Genesis 37:20 Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast has devoured him… policy is not necessarily sound because it is necessarily final. In the case before us we see both the power and the weakness of men. Let us slay — there is the power; and we will see what will become of his dreams — there is the weakness. You can slay the dreamer, but you cannot touch the dream. You can poison the preacher, but what power have you over his wonderful doctrine? Can you trace it? Where are its footprints? Ten or twelve men have power to take one lad, seventeen years of age, to double him up, and throw him, a dead carcase, into a pit. Wonderful power! What then? "And we will see what become of his dreams." A word which perhaps was spoken in scorn or derision, or under a conviction that his dreams would go along with him. Still, underlying all the derision is the fact that, though the dreamer has been slain, the dream remains untouched. The principle applies very widely. You may disestablish an institution externally, politically, financially; but if the institution be founded upon truth, the Highest Himself will establish her. If we suppose that by putting out our puny arms and clustering in eager crowds round the ark of God, we are the only defenders of the faith and conservers of the Church — then be it known unto us that our power is a limited ability, that God himself is the life, the strength, the defence, and the hope of His own kingdom. The principle, then, has a double application — an application to those who would injure truth, and an application to those who would avail themselves of forbidden facilities to maintain the empire of God amongst men. (J. Parker, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams. |
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