, spiritual death is a penalty of neglect. But, 2, by rendering to God that which belongs to Him, body, spirit, soul, possessions, friendships, by contact with Him and separation to Him, they are enriched, elevated, sanctified, and glorified. Observe—
i. That God’s claims can never be fulfilled without God’s help. ii. That idolatry, the disregard and contempt of those claims (as Jewish history testifies), was uniformly the result of neglecting to procure that help. iii. That that help God is able, willing, and anxious to afford “Little children, keep yourselves from idols.”
—J. W. Burn.
INTERNATIONAL RIGHTS.—Exodus 22:21
Strictly interpreted, this passage bears on duties to foreigners dwelling in the country, and supplies a motive for it; they themselves had been foreigners; and is another practical application of the “golden rule.” But its principle may be enlarged, so as to compass the rights of nations to justice, humanity, and peace in their relations to one another.
I. The rights of foreigners as individuals. Here is a word, 3000 years old, of special force in many cases (thank God, not in all) to us Englishmen. We are surrounded by men from all nations under heaven. We should not oppress them—
1. By reminding them that they are not at home; but, on the contrary, endeavour by a generous hospitality to make them feel at home.
2. By noticing their peculiarities and criticising or exaggerating them; but, on the contrary, try to conform as far as possible to them, so as to make them less conspicuous.
3. By taking advantage of their imperfect acquaintance with our language and manners in trade, law, debate; but rather assist them with all the means at our disposal.
4. Because
(1.) artificial boundaries should not separate between men of the same blood, the same wants, the same feelings.
(2.) We may be (some of us have been) placed in the same position as regards homelessness, peculiarities, and imperfections.
II. The right of foreigners as nations.—
1. If weak to protection, if strong to equal privileges of freedom, courtesy, and laws.
2. To be regarded irrespective of our mere interests, which are not “the measure of right and wrong all over the world.”
3. Because we have had to claim, and still do claim, the same for ourselves.
Learn—i. Not to let our insular position generate an insular feeling. ii. To act upon principles of honour and humanity. iii. To follow peace with all men.
GOD’S CARE FOR THE WIDOW AND FATHERLESS.—Exodus 22:22-24
The widow and the orphan were God’s special care, and their oppression was one of those crimes the punishment of which God reserved to Himself. This is one of those instances which reveal the large and comprehensive and spiritual character of the Mosaic law. God’s people were not tied down, as is often supposed, to a fixed and literal obedience to a number of fixed and literal enactments. Much (as in the case before us) was left to their common sense and humanity.
1. No legal provision was made for the widow except
(1.) The duty of her eldest son or nearest relative.
(2.) Her right to a share in the triennial third tithe (Deuteronomy 14:29; Deuteronomy 26:12).
(3.) Her right to gleanings (Deuteronomy 24:19) and religious feasts (Deuteronomy 16:11-14).
(4.) Her exemption from the necessity of giving her garments to pledge.
But
2. Her rights were everywhere recognised and
(1) (Deuteronomy 27:19; Isaiah 1:17; Jeremiah 7:6; Jeremiah 22:3; Zechariah 7:10,) threw her upon that charity which is above rubrics.
(2.) (Psalms 94:6; Isaiah 10:2; Ezekiel 22:7; Matthew 3:5; Matthew 23:14) Any neglect of or cruelty to them was most severely condemned.
3. The New Testament declares “pure religion and undefiled” to be (James 1:27). Our text declares—
I. That widows and orphans have claims upon our regard.
1. They have claims upon our sympathy. Their stay, comfort, defence is gone. What state can be more sorrowful or helpless!
2. They have claims upon our protection and help. Our resources are only held in stewardship for God’s purposes, and to what better purpose could they be applied, both as regards its intrinsic merits and the Divine will concerning it.
II. That widows and orphans have special privileges.
1. God has legislated for them. Not in the dry and hard manner in which penal and ceremonial codes are obliged to be enacted, but in a way which throws them on the broad and better principles of humanity and love.
2. God stands in a peculiar relation to them (Psalms 68:5). In the absence of their natural guardians He takes them under His wing.
3. God is always ready to help them; to hear their cry (Exodus 22:23; Jeremiah 49:11).
III. That any oppression of the widow and fatherless will be rigorously punished, Exodus 22:24.
1. The oppressor is left to the righteous judgment of God, who will surely avenge His own (Luke 18:7.)
2. The oppressor is left to the terrible retribution of a hard and cruel heart, which inflicts as much punishment on the subject as on the object.
3. The oppressor is left to the certain contempt and execration of his fellowmen.
Husbands and fathers, learn—
i. To provide for the wants of those whom you may leave behind to mourn your loss.
