more, with any expectation of doing you good by it, when you increase revolts as your rebukes are increased? You will revolt more and more, as you have done;" as Ahaz particularly did, who, in his distress, trespassed yet more against the Lord, 2 Chron. xviii. 22. Thus the physician, when he sees the patient's case desperate, troubles him no more with physic; and the father resolves to correct his child no more, when, finding him hardened, he determines to disinherit him. Note, (1.) There are those who are made worse by the methods God takes to make them better; the more they are stricken, the more they revolt; their corruptions, instead of being mortified, are irritated and exasperated, by their afflictions, and their hearts more hardened. (2.) God sometimes, in a way of righteous judgment, ceases to correct those who have been long incorrigible, and whom therefore he designs to destroy. The reprobate silver shall be cast, not into the furnace, but to the dunghill, Jer. vi. 29, 30. See Ezek. xxiv. 13. Hos. iv. 14. He that is filthy, let him be filthy still.
VI. He comforts himself with the consideration of a remnant that should be the monuments of divine grace and mercy, notwithstanding this general corruption and desolation, v. 9. See here, 1. How near they were to an utter extirpation; they were almost like Sodom and Gomorrah, in respect both of sin and ruin, grown almost so bad, that there could not have been found ten righteous men among them, and almost so miserable, that none had been left alive, but their country turned into a sulphureous lake. Divine Justice said, Make them as Admah, set them as Zeboim; but Mercy said, How shall I do it? Hos. xi. 8, 9. 2. What it was that saved them from it; The Lord of hosts left unto them a very small remnant, that were kept pure from the the common apostacy, and kept safe and alive from the common calamity. This is quoted by the apostle, (Rom. ix. 27.) and applied to those few of the Jewish nation, who, in his time, embraced Christianity, when the body of the people rejected it, and in whom the promises made to the fathers were accomplished. Note, (1.) In the worst of times there is a remnant preserved from iniquity, and reserved for mercy, as Noah and his family in the deluge, Lot and his in the destruction of Sodom. Divine grace triumphs in distinguishing by an act of sovereignty. (2.) This remnant is often a very small one, in comparison with the vast numbers of revolting ruined sinners. Multitude is no mark of the true church; Christ's is a little flock. (3.) It is God's work to sanctify and save some, when others are left to perish in their impurity; it is the work of his power, as the Lord of hosts; except he had left us that remnant, there had been none left; the corrupters (v. 4.) did what they could to debauch all, and the devourers (v. 7.) to destroy all; and they would have prevailed, if God himself had not interposed to secure to himself a remnant, who are bound to give him all the glory. (4.) It is good for a people that have been saved from utter ruin, to look back, and see how near they were to it, just upon the brink of it, to see how much they owed to a few good men that stood in the gap, and that that was owing to a good God, who left them these good men. It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed.
10. Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah: 11. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt-offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he-goats. 12. When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand to tread my courts? 13. Bring no more vain oblations: incense is an abomination unto me: the new-moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with: it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. 14. Your new-moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. 15. And when ye spread forth your hands I will hide mine eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.
Here,
I. God calls to them, (but calls in vain,) to hear his word, v. 10. 1. The title he gives them is very strange, Ye rulers of Sodom, and Ye people of Gomorrah. This intimates what a righteous thing it had been with God to make them like Sodom and Gomorrah, in respect of ruin; (v. 9.) because they had made themselves like Sodom and Gomorrah, in respect of sin. The men of Sodom were wicked, and sinners before the Lord exceedingly, (Gen. xiii. 13.) and so were the men of Judah; when the rulers were bad, no wonder the people were so. Vice overpowered virtue, for it had the rulers, the men of figure, on its side; and it outpolled it, for it had the people, the men of number, on its side: the streams being thus strong, no less a power than that of the Lord of hosts could secure a remnant, v. 9. The rulers are boldly attacked here by the prophet, as rulers of Sodom, for he knew not how to give flattering titles; the tradition of the Jews is, that for this he was impeached long after, and put to death, as having cursed the gods, and spoken evil of the ruler of his people. 2. His demand upon them is very reasonable; "Hear the word of the Lord, and give ear to the law of our God; attend to that which God has to say to you, and let his word be a law to you." The following declaration of dislike to their sacrifices, would be a kind of new law to them; though really it was but an explication of the old law; but special regard is to be had to it, as is required to the like, Ps. l. 7, 8. "Hear this, and tremble; hear it, and take warning."
II. He justly refuses to hear their prayers and accept their services, their sacrifices and burnt-offerings, the fat and blood of them, (v. 11.) their attendance in his courts, (v. 12.) their oblations, their incense, and their solemn assemblies, (v. 13.) their new-moons, and their appointed feasts, (v. 14.) their devoutest addresses; (v. 15.) they are all rejected, because their hands were full of blood. Now observe,
1. There are many who are strangers, nay enemies, to the power of religion, and yet seem very zealous for the show and shadow and form of it. This sinful nation, this seed of evil-doers, these rulers of Sodom and people of Gomorrah, brought not to the altars of false gods, (they are not here charged with that,) but to the altar of the God of Israel, sacrifices, a multitude of them, as many as the law required, and rather more, not only peace-offerings, which they themselves had their share of, but burnt-offerings, which were wholly consumed to the honour of God; nor did they bring the torn, and lame, and sick, but fed beasts, and the fat of them, the best of the kind: they did not send others to offer their sacrifices for them, but came themselves to appear before God; they observed the instituted places, not in high-places, or groves, but in God's own courts; and the instituted time, the new-moons, and sabbaths, and appointed feasts, none of which
Vol. iv —C
