who was smiting one of his Brethren, he’s no longer about it than whilst he looks this way and that way, and then he kills him, and hideth him in the Sands: And this is so far from having the Censure, that a Slave would give it, that upon That Action he was in hopes to have raised his Publick Character, and by this Justice upon the Officer, thought to have led on that of the People upon the King, as the Martyr Stephen tells us; for he brings in this as the Reason why seeing one of [8] the Jews suffer wrong, he avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian, because he supposed his Brethren would have understood, how that by his hand God would have delivered them, but they understood not. If their Zeal would have come on as fast as his would have led it, they might have been saved then; but they lost 40 Years by their unbelief. David run away from Saul, when he had no Friend to stand by him, but he put himself at the Head of a little Army as soon as he could; and the only Reason why he did not give him battle was, because he had not Force enough: But when those great Numbers came to him every day, he makes no scruple to go out into the Field, for there fell some of Manesseh to David when he came with the Philistines against Saul to Battle.
Ps. xciv. 20.
Lam. 1.14.
Isa. lii.I.
A just and holy God may indeed deliver us over to the Will of evil Men; but to say, that he would have us deliver up ourselves, is to blaspheme his Empire; for he hath no Fellowship with the Thrones of Iniquity, who frame Mischief by a Law. That which held Zion in Captivity, was God’s making her Strength to fail; He had delivered her into their Hands against whom she was not able to rise up: But when she had more strength, there’s a new Exhortation to use it; Shake thy self from the Dust, O Jerusalem; loose thy self from the Bands of thy Neck, O thou captive Daughter of Zion.
In these two things you have the woful Temper of this People; They were stupid, and not to be imprest by a generous Argument; and tho’ it’s true, they had Strength and Capacity, yet it was all thrown away upon a lazy Nature, that would not use it. Issachar is a strong Ass couching down between two Burdens.
(2) We have the folly of their Behaviour, and are told, how soon they part with their Liberties. And here you meet with bondage in every Form and Shape. Here’s Oppression in all its Weight, he falls between two Burdens. Here’s a Slavery to his Person, his Shoulder is brought to bear what they lay upon [9] him. Here’s Poverty in his Concerns, he becomes a Servant to Tribute; and here’s a Necessity for him to be Active in all this. Opression stupifies the Faculties, he couches down beneath his Burdens, he bows his Shoulder, he consents to be a Servant: What a Gulph of Perdition was this People sunk into? Whither will Tyranny lead those who have the Heart to follow it? Can we ever begin to stop too soon, when it will be so dreadful to have it too late?
1. You observe here what weight this Opression was laid on with: ’Twas not what Rehoboam threatned, the Heavines of a little Finger; but he couches down between two Burdens.
Some translate this between two Hills; and understand it of the Situation that Issachar had in the Land of Canaan: Others suppose that it referes to the Quarrels they might have with those Two Tribes that lay on each side of ’em; but the Words seem to tell us what a Load of Misery they had brought themselves under.
Jeb xxiv. 2, 3,
Tyrants, who know no Justice, will allow no Mercy; they never think their Grandeur advanc’d high enough; they’ll set no bounds to Lust of Empire, but let it rove in all the License of their own Fancy. Do not imagine that there’s any dealing with an Arbitrary Government. Laws are only shackles upon you, but no Rule to ’em. Some remove Land Marks, they violently take away Flocks and Feed thereon, they turn the Needy out of the way, the Poor of the Earth hide themselves together: Behold as the wild Asses of the Desert they go forth to Work, rising betimes for a Prey, and it’s the tame Asses of the Villages that fall into their Hands: They cause the Naked to go without clothing, he hath no covering in the Cold; they pluck the Fatherless from the Breast and take a Pledge of the Poor; they take away the Sheaf from the Hungry: Men groan out of the City, and the Soul of the Wounded cries out.
Isa. xlvi. 1, 2.
I Sam. xi. 2.
[10] If you would not couch down between Two Burdens, you must enter an effectual Protest against One: For they that submit, will, in a little Time, be brought to that pass; Her Carriages were heavy loaden, they are a Burden to the weary Beast, they stoop, they bow down together, they could not deliver their Burden, but themselves are gone into Captivity. Thus did the Ammonites with the Men of Jabeth Gilead; tho’ the poor People would have submitted themselves unto ’em, yet they will allow of no easier Terms than thrusting out the right Eye, and laying it as a Reproach upon all Israel. So unlimited did Benhadad take himself, in the Court of a Man, who had gone too far, in saying, My Lord, O King, I am thine, and all that I have: He does not only claim his Silver and Gold, but his Wives and Children; and would send his Servants the next Day to take out what was pleasant in their Eyes.
Hab. i. ult.
This made David rather chuse to fall into the Hands of God, than into those of Man: Not but that the former could have destroy’d him with more Expedition than the latter; but with the Lord there was Mercy, with Men there is none. And indeed the Process hath been very short; When once a Tyrant hath said your Laws were his, He hath soon come to affirm your Lives were so too. And therefore it’s the same thing being his Vassals, and being his Cattle. All that you have pertaining to Life and Godliness, is thrown in as a Morsel to Casar: They take up all of them with the Angle, they catch them with their Net, and gather them in their Drag, therefore they rejoice and are glad; They will empty continually, and not spare to slay the Nations. And how unhappy must the Case of a People be who never know when they have done Suffering? Such a Government upon Earth resembles one of the worst Ideas that we have of Hell: where there is no Sacrifice for Sin, but a certain [11] fearful looking for of more Judgment and new Indignation.
2. Their Persons were made vile and contemptible, they bow their Shoulders to bear. There are some Usages which God always reckon’d an Indignity to Human Nature. ’Tis for this reason that he limited the Number of Stripes that were to be given to the Malefactor, lest thy Brother seem vile to thee: And the Statute of Murder is laid out upon this ground, That in the Image of God made he Man. Such an Oppression did the Jews live under in Egypt; their Burdens were very grievous in the Brickilns, the Task-masters oblig’d them to their whole Quantity of Work tho’ they denied them Straw, and then punisht ’em for not doing what they knew to be impossible.
Lam. iv. 14.
Ch. v. 12, 13
When this comes to be the Lot of such as give up their Liberties, the Justice of God calls for our Adoration; they that have lived in Pleasure and Vanity, are most likely to make a Sale of all that they have; they have eaten the Bread of Idleness, and, How righteous is it with Heaven to give ’em that of Sorrow? That they who are brought up in Scarlet, should embrace Dunghills? This is one Consequence of Slavery; and it fell heavily upon the Priests at Jerusalem, who might remember their Sin in their Punishment: They that us’d to lead the Blind, came to wander as blind Men in the Streets, and so polluted with Blood, that Men could not touch their Garments: The Anger of the Lord divided ’em, and he would no more regard ’em. An Absolute Government Swallows as fast as you can Give, and, What will this come to in time? But the hanging up of Princes by the Hand, not honouring the Faces of the Elders, taking the young Men to Grind, and making the Children fall under the Wood.
Lam. v. 6.
Deut.
