Resultados para: "Sabaoth"

<p>We have here an account of the state of the family into which Samuel the prophet was born. His father&#039;s name was Elkanah, a Levite, and of the family of the Kohathites (the most honourable house of that tribe) as appears, Ch1 6:33, Ch1 6:34. His ancestor Zuph was an Ephrathite, that is, of Bethlehem-Judah, which was called Ephrathah, Ruth, Rut 1:2. There this family of the Levites was first seated, but one branch of it, in process of time, removed to Mount Ephraim, from which Elkanah descended. Micah&#039;s Levite came from Bethlehem to Mount Ephraim, Jdg 17:8. Perhaps notice is taken of their being originally Ephrathites to show their alliance to David. This Elkanah lived at Ramah, or Ramathaim, which signifies the double Ramah, the higher and lower town, the same with Arimathea of which Joseph was, here called Ramathaim-zophim. Zophim signifies watchmen; probably they had one of the schools of the prophets there, for prophets are called watchmen: the Chaldee paraphrase calls Elkanah a disciple of the prophets. But it seems to me that it was in Samuel that prophecy revived, before his time there being, for a great while, no open vision, Sa1 3:1. Nor is there any mention of a prophet of the Lord from Moses to Samuel, except Jdg 6:8. So that we have no reason to think that there was any nursery or college of prophets here till Samuel himself founded one, Jdg 19:19, Jdg 19:20. This is the account of Samuel&#039;s parentage, and the place of his nativity. Let us now take notice of the state of the family.
I. It was a devout family. All the families of Israel should be so, but Levites&#039; families in a particular manner. Ministers should be patterns of family religion. Elkanah went up at the solemn feasts to the tabernacle at Shiloh, to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts. I think this is the first time in scripture that God is called the Lord of hosts - Jehovah Sabaoth, a name by which he was afterwards very much called and known. Probably Samuel the prophet was the first that used this title of God, for the comfort of Israel, when in his time their hosts were few and feeble and those of their enemies many and mighty; then it would be a support to them to think that the God they served was Lord of hosts, of all the hosts both of heaven and earth; of them he has a sovereign command, and makes what use he pleases of them. Elkanah was a country Levite, and, for aught that appears, had not any place or office which required his attendance at the tabernacle, but he went up as a common Israelite, with his own sacrifices, to encourage his neighbours and set them a good example. When he sacrificed he worshipped, joining prayers and thanksgivings with his sacrifices. In this course of religion he was constant, for he went up yearly. And that which made it the more commendable in him was, 1. That there was a general decay and neglect of religion in the nations. Some among them worshipped other gods, and the generality were remiss in the service of the God of Israel, and yet Elkanah kept his integrity; whatever others did, his resolution was that he and his house should serve the Lord. 2. That Hophni and Phinehas, the sons of Eli, were the men that were now chiefly employed in the service of the house of God; and they were men that conducted themselves very ill in their place, as we shall find afterwards; yet Elkanah went up to sacrifice. God had then tied his people to one place and one altar, and forbidden them, under any pretence whatsoever, to worship elsewhere, and therefore, in pure obedience to that command, he attended at Shiloh. If the priests did not do their duty, he would do his. Thanks be to God, we, under the gospel, are not tied to any one place or family; but the pastors and teachers whom the exalted Redeemer has given to his church are those only whose ministration tends to the perfecting of the saints and the edifying of the body of Christ, Eph 4:11, Eph 4:12. None have dominion over our faith; but our obligation is to those that are the helpers of our holiness and joy, not to any that by their scandalous immoralities, like Hophni and Phinehas, make the sacrifices of the Lord to be abhorred, though still the validity and efficacy of the sacraments depend not on the purity of him that administers them.
II. Yet it was a divided family, and the divisions of it carried with them both guilt and grief. Where there is piety, it is a pity but there should be unity. The joint-devotions of a family should put an end to divisions in it.
1. The original cause of this division was Elkanah&#039;s marrying two wives, which was a transgression of the original institution of marriage, to which our Saviour reduces it. Mat 19:5, Mat 19:8, From the beginning it was not so. It made mischief in Abraham&#039;s family, and Jacob&#039;s, and here in Elkanah&#039;s. How much better does the law of God provide for our comfort and ease in this world than we should, if we were left to ourselves! It is probable that Elkanah married Hannah first, and, because he had not children by her so soon as he hoped, he married Peninnah, who bore him children indeed, but was in other things a vexation to him. Thus are men often beaten with rods of their own making.
2. That which followed upon this error was that the two wives could not agree. They had different blessings: Peninnah, like Leah, was fruitful and had many children, which should have made her easy and thankful, though she was but a second wife, and was less beloved; Hannah, like Rachel, was childless indeed, but she was very dear to her husband, and he took all occasions to let both her and others know that she was so, and many a worthy portion he gave her (Sa1 1:5), and this should have made her easy and thankful. But they were of different tempers: Peninnah could not bear the blessing of fruitfulness, but she grew haughty and insolent; Hannah could not bear the affliction of barrenness, but she grew melancholy and discontented: and Elkanah had a difficult part to act between them.
(1.) Elkanah kept up his attendance at God&#039;s altar notwithstanding this unhappy difference in his family, and took his wives and children with him, that, if they could not agree in other things, they might agree to worship God together. If the devotions of a family prevail not to put an end to its divisions, yet let not the divisions put a stop to the devotions.
(2.) He did all he could to encourage Hannah, and to keep up her spirits under her affliction, Sa1 1:4, Sa1 1:5. At the feast he offered peace-offerings, to supplicate for peace in his family; and when he and his family were to eat their share of the sacrifice, in token of their communion with God and his altar, though he carved to Peninnah and her children competent portions, yet to Hannah he gave a worthy portion, the choicest piece that came to the table, the piece (whatever it was) that used to be given on such occasions to those that were most valued; this he did in token of his love to her, and to give all possible assurances of it. Observe, [1.] Elkanah loved his wife never the less for her being barren. Christ loves his church, notwithstanding her infirmities, her barrenness; and so ought men to love their wives, Eph 5:25. To abate our just love to any relation for the sake of any infirmity which they cannot help, and which is not their sin but their affliction, is to make God&#039;s providence quarrel with his precept, and very unkindly to add affliction to the afflicted. [2.] He studied to show his love so much the more because she was afflicted, insulted, and low-spirited. It is wisdom and duty to support the weakest, and to hold up those that are run down. [3.] He showed his great love to her by the share he gave her of his peace-offerings. Thus we should testify our affection to our friends and relations, by abounding in prayer for them. The better we love them the more room let us give them in our prayers.
(3.) Peninnah was extremely peevish and provoking. [1.] She upbraided Hannah with her affliction, despised her because she was barren, and gave her taunting language, as one whom Heaven did not favour. [2.] She envied the interest she had in the love of Elkanah, and the more kind he was to her the more was she exasperated against her, which was all over base and barbarous. [3.] She did this most when they went up to the house of the Lord, perhaps because then they were more together than at other times, or because then Elkanah showed his affection most to Hannah. But it was very sinful at such a time to show her malice, when pure hands were to be lifted up at God&#039;s altar without wrath and quarrelling. It was likewise very unkind at that time to vex Hannah, not only because then they were in company, and others would take notice of it, but then Hannah was to mind her devotions, and desired to be most calm and composed, and free from disturbance. The great adversary to our purity and peace is then most industrious to ruffle us when we should be most composed. When the sons of God come to present themselves before the Lord Satan will be sure to come among them, Job 1:6. [4.] She continued to do this from year to year, not once or twice, but it was her constant practice; neither deference to her husband nor compassion to Hannah could break her of it. [5.] That which she designed was to make her fret, perhaps in hopes to break her heart, that she might possess her husband&#039;s heart solely, or because she took a pleasure in her uneasiness, nor could Hannah gratify her more than by fretting. Note, It is an evidence of a base disposition to delight in grieving those that are melancholy and of a sorrowful spirit, and in putting those out of humour that are apt to fret and be uneasy. We ought to bear one another&#039;s burdens, not add to them.
(4.) Hannah (poor woman) could not hear the provocation: She wept, and did not eat, Sa1 1:7. It made her uneasy to herself and to all her relations. She did not eat of the feast; her trouble took away her appetite, made her unfit for any company, and a jar in the harmony of family-joy. It was of the feast upon the sacrifice that she did not eat, for they were not to eat of the holy things in their mourning, Deu 26:14; Lev 10:19. Yet it was her infirmity so far to give way to the sorrow of the world as to unfit herself for holy joy in God. Those that are of a fretful spirit, and are apt to lay provocations too much to heart, are enemies to themselves, and strip themselves very much of the comforts both of life and godliness. We find that God took notice of this ill effect of discontents and disagreements in the conjugal relation, that the parties aggrieved covered the altar of the Lord with tears, insomuch that he regarded not the offering, Mal 2:13.
(5.) Elkanah said what he could to her to comfort her. She did not upbraid him with his unkindness in marrying another wife as Sarah did, nor did she render to Peninnah railing for railing, but took the trouble wholly to herself, which made her an object of much compassion. Elkanah showed himself extremely grieved at her grief (Sa1 1:8): Hannah, why weepest thou? [1.] He is much disquieted to see her thus overwhelmed with sorrow. Those that by marriage are made one flesh ought thus far to be of one spirit too, to share in each other&#039;s troubles, so that one cannot be easy while the other is uneasy. [2.] He gives her a loving reproof for it: Why weepest thou? And why is thy heart grieved? As many as God loves he rebukes, and so should we. He puts her upon enquiring into the cause of her grief. Though she had just reason to be troubled, yet let her consider whether she had reason to be troubled to such a degree, especially so much as to be taken off by it from eating of the holy things. Note, Our sorrow upon any account is sinful and inordinate when it diverts us from our duty to God and embitters our comfort in him, when it makes us unthankful for the mercies we enjoy and distrustful of the goodness of God to us in further mercies, when it casts a damp upon our joy in Christ, and hinders us from doing the duty and taking the comfort of our particular relations. [3.] He intimates that nothing should be wanting on his part to balance her grief: &quot;Am not I better to thee than ten sons? Thou knowest thou hast my entire affection, and let that comfort thee.&quot; Note, We ought to take notice of our comforts, to keep us from grieving excessively for our crosses; for our crosses we deserve, but our comforts we have forfeited. If we would keep the balance even, we must look at that which is for us, as well as at that which is against us, else we are unjust to Providence and unkind to ourselves. God hath set the one over-against the other (Ecc 7:14) and so should we.</p>

