in the former chapter, where the kingdom of Judah, and the city which God had chosen out of all that were in the earth, to put his name there, are devoted to destruction. The same conquering power, that of the Chaldeans, was to be employed as the sword of the Lord, in slaying his own people, and in laying low the nations round about them. Gaza and Ashkelon, Ashdod and Ekron, the Cherethites and the land of the Philistines, all must be laid waste. Their coasts must be desolate, and must so remain, until the remnant of the house of Judah should be restored and take them to itself. Moab and Ammon must share the like lot; first to be reduced to the lowest pitch of desolation, and afterwards to be for a spoil to the residue of the Lord's people. The Ethiopians are next sentenced. And then Nineveh, so long the capital of Assyria, the city whence so many an armed host had set forth to assault the Lord's people, is doomed to exchange its height of glory for the depth of shame, its crowds for solitude, and instead of being the abode of luxury and gaiety must become the haunt of beasts and birds of prey. So terrible would the Lord prove Himself to all these idol serving nations, that He speaks of famishing their idol gods, for lack of worshippers to supply victims for their altars. And that day of tribulation was so significant of another, which God would afterwards bring upon the earth, ere the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled, that in speaking of the former He refers also to the latter, saying, " And men shall worship him, every one from his place, even all the isles of the heathen." It is thought by many, that even now the world is on the eve of such a general desolation as is here described, as well as of this general conversion to the truth. So much the more shall we all do well to give heed to the exhortations, which are here proclaimed alike to Jews and Gentiles. The former, addressed as a "nation not desired," being then at enmity with God through wicked works, are exhorted to gather themselves together, before the day of the fierce anger of the Lord, evidently that they might unite in contrition and repentance, in prayer and solemn deprecation of his wrath; if so be they might obtain forgiveness. To the latter, the Gentiles, we may apply these words, "Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord's anger." Here were tidings of safety, or at least of hope, to some in all parts of the earth, when so many nations were about to be destroyed. It was true then, as the apostle declared long afterwards, that "in every nation he that feareth" God," and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him." Acts 10. 35. And so it will be found true at the end of the world. If therefore we are looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, let us do as we are here exhorted; let us seek the Lord, both by other means, and especially by seeking his righteousness, and behaving ourselves meekly in his sight; that we may escape the wrath to come. Promises of good things to come after tribulation. 1 Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city! 2 She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in the LORD; she drew not near to her God. 3 Her princes within her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves; they gnaw not the bones till the morrow. 4 Her prophets are light and treacherous persons: her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law. 5 The just LORD is in the midst thereof; he will not do iniquity: every morning doth he bring his judgment to light, he faileth not; but the unjust knoweth no shame. 6 I have cut off the nations: their towers are desolate; I made their streets waste, that none passeth by their cities are destroyed, so that there is no man, that there is none inhabitant. 7 I said, Surely thou wilt fear me, thou wilt receive instruction; so their dwelling should not be cut off, howsoever I punished them but they rose early, and corrupted all their doings. 8 Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the LORD, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy. 9 For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the LORD, to serve him with one consent. 10 From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia my suppliants, even the daughter of my dispersed, 11 In that day shalt thou not be ashamed for all thy doings, wherein thou hast transgressed against me: for then I will take away out of the midst of thee them that rejoice in thy pride, and thou shalt no more be haughty because of my holy mountain. 12 I will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the LORD. 13 The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth: for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid. 14 Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, Ŏ Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. 15 The LORD hath taken away thy judgments, he hath cast out thine enemy: the king of Israel, even the LORD, is in the midst of thee: thou shalt not see evil any more. 16 In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not: and to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack. 17 The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing. 18 I will gather them that are sorrowful for the solemn assembly, who are of thee, to whom the reproach of it was a burden. 19 Behold, at that time I will undo all that afflict thee: and I will save her that halteth, and gather her that was driven out; and I will get them praise and fame in every land where they have been put to shame. 