The uprising of Jehovah.
I. HIS UPRISING IS A FIGURE OF PROVIDENTIAL INTERPOSITION. There are times when he seems to be still, seated, and looking on, and the course of events to defy his will (Isaiah 18:4). Men cry, "How long, O Lord? Awake, stir thyself up to deliver!" But he knows his own time; he is not a day too soon, nor too late. When the hour of providence has struck, the scene instantly changes. "Now will I rise; now I will lift up myself!" It is not for us to know the times and the seasons. Our part is to tarry, expect, work, and pray.
II. GOD UPRISES WHEN MAN IS CAST DOWN. The condition of the land seems hopeless and despairing. The lion-hearted heroes break down in weeping and lamentation, and. the messengers, bewailing the hard conditions of peace, keep them company. The scene is Oriental and passionate. The roads are deserted; the land at the mercy of a perfidious conqueror, who holds his promise in contempt. The land languishing in the wane of the year, and the falling leaves of Bashan and Carmel, seem silently to sympathize with human woe. Yet one word from the Eternal suffices to change the whole situation: it is a word of supreme contempt for all the machinations of man. Their conceptions are as "hay," their pretensions as "stubble," their furious breath as self-devouring fire; and in a great conflagration the people will perish. Worldly passions and worldly might, he that sitteth in the heavens derides; his word abolishes the proud, while it supports the humble.—J.