Sins in the metropolis.
God's interposition by judgment is threatened on account of the nation's sins. The greatness of their privileges involved special responsibilities and chastisements (Amos 3:2). These sins are traced to their sources in the capitals of the two kingdoms. A metropolis is a centre of influence for good or for evil. This may be illustrated by the histories of both the Hebrew kingdoms. The northern kingdom had in succession three capitals:
I. THE RESPONSIBILITIES ATTACHING TO A METROPOLIS. It is:
1. The seat of government, where kings and rulers live and exert great personal influence, and where laws are passed which, if bad, may corrupt the national conscience and deprave social life.
2. One chief centre of public opinion, where the most educated, and cultivated congregate.
3. The fountain of fashion.
4. The gathering place of the rural population, where the opinions and practices of the citizens may be speedily imbibed. Illustrate from the influence of Paris during the second empire, culminating in the craze for war, which brought ruin on the country in 1870; or from the influence of Constantinople and its pachas on the present condition of the Turkish empire. Such capitals are centres of corruption, like diseased lungs where the blood is deteriorated rather than purified.
II. LESSONS ARE SUGGESTED FOR ALL CLASSES OF RESIDENTS IN A METROPOLIS.
1. For the court, lest they be like Jeroboam, "who made Israel to sin."
2. For legislators. Illustrate from the demoralizing effects of many of our past licensing acts.
3. For editors of newspapers and other leaders of public opinion. It was these who were, to a large extent, responsible for the Crimean War.
4. For the leaders of fashion, who may foster habits of extravagance, of peril to health, or even of cruelty in matters of dress.
5. For men of business; the exchanges of the metropolis giving a tone to the commercial customs of the country.
6. For artisans, whose trades unions may help or injure their fellow workmen scattered in the provinces.
7. For preachers, whom many gather from all parts to hear, and who may give a tone to the preaching of the country.
8. For Church members. Heresy or worldliness in metropolitan Churches may soon spread among rural Churches maintaining a simpler faith and practice (cf. Matthew 5:14, Matthew 5:16; Romans 1:8).—E.S.P.
HOMILIES BY D. THOMAS
Divine revelation.
"The word of the Lord that came to Micah the Morasthite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. Hear, all ye people; hearken, O earth," etc. Micah calls himself a Morasthite because he was a native of Moresheth-Gath, a small town of Judea. He prophesied in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and his prophetic mission commenced soon after that of Isaiah. He was contemporary with him, as well as with Hosea and Amos. His prophecies were directed to Samaria, the capital city of Israel, and also to Jerusalem. Hence we find denunciations against Samaria mingled with prophecies concerning Judah and Jerusalem. One of his predictions, it seems, saved the life of Jeremiah, who would have been put to death for foretelling the destruction of the temple, had not Micah foretold the same thing a hundred years before. The book is commonly divided into three sections—ch, 1. and 2.; Micah 3:1-12. to 5.; Micah 6:1-16. and 7. Each of these opens with a summons to hear God's message, and then proceeds with expostulations and threatenings, which are followed by glorious promises. His style is bold, fiery, and abrupt, and has not a little of the poetic grandeur of Isaiah. His sudden transitions from one subject to another often make his writings difficult to explain. "It is not," says Delitzsch, "a little remarkable that Micah should adopt as the first sentence of his prophecy that with which his namesake concluded his denouncement against Ahab" (1 Kings 22:28). Hengstenborg is of opinion that "he quoted the words designedly, in order to show that his prophetic agency was to be considered as a confirmation of that of his predecessor, who was so zealous for God, and that he had more in common with him than the bare name." We may take these words as suggesting certain thoughts concerning Divine revelation, or the Bible.
I. IT IS THE "WORD OF THE LORD." What is a word?
1. A mind manifesting power. In his word a true man manifiests himself, his thought, feeling, character; and his word is important according to the measure of his faculties, experiences, attainments. Divine revelation manifests the mind of God, especially the moral characteristics of that mind—his rectitude, holiness, mercy, etc.
2. A mind influencing power. Man uses his word to influence other minds, to bring other minds into sympathy with his own. Thus God uses his Word. He uses it to correct human errors, dispel human ignorance, remove human perversities, and turn human thought and sympathy into a course harmonious with his own mind.
II. IT IS "THE WORD OF THE LORD" MADE TO INDIVIDUAL MEN. It "came to Micah the Morasthite." It did not come to all men of his age and country in common. It came to him and a few more. Why certain men were chosen as the special recipients of God's word is a problem whose solution must be left for eternity. If it be said—The men to whom God made special communications were men whose mental faculties, moral genius, and habits specially qualified them to become recipients, and if all men had the same qualifications, all would have Divine communications, the difficulty is not removed by this; for it might still be asked—Why have not all men such qualifications? The fact remains that "Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."
III. IT IS "THE WORD OF THE LORD" MADE TO INDIVIDUAL MEN FOR ALL MANKIND. "Hear, all ye people; hearken, O earth, and all that therein is!" God did not speak to any individual man specially in order that the communication might be kept to himself, but that he might communicate it to others. He makes one man the special recipient of truth that he may become the organ and promoter of it. God's Word is for the world, and the man who has it should give it forth. God enlightens, renovates, and roves man by man.—D.T.