Chapter XXV (2)

+I. A recompense which is difficult.+ No one can affirm that it is an easy thing to minister help and comfort to one who has done us an injury, but it is more difficult in some cases than in others. Men are not bound to us by equal ties: some are merely related to us because they partake of the same common humanity; others are our kinsmen according to the flesh; while others stand in an equal nearer relation, and are brothers in a spiritual sense, being partakers with us of what is called in Scripture language the new birth. According to Christ's teaching this is the nearest and closest bond which can unite men, and yet it cannot be denied that we sometimes have to exercise the grace of forgiveness even towards these brethren. But the motive power which prompts us to return good for evil is certainly stronger in this latter case than in the others, or at least it ought to be so. For when we reflect that the brother who has wronged us stands in the same relation to Christ as we do ourselves, it ought not to be at all difficult for us to feed him when hungry, or in any other way in our power to minister to his needs. There will also in most men be found more or less natural promptings to succour an enemy who is related to them by ties of blood--the nearer the natural relationship the more easy will it be, as a rule, to comply with the command given by the Wise Man. But the greatest difficulty will be found in obeying it when the enemy is one who is altogether unlike us in character, and who is only related to us in the broad and universal sense of being human. To be active and earnest in our endeavours to relieve the necessities of such an one needs often much Divine help, but it is demanded of us by Him who dies for a world at enmity with Him.

+II. A retaliation which is blessed in its results.+ We understand with Zöckler, the figure here used to "describe the deep pangs of repentance which one produces within his enemy by rewarding his hatred with benefits." This is a result most desirable and blessed for him who has been the offender. For it is the only road by which he can regain peace of mind and self-respect, as well as the esteem of all right-minded people. This restoration of an erring brother would in itself be a great reward to the good man, but it is not, according to Solomon, the only one which is accorded to him who thus recompenses good for evil. A special reward for the special act is promised by Jehovah. There is one which is the outcome of the laws by which He governs men. If a traveller in a cold region finds a fellow traveller lying benumbed and forsaken by the roadside, and does what he can do to raise and restore him, the effort makes his own blood circulate more quickly, and his own frame glow with warmth. This it the outcome of a natural law of God, and there is the spiritual one akin to it. For whenever an effort is made to raise and restore one who has morally fallen, he who makes the effort feels a reflex glow of moral life and health in his own spirit. This is the certain effect which must follow every act of goodwill towards an enemy, as surely as the shadow follows the substance. But there are probably other rewards of an external nature--many blessings that come to a good man's life may be direct and special gifts from His Father above for deeds which, like the one now under consideration, are especially pleasing to Him.

_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._

We may profess our goodwill towards our enemy, that we forgive and pray for him from our heart. But unless we are ready with the practical exercise of sympathy, we are only the victims of our own moral delusion.--_Bridges._

It is action, not affection, that is here spoken of--not the disposition of the heart, but the deeds of the hand; and if it be a more practicable thing that we should compel ourselves to right bodily performances than call up right mental propensities, this may alleviate somewhat our dread of these precepts, as if they were wholly unmanageable or incompetent to humanity. Before, then, taking cognisance of what should be the inward temper of Christians towards those who maltreat or oppress them, we would bid you remark that the outward conduct towards them is that which forms the literal subject-matter of the commandments here given. The disciples are in this place told that . . . hard as it may be under their cruel provocations to keep unruffled minds and to _feel_ peaceably, they, as much as in them lies, are to _live_ peaceably . . . while it may not be the tendency of nature so to _desire,_ our bidden obligation is so to _do,_ for in _so doing_ thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.--_Chalmers_ on Rom. xii. 20.

Now, we know that if a coal or two of fire be laid on the hearth of the chimney below, he that is cold cannot be wholly warmed, or receive much good thereby; but if one basketful be poured on the fire after another, so that the coals are heaped up to the mantel-tree, or are as high as his head that fain would warm him, then he waxeth thoroughly hot and beginneth even to burn. It seemeth then that by this borrowed speech is meant, that if a man shall be very bountiful even unto his enemy, and heap upon him one good turn after another, this will cause his affection, which before was cold, to burn within him. Thus dealt David with Saul, who spared his life when he might have slain him, and only cut off a piece of his coat when he might have cut off his head.--_Muffett._

