Isaiah 36:6 See, you trust in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt; where on if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it… The arrogant language of Rabshakeh was full enough of falsehood, but it had one grain of truth. Egypt was but a broken reed on which to lean, and any trust reposed in its aid would be attended with disaster and humiliation. The imagery which is here used is forcible enough, and it admirably describes the character and the consequences of an ill-founded confidence. Of these treacherous trusts are - I. OUR OWN UNDERSTANDING. 1. We are expressly warned of God not to lean on this (Proverbs 3:5). 2. Our known weakness, our incapacity to penetrate the hearts of men and to foresee the issue of events, our liability to make deplorable and ruinous mistakes, - this should teach us to forbear. 3. And the many lamentable instances, recorded in histories and witnessed by our own eyes, of the evil consequences of men trusting to their own sagacity, should also dissuade and deter us. II. HUMAN FRIENDSHIPS. The language of Scripture on this subject is remarkably, is significantly, strong (Jeremiah 17:5). When we consider how often it has happened, as the consequence of human insufficiency, not only that men have failed to secure what they were expecting, but that they have been thereby plunged into the deepest distress and even into irremediable ruin; that - to use the image of Rabshakeh - the staff has not only broken under them, but pierced the hand that leant on it; - we may well feel that this scriptural language is not a whir too strong. Human friendship breaks down and wounds us by its fracture, (1) through the limitations of our faculty; (2) through inconstancy, and even treachery; (3) through moral or spiritual shipwreck. III. TEMPORAL ADVANTAGES. Riches, rank, official position and the power it confers, - these are things on which we are prone to place reliance. But woe unto the man who has no firmer ground on which to build! In the day of his calamity, in the hour of bereavement, in the time of desolation, in the hour of death, those things will fail him; and to have trusted in any or in all of them, to the negligence of a hope that is surer than they, will add unspeakable bitterness to the sense of failure and of need. The broken reed will pierce the hand that holds it. Only in a Divine Saviour, whose wisdom will never be found wanting, whose faithfulness will never fail, whose power to succour and befriend in the saddest sorrows and darkest hours will continually suffice - only in him will be round the support which "cannot be broken." "Our God is a Rock;" and blessed is the man who rests all the weight of his joy and of his hope on his inviolable word, on his irrefragable power. - C. Parallel Verses KJV: Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him. |
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