Is not the meat cut off before our eyes.
Sin a great deprivation
I. That sin deprives man of his cherished hope. “Is not the meat cut off before our eyes?”
1. This deprivation was unexpected. The ripe crops were seen by the people of Judah, who were rejoicing in the prospect of a safe harvest, when to their astonishment all was destroyed. And sin deprives sinners of their expected pleasures just when they are within sure reach, and turns in an unexpected moment the fairest prospects into barren wastes, it is the way of God to disappoint the evil-doer of his cherished anticipations.
2. This deprivation was calamitous. The people of Judah were dependent upon the ripe crops for the supply of their temporal wants, and would not be able to provide anything as a substitute for them. And sin does not merely deprive man of those things which are for his luxury, but even those things which are essential to his bare comfort.
3. This deprivation was righteous. The people of Judah might imagine that it was very unjust thus to deprive them of the harvest for which they had laboured, and that too at the very moment they were expecting to gather it in for use. They would be unable to understand the equity and meaning of such a visitation. But it is a righteous thing that sin should be punished, and in the manner most likely to restrain it, and this is often done by the destruction of a cherished hope.
II. That sin deprives the sanctuary of its appropriate joy. “Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, yea, joy and gladness from the house of our Lord?”
1. That joy should ever be associated with the service of the sanctuary. Joy and gladness always belonged to the ancient temple; thither the Jews went to give thanks, and to acknowledge themselves the blessed of the Lord. But now they could not rejoice in the presence of God, because of the calamities which were upon them.
2. That sin deprives the sanctuary of the joy which should ever be associated with it. The sins of the people of Judah rendered it impossible for them to participate in their usual harvest festivals, and divested the Divine presence of its accustomed joy. And sin will extinguish the bright lights of the sanctuary; it will hush its sweet music, and stay the spring of joy which God has destined should flow from the temple into human souls.
III. That sin deprives the seed of its necessary vitality. “The seed is rotten under the clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered.” Thus we see that sin perverts the natural order of God’s universe, it renders the seed which is full of life destitute of all vitality. The seed is precious; man’s sin makes it useless. God can plague man’s mercies in the germ or in the barn, it is impossible to escape His retribution.
IV. That sin deprives the brute of its refreshing pasture. “How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture, yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.” All the life and interests of the universe arc one, and one part of it cannot suffer without involving the rest; hence the sin of man affects the whole. Lessons--
1. That men who imagine that they gain anything by sin are deceived.
2. That sin divests the most sacred places of their destined gladness.
3. That sin brings famine where God intended there should be plenty. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
The seed is rotten under their clods.
National calamities
The Supreme Ruler of the world is righteous and beneficent. What, then, is the cause of national calamities? It is sin.
I. Some of the prevailing sins which have brought us into our present situation. The vices which, on account of their enormity and uncommon spread, may be considered as, in a certain degree, peculiar to the present age.
1. Ingratitude. No nation ever experienced more of the kindness of heaven. Our climate is desirable; our minerals are varied and abundant; our situation favours our independence; our form of government is just and efficient. Internal peace is a blessing we have long enjoyed, Has our gratitude increased in proportion as our blessings have been multiplied? Consider, too, our religious privileges. What returns have we made to God for these mercies?
2. Pride. This has been called the universal passion. It is by no means peculiar to our country and times. Yet it may be called one of the peculiar sins of our age. Would to God that pride were confined to the State! Alas! its ravages have extended to the Church.
3. Infidelity has of late been greatly increasing. There is public avowed scepticism, by which revelation in general is censured and rejected.
4. Luxury and licentiousness of manners prevail to a most alarming degree. Was there ever a period, not excepting the age of the second Charles, when profanity, intemperance, seduction, and other vices were so common? Lewdness and intemperance are not confined to the more wealthy. Our prosperity, it may be said, is the cause of all these disorders. But shall we dare to palliate our vices by that which aggravates them in an inconceivable degree?
5. The prevailing influence of a worldly spirit.
6. The spirit of irreligion. As seen in the practice of profane swearing, in the omission of family duties, and in the neglect of Divinely instituted ordinances.