<p>If I looked unto the sun (as an object of worship) because he shined; or to the moon because she walked, &amp;c. Sabaism (from tsaba, &quot;the heavenly hosts&quot;) was the earliest form of false worship. God is hence called in contradistinction, &quot;Lord of Sabaoth.&quot; The sun, moon, and stars, the brightest objects in nature, and seen everywhere, were supposed to be visible representatives of the invisible God. They had no temples, but were worshipped on high places and roofs of houses (Eze 8:16; Deu 4:19; Kg2 23:5, Kg2 23:11). The Hebrew here for &quot;sun&quot; is light. Probably light was worshipped as the emanation from God, before its embodiments, the sun, &amp;c. This worship prevailed in Chaldea; wherefore Job&#039;s exemption from the idolatry of his neighbors was the more exemplary. Our &quot;Sun-day,&quot; &quot;Mon-day,&quot; or Moon-day, bear traces of Sabaism.</p>

<p>Personification. The complaints of the unjustly ousted proprietors are transferred to the lands themselves (Job 31:20; Gen 4:10; Hab 2:11). If I have unjustly acquired lands (Job 24:2; Isa 5:8).

furrows--The specification of these makes it likely, he implies in this, &quot;If I paid not the laborer for tillage&quot;; as Job 31:39, &quot;If I paid him not for gathering in the fruits.&quot; Thus of the four clauses in Job 31:38-39, the first refers to the same subject as the fourth, the second is connected with the third by introverted parallelism. Compare Jam 5:4, which plainly alludes to this passage: compare &quot;Lord of Sabaoth&quot; with Job 31:26 here.</p>

<p>Jehovah of Sabaoth, that is, God of the angelic and starry hosts (Psa 59:5; Psa 147:4; Psa 148:2). The latter were objects of idolatry, called hence Sabaism (Kg2 17:16). God is above even them (Ch1 16:26). &quot;The groves&quot; were symbols of these starry hosts; it was their worship of Sabaoth instead of the Lord of Sabaoth, which had caused the present desolation (Ch2 24:18). It needed no less a power than His, to preserve even a &quot;remnant.&quot; Condescending grace for the elect&#039;s sake, since He has no need of us, seeing that He has countless hosts to serve Him.</p>

