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The hopeful among the Jews probably remembered that in times of former correction God had yielded, in some measure, to the intercessions of the saints. If they had not gained all that they asked, they had gained some advantage. Why might that not occur again? Might not God concede some of his demand? This was impossible, for the first necessity was that righteous government be maintained. No good can ever come to men by tampering with righteousness.

I. SIN AGAINST GOD IS AN IMMEASURABLE EVIL. It is a common thing for men to affect surprise at the severity of God's chastisement. Yet this is only an outcome of their ignorance. They have no conception of the tremendous evil of sin. Its magnitude defies all human measurement. We cannot follow it into all its ramifications of mischief. We see the beginning of the vicious stream; the ending is beyond our sight. It is an injury to the moral universe, and we cannot estimate it. Had Eve foreseen all the painful results of taking the forbidden fruit, surely she would have resisted the tempter.

II. FLAGRANT SIN DEMANDS EVERY SORT OF PENALTY. It is not always possible for men to discriminate between great sins and small; yet even men can discover when sin becomes rapidly contagious, and when it is largely influential for evil When a man, by a plausible embellishment of vice, entraps ten thousand others into the snare, and makes his vice fashionable, popular, universal, - his sin is heinous. As for a disease that has become epidemic the severest remedies are employed, so when a sin becomes national, terrible chastisement is demanded. To vindicate his righteous law, God sometimes employs the scourge of pestilence; sometimes famine; sometimes war; sometimes a plague of locusts. But when iniquity breaks out with virulence, or becomes aggravated and stubborn, he will combine all his methods of chastisement, in order to cleanse the land. Always his punishments are well apportioned, never excessive. The balance is in the hand of Infinite Wisdom.

III. MEN ARE INFLUENTIAL FOR GOOD ACCORDING TO THEIR RIGHTEOUSNESS. The messenger of Jehovah singles out for mention three men who were eminent for piety and faith. His language implies that if any men could prevail with God to abate his penalties, these were the men. It was useless for him to make mention of men of inferior piety. Any righteous man would not suffice. To have any hope of success, he must be a man of transcendent purity. This conviction was universal in the minds of the people. It was founded on reason, on experience, on the records of past history. Had not Moses gained a respite for the nation by his righteous intercession? Had not Samuel averted the stroke of Divine anger from Israel? Had not Noah's righteousness secured the safety of seven persons beside himself? Why should it not be so again? Daniel was living among them - a man eminent for loyalty to Jehovah. Were not Jeremiah and Ezekiel interceding for the people? If anything could save the nation from utter destruction, surely it was the righteous zeal of these godly men!

IV. YET HUMAN RIGHTEOUSNESS IS INCOMPETENT TO ABATE A SINGLE PENALTY FROM OTHERS. A man's personal righteousness will always serve as a screen for himself, never as a shield for others. Far be it from God to destroy the righteous with the wicked! This would he to obliterate eternal distinctions. This would be for God to act against himself The righteous are safe when dangers are thickest. They have an invulnerable panoply. And the prayers of the righteous have often gained temporary advantages for the unrighteous. Such intercession has obtained a brief respite for repentance - has obtained a postponement of the catastrophe. Yet as a righteous man, however zealous, has no power to transform the moral nature of another man, he cannot deliver him when God appeareth for judgment. Eternal justice is the main pillar of the universe, and, if justice fails, the universe wilt be shivered.

V. MUCH LESS CAN HUMAN RIGHTEOUSNESS AVERT FROM MEN ALL DIVINE PENALTIES. This is an argument ad hominem. If the righteousness of the best men that ever lived cannot quench one fiery dart of God's vengeance, much less can it quench all the darts in God's quiver. There was a propriety in every particular form of chastisement which God employed; it would therefore be unbecoming every attribute of his nature to suspend that chastisement, while the causal sin yet remained. Men little surmise the terrible necessity there is for retribution, because they do not perceive the magnitude of sin. It is a fearful thing to provoke the anger of the living God.

VI. GOD WILL ULTIMATELY MAKE HIS WISDOM AND RIGHTEOUSNESS CLEAR TO MEN. It is possible that the elders of Israel did not immediately acquiesce in the first necessity for this severe course. They did not know the full extent of Israel's sin. Ignorance is often the root of discord. But God would spare a few - most probably the best - of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. These should in due time be conveyed to Tel-Abib, and join the older members of the Captivity. But so base and intolerable will the characters of this remnant appear, that the elders themselves will confess that God's judgments were not a whit too severe - that a less chastisement would be inadequate. This act of God exhibits the graciousness of his character. He deigns to explain and to justify his ways unto his trustful children. "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him." He takes them into his fullest confidence. - D.

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KJV: The word of the LORD came again to me, saying,

WEB: The word of Yahweh came to me, saying,