II. The means of deliverance. Consider those important duties without which there is neither safety nor hope.
1. We must return to God in the exercise of faith.
2. The review of our sins ought to fill us with grief.
3. Our faith and contrition must be accompanied with a universal reformation of our hearts and conduct. Exercise faith in God. Present to Him the sacrifices of a broken spirit. Be concerned to mortify the whole body of sin. These are duties beyond the strength of fallen humanity. The Spirit alone can enable us to perform them. To Unwearied diligence let us add fervent supplication to the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, that He would have mercy upon us, and cause His Spirit to descend as a spirit of faith, of contrition, and of holiness. (Alex. Black.)
Potting seeds
This is the first new stroke of pathos which the poet adds to his previous description; but mark how he multiplies stroke on stroke. As though it were not enough to lose all mirth in the passing day, the heart of the people is torn with apprehension for the future. The very grain in the earth has “rotted under the clods,” so that there is no prospect of a crop in the coming year to compensate for the loss of this year’s harvest. Smitten by the burning rays of the sun, denied the vivifying touch of dew or rain, the germ has withered in the seed. The husbandmen, hopeless of any reward for their toils, fold their hands in indolent despair; they suffer their garners to moulder away, their “barns” to fall. Why should they repair barn and storehouse when the “corn is withered,” even the seed-corn? (Samel Cox, D. D.)
God’s voice in things terrible
How does God utter His voice? In things terrible by terror, so that the feeling He inspires finds utterance in voice of man. In nature, by objects which He creates. In history, by results which He brings about. In calls to repentance, by the concurrence of calamity with our sense of sin, whether an instinct trained or rather a sentiment inbreathed by Divine communion. When such sentiments run through a people, kindled by prophets or organised by priests, the national temples echo with them; public religion embodies them; signs of joy are suspended, and prayers go up to the unsearchable Dweller of eternity in words which are the words of men, seeking to move the mind of God, yet breathing a life which God’s breath implanted. (Rowland Williams, D. D.)
How do the beasts groan! The herds of cattle are perplexed.
The cattle plague
We have been called to make this a time of solemn humiliation and prayer, in the presence of a grievous plague upon cattle. Let us seek that our prayers this day may be the prevailing prayers of faith There is a rough way of regarding the afflictive dispensations of God’s providence, which is founded on a principle more Jewish than Christian, and regards them as “judgments” in the vulgar sense. We may say, generally, that all suffering is the consequence of sin, but no man has any right to say that a particular judgment follows a particular national or individual sin.
1. We are asked to acknowledge that this grievous plague has been sent by God in His all-disposing and sovereign providence. And we are surely all agreed here. Providential is an adjective that admits of no comparison. Nothing that happens in this world is more or less appointed by God than all the rest. He ordains all events. Mercy and judgment are alike providential: we take them both from God. Mercy with thankful joy: judgment with thankful resignation. We are not driven from our simple faith in God by anything that can be said of second causes intervening between Him and us, or even of the intervention of human folly or crime. Man’s mistakes and misdoings have doubtless contributed to the spread and fatality of the cattle plague. Want of observance of obvious natural laws: want of knowledge of such; want of simple precautions, etc. We are called to acknowledge God’s hand in this sore calamity; to humble ourselves before Him under it, and to turn from our sins by a true repentance. There is a discipline of God’s appointment always around us which ought to lead us to repentance. God’s goodness should do that; it ought not to need a cattle plague. God’s goodness would be quite enough if we took our discipline rightly. Alas! God’s abounding goodness often is found to harden. And we know that seasons of great sorrow and bereavement are often times of spiritual awakening. As times of trouble have been times of individual repentance and amendment, so doubtless have they been of national. How shall we repent? We cannot just make up our mind to be sorry, any more than to be joyful. All feeling must be founded in fact. The only way to be sorry for our sins is to think of them, to set them before us, so shall we find good reason to be humble and penitent. To be truly penitent for anything you have thought or done, you must see it to be wrong yourself. Then let us “take with us words, and turn unto the Lord.” (A. K. H. Boyd, D. D.)