I take for granted, that I believe to be the truth, that the words _"for thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head,"_ have reference, not to the fires of Divine-vengeance, but to the influence of kindly treatment melting down the enemy to conciliation, as fuel heaped on the ore fuses it from the hardness, and sends it forth in liquid streams, to take the features and impress of the mould.--A certain prince, on leading his generals and his army against an advancing host of invaders, declared his resolution not to leave a single enemy alive. He sent an embassy to treat with them. He made proposals such as subdued and attached them, and rendered them valuable allies. On astonishment being expressed that he should have thus failed in his determination and promise, his ready reply was--"I have not failed: I have kept my word. I engaged not to leave a _living enemy;_ nor have I. They are enemies no longer--they are _friends._" He had "heaped coals of fire on their head."--_Wardlaw._

For hunger and thirst are common enemies, both to thee and him. And therefore, as where a common enemy invadeth, particular enmity is laid aside, and all join there to help and withstand him; so here lend a hand to resist these common enemies, which though now have seized on thine enemy may quickly seize on thee. Besides he is hungry as a man, he thirsteth as a man--not as an enemy--and therefore as a man give him bread to eat, give him water to drink. This may also quench the hunger of his enmity, and satisfy also the hunger of his hatred.--_Jermin._

If anyone desires to try this work, he must bring to it at least these two qualifications, modesty and patience. If he proceed ostentatiously, with an air of superiority and a consciousness of his own virtue, he will never make one step of progress. The subject will day by day grow harder in his hands. But even though the successive acts of kindness should be genuine, the operator must lay his account with a tedious process and many disappointments. . . . The miner does not think that his coals of fire are wasted, although he has been throwing them on for several successive hours, and the stones show no symptoms of dissolving. He knows that each portion of the burning fuel is contributing to the result, and that the flow will be sudden and complete at last. Let him go and do likewise who aspires to win a brother by the subduing power of self-sacrificing love.--_Arnot._

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 23.

THE WAY TO TREAT A BACKBITER.

It will be seen from a reference to the Critical Notes, that nearly all modern commentators render this verse quite differently from the common version, and so reverse the meaning. It will, however, bear the common rendering, "I confess," says Wardlaw, "that if the word will bear it at all, our version seems decidedly preferable. There is something tame, commonplace, and of little practical consequence--hardly worth forming the subject of a proverb--in saying that as the north wind brings rain, 'a backbiting tongue' brings anger. But the verse as it stands in our translation inculcates a most important lesson." We therefore take the proverb as we find it in our Bible, as setting forth--

+I. An unrighteous action producing a righteous emotion.+ We have before had brought before us in this book the peculiar iniquity of backbiting and its evil results (see ch. xii. 17-19, 22, page 274). The special unrighteousness of the act lies, of course, in the fact that the person who is the subject of it, being absent and ignorant of the charge brought against him, has no opportunity of defending himself. A feeling of indignation against such an act, and an expression of it in the countenance, is therefore demanded from every lover of truth and justice. He who will calmly listen to a tale of slander and show no token of disapproval, makes himself a partaker of the sin. But it is impossible for a righteous man to act thus. When a putrid body is presented to our bodily senses, if we are healthy men we experience a feeling of revulsion which we cannot conceal. And so if a man is morally healthy he must experience and reveal a strong dislike to the backbiting tongue.

+II. The unrighteous action overpowered by the righteous emotion.+ When the heavy rain-clouds which overspread the sky are dispersed and driven away by the wind, they show themselves to be the weaker of the two contending forces. And so when the backbiting tongue is silenced by the look of righteous indignation, it gives proof that, however strong the workings of evil are, the power of goodness is stronger. Those who set their faces against this or any other vice, may always draw encouragement from the fact that there is a reprover within the breast of the wrong-doer, which in spite of all efforts to stifle it, seconds the reprover from without--wherever the conscience is at all awake, it says "Amen" to a faithful rebuke, whether administered by word or look. And so it is that a countenance upon which is written righteous anger is so potent a check to a backbiting tongue.

_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._

It is a great encouragement to tale-bearers, to observe their wicked stories are heard with attention. If a man looks upon them with a cheerful countenance, and listens to their tales, and makes them welcome to his table, they naturally conclude that the person to whom they speak has as bad a heart as themselves, and they will not fail to bring him new stories of the like kind, as soon as they have got an opportunity to learn or to make them. But if the receiver of stolen goods is a sharer with the thief in his guilt, and if any man that encourages another in evil partakes in his sin, then he that hears the backbiter with complacency is little better than himself, and would probably follow the same trade if he had the same talents for it. We cannot, therefore, clear ourselves from the sin of backbiting, unless we refuse to receive a bad report of our neighbour, and testify our displeasure, by all proper methods, at the base conduct of the assassins that would murder in the dark the good-name of their fellow-creatures. When the murderers of Isbosheth brought their master's head to David, judging from their own disposition that it would be an acceptable present to him, he treated them in such a manner that no man ever sent another present of the like kind to him.--_Lawson._