<p>bringeth out . . . host--image from a general reviewing his army: He is Lord of Sabaoth, the heavenly hosts (Job 38:32).

calleth . . . by names--numerous as the stars are. God knows each in all its distinguishing characteristics--a sense which &quot;name&quot; often bears in Scripture; so in Gen 2:19-20, Adam, as God&#039;s vicegerent, called the beasts by name, that is, characterized them by their several qualities, which, indeed, He has imparted.

by the greatness . . . faileth--rather, &quot;by reason of abundance of (their inner essential) force and firmness of strength, not one of them is driven astray&quot;; referring to the sufficiency of the physical forces with which He has endowed the heavenly bodies, to prevent all disorder in their motions [HORSLEY]. In English Version the sense is, &quot;He has endowed them with their peculiar attributes (&#039;names&#039;) by the greatness of His might,&quot; and the power of His strength (the better rendering, instead of, &quot;for that He is strong&quot;).</p>

<p>to the prince of the host--that is, God Himself, the Lord of Sabaoth, the hosts in heaven and earth, stars, angels, and earthly ministers. So Dan 8:25, &quot;he shall stand up against the Prince of princes&quot;; &quot;against the God of gods&quot; (Dan 11:36; compare Dan 7:8). He not only opposes God&#039;s ancient people, but also God Himself.

daily sacrifice--offered morning and evening (Exo 29:38-39).

taken away--by Antiochus (1 Maccabees 1:20-50).

sanctuary . . . cast down--Though robbed of its treasures, it was not strictly cast down&quot; by Antiochus. So that a fuller accomplishment is future. Antiochus took away the daily sacrifice for a few years; the Romans, for many ages, and &quot;cast down&quot; the temple; and Antichrist, in connection with Rome, the fourth kingdom, shall do so again after the Jews in their own land, still unbelieving, shall have rebuilt the temple, and restored the Mosaic ritual: God giving them up to him &quot;by reason of transgression&quot; (Dan 8:12), that is, not owning the worship so rendered [TREGELLES]; and then the opposition of the horn to the &quot;truth&quot; is especially mentioned.</p>

<p>worship the host of heaven--Saba: whence, in contrast to Sabeanism, Jehovah is called Lord of Sabaoth.

upon the housetops--which were flat (Kg2 23:5-6, Kg2 23:12; Jer 19:13; Jer 32:29).

swear by the Lord--rather, &quot;swear to JEHOVAH&quot; (Ch2 15:14); solemnly dedicating themselves to Him (compare Isa 48:1; Hos 4:15).

and--&quot;and yet (with strange inconsistency, Kg1 18:21; Eze 20:39; Mat 6:24) swear by Malcham,&quot; that is, &quot;their king&quot; [MAURER]: the same as Molech (see on Amo 5:25), and &quot;Milcom the god of . . . Ammon&quot; (Kg1 11:33). If Satan have half the heart, he will have all; if the Lord have but half offered to Him, He will have none.</p>

<p>shall not God--not unjust, but the infinitely righteous Judge.

avenge--redeem from oppression.

his own elect--not like this widow, the object of indifference and contempt, but dear to Him as the apple of the eye (Zac 2:8).

cry day and night--whose every cry enters into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth (Jam 5:4), and how much more their incessant and persevering cries!

bear long with them--rather, &quot;in their case,&quot; or &quot;on their account&quot; (as) Jam 5:7, &quot;for it&quot;), [GROTIUS, DE WETTE, &amp;c.].</p>

<p>Having explained the promise, and proved the divine sovereignty, the apostle here shows how the rejection of the Jews, and the taking in of the Gentiles, were foretold in the Old Testament, and therefore must needs be very well consistent with the promise made to the fathers under the Old Testament. It tends very much to the clearing of a truth to observe how the scripture is fulfilled in it. The Jews would, no doubt, willingly refer it to the Old Testament, the scriptures of which were committed to them. Now he shows how this, which was so uneasy to them, was there spoken of.
I. By the prophet Hosea, who speaks of the taking in of a great many of the Gentiles, Hos 2:23 and Hos 1:10. The Gentiles had not been the people of God, not owning him, nor being owned by him in that relation: &quot;But,&quot; says he, &quot;I will call them my people, make them such and own them as such, notwithstanding all their unworthiness.&quot; A blessed change! Former badness is no bar to God&#039;s present grace and mercy. - And her beloved which was not beloved. Those whom God calls his people he calls beloved: he loves those that are his own. And lest it might be supposed that they should become God&#039;s people only by being proselyted to the Jewish religion, and made members of that nation, he adds, from Hos 1:10, In the place where it was said, etc., there shall they be called. They need not be embodied with the Jews, nor go up to Jerusalem to worship; but, wherever they are scattered over the face of the earth, there will God own them. Observe the great dignity and honour of the saints, that they are called the children of the living God; and his calling them so makes them so. Behold, what manner of love! This honour have all his saints.
II. By the prophet Isaiah, who speaks of the casting off of many of the Jews, in two places.
1. One is Isa 10:22, Isa 10:23, which speaks of the saving of a remnant, that is, but a remnant, which, though in the prophecy it seems to refer to the preservation of a remnant from the destruction and desolation that were coming upon them by Sennacherib and his army, yet is to be understood as looking further, and sufficiently proves that it is no strange thing for God to abandon to ruin a great many of the seed of Abraham, and yet maintain his word of promise to Abraham in full force and virtue. This is intimated in the supposition that the number of children of Israel was as the sand of the sea, which was part of the promise made to Abraham, Gen 22:17. And yet only a remnant shall be saved; for many are called, but few are chosen. In this salvation of the remnant we are told (Rom 9:28) from the prophet, (1.) That he will complete the work: He will finish the work. When God begins he will make an end, whether in ways of judgment or of mercy. The rejection of the unbelieving Jews god would finish in their utter ruin by the Romans, who soon after this quite took away their place and nation. The assuming of Christian churches into the divine favour, and the spreading of the gospel in other nations, was a work which God would likewise finish, and be known by his name JEHOVAH. As for God, his work is perfect. Margin, He will finish the account. God, in his eternal counsels, has taken an account of the children of men, allotted them to such or such a condition, to such a share of privileges; and, as they come into being, his dealings with them are pursuant to these counsels: and he will finish the account, complete the mystical body, call in as many as belong to the election of grace, and then the account will be finished. (2.) That he will contract it; not only finish it, but finish it quickly. Under the Old Testament he seemed to tarry, and to make a longer and more tedious work of it. The wheels moved but slowly towards the extent of the church; but now he will cut it short, and make a short work upon the earth. Gentile converts were now flying as a cloud. But he will cut it short in righteousness, both in wisdom and in justice. Men, when they cut short, do amiss; they do indeed despatch causes; but, when God cuts short, it is always in righteousness. So the fathers generally apply it. Some understand it of the evangelical law and covenant, which Christ has introduced and established in the world: he has in that finished the work, put an end to the types and ceremonies of the Old Testament. Christ said, It is finished, and then the veil was rent, echoing as it were to the word that Christ said upon the cross. And he will cut it short. The work (it is logos - the word, the law) was under the Old Testament very long; a long train of institutions, ceremonies, conditions: but now it is cut short. Our duty is now, under the gospel, summed up in much less room than it was under the law; the covenant was abridged and contracted; religion is brought into a less compass. And it is in righteousness, in favour to us, in justice to his own design and counsel. With us contractions are apt to darken things: -
- Brevis esse laboro, Obscurus fio -
I strive to be concise, but prove obscure.
but it is not so in this case. Though it be cut short, it is clear and plain; and, because short, the more easy.
2. Another is quoted from Isa 1:9, where the prophet is showing how in a time of general calamity and destruction God would preserve a seed. This is to the same purport with the former; and the scope of it is to show that it was no strange thing for God to leave the greatest part of the people of the Jews to ruin, and to reserve to himself only a small remnant: so he had done formerly, as appears by their own prophets; and they must not wonder if he did so now. Observe, (1.) What God is. He is the Lord of sabaoth, that is, the Lord of hosts - a Hebrew word retained in the Greek, as Jam 5:4. All the host of heaven and earth are at his beck and disposal. When God secures a seed to himself out of a degenerate apostate world, he acts as Lord of sabaoth. It is an act of almighty power and infinite sovereignty. (2.) What his people are; they are a seed, a small number. The corn reserved for next year&#039;s seedings is but little, compared with that which is spent and eaten. But they are a useful number - the seed, the substance, of the next generation, Isa 6:13. It is so far from being an impeachment of the justice and righteousness of God that so many perish and are destroyed, that it is a wonder of divine power and mercy that all are not destroyed, that there are any saved; for even those that are left to be a seed, if God had dealt with them according to their sins, had perished with the rest. This is the great truth which this scripture teacheth us.</p>