20 At that time will I bring you again, even in the time that all people of the earth, when I turn back your captivity before your eyes, saith the LORD. I gather you: for I will make you a name and a praise among LECTURE 1437. God's love for his redeemed; their joy and glory. If some reference to the times of the Gospel is discernible in the previous prophecy of Zephaniah, much more may we understand these gracious promises, and singularly affectionate expressions, on the part of God towards his people, as referring beyond all question to the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. There is indeed woe proclaimed to the city polluted with the filth of sin. To the faithless, and disobedient, to the incorrigible, and alienated from God, to oppressive princes, and grasping magistrates, to false prophets, and apostate priests, to such the justice of the Lord must be proved by their signal destruction. They who were not ashamed to transgress before the light of day, must be convinced by other means that He both sees their wicked works, and knows how to punish them. They who would not take warning by the desolation of those around them, must be laid low themselves. But after much tribulation denounced against evil doers, the voice of mercy is heard speaking to God's people, dispersed though they be, describing them as suppliants and worshippers, who have learnt to speak a pure language, "that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent." Then shall they be spared the shame of their misdeeds, their sins being blotted out; the proud having been severed from amongst them, and pride even in their religious privileges no longer lurking in their hearts. They shall be such as mourn for sin, and are poor in spirit, and are full of faith that works by love, abhorring that which is evil, incapable of falsehood or deceitfulness; and they shall enjoy plenty, peace, and sense of safety, through Him who is the Shepherd of their souls. Who can they be but Christians that are thus described? What Israelites, but such as believe in Christ, and have salvation through Him, can be those who are here exhorted to rejoice in the doing away of their judgments, and in the casting out of their enemy, and in the presence and communion of their King, and in the assurance that they need not fear, and in the exhortation to obey with zeal? Over whom, if not the repentant and believing, that is to say, contrite Christians, does the Lord rejoice as here described, and rest in love, and joy with singing? These are they for whom praise is sung in heaven unto Him that sitteth on the throne; and for whose salvation glory is ascribed unto the Lamb for ever. See Rev. 7. 10. Soon may God complete their number, and fulfil their joy! Soon may He gather them that thus mourn on earth, them that are reproached for his name's sake here, and form of all, both Jew and Gentile, one holy heavenly church; triumphant over all its enemies, glorified by his gracious favour, and a glory to his holy name! The Jews on being reproved proceed with the temple. 1 In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, saying, 2 Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the LORD's house should be built. 3 Then came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet, saying, 4 Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste? 5 Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways. 6 Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes. 7 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways. 8 Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the LORD. 9 Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the LORD of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house. 10 Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit. 11 And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labour of the hands. 12 Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the LORD their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the LORD their God had sent him, and the people did fear before the LORD. 13 Then spake Haggai the LORD's messenger in the LORD'S message unto the people, saying, I am with you, saith the LORD. 14 And the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and did work in the house of the LORD of hosts, their God, 15 In the four and twentieth day of the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king. LECTURE 1438. We gain by doing God's work rather than our own. Haggai is the first in order of those prophets, whom God vouchsafed to send to the Jews, after their return from the Babylonish captivity. See Ezra 5. 1. The great work of rebuilding the temple, commenced upon the strength of the decree of Cyrus, had been carried no further than the putting in foundations, and setting up the altar, when the adversaries of the Jews prevailed upon the succeeding kings of Persia to put a stop to the undertaking. See Ezra 4. 5, 24. Meanwhile the Jewish people and their rulers appear to have been easily reconciled to the suspension of their holy work. And when afterwards they might have gone on with it, they were content to have rebuilt and adorned their own dwellings; letting the house of God lie waste, on the pretence that the time for building it had not arrived. How plainly did such conduct prove, that their heart was not in the work! How easily do men frame excuses for the neglect of duties in which they take no pleasure! How readily do they allow obstacles to hinder them in the works of the Lord, which they would take great pains to overcome, if it were their own comfort or convenience, their own gain or glory, that could not be otherwise advanced! "Consider your ways," is the message which the prophet is commissioned to deliver to the people of the Lord, when thus neg lectful of his work. On reflexion they would find, that they had lost instead of gained by seeking their own advantage in preference to God's glory. He had withheld his blessing from their diligence, and they had been disappointed in the produce of their toil. He had sent them ungenial seasons, and unfruitful crops. And He charged them, as they valued his favour for the future, to get together the requisite materials, and to complete the building of his temple, unto the glory of his holy name. "Consider your ways," is the message which God sends to us, if in any thing we are acting like his people of old; forwarding or at least trying to forward our own work, whilst we neglect his. Surely we shall find it most for our interest, present and eternal, to seek "first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness." Matt. 6. 33. Surely if we reflect, and calculate, and sum up all we have ever saved or gained, by withholding what was due unto the Lord, we shall be ready to own, that it is of no value, compared with that which we have lost. Let us then listen, with Zerubbabel, and Joshua, and with all the remnant of the people, to the word of the Lord spoken by the prophet. Let us listen, and obey his voice. Let us be free to contribute money, or time, or labour, according to the nature of the case, towards any work, which may help to edify our brethren, or to glorify God. So may we expect his blessing both on our labour, and on our substance. So may we expect his blessing on our souls. So may we hope, that He will fulfil in us his word of approbation, sent on this occasion to the Jews: "I am with you, saith the Lord." |