There is a place for anger as well as for love. As in nature, a gloomy tempest serves some beneficial purposes for which calm sunshine has no faculty; so in morals, a frown on an honest man's brow is in its own place, as needful and useful as the sweetest smile that kindness ever kindled on the human countenance. . . . We don't want a fretful passionate man; and if we did, we could find one without searching long or going far. We want neither a man of wrath nor a man of indiscriminating, unvarying softness. We want something with two sides; that is, a solid real character. Let us have a man who loves good and hates evil, and who, in place and time convenient, can make either emotion manifest upon his countenance. The frown of anger is the shade that lies under love and brings out its beauty.--_Arnot._

For Homiletics on verse 24, see on chapter xxi. 9, page 613.

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 25.

COLD WATER AND GOOD NEWS.

+I. Two blessings often ardently longed for.+ In these days of travel, many more can enter into the spirit of this analogy than in the days of Solomon--the comparative ease by which men can reach the most distant lands, and which in one aspect brings all places and people so much nearer together than in ancient times, is on the other hand the cause of far more separation between those who are bound together by tender ties, and fills far more hearts with an anxious longing for tidings from far countries. No more apt illustration could be used to picture such a condition of spirit than that of _thirst;_ for as _it,_ if of long duration, prostrates the frame and renders every other blessing of life incapable of affording any comfort, so often does a long delay of tidings concerning those most dear paralyse all the energies of the soul, and render it unable to gain comfort from any other source. The wife whose husband has been long fighting for his country on the distant battle-field, or the father whose son has been for years seeking his fortune in some far-off land, turns often with distaste from all the comforts and interests which surround them, and would willingly sacrifice many near blessings in exchange for cheering news from those beyond the seas. They are like the traveller in the desert, whose gold cannot allay his consuming thirst, and who would willingly give a bag of pearls for a cup of cold water.

+II. Two blessings bringing like results.+ Hagar and her son wandered in the desert till the water was spent in the bottle, and then mother and son gave up all for lost and lay down to die. We may take it for granted that neither the youth nor his mother were easily overcome or quickly daunted, but thirst and its attendant evils would soon have slain them as certainly as a band of desert robbers. But when God showed to Hagar the well, and they had drunk of its waters, it was as though a new life had entered into them, and hope and energy returned. This is a type of what has happened to many a heart-sick soul since those days. Jacob was going down to his grave still mourning for the son lost so many years ago, and life, we may well believe, had lost its interest for him when his sons brought the astonishing tidings, "Joseph is yet alive, and is governor over all the land of Egypt." And the old man renewed his youth, and, so to speak, began to live again, so life-restoring often to a thirsty soul is good news from a far country.

_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._

_A far-off land_ sends specially _good news_ because we faint the more, and long the harder, for the very reason that it is so distant. They come more seldom. And our relations with far-off lands are weightier and more critical than those beside us. So much for the secular significance. But oh! the spiritual! The righteous scarcely are saved (1 Peter iv. 18). We are in a wilderness (Rev. xii. 6, 14). Our enemies are legion (Ephes. vi. 12). We run the gauntlet with daily foes (Ephes. v. 16); and that with daily changes in their attempts to trip us (Prov. v. 6). The sinner, wherever he may be met, is faint with fatigue. Our Saviour knew this when He shaped His appeal "Come unto me, all that labour," etc. (Matt. xi. 28). Now, high over all the odes of comfort is the _"good news from a far-off land."_ All right there, come anything! A man's life may have been a perfect failure, _quoad_ the opinion of the world; but if he have Heaven it has been the very best--there has not been an hour of it that has not been "marshalled by a Divine tactic," the best for the man and the best for his part in the war.--_Miller._