<p>And--rather, &quot;But,&quot; inarticulate though these groanings be.

he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he--the Spirit

maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God--As the Searcher of hearts, He watches the surging emotions of them in prayer, and knows perfectly what the Spirit means by the groanings which He draws forth within us, because that blessed Intercessor pleads by them only for what God Himself designs to bestow.

Note, (1) Are believers &quot;led by the Spirit of God&quot; (Rom 8:14)? How careful then should they be not to &quot;grieve the Holy Spirit of God&quot; (Eph 4:30)! Compare Psa 32:8-9 : &quot;I will . . . guide thee with Mine eye. Be not (then) as the horse, or as the mule,&quot; &amp;c. (2) &quot;The spirit of bondage,&quot; to which many Protestants are &quot;all their lifetime subject,&quot; and the &quot;doubtsome faith&quot; which the Popish Church systematically inculcates, are both rebuked here, being in direct and painful contrast to that &quot;spirit of adoption,&quot; and that witness of the Spirit, along with our own spirit, to the fact of our sonship, which it is here said the children of God, as such, enjoy (Rom 8:15-16). (3) As suffering with Christ is the ordained preparation for participating in this glory, so the insignificance of the one as compared with the other cannot fail to lighten the sense of it, however bitter and protracted (Rom 8:17-18). (4) It cannot but swell the heart of every intelligent Christian to think that if external nature has been mysteriously affected for evil by the fall of man, it only awaits his completed recovery, at the resurrection, to experience a corresponding emancipation from its blighted condition into undecaying life and unfading beauty (Rom 8:19-23). (5) It is not when believers, through sinful &quot;quenching of the Spirit,&quot; have the fewest and faintest glimpses of heaven, that they sigh most fervently to be there; but, on the contrary, when through the unobstructed working of the Spirit in their hearts, &quot;the first-fruits&quot; of the glory to be revealed are most largely and frequently tasted, then, and just for that reason, is it that they &quot;groan within themselves&quot; for full redemption (Rom 8:23). For thus they reason: If such be the drops, what will the ocean be? If thus &quot;to see through a glass darkly&quot; be so very sweet, what will it be to &quot;see face to face?&quot; If when &quot;my Beloved stands behind our wall, looking forth at the windows, showing Himself through the lattice&quot; (Sol 2:9) --that thin veil which parts the seen from the unseen--if He is even thus to me &quot;Fairer than the children of men,&quot; what shall He be when He stands confessed before my undazzled vision, the Only-begotten of the Father in my own nature, and I shall be like Him, for I shall see Him as He is? (6) &quot;The patience of hope&quot; (Th1 1:3) is the fitting attitude for those who with the joyful consciousness that they are already &quot;saved&quot; (Ti2 1:9; Tit 3:5), have yet the painful consciousness that they are saved but in part: or, &quot;that being justified by His grace, they are made (in the present state) heirs according to the hope (only) of eternal life,&quot; Tit 3:7 (Rom 8:24-25). (7) As prayer is the breath of the spiritual life, and the believer&#039;s only effectual relief under the &quot;infirmity&quot; which attaches to his whole condition here below, how cheering is it to be assured that the blessed Spirit, cognizant of it all, comes in aid of it all; and in particular, that when believers, unable to articulate their case before God, can at times do nothing but lie &quot;groaning&quot; before the Lord, these inarticulate groanings are the Spirit&#039;s own vehicle for conveying into &quot;the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth&quot; their whole case; and come up before the Hearer of prayer as the Spirit&#039;s own intercession in their behalf, and that they are recognized by Him that sitteth on the Throne, as embodying only what His own &quot;will&quot; determined before to bestow upon them (Rom 8:26-27)! (8) What a view do these two verses (Rom 8:26-27) give of the relations subsisting between the Divine Persons in the economy of redemption, and the harmony of their respective operations in the case of each of the redeemed!

