The greatness of the catastrophe by which Egypt is to be overwhelmed is depicted by the prophet in a strikings, and poetical manner. It is represented that an impression is made thereby upon the heavenly bodies by which the earth is illumined, and upon the nations and kings who are astonished witnesses of the overthrow of one of the greatest monarchies of the world.

I. THE LUMINARIES OF THE DAY AND OF THE NIGHT VEIL THEIR SPLENDOUR AND WITHDRAW THEIR SHINING. The Scriptures teach us that all nature is a vehicle for the manifestation of Divine attributes, and that creation, in a very real sense, is one. Hence the sympathy appointed between nature and humanity. When men's sins are grievous, the floods cover the earth and sweep its guilty inhabitants into destruction. When the children of light strive in battle with the children of darkness, the sun stands still to prolong the hours of victory and pursuit. When the Savior expires upon the cross, it is amidst thick darkness. When the Holy Spirit is given, it is with the rush of wind and with lambent flames. These are but some instances of the part which nature plays in human history. No wonder, then, that when the Almighty, by the hand of his servant Nebuchadnezzar, smites Egypt to its fall, the sun, the moon, and the stars should be represented as withholding their light, as weeping over the calamities of one of the greatest of human powers.

II. THE PEOPLES AND THEIR KINGS ARE AMAZED AND TREMBLE AS FOR THEIR OWN SAFETY.

1. They experience a natural compassion for fallen greatness; it is a spectacle fitted to melt every heart. Envy and hatred vanish in the presence of misfortune so appalling.

2. They feel themselves in the presence of a supernatural power, which is righteousness taking the form of judicial interposition. The consciousness of the nearness and action of such a power is enough to rouse any nation from insensibility, secularity, and unspirituality. The hand of God is seen and the voice of God is heard. The Lord himself is near.

3. They mingle with the general apprehension of the activity of supernatural justice a certain apprehension and fear with regard to themselves. Have they not shared in some measure Egypt's sin? Have they not reason to dread Egypt's punishment? Who are they that they should be exempt from the retributive justice of the Eternal? The sword is brandished before them: may it not smite them? They tremble every man for his own life. - T.

Whatever may be the primary meaning of these words, they have a very blessed application to those who have gone forth from so many Christian families into heathen lands. For no choice of their own, and simply in obedience to their King's command, hundreds of our sons and daughters have gone forth to dwell in the midst of the heathen. They have taken up their home amid conditions which they would not have chosen had it not been for the constraining love of Christ, and the imperative need of dying men; and as fond relatives and friends regard their lot from a distance, they are often filled with anxious forebodings. May they not be involved in some sudden riot, and sacrificed to a frenzy of hate? May not the sanitary conditions and methods of life be seriously detrimental to their health or morals? "Oh, if only I could be there," you sigh. Hush! Christ is there; as near them as He is to you, casting over them the shadow of His presence, beckoning them to His secret place. He is the shadow of a great Rock in a weary land; or like the canopy of cloud that hovered over the camp of Israel by day, screening it from the torrid glare. Do not fear to trust your loved ones to the immortal Lover, who fainteth not, neither is weary. The hand that would harm is arrested and paralysed when it attempts to penetrate that safe enclosure.

(F. B. Meyer, B. A.).