November 12

"So the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him." Deuteronomy 32:12.

CONSISTENCY is a quality which a writer finds it no easy thing to maintain when he brings forward a character. The higher and the more peculiar and the more original the character be, the more is the difficulty increased. But when God is introduced, the difficulty becomes supreme. For "to whom will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One." From their knowledge of the general principles of their nature, which are the same in all, men may, with tolerable accuracy, speak of men, and describe how an individual would act in a given relation or condition. But for men to speak of God, and so represent him in all his attributes and actions as that nothing shall fall short of an infinitely perfect Being, is what never would have been accomplished without inspiration. But we find this in the Scriptures, because holy men of God wrote as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. And hence, though the sacred writers bring God forth in every page—we may almost say, in every sentence—he always appears in character; that is, in character with himself.

One thing, however, must be admitted, and it is by no means inconsistent with this, that in the revelation with which we have been favored, God has conformed himself to our modes of apprehension and expression. This was necessary, to render him at once intelligible and impressive. This therefore shows us not only his wisdom, but condescension; and dignity is never degraded by condescension. Thus he speaks unto us as unto children, with whom imitation is every thing, and levies a tax upon all the world of nature to furnish images of himself.

There is no relation he so commonly assumes as the parental. Nor need we wonder at this, when we consider that there is combined in it every thing at once venerable and endearing; that it appeals to the present sympathies of the heart, and aids our devotion by means even of our very instincts. And observe how he assumes it. Sometimes he takes the affection of the father, and we read, "Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him." "I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him." Sometimes he appropriates the tenderness of the mother, and we read, "As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you." At other times he descends lower, and borrows from the animal, and especially the feathered tribes, and we read, "He shall cover thee with his feathers; and under his wings shalt thou trust." "How often would I have gathered thee, as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings; and ye would not." "As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings, so the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him."

Observe a divine agency: the Lord led him. The allusion is to the Jews; and the meaning is, that God conducted them in their journeyings to Canaan. They were very numerous, but the aggregate of them all was to him like an infant. "I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt." "He led them by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation." "He led them about, he instructed them, he kept them as the apple of his eye."

See also the exclusive application of this work: "The Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him." The idols of the heathen were acknowledged to be limited in their powers. None of them could do every thing; there were therefore lords many, and gods many. There was a god for every exigency: a god for the sea, a god for the winds, a god for the field, a god for the garden, a god for marriage, and a god for war. But, said the church, "Our God is in the heavens; he hath done whatsoever he pleased." And he himself said, "O Israel, the Lord thy God is one Lord." He wrought out every deliverance for them. He conferred every blessing upon them; and having done the work without any helper, he deserved all the praise; and assigns this as a reason why they should not divide their regards between him and any other. "I removed his shoulder from the burden: his hands were delivered from the pots. Thou calledst in trouble, and I delivered thee; I answered thee in the secret place of thunder: I proved thee at the waters of Meribah. Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee: O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto me, there shall no strange god be in thee; neither shalt thou worship any strange god."

Here is also a resemblance of the manner in which it was performed. "So the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him." How? "As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings."

All this is not to be confined to the Jews. There is also a spiritual Israel, whom they were intended to prefigure; the circumcision, who worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. And such a people he now has for his name; and he is leading them—leading them alone, without any one to divide with him the work, or share with him the glory. And how does he this? Let us not torture the image, but let us improve it. Three things are here ascribed to the mother eagle—not in providing for her young, for this is not the subject in question—but in educating them; in teaching them to fly. She stirreth up her nest. She fluttereth over her young. She spreadeth abroad her wings, and taketh them, and beareth them on her wings. And all this is applicable to God in his dealings with us, and preparing us to seek those things that are above.