THIRD: Triumphant Summary of the Whole Argument (Rom 8:28-39).</p>

<p>And as Esaias said--&quot;hath said&quot;

before--that is, probably in an earlier part of his book, namely, Isa 1:9.

Except the Lord of Sabaoth--that is, &quot;The Lord of Hosts&quot;: the word is Hebrew, but occurs so in the Epistle of James (Jam 5:4), and has thence become naturalized in our Christian phraseology.

had left us a seed--meaning a &quot;remnant&quot;; small at first, but in due time to be a seed of plenty (compare Psa 22:30-31; Isa 6:12-13).

we had been--&quot;become&quot;

as Sodom, &amp;c.--But for this precious seed, the chosen people would have resembled the cities of the plain, both in degeneracy of character and in merited doom.</p>

<p>The apostle is here addressing first sinners and then saints.
I. Let us consider the address to sinners; and here we find James seconding what his great Master had said: Woe unto you that are rich; for you have received your consolation, Luk 6:24. The rich people to whom this word of warning was sent were not such as professed the Christian religion, but the worldly and unbelieving Jews, such as are here said to condemn and kill the just, which the Christians had no power to do; and though this epistle was written for the sake of the faithful, and was sent principally to them, yet, by an apostrophe, the infidel Jews may be well supposed here spoken to. They would not hear the word, and therefore it is written, that they might read it. It is observable, in the very first inscription of this epistle, that it is not directed, as Paul&#039;s epistles were, to the brethren in Christ, but, in general, to the twelve tribes; and the salutation is not, grace and peace from Christ, but, in general, greeting, Jam 1:1. The poor among the Jews received the gospel, and many of them believed; but the generality of the rich rejected Christianity, and were hardened in their unbelief, and hated and persecuted those who believed on Christ. To these oppressing, unbelieving, persecuting, rich people, the apostle addresses himself in the first six verses.
1. He foretels the judgments of God that should come upon them, Jam 5:1-3. they should have miseries come upon them, and such dreadful miseries that the very apprehension of them was enough to make them weep and howl - misery that should arise from the very things in which they placed their happiness, and misery that should be completed by these things witnessing against them at the last, to their utter destruction; and they are now called to reason upon and thoroughly to weigh the matter, and to think how they will stand before God in judgment: Go to now, you rich men. (1.) &quot;You may be assured of this that very dreadful calamities are coming upon you, calamities that shall carry nothing of support nor comfort in them, but all misery, misery in time, misery to eternity, misery in your outward afflictions, misery in your inward frame and temper of mind, misery in this world, misery in hell. You have not a single instance of misery only coming upon you, but miseries. The ruin of your church and nation is at hand; and there will come a day of wrath, when riches shall not profit men, but all the wicked shall be destroyed.&quot; (2.) The very apprehension of such miseries as were coming upon them is enough to make them weep and howl. Rich men are apt to say to themselves (and others are ready to say to them), Eat, drink, and be merry; but God says, Weep and howl. It is not said, Weep and repent, for this the apostle does not expect from them (he speaks in a way of denouncing rather than admonishing); but, &quot;Weep and howl, for when your doom comes there will be nothing but weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth.&quot; Those who live like beasts are called howl like such. Public calamities are most grievous to rich people, who live in pleasure, and are secure and sensual; and therefore they shall weep and howl more than other people for the miseries that shall come upon them. (3.) Their misery shall arise from the very things in which they placed their happiness. &quot;Corruption, decay, rust, and ruin, will come upon all your goodly things: Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten, Jam 5:2. Those things which you now inordinately affect will hereafter insupportably wound you: they will be of no worth, of no use to you, but, on the contrary, will pierce you through with many sorrows; for,&quot; (4.) &quot;They will witness against you, and they will eat your flesh as it were fire,&quot; Jam 5:3. Things inanimate are frequently represented in scripture as witnessing against wicked men. Heaven, earth, the stones of the field, the production of the ground, and here the very rust and canker of ill-gotten and ill-kept treasures, are said to witness against impious rich men. They think to heap up treasure for their latter days, to live plentifully upon when they come to be old; but, alas! they are only heaping up treasures to become a prey to others (as the Jews had all taken from them by the Romans), and treasures that will prove at last to be only treasures of wrath, in the day of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God. Then shall their iniquities, in the punishment of them, eat their flesh as it were with fire. In the ruin of Jerusalem, many thousands perished by fire; in the last judgment the wicked shall be condemned to everlasting burnings, prepared for the devil and his angels. The Lord deliver us from the portion of wicked rich men! and, in order to this, let us take care that we do not fall into their sins, which we are next to consider.
2. The apostle shows what those sins are which should bring such miseries. To be in so deplorable a condition must doubtless be owing to some very heinous crimes. (1.) Covetousness is laid to the charge of this people; they laid by their garments till they bred moths and were eaten; they hoarded up their gold and silver till they were rusty and cankered. It is a very great disgrace to these things that they carry in them the principles of their own corruption and consumption - the garment breeds the moth that frets it, the gold and silver breeds the canker that eats it; but the disgrace falls most heavily upon those who hoard and lay up these things till they come to be thus corrupted, and cankered, and eaten. God gives us our worldly possessions that we may honour him and do good with them; but if, instead of this, we sinfully hoard them up, thorough and undue affection towards them, or a distrust of the providence of God for the future, this is a very heinous crime, and will be witnessed against by the very rust and corruption of the treasure thus heaped together. (2.) Another sin charged upon those against whom James writes is oppression: Behold, the hire of the labourers, who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth, etc., Jam 5:4. Those who have wealth in their hands get power into their hands, and then they are tempted to abuse that power to oppress such as are under them. The rich we here find employing the poor in their labours, and the rich have as much need of the labours of the poor as the poor have of wages from the rich, and could as ill be without them; but yet, not considering this, they kept back the hire of the labourers; having power in their hands, it is probable that they made as hard bargains with the poor as they could, and even after that would not make good their bargains as they should have done. This is a crying sin, an iniquity that cries so as to reach the ears of God; and, in this case, God is to be considered as the Lord of sabaoth, or the Lord of hosts, Kuriou sabaōth, a phrase often used in the Old Testament, when the people of God were defenseless and wanted protection, and when their enemies were numerous and powerful. The Lord of hosts, who has all ranks of beings and creatures at his disposal, and who sets all in their several places, hears the oppressed when they cry by reason of the cruelty or injustice of the oppressor, and he will give orders to some of those hosts that are under him (angels, devils, storms, distempers, or the like) to avenge the wrongs done to those who are dealt with unrighteously and unmercifully. Take heed of this sin of defrauding and oppressing, and avoid the very appearances of it. (3.) Another sin here mentioned is sensuality and voluptuousness. You have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton, Jam 5:5. God does not forbid us to use pleasure; but to live in them as if we lived for nothing else is a very provoking sin; and to do this on the earth, where we are but strangers and pilgrims, where we are but to continue for a while, and where we ought to be preparing for eternity - this, this is a grievous aggravation of the sin of voluptuousness. Luxury makes people wanton, as in Hos 13:6, According to their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled, and their heart was exalted; therefore have they forgotten me. Wantonness and luxury are commonly the effects of great plenty and abundance; it is hard for people to have great plenty and abundance; it is hard for people to have great estates, and not too much indulge themselves in carnal, sensual pleasures: &quot;You have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter: you live as if it were every day a day of sacrifices, a festival; and hereby your hearts are fattened and nourished to stupidity, dulness, pride, and an insensibility to the wants and afflictions of others.