Israel hath cast off the thing that is good: the enemy shall pursue him.
The chastening of them that forsake God
In this short sentence we have at once the sin of Israel and his punishment. Consider the various ways in which Israel may be said to have “cast off the thing that is good.”
I. By their murmurings. So long as they trusted God’s Word, they continued to walk safely. When they began to murmur, Amalek came upon them.
II. By their idolatries. When God was arranging for their worship, they made and worshipped the golden calves.
III. By their rebellion. As in their response to the message of the returned spies. Referring to Israel in their later history, we may say--
IV. By their rejection of Christ. Because, when Messiah did come, He did not suit their expectations, they despised and rejected Him. And the enemy was not slow in pursuing them. Their city was destroyed, and they were scattered over the earth. This threat is not confined to Israel. It is equally applicable to nations and to individuals now. (N. Ashby.)
Good rejected
Him who is good, That which is good. The word tob includes both. They rejected good in rejecting God, who is simply, supremely, wholly, universally good, and good to all, the Author and Fountain of all good, so that there is nothing simply good but God, nothing worthy of that title, except in respect of its relation to him who is good and doing good. (E. B. Pusey, D. D.)
The abandonment of good, and consequent pursuit of evil
I. The abandonment of good. “Israel hath rejected what is good.” The good here is the true worship of the true God.
1. True, Worship is “the good thing” for man. It is good not only because God requires it, but because it is the necessary condition of spiritual life, growth, harmony, and blessedness.
2. This “good thing” man sometimes abandons. Moral mind has the power of abandoning the highest good.
3. The abandonment of this “good thing” imperils the soul. Moral good is the only effective safeguard of the spirit; when this is given up, or “cast off,” all the gates of the soul are thrown open to tormenting fiends.
II. The consequent pursuit of evil. “Set up kings, but not by Me.” Reference is to Jeroboam and his successors. From kings of their own making came the setting up of the idolatrous calf-worship. So they went wrong in their politics and in their religion. Let a man go wrong in his relations to God, and he will go wrong in all his relations, secular and spiritual, There is nothing in connection with the human race of such transcendent importance as worship. The religious element is the strongest of all elements, and men must have a god of some sort, and their god will fashion their character and determine their destiny. (Homilist.)