---

Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity, and is polluted with blood. It is supposed that Gilead here means Ramoth-gilead, the metropolis of the mountainous region beyond Jordan and south of the fiver Jabbok, known by the name of Gilead (Joshua 21:28; 1 Kings 6:18). It was here that Jacob and Laban entered into a sacred covenant with each other. It was once a very sacred place; it was one of the celebrated cities of refuge (Deuteronomy 20:23; Joshua 23:28). The place, which was once a city of refuge, an institution of the God of heaven, had now been desecrated by wicked men, and become the scene of iniquity" and "blood." Observe two things -

I. That Divine institutions, specially designed for man's good, ARE OFTEN CORRUPTED BY HIM. Gilead, as a city of refuge, was of Divine ordinance, designed for special good. It was set apart for protecting men from the injustice of being put to death as murderers where the motive to murder did not exist, and thus preventing the shedding of innocent blood. But this very place for justice had now become the scene to "work iniquity," the place of mercy the scene that was now "polluted with blood." Thus men may - nay, they have done and still do - corrupt God's special ordinances for good. We say special ordinances, for all God's ordinances are for good. Whilst all places on earth are for the good of man, Gilead had a specific appointment.

1. The Bible is a special ordinance of God for good. Men have corrupted that, they do so sometimes by denying its truth altogether, but oftener by perverting its doctrines.

2. The gospel ministry is a special ordinance of God for good. From the beginning almost God set apart men for the special work of indoctrinating their fellow-men with the principles of everlasting rectitude and the doctrines of redemptive mercy - prophets, apostles, evangelists, pastors, etc. But men have sadly corrupted this Divine institution; few things on earth have been more corrupted by man than the ministry.

II. That Divine institutions specially designed for man's good, when corrupted, BECOME THE WORST OF ALL EVILS. Holy Gilead, once the scene of Divine mercy, was now filled with "iniquity" and "blood."

1. A corrupted Bible is the worst of all books. It does more mischief than any infidel productions. Political tyrannies, slaveries, wars, persecutions, have all been sanctioned and encouraged by a corrupted Bible. Alas l the millions of Christendom hate the Bible - not the Bible that God gave, but man's corrupted version of that Bible.

2. A corrupted pulpit is the worst of all ministries. Popes, archbishops, bishops, and the clergy in every grade in all Churches, have been found amongst the most intolerant despots and the most bloody persecutors of all times. They consecrate the banners of the warriors, they advocate the cause of slavery, they have ever been the prime obstructors to the promotion of liberty and the advancement of the universal rights of man. An old expositor has said, "The clergy, when wicked, are the worst of all men; none so cruel and bloody." It is time for the people to be taught that a pulpit is not necessarily a Christian or a useful thing. It may be - alas! it sometimes is - the corruptest and the most pernicious thing in the neighborhood in which it has a place. A man is not a saint because he calls himself a Christian; a building is not the "house of God" because it is called a church, a chapel, or a tabernacle; a forum is not sacred to the utterance of gospel truth because it is called a pulpit. Things called "sermons may sometimes have more wickedness in them than infidel tracts; places called the houses of God" may sometimes serve more effectually the cause of the devil than the theatres of pleasure-seekers or lecture-halls of skeptics. Mere names must not rule our judgment. It is the policy of the devil in these days to baptize his instruments with Christian titles. He is never more powerful than when he occupies the sacred desk, writes religious books, and quotes the Word of God. There are wolves in sheep's clothing, and false prophets now as ever. - D.T.

---

---

KJV: Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity, and is polluted with blood.

WEB: Gilead is a city of those who work iniquity; it is stained with blood.