&quot; Some may say, &quot;What harm is there in good cheer, provided people do not spend above what they have?&quot; What! Is it no harm for people to make gods of their bellies, and to give all to these, instead of abounding in acts of charity and piety? Is it no harm for people to unfit themselves for minding the concerns of their souls, by indulging the appetites of their bodies? Surely that which brought flames upon Sodom, and would bring these miseries for which rich men are here called to weep and howl, must be a heinous evil! Pride, and idleness, and fullness of bread, mean the same thing with living in pleasure, and being wanton, and nourishing the heart as in a day of slaughter. (4.) Another sin here charged on the rich is persecution: You have condemned and killed the just, and he doth not resist you, Jam 5:6. This fills up the measure of their iniquity. They oppressed and acted very unjustly, to get estates; when they had them, they gave way to luxury and sensuality, till they had lost all sense and feeling of the wants or afflictions of others; and then they persecute and kill without remorse. They pretend to act legally indeed, they condemn before they kill; but unjust prosecutions, whatever colour of law they may carry in them, will come into the reckoning when God shall make inquisition for blood, as well as massacres and downright murders. Observe here, The just may be condemned and killed: but then again observe, When such do suffer, and yield without resistance to the unjust sentence of oppressors, this is marked by God, to the honour of the sufferers and the infamy of their persecutors; this commonly shows that judgments are at the door, and we may certainly conclude that a reckoning-day will come, to reward the patience of the oppressed and to break to pieces the oppressor. Thus far the address to sinners goes.
II. We have next subjoined an address to saints. Some have been ready to despise or to condemn this way of preaching, when ministers, in their application, have brought a word to sinners, and a word to saints; but, from the apostle&#039;s here taking this method, we may conclude that this is the best way rightly to divide the word of truth. From what has been said concerning wicked and oppressing rich men, occasion is given to administer comfort to God&#039;s afflicted people: &quot;Be patient therefore; since God will send such miseries on the wicked, you may see what is your duty, and where your greatest encouragement lies.&quot;
1. Attend to your duty: Be patient (Jam 5:7), establish your hearts (Jam 5:8), grudge not one against another, brethren, Jam 5:9. Consider well the meaning of these three expressions: - (1.) &quot;Be patient - bear your afflictions without murmuring, your injuries without revenge; and, though God should not in any signal manner appear for you immediately, wait for him. The vision is for an appointed time; at the end it will speak, and will not lie; therefore wait for it. It is but a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Let your patience be lengthened out to long suffering;&quot; so the word here used, makrothumēsate, signifies. When we have done our work, we have need of patience to stay for our reward. This Christian patience is not a mere yielding to necessity, as the moral patience taught by some philosophers was, but it is a humble acquiescence in the wisdom and will of God, with an eye to a future glorious recompense: Be patient to the coming of the Lord. And because this is a lesson Christians must learn, though ever so hard or difficult to the, it is repeated in Jam 5:8, Be you also patient. (2.) &quot;Establish your hearts - let your faith be firm, without wavering, your practice of what is good constant and continued, without tiring, and your resolutions for God and heaven fixed, in spite of all sufferings or temptations.&quot; The prosperity of the wicked and the affliction of the righteous have in all ages been a very great trial to the faith of the people of God. David tells us that his feet were almost gone, when he saw the prosperity of the wicked, Psa 73:2, Psa 73:3. Some of those Christians to whom St. James wrote might probably be in the same tottering condition; and therefore they are called upon to establish their hearts; faith and patience will establish the heart. (3.) Grudge not one against another; the words mē stenazete signify, Groan not one against another, that is, &quot;Do not make one another uneasy by your murmuring groans at what befalls you, nor by your distrustful groans as to what may further come upon you, nor by your revengeful groans against the instruments of your sufferings, nor by your envious groans at those who may be free from your calamities: do not make yourselves uneasy and make one another uneasy by thus groaning to and grieving one another.&quot; &quot;The apostle seemeth to me&quot; (says Dr. Manton) &quot;to be here taxing those mutual injuries and animosities wherewith the Christians of those times, having banded under the names of circumcision and uncircumcision, did grieve one another, and give each other cause to groan; so that they did not only sigh under the oppressions of the rich persecutors, but under the injuries which they sustained from many of the brethren who, together with them, did profess the holy faith.&quot; Those who are in the midst of common enemies, and in any suffering circumstances, should be more especially careful not to grieve nor to groan against one another, otherwise judgments will come upon them as well as others; and the more such grudgings prevail the nearer do they show judgment to be.
2. Consider what encouragement here is for Christians to be patient, to establish their hearts, and not to grudge one against another. And, (1.) &quot;Look to the example of the husbandman: He waits for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. When you sow your corn in the ground, you wait many months for the former and latter rain, and are willing to stay till harvest for the fruit of your labour; and shall not this teach you to bear a few storms, and to be patient for a season, when you are looking for a kingdom and everlasting felicity? Consider him that waits for a crop of corn; and will not you wait for a crown of glory? If you should be called to wait a little longer than the husbandman does, is it not something proportionably greater and infinitely more worth your waiting for? But,&quot; (2.) &quot;Think how short your waiting time may possibly be: The coming of the Lord draweth nigh, Jam 5:8; behold, the Judge standeth before the door, Jam 5:9. Do not be impatient, do not quarrel with one another; the great Judge, who will set all to rights, who will punish the wicked and reward the good, is at hand: he should be conceived by you to stand as near as one who is just knocking at the door.&quot; The coming of the Lord to punish the wicked Jews was then very nigh, when James wrote this epistle; and, whenever the patience and other graces of his people are tried in an extraordinary manner, the certainty of Christ&#039;s coming as Judge, and the nearness of it, should establish their hearts. The Judge is now a great deal nearer, in his coming to judge the world, than when this epistle was written, nearer by above seventeen hundred years; and therefore this should have the greater effect upon us. (3.) The danger of our being condemned when the Judge appears should excite us to mind our duty as before laid down: Grudge not, lest you be condemned. Fretfulness and discontent expose us to the just judgment of God, and we bring more calamities upon ourselves by our murmuring, distrustful, envious groans and grudgings against one another, than we are aware of. If we avoid these evils, and be patient under our trials, God will not condemn us. Let us encourage ourselves with this. (4.) We are encouraged to be patient by the example of the prophets (Jam 5:10): Take the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience. Observe here, The prophets, on whom God put the greatest honour, and for whom he had the greatest favour, were most afflicted: and, when we think that the best men have had the hardest usage in this world, we should hereby be reconciled to affliction. Observe further, Those who were the greatest examples of suffering affliction were also the best and greatest examples of patience: tribulation worketh patience. Hereupon James gives it to us as the common sense of the faithful (Jam 5:11): We count those happy who endure: we look upon righteous and patient sufferers as the happiest people. See Jam 1:2-12. (5.) Job also is proposed as an example for the encouragement of the afflicted. You have hard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, etc., v. 11. In the case of Job you have an instance of a variety of miseries, and of such as were very grievous, but under all he could bless God, and, as to the general bent of his spirit, he was patient and humble: and what came to him in the end? Why, truly, God accomplished and brought about those things for him which plainly prove that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy. The best way to bear afflictions is to look to the end of them; and the pity of God is such that he will not delay the bringing of them to an end when his purposes are once answered; and the tender mercy of God is such that he will make his people an abundant amends for all their sufferings and afflictions. His bowels are moved for them while suffering, his bounty is manifested afterwards. Let us serve our God, and endure our trials, as those who believe the end will crown all.</p>