1. Make diligent use of your time, and save all you can for them.
2. Your life is uncertain. insure it.
3. We don’t know what a day or an hour may bring forth, have all your affairs in order, so as not to add perplexity to trouble already too heavy to be borne. It is “afflicting them,” not to do so. (See 1 Timothy 5:8.)
ii. Then, having made a proper use of means, leave them with calm faith in the power and goodness of their “Father in heaven.”
iii. Help the widow and the orphan, as your wife may be left a widow and your children fatherless.—J. W. Burn.
ILLUSTRATIONS
BY
REV. WILLIAM ADAMSON
Divine Enactments! Exodus 22:1-31.
(1) There is a world of difference between a stained glass window and a kaleidoscope. Their relative values are very different, and so is their structure. The pieces of variegated glass are flung anyhow, for the prism to arrange; whereas, those employed in the window are all arranged to give a beautiful, effective, and abiding impression. These separate enactments are not strung together haphazard. On the contrary, they are chords divinely arranged to produce harmony in the world, and give forth strains of Divine adoration in their observance.
(2) If one side of a tree grows, and the other does not, the tree acquires a crooked form. It may be fruitful, but it cannot be beautiful. God would have humanities and nationalities, theocracies and individualities, both rich in the beauties of holiness and the fruits of righteousness. The unequal growth of the Christian graces is undesirable; hence the numerous Divine precautions to make them alike fair, fragrant, and fruitful.
“Stern lawgiving! yet thou dost wear
The Godhead’s most benignant grace;
Flowers laugh before thee on their beds;
And fragrance in thy footing treads;
Thou dost preserve the stars from wrong.”
—Wordsworth.
Idol-Sacrifices! Exodus 22:20. Idolaters and their sacrifices, says Dr. Chapin! You cannot find any more gross—any more cruel—on the broad earth, than within a mile’s area of the pulpit. Dark minds, from which God is obscured! Deluded souls, whose fetish is the dice box, or the bottle! Apathetic spirits, steeped in sensual abomination—unmoved by a moral ripple—soaking in the swamp of animal vitality! These are your modern Daphne and Delphian idolaters. False gods, more hideous, more awful than Moloch or Baal—worshipped with shrieks—worshipped with curses; with the hearthstone for the blood-stained altar, the drunken husband for the immolating priest, and women and children for the sacrificial victims! These are your modern idol-holocausts. This verse may not be applicable to Christianised England in its literality; but the moral vein lies hidden beneath the literal surface. In its moral aspect it is England’s obligation of a truth.
“Turn thee from these, or dare not to inquire
Of Him whose name is jealous, lest in wrath
He hears and answers thine unblest desire;
Far better we should cross His lightning’s path,
Than be according to our idols heard,
And God should take us at our own vain word.”
—Keble.
Idolater’s Doom! Exodus 22:20. A philosopher, states the Hebrew Talmud, once remarked to Gamaliel: “Instead of uttering threats against the worshippers of idols, why does not God rather turn His wrath against the idols themselves?” The wise Rabbi replied by a story. A prince had an insolent and rebellious son, who, among other insults to his father, had the audacity to bestow his father’s name upon his dog. His father was full of wrath; but against whom? To this inquiry, the philosopher made reply, “The son, doubtless; but if God were to send all these idols into destruction, there would no longer be any danger of idolatry in the world.” The pious Hebrew at once retorted: “The barbarians deify the rivers and waters, the stars and suns. Would you then have God, on account of the folly of some of His creatures, plunge creation in ruin? If any one steals seed, and afterwards sows it in the ground, does it remain fruitless on accouut of its having been stolen?” Hence the doom of death upon the Jewish idolater.
“If I have sought to live
But in one light, and made a mortal eye
The lonely star of my idolatry,
Thou that art LOVE, oh pity and forgive.”
—Hemans.
Strangers’ Rights! Exodus 22:21. A certain shepherd had a flock which he led daily to pasture, and which he brought home each evening to the fold. It came to pass on a time that a stag voluntarily joined, and became the inseparable companion of the flock. When they went to the pasture it went thither; when they returned to the fold, it returned with them. The shepherd greatly loved the stag, and often charged his servants that nothing should be wanting to its welfare. But the servants, astonished at the injunction, inquired of their master his reason. “This poor animal, accustomed to the wilderness, has left its natural freedom of roaming, and joined itself fearlessly to us! Should not we, therefore, be kind to it, and not vex or oppress it?” God loves the stranger in giving him food and raiment; and He enjoins similar consideration on the part of the Jews. He requires still more of Christians in this respect. There is a premise: “Be careful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”
“And He will leave the ninety-nine that range
In pleasant pastures where the grass grows sweet,
And seek us till He sets our wandering feet
Where tempting herbage springs and cooling waters meet.”
