War in Heaven.
I. Contention in the world of spirits. In such passages as these the curtain is for a moment lifted up, and we behold war "war in heaven." The struggle between good and evil is by no means limited to what we see in this world. The area of the conflict is far-extended. The din of distant battle-fields reaches the spiritual ear. Shadowy forms are seen in deadly fight beyond any regions with which our present thoughts are familiar. The victory, indeed, is not doubtful; but the fight is very real, and it is a fight in which we ourselves are closely concerned. Contention this is a condition of our present state upon earth. We cannot be on Christ's side without contending. We are called, indeed, to peace, but it is equally true that we are called to war.
II. One thing in this passage comes out clear to our apprehension: that the disposal of the body of Moses is viewed in the spiritual world as a matter of some considerable moment. The angels take an interest in the burial of the great lawgiver. The tomb of Moses, if it had been known, would probably have had a significance in subsequent history very different from the burying-place of Machpelah or the sepulchres of the kings of Judah. There would, to say the least, have been a great risk of idolatrous veneration connected with the top of Mount Pisgah. That place might have become the Mecca of the Jewish world; for in the human mind there is a natural love of pilgrimages and of relics.
III. Michael durst not bring against the devil a railing accusation. What is the meaning of this? It could not have been fear in the sense of cowardice; we cannot suppose that fear of that kind can have exerted influence over an archangel. No; it was the fear of taking on himself what properly belonged to God; it was the fear of doing that which was indecorous; it was the resolve that he would not lose his self-command. "The Lord rebuke thee." Retribution belongs to God, and we must wait His time.
J. S. Howson, Our Collects, Epistles, and Gospels,p. 128.
References: Jude 1:9. Expositor,1st series, vol. iii., p. 10. 12. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xiv., No. 797; Preacher's Monthly,vol. v., p. 126. 13. Homilist,2nd series, vol. iv., p. 528. 14, 15. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xxii., No. 1307.