<p>Behold--calling attention to their coming doom as no vain threat.

labourers--literally &quot;workmen.&quot;

of you kept back--So English Version rightly. Not as ALFORD, &quot;crieth out from you.&quot; The &quot;keeping back of the hire&quot; was, on the part OF the rich, virtually an act of &quot;fraud,&quot; because the poor laborers were not immediately paid. The phrase is therefore not, &quot;kept back by you,&quot; but &quot;of you&quot;; the latter implying virtual, rather than overt, fraud. James refers to Deu 24:14-15, &quot;At this day . . . give his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it, lest he CRY against thee unto the Lord, and it be sin unto thee.&quot; Many sins &quot;cry&quot; to heaven for vengeance which men tacitly take no account of, as unchastity and injustice [BENGEL]. Sins peculiarly offensive to God are said to &quot;cry&quot; to Him. The rich ought to have given freely to the poor; their not doing so was sin. A still greater sin was their not paying their debts. Their greatest sin was not paying them to the poor, whose wages is their all.

cries of them--a double cry; both that of the hire abstractly, and that of the laborers hired.

the Lord of sabaoth--here only in the New Testament. In Rom 9:29 it is a quotation. It is suited to the Jewish tone of the Epistle. It reminds the rich who think the poor have no protector, that the Lord of the whole hosts in heaven and earth is the guardian and avenger of the latter. He is identical with the &quot;coming Lord&quot; Jesus (Jam 5:7).</p>

<p>In these verses we have the prelude to the sounding of the trumpets in several parts.
I. The opening of the last seal. This was to introduce a new set of prophetical iconisms and events; there is a continued chain of providence, one part linked to another (where one ends another begins), and, though they may differ in nature and in time, they all make up one wise, well-connected, uniform design in the hand of God.
II. A profound silence in heaven for the space of half an hour, which may be understood either, 1. Of the silence of peace, that for this time no complaints were sent up to the ear of the Lord God of sabaoth; all was quiet and well in the church, and therefore all silent in heaven, for whenever the church on earth cries, through oppression, that cry comes up to heaven and resounds there; or, 2. A silence of expectation; great things were upon the wheel of providence, and the church of God, both in heaven and earth, stood silent, as became them, to see what God was doing, according to that of Zac 2:13, Be silent, O all flesh, before the Lord, for he has risen up out of his holy habitation. And elsewhere, Be still, and know that I am God.
III. The trumpets were delivered to the angels who were to sound them. Still the angels are employed as the wise and willing instruments of divine Providence, and they are furnished with all their materials and instructions from God our Saviour. As the angels of the churches are to sound the trumpet of the gospel, the angels of heaven are to sound the trumpet of Providence, and every one has his part given him.
IV. To prepare for this, another angel must first offer incense, Rev 8:3. It is very probable that this other angel is the Lord Jesus, the high priest of the church, who is here described in his sacerdotal office, having a golden censer and much incense, a fulness of merit in his own glorious person, and this incense he was to offer up, with the prayers of all the saints, upon the golden altar of his divine nature. Observe, 1. All the saints are a praying people; none of the children of God are born dumb, a Spirit of grace is always a Spirit of adoption and supplication, teaching us to cry, Abba, Father. Psa 32:6, For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee. 2. Times of danger should be praying times, and so should times of great expectation; both our fears and our hopes should put us upon prayer, and, where the interest of the church of God is deeply concerned, the hearts of the people of God in prayer should be greatly enlarged. 3. The prayers of the saints themselves stand in need of the incense and intercession of Christ to make them acceptable and effectual, and there is provision made by Christ for that purpose; he has his incense, his censer, and his altar; he is all himself to his people. 4. The prayers of the saints come up before God in a cloud of incense; no prayer, thus recommended, was ever denied audience or acceptance. 5. These prayers that were thus accepted in heaven produced great changes upon earth in return to them; the same angel that in his censer offered up the prayers of the saints in the same censer took of the fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth, and this presently caused strange commotions, voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake; these were the answers God gave to the prayers of the saints, and tokens of his anger against the world and that he would do great things to avenge himself and his people of their enemies; and now, all things being thus prepared, the angels discharge their duty.</p>