—Mason.
Strangers! Exodus 22:21. Upon the higher Alps, the snow is sometimes piled so high, and so evenly balanced, that a crack of a whip or the shout of a voice may give sufficient vibrations to the air as to bring down the whole mass upon the travellers below. So in our moral world, there are souls just hovering over the abyss of ruin. A word, or even a look, from us, may cause them to plunge down into depths from which there is no return. On the other hand, a helping hand stretched out to them in the moment of peril may lead them into the safe, sure way of peace. To vex the stranger, or afflict the alien, may lead to the overthrow of all the life of hope in him; whereas kindness may induce him to give heed to those truths of Scripture, which have led in your case to the practise of the Christian virtues. Many a stranger has been alienated from the gospel by the cruelties and oppressions of its professors. Better those—
“Who lead the blind old giant by the hand
From out the pathless desert where he gropes,
And set him onward in his darksome way.”
—Lowell.
Widow Woes! Exodus 22:22. The Jewish law required a man’s brother to marry his widow. In numerous countries, notably India, widows are devoted to great privations from the time their husbands die. At the Isthmus of Darien, when a widow dies, such of her children as cannot from tender age provide for their own subsistence, are buried in the same grave with her. It was one of the most heinous of Pharisaic offences, which drew down the stern malediction of Jesus upon them, that they vexed and afflicted the widows in Israel. One of the most touching of His parables is based upon the wrong-doing of a poor widow’s adversary, and the indifference of the judge towards her importunate plea. It is remarkable that the Lord in Exodus 22:22 alludes to the “crying of the widow” as ever to be heeded by Him. He may bear long with them. There may be a long, and from our view-point inexplicable delay; but let not the oppressed widow despair. He will avenge her—His widowed and oppressed Church. When the cry rises, broken and stifled, but eager, as uttered by one enduring dread wrong, God in heaven hears it well pleased.
“You take my house, when you do take the Prop
That doth sustain my house; you take my life,
When you do take the means whereby I live.”
—Shakespeare.
Orphan Oppression! Exodus 22:24. Other offences are punished by the medium of human justice; but God is His own avenger of this heinous wrong. Years ago, a rural parish clerk was left in charge of an orphan relative of his wife. He appropriated the monies, and abused the boy. Forced by persistent cruelties to flee away from home, he reached Australia, where God raised up friends He prospered in life, and became a landowner. His dishonest and tyrant guardian, none the richer for his fraudulent gains, yielded to evil counsellors—took part in a local crime, and was tried and transported to the Australian convict settlement. Here, he made his escape with a fellow convict, and both took refuge in a cave. They quarrelled over the fire, as to which should have possession of certain stolen articles, and in the dispute their gunpowder flask fell into the flames. It instantly exploded in the face of the convicted tyrant, depriving him of eyesight; while his comrade, seizing the things in dispute, left his blind companion in the cave. AS he was shrieking piteously for help, some horsemen passed by; and overhearing his agonising screams, they alighted from their horses and entered the cavern. The leader was the “defrauded orphan,” who, having nobly struggled to position and honour, now knelt by his oppressor, whose system was so shattered by the shock, that he died a few minutes afterwards.
“Though the mills of God grind slowly,
Yet they grind exceeding small;
Though with patience He stands waiting,
With exactness grinds He all.”
—Longfellow.
Orphan Obligations! Exodus 22:22-24. Orphans should be grateful to their benefactors. God Himself will reward them. A poor widow took an orphan left by a next door neighbour, into her own family. For years she struggled on with the humble proceeds of mangling in the court, until illness came. The orphan youth obtained a place in the city, which enabled him to find necessaries for the widow and her children, most of whom were younger than himself. His leisure hours were spent in ministering to the wants of his benefactress, and instructing her children. As he grew up, his honesty and shrewdness won him a post of confidence and competence in his firm; enabling him to advance the temporal welfare of his adopted brothers and sisters. All of them were placed in good situations. In course of time the orphan became the junior, then the head partner of his firm. He purchased a rural estate; and in one of the prettiest of the cottages he placed the poor widow; poor no longer, but enriched with a handsome annuity for life. Here she lived happy and honoured; dying at last in the arms of him whom she had received as a penniless child, and whom she had rescued from the fate of a youthful London Arab.
“Kind hearts are more than coronets,
And simple faith than Norman blood.”
—Tennyson.