This chapter tells of another of the Gentile nations on whom the judgment of God was to come. These nations all lay in the march of the Babylonian armies, and were one after another overthrown. Philistia is represented as asking of the sword of the Lord, when it will be quiet, and the answer is, "How can it be quiet, when," etc.? (ver. 7). It reminds -

I. OF THE SWORD OF CONSCIENCE. The Lord hath given it a charge, and, though we may blunt it, we cannot perfectly quiet it (cf. Macbeth, Judas, and other conscience-haunted men).

II. OF THE SWORD OF SCRIPTURE. "The Word of the Lord is not bound. How men have sought to sheathe it in the scabbard, to hide and hold it there, so that they may go on unchecked in their own ways! But it has leapt forth in spite of them; and, in spite of pagan, Roman, and other persecutions, has asserted its supreme might."

III. OF THE SWORD OF THE DIVINE JUDGMENT AGAINST SIN. Sin and sorrow are eternally married, and can never be put asunder. Where one is the other is never far off, and never will be in this world or the next. But forevery believer Christ has offered his own heart as a sheath for it. For such that sword is sheathed therein, and will be quiet there forever.

"When Christ gave up the ghost
The Law was satisfied;
And now to its most rigorous claims
I answer, 'Jesus died.'" C.

Notwithstanding all the boasted improvements of modern times, in knowledge and refinement, wars have not been less frequent than formerly, when mankind were in a rude and barbarous state. In making this reflection, the philosopher may profess his astonishment, but the genuine Christian will weep. Such are the mournful and ruinous effects which sin has produced in the world. Not only has it filled men's minds with enmity against God, but also with implacable enmity and revenge against one another.

I. WHENCE IT IS THAT THE SWORD OF WAR MAY BE CALLED THE SWORD OF THE LORD.

1. Because the seasons in which this sword is drawn are governed or appointed by the Lord. The kindling of war, or the settling of peace, are appointed by the providence of that God who ruleth over all the earth. The direction of cabinets, the ambition of princes, of governors, of statesmen, are only the instruments which God employs with a powerful and a holy hand, to execute His will.

2. Because it receives its direction from the Lord. When God gives the commission, when He opens the brazen gates of destruction, no country, no city is secured against the ravages of war; and when His providence forms a wall of protection around a country, no army can prevail, no weapon formed against it can prosper, for the Almighty God Himself is its fortress, its pillar, and its strength.

3. Because the execution done by it is of the Lord. It is a saying of King William, who had himself been in many battles, that "every bullet had its billet"; intimating that it was under God's direction whom to miss and whom to strike.

4. Because God sanctifies and glorifies Himself in its operation. In the management of war, the reputation of kings and statesmen, of generals or soldiers, is considered, but this is only a secondary consideration. The glory of the Lord, whom the Scriptures call a Man of War, is illustrated and made conspicuous in the eyes of the world. The slayer and those who are slain are His creatures and subjects, and the instruments which defend the one and kill the other are His sword.

II. THE REASON WHY ALL GOD'S PEOPLE SO ARDENTLY LONG TO SEE THE SWORD OF WAR SHEATHED AND AT REST.

1. Conviction that the wrath of God bringeth upon man the punishment of the sword, will cause the saints to long earnestly for its being sheathed and at rest.

2. All God's people will earnestly long to see the sword of war in -its scabbard and at rest, when they reflect what multitudes of men are hurried by it into eternity without thought or preparation.

3. God's people earnestly long to see the sword of war sheathed and at rest, when they reflect on the unparalleled distresses and miseries inflicted on those countries which are the seat of war. Gracious persons are deeply affected with the miseries of their fellow-creatures, even though they he enemies.

4. God's people earnestly desire to see the sword of war sheathed and at rest, that Christ's Gospel may be propagated throughout the whole world, and its Divine power and influence felt by all nations.

(James Hay, D. D.)