<p>Greek, &quot;I am the Alpha and the Omega.&quot; The first and last letters of the alphabet. God in Christ comprises all that goes between, as well as the first and last.

the beginning and the ending--omitted in the oldest manuscripts, though found in Vulgate and Coptic. Transcribers probably inserted the clause from Rev 21:6. In Christ, Genesis, the Alpha of the Old Testament, and Revelation, the Omega of the New Testament, meet together: the last book presenting to us man and God reconciled in Paradise, as the first book presented man at the beginning innocent and in God&#039;s favor in Paradise. Accomplishing finally what I begin. Always the same; before the dragon, the beast, false prophet, and all foes. An anticipatory consolation to the saints under the coming trials of the Church.

the Lord--The oldest manuscripts read &quot;the Lord God.&quot;

Almighty--Hebrew, &quot;Shaddai,&quot; and &quot;Jehovah Sabaoth,&quot; that is, &quot;of hosts&quot;; commanding all the hosts or powers in heaven and earth, so able to overcome all His Church&#039;s foes. It occurs often in Revelation, but nowhere else in the New Testament save Co2 6:18, a quotation from Isaiah.</p>

<p>about him--Greek, &quot;round about him.&quot; ALFORD connects this with the following sentence: &quot;All round and within (their wings) they are (so two oldest manuscripts, A, B, and Vulgate read) full of eyes.&quot; John&#039;s object is to show that the six wings in each did not interfere with that which he had before declared, namely, that they were &quot;full of eyes before and behind.&quot; The eyes were round the outside of each wing, and up the inside of each when half expanded, and of the part of body in that inward recess.

rest not--literally, &quot;have no rest.&quot; How awfully different the reason why the worshippers of the beast &quot;have no rest day nor night,&quot; namely, &quot;their torment for ever and ever.&quot;

Holy, holy, holy--The &quot;tris-hagion&quot; of the Greek liturgies. In Isa 6:3, as here, it occurs; also Psa 99:3, Psa 99:5, Psa 99:9, where He is praised as &quot;holy,&quot; (1) on account of His majesty (Rev 4:1) about to display itself; (2) His justice (Rev 4:4) already displaying itself; (3) His mercy (Rev 4:6-8) which displayed itself in times past. So here &quot;Holy,&quot; as He &quot;who was&quot;; &quot;Holy,&quot; as He &quot;who is&quot;: &quot;Holy,&quot; as He &quot;who is to come.&quot; He showed Himself an object of holy worship in the past creation of all things: more fully He shows Himself so in governing all things: He will, in the highest degree, show Himself so in the consummation of all things. &quot;Of (from) Him, through Him, and to Him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.&quot; In Isa 6:3 there is added, &quot;the whole EARTH is full of His glory.&quot; But in Revelation this is deferred until the glory of THE LORD fills the earth, His enemies having been destroyed [BENGEL].

Almighty--answering to &quot;Lord of hosts&quot; (Sabaoth), Isa 6:3.

The cherubim here have six wings, like the seraphim in Isa 6:2; whereas the cherubim in Eze 1:6 had four wings each. They are called by the same name, &quot;living creatures.&quot; But whereas in Ezekiel each living creature has all four faces, here the four belong severally one to each. See on Eze 1:6. The four living creatures answer by contrast to the four world powers represented by four beasts. The Fathers identified them with the four Gospels, Matthew the lion, Mark the ox, Luke the man, John the eagle: these symbols, thus viewed, express not the personal character of the Evangelists, but the manifold aspect of Christ in relation to the world (four being the number significant of world-wide extension, for example, the four quarters of the world) presented by them severally: the lion expressing royalty, as Matthew gives prominence to this feature of Christ; the ox, laborious endurance, Christ&#039;s prominent characteristic in Mark; man, brotherly sympathy with the whole race of man, Christ&#039;s prominent feature in Luke; the eagle, soaring majesty, prominent in John&#039;s description of Christ as the Divine Word. But here the context best suits the view which regards the four living creatures as representing the redeemed election-Church in its relation of ministering king-priests to God, and ministers of blessing to the redeemed earth, and the nations on it, and the animal creation, in which man stands at the head of all, the lion at the head of wild beasts, the ox at the head of tame beasts, the eagle at the head of birds and of the creatures of the waters. Compare Rev 5:8-10, &quot;Thou hast redeemed us by Thy blood out of every kindred . . . and hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth&quot;; and Rev 20:4, the partakers with Christ of the first resurrection, who conjointly with Him reign over the redeemed nations that are in the flesh. Compare as to the happy and willing subjection of the lower animal world, Isa 11:6-8; Isa 65:25; Eze 34:25; Hos 2:18. Jewish tradition says the &quot;four standards&quot; under which Israel encamped in the wilderness, to the east, Judah, to the north, Dan, to the west, Ephraim, to the south, Reuben, were respectively a lion, an eagle, an ox, and a man, while in the midst was the tabernacle containing the Shekinah symbol of the Divine Presence. Thus we have &quot;the picture of that blessed period when--the earth having been fitted for being the kingdom of the Father--the court of heaven will be transferred to earth, and the &#039;tabernacle of God shall be with men&#039; (Rev 21:3), and the whole world will be subject to a never-ending theocracy&quot; (compare DE BURGH, Exposition of Revelation). The point of union between the two views given above is: Christ is the perfect realization of the ideal of man; Christ is presented in His fourfold aspect in the four Gospels respectively. The redeemed election-Church similarly, when in and through Christ (with whom she shall reign) she realizes the ideal of man, shall combine in herself human perfections having a fourfold aspect: (1) kingly righteousness with hatred of evil and judicial equity, answering to the &quot;lion&quot;; (2) laborious diligence in every duty, the &quot;ox&quot;; (3) human sympathy, the &quot;man&quot;; (4) the contemplation of heavenly truth, the &quot;eagle.&quot; As the high-soaring intelligence, the eagle, forms the contrasted complement to practical labor, the ox bound to the soil; so holy judicial vengeance against evil, the lion springing suddenly and terribly on the doomed, forms the contrasted complement to human sympathy, the man. In Isa 6:2 we read, &quot;Each had six wings: with twain he covered his face (in reverence, as not presuming to lift up his face to God), with twain he covered his feet (in humility, as not worthy to stand in God&#039;s holy presence), and with twain he did fly [in obedient readiness to do instantly God&#039;s command].&quot;</p>