We shall especially apply the subject--to _heaven_--good news from heaven. There are several things that make good news from a far country as grateful as "cold waters to a thirsty soul." _I. If the country reported is altogether unlike our own._ The human mind is always interested in what is novel and romantic--strangeness has a strange fascination for the soul. What charms have the reports of Captain Cook, Moffatt, Livingstone, for all minds. . . . _II. If the country reported has conferred an immense benefit on us._ Supposing that we had once been in a state of abject slavery, and that the far country reported to us had effected our emancipation and guaranteed our liberty, with what interest should we listen to everything about it--the act that served us would invest all the incidents connected with this history with a special charm. . . . _III. If the country reported contained any that are dear to us._ New Zealand, Vancouver's Island, and many other countries, are extremely interesting to many families in this land, on account of the friends they have living in them. . . . _IV. If the country reported is a scene in which we expect to live ourselves._ With what interest does the emigrant listen to everything referring to that land whither he is about to be wending his way, and which he is adopting as his home. Heaven as a far country pre-eminently meets all these conditions of interest. There is the _Novel._ . . . How unlike that country is ours. Here is a sphere for the play of the romantic. There is the _Benefactor._ What benefits that far country has conferred on us! Thence we have received Christ the Redeemer of the World, and the Blessed Spirit of wisdom, purity, and love. There are our _Friends._ How many of those who we have known and loved are there. How many such are going there every day. Some of us have more friends in heaven than on earth. There we _expect to live._ There we expect an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away.--_Dr. David Thomas._

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 26.

THE EVIL RESULT OF MORAL COWARDICE.

+I. There can never be a good reason why a good man should waver or bow down before a bad man.+ Many reasons often exist why one bad man should fear another bad man, they are both on the wrong side, both arrayed against the moral order of the universe, and therefore are on the _weakest_ side, and cannot count upon the support of any superior and all-powerful force. Neither of them has conscience or God upon his side; each one has to fight his battle on his own charges, and can with no confidence foretell the result. But the want of firmness on the part of a righteous man in the presence of wickedness--even when that wickedness is allied with all the power that it can arrogate to itself--is contrary to reason. For as surely as light must defeat the darkness, so surely must right in the end prove itself victorious over wrong. A good man has the whole force of the moral universe upon his side, and is assured both by experience and by Divine promise that if he holds fast to the end he shall be more than conqueror.

+II. The wavering of such a man pollutes the very sources of social morality.+ Unreasonable although it is, yet it is not out of the range of human experience. "The best men are but men at the best" says an old writer, and in times of great trial they often give evidence that it is so. Good and noble men have sometimes trembled and given way before the terrors of the stake, and far less terrible suffering has often sufficed to shake the constancy of true men who were less courageous. But whenever such a fall takes place it is a heavy blow to the cause of right and truth upon the earth. A good man is like a fountain of pure and living water. He is a source of moral life and health in the circle in which he moves; even if he does not put forth any direct or special effort for the advancement of morality, his life will as certainly have an influence for good as the lighted candle will illumine the darkness around it. But if he shows himself a coward when exposed to loss or danger for the sake of right, it will do as much harm to the moral health of the community in which he lives as would be done to its bodily health if the stream from which its members drink were polluted at the fountain head. The mischief done in each case may not show itself by any startling results. The poison in the water may not _kill,_ but only lower the standard of health in those who partake of it, and so a moral fall in a good man may not lead other men to open apostasy from the right path, but it may make the walk of many unsteady. Christ tells His disciples this same truth when He calls them the _"salt of the earth,"_ and asks _"if the salt have lost its savour, wherewith shall it be salted"_ (Matt. v. 13). In other words, the good are the conservators of the moral purity of the world, and if any one among them ceases to sustain this character he is not only a loser himself but a source of loss to others.

_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._

Lord Bacon gives this proverb political application: "It teaches that an unjust and scandalous judgment in any conspicuous and weighty cause is, above all things, to be avoided in the State;" and in his Essay (lvi.) of Judicature, he says; "One foul sentence doth more hurt than many foul examples; for these do but corrupt the stream, the other corrupteth the fountain"--_Tr. of Lange's Commentary._

Eastern _fountain and springs_ (where the rains are only periodical, and at longer intervals) are of no common price. The injury of _corrupting_ them is proportionate. The well is therefore a blessing or a curse, according to the purity or impurity of the waters. _A righteous man_ in his proper character is "a well of life, a blessing in the midst of the land." But if _he fall down before the wicked_ by his inconsistent profession, the blessing becomes a curse, _the fountain is troubled, and the spring corrupt._ What a degradation was it to Abraham to _fall down_ under the rebuke of an heathen king; to Peter, to yield to a servant maid in denying his Lord! How did David's sin _trouble the fountain,_ both to his family and his people! How did the idolatry of his wise son _corrupt the spring_ through successive generations!

