Ezekiel 30:20-24 And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first month, in the seventh day of the month, that the word of the LORD came to me… Historians chronicle the events which take place among the nations, and especially those which bring about the transference of supremacy, hegemony, from one people to another. The great empires of antiquity succeeded one another in a movement both picturesque and instructive. Ezekiel, in this passage, describes the defeat and humiliation of Egypt, and the victory and exaltation of Babylon. But he does more than this; as a religious teacher and prophet he affords us an insight into the moral, the religious, principles which underlie all political changes. I. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS CHANCE IN HISTORY. Men often suppose themselves to account for events when they attribute them to fortune, to caprice, to chance. But chance is no cause, it is the name for our ignorance of causes - a useful name if its signification is not transformed, and if in its use men do not impose upon themselves. II. THE OPERATION OF DIVINELY INSTITUTED LAWS EFFECTS CHANGES IN THE PROSPERITY AND POWER OF NATIONS. Some of these laws are physical, some intellectual, others moral. They are of the greatest interest to the historian, who traces their action and interaction, their cooperation and conflict, as these are manifested in the rapid or gradual, the unobserved or conspicuous, changes which take place in the relations of great communities, and in the succession of one people to another in the development of the great drama of humanity. III. YET TO THE THOUGHTFUL MIND LAW IN ITSELF IS INSUFFICIENT TO ACCOUNT FOR HISTORY. The mind craves, not indeed for something competing with law, but for something behind law, expressing itself by means of law. Law in its phenomenal manifestations is mere uniformity. Now, just as our actions may be accounted for on their phenomenal side by physical laws, whilst yet we know that purpose, intention, thought, do really and in the highest sense govern our actions, and that we are therefore moral and responsible beings; so in human history religion teaches us to look through facts and laws to Mind beyond them all, controlling, inspiring, and governing them all, in a word, accounting for them all. That is to say, we are taught by the prophet to see God in history. And reflection shows us how reasonable and justifiable is this view. IV. A GENERAL DIVINE PURPOSE RUNS THROUGHOUT HUMAN HISTORY. It is God who raises one nation and humiliates another. These changes may for the most part be justified by the well-informed and thoughtful student. It is admitted that there are cases which occasion us the greatest perplexity. But the obscure must be interpreted by the plain. We should never forget that we are ignorant, short-sighted, and very fallible beings, and should avoid dogmatizing upon individual cases. But the reflecting and pious man will make a point of recognizing the Divine hand in the affairs of nations, and in the continuity of human history. This lesson has been taught most effectively by modern philosophers of history, from Herder to Hegel, and from Hegel to Bunsen. V. OUR ACCEPTANCE OF THIS PRINCIPLE DOES NOT INVOLVE THE APPROVAL OF HUMAN PASSIONS WHICH IMPEL TO MANY HISTORICAL CHANGES, OR THE DELIGHT IN HUMAN SUFFERINGS WHICH FOLLOW UPON THEM. As a matter of fact, God in his wisdom makes use of many agencies and instrumentalities of a character which cannot be approved. The ambitions, jealousies, envies, etc., which animate nations and rulers are overruled by the Lord of all to secure ends which appear good and desirable to him. "He maketh the wrath of man to praise him." It is not for a moment to be supposed that the King of heaven takes any delight in the bereavements and desolations which befall the innocent as a consequence of those wars which are incident to the achievement of great, historically important ends. We can only reconcile much that happens with our highest view of the Divine character by remembering that God has a higher end before him than human enjoyment, and that in the execution of his purposes he is not limited by the horizon of time. VI. ALL THE EVENTS WHICH TRANSPIRE AMONG THE NATIONS SHALL ULTIMATELY BE SEEN TO SUBSERVE MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ENDS, ESPECIALLY THE GLORY OF DIVINE RIGHTEOUSNESS. This is the faith of the godly, and is encouraged by revelation. Faith shall be justified. "The day shall declare it." - T. Parallel Verses KJV: And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first month, in the seventh day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, |
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