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Two things are predicted concerning the Jews after their restoration from Babylon.

1. Their influence upon the nations would be as refreshing dew.

2. Their power on the nations would be as terrible as the lion's on the herds, and on the flocks.It will not, I think, be unfair to use the passage to illustrate the twofold aspect of the people of God in this world — the tender and terrible, the restorative and the destructive. Like Israel of old, godly men in every age have only been a remnant, a very small minority of the generation in which they lived. It will not always be so.

I. The TENDER aspect of God's people in the world. They are spoken of here as "dew." Silent in its fall, beautiful in its appearance, refreshing in its influence. Three things are suggested concerning this "dew."

1. It is Divine. It is "from the Lord." All that is quickening and refreshing in the thoughts, spirits, character of good men on this earth descends from heaven. "Every good and perfect gift cometh down from the Father of lights," etc.

2. It is copious. "As the showers upon the grass." There have been seasons when those spiritual influences have descended on men with plenitude and power, such as on the day of Pentecost. Would it were so now!

3. It is undeserved of men. "That tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men." Good men on this earth are to their generation what the gentle dew and the fertilising shower are to the thirsty earth. Their speech distils as dew, and their influence descends on the souls of men like rain upon the new mown grass.

II. The TERRIBLE ASPECT of God's people in the world. The same men as are represented under the metaphor of dew are here spoken of as a "lion." Bold, terrible, and destructive. Elijah was a lion in his age, so was John the Baptist, so was Luther, so was Latimer, etc. This subject suggests —

1. A picture of the unregenerate world. There are some germs of goodness in its soil that require the fertilising influence of heaven to quicken and develop, and there are some things in it so pernicious and baneful that it requires all the courage, force, and passion of moral lions to destroy.

2. A picture of the completeness of moral character, Not all "dew," nor all "lion," but both combined.

(Homilist.)

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KJV: And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the LORD, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men.

WEB: The remnant of Jacob will be in the midst of many peoples, like dew from Yahweh, like showers on the grass, that don't wait for man, nor wait for the sons of men.