When a minister of Christ apostatises from the faith (and mournfully frequent have been such spectacles) or compromises his principles from the fear of man, the _springs and fountains_ of truth are fearfully corrupted. When a servant of God, of standing and influences, crouches and _falls down under the wicked,_ the transparency of his profession is grievously tarnished. Satan thus makes more effective use of God's people than of his own.--_Bridges._

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 27.

TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING.

For Homiletics on the first clause of this verse, see on verse 16, page 703. A reference to the Critical Notes will show that, owing partly to its elliptical form, the rendering of the second clause has been much disputed. The reading found in our version is, however, quite admissible on the principles of Hebrew interpretation, and accords well with the first clause. The analogy teaches--

+I. That a desire for the good opinion of others is right and salutary.+ As honey is not only a pleasant but a wholesome article of food, so the wish to stand well with our fellow-men is a God-implanted feeling which is very beneficial both to the individual man and to society as a whole. He is a churlish being who does not care what other people think about him, who sets at nought their esteem or their blame, while a right regard to their judgment of us insensibly produces a beneficial influence upon our conduct and temper.

+II. But it is a desire which must not rule our life.+ Just as honey must not be substituted for plainer food, or made the staple article of diet, so a desire for the good opinion of others must not be put before higher motives--must not be made the ruling principle of life. This proverb may be linked with the preceding one to some extent, for the lack of firmness which good men sometimes display in the society and under the influence of worse men than themselves is often due to a desire not to lose their good opinion--not to be thought obstinate, or morose, or conceited. But when any question of right or wrong is at stake the approval or disapproval even of those whose goodwill is most precious to us must be cast aside.

_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._

There is such a thing as _vain glory._ There is such a thing as a person's indulging an insatiable appetite for applause or honour. There is such a thing as _"searching it out,"_ looking ever after it, eager to get it, and touchily jealous of every omission to bestow it and every deficiency in its amount; exploring for it in every possible direction; listening with an ear on the alert to catch every breathing of adulation; _fishing_ for praise; throwing out hints to draw it forth; eulogising others, to tempt a return; saying things in disparagement of oneself, for the sake of having the contradicted--things which, said by another, would stir the hottest of his blood. The temper of mind may be put in exercise, in regard to greater and to smaller matters. It may assume the form of a proud ambition, or of a weak-minded vanity. But in either case it may with truth be said that _"it is not glory."_ A man's honour should rather _come to him,_ than be eagerly solicited and searched for. It should not be made _his object.--Wardlaw._

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 28.

A DEFENCELESS CITY.

The other side of this picture is given in chap. xvi. 32. (See page 497.)

+I. Such a city as is here described proclaims the lack of a wise and powerful governor within.+ The walls and buildings of a city are constantly exposed to influences which promote decay, even if no hostile military force attacks them. The everyday exposure to storm and sun and rain will have a tendency to make the mortar crumble, and the bricks or stones to become loose and fall away. Hence, if a wise man governs a city he will make it a part of his constant duty to watch for the first signs of weakness, and if he has the authority which his position ought to put into his hand, he will cause each breach to be repaired as soon as it is discovered. And when we see a city whose walls are in a perfect condition--where there are no fallen stones and no crumbling mortar--we feel at ease that there is rule and authority residing there. But _"a city broken down and without walls"_ tells plainly the opposite story. Now every human spirit in this fallen world is exposed daily, and sometimes hourly, to influences which tend to irritate and vex it, and so to destroy its means of defence against temptation, and lower its dignity and mar its moral beauty. And if a man yields himself up to these influences, and allows them to hold undisputed sway over his life, he proclaims himself to be without those essential elements to his welfare and happiness--wisdom to see his danger, and power to guard it.

+II. Such a city gives an invitation to the invader without.+ If a fortress is known to be well fortified, if there is no weak or unguarded point, an enemy will not hastily try to take possession of it. Its strength will oftentimes be its security against attack. But if its fallen towers and tottering defences tell of weakness and anarchy within, its condition will tempt the foe to enter. So if a man gives evidence that he has no control over his passions, both evil men and evil spirits will mark him for their prey, and will make it their business to lead him from one sin to another--to make him not only a negative but a positive transgressor. Such an one, in the language of Paul, _"gives place to the devil"_ (Eph. iv. 27).

_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._

To come to particulars; if any be angry or given to wrath, will he not quickly be led captive to revile and commit murder? If the affection of covetousness possess any, will he not easily be drawn to deceive and steal? The like is to be said of all the passions of the mind, which, if a man cannot bridle or govern, they will carry him headlong with violence into all mischief and misery, as wild and fierce horses oftentimes run away with an unguided coach or waggon.--_Muffett._

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