Judges 5:23 Curse you Meroz, said the angel of the LORD, curse you bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the help of the LORD… indifference: — I. THE LORD'S PEOPLE IDENTIFIED WITH THEIR LORD. Observe the bearing of this principle on — 1. Sympathy (Acts 9:4). 2. Power (Ephesians 1:22). 3. Life and grace (John 15.). 4. Reproach (Luke 10:16). II. THE SIN OF MEROZ. This disregard of God's people implies — 1. Ignorance of God's love to His children. 2. An imperfect sense of the scheme of Divine government. By human means, etc. 3. An imperfect sense of personal responsibility — Cain (Genesis 4:9). 4. Indifference to God's truth and honour — Pilate. 5. Selfishness — Balaam. 6. Indecision — Peter in the judgment hall. III. THE SIN REMAINS. It is ever displaying itself in new forms. 1. The Church at home indifferent to the evangelisation of the heathen. 2. Wealthy congregations indifferent to poorer localities. 3. Women of ease and leisure to their burdened and weary sisters. 4. Parents unwilling to give their sons for the ministry. 5. Indifference to the conversion of souls. IV. THE RESULT IS THAT PUNISHMENT COMES UPON THE DEFAULTERS. 1. Of old it was, "If the Lord be God," etc. (1 Kings 18:21). Not less solemn and critical is the question now, "What think ye of Christ?" Not to confess Him is to deny Him (Matthew 10:33). 2. So with our employment of gifts and opportunities. The buried talent and the hidden pound, or their ill-using, involve the "darkness that is without." 3. So of the "brotherhood." We are to love it, to promote and defend it. There may be flaws, but this does not justify separation. It calls for prayer and the active operation of faith, sincerity, and truth. "They shall prosper that love thee." V. SHUN INDIFFERENCE AND INDECISION. They bring men to perish, like Balaam, with the ungodly. Be decided as Paul, though, it bring the loss of all things. What is there so noble as to "fill up that which is behind of the sufferings of Christ for His body's sake, which is the Church"? (Colossians 1:24). (H. W. Dearden, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the LORD, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the help of the LORD, to the help of the LORD